Blog Appearance and Author Panel

This is a busy week. On Wednesday, Oct. 15, I'm guest-blogging on fellow Wild Rose Press author Barbara Edwards' blog, discussing my first book, THE PRINCE OF VAL-FEYRIDGE. Stop by and leave a comment: barbaraedwardscomments.wordpress.com

Then on Thursday, Oct. 16, I'll be taking part in a panel of 9 romance authors at the Marathon County Public Library, A NIGHT OF ROMANCE. Cool name! The library is doing a fantastic job of publicizing our Wisconsin Romance Writers of America (WisRWA) event at Night of Romance. I'm hoping to meet new readers and also fellow writers.

Finally, WisRWA has a new Pinterest board! My covers are up on the Fantasy Romance tag. Check it out at pinterest.com/wisrwa/

Enjoy the blustery fall weather!

Alternate Plans and a Giveaway Contest

You know how, no matter how thoroughly you plan, things don't work out quite according to plan? I'd been planning on a guest blog to publicize my giveaway of THE PRINCE OF VAL-FEYRIDGE on The Romance Review's Fall Into Love Party, but plans fell through.

Rather than let my preparatory work go to waste, I'm putting up two of the questions I wrote answers to because I think they're good questions.

Tell me why you wrote THE PRINCE OF VAL-FEYRIDGE.

THE PRINCE OF VAL-FEYRIDGE is the book of my heart. I conceived the storyline and characters the summer before I began college. I’d been reading THE FOUNTAINHEAD, GONE WITH THE WIND, and THE LORD OF THE RINGS. The world was full of turmoil in the Middle East (no change there) and racism in the US (not much change there either). I wanted to tell a story about a broken country and the characters that would stitch it back together again. They would have to overcome class and ethnic divisions to do so.

While thematically that was the premise, the heart of the story was the against-all-odds love that grows between my warrior prince hero and my displaced healer heroine. While everything is stacked against them, what binds them together is honor. They can—and do—trust each other with their lives.

You’re multi-published. Which of your heroes is your favorite and why?

That’s a hard one. I love my heroes, never more than when I’m writing their individual books, but they are very different people.

Prince Arn is a swashbuckler, a charismatic leader of men who puts his life on the line—recklessly, some would say—to single-mindedly pursue the lost Crown and restore the Kingdom. Having survived the assassination of his family at age 12, he loves no one, trusts but a few, and gambles daily to achieve what’s rightfully his.

Durren Drakkonwehr of BLOODSTONE was once a warrior, descendant of a long line of dragon-keepers, but his personal failure has led to his land’s collapse and the curse that makes his life a living hell. He lives in isolation, determined to protect his people from his cursed appearance and too proud to die at the hand of subhuman beings.

Flip sides of the warrior coin, one could say—success versus failure—but both scarred inside and out, with stone walls around their hearts that have to be chipped away by the heroines.

My heroes are two stubborn, prideful men whose emotional journeys are equally satisfying, but I think I had more fun torturing Durren. Still, if I had to choose, I have to go with my ‘firstborn’ Prince Arn because he’s been with me so long.

As to the giveaway, it's one day only! On Thursday, Sept. 25, pop over to TRR's Fall Into Love Party and correctly answer the trivia question for THE PRINCE OF VAL-FEYRIDGE for a chance to win an e-copy. (Hint: Click here for the answer in the excerpt.) 

Celebrate!

I'm celebrating this week because BLOODSTONE has finally garnered a professional review, and it's 4.5 stars!

Check out what the LASR reviewer has to say: BLOODSTONE review

"A man whose face can kill, a woman bound to him by a promise, and both haunted by mysterious, intimate dreams of each other. Bloodstone’s story is rich and layered, nuanced and engrossing..."

I'm also celebrating because as of June, yours truly is a member of PAN, the Romance Writers of America's Published Author Network. That's thanks to strong sales of BLOODSTONE.

When I joined WisRWA, Wisconsin Romance Writers, and RWA years ago, I had a goal of eventually being published in novel-length romance by a royalty paying publisher. It took a lot of rejections to get there in 2009 with THE PRINCE OF VAL-FEYRIDGE.

That was the beginning of the e-book boom, and it was harder than I thought to garner professional reviews and even harder to get the sales required to move from PRO status to PAN status in RWA. I have to say I despaired of getting there. But I put my head down and worked on my second book.

And now, voila! Quite a summer, I have to say.

To close it out, check out The Romance Reviews'month-long Fall Into Love contest. My entry appears on Sept. 25th: Fall Into Love.

Why I Read Romances

#1 - I was programmed that way. 

I grew up reading fairy tales, and not just the Disney versions. If ever characters had to achieve true love by overcoming all obstacles, those stories are the ones to tell the tale. Those with good hearts, who are kind and generous, eventually win—however modestly—and those who are selfish and greedy lose—often spectacularly—just like in romances. Fairy tales are cultural behavior lessons, meant to teach us how to conduct ourselves in the world. I like to think some of the lessons stick.

#2 - The horse and dog stories I loved as a youth—they’re really about relationships. 

A boy and his dog, a girl and her horse—when you think about it, they’re about building solid relationships based on mutual respect and loyalty. So are romances. The main characters have to learn to respect and trust each other for the couple bond to form and the romance to last. Commitment—that’s what I love about romances.

#3 – I’ve got a thing about justice. 

My romance reading bent runs strongly toward romantic suspense and mystery. I’m a huge fan of mysteries in general, always have been since I found Agatha Christie’s A MYSTERIOUS AFFAIR AT STYLES. What draws me to both genres is the sense of justice (See #1) in both. No matter how many challenges and near death experiences the hero and heroine have to overcome, they ultimately win. Justice prevails. This may be a fantasy, but it’s a fantasy that I find myself returning to book after book.

#4 – I like happy endings. 

Day to day life is full of unhappy situations, and I’d get awfully depressed if I didn’t have romances to remind me that love is better than war, partnership is better than conflict, truth is better than deception, and true happiness comes from sharing with others.

So, yeah, that’s why I read—and love—romances.

If you’re not celebrating Read-A-Romance Month, you should be. There’s half a month left to check out what 100 romance authors have to say about romance at these two sites:

• WisRWA's Read-a-Romance Month Page
• Read-a-Romance Month Site

I'm guest blogging this week on fellow Wild Rose Press author Brenda Whiteside's Muse Monday: http://brendawhiteside.blogspot.com/

Stop by and see how travel translates to story.

Be My Guest--Mary Hughes, author of hot, humorous paranormal romance

Today for Read-A-Romance Month, I’m featuring the latest release by friend and fellow WisRWA author, Mary Hughes. Mary’s given me promo help when I’ve asked for it, advice when I needed it, and cheerleading all the time. Go Mary! Take it away with…

Murder at Chipmunk Lake

A Nixie and Julian Story.

Nixie's lost her mojo!
Amazon, BN, Smashwords 
Amazon UK, ARe, iTunes

Nixie Emerson, punk rock musician and first-time mom-to-be, has a stalker. Her band Guns and Polkas has gone national after their big stage debut, but the price of fame is the stalker trying to scare her into leaving the band.

Her husband, master vampire Julian, whisks Nixie away to the Wisconsin north woods--where they meet the stalker on the pier of their cabin and he again threatens Nixie.

Julian punches him out and the couple walks away thinking the problem is over. But when the next evening the stalker is found dead, they find out the trouble is only starting.

Warning: contains a cranky pregnant lady trying to control her swearing, a master vampire appeasing his wife with food and creative sex, murder, mayhem and several arguments over what to name the baby.

Read-A-Romance Month! What does it mean to be a couple? Mary’s tips for long-lasting love here: http://maryhughesbooks.blogspot.com/2014/08/1t-olio-celebrate-romance.html

As a girl, Mary Hughes spun romantic, happily-ever-after stories to get to sleep. A husband, family, two degrees and a blackbelt later, she's delighted to spin them for readers.

She's lived with love and loss, in bright times and dark, and learned we can all use a break from reality every now and then.

So join her for action, sparkling wit and red-hot love. Strong men. Stronger women.

http://www.maryhughesbooks.com

Facebook http://www.facebook.com/MaryHughesAuthor

Twitter http://www.twitter.com/MaryHughesBooks

August is Read-A-Romance Month!

Join me during the month of August to celebrate Read-A-Romance month.

Authors participating in the celebration are asked to first answer three questions and then spread the word about our personal favorites.

Describe the most daring, adventurous, or inspiring thing you ever did.

That would be travelling almost 1,000 miles towing a U-Haul containing all our worldly goods to a small town in Montana we’d never heard of and without a clue as to where we’d find housing. Fortunately, it was just the two of us, and we were young and eager to embark on the first great adventure of our married life. I’ll never forget Forsyth, Montana, but it was a shock to the system for us Midwesterners.

Tell us about your journey to becoming a writer. (How did you decide to get started? Did you always know or was there a specific moment when you knew?)

I always knew I was going to be a writer. From my earliest memories, I was creating stories in my head and writing some of them down. I put it aside for college, but I picked it up again when my children were small and I started reading Harlequin romances. “I could write better than this,” I decided. Of course, I couldn’t—not at first—but I persevered, and look where it’s gotten me.

Tell us about The (or A) Book That Changed Your Life. (Why?)

The first romance I read was Mary Stewart’s AIRS ABOVE THE GROUND because it had a horse on the cover. (I loved horse books.) That led me to her NINE COACHES WAITING, a gothic suspense/Cinderella romance that whetted my appetite for more such stories. Then Nora Roberts’ IRISH THOROUGHBRED came along and I was hooked on romantic suspense and adventure.

Of course, now I’ve broadened my reading, but I still seek out a great romantic suspense like that currently being dished up by Shana Galen (LORD and LADY SPY series) and westerns by Lori Handeland/Lori Austin (BEAUTY and the BOUNTY HUNTER) and regencies by up and coming author Amy Sandas (REBEL MARQUESS). For a laugh, I’ve got to have something by Christie Craig (DON’T MESS WITH TEXAS series), Lani Diane Rich (THE COMEBACK KISS) and Mary Hughes (BITING NIXIE).

If you’re wondering how other authors have answered these questions or just want to discover more fabulous romance novels and new authors, check out these links:

• WisRWA's Read-a-Romance Month Page
• Read-a-Romance Month Site

Curious about the paranormal/humorous side of the romance genre? Check out what Mary Hughes is posting Tuesday, August 5^th, about her new novella MURDER AT CHIPMUNK LAKE, featuring my favorite Meier’s Corners’ residents, punk musician/civic savior Nixie and her hot lawyer/vampire husband Julian: http://maryhughesbooks.blogspot.com/

Give me a shout back. I’d love to hear what you’ve put on your romance reading list!

Fall into Romance

While the beach season heats up in August, the reading never stops. The Romance Reviews will conduct their Fall into Romance promotion and contest Sept. 1-30, and I plan to take part. Keep your eye on this site for a giveaway date for THE PRINCE OF VAL-FEYRIDGE. Click on the link at the left for more information on the upcoming contest.

In the meantime, my reading list has grown to include what I'm waiting for in September: Susan Elizabeth Phillips and Victoria Abbott, plus my October must-read from Rick Riordan!