Welcome to Writer Wednesday, in which you’ll meet a different romance writer each week and learn a little (just a little) about them.

This week I’m glad to welcome Elizabeth Johns, whom I met at the recent Love Between the Covers romance conference in DC. She was sitting directly ahead of me, and while we were waiting for the conference panels to begin, we chatted a bit, discovering along the way that she also writes Regency romance, and uses the same editor (Tessa Shapcott) as I. Is that kismet or what?

Here Elizabeth shares with us answers to three (plus a bonus!) questions, and then reveals a bit about her latest novel.

What inspires you to write?

I wrote my first book out of a personal need to share a traumatic experience and how I finally learned to overcome it. The subsequent books were spawned from that, but I try to have some type of good message included—with an HEA of course!

Name one interesting thing you learned in researching/writing your last book.

I think I have a much better appreciation for what the conditions of war were like. The battle scene of Waterloo was only one chapter in the book, but getting into the weeds while researching made it more real. I cannot fathom living out in the open, walking miles upon miles to fight and then having to endure the poor medical care in the field.

What fellow romance author do you recommend reading, and why?

Other than Austen (naturally), I adore Georgette Heyer. Her witty dialogue blows me away, and she transports me back in time while creating realistic characters.

What one piece of advice do you wish you’d had when first starting out?

Don’t be afraid to reach out to the community and be involved. I have been overwhelmed by the kindness and help from readers and authors alike.

Tell us about your latest release…

Book 3 in the Loring-Abbott Series, Seeking Redemption

At nineteen, Lady Lydia Markham was beautiful, bookish and naïve. Her sheltered, loveless upbringing had not educated her in the ways of the beau monde, or the men who inhabited it. So when she met Nathaniel, Lord Fairmont, it was all too easy to be swept away by his rakish charm and good looks. She was devastated when he did not propose marriage, but joined Wellington’s army instead.

Six years of battle has changed Nathaniel: older, wiser, the conqueror of the addictions that drove his misspent youth, he’s avowed to start afresh. But a chance meeting with Lydia unnerves him; she is so very keen to speak to him, yet he cannot fathom why. Has she waited for him all these years? He is unfit for her and is focused on making amends for another’s life that he ruined, and he urges her to forget him.

Nathaniel’s indifference leaves Lydia heartbroken, but she reaffirms her vow to begin anew. Unfortunately, she needs Nathaniel’s assistance. If ensuring his aid means following him to the Continent, where he’s gone to fight Napoleon with the Household Guards, then so be it. But will he help once he knows her secret?

Find Seeking Redemption here: Kobo, Barnes and Noble, iTunes, amazon.com, and amazon UK.

Want to connect with Elizabeth? Find her on her website, or on Facebook. Check out her Amazon page for links to Surrender the Past and Seasons of Change.

Thanks so much, Elizabeth!