Writer Wednesday: Meet Cora Lee!

Welcome to Writer Wednesday!

Today I’m thrilled to bring you fellow Regency author, Cora Lee. Cora and I met on Facebook and soon discovered our books had been featured side-by-side in Library Journal (woot!). She’s so much fun, and I’m happy to share her with y’all.

And don’t miss the new Heart of Hero series, featuring stand-alone novels by nine fellow Regency writers, which Cora Lee kicks off with No Rest for the Wicked. Because who can resist this tagline:

What if superheroes were mortals who lived and loved during the Regency? The Heart of a Hero Series tells all.

So grab that cool libation (or perhaps hot, if you’re in the souther hemisphere) and settle in for a quickie. (Quick interview, that is – what were you thinking?)


Christ Church Cathedral in Dublin, Ireland

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

When I was just starting to get the idea for No Rest for the Wicked, I was trying to find a rough, tough part of a big city to set the story in. After some digging, I discovered Dublin had a neighborhood that had once been called Hell, complete with the carving of a devil in a local archway and a reputation for crime in the eighteenth century. And then my hero began to whisper that the locals called him a demon, and I knew I’d found the right place!

Name two things people don’t know about you.

1) I spent a large portion of my childhood playing on fire trucks—my dad was a volunteer firefighter, and he often took my sister and I to the station when he went out on a call.

2) I started out my university years as an Aerospace Engineering major and spent two years in the program before deciding I wanted to become a teacher. And if I hadn’t been an engineering major—where I was required to take a lot of math—I likely would have been an unemployed History teacher (I ended up teaching math my whole career, even though I majored in history).

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

Mary Balogh is one of my very favorites. Not only are her books well written, but her research is always so flawlessly incorporated into the story, and her characters feel like actual people rather than characters. She’s one of the authors I go to when I need a book that I know is going to be good, and she never disappoints.


A Bit About No Rest for the Wicked:

If one person can change a city, eleven can change the world.

A solicitor by day, Michael Devlin spends his nights protecting the people of The Liberties…until his estranged wife turns up with a summons from Sir Arthur Wellesley.

A spy for Sir Arthur, Joanna Pearson Devlin has been tasked with escorting Michael to Cork to join Wellesley’s intelligence gathering ring. Can Michael and Joanna learn to trust each other again and help Sir Arthur fight Napoleon?

Find No Rest for the Wicked here:

Amazon US  |  Amazon UK  |  Amazon CA  |   Amazon AU 


TypewriterA Bit About Cora:

A graduate of the University of Michigan with a major in history, Cora is the 2014 winner of the Royal Ascot contest for best unpublished Regency romance. She went on a twelve year expedition through the blackboard jungle as a high school math teacher before publishing Save the Last Dance for Me, the first book in the Maitland Maidens series. [You can truncate here if you need to.] When she’s not walking Rotten Row at the fashionable hour or attending the entertainments of the Season, you might find her participating in Historical Novel Society events, wading through her towering TBR pile, or eagerly awaiting the next Marvel movie release.

Want to connect further with Cora? Find her here:

Facebook | Twitter | Pinterest | Goodreads | Newsletter signup | Author Website | Series Website


Thanks so much for joining us, Cora! I definitely look forward to checking out No Rest for the Wicked and the rest of The Heart of a Hero series! 

Writer Wednesday: Meet Louisa Cornell!

Welcome to Writer Wednesday!

This week I’m happy to bring you Louisa Cornell, Regency romance author and a fellow member of The Beau Monde (the wonderful Romance Writers of America group for authors of Georgian and Regency romance), and a contributor to the fabulous blog, Number One London. Wahoo!

Louisa’s here to tell you a bit about herself and her latest release, Lost In Love, so without further blathering by me, I’ll let her take it away!


Which type of romance do you love most, and why?

I love historical romances set in the Regency era. I love the manners, the tricky rules of behavior, men in breeches and boots, horses and carriages, stately country estates, and the first stirrings of marriages based on love rather than dynastic, financial or political connections.

 

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

The so-called “sports” of bear baiting and dog fighting figure in my latest book.

One interesting thing I discovered was the origins of the breed we now know as the pit bull. Bear baiting dogs were often rat terriers, used for their speed and tenacity. However, as these dogs were often injured, men began to cross them with bull mastiffs. The result was a fast, tenacious dog with muscles.

Despite their reputations for aggression and ferocity, by the Victorian age they were found to be the very best dogs to look after children. They were gentle and loving with children whilst fierce defenders of those children should anyone attempt to harm them. They were called the “nanny” dog well into the twentieth century.

 

Name two things people don’t know about you.

  • I play the bassoon, which my late Aunt Deliradale called the “bazooka” because she could never remember bassoon.
  • I speak, to varying degrees, eight languages other than English and I can ask for the police and the bathroom in several more. (Very important when traveling abroad!)


What’s your favorite romance novel of all time, and why?

You mean besides Pride and Prejudice? I have a number of all-time favorites, but at the top of the list is Lord of Scoundrels by Loretta Chase. Never has a hero had so far to come and never has a heroine been so equal to the task. My heart ached for Dain, even when he was being an idiot and a beast. And I cheered for Jessica from the moment she stepped onto the page. How many heroines do you know who will go so far as to shoot the hero, in a spectacular fashion, to save him from himself?


A Bit About Lost In Love:

EVERY RELATIONSHIP HAS ITS UPS AND DOWNS –

When Adelaide Formsby-Smythe insults the Duke of Selridge to the point she sees her own murder in his eyes, her wish that the ground would open up and swallow her seems a perfectly reasonable response. Until it does.

Thus, Major Marcus Winfield, now the Duke of Selridge, ends the worst year of his life by falling into an underground cave with the younger sister of his former fiancée. An offense punishable by—marriage!

EVERY MARRIAGE HAS ITS SECRETS –

Although he never imagined marrying Adelaide, Marcus decides they will limp along quite well together. There’s no need to mention he’s being blackmailed… or that his irritating new wife fills his nights with a passion he cannot deny.

Adelaide, however, having unexpectedly married the man of her dreams, will settle for nothing less than her new husband’s heart. She’ll make him love her. Far less bothersome that way when she has to tell him she’s a thief. And possibly a murderess.

AFTER ALL, EVEN THE ROAD TO FOREVER HAS A FEW BUMPS ALONG THE WAY.

Find Lost In Love on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Lost-Love-Forever-Louisa-Cornell-ebook/dp/B071JB4FWT


A Bit About Louisa:

There are those who say romance novels are fairy tales written for grown women. I happen to like fairytales. One of my favorite Broadway musicals, Cinderella, is based on a fairytale.

Through the pages of romance novels, I have played pall mall with the Bridgertons. I have had tea with the very high-in-the-instep Bedwyns. I’ve plotted with the Desperate Duchesses and giggled with the Wallflowers. I have loved it all so much that I decided to try my hand at writing some “fairytales” of my own.

I have wanted to be a writer since I was nine years old. A career as an opera singer – a tale of adventure in itself – and the twists and turns of life have taught me that fate and love are the two most powerful forces in the universe.

I’ve sung opera in Salzburg. I’ve lived in a small English village. I’ve been a teacher, a veterinary technician, and a funeral home coordinator. Now I manage a bakery. I create confections to help people celebrate those moments in life that bring us all joy.

Through it all I’ve seen my share of villains and ogres, frogs and princes, heroes and heroines. This much I know to be true. None of life’s characters are ever what they seem. Everyone is something more, and something less. Love is the one thing that lays our souls bare to each other. Love creates the only real beauty in the world.

For a long time, reading fairytales was enough for me. Then I had to write them, because there are stories in my head that simply must be told.

Want to connect further with Louisa? Find her here:

Blog / Website:  http://onelondonone.blogspot.com and http://www.louisacornell.com/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/LouisaCornell
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/RegencyWriterLouisaCornell
Facebook Take Two: https://www.facebook.com/louisa.cornell
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/louisacornell/


Thanks so much for being here, Louisa – it was a delight to have you,
and now I’m going to immerse myself in Number One London

COVER REVEAL & Pre-Order: The Demon Duke

Don’t you just love this cover? Thank you a million times over to Lankshear Design for another stunning winner!


The Demon Duke debuts June 6th, 2017 (not quite 6/6/6, but that’s because Damon Blackbourne, Duke of Malford, is not quite the demon everyone makes him out to be.

Here’s the blurb:

Behind every good man is a great secret.

Banished to Yorkshire as a boy for faults his father failed to beat out of him, Damon Blackbourne has no use for English society and had vowed never to return to his family’s estate at Thorne Hill, much less London. However, when his father and brother die in a freak carriage accident, it falls on Damon to take up the mantle of the Malford dukedom, and to introduce his sisters to London Society–his worst nightmare come to life.

He never planned on Lady Grace Mattersley. The beautiful debutante stirs him body and soul with her deep chocolate eyes and hesitant smiles. Until she stumbles across his dark secret.

Shy and bookish Grace much prefers solitude and reading to social just-about-anything. Her family may be pressuring her to take on the London Season to find herself a husband, but she has other ideas. Such as writing a novel of her own.

But she has no idea how to deal with the Duke of Malford.

Will she betray him to the world? Or will she be his saving Grace?


Want to pre-order it for your Kindle now? Find it here: http://bit.ly/TheDemonDuke

Paperbacks available on release day!

Writer Wednesday: Meet Rachael Miles

Author Rachael MilesWelcome, all, to Writer Wednesday!

This week I’m excited to bring you Regency historical romance author, Rachael Miles. Regency is my favorite subgenre of romance, and I’m squeeing because I’ve found a new author for my “must read” list – I hope you add her books to yours, as well.

Settle in (hopefully before the air conditioner, if it’s as hot where you are as it is here in Virginia – goodness gracious!) and enjoy as you get to know Rachael a bit better, and then find out about her latest release, Chasing the Heiress!


Heart shaped book pagesWhich type of romance do you love most, and why?

I’m a pretty omnivorous reader, and I love all sorts of romance. But of course, historicals hold a special place on my shelf. I especially enjoy ones that evoke a real sense of the period, whether by describing the furnishings or the dresses or the ways that people interacted differently than we do now. And if those historicals can include a bit of suspense all the better!

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

I knew that women followed the camps during the Napoleonic wars, but I hadn’t realized that 4-5 officers from every regiment could take their families with them. In Chasing the Heiress, the heroine Lucy learned how to nurse from working in the field hospitals, so I also had to learn what treatments would have been used in sewing up gunshot wounds or in treating them after. It was fascinating – and a bit terrifying – to read what were considered to be helpful treatments.

jtdName two things people don’t know about you.

1. I tend to name the wild life in my backyard. The groundhog is Eleanor. The two chipmunks who live in the retaining wall are Pyramus and Thisbe.

2. I find historic gardens fascinating, and I love touring them. Most recently I visited the small—but very interesting—Shaker garden at the Shaker village in Chatham, NY. Perhaps this is part of what made Sophia Wilmot in Jilting the Duke such a special character for me.

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

Who I recommend usually depends on what sorts of stories the person I’m talking to likes. If they want something tender, I point out Jodi Thomas, If they want something sparkling, I say Cathy Maxwell.  If they want something spicy, I recommend Christine D’Abo. If they want a story with multicultural characters, I suggest Jenny Holiday’s contemporaries. If they want YA, I’d suggest Kara Bietz’s debut YA novel coming out in November, Until I Break. I’m reading an advance copy, and it’s gripping!

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

Write every day. Whether just a sentence or a paragraph, don’t wait for inspiration or large blocks of time. Just write: you can revise later. I learned this when I first began writing professionally as an academic, and it’s a lesson that served me well when I started writing novels.

What’s your favorite romance novel of all time, and why?

When I was a child, I discovered The Perilous Gard, a Newberry Honor book by Elizabeth Marie Pope. The story follows a girl in the Renaissance who is exiled through no fault of her own by Elizabeth I to a distant estate. She stumbles over a mystery that she must solve or lose the young man she has come to love. It was my first real experience with historical fiction and with self-determinative young women protagonists. I read it over and over.


cthA Bit on Chasing The Heiress

Heiress on the Run

Lady Arabella Lucia Fairborne has no need of a husband. She has a fine inheritance for the taking, a perfectly capable mind, and a resolve as tough as nails. But what she doesn’t have is the freedom to defy her cousin’s will—and his will is to see her married immediately to the husband of his choosing. So is it any wonder that she dresses herself as a scullery maid and bolts into the night? 

Colin Somerville’s current mission for the home office is going, well, poorly. Of course, who would have expected otherwise for a rakish spy tasked with transporting a baby to the care of the royal palace? But when, injured and out of ideas, Colin stumbles upon a beautiful maid who knows her way around children, it seems salvation has arrived. Until he realizes that though Arabella may be able to help him survive his expedition, he may not escape this ordeal with his heart intact…

Buy Chasing the Heiress here: 

Barnes and Noble | iBooks | Amazon 


writingA Bit On Rachael:

Rachael Miles writes romance novels set in the British Regency. Jilting the Duke and Chasing the Heiress—the first two novels in her debut series The Muses’ Salon, published by Kensington Zebra Shout—received 4-star reviews from RT Book Reviews and positive notices in Publisher’s Weekly.

Identified as a ‘strong new voice’ by Mary Jo Putney for Omnivoracious.com, Miles is a former professor of book history and nineteenth-century literature. Miles lives in the woods with her indulgent husband, three rescued dogs, an ancient cat, and a herd of deer who love her vegetable garden.

Want to connect further with Rachael? Find her here:

Website | Twitter | Facebook |  Goodreads |  Pinterest


Thank you so much for joining us, Rachael! You’re positively delightful. 

Writer Wednesday: Meet Mariana Gabrielle!

Mariana GabrielleIt’s the first Writer Wednesday of June, and today we’re privileged to bring you Mariana Gabrielle, author of historical fiction and Regency romance that offers second chances for scarred souls. Isn’t that lovely? Because who doesn’t like a second chance?

Mariana is also a member of the Bluestocking Belles, which she describes on her website as “a wonderful group of eight Regency Romance authors working together to bring our readers new books and advance the historical romance genre in general (Regency, in particular), and also to raise awareness of “bluestockings” around the world.” (Plus, they’re just a heck of a lot of fun – come find them on Facebook!)

Read on to learn a little about Mariana and her writing . . . Continue reading Writer Wednesday: Meet Mariana Gabrielle!