The winner is……….
ANDREAW

Andrea wins an autographed copy of SCANDAL’S DAUGHTER from our guest blogger, Christine Wells.

Congratulations, Andrea!
Contact us at riskies@yahoo.com
and tell us where to send your prize.

I know Elena is going to talk about Beach Reads this week. I haven’t been near a beach and I do have the reputation as the World’s Worst Read Romance Writer, (nice alliteration) but I thought I’d let you peek in on the books I’ve been opening this week.

My treat for finishing the manuscript (new title ideas: The Scandal Seeker, Unbidden Scandal, Courting Scandal, A Certain Scandal–see a pattern?) was to pick up the Wellington biography that I won at the Beau Monde Conference tea. I was enjoying it a lot and he was well into Spain when it was time for my trip to Williamsburg with Amanda.

When Amanda and I were not looking at historical items and recreations, we bought books, and it is a bit hard to say which took up more time…. Anyway, the books totally distracted me from Wellington. Then we met with Deb Marlowe and I became even more distracted by our exciting anthology idea (stay tuned…)and when I got home I started reading some books that would help with that idea like Broken Lives by Lawrence Stone, Sex in Georgian England by A.D. Harvey. (Tantalizing, aren’t they?) I read the appropriate parts of each of those books.

But since I really must be about the business of developing a new story idea and a proposal for Harlequin/Mills & Boon, I’ve been leafing through Beloved Emma by Flora Fraser (wonderful book!) and The Wheatley Diary edited by Christopher Hibbert.

This all sounds so lofty and impressive, but the real distractions have been Janet’s The Rules of Gentility and Amanda’s A Notorious Woman, both of which I purchased on my trip. I snagged the last copy of Rules of Gentility in the College of William and Mary Bookshop in Williamsburg, and Amanda’s A Notorious Woman at the Walmart near home (where we went to see if it was on the shelf).

If you have not yet purchased these books, HURRY! (Especially Amanda’s which will only stay on bookstore shelves this month). Amanda’s opening is sooooo intriguing, and Janet’s book is over-and-above charming and witty. Both books are on my nightstand, warring with the need to read my research books!

What glorious problems I’m having!

What is on YOUR nightstand?
Any good research books to share, ones I may not have purchased yet? (I just bought The Girl in Rose by Peter Hobday, about Haydn’s last love. I came across it while writing this blog!)

1) Tell us about Scandal’s Daughter! What inspired this book?

First of all, thank you ladies for having me on Risky Regencies. I love this blog! To answer your question, in Scandal’s Daughter, Sebastian, Earl of Carleton, promises his dying godfather he will find a husband for his childhood friend in three months or marry her himself. Sebastian quickly becomes the most determined matchmaker in England.

Gemma is the daughter of a notorious femme fatale. She doesn’t believe any respectable man will marry her, so she chooses to run her grandfather’s estate rather than enter the matrimonial mart. Her entire identity is bound up in being the honorary Squire. But her grandfather wants her married and provided for before he dies and he hires a land agent to take over Gemma’s duties. She desperately wants to regain her position on the estate, but in the meantime, Sebastian comes back into her life and she’s torn. I think what inspired me to write this book, though I didn’t know it at the time, was a similar upheaval in my own life. I recognized at the start of my marriage that I couldn’t continue as a corporate lawyer working crazy hours and bring up my children the way I wanted. Thus, a career as a writer was born! But so much of my identity was bound up in my career as a lawyer, it was a real struggle for me to come to terms with not having that any more. I learned that it’s who you are inside, not what you do, that counts. And I hope that’s what my heroine learns along the way, too.

2) We’ve heard you’re a great researcher! Were there any challenges in researching for this book? Any new or suprising historical facts you discovered?

Oh, where did you hear that? LOL Most of my research never makes it into a book. I try very hard to get the details right and I love delving into etymology–the history of words. All sorts of things came up in Scandal’s Daughter. For instance, I intended at first to base my heroine’s mother on Jane Digby, an intrepid Lady of Quality who never really fitted into London Society and ended up running away, eventually marrying a Bedouin prince. So I read about her fascinating life, but then I decided I wanted this wonderful character on stage, so I brought Sybil back from her travels (witha toy-boy in tow!) and she plays a significant role in the book. And there are always a myriad small details, like whether Japanese porcelain had entered England at the time my book was set, to the history of medieval stained glass.

3) What are some of your favorite sources?

Online, I love the Georgian Index http://www.georgianindex.net/fd/index.html#TOPand I use the UK National Trust site a lot to scope out locations:http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/main/w-vh/w-visits/w-findaplace.htm I have a good library of reference books which I’m adding to all the time. One I absolutely love is ‘Regency Style’ by Steven Parissien, which my wonderful writer friend Anna Campbell gave me. It’s visually stunning, and goes through a Regency house, item by item. It has sections devoted to staircases and wallpaper and bathrooms, so it’s incredibly useful. I regularly use Debrett’s ‘The Stately Homes of Britain’ and Carolly Erickson’s ‘Our Tempestuous Day’. I always read the background on the year in which my book is set in OTD before I begin, so I’m aware of any political or social issues that might affect my characters as the story unfolds.Still, there’s never enough time for research!

4) Tell us what’s “risky” or different from the norm about this book!

Gemma and Sebastian actually discuss the possibility of pregnancy before they make love the first time. And Gemma uses contraception, so I thought that was pretty risky! I’d seen so many romances where the couple fall into bed with no thought for the consequences that I wanted to do something different. I was worried an editor might want me to take it out, but my editor is very cool and didn’t even mention it. However, I don’t mean to criticize books where the heroine is swept away by passion. Of course, it happened all the time! I just relate a lot more to someone who does worry about the consequences and takes care of them as far as she can, given the circumstances and the era. It wouldn’t work in every book, but the discussion actually heightened the conflict in Scandal’s Daughter, so I felt justified putting it in.

5) What is it about the Regency that attracts you,makes you want to set your books in it?

Undoubtedly, it’s the wit. I’ve always loved that dry English sense of humour, the banter between hero and heroine that works so well in the Regency setting. And I love the subtext–all the things the characters can’t say but they can imply a great deal by their actions and what they do say,which is always fun for a writer.

6) What’s it like living in Australia? Is there a large romance community there?

I love Australia. I’m absolutely passionate about our wonderful lifestyle. I’m a real beach girl, so it’s great to be an hour’s drive from some of the best beaches in the world. The romance community here is not large by US standards, but the romance writing community is incredibly tight and supportive. There’s no spite or overt jealousy (or if there is, I’ve never come across it). I think it’s a lot to do with our veteran members, who are endlessly patient with newcomers and do so much to assist fledgling writerswith their careers. Authors like Anne Gracie and Trish Morey set the tone,and I’m very grateful for that.

7) Tell us what’s next for you!

My next book is currently scheduled for September 2008. It’s another Regency-set historical, about a duke who accidentally steals a lady’s erotic diary. It’s set against a background of political upheaval, when Liverpool declared a state of emergency and people were being locked up without trial for sedition. My heroine’s brother is a country vicar thrown in jail for aiding suspected arsonists. She threatens to expose government secrets by publishing her diary if the authorities don’t release him. My hero, the duke, steals what he thinks is that diary, only it turns out to contain the heroine’s secret erotic fantasies. I had a lot of fun with that one!

Be sure and comment on Christine’s post for a chance to win an autographed copy of Scandal’s Daughter! Winner will be announced Monday…

First of all, happy anniversary to my parents! They celebrated their 36th yesterday (that is them at their high school prom–I kind of wish my mom still had that dress, it looks so “Regency”!).

So, I am back at work this week, yet wishing I was still on vacation! Especially a great vacation that involves costumed guides and pretty carriages, apple cider, and fun writing friends. I had a wonderful time visiting Risky Diane, Deb Marlowe, and Michelle Willingham (both of them will be visiting RR very soon!). Williamsburg was a blast, as was Jamestown Settlement (where we got to tour the ships and wander their huge new museum–not to mention their huge new gift shop) and Jamestown Island. Seeing that place, so marshy and tiny, just emphasized the fact that, in many ways, those first settlers were a bunch of nincompoops (though, after seeing the movie The New World, nincompoops who look a lot like Colin Farrell and Christian Bale!). But I can’t help admiring that vast spirit of adventure and curiosity (and greed) that would make a person pack themselves into an itsy little wooden ship and launch themselves into the Atlantic, heading out for a new, strange place using a compass and some string to find their way.

In Williamsburg, they were featuring a reenactment program called “Revolutionary City,” depicting the fall of the royal government. I was hoping for some riots, maybe a bonfire or two, but it seemed to be mostly the royal governor riding around town in his fancy carriage (which we couldn’t ride in!) giving speeches. Great clothes, though. And I bought a hat to go with my costume for next year’s Beau Monde soiree at RWA (it pays to think ahead!).

Then I had to go home. But first, more fun! Thanks to the hurricance, air traffic was backed up, and I got to sit on the plane for over two hours before we took off. For a fearful flyer, this is not good. Too much time to worry. I distracted myself with one of the many books I bought in Virginia–Alan Haynes’ Sex in Elizabethan England. This was a fun book, not very long but full of all the scandal highlights of the late 16th century. The writing style made me wonder if it was a rather rambling university lecture transcribed into a book, as it had several asides with no info at all to explain them (like “not long after that lamentable fracas at Mrs. Bull’s…”, which, if you didn’t already know Christopher Marlowe was killed at Mrs. Bull’s lodging house in that year, would be meaningless. They could have at least had some footnotes). Then I read Vogue.

I’m sure you’ll be hearing lots more about my book purchases in the next few weeks, as I work my way through them! And more of the historical tidbits we gleaned from the tours (ask Diane about printing presses!!).

What would your ideal vacation be like?

(And don’t forget to join us this weekend for Christine Wells’s interview! Her debut book from Berkley, Scandal’s Daughter, is out next month…)

Greetings, everyone! Amanda, reporting from hot and sunny Virginia. I’m here until Monday, but Diane and I have already been having loads of fun touring everything historical we can find–and hitting every gift shop (the most important part, of course!)

Yesterday, it was Jamestown, touring the ships Susan Constant, Godspeed, and Discovery (trying to figure out how Balthazar and Bianca, the hero and heroine of my “Caribbean” romance, are going to get it on in that tiny berth), wandering the fort, and exploring the huge new museum where I got to ooh and aah over things like Elizabethan lutes and a recreated 17th century London street. I wanted to get one of the tour guides to let the ship slip its berth and head out for a cruise, but no one seemed willing to take that chance…

In the evening, we met Harlequin Historical author Michelle Willingham for an “authentic colonial dinner” at the King’s Arms Tavern in Williamsburg, where we closed the place down drinking apple cider and listening to lute music. It’s going to just be a “Harlequin festival” all week here, since Deb Marlowe is coming in this evening (and I hope she is also prepared for gift shop mania! Maybe I should say “gifte shoppe,” since every sign seems to add e’s to the end of every word here!).

We’re off to Williamsburg now! I need to get a tricorn hat and maybe some tankards. I’m sure Diane will share more of our historical fun Monday…