Friday, November 4, 2011

AN UNLIKELY PAIR


My apologies for the late posting. We hit a small glitch. 


Amanda Forester is my guest today and she writes about hunky highlanders set in the sweeping history of   14th century Scotland.

How people meet and fall in love is always fascinating. Amanda shares how her two main characters meet and shares with us how she and her husband met. A case of opposites attract.



Romance.  I love it.  Since I'm a romance author, this pronouncement is perhaps not surprising.  I especially enjoy hearing the story if the two people involved are an unlikely pair or come from different backgrounds.
 
Thus in THE HIGHLANDER'S HEART, my muse gave me a hero who is a Highland laird and wanted criminal in England, and a heroine who is an English Countess trying to escape an abusive marriage.  Here is how they first meet:

Isabelle stared at the barbarian before her. These would surely be her final moments on Earth. She tried to think of something worthy of her last thoughts.

I can see his knees. Isabelle groaned and squeezed her eyes shut. This would never do. Thoughts like that would send her straight to purgatory. She put her hands over her eyes and tried to think of something pious. Nothing but a mental vision of his thighs came to mind.

“No, no, no.” She looked up pleading. “Do not kill me yet, I am not ready.”
“Sassenach,” said the shadowy figure with disgust. “Get up English, I will no’ be killing ye.”

Not the most promising of starts, I grant you.  Lady Isabelle tries to use Laird Campbell to save her from her husband's guards, while he decides to hold her for ransom.  Neither of these plans is destined to succeed, and both are forced to work together to save themselves and their people from the threat of war.

I do enjoy watching unlikely couples fall in love.  Perhaps my own love story played a hand in that interest.  I always thought I would marry a person like myself, someone I met in graduate school or at church.  I am embarrassed to admit it, but I met my husband in a bar, actually it was in the parking lot outside the bar (oh, the shame).  Now obviously he was not a Highland warrior nor I an English Countess, but at the time we met he was an infantry officer and I was a PhD student in psychology.  He was cute, very cute I must say, but I couldn't see much of a future in it.  Fast forward to the present and we've been married for 14 years now, so I was (happily) quite wrong.
 
  • So tell me how you met the love of your life.  Were you best friends since the 2nd grade or were you so different you might as well have been from separate planets?  Do tell - I'd love to hear your story! 


Comment on this blog for a chance to win a copy of Amanda Forester's latest release, THE HIGHLANDER'S HEART. A chance for two winners! 


HIGHLANDER'S HEART Available now ebook and print formats

Lady Isabelle escapes her murderous English husband only to be abducted by a Highland warrior and held for ransom.  Her determination to break free from captivity is exceeded only by the passion growing between her and the Highland Laird.  David Campbell plans to hold Isabelle for ransom as an easy way to line his pockets and return her back where she belongs, but he is unprepared for a feisty English lass with a penchant for finding trouble.  Caught between rival clans bent on claiming the throne of Scotland, Campbell must choose a side, and a bride.  Standing on the brink of war, Isabelle may be his only hope to save his clan, and his heart. Excerpt 

"[T]he plot never falters, and fans of Highland romance will appreciate Forester’s devotion to historical accuracy and effortless storytelling." ~Publisher's Weekly




Amanda Forester holds a PhD in clinical psychology and a Masters degree in theology.  As a psychologist, she has worked as a clinical researcher and a university instructor (what they call you when they don’t want to give you tenure).  None of which has anything to do with writing romance novels.  After trying for many years to stop the internal storylines floating around her head, she finally gave up and wrote one down.  Now when she is caught daydreaming and talking to herself she can just say, “I’m plotting a scene for my next novel,” which sounds so much better than, “I’m hallucinating and responding to internal stimuli.”

Amanda lives in the Pacific Northwest with her officer and a gentleman husband and their two remarkably active, naturally brilliant children.  They share their home with two fiendishly destructive cats and one lazy dog.

Find Amanda at her websitefacebook, or twitter.


Monday, October 31, 2011

Lydia Dare Has a Secret



Pssst, I know a secret about Lydia Dare...




Lydia Dare is a writing partnership consisting of Tammy Falkner and Jody Pearson. My guest is actually Jody with Tammy cheering her on. Jodie shares with us a secret she's been burning to tell and so without further ado, here's Jodie.




It’s Halloween! And the perfect time for a paranormal author to reveal a little secret.  Or at least the perfect time for me - the Jodie ½ of Lydia Dare - to do so. For the last few years, Tammy Falkner and I have been writing Paranormal Regencies under the name Lydia Dare. We have seven books on the shelves and three more slated for release next year. 

But we weren’t always a team.  And before we banded together to write these fun stories, we were both on our own individual publishing paths.  Mine was always headed straight for Regency England. 

Over the last year, I’ve felt myself pulled more in the direction of my first love. Oh, I still love our werewolves, vampyres and witches. In fact, I can’t envision a future without them.  But every now and then, I feel the urge to return to a Regency England without magic or the pull of full moons.

So I did. I created a new brand and a new name for myself – Ava Stone. And I’m loving it! Every last second. My Scandalous Series revolves around the family and friends of the Machiavellian-like Viscountess Staveley, and it has been so fun to create and explore this new world.

Whew! I’ve been keeping that secret for a long time. It feels good to have it out in the open now.  (I am not good with secrets. I dance on my tiptoes, dying to tell someone, anyone who will listen.) But now I feel like a kid with a shiny new toy at Christmas…

And speaking of Christmas… (It’s never too early to start thinking about Christmas, right?) Tomorrow, November 1st, Ava Stone’s newest Regency will be available - a short story in A Summons From Yorkshire anthology that is part of a bigger collection Regency Christmas Summons.  

At my website, you can find all the information about this book and the rest of the Christmas collection.



  • What is the longest you've kept a secret? Or are you still keeping it?
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A COUNTERFEIT CHRISTMAS SUMMONS

Lady Emma Whitton has decided its time to take her future in her own hands. She has been in love with Viscount Heathfield since she was in leading strings. Unfortunately, it's been almost that long since she's laid eyes on her brother's old friend and vice versa. Tired of waiting for him to remember her, Emma pens a holiday invitation (in her brother's hand) to Heathfield and waits as patiently as she is able for her one true love to arrive.
 Heath isn't quite certain what to make of the very strange summons he received, but his curiosity is most definitely piqued. He heads north to Danby Castle, only to find that his very orderly life is about to be turned upside down. Excerpt

BUY: Amazon, Smashwords

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The author of several Regency Noir Romances, Ava Stone first fell in love with Mr. Darcy, Jane Austen and Regency England at the age of twelve. And in the years since, that love has never diminished. If she isn't writing Regency Era romance, she can be found reading it.

Her best-selling Scandalous Series is filled with witty humor and centers around the friends and family of the Machiavellian-like Lady Staveley, exploring deep themes but with a light touch. A single mother, Ava lives outside Raleigh NC, but she travels extensively, always looking for inspiration for new stories and characters in the various locales she visits.

Ava blogs regularly at LadyScribes.




Jodie Pearson:
writing as Lydia Dare
Never Been Bit ~ September 2011
The Wolf Who Loved Me ~ April 2012 

writing as Ava Stone
Scandalous Series
Regency Christmas Summons ~ November 2011