Winners All!

We have our winners--and it's all of you!

Heather Graham has graciously decided to make all seven commenters the winners of her novel ONE WORE BLUE, 1st in her Cameron Civil War trilogy. What a boon!

Congratulations to Genevieve, Haley, Janet, Lisa, Leah, Janice and Bev. I'll be contacting you for your address as Heather is sending you the paperback. Lucky you!

Favorite Author and Guest Blogger Heather Graham - On Writing and History

My guest today is New York Times bestselling author Heather Graham, also known to lovers of historical romance as Shannon Drake. A prolific author, she has published over fifty wonderful historical romances and you’ll see them on all my best lists. Among my favorites is the six-book Cameron Saga, comprised of two trilogies, the North American Woman trilogy and the Civil War trilogy.

I asked Heather to tell us something about the history behind her novels and why she wrote so many about the Civil War. I’m honored she accepted!

Heather has graciously agreed to give away One Wore Blue to three lucky commenters, so do leave a thought and your email if not connected to your commenting account.

On Writing and History by Heather Graham

Thanks for having me on your blog, Regan! And thanks for the great reviews of my historical romances. Now on to history…

Everyone has his or her own way of doing things—none of them right and none of them wrong. I’m one of those people who love to see things and do things and make use of them—almost everything I’ve ever written has to do with a personal experience. No, I’ve never joined a vampire cult or spoken long with a ghost, but as far as history goes, I really love learning about it and being there whenever I can. We can never really roll back a clock, but we can often tread the same steps those before us used when involved in momentous events that changed our world.

I think in all I’ve done about twelve books (more, if we count ghosts!) that have to do with the Civil War. This came about because I have five children. Well, before that, it came about because I married Dennis. While my mom was born in Ireland and my dad was from Stirling, Scotland, Dennis’s family is Italian. They settled in Worcester, Massachusetts, and Dennis and I both grew up in Miami. But he has a great, wonderful, loving—and prolific—family. So, when the kids were little, every year we went up and down I-95, passing through Florida, Georgia, the Carolinas, Virginia, Maryland, Delaware, New Jersey, New York and Connecticut. Virginia is about midway and so we stopped there most frequently. 

Now, when you have a family of seven, you’re often looking for things to do that won’t end your travels in a day. And so we wound up going to battle re-enactments, campsites, and museums. Those museums and sites led to other museums and sites and I think my real passion and absolute intrigue for the era was born at Gettysburg where I read about a real family, a father who owned a farm at Gettysburg and his two sons. One fought for the Union; one for the Confederacy. And the Rebel son was at the battle of Gettysburg where he died on his father’s land and his father found his wayward child, riddled with bullets and shells. (This gave birth to One Wore Blue, One Wore Gray, and And One Rode West!)

New Reissued Trilogy

It’s simply a heartbreaking time in our history. All the players were praying to the same God—all of them believed they were just. Slavery wasn’t the only issue, but it was certainly the major issue, and, of course, now we all find the very idea an abomination against humanity. But think about today—think about the way we sometimes feel about the issues in our own era—gun control, American involvement in foreign wars—we’re all just as passionate and stubborn and often divided by regions within our own country.  History not only gives us real conflict, pain, and suffering, it introduces to us to real characters, not good or evil, just human. And when we tell our stories, we can draw upon what’s real to remember that the world isn’t white or black but has a million different shades. 

I recently retread a lot of steps. A dear friend from Australia who is suffering from ALS was in the states and he had never been to Biloxi or Vicksburg. So after our latest Horror Writers Association (HWA) in New Orleans, we ‘saddled up’ and headed first to Beauvoir where President Jefferson Davis spent his last days (he actually died in New Orleans) and then on to Vicksburg. We stopped, too, at Rosemont—where Jefferson Davis grew up. Rosemont isn’t visited as much. We were the only ones there. Our wonderful guide opened the velvet cords to the rooms and I imagined what it was like to be a child and then a teenager during the pre-Civil War days. I saw the things they saw in those days—touched some of the things they used. Old buildings remained; in the sweltering summer heat, I could even try to imagine what it had been like to be a slave.

But we can’t always travel—and, except in our imaginations, we can’t travel back in time. (I’ve tried calling Dr. Who—it hasn’t worked!) That’s where the visions in our minds come in. And today there’s a wealth of material available on line as well as in bookstores and libraries.

I draw on them all. 

History is everywhere. I’ve also used Ireland and Scotland at times—that was the history I learned from my parents growing up. I’ve been to both old homelands, but before I went, I felt I’d been there—I’d read so many of my parents’ books. 

If you’re looking for something to stir you, history is everywhere. Hey, we’re not known for being a font of history in Miami, but it is here, too. Take a day to explore what’s nearest to you! You’ll always be rewarded. And you never know. A friend irritated me one day by saying that Florida had no history and I wound up with a six book series to prove her wrong. [Regan’s note: It starts with Runaway and it’s a keeper!]

 

It’s all around us—we just have to find it and use it. But it’s not dates and times that matter—it’s people. In history and in our present lives, it’s people who really matter. When people come to life on a page, everything that happens to them becomes important to a reader. 

I’m best known these days for my “Krewe of Hunter” series. They are contemporary books, but the ‘Krewe’ have the ability to speak with the dead. While crimes are committed by the living, the books are based on the ability of the Krewe to communicate with those who came before—and often know why the living are doing what they’re doing. Out this month is The Night is Alive, part of the summer Krewe series that started with The Night is Watching and will be followed September 30^th with The Night is Forever. In The Night is Alive, a brand new agent is beset with a series of murders that have to do with her family business, a pirate-themed restaurant in Savannah, Georgia, with a history of piracy in the early days of our country.

The best I’ve ever seen is a quote by the philosopher George Santayana. On our first trip to Germany we wound up heading to see the concentration camp at Dachau. I was surprised that they retained the camps where so much horror and tragedy and death had occurred. But there was Santayana’s statement about the gate: “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”

I rest my case!

If you'd like to keep up with Heather's writings, check out her website:  http://www.eheathergraham.com

New Review: Heather Graham’s ONE WORE BLUE – Enthralling Civil War Romance!

NOTE: Heather Graham will be on my blog tomorrow, July 30^th so do come by to read her post and comment for a chance to win one of three copies of One Wore Blue!

One Wore Blue is the first in the Cameron Saga’s Civil War trilogy (and follows the Cameron stories told in Graham's North American Women trilogy). These are stories rich in history, well told and with amazing detail, seamless dialog and a family of wonderful characters you will love.

The story begins in 1859 with the Harper's Ferry incident involving abolitionist John Brown. Jesse Cameron is serving as a doctor for the federal troops under Jeb Stuart and his younger brother, Daniel, is serving under Robert Lee. They have grown up with the beautiful and independent Kiernan Miller in Tidewater, Virginia. Kiernan loves Jesse and is good friends with Daniel and their sister Christa Cameron. As they sense the approach of war, Jesse cannot abide a nation divided, but Kiernan is a loyal Rebel, a Virginian, who like Daniel, supports the Confederacy. Jesse will choose to wear the Yankee uniform to support the Union, and though Kiernan loves him and has given herself to him, she will marry another, a loyal Reb she does not love.

Right there, Graham had me. My heart was dying. Jesse was like all the Cameron men before him: tall, dark and handsome and strongly committed to the cause of liberty and truth--and capable of deeply loving his woman while brooking no rebellion. Ah...a REAL man. I wondered what Kiernan was thinking when she refused to marry Jesse. I wanted to slap her several times. But alas, she was a blind Rebel.

You will laugh and you will cry with this one, as you become a part of the lives of young people who were swept into the war that tore apart a nation and tore apart families...a time that shaped America. The ending is exciting, too. Graham has produced a series of keepers!

I highly recommend the entire 6-book Cameron Saga:

The North American Women trilogy:

-Sweet Savage Eden
-A Pirate's Pleasure
-Love Not a Rebel (Revolutionary War)

The Cameron Civil War trilogy:

-One Wore Blue
-And One Wore Gray
-And One Rode West

New Review: Cordia Byers’s DEVON – Revolutionary War Saga of an English Girl and a Spy for the American Rebels

Set in 1777, in the time of the Revolutionary War, this is the story of Devon Mackinsey, the illegitimate daughter of a Scottish lord who, caring nothing for her, consigned her to the kitchens of their estate. A kind butler helped introduce her to the grandmother she never knew who saves her from a life as a scullery maid. Sent away to a proper lady’s school, Devon becomes a well-mannered beauty who resorts to crime as the infamous Shadow to save her family’s estate from its many debts. But when wealthy heir to Lord Barclay, Hunter Barclay discovers her stealing his uncle's silver, they make a bargain -- one kiss for silence about both her secret and his (he's a spy for the Rebel colonists).

Devon and Hunter part that night, but Hunter must intervene again to save Devon from the gallows when a cruel English lord would have his vengeance upon her for another theft. Hunter’s intervention grants Devon her life in exchange for a lifetime as Hunter’s bond slave. He takes her to the Colonies, and on the way, he claims her as his mistress, never telling her he will marry another woman when they reach Virginia. Nor does he tell Devon of his dual life as a Royalist and an American Revolutionary.

I have loved others by Byers so I was not surprised I loved this one, too. It’s well told with lots of sexual tension and great action—kept me reading late into the night. There are a few improbable elements but none so ridiculous they bothered me. Beyers made them seem plausible. Devon is a worthy heroine, just the kind I like: a courageous young woman who rises to every challenge life throws at her. Hunter begins as a selfish though patriotic rogue who takes Devon’s innocence thinking only of his own pleasure, but gets caught in his obsession with the lovely girl. I recommend this one.

Best American Patriotic Historical Romances

So you want to get in the mood to celebrate America? And you want to do it with a hunky hero and a worthy heroine set in times when America’s future was on the line? Well, here’s the list you’ll be wanting to pick from—all good ones! Some are a part of a trilogy or a series…and I do recommend you read all of them. All of these have been rated 4 or 5 stars by me.

The War of Independence/Revolutionary War:

Caroline, Touch the Sun and Spring Fires, from the Beauvisage series by Cynthia Wright

Devon by Cordia Byers

Love a Rebel, Love a Rogue by Shirl Henke

Love Among the Rabble by Lauren Laviolette

Love Not a Rebel, 3^rd in the North American Woman trilogy by Heather Graham

Master of My Dreams and Captain of My Heart by Danelle Harmon

Passion’s Ransom by Betina Krahn

Silver Storm, from the Raveneau series by Cynthia Wright

The Paradise Bargain by Betina Krahn (Whiskey Rebellion)

Velvet Chains by Constance O’Banyon

The War of 1812:

Masque of Jade by Emma Merritt

Midnight Masquerade by Shirlee Busbee

My Love, My Enemy by Jan Cox Speas

The Captain’s Captive by Christine Dorsey

The Windflower by Laura London (aka Sharon and Tom Curtis)

The Underground Railroad:

Passion’s Joy by Jennifer Horsman

The Civil War:

Ashes in the Wind by Kathleen Woodiwiss

Dark Stranger and Rides a Hero (first two books in the Slater Brothers Civil War trilogy; the third, Apache Summer, takes place after the war in Texas) by Heather Graham

Master of Paradise by Virginia Henley

Midnight Confessions by Candice Proctor

One Wore Blue, And One Word Gray, And One Rode West, Cameron, Civil War trilogy by Heather Graham

Rebel, Surrender, Glory and Triumph (from the Old Florida's McKenzies series) by Heather Graham

Sing My Name by Ellen O’Connell

Straight for the Heart by Marsha Canham

Surrender in Moonlight by Jennifer Blake

Tomorrow the Glory by Shannon Drake

When the Splendor Falls by Laurie McBain

An Interview with Gifted Cover Artist Jon Paul - Inspiration that Moves the Heart and Makes Us Want to Read the Book!

Today my guest is talented cover artist Jon Paul who has painted scenes that grace the covers of many historical romance novels. It is my pleasure to interview the man behind the art we have come to admire and love.

Your art is beautiful and moving…do you paint for yourself or only on commission, or both?

First I want to thank you for saying my work is beautiful and moving. When I receive comments like this, they mean the world to me as an artist. To think that my work touches some one on an emotional level or moves them gives me great pleasure. I get comments from time to time in which people mention they get lost in the moment of my work and that kind of fascinates me. That to me is very powerful to think that as an artist my viewer is captured in the moment and they are viewing my art more than just looking at another cover.

When I am not doing my commercial work, which is all on commissions, I do paint for myself. The subject matter when I am painting for myself is always with people in the artwork, mainly subjects in costumes depicting a certain part in history. I love history. I guess being a book cover illustrator for 30 years has taught me or trained me to be a storyteller. I just can't say I want to paint a beautiful scene without some kind of story behind it. The more of the story I know behind the scene the more I get involved in the piece.

What inspires your work?

Anything and everything. It's all what lens you want to look at life through. During the middle of the day I take a break away from my work and walk 3 to 4 miles. When I walk, it is like a meditation and the beauty that I see during these walks inspiring in itself. I could see hundreds a paintings in a day in my mind. I'm fortunate that I live in a area where there is beautiful scenery, forests, lakes, mountains and a lot of wildlife.

Other things that inspire my art would include looking through the works of art from the past. I just had a section of my house set up as a library for my extensive collection of art books. I have over a thousand art books from every period from the Renaissance up to Modern Times. At nighttime I go into that section of my house and spend hour upon hour just paging through my collection. I can't even put it into words how inspired I get when I am looking through the works of artists like John Singer Sargent, Sorolla or Anders Zorn, the Masters of the past.

What are your favorite pieces?

I really can't say I have any favorite pieces of my own work. When I am doing my covers, I always feel that creative energy to say to myself, "well this is going to be my best piece to date"… until I start the next one. There is one piece I did when I was 21 just to get into the industry… to this day I have kept that piece and never sold it. It has a lot of sentimental value to me and it reminds me of the purity and love I had for my art when I was just starting out in the book cover publishing industry.

You are a handsome man, Jon. I know you use models, so I must ask…do you ever use yourself as the model for the hero?

Thank You:) When I was younger I was in two of my illustrations… It was fun, though I was very nervous doing it even though I knew the models at the time I was posing with very well. I’d rather be on the other side of the camera or easel (lol)

Do you have thoughts about how you want your art to be used on romance novel covers or do you leave that to the publisher and author?

Well I really don't have much of a choice, for the publisher will always have the last word:) So I go according to their requests. Most publishers give me full creative freedom these days, which brings my best work out of me. I am very thankful that they like my work enough to keep coming back and hiring me for more jobs.

Do you license the use of a particular painting? Do you sell the originals?

I do retain the copyright on all my work and from time to time I do license it out for second rights. The originals that were done in oil I have never sold. In digital, there is no original, so to speak. (I use a mixed media--traditional and digital--to get the effect I want. These days the publishers would never wait for an oil painting to dry.)

What are you working on now?

Believe it or not, right at the moment I have sixteen covers I am doing… all for major publishers… so I am booked up for the next several months. The piece I worked on today is from 1887, the Victorian period, which is my favorite period in history. I love the late Victorian period… anything from the 1880's up to World War I, "The La Belle Époque Era" … which is the late Victorian into the Edwardian period. I should have been born in that era (lol). On one condition, however—that I could paint the portraits of the members of High Society. To be a portrait painter back in those times must have been exciting. All those beautiful gowns!

What are your hopes for your future work?

To get more time to do my own art. I love doing the romance covers, though I would love to get deeply into one of my own projects and put a 100 percent of my heart and soul into it. I am in the process of working on a major project and have been doing a lot of research for the last several years. At a later date I hope to start releasing some of these pieces through another website I will be creating. The website will be dedicated to just my Fine Art (gallery art)… I already took the domain name out and am in a process of opening it in the late Fall of 2013.


What do you do for enjoyment when you are not painting?

I know this is going to sound crazy, but when I am not doing the commercial work I am still doing my art. I know of no other way to enjoy myself than to create… creating is like a meditation to me, for I can get lost into my own world. One time when I took a vacation from book covers for two weeks, my agent at the time called me and asked me what I was going to do for my vacation or where I would be going, I told him, "I am working on one of my own projects" He thought I was crazy. Maybe I am in that sense, though my art occupies one hundred percent of my time.

Some of your newer work, while still historical in theme, appears to have less background and more room for a book title. Is that because the publishers are asking you for that or is that just a different path for your art?

A little of both. The publishers love it for it makes their work much easier not struggling with the type. As an artist I like brushwork and just hints of the background, I would say that is the style I prefer. I don't like putting in every detail… when you do, than the eye does not know where to focus first when everything in the art is demanding equal attention. I always relate it to music… if you are composing a piece of music, there are high notes and low notes, if every note was the same it wouldn't become a beautiful melody. So, in the visual sense for artwork, you are directing the viewer to where you want them to look. You are creating harmony in the piece that is pleasing to the eye.

Anything you’d like to tell your admirers in the world of romance?

I thank them for all their kind words and comments regarding my work. Their comments and words truly inspire me to create my best. Whenever I am creatively feeling down, all I have to do is look at the letters I receive or visit my Facebook Page and it lifts me right out of whatever creative low I may be having at that moment. As an artist you can't ask for anything more than that. To me that is worth more than anything of monetary value. It's priceless. I am truly living my dream.


Jon, thanks so much for granting me an interview. I have long admired your work, and hope that some day one of my own novels will see a painting by you on the cover!

For more of Jon's work and to keep in touch with him, see his website, www.jonpaulstudios.com, and connect with him on Facebook.

Just got this from Goodreads!

"On behalf of the Goodreads team, I want to say thank you. You’re in the top 1% of reviewers on Goodreads! Your many thoughtful book reviews help make us a vibrant place for book lovers. And our community has been growing! We now number more than 20 million members on Goodreads."

How fun is that?

A Reader’s Pet Peeves: The 10 that set me on edge every time!

I love to read romance, particularly historical romance, yet as a reader there are some things that really annoy. I’m not the only one who has these complaints either, at least based on the Amazon and Goodreads reviews I read. Hopefully this will help authors who want to please their readers avoid some pitfalls. I try to keep this list in mind when I’m writing, so I’m counseling myself, too.

Join me if you have a pet peeve I failed to mention. Here are my top 10:

1.    A cover that has nothing to do with the story. I realize the authors have little to do with this so it’s really a gripe at the publishers. But it is nonetheless valid. Real examples abound: A handsome pirate with black hair and dark eyes on the cover, but the hero has blond hair and silver eyes! A Victorian costumed woman on the cover of a Restoration romance.  A Highlander in a plaid kilt centuries before they wore kilts. A heroine described as “plain and plump” but the cover shows her a beauty with a devastating petite figure. Please. Why is it the publishers think readers don’t notice? Well, we do!

2.    A title that doesn’t describe the story or cheapens it. I know the publishers are selling romance like the cable outfits sell sex, but when they pick a dime store novel title just because it sounds like a book that is selling well, or they think the words “seduced,” “ravished,” or “in bed with” will make us buy it, to me it cheapens a serious historical romance. And don’t use words in the title that aren’t related to the story, like “pirate” if there’s no pirate in the romance (yes, I encountered one like that!), or “seduced” when there’s no seduction. The authors I’ve talked to hate it when publishers do this, though some say they have little say about it. That is sad, really. I have heard this from several authors. Do the publishers think we readers would like the books less if they used more honest, serious, worthy titles? (Like perhaps the one the author prefers?)

3.   Not enough emotion to engage mine. Witty dialog, clever storylines and great hooks may be preferred by today’s publishers, but if you can’t engage my emotions, if you can’t make me care, I won’t be rating the book 5 stars. And it takes time to build characters, to tell me why I should love or hate them. I need layers of interesting tidbits about them. Only some authors get my 5 star emotional rating: Penelope Williamson (a two-Kleenex box author), Kathleen Givens, Elizabeth Stuart, Jan Cox Speas, Laurie McBain, Nadine Crenshaw, Jennifer Blake, Virginia Henley, Betina Krahn and Iris Johansen, to name some.

4.   Simpering, snippy, whiny or weak heroines. Some people might like the weak, simpering females, or the continually snippy ones. Not me. I like my heroines with backbone. Not snippy, mind you, but courageous. Inspire me with heroines who think, women who won’t be dictated to, who rise to meet life’s challenges while still have a caring heart and you just might make me a fan. A good example is Sarah in BROKEN ARROW by Judith James. She is one of the best heroines out there: strong, compassionate, a unique individual who swims against the tide—and a woman who fights for her love. Another is Fallon in PRINCESS OF FIRE by Heather Graham (aka Shannon Drake), who refused to be cowered in the face of William the Conqueror. Or, there is Rachel in Penelope Williamson's THE OUTSIDER. My reviews are replete with other examples. (See my Favorite Heroes and Heroines List I publish each December.) There is no quicker way to turn me off to a story than to make the heroine a whimpering, whiny female. (I could give you examples of those, too, but I won’t.) And it doesn’t make up for it if later in the story she suddenly becomes a female warrior. Not buying it. Mind you, it’s ok if she cries for a valid reason. People do. But if she is constantly teary eyed and whimpering, or snippy in the extreme, I won’t read another by that author.

5.   Contrived plot elements. I’m reading along, enjoying a great romance when suddenly, wham, out of nowhere something happens that just doesn’t fit—and isn’t believable. I know it’s romance, but it has to be natural…not contrived just to get the story moving in a certain direction. This is really important and can turn me off to an author quicker than anything. I have found that authors who engage in this do so again and again. I won’t mention names but suffice it to say these are the ones I’ve given 2 or 3 stars to on Amazon; and they are not on my “Best” lists.

6.   A research dump. I really appreciate it when the historical romance reflects the author’s thorough research. Those are my favorites. I can always tell and I give the authors high marks for it in my reviews. But don’t dump everything you learned into long passages in the story. If the heroine is a potter, I don’t need the encyclopedia version of everything there is to know about pottery—or fossils, or painting, or stone masonry, etc. If I want more details, I’ll look them up. I can give you many authors who incorporate their research very well. A few whose names come to mind are Heather Graham (aka Shannon Drake), Nadine Crenshaw, Elizabeth Stuart, Meredith Duran, Judith James, Kathleen Givens, Shirl Henke, Cynthia Wright and Penelope Williamson.

7.   Moral lectures disguised as romance. Yes, I know poverty existed in the past centuries (as it does now), and I expect it to be reflected in a historical romance, but don’t lecture me on the importance of being socially responsible. Don’t lecture me on the evils of slavery, natural healers that aren’t really witches, the benefits of vegetarianism, being charitable to the poor, etc. I get it. Reflect it, but don’t moralize. If you feel strongly, write an editorial, not a romance.

8.   A character acting inconsistently. You know this one…a smart, savvy heroine who suddenly does something really stupid. In once romance I read, the heroine, who had been pretty smart up until this point, suddenly goes along with an abduction. Doesn’t scream, doesn’t fight. Nada. It was so disappointing it threw off my whole feeling about the story. Or, consider the hero who has always been a noble, forthright guy, who suddenly believes the worst about the heroine with no real evidence or provocation. Ugh!

9.   Manufactured sexual tension. It’s gotta be real. It should come naturally out of the circumstances and the lives of the characters, but in some 2 and 3 star romances, it comes out of thin air. That will sour me on a story quicker than anything. You know what I’m talking about: arguments that should never have happened; misunderstandings any normal human being would clear up with one sentence—those things! I give highest marks to an author who has an intriguing plot that naturally develops and holds my attention, one who does not throw a wrench into the works merely to separate the hero and heroine. As a writer I know how tough this is to accomplish.

10. Love scenes that don’t match the characters or are the same in every one of the author’s books. If the heroine is an innocent virgin and suddenly she is seducing the hero with moves like a practiced courtesan (including the word “please” as a euphemism for “do it now”), you just lost me. The love scene has to match the people involved and their experience. If you want a courtesan’s moves, then make the heroine an experienced woman of the night. A failure to match the love scene to the characters can be subtle. If the heroine is insecure and her past reflects bad experiences with men, she isn’t going to jump into bed with the hero and take the initiative in lovemaking (yes I’ve encountered this). No way. It must seem like the kind of love scene these two people would share. And, don’t make all your love scenes the same in every book you write!

New Review: Shirlee Busbee’s MIDNIGHT MASQUERADE – Love in Louisiana in 1814 as the Battle of New Orleans Approaches!

I love Shirlee Busbee’s romances because I know I’m going to diving into a deep story, one with rich details in the descriptions of places, people, food and history, woven together like a tapestry, providing a great background for her captivating love stories. This one is no different. Her seventh novel, it tells an intriguing tale of love in the time of the War of 1812 (referred to by its opponents as “Madison’s War”).

Set in Louisiana, beginning in the spring of 1814, this is the story of Melissa Seymour, whose greatest concern is surviving until her trust funds come in, which will only happen when her younger brother, 19-year-old Zachary turns 21—or she marries. Her uncle, who stands to benefit, urges her to marry, and yet Lissa is “unmoved by the most ardent admirer.” To discourage the men who flock about her, she disguises herself as a dowdy shrew. Her gift is horses and she has one stallion, Folly, who is magnificent and wins all his races. His prize money is keeping her and Zachary’s home of Willowglen afloat. Then enters one arrogant, wealthy 32-year-old bachelor, Dominic Slade of New Orleans, who wants to buy Folly and start a stud farm on his new estate close to Willowglen. Through a bizarre set of circumstances, they are caught together in his hotel room and forced to wed.

Busbee sets forth a shotgun marriage that grew into love against a backdrop of English spies in Louisiana seeking out Loyalists who can be counted on for the Battle of New Orleans that is coming. Among the secondary characters is Jason Savage, the hero in Busbee’s GYPSY LADY. While the pace is a bit slower than more modern historical romances, fans of Busbee will not be disappointed.

New Review: Jennifer Blake’s SURRENDER IN MOONLIGHT – Captivating Adventure with the Blockade Runners of the Civil War

I should just say at the outset that I love Jennifer Blake’s historical romances. They are so well written with lots of sexual tension and wonderful heroes and heroines. Like many of her early ones, this one is written from the heroine’s perspective, making the hero that much more mysterious. It’s a wonderful story of the blockade runners who risked their lives to supply the Confederacy during the Civil War. And it’s the story of an unlikely meeting that led to a legacy of love.

The story begins in 1863, two years into the Civil War, as Lorna Forrester is forced to marry a moron to clear up her uncle’s debt. But the night before the wedding she takes shelter from a thunderstorm only to fall prey to the seduction of a handsome blockade-runner named Ramon Cazenave, who is happy to take the innocence of the woman promised to the son of the man who stole his family’s home. As New Orleans falls to the Federal naval forces, Ramon sweeps Lorna to safety in Nassau where she begins a new life but neither Ramon nor Lorna can forget the passion they found in that thunderstorm.

Lorna is a heroine to love, a woman who became the obsession of all the men who knew her yet loved only one man. And Ramon is the reluctant war hero who claimed to do it all for money while he was a patriot in his heart. It’s a great story of worthy men and women in a historic time in American. I also loved the Author’s Note at the end that documented the incredible amount of research Blake did for this book. I think you will like it.

This is a part of the boxed eBook set Love and Adventure Part 2:

Surrender in Moonlight
Notorious Angel
Golden Fancy

New Review: Ellen O’Connell’s SING MY NAME – A Superb and Tender Post Civil War Love Story from the Old West

It’s 1867 and the Civil War is over. Young Matt Slade, the son of Texas settlers, fought for the South in some of the bloodiest battles—and he survived. Because he’s good at surviving. So when two shady bounty hunters seize him for a crime he didn’t commit, he determines he’ll survive. They won’t take him dead, as in “dead or alive.”

While being transported with a group of calvary escorting some women to Fort Grissom, Matt encounters Sarah Hammond, the young daughter of passionate Massachusetts’s abolitionists, who is on her way to join her fiancé, a Yankee major, a man she does not love. Abhorring the abuse of Matt by the bounty hunters, Sarah intervenes to assure Matt is properly fed and no longer beaten. Shortly afterward, Comanches attack. Matt and Sarah survive only because of Matt’s resourceful thinking. To get to the fort, they must depend on each other—and they grow close. When they finally arrive, and Sarah's fiancé learns that she has fallen in love with “Rebel trash," he takes his revenge on the young lovers. And a fierce revenge it is. It will be 1875 before the story is over…

O’Connell has a way of putting you right in the action, of making you feel the emotion and of understanding what led the hero and heroine to be who they are. The tender budding love between Matt and Sarah is the genuine thing. But they will have many hurdles to cross before they can be together. Along the way, O’Connell will make you laugh and she’ll make you cry. It’s about sacrificial love and standing up to bias that says a fallen woman and a gunslinger aren’t worthy citizens (“What did you do with a man who loved you too much to love you?”). I absolutely love her writing! Simply put, O’Connell tells GREAT stories and she does it very well.

I highly recommend this one and all her romances. DANCING ON COALS (with an Apache hero) is my favorite but Matt Slade from SING MY NAME is on my favorite Heroes & Heroines list.

New Review: Jennifer Horsman’s PASSIONS’ JOY – Love on the Underground Railroad: an Unusual English lord and an American Minx.

For those of you who love Horsman’s novels, be sure and read this before VIRGIN STAR if you can, as this comes first. This one is set in 1818 in New Orleans and VIRGIN STAR is set five years later in 1823—together they tell the story of two virile and worthy heroes who consider themselves brothers. Both were raised in Ireland though only Seannesy, the hero of VIRGIN STAR, is Irish.

PASSION’S JOY tells the story of Lord Ramsey (“Ram”) Barrington and the 17-year-old New Orleans minx, Joy Claret Reubens, who is a “conductor” in the Underground Railroad in the early 19th century. Sending slaves north to freedom is a dangerous business as Joy discovers when she dresses like a boy and accompanies the slaves to the boat that will take them to freedom. While keeping watch over some bounty hunters for her accomplices, she is spotted by Ram who is taking a run in the woods. And, forever after, her life is changed.

There are many things I love about Horsman’s writing: her detailed, believable plots, her action and adventure, the realism of the historical elements, her sexy strong heroes, her winsome heroines and her secondary characters. (Each of her characters has a backstory and often we learn this from their point of view as Horsman skillfully and often moves between points of view.) All that makes for a richer tale. I admire her ability to do that so seamlessly.

In this one, we have a hero who is a British lord but acts more like a pirate. Often, he plays the cad. (I warn you, there is spanking, rape and the intentional taking of an unborn child’s life.) He will definitely make you angry. Oh, he has a generous heart and does some really good things with Seannesy, but his treatment of our heroine is sometimes less than stellar. If you can handle that, it’s a worthy adventure that will definitely hold your interest.

New Review: Constance O’Banyon’s VELVET CHAINS – Superb Storytelling in this Privateer Adventure from the American Revolution

Set during the American Revolution, 1779-1781, this tells the story of Lady Season Chatsworth, a young English beauty who fakes a tumble in the hay with the stable boy on their English estate to avoid a dreaded arranged marriage. Her reputation in tatters, her father the duke sends her away to America to marry her cousin, Sir Edmund Kensworthy, captain of His Majesty’s Guards in New York. But her reputation as a loose woman, false though it may be, has followed her to the Colonies.

Both Edmund and his handsome friend Lucas Carrington, to whom Season is immediately attracted, assume she is free with her favors, much to her chagrin. Meanwhile, there is an American privateer called “the Raven” terrorizing the British and winning the praise of the patriots.

This is a great story of a worthy heroine who is constantly faced with the foibles of men who underestimate her. She put up with so much one could only wonder at the wisdom of a 19-year-old girl. When she is captured by the Raven and held for exchange of an American prisoner, the adventure begins and Season finds herself in love with the masked man who takes her innocence.

O’Banyon did a good job of integrating the varying emotions of the Colonists as the British lived among them. Our hero is a spy as well as a privateer and I loved that! This is one that will hold your interest. And though I might not have wanted to wait until the very end for Season to learn The Truth, I cannot deny I was absorbed enough to hang in there.

A few nits: With her careful attention to historical details, it was surprising O’Banyon got the forms of address wrong for the British nobility. If her father was the Duke of Chatsworth, their surname would not be “Chatsworth,” and she would not be “Lady Chatsworth” (that would have been her mother); she would be “Lady Season (surname).” Also, I just have to say that naming your daughter “Season” in England at that time (when “Season” referred to the London social season) would be like naming an American girl “Cotillion.” Seemed bizarre and it distracted. But this was minor in the scheme of the whole story.

This is both a bodice-ripper privateer tale—and a patriotic romance!

New Review: Jennifer Blake’s GOLDEN FANCY – An Absorbing Bodice Ripper from the Old West!

I am a fan of Jennifer Blake and love her “Love and Adventure” stories (she has two boxed sets of them—all eBooks). This one is a bodice ripper from the Old West and very well told.

Set in 1893, it tells of 19-year-old Serena Walsh who has lost her parents to typhoid and is forced to travel with a Mormon wagon train heading through Colorado where her father had planned to mine for gold. But the crazed Mormon Elder Greer has eyes for Serena and decides she will become his wife whether she is willing or no. When he thinks to take her by force, she stabs him with a fork and flees to the prairie. There, she is rescued by Ward Dunbar, owner of the Eldorado saloon, who sees her safely to Colorado and thinking she is a loose woman forcibly takes her innocence (yes, indeedy, this is a bodice ripper).

Ward, a lawyer turned gambler, wasn’t looking too good when he took Serena’s innocence and, making it worse, forced her to become his kept woman, holding her prisoner in a room above his saloon. Then, too, Ward’s partner, Pearlie, is jealous of Serena and resents her presence. But all is not lost; millionaire Nathan Benedict discovers Serena and wants her for his own, offering a fortune to Ward to leave her alone. And, oh yes, someone is killing ladies of the night.

It’s a tightly woven plot with lots of tension and very well written. Based on thorough research, Blake brings to life the gold mining town of Cripple Creek in the late 19^th century with all its colorful characters and more than one villain. The story is told through the heroine’s perspective so you’ll be wondering what Ward is thinking much of the time, as I did, at least until he tells us. This is one story that will keep you turning pages.

New Review: Jan Cox Speas’s MY LOVE, MY ENEMY – A Lighter One by This Great Author…as she brings the War of 1812 to life!

Set in 1813 in Baltimore, London, France and in the Atlantic, this is the story of an American girl and a British viscount. It is one of the wonderful historical romances that comprise the legacy of Jan Cox Speas. (My favorite is Bride of the MacHugh—it’s on my Top 20 list.)

Of the seven daughters born to Samuel Bradley, gentleman of the Chesapeake, Catherine Page was a rebel who tried the patience of Duncan MacDougall who worked for her father. But even he could not foresee that the bored 18 year old, wanting to spend her birthday money for some new frippery, would stow away on the small sloop Duncan sailed across the Bay to Annapolis to pick up her father’s Madeira.

Once there, she managed to get into further trouble when she rescued a British gentleman from a local mob of men who wanted to hang him as a spy. MacDougall was none too pleased to be sailing early just to get the man and his servant to safety, especially when, as a result, they ran right into a British warship. Taken aboard the English frigate, Page learns that the British gentleman she rescued is Jocelyn Trevor, Viscount Hazard of London.

Lord Hazard claimed to be in America to visit his sister though Page questions that. (He was an officer on Wellington’s staff, and it seemed odd that he’d be allowed to leave the Spanish front for family business.) In fact, he is the spy the men in Annapolis accused him of being, though Page doesn’t know it. But since Page and MacDougall end up on a British warship because of him, Hazard vows he will see her safely back to her father.

This story reminded me of the statement of Bilbo in Lord of the Rings when he says to his nephew, “It's a dangerous business, Frodo, going out your door. You step onto the road, and if you don't keep your feet, there's no knowing where you might be swept off to.” Having stepped out of her door, Page is swept away to one adventure after another as she gets caught up in the War of 1812 and the life of one particularly demanding British lord.

Speas allows us to see the conflicting emotions of those on both sides of the War of 1812 as Hazard is shamed by the British atrocities at Hampton, and Page experiences gracious treatment at the hands of the British officers when aboard their ships. Though there were several reasons America declared war on Britain, Speas deals specifically with the impressment of merchant sailors, who considered themselves Americans, into the Royal Navy. We also get to witness America’s clever privateers at work with the character Mason. I love that Speas incorporates her extensive research of the history into this endearing and charming love story. It’s a bit lighter than her others but still very enjoyable!

I have featured the older cover because I love it and believe it represents more accurately the story and the characters but here's the newer one should you want to see it:

New Review: Lauren Laviolette’s LOVE AMONG THE RABBLE – Wonderful Love Story Spanning America’s War of Independence

This was my first by Laviolette and her debut novel. It's a great first book and a wonderful love story! I'll definitely be looking for more of hers. If you like a well-written historical romance that will put you into the time of America's Revolutionary War, this is a good one! It spans the years 1773-1780, as Laviolette takes us deep into what happened in South Carolina during that time. I love a romance with rich historical detail and real (as well as fictional) characters, especially when combined with a dashing hero and a strong, independent heroine--and I was not disappointed in this one.

As the story opens, it's 1773 and the Colonies are on the brink of war with England. "Loyalists" and "Rebels" are beginning to square off against each other in South Carolina. Today we think of the war as between England and the young American nation, but it wasn't so clear then. People loyal to the Crown who considered themselves Americans lived next door to those "rebels" who considered themselves patriots. Sometimes this occurred even in the same family.

Liliana ("Lily") Dunmore considered herself a patriot (while her family purportedly was Loyalist) until she met Lieutenant Bennett Davenport, a British Naval officer who happened to be in her home of Charles Town. Though Bennett is wildly attracted to the beautiful and tempestuous Lily Dunmore (who is crazy about him), he expects to inherit a title as a Baronet and knows he cannot marry a commoner, especially a Colonial. The war will tear their budding love asunder and years will pass before they are brought together, but what a sweet ending.

I highly recommend this one and think you will like it, too!

New Review: Laurie McBain’s WHEN THE SPLENDOR FALLS – Sweeping Saga of Southern Life Before the Civil War and New Mexico Territory After

Regrettably for lovers of historical romance, this was McBain’s last novel. I have read, reviewed and loved all of them (see list below). And, they can be found gracing my best lists (this one is on both the Western and Patriotic lists). McBain was a part of the seminal group of authors who ushered in modern historical romance in the 70s, and she stayed for the booming 80s to give us more wonderful, well-written, and deeply emotional sagas. As if she knew this would be her last, she took her time with it, slowly developing the tapestry of the two Southern families whose lives were intertwined before, during and after the terrible conflict known as the Civil War.

Leigh Alexandra Travers, of Travers Hill in Virginia loved her home, her family and her horses for which the Travers family was famous. Neil Braedon was from the branch of the Virginia Braedons that went west to the Territories. He was captured by Comanches as a child to become the warrior “Sun Dagger,” then later rescued and sent east to school, graduating from Yale. One day, seeing Leigh in the woods, he mistakes her for a lady’s maid and steals a kiss—her first. Both were forever changed by the encounter. Neil wanted Leigh as no woman before and Leigh was no longer content with her handsome, wealthy gentleman fiancé, though she would wed him to save her family from financial ruin. Neither Leigh nor Neil spoke of the deep feelings they had for each other. Then the war intervened to change everything.

McBain meticulously presents the devastation the Civil War brought to the two families as Leigh and Neil are separated by years (and more). Her family fights for the South and Neil becomes the Yankee raider known as “Captain Dagger.” The descriptions are vivid and rich, the characters many and well developed, the dialog amazing and the story satisfying. As a sample, thinking about Leigh, Neil reflected,

“She was like the willow on the riverbank. She bent to the winds that swept across Travers Hill. She had adapted gracefully to the changes that had come so tragically into her life. She hadn’t broken trying to resist, to fight against a far greater force that would have destroyed her. Nor had she been weakened by the struggle, she had become stronger, finding a strength within that she might never have known otherwise.”

This is a sweeping saga, and a love story that develops across years. It’s a long one, too, at 678 pages. McBain draws together many threads for a teary, sweet and quite wonderful ending. For fans of McBain, as I am, it will not disappoint.

McBain’s Novels:

Devil's Desire (1975)
Tears Of Gold (1979)
Wild Bells To The Wild Sky (1983)
When The Splendor Falls (1985)

Dominick Trilogy:

Moonstruck Madness (1977) Sabrina and Lucien
Chance The Winds Of Fortune (1980) their daughter Rhea and Dante
Dark Before The Rising Sun (1982) Rhea and Dante (cont’d.)