C2’s review of The Lady Most Likely…A Novel in Three Parts by Julia Quinn, Eloisa James and Connie Brockway
Historical Romance published by Avon 28 Dec 10

Based on the author firepower behind “The Lady Most Likely”, I’m sure reader expectations are high. I mean, Julia Quinn, Eloisa James and Connie Brockway working together in an anthology-ish book? It’s gotta be awesome, right? Actually…yes!

The book is described as a novel in three parts so there aren’t actual breaks between the stories but they aren’t all told at the same time either. I like the structure – it flows quite nicely, I think. Maybe because the authors’ voices are similar enough that nothing jars when reading. I didn’t check before reading to see who wrote what so as I read, I tried to guess. Heaven knows, I have read plenty of books by all three ladies. Pardon me while I brag but I guessed right. Yay! Ms. Quinn’s portion was the easiest to spot but, if you’re familiar with the writings of Ms. James and Ms. Brockway it isn’t too difficult to figure out. Of course, I’m going to tell you so you won’t have to tax your brain, faithful reader.

The set-up is that the horse-mad Earl of Briarly has decided it is time for him to marry and produce an heir. Since he isn’t out and about in Society much – he prefers to be in the country with his horses – his sister decides to throw a house party and invite eligible young ladies she thinks her brother might like (I do enjoy a house party story, I must say). To balance out the numbers, she also invites some other eligible bachelors.

One of the young ladies invited is Miss Gwendolyn Passmore. She has been hailed as the diamond of the season. She has a reputation for being calm and aloof but no one realizes she is actually very shy. The other young ladies are not glad to see that Gwendolyn has been invited to the house party. One, Miss Octavia Darlington, even asks her brother, Alec (Earl of Charters) to distract Gwendolyn so the other young ladies will have a chance to shine. He reluctantly agrees, even though he doesn’t like his sister’s attitude.

Since Gwendolyn and Alec’s story is Julia Quinn’s contribution, you know there is quick, snappy dialogue and a great deal of humor. The only problem I had with the story was the brattiness of the sister. Even though she sees the error of her ways (sort of), I just wanted to pinch her. Really hard. Ignoring that, Alec is very sweet and Gwendolyn isn’t shy with him – and isn’t that every shy person’s dream? To find that one person – preferably rich and attractive – that you aren’t shy around?

Next up we have Ms. Brockway’s portion. Our heroine is the take-charge, outspoken Miss Katherine Peyton. Since she prefers life in the country, she has decided that she and Lord Briarly might suit. What she doesn’t know is that her childhood crush has also been invited to the house party. Captain Neill Oakes, recently returned from the war, unexpectedly has to assume responsibility for Katherine after her brother abandons ship. What Katherine doesn’t know is the reason Neill bought a commission all those years ago – and his honor won’t let him tell her while acting as her chaperone.

Katherine and Neill’s story is the one that feels rushed to me. It would benefit the most from being given more pages. As it is, this story is my least favorite. It’s good but I didn’t get as good a feel for the characters. Also, characters using honor as an excuse for stupid behavior annoy me.

Finally, Ms. James gives us the Earl of Briarly’s story. Attending the party is his sister’s best friend, Lady Georgina Sorrell. Georgina is a widow and has no interest in marrying again. Her marriage was okay but not something she feels a need to repeat. Hugh, Lord Briarly, has always been attracted to Georgina – he just didn’t realize (read: pull his head out of the stables) until it was too late. Now Georgina is skittish and Hugh knows how to deal with skittish females. I enjoyed their story – although, really, was the hinting that Georgina’s hubby might have been gay needed? I don’t think it added anything to the story…maybe if it had been in a full novel it would have. Maybe. That aside, Hugh and Georgina made a good couple.

So, what’s my final take? Gwendolyn and Alec’s story: B+; Katherine and Neill’s story C-; Georgina and Hugh’s story: B-.

Overall Grade: B-

Summary:

Hugh Dunne, the Earl of Briarly, needs a wife, so his sister hands him a list of delectable damsels and promises to invite them— and a few other gentlemen—to her country house for what is sure to be the event of the season.
Hugh will have time to woo whichever lady he most desires . . . Unless someone else snatches her first.
The invitation list includes:
• The horse-mad but irresistibly handsome Earl of Briarly
• The always outspoken Miss Katherine Peyton
• The dashing war hero Captain Neill Oakes
• The impossibly beautiful (and painfully shy) Miss Gwendolyn Passmore
• The terribly eligible new Earl of Charters
• The widowed Lady Georgina Sorrell (who has no plans to marry, ever)

And your hostess, Lady Carolyn Finchley, an irrepressible matchmaker who plans to find the lady most likely . . . to capture her brother’s untamed heart.

Read an EXCERPT. Or another EXCERPT. Or still another EXCERPT.

You’re in for a treat today! Welcome to Duck Chat!

Ohmyohmyohmy!  Squeeeeeeeeeeeee!  Kathryn Smith is here!!!!!

As most of you know, Kathryn’s vampire series, Brotherhood of the Blood, is a favorite of fans everywhere, but the really big news lately is that she’s writing straight historicals once again, and Kathryn will be talking about that and so much more today.

So no more lollygagging! Let’s chat!

DUCK CHAT: Kathryn, of course, the big news, the happy news for your fans is that you’ve returned to writing historical romance. Was it just time? Did something specific happen to prompt you to write that next one?

KATHRYN SMITH: The simplest answer is that yes, it was just time. I’d been writing a lot of paranormal, and even though most of it was historical, it wore on me. I loved my vamps, but they couldn’t go out in the sun! Actually, the sad truth is that historical paranormal just does not sell like contemporary paranormal and while I had some success, the move didn’t really help my career. It was upsetting to say the least, but historical was always my first love and it took me back with welcome arms.

DC: If you could retire any question and never, ever have it asked again, what would it be? Feel free to answer it.

KS: Where do you get your ideas from? Only because I never know how to answer it. It’s not like I have a magic hat or anything! My ideas can come from anywhere.

DC: And fans will not get just one new historical from you, but an entire series. Lots of happy dancin’ is going on out there! Tell us about the new series, please.

KS: Thank you! I’ve dubbed the new series a ‘Victorian Soap Opera.’ I’m introducing lots of recurring characters that will appear in some or all of the books, and there will be secrets and intrigue afoot. There’s even a gathering place – a hub – where all the characters go to be social, much like Ruby’s on General Hospital. I even have a ‘love to hate’ character that I hope readers will embrace. It’s going to be difficult keeping track of everyone, but I think I’m up for the task.  The series begins with a trilogy, and after that I’m treating it as a world rather than a series. That way I don’t feel locked in to write books about specific characters. Anyone could have a book! And just like on soaps, a new character could arrive on the scene at any time.

DC: I’ve heard writers often say their stories take them in surprising directions, or dialogue flows from some unknown place. Is it the same with you? Do your characters surprise you sometimes?

KS: Yes! I’m mostly a plotter, but I like to leave room for my characters to express themselves. That sounds slightly psychotic I’m sure, but once you’re in their heads, writing from their POV, you start to understand what they’re all about. That’s when they surprise you.

DC: Do you ever argue with your characters while you’re writing? Who usually wins?

KS: No. I trust them to do the right thing. LOL. I let them do what they will and if it doesn’t work, I do it my way. There’s no arguing because either way I win.

DC: The first book of your new series is When Seducing a Duke and it will be released later this month. Would you tell our readers about Grey and Rose and how their story came about?

KS: Grey and Rose are a little bit Phantom of the Opera and a little bit Luke and Laura. He’s a little older, jaded and a little tortured. He’s had an awful past that haunts him still, and he doesn’t want the taint of that to touch her, but it’s going to just by association. He promised her father he’d look after her and to him that means NOT giving in to his feelings for her. Rose on the other hand is determined and slightly naïve. Part of her is convinced that if she can make Grey confront the attraction between them everything will magically be wonderful.

I have no idea now where the idea for them came from! I’ve always loved the kind of hero who has been ‘rode hard and put away wet.’ Grey is definitely one those. He feels awful for his past, but he also knows he’d still be the same if not for the event that changed his life. He didn’t change willingly, and he’s not sure what kind of man he is anymore. I think Rose is a little bit like me – she thinks if she wants something bad enough and works at it hard enough, she’ll get it. That doesn’t always work out for the best! It’s a ‘be careful what you wish for’ situation.

DC: What is sure to distract you from sitting down and working/writing?

KS: Email. Phone calls. iTunes. YouTube. Twitter. Cats. Shiny things.

DC: How’s work coming on the second book in your Victorian series? May we have a little sneak peek?

KS: Currently I’m working on revisions for When Marrying a Scoundrel, the second book in the series. It’s about Jack Friday and Sadie Moon. He’s a self-made man with a secret and she’s a tea leaf reader – with a secret. The secret is that they married when they were very young, but then Fate tore them apart. Now, the two of them are reunited and neither one of them is very happy about it.

DC: What has been your favorite book cover from all of your releases and why?

KS: Wow, what a difficult question. The lovely man who runs the Avon Art Dept is one of my favorite people in the entire world. He’s been so very generous with me over the last few years. I’ve always loved the cover for Into Temptation painted by Diane Sivavec. More recently I think the cover for Dark Side of Dawn, which comes out in December – but that might just be because of the gorgeous nekked man on the cover!  Of the Brotherhood covers I think Let the Night Begin is my favorite. I love the golden color of it and the fact that she’s going for his neck.

DC: How about your least favorite cover? Why?

KS: Wow. I’ve never had a cover I hated. I’ve been very lucky. Although if I had to choose it would be In Your Arms Again. I’m not a fan of the pose where the hero is behind the heroine and she has her skirt hauled up. Not sure why. And then, if you don’t look closely it looks like the hero isn’t wearing pants – just a belt and boots. His trousers are almost the same color he is. Still, I’ve seen much worse.

DC: How do you feel your male or female characters have evolved over your career? Do you think you write them differently now than you did when you started?

KS: Oh yeah! I think my heroines have gotten more realistic. They’re not entirely good little girls. Nothing interesting in that. My heroes have changed as well. I used to think I had to write Alpha guys, but I’m not good at that. I like guys who can be both tough and sweet. Real people have uncharitable thoughts, absurd thoughts, insecurities and vanities. That’s what I’m interested in writing now.

DC: Your Nightmare Chronicles is also a fairly new urban fantasy series, one book out last year and the second due out in November. Would you tell us about the series over all and and then we’ll talk about each book.

KS: Dawn Riley is the half-mortal daughter of Morpheus, God of Dreams. That’s the crux of it. Dawn is able to walk between both worlds, something no one else can do. It makes people fear her. The veil between the dream realm and our world is thinning, strange things are happening. And no one is sure if Dawn is the solution to the problem, or the cause of it.

DC: First in the series was Before I Wake, which was out last year, and next month Dark Side of Dawn is being released. Would you give a look inside each book, please?

KS: In Before I Wake, Dawn has repressed who she is. She’s working in a sleep center and crushing on one of her ‘clients,’ Noah Drake. One night Noah is attacked in his dreams and somehow Dawn gets pulled into that very dream. She becomes the target of a Night Terror and the only way to stop it is to accept what she is and use her abilities. This means reconciling with Morpheus and her mother. It also means telling Noah the truth about who and what she is.

In Dark Side of Dawn, Dawn is working on honing her abilities and dating Noah. But then someone close to Noah is attacked and Dawn has to use both her professional skills as a psychologist, and her skills as a Nightmare to help. But this puts her in the path of another monster – an earthbound one this time. She’s also in trouble with the Nightmare Council for something she did in book 1. Dawn just can’t catch a break, and if she doesn’t do something fast, she might not live to stand trial in the Dreaming!

DC: Is there a genre you haven’t tackled but would like to try?

KS: Hmm. Young Adult. Historical. Paranormal. Urban Fantasy. I think I’ve written everything I’ve wanted! Actually, I would love to write mysteries, but I don’t think I’d be very good at it. I really want to do more Young Adult. I had two historical YAs out in 2001-2002, and I’ve wanted to do more ever since. So, while there’s not a genre I would like to try, there certainly is one I’d like to do more in.

DC: What advice would you give to your younger self?

KS: Don’t date him. LOL. Actually, I think everything we’ve done has led to where we are, so I don’t think I’d encourage myself to do anything differently. I might, however, tell myself to have more confidence and not take quite so much attitude from other people.

DC: If you were a book, what would your blurb be?

KS: She’s a big girl with a big mouth and an even bigger heart, but does she have what it takes to make the big time?

LOL. That’s so corny, but it’s the best I can do without sounding totally bollocks.

DC: What would be your “voice’s” tagline?

KS: Realistic characters. Fantastic passion. I’d actually have a ‘wink’ after that too. I have a hard time talking myself up.

DC: Your vampire series, The Brotherhood of the Blood, is a favorite with readers. There’s five books in the series so far, with Night After Night being released earlier this year. First would tell those one or two people who aren’t familiar with the series what it’s about?

KS: The Brotherhood was originally six mercenaries who found what they thought was the Holy Grail, but it was actually the Blood Grail, made from the silver paid to Judas, infused with the essence of Lilith. When they drank from it they were turned vampire. 6 centuries later the group who originally had the Blood Grail wants it back – and they want the Brotherhood as well.

DC: Is the series evolving as your originally envisioned it?

KS: Yes. It played out exactly as I’d planned book-wise. I had an arc and I followed it. Success wise, I have to be honest and say that I was much higher hopes for it. Maybe someday paranormal historical will become what I’d hoped it would be and I can give fans of the series some new books.

DC: Please tell everyone about Night After Night.

KS: Night After Night was Temple’s story. He was the leader of the Brotherhood of the Blood once upon a time. In Be Mine Tonight, you discover he’s gone missing, and throughout the series the mystery of what happened to Temple runs through every story. This is also the book that reunites the Brotherhood. It is a romance, however. Temple meets Vivian, who is far more than she seems – more than she even knows. And she’s part of the group that would see the Brotherhood destroyed. That’s conflict, huh?

DC: Are there more books planned in the series? What can we expect next?

KS: As of right now, there are no more books planned for that series. That story line ended with Night After Night. If I do anything in the future, it will be with a new group of vampires or other supernatural creatures.

DC: If you had never become an author, what do you think you would be doing right now?

KS: I’d be a rock star. Actually, I once wanted to be a makeup artist. I love makeup.

DC: Who’s your favorite author(s)?

KS: I have so many. I love Julia Quinn, Laura Lee Guhrke, Connie Brockway. Sherry Thomas and Meredith Duran are two new authors that I do not feel worthy of when I read them! Lorraine Heath is another favorite, along with Jenna Petersen, Sophie Jordan, Sabrina Jeffries, Loretta Chase, and Liz Carlyle.

DC: How about a favorite book or two?

KS: Stranger in My Arms by Lisa Kleypas. Love that book. Lord of Scoundrels by Loretta Chase. Secret Desires of a Gentleman by Laura Lee Guhrke is a current fave, as well as When He Was Wicked by Julia Quinn. Those are the first that come to mind.

DC: What else is on the horizon for Kathryn Smith?

KS: More Victorian soap opera books. I’m currently outlining the third, which I’ve tentatively titled When Tempting a Rogue, but that will probably change to better suit the story. I’m hoping to perhaps continue on with the Nightmare Chronicles, and I do have a little something else I’m working on, but I’m keeping mum until I see what happens. That makes me a tease, doesn’t it? Sorry!

Lightning Round:

- dark or milk chocolate?     – milk
- smooth or chunky peanut butter?     – chunky
- heels or flats?      – heels
- coffee or tea?      – both
- summer or winter?      – Actually, autumn
- mountains or beach?      – beach
- mustard or mayonnaise?     – mayo
- flowers or candy?      – flowers
- pockets or purse?      – Purse – anyone who knows me is laughing at this, because they know I collect purses.
- Pepsi or Coke?     – Coke
- ebook or print?     – Print – but I want to try an e-reader.

And because folks still like seeing the answers:

1. What is your favorite word?    – friend
2. What is your least favorite word?     – nourishing
3. What turns you on creatively, spiritually or emotionally?     – nature
4. What turns you off creatively, spiritually or emotionally?      – willful ignorance
5. What sound or noise do you love?      – the sound of Steve’s voice
6. What sound or noise do you hate?      – a cat coughing up hair balls.
7. What is your favorite curse word?     – I don’t curse! Right. I say fuck a lot, but I’d like to use the word twat more. I can’t believe I just admitted to that.
8. What profession other than your own would you like to attempt?     – makeup artistry. Maybe teaching.
9. What profession would you not like to do?      – anything where I’d have to put my hand in another person.
10. If Heaven exists, what would you like to hear God say when you arrive at the Pearly Gates?     – “I’ve read all your books.”

DC: Kathryn, it was such a pleasure to have you here today! Thank you so much!

Welcome once again to Duck Chat!

Today is going to be a very fun day. We have Meredith Duran in the house!

Besides being a romance author, Meredith is a doctoral student in anthropology, loves doing field work in such places as India and browsing through library travelogues written by Nineteenth Century Englishwomen. British history is a favorite of hers and she talks about that with us today. When she needs a fix, some of her favorite historical authors are: Laura Kinsale, Judith Ivory, Loretta Chase, Sherry Thomas, Connie Brockway, Joanna Bourne, Marsha Canham, and Jo Goodman

Her books have become fan favorites, and if you haven’t read any of Meredith’s stories yet, do read on and learn all about them. She even gives us a sneak peek of her new book that’s being released next year. Be sure to leave a meaningful question or comment for Meredith because she’s going to be giving away a copy of Bound by Your Touch and Written on Your Skin. Now let’s chat!

DUCK CHAT: Meredith, I’m curious – it says on your website that you grew up enamored of British history and one of your life’s goals was to go to London to see Holbein’s portrait of Anne Boleyn. What was it that first captured your interest in British history? Have you attained that goal of seeing the Holbein?

MEREDITH DURAN: Good question! It was Shakespeare that got me hooked into my obsession with English history. I’d always been a very, er, dramatic child, so when I was about eight or nine, my parents decided to take me to a Shakespeare festival. I believe it was Richard III that we saw, since I can still recall the precise way the actor hissed the line, “You…try…my…patience!” The play was over my head, but the costumes fascinated me (I decided then and there that I was going to become a Shakespearean actor when I grew up – heh, what a great way to make a living!). The fate of the little princes also haunted me, so when we got home from the festival, I decided to ransack the local library for more information about them. This led to an interest in the Plantagenets (I had a VHS copy of Lion in Winter that wore out, I watched it so much), which yielded in high school to a fixation on the Tudors. (I made color Xeroxes of Henry VIII’s wives and plastered my dorm room wall with them. And, yes, my friends did think this was a little weird.)

DC: If you could retire any question and never, ever have it asked again, what would it be? Feel free to answer it.

MD: Ha! This question right here is a work of evil genius – asking me to admit my least favorite question, and then to answer it! I think this question is the one I’d like to see retired.

DC: One of my questions sometimes of authors is if they have an old WIP under the bed, back of the closet, shoved to the back of a drawer that they might pull out and rework. The answer is usually no. In your case, that’s exactly what happened with The Duke of Shadows, your debut book. When you were in the process of reworking it, was there ever a point when you nearly chucked the whole thing, thinking it would never work? What kept you going?

MD: Actually, I didn’t rework the manuscript until it had won the Gather/Simon & Schuster contest. Since I only had five weeks to revise it, I had no time to entertain doubts. What kept me going? The willingness of my friends to let me disappear for five weeks. Also, the utter heady thrill of knowing that the words I was placing on the page would be read by my fellow romance readers. Actually, those five weeks were the happiest of my life to date – one long, exhilarated marathon of creativity.

DC: Any other works hidden away like The Duke of Shadows that we might see some day?

MD: Most of my shelved manuscripts are the work of adolescent enthusiasm – a few fantasy manuscripts, a paranormal romance (I was ahead of the curve! Blame it on a childhood filled with LJ Smith, Christopher Pike, and Lois Lowry), nothing I would inflict on the world. However, I actually had another book pulled from beneath the bed recently –a women’s fiction novel that was agented in NY, but never sold. It’s a coming-of-age story about an Anglo-American girl whose obsession with Hindi cinema begins to warp her view of reality; in short, she starts to lead her life as though she were a heroine in a Bollywood film. (If you’ve ever watched one of these films, you can see how this might cause farcical results.)

After realizing it was never going to sell, I sort of forgot about it, until one day I mentioned it to a friend who lives in Delhi. He wanted to read it. I gave him a PDF copy. Three years on, he happened to befriend someone in publishing there; he mentioned it to her, she asked for a look, and lo and behold: it’s being published in India this fall! What a surreal and happy ending. I loved writing that book – it’s a work of pure affection, by a huge fan of Hindi films – so I’m so glad it will get an audience.

DC: While we’re talking about TDoS, tell our readers a little about the story and its characters, please.

MD: The Duke of Shadows tells the story of two star-crossed lovers who meet in India in 1857. Each of them is an outcast, Emma because her reputation is in tatters, Julian because his birth – as a ducal heir whose grandmother was Indian – offends the sensibilities of a society in which racial divisions are becoming increasingly stark. When war breaks out, they have no choice but to trust each other in their fight to survive, and in the process, they fall in love.

But war has a way of destroying happy-ever-afters. They are separated, and by the time they find each other again in London, the darkness of their pasts, and the cost of their own survival, may prove too great for their love to overcome.

DC: I’ve heard writers often say their stories take them in surprising directions, or dialogue flows from some unknown place. Is it the same with you? Do your characters surprise you sometimes?

MD: Yes, I know I’m in the zone when my writing and characters surprise me.

DC: Do you ever argue with your characters while you’re writing? Who usually wins?

MD: Nope, I never argue with them. When the writing isn’t coming easily, I like to argue with myself, though. (“Your plot is weak! What the hell were you thinking, Duran?” LOL.)

DC: What is sure to distract you from sitting down and working/writing?

MD: The internet is a terrible temptation. Good books also furnish endless distraction, but I don’t feel so guilty about that; reading seems to replenish my “well,” as it were.

DC: Your second book is Bound by Your Touch. First, are your books related in any way? Would you tell us about Viscount Sanburne and Lydia Boyce?

MD: The Duke of Shadows has no relation to any of my other books. Bound by Your Touch is related to Written on Your Skin insofar as certain characters (and part of the timeline) overlap, but each of the books stands alone, as a separate and contained story that does not require knowledge of the other.

As far as Sanburne and Lydia go – well, BBYT is an opposites-attract story, the key twist being that they’re not nearly so opposite as they might believe (and wish) themselves to be. At the beginning of the book, Lydia would tell you that Sanburne is a useless, handsome scoundrel whose only employment in life lies in breaking the rules, preferably in as spectacular a fashion as possible. Sanburne would tell you that Lydia is a self-important, overly serious bluestocking, who no doubt would be horrified to learn that her prickly façade practically begs a man to breach and dismantle it.

To Lydia’s horror and Sanburne’s amusement, these two actually end up having far more in common than they suspect.

To Sanburne’s horror and Lydia’s amusement, she has a peculiar talent for breaching and dismantling *his* façade.

Fireworks result!

DC: What has been your favorite book cover from your releases so far and why?

MD: The Duke of Shadows still reigns supreme in my heart: that minaret, the late light of sunset slanting in through the window, and the black spine made it really distinctive. Although WOYS is such a gorgeous red… Grr, it’s hard to decide.

DC: I’m going to guess that you really don’t have a least favorite cover. True? LOL, the cover gods have been mighty nice to you!

MD: True! I’ve lucked out.

DC: How do you feel your male or female characters have evolved over your career? Do you think you write them differently now than you did when you started?

MD: The Duke of Shadows was mostly Emma’s story – Julian was a swoon-worthy hero, no doubt, but he has made his peace with his own childhood traumas; the only thing that haunts him is his past with Emma. Hence the second half of that book is really about his effort to rescue her from the darkness into which she has locked herself.

On the other hand, the heroes in Bound by Your Touch and Written on Your Skin are classically “tortured” insofar as their inner conflicts are no less sizeable than that of their heroines. They’ve got to do a lot of growing before they can win their happy-ever-safter. So, if anything, I’d say that I’m growing crueler and crueler toward my heroes. Ha!

DC: Your latest release is Written on Your Skin. I love that title, by the way. We meet Phin and Mina in this book. Can you tell us about them and their story?

MD: Phin is a world-weary former spy. He was pushed into the game against his will. It stripped away all his idealism, and he is determined, for the sake of his soul, never to return to it. So when Mina Masters comes to him for help – help that would require he reenter the game – he resists with all his might. Problem is: she saved his life once. He’s indebted to her, and ultimately has no choice but to help her.

Mina is something of a femme fatale, who has learned the hard way how to use her looks and her wits to protect herself. But her fierce independence masks a serious fear of making herself vulnerable to anyone. It chafes her that she requires Phin’s help. It burns her to have to trust him. But she hasn’t any choice in it.

What ensues is a battle of wills between two very smart people who are very good at lying to themselves and others. But in each other, they have met their match.

Excerpt from Written on Your Skin:

Delhi, 1857

Julian first noticed her because she looked so bored. Waiting for the Commissioner’s arrival had put him on edge. He stood at the top of the room, half-attending to the feverish chatter around him, his eyes fixed on the door. Rumors in the bazaar daily grew darker, and it was clear to him now that if Calcutta would not act, the local government must. Tonight he meant to exact a promise on that account.
He became aware of the woman gradually. It was her stillness that drew his attention. She was leaning against a wall, not ten feet away. Though several people surrounded her, sipping negligently at their wine and laughing, she seemed somehow apart. Tired of it all. Her eyes, which had been resting vacantly on the space over his shoulder, focused on him. They were a penetrating blue, and gave Julian a start. He saw that she was not bored at all, but unhappy.
She looked away.“Sir,” she said evenly, bobbing a shallow curtsy. Something in her tone indicated she’d overheard the tail end of his argument with Frazer. He opened his mouth to respond—after all, the lady had seemed to be waiting for him—but she had already retreated in a swish of cornflower silk, and he was not in the mood for a chase.
He began to wonder about the coincidence when she drifted after him into the garden. Was she following him? In London he might have felt some faint, predatory stirring of interest—he enjoyed women, particularly those who spared him the trouble of pursuit—but he had a policy of avoiding memsahibs. Their husbands were rarely understanding, and they themselves tended to be so bored by life on a British station that passing love affairs quickly inflated to their entire reason for being. There was also an absurd set of ideas circulating about him in Anglo-Indian circles, variations on the theme of exotic Eastern eroticism, and he’d long since grown weary of it.
But she did not, in fact, seem to know he was there. She paused at the edge of the lawn, one hand coming to her throat, and seemed content to stand there, an abstracted look on her face. A breeze came over the grass, and her fingers loosened, letting the shawl flutter around her shoulders. Fleetingly, her pale lips curved in a smile.
Again, he was struck by the impression that she stood at a great remove from the scene around her. Curious. He studied her more closely, finding nothing of special note. Her hair was an unremarkable color, a curling, sun-faded dun that, in conjunction with her pale skin, made it seem as though all the energy of her being were focused in the brilliance of her deep blue eyes. A very odd sort of beauty, if a beauty at all. He wondered if she had recently been ill.
The thought made him impatient with himself. She was young, no more than twenty-two or –three years, with smooth white skin that bespoke a typical memsahib’s routine. What was there to wonder about her? She would spend her days closeted in a bungalow, reading or at needlepoint. When the monotony began to wear, she would take heart in her zealous belief that the English way of life was the only one of merit in the world.
She muttered something beneath her breath. Despite himself, he leaned forward. He could not quite make it out. Surely she had not said—
With a violent gesture, she splashed her wine into the bushes. “Pig swill,” she said clearly.

The garden was not cool, but it was quiet. Emma turned her face into the sultry breeze and let her eyes drift shut. Had Mrs. Greeley been speaking the truth? Either way, the woman must have been surprised at Emma’s impassive reception of the news. It was unpleasant, of course; one didn’t often learn that one’s betrothed was conducting a torrid affair with a married woman. But the act seemed entirely in keeping with the person Marcus had become since their engagement.
Perhaps it was this land that had changed him so. Emma had only been here a few weeks, but she already sensed that India had taken hold of her: loosening her tongue, widening her eyes. Even now, when her mind should have been racing with the implications of Mrs. Greeley’s words, the gentle swaying of the trees and the parrots twittering in the branches above distracted her from thought. The night air mantled her bare shoulders, thick and warm, so richly perfumed with night-blooming jasmine that she wondered if she would carry the scent back inside with her.
A cow lowed in the distance. She felt a brief stirring of pity, imagining he was confused at the excess of liberty granted him by the native culture. As to why the cows were encouraged to wander through the streets, Marcus had told her that the Hindus believed them to be some sort of deity, but he hadn’t been able to elaborate. Marcus was often impatient with details.
This party, for instance. He should have told her, given her some warning regarding the people she would meet. Within five minutes it had become clear that Delhi society was no friend to her, that news of the shipwreck and her “dishonorable” rescue had tainted local opinion. But instead he’d let her march inside like a lamb to the slaughter, encouraging her to mingle with the sharp-tongued harpies whilst he conferred with the Commissioner.
All this, and then to discover he was having an affair with the hostess!
Well, it was clear that whatever they did when alone together, Marcus had not reviewed Mrs. Eversham’s wine list for her. He was possessed of impeccable taste. With a scoff she tossed the remnants of her bordeaux into the shrubbery. “Pig swill!”
The quiet laugh startled her, and she gasped, squinting into the shadows. “Who’s there?”
A form emerged from the trees, offering her a toast from a silver flask. “Pig swill indeed,” he said, and lifted the pocket pistol to his lips for a long swallow.
She relaxed slightly at the Oxford drawl, which complemented a deliciously low, rough voice. “Pray do not relay my sentiments to our hostess, sir.” Or perhaps do, she added silently.
Another step brought him full out of darkness, and she caught her breath. It was the man from indoors—the one whom she had nearly collided with earlier. Once again, his height took her off guard. He was taller even than Marcus, and a full head over her own considerable length. His eyes were a luminescent green-gold, cat-like as they reflected the faint light spilling from the bungalow. They watched her as though he waited for something.
“Are we acquainted?” she blurted out—knowing very well they were not.
He gave her a faint smile. “No.”
When he said nothing more, she arched a brow, returning rude stare for rude stare. At least, she hoped it was rude, for she suspected she might be ogling him. The man was unnervingly handsome—like something from a fever dream, brilliant and fierce, skin touched by gold and hair so black it absorbed the light. Earlier, indoors, she had found herself looking at him, thinking his face begged to be sketched. It would take only a few economical strokes—sharp, angular slashes for the cheekbones, a bold straight line for his nose, a fierce square for his jaw. Perhaps his lips would take more time. They were full and mobile, and saved his countenance from sternness.
He was very tanned. Doubt flickered through her mind, quashed as she considered his starched cravat and elegantly cut tail coat. Of course he was English. The lazy grace with which he held himself made her aware of her own unmannerly slouch. She straightened, lifting her face towards the stars.
“A lovely night,” she said.
“Pleasant weather,” he agreed, eliciting a startled laugh from her.
“You must be joking!” she said, when he tilted his head in question. “It’s dreadfully hot.”
“Do you think so?” He shrugged. “Then I suggest you withdraw to Almora. The hill stations are quite popular this time of year.”
His reference to the tradition of retreating to the Himalayan foothills during the hot weather sounded almost contemptuous. “You don’t plan to go?”
“Business holds me here.”
“Business. You’re with the Company, then?” Most everyone she had met so far was in the employ of the East India Company, either as a civil servant or, like Marcus, as an officer in the army.
But he appeared mightily amused by the idea. “Dear God, no. I see my reputation does not precede me.”
“Oh, is it very bad?” The question was out of her mouth before she could reconsider, and she blushed as he laughed again.
“It’s even worse.”
When she realized he wasn’t going to elaborate, she ventured to continue. “You’ll have to tell me about it yourself; I’ve only just arrived in Delhi, you see.”
“Really?” He sounded surprised. “I didn’t know they raised chits like you in England.”
“Chits like me?” She frowned. He had settled back against a tree trunk and was smiling at her indulgently, as if—suddenly it came to her—she were some three-year-old who had just shown him a neat trick with her doll. “Are you being insulting?”
“I meant you seem to have some spirit.”
“You are being insulting,” she decided. “To me and England both.”
“Well then.” He sighed and rolled his shoulders; his coat fit closely enough to reveal the ripple of arm muscles beneath the fabric. She wondered what he had done to acquire them; it was not at all the fashion. “Now you’ve discovered the first part of my reputation. I am considered terribly ill-mannered.”
“But I knew that the moment I saw you! A gentleman would refrain from drinking spirits in the presence of a lady.”
His brows rose. “And a lady would not call her hostess’s wine—what was it? Pig swill, I believe?”
Her laughter was reluctant, but genuine. “All right, you’ve found me out. I’m a black sheep as well. Really, it’s a wonder my intended will have me.”
“Paragon of virtue, is he?”
“Not quite,” she said dryly. “But they’ll forgive him just about anything.” The conversation was utterly inappropriate, of course; but she had forgotten how good it felt to joke and be silly with someone, and to be spoken to without those ever-present undertones of pity and speculation. “In fact, someone inside just called him the ‘Darling of Delhi.’”
“He sounds dreadfully dull. Do I know him?”
“Oh, you must. This party is in honor of us, you know—of our engagement.” His sudden stillness made her frown, and she searched his face, concerned she might have embarrassed him. “If you don’t know who the party’s for, I promise not to tell.”
“Oh, I know.” His voice was very soft now. “That would make you Miss Martin.”
“Indeed! And now you must tell me your name, so I won’t be at a disadvantage.”
His cat’s eyes moved over her shoulder, and he smiled again, this time rather unpleasantly. “Here comes your betrothed,” he said, and took a deep swig from the flask.
“Emmaline! There you are!”
She turned back towards the doors, shielding her eyes from the light. “Marcus!” He was yanking his cravat in place, and she wondered acidly if he hadn’t been waylaid by their hostess somewhere between the Commissioner and the garden. “I was taking some air,” she said. “Flannel is horribly ill-suited to this climate.”
Marcus stepped into the yard. “I hardly think that’s appropriate for public discussion,” he said severely. “And I did warn you about the weather, but you insisted—” His voice died away as he stared at her companion. “What in blazes are you doing here?”
“Lindley,” the man said curtly. “A pleasure.”
Marcus made a rude noise. “I’m sure I can’t say the same. I had no idea Mrs. Eversham was so indiscriminate with her guest list.”
Emma glanced rapidly between them. The stranger’s expression was perfectly neutral; Marcus, on the other hand, was glaring and breathing like a bull. “Marcus, really! This gentleman—”
“Knows he is not welcome,” Marcus said. “Not anywhere I am, and certainly nowhere near my future wife. I would suggest you leave now, sir.”
The man shrugged. “Of course.” Slipping the flask inside his jacket, he sketched a shallow bow. “Accept my congratulations on your betrothal, Lindley. Miss Martin is utterly charming.”
“You soil her by speaking of her,” Marcus snapped. “Beware lest I call you out for it!”
Now she was truly alarmed. Something about this man—perhaps his slight smile at Marcus’s threat—made her think he would be more than a match for her intended. “Gentlemen, this is absurd!”
“Come with me.” His hand tightening cruelly into her forearm, Marcus all but dragged her back into the bungalow.
Inside, the sudden brightness of numerous lamps and candelabras made her wince. She pulled Marcus to a stop at the edge of the crowd, beneath one of the giant fans hanging from the ceiling. Its starched chintz streamers were wilting in the humidity. “I cannot credit your behavior,” she said. “How could you behave so loutishly!”
“How could I?” Marcus pulled her around to face him. “Do you know who that man is? Do you know?”
“Stop shaking me!” She yanked her arm from his grip. The strong, sour odors of wine and sweat were rising from his skin. Maybe he had overindulged tonight, but that was no excuse. “What has come over you?”
“That is my cousin,” he managed, his face purple. “That is the half-breed who would have the dukedom instead of me.”
“That—” She stopped, understanding. “That man is Julian Sinclair?”
“One and the same.”
She turned away from him, staring blindly toward the dancers. Marcus had written to her of his second cousin, Julian Sinclair. Sinclair’s father Jeremy had married a Eurasian, a woman of mixed English and native descent, when he had thought his brother the Marquess would have the dukedom. But within a short period, the cholera had killed Jeremy, and the Marquess had died in a hunting accident. That left Jeremy’s young son as heir to the dukedom—Julian, whose blood was one-quarter native.
Now Julian Sinclair was grown, and his grandfather, the current duke, had made sure through every legal means that his grandson would follow him in the succession. But Marcus could not accept the idea that a man of mixed blood might inherit the title, when Marcus, pure-blooded English and in line after Sinclair to inherit, might himself wear the strawberry leaves so well.
“He didn’t seem Indian,” she whispered to herself.
“Of course he didn’t!” Marcus exploded. “The Duke has done everything in his power to assure it—Eton, Cambridge, a seat in the Commons. But while a man can ape his betters, he can’t change his blood. The proudest title in Britain is to go to a mongrel!”
She looked back to him, stunned. “Marcus, you sound so… hateful.”
He stared at her, his mouth thinning into a grim line. “Is that so? To think, you’ve only been here for five days, and already you’re starting to pant after the natives. What would your parents say?”
She winced. A servant was passing with a tray of wine; she reached out and snared a glass. “That is cruel.”
“Cruel but true. Even in death, they knew the honor of being Martins.”
She took a deep swallow of the wretched bordeaux and shut her eyes. Again and again it returned to haunt her—this image of her parents’ faces, so small and pale as the ocean closed over them. The pain of their deaths did not fade; most nights, she still awoke weeping from nightmares of drowning with them. Only a miracle had guided her to the gig on which she had floated for almost a day; only God had given her the strength to cling to it as the hot sun beat down and she despaired of ever being found.
She set the glass on a sideboard and looked directly at him. The atmosphere was close and torpid, and sweat was trickling down her nape; strange, then, that she felt so cold. “You think it would have been more honorable to let myself drown?”
After a mute, stubborn moment, his face softened, and he reached for her hands. “No, my dear, of course not.”
But she wondered. After all, he could play with his precious honor all he liked, risking it with his conspicuous philandering, his exorbitant gambling debts. But to have that honor tarnished by a woman! Surely it must irk him, to risk being made a laughing-stock by upholding a betrothal with a woman of questionable reputation—a woman who had arrived in India sheltered not under the watchful gaze of her mother and father, but by a crew of rough-and-ready sailors. Those sailors had saved her life, but Anglo-Indian society was wondering if they hadn’t robbed her of something even more important: her virtue.
Naturally, the fact that her betrothed’s virtue was completely and publicly compromised was of no import at all.
She lifted her chin. “Oh, I was only speaking with him, Marcus. Do let’s forget it. There’s no need to look so grim.”
Marcus exhaled. His eyes began to search the crowd beyond her shoulder. “I’m wondering why he hasn’t been thrown out by now.”
“Perhaps because he’s the Marquess of Holdensmoor?”
He slanted her a sharp glance. “I’m not in the mood for your cheek, Emmaline. And for your information, the man’s a threat to the Crown. He’s been stirring up talk of a possible insurrection, trying to goad us into abandoning Delhi. Thinks our native troops might turn on us.”
“Gracious! Might they?”
He waved a dismissal. “It’s treason to even think it. No, of course they won’t. We give them the bread their families eat in the morning. Just because of some silly nonsense at Barrackpore—”
Yes, she remembered that. It had been all the talk in Bombay upon her arrival in the port city. A sepoy, a native soldier, had turned on his British officers. He had shot two of them before he was stopped by his superiors; what had been so alarming, if she recalled correctly, was that none of the other natives had attempted to disarm him.
“He does have a point,” she said. “It’s a bit alarming.”
“It was one isolated incident in over two hundred years on this continent. And the man was directly hanged. We’ll have no more trouble along those lines, I assure you.”
“But if Lord Holdensmoor is partly native, perhaps he has heard something—”
“Emmaline!” Marcus wheeled to face her. “Yes, the man is part native, and for all I know, he’s trying to scare us out of Delhi so the natives can take it back! In fact, I believe that is exactly what he is up to, and I have told the Commissioner so! Now cease your ignorant speculations and make yourself pleasant for your host.”
“My host? Do you mean the one you’re cuckolding?”
All color bleached from his face. Oh dear. Blonde hair didn’t look so well on skin that particular shade of green. “What did you just say?” he asked.
“So it’s true.” Nausea rolled through her stomach. “Well. I suppose you’re going to tell me you still love me anyhow.”
His eyes, such a guileless shade of blue, searched her face. “Of course I do.”
She managed a smile. “Yes. We have loved each other quite a long time, haven’t we? Since we were born, I believe.”
“Since forever,” he said, with an admirable show of sincerity. “And whatever rumors you hear to the contrary, there is no woman in the world for me but you. Some people are jealous, you see, and they would spread vicious gossip in order to harm me—”
“I know,” she interrupted, and then stopped, swallowing hard when her voice would have broken. How sad to realize that she could no longer believe a word he said. “Marcus, I think I’d like to leave now.”
He considered her for a moment, then gave a short nod. “Of course. But I will call on you at the Residency tomorrow. We’ll discuss this, and you’ll see, my dear. These lies—you must simply set them from your mind.”
“Naturally,” she murmured. “If you’ll find Lady Metcalfe for me?”
She leaned back against the wall, watching him push his way through the congratulatory crowd as he went in search of her chaperone. Even though his back was turned, she knew every gesture that he made, sensed every smile that crossed his face. Such was the familiarity of twenty long years—decades of their families plotting to bring them together, arranging their betrothal, choosing the names of their unborn children. The Martins and Lindleys had never known that the only two who would live to fulfill their dream would be the very two who had never been quite as enthusiastic as the rest: the bride and groom themselves.
She closed her eyes, turning her head to press her cheek against the cool bungalow wall. The windows rattled in a strong gust of hot wind, and the candles flickered with the inrush of jasmine and darkness. Strange, how the night called to her so sweetly, promising a lovelier, more innocent place. Yes, India seemed to draw out her very soul. Perhaps that was why she felt so bruised inside—as though her defenses had been laid bare, allowing a terrible melancholy to settle in her core.
Surely she wasn’t grieving over Marcus? She had abandoned her childish dreams of romantic love three years ago, the first time she’d learned of one of his many paramours. She’d been heartbroken then, but her mother had explained quickly enough: marriage was not about something as illusory and fleeting as love. It was about alliances, partnerships, the continuation of the family line. Marcus’s grand and crumbling estates would be consolidated with the vast Martin wealth, and the two of them would create a dynasty that would compensate for her mother’s failure to produce male issue.
So what, then, could account for this sudden foreboding? It slid like a shadow between her and the brightly lit room, leaving her with the odd conviction that she stood apart, watching a great panorama like those they sometimes displayed in the British Museum. This room seemed like Pompeii before the volcano eruption, or Rome before the fall: a civilization on the edge of disaster.
A shiver slid over her, and she glanced away, starting as she found herself locked in a vibrant emerald gaze: Lord Holdensmoor, coming in from the gardens. His face was expressionless as he stared at her. In defiance of both Marcus and her own gloomy reverie, she offered him a smile.
His own was rakish and swift, the effect of it on his aloof, aristocratic features dazzling to behold. And then he too was gone, his tall, broad form swallowed up by the crowd in a cloud of crushed silk and waving peacock feather fans.

DC: Is there a genre you haven’t tackled but would like to try?

MD: I’m an avid reader of YA, paranormal romance, historical fiction, SF/F, and urban fantasy. I have ideas for books in all of these genres. Time is what I lack!

DC: What advice would you give to your younger self?

MD: Relax. There’s always time for a walk in the sunshine.

DC: You have listed on your site you’re currently reading Nalini Singh’s Branded by Fire. I have to say I loved this book, it’s the best of the series for me. How did you like it? Give us some of your thoughts about it?

MD: I just updated that yesterday! I’m a huge of Nalini Singh. I’ve just started reading the book, so I can’t say much, save that it’s fantastic so far. Oh, also: it takes serious talent to write a sex scene in the first chapter, before we’ve gotten a chance to fully invest in the characters, and make it so incredibly riveting.

DC: If you were a book, what would your blurb be?

MD: Gosh, great question. Well, blurbs are meant to sell the product, so I’ll abandon modesty for this exercise. Perhaps something like, “Fast-paced intensity, interspersed with moments of wicked humor and whimsical reverie.”

DC: Your next book has just received its title, Wicked Becomes You, and is due out in May of next year. May we get a sneak peek?

MD: Sure! Here’s the working copy:

She’s been burned not once but twice by London’s so-called gentlemen . . .

Gwen Maudsley is pretty enough to be popular, and plenty wealthy, too. But what she’s best known and loved for is being so very, very nice. When a cad jilts her at the altar—again—the scandal has her outraged friends braying for blood. Only Gwen has a different plan. If nice no longer works for her, then it’s time to learn to be naughty. Happily, she knows the perfect tutor—

Alexander Ramsey, her late brother’s best friend and a notorious rogue.

So why won’t a confirmed scoundrel let her be as bad as she wants to be?
Unbeknownst to Gwen, Alex’s aloof demeanor veils his deepest unspoken desire. He has no wish to see her change, nor to tempt himself with her presence when his own secrets make any future between them impossible. But on a wild romp from Paris to the Riviera, their friendship gives way to something hotter, darker, and altogether more dangerous. With Alex’s past and Gwen’s newly unleashed wildness on a collision course, Gwen must convince Alex that his wickedest intentions are exactly what she needs.

DC: What would be your “voice’s” tagline?

MD: Hmm. Okay, I was blushing for days over something the Book Smugglers said about Bound by Your Touch – Ana called it “sophisticated, beautifully written and utterly romantic.” I’d like to imagine this applies to my voice!

DC: If you had never become an author, what do you think you would be doing right now?

MD: Well, I’m a PhD student in anthropology, so I hope to be an anthropologist as well as a novelist. Were it not for the fiction writing, I’d still be aiming at a professorship.

DC: What else is on the horizon for Meredith Duran?

MD: I’m off to India for a year to do anthropological research! The laptop, of course, comes with me.

Lightning Round:

- dark or milk chocolate?     – Dark.
- smooth or chunky peanut butter?     – Chunky.
- heels or flats?   – Both.
- coffee or tea?    – Coffee.
- summer or winter?   – Summer, for the sunlight – not for the heat!
- mountains or beach?   – Mountains.
- mustard or mayonnaise?    – Mix them together!
- flowers or candy?    – Candy.
- pockets or purse?    – Pockets.
- Pepsi or Coke?   – Coke.
- ebook or print?     – Until I get an e-reader, print all the way.

And because they’re still amusing:

1. What is your favorite word?    – kerfuffle
2. What is your least favorite word?     – Glint.
3. What turns you on creatively, spiritually or emotionally?    – Reading amazing fiction. Mountains that slope down to the ocean. London. Airports and hotel lobbies, spaces that encode the possibility of encountering the unexpected.
4. What turns you off creatively, spiritually or emotionally?    – Anxiety. Traffic. The glare of the sun off concrete and high-rise windows. Really, really hot weather.
5. What sound or noise do you love?     – Fiddle music. The ocean at night. The sound a dog makes when he sighs through his nose. The scratch of a fountain pen across textured paper.
6. What sound or noise do you hate?     – The squealing of brakes and microphones. The high-pitched, almost-but-not-quite-undetectable hum of electronic equipment. Alarm clocks.
7. What is your favorite curse word?     – Erm. In my mother’s presence? “Crap.” Since she’ll probably google me and find this interview, I’ll leave it at that!
8. What profession other than your own would you like to attempt?   – In another life, I’d love to work for the foreign service. Learning languages is such fun. The opportunity to live in so many places overseas, to settle down and really get to know those places, and also to find a support network wherever you land — all of that sounds fantastic.
9. What profession would you not like to do?    – I would make a very bad chemist. In high school, titration always slayed me.
10. If Heaven exists, what would you like to hear God say when you arrive at the Pearly Gates?    – “Good job. The library is that way, between the pizza parlor and the puppy playpen. Get to it!”

DC: Meredith, thank you so much for taking the time to chat with us today!

This just in…

The old Squawk Radio gang is back in action!

~ Elizabeth Bevarly, Connie Brockway, Christina Dodd, Eloisa James, Lisa Kleypas, and Teresa
Medeiros have gotten together to choose five of their favorite blogs from the old squawking days.

~ So that’s thirty looks back at the fun these ladies had over the years. Those blogs are bound into one volume for your reading pleasure and titled The Best of Squawk Radio.

~ You can purchase your copy at Scribd.com. You’ll be able to read it online at Scribd any time you’d like or you may download a .pdf copy. The authors are asking you not share your copy if choose to download it.

~ For the low price of $3, there will be a few funny extras added in your purchase. Half of the proceeds for the sale of the ebook will be donated to the Wildlife Rehabilitation Center of Minnesota, an organization Connie Brockway has been affiliated with for more than 10 years.

~ Keep up with the Squawk Radio divas now at Twitter. They’ve formed their own twibe there and the fun has begun.

Consider yourself flashed.

Sandy M’s Retro Review of My Dearest Enemy by Connie Brockway
Historical Romance released by Dell 6 Jul 98

Welcome to the new and improved Retro Reviews at TGTBTU, A Duckie Looks Back. When revisiting some of our old faves or even first-times reads for a few of us here at the Pond, this is how our reviews will now look for any books published before 2005. These are the books that are classic romance that everyone should read at least once. So sit back and relax with a comfort read you enjoyed years ago or with that book you were always going to get to but you just never quite made it. What forgotten books are still sitting on your TBR shelf that you’ve yet to break open to find new friends who have a story to tell?

I have a friend who always tells me about this book when we talk about Connie Brockway. So when I was recently between books and pilfering through a drawer to find a book to read, I came across My Dearest Enemy and figured now is as good a time as any to finally read it myself and see what my friend has been talking about all these years.

While I thoroughly enjoyed the story and the characters, this one isn’t a keeper for me like it is for said friend. So far my favorite Brockways are her three Rose Hunters books. But there are plenty of things in this book that make it worthwhile reading, one of which is the way the hero and the heroine communicate for a good portion of the book, all by letter.

Lillian is given the chance to have Mill House, Avery Thorne’s inheritance, for her own when Avery’s uncle inserts a stipulation in his will that she must turn a profit for five years while running the estate and she must stay away from the women suffragists that Lillian congregates with. Never having had a home of her own, Lillian takes on the challenge, even knowing she’s stepping on Avery’s toes when it comes to his future.

Avery is confident Mill House will be his in five years, there’s no way on earth Lillian will be able to handle the day-to-day running of the estate, so he hightails it out of England to run around the playground of the world while he waits for the home he’s wanted since he was a kid. During his travels he and Lillian keep in contact by letter, continuing their bickering and bantering as if they were face to face.  Life goes on for each of them, and suddenly five years has run its course, Avery has returned home, unexplained events begin to happen that keep Lillian from making her usual profit until nothing more can be done to keep her loss of Mill House at bay.

I enjoyed both of these characters. Both are quick witted and their repartee is quite fun, even in their aforementioned correspondence. I did feel that Lillian takes a little too long to let her feelings go, and I admired Avery for his restraint in just wanting to take her and never let her go. There’s a scene near the end of the book when he wants to do nothing but reach out and grab Lillian, thinking she’s there to say goodbye that is just simply full of emotion and brilliantly done. I wasn’t quite convinced of the culprit at the end, however. It seemed too easy, too convenient. But, hey, I was still entertained and that’s always the bottom line.

Grade: B+

Summary:
Dear Mr. Thorne,

I give you fair warning. I intend to do whatever I must to abide by your late uncle’s will and win Mill House. Though I know he never expected me to succeed, and for whatever reasons is using me to shame you, I accept his challenge. For the next five years, I will profitably manage this estate. I will deliver to you an allowance and I will prove that women are just as capable as men. And at the end, I shall accept Mill House as my reward.
Sincerely,
Lillian Bede
My Dear Miss Bede,
Forgive me if I fail to shudder. Pray, do whatever you bloody well want, can, or must. I shall look forward to making your acquaintance in my lawyer’s office five years hence, when I take possession of Mill House.
Avery Thorne

Read an excerpt.

Welcome again to Duck Chat!

It’s here. The day all of you Connie Brockway fans have been waiting for! So Enchanting hit the shelves yesterday.  I was lucky enough to win one of the first copies off the press back in December and just finished reading it.  So I thought what better way to celebrate this momentous day with you than an interview with Connie to go along with our first review of her newest historical.  She graciously agreed to talk with us in the midst of a deadline, so I thank you very much, Connie.

So let’s get down to business!

This is mostly for new fans who haven’t met Connie yet. You hard-core fans can skip on down if you’d like! Connie is a New York Times and USA Today best-selling author with eighteen full-length novels and four anthology novellas, most of which have been published in thirteen different countries. Her first book Promise Me Heaven, was published in 1994. She has won numerous awards for her writing, including two RITAs for her historical books.

Minnesota is where Connie calls home with her physician husband David. When not writing, Connie enjoys reading, gardening, tennis, and cooking.

Now let’s chat!

Duck Chat:  All of your fans are excited about your return to writing historicals. Was there a specific “something” that happened to lead you down that return path?

Connie Brockway:  Not really. I took a hiatus from romance because I was having a hard time getting excited about the way historicals were heading and I had some contemporary ideas that I wanted to explore.

DC:  Did you have the idea of So Enchanting in mind when the decision to write another historical came about or did that come later?

CB:  So Enchanting was plotted about 8 years ago when paranormals started gaining popularity. I’ve always been interested in stories about people who fashion their lives to popular perception so I did the same with SE, starting with “What if you lived in a town where everyone thought you were a witch but you weren’t?” When I decided to write an historical I wanted to do something a little different than my former titles, so that’s where I went.

DC:  Your next book is also an historical, The Golden Season. Any chance of a good sneak peek for our readers? Please?

CB:  LOL! If I gave you a peek now you’d only be crying foul when the real book got published. I’m not what you’d call a clean writer. Characters changes or drop out, subplots recede or take on a greater role, motivations get axed and replaced… And the typos! OH, Lord, the typos… As soon as I have a clean enough excerpt I’ll put it up on my website www.conniebrockway.com, but don’t expect for a couple months

DC:  What is sure to distract you from sitting down and working/writing?

CB:  The question should be what won’t distract me??? And if you can figure it out, tell me.

DC:  How do you feel your male or female characters have evolved over your career? Do you think you write them differently now than you did when you started?

CB:  Well, I hope I write a cleaner story and the hero/heroine’s motives, goals and, most importantly, their interactions with one another far more honest. I can’t imagine writing a heroine now who would get in a snit when she sees the hero in the company of another woman. My past heroine would have probably left the room, while my current heroine is much more likely to go up and ask, “So, who are you?” and discover it’s his sister. In other words, the reaction is more mature—maybe not more dramatic—and honest.

DC:  Do you ever use characteristics of friends or family when creating your characters? If so, can you give us an example?

CB:  Sure. “Bill” the rotten little dog from Skinny Dipping was actually my father’s rotten little dog. Amelie in So Enchanting shares certain romantic notions with my daughter. Generally it’s the secondary characters who assume some familiar traits.

DC:  After so many books over the years, how does writing still challenge you?

CB:  I was just taking about this with a group of friends of mine (the old SQUAWK RADIO group? We still email each other dozens of times a day) lamenting the fact that each book just gets harder. You want a story that moves along at blinding speed, rockets with action, sizzles with emotion and yet at the same time speaks about, again, honest emotions and real issues.

DC:  What advice would you give to your younger self?

CB:  “Stick with the dark and edgy romances and leave the light-hearted humor behind!” Not that my younger self would EVER have listened…

DC:  If you had never become an author, what do you think you would be doing right now?

CB:  Doing something with animals— working at an elephant sanctuary, as a behaviorist, in some program that matches dogs with special needs kids…

DC:  Okay, I had to include this question because of a comment you made to me when we communicated about doing this interview: If you could retire any question and never, ever have it asked again, what would it be? Feel free to answer it.

CB:  “How do you get your ideas?” Because I don’t know. I’ve never known. If I ever said I knew, I was lying.

DC:  Who’s your favorite author?

CB:  It changes. I tend to love the last author that made me forget I was sitting in a chair reading a book. The most recent of those would be Ariana Franklin.

DC:  Favorite book?

CB:  Going on the same path, Mistress of the Art of Death— though I’m halfway through Bone by Bone by Carol O’Connell and it’s really terrific. Great characters. She puts the “irk” in “Quirk”

Lightning Round:
- dark or milk chocolate? milk
- smooth or chunky peanut butter? chunky
- heels or flats? slippers
- coffee or tea? coffee
- summer or winter? summer
- mountains or beach? beach
- mustard or mayonnaise? Mustard
- flowers or candy? flowers
- pockets or purse? pockets
- Pepsi or Coke? coke
ebook or print? print

And just because they’re fun:

1. What is your favorite word? lurk
2. What is your least favorite word? “y’know?”
3. What turns you on creatively, spiritually or emotionally? music
4. What turns you off creatively, spiritually or emotionally? alcohol
5. What sound or noise do you love? surf
6. What sound or noise do you hate? Mucous-y sniffing (which I am currently doing)
7. What is your favorite curse word? I don’t curse (and for anyone who has ever heard me speak—that wasn’t me)
8. What profession other than your own would you like to attempt? Chef
9. What profession would you not like to do? Animal cruelty investigator –unless I had a gun
10. If Heaven exists, what would you like to hear God say when you
arrive at the Pearly Gates? “Welcome home, kid.”

Sandy M’s review of So Enchanting by Connie Brockway
Historical Romance released by Onyx 3 Feb 09

I’m a relatively new Connie Brockway fan. In the last couple of years I’ve read her McClairen’s Isle and The Rose Hunter trilogies and enjoyed all those books immensely. Now, I’ve not yet read her contemporaries, so this new book isn’t the “coming home” for me like it is for many of you.  No never mind for me, though, because I had one heck of a good time being enchanted by just about everything in this book.

The best part of this book for me is the main characters. Greyson and Fanny are alike in so many ways while their beliefs concerning magic and the paranormal are as wide as the ocean.  Even they don’t know if what is between them will be able to span that chasm to bring them and keep them together, even despite the love that neither of them really truly believes in anymore.

Grey has made a career out of debunking con artists and charlatans who prey on the grief and emotions of those who have lost loved ones.  He had watched his father year after year be taken by such thieves.  This is his way of making sure it doesn’t happen to as many other people and families as he can. One such instance is what leads him to a young woman who draws him to her and he can’t fathom why.  Perhaps her look of innocence, her beauty, her fear at being caught; but it doesn’t matter because he can’t abide what she’s done.

All her life she’s been different from everyone else.  Her rapport with animals is something that has taken everyone Fanny’s loved from her over the years, but she thought she’d found the one person who loved her for who and what she is.  He’d only duped her into believing he wanted her, but it was only her magic he needed to help him further his schemes and lies.  After escaping unscathed when her husband’s deceits were revealed by Greyson Sheffield, Fanny has lived the past six years in the small hamlet of Little Firkin in the Highlands of Scotland. A place where she’s finally been normal as a companion to a young girl who’s thought to be a witch, though Fanny knows better.

But when Amelie’s life is threatened by an unknown person, it is Grey who is sent to investigate and Fanny’s world collides with his once more.  This time, however, there is something different between them.  A something they both try to deny, especially Grey, because he just knows Fanny is running some kind of con again, and he’s determined to find out what it is. They both fight their attraction to the other, and it’s not until things take on a more dangerous turn than anyone could imagine that their desires overtake their good sense.  Grey lets his guard down and goes with his feelings for the first time in a very long while, only to find out he should have known better.

It took a bit for Grey to grow on me.  He’s so dispassionate in the beginning, except when it comes to exposing the culprits he’s after, that I thought at first I may not like him all that much. But once Fanny worms her way under his skin even the tiniest bit, it’s wonderful to watch him hesitate, stare, stumble, stutter, all of which are very unlike him.  And he attains a sense of humor to replace his ever-present sarcasm and cynicism.  It’s interesting to watch them both learn how alike they are in certain aspects of their life.  While I liked the Amelie/Hayden part of the story, I found myself wanting their scenes to be over to get back to Grey and Fanny, they both intrigued me that much, made me laugh more than I anticipated, and made me wish they’d had another love scene after their raw and magical night together.

Other secondary characters are fun and eccentric, and there’s a couple of twists thrown in to keep you on your toes.  The only thing I would have liked to have seen more decisively is Grey experiencing Fanny’s gift  in a more in-depth way, but that’s not all that much to quibble over considering what I did get.

Grade: A-

Summary:

The Scottish hamlet of Little Firkin has one important industry: the guardianship of Amelie Chase, a witchling banished by the ton for her alleged supernatural powers, and entrusted by her benefactor to Fanny Walcott. But the scheme is hitting a snag: Little Firkin is cramping Amelie’s style, anonymous notes are threatening her life, and now, two handsome travelers arrive with tantalizing links to the pasts of both women. And what’s happening in Little Firkin is so enchanting, it’s going to take a leap of faith to believe it.

Read an excerpt.

I don’t get it. If you look at Brockway’s site she sez:

And, of course, I’ve been writing. My next book will hit the shelves February 2, 2009 and…drumroll… it’s a historical romance!

BUT then goes on to describe it as…

But this idea that has been percolating in my imagination for years, about a would-be witch and a paranormal debunker, kept bubbling to the surface. And each time I examined it, it was sexier, funnier, and more audacious than the last. Well, I can’t ignore audacious.So I wrote So Enchanting and here, debuting for the first time, is the cover New American Library created for it. Gorgeous, isn’t it?

correct me if I am wrong but ‘would-be witch’ and ‘paranormal debunker’ equals not ‘historical romance’…

Le sigh, hasn’t it been said over and over if you jump on a trend by the time you publish the trend is over and hell did historical paranormals ever ‘hit’?

So sad, I was sooooooo happy when I saw the first part. ::pout::

Is that just me? LOL or did everyone already know this?

I had everything planned. Really, I did. Yeah, right. I had plans too. Besides meeting and chatting with all the authors I’ve gotten to know online over the past several years, I was going to write to ya’ll and let you know what’s happening. What’s stopped me? I forgot my wireless adapter for my laptop. Hmmmm. Do I have a brain? I thought my brain was intact and figured it would be so until I met my first real, live author. Maybe not. 

So I’m doing the next best thing. Paying for internet access at the Marriott. It’s better than nothing, which is what I’ve had for the last two days. Has it been worth it? Not having access to net? At all? You betcha!

I’ve had lunch with Sandy Blair and C.L. Wilson, chatted with Jade Lee, Jo Davis, Eve Silver, Caroline Linden, Jill Shalvis, Thea Devine and a multitude of other writing greats, dinner with Melissa Mayhue, chatted with aspiring authors like myself who have been nomiated for the Golden Heart, drinks with Tracy Garrett. I’ve listened to wonderful, humorous speeches by Victoria Alexander and Connie Brockway. I’ve gotten great advice from Elizabeth Hoyt and Susan Elizabeth Phillips so far. There’s still a boatload of workshops to choose from to learn so much more from those authors who I’ve admired for years. And there’s still the RITA and Golden Heart Awards Ceremony Saturday night to experience.

Talk about a dream come true. I never, ever thought I’d be doing any of this just a few short years ago. If I hadn’t listened to friends and decided to begin writing again, I wouldn’t have known RWA was going to be sorta in my backyard this year. Of course, I’m having fun more as a reader this week.

More than 500 authors were at the Literacy Signing on Wednesday night. OMG. Left and right, up and down aisle after aisle I saw Sabrina Jeffries, Cherry Adair, Jayne Ann Krentz, Lorraine Heath, Shana Abe, Stacey Kayne and so many more than my poor brain can’t even recall them all in one sitting. Who I couldn’t see because of all the people in line and surrounding them so you had to ask folks who they were in line for, Nora Roberts and Sherrilyn Kenyon just to name a couple. That’s okay though this time around. My noggin probably would have exploded if I’d seen them up close and personal!

Despite the tiredness and the sore feet, I’m in heaven. As usual, time is going way too fast and I’ll be headed home before I know it, but I’m going with a myriad of memories that will last me a lifetime. Usually when I come to San Francisco for a visit, I’m the common tourist roaming through Fisherman’s Wharf, Piccadilly Square, riding the cable cars, taking a crooked drive down Lombard Street, eating shirimp cocktails while watching waves roll across the ocean. Haven’t missed that a bit this time. And I won’t think of San Francisco in the same way ever again.

Time to go! Have more authors to meet! I’ll chat with ya’ll when I’m back home and recovered from the trip of my dreams!

This just in…

Romance Writers of America’s 28th Annual National Conference is about to kick off in California. Authors, readers, publishers, agents, just to name a few, will be gathering in the city by the bay, San Francisco, starting today, July 30, through Sunday, August 2, at the Marriott Hotel at Union Square.

~ The Annual Conference is a four-day event filled with educational workshops, career enhancement, and community involvement.

~ Wednesday, July 30, is the Literacy Signing where a list of who’s who of authors will be signing books, the proceeds of which will go to ProLiteracy Worldwide. This event is open to the public and is scheduled from 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. in the Yerba Buena Ballroom.

~ Victoria Alexander will be the Keynote Speaker and Connie Brockway is the speaker for the Awards Lucheon. Suzanne Brockmann wraps up the conference as emcee for the 2008 RITA and Golden Heart Awards Ceremony.

~ Lisa Kleypas, Lisa Jackson, Jayne Ann Krentz, Susan Elizabeth Phillips, Barbara Samuel, and Jane Porter will deliver other keynote addresses during the conference.

~ Some interactive news at the conference this year – two radio shows are slated to stream live on the web, featuring some of the very best authors in paranormal romance and historical romance with the Ladies of the Night Blog Talk Radio Show, and you’re encouraged to participate.

~ Wednesday, July 30, 8 – 9 PM PDT, 11 pm – 12 am EDT will be a night of romance and the supernatural, featuring: Jocelyn Drake, Kerrelyn Sparks, Kathryn Smith, Melissa Marr, Terri Garey, Jeaniene Frost and an introduction by Kim Harrison. You can call in and chat at (347) 826-9686 or just listen in. Or you can just listen on the web. Send an email to avoncontest@harpercollins.com if have any questions you’d like answered by one of the authors.

~ There will also be Historical Romance Radio, a discussion of all things historical romance. For any questions, send an email to avoncontest@harpercollins.co.

~ More than 100 workshops are being offered on a variety of subjects from leadership development for authors to choosing new clients for publishers.

~ Career-focused romance writers will be networking with fellow writers and have interaction with editors, agents, publishers, booksellers, and other romance publishing industry professionals.

Consider yourself flashed.