Welcome once again to Duck Chat!

And please welcome Elizabeth Hoyt to the Pond for the day!

If you’re an historical romance fan, you know that Elizabeth came racing into our lives in 2006 when her Princes trilogy debuted, and she hasn’t slowed down one bit since then. Next came her Legends of the Four Soldiers and she’s now working on a new series, which she’ll tell us about in a bit.

Elizabeth is married; she loves gardening but I’m assuming she doesn’t grow tomatoes since she really doesn’t care for them, but she does have twenty-six named varieties of daylilies in her garden; she grew up in Minnesota, the daughter of a frog biologist. She began her writing career at age thirty-five and her first book was published just after her fortieth birthday. Lucky for us it didn’t take any longer than that! Be sure to leave a comment or question for Elizabeth because she’s giving away a signed copy of To Desire a Devil!

So now that you know a little about Elizabeth, let’s chat!

DUCK CHAT: Elizabeth, for those few readers who may not have read your books yet – hopefully it’s only a few! – would tell us about your first series, The Princes Trilogy, just an overview of how the series came about and a little something about each book?

ELIZABETH HOYT: The Princes Trilogy books are (loosely) linked by the heroes, an odd trio of friends who all belong to the Agrarian Club which meets in a coffee house. The Raven Prince, is a about Edward de Raaf, the Earl of Swartingham, who lost his entire family in a smallpox epidemic when he was a boy. Edward is trying to re-create his family and has already found a suitable lady to marry. But then his land steward hires a new secretary for Edward while he is away and she turned out to be a rather argumentative widow who turns all of Edward’s plans upside-down. Harry Pye, the hero of The Leopard Prince, is a mysterious land steward. He finds to his horror that his employer, Lady Georgina Maitland, insists on visiting the land he oversees in the north of England and interfering with both his work and his private life. Simon Iddesleigh, Viscount Iddesleigh, is the hero of The Serpent Prince. He’s a sophisticated gentleman with a cutting wit, but he is entirely undone by a provincial lady who sees right through his blather.

These were the first books I wrote and actually I can’t really remember how they came about other than the fact that I was trying my hand at writing historical romance and then (as now) I was most interested in the hero of a story.

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

EH: The dreaded “Where do you get your ideas?” It’s dreaded because I honestly don’t know. Ideas just arrive while I’m driving or weeding my garden. It’s just part of being a writer, I think.

DC: Then there’s your Legend of the Four Soldiers series. What’s the genesis of this series? To Taste Temptation and To Seduce a Sinner are the first two books in the series; would you tell our readers about those stories?

EH: Well, okay, I do know (partly) where I got the idea for these books. The war in Iraq had just started and I wanted to address the plight of the soldier returning home from war. I grew up just post the Vietnam War, with all the books and movies about the subject, and I used to read World War I poetry as a romantic teenager. The idea of the soldier with post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) has always interested to me. So I wanted to explore what would happen to good soldiers, brave soldiers, who had fought well and returned home to an era that didn’t know anything at all about PTSD and where mental illness was considered a moral weakness.

The Legend of the Four Soldiers is about four very different men who were in the same regiment during the French and Indian War in the American Colonies. While marching in the New England woods, their regiment is ambushed and massacred. To Taste Temptation starts the series six years later with Samuel Hartley who was an American scout. He’s now a wealthy merchant come to London ostensibly on business, but in reality to find the man who betrayed his regiment. To do this he needs entry into London society and he seeks the help of Lady Emeline Gordon, a proper widow who is rather aghast at his backwoods ways.

To Seduce a Sinner is about Jasper Renshaw, Viscount Vale, a bon vivant, always the center of attention during the day, who hides a secret at night. After Jasper is left at the altar by his flighty fiancée he is propositioned by Melisande Fleming. Melisande is plain and brown and has been in love with Jasper for years—though he has no idea of that when he hastily marries her.

DC: In May To Beguile a Beast, the third book in the series, hit the shelves. We meet Alistair and Helen in this story. Can you give us some insight to them and their relationship?

EH: Sir Alistair Munroe is a naturalist who was horribly scarred during the war. Because of his scars he’s hidden himself away in his crumbling castle in Scotland. But one and dark stormy night he answers the door to find a beautiful woman on his doorstep claiming to be his new housekeeper. To Beguile a Beast is a “Beauty and the Beast” story, but I wanted to explore what physical disfigurement meant in an age without plastic surgery, how a man can lose all hope and how he can regain it with the right woman.

DC: Then in November we’ll see the long-awaited To Desire a Devil, all about Reynaud and Beatrice. Can we get a little sneak peak, please?

EH: Reynaud St. Aubyn, Viscount Hope is the fourth and final soldier in the series. Presumed dead for seven years, he escapes captivity and returns home, ready to resume his life. But the life he left isn’t there anymore. His father, the Earl of Blanchard is dead, another man has claimed the title, and there are rumors that he’s insane. Everyone seems to be against him except the new earl’s niece, a woman named Beatrice Corning. Beatrice for her part is dangerously attracted to Reynaud, but can she make him see that what they have may be more important than the life he’s trying to regain?

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?

EH: Sure. In fact, when I wrote the first scene of To Desire a Devil, I ended up with a character I hadn’t planned on (Beatrice’s friend, Lottie.)

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

EH: Hmm. I don’t find myself arguing with characters, but I as I’m writing the book does sometimes go off the road and into the woods.

DC: And congratulations are in order for your new series, Maiden Lane, you just contracted with Grand Central Publishing for. Wicked Intentions is the first book in the series. Can you tell us about the series as a whole and then some about Wicked Intentions?

EH: The Maiden Lane series is set during the gin craze in London when one out of every four houses sold gin for a penny and a half a cup. There was wide-spread addiction, crime, and violence, but for economic reasons it took forever for Parliament to crack down on the sale of gin. My fictional Maiden Lane is smack in the middle of one of the worst areas of London at this time, St. Giles, And on Maiden Lane is the Home for Unfortunate Infants and Foundling Children run by Temperance Dews and her brother. But the home has recently lost its patron and the home is in dire financial straits. One night a man appears in her sitting room, Lazarus Huntington, Lord Caire, who has an interesting proposition: if Temperance will help him search St. Giles for a murderer, he will help her find a new patron for the home.

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

EH: A good book.

DC: Now, I have to ask you about a few of the fun facts I read on your website. I became quite curious about some of them! First, you found yourself accidentally locked in at the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford, England, not hearing the bell indicating closing time. How long were you locked in? How did you get out? What was the reaction of the museum staff? I could go on for a bit on the little questions, so anything else you can tell us about the experience, please!

EH: The Ashmolean Museum is a wonderful place and I highly recommend it to anyone who happens to be in Oxford. When I was sixteen my family spent a year in Oxford and I used to walk to the “Ashmole” (as my art teacher called it) and spend entire afternoons there. On this particular day I was looking at Greek pottery, which at that time was literally stacked up in cases in the Ashmolean. Greek pottery can be quite pornographic, so I was taking a deep, artistic interest in the pottery when somehow I didn’t hear the warning bell, (Which, in my own defense, was kind of a musical chime.) Then I heard the door lock to the room I was in. So being a resourceful teenager I ran over and pounded on the doors and was let out by a middle-aged security guard who told me to listen better next time. Sadly, I still stare at Greek pottery in museums.

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?

EH: Well, my “career” is only three years old—I was first published in 2006. I don’t think my heroes and heroines have evolved much in that time. Readers may disagree.

DC: Another fun fact tidbit is the fact you learned the difference between a frog and toad from your father due to this profession. I know this probably won’t be the question on the list, but I’m curious! LOL, what is the difference??? I’m a country girl and couldn’t tell you!

EH: My father used to take the entire family frog collecting in Minnesota when I was a child. He was interested in leopard frogs (the green frog with black spots that most people think of when they think of frogs.) Frogs generally have webbed fingers, toads don’t. Frogs generally live in or near wet spots and have smooth, damp skin (I once made the mistake of calling it “slimy” in front of my father!) Toads have dry, generally bumpy skin and the most common toads in North America excrete a poison from the bumps on their backs. It doesn’t hurt people, but it tastes bad to animals.

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

EH: I’d love to write a middle school book someday.

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

EH: Not to worry so much. But I wouldn’t have listened.

DC: Okay, just one more and I’ll let my curiosity go! You met your husband on an archeological dig. Would you tell us about that, where you were, what type of dig, and any romantic details you’d like to share?

EH: It was a summer field school in southwestern Wisconsin in the middle of a corn field and it was very hot and dirty and I thought my future husband was a complete jerk. He was the TA in charge of the dig (an older man!) and he strode around the dig in a tiny pair of running shorts (it was the 1980’s) and a bandana around his neck—no shirt—and was very grim because the dig was his doctoral thesis. (Which led to the comment whenever something went wrong, “it’s not my thesis!” Sadly, my future husband didn’t find it very funny.)

Almost a year later I took a lab class in which my future husband was the TA, although (as he made very clear) he didn’t grade me. After a couple of months he asked me out and six weeks later we were engaged.

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

EH: Hidden depths

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

EH: Strong, sensuous, and smart

DC: You also write as Julia Harper. For the Love of Pete is your latest release there. Can you tell us about that book and also what’s next for Julia?

EH: For the Love of Pete is about Dante Torelli, an undercover FBI agent assigned to protect a mob informant and his family. But when the informant’s hiding place is blown, a baby girl is snatched by a ruthless hitman. Now, Dante must save the toddler, uncover the traitor in his department, evade various bad guys, and deal with the toddler’s sexy aunt, all before the biggest mob trial in Chicago history, set to begin in just three days.

I’m contracted for one more Julia Harper book, right now we don’t have a release date.

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

EH: Who knows?

DC: Aside from your Maiden Lane series, anything else exciting on the horizon for Elizabeth Hoyt?

EH: Well, I’m writing and posting a free novella on my website this year. It’s called The Ice Princess and features a secondary character from the Princes Trilogy, Coral Smythe, the Aphrodite of Aphrodite’s Grotto. All the chapters to date are posted here.

Lightning Round:

- dark or milk chocolate?   – milk chocolate
- smooth or chunky peanut butter?    – chunky
- heels or flats?    – flats
- coffee or tea?    – either, depending on my mood
- summer or winter?    – winter
- mountains or beach?     – mountains
- mustard or mayonnaise?   – both
- flowers or candy?    – flowers
- pockets or purse?     – purse
- Pepsi or Coke?    – Pepsi
- ebook or print?   – large print print book

And just because:

1. What is your favorite word?    – I’m a writer, I have an infinite number of favorite words. But I’ll go with serendipity.
2. What is your least favorite word?    – Squat. Isn’t that just the ugliest sounding word?
3. What turns you on creatively, spiritually or emotionally?    – I get excited by other people’s creativity and talent. A really well written, smart movie, for example, ramps up my own creativity.
4. What turns you off creatively, spiritually or emotionally?    – people who are jerks
5. What sound or noise do you love?   – crickets at night
6. What sound or noise do you hate?   – revving motors.
7. What is your favorite curse word?   – fuck
8. What profession other than your own would you like to attempt?     – None. I’m very, very happy with what I do for a living.
9. What profession would you not like to do?   – Anything that involves a boss
10. If Heaven exists, what would you like to hear God say when you arrive at the Pearly Gates?   – “You’ve done well.”

DC: Elizabeth, we’re so glad you joined us today!  Thank you!

Sandy M’s review of To Taste Temptation (The Legend of Four Soldiers, Book 1) by Elizabeth Hoyt
Historical romance released by Forever 1 May 08

I’m still trying to figure out why I didn’t just totally love this book. I’m known in these parts for loving practically everything I read. So while love is not the right word for me this time, I did like this book very much. I like the storyline, the characters, the romance, the mystery. But for some reason it stopped just short of me closing the book after reading the last page and having stars in my eyes while thinking, “Wow!”

The best part of the book is the hero. Samuel Hartley is a man who is haunted by demons from his past. During the French and Indian War his regiment is ambushed by Wyandot Indians and all but a few men perish. Sam has been branded a coward during the intervening years because of his seemingly hasty retreat as the fighting began. He’s never defended himself against these accusations, deciding instead to live a simple woodsman life in America until he receives information he and his men had been betrayed. He goes to England to ferret out the culprit and uses the ruse of introducing his sister Rebecca into society as a cover. Killing two birds with one stone, Sam goes to Emeline Gordon, a beautiful widow who teaches young ladies proper etiquette and whose brother died in the attack, thus giving Sam his own entree into society.

Lady Emeline is not impressed with the coarse and tactless American. But she certainly is attracted to him. Every single thing different about Samuel should rub her the wrong way, but it’s those very things that keep her thinking about him even when he’s not around. Emeline tries her darnedest to keep him at arm’s length with her cool hauteur and uppity attitude, but Sam relentlessly pursues her. It took me a bit to warm up to Emeline. She takes herself a little too seriously and definitely lives by the rules of society. But when she finally gives in and lets Samuel love her, the sparks fly like crazy. She still tries to push him away, though, and she nearly loses him. Silly woman. I’m glad she finally wised up and realized what she could have. I do like her relationship with her son. He’s definitely a “little man” and her love for him is quite palpable.

The emotion Samuel goes through is heart-wrenching. He literally has physical symptoms to fight when he encounters anything that triggers memories of the ambush. The scene between he and Emmie when he returns from his harrowing run after an especially frustrating time for him in his investigation is simply wonderful when she ministers first aid to his injuries, and the consequences of such actions and closeness is all consuming. Each and every intimate scene between these two characters is fraught with every emotion imaginable.

My second favorite character is Rebecca. She’s an engaging young woman on the cusp of experincing everything thrilling and frightening in life, but she faces it all with grace and intellect. I’m hoping the third book in the series, To Beguile a Beauty, due out in May of next year, is her book, and I look forward to her budding romance with O’Hare. I also enjoyed the parallel fairytale at the beginning of each chapter throughout the book; a different story but with the same moral as the book itself.

As much as I’ve gone on about the book here, there’s still something that holds me back from putting this one on my keeper shelf. I will definitely continue the series and I know I will enjoy them all. Maybe I just need to work my way up to “Wow!”

Grade: B+

Read Shannon C’s review here and Lawson’s here.

From the back cover:

EVEN THE MOST REFINED LADY
Lady Emeline Gordon is the model of sophistication in London’s elite social circles, always fashionable and flawlessly appropriate. As such, she is the perfect chaperone for Rebecca, the young sister of a successful Boston businessman and former Colonial soldier.

CRAVES AN UNTAMED MAN
Samuel Hartley may be wealthy, but his manners are as uncivilized as the American wilderness he was raised in. Who wears moccasins to a grand ball? His arrogant disregard for propriety infuriates Emeline, even as his boldness excites her.

TO RELEASE HER PASSION…
But beneath Samuel’s rakish manner, he is haunted by tragedy. He has come to London to settle a score, not to fall in love. And as desperately as Emeline longs to feel this shameless man’s hands upon her, to taste those same lips he uses to tease her, she must restrain herself. She is not free. But some things are beyond a lady’s control…

Read an excerpt.

Lawson’s review of To Taste Temptation by Elizabeth Hoyt
Historical romance released by Forever 1 May 08

I’m not ashamed of the fact that I read, loved and reviewed the three Prince books by Hoyt. She’s a talented writer with a gift for story and characterization. She had an interesting twist with how fairy tales were interwoven with the rest of the book. Starting a new series about soldiers from the French and Indian War has an interesting setting and time period, and I was anticipating this start to a new series from Hoyt. And what I found was. . .

. . . something that in ways was a repeat of what Hoyt has given before. Sure, there is good descriptions, tone, and characterization. There’s also fairy tales. Perhaps I’d hoped for some sort of different extra something to Hoyt’s new series, instead of going with another theme of using a fairy tale to help tell the story.

The soldier in the story is Samuel Hartley, a veteran of the 28th that was a hero in the French and Indian war. Some people say otherwise, however, but Sam doesn’t care for what people think. In fact he wears moccasins everywhere and doesn’t follow all the rules of polite society. He’s not in England for those sorts of things. He suspects his regiment was betrayed into a massacre and is searching for the traitor. Sam moves in next door to Lady Emeline Gordon, whose brother was killed at the massacre.

Emeline is a paid chaperone for untried ladies who need social polish to help them in social events. She is considered to be the epitome of English womanhood, always unassuming, quiet, stylish and nearly perfect. When Sam moves in, she’s not happy, though she enjoys the connection to the brother she lost. Her son takes to Sam quickly, but Emeline disapproves of his manners, his dress and his behavior. Sam tries to charm her, but she is always sniping at him. When Sam’s search for the traitor involves her fiancee, Lord Vale, things start to get complicated. But then the course of true love never did run smooth.

What Sam sees in Emeline is a mystery. Even what Vale could see in Emeline is not clearly seen. She’s judgmental, exacting, at times demeaning and narrow-minded. Though she does care for her brother in the need to know how he died, in every other way Emeline is not likable. Even at the end she’s thinking about her comfort, her needs and her social standing more than how much she loves Sam.

Sam seems to take Emeline in stride but it’s hard to see why he would even care for someone so selfish and unwavering in her belief in the benefits of London, society and the British way of life. What sparks are there between the two leads are fed more by the friction of their different personalities rather than any affection or perhaps caring on either side.

Lord Vale was a good character, a solid man who was dealing with his own issues but able to cope with Sam reappearing in his life. Sam’s sister Rebecca and her potential love story could make for a more interesting story than this one as she seems to be a more open, accepting and warm person than Emeline. Since this is the Legend of the Four Soldiers, are there to be four books in this series? If so, who would be the fourth?

Hoyt’s writing and characterizations are good as always, but Emeline was such a cold person it turned me off to other aspects of the story. Maybe I was spoiled by The Serpent Prince, but I’d hoped for a different tack than the fairy tales in the next series by Hoyt, and something else that matched the passion and emotion that Hoyt showed through Simon Iddelsleigh.

Grade: C

For a different view, read ShannonC’s review.

     Blurb: 

     The ton loves nothing more than a good scandal, and they’re giddy with the appearance of wealthy Samuel Hartley. Not only is he self-made, American, and in the habit of wearing moccasins, but he is also notorious for fleeing a battle in which several English gentlemen lost their lives. What the ton doesn’t know, though, is that Samuel is in Londonbecause of this massacre. He believes his regiment was given up to the enemy and won’t rest until he finds the traitor.

     Lady Emeline Gordon is captivated with Samuel. Not only does he defy convention with his unusual dress, his sensual smile, and his forthright manner, but he survived the battle that killed her beloved brother. Samuel suspects that the person responsible for her brother’s death is Jasper Renshaw, Viscount Vale, a family friend since childhood–and Emeline’s fiancé. Despite Emeline’s belief in Vale’s innocence and her refusal to break off her betrothal, she and Samuel begin a passionate affair. But can their relationship survive the fallout from Samuel’s investigation?

     Read an excerpt.

Shannon C.’s review of To Taste Temptation by Elizabeth Hoyt
Historical romance released by Grand Central 1 May 08

Somehow, despite the fact that everyone in the blogosphere absolutely adored Elizabeth Hoyt’s Prince trilogy, I had never read her until now. I’m so glad I chose to start here, because the story in To Taste Temptation is wonderful, with interesting, nuanced characters, a captivating plot, and a great love story.

I was mentioning in a discussion on a yahoo group I am on that one of the books I couldn’t finish recently was one involving an American heiress and an English rake. For some reason, that plot device struck me as totally cliched, even though I can’t recall actually having read any books with that premise. And yet I loved the idea of our hero, Samuel Hartley, being an American. Emeline Gordon, our heroine, on the other hand, does not. She finds him extremely gauche, what with his insistence on wearing moccasins and his tendency to flout the rules of polite society whenever he feels like it. And yet, she is intrigued enough to accept his request that she help introduce his sister, Rebecca, into society.

Sam is in England for other reasons entirely from that of introducing his sister to society. He is haunted by memories of the French and Indian war, when his regiment was attacked and slaughtered by Wyandott Indians. He ran from the battle, which has caused many people to consider him a coward and a deserter. He hasn’t answered those allegations until now, and now he wants to find the person he has reason to believe betrayed the regiment and bring them to justice so that he can put his own demons to rest.

I absolutely loved both Emeline and Sam. Sam in particular is the stronger character here, and Hoyt does a good job of portraying the horrors he goes through with his memories of war and what he does to combat his demons. My heart broke for him several times, and at the same time I was relieved that his angst didn’t cripple him.

Emeline is a good character, too, although I confess she didn’t quite work so well for me. I loved that she loved her son, (yet another happy, fulfilled widow YAY!), and when her own issues come out, they were completely understandable, but for a while there I really honestly didn’t get what Sam saw in her. She really had a stick up her arse through a large part of the book. But in the end, when Sam and Emeline come together, their passion is intense and explosive. Further, I believed in their HEA, because their dark moment before the end was fairly bleak and full of emotion.

I also liked the secondary characters. In particular, I loved the glimpses of Sam’s sister, Rebecca, and hope something comes of the crush she develops on a second character. I also really liked Emeline’s fiance. In most books he would have been a complete jackass, but here he was a great character, one I hope we see more of as the series progresses.

The story moves quickly, and I was engaged from first to last, and rooting for them all the way. I’m not entirely sure I was satisfied with the ending, because I wanted a full confession from the villain and not just an assurance that justice would be dealt with, but I suppose that’s where the next books in the series can pick up.

I am glad I decided to give Ms. Hoyt a try. This is definitely a series I will be following.

Grade: B+

     Summary: 

     EVEN THE MOST REFINED LADY
     Lady Emeline Gordon is the model of sophistication in London’s elite social circles, always fashionable and flawlessly appropriate. As such, she is the perfect chaperone for Rebecca, the young sister of a successful Boston businessman and former Colonial soldier.

     CRAVES AN UNTAMED MAN
     Samuel Hartley may be wealthy, but his manners are as uncivilized as the American wilderness he was raised in. Who wears moccasins to a grand ball? His arrogant disregard for propriety infuriates Emeline, even as his boldness excites her.

     TO RELEASE HER PASSION…
     But beneath Samuel’s rakish manner, he is haunted by tragedy. He has come to London to settle a score, not to fall in love. And as desperately as Emeline longs to feel this shameless man’s hands upon her, to taste those same lips he uses to tease her, she must restrain herself. She is not free. But some things are beyond a lady’s control…

      You can read an excerpt here.