As promised: Favorite Historical Romance Authors

 Last entry I promised a list of favorite historical romance authors that you could easily download and print out for your TBR list.  Or your lists (plural) if you're like me, as I tend to jot titles down and then lose the list.  Hence, my house is scattered with bits of paper here and there.  Someday, I'll figure out a better way to do this . . .

In the meantime, here's my list.  These are "inspirational" authors, meaning there are no steamy scenes that may disturb some readers.  Why do I read them, although I do write steamy scenes?  Because I've found that these authors pay close attention to historical details and events, many of which are based in various time periods in American history, not just Regency England.  For me, it's a switch that I enjoy personally as I am a lover of American history and live in New England; thus I am surrounded by history on a daily basis.

I created this on Canva based on my own tastes; yours may be different.  However, I strongly urge you to try one or two -- I highly recommend Laura Frantz, Elizabeth Camden and Julie Klassen (most of Klassen's works are based in England).  

Next list will feature variations on Jane Austen, a collection of contemporary authors who've taken different spins on Austen's works.  So stay tuned and, of course . . .

HAPPY READING!

Hello! Happy Spring to You!

 It's been a while since I posted to the blog -- my bad, but Spring sucks me out of the house, away from my PC and into the garden -- or what's left of it after a winter season has its way with it.  Add to that a ton of rain in the past week or so, and the poor thing is under 6 inches of water!  

Well, I'm taking a break for a bit from that project and back to working on "Lady Caro and the Count".  If you recall, I left Romancing the Rogue in a bit of a cliffhanger with Caro fainting at the sight of Julien Alphonse Roberge, the man who tried to win her away from her second husband, the Count Roberge back in the early 1800s (you can find more details about that in the first book of The Merry Widow series, Snowbound Seductions).  

Anyway, this romance will feature a country house party, a passel of young ladies seeking betrothals and Lady Caro and the Dowager Rutherford struggling to keep up with their new clients, Julien's nieces, and the Dowager's granddaughter.  It should be great fun -- at least, that's my plan!

In the meantime, why not sign up for my newsletter to keep in touch with my progress (if any) and special sales that I post from time to time?  Easy-peasy and I don't hammer you with a daily or weekly newsletter in your box -- that's my promise to you.  Actually, you'll be happy to hear from me once a month, unless I run those specials.  

Stay tuned for my next post where I'll include

some of my favorite historical romance authors in a

cute, easy to print bookmark.

HAPPY READING, MY FRIENDS!

Time to get cozy!

 

Okay . . . summer's almost just a memory at this point, while autumn in New England is underway -- chilly mornings, early sunsets.  Time to break out the logs and start those fires going.  And favorite fall recipes are being pulled out of the bookcase or recipe boxes -- does anyone keep a recipe box anymore, I wonder?  I tend to dog-ear my cookbooks or shove a post-it note on favorite pages.  

Anyway, as I write this, I've got a butternut squash soup going in the crock pot and hope to get several lunches for work and when home and working on my next novel.

What's the next one?  "Romancing a Rogue", which will be the #3 Regency romance in my "School for Sophistication" series, featuring Marcus Burton, a reformed rogue who's just returned to England after a 2-year exile in India for his disruptive rogue-ish ways that offended family and friends.  But he finds himself attracted to his business partner's younger sister, Lady Catherine Wesley.  However, since he values his head to stay attached to his body, he refuses to succumb to his attraction, knowing that Lord Wesley (aka the brother) would not like to see his sister de-flowered.  

But Catherine has other ideas . . . and has no intentions of staying the sweet spinster forever.  Naturally, she turns to Lady Caro and the dowager Lady Rutherford for lessons in seduction -- and so, the fun begins!

If you haven't already read book #1, The Viscount and the Virgin, or #2, Wicked Wagers, please take a moment and click on these links.  After all, the novels are only 99 cents!   If you have time, please leave a review -- good, bad or indifferent -- as indie authors rely heavily on reader reviews, especially on sites such as Amazon.  But, hey -- no pressure . . . !

Stay tuned as I start posting excerpts on my giveaway page on my website OR you could sign up for my newsletter here and get timely updates, notices of freebie sales and more.  I post about once every two or three weeks, so I won't be inundating your mailbox, I promise.  I'm also active on Instagram and Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest.

 Until my next post, stay safe and happy reading!   Claire H.

 

“Your task is not to seek for love, but merely to seek and find all the barriers within yourself that you have built against it.”

Rumi

 

Cover Reveal for Wicked Wagers!

 Drum roll, please . . . and now for what you've all been waiting for breathlessly (or not) -- 

 

Silly, I know, but I always get a thrill when I see the cover of my newest to be released!  And this one has been in the pipeline for soooo long, it's embarrassing to admit.  But 2020 has been a difficult year for so many of us.  The urge to write had almost disappeared last spring, leaving poor Julia and Ben hanging fire.

Well, they're in the hands of the beta and ARC readers; release date will be coming soon, as promised.  As an indie author, I hesitate to put a firm date on the release until I hit the "submit" link to the publishing platform I use.  After all, one never knows what life is going to toss at you these days.

Hope you've been enjoying my blog posts -- and there's still more to come in the weeks ahead -- including a Tuesday's Tips for Writers, which is something I've been playing with for awhile.  

Until next week --  as always --  

Happy Reading!

Claire

British Heavy Cavalry

 One of the great things about writing historical fiction is that we like to thread and embellish our stories with historical facts to bring a strain of realism -- yes, even in romance!   The hero in Wicked Wagers is Benjamin Malory Burton, an ex-cavalry officer from the Heavy Cavalry -- quite different from the better known Light Cavalry.

This is a painting depicting the Royal Scots Greys at Waterloo --  not sure I'd want to see this come charging at me if I was on foot . . . 😓

 

During the Napoleonic Wars, the Heavy Cavalry were nicknamed the "shock troops," using their height and weight and speed to attack and harass the enemy's infantry.  Charges occurred on clear ground with a rise, so they literally appeared to be hurtling down at the infantry soldiers, who were often formed in line, thus being vulnerable to a cavalry charge.

Denis Dighton's painting in the Royal Collection of Sergeant Charles Ewart capturing the Eagle of the 45th Line regiment. It is contemporary to the Waterloo period and is correct in the details of the uniforms and weapons.

Ben entered the cavalry in 1812 and, because of his height, his broad, muscular build and his knowledge and ability with horses, he was an ideal candidate for the Heavy Cavalry. What he experienced and witnessed over the years that he served can only be imagined.  Here's a link to a clip on YouTube from the 1970 movie, Waterloo, featuring Rod Steiger as Napoleon and Christopher Plummer as Wellington .  This scene captures the fierceness of the charge, the speed and the utter destruction that followed.  It leaves you breathless and bewildered . . . 

 

Of Ladies and Lacy Fichus

 Apologies all around for not writing more frequently on my blog -- something I'm determined to correct in the coming weeks.  Today I'm going to talk about my main character, Miss Julia Charlotte Montford, the heroine of Wicked Wagers, due to release in October of this year.

Julia is a feisty one -- spoiled, often impudent, headstrong and all too often making wagers.  If she lived in today's world, she'd probably be buying lottery tickets by the yard!  But one day she makes a wager with the ex-cavalry officer, Benjamin Malory Burton, and her life will never be the same.  

Oftentimes we writers scour the internet and sites like Pinterest to find an image that sparks the imagination of both the writer and the reader.  Many times it's an actress or actor, but this time I stumbled on a series of paintings by John Hoppner, who lived and painted in the late 18th century into the early years of the 19th century.  

And I found Julia -- here she is --

Such a winsome beauty with her dark hair and eyes.  One can almost feel her dreaming about something, suggested by the letter she holds in her hands.  A possible lover?  A husband away in the wars?  Well, she's on my storyboard and when I'm stuck in my writing about her -- what does she want in life?  how does she feel about Ben Burton? --  I look over and see her, eyes fixed on some distant point. You can almost hear her sighing. 

But just for fun, I kept scrolling through Hoppner's works and noticed that he truly did love the ladies.  There are so many portraits of women, it's amazing.  And yes, his works were romanticized, but it was the Age of Romanticism after all, wasn't it?   It struck me that he caught several wonderful examples of that elusive bit of cloth we Regency writers often mention, but that some readers may not quite know what we're referring to -- the infamous fichu -- that lacy bit that hid a woman's bosom from view (or almost).   Here are a few examples by Hoppner and by Eduard Niczky:

This is a portrait of Lucy Byng by Hoppner -- and just look at that amazing detail on the lace.  Quite elaborate, although it doesn't necessarily hide much, does it?  

This next portrait is by Eduard Niczky, who painted later in the mid-19th century, but gives another lovely depiction of a fichu:

 A simpler variation but certainly enticing to the eye of the suitor, wouldn't you say?  I can almost picture Ben slipping this wisp of fabric off Julia as he campaigns to win his wicked wager with her. 

So stay tuned to Wicked Wagers coming next month -- another Regency romp in the English countryside, featuring the intrepid tutors for the School for Sophistication, Lady Caro and the Dowager Lady Rutherford.  If you missed the first book in the series -- The Viscount and the Virgin -- you can buy your copy at any of these ebook vendors.

Read a quick excerpt of The Viscount and the Virgin on Amazon.  Until next week -- Happy Reading!

Claire H.

Cover Reveal

Officially releasing Thursday, October 17!

 

This is the first novel in my new regency series -- "The School for Sophistication" -- featuring the intrepid Lady Caro, who featured throughout the Merry Widow series.  Now widowed a third time (God, she can't marry and kill off another innocent man again), she's determined to find an occupation to keep her sanity.  Miss Abigail Prescott of Boston is her first "test" pupil, and Viscount Montford is in for several surprises, most of which involve the violet-eyed redhead from Boston.

 

All links will be posted on Thursday -- preorders available

on Apple iBooks and Barnes & Noble at this time.

Free Romance!

In preparation for my new release coming out in mid-October, I wanted to run this sale so that readers could meet some of my favorite characters from my Merry Widow series who appear in the new series, The School for Sophistication!  

Here's the link to the various vendors for the free ebook:  https://books2read.com/u/3J0ewe

Unfortunately, Amazon does not allow freebies

unless they're in the Select/Unlimited program -- so sorry! 

The first novel is The Viscount and the Virgin and I'm so excited for my hero and heroine -- Commodore Gabriel Montford and Miss Abigail Prescott.  I'll post more information very soon, including the cover reveal and a brief excerpt.

Happy Reading!

Claire H. 

Top 25 Reads for 2018

2018 was a busy year for reading -- lots of great books, so little time, right?

Although I must admit that this year I was immersed in Susan Mallery's Fools Gold series, as well as Jill Shalvis' Lucky Harbor and Heartbreaker Bay series --  and I do mean totally immersed.  These two writers can world build like no other!  But for the sake of the Top 25, I am putting Mallery and Shalvis in their own kingdom and let you decide.

Also, please note that I am not driven by the NYT Bestseller List or any other "lists" -- I tend to like to find my writers in a more organic way, mainly by browsing in real brick-and-mortar bookstores and libraries, so some are "newish" and some are older.  If I'm starting a new series, I like to start at the beginning, which means I'm reading past bestsellers.

So, here's my top 25 titles that I heartily recommend to readers (broken down by genre / subgenre):


Regency Romance:

Sherry Thomas, His at Night
Tessa Dare, The Dutchess Deal
Suzanne Enoch, The Care and Taming of a Rogue
S. Enoch, The Lady's Guide to Improper Behavior
Grace Burrowes, Douglas
Sally MacKenzie, What Ales the Earl  (no, that's not a misspelling) 


Historical Romance & Mystery  --  Colonial America / American Revolution:

Laura Frantz, The Lacemaker  (gentle)
Donna Thorland, Turncoat
Karen Swee, Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Murder (mystery)
Barbara Hamilton, The Ninth Daughter  (mystery)


Contemporary Romance:

Jennifer Crusie, Bet Me
Elisa Lorello, Pasta Wars
Nora Roberts, Inn Boonsboro Trilogy (counts as 3 books)
Vicki Lewis Thompson, The Nerd who Loved Me
Julia Gabriel, Drawing Lessons
Elizabeth Adler, Summer in Tuscany


Other:

Marlena DeBlasi, Thousand Days in Venice (memoir, travel, romance)
M. DeBlasi, Thousand Days in Tuscany


Stay tuned as I begin to post my 2019 "Intentional" Reading List(s) -- good intentions sometimes fall by the wayside, depending on time, health, weather, which side of the bed I woke up on . . . ah, so many variables! 

To sit alone in the lamplight with a book

spread out before you . . . is a pleasure beyond compare.

        ~Kenko Yoshida, Buddhist monk (ca. 13th c.)

Happy New Year!

There's still time!

Final Days of Freebie Ebook!

A special for Valentine's Day --  Passionate Persuasions is now FREE at the following sites:   Apple iBooks, Barnes & Noble Nook, Kobo and other international distributors.  [Apologies to Kindle users -- Amazon does not allow a freebie unless it's under the KDP Select program].

And, of course, your honest review is most welcome!  

Top Ten Romance Novels for 2017:

Here are my Top 10 choices that I truly enjoyed reading this year, both historical and contemporary.  So here goes:

#1:  Breathing Room by Susan Elizabeth Phillips.  All I can say is . . . wow (hear that heavy sigh in the background? That would be me!).  I've read others by Phillips but this was my first and the best. I'll probably go buy my own copy so I can re-read anytime I want!

#2:  Somebody to Love by Kristan Higgins.  Delightful heroine and hero -- believable, too, which is sometimes difficult to pull off.  And, if you're not familiar with Higgins, her secondary characters are a whole world unto themselves!

#3:  Perfect Match by K. Higgins (yes, again!).  This novel is set in her Blue Heron series in upstate New York and, as above, she digs in deep with these two lovers and the extended families in a tiny town of 700+.

#4:  An Improper Arrangement by Kasey Michaels (Regency).  If you love to laugh while you swoon at the sensuous setting and lovers, Michaels does a superb job in this romance.  I've actually read it twice within one year, it was that good!

#5:  Romancing the Duke by Tessa Dare (Late Regency).  A quirky heroine and a hero who broods better than Rochester, this is another delightful take on the traditional historical romance, with an hysterical furry character who steals the scene, especially towards the end (no spoilers here, please)!

#6: Rake's Progress by Marion Chesney (Regency).  Now this is a throwback to the late 1980s / early 1990s when M.C. Beaton was writing romance -- her books are swift, funny with a deft twist of satire on the genre itself.  This is part of her "School for Manners" series -- all good reads, in addition to her other series. If you can find an old copy at your local library, grab it and enjoy!

#7:  Mrs. Drew Plays Her Hand by Carla Kelly (Regency).  Carla Kelly writes a more "gentle" regency with very little sex, but still quite sensuous in her hints and such.  Her writing is elegant and her characterizations real.  If you've never read Kelly, try it.

#8:  Hearts on Fire by Julia Gabriel.  Set along the shores of the Chesapeake Bay area, Gabriel's writing is strong and sensuous (I think this is my favorite word of the day!), and the angst between heroine and hero is palpable.  And if you like quilting, this will just add another layer of enjoyment.

#9:  It Happened in Scotland by Patience Griffin.  Griffin sets her series in the same little town on the shores of eastern Scotland and, once again, quilters from all over the world come to enjoy a retreat in this quaint village -- apparently populated by the most rugged, handsome men in Scotland -- and all up for grabs (pardon my pun)!  Any one of her novels will delight.

#10:  Sweet Talk Me by Kieran Kramer.  Set in South Carolina's low country, Kramer's hero will take your breath away.  Her story and secondary characters, like Higgins, help bring the reader along in this wonderful, fun-loving romance.






So there it is -- my preferred Top Ten Romances for 2017.  Believe me, there are many more I could have added (including my own [blush]), but I find these authors stellar in their craft and in their storytelling abilities.  Notice I did not put any links attached for purchasing as I am not promoting any particular bookseller in print or in digital.  And, yes, some of these titles are not in the bestselling lists of 2017 -- I tend to like to bide my time and not scramble to buy the newest except every once in awhile.

Stay tuned for my next post in which I reveal my "new" reading list for 2018 -- I always have a list going somewhere in my head, which I'll be happy to share with you soon!

A book is like a garden carried in the pocket.

Chinese Proverb

Three Novellas - One Box Set

Happy New Year! What better way to start a new year then with a new option for one's readers?  Now, all three novellas are available as one boxed set in digital format. They'll be loading up and available at the low, low price of $1.99 (US dollars) at all the popular platforms Amazon, (Barnes & Noble, Apple iBooks, Kobo coming shortly)!

I do hope you'll take advantage of this great offer.  And, if I play my cards right, I should be offering a print box set on Amazon later in February -- just in time for Valentine's Day!

Again -- my best wishes to you all for 2018 -- may you have a peaceful and contented year ahead!  

Threads of Feeling

In "Captive for Christmas" (just released last week; see Books above), I wrote a brief scene between Felicity Drummond and Chandler Rhys in which she shows him a one-hundred year old scrapbook that her grandmothers and mother kept of the orphans who came to live at the family estate over the years. This is based on true fact, and that is what I love about historical fiction -- using facts and events to create a world more rich for the reader.  

archives, Foundling Hospital Museum

sample fragment left with a female child

The Founding Hospital was founded by Thomas Coram who wanted to give abandoned children a decent life. The hospital opened its doors in 1741, and children were accepted anonymously so women were not publicly shamed into abandoning their babies elsewhere.  The mothers were encouraged to leave a small token, which was then added to the admission books with the details of the child. The tokens include ribbons, fabric scraps and baby clothes. The scraps range from plain rough worsted to the occasional piece of fancy silk brocade, indicating the mothers came from all levels of society. 

The exhibit, Threads of Feeling (2008), displayed some of these tiny tokens that mothers left with their babies when they gave them up, and there are over 5,000 pieces in the Museum's archives.  The book, Threads of Feeling, by John Styles is still listed in Amazon,  and in the Sept/Oct 2010 issue of Selvedge Magazine (UK), Shelley Goldsmith wrote a wonderful article about the exhibit.

Now on Amazon!

Yes, it's taken me awhile to get my ebooks onto Amazon. A slow learner, I suppose!  But they're loading up now, and I hope this brings my stories to more readers.

While summer is here -- although a bit soggy -- I'll be taking a break from writing to soak in some sun and do some gardening.  Because before you know it, summer will be slipping away and autumn will creep in.  

I plan to bring out Book 3 in the Merry Widow series in November -- "Captive at Christmas" -- and already have the cover. It's beautiful, and I'm truly excited about this story featuring Lady Felicity Drummond and Chandler Rhys, who readers met in Book 2.  

So stay tuned and don't forget to sign up for my Newsletter here!

Independence Day Sale

 

Happy 4th of July!  In honor of the holiday, Book One and Two of the Merry Widow Series are FREE for the next week on Barnes & Noble, Apple iBooks, Kobo and other popular ebook sites -- just click on the covers!

As always, I hope you enjoy these romances and reviews are always welcome.