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Category: Risky Book Talk

Posts in which we talk about our own books

Tuesday Reviews And Things

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As I slowly wade my way through revisions today, be sure and check out my post from Sunday and make comments there or here–I will announce the winner at the end of the day!  And “Taming” has a new review today….

And btw how great was Birdsong on “Masterpiece” last weekend??  It was sorta like the dark-dark side of Downtown Abbey…

Posted in Former Riskies, Risky Book Talk, TV and Film | Tagged , | 1 Reply

The Taming of the Rogue

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 This week Risky Amanda is launching her latest Harlequin Historical title, The Taming of the Rogue!!  Risky Megan steps in as interviewer and talks to Amanda about all things Elizabethan….
 
There is only one woman who can tame London’s most notorious heartbreaker!
Anna Barrett is more comfortable filling tankards at the White Heron theater than shopping for corsets.  Her “take no prisoners” attitude has earned her a tough reputation.  Where she was once innocent and naive, now she’s vowed never to be ensnared by a man again.  Except Robert Alden is not just any man…
Gorgeous, dashing, and decidedly reckless, this playwright has left a trail of broken hearts across London.  He’s also a spy on a dangerous assignment.  Anna cannot help getting embroiled in his mission–even if this seemingly untameable rogue is the last person  with whom she should become involved…
“McCabe sweeps readers into the world of the Elizabethan theater, delighting us with a lively tale and artfully drawing on the era’s backdrop of bawdy plays, wild actors, and thrilling adventure” –RT Book Reviews
Megan:  Your books are so rich with history—but never overdone—that your characters seem as if they could only have existed at that time. You reveal bits of history and setting so well that it’s possible to know more than you did when you started the book, and yet the romance is primary.
What intrigues you most about the Elizabethan period?
Amanda:  Thanks so much!!!  That is the greatest compliment someone could give me about my writing (jn my mind anyway…)  Since I write in a variety of time periods, I love the challenge of finding the “tone” and atmosphere of each setting and figuring out what makes the characters people of their times (even if they rebel against some aspects of their surroundings, which they usually do!).  Anna and Rob couldn’t really be a Regency couple (unless they ran a Covent Garden brothel or something darker like that!), they are very 16th century in their thinking and their actions.
I think what draws me to this period so often is the incredible raw energy that surrounded the later 16th century, surrounding the charismatic queen.  The arts were flourishing in a whole new way, particularly with music, literature, and the theater, “new” people were rising up the social ranks, exploration was opening up the world in ways unimaginable a century before, and sex and romance was at a very honest and bawdy place (as well as a beautiful, poetic place)–it’s a very exciting moment in history.  And there’s lots of juicy conflict inherent in the times to throw at my characters!!
Megan: What is your most favorite obscure bit of history?
Amanda:  Wow, where do I start??  I’m such a history nerd–one of the most exciting things in my life is to read non-fiction books, especially old diaries and letters, and find weird events and people I could somehow make into stories.  One of my favorite real-life characters of this period is Penelope Rich, a cousin of the queen who was one of the most beautiful, intelligent, cultured, and rebellious women of her day, who lived a wild and eventful life.  I’m always surprised more people haven’t heard of her!  I’m hoping to write a historical novel about her one day…
But this particular story came about after I got to see play at the reconstructed Globe Theater in London!  I toured the great museum behind the scenes then watched A Midsummer Night’s Dream.  It was amazing–as I sat there on the narrow little bench, laughing at the antics of the characters on stage and eating honey-roasted almonds (while the people behind me ate extremely stinky beef and onions–also authentic, I guess, since it would not have smelled pretty at Shakespeare’s real Globe!), I felt like I had almost stepped back in time and was seeing this play for the very first time.  I could really picture Anna and Rob there.  (Also I’ve always been intrigued by stories from the theater of the time, like that of Christopher Marlowe, the young, handsome playwright/spy who came to such a violent and weird end…)
Megan: Who’s your favorite actor? Which actor did you see as Robert?
Amanda: As you have probably figured out, my actorly obsessions change depending on what I’ve been watching or reading!  I have really been loving Michael Fassbender lately, and I decided after seeing The Artist that Jean Dusjardin is now my French husband.  But for this book I had to turn to one of my favorite movies, Shakespeare in Love, and Joseph Fiennes.  (though Anna is more Emily Blunt than Gwyneth Paltrow).  They even managed to make the cover hero look like him!
Megan: If Anna and Robert were contemporary characters, what would they be doing? Where would they live?
Amanda: Interesting question!! I imagine Anna would be one of those very efficient, sharply dressed  young women running a chic modern-art gallery or auction house in London, living in a sleek apartment on the Thames and thinking she will never marry.  She doesn’t have time to date.  Rob would be–hmm, something mysterious.  Spy?  Oil company exec?  He comes into town, driving around too fast in some ridiculously expensive car, showing up at her art openings to sweep her off her feet before vanishing again on that mysterious job–until he realizes he can’t live without her and pursues her relentlessly…
Megan: What role do secrets play in the Taming of the Rogue?
Amanda: I always love characters with lots of secrets!  Things that torment them so they think they will die if anyone finds out.  Rob has secret reasons why he does what he does (working as a spy for Walsingham, which usually meant a very short life expectancy), why he thinks he has to make amends, and Anna has secret reasons why she can never marry again.
 Megan: What do you think is the biggest secret one person can keep from another?
Amanda:  LOL!  I guess that could depend on the context.  I often do stuff like sneak in new purchases and then claim they are not new at all (that’s how I know I’m a shopping addict…).  I would imagine marrying someone (spouse number two) while still being married to spouse number one would be pretty bad–but that wouldn’t be the romance novel hero!  Maybe the villain…
Megan: And what’s next for you??
Amanda: My other half, Laurel McKee, is launching a new series next month!  One Naughty Night is the first book in the Victorian-set “Scandalous St. Claires” series, which also features the theater (in a whole different time period), as well as an ancient family feud, Dickensian backstreet villains, and a heroine who has pulled herself up from the streets and is trying to be respectable at last–if the hero would just let her.  I loved exploring this whole new setting!  Amanda’s next book will be out in October–The Tarnished Rose of the Court, set at the court of Mary Queen of Scots in the 1560s…
What I’m most excited about at the moment is the fact that I will soon have a third alter ego!!  Amanda Carmack will be writing an Elizabethan-set mystery series for NAL starting next year. Stay tuned…
Comment for a chance to win a signed copy of The Taming of the Rogue!!  Winner will be announced on Tuesday. You can read an excerpt at Amanda’s website…
Posted in Former Riskies, Giveaways, Interviews, Risky Book Talk | Tagged , , | 9 Replies

Tuesday Giveaway

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Guess what I have in my hand today?? A brand-new, shiny ARC of Two Sinful Secrets!!  (Out in December)

A hundred years has passed since the bitter rivalry between the St. Claires and the Huntingtons began. But in London, the feud goes on . ..
Lady Sophia Huntington isn’t what she appears to be. Born into a noble family, the impulsive, wild-hearted beauty has fallen on difficult times. Banished from her home, Sophia dreams of the day she can finally win her father’s forgiveness and return to London. Until the sudden appearance of a suitor from the scandalous St. Claire family threatens to reveal her darkest secrets . . .

Dominic St. Claire vows to exact revenge upon the Huntingtons, who destroyed his family’s fortune generations ago. His perfect target is the lovely but proud Lady Sophia. After using her to discover the Huntingtons’ financial secrets, he will cause a great scandal by eloping-and then abandoning his bride. But his plot soon unravels when he finds his own heart ensnared-in a trap not of his own making.

“I’ve found me a new series!! Swoon. How nice life will be. It could only get better if the next book were available RIGHT NOW!!” (Examiner.com on One Naughty Night )

Comment today for a chance to win this ARC!!  Tell us what’s your favorite series, what you think of this cover, if you liked One Naughty Night, anything…

And if you don’t win today, you can pre-order here… 

Posted in Former Riskies, Giveaways, Risky Book Talk | Tagged | 18 Replies

Castonbury Park Launch!

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(From Amanda–Last year, I was invited to take part in a very exciting project, a continuity series pitched as “Downton Abbey in the Regency”.  As a huge Downton fan, of course I immediately said yes, and I’m so glad I did!  It was so much fun getting to work with the other authors and watch our new world take shape, and now the hard work is paying off as the first Castonbury Park title launches next month.  Here is more info on the books in the series.  Be sure and comment to win a copy of the guidebook from Kedleston Hall, our inspiration for Castonbury…)

From the eHarlequin website:  “Are you a fan of the Upstairs/Downstairs genre made famous by the UK series Downton Abbey? Then be on the look out for the new Harlequin Historical DIGITALLY EXCLUSIVE series Castonbury Park! Now, the series is not set in the same time period as Downton Abbey, but fret not–these Regency romance novels are a great way to while away those dog days of summer, PLUS they’re written by some of the hottest Harlequin historical authors!“


Marguerite Kaye’s prequel short story, Flirting With Ruin, is free here for a few more days!  Be sure and pick it up for an intro to the Castonbury world…

The series kicks off with Carole Mortimer’s The Wicked Lord Montague (August):

“Lord Giles Montague has always lived his life just the way he wants—fighting on the battlefields and fighting off the fawning ladies in London’s clubs. But after the death of his older brother in Spain, the notoriously wicked Montague is now reluctant heir to Castonbury Park!
Having grown up with the Montague family, Miss Lily Seagrove finds her least favourite by far is Lord Giles! He’s arrogant, rude and oh, so infuriatingly handsome… But she’s a girl of Gypsy heritage, and although she might be able to get under Giles’ battle-scarred skin, she can never be Lady of the Manor…”

Helen Dickson’s The Housemaid’s Scandalous Secret (September):

  
Ross Montague is a colonel in the East India Army. Raised at Castonbury Park in Derbyshire with his cousins the Montague children, he has come to look on the six siblings as his brothers and sisters. Ross is no celibate, but two things obsess him – India and the East India company. On receiving a letter informing him that one of his cousins has been killed at Waterloo and another – the Montague heir, listed as missing – and the Montague family in dire financial straits, bound by the ties of present and future relationship to the house of Montague, Ross has returned to England.
Having spent all her life in India, Lisette’s parents have died of cholera and she is forced to return to England to earn her keep, but her heart remains in India. Before leaving India Ross saves Lisette from drowning. Because she is disguised as a native girl, he believes that is what she is.

In London Ross again meets Lisette. Although she is familiar to him he cannot remember where he has seen her before. Intrigued and attracted by her, when he learns she is to lose her position as lady’s maid, he persuades his sister to take her on. Lisette engages his emotions at some deeper level, but Lisette is constantly reminded of her lowly position in life and that men of Ross Montague’s ilk are not for the likes of her. To protect herself from his passions – and her own, she is determined to stay out of his way, and yet there is a bond between them which tugs at her heart.

Marguerite Kaye’s The Lady Who Broke the Rules (October):

Shunned by society since she ended her disastrous engagement, Lady Katherine Montague is determined never to allow any man to hurt her again. Instead, Kate invests all her energy and emotions in philanthropy, building a village school, rescuing fallen women and supporting the abolitionist cause.
 
Virgil Jackson was born into slavery in Virginia, but sold into the north when he led a rebellion which had tragic consequences. Hard work, a brilliant mind and a fierce determination to succeed have earned him freedom, power and wealth, but it seems nothing will ever be enough to satisfy Virgil’s need to pay penance for his past.
 
 Two outcasts, two rebels, Kate and Virgil are instantly drawn to each other. But the past, for each of them, has taken a heavy emotional toll. Can they cut themselves free from its fetters, and take a chance on a love so shocking that even the most liberal of Kate’s aristocratic family will find it impossible to accept?

Anne Lethbridge’s Lady of Shame (November):

When the scandalous Lady Claire returns home to Castonbury Park with her daughter, she is determined to redeem herself in the eyes of the Duke and marry well this time, for the sake of her daughter.
Up and coming chef Andre has his career all planned out, and his employment at Castonbury is an important stepping stone. He cannot allow an alluring woman, particularly one in a position to destroy all he has worked for, to distract his purpose.
Yet how can he use his talents with food to help her catch a husband, when what he really wants is her in his bed…

Sarah Mallory’s The Illegitmate Montague (December):

Adam Stratton hasn’t seen his mother Hannah for ten years. Fiercely independent, he has overcome his dubious birth to become a wealthy manufacturer and now he returns to Castonbury to make amends. Hannah is housekeeper at Castonbury Park, where the family have their own problems and she is reluctant to leave them at this difficult time. Adam therefore has to kick his heels at Castonbury, where he meets the equally proud and self-sufficient Amber Hall.
Amber is a cloth-merchant, a successful woman in a man’s world, but she must fight to maintain her place there. Sparks fly as she and Adam realise their mutual attraction, but dark forces threaten them and when disaster strikes they are thrown into a dangerous game of passion and intrigue, where no one is quite what they seem to be…

Bronwyn Scott’s Unbefitting a Lady (January):

Phaedra Montague’s always been wild. Wagering her mother’s pearls on a desperate dream is just the beginning of the adventure. Wagering her heart on Bram Basingstoke might just be the end.
The shocking losses of the past year have sent Phaedra fleeing to the stables, her traditional place of refuge in times of trouble. It’s a place she once shared with her brother, Edward. Only now, she flees there alone. Her beloved brother, Edward, is dead. The only thing left of their childhood together is a shared dream of winning Epsom. Phaedra is determined to make that dream come true as much for Edward’s memory as for herself. Life as she knew it has changed dramatically. She can rely only on herself for securing her future. A win at Epsom would secure that future, giving her a reputation as a breeder.
Ladies have never held any charm for Bram Basingstoke….until Phaedra Montague.
Exiled to the hinterlands of Derbyshire in order to escape his latest scrape with scandal, Bram Basingstoke knows he’ll die of boredom before his six months are out. When an opportunity to work as a groom presents itself at a horse auction in Buxton, Bram takes it. It will give him something to do while he kills time and it’s the perfect revenge on his father , the earl, who’d sought to send his son out of scandal’s way. Bram will show him—his errant second son can create scandal anywhere he goes.
But Bram may have torn off more than he can handle.

Joanna Fulford’s Redemption of a Fallen Woman (February):

Elena Ruiz needs a miracle if she is to escape a life behind convent bars, and Lord Henry Montague seems heaven sent. However, he has his own reasons for returning to Spain and those certainly don’t involve her. Nevertheless, when Elena’s well-intentioned plans unravel he becomes more closely involved than either of them ever anticipated…

Amanda McCabe’s A Stranger at Castonbury (March):

The final installment of the Castonbury Saga!  Catalina lost her husband Jaime in the midst of battle in Spain, and broken-hearted she has come to his family’s home at Castonbury hoping to feel close to him just once more.  But she finds more than she ever bargained for in those palatial halls, when Jaime turns up again…very much alive…

Do you enjoy continuity series?  Are you as intrigued by the idea of “Downton Abbey in the Regency” as I was???  Comment for a chance to win!!

Posted in Former Riskies, Risky Book Talk | Tagged , , | 15 Replies

Catching Up Tuesday

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Is it Tuesday already???  Wow.  I have been working on two projects lately, plus planning a new one, plus trying to have some summer fun, so the week has really crept up on me.  So…what else have I been thinking about lately?

1) Winners!  The winner from my post last week launching One Naughty Night is…Lisa Wolff!  Email me at amccabe7551 AT yahoo.com with your mailing info and I will get a signed copy mailed out to you ASAP

2) Blogs and reviews.  Both good (yay!) and not-so-good (sad!).  It seems like the first week or so when a book is out brings several of them to my inbox every day.  Yesterday I was at the Grand Central Forever blog talking about how being a theater geek led me to the St. Claire family…

3) Watching “Call Me Maybe” takeoffs on YouTube

4) Which led me to “irrational celebrity hate lists” (not sure how).  We all have at least one, right?  Mine happens to be Kristin Stewart.  Ugh.  She just seems to stomp around looking profoundly angry that designers have thrown free clothes at her…

5) Maybe that means we also have irrational hate lists for character types?  The dotty old dowager?  The ditzy best friend?  Hmm.

6) Reading, of course.  I just finished Amor Towles’s amazing Rules of Civility, and now I can’t decide what to read next.  Any suggestions??

Who is on your irrational celebrity hate list??

 

Posted in Former Riskies, Giveaways, Reading, Risky Book Talk | Tagged | 9 Replies