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Tag Archives: Elena Greene

Gail’s Winners and Lord Langdon’s Kiss Giveaway!

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First of all, Gail would like to thank everyone who participated in the fantastic discussion of epilogues last week. She also asked me to announce the winners of her giveaway. Congratulations to Beth Elliott and Linda, who have won Kindle or Nook versions of The Captain’s Dilemma, the Regency romance which Gail has recently reissued with a lovely new epilogue.

This week I’m celebrating the reissue of my Regency, Lord Langdon’s Kiss, which unlike The Captain’s Dilemma, needed a lot more work than the addition of an epilogue. Lord Langdon’s Kiss was my first book, and although I’m proud that it sold, I’ve learned a lot in the fifteen years that have passed since I wrote it. In this version, I tackled an issue I’d shied away from the first time around and found that it helped me torture the hero a little more. That’s always a good thing. I also pruned out a lot of redundant introspection, cutting about 17,000 words. Maybe I can make a novella out of the chopped bits.

llkAnyway, I feel very happy about the revisions and I’m pretty sure I kept everything that people enjoyed about it the first time around. I’m hoping my favorite review is still true.

“Lord Langdon’s Kiss is a fine Regency romp that will satisfy lovers of the genre like ice-cold lemonade on a hot afternoon. This is what Regency romance is all about.” (Four hearts) — The Romance Reader

I think the digital revolution has been a wonderful boon to the traditional Regency genre. It’s helped make many previously published Regencies available to new readers, and also opened up a market for new traditional Regencies, filling the void left when the major publishers ended their Regency lines.

Have you discovered or rediscovered any good traditional Regencies lately? Please share, for the chance to win a copy of Lord Langdon’s Kiss on Nook or Kindle.

Elena

a Rafflecopter giveaway

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Featured 99 cent ebook – Fly with a Rogue by Elena Greene

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Fly with a Rogue by Elena Greene

A village schoolmistress’s life takes a turn when a Waterloo veteran turned aeronaut crashes his balloon near her cottage. Passion sweeps them along, taking them on a scandalous flight across the English countryside. They must marry, but can they make a life together?

“This book does not disappoint and took Regency romance to a whole new level (pun intended).”
— (5 stars) Amazon reader review

“I enjoyed the interaction of these two characters. It was many things…humorous, serious, caring, annoyance and of course, romantic. You never knew quite what to expect next from them.”
— (5 stars) Amazon reader review

Buy at: Amazon ~ Barnes & Noble ~ Apple ~ Kobo ~ Smashwords

Elena Greene portraitElena Greene grew up reading her mother’s Georgette Heyer novels, but it wasn’t until she went on an international assignment to the United Kingdom that she was inspired to start writing her own. Her first Regency romance was published in 2000 and was followed by five more Regencies and a novella. Her books have won the Desert Rose Golden Quill and Colorado Romance Writers’ Award of Excellence. Her Super Regency, Lady Dearing’s Masquerade, won RT Book Club’s award for Best Regency Romance of 2005. Elena lives in upstate New York with her stroke survivor husband and two daughters.

Learn more and connect with Elena at:
Elena’s website ~ Facebook ~ Twitter ~ Elena’s newsletter

For a complete listing of titles offered in this sale, please visit the Risky Regencies 99 Cent Sale Page.

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What Elena’s up to now

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When Santa asked for an update on our projects, I had mixed feelings. I love that someone cares enough to ask, don’t get me wrong! But I also have to admit something: I’ve been wandering for a while.

After completing LADY DEARING’S MASQUERADE, I started work on a historical romance with a Regency balloonist as the hero. I thought it would be fun, but instead it soon felt like pushing a boulder uphill. I switched gears to work on a different story that I believed was more “high concept”, only to find the going slow on that one, too. Then not long ago the market seemed to call for something darker than what I was writing. Then sexier–plot setups where the sex starts from the get-go, whereas most of my couples would take about half the book to get to that point.

After desperately mulling around the 15-20 story germs in my idea file, I realized I’d allowed fears about marketability to suck the joy out of the writing. By some wonderful serendipity, around the same time the Smart Bitches blog posted some words of wisdom from Laura Kinsale. And many of her words resonated with me.

“I began to write because I loved to write. That is still the only way.”

I realized this was true for me as well. So I went into Deep Think Mode, looked back over my list of story ideas and asked myself which one I really wanted to write. And I got not one but two answers, so here’s what I’m working on now.

Project #1: Completing the balloonist story. I guess I like closure and having looked back over the partial draft I wonder why I thought it was so bad. Galloping lack of self-confidence, I guess.

Project #2: Character and plot brainstorming on a story I don’t feel comfortable describing yet. In my rational mind, I know perfectly well that the Riskies and our guests would probably say, “Go ahead and write this story” but my insecure inner artist will assume you’re just being nice.

Anyway, the mojo is back. I am enjoying the process of writing again, even if it will take a bit longer for me to get another book completed.

Thanks again for asking about this, Santa!

Elena
LADY DEARING’S MASQUERADE, Romantic Times Best Regency Romance of 2005
www.elenagreene.com

P.S. The image above is a cartoon published by McCleary, A Balloon Tete-a-tete, c. 1820. Since the speech bubbles aren’t clear in this picture, I’ll let you know that the lady is exclaiming “How it rises!” and the gentleman, “It ascends exquisitely!!”

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New look and giveaway!

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Thanks to everyone who helped me think through the branding issue for my novella, Lady Em’s Indiscretion.

 And here on the left is the new cover!  Much as I still love the old cover (right), I hope this will help readers see that this is different from my full-length titles. I hope this story will start reaching readers who appreciate it for what I intended it to be: a quick, sexy read. It’s more like a piece of chocolate rather than a full meal and not for readers who skip the sex scenes.

This week I also updated my author portrait.  Just for giggles, here are my author portraits, in order by age.

As you can see, blue has always been my favorite color. At least I have updated my hair from time to time. 🙂

Let me know what you think of my covers and/or my author headshots.

I will give away 5 copies of Lady Em’s Indiscretion on Kindle or Nook to commenters chosen at random.  Void where prohibited. You must be over 18. No purchase necessary. Post your comments by midnight EST on Thursday, Oct 4th.  Please include your email address and your preference for Nook or Kindle in your comment, or check back for the announcement post on Friday, Oct 5th.

Elena
www.elenagreene.com
www.facebook.com/ElenaGreene
www.twitter.com/elenagreene7

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Do-overs

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Now that I’ve finished reissuing my old “Three Disgraces” trilogy, I’m looking at the remaining two titles in my backlist. I’m pretty sure I want to reissue my novella “The Wedding Wager” which first appeared in the anthology HIS BLUSHING BRIDE, as it is. Although it’s different in style than my later books and may need a different cover to match, it should please readers who like sweet, traditional Regency novellas.

I’m not so sure about my first published Regency, LORD LANGDON’S KISS, which I recently glanced through. To put it as kindly as possible, I have improved a great deal as a writer since then! Some readers and reviewers loved it, but it garnered about 3 stars on the average (which is probably about right). One reviewer talked about the “increasing depth of characterization” in the book and now I understand what she meant. The first half or so could use some work.

The question I’m pondering now is whether to reissue the book at all. I don’t want readers who happen to read this title first to be put off trying my later books. If I do reissue it , should I try for a do-over?

This is the cool thing about reissues. I was tickled when Janet announced that a new edition of her debut Regency, DEDICATION, is coming out from LooseId. Not because the original wasn’t fantastic already, but because this time Janet says it will have “all the sex I really wanted to put in the first time around but which was just inferred”. What’s not to love?

What do you think about do-overs? Any books you would like to rework or see reworked?

Elena

www.elenagreene.com
www.facebook.com/ElenaGreene

P.S. Next Saturday, I’ll be interviewing Mallory Jackson, author of THE PENWYTH BRIDE, a haunting paranormal romance set in 18th century Cornwall. Visit and comment for the chance to win an e-copy!

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