SETTING THE SCENE

Recently I’ve done a great deal of thinking about scene setting. This was prompted by seeing Les Miz the movie after having seen the stage version several times. The story and most of the music were the same, but the scene settings were completely opposite. The stage version had very few props, while the movie was opulent.

We all have to do it. Whether our world is a book, play, or movie is set in the 21st century, an historical period, or a fantasy world of the author’s own making, setting the scene is what draws the reader into our creation. Helps make them identify with our characters, and make the book, movie or play one they’ll enjoy.

Which do you like better, sparse, lavish, or something in between? Please post an excerpt with showing your preference. Here is mine from The Temptation of Lady Serena releasing in January 2014.

1814, Scottish Border Region

The Earl of Weir scowled. “Damn it, Serena, you can’t back out now. Not after the plans have been made. If you don’t go to London who will you marry? What do you have left here?”

Lady Serena Weir stared out the solar’s window, studying the bleak late February landscape. Snow covered the ground, more gray than white; the trees lifeless and black against the gloom. She glanced over her shoulder at her brother, James. “I could marry Cameron.”

“Do you even care for him more than moderately?”

“No, but he needs to marry, and he likes me.” She turned back to the window. Snow still covered the hills. In another month they’d be the feeding ground for the castle’s sheep and cattle. But if Mattie, her new sister-in-law, had
her way, Serena would not be there to see it.

James snorted with derision. “Cameron likes your dowry. Mattie has made all the plans. She assures me you’ll have a wonderful time.”

Serena pressed her lips tightly together. The plans, he’d said, as if they had taken on a life. The plans for her to go to London for her first Season at six and twenty years of age. A little old to be making a come out. The plans meant she would leave her home. The place she had been born and raised and never before left. Tears pricked her eyelids. She would not cry. Not in front of James. If a London Season was such a good idea, why hadn’t he sold out of the army after their father died, when she was still young? Instead, he’d left her here to manage the estate while he remained on Wellington’s staff.

James returned shortly before Christmas, with his bride, Madeleine—Mattie, as she liked to be called—and Serena’s ordered life was thrown into turmoil. She no longer knew what her future held.

Despite her warm cashmere dress and woolen shawl, Serena shivered. No matter how many fires were lit, Vere was always cold and damp, even in the solar, the warmest room in the castle. London would probably be warmer. That might be a good reason to go.

James teased her in the local dialect. “Serena, lass…”

She bit her lip. “James Weir, I know you did not speak Scots with Wellington.”

“Please, Sissy?” Her brother said, reverting to his childhood name for her. “Stop looking out the window and talk to me.”
Serena sighed, but turned. Her brother was tall with dark brown hair, like their mother’s, whereas she had her father’s auburn curls. She’d known he would marry, but it never occurred to her he would bring a wife home with him. Or that Serena would be forced to leave.

Serena fought her sudden panic, but there truly was nothing here for her anymore. “Fine. I’ll go.”

“Good girl!” He smiled. “I’ll tell Mattie it’s settled.”

James gave Serena a peck on the cheek and strode out the door.

“Do. Go tell Mattie,” Serena muttered in frustration. What didn’t he tell Mattie?

London was Mattie’s idea to rid herself of her unwanted sister-in-law. Serena had been presented with the plans au fait accompli. Somehow, she would have to make the best of it.

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Great post for those of us who like lots of characters.

Writers In The Storm Blog

Just a quick announcement — Liz Flaherty won the Advanced Reader Copy of Anne Clelland’s Historical, Tainted Angel.  Liz, you’ll leave her a review everywhere, right?

Charlotte Carter is back, sharing with us her experience as the author of 57books (no, that’s not a typo!) When you talk, Char, we listen!

I was absolutely exhausted the first time I finished a scene with 5 characters on stage at once, and I hadn’t lost a one. Working with multiple characters can be tricky. It’s easy to confuse the reader. You may have more he said/she said than you’d like. And the mother-in-law sleeping on the couch in the scene may vanish amid all the chatter.

Fortunately, there are a few ‘tricks’ you can use to make the scene work.

1. Characters do not necessarily speak in order.

If you listen to a conversation around the dinner table, A doesn’t…

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Guest Author, Mega-Star, The Lovely Eileen Dreyer

Regency Author Eileen Dreyer

Please help me in welcoming my guest author today, the fabulous, best-selling author in two genres, Eileen Dreyer.

Ella: Eileen, thank you so much for being here today. I am a huge fan of your Regencies.

Eileen: Thanks so much for inviting me. I’m delighted to be here.

Ella: Tell us a little about yourself and what prompted you to start writing.

Eileen: I’ve written stories since I was ten years old (I still have all of them. The ones I wrote in high school starring myself and my friends are in a locked box that goes to my high school friend unopened at my death). Anyway, when I was 10 I realized that I had read every Nancy Drew. Not only that, the next one wouldn’t come out for a year. I was devastated. Then, suddenly, the light bulb went on. I could write my own Nancy Drew stories. More important, I could make them turn out the way I wanted them to.

Ella: Oooh, I loved Nancy Drew. How clever of you. You were already a big success in contemporary romantic suspense before you started writing Regencies. What made you decide to write historicals?

Eileen: I’ve always read historical romance. I’ve always wanted to write them. But I’m very critical of lousy research, and when I began writing, I simply didn’t know how to research. I decided that it would be much better for me if I focused on the skills I already had as I learned how to improve on the ones I was weak on—like research.

Thank heavens for Google, it’s now much easier for me. I truly love the idea of writing within the strict social framework of the Regency era, because it gives my heroines another antagonist to push against. I do write strong women, and yes, in some ways they have modern sensibilities. But they do not flaunt the rules of the day. For instance, I just read an old regency in which a young virginal woman decides to become a man’s mistress, and it doesn’t seem to bother anybody. Especially his family, who welcomes her to their home as his mistress. I mean, come on!

I will never only write one genre of romance or fiction. I love writing what I read, and that’s everything. But I really love walking around in Regency shoes.

Ella: What have you found most challenging about historical and what do you love best about the genre?

Eileen: The most difficult part for me is fitting my fictitious plot line into actual history. I mean, it would be easy to say that my heroine met Wellington in America. Except that he was never there. I remember writing the scene in BARELY A LADY when Olivia and Grace travel to the Waterloo battlefield to rescue her father. I have read fiction where the rescuers pop down and back up again, as if it’s nothing. That battlefield was over twelve miles away, down roads that were clogged with wounded, carts, dead horses, discarded supplies. It would have taken hours, just to get there. And then, suddenly I thought, “Oh, hell. By the time the cannons stopped(around 7PM), it would mean they wouldn’t get down there ‘til dark. How can they possibly see well enough to identify who they’re looking for? Please, please, let there have been a moon that night.” Well, it just so happens that there wasn’t just a moon that night, but a full moon, which was why Wellington felt he could chase Napoleon off the battlefield. I actually dance around the house when I found that out.

It’s the little details that make a book for me. The color of a uniform, or the look of a battlefield under the silver half-light of a moon. It makes it all come alive for me. And I admit that I felt a great sense of relief that I didn’t have to change the plot (I simply can’t commit anachronisms just for the benefit of my plot)

What do I love the most? As I said, I love having a real wall to throw my protagonists against, especially my heroine. It offers another antagonist, above and beyond the human and emotional antagonists. I mean, the heroine has to step apart of her society while obeying the most important tenets. That’s what I love about Kate, the Dowager Duchess of Murther, in ALWAYS A TEMPTRESS. Kate danced right at the edge of respectability with the delicacy of a ballet dancer. She was outrageous, but she conducted herself so that nobody could really shun her. Other heroines have to overcome their lifelong relation to the society of the time to triumph. For an author, that’s fun.

Ella: I know you’re working on another Regency now. If we promise not to give away any secrets, will you tell us about it?

Eileen: Well, I just finished the fourth book in the Drake’s Rakes series, which begins a new trilogy (I’ve decided to separate the nine-book series into three trilogies. The first, already out, is The Three Graces, for the heroines who met in the medical tents at Waterloo. The new trilogy is called Last Chance Academy for the school the heroines all attended).

Titled ONCE A RAKE, it is Ian Ferguson’s story. I don’t think it will surprise any readers that after we left him shot and bleeding in the middle of the English Channel, he manages to reach shore to ultimately end up in the hands of Sarah Clarke, a woman struggling to hold onto the failing estate of her husband, who hasn’t been heard of since Waterloo four months before. Ian is wanted for treason, Sarah has secrets that could destroy them both, and the actual traitors are trying to stop them both. I’m glad to say that the Rakes have cameos, especially my buddy Chuffy, and Sarah’s friends who star in the next books reintroduced. I have to say, I adore Ian and Sarah. Talk about survivors. And who could not love a braw, brash Scot who appears in a kilt at least once?

Ella, thank you again for the invitation. This has been really fun.

Ella: Thank you, Eileen for coming on. I’m thrilled to have you here. Now what we’ve all been waiting for, an excerpt of Eileen’s latests release. If you’ve never read her books you’re in for a huge treat. Take it away Eileen.

Eileen: Well, the latest is a short e-story entitled IT BEGINS WITH A KISS introducing the new Last Chance Academy trilogy. Because the story happens four years before the Drake’s Rakes series begins, and because Sarah and Ian never met then, the story focuses on Ian’s sister Fiona and his friend Alex Knight. But you meet the girls, and can figure out how they all fit with their Rakes.
—————————————————————————————————————–
Chapter One
1811, Near Bath
She was incorrigible. That was what Miss Lavinia Chase of Miss Chase’s Finishing School in Weston said. It was what the curate said from All Hallows down the road. It was what the Charitable Gift Committee said, who traveled the few miles from Bath to oversee her education.
Of course, all of the girls at Miss Chance’s Finishing School in Bath were incorrigible. It was why they were there, at what was more vulgarly known as Last Chance Academy. But even in that pantheon of misbehaving, maladroit young women, Fiona Ferguson stood out.
She was always thinking. Not in matters of poise or etiquette, not even in the art of being agreeable. No, that would have at least done them all some good. It might have insured Miss Ferguson a place, however tenuous, in society. But Miss Ferguson preferred science over penmanship. Philosophy over etiquette. And, dear heavens preserve them all, mathematics over everything. Not simply numbering that could see a wife through her household accounts. Algebra. Geometry. Indecipherable equations made up of unrecognizable symbols that meant nothing to anyone but the chit herself. It was enough to give Miss Chase hives.
The girl wasn’t even saved by having any proper feminine skills. She could not tat or sing or draw. Her needlework was execrable, and her Italian miserable. In fact, her only skills were completely unacceptable, as no one wanted a wife who wanted to discuss physics, or who could bring down more pheasant than her husband.
Even worse than those failings, though, was the fact that Miss Fiona had a definite lack of humility. No matter how often she was birched or locked in her room or given psalms to copy out a hundred times, she couldn’t seem to drop her eyes, or bend her knee the appropriate depth. In fact, when her benefactors visited to inspect her progress, she looked them right in the eye and answered as if she had something to say besides “thank you for your benevolence to such an unworthy girl.”
Incorrigible. And if they could find her brother, they would deliver her back into his care.
But her brother, an officer with the Highland Brigades, was fighting somewhere on the continent, which meant they had no hands to deliver Fiona into if they showed her the door. Only her sister, but even the Charitable Trust knew better than to deliver any human into the care of Mairead Ferguson.
“It’s not that I don’t think Miss Ferguson doesn’t deserve to be left to that unnatural family of hers,” Lady Bivens sniffed at the board meeting to consider the latest crisis Miss Ferguson had fomented. “Plain, great gawk of girl. Why, she’d be nothing without us. Cleaning out pots or plying her trade at Covent Garden.”
Across the room Squire Peters snorted. “Not likely. Rather ride an actual horse.”
As usual, Peters was ignored. The rest of the board continued happily blackening Miss Fiona’s name until their carriages pulled up.
They wouldn’t do anything. They all knew it. Ian Ferguson might be poor as a church mouse, and he might have questionable antecedents, but Britain had made him an officer and a gentleman, and his timely rescue of the Duke of Wellington at the a place called Bussaco had made him famous. His sister was safe. For now.
* * *
Fiona Ferguson was safe because she was locked in the attic room where all misbehaving girls were sent to ruminate on their sins. After all, the board meeting had been called in response to her attempted flight from school with a groom from the local public stables. Fortunately, Miss Letrice Riordan had discovered the scheme in time and notify Miss Chase.
Fiona had said not a word when she’d been intercepted by the headmistress and John the footman on the back path leading to the mews behind Pierrepont Street. She hadn’t said a word all the way back in and up the four flights to her prison, or when they’d locked the door in her face. She had just stood there, white-faced and silent, as if they had been the ones in the wrong instead of her.
Not one person had asked why it was she had packed one small bag and run off, a crumpled letter in her hand. And not one person had thought to check on her throughout the long October night, to see if she was afraid or hungry. Miss Fiona Ferguson was in punishment, and that was enough.
To be honest, Fiona didn’t notice either. She lay atop a thin blanket on the narrow rope bed, fully clothed, staring at a water stain on the ceiling that over the years had taken the shape of Italy. But she wasn’t paying attention to that either. Fiona’s attention was on the paper she clenched in her right hand. The letter that had come to the Bath receiving office five days ago. It had taken her three days to sneak the money to the cook to claim it without Miss Chase finding out. It had taken a day to prepare her escape, and another three hours to be found out and dragged back.
She was still lying in the frigid room thinking of how to manage a more successful flight when she heard the scrape of a key in the lock.

http://www.amazon.com/It-Begins-Kiss-ebook/dp/B0089VIAW2/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1343085529&sr=8-1&keywords=it%2Bbegins%2Bwith%2Ba%2Bkiss

Author Bio:

New York Times bestselling, award-winning  author Eileen Dreyer, known as Kathleen Korbel to her Silhouette readers, has published 28 romance novels, 8 medico-forensic suspenses, and 7 short stories.

2012 sees Eileen enjoying critical acclaim for her first foray into historical romance, the Drake’s Rakes series, which follow the lives of a group of British aristocrats who are willing to sacrifice everything to keep their country safe. After publication of the first trilogy in the series, she has just signed for the next trilogy, following the graduates of the aptly named Last Chance Academy, who each finds herself crossing swords with Drake’s Rakes. Eileen spent time not only in England and Italy, but India to research the series (it’s a filthy job, but somebody has to do it). A retired trauma nurse, Eileen lives in her native St. Louis with her husband, children, and large and noisy Irish family, of which she is the reluctant matriarch. She has animals but refuses to subject them to the limelight. Dreyer won her first publishing award in 1987, being named the best new Contemporary Romance Author by RT Bookclub. Since that time she has also garnered not only five other writing awards from RT, but five RITA Awards from Romance Writers of America, which secures her only the fourth place in the Romance Writers of America prestigious Hall of Fame. Since extending her reach to suspense, she has also garnered a coveted Anthony Award nomination. A frequent speaker at conferences, she maintains membership in Romance Writers of America, Sisters in Crime, Mystery Writers of America, and, just in case things go wrong, Emergency Nurses Association and International Association of Forensic Nurses. Eileen is an addicted traveler, having sung in some of the best Irish pubs in the world, and admits she sees research as a handy way to salve her insatiable curiosity. She counts film producers, police detectives and Olympic athletes as some of her sources and friends. She’s also trained in forensic nursing and death investigation, although she doesn’t see herself actively working in the field, unless this writing thing doesn’t pan out. Get in touch: eileendreyer@eileendreyer.com

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News!! Website and Cover Quotes

I’m so excited. I just sent off the contract for my website to Shelley Kay of Web Crafters. It is to go live on April 1st. To celebrate, I’ll post an excerpt of The Seduction of Lady Phoebe and the cover, if I have it.

If you’d like to read the excerpt before the site goes live, sign up for my newsletter.

In addition to the website, the lovely and fabulous Regency author Grace Burrowes read the Seduction of Lady Phoebe and said the following:

“Lady Phoebe is a heroine Georgette Heyer would adore–plucky, pretty, and well worth the devotion of the dashing Lord Marcus.  A marvelous find for Regency romance readers.”

and

“A handsome rake reformed, true love, plenty of spice, and a heinous villain–what could be better?”

 

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Post an Excerpt, Any Excerpt

Today I invite you to post an excerpt, any excerpt. Please make sure it’s suitable for all and limit it to 500 words. If you have buy links, feel free to post them.

Here is mine from The Seduction of Lady Phoebe which will be released by Kensington in September.

As Marcus turned to leave, someone began pounding on a door at the far end of the hall. From the almost unintelligible words of love coming from the young blood attempting to lay siege to the chamber, it appeared the young man was in his altitudes, and he’d found Phoebe. At least Marcus didn’t think the idiot would be reciting bad poetry to anyone else. Damn.
Much to his disgust, Marcus recognized something of his own prior behavior towards Phoebe in the drunken young man. With long strides, Marcus quickly covered the distance to her door. Taking the other man by his coat collar, Marcus picked him up, and shook him. Hard. In a low, fierce growl, he said, “You, my lad, are leaving with me now, and you will not return to bother this lady again. If you do, I shall take great delight in breaking every bone in your body.”
Through the fellow’s alcoholic haze, he tried to focus on his tormentor. Marcus received a grim satisfaction at the fear in the blood’s eyes. Marcus slowly lowered the younger man until his feet touched the floor, then Marcus guided the buck down the hall to the stairs and out the front door, handing him over to one of the ostlers still on duty.
Marcus scowled. “Take this fool, and do not allow him back in the inn.”
The ostler eyed Marcus cautiously. “But, my lord, he’s stayin’ here.”
He fixed the ostler with a cold, hard glare. “I don’t give a damn where he is staying. He was bothering a female guest. You will not allow him back in the inn, or you’ll answer to me.”
“Of course, my lord. I’ll put him in the barn.”
As the ostler started off, Marcus asked, “Where’s the landlord?”
“I don’t know, my lord.”
Marcus scowled as the ostler hurried off with his charge. When his groom, Covey, called out, Marcus glanced over.
“What did you discover?” he asked curtly.
“Seems as if it were just bad luck, my lord, her la’ship being on her way to London. Stays here a lot she does. She was supposed to have arrived next week but came early.”
“Did her servants tell you anything?”
“Close as clams. Don’t tell no one nothin’. Got the information from one of the ostlers. She’s travelin’ with a groom, coachman, and maid.”
“Those damn ostlers talk too much,” Marcus responded savagely, striding back to the inn and to the hall outside of Phoebe’s chamber. If the innkeeper couldn’t protect her, he would.

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Great advice. I ended up hiring Shelley Kay from Web Crafters whose other websites I loved.

Writers In The Storm Blog

We have a treat for you today. Kerry Lonsdale is a writer and a marketing and techno-guru. She’s here to keep you from website embarrassment. Here she is:

Cheesy websites. You know the ones I’m referring to. The music that launches the moment you land on the site. (I’m listening to Mumford & Sons on Pandora. I really don’t want to hear your 1980s love ballad.) The website designed around a book, not the author. (What are you, a one-hit-wonder?) The headshot photo you took of yourself. (Thank you for pointing the camera downward so I wouldn’t have to look up your nostrils.) The content loaded with fonts all shapes, sizes, and colors. (Too distracting and confusing. Sorry, you just lost me. I’ve left your site.)

Why you don’t want cheesiness.

THE IMPORTANCE OF BRANDING AND STAYING PROFESSIONAL

Writers love to be creative. Writers love color and words and all…

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Guest Author Tracy Brogan

Today I’m turning my blog over to the lovely and fabulous Tracey Brogan who is here to promote her newest release Highland Surrender, and in another break from tradition, I’ve posted a review.

FOCUS ON THE STEAK
By Tracy Brogan

One of my critique partners loves to say, “Focus on the steak, and not the peas.”

Now, keep in mind, she is very health conscious, and in her daily life I’m sure she’s all about choosing the vegetables and whole grains over the artery-clogging red meat. But what she’s referring to when she says this is story arc. It’s a great piece of advice, and one I often remind myself of when stuck in the middle of a cluttered, wayward scene, or even more so when I’m wallowing in the quagmire of revision swamp.

We all know that once you have the foundation of your story, it’s essential to add layers. Maybe you want to pile on more emotion, or twine secondary characters around each scene. You want to include twists and turns to keep the reader guessing. You want sensory details, and fresh metaphors. Those are all equally important elements. They give your work depth, complexity, and help engage the readers’ interest.

But remember, the secondary stuff is just that – secondary. Before you start agonizing over why the little brother set off a firecracker that the heroine thought was a gunshot so she ran into the street and got run over by two mimes riding a tandem bike, or before you spend two days polishing the dialogue of the dinner party scene where fifteen different characters are talking about what their various super powers are, figure out the MAIN story.

The foundation of your book is the journey of your hero and heroine. That’s the steak. The rest is just the peas.
I am notorious at over-plotting before I ever commit words to the page. I know every backstory detail about my pistachio-loving heroine and why she refuses to sing in the shower. I know my hero wears a size twelve shoe, and that the reason he quit being a boy scout is because he’s secretly afraid of snakes. I also know his father wears a bathrobe all day and virtually never sleeps past 5 o’clock in the morning because watching the sunrise reminds him of his first love. Sure, that’s interesting… But his father might not even be in this book! I haven’t gotten that far yet. I might include him, if the plot calls for it. Then again, I might not. So I have to remember that those kind of details are the peas. A nice side dish to the main entrée. They add flavor and variety. But they are not what fills the reader up!

So the next time you find your mind wandering down a path with a supporting character, feel free to walk with her for a few minutes. She may have some fascinating things to tell you. But don’t veer off the path for long! Your obligation is to the steak. Your attention must start and end with the hero and the heroine and their adventure. Once their story is firmly set, you can add the other characters, the other charming quirks and random idiosyncrasies that enrich your prose. You can season and tenderize and garnish.

Just remember to focus on the steak first, and worry about the peas later.

Blurb:

Defiant Highland beauty Fiona Sinclair is shocked by her brothers’ treachery. To seal a fragile truce, they have traded her hand in marriage to their sworn enemy, a man she has never met, a man she was raised to despise. With no choice but to wed, Fiona makes her own private vow: though she may surrender her freedom, she will never surrender her heart.

Commanded by his king, Myles Campbell is no more willing than his reluctant bride. Still, she is a rare beauty, passionate enough to warm even the coldest marriage bed. Buy Myles quickly realizes Fiona Sinclair is no common wench. She has a warrior’s spirit and a fierce pride that only a fool would try to tame. And Myles Campbell is no fool. Their marriage was meant to unite warring clans. They never imagined it would ignite a once-in-a-lifetime love…

---

Excerpt:

Scottish Highlands, 1537

Fiona Sinclair could not reconcile the irony of nature’s twisted humor. For today of all wretched days the sky should be burdened with clouds as dark and dismal as her mood. But the morning dawned soft and fair, mild as a Highland calf, and she knew that God himself mocked her. At any moment, Myles Campbell and his father, the Earl of Argyll, would pass through the gates of Sinclair Hall, unwelcome, yet unhindered by her clan. Soon after that, she must stand upon the chapel steps and marry a man she had never met, and yet had hated for all of her life.

Through her narrow bedchamber window, sounds from the bailey filtered up. The smithy’s hammer tapped a mellow cadence as if this day were just like any other. Perhaps he shaped a horseshoe or a pointed pike. She smiled at the latter and imaged the heaviness of that same pike in her hand. Oh, that she had the courage to plunge it deep into the earl’s heart, if indeed he had one.

She rose from the threadbare cushion on the bench and moved without purpose toward the stone fireplace. A low fire burned, warding off the spring morning’s chill. From habit, Fiona slipped her hand into the leather pouch around her waist. She squeezed tight the silver brooch inside, its design and inscription etched as clearly in her memory as on the pin itself. A boar’s head, symbol of Clan Campbell, with words chosen by the king himself.

To Cedric Campbell, a true friend is worth a king’s ransom. James V.

The brooch had been a gift to the Campbell chief, the man about to become her father-in-law. But he had left it behind nearly seven years earlier, pierced into the flesh of Fiona’s mother so that all the world might know he had dishonored her. The priest found Aislinn Sinclair’s lifeless body in a secluded glen outside the village, stripped bare and broken, marked by Cedric’s lust and spite. Thus a feud, long simmering at the edges, boiled over.
But today the king thought to put an end to it with this farce of a marriage between a Sinclair lass and a Campbell son. It would not work.

Fiona paced to the window, restless and melancholy. She leaned out to breathe fresh spring air, hoping it might lighten her spirits. The too-sweet scent of hyacinth clung to the breeze, along with the ever-present brine of Moray Firth. Along the west curtain wall, more hammering sounded as masons worked to bolster the steps leading to the main keep. As if precarious stairs alone might halt the Campbell men from gaining entrance. But nothing would. Her fate as a Campbell bride had been declared the very day she drew in her first breath, and sealed when her father blew out his last.

Buy Links:

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Highland-Surrender-Tracy-Brogan/dp/1612186963/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1356011635&sr=1-1&keywords=highland+surrender+tracy+brogan

B&N: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/highland-surrender-tracy-brogan/1112448430?ean=9781612186962

Review:

It takes a very special Highland romance to hold my attention, and Tracy Brogan did just that with Highland Surrender. The plot and the characters were well developed. It was easy to fall in love with Miles, (it’s a good thing he’s fictional), and I cheered for him to coax the unwilling, Fiona into love with him.

This is definitely a book you’ll want to read. I look forward to more books by the talented Ms. Brogan.

 

To follow Tracy’s Book Tour, visit these sites:

February 17, 2013 – My Devotional Thoughts (Guest Post &Review)

February 18, 2013 – Just One More Chapter (Guest Post & Review)

February 19, 2013 – Laurie’s Thoughts & Reviews(Guest Post)

February 20, 2013 – Book Junkie (Guest Post &Review)

February 22, 2013 – I Totally Paused (Guest Post & Review)

February 25, 2013 – P.T. Macias (Guest Post & Review)

March 1, 2013 – My Escape (Guest Post & Review)

March 4, 2013 – TBQ’s Book Palace (Guest Post& Review)

March 5, 2013 – Deal Sharing Aunt (Guest Post& Review)

March 6, 2013 – Romance Book Junkies (Guest Post & Review)

March 7, 2013 – Between The Pages (Guest Post & Review)

March 10, 2013 – Harlie’s Books (Guest Post & Review)

March 11, 2013 – Sara In Bookland (Guest Post& Review)

 

 

Author Bio:
Tracy Brogan is a two-time RWA Golden Heart finalist who writes funny contemporary stories about ordinary people finding extraordinary love, and also stirring historical romance full of political intrigue, damsels causing distress, and the occasional man in a kilt. Her first two books, CRAZY LITTLE THING, and HIGHLAND SURRENDER both earned a 4-Star review from RT magazine and have hit the Amazon Best Selling Books list.

Tracy lives in Michigan with her bemused husband, her perpetually exasperated children, and two dogs, who would probably behave better if they could understand sarcasm.

http://tracybrogan.com/

https://www.facebook.com/AuthorTracyBrogan?ref=hl

https://twitter.com/tracybrogan

http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6452601.Tracy_Brogan

http://dashingduchesses.com/

 

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Writers In The Storm Blog

You know Valentine’s Day is this week, right? Well we love you. And we love that you love us. So we’re posting links today to our most popular blog posts over the past three years, in case you missed any of them.

Share the love this week, people!

Top 14 posts:

1. Sensual Word Menu
2. Inspiration vs Perspiration in Writing
3. Formatting Your Text For Kindle – Revised
4. Fresh, Fresh, Fresh Character Descriptions!
5. Guest Blogger – Elizabeth Craig: 15 Tips for Writing a Murder Mystery
6. How to Begin a Romance Novel: Seven Tips
7. Copyright, ISBN, Royalty & Pricing With Amazon E-Publishing
8. Chinese Element Personality Types-for Fun and for Writing
9. Myers-Briggs: A Tool for Authors and Other Humans
10. Can Writers Rock LinkedIn?
11. 6 Key Writing Lessons I’ve Learned From Horses
12. Talking Back to Your Brain
13. Body Language: An Artistic Writing Tool
14. Mining For Character Emotions

Speaking of sharing the love . . .

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…And Women Aren’t

Last week we started with the premise that men have a less complicated thought process than women. As a female, I have to admit that I do sometimes over think a problem or situation instead of just taking it at face value. This is especially true when I was much younger and dating my husband. So tell me, to you find yourself over analyzing? Do your heroines fall into the same trap?

If you have an excerpt showing your heroine over thinking something, please share.

Here is an excerpt from Lady Caro’s Accidental Marriage, where Caro is trying to figure out what exactly Huntley is doing.
Hours later, clinking china woke her. She was surprised to find her head and one hand on Huntley’s chest. Her first thought was how improper being with him was. Then she remembered she was married, and, for reasons she did not yet understand, she’d asked him to join her in bed. It was like having two people in her head, one who wanted the warmth and comfort of Huntley’s body and the other who wanted to run as far as possible away from him. Right now, comfort was winning the battle.

One of his hands held her buttocks, anchoring her securely against him. His slow steady breathing whistled in a soft snore. The hand felt—well—how did she feel about the hand? It was warm and oddly comforting. But why was it there? Was it convenient because her bottom stuck out and thus made a good handhold? Or was it because he had long arms, and it was more comfortable than resting his hand on her waist? He stirred and the hand tightened a little and drew her closer. Ah, definitely a handhold.

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The Liebster Blog Award: Shameless Self-Promotion

Erin Eymard, proprietress of the The Bookworms Fancy Blog, nominated me for the Liebster blog award. I am to post the seal, which has been accomplished, recite eleven random facts about myself, and answer eleven more questions, then beg five more bloggers to participate.

Random Facts:

1. I love historical culture. Not just history. I want to understand how people thought.
2. I thank the creator for having ADHD. I wouldn’t get nearly as much done without it.
3. I love to cook.
4. I dream about sailing to Europe.
5. I love paddle boarding.
6. I have freckles on my knees.
7. No matter how hard I try I can’t spell. I’ve been told it’s a sign of intelligence, but I still keep trying.
8. I insist my family have manners, including the dog and cats.
9. I’m not at all flexible when it comes to breakfast.
10. I don’t bake.
11. Ever since I saw Bewitched for the first time I’ve wanted to have the power to wiggle my nose to get things done.

 

Eleven Questions I Must Answer

1. Before now, had you ever heard of the Liebster Award? No.
2. Before now, had you ever heard of me? Yes, we are friends on FB.
3. How long have you been blogging? Since December of 2011.
4. What is the primary purpose of your blog? To give other authors a chance to post excerpts and to promote historical romance, particularly Regency romance.
5. Where do your blogging ideas come from? The books I read, twitter, the internet.
6. Do you blog according to a schedule or is it more random? I blog twice a week and re-blog in between.
7. If you have a day job, what is it? If not, just say something interesting. I’m an author.
8. Which search engine is set as default on your browser? Internet explorer.
9. Did you have to check your browser before answering #8? No.
10. What is the title of the last book you read? Lady Eve’s Indiscretion by Grace Burrowes.
11. Have you ever met a famous person? Several.

I am requesting the following bloggers for the Leibester Award.

Angelyn Schmid at Angelyn’s Blog angelynschmid.com

Angela Quarles http://angelaquarles.com/

Liza O’Connor http://www.lizaoconnor.com/

Marie Higgins at I Must Be Dreaming  http://mariehiggins84302.blogspot.com/

Jenna Jaxon at Jenna’s Journal http://jennajaxon.wordpress.com/

 

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