EVERY TIME WE KISS Book Winner!

We have a winner! The winner of Christie’s post is………….

Lori Ann!!

Congrats Lori!

Please email me your address at mad @ romancereaderatheart.com (without the spaces) so we can get the book out to you.

Read Full Post »

FLIRTING IN TRAFFIC Book Winner!

We have a winner! The winner of Beth’s post is………….

Azteclady!!

Congrats Azteclady!

Please email me at mad @ romancereaderatheart.com (without the spaces) letting me know what format you’d like so we can get the book out to you.

Read Full Post »

SEDUCING A SCOTTISH BRIDE Book Winners!

We have some winners! The winners of Sue-Ellen’s post are………….

Kara!

SuzanneL!

&

CherylC!

Congrats ladies!

Please email me your address at mad @ romancereaderatheart.com (without the spaces) so we can get the book out to you.

Read Full Post »

THE WILD ONE by Denise Eagan

Just One Touch.

Beautiful and aloof, actress Jessica Sullivan wants nothing to do with good-for-nothing men. But when the darkly handsome Lee Montgomery walks through her door, that simple rule is forgotten forever. Because the secret hidden in her heart is about to be revealed.

Is All It Takes.

Boston-born Lee Montgomery is anything but proper. He knows he’s called a rogue, and he doesn’t give a damn. Jessica can keep her distance if she wants to but that won’t last. Not when he longs for her the way he does. Now how in the hell did a confirmed cad fall so deeply in love-and what can he do about it? Lee intends to mend his ways-and make Jessica love him back..

Where do your ideas come from?

It’s a question I hear  a lot. Often the answer for a historical romance writer is “research”.  Next to writing it’s our favorite thing to do. Often we get sucked into parts that have nothing at all to do with our current manuscript and a newer writer will feel guilty about wasting the time. But after you’ve been doing this awhile you learn that today’s “wasted” research is tomorrow’s book.

Here’s an example. One day I was researching different dialects to ensure that my current WIP sounded authentic.  At some point I read that  “Aristocratic American” families sometimes “recognize” each other merely by the words they use: “sofa” instead of “couch”. I was jolted by the term American Aristocracy. I’d never heard such a term;  Forget dialects, I had to research that. The history lead me to the world of the upper-crust families of Boston, San Francisco.  The former were snobby, and established before the gold rush. The latter, upon accumulating incredible wealth from the gold rush and the transcontinental railroad, segregated themselves by mimicking other Grand Societies around the country, most notably New York City.  New York, the grandest Society of all, mimicked the English Aristocracy, going so far as to refer to themselves in the New York Times, 1892, as The Beau Monde.

Wow!

The possibilities were endless; I’ve gotten two books out of it so far. In Wicked Woman, the hero reluctantly accepts his role in Boston society, but falls for a rebellious woman who is everything he wishes he could be.  Other than the tiny little fact that’s she’s wanted for the murder of her third husband. . . In The Wild One, their son, Lee, shuns Boston society to become a Western gambler and womanizer, although his  duty to marry a “proper” woman is a yoke around his neck.  In San Francisco he meets actress Jess Sullivan, a profession known for being anything except proper.  But Jess is at heart a small town girl, who clings to her family’s strict morals like a life raft in a sea of depravity. She doesn’t want Lee; she wants to make restitutions for the misery she cause her family and go home. She’s a bad choice as a wife, worse as a mistress, and yet everything Lee’s heart wants. . .

So research gives us main ideas. But it also provides us with scenes to bring those to life.  From researching the American Aristocracy, I went to researching their lives they lived: dinners and tea parties, work and vacations, clothing and balls! Cool!

Mind you balls were endemic in Victorian America. Even frontiersmen had balls. But this self-proclaimed aristocracy took it to new levels–expensive clothing,  diamond jewelry,  elaborate dance cards and party favors. They assigned dance masters, then used strict etiquette to paste it all together,  such as  1) A lady never crosses a ball room without an escort, 2) A gentleman never dances with a lady more than twice 3.) Ladies should avoid talking too much; it will occasion remarks. It has also a bad appearance to whisper continually in the ear of your partner. There were rules for entering the ball room, rules for exiting, rules for offering and accepting dance invitations. And all the while the matrons sat in harsh judgment.  What better way to show Lee’s disregard for Society, the characters vastly different backgrounds, along with the warmth and shared sense of humor that brings them together, than a ball scene?

***

Two quadrilles and another waltz later Lee led Jess to a seat where, exhausted and perspiring, she fanned herself.  When he made a sly comment about another woman’s huge dragonfly broach flying away with her, Jess hid her laughter behind her fan.  A devilish smile lit  his face.  “Better not do that. The fan across the lips means ‘kiss me.’  Not that I wouldn’t love to oblige you, but this is hardly the place.”

“Oh,” she exclaimed, and let her fan drop to her side.

“Ah, the dance master is returning to the floor.  If you’ll lend me your arm?”

Breathless—from dancing, she told herself firmly, not from the idea kissing Lee —she shook her head. “Another dance? No!”

“Should you consult your card, you’ll see that you’ve already promised it to me.”

“My card,” she said, glancing down at the little book hanging from her left wrist.  She’d completely forgotten about it. “But I never wrote anything in it.”  She lifted her hand and twirled the little book to untangle it.

“I did, while Del Huntington flirted with you, who, by the way, is married—at least occasionally—and a scandal in the making.”

“Occasionally?” she questioned, as she finally pulled the card off her wrist and opened it. A list of dances and composers were printed down the left side of the book.  On the right, written next to every dance in careful masculine script, was Leland Montgomery. “Lee,” she said, shocked mirth shaking her voice,  “you’ve claimed every dance.”

“Have I?” he asked, laughter rumbling through his words as he leaned forward to read it upside down.  “What a fortunate man I am.”

“Fortunate!  It’s scandalous, even I know that!  I am very sure that Mrs. Hathaway invited you expecting you to dance with many different girls.”

“Bernadette didn’t invite me.  Michael did, and he knows full well that I’m only here because of you.  Come, the orchestra is striking up,” he said, taking her elbow.

“But—“

“Jess, if you keep complaining, I shall never invite you to another ball.”

“At this rate you’ll never be invited!”

“Then we had better enjoy this one, hadn’t we?”

Shaking her head, she laughed and decided to stop trying to appeal to his better self. Probably, she thought as they whirled around the floor, Lee didn’t have a better self.

Sound interesting?  Leave a comment, ask a question—I have my research books handy—and register to win a copy!

Denise Eagan

Wicked Woman, Zebra Debut, Dec 07

The Wild One, Zebra, Jan ’09

www.deniseeagan.com

Read Full Post »