When Sarah MacLean writes a historical romance, you can bet she does her research. This best-selling author holds a history degree from Harvard, and she just so happens to love stories that involve a good amount of smooching, and she’s not about to apologize for it.

MacLean continues her Rules of Scoundrels series with No Good Duke Goes Unpunished. It's dark, gritty and full of conflicts that are heightened by the pre-Victorian setting, but the emotional depth will have you struggling to put it down.

It has been 12 years since Temple, the “Killer Duke,” received his infamous title after a night with Mara Lowe—his father’s young bride-to-be—went horribly awry. After waking to a blood-soaked bed with Mara nowhere to be found, he was cast out from his home and polite society. Since then, he’s made his way in London as a boxer at the Fallen Angel, a seedy club where the London elite can exercise their debauchery out of the public eye. Yet, just as Temple has resigned himself to his misfortune, Mara resurfaces and offers the one thing he wants most—redemption and absolution.

In an impressive feat, MacLean builds a captivating romantic tension between these two characters despite the anger, conflict and mistrust between them. Both Temple and Mara are quite complex, and their relationship is not a typical or easy one, but the emotional revelations and forgiveness they find through their love makes this a stand-out read.

Maclean answered some of our questions about bad boys, Romance snobs, old-school gambling and her ideal date night.

All three of your Rules of Scoundrels books are set in Pre-Victorian London. What is it about this particular era that inspires you?
I’ve been a romance reader forever . . . and historicals were my first love as a reader, so it seemed natural that when I wrote my first book, it would be historical. I love the breathlessness of them—the way that every glance, every touch, every movement can mean something. In this particular series, I’m also exploring the darker side of London in the early 1800s, which makes everything slightly edgier and even more fun.

"Romance is, at its core, a heroine’s journey. She’s the hero of the story, and, at the end, she wins."

Like your other female characters, Mara Lowe is empowered and strong, even during her most intimate scenes. Why is this important to you?
Romance is, at its core, a heroine’s journey. She’s the hero of the story, and, at the end, she wins. Her journey is one of becoming empowered, of gaining strength through love and partnership. Not all of my heroines start the book this way—in fact, none of them do. Mara puts on a good face, but it takes her much of the book to believe in her own power and strength. I think that’s true of so many of us. Writing heroines who have to travel this path feels authentic to me . . . which is why I’m so drawn to it as a story.

Temple, the Killer Duke, is a famous fighter at the Fallen Angel, a gambling club that features prominently in this series. What drew you to focus on gaming hells, a little-known aspect of Regency life?
I knew I wanted to move away from ballrooms and into something a little more masculine and dark with this series. I was drawn to casinos because they give off this vibe that if you just barely scratch the surface, you’ll find something desperate and nefarious down there. The juxtaposition of winning more than you could ever dream vs. losing everything was a big plus for me. I like the way it works for love, too.

During my research on early casinos, I discovered a man named William Crockford—the grandfather of the modern casino. By all accounts, there was nothing sexy about William Crockford—he was ham-fisted, pasty-faced, foul-mouthed and fouler-smelling, with a penchant for prostitutes, but he was cunning and wealthy and more than enough for me to be down the imaginary rabbit hole. Crockford’s Casino became the Fallen Angel, and Crockford himself morphed into four fallen aristocrats—Bourne, Cross, Temple and Chase—each exiled from society either by chance or by choice. Scoundrels, yes, but clean, handsome, charming (when they want to be), and in need of love.

What do you love most about your bad boy characters?
The way they fall in love: hard and intense and grumbling all the way. But once they’re there, desperate for that one woman who can change everything . . . they’re not bad boys at all. They’re tremendously heroic and perfect for their heroine.

There’s a huge secret about one of your characters that is revealed in this novel. Has it been hard to keep the secret?
Yes! I’ve known it for two years and had to do a fair share of dancing around the truth to keep it quiet. I confess, I’m happy that it’s finally out—and that I can share it with readers. I hope it was worth it!

You are an outspoken champion of the Romance genre. What do you think is the most misunderstood aspect of the genre?
I think romance is maligned in large part because at first glance, love seems so pedestrian. It’s all around us. It’s in books and songs and movies and on billboards, so how could it really hold literary value? But what people tend to forget is that the search for love—for the simple idea that there is someone out there who will see us for who we are and accept us isn’t trite. It’s a huge part of our lives. And it’s an enormous part of our dreams.

There are so many fabulous romances out there—there’s something for everyone. I really believe that. And I believe that most of the people who look down their noses at the genre haven’t ever read a romance novel. I think that if they did, they’d be really surprised by how good great romance can be.

What are your top “gateway” books for Romance newbies?
I always start everyone with Susan Elizabeth Phillips, who is hysterically funny and deeply emotional. My favorite of hers is Nobody’s Baby But Mine, which is the story of a socially inept but brilliant scientist heroine with a clicking biological clock, who is terrified of having a baby as smart as she is . . . so she goes looking for an unintelligent man who might make a decent sperm donor. She ends up “stealing” a baby from the quarterback of the local NFL team . . . and thereby hangs a tale.

If you’re watching and/or reading Game of Thrones or just into fantasy, you should absolutely try Thea Harrison’s Dragon Bound, set in an alternate universe of New York City where magic exists. The hero is the wealthiest man in New York, who happens to be a Dragon shape-shifter, and keeps his hoarde of wealth locked up in the basement of his skyscraper. The heroine has never met a lock she can’t pick. She gets herself into trouble and ends up having to steal something from him . . . so she takes one penny, and leaves a replacement and a note saying, “I’m sorry.” The story begins there.

And I have to recommend a historical, too! Loretta Chase’s Lord of Scoundrels is consistently listed as the best romance novel ever written, and it is. The hero is dark and truly alpha—a Marquess who doesn’t believe in love. The heroine is a spitfire who is his match in every way. They fall for each other with fireworks that are undeniable . . . but end up butting heads in a magnificent display of chemistry that burns you up.

What’s an ideal date night for you?
I know it sounds cheesy, but honestly? I’m still pretty crazy about my husband . . . add in a great dinner and a long conversation with lots of laughs, and I’m happy.

This novel ends at Christmastime. Which of your characters would you most want to kiss under the mistletoe, and why?
I’m still pretty hooked on Temple, the hero of No Good Duke Goes Unpunished. He’s the gentlest of all my heroes, even though he’s made his name as the winningest bare-knuckle boxer in London. A true alpha male with a gooey, nougatty center.

What’s your number-one song to smooch to?
I’m a firm believer that the smooching makes the song . . . not the other way around.

What’s next?
Chase’s book! The last in the Rules of Scoundrels series and the one that I’ve been waiting to write for nearly three years. Readers of the series will find Chase’s biggest secret revealed at the end of Temple’s book, and they’ll get the rest of the story in late 2014!

Jennifer Haymore's The Scoundrel's Seduction is our June Top Pick in Romance! Sam Hawkins is an undercover agent, and is sworn to protect his king and country. When he is sent to assassinate an aristocratic conspirator, he carries out his orders, but the traitor's wife, the beguiling Lady Dunthorpe, witnessed the entire event. Sam is horrified and sees no choice but to kidnap her from the scene, yet Élise is glad to be free from her abusive husband. Soon, she is torn between her desire to escape from Sam and the heated attraction between them, but an unforeseen danger at last unites the pair, and they must put faith in each other as they run for their lives.

We chatted with Haymore about her favorite character, English history and more in a 7 questions interview.

Describe your book in one sentence.
An assassin and his target’s wife are thrown together and need to weed through the truth and the lies, and struggle against their growing attraction for each other.

What do you love most about writing historical romance?
I love so much about it! One of my favorite things is the lushness of the historical worlds I write in. Money, power, aristocracy and pomp and circumstance make a delicious backdrop. 

What traits are most important in a romance heroine?
Inner strength, intelligence and a strong spirit.

Of all the characters you’ve ever written, which is your favorite?
That’s impossible! That’s like publicly picking one of your children out as your favorite!

I guess I’ll have to say, it’s my “firstborn” hero, the should-be hero of my first book, A Hint of Wicked, Garrett, the Duke of Calton. I think his story is the most heartbreaking of all my heroes, because he really does lose everything but fights back and ultimately earns his happily ever after.

How do you conquer writer’s block?
I just write through it. I think to myself, “You’re writing crap. It makes no sense. It’s horrible. But you’re writing it, and you’re not going to stop.” Invariably, I read it later on and discover that it’s not so horrible after all.

What’s your favorite period of English history?
Another hard question! I love so many periods of post-Roman English history.  Of course I do love my beloved Regency period, but I also love the Middle Ages and Victorian England as well.

What are you working on next?
An offshoot of the House of Trent series, The Highland Knights. Many of the characters from the House of Trent will be making appearances, and some will find their own happily ever afters.

Author photo by Lawrence Balingit

Kate Noble's The Game and the Governess is our August Top Pick in Romance! A tale of swapped identities with plenty of Jane Austen flair, the first novel in Noble's new Regency series gives a boastful Earl a much-needed reality check. Our reviewer, Christie Ridgway, calls this Romance "a delicious treat," and the insightful, strong-willed Phoebe is a heroine readers won't soon forget.

We caught up with Noble and chatted about her characters, the surprising feminism of Jane Eyre, writing for television and more in a 7 questions interview.

Describe your book in one sentence.
Trading Places comes to the Regency when Ned, the Earl of Ashby, decides to switch places with his secretary John Turner—wagering that he can get anyone to fall in love with him . . . but no one expects the governess, Phoebe Baker to turn everything on it’s head.

What do you love most about Ned, The Earl of Ashby?
I love his obliviousness. I know, it’s an odd thing to say, but it amuses me so much that he thinks he’s universally beloved because of his charm, when really, he takes a great deal for granted: his position as a peer, his friendship with Turner and how the world reacts to him. I loved watching him come down a peg or two as he learned what the world really thinks about him—and how he goes about adjusting his own opinion.

What do you love most about Phoebe Baker?
That she is subversively happy. Here is someone who has been dealt the worst kind of luck, but instead of letting it sour her attitude on life, she finds small things to be happy about. Happiness, for Phoebe, is a decision. One that she makes every single day. 

Name one book you think everyone should read.
Jane Eyre. It’s the most crackingly feminist of the popular romantic era novels. To have someone who is in a subservient role, a woman, with nothing to recommend her, say to the man who she loves that she’s a human being too and she cannot be treated immorally? Hot damn, does Jane have a spine.

How do you balance your time between writing for television—most notably for "The Lizzie Bennet Diaries"—as Kate Rorick and your Romance alter-ego, Kate Noble?
I have no idea. I find that I rocket back and forth between them blindly, hoping no one notices that I’m usually one or two steps behind on my endless to-do list.

What about the Regency era inspires you most?
The rules of the era mean that women had very little choice—but one choice they did have, which would greatly affect every other aspect of their lives, was whom they married. Therefore, they had to be very, very careful choosing the person they fell in love with—because love could be the most daring, dangerous thing they could do.

What are you working on next?
I’m hard at work on the next book in the Winner Takes All series! This story will belong to John Turner—the secretary with whom Ned traded places. He’s fairly mixed up by his experiences playing the Earl, as well… 

In Mary Jo Putney's latest historical romance, Not Quite a Wife, two estranged lovers are brought back together after a 10-year separation—except the pair are already husband and wife. Spymaster James Kirkland's dark and violent career prompted a young and innocent Laurel to head for the hills, but a fateful meeting may be enough to rekindle their passion for one another.

We chatted with Putney about her love of music, historical romance and more in a 7 questions interview.

Describe your book in one sentence.
A long estranged couple who never stopped loving each other must come together again to see if they can rebuild their marriage.

What do you love most about James and Laurel?
They're both very honorable people who care about helping others, but they do so in very different ways. James's work as a spymaster is vital, but it eats at his soul. Laurel is all warmth and compassion, and James needs that so much. She gives him warmth and love and in return he makes her feel loved and valued, which she needs. They balance each other.

Music is a key element of their connection. Does music play an important role in your own life as well?
I've no particular musical talent or knowledge, but I do love it. When I work, I always have music playing. Instrumental only because words distract me. I love Celtic music and Baroque, among others. Music seemed like a perfect way to show how James and Laurel connect. After they separate, his music is his one solace and a way of connecting with her, even though she's gone from his life: He keeps it so private that even his closest friends don't know what a talented musician he is. 

What do you love most about writing historical romance?
It's a great excuse to research history! Plus, because the setting is distant from modern life, it's possible to write dramatic, over the top characters and plots. It's also possible to deal with difficult issues, like alcoholism and death, because setting them in the past allows for some space and detachment.

Which authors first inspired you to start writing yourself?
I always loved reading and books, but I grew up in farm country. Lots of dairy cows, no writers. It never occurred to me that I could become a writer. The actual inspiration to start was getting a personal computer so I could get words down, and when I fixed them, they stayed fixed! But authors that influenced me greatly would be Robert A. Heinlein, Mary Stewart, Dorothy Dunnett and Georgette Heyer. They all shaped my love of storytelling. 

What’s at the top of your reading list right now?
I'm madly trying to finish a book, so I'm re-reading old favorites at the moment. Lois McMaster’s Bujold's Vorkosigan series. Beth Kendrick's smart, funny contemporaries. Patricia Briggs' urban fantasy because she does brilliant characterization. When my book is done, I'll go back to shopping around for new authors.

What are you working on next?
I'm currently working on my seventh Lost Lords book, which will be out next year and is titled Not Always a Saint. The hero, Daniel, is the brother of Laurel in Not Quite a Wife. Like her, he is caring and hardworking, a doctor who is also an ordained minister. The heroine, naturally, is a Wicked Woman for contrast!

Author photo by Marti Corn

After eight years of unfulfilled promises, there may finally be a wedding at Twill Castle. In the second book in Tessa Dare's Castles Ever After series, Say Yes to the Marquess, Clio Whitmore has found independence and is ready to break her long engagement to the Marquess of Granville, but his brother is determined to see the two tie the knot. Of course, Rafe Brandon just has to keep from falling in love with Clio himself.

We caught up with Dare and chatted about the allure of castles, her favorite historical era and more in a 7 questions interview. 

Describe your book in one sentence.
A ne’er-do-well prizefighter tries to save his older brother’s wedding from disaster—but ends up falling for the bride instead. Also, there’s cake! Lots of cake.

What do you love most about writing historical romance?
I’ve just always loved the romance of historical settings. Since I spent my teenage years inhaling Jane Austen, Charlotte Bronte and Julie Garwood (among others), I think my formative reading permanently wired my brain to connect cravats, kilts and carriages with swoony romance.

What do you love most about your heroine, Clio Whitmore?
Clio has a lot of good qualities, such as patience and generosity . . . but I loved writing her more human touches. For instance, the fact that she “floor-skates” in stockingfeet around her inherited castle (because wouldn’t you?) and makes little happy noises when she eats cake.

What are the sexiest scenes to write?
The sexiest scenes are always the ones with the most raw emotion. A great love scene is about getting the characters naked in more ways than one. They have to reveal themselves, their deepest fears and their needs.

What inspired you to pen a whole series set at various castles?
Well, let’s be honest . . . partly, I just thought it would be great fun to be able to visit castles and call it research! But also, writing about women who’ve inherited castles gives me a way to write about heroines empowered to take on new challenges and make bold choices. In that day and age, a woman who owned property was a true rarity.

What’s your favorite period of English history?
My books are all set in the Regency, so I think I would have to say that one! It’s just a great setting for romance. The country was at war. The Enlightenment and Romantic period opened new worlds of knowledge and artistic expression. The class system was in force, but it was starting to become a tiny bit more flexible. Restrictive Victorian morals (and necklines) had yet to appear.

What are you working on next?
Next in the Castles Ever After series is When a Scot Ties the Knot. At last, I’m getting to write a hero in a kilt! Verra, verra exciting. 

Author photo by Raphael Maglonzo

Our June Romance Top Pick is Caroline Linden's Love in the Time of Scandal, a Regency romance about a headstrong woman and a suave Lord who end up making a shockingly scintillating pair. In a 7 Questions interview, Linden tells us about the beauty of the Regency era, her Math degree from Harvard, a time-travel stipulation and more.

Describe your book in one sentence.
A feisty heiress in search of adventure, a nobleman in search of a bride and a scandalous book that tempts them both to find their greatest passion.

What do you love most about writing historical romance? 
The era I write about (early 1800s England) was one rich in intrigue and drama, with a major war, political upheaval, national scandals and spies, but it was also on the cusp of a new age of invention and scientific discovery. It was a good age for woman, historically speaking. It was also a beautiful age, with an emphasis on graceful architecture, landscaping and fashion—and that always makes a world more appealing.

How did you go from getting a Math degree at Harvard to writing romance?
I was working as a programmer at a financial services firm doing actuarial coding when I had my children. My husband and I moved from Miami to Boston when our youngest was a baby, so it led to a natural break in my career. Then my husband got me a new iMac, and I ran out of books to read, and somewhat idly I started writing a story of my own. It was a big surprise to me how much fun it was, although it took two or three tries to come up with a story I could finish.

If you had a chance to go back to the Regency era, would you take it?
If I had a guaranteed return ticket, I would. A few weeks of research and exploration would be wonderful, but I could not live there.

Have you ever considered writing a full-length contemporary romance?
Yes! I plan to in the not-so-distant future. I’ve been waiting years to put my beloved Red Sox into a story.

If you could go back and change something about one of your already published books, would you and what would it be?  
I suffer terrible longings to edit every single one of my books forever. I seem to have a knack for opening a newly printed book and finding the typos that got overlooked in production. And of course I want to go back and fix every mistake in my research or hole in my plot. However, if I could change only one thing in one book, I would re-write the ending of A Rake’s Guide to Seduction. It got a little carried away.

What would you like to ask the next “7 Questions” Romance participant?  
If you had to write a book in a completely different genre, what kind of book would you write?

Suzanne Enoch closes her Scandalous Highlanders series with our October Top Pick in Romance, Some Like It Scot, the tale of two stubborn souls who find each other in the beautiful yet treacherous Scottish Highlands. In this 7 Questions interview, Enoch talks about the appeal of a kilt, her favorite romances and what's next for her. 

Describe your book in one sentence.
The course of true love never did run smooth, especially when it involves the two most stubborn, set-in-their-ways people on the planet. In kilts. (Okay, that’s two sentences, but just barely.)

Why do you think Highlanders are such a romance novel staple?
In our mythos, the word “Highlander” comes with a built-in dictionary definition filled with terms like “wild,” untamed,” “strong,” “independent,” and very, very alpha. It’s one of those words like “shark” or “tornado,” where just its mention fills a reader's mind with a whole slew of imagery. And it’s very compelling, very seductive imagery.

Would you rather be a part of the Regency ton or take to the moors of 19th-century Scotland described in Some Like It Scot?
That’s a really tough question. As a lady, I think I’d have an easier time in a London drawing room, but man, those Highlanders and that kind of rollicking lifestyle are so tempting. Can I summer in the Highlands and winter in my estate in Surrey? That would work for me.

Did you do any research for Some Like It Scot?
Over the course of this Scandalous Highlanders book series, I’ve done a lot of research on what was going on in the Highlands at the time of the English Regency—the easing of the restrictions placed on the Scots after their loss at the Battle of Culloden, the Clearances that were forcing landowners to replace tenants with Cheviot sheep, the decline of the clan system, etc. It wasn’t fairy-tale pretty by any means, but the hardship and the drama make for a fascinating setting—and tons of conflict—that I love as a writer.

You’re a big film fan: What’s your favorite on-screen romance?
I love Hawkeye and Cora’s romance in The Last of the Mohicans—it’s so sweeping and larger-than-life (much more so than in the novel). And I’m also a sucker for the much more subtle romance of Ripley and Hicks in Aliens, with two very strong-willed people who know both how to survive and how vital it is to do what’s right.

What do you love most about Bear and Catriona’s relationship?
I like how neither of them are looking for love, but eventually—through much smack-talk and arguing—realize that while love is a compromise, it also has the effect of making them better people than they were before. I knew I would be using Bear for the book’s hero, and I knew he was big and imposing and fierce. When it came time to concoct a heroine, I figured I could go one of two ways: either give him his complete opposite, someone shy and proper and who needed his protection, or give him a lass at least as tough and fierce as he was. I decided the latter would be so much more fun, and it definitely turned out that way.

This is the final Scandalous Highlander book. What’s next for you?
I had the opportunity to go back to London if I wanted, but as I was doodling out plot lines, I realized that I’m not quite finished with the Highlands yet. So I’m heading back there again, with a new group of lads and lasses and putting as much trouble in front of them as I can manage. I can’t wait.

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Our November Romance Top Pick, Cold-Hearted Rake, marks a celebrated return to historical romance for best-selling author Lisa Kleypas. In a 7 Questions interview, we talked to Kleypas about crowns, the allure of the Victorian era, what's next for her and more. 

Describe your book in one sentence.
A handsome, carefree London rake inherits a failing estate and reluctantly fights to save it while battling his attraction to a feisty young widow.

What inspired you to return to historicals after your hiatus from the genre?
Historical romance will always be my favorite genre to write in, but with a career as long as mine, it's important to find ways to stay excited and motivated. For me, that means challenging myself with new kinds of stories and characters and always trying to stretch my skills. After writing contemporaries for a few years, I started thinking about historical plots again, and I became enthusiastic about creating a family series set in Victorian England.

How does it feel to delve back into historicals? Did anything surprise you upon your return to the genre?
Fantastic! There's so much I've missed . . . the elegance and romance of the historical time period and the expansive vocabulary I can use. Contemporary dialogue tends to be choppier and more efficient—I think a lot of us speak in shorthand nowadays. But conversation in historical society used to be a form of entertainment, with a lot of emphasis on wit, intellect and style. There was a sense that after a discussion with your friends, everyone should be a little improved by it afterward. So writing historical dialogue is by far the most fun part of my job.

If there was a surprise for me in delving back into historicals, it was probably the realization of how much easier it is to write an unapologetically alpha hero. With contemporaries, there are far more boundaries for a strong male character—we just don't let guys get away with as much as we used to. However, if you put a hero in a historical time period, he has an excuse to be arrogant and high-handed: It's the 1800s—he can't help it! (Incidentally, I think that’s why my Texas contemporary heroes can get away with being so alpha—they're Texan, they can't help it!)

What draws you specifically to the Victorian era?
So much excitement and conflict is already built into the time period! Technology and industry were changing the world so fast that no one could keep up with it. Aristocrats were losing their wealth while commoners were gaining it, and social reform was making headway. It was an incredibly tumultuous time. I tend to put a big mix of social classes in my stories—I love characters who are outsiders trying to find a place for themselves, and the Victorian setting is ideal for that.

Also . . . I can't help being fascinated by the idea of starched and buttoned-up Victorians trying to conceal all their natural inclinations and desires. There's something sexy about all those layers of clothes and fasteners and laces and stays: It gives a love scene a sense of the forbidden.

What’s your favorite thing about your latest couple, the devilish Devon Ravenel and the sharp-as-nails Kathleen?
I loved this pairing because on the surface they seem so different—he's a pleasure-loving scoundrel, and she's an uptight widow—but deep down, they're very much alike. They're both incredibly guarded and unwilling to trust anyone with their true thoughts and feelings, and they both secretly yearn for a deep connection with someone. And when they're together, they push each other into becoming their best selves. It was so satisfying to see their characters develop together on the same emotional arc.

What do you do for fun while you’re taking a break from writing?
My husband and two children and I live in the Pacific Northwest, so there's always a ton of things to do. We hike around local lakes, go on some pretty steep trails and take in the spectacular scenery. We also love go to the local farmer's market or drive down to Seattle to attend a concert or play. We're foodies, so we're always trying out new recipes with exotic ingredients. This past year, after I had a hysterectomy and a couple of months of enforced bed rest, I discovered the pleasures of binge-watching, and I watched entire seasons of shows I've heard about for a long time. Mad Men! The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt! Game of Thrones! It was glorious.

What can we look forward to from you next?
I'm currently working on the next in my historical series The Ravenels . . . the title is Marrying Mr. Winterborne. It's about an incredibly wealthy common-born Welshman, Rhys Winterborne, who is determined to marry shy, aristocratic Lady Helen Ravenel. He knows the only way he can marry someone like Helen is to ruin her first, so he talks her into coming to his bed and letting him seduce her. And that's just the first chapter!

Bonus Question: We’ve got to ask. As Miss Massachusetts 1985, do you ever take down your crown from the bookshelf and wear it around the house?
Well, it's just a big crown  . . . I have to save that for more formal occasions, so I have a smaller crown (I won it at the local county pageant before the state finals) that's more appropriate for things like vacuuming or light household tasks. If anyone asks, I just tell them it's a little something to hold my hair back.

Our Romance Top Pick for January is The Lady's Command, the first in a thrilling new Regency series by bestselling author Stephanie Laurens. In a 7 Questions interview, we asked Laurens about her career as a cancer researcher, why Regency romance is such an evergreen genre and more.

Describe your novel in one sentence.
The Lady’s Command is a crash course for two headstrong, willful and dominant characters in what it’s going to take to make their recently celebrated marriage work.

Readers may be surprised to learn that you hold a Ph.D. in biochemistry and used to work in cancer research. What prompted you to leave the world of science behind? Do you ever feel any sadness that the degree you spent years working toward now goes unused professionally?
I left the world of science behind when it became not so much about the science itself—which I loved!—but more about bureaucracy and science-politics. So no, I have not one single regret over leaving science, because staying was no longer an option; the field no longer delivered what I wanted from it. And although the degree itself, meaning the piece of paper and the letters after my name, may no longer be relevant in my work as a novelist, a Ph.D. in any research subject is more about imagination and creativity applied to researching facts and asking that evergreen question: what if? That is exactly the same skillset needed to write a novel. The skills honed in my previous life as a research scientist stand me in excellent stead in my career as a novelist.

You’ve penned over 60 books, almost all of them Regency-set historical romances. What is it about this particular genre that you enjoy so much?
Quite aside from the glamour of bygone days, of the British aristocracy arguably at its height, of the balls and soirees, the clothes and extravagant lifestyles enjoyed by the Upper Ten Thousand, to me there are several advantages in writing in the historical sphere, one of which is that there were no phones, no cars, no planes, no Internet—so people had to deal with each other face to face. For a novelist, that means a greater degree of intensity and immediacy in all interactions. In addition, in the Regency era, there was a very powerful and—for a romance novelist—useful shift in social attitudes taking place. Prior to the early 1800s, the aristocracy and nobility rarely, if ever, married for love. In pre-Regency days, for a young lady of birth and fortune, marriage was all about cementing dynastic alliances and the passing on of property; the only question a young lady was asked about marrying was whether she would receive an offer for her hand.

But after 1810, courtesy of gradually changing social mores, the romantic question facing a young lady of the aristocracy became three-fold: Should she marry for love, should she marry for wealth and position, or should she not marry at all? Of course, gentlemen of the same social strata were also facing the same novel set of questions, so would-be sweethearts had to explore what love meant to them individually and jointly, and whether love was, in fact, the mast to which they wished to pin their future.

Essentially, for the first time in history, aristocrats faced the same questions that women and men face today. Having characters dealing with the same fundamental questions about love and marriage is an important, possibly essential, factor in crafting romances that resonate with the audience of today. To my mind, that is one big reason why Regency-set historical romances work so well with modern audiences.

Devoted readers of your books will remember the main characters of The Lady’s Command from a previous novel, The Lady Risks All. Given how many novels and series you’ve written, as well as your tendency to have familiar faces pop up in later novels, how do you keep track of all your characters and make sure you keep their detailed worlds straight?
It helps that I view the world my characters populate as essentially one world—I just move to this social group or that. And because the world the majority of my characters inhabit—the aristocracy—is, socially speaking, a small one, then it is to be expected that they are acquainted with each other and that there’s always a connection somewhere.

As for keeping each character’s story straight, I can always check back on anything I’m unsure about just by reaching out and picking up the relevant book. I rarely lose track of my principal characters, but I have resorted to a spreadsheet to help with the names of their staffs! Remembering the names of the butlers and housekeepers in the various major houses is definitely a challenge!

In this novel, you upend the traditional romance trope of wrapping things up nicely at the end with a wedding by instead having Edwina and Declan already married at the start. Why did you make this choice, and how do you feel it affected the way you approached their romance?
An essential truth when working on the romance of strong-willed and independent characters is that often the wedding is only the beginning of the forging of their relationship, rather than the end. Although Edwina and Declan had a reasonable period of betrothal, with Declan often away at sea, they hadn’t spent that much time together, and during the time they had spent together before the wedding, both were projecting their most amenable faces. For characters like these two, after the wedding is when the real work of understanding each other starts.

As for how that affects the writing of the romance, not having to deal with the initial hurdles of getting to know each other, first lust and first intimacy, frees me to concentrate on the true building of the relationship and how it evolves to integrate the demands of their individual personalities.

Like Edwina and Declan, who travel to West Africa, you and your husband have undertaken some fairly epic travel adventures together. What is one of the most important lessons you have learned about love from traveling as a couple, and where did you learn it?
I couldn’t say where, as this is a lesson built on lots of experience over many years, but I would have to say that cultivating patience (perhaps that should be Patience) and the ability to just let the unimportant stuff pass without comment is arguably one of the most critical traits—and one that probably also applies in ordinary day-to-day life—but when travelling, it’s essential.

The Lady’s Command kicks off a new series and features a larger, overarching mystery and ends on a cliffhanger that will surely leave readers desperate for the next installment. Can you ease our curiosity and let us know what (and which couples!) the next three novels have in store for us?
The second installment, A Buccaneer at Heart (May 2016), is Declan’s older brother Robert’s story. Robert picks up the baton for what by this point become a multi-leg mission, and the third book, The Daredevil Snared (July 2016), commences when the youngest Frobisher brother, Caleb, steps in and effectively filches the next leg of the mission before anyone can tell him nay. The final installment, Lord of the Privateers (December 2016), is the story of what happens when Royd, the oldest of the Frobisher brothers, takes on the last leg of the mission, and in so doing, discovers a great deal he hadn’t known about himself—and about the lady who, for the past eight years and more, has held his heart.

(Author photo by Kingma+Kingma)

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Romance readers know that when the sun goes down and the lights dim, that’s when things really get interesting. It would seem that Beverly Jenkins, a veteran of the genre and a self-professed night owl, is inclined to agree.

During an early morning phone interview with BookPage from her home just outside Detroit, Jenkins apologizes for her husky voice, confessing that she’s still waking up. “I work at night because when I started writing, I had a husband, two growing kids and a job,” she reveals. “The only time I had free was at night, so that’s when I worked. Now I do my best work between 10 p.m. and 3:00 or 4:00 in the morning.”

Jenkins is now in her 60s, but old habits die hard. Reflecting on her schedule, she muses that “it started out of necessity, but now it’s just what I do.”

In some ways, that statement also encapsulates Jenkins’ writing career. Since the 1994 publication of her first book, Night Song, which featured two African-American lovers in the 1800s, Jenkins has essentially single-handedly pioneered the African-American historical romance subgenre. 

Jenkins claims she did not begin writing romance with the goal of revolutionizing the industry, but she admits that the predominantly white romance genre she discovered as a girl in the 1960s never sat entirely right with her. “There were never any characters that looked like me or my sisters or my girlfriends,” she recalls. “Our stories needed to be told.” 

When asked why it’s so important for people of color to be represented in fiction, particularly historical romance, Jenkins doesn’t pull any punches. “If you look at the demographics of this country, it’s getting browner and browner! To satisfy that market, you have to give people stories that represent them,” she states. “Our country has never been just black or white—it has always been a mixture of cultures. We have managed to whitewash history and cut out all the pieces of the quilt that belong to people of color, when they were the threads holding the quilt together.”

For 30 years, Jenkins waited for someone to address this oversight. No one did. Finally, she realized, “If I’m not going to write these stories, then who is?” 

“If I’m not going to write these stories, then who is?” 

So she wrote her first love story, although she never intended to publish it. “There was very little, if any, African-American commercial fiction back then,” she says. “The general feeling was that we didn’t have the history or scope, and [black] writers didn’t have the skill to do it.”

For a while, Jenkins herself bought into the prevailing dogma, but, at the urging of a friend, she eventually reached out to Vivian Stephens, an African-American romance editor who went on to co-found the Romance Writers of America association. Together, they worked to get Jenkins’ book published. 

It was not a battle easily won.

“We kept getting told, ‘Great story! Great writing! But . . .’ Nobody wanted to step up and publish it. They kept saying there was no market, that black women don’t read—which is bullshit.”

As Jenkins reminisces about the prevailing sentiment at the time, there is no bitterness in her voice, only incredulity and a hint of knowing satisfaction that publishers could be so wrong. In the years since Avon took a chance on her, Jenkins has published over 30 novels, and her books have garnered her a legion of deeply devoted fans.

Forbidden is the first installment of a new trilogy and features a fair-skinned freedman named Rhine. He’s passing for white and running a saloon after the Civil War when he encounters the beautiful and fierce-willed Eddy, who owns nothing but a cookstove and dreams of opening a restaurant. Those familiar with Jenkins may remember that Rhine first appeared nearly two decades ago in the novel Through the Storm.

Jenkins had never intended for Rhine’s story to lapse for so long, but she says she simply “didn’t know where he was these last 17 years.” It was only recently that she saw reports of an archeological dig uncovering an African-American saloon in Nevada. That’s when she realized where Rhine had been hiding, and his story fell into place.

For her fans, the romance may be the beating heart of her stories, but for Jenkins, it’s all about the history itself. “The story for me has always been paramount, and the sex has been the icing on the cake—your reward for reading the history,” she says. “I want my readers to be learning something, even if they don’t realize it until after they’ve closed the book! Little by little, I’m trying to stitch all of those [forgotten] pieces back into the history quilt.”

It’s a job Jenkins feels privileged to perform, but she confesses she would welcome some company.

“I have this huge market of ladies—of all races—who are waiting to read more historicals. Hopefully someone else will come and take the genre forward,” she says. 

However, Jenkins isn’t resting on her laurels. In 2016 alone, she is aiming to release three books. It’s an immense amount of work, but she has no plans to slow down any time soon. “Lord willing and the creek don’t rise, I have got maybe another 20 years in me,” she chuckles.

Looking back at what she has accomplished in the last two decades, one can only imagine what new triumphs the next pair will hold. What is clear, however, is that in her pursuit to write about African-American history and piece together the quilt, Jenkins has woven herself into its very fabric.

This article was originally published in the February 2016 issue of BookPage. Download the entire issue for the Kindle or Nook.

The final book in Mary Balogh's New York Times bestselling Survivors' Club series, Only Beloved, is our May Top Pick in Romance. The series follows seven wounded veterans of the Napoleonic Wars who have returned to England to heal at the home of George, the Duke of Stanbrook. Only Beloved gives the generous and kind George the happy ending he so deserves. We asked the Welsh-born Balogh about bringing her touching and popular series to an end.

Describe your latest novel in one sentence.
After years of grief and loneliness as a widower, the Duke of Stanbrook decides to seek happiness with an unmarried music teacher he met briefly a year ago.

Most romance novels feature young lovers in their 20s and early 30s. For the final book in the series, what made you decide to write a love story between an older couple?
I really forced it upon myself. When I invented the Survivors' Club, I needed a character who opened his home as a hospital for officers. It somehow made sense to make him an older man rather than a young man who should perhaps have been away fighting himself, and so the Duke of Stanbrook was born. He is a very central character to the series, though, and was always going to have to have his own story. I would not pair him up with a young woman, so there had to be an older female character worthy of him. And then there is also the fact that I think there should be more love stories for older couples. Many avid readers, after all, are older people, and love and romance are not exclusive reserves of the very young. I am an older person!

What’s the biggest difference between writing a romance about an older couple and writing about a younger one?
It's the level of maturity. The Duke of Stanbrook is 48 in his book; Dora Debbins is 39. They have done a lot of living. They have gone through a lot, suffered a great deal, dealt with their sufferings, settled into productive and dignified lives. I wouldn't say they no longer feel passion (they do!), but they show it in a more considered, realistic way than is often the case with younger characters. There are fewer fireworks and ups and downs of emotion, but a slow burn can be just as hot.

What’s your favorite thing about George, the Duke of Stanbrook?
He is a man who lives love. He is the one who opened his home as a hospital for the Survivors and others, and he was utterly devoted to their care and wellbeing. Even after the three years are over, he is still totally supportive of his friends and absolutely unselfish. Yet he has deep wounds of his own. His only son died in the wars, and his wife committed suicide a few months later. Some of his neighbors believe he killed her. He never talks about his past. He listens, but he keeps his secrets and his pain locked up. My favorite thing? All through the series he is a hero just waiting to happen! I could hardly wait to get to his book.

Only Beloved is the seventh and final book in your Survivors’ Club series. What will you miss most about this series?
The seven characters, six men and one woman, who comprise the club, are a very close-knit group. And they are strong people, having been variously and severely wounded during the Napoleonic Wars before spending three years together recuperating and fighting their way back to physical and emotional health. I loved taking them one by one and pairing them up with suitable heroines and hero so that they could settle back into happy lives and love again. Characters like these become real people to me, and it is sad to say goodbye. However, there is a certain satisfaction in having completed a body of work and being able to turn to a new challenge.  There are numerous other characters and stories out there just waiting to be discovered, after all.

Has your childhood in Wales influenced your writing at all? And if it has, how so?
I have written a few books and novellas set in Wales (Longing and The Escape, for example), and my love of the country, the landscape, the language, the music, the spirituality carried me onward through those stories. I was perfectly at home writing those books because I knew my subject. I think a Welsh love of music and language shows itself in all my books, though. And the Welsh are a passionate people. My books are character-driven and passion-driven. That does not necessarily mean they are driven by sex. The passion of love includes sex but encompasses so much more.

To come at the question from another angle: I grew up in post-World War II Wales, in a city that had been almost flattened by bombing. We had very little, and our outdoor playground was the bombed buildings. Food, clothing, almost everything was severely rationed. We had few belongings, few toys. But did we feel deprived? Did I? In no way! I firmly believe that it was my childhood that ignited my imagination. With my few toys, I created rich imaginary worlds. I played in those worlds, and I wrote long stories about them as soon as I could read and write.

What’s next for you?
I am working on a new eight-part series, the Westcott family series. It is based on the premise of an earl dying without a will. His son automatically inherits the title and properties and fortune, but his widow and two daughters are well provided for, too—until, that is, a 25-year-old will surfaces, leaving everything except the title to the wife and daughter no one knew anything about. And that first wife died four months after his second marriage, rendering that union bigamous and the three children of the marriage illegitimate. His only legitimate daughter grew up in an orphanage unaware of her true identity. The first book, Someone to Love, is her story—Anna Snow, who is in reality Lady Anastasia Westcott. Grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins are also involved in the turmoil—one cousin inherits the title. The series will tell the stories of the various Westcotts and how they reshape their concept of their family as they deal with its new realities.

Author photo by Sharon Pelletier

Our Romance Top Pick for August is Anna Bradley's Regency romp A Season of Ruin, part of the Sutherland Scandals series. We asked Bradley a few questions about her new novel, her favorite romance and her work at the Chawton House Library, a rare books library straight out of a Regency tale.

Describe your latest novel in one sentence.
What begins as a notorious London scandal flames into fiery passion between a prim, proper young lady and an infamous rake.

Before becoming an author, you worked at Chawton House Library, a beautiful rare books library located in an English manor house that once belonged to Jane Austen’s brother and now houses works by British women writers from the 1600s through the Regency period. What was the most interesting book or fact that you discovered while working at Chawton House Library?
I learned so much while I was at Chawton, but the one piece in the collection that never failed to give me shivers was a small stack of closely written scraps of paper of different sizes, housed in an unobtrusive hardcover box—the manuscript of Jane Austen’s play, Sir Charles Grandison.

To actually have the opportunity to read lines in Austen’s own hand—to see where she blotted out words or crossed out lines—well, that never ceased to be an incredible thrill for me. I used to look at those lines and wonder what Austen would think if she knew her writing was at the heart of a literary tradition that still thrives today. Do you think she’d prefer Colin Firth or Matthew McFayden for Mr. Darcy? Would she be a historical romance reader?

Chawton has posted some photographs of the Sir Charles Grandison manuscript online, which you can see here. Chawton has, I believe, since released a facsimile copy of the play.

How has your time at the Chawton House influenced your novels?
Working at Chawton made the historical aspect of the writing easier for me. I was already a 19th-century British novels addict before I started working there, but at Chawton I had access to dozens of books and authors I never would have otherwise, and reading that deeply into a period really gives you a sense of it. I’ve had readers ask if it’s difficult to be historically accurate with my novels. It isn’t, because that historical piece feels natural to me—so much so that I catch myself thinking and dreaming in “Regency-speak”!

I also find myself coming back to classic plotlines and characters, and I’m sure that’s a holdover from the novels I read while I was working at Chawton. When I first started writing historical romance, I didn’t even realize how heavily those works influenced me, because they are so much a part of who I am as a writer, but now that I have a little more writing experience, I can see how they played a significant role in the way I look at both historical romance and historical fiction.

What do you think is so alluring about the ever-popular Regency era?
For me, the allure has always been that it’s an era of such extreme contradictions. There’s the glittering aristocracy, with their debauchery and excess, and I think we’re fascinated with the titles and the manners, the gowns and the balls and the extravagance of the age. But the aristocracy and landed gentry during the Regency was a comparably tiny section of the population. Common people struggled with poverty, disease and, in London in particular, violent crime. When you juxtapose those two realities and throw the rise of industrialization into it, it presents a compelling picture of an era of a society at odds with itself, and to me, that’s a fascinating mix.

What was your favorite part of writing Lily and Robyn’s love story?
Well, I admit I had a terrible crush on Robyn from the outset, so I had a lot of fun writing his character, particularly his dialogue, but I think my favorite part of this story is the way Robyn and Lily fit together like two puzzle pieces. They appear to be so utterly wrong for each other, and yet each turns out to be the one person the other needs the most. I love that it is only Robyn who can free Lily from her fears, and only Lily’s love that can transform Robyn from a hopeless rake into a hero. I also loved writing the final scenes in this book. I won’t give it away, but the book ends with a bang, and those sections were so much fun to write!

If you had to bring one romance novel to the proverbial desert island, which would it be and why?
Just one? Oh, no—tough question! I hate the idea of leaving my Lorraine Heath and Lisa Kleypas favorites behind, but I’m going to have to go with Julie Anne Long’s The Perils of Pleasure, because I fell madly in love with her hero, Colin Eversea (he’s still one of my favorite book boyfriends!) and because it’s the first novel in the Pennyroyal Green series, which is the series that inspired me to become a historical romance writer.

What’s next for you?
More historical romance! I hope to bring readers the rest of the Sutherland Scandals, and I also have a new historical series I’m working on. I’m supposed to be on a little writing vacation for the next week or so, but I’m so excited about this new series, I keep sneaking off to write little bits and pieces of it in secret. No titles yet, but think spinsters, rakes and hussies, with a hoyden or two thrown in for good measure, and that will give you an idea of what I have planned!

What happens when a history professor writes romance? You get well-researched, engrossing novels like our November Romance Top Pick, Katharine Ashe's The Earl. We asked Ashe a few questions about her new novel and history's greatest love stories. 

Describe your latest novel in one sentence.
He’s sworn to expose her; she’s determined to bring him down: It must be love.

What’s the most appealing trait of The Earl’s hero, Colin Gray?
His vulnerability. We know that romance heroes are spectacularly handsome, and they’re always successful—through their wealth, status, profession or proficiency as lovers. The heroes I adore the most, though, have really vulnerable inner cores, and of all the heroes I’ve written, Colin is the most vulnerable, so he’s built his walls high for protection. He has a pretty serious reason to feel vulnerable, and to him it’s always been a curse. Ultimately, though, it’s what allows him to surrender his pride to real, honest love. It smashes through all the heroine’s walls too. She’s a strong woman, but guarded, with a goal in life she won’t compromise for anything or anyone. But when his walls come down, and his heart is thoroughly on exhibit for her to accept or discard, she can’t resist. It’s raw emotion, and I love it.

Have you ever considered writing a contemporary novel? Why or why not?
Yes, indeed. I’ve written a contemporary novella in the anthology At the Billionaire’s Wedding, a time-travel novella with a modern heroine in the anthology At the Duke’s Wedding, and I’m writing a contemporary romance series now (albeit in the very rare spare moments between contracted book deadlines) that has big historical tie-ins. Writing in a modern voice is super fun, and experimenting with different types of prose keeps my writing fresh and sharp, whatever the project.

You’ve written about pirates, dukes and Highlanders. Which is the most fun to write?
All of them! I know: that’s not an answer. But it’s true. I simply love writing heroes, whoever or whatever they are. Each character is a unique adventure for me, and I enjoy writing really different characters with each book. That said, several of my heroes are sailors, and that’s mostly because I love the research. Britain at the time was a vast empire, a thrilling expanse of many cultures and worlds, controlled through the power of its extraordinary navy and British merchant fleets. I’m totally addicted to reading about that history, and I love the ocean. I also adore writing common-man heroes. Sometimes they’re both: the hero of How To Be a Proper Lady is a former slave and pirate, now a privateer for England, atoning for the violence of his past by going after bad guys on the ocean. With a historical hero like this, there are no limits to the story. With a noble, titled hero I can play with all the delicious power, wealth, estates and social rules of the Regency era. Whichever I choose for a particular novel—commoner or nobleman—it’s win-win.

You’re a professor of European history. How does this inform your writing? Do your studies inspire your romances?
Yes, always. The history I read inspires every novel I write, plots and characters and settings and all. My comfort with archives, historical literature, and travel to historical sites gives me rich material with which to fashion my stories. And I find that teaching history, or simply sitting in a scholarly colloquium or workshop on campus, feeds my imagination—whatever the specific topic. My academic life nourishes me and I think it makes me a better novelist.

What’s the greatest love story in history, in your professorial opinion?
Romeo and Juliet. A tragedy! But it’s not so much the ending as the profound intensity of the love that pummels my heart (in a good way!). I’m also very fond of the incredibly romantic tale of Tristan and Iseult; I used it prominently in my novel I Loved a Rogue and my novella A Lady’s Wish. Now, if you’re asking about the greatest love story in real history—Maria Skłodowska and Pierre Curie. She was a physicist and chemist, studying in France but dreaming of returning to her native Poland to teach. She was so brilliant and he respected that brilliance so much, and was so enamored of her, that he was willing to give up his own successful career in science and settle for teaching French in Poland if she would marry him. Ultimately, the university in Poland wouldn’t allow a woman to teach, so the couple remained in France where she became “Marie” Curie. She was the first woman ever to receive a Nobel Prize. It’s real heroines like her, and the men who loved, respected and supported them—in eras that didn’t typically respect women’s brilliance and accomplishments—that inspired the The Earl.

What’s next for you?
A dark Scottish duke is hiding a scandalous secret in his Highland castle. I’m currently in the process of helping a whip-smart English lady make it very hard for him to hide it for much longer. The Duke is the follow up to The Earl, the next in my Devil’s Duke series.