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RomanceHistorical Romance

The Wrong Lady Meets Lord Right

In The Wrong Lady Meets Lord Right, Suzanne Allain’s playful Regency romance, delightful chaos ensues when an heiress and her impoverished cousin switch places.
In The Wrong Lady Meets Lord Right, Suzanne Allain’s playful Regency romance, delightful chaos ensues when an heiress and her impoverished cousin switch places.
RomanceParanormal Romance

Feast While You Can

A terrifying monster is both a real entity and a manifestation of taboo desires in Mikaella Clements and Onjuli Datta’s Feast While You Can.
A terrifying monster is both a real entity and a manifestation of taboo desires in Mikaella Clements and Onjuli Datta’s Feast While You Can.
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RomanceContemporary Romance

Life as an NFL wife

Behind the Book by Alexa Martin

When people find out that I wrote a book that takes place in the world of the NFL, the first thing they always ask is, “So this is about your life, right?” To which I answer with a strong and emphatic, “No, no, not even remotely close at all.” So I figure, since I’m here, I should take this opportunity to clear up any questions on what’s real and what is totally “The Hills”-level exaggerated.

Honestly, when I sat down at my computer and decided to give writing a go, I very vividly remember thinking there was no way I would ever write a sports romance. Don’t get me wrong, I loved reading them, but the books I read about football were missing a lot of the things I was actually experiencing as an athlete’s wife. The NFL sounds pretty glamorous without the players getting cut and concussions. But I guess, in the words of the great Justin Bieber (with a cameo by the equally great Jayden Smith), “Never say never.”

When I started writing Intercepted, I knew there were certain experiences that had to be told. I knew if I went ahead and wrote the sports romance I wanted to write, there would be elements of truth alongside all of the drama I had a blast creating. Lucky for me, my husband played in the NFL for eight years, so I had a lot of inspiration to draw on.

First things first, the women I met while my husband was playing in the NFL are nothing like the “wicked wives” from my book. I was 19 when I moved to Baltimore with my now husband. I was not a wife—I wasn’t even a fiancée. I mean, I couldn’t even drink yet! But unlike the women in my book, the women I met in real life were nothing short of amazing. They took me in like I was their little sister, inviting me to dinners and movies, to their houses to watch the games when the guys were away. They showed me the kind of woman I wanted to become. Their loyalty knew no bounds, and their kindness wasn’t something they ever hesitated in showing.

I still remember the time right after my husband was traded from Baltimore to Green Bay. I was 37 weeks pregnant, and we had an 18-month-old as well. Some of the other wives and I all had babies right around the same time, and we signed up for the same mommy-and-me class. My husband was gone, and when I mentioned I needed to go grocery shopping, my friend, who is still one of my close friends today, met me at my elevator-free apartment and carried all of my groceries up four flights of stairs for me.

Those are the NFL wives that I know.

There really was a wives’ group. We met up and discussed community outreach we wanted to participate in. Sadly, though, there were no margaritas or glitter gavels involved. We did, however, have matching vests, and I still have mine tucked away in my closet.

Also in my book, the players all live in the same community of mansions. This is true. Except instead of mansions, the majority of the team lived in the same neighborhood of moderately priced homes and apartment complexes. Have you ever heard the saying that NFL stands for Not For Long? Well, that saying is accurate AF. And the vast majority of the team aren’t making millions of dollars and won’t invest in a house that they might not last a year—or even a month—in.

The one part of Intercepted I really tried to keep as close to reality as I could were the injuries. I met my husband in high school. I watched him play high school, college and professional football, and I can tell you that watching him get hit never got easier. Hearing the crack of helmets—even above the voracious roar of the crowd—would make my stomach turn. There’s a helplessness and a loneliness that can’t properly be described. You watch the person you love get hit repeatedly with so much force it can be compared to getting in multiple car accidents. There would be times when I would meet some of my friends to watch the games together, and their husband would get injured. The deafening silence that would take over the room as we’d crowd her, turning up the TV and waiting for the announcer to give us news or, even worse, see him give a thumbs-up from a stretcher carting him off of the field. Knowing that your significant other’s safety and your financial stability could end with one hit made the games more of a chore than anything else at times.

Sorry.

That got a little dark, didn’t it?

Don’t worry, I know how to lighten it up. . . . Crystals!

There are a lot of references to glitter, crystals and margaritas in my book. Part of this is because that is exactly what I imagine my fantasy life to solely consist of, and the other part is because crystals are one of my favorite WAGS (wives and girlfriends) memories. The first time I saw an altered jersey was when my friend wore one to the game. She cut out lace to go over the numbers and adhered it with a hot glue gun and a buttload (technical measurement) of crystals. It was glorious. It was the kind of DIY I knew I was always destined for, but didn’t even know existed. And once my eyes were open to this fabulous, over-the-top way to show support, I couldn’t look away. That’s how I found Leah Miller, aka the Diamond Duchess. I wish the descriptions I have in my book did even a fraction of justice to the masterpieces she creates, but if you have time and you need a rabbit hole to fall down during your next venture on the internet, I highly suggest you look her up.

Being an NFL wife was a wild journey for me. I’d be lying if I told you it was all roses or that I haven’t had moments where I resented all it stood for. But at the end of the day, I don’t regret a single second of it. I have met wonderful women, traveled the country and watched my husband live out his dream. I know how lucky I am to have the perspective I have been given. I just hope that now I can pass it along and give readers a new and exciting way to experience the crazy world of sports.

 

ALSO IN BOOKPAGE: Read our review of Intercepted.

When people find out that I wrote a book that takes place in the world of the NFL, the first thing they always ask is, “So this is about your life, right?” To which I answer with a strong and emphatic, “No, no, not even remotely close at all.” So I figure, since I’m here, I should take this opportunity to clear up any questions on what’s real and what is totally “The Hills”-level exaggerated.

RomanceHistorical Romance

Going to war in the Regency

Behind the Book by Kelly Bowen

Kelly Bowen’s current series, The Devils of Dover, centers around a finishing school for girls in the evocative coastal setting of Dover. As the series goes on, it becomes clear that secondary themes of the books are the Napoleonic Wars and their effect on people at all levels of society. A near-constant backdrop in the era, the continental conflict is almost never explored in depth in Regency romance beyond giving a titled aristocrat a reason to brood. Here, Bowen tells us why the wars were all the things we don’t associate with the Regency—chaotic, socially disruptive and for some, liberating.

It is often unusual to come across more than a passing mention of the Napoleonic Wars in British Regency-set novels. Yet there are extraordinary real-life accounts of courage, hardship and bravery that can’t be overlooked and offer inspiration for my own tales. The hero in my new novel, Last Night With the Earl, is a veteran of this conflict and is finally returning to England. As an officer and the son of an earl, Eli Dawes’ experience on the battlefield has disabused him of any romantic notion of war and his homecoming has opened his eyes to the struggle to survive beyond his privileged world.

The wars that engulfed almost the entire European continent for nearly two decades cost 2.5-3.5 million soldiers their lives. And even though the battles were not fought on British soil, they still had a huge impact on the lives of those British citizens left behind. Massive taxes to fund the war effort were levied. At the same time, food prices and unemployment skyrocketed due to wartime trading restrictions and increased industrialization. Many desperate men—and women—faced with starvation enlisted in the military. But at the war’s end, circumstances did not get better.

For those soldiers who did survive to return to Britain, there were no war memorials or recognition. Many were weakened, crippled or severely maimed. They, like the widows and families of fallen soldiers, were left to fend for themselves as best as they could, reduced, in many cases to stealing or begging. Or, in Kent, where the Devils of Dover series is set, smuggling.

Over the centuries, the smuggling trade flourished along the Kent coastline with its proximity and easy access to the continent. The practice was not without its risks, yet after the wars, the illicit trade became even more dangerous with the reassignment of the Crown’s soldiers from the battlefields of Europe to the coastlines of England. Their directive was to bring order to the lawless coasts and end smuggling for good.

Rose Hayward, the heroine in this novel, is well-acquainted with this quandary. Living in Dover, she is familiar with those who so valiantly served their country and are now hunted by the law for surviving the only way left to them. Her position at the elite finishing school managed by her sister, Clara, has allowed her to run interference with the law more than once to protect these individuals. The sudden arrival of Eli Dawes provides her with a fierce ally and champion she wasn’t expecting. If there was a silver lining in the aftermath of the Napoleonic Wars, it was the resulting political, economic and social unrest helped ignite the beginnings of reform.

Eli isn’t the only character I’ve written who served on the front lines of the Napoleonic wars. Harland Hayward—baron, surgeon and the hero of the next book in the series (A Rogue by Night)—is also a veteran. And so is the heroine, Katherine Wright. An estimated 4,000 women accompanied the British army, working and sometimes fighting alongside husbands and lovers, brothers and fathers. I would be remiss if I didn’t mention their contributions here.

The Napoleonic Wars were huge in scope and their direct and indirect effects were profound. Writing about some of these effects—real facts woven into my own fiction—seems not only justified but essential. The men and women who faced impossible odds and prevailed offer an author no end of inspiration.

 

Kelly Bowen attended the University of Manitoba and earned a Master of Science degree in veterinary physiology and endocrinology. Her infatuation with history and weakness for a good love story led her down the path of historical romance. When she is not writing, she seizes every opportunity to explore ruins and battlefields.

Kelly Bowen’s current series, The Devils of Dover, centers around a finishing school for girls in the evocative coastal setting of Dover. As the series goes on, it becomes clear that a secondary theme of the books are the Napoleonic Wars and their effect on people at all levels of society. A near-constant backdrop in the era, the continental conflict is almost never explored in depth in Regency romance beyond giving a titled aristocrat a reason to brood. Here, Bowen tells us why the wars were all the things we don’t associate with the Regency—chaotic, socially disruptive and for some, liberating.

RomanceHistorical Romance

Why authors and readers are falling for the Gilded Age romance

Behind the Book by Maya Rodale

Romances set at the end of the 19th century are usually westerns, taking place in the last gasp of the Old West. But in recent years, some books set in the period have moved back east, to the glittering, booming New York City of the Gilded Age. We’ve been longing for historical romances set in unique time periods and Maya Rodale, whose new book Duchess by Design is one of the most exciting new additions to the subgenre, is here to tell us what makes the Gilded Age so alluring.

Mention historical romance novels and most readers will think of a Regency-era duke, the occasional pirate or a laird in the Scottish highlands and not too much bathing. But the American Gilded Age is having a moment as authors like Joanna Shupe, Marie Force and myself turn to a subgenre pioneered by authors like Beverly Jenkins, Laura Lee Guhrke and Brenda Joyce. When it comes to irrepressible spirit, dynamic heroes and heroines, fascinating history—and running water!—nothing compares to the Gilded Age romance.

The Gilded Age—a coin termed by Mark Twain—is roughly defined as the latter half of the 19th century in America. It’s an age of massive transformation, tremendous wealth, high conflict and high drama. This is the era of Robber Barons, Dollar Princesses and also extreme poverty; it’s the era of transcontinental railroads, Fifth Avenue mansions with modern conveniences and a progressive spirit hoping to change the world for the better. Guhrke sums it up perfectly: “There was tremendous change and upheaval. That atmosphere is a storyteller’s dream.”

Legendary author Jenkins, who writes Westerns set in this period, is drawn to the “excitement, expansion and possibilities” of the era and Force notes that it’s an era of “innovation and progress.” Whether its transcontinental trains, the invention of department stores or rising skyscrapers, the world was changing dramatically, which is the perfect backdrop for adventurous characters and complicated love stories. For those who love history—and think they know American history already—a Gilded Age romance might offer some surprises. Shupe points out that stories set in this age remind us, “Our history is much more complex and diverse than we were taught in school. So many wonderful stories have been left untold and unexplored.”

The Manhattan set Gilded Age novel definitely has elements that will appeal to the lover of Regency romance—whether it’s corsets, horse-drawn carriages or romantic moments by candlelight. While the Regency has the haute ton, the Gilded Age has the Four Hundred (a coin termed to describe the limited number of people who could fit in Mrs. Astor’s ballroom, a.k.a. the highest of New York society). In both time periods there is a high society to navigate with wit and daring. As Shupe notes, “Both Regency and Gilded Age romances are full of wealthy people and scandalous behavior that shocks the rigid society around them. Carriages, balls, fancy dresses, mansions . . . both periods are brimming with glitz and glamour.” And in both time periods, there’s an emphasis on Getting Married and the tension between a marriage of wealth, status and convenience—or the love match. Classic romance conflicts!

But the novelty of the Gilded Age setting allows familiar tropes to be refreshed due to the types of heroes and heroines one finds in this era. There’s a particular kind of woman who we’ll find strutting across the pages of a Gilded Age romance. Guhrke, who writes novels set in England during this era, says, “In the Regency, a woman gained a position in the world only through marriage. It was almost impossible for a woman to gain recognition for anything in her own right. Her entire identity was based on who her father and husband were and what accomplishments, wealth and position they had.” But women during the Gilded Age, however, were embarking on higher education, becoming doctors (Elizabeth Blackwell), working as journalists (Nellie Bly), social reformers (Lillian Wald) and advocating for the right to vote and whole host of progressive causes. The heroine of my novel, Duchess by Design, rises from mere seamstress to proprietor of her own dressmaking establishment—she doesn’t land a duke so much as he lands her. The Gilded Age is a great time for historical heroines who do things and the type of heroes who find that kind of woman alluring.

Most of us read historical romance for the escape, and while the Gilded Age has so many parallels to our current world (income inequality, a progressive spirit, an ever-changing world), these romance novels provide that oh-so necessary escape to a setting where dynamic characters face high conflicts and still find life, liberty and happily ever after.

We’ve been longing for historical romances set in unique time periods and Maya Rodale, author of Duchess by Design, is here to tell us what makes the Gilded Age so alluring.

RomanceHistorical Romance

There will be kilts!

Behind the Book by Vanessa Kelly

When Vanessa Kelly concluded her Improper Princesses series with The Highlander’s Princess Bride, which featured a sprawling family of gorgeous, eligible Scottish men, it seemed fated by the romance gods that the Kendrick family would play a part in her next book.

Lo and behold, The Highlander Who Protected Me is Kelly’s first book in a new series which will tell the love stories of the wild, but eminently lovable Kendricks, starting with ex-soldier Royal and the British heiress he’s sworn to protect.

With the fourth season of “Outlander” only days away, Kelly told us why there will always be fans of men in kilts.

The long wait for the return of “Outlander”—or Droughtlander, as some fans referred to the seemingly interminable passage of time—is almost over. Soon our favorite Highlander and his sassy sassenach will return to the small screen with their exciting adventures. Cue up the mania for all things Scottish!

That mania extends to readers as well, with their insatiable love for Highlander and Scottish romance. Even as other historical romance genres wax and wane, Scottish romance remains popular. Why do readers love it, with a particularly steadfast devotion to the Highlander hero archetype?

Let’s start with Scotland itself, especially the Highlands. They are a place of astounding beauty, what the Romantic poets would have characterized as awesome in the original sense of the word—inspiring awe. Scotland is a land of myth and magic, rich in cultural traditions and history. As Diana Gabaldon said in an interview, “there are stories under every rock in Scotland.”

That sense of Highland magic and story is beautifully captured in Outlander and its TV adaptation. Who can forget the mythic dance at Craigh na Dun on the Eve of Samhain, or the dramatic settings of loch, mountain and sky that form the backdrop of so many Scottish-set tales? The reader senses that almost anything could happen in the Highlands, not the least of which is stumbling upon a rugged Highlander with a brogue (let’s not underestimate the appeal of that brogue).

Ruggedness is a key element to the appeal of the Highlander hero. When it comes to manly men, it’s hard to find a more fitting archetype. Highlanders have to be rugged. They confront a physically challenging landscape, an often-wretched climate and frequent attacks from outsiders—or sometimes battles among themselves, quite honestly. Before the English invaded Scotland, clan often fought clan. The Scots could be notoriously argumentative and grudges led to feuds that lasted for decades, especially when a clan’s honor was at stake (this is a theme in my latest book).

You certainly won’t find our Highlander hero sitting around the gentlemen’s club, getting sloshed on brandy and staggering home to his plush bed, waiting for the over-worked valet to pull off his exquisitely polished boots. No, our heroes are facing down the elements, the enemy and sometimes each other. They are the epitome of the competent, courageous and canny alpha male.

And what does every good alpha male need? A strong, smart woman, of course. The archetypal Highlander hero is attracted to a verra strong woman, because he needs and wants her as much as she needs and wants him. Think of Jamie Fraser’s sister, for example. Jenny Murray is tough, smart and pretty, a classic Highland heroine who keeps the castle fires burning and takes no guff from her menfolk. They love her all the more for it, because they know she always has their backs.

For today’s romance reader, what could be better than a hero who truly appreciates a strong and capable woman?

Speaking of readers, I asked some of mine to list the qualities they most love in Highlander heroes. By far, the most important was loyalty—loyalty to family, to clan and to their women. These are men who fight for honor and love, and to protect their family and traditions, often against forces far superior in numbers and technology. As one of my readers noted, the English tried for decades to destroy the Highland culture. And even though they eventually did conquer the country and outlawed many Scottish traditions, they never truly conquered the soul of the Highlander.

Fiercely protective and committed to honor against all odds, the Highlander hero is the ultimate romantic. Even when he knows the cause is lost, he fights to the end, because he knows his fight is just. He’s willing to sacrifice everything, and rarely if ever takes the easy way out. That kind of self-sacrifice can be deeply, if often tragically, romantic.

The hero of my latest book, The Highlander Who Protected Me, is a true Highland warrior. Like Jamie Fraser, Royal Kendrick is a wounded warrior. But despite the damage he’s suffered to body and spirit, Royal remains true to the code of honor and loyalty, willing to make any sacrifice for family, clan and the woman he loves.

Coincidentally, my heroine is a sharp-witted, independent sassenach who, like Claire, chafes at the notion that she needs a man to protect her. In every way that matters, Lady Ainsley Matthews is Royal’s equal. When she does need a man to shield her from a truly terrible set of circumstances, she turns to her rugged Highland hero, knowing he won’t let her down.

Fierce, loyal, protective, honourable, courageous—these are the bedrock qualities that make the Highlander hero so special, and consistently bring readers back to the romance and magic of the Scottish Highlands.

Finally, let’s not forget the kilts. Always and forever the kilts.

With the fourth season of “Outlander” only days away, and all things Scottish enjoying a resurgence in romance, The Highlander Who Protected Me author Vanessa Kelly told us why there will always be fans of men in kilts.

RomanceContemporary Romance

The joys of going meta

Behind the Book by Jenn McKinlay

Every romance reader’s fantasy comes to life in Jenn McKinlay’s The Good Ones, and no, we’re not talking about the very handsome cowboy on the cover. Heroine Maisy Kelly has inherited a gorgeous old Victorian home, which she intends to convert into a romance-only bookstore. Aforementioned handsome cowboy is Ryder Copeland, the architect Maisy hires to help her achieve her dream. The adorable, smart and refreshingly lighthearted romance that follows is as much a love story to the characters as it is an ode to the genre itself. Here, McKinlay shares how she crafted her clever new romance.

Have you ever held up a mirror to a mirror and seen the infinite scroll of images of yourself holding a mirror reflected within? Yeah, I love that. It totally bends my brain in a different direction, sort of like when I try to grasp quantum physics. I get it for like a nanosecond and then it’s gone, but that nanosecond is super cool. Writing The Good Ones was a bit like holding up that mirror.

The opening scene of the book finds our heroine, Maisy Kelly, reading one of her favorite romances. A knock on the door interrupts her binge read, and she is understandably disgruntled to leave Jake Sinclair, her fictional boyfriend, to go answer the door. After all, the book cover shows Jake in jeans, a white t-shirt and a cowboy hat, sitting on a picnic table in the middle of a field. What woman would want to leave that to answer her door? But Maisy does answer and standing there is a man in jeans, a white T-shirt and, you guessed it, a cowboy hat. It’s Ryder Copeland, the restoration architect she’s hired to refurbish the house she’s inherited into a romance bookstore. Maisy is undone by the coincidence. Now take a peek at the cover of The Good Ones. Yep, just like holding a mirror up to a mirror, it goes on and on and on.

Needless to say, I had great fun with all of the meta aspects of writing The Good Ones. And unexpectedly, the process of writing the book gave me the opportunity to think about the genre I love from a completely different perspective. As I began thinking about all of the authors and the books that had shaped my love of romance over the years, I found the book becoming even bigger than I had anticipated. The Good Ones became, as a reviewer from Booklist stated, “A beautifully written love letter to the romance genre from someone who understands just how important these books are to their readers.” Until I wrote about Maisy and Ryder, I don’t think I appreciated how much romance novels had shaped my life.

It also gave me the opportunity to give a nod to a lot of my favorite authors, starting with Jane Austen. The recovering librarian in me truly enjoyed that. Because my personal life does pop up in my books in one way or another, I had to include a subplot about the days-old kitten, King George, that my family rescued while I was writing the first draft of the book. And, naturally, having written the Bluff Point romance series previously, that had to be slipped in as an Easter egg, too, by having Ryder mention the hero of one of those books as his friend but also having Maisy recommend the books to a customer in her romance bookshop. Truly, there were so many elements to play with while writing The Good Ones—it was an embarrassment of riches.

Of course, when you read fiction, you’re required to suspend your disbelief. It’s on the writer to make you do so. I knew while I was writing The Good Ones that many of the meta elements I had included, such as the guy on the cover of the book Maisy is reading looking just like the cover of the actual book, would either pull my readers out or tuck them more deeply into the story. It is my hope that these references were another level of entertainment, like being taught a secret handshake, and that they acted like markers on a trail to help the reader find their way back out once the story was done. The Good Ones was a hoot to write and I’m happy to say that the fun continues at the Happily Ever After bookstore in The Christmas Keeper, coming October 2019!

Every romance reader’s fantasy comes to life in Jenn McKinlay’s The Good Ones, and no, we’re not talking about the very handsome cowboy on the cover. Heroine Maisy Kelly has inherited a gorgeous old Victorian home, which she intends to convert into a romance-only bookstore. Aforementioned handsome cowboy is Ryder Copeland, the architect Maisy hires to help her achieve her dream. The adorable, smart and refreshingly lighthearted romance that follows is as much a love story to the characters as it is an ode to the genre itself. Here, McKinlay shares how she crafted her clever new romance.

RomanceContemporary Romance

The nonalpha alpha male

Behind the Book by Lucy Gilmore

Even nonromance readers could probably define the term “alpha male.” The much-debated, much-loved character archetype is precisely what it sounds like it is—a man among men, in control and in charge. But in the charming new romance Puppy Love, author Lucy Gilmore deconstructs the archetype almost immediately, starting when her intimidating, taciturn firefighter Harrison Parks is given his new diabetic service dog: a tiny, adorable Pomeranian named Bubbles. Gilmore explains how she found the gooey center of her supposedly tough-guy hero.

In romance novels, the alpha male is king. Literally.

Granted, there aren’t too many novels out there that deal directly with the royal succession, but alpha heroes have always been and always will be the leaders of their particular fields. They’re top lawyers and powerful CEOs. They run motorcycle gangs and head up mafias. They’re the warriors who win the most battles and the shapeshifters who lead the pack.

There’s a lot to be said in favor of this type of hero. A man who takes command—in his profession, in his personal life and, yes, in the bedroom—appeals to the modern reader on many levels. Others have delved into the study of this far better and more thoroughly than I can, but suffice it to say that there’s a reason why we turn, time and time again, to the Lothaires and lotharios of the world.

In Puppy Love, Harrison Parks fits almost all the characteristics of the alpha male hero. He’s excellent at his job as a wildland firefighter, where he leads teams of people and puts himself at extreme risk to save lives. He’s uncompromising when it comes to his personal life, particularly regarding who he allows to be a part of it. And in the opening scene, he’s standing in the middle of a dog kennel, determined to go home with the biggest, baddest Great Dane puppy he can find.

That’s where all resemblances to the traditional alpha male end. One of my favorite things as an author is to take a beloved romance stereotype and give it a twist. It would have been very easy for Harrison to do all those things that the setup warrants: to demonstrate his intelligence and bravery in the field, to participate in a social life where he’s in control and to adopt a 150-pound canine companion. However, none of this happens in the book. In fact, he’s faced with the exact opposite. He’s forced to take a sabbatical from work until he gets a diabetic service dog. He’s overwhelmingly out of his depth when it comes to both romantic and familial relationships. And instead of the Great Dane of his dreams, he’s given a tiny, skittish Pomeranian puppy named Bubbles. (Who, by the way, he’s terrified of accidentally squishing.)

This is the kind of book I love to write. I took a traditional alpha hero and stripped him of all the things that make him top dog. The result is a soft, gooey mess of a man who has no idea what he’s doing—but whose innate drive and strength of character make him determined to figure it out.

To be fair, Harrison didn’t start out like this. The writing process for this series has very much been a collaborative one with my editors at Sourcebooks. (In fact, they chose the puppy for this book long before I started writing it.) I’ve been really fortunate in working with a team who understands what I’m trying to do with this series.

In the case of Puppy Love, the goal was simple: to create a hero who looks like an alpha and talks like an alpha—but who, deep down, is just a tiny and skittish puppy in need of a good home.

Lucy Gilmore shares how she deconstructed the alpha male archetype in Puppy Love.

RomanceHistorical Romance

Keep your enemies close

Behind the Book by Amy Jarecki

In Amy Jarecki’s The Highland Earl, John Erskine and Evelyn Pierrepont are on opposite sides of the first Jacobite uprising. They’re also husband and wife. In this essay, Jarecki shares how the life of John Erskine, Earl of Mar, inspired her action-packed and emotionally complex new historical romance.

One of my favorite things about writing Scottish romance is weaving historical fact into my books. My editor dubbed my latest release as Mr. and Mrs. Smith meets Outlander, and though the comparison made me laugh, she was pretty close to the truth.

I always like to base my characters on real-life people, and the first Jacobite uprising has a particularly fascinating cast. This was a tumultuous time period in which England was mercilessly squeezing Scotland for taxes, Queen Anne had an almost psychotic fear of popery (Catholics) and nearly half the Kingdom of Great Britain believed in the succession of James Francis Edward Stuart, the son of England’s deposed King James II. These “traitors” were ostracized as Jacobites, from the Latin form of “James.”

In The Highland Earl, I chose John Erskine, the Earl of Mar, as my hero. He was a Scot who served in Queen Anne’s cabinet, holding many positions, including Secretary of State, for Scotland. It’s hard to imagine how difficult it must have been to balance his duty to England with his loyalty to his homeland. He signed a number of controversial documents, his hand forced on some, to keep his beloved country from bankruptcy. Because he had to walk that delicate balance, he was highly criticized by the public and dubbed “Bobbin John.”

Historians have little information about Lady Frances Pierrepont, the woman I chose as the inspiration for my heroine, Evelyn. We know that she was the daughter of the Duke of Kingston-upon-Hull and that her dowry was sizable enough to release Mar from his debts. Sometimes the most fun you have as a writer is getting to fill in the details, so I made my Evelyn a spy sympathetic to the Jacobite cause—something that would put her in direct opposition to her husband, who served Queen Anne. Let the spy games begin. . . .

Inside Alloa Tower: portraits of John Erskine, Earl of Mar, with his son, Thomas, and of Frances (the inspiration for my character Evelyn), Countess of Mar.

During my research, I was fortunate enough to visit the ancestral home of the Earl of Mar, Alloa Tower. There I met with a historian with whom I spoke for hours and learned things about John Erskine I never would have found in a book. His life was tumultuous, and after the period in which The Highland Earl takes place, he became the Stuart prince’s general and led the Jacobites into the Battle of Sherriffmuir. He was also a brilliant architect and engineer. He designed and built an extensive manor onto Alloa Tower (pictured below), but it unfortunately burned down. However, in the picture you can see marks where the manor was added. He also designed and built a canal from his mine to the Firth of Forth to more easily transport his coal. It is fascinating to uncover these tidbits of historical fact and weave them into my stories.

Alloa Tower, side

Alloa Tower, front

I hope you’ll join me on this adventure where fact meets fiction and where lies and deceit nearly ruin a love that will grow to transcend time.

In Amy Jarecki’s The Highland Earl, John Erskine and Evelyn Pierrepont are on opposite sides of the first Jacobite uprising. They’re also husband and wife. In this essay, Jarecki shares how the life of John Erskine, Earl of Mar, inspired her action-packed and emotionally complex new historical romance.

RomanceHistorical Romance

5 fabulous pirate romances

Behind the Book by Minerva Spencer

In Minerva Spencer’s Scandalous, missionary Sarah Fisher is rescued by dashing, sensual privateer Martín Bouchard, a former slave who uses his position to liberate other African captives. Here, Spencer shares why the pirate life is so appealing—and lists her five favorite pirate romances.

I have a knack for doing things backward, and writing my first pirate romance novel is a case in point. Instead of doing some reconnaissance to see what kind of pirate books were already out in the world, I just sat down and started writing.

I’d read the most well known of the pirate tales when I was a kid—Treasure Island, Peter Pan and Captain Blood, for example—but I’d never read a pirate romance. I never even knew such a subgenre of romance existed.

It wasn’t until I’d sold my first three books, the beginning of my Outcasts series, that I discovered I’d inadvertently fallen into a sister/brotherhood of sorts: pirate fanatics.

Now, when I say pirates, I’m also including privateers—those ships that sailed under the authority of a government. Martín Bouchard, the hero in my new novel Scandalous, sails under a letter of marque granted by the king of England. Since most privateers operated during a time of war, it’s easy to see how one nation’s privateers were often another country’s pirates.

Pirates and privateers weren’t the only ones who engaged in capturing ships for prize money. The navies of the world also seized enemy vessels and divided the bounty among the crew—sharing out the profits from the captain all the way down to the lowest scrub boy.

Selling a captured ship wasn’t easy. Privateers couldn’t just nail a “Garage Sale” sign on the ship and start selling parts. They had to take their claims before special courts set up for that purpose.

Incidentally, the practice of rewarding a crew with prize money continued well into the 20th century. The last U.S. naval vessel to seize an enemy ship and distribute the bounty among its crew was in 1941!

Whether you like bad boy pirates or you just enjoy nautical tales in general, there are lots of great stories. Since discovering pirate romance, I’ve read every book I could get my hands on.

I’d like to share a list of my favorite novels—just a few I recommend if you are a novice when it comes to romance on the high seas. (It would be difficult to pick a favorite, so I’ll just list them alphabetically by author.) I warn you—once you begin reading pirate romances, it’s hard to stop!

 

The Rogue Pirate’s Bride by Shana Galen

This pirate romance has the added bonus of the heroine masquerading as a boy.

 

Beauvallet by Georgette Heyer

This is Heyer’s only pirate novel, and it has a distinct nautical feel while having that same great Heyer banter.

 

Scandalous Desires by Elizabeth Hoyt

Charming Mickey O’Connor is a pirate to die for. This story packs so much emotional punch, you won’t care that the story never leaves dry land.

 

The Pirate Lord by Sabrina Jeffries

This is another one-of-a-kind romance—a pirate and his crew capture a ship full of female prisoners bound for New South Wales.

 

Captured by Beverly Jenkins

I have to admit Dominic is my favorite sort of hero—on land or sea—an intelligent alpha with a mission.

 

ALSO IN BOOKPAGE: Read our review of Scandalous.

In Minerva Spencer’s Scandalous, missionary Sarah Fisher is rescued by dashing, sensual privateer Martín Bouchard, a former slave who uses his position to liberate other African captives. Here, Spencer shares why the pirate life is so appealing—and lists her five favorite pirate romances.
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Romance

Second-chance romance

Behind the Book by Cindi Madsen

In A Cowboy Never Quits, Jess Dawson is at her wits end. A single mother who gave birth to her daughter, Chloe, when she was 16, Jess is desperate to keep Chloe from going down the same path that she did. When Chloe’s increasingly reckless behavior lands her in jail, Jess takes her to Turn Around Ranch, a rehab ranch for teenagers, where she meets slightly grumpy cowboy Wade. In this essay, Madsen tells us how she drew on her own experiences to create Jess and Chloe’s close relationship, and why writing this book felt like coming home.

I grew up on a cattle ranch in Colorado, so in a lot of ways, this novel felt like coming home. I’m a big believer in the sort of therapy that comes from nature, animals and people who genuinely care. I think everyone needs time to unplug for a while as well. As a mother of teens, I’ve talked to other mothers about some of the issues our kids are facing today, namely anxiety and depression. When my oldest daughter started having panic attacks and not sleeping, I was lost on how to help her. One of the worst feelings as a parent is helplessness. I knew I had to call on people more qualified, and that was how she and I could fight to remain mentally healthy together. With the help of an amazing counselor, my daughter not only learned coping skills for herself, but also has helped talk down friends and classmates she barely knows from their panic attacks.

Honestly, I’m a bit fascinated with psychology in general, and the power of the mind. Which led me to the idea for this book. I thought about a young mother who’d worked like crazy since she was 16 to give her daughter the best possible life. The pair has a close “Gilmore Girls”-like relationship. Or they did, anyway, until Chloe starts dating a guy that reminds Jess too much of the boy who got her pregnant in high school and then wanted nothing to do with her. And then the unhealthy coping mechanisms Chloe has used to deal with her undiagnosed anxiety land her in jail. Desperate to stop Chloe from following in her footsteps, Jess takes action and drives her daughter to a ranch for teens.

The magic of books is that we get to hope, experience, laugh, cry and fall in love along with the characters.

Since I did draw on a lot of my daughter’s and my own experiences and emotions, this was one of the most emotional books I’ve ever written. I couldn’t help putting myself in Jessica’s position. I think a lot of parents have experience with not being sure what’s going on with our children and how to best help them. The magic of books is that we get to hope, experience, laugh, cry and fall in love along with the characters. We get to see parts of ourselves in books, and because this is a romance novel, it’s guaranteed to have a happy ending.

As mental health is a very important subject—and one I happen to be passionate about—I wanted to make sure to portray it correctly. My research included a visit to a teen treatment facility called Fire Mountain Residential Treatment Center. Aaron Huey, who founded the center with his wife, Chris, gave me a tour. They let me ask a ton of questions, introduced me to their wonderful team of people, and let me sit and have lunch with the teens in the program. Some were new to the program and one teenager was headed home. I talked to them about their feelings and experiences throughout, how they’d changed, and had an enjoyable time getting to know them a bit. They told me a funny story about what they called an “aggressive dance party” and asked me to add it to my book, so it’s in there as well. Visiting the place really cemented what I wanted Turn Around Ranch to look like, and who I wanted working there.

In addition to the tour, Aaron also has a podcast, where he often has former students speak. I listened to several episodes. One thing that struck me is how young a lot of the anxiety starts, and how many times, kids take so long to talk about it with their parents that they’ve already developed a lot of bad coping mechanisms, including addiction.

While there are a few heavy issues in the book, my goal is always to make people laugh and swoon. I sprinkled in a lot of comedy, some of which comes from trial and error learning on the ranch. As most of my most of my Facebook followers know, I also struggle in the kitchen, so I was able to put a lot of my own cooking disasters on the page and then find a way to write Jessica out of the trouble she’d landed herself in.

Second chances make up the core of the Turn Around Ranch Series, along with forged friendships, learning how to be healthy and happy and how to accept yourself for who you are. And when it comes down to it, isn’t that what life is all about?

 

Author photo by Teal Lemon Photography.

Cindi Madsen tells us why writing her latest romance felt like coming home.

RomanceContemporary Romance

A match made in book heaven

Behind the Book by Liza Kendall

The two authors behind the pen name Liza Kendall have been friends for years. But writing a book together is a wholly different endeavor. In this piece, the two women behind Liza Kendall share how they teamed up to write their first romance together, Walk Me Home.

How did two veteran authors used to controlling their own fictional worlds end up writing together?

We had been friends for years and used to go on dog-sitting and writing retreats together, especially since we discovered that we actually wrote—instead of talking, watching movies, shopping or getting up to no good.

Kendall had taken a break from the crazy business of publishing, but was working on a few ideas of her own when she happened to be on a trip to San Francisco, where Liza used to live. Comically, we almost managed to meet in the airport as Kendall was leaving and Liza was returning. The result was a phone call.

Liza had come up with the idea for Silverlake Ranch and the five Braddock siblings. Kendall loved the idea, so we started brainstorming the plots of the first couple of books and developing the characters. We both got excited, and decided to form a partnership so that we could produce the stories more quickly and have fun while doing so.

Then came the first hurdle.

Liza yelled, “Let’s start writing!”

Kendall said, “Not without ten plot points in a three-act structure.”

Liza said, “But you’re supposed to be the wacky creative who studied art. Not an anal-retentive structure nut!”

Kendall said, “Yeah, but I have to rein in my free spirit or it runs around with its hair on fire, doing whatever it wants.”

Liza said, “Okaaay. But why 10 plot points?”

Kendall said, “Dunno. I guess we could have either nine or 12.”

Liza: “But not 11?”

Kendall: “No. Definitely not 11.”

Then came the second hurdle.

For efficiency’s sake, we write in Google Docs, so that we can each see the ongoing draft of the book. At first it was very intimidating to expose our raw work processes to each other. It’s sort of like running around in your underwear with your hair uncombed and only one sock on. But eventually it became amusing to see each other’s cursors on the same page.

Kendall: “Hey, Liza! Had a lot of coffee this morning, huh?”

Liza: “Yeah . . . why?”

Kendall: “Your pink cursor is skipping around like a kid at a birthday party.”

Liza: “Yours is sitting in front of the word ‘the’ as if it’s in jail.”

Kendall: “Yeah. I’m searching my neural networks for a noun.”

Liza: “Good luck with that.”

Then came the third hurdle.

Liza (the one with the business background) paradoxically writes like a free spirit, hopping around in the book, depending on which scene she feels like working on. Kendall (the one with the art background) writes like a buttoned-down business person: chronologically, line editing as she goes. Both were taken aback at the other’s work process. Interesting conversations ensued.

Liza: “Dude, why do you bother line editing before the final draft?”

Kendall: “Because I’m a professor’s kid. The grammar goblins will get me if I don’t. The typo trolls will eat me alive. The comma kamikazes will blow me up.”

Liza: “You realize how demented you sound, right?”

Kendall: “Yes. That doesn’t bother me.”

It can be a little dicey at times as we dance through each other’s scenes to edit and improve them, but we sit on our egos and it usually works out well. Fortunately, any issues that ensue are usually resolved by an official Author Therapy Phone Call. During an ATPC, both Liza and Kendall talk through any writing, plot or characterization problems, air any friendly grievances and sometimes simply agree to disagree and let our editor make a call.

We made a serious pact before starting to write together: The friendship is more important than the business arrangement. We still feel that way . . . and after writing three books so far, we are still fast friends.

We’ve each learned quite a bit from the other. Liza approaches a book with more of a director’s eye and a wide-angle lens. She enjoys building strong emotional arcs and delving into emotional nuance for both individual books and the series as a whole. She also loves writing family and ensemble scenes. Her process is to put the “bones” of a scene on the page and then keep building it.

Kendall has more of an interest in deep psychology and characterization. She’s a more formal writer and approaches a novel intending to explore what exactly makes each character “tick,” what his/her wounds are and how to heal them. Often, she focuses more on the romance than the family. Her process is to dive deep into a scene and produce it more or less completely all at once.

Both of us love humor, banter and dialogue. We’ve enjoyed creating our small town of Silverlake, its unique businesses and the friends who make it home. We can’t wait to introduce readers to the Braddock siblings and their complicated, colorful worlds. Welcome to Silverlake Ranch!

 

ALSO IN BOOKPAGE: Read our review of Walk Me Home.

The two women behind Liza Kendall share how they teamed up to write their first romance together, Walk Me Home.

RomanceContemporary Romance

For the love of a letter

Behind the Book by Sonali Dev

Sonali Dev’s Recipe for Persuasion updates Jane Austen’s beloved final novel, Persuasion, to the present day, setting the classic second-chance romance amid the high-pressure world San Francisco food scene. Fans of Persuasion almost universally agree that a certain letter by main character Captain Wentworth is among the high points of the novel (if not of Jane Austen’s entire body of work). In this essay, Dev explores how the famous letter gave her hope as a young girl, helping her believe in the power of second chances.

You know that moment when you read something and you know your life is never going to be the same again? Well, imagine a 13-year-old girl reading Jane Austen’s Persuasion and encountering Captain Wentworth’s letter. I’m not sure if I grasped then the full impact it would have on me, but I remember losing sleep, I remember feeling restless, I remember being altered. The way sci-fi films show creatures mutating from one being to another with all the requisite agony. In retrospect, I was obviously experiencing my first book crush, but it was more than that. It was my adolescent self being given permission to believe that making mistakes was not absolute, that letting something you cherish slip from your hands didn’t mean that it was gone forever. The resulting relief and freedom were transformative.

It was my adolescent self being given permission to believe that making mistakes was not absolute, that letting something you cherish slip from your hands didn’t mean that it was gone forever. 

As a young girl growing up in India, I often had this sense that how I felt about things didn’t match the messages the world was giving me. So much of what I was being told came from a place of fear. Risk-aversion, it seemed, was the overriding principle of childrearing. Everything was a zero-sum game. If you didn’t do well at school, didn’t get into the right professional college at 18, then you’d never have another chance at a “valid” career. If you got yourself mixed up with “the wrong kind of boy,” your reputation would be unsalvageable and your marriageability permanently compromised. Essentially, you got one chance at a career and at marriage, and those were the two wheels upon which your life’s cart rolled. It wasn’t entirely unwise, and it was incredibly socially convenient. It was also stunningly restrictive and just plain untrue.

If I didn’t have Captain Wentworth’s letter, I might have found other ways to believe that hope doesn’t end no matter how big your mistakes. I might have found other sources that reinforced my natural faith in the fact that there’s always another shot if you have the courage to take it. Fortunately, I did have the letter, and it taught me that we humans are essentially a bumbling lot who need to make often arduous, misstep-ridden journeys to self-awareness, and that without self-awareness we may never be ready for happiness. It also spurred my lifelong obsession with stories that explore hope and second chances. I might have set out to write Recipe for Persuasion as an homage to Anne Elliot and Fredrick Wentworth’s second chance, but really, it ended up being my homage to that letter. The one Captain Wentworth writes to Anne at the very end, after they’ve both come face-to-face with the strength of their feelings but before they know how to cross the chasm their past has put between them. That letter is what gives them their second chance.

In Recipe for Persuasion, I wasn’t interested in replicating Anne and Wentworth’s journey by way of scenes and plot—Austen did a spectacular job of that already. What I was interested in was taking the raw regret and hope in that letter and exploring it in a contemporary story. I wanted to place Ashna and Rico at that point of youthful weakness where they made mistakes that cost them their happiness, because who hasn’t made mistakes that did that? More importantly, though, I wanted them to make the journey from there to a place of strength where those mistakes could no longer hold them back.

“I am half agony, half hope,” is generally acknowledged as the highlight of the letter, and those words are beautiful. Even more beautiful to me is the part where Wentworth finds the courage to yet again give in to the feelings that once took so much from him, and to own his mistake in running from them. “I have loved none but you. Unjust I may have been, weak and resentful I have been, but never inconstant.” Without this self-awareness, there is no way to let go of the past. And letting go of the past and forgiving yourself for it is the only path to a second chance.

Growing up, when everything was telling me to be perfect from the get-go or lose, these were words that told me that courage, love and constancy won out over bad judgment and that there would always be another chance. Exploring that truth through Ashna and Rico’s story was something I had to do for the 13-year old girl who had felt such hope from reading that letter.

Sonali Dev’s Recipe for Persuasion updates Jane Austen’s beloved final novel, Persuasion, to the present day, setting the classic second-chance romance amid the high-pressure world San Francisco food scene. Fans of Persuasion almost universally agree that a certain letter by main character Captain Wentworth is…
RomanceContemporary Romance

Love and friendship

Behind the Book by Farrah Rochon

In Farrah Rochon’s new contemporary romance, The Boyfriend Project, three women find out via social media that they’ve all been dating the same man. And while Rochon’s book primarily follows one of them, Samiah, as her pact with the other women to not date for six months is challenged by her incredibly appealing co-worker, Daniel, it also celebrates the friendship between the three women as it blossoms into a powerful and positive bond. In this essay, Rochon explores fictional friendships between women and asks why they don’t play a more central role in romance novels today.

The Joy Luck Club. Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants. The Outsiders.

Our collective bookshelves are filled with enduring stories that explore the beauty, refuge and even the heartbreak found in deep, meaningful friendships. These treasured tales remind us that sometimes our strongest ties go beyond blood relatives, and that these bonds can be for life. I can remember as a preteen envying the friendship between Kristy, Claudia, Stacey and the rest of the gang in The Babysitters Club. However, when my reading tastes eventually graduated to more mature books, it became harder to find stories that celebrated close friendships.

I didn’t realize just how much I craved such relationships in my fiction until I read Terry McMillan’s groundbreaking novel Waiting to Exhale. The breadth and richness of the close sisterhood in that book spoke to me on so many levels. Four black women sharing their successes, failures and everything in between was such a beautiful representation of the female relationships I’d witnessed in my own life and the lives of the women in my family. After nearly 30 years, McMillan’s remarkable story of black female friendships continues to reign as the ultimate “girlfriend” book, but thankfully, newcomer Sharina Harris is bringing that flavor to a new generation. Harris’ (Im)Perfectly Happy tells the story of four college friends navigating the joys and pitfalls of relationships, careers and family 10 years after their graduation.

ALSO IN BOOKPAGE: Read our review of The Boyfriend Project.

The one genre where that bond between girlfriends seems to be lacking is the one that is closest to my heart: romance. Maybe because the genre relies so heavily on the romance between the lead protagonists, authors feel there isn’t enough space on the page to highlight anything more than the spunky best friend who lends sage advice. Don’t get me wrong, there are a number of romances that portray close female friendships. Ledi and Portia in Alyssa Cole’s Reluctant Royals series and Kristen and Sloan from Abby Jimenez’s connected stories The Friend Zone and The Happy Ever After Playlist showcase the type of friendships many of us seek in real life. Interestingly, when it comes to the romance genre, it seems more common to find stories based on male-centered friendships. Suzanne Brockmann’s trailblazing Navy SEALs, Kwana Jackson’s upcoming Men Who Knit series, and Lyssa Kay Adams’ Bromance Book Club series, which features an all-male romance reading book club, all rely on male friendships as their foundation.

When I first came up with the idea for The Boyfriend Project, I knew that I very much wanted it to remain a romance, but the instant friendship that develops between the three women readers meet in the novel’s opening scene was just as central to the story and, in my opinion, deserved equal time. Samiah, Taylor and London each find something that none of them realized they needed: strong friends they could lean on.

Basically, I took a page from my own life.

Back when the internet was still shiny and new, I happened upon a message board for fans of the legendary Judith McNaught. Brought together by a shared love of our favorite author, the friendships born in that little corner of the web have lasted 20 years. Those women changed the course of my life. I would not be a romance writer today without them championing my early writing attempts.

That’s what friendships can do—they can be life-changing. Those who have been blessed with lasting friendships understand the valuable role our they play in our lives. Our friends are the sounding boards, the cheerleaders, the shoulders we cry on. Friendships enrich our world. They deserve a place in our fiction, especially in the romances we read.

 

Author photo by Tamara Roybiskie.

In Farrah Rochon’s new contemporary romance, The Boyfriend Project, three women find out via social media that they’ve all been dating the same man. And while Rochon’s book primarily follows one of them, Samiah, as her pact with the other women to not date…
RomanceHistorical Romance

How to write a bad boy (that readers can unreservedly love)

Behind the Book by Joanna Shupe

Joanna Shupe’s latest historical romance series, Uptown Girls, follows three Gilded Age society girls as they find love outside the stifling ballrooms of high-class New York City society. In The Devil of Downtown, Shupe’s conclusion to the series, kindhearted activist Justine Greene falls for a man who would, by all accounts, appear to be her exact opposite: ruthless crime boss Jack Mulligan. But how can an author write such a character without making him too violent or amoral to be a believable love interest, nor defanging him so much that he loses the allure of the forbidden? In this essay, Shupe reveals her secrets.

Why do we love a bad boy?

It’s an age-old question, but one that perhaps a romance reader understands best of all. Many of us have loved stories with a charming rake or a ruthless billionaire.

But how bad is too bad? What about when the hero is a criminal?

All of the books in the Uptown Girls series have featured Gilded Age “bad boys”—men who make their own rules and profit handsomely for it. They each live by their own code of honor and can justify the reasons for their actions . . . both legal and illegal. The Rogue of Fifth Avenue’s Frank Tripp is a slick-talking lawyer who bends the law to fit his needs. Clayton Madden, the dark casino owner in The Prince of Broadway, is out to fleece every man in town with deep pockets.

In The Devil of Downtown, however, I went a step further. The hero, Jack Mulligan, is the criminal kingpin of Gilded Age New York City.

He’s a good guy, I swear. (But not too good. ☺)

“Good” vs. “Bad”
Part of what makes writing a criminal hero easier for me is the Gilded Age itself. Corruption was rampant in late 19th-century New York City. Many of the “good guys” were actually bad—such as the police, judges and politicians. And let’s not forget about the wealthy tycoons who underpaid their workers, used child labor and busted unions every chance they got. There were no rules, no laws, if you had enough money.

As long as you were rich, you could do pretty much whatever you wanted. So, the wealth of each Uptown Girls hero allows him enough power to create his own world, one where he makes the rules.

Using History
Historical research also helped when I was crafting each hero. Jack Mulligan is loosely based on a real-life Gilded Age figure, Paul Kelly. A boxer turned gangster, Kelly founded the Five Points Gang, which absorbed the smaller gangs of the area to become a large organization. He dressed like a dandy, spoke many languages and entertained members of high society at his clubs, and Kelly is widely considered the father of American organized crime. Lucky Luciano, Al Capone and Meyer Lansky are just a few of the men who gained experience within Kelly’s empire.

But there were parts I had to rethink for a modern audience. For example, while the real Paul Kelly owned brothels, this was a line my heroes would not cross. So I had to write in backstories for both Jack and Clayton Madden as to why they avoided the sex trade.

In Jack’s case, he was raised in a brothel and saw the violence sometimes inflicted upon women. It’s well known in his territory that he doesn’t tolerate the mistreatment of women, ever.

Show, Don’t Tell
I struggled with how to show the reader that a dangerous dude is really dangerous, even when he’s the hero. Because you can’t just tell the reader he’s bad, you have to prove it. Yet, the reader still has to like the character and root for him in the end.

It’s a delicate balance.

In fact, early beta readers of The Devil of Downtown told me the story needed more “devil,” that the hero was too nice. So I wrote some scenes where the violence either just occurred or was directed at someone he cared about.

Also, it helps to have another person who is even worse as a foil for the hero. Jack Mulligan has a rival trying to encroach on his territory. So most of Jack’s violence is directed at the book’s antagonist, a man who tries to kill Jack multiple times. In The Prince of Broadway, Clay’s ire is directed at the cops who try to swindle him and the men who try to cheat in his casino.

Gone, Baby Gone
All of the Uptown Girls heroes are head over heels for the heroines from practically the start of the book. This allows the reader to see a tender side, a squishy marshmallow center that contrasts his public badass persona. In a romance, this can help with likability because we need to believe that he’s lovable, that even someone who flirts with danger—or is knee-deep in danger—is worthy of a happily ever after.

He Did It His Way
We’ve all heard the phrase “honor among thieves.” The Uptown Girls heroes all have a very strong sense of what is honorable to them. Frank, the lawyer in The Rogue of Fifth Avenue, can justify anything that helps his client, even if it’s shady. Clayton Madden will never tell a lie, not for any reason.

And Jack Mulligan looks after the people in his neighborhood as if they were his family. Yes, he’s running the biggest criminal enterprise in the city, but he employs thousands. He punishes anyone who hurts women and children. He’s trying to make the Bowery and the Five Points a safer place for families.

So there are some tricks of the author trade that I used in The Devil of Downtown. Hopefully readers will find Jack Mulligan as compelling, sexy and dangerous as I envisioned him in my head.

Joanna Shupe reveals how to write a hero who is the perfect amount of dangerous and lovable.

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