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?
