Now that the Illusions series is complete, I have lowered the price of book one, The Secrets We Keep to .99 cents.
Click on the Buy Here Button
For the cost of a candy bar, you can have hours of enjoyment. Or you could splurge and buy both the book and the candy bar.
This is the first romance book I ever wrote. I still love it. I love Liza’s impulsive desire to save her father and Robert. It still tickles me the trouble she gets in, but her determination is so admirable.
And Robert, just home from the war, he’s trying to rekindle a romance with his neighbor and long-time friend. Why won’t she respond in a predictable way?
I hope you enjoy this Regency, Napoleonic war era Romance. (Please leave a review so others can find this delightful clean read).
In The Lies We Tell, when Amelia sees the young girls at the brothel, this refined lady acts in a way that is so outside her nature it surprised me. I wanted to explore what would make her unable to walk away from these poor girls. This question was the impetus to write my current Work in Process. Right now I’m calling it An Honorable Man. It’s a fun reverse Pygmalion story. Cecily (Amelia’s mother–And Amelia makes an appearance as a five year old) is helping Mr. Hatton make himself over so that he can enter into society.
I can’t believe how much I’m enjoying this story. Would you like a sneak peak?
I have a new page on the site. It’s called Free Romance Reads. If you’d like access, go ahead and sign up for my newsletter. You’ll get a free story, “One Stormy Day,” and I’ll give you the password to the page where I will be loading the first chapter of An Honorable Man. As time goes by, I will be adding other sneak peaks, deleted scenes, short stories and such.
The Secrets We Keep Photography: Chez Nous Images www.cheznousimages.com
In every romance novel, the overarching theme is ‘Love Conquers All.’ Do you believe this statement? What are some ways you have seen this theme played out in real life? In interpersonal relationships? In parenting? Societal challenges? In questions of the soul?
In The Secrets We Keep, are there other underlying themes, unique to Liza’s story? What are they?
At the Beginning of the novel, Liza claims she has good reason for her secrets and lies. She claims the same thing at the end. Are her reasons different at the end than at the beginning. How?
Is she right either time? Does she have good reason? Are lies ever acceptable? What might constitute good reasons for lies? Are they ever acceptable?
What makes Liza begin to distrust Robert? What effects does her lack of trust have on their relationship?
Even though Liza believes Robert is doing despicable things, she loves him. Have you ever been in this situation? How does she show her love? How do you show love for someone who is doing something you believe is wrong/harmful?
Liza is a very instinctive person. She doesn’t always look ahead and weigh the consequences of her actions. What are the strengths in an instinctive personality? What are the weaknesses?
When is Liza bravest? When she faces her enemy and danger? Or in some of her personal, private decision?
Liza spends some time “walking in other’s shoes,” or in this case wearing others clothes. Does that change her insights into those others’ lives? How? How do you “wear other’s clothes” in our day?
First or third person? Which is your preference when you’re reading? Historically, I have preferred books written in third person (example: she watched the lapwing take flight). But in my first series, the Illusions series, every book is written in first person (example: I took a deep breath and lifted the pistol). It was a difficult style for me to write, so why did I do that to myself?
I must say here that there are books that are written in first person that I really like. I’ll give some examples, but note that these are not all regency romances. The Hunger Games series is in first person, as is Rebecca by Daphne DuMarier. Patricia Briggs’ Mercy Thompson series, beginning with Moon Called (I like the first ten books better than the latest ones) is told in Mercy’s voice. Probably my favorite of Joan Wolf’s regency novels, Fool’s Masquerade, is written in first person. And the very talented Thomas and Sharon Curtis, writing as Laura London, wrote A Heart Too Proud in first person. I really like all of these books. But mostly I read books that are written in third person.
I started The Secrets We Keep, book one of the Illusions series, when the first line, “Let me say in my defense, that I had good reason for every lie I told and every truth I withheld,” came out of nowhere. I just liked it and put it down on paper. I had no clear idea where I was going, but that line just sparked my imagination. What if a girl in Regency England found herself unintentionally, at least at first, caught in a web of deceit? What if in her attempts to find the truth, she worked herself deeper and deeper into those secrets and lies.
And I was off. Liza’s story in The Secrets We Keep changed and developed over time, often surprising me, but it remained in first person. Liza just wanted the reader to see her life through her eyes and hear in her voice.
One of the challenges of writing in first person is that you can only move action along through the viewpoint of the character who is the voice. If you want to show that one of the other characters is angry or hiding something, it has to come through what the main character sees. It took some time for me to get into the habit of seeing only through the eyes of Liza. It was a steep learning curve.
As we were readying Secrets for publication, I read somewhere that a good way to introduce new readers to your work is to write a “book magnet.” A magnet is a shorter work, usually a short story, that you practically give away. I took a little break from Book 2 and started writing a short story, although apparently Maris didn’t want her story to be that short. Smoke and Shadows became a novella. But it felt right to continue in the first person, to be inside Maris’ mind as she and her brother’s best friend try to catch an arsonist, and discover their own fire. Maris has a very different mind and voice than Liza’s, which is also a challenge–to find the individual speech and thought patterns of your character.
I will be putting The Lies We Tell, the second novel in the Illusions series up for pre-order in the next week or two after final editing. Amelia is more conventional than either Liza or Maris. She has always observed the proprieties. But as she tries to shield her father from the consequences of her brother’s depravity, she enters a world of lies and danger and finds herself doing things she never imagined. (FYI: you met her brother in the first novel). Again I wrote in first person, and again with a totally different personality and voice than the two earlier works.
Finally, sometime this fall, I’ll release The Masks We Wear, the third and final novel in the Illusions series. Sidonie not only is different in nature from the other three main characters, she is also French. In first person. I guess I must like a challenge.
The funny thing is, after writing this series in first person, I’m a little nervous to begin the next series that is percolating on the back burners of my mind. I do believe I will be writing them in third person. I think I will face a whole different set of challenges. You would think those decisions are all up to me, that the voice is my choice. After all, I’m creating these characters, right? Surprise. It’s not really me. I find that the character makes her own demands. And the writer must follow.
This is a huge accomplishment for me. I haven’t sold it yet; I’m working on the query letter and research about agents and such. But the novel is complete. Alpha and Beta readers have had their say. The editor is at work.
I just want to go back two paragraphs now. Me write a Regency romance novel? Yes, yes I have. The truth is I was raised on a steady diet (provided by my mom) of romance novels. Back in the day (unnamed years ago), most romance novels were what we, today, call Clean or Sweet. Read that as the writers didn’t include sex scenes. And my mom, my sister, and I read them voraciously.
Now, some people in some circles might look down on the humble romance novel (even though it is one of the highest selling genres). I have a degree in English and I’ve spent quite a bit of time in those circles. I even love those circles and a good discussion about the literature favored in those circles. But I also love a good romance. I love the “Love Conquers All” theme. I love the search for connection, for belonging, for intimacy (since we’re talking “sweet” here, I’m talking emotional intimacy in this post). I love the struggle and bumps along the way. I just love romance.
One of my favorite things to ask people that I’m just getting to know is, “how did you meet?” Everyone’s process of meeting and falling in love seems a miracle to me. I love to hear about people’s romances.
Even though I have written a fantasy novel, which is in need of a complete rewrite, it is as much a romance as a fantasy. I have also written three children’s books–not romances, and after seven children, I like that too. But I have found a real comfort and familiarity while writing my romance novel. And the second one in the series, which is half-way written feels the same. Finding “my voice” just didn’t seem as difficult.
Exploring trust and vulnerability, trying to capture the growth of a protagonist as she opens her heart to love, following two people who struggle, and make mistakes, and compromise is exilerating.
So for the next little while I will probably be writing about my writing–my romance writing–and about the value of a good romance novel.
