It's not an Edilean book, which has become my favorite new series of Jude Deveraux's, but I stayed in bed all day Saturday to read it, then finished it on Sunday. What's a weekend for if not to read and lounge around?

At first I wasn't sure what to think about the ghost, Caleb. Then I wasn't a big fan of Jared, the hero, though I'm sure that was intentional and Jude always makes a wonderful point of making sure her heroines aren't so in love with their heroes they forget to be the wonderful women they are. And wonderful sex can make a person a bit forgetful and apt to let the boys run the show. I love how Jude makes sure that this conflict is raised, dealt with, and conquered by the end of the book--rather than having a book where everyone falls in love at the end and they don't deal with the issue of losing one's identity when one is "in love."

Jude had a large cast of characters this time, all of which ran the gamut of personality. You've got the beautiful, flamboyant, men-fawn-all-over-her mother of the heroine who, if you're like me, you don't like because you always hated being cast in the shadow by such a woman, but can't help but admire how she's able to make things happen--and you're just happy she's a good person as she makes things happen. You've got the heroine's father who makes this splendid scene of yelling at the hero for being an asshat and he better make it up to his little girl or there would be consequences. There's all of Jared's cousins on Nantucket, including the beautiful ethereal Toby (whom I hope the next book is about) and the people who work for Jared. I adored everyone. Even the ghost.

In fact, I got very worried about the ghost, because it became clear something was going to happen to him by the end of the book. And then I got worried for one of the other characters, in which something very BIG was clearly going to happen. It was worrisome. But Jude being Jude, it all worked out all right in the end.

In the end, there's a big question--how long would you wait for True Love? Forever, Jared said. And Caleb agreed.

And there was that age-old question of what do you do about a wedding that your family hijacks and you no longer want. Good times. Loved it all.

I heartily recommend--but it does help if you love Jude Deveraux. (I think Jude is my Nora Roberts. I'm not the Nora fan than many of you are, but I think Jude is the storyteller that many of you think of Nora as, you just love her voice and how she draws characters. That's how I feel about Jude.)

So what have you been reading? What do you recommend?

What will this book be like?
I wonder.
What will my sell-through be?
I wonder.
It could be so wonderful,
To be out on the shelves,
To be read.
My heart should be wildly rejoicing
Oh, why is it beating with dread?

To write things others never dared,
Now here I am facing a blank page,
Why then am I so scared?
A duke with seven siblings
What’s so fearsome about that?

All these worries,
If I don’t, I know I won’t write a line.
I must dream of the story I am seeking,
I am seeking the courage’s that mine.
The courage to make this book the best,
To write even when I fear it’s dreck
Show this book I’m worthy
And while I show them,
I’ll show me! So!

Face my plot holes without defiance,
Show them I’m worthy
And while I show them,
I’ll show me! So!

Let those pages spill out all their problems,
I’ll do better than my best,
This book will put me to the test,
But I’ll make my agent see,
I have confidence in me!

Somehow I will impress them,
I will be romantic but sexy,
And all those readers,
Heaven bless them,
They will run to the bookstore for me
And buy me.

Everything will turn out fine.
I have confidence the publishing world can all be mine
They'll have to agree I have confidence in me

I have confidence in wallflowers!
I have confidence in rakes!
I have confidence that true love is all it takes!
Besides what you see I have confidence in me!

Strength doesn't lie in talent
Strength doesn't lie in luck
Strength lies in days of persistent writing
When you write,
Write up! It’s exciting!

All I write
I give my heart to
All I write becomes my own
I have confidence
In confidence alone…

I have confidence in confidence alone!
Besides what you see I have confidence
In me!!

When you write, what do you have confidence in? And if you don't write, what do you have confidence your favorite author will deliver?

"Cosplay - short for "costume play", is an activity in which participants wear costumes and accessories to represent a specific character or idea from a work of fiction. Cosplayers often interact to create a subculture centered on role play. A broader use of the term cosplay applies to any costumed role play in venues apart from the stage, regardless of the cultural context."

My love of Kieran Kramer books goes back to her debut - it seriously rocked my reading world! When Harry Met Molly was one of my favorite books that year and as a reader I read it over and over again.

As a writer, Kieran's book offered me much in way of writing lessons. To this day, I still find the prologue to that book to be the exception to the rule you always hear about never including a prologue. It was perfection for me as a reader and it made the writer side of me take notice right off the bat.

Secondly, Kieran is not a slave to historical accuracy in her writing. Yes, I know many of my fellow pirates would make her walk the plank for that but to me, she does it so well, so seamlessly that it again proves a writing rule - if the characters are amazing and the writing soars then you can get the reader to suspend disbelief and just fall in love with the flow of the story.

Lastly, Kieran gives good laugh. That book really wooed me with it's wit and charm, plus genuinely funny characters that could not be ignored.

So what I want to know is have you ever run across a book you loved a reader and that taught you lessons as a writer? What book was it (come on we all need to know!)? If you are a historical purist, is there a point where a book could speak so much to you that you'd be willing to overlook the inaccuracies? Why or why not? Lastly, anyone else read a fantastic prologue?

Today, we're hosting Kieran as part of her blog tour for her latest book Say Yes To The Duke which I have no doubt I will devour as quickly as I can get my hands on it. Don't forget to enter to win the huge prize pack Kieran is offering as part of the blog tour! Click Here To Enter The Rafflecopter Giveaway.

Say Yes To The Duke:
CAN A SCANDALOUS BEGINNING…
Janice Sherwood wants to marry for love, but she’s failed to make a match after two Seasons. Her parents, the Marquess and Marchioness of Brady, arrange to send her to the Duke of Halsey’s country estate as a short-term guest of his grandmother, the dowager, in hopes that she might win the duke’s affections. What they never could have imagined is that Janice would fall for the ruggedly handsome servant Luke, who lives in the stables and carries an air of mystery and temptation.

LEAD TO A FAIRY-TALE ENDING?
When Luke Callahan learns that he is the legitimate heir to a dukedom, he will stop at nothing to claim what is his. But first, he must begin a game of disguise to secure his rightful inheritance. Janice isn’t part of his plan. But by engaging her in this dance of deception, might he lose her forever?

Raves and Reviews for Say Yes To The Duke:  
“Kramer’s gift is her innate ability to tell a story with unerring honesty, deep emotion and humor. Readers will laugh, cry and deeply sigh from beginning to end of this beautifully told, enchanting love story.” —4 1/2 stars RT Book Reviews Top Pick!

“The third book in Kramer’s “House of Brady” series offers everything this author’s fans have come to expect including a sinfully sexy romance between two perfectly matched protagonists, a richly amusing cast of unconventional secondary characters, and a lively plot that doesn’t take itself too seriously.” —Booklist

Kieran also The Revenge this sneak peak of Say Yes To The Duke to share:

Yet he was a servant doing a servant’s job. How could he be as enthralling a figure as a duke?

He’s not. He’s a groom.

But when she was very young, she’d been a shop girl. And you always will be, you fool, if you can’t keep your eyes off the help.

The crowning moment came when Mr. Callahan finished his chore and walked purposely down the steps. “All finished, Your Grace.” He stood at relaxed attention, his gloved hands dangling at his sides, while the dog stared avidly at him, their tongues lolling.

He was a Very Bad Man, Janice thought. And, God help her, she couldn’t look away.

Except she must when seconds later, she walked past him. Even with snow pelting her cheeks, she felt his heat. And his gaze. Yet she wouldn’t look at him. That wouldn’t be proper. Kissing him wasn’t proper, either. But what was done was done. She could be proper starting now. She would behave as a real lady should.

But as she cautiously ascended the freshly cleared steps to the front door with the duke—finally!—his unremarkable friends following behind in much the same way the hounds were, she had an odd craving. Considering how fortunate she was to be with His Grace—she wished a wayward groom were escorting her up these stairs instead.

Was it exhaustion or desperation that made her think this way? Every woman in London would like to trade places with her right now. The duke’s grip was firm and his body next to hers intimidating. Beneath his coat, his calves strained with muscle, and his belly was flat as a washing board. He was clearly in the prime of his life.

And he was without a wife.

Excerpt from Say Yes To The Duke  ©2013 by Kieran Kramer . All rights reserved.

About Kieran:
Double Rita®-finalist and USA Today bestseller Kieran Kramer writes Regency historical romances and now contemporary romance for St. Martin’s Press. THE EARL IS MINE, the second in her House of Brady series, is her latest release. SAY YES TO THE DUKE premiers in August 2013. SWEET TALK ME, set in present-day South Carolina, comes out in March 2014. A former CIA employee, journalist, and English teacher, Kieran’s also a game show veteran, karaoke enthusiast, and general adventurer.  She lives where she grew up--in the Lowcountry of South Carolina--with her Naval Reserve commander husband and their three children.

Author Site: http://www.kierankramerbooks.com/
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/KieranKramer1
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/kierankramer
Follow Kieran on the rest of her blog tour here.

Back in the 90s, in what I figure were my formative years of romance reading, I loved Julie Garwood, Jude Deveraux, Teresa Medeiros, Lisa Kleypas, Christina Dodd, and a handful of other authors I would buy by name only. I'm not sure how I missed out on Catherine Anderson's books, but I have a feeling it was because of the Indians.

Of course, there is nothing intrinsically wrong with Indians. My first romances I loved featured "half-breed" heroes, but then I fell into this author who was fond of them too, and I burned myself out on the setting. The author had the habit of having the characters have sex before the battle, during the battle, and after the battle. It got a little exhausting to me and not a lot of conflict or story beyond sex. You know how it is. You can read that kind of book every week, but one time you're not really in the mood for that kind of book, and it turns you off everything about that kind of story forever. That's what happened to me and Indians. It is why I think I missed out on Catherine Anderson the first time, because her books were in the early 90s. I should have picked up one of them, but the title kept me from doing so.

CHEYENNE AMBER is one of Anderson's historicals--and she has a fondness of Indians, the misunderstood heroes and ones who seek redemption. Ironically, neither the hero or heroine are Indians, though the hero was adopted by the Cheyenne when he was a baby, so he's a brother in spirit. He is also the best tracker in Colorado. (A common theme in this sort of setting incidentally, much like a duke who is in need of a fortune.) The heroine, Laura, is a Boston city-girl who defied her father and married a gambler, and now she is out in Colorado, newly delivered of a baby and newly widowed.

As if her luck isn't bad enough, she runs afoul of some comancheros (friends of her husband's of course) and they end up kidnapping her baby to lure her to them. She "hires" Deke Sheridan, the hero, to help her get her baby back.

Emotional, angsty, and one of the Blackest Black Moments ever--if it had been any other kind of a book than a romance, I would have expected the black moment to have really carried out. But my favorite was the dialogue. You have a starchy, well-educated city-bred lady with twenty-dollar words in every sentence; and you have a rough-edged, life-educated, hillbilly-Indian lover who says truly appalling things. Frequently. And there is the conversation with him and his mother, Medicine Woman. That was a hoot!

I got to the end and wanted to keep reading. I got to the end and went to Amazon.com to see if there was any other books affiliated with these characters and the like. No, but it did reveal a series of Comanche themed books that I had loved and read a year ago (also written many years previously). I would recommend them all.

But definitely read this one first--because that scene where Deke has to explain to Laura that he married her while she was unconscious is hysterical.

Any oldies but goodies you recommend? Any Indian themed romances that were a particular favorite of yours? What are you reading?

How about you? Are you a journey or destination kind of person? (If you're the latter, you probably don't like this blog very much. Sorry about that.) What was the last book that left you in awe? 

Granted, one is a nice brunette, and one is lavender…and take…uh…40something years apart…but I do remember how confident I was at that age. No idea why, really. I guess life hadn’t presented me with any real scary stuff yet.

At the start of an 1892 duel in Liechtenstein between Princess Pauline Metternich and the Countess Kielmannsegg, Baroness Lubinska, who presided over the duel, insisted that the women remove their clothing above their waists to avoid infection in the event that a sword pushed clothing into the wound it caused. The baroness had seen many instances of septic infection in soldiers for this very reason throughout her years of medical training.

At the dueling ground on the fateful day, all formalities were carried out to the letter including an attempt at and refusal of reconciliation. The ladies engaged and, after a few trifling feints and thrusts, a wild slash from the princess brought about a light flow of blood from the countess’ nose. Seeing the injury she caused, the shocked princess, in a stereotypical feminine gesture, threw both hands up to her cheeks. Just then, the countess lunged and pierced the princess through her right forearm. The sight of the ensuing blood caused the respective seconds to faint. The footmen and coachmen, who had been ordered to stand some distance away with their backs toward the action, heard the cries and ran toward the women to render aid. Baroness Lubinska, however, decided the male servants had more salacious motives and attacked them with her umbrella, shouting, “Avert your eyes, avert your eyes — you lustful wretches!”

Does this send anyone else's imagination into overdrive? Isn't Baroness Lubinska AMAZING? And not only were the two duelers women, but their seconds were women too! 

So if you were to write a Victorian romance, which of these characters would you choose? The hapless footman? Baronnes Lubinska? One of the fainting seconds?  What else sets your imagination off?

So last week, I had an issue of believing in a heroine who suddenly did something inexplicable to what I thought her character was. This week, not so much.

There are some minor similarities--in the roughest of ways--between LOVE AND OTHER SCANDALS and MY NOTORIOUS GENTLEMAN. Both Regency; both have rakes; both have these wallflower type heroines (spinsterish), and both end up in a scandal in which could have been easily prevented if they'd been using their brains at the time. Very circumstantial, I admit.

In MY NOTORIOUS GENTLEMAN, Grace Kenwood is the parson's daughter (oh, how I love a heroine who is bound by this sort of double-virtue; it's conflict I can easily relate); and Trevor is the new neighbor who happens to be a war-hero and a notorious rake. Emphasis on the notorious rake. He takes a shine to Grace--she's not your typical girl, mainly one of the women trying to take off his pants in every dark room of a ballroom. (Really, ladies, do you not have any pride? Come on.)

So something very different happens with Grace and Trevor. They become friends first. It's lovely. They have a bit of a rocky start, and there's a bit more drama than the typical friendship romance found in a Julia Quinn book (she does love the friends-to-lovers trope too). But it feels natural and fun and you really do root for them. Also Grace introduces a new mission in life for Trevor. Without his soldiering/spying, he was at a loss, flailing around, but with Grace, he saw that the town he chose to live in needed an insurgence of work, pride, and money to become a real town again and he knew how to go about making it happen. Grace gives him a purpose.

Trevor gives Grace...a bit of self-interest. Grace is usually so busy helping everyone else, she doesn't take care of her own needs. She puts herself last. When she first meets Trevor, she knows he'd be perfect for the town belle, because she'd be the vivacious flirty fun he'd need to get his smile back. (Trevor is done with vivacious flirty fun of that variety. He plans to find it with the parson's daughter.) She didn't entertain the thought he'd remotely want her--it just wasn't possible. She put herself last. Trevor was keen to put her first--and when Grace began to realize that, she realized she rather liked being put first, especially in Trevor's heart.

So when they embroil themselves in a scandal--that could have been easily avoided--I could see more of the reason why they engaged in it. She was putting herself first for the first time, taking a chance; and he...well, there was no doubt he loved her and was going to keep her, so it wasn't wrong to him.

Also there's like a red herring of an ending, where the Black Moment was something else, and that was probably wise. I'm not sure the drama overly fit the book, it was possibly the one thing out of the book where I was like, "This seems out of sync" but in fairness, the author did set up a lot of threads that allowed this to happen so it does seem necessary. I think my confusion was the fact that town is so quiet and peaceful, and this action sequence that happens is very London. *LOL* But it worked. It all worked out in the end--all those threads nicely tied up--and all is forgiven among the characters.

Now I just need to hunt up the first book in the series and read it. (And you won't miss it. This one is imminently readable by itself.) Nicely done. Highly recommend.

What are you reading this week? Have you read MY NOTORIOUS GENTLEMAN? What did you think?

I’m so rarely inspired by myself. I have to seek it elsewhere if I want to be inspired—and yes, there is that golden truth that writers should never sit around waiting to be inspired because you are more likely to be inspired as you write; however, sometimes you just need to read a motivational book, just because. This was one of those times for me.





What I needed was an exorcist apparently.





When you’re feeling crappy about your writing, what do you do to help turn the mojo around? Do you write on a scene you really wanted? Do you find someone inspiring to say something in a new way to relight you? Do you watch that Elizabeth Gilbert TED talk for the 100^th time? What types of things do you do to motivate you back to the Zone?

Yeah, I'm still alive. Toasted. Very toasted. Exhausted, hoarse, but content.

I had my big panel today, crew. The one about everything I learned from almost dying...about 7 people there, but it was good.

I was articulate, didn't sweat, never stumbled...

Okay that's all a lie.

I was a wreck, but I think I bluffed through enough to make it work. I know it worked for at least one young woman who came up to afterward and thanked me for being so honest. She admitted she suffered from panic attacks and held a lot of fear of rejection. We sat and talked for a good 15 minutes afterward and ... you know... if you can help one person with something you say or something you write, then life is good.

So, even thought I sweated like crazy and wasn't sure of where I was most of the time, because I'd scribbled all over my notes and kept getting lost... It was good.

And if I ever do this again, I will be better organized.

But to top it all off, at the costume ball, I was visiting with a friend I sorta smuggled in with me, and Jennifer Ashley stopped to chat with some other people at the table... I nudged Siobhan and said, "That's Jennifer Ashley." Siobhan had already admitted she was fan... It was great! Siobhan introduced herself, got a picture, was glowing. I stood up and got a picture... and then...

Jennifer said she'd seen the write up for my panel and wanted to go but wasn't able to...had I really almost died? And she asked about it all and I stood there and talked with her...and she remembered who I was from RWA two years ago and ... it was a good night!

So, I'll be on and off the blog today. I have panels to attend and a water slide to ride that takes one through a shark tank... I also hope to do the zipline out at the Fremont Street Experience... And buy a drink with a coupon I got... 24 oz for the price of 16 oz. I really want to see what I get with this! And there is an awesome chocolate store here...must visit!

Anyway, the theme of today's blog, at the heart is what I wrote earlier. If you can help one person with something you say or something you write, then life is good.

Can you remember when someone helped you out of a bad vibe? Or a book that helped? A particular thing someone said, or did? Have you ever felt that humble warmth of knowing you did right? Let's hear about it, share the goodness, crew!