My Sizzling Summer Nights



I love the JustRomance.me blog hops. It’s a great way to meet new readers and authors. This summer's hop is called Sizzling Summer Nights and we’re to interpret the theme however we want to. I thought I’d share what I’m working on this summer on those sizzling summer nights.

Going to The Dark Side
I actually started book #4 some time ago, but the storyline was pretty dark and I decided to work on a different piece while I left #4 to cool a bit. Book #3 is now in the hands of the publisher. That’s the one with the working title of Smuggler’s Paradise although I’m sure that will change. (I’m horrible at naming books. Quick Tip – Never give an English-language book a French title like Le Chevalier. D’oh!)

Willing Love
Update: Book 3 has been released under the title Willing Love. You can find it at Amazon, Barnes and Noble, The Wild Rose Press and probably other great outlets as well.

I’m glad I set book #4 aside. It’s still dark, but somehow it seemed easier to write after taking a bit of a breather.

So what’s so different about this book? Glad you asked.

Le Chevalier
Those of you who’ve been to my blog before know I love history. My first three novels are set during the American Revolution or the events leading up to it. I decided to set this current story during the French Revolution.

That, right there, should give you some indication of why the storyline gets a bit dark. The American and French Revolutions are often called sister revolutions. Maybe. But if so, the French Revolution must be the American Revolution’s evil twin. Read my posts here, here and here for a few examples of the differences. 

Book #4…Sorry I keep referring to it by number, but I don’t even have a working title I really like even though I’m halfway through the manuscript. Anyway, Book #4 starts out with my heroine waiting her turn at the guillotine. She’s happy to die just so long as she can watch her miserable swine of a husband die first.  (I told you it was dark.) Of course, the hero rescues her, but it takes the heroine several chapters to forgive him for doing so. 

Neil and Christiana Make a Comeback
Caution to the Wind
This is the first time I’ve ever used recurring characters. Neil Blakely is Amanda’s younger brother in Caution to the Wind. Christiana Saint-Ange is Mont Trignon’s youngest sister from Le Chevalier. The story takes place in 1793, during the height of the Reign of Terror, so Neil is twenty-six and Christiana’s turned thirty. 

Both of these characters have really come to life on the page and the chemistry between them has come fairly easily. That’s always a good sign.

Christiana’s been a bit harder to write than Neil. She’s such a wounded soul, yet I wanted her to keep that sense of grace she had in LeChevalier. She’s also French aristocracy and has every reason to hate the Jacobins, but I didn’t want to make her such a cookie-cutter character. She deserves to be complex. Actually she’s demanding it.

Christiana’s also the oldest heroine I’ve ever written, but that’s been refreshing. It can be tough to write a believable seventeen- or eighteen-year-old who isn’t a tad annoying. On the other hand, terribly worldly eighteen-year-olds aren’t all that believable. But a thirty-year-old? Now that has possibilities.

I’m really looking forward to finishing this piece so I can discover how it ends. Not that I don’t have it mapped out, but you know how characters are. They don’t always follow the plan.

MJ

16 comments:

  1. Love the book covers! thank you for being part of the blog hop

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  2. Thanks, Kathy! I was pretty pleased with my two covers when I got them back from the publisher. I had asked for no half-naked men. While my romances are in the "spicy" category, I'd like for women to be able to read them on an airplane without feeling like they have to keep them in a brown paper wrapper. Been there, done that. Know what I mean?

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  3. no man titty? aw! LOL glad to see some historical romance out there that's not regency. not that i don't love it, but different is also great!

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  4. I know what you mean. I tend to read a lot of regency and other time periods all set in England because that's what a lot of the really good authors write. However, I didn't want to add to the growing population of English aristocracy - I can never keep the titles straight anyway.

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  5. I love the book covers too. They get my attention first. I do like to read ebooks I can see the cover but don't have to worry about any embarassment. Thanks for thinking of the reader.

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  6. Both books sound like the kind of stories that I like to read over and over and which I keep in my keeper shelf or should I say shelves. Thanks for being a part of this FUN blog hop.

    jmesparza821 at gmail dot com

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  7. Love the book covers and both books sound great.

    Samantha Hodges

    samanthahodges64 at yahoo dot com

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  8. Yeah the cover of "Caution to the Wind" looks great, looks adventurous!

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  9. I love seeing characters evolve over a number of books as I feel a deeper connection to them and the overall story. Thanks for being part of the Hop!

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    1. One of the things I'm really getting into as I finish up book #4 is Amanda's character. It's been fun writing a heroine from another book who is now 15 years older (37) and has six children. As one might expect, she's more worldly than she was at 22, but the sibling banter between her and Neil is still there.

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  10. Love the book covers. =) And good luck with finishing your books,... I know it can be hard sometimes but i'm sure they'll turn out great. <3

    Take care, & I hope you have a great weekend! =)
    Brandi
    BLeigh1130 at yahoo dot com

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  11. I personally think Le Chevalier is a pretty self-explanatory cognate, but hey...I'm pretty bad at titles too :P

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    1. Glad to know I'm not alone! For me, the titles can be harder than the plot.

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  12. These sound like books I could get into! Adding to my TBR for the summer.

    Mel
    bournmelissa at hotmail dot com

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  13. Beautiful book covers
    cathybrockmanromance@gmail.com

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  14. the covers are beautiful
    cathybrockmanromance@gmail.com

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