Hi Folks I’m pleased to have on ye old blog today another fellow Crimson author Lisa White. Her contemporary romance: The Laws of Love is currently available from Crimson Romance.

Welcome Lisa!

Kwana, thank you for hosting me!  It is an honor to be here today.

Can you tell us a bit about The Laws of Love?

THE LAWS OF LOVE is set in a small, Virginia town where fly-fishing is the favorite pastime, Hampton Steel is essentially the only employer and Associate General Counsel Livi Miller believes she has reached the top rung of Hampton Steel’s corporate ladder. With her alcoholic boss retiring soon, Livi is the presumptive heir to Hampton Steel’s general counsel position. However, in the midst of proving herself promotion-worthy, Livi’s high school sweetheart, Jake Cooper, returns from Iraq and causes long-lost butterflies to alight in Livi’s emotionally charged stomach. The resulting loss of her promotion to slimy newcomer Edward Winston combines with her rekindled feelings for Jake to place Livi on track to choose between her career and her heart.
If she chooses Hampton Steel, she saves her hometown. If she chooses Jake, she saves her butterflies as well as herself.

What made you choose doing a hometown romance?

First, I love small towns, especially small towns in the South.  There is nothing like that old hometown feeling and I think that feeling is important to Livi in THE LAWS OF LOVE.  The familiarity of her small hometown is really the only stabilizing force in her life.  She would not be the same person if my book was set elsewhere – and I don’t think I would like that.  The small town setting helps make Livi who she is in the book.

Second, I love a lost love story.  You know, about the ones that got away.  Everyone has someone from high school or college that they remember fondly – or they think “What if?”  Jake is that for Livi – the one that got away.  He makes her feel young again – a high school sweetheart.  But lost loves always carry baggage and it is interesting to see how couples get past all that baggage.  And in small towns – there is always a lot of baggage!

Tell us about your hero, I see he’s a vet. Is there a special story there?

A few years ago a father in my son’s preschool was deployed to Iraq.  I remember seeing the mother drop her boys off each morning and we were all counting the days until the father shipped out.  When that day finally came and he left for Iraq, I was so shocked to see the mother doing what she did every other day – bringing her boys to preschool and going to work like it was any other day.  No tears from the mother.  No tantrums from the boys.  Now, I am sure many tears were shed at their home early that morning, but by the time I saw them, they were back in their same routine.  When I asked her about it, she told me that was her job – to take care of her family while her husband was away, to make sure his home was intact when he returned.  That amazed me and taught me that military life is a family affair.  The entire family signs up and has a sense of duty and honor.  I wanted Jake to have that same sense.  He takes care of his parents, his sister and he wants to take of Livi if she would stop being so stubborn.  It was easy to give Jake that sense of honor – of doing what is right – if I simply made him a soldier.  All I had to do was state that Jake was a vet and readers automatically know what kind of person he is.  They automatically identify him as a good guy, a guy with integrity – a guy that wants to take care of the woman he loves – if she would just let him.

Now from your bio I can see you are a lawyer as well as a busy mother. When do you have time to fit in writing?

I reluctantly became a night person.  From 9:00 p.m. to whenever, I am writing or reading or marketing my books.  As you know, writing is a full time job with little to no pay, so you really have to love what you are doing – and I love it!  It is a nice way to end the day and I look forward to hitting the computer each night after my family goes to bed.  A working mom can get a lot done if everyone is asleep!  Now, where did I put the Nyquil…? (just kidding!)

That’s so funny and don’t think I haven’t thought of it. LOL. Now please, tell us what’s next for you?

As everyone knows, I just finished the first book in The Council of Powers trilogy, Discovery.  It is a young adult romantic suspense with some paranormal elements.  The heroine, Grace, thinks she is normal, a little shy maybe, but no less normal than any other seventeen-year-old.  But she does not know about the secretive Powers world.  She does not know she is the last person on earth with the DNA needed for the Powers’ survival.  And she certainly does not know her newest boyfriend, Gregory, is an Anti-Powers prince who intends to break her heart and her bones in no particular order.  But when she discovers that Ben, her best friend and unrequited former crush, is actually her secret Guardian with superhuman powers, Grace’s normal turns a little wacky.  And when she learns that she has The Gift, the rare power to heal the injured and resurrect life with her touch, it is official – Grace is a weirdo even in the Powers world.  But what freaks Grace out more than all that is the fact she has feelings for Ben again – and he has feelings for her – which makes Grace’s new normal a lot more complicated.

Unfortunately, Crimson Romance only handles adult romances – so I am once again going through the query process to find a YA publisher.  Frustrating, I know, but we writers don’t choose the book to write – it chooses us!  And I love the characters Ben and Grace – flawed teenagers who simply want to have their first kiss – unfortunately life keeps getting in their way and that first kiss is quite elusive.  Hopefully, Ben and Grace will make their public debut soon!

Best of luck with your YA. And that is so true. We don’t choose the book, it chooses us. Thanks so much for being here. It was truly a pleasure.

Thank you!  It was fun!

The Laws of Love can be found at:

www.crimsonromance.com

http://www.amazon.com/author/lisawhite

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-laws-of-love-lisa-white/1111808971?ean=9781440552298

http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/ibooks/id364709193?mt=8

And Lisa can be reached at her website here:  www.lisawhiteauthor.com

And on Facebook here:  https://www.facebook.com/pages/Lisa-White-Author/345773668818384?ref=hl

Best,

K.M.

aka

Kwana

Howdy folks, today I’d like to welcome another fantastic Crimson Romance author, Becky Lower to ye old blog. Becky has written a fantastic historical (you know how I love my historicals!) called THE RELUCTANT DEBUTANT.

Before we get to the questions here is a bit about THE RELUCTANT DEBUTANTE:

In 1855 New York, Ginger Fitzpatrick has absolutely no interest in taking part in the newest rage in America – the Cotillion Ball. Instead, Ginger would rather be rallying for women’s rights – at least until she meets her brother’s best friend from St. Louis, a dark mysterious man named Joseph Lafontaine, who ignites her passion and makes her question if love and marriage is such a ridiculous notion after all.

What she and the rest of New York’s high society don’t realize is that Joseph is half Ojibwa Indian, and therefore, totally unsuitable for marriage to a fine, cultured young lady.

In this Edith Wharton meets Julia Quinn tale, a young woman rebels against high society and opts for a life in which she creates her own set of rules.

Welcome Becky! Thanks for being here today.

Thanks, Kwana. I’m honored to be your guest.

Firstly I love that your book is written in 1855 high society. What made you go back there?

Why did I choose to write about New York City in 1855? I didn’t. It chose me. Let me explain.

I love Regency romances. Gobble them up. Julia Quinn is an all-time favorite, as is Tessa Dare, Lisa Klepas and Stephanie Laurens, to name a few. I think I’ve exhausted all the Regency books in the library by now. The balls, the lavish gowns, the intrigue, the push to find a suitable partner, the Dukes—it’s all so rich and fascinating. But I’m a home-grown American girl, not interested in learning all the trappings and protocol of English society in the detail necessary to write decent Regencies. I wanted to learn more about my own country. My “Aha” moment happened when I heard about a young ice skater, definitely an over-achiever and someone who had wealthy parents willing to accommodate her various diversions. She skated at the highest international levels, was set to attend Harvard in the fall, and she had just made her debut into society at her Cotillion ball. I hadn’t thought about the Cotillion as an American tradition, but I had friends who went through it when they were teenagers, so I began pumping them for information. And doing my research.

The roots of the Cotillion as a way to introduce well-bred young ladies into society and to their potential husbands was imported to this country in 1854, the brainstorm of a relative of John Jacob Astor, Annie Schermerhorn. It began as a masquerade ball, but by 1855, had become de rigueur for all wealthy females of marriageable age. As I began to set my stage for the series, I discovered the decade leading up to the Civil War was chock full of historic events—more than enough to craft a series around. The war may not have begun until 1861, when shots were fired on Fort Sumter, but the fighting began many years prior to that. Not only was there the question of slavery, but also the fight for women’s rights was beginning. Amelia Bloomer livened up New York in 1855 with her protests in the streets. And there was the whole western expansion, with wagon trains departing from St. Joseph and St. Louis, MO every spring. It was an exciting time for our raw and wild country, and I’ve tried to portray the women and men who tamed it in an appropriate vein.

The more I dug, the more I found to enrich the story—not only for Ginger and Joseph in The Reluctant Debutante, but in my second book, The Abolitionist’s Secret, due out in December, through Crimson Romance. That book deals with the Underground Railroad in New York City and how one evening’s events changed the life of my heroine and hero forever. My current work in progress is set in St. Louis and details the wagon trains that originated from there every spring.

Have you always enjoyed historical romance?

I loved the Little House On The Prairie series when I was young. My first contest win, when I was 12, was about Tom Dooley’s hanging. And, I wrote a screenplay for Bonanza that same year, resulting in my first-ever rejection letter. I’ve already let you know I love Regencies. So, I guess the answer is, yes. I’m not that much of a cowboy person, but give me a fur trapper or a gold digger any day.

I enjoy a spirited heroine. Did you have a specific inspiration for Ginger?

I didn’t have one specific person in mind as inspiration for Ginger. I like to think of her as the embodiment of several people who were leaders in the feminist movement—a bit of Gloria Steinem, a bit of Muriel Siebert—the first woman to own a seat on the New York Stock Exchange, which didn’t happen until 1967, by the way, and maybe a bit of me.

Any advice for the budding historical writer?

Find a time period you’re passionate about and write the best story you can. You can also educate your reader while you’re telling your story, which is a hidden benefit of writing historicals. By weaving in bits of actual history into my stories, by plunking my characters down in the middle of the action as events that shaped our country unfolded, I like to show how these milestone events impacted the lives of everyday citizens. The movie “Titanic” showed the very real disaster through the eyes of Jack and Rose, two of many aboard ship during the voyage. The moviegoer walked out of the theater with a better understanding of the class structure adhered to on board ship, and how both Jack and Rose chafed against the boundaries imposed upon them by society. You can read about it in history books, but it doesn’t become alive until you see how it impacts the lives of everyday people. That’s what I’m trying to do with my books.

What can we look for next from you?

My next book is due out in December, also from Crimson Romance. It’s called The Abolitionist’s Secret and is the second in the Cotillion Ball Series. It’s about Ginger’s younger sister, Heather, who unintentionally becomes an abolitionist when she helps a slave escape the clutches of the slavemongers chasing her. Freedom of all slaves then becomes her passion, which puts her in conflict with her beloved’s way of life, since he is from a southern plantation.

Where can we find you on the web?

My website and blog can be found at http://www.beckylowerauthor.com/index.html

Thanks so much for being here. It was pleasure.

Thanks for hosting me. It’s been fun. Great questions.

Best,

Kwana