This year marks the one hundredth anniversary of the outbreak of the World War I (1914–18), a war that changed the landscape of the modern world and a catastrophic historical event that must be remembered. Among the very many good books, films and TV series being released this year is the anthology Only Remembered … Continue readings →

  ‘They were feeling somewhat maudlin, the seven of them, the members of the self-styled Survivors’ Club. Once they had all spent several years here at Penderris, recuperating from wounds sustained during the Napoleonic Wars. Although each had had to fight a lone battle toward recovery, they had also aided and supported one another and … Continue readings →

  EDITOR’S CHOICE A Welsh-born Canadian writer, Mary Balogh is the prolific author of Regency romances. A former school teacher, Balogh came to Saskatchewan on a two-year contract and met and married her husband, Robert. Her first book, A Masked Deception, was signed by Hilary Ross at Signet and published in 1985 to popular acclaim. … Continue readings →

  EDITOR’S CHOICE   The phenomenon that is Dolly Parton, playing Glastonbury 2014. A sight, I’m sure, many people never thought they would see. Amazing woman. You just have to grin. And sing.     See also: Dolly Parton, ‘The Not-so-invisible Woman’ … 100 great women in words’  

Tags : country divas, country music, Dolly, Dolly Parton, Glastonbury, Jolene, musician, the not-so-invisible woman

  n. 1. A passion for cats. 2. An intense enthusiasm for having many cats around; sometimes, even when conditions are not suitable for their existence. 3. An abnormal love of cats.   Opposite Ailurophobia n. An extreme or irrational fear of cats.      

  ‘Oh,’ she brushed tears away. ‘I just killed off a sympathetic character. It had to be done, but I feel really bad about it. I’m going to miss him.’ ‘Human or werewolf.’” –The Collector, page 387     Nora Roberts’ new book The Collector, along with Concealed in Death (the latest JD Robb, her … Continue readings →

Tags : art theft, Carolina Moon, Concealed in Death, crime fiction, Faberge, In Death series, JD Robb, Nora Roberts, Northern Lights, romance, romantic-suspense, romantic-suspense novels, The Collector, Twentieth-Century Romance and Historical Writers

  A relative ‘newbie’ to the historical romance genre, Ella Quinn has published four books in quick succession in Kensington’s digital programme. Desiring Lady Caro (April 2014) is the latest book in Quinn’s acclaimed ‘The Marriage Game’ series, a book of eight proposed novels and a novella.   ‘THE MARRIAGE GAME’ SERIES: The Seduction of … Continue readings →

  ‘I treat The Regency era as if it were a foreign country, and attempt to suss out the nuances of living there,’ says historical romance writer Ella Quinn, our latest guest at The Literary Lounge. A relative ‘newbie’, Ella Quinn has burst onto the historical romance writing landscape like a whirling dervish. She has … Continue readings →

Tags : 'The Marriage Game', Desiring Lady Caro, Ella Quin, Ella Quinn, RWA, The Beau Monde, The Regency

  The introduction of a risqué novel or pamphlet to link books in series is a well-used literary device and one that’s been employed to varying degrees of success. Caroline Linden utilises it to great effect in It takes a Scandal, her newest book and the second title in the ’50 ways to sin’ series, … Continue readings →

Tags : '50 ways to sin', Caroline Linden, historical romance, It Takes A Scandal, Love and Other Scandals, RITA

‘Writing is a skill as well as a talent,’ says Caroline Linden, award-winning author of 12 novels, 2 short stories and 2 novellas. ‘Anyone can get better.’ Certainly if one were to pick up Linden’s CV and review her credentials, writing probably wouldn’t be the career that would immediately spring to mind … academic or … Continue readings →

  The statement ‘grown men don’t cry’ is, for me, on a level with ‘real men don’t eat quiche’ – both beg the question ‘why?’ The same thought may possibly have crossed journalist Anthony Holden’s mind at some point. Together with his youngest son, Ben, Holden compiled this eclectic collection of moving poems, chosen by … Continue readings →

“‘Some girls marry because they want to, because they’ve found the man they want to go through life with, but most marry because they have no other choice. A single woman has very few options in this world, so for many women it’s a compromise. They marry for security, for wealth or position, and the … Continue readings →

Tags : Anne Gracie, Australian author, historical romance, Regency, RITA, The Autumn Bride, The Winter Bride

  Once you have kept a Siamese cat you would never have any other kind. They make wonderful pets and are so intelligent they follow you around like little dogs.”   Perhaps a tiny bit of stretch, Vivien Leigh, while not a writer herself per se, is so completely embedded in the public psyche as … Continue readings →

Tags : cat, Great Cats, Laurence Olivier, New Boy, Poo Harris, Siamese, Tissy, Vivien Leigh

Texas-born writer Julia London is an award-winning romance writer of more than 20 books, including the acclaimed historically based ‘Hadley Chase’ series. A former public administrator, who worked at the White House, before returning to her native Texas, London has recently been nominated for the RITA 2014 best romance novella for The Bridesmaid (2013).   … Continue readings →

Award-winning American writer Caroline Linden‘s first book, What a Woman Needs, was published in 2005 by Zebra. Since then, she has written 12 novels and several short stories/novellas, mostly Regencies. ’50 ways to sin’ SERIES: Love and Other Scandals (2013); It Takes a Scandal (2014)   Q&As/INTERVIEWS: ‘Caroline Linden – 50 ways to write a … Continue readings →