The Cutting Room Floor

posted by Donna MacMeans

The plan when I write is to have a finished book that reads smoothly from begining to end. However, often the actual writing has a few twists and turns in it that end up on the cutting room floor. I've been fortunate that in most cases, I only cut a few lines here and there (LOL- "enough" few lines to make up maybe thirty pages of so), but REDEEMING THE ROGUE was different. I began with a different vision for that book - a vision with which my editor disagreed.

You see, I envisioned my Irish rogue hero kidnapping my heroine. He needed someone to serve as a hostess for him in America as well as someone familiar with diplomats and all their falderal. The heroine served both purposes - plus rumor had it that she'd already been compromised. She'd be perfect for his purposes - why not kidnap her?

Unfortunately, I'd already written well over a hundred pages or so when my editor nixed the kidnapping. She suggested a "small" change that pretty much meant that only the first chapter could remain with some editing.

Now I'm not complaining. I think the editor's suggestion made REDEEMING THE ROGUE a stronger book - but man, I hate to throw out a hundred pages of creative work!

So I'm not. I'm putting up some of the deleted scenes on my website. Here's a part of one such scene. Let me set it up for you.

Rafferty, the hero, has kidnapped Lady Arianne as he knows she’d be the perfect person to teach him what he needs to know to impersonate a diplomat. He’s locked her into his room on a masted schooner until they're far enough away that she won't be able to signal for help. He’s provided clothes for her to wear thanks to some generous ladies of the evening near the docks (grin) but they aren’t as nice as the clothes she’s wearing. Arianne undresses so as to preserve what she has. Then she explores Rafferty's cabin and finds his gun.

While Rafferty feels guilty about what he’s done, this was the only way he could think of to force her to marry him and be his hostess. Rumor has it she’s been ruined anyway, so she may come to look favorably on his actions…eventually. His friend (and stage magician) Phineas suggests that Rafferty try kindness to woo her cooperation. So he does…

Michael leaned against the wall in the narrow hallway outside his cabin and ran a hand around his freshly shaved chin, wondering if she’d notice. On Phineas’s council, he’d donned an evening vest and his freshly mended frock coat with the intent of wooing the woman who wanted no part of him. Not that he could blame her. She was accustomed to a more lavish life than he could offer. She’d been tricked to make this journey with him, as he was convinced she wouldn’t have chosen to come with a lowly Irish gent she felt was devoid of money and title. But she would come around, he told himself. If they could just have a civil conversation, she’d understand the importance of this mission and her vital role in it. If she would just…

The door slowly opened. Her swollen red eyelids made his heart clench. He hadn’t meant to hurt her, not in that way, not in a way that would draw tears. But then, who could blame her? He’d closed off her options leaving only one distasteful alternative – him.

Then his gaze shifted and all thoughts of her vulnerability vanished. The trembling barrel of his own British Bulldog revolver was pointed directly at his chest.

Blasted bleatin’ bloody hell!

He raised a brow, careful to keep anxiety off his face and out of his voice. “I see you’ve been busy.”

“Turn the boat around.”

“I can’t do that.” He kept his voice soft and low. “The Queen has been threatened by the Fenians. Lord Wessex has been murdered, most likely by the Fenians. The leaders are in America.” He held her gaze so she’d recognize his determination. “I may be just a stubborn Irishman, but I won’t turn back.”

Rafferty studied her face. Did she realize that he kept the gun loaded for emergencies? He never considered the revolver would be used on him. Her knuckles whitened in their tight grasp of a paisley shawl at her chin. He cocked his head. “Why do you want to return? It seems to me the damage has been done. Do you think London will overlook this brief venture? Do you think they’ll forget about Vienna, once gossip reaches London? And most assuredly it

will. Gossip always does.”

“I’m warning you,” she said, her voice quavered much like the revolver barrel. “Take me back home.”

He stepped forward, forcing her to either step back or push the gun barrel into his brocade vest. She chose the former. “No one knows you in America.” He backed her into the room. “If you don’t want to marry, we can still pretend to be man and wife. No one will suspect otherwise.”

The gun wobbled badly. “Don’t come any closer. I’ll shoot.”

As if to punctuate her intent, she abandoned the deathgrip on the shawl, thus adding a second hand to keeping the barrel aimed straight at his chest. His face must have betrayed the spark of interest in the expanse of skin exposed as the shawl separated. Blessed God in Heaven, was she naked underneath?

She gasped and returned the hand to hold the shawl closed.

He smiled. If she was more concerned with preserving her dignity than placing a hole through his chest, perhaps her intent was not as serious as appearances indicated.

“Do you think I’d be so foolish as to keep a loaded gun in my cabin for anyone to find?”

Doubt slipped across her face. He chanced another step forward, as proof of his stated conviction. As the Bulldog’s barrel extended only a few inches, he was close enough to smell her latest floral concoction, this one reminiscent of damp earth. He fought the distraction, but took a deep breath anyway, drawing her essence into his lungs.

“Patchouli,” he stated, as if they were sharing dinner conversation. “It reminds me of Ireland.”

She frowned, confused. Good. She was distracted. He dropped his voice to intimate levels. “Did you find the bullets? Do you know how to load a pistol?” She gnawed her luscious lower lip. He held out his hand and whispered. “Hand me the gun, Arianne.”

They stood in a stalemate. He with his hand outstretched, she with the gun. He had to admire her courage. Phineas was right, damn his eyes, the woman was not afraid to make her own decisions – even if they were the wrong ones.

He noted the moment her attention shifted. Within seconds he took advantage of the opportunity and grabbed the weapon from her hand. Only then did he glance toward the floor to see what had claimed her notice. A fat mound of white fur quietly hopped into the cabin.

“It’s a rabbit,” she said, awe in her voice. “Why is a rabbit hopping about a boat in the middle of the ocean?”

He didn’t bother to correct her. They had a long trip before them to reach the middle of anything. “I suspect that’s Phineas’s doing.” Michael broke the revolver apart, barrel down, to remove five bullets from the cylinder, then placed them in his pocket. “He likes to practice his magic before the props become Sunday supper.”

(The full deleted scene is on www.DonnaMacMeans.com. Click on extras.)

So my question to you - do you have thoughts regarding fictional romantic kidnappings, pro or con? Are you interested in reading deleted scenes? (I have, after all, one hundred pages of them.) Or do they make the story more confusing? For example - I had to change the method of transportation with the editor's suggestion. You won't find a schooner in the published version. If you're a writer, do you have scads of scenes on the cutting room floor?Let's chat and I'll give away a copy of REDEEMING THE ROGUE to someone leaving a comment.

Oh - and I'm chatting on Canned Laughter and Coffee tonight with Renee Bernard - a broadcast internet interview. It starts at 8:30 pm EST, and as an individual who suffers from foot-in-mouth disease - I'm terrified what will come out (grin). If you're so inclined, drop in for a listen.

BANDITA BOOTY!!!!!!!!

PRIZES IN THE LAIR

For the August 2nd launch of REDEEMING THE ROGUE, a copy goes to

Girlygirlhoosier52

and Amaris

Please send you contact information to DMacweb@wowway.com

A copy of Karen Ranney's MY BELOVED goes to:

Catslady

and

June M

Please send your contact information to Karen@KarenRammey.com

And for Sue-Ellen Welfonder's Temptation of a Highland Scoundrel...the winner is

SONALI !!!!

Sonali - Send your contact information to me at DMacWeb@wowway.com and I'll make sure the information makes it to Sue-ellen

Thank severyone for joining us in the lair!!!!

Karen Ranney is in the Lair

hosted by Donna MacMeans

On Tartan Ink, the blog I share with Sue-Ellen Welfonder, we occasionally have author guests. Sue-Ellen has come up with thirty questions. We ask our guests to pick ten of those to answer.

One of the thirty is this: do you believe in gift books?

A gift book is one of those enchanted books where everything goes right. The plot flows, the writing is easy, your editor loves it, reviews are wonderful, and sales are great.

My Beloved is one of my two gift books. (The other is A Scottish Love – 12/2011. How lovely to have both books out in the same year.) The book, my only medieval, was originally published in 2000, and has just been re-released (7/29/11).

I dreamed the plot of My Beloved, but that's a story I've told before. Something I've never told anyone is that I knew exactly what kind of book I wanted – had to – write. I already knew the atmosphere I wanted: intensely mysterious, sensual, with characters who longed for each other.

The story of My Beloved focused on two people – a tormented man, Sebastian of Langlinais, and his convent reared wife.

Sebastian had a great secret, one that would destroy his holdings and strip his family of wealth if the Church discovered it.

Sebastian was a leper.

Juliana, recently summoned from the convent that had been her home for years was suddenly faced with a man who remained in the shadows, attired in a monk's robe with cowl. This man had a strange and troubling request of her. If she would pretend to be his wife, he would ensure her life was luxurious.

Through the years, Juliana had been trained in the art of being a scribe, and in order to consent to Sebastian's odd arrangement, she wanted the inks and powders denied her in the convent.

The very last thing either one of them expected was to fall in love.

The Church held great power in the middle ages. A man suspected of being a leper

was declared legally dead, and his property and wealth confiscated, while he was sent to live in exile. The Mass of Separation dictated what would have happened to Sebastian:

I forbid you to enter the church or monastery, fair, mill, market-place, or company of persons...ever to leave your house without your leper's costume...to wash your hands or anything about you in the stream or fountain. I forbid you to enter a tavern…and so on. In other words, lepers were shunned at all times.

How could I write a romance about a leper? Not any leper, but Sebastian of Langlinais, a man of great honor and determination. My Beloved is a love story, a tale of the sacrifices made for love. It's also a story of power, faith, and perception.

Here's the scene where Sebastian and Juliana meet for the first time as adults.

She turned and stifled a sound of fright.

A specter stood there watching her. A shadow limned in light. No, only a man garbed in monk's habit. But he seemed so tall, so broad of chest, that he filled the doorway. Indeed, he looked to be more than a mortal man.

"Are you Death?" she asked in a tremulous whisper.

"Come to judge you in your final hour?" His voice was low, a rumble of sound. Had he spoken or had she just imagined the words? "What would you confess if I were? Or does your silence indicate a pure soul?"

Not Death then. Death did not speak in a voice that hinted at irony.

She felt absurdly weak, as if her knees wished to give out beneath her.

"Are you a zealot, then?" she asked, hearing the tremble in her voice and wishing she was capable of hiding it.

"No."

His cowl shadowed his face so well that she could see no hint of his features. She clenched her hands together at her waist, forced herself to take a deep breath, ask yet another question.

"A monk?"

The words came softly, seemed tinted with kindness. "I am your husband, my lady wife."

There's a touch of mystery featuring the Cathars, the Knights Templar, and the early banking system they created.

I hope you have the opportunity to read My Beloved, and let me know what you think (karen@karenranney.com).

http://www.karenranney.com and the link to the excerpt:http://www.karenranney.com/MBexcerpt.htm

In the meantime, since I'm thrilled to be a guest at Romance Bandits, I'd love to give away two copies of My Beloved to a random commenter. If you're a writer, do you believe in gift books? If you're a reader, has a dream influenced your actions in some way?

ROGUISH LAUNCH PARTY

I've been waiting over a year to say this but REDEEMING THE ROGUE is out today. Woohoo!

The reviews have been wonderful:

"Irish rebellion, smuggled guns, and the assassination of American president James Garfield form a lively backdrop for this sweet, sexy, and smartly told Victorian romance." -

Publisher's Weekly

Romantic Times gave Redeeming the Rogue a 4.5 stars Top Pick review and called it "pure joy: funny, sexy and exciting."

Life is good - which means it's time to party!

Now I don't know what it's like in your next of the woods...but

it's darn hot here. So this launch party is being held pool side. I've got a nice cold wildberry mojito myself, an economy sized bottle of coconut scented sunblock, and some willing

and able cabana boys to slather it on. So pull up a lounge chair to join us.

For the one or two people left in the universe that I haven't buttonholed to tell about my story, let me do a quick blurb.

Michael Rafferty is an agent for the Crown, on the trail of a conspirator championing Irish independence through acts of violence. The trail leads to Washington, D.C., where Rafferty must assume the role of a diplomat in order to set a trap for the villain. To complete the pretense, he’ll need to transform his coarse image and find someone to portray his wife.

Lady Arianne Chambers, sister to a Duke and well-versed in high society circles, reluctantly agrees to assist Rafferty’s charade. She’ll teach him the finer points of being a gentleman, but she has no desire for a husband. The honorable and passionate man hidden beneath roguish rough edges finds his way into her heart. Can she risk sharing her secrets and jeopardizing her future...

One thing the blurb doesn't mention is that the Arianne Chambers is a bit of an accidental matchmaker. Whereever she goes people find their one true love. As women outnumbered men during Victorian times, this particular quality made my heroine very popular among mothers with marriageable daughters, but not so much around bachelors.

I guess if my heroine lived in modern times, she'd be the equivalent of eharmony.com - or some other internet driven matching service. So I thought that might be something we could talk about - stories about couples finding their true loves either by introduction, the internet, or like

me - in a bar. (grin). What quality do you think has to be present to make a relationship last?

I've got a couple of copies of Redeeming the Rogue to give away as prizes - just leave a comment and I'll let my new kitten pick two. I also have a contest running at my website www.DonnaMacMeans.com. I'm giving away a Kindle to the person who posts a review of Redeeming the Rogue in the most places. See my website for details.

So let's talk about the heat, let's talk about the love, and hopefully, let's talk about how they come together.

Publishing Coincidence...or...Serendipity

by Donna MacMeans

I imagine everyone by now knows that I have a new release coming out August 2nd. I've certainly posted the cover enough (and will do so again, because I love it! - haha).

But did you know that my REDEEMING THE ROGUE is not the only book of that title being released August 2nd? Yes, Harlequin is releasing a Love Inspired Historical by debut novelist CJ Chase with the exact same title on the exact same day! How cool is that? I've invited CJ to join us to talk about the similarities and differences in our two stories. That's CJ in blue.

First, I'd like to explain the big difference between our stories. Mine is single title which means a larger word count and is written to be "funny, sexy and exciting" (Per Romantic Times review). The sensuality between the hero and heroine is a huge part of the story, and the level is Hot!

My Redeeming the Rogue is dark and probably one of the grittiest books ever published in the

Love Inspired Historicals line. In addition to my hard-drinking hero, there's that little matter of what my heroine does on pages 173-174. (Nope. I'm not going to say what. You'll just have to read the book.) She causes a lot of people pain by her actions. The sensuality level is sweet, but the situations are not.

One of the first similarities I noted between us was not between the books as much as between the authors. CJ has a number of Golden Heart finalist entries to her credit. At the RWA convention in Orlando (2010), she won the Golden Heart for Inspirational Romance. I'm a two time past GH finalist and a one-time winner as well, though in a different category, so we have that in common. (FWIW, I finaled in Romantic Suspense and Long Historical.)

I won the 2010 GH for Inspirational. That was my 6th final. I finaled previously in Short Historical, Long Historical, Romantic Suspense and Historical (twice). The last couple historicals I wrote had a faith thread in them, so I switched to Inspirational. Historical inspirational, of course.

How did our stories manage to have the same titles? Originally, I called my book "Redemption of a Rogue" as its the third in the Chambers trilogy. The previous two books had Education, and Seduction in the titles so Redemption sort of fit right in. However as the time between this book and Seduction lengthened, my editor and I decided to make the title more active by changing the "Redemption" to "Redeeming."

This was the manuscript that won the GH with the title of Unforgiven. My editor suggested the Redeeming the Rogue title. I was uncertain at first, but then I realized that the very first scene is quite different from what one expects from an inspirational. The book starts with the hero drinking himself into oblivion. Inspirational readers should know right from the title and that opening scene that this is going to be an edgier inspirational than many others.

Can I just say here that I read CJ's opening on her website and it's beautiful. This lady can really write! I encourage everyone to hop other there and check out her excerpt!

Donna, your book's sensuality level might not be sweet, but you sure are! Thank you for the kind words.

Based on CJ's cover (and isn't it a beauty?), I'm guessing her book involves an overseas journey, as does mine. The methods of transportation are different. CJ's book is set in 1815 which meant masted frigates were de rigour. My book is set during 1881 so I had a few more options, steamship being one of them. Now to be honest, I originally had my characters traveling in a masted sailing vessel, but my editor early on nixed one scene and that changed everything - including the method of transportation. Currently, my couple travels on a tramp steamer more accustomed to hauling freight than passengers. Of the two, CJ's boat is far more romantic than my little steamer---however both promise close proximity and doesn't

THAT bode well for romance (grin).

Thanks! It is a great cover. I love the colors in the sunset. The ship on my cover is an American clipper ship, but I also have several scenes set on a British frigate, HMS Impatience. The Impatience brought the treaty of Ghent (the treaty that ended American's second war with Britain) to America. At least, in my book that's the name of the ship that transported the treaty. Originally, my Redeeming the Rogue opened with a scene on the Impatience, but that

scene ended up on the cutting room floor when I had to trim the manuscript by 7K words to fit Love Inspired Historicals' length requirements.

Both of our heroines travel great distances to reach their objective. CJ's Mattie Fraser leaves Washington D.C. on a mission that takes her to London, England. My story begins in London and travels to Washington D.C. Arianne Chambers is a sister of a duke, and well accustomed to luxury. Had she her druthers, she'd have chosen a different way to cross the Atlantic than a tramp steamer.

My heroine was born and raised in Washington, D.C. Choosing DC for her background was a no-brainer for me because I lived in the area for a couple of decades. Mattie was in Washington on August 24, 1814, the night the British army burned the city. She met a British officer who offered to help locate her brother, but then he never contacted her afterward. She traveled to London to see if she could find anyone with information about either the officer or her brother. In London, she meets Kit DeChambelle.

Mattie's had a difficult life. After her mother's death when Mattie was 8 (and her brother 6), her father, a Washington shopkeeper, consoled himself with alcohol. Her brother ran away from home. Mattie has always believed if she'd just been a better sister and daughter, she might have been able to save her family.

Both our heroes are in need of a little loving intervention. Both had violence in their pasts that haunt them in the present. I don't think CJ's hero required the sort of makeover my hero endures, he's pretty heroic looking to begin with.

My hero, Michael Rafferty, was born in Ireland but works for the British government. Fenian rebels had detonated a bomb years earlier that killed his parents and younger brother. Now he's on a mission to track down the one responsible. That trail leads him to America where he must play the role of a diplomat to lure the killer into the open. However, an Irish rogue needs a woman's touch to help him play the role convincingly. Who better than a sister of a duke?

Kit (Christopher James Michael -- yes, Michael) DeChambelle is the 3rd son of the Earl of Chambelston. he had a pretty normal childhood for a boy of his social class. Then when he was an 18-year-old Oxford student, the director of clandestine services discovered his facility with languages (he's fluent in 6 languages and can even mimic different French accents) and recruited him for the war effort against Napoleon. It sounded exciting at first, but looking back, he realizes that each compromise he made along the way cost a little piece of him. And now he's not sure what's left. All he wants to do is forget the past.

Romantic Times Bookreviews says this about CJ's REDEEMING THE ROGUE: "A suspenseful mystery highlights this budding wartime romance." Fresh Fiction (just got the review today) says "The story (my REDEEMING THE ROGUE) is witty and mysterious until the last page. Mystery! We have that in common as well. I know CJ's story deals with the Treaty of Ghent. My story concerns the assassination of President James Garfield. So I guess I can add that both of our mysteries have political implications.

Oh, yes. The Treaty of Ghent had an unusual provision that the British government was going to exploit. And Mattie's brother had discovered what it was.

Finally, and maybe most important, CJ has chickens and we have a rooster! Is that coincidence or what? Actually, she has a rooster as well, but I don't think he has the charm of our GR. (grin)

As for prizes:

I'm afraid my publisher didn't send me any arcs for my REDEEMING THE ROGUE, so I can only offer a copy of the published book which won't be available till August 2nd - or you can always request a copy of The Seduction of a Duke - which I can send now. I have my author's copies, and I've even gotten my first fan mail! Harlequin sends out books to their book clubs a few months before the official release date, so I'll offer a copy of the inspirational Redeeming the Rogue as well. It may even arrive before it's available in stores. Very cool! So let's choose two winners. The first can pick the book they want and the second gets the other.


Before I mention today's question for discussion though, I did want to mention that I'm running a new contest through August 15th that has a Kindle for a prize. Details are on my website (which is also new) at www.DonnaMacMeans.com.

And be sure to visit my website www.CJChase.com to read an excerpt.

So my question today is: Do you believe in serendipity? Have you experienced something fueled by a series of coincidences. While I'm not surprised that CJ and I have the same title - that happens - it is sort of unusual that we have both the same title AND the same release date. Anyone know of that happening before? I've seen releases that have had the same stockphoto cover. Anyone have examples? Let's chat about coincidence both personal and in publishing.

Those were the days...

by Donna Mac Means

An article recently sent me down a nostalgic path. Thought you might enjoy taking a stroll with me.

It appears vintage typewriters are making

a comeback. "Type-ins" are being held at bars and bookstores with speed and accuracy contests - or just to type out an old fashioned snail mail personal letter (remember those?)

Now I'm a real fan of computer word processing. I can't imagine writing a novel without that fabulous cut and paste option - or the ability to search. I'm a real fan of "find and replace." But I understand the charm of vintage typewriters. I grew up with them, after all.

My mother was a secretary like many young women in the early 1940s. And like many of those women, she was asked to leave her position when she married. That skill though, to

read copy and process with the pounding of mechanical keys, never left. It must have been ingrained on the system like muscle memory. One never loses the ability to ride a bike or type on a keyboard, apparently.

One of my earliest memories is the sound of my mother hammering away on an old black Royal - a typewriter must like the one in that picture. My father, employed as a manager with

International

Paper, had made a detailed study of printing presses and put all that knowledge into a manuscript. After we kids had been sent up to bed, my mother would haul out the old black Royal and hammer away, translating my father's handwriting into printed pages. There's a rhythm in the keys striking paper, the ding of the warning bell when one has reached the right hand margin, and the glide of the carriage as it slides to the left. I would fall asleep to that reassuring music.

We had a manual machine where the press of each key, signified by a round disk with a letter inside - now the stuff of jewerly) enabled a metallic arm to strike the page with one letter. Sometimes, if the timing wasn't just right, two keys would jam and you'd have t0

physically separate them. Pushing those keys down required a certain kind of strength. The ribbons were messy and left black and red smudges on your fingers when you had to change the ribbon.

Much to my joy, my high school had electric typewriters. These were faster versions of my manual one back home that just allowed me to make mistakes that much faster. These versions still had the carriage you "threw" back right after the warning bell. Even now when forced to use a typewriter, I reach automatically for that carriage lever to send the carriage back. Fortunately, white-out had been invented, but lining the carriage back up to type over mistakes was difficult. My mother had insisted that I take that typing course as she believed every girl should know how to type - just in case she had to earn a living. A woman's employment options were limited, even in the 1970s.

One thing about those old machines - there was no distracting email. When you typed - you typed and you thought about what you were doing because correcting an error was a pain in the butt. Even with white-out one had to line up the carriage to place the replacement

stroke in precisely the same spot as the original error. Somewhere along the line I learned the trick of a vellum window envelope. You slip the envelope - the kind with glassine over the window - not these new cost efficient windowless models - between the paper and the striking rod. You typed the correction and could see if things lined up correctly. When you had it just right you could pull out the envelope and retype the correction. There you go - an

archaic trick of the trade.

I worked years later at Proctor and Gamble as a clerk, not a secretary. Still I was given my own typewriter to use. It was a Selectric. Those long skinny rods that struck the page with each letter had been replaced with a letter-encrusted golf ball! The carriage no longer moved, just the golf ball. When you'd reach the end of a line, you pushed a button to send the ball back to the beginning. I'm afraid that signaled the end to the magic. No swat in mid-air required. No orchestrated swing of the tiny rods. No need to strengthen the fingers for the work of pushing mechanical keys. Just a hyperactive metal ball that jumped sporatically across the page.

Now I type away on a laptop keyboard. It's relatively silent - except for the voices in my head...but that's another post. While preparing this post, I noticed that one can download an app to make the computer sound like an old typewriter. I wonder if they can do something to simulate the feel of throwing the carriage return...

How about you? Have you ever typed on an old manual typewriter? Do you have an old electric typewriter tucked away in a closet? I do. Any collectors? Type in your comments and we can all share in the nostalgia.

BANDITA BOOTY!!!!!!!!

And the WINNERS are:

For a copy of Jules Bennett's HER INNOCENCE, HIS CONQUEST

DEB!!!!!!

Please go to http://Julesbennett.com and leave your contact information.

For a copy of Cheryl Ann Smith's SCHOOL FOR BRIDES, the winners are

JANE and CLAUDIGC

Please go to www.Cherylannsmith.com and send Cheryl your contact information.

CONGRATULATIONS EVERYONE! Thanks for stopping by.

Debut Author, Cheryl Ann Smith, in the Lair!

hosted by Donna MacMeans

Join me in welcoming debut author Cheryl Ann Smith to the lair! It's so exciting watching a dream become a reality. Cheryl's first book is garnering rave reviews including this one from RT Bookreviews: "Debut author Smith makes a dazzling entrance to the romance community with a charming, sexy,

innovative tale that sparks the imagination. There's a bright future ahead of Smith, who has readers eagerly awaiting the next installment of her spinster ladies series."

Welcome Cheryl!

I didn’t set out to write about courtesans. I wrote about cowboys and earls and even an animal rescuer; all sorts of things. Though I loved historical romance, I often jumped betwee

n historical and contemporary writing.

As writers know, story ideas come from everywhere. For example, I’d read a blog about someone interesting, look them up, and end up spending hours on Wikipedia checking out other people mentioned in their biographies. I had to know who those people were, too! It’s such a time waster. Or so I thought!

It was through my endless curiosity that I learned about famous courtesans; married courtesans. I didn’t realize that some of these women actually gave up that life and settled down. I was dying to know more about these romances, but there was very little information to go by. Where were the interesting stories behind these relationships? How did they get together? Why would a man marry a courtesan? Did a former courtesan make a

good wife? Nothing. So I decided to make up my own story to fill in the blanks. THE SCHOOL FOR BRIDES was conceived from those questions.

The partial for this book got me my wonderful agent. She’d passed on another project but encouraged me to submit to her again. I sent her a partial for thi

s book that same day and she called and offered representation seven hours later. Kevan sent the book out on submission right before the 2009 RWA conference in D.C., and the waiting began. I’d hoped to get my first sale ribbon at conference that year, but there wasn’t time. However, three days after returning home, I got “the call” for a two-book deal with Berkley!
There was crying and jumping up and down, and then…well not much. After the sale, there would be almost two years between that call and my publication date. Sometimes the moment when I became a published author didn’t seem real. Though I was writing my second book, the Accidental Courtesan, things were otherwise pretty quiet. Of course the quiet didn’t last! These last few months have been crazy. Promo, covers, blogs, reviews; it’s all been pretty

overwhelming at times. But fun too! And now a third book is in the works for the “Brides” series. I know the wait will be worth it when and I can walk into a bookstore and see what seventeen years of hard work, lots of unsold manuscripts under my bed, and sheer stubborn determination can finally make happen!

THE SCHOOL FOR BRIDES is about the daughter of a former courtesan who dons a dour disguise, rescues courtesans from sexual servitude, and matches them with husbands. She angers the duke when she rescues his mistress and marries her off. The excerpt is from their second encounter when the duke has decided how Eva will compensate him for his loss by buying up her debts and striking a scandalous bargain. Until now, he’s been toying with her to get a reaction. As you’ll see from the excerpt, Nicholas starts the book out as, well, a jerk. In this moment, their relationship changes when he begins to

see Eva as a woman and not just a stuffy spinster.
I do love my dark duke!

“If you are unwilling to hand over a courtesan, I see no other option than for you to take Arabella’s place.” Her stubbornness reminded him of just how much he disdained everything about her, her delightful neck-hell, her mouth too- aside. He twisted his lips downward. “Though I fear you will be lacking in all areas of lovemaking, I will be happy to teach you how to please a man.”
Her slap jerked his head sideways.
“You are a horrible and disgusting man,” she ground out between gritted teeth. “I would rather lay down with swine.”
He worked his jaw and shot out a hand to grab her arm as she stomped past him. Spinning her about, he pulled her against his chest and locked her into his embrace.
The softness of her lush body took him aback. She was not as thin as he’d suspected. She possessed a few fine curves after all. However, it didn’t matter. She was Miss Black all the same.
Eva struggled. Fire flicked through her eyes.
“You have a choice,” he growled. "Accept my offer or hand over one of your courtesans. I’ll have your answer at the end of the week, or I will have you turned out.”
Eva pushed against him, and his hold on her waist slackened. She tried to step back but he slid a hand behind her neck and pulled her face up to his. She looked terrified, yet was there something, else? With each breath her modest breasts pressed against his chest and her heart beat erratically, hard enough that he could almost hear the beats. But it was her lips, pink and tipped up slightly at the corners and parted with her quivering breaths, that drew his full attention.
Without warning, he slammed his mouth over hers and kissed her, hard.

As you can see, I enjoy books with an arrogant hero that has to grow a lot to earn the love of the heroine. Who are your favorite hero and heroine (in books or movies) and what made their relationship so appealing to you? Cheryl is awarding a copy of THE SCHOOL FOR BRIDES to two lucky commentors on today's blog. So let's get this party started!