Bandita Booty Reminder

by Anna Sugden

Quick reminder to the following people to claim their prize from Eloisa James' visit:

Ms Hellion

Cybercliper

Deb

Becket Hampton Warren

You won a copy of Pleasure for Pleasure!

Please send your snail mail details to me at anna@annasugden.com, so I can pass them on to Eloisa.

Bandita Booty!

by Anna Sugden

I know, I know! I'm so sorry! I meant to post this weeks ago!

Anyway, a kind soul reminded me that the prizes from Eloisa James' visit haven't been announced. So, without further ado ...

The random number generator has picked out the following lucky winners:

Deb

Lousia Cornell

Ms Hellion

Cybercliper

Becket Hampton Warren

You have all won a copy of Pleasure for Pleasure by Eloisa.

Please send me your snail mail addresses and I will pass them onto Eloisa. You can contact me at anna@annasugden.com

A Kiss at Midnight

by Anna Sugden

I'm delighted to welcome back a huge Lair favourite, Eloisa James!

I'm sure many of you, like me, have been following her fabulous snippets about life in Paris, as she and her family spent the past year living over there. Wonderfully evocative, each piece was like being there and experiencing it along with her (without having to actually go there - joke - sort of *g*).

You'll be pleased to know that while in Paris, Eloisa was also hard at work to bring us another book. She's here today to talk about her newly released Kiss at Midnight and fairy tales.

So, without further ado, I'll hand you over to Eloisa:

Thanks, Anna. It's always fun to visit the Banditas!

I grew up on a steady diet of fairy tales. My parents read them aloud to us, and then sprinkled Arthur Lang’s Blue, Green, Brown Fairy Books around the house. But much more importantly, fairy tales truly interested my father, Robert Bly. Years later, when I was in graduate school, he wrote a long analysis of one such story, called Iron John. When I was a child, he was just breaking in the fairy tale analysis, as it were. I have a distinct memory of being challenged to give a psychological explanation of the tale of Jack and the Beanstalk.

My current novel, A Kiss at Midnight, seems a natural development from my childhood; it’s my own version of Cinderella. After all, having parents who prompted me to analyze fairy stories means that I found myself wondering what on earth that prince was thinking to choose his wife at a ball? Would I accept a man who could recognize me only by the size of foot? (Answer: Absolutely not!) And just how evil was that evil stepmother?

I had a wonderful time writing A Kiss at Midnight. My heroine Kate is a feisty, funny version of Cinderella: not a victimized scullery girl, but a young woman placed in an awful situation, and making the best of it. My fairy godmother, though she doesn’t wave a wand, is just the kind of godmother we all wish we had. And the Prince…well, Gabriel turned out to have many reasons for that ball, and falling in love with Kate was not one of them. I tried to take my father’s lessons to heart: rather than creating a saccharine sweet version of the original story, I thought about the choices my characters faced. I think I succeeded; Publishers’ Weekly called A Kiss at Midnight “a candy floss comic romp around a core of heartache.”

So what’s the one element of Cinderella that you think absolutely HAS to be in a rewriting to make it worth reading? Another way of asking the same question: what’s your favorite element of the Disney movie or any other version? And—channeling my father here—why is that one element so important? The great thing about literary analysis is that there are no wrong answers, so go for it!

Eloisa has very generously offered FIVE prizes of a signed copy of Pleasure for Pleasure to five lucky commenters!!

Bandita Booty!!

by Anna Sugden

Lots of prize-winners today - 3 lucky people get a Parisian trinket from Eloisa James.

Congratulations to:


Hrdwrkmom aka Dianna
Margay
PJ

And the winner of the extra prize of the Banditas' Twelve Days of Christmas goody is ...

PJ

Please send your snail mail details to Anna at Annasugden dot com and I will ensure you get your prizes - remember Eloisa won't be posting hers out until the new year!

Eloisa James Writes from Paris

by Anna Sugden

I'm delighted to give everyone in the Lair a Christmas surprise - we have a special guest today. All the way from Paris (yes, the one in France, not the one in Texas!) is Lair favourite, my good friend, the awesome NYT best-selling author, Eloisa James.

As many of you know, Eloisa and her family are spending a year in Paris. Even I, an avid Paris-hater (and we won't mention the Parisians *g*), have been captivated by her daily tales of life in the French capital, which she has been posting on Facebook.

So, with great pleasure I hand you over to Eloisa who will share with you a special piece about her time in Paris.

Thank you Anna and Banditas. It's great to be back here.

My study looks out over a small, quiet street called Rue du Conservatoire. This morning the snow is coming down fast, slanting sideways and turning the gray slate roofs opposite the color of milk. Since I grew up on a farm in Minnesota, this makes me feel at home. I found myself thinking about peeling potatoes for a hearty soup.

That’s when I got a jolting sense of vertigo. After all, I grew up on a farm outside a town of 2,242 people, though my father was a poet and not a farmer. One year we had no money (poetry is not lucrative), so my mother took down the dining room curtains, which had sailing ships on them, and made my sister and me new dresses for the first day of school. My prom party was held in a gravel pit, and I earned the money to buy my prom dress by waitressing in DeToy’s Supper Club.

Paris is a long, long way from the polyester dirndl skirts worn by DeToy’s waitresses.

And yet it’s still me, sitting here, looking out at snow, which is falling in that directed, intense sort of way that happens in Minnesota and apparently in Paris as well.

Sometimes life turns a corner and you catch a glimpse of time passing, as if you were in double time, both a teenager in a farm town, and a woman in Paris. And the current you is one that the Midwestern teenager would never have envisioned -- at least, I wouldn’t have. Skipping anything that has to do with an unflattering mirror, what about you? What’s happened to make you sit up and think: Is this really me? Can this be happening?

What’s one thing that’s happened to you that you never would have envisioned when you were ten years old?

Three commenters will be sent frivolous Parisian souvenirs – pocket mirrors adorned with glittery Eiffel Towers, bringing with them a whiff of la vie Parisienne, not to mention snow. And please join Eloisa’s Facebook Fan Page (http://www.facebook.com/EloisaJamesFans) to follow her daily adventures in Paris.


Anna: And don't forget, we're still doing the 12 Bandita Days of Christmas! One of the three lucky commenters Eloisa chooses will also receive their special Bandita goody!

Cover Story

by Anna Campbell

One of the best bits of having a new book out is seeing the cover! Well, it is if you've been blessed the way I and other Banditas have been blessed by the cover gods (very capricious deities who must be placated with much worship and regular offerings of Tim Tams).

A couple of weeks ago, I got the final version of the cover for my 27th October release, CAPTIVE OF SIN. And I can't wait to show it to you.

I just LURRRRVVVVVE it. So much going for it. I think he's really handsome. I think she's really pretty. It's not cheesy at all. The stepback picture says something about the relationship. Why? Well, you'll just have to read the book to see but the two of them looking at each other longingly certainly fits.

It's one of those half covers - there's a fashion for them at the moment. So the picture of the hero peeks out in a come-hither way from the stepback (I'd come hither! Hither me now, mister!). The white is textured with twining roses and it's a lovely pearly color and the red is foil and really stands out against it.

I'm absolutely delighted, as you can imagine!

Covers are such an important part of a romance novel - obviously not as important as the deathless prose inside but still highly significant. I actually like a clinch cover if it's well done - not so keen on girlies on their knees looking up worshipfully just before they you know. Especially when those covers always seem to be set in unlikely places - the deck of a tossing ship or on a rock near the sea where the protagonists are about to be swept away and I don't mean by passion.

One of the reasons I like a clinch cover and why I think they've never gone out of style, in spite of how people whinge that they're clicheed and embarrassing, is that they scream romance. You know just what you're getting when that hunk and that willowy chick are clutching each other on the front of a book. My mother always made me laugh. She used to call it the girl in the nightie and the man with the flowing hair and the bare chest. The flowing hair isn't so big anymore but, yep, I'd say the nightie and the lack of shirt are still there. Six packs rule!


All of my covers have been clinches. Great clinches! Even TEMPT THE DEVIL which featured the gorgeous and omnipresent Nathan Kamp's face on the cover had a clinch on the stepback. A clinch by the seaside, but at least they're both upright and well above the waves. I'm not really expecting them to be washed away unless there's a tsunami some time soon.

So I started thinking about recent covers I really liked. That's always fun - much more fun than polishing a manuscript! What's unexpected is none of the covers that really took my eye lately are clinches. By the way, Bandita covers are exempt from this survey - gorgeous as they are!

My first selection is almost as omnipresent as Nathan Kamp. I think the cover for TWILIGHT by Stephenie Meyer is an absolutely brilliant piece of marketing. The rich colors, the pale arms, the red, red apple like something out of a fairytale. Yum! It's simple but it's so effective and evocative. Another apple cover I think is really clever is Jennifer Crusie's WELCOME TO TEMPTATION. Back in the year 2000 when that book was published, that cover was revolutionary with its simple apple with a bite out of it on a plain red background.


Another set of covers I think are really great are Nicola Cornick's BRIDES OF FORTUNE trilogy, out June, July and August this year. Nicola's a lair favorite and I love her books. But even without knowing that, I'd pick up these three beautiful books with their rich colors and elegant images. Speaking of fashions in covers, people chopped off at the chin or the nose seem to be the thing at the moment. But I think these are particularly nice examples. I've only got room for THE CONFESSIONS OF A DUCHESS with its intensely red dress on that lovely patterned wallpaper background. But check out the other two, THE SCANDALS OF AN INNOCENT and THE UNDOING OF A LADY.

My favorite recent cover, though, is for a book by another lair favorite, Eloisa James. I think this cover for THIS DUCHESS OF MINE is breathtakingly romantic. Eloisa always gets lovely covers but on this occasion, the Avon art department excelled themselves. That soft pink really takes my eye - especially in a sea of more overtly sexy images.


So what conclusion have I reached after this lightning survey of recent covers? There are obviously certain things I like. To my surprise, it's not half-naked hunks although I must say they're pretty appealing too. But when I'm picking favorites, I seem to go for apples (who knew?) and headless women in pretty dresses. Not the answer I thought I'd end up with at all!

Oh, and I absolutely love my covers especially the CAPTIVE OF SIN one. Which features neither a decapitated chick (hide your eyes, rooster, I know you hate to see 'chick' and 'decapitated' in the same sentence) nor a piece of fruit. Perhaps that can count as my shirtless hottie selection.

By the way, you can find the blurb and an excerpt from CAPTIVE OF SIN (including another chance to drool at the pic) on my website.

So what do you like in a cover? Love or hate clinches? Love or hate the headless brigade? Do you have a favorite cover? Let's talk romance novel covers!

I'm flying to Washington D.C for RWA today so probably won't be in much but I'll get back to answer comments as soon as I can.

Bandita Booty!!

by Anna Sugden
I'm sorry I'm late announcing this - totally my fault - life got so busy!

Without further ado, the winners for the signed hardbacks of the UK Edition of Eloisa James' Desperate Duchesses are:

Flchen1

Maija P

Chey

And as an extra bonus, because I was so late announcing the prize, I'm offering some genuine Cadbury's chocolate to:

Blodeuedd

Congratulations!!

Please send your snail mail details to me at Anna@annasugden.com and I'll ensure your prizes are sent out to you ASAP!

Eloisa James Returns to the Lair!

by Anna Sugden

It's always a pleasure to welcome back Lair favourite, Eloisa James. And not just because we know it means another book is available in her awesome Desperate Duchesses series!

Having said that, I know many of us have been waiting eagerly for the release of her latest book - This Duchess of Mine - where we will find out how the rocky romance between Jemma and Elijah plays out. (Thank goodness, we only have to wait until July to see which lucky woman wins the heart of the divinely delicious Villers in A Duke of Her Own!)

Don't forget, you can keep up with all the latest releases and so much more at Eloisa's website - http://www.eloisajames.com/

So, without further ado, I'll hand over the reins to Eloisa.

Your Cheatin' Heart

There are a few rules that every romance writer learns early on. Don’t make your hero an artist. Better not to make him a stripper, either (though it’s a fine profession for heroines). Some of these rules are almost impossible – for example, if your heroine was captured and sold into a) prostitution or b) a harem, try to arrange that she’s still a virgin years later. Tough, yes. Impossible? No! Loretta Chase has a fabulous novel, Don’t Tempt Me, coming out with just that premise in July.

I knew readers don’t like infidelity – and yet I started a series of six books with just that premise: a broken marriage. A really broken marriage. Neither Elijah nor Jemma, the Duke and Duchess of Beaumont, had been true to their wedding vows.

But you know what? I think the best books come out of turning that sort of rule on its head. In my experience readers are not lemmings, throwing books over the cliff the moment the hero picks up a pencil. For me, the key to a romance is making the reader feel, if only for a moment, that perhaps this marriage won’t end happily. The publisher has contrived every possible signal to emphasize the genre; look at the flowers, foil and pink on the cover of This Duchess of Mine. So she expects that the relationship will end happily. But I want her to doubt it – because I think that doubt is what makes a happy reading experience.

Another rule? A romance should be realistic. The truth is that people do cheat on each other. The key to making that work in a romance has to be their motivation. If a hero rattles off his vows and then edges up to a bar trying to find a cheerful blonde, it’s may be realistic, but it’s no fun. The key to writing about infidelity in a romance is remembering that reasons for unfaithfulness are as diverse as men and women themselves.

I gave Elijah and Jemma reasons for the mishaps in their early marriage. There’s one thing we sometimes forget as romance writers, perhaps because we often stop at the vows. Marriage is hard. Elijah and Jemma forge their love for each other by truly coming to know each other. They win back what they lost by honesty, love and forgiveness (and OK, the great sex doesn’t hurt either).


When I read a romance, I want to feel worried that the relationship won’t work – and then delighted when it does. What about you? There are other authors out there who have bravely marched into the thorny fields of adultery – which novels do you think worked and which didn’t? And why?

We've got some fabulous prizes today - three (yes, three!) lucky commenters will win signed, hard-back, UK editions of Desperate Duchesses!!

Bandita Booty!

by Anna Sugden

I'm sorry it's taken me a while to get this prize post up - family crisis!

Anyway, just wanted to thank Eloisa James for spending such a fun day with us to celebrate the launch of When the Duke Returns (and, of course, for her super generosity - giving away five prizes!) and to everyone who visited, for giving Eloisa another resoundingly warm Lair welcome.

Without further ado ... on to the prize winners. (Drum roll, please!)

Congratulations to:

Ellanora Joy

Lara Lee

Anne N

Rachel

Dawn Halliday


Please send your snail mail addresses to me at anna at annasugden dot com and I will forward to Eloisa.

Eloisa James' Special Treat!

by Anna Sugden

Can there be a better way to kick off the holiday season in the Lair than to welcome back one of our favourite guests - Eloisa James?

Join us as we celebrate the launch of Eloisa's latest book in the Duchesses series "When the Duke Returns", find out how to make your holiday special with treats just for yourself ... and be part of the chance to win one of Eloisa's 5 (yes, 5!) prizes.

So without further ado, I'll hand you over to Eloisa.

Thank you, Anna. I'm delighted to return to the Bandita's Lair.

Decembers tend to pass in a whirl of wrapping paper and exhaustion—a month spent creating beautiful memories for other people, most of whom are under the age of consent and are perfectly happy chewing on squeaky toys.

My point is that we often forget something: ourselves. What would make you really happy? As a woman?

My answer is to feel loved. And my prescription is love yourself this holiday. When your children look back over their memories, they'll see it in a whirl of joy, presents, and love. But you're the key to that. The only way you can be the calm center at the heart of their joy is if you yourself are joyful. And the only way you can be joyful is if you are happy with yourself.

Recipe for Self Love

Lingerie. Buy something and wear it under your sweatshirt. The crucial point: you're not doing this for your partner, but for yourself.

Toes. A winter pedicure is delicious, partly because it's a secret known only to you (and perhaps the man you deem lucky enough to kiss your coral pink toes).

Time. That's the main gift you have to give yourself: time. Put on some music, get into the bathtub, and read. I even have suggested reading material: my latest, When the Duke Returns. My duke, Simeon, returns to England after years exploring the wilderness to meet the wife he married by proxy: Isidore. But he takes one look at her and offers an annulment: she’s too beautiful, too sexy, and too angry for him. Typically for a man, he’s underestimating Isidore (not to mention the power of lingerie—see above)!

It’s my hope that in reading how Simeon and Isidore fall in love, even in the midst of terrible problems with water closets (toilets), siblings, a rather horrific mother-in-law and a house renovation, will help you survive your December.

What’s your favorite survival recipe? What do you do to survive in the midst of chaos (and let’s not even talk about Black Friday shopping)?

Don't forget that 5 lucky commenters will win prizes today - Eloisa is giving away two copies of 'Desperate Duchesses', two copies of 'An Affair Before Christmas' and one copy of 'Duchess by Night'.

Eloisa James' Bandita Booty

by Anna Sugden

What a fun day we all had - thanks again to Eloisa for taking time out to answer all our questions.

My cats, using a scientific method only they can understand, have picked out two winners. So, congratulations to:

Carla Capshaw

and

Helen.

You have both won copies of Desperate Duchesses and An Affair for Christmas. Please send your snail mail addresses to me at Anna at Annasugden dot com.

Eloisa James is in the Lair!

by Anna Sugden

A perennial reader favourite, and an inspiration to many of the Banditas, Eloisa really doesn't need an introduction! But, for those few of you who may not know who she is ...

After graduating from Harvard University, New York Times best-selling author Eloisa James got an M.Phil. from Oxford University, a Ph.D. from Yale and eventually became a Shakespeare professor, publishing an academic book with Oxford University Press. Currently she is an associate professor, Director of Graduate Studies, and Director of Creative Writing in the English Department at Fordham University in New York City. She's also the mother of two children and, in a particularly delicious irony for a romance writer, is married to a genuine Italian knight.

The latest in her fabulous Duchesses series - Duchess by Night - will be available from June 24th. (You can pre-order from Amazon by clicking on the cover, just as you can order any of the books featured on our blog)

You can find out more about Eloisa and her books at http://www.eloisajames.com/.

Many of you will remember that last month, I gathered questions from you for Eloisa. Today, we have Eloisa's answers! So, without further ado, over to Eloisa.

Eloisa: I'm delighted to be here. Thank you all for such interesting questions. I’ll be popping in throughout the day to see if you have any follow-up questions, so don’t be shy!

Christine Wells asked How do you go about planning your series books? The Duchesses seem even more intricate than Eloisa's earlier series and I wonder do you know the progression of each thread and how you tie them up before you begin book 1 or is it a more organic process? How do you keep track of all the details? And finally - would you ever consider writing romance set in the Elizabethan age or is that too close to your academic life?

Eloisa: I only wish that I had the time/wherewithal/organizational skills to plan out a series of 6 books. I don’t….they tend to just jumble along. In fact, this series was originally “planned” for 4, and then I had to call up my editor and say, um, it’s turned to six. I keep track of the details by starting a “Bible” with the first book, listing all characters, locations, descriptions. I update it for each book. It’s not fool-proof, but it works!

And you nailed it re the Elizabethan Age – not romantic enough for me, because I know way too much about it.

Aunty Cindy wants to know how you keep writing one great book after another?

Eloisa: I love you, Aunty Cindy! One thing I’ve learned over my career is that some readers will love one book and hate another, and vice versa. But the author has to love them all – or she should revise until she does. It takes hard work.

Annie West asks - how do you plan a series? How much information about future books do you need when you write the first one? How did you meet your Italian knight?

Eloisa: I met Alessandro on a blind date [Anna: some people have all the luck!]

I don’t need hardly any information to start a series, though the more, the better. I just need to know the main cast of characters and have a general idea: ie, I want to write about sisters (Essex sisters) or desperate housewives/bad marriages/duchesses (Desperate Duchesses).

Kelly would like to know about your revision process? How do you create such steaming hot sexual tension?

Eloisa: I write blindly ahead, not allowing myself to revise much. What’s the point of polishing if a scene might get deleted later (and plenty do)? If the sentences were all perfect, it’s that much more painful. As for sexual tension…you have to wait to write those scenes until you really know the couple well. So I might skip an early sex scene and only come back when I truly understand my couple and I (just like a reader) can’t wait until they finally make it work! I have to feel what the reader is hopefully feeling – that’s what makes it work.

Ms Hellion is curious to know what kind of woman it will take to win Villiers? (I was hoping you might give a bit of a character description of her. *LOL*) And I am curious, since you're an English professor and all, who is your *least* favorite literary author and why? (It is my sincere hope that even English professor avoid some literary works...and I wonder what they might be.) *grins*

Eloisa: Ms. Hellion….ha! Never! You’ll have to wait. You might have met the Duchess of Villiers already…and then again, you might not *g*.

And my least favorite author -- Henry James: turgid, self-indulgent, and windy.

Bamabelle is curious to know which of your heroes is your favorite? Who is your favorite literary hero in general?

Eloisa: I’m very fond of Shakespeare’s Benedick (Much Ado About Nothing).

And I don’t really have a favorite hero – though I must say that I have a terrible weakness for Villiers. I think you are all really going to like him in Duchess by Night. He’s everything I like in a man: flawed, beautiful, thoughtful, sarcastic.

Jo asks Eloisa if she could tell us something about her teaching and writing schedules. What courses do you teach? Is the DWGS (Dead White Guy Syndrome) gone from university curricula or are you still fighting the battle? And however do you mesh a full teaching load with an obviously prolific writing career?

Eloisa: I am the “Shakespearean,” so-called, at the Fordham University LC campus. I work together with 3-4 other early modern specialists to make sure that we offer Shakespeare at both campuses, together with other kinds of classes – on poetry, science, culture, other dramatists, etc. Since I mostly teach DWGs, I don’t bother too much with the battle, but I know it rages on, particularly in more modern fields.

I write a lot in the summer. That’s the glory of an academic career – you have a blissful summer, free to do as you wish!

Anna Campbell, knowing that Eloisa is a Shakespeare scholar, wonders what her favorite play is and why? Also, apart from the titles, does Shakespeare influence Eloisa's romance writing?

Eloisa: Measure for Measure – I love the intricate look at government and the question of family values. Shakespeare influences my writing in a million ways: because I teach his plays, day in, day out, I’ll often find myself echoing a phrase I just taught, or just plain borrowing it. Same goes for character. I teach a great deal of other dramatists from the period as well – Affair Before Christmas was deeply influenced by the works of George Chapman, for example.

Terrio is crious about where Eloisa gets her ideas for her "not exactly in the bedroom" love scenes. I mean, I don't want to ruin any books for anyone but in a boat?! And in a historical yet! Where did she come up with that one? And Strip Dominoes. The story of where that came from should be entertaining.

Eloisa: LOL – I don’t know! The imagination is a lovely thing. I made up Strip Dominoes as well.

Susan asks - how much research goes into Eloisa's books? Do you do it yourself? Do you hire it out? Does the research inform the plotting, if you're a plotter? Or does the plot come first & then the research?

Eloisa: I generally do all the basic research. When the Duke Returns (my December 08 book) circles around the hero, who’s a kind of Romancing the Stone archeologist, based on a real Georgian explorer. I bought books about him, and ordered his own books off Amazon. But a lot of the smaller research is done by a wonderful research assistant, Franzeca Drouin. She not only helps me as I’m going by answering random questions (what is the name of that pen they used again?), but she reads the entire manuscript once it’s done, several times, making sure that the words I use were in use at the time.

Generally the plot idea comes first and the research follows.

Beth Andrews would like some time management advice?

Eloisa: Type up a long list of all the things you have to do, separated by professional and household. It’s likely daunting and depressing – everything from write a bestselling novel to get the wallpaper off the upstairs bathroom wall. Fine. At least you know the parameters. Now get a small yellow sticky, look at the list, and take a small segment of 3-4 of those and make a new list on the sticky. This list might look like this (because this is my sticky for today):
1) Work on City of Vice article (academic article that was due in October!)
2) Romance Bandits interview
3) Clean basement alcove
4) Work on email/inbox

That’s enough! At the end of the day I tear that sticky off and throw it away, and plan what I could do the next day. That way I get to feel a sense of accomplishment, by chipping away at big tasks (cleaning the basement, writing an article).

Flchen1 asks - do you start off knowing you'll be writing several related books or does the second take off from the first with a life of its own? If it's the former, does that make it easier, to have that in mind as you plot? (Or is it more work, juggling the various plots and characters?) What kind of books do you like to read? And nosy me, how did you and your DH meet? :)

Eloisa: I plan in a series. It’s so much work to create a whole world that I can’t imagine doing it for only one book. Just think of all the servants, addresses, and extra people who appear in even one novel. It’s a lot of work, juggling all the plots and people – and I’ve definitely made errors. Some of my characters have changed age in disconcerting ways. You have to forgive yourself for your mistakes, and keep going.

I like to read romance! I write a romance column for Barnes & Noble review page that goes up every third Monday of the month. That allows me to read as many wonderful romances as I want, without even having to pay for them! And those of you on my Bulletin Board know that I give away all those books every month on my BB, so do keep an eye on the BB and the column.

But I also read all kinds of other stuff – fantasy, mysteries, literary fiction, women’s fiction – I think it’s crucial to bring in new ideas all the time.

And as to how I met my husband…see above. Blind date!

Helen is curious about how Eloisa came to write about the Essex sisters?

Eloisa: These things spring organically from my own life, most of the time. I live in the same town as my sister, and I was thinking about our relationship. I wanted to write about sisterhood, as something that’s vexed and complicated – but in the end wonderfully affirming and loving. So those novels were both about falling in love with men, and realizing that sisters share a deep love as well.

Many thanks again to Eloisa for being here today and for taking the time to answer all our questions.

As Eloisa said, don't be shy about leaving a comment or asking other questions. Two lucky commenters will each win signed copies of Desperate Duchesses and An Affair Before Christmas!

Fire Away!

by Anna Sugden

Questions only please!! (Cassondra and P226 ... and any other weapon-toters!)

As you know, NYT best-selling author, Eloisa James, will be joining us in the Lair on May 1st. To say the Bandita's are thrilled is an under-statement! I'm sure many of our visitors are too. We promise to have fainting couches, smelling salts and lace hankies on hand for those likely to be overwhelmed! And some fab prizes too.

We thought it would be fun to give you a chance to think of the questions you'd like to have Eloisa answer, in advance. I'll compile all the questions and give them to Eloisa, so she'll be ready to give you her answers on May 1st.

This is your opportunity ... what would you like to know?

Something about her books and characters? Something about writing (I can tell you, she gives fabulous workshops!)? Maybe something about her double life as a NYT bestseller and NY English professor? Or even what it's like to be married to a genuine Italian knight?!

And as an extra bit of fun:

1. Which is your favourite Eloisa book?

2. Who is your favourite Eloisa hero?

3. Who is your favourite Eloisa heroine?

We're giving away a prize too! Eloisa has kindly offered a copy of Desperate Duchess to one lucky commenter.