Sara Bennett's winner!

Thanks, everyone, for a fun day talking historical romance in the lair yesterday and for giving Sara Bennett such a rousing welcome. The winner of the signed copy of your choice of any historical romance from Sara's backlist (including her new book LED ASTRAY BY A RAKE) is:

ANITA JOY!

Anita, please contact Sara on sara@sara-bennett.com and she'll organize your prize for you. Congratulations!

Led Astray by Sara Bennett!

by Anna Campbell

It is with great pleasure I bring back another familiar face to the lair, Aussie historical romance star Sara Bennett. Sara's going to tell us about her latest series and also about what else has been happening in her world.

For more information about Sara and her books, check out her website: http://www.sara-bennett.com/index.html

Sara, welcome back to the lair. Your June release, LED ASTRAY BY A RAKE, kicks off a new five-book series called THE HUSBAND HUNTERS CLUB, set in the Victorian era. Can you tell us about this story?

Nice to be back, Anna. LED ASTRAY BY A RAKE is the first book in THE HUSBAND HUNTERS CLUB series, which is a fun series about five respectable young ladies from Miss Debenham’s Finishing School who form a club and make a pact to marry the men of their dreams rather than the men chosen for them by their families and the stuffy society they live in. These men may not be entirely suitable, and the girls swear to hunt them with all the feminine wiles in their possession. Love, they declare, will conquer all! Unfortunately that isn’t always the case, and there are lots of problems along the way. LED ASTRAY is about Miss Olivia Monteith and her chosen husband, Lord Dominic Lacey or, as he’s known in society, Wicked Nic. He seems to revel in his bad reputation, but Olivia knows he has a good heart and that they could be very happy together, if only she could persuade him to see past her respectable facade. When this fails, she decides to meet him on his own territory, at the Demimondaine Ball, and take the serious step of seducing him. I won’t give away the rest of the story, except to say that Nic has a dark secret in his past that Olivia may find it hard to forgive, even loving him as she does. (By the way, gorgeous Haddon Hall on the right was Sara's inspiration for Lacey Castle, the setting for this story).

Ooh, sounds delicious! What's coming up next from THE HUSBAND HUNTERS CLUB?

Marissa Rotherhild’s story is coming up next. She has her sights set on the Honorable George Kent, but when she arrives at his manor house for a weekend party, George isn’t there. Instead she meets his brother, Valentine, and falls in love. But Valentine is on a quest to find a lost rose and if Marissa wants his attention then she must help him, no matter how dangerous it may become.

Like Bandita Donna MacMeans, you set your books in the Victorian era. What's the appeal of this time for you?

The Victorian era is a long period, from 1837 to 1901, and you have lots of changes during that time. My new series is set in 1837, at the very beginning of the Victorian era, so everything seems new and exciting. A new queen on the throne, a new age of science and reason, the industrial revolution replacing the old ways. In this time of dramatic change, the girls of Miss Debenham’s Finishing School feel that they are making their own new beginnings and that they should be allowed to make their own decisions for the future.


You also write paranormal romance as Sara Mackenzie. What's coming up for your alter-ego?

I recently had a short story called THE LIGHTHOUSE KEEPER AND HIS WIFE published in THE MAMMOTH BOOK OF PARANORMAL ROMANCE. I am about to start work on a second story, this time for THE MAMMOTH BOOK OF PARANORMAL TIME TRAVEL. I also have a trilogy outstanding—and yes, my fans are always asking when I’m going to finish it. And I promise I will!

Do you ever get the urge to kick over the traces and write something outside the historical romance genre?

Funny you should ask that! I used to write mainstream historical, back in the dark ages, and recently one of those books has been bought by a German publisher.

This has encouraged me to think there may still be a place for these longer, character-filled books, set in the Australian past, and I’d like to write another one. It is just finding the time that’s difficult.

Congratulations on the German sale. What writers have been your biggest influences?

I read widely, and lately I’ve been reading lots of nonfiction. I suppose when I first started writing romance I read Johanna Lindsey and Katherine Woodiwiss, and I also loved the Angelique series by husband and wife team Sergeanne Golon. I wish I could get hold of some of the old French movies they made of the first few ANGELIQUE books, but they’ve never released them with English subtitles. I also read a lot of crime fiction and I like a spooky ghost story. I’ve just finished Sarah Waters' THE LITTLE STRANGER, which was brilliant. And I'm catching up with the Cynsters, with Stephanie Laurens' latest, yum.

Do you see any trends emerging in romance and in historical romance in particular?

Well, I’ve heard the historical is popular again! Seriously I don’t think it ever really went out of fashion, and there are so many periods of history and so many different kinds of historicals. I don’t know what the next big thing is. I just write what I write and hope everyone will enjoy it. I think that’s all a writer can do.

Sara, is there anything you'd like to ask the Bandits and Buddies?

What kind of historical would you really like to read? Medieval, Regency, Tudor, Viking—what?

Sara has very generously offered one lucky commenter their choice of a signed book from her backlist of historical romances. What a great opportunity to catch up a wonderful story you might have missed out on. You can see her bookshelf here: http://www.sara-bennett.com/titles.html Good luck!

Miss Bennett's Bandita Booty!

Thanks so much to the rip-roaring welcome you all gave to Sara Bennett/Sara Mackenzie when she visited the lair this week. Sara has chosen the lucky winner of her most recent historical romance for Avon, A SEDUCTION IN SCARLET. And that winner is...

KIRSTEN!!!

Kirsten, huge congratulations, my Bandita Buddy. Please email Sara on sara@sara-bennett.com with your snail mail details and she'll send your book out to you.

Sara Bennett Visits the Lair!

by Anna Campbell

Sara Bennett is a fellow Aussie and a fellow Avon historical romance writer. Not only that, but she writes great Victorian romances! Perhaps she and Donna could talk about the delights of writing about all that underwear! I'm delighted to welcome Sara as my guest today in the lair. Oh, and there's a giveaway - so get commenting, people!

Sara, you write historical romance as Sara Bennett and paranormal romance as Sara Mackenzie. Can you tell us something about the difference in your two personas? Are there yet more Saras inside you, yearning to get out, perhaps the Sara who writes chick lit or romantic suspense?


LOL, Anna. There probably are more Saras, but they’ll just have to wait their turn, at the moment I have enough to do. And don’t ask me to say which one I like the best, because I can’t. I just know how lucky I am to be writing my two favorite genres for Avon. Are they different? Yes, definitely. I like to think that my Sara Bennett historicals are lighter—they’re certainly easier to write, but I think that’s because I’m working within a framework of real historical events. The Sara Mackenzie paranormals are much darker in tone, and I have to create my own framework, my own world, so that makes it more difficult.

Can you tell us about your next release, HER SECRET LOVER, which comes out from Avon in November, 2008?

HER SECRET LOVER is the final book in my Aphrodite’s Club series, and a real page turner. It’s the kind of book that keeps you up all night. Briefly, heiress Antoinette Dupre, a practical heroine, has fallen into the clutches of a fortune hunter. Imprisoned at his country estate she makes the acquaintance of highwayman, Gabriel Langley, who also has his secrets, and sparks fly between them. The story moves to London and the Great Exhibition of 1851, where Antoinette and Gabriel must learn to trust each other if they’re going to defeat their enemy.
You’re clearly a huge fan of series. Can you tell us why you love to write interconnected books and why you think they’re so popular? Any hints to girls who haven’t yet written a series about the best way to go about it (um, not mentioning any names here!)?

When I wrote my first book, THE LILY AND THE SWORD, I didn’t start off planning it to be a series. No one made me do it. It just seemed like a good idea, because I had plenty of characters and I wanted to explore each of them in more detail. It also gave me an opportunity to revisit Radulf and Lily now and again. And I like writing series—there’s something very comfortable about dipping back into a world you’re familiar with, like visiting old friends. I think that’s why people like them. Any hints about writing a series? Mmm, I think you need to do all your planning first, because you’ll need plenty of characters—ie four books equals four brothers, or four friends, or four somethings. I like to have each book as stand alone as possible, but I also like to have a mystery or plot thread that runs through all of the books, as I did in the Greentree Sisters trilogy. I think writing a series is a bit like juggling and trying to keep all those balls in the air without dropping them—so what are you like at juggling, Anna?

You started out writing medievals but now write Victorians. What is the appeal of each period? I love a great medieval and regret that there are so few on the shelves these days. Would you ever go back to writing them?

I love medievals, too, and I’m sorry they no longer seem to be as popular as they were. To be honest, it was the current market that persuaded me to move into the Victorian time period. And I liked the idea of all that seething passion beneath the tight corsets and dozens of petticoats. The Victorians were so much about appearances and what was proper, and I just love my characters to break all those strict rules. But I do still hanker after those medieval alpha heroes, so who knows.

Can you tell us about your writing journey?

Mmm, can I remember that long ago? I suppose I was writing from a very early age—as a shy, introverted child I loved reading and make-believe, so it just went from there. I recently found a book of stories I wrote when I was seven and they weren’t half bad  When I was a teen I had some short stories published in magazines and won some contests, then I had a book accepted by Mills & Boon in 1982. Later on I wrote Australian mainstream historicals, and in 2000 I began writing for Avon. I’ve been lucky, really, even when times were tough—and there have been a few tough times—I’ve learned to have an open mind and not to be afraid to try something new.

What’s next for Sara Mackenzie?

Sara Mackenzie has a new trilogy pending.The Dark Lords, who are linked to my first trilogy, Immortal Warriors, are even darker and more dangerous. These books have taken longer to write than expected because I’ve been concentrating on my historicals, but hopefully they’ll be ready next year. I also have a short story in THE MAMOTH BOOK OF PARANORMAL ROMANCE the Mammoth Book of Paranormal Romance, which will be published in June ’09, so watch out for that.

What’s next for Sara Bennett?

Sara Bennett has just finished writing the first book in her new series, to be published in June ’09. I don’t want to say too much yet, but it will be a five book series and tells the stories of five friends who decide not to be content with just any husband—they go after the men of their dreams.I’m really excited about the idea and the series, and looking forward to starting on book #2.

Sara has very kindly offered one lucky commenter a signed copy of her most recent Avon historical romance, A SEDUCTION IN SCARLET, which you can read about here. So she'd like to know - Victorian or Regency? Do you have a preference? Why? Do you think there's a difference between romances set in these two periods?