September's Round Robin Topic

Topic: What characters in other author's books have not left your mind? Have written a character who wouldn't leave you? Why do you think this happens?

We all have favorite books, sometimes too many to list individually. I could start with my childhood favorite, Black Beauty. From that classic, I went on to read others while at school. Admittedly, these were somewhat foist upon me because of my English courses, but I never forgot Austen’s Elizabeth Bennett or Emma Woodhouse, Bronte’s Heathcliff from Wuthering Heights or Paul Craddock from R.F. Delderfield’s A Horseman Riding By. But, without any doubt at all, I have to say that Frederica from Georgette Heyer’s Regency romance by that title, is my all time, hands down favorite.

Frederica was published in 1965 and I snapped it up as soon as it hit the store bookshelves to add to my already extensive Heyer collection. Since then I have read that book at least once every year. You do the math! The time between each reading is of no matter as the story comes across as fresh and as funny as the first time I read it.

It is, I think, her best romance. The Marquis of Alverstoke is tumbled from his bored and cynical heights by Frederica’s wit, charm, and unselfconscious beauty. The fact that she thinks about her rambunctious family more than herself is also a novelty to a man who is used to having his family apply to him for all manner of reasons, most of them financial.

This is a comedy of manners and a subtle construct of human behavior. Heyer cleverly uses the interactions between Frederica and her siblings to intrigue the Marquis who has little attachment to his young relatives, although he can be kind to them when it pleases him.

Frederica, more than any other book, is the book that tempted me to write Regency romance. I love the style of the era (if one is rich, of course), the elegance of the architecture, and the costumes.

When I started writing my first Regency tale, His Dark Enchantress, I never expected to write another. However, my hero’s sister kept intruding. Each time I started a scene with my heroine, Emmaline Devereux, Lady Juliana Clifton elbowed her way in. This carried on until I promised her a book of her own, which came out as His Ocean Vixen.

Neither of my heroines are wilting wall-flowers. Quite the opposite, in fact. But, even though Emmaline was my first Regency heroine, Juliana is by far my favorite of the two. I think it was because she had a little more spark than Emmaline, probably because she had siblings as foils whereas Emmaline was an only child and something of an introvert. Both young ladies were of superior intellect, something not much appreciated in that time.

Both these titles are on sale now at Smashwords.

His Dark Enchantress

https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/542275

Coupon NR95Q (not case-sensitive

His Ocean Vixen

https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/734276

Coupon EF49H (not case-sensitive

I think the reason that Juliana stays with me now, is that she is everything I am not or maybe is everything I would like to be. She has bravery and adventure stamped on her soul, whereas I would never consider myself brave and like my home comforts. Last year I came this close >< to going on a zip line but couldn’t quite bring myself to do it.

So what about the other authors in our Round Robin pool? Check out these websites to see what they have to say.

Anne Stenhouse  http://annestenhousenovelist.wordpress.com/ 
Heidi M. Thomas http://heidiwriter.wordpress.com/
Victoria Chathamhttp://www.victoriachatham.com
Diane Bator http://dbator.blogspot.ca/ 
A.J. Maguire  http://ajmaguire.wordpress.com/
Judith Copek http://lynx-sis.blogspot.com/
Beverley Bateman http://beverleybateman.blogspot.ca/
Fiona McGier http://www.fionamcgier.com/
Skye Taylor http://www.skye-writer.com/blogging_by_the_sea
Rachael Kosinski http://rachaelkosinski.weebly.com/
Rhobin Courtright http://www.rhobinleecourtright.com