Guest post: Why I Love Romance by Julie Shackman

Alpha males who are completely uninhibityed and seething with emotion and passion.

Think Rhett Butler, Heathcliff and Mr Darcy.

Heroines who know what they want from life and are not frightened to show how they feel.

Ever since I was about 13, I have been fascinated with the romance genre. I would stare in awe at the glossy covered novels of Judith Krantz and devour every word.

I would hold these often gold embossed novels in my hands and wonder what it would be like to write romantic tales and have readers savouring every word. To have people, comma, cry and lose themselves (hopefully!) in your stories.

The varied characters, settings and intricacies of my favourite genre never ceases to amaze me.

When I started pulling ideas together for "Rock My World", my debut contemporary romance novel, I hoped to create the magic of the romance novels I read.

Stevie Vee, my ghostly 80s rock singer, whose spirit can't rest - but why?

Matt Jardine, the sexy, arrogant journalist. Is there more to him than just his newspaper empire family name?

And reporter Ruby Cameron, my protagonist. Feisty, always championing the underdog and often inadvertently putting her foot well and truly in it!

From gorgeous locations to time travel and moral dilemmas, romance novels boast some of the most imaginative, funny and creative authors around.

In a world where news can often be depressing, it is heart-warming to know there are novels out there which can reach out to the reader and truly deliver the "feel-good factor".

How could anyone not fall in love with reading romance?

Julie is the author of romance novel Rock My World - available to buy now!



Ruby Cameron is an ambitious reporter for a local paper where she is fed scraps of news, and lives with a man whose “idea of living dangerously is to leave the heating on when we pop out to the shops”. But after catching her squeaky clean boyfriend in flagrante delicto she ups sticks and moves into her own small home, only to discover the ghostly presence of a cheeky rock star who becomes her confidant as the dynamics of her small town, and her feelings about her dashing new boss, begin to throw up more questions than she can answer. Will Ruby discover who she really is, and perhaps more importantly, who she wants to be?



About Julie

I trained as a journalist but writing romance has always been a dream of mine. When I’ve not got my head in a book or drafting one, I write verses and captions for greetings card companies. Writing at home seems to be incredibly difficult for me – I usually require coffee, music and noise. “Rock My World” is my first contemporary romance novel . I have just finished writing my second novel and am polishing that at the moment whilst beginning to do some research for my third. These are also contemporary romances with a good dose of humour (hopefully!). I’m married, have two sons and live in Scotland.
ttp://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00ICRU3J6/

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00ICRU3J6/

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http://julieshackman.wordpress.com/

Publisher - Not So Noble Books http://www.radicaleyes.it/notsonoblebooks/

 

Blog tour: Her Dear and Loving Husband

Welcome to the blog tour for Her Dear and Loving Husband, a historical romance novel with a paranormal twist . . .

 

 

Her Dear & Loving Husband (The Loving Husband Trilogy Book 1) – Meredith Allard

What they say:

‘James Wentworth has a secret. He lives quietly in Salem, Massachusetts, making few ties with anyone. One night his private world is turned upside down when he meets Sarah Alexander, a dead ringer for his wife, Elizabeth. Though it has been years since Elizabeth's death, James cannot move on.

Sarah also has a secret. She is haunted by nightmares about the Salem Witch Trials, and every night she is awakened by visions of hangings, being arrested, and dying in jail. Despite the obstacles of their secrets, James and Sarah fall in love. As James comes to terms with his feelings for Sarah, he must dodge accusations from a reporter desperate to prove that James is not who, or what, he seems to be. Soon James and Sarah piece their stories together and discover a mystery that may bind them in ways they never imagined. Do vampires and witches live in Salem? Will James make the ultimate sacrifice to protect Sarah and prevent a new hunt from bringing hysteria to Salem again?

Part historical fiction, part romance, part paranormal fantasy, Her Dear and Loving Husband is a story for anyone who believes that true love never dies.’

Click Here To Buy This Book - UK

Click Here To Buy This Book - US

 

My Life as an Author

Meredith Allard

I was born to be a writer. I know that the way I know I have to breathe air. The day in the life of a writer (for this writer anyway) varies from day to day. I still have a day job, so my morning and early afternoon hours are taken up at work like everyone else. I usually arrive home around 3 p.m. On good days I exercise. On bad days (which occur more frequently) I don’t. I make dinner, and then I take care of whatever I have to do around the house. I’m usually able to get to the computer around 5 p.m., and I usually work until around 9 p.m.

Once I sit down to the computer, I go through my e-mails and answer any correspondence about my books, and I do try to answer every piece of fan mail I receive. I was so surprised when I started getting fan mail, but I love every single message I’ve received. I’ve never e-mailed an author in my life, so the thought that people would take time out of their busy schedules to contact me is a great feeling. When that’s done, I go onto Twitter and Facebook, but just for a little while (though it can be hard to pull myself away sometimes).

Once I settle down to write, I’m pretty focused. For me, as a writer, I’m interested in love, the true love kind of love that lasts lifetimes, and, in the case of James and Sarah from the Loving Husband Trilogy, beyond their human lifetimes. How can I convey that in my stories? In the James and Sarah stories, everything is about their eternal love for each other, and my main task is to figure out how to convey that in a believable way to the readers. It’s a lot of hit and misses, but after working stubbornly on my manuscript for a few months eventually I feel like I have a handle on it. And, fortunately for me, what readers respond to most between James and Sarah in the Loving Husband Trilogy is their eternal love for each other. I love reading reviews from readers about how they have connected to James and Sarah and feel as though they’re personal friends. I feel as though James and Sarah are my friends too, and I’m thrilled that readers feel that as well.

I’ll write for several hours each evening, a little longer on Saturdays since I can sleep late the next morning. One thing I can say about being a writer is that my stories are always on my mind. Even if I’m not sitting at my computer working, my characters are always running through my thoughts in one way or another. Sometimes I’m thinking about a scene in the story and how it’s going to work out. Sometimes I’m just imagining my characters in different situations. I could be doing anything else and functioning reasonably well in the real world, but my head is still in the clouds with my stories. For me, that’s just part of being a writer.

 

 

***GIVEAWAYS***

 

 

Win a copy of The Salem Witch Trials: A Day by Day Chronicles of a Community Under Siege by Marilynne K. Roach. This is a factual book Meredith used to research the Salem Witch Trials:

What they say:

‘Based on over twenty years of original archival research, this history unfolds a nearly day-by-day narrative of the Salem Witch Trials as the citizens of Salem experienced the outbreak of hysteria.’

Entry via Rafflecopter. Giveaway open to US residents only and closes on August 27th.

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Win a dinner for 2 at Salem’s very own Adriatic Restaurant & Bar!

Enter our giveaway and you could be the lucky winner of a sumptuous meal for 2 at Mediterranean eatery Adriactic Restaurant & Bar. Set within a warm interior, you’ll not only be treated to excellent, fresh cuisine but you’ll also find yourself in the heart of Her Dear & Loving Husband’s setting.

Entry via Rafflecopter. Giveaway is for food only. Airfare is not included. Closes on August 27th.

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Win 1 of 5 e-copies of Her Dear & Loving Husband by Meredith Allard

Entry via Rafflecopter. Closes on August 27th.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

 

 

Author Bio – Meredith Allard:

Since 2000, Meredith Allard has been the Executive Editor of The Copperfield Review, an award-winning literary journal for readers and writers of historical fiction. She received her B.A. and M.A. degrees in English from California State University, Northridge, and she has taught creative writing and writing historical fiction seminars at Learning Tree University, UNLV, and the Las Vegas Writers Conference.

Her short fiction and articles have appeared in journals such as The Paumanok Review, Moondance, Wild Mind, Muse Apprentice Guild, Writers Weekly, CarbLite, and ViewsHound. She is the author of the Amazon Best-Selling Loving Husband Trilogy, as well as the historical novels Victory Garden, Woman of Stones, and My Brother’s Battle.

Victory Garden and Woman of Stones have also been Amazon Best-Sellers in the Historical Fiction and Religious Fiction categories.

Find out more about The Loving Husband Trilogy:

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