Hot Summer Romance Giveaway Hop — July 18 – 21

hot_summer_romance_giveaway_hop_graphicThanks for visiting today. I’m part of the Hot Summer Romance Giveaway Hop sponsored by the Insatiable Reads Book Tour.

We have two Grand Prizes. #1 is a Kindle Fire. #2 is a $50 Amazon.com gift certificate. Additionally, each of the blogs that you hop to will be giving something away. Here on my blog, you can win an ebook copy of my historical romance, An Improper Situation, whether you’re in the U.S. or international. Just leave a comment about my post below on Desperate Housewives and you’re entered to win.

I’ll announce the winner of my ebook on July 22nd. Grand prize winners will be selected from post comments via random number generation and announced on Malia Mallory’s blog, The ABC’s of Erotica.

I’m going to talk today about . . . 1880s Desperate Housewives.

Were they? Hardly!!

I suppose when you think of women in generations past, particularly in the nineteenth century, you might think “traditional,” meaning a little schooling, an early marriage, a few babies, and definitely a stay-at-home wife. You might think “housewife,” and probably quite desperate—with frustration, unfulfilled dreams, and longings. I couldn’t stand that for my heroines. That way led to “female hysteria” of the worse sort. When I started writing An Improper Situation, my heroine, Charlotte, needed a way to support herself. Luckily, in the age of a reliable penny post, a network of telegraph offices, the cross-country iron horse (train), and even the newly invented telephone and typewriter, Charlotte could be a freelance writer. She had a home office in much the same way as we can today with our computers and Internet.

An improper situation digital version coverMy non-traditional heroine was born. She wrote under a man’s nom de plume, but rather than feeling desperate to be a housewife, she balked when presented with two children who needed a mother. That was when the book was still entitled A Readymade Family. Then, as she grew to love the whole mothering thing—as I did, I will confess, having my first born as I wrote this book—the title changed to A Little Bit of Heaven. That’s what it represented for fiercely independent Charlotte, having her solitary existence upturned by two children and their handsome lawyer, Reed. Frankly, she was tired of all that independence and alone-time, anyway. Eventually, by the time I was finished with the rewrite, the perfect title emerged, An Improper Situation, which represented two things: one, my improperly independent heroine who was a writer and a breadwinner, and who even traveled across the country without the benefit of a man’s protection, and two, it was beyond improper for her and Reed to share their passion out of wedlock, but share it they did!

Irresistible Temptation book coverWhen the sequel began to gel in my brain, Sophie, Reed’s sister, popped up, fully formed, as another independent lady—though, unlike Charlotte, she didn’t intend to be. She was ready to marry and settle down. When a thoughtless man broke her heart, she decided to pursue her great passion, classical piano, and use her gift for the career that called to her. The conflict in An Irresistible Temptation arises from the diverging goals of Riley, the hero, destined to practice medicine in a small town, and Sophie, destined for a life in the orchestra of a big city. They’re sorely tempted to take the easy way out and give in to the passionate temptation of loving each other (of course, they give in to the passion a few times during the course of the story). Riley loves Sophie enough that he can’t let her forsake her gift in order to be his wife. Sophie loves him enough to give up her piano and become a desperate housewife. How do they resolve this terrible dilemma?

My third heroine is the least traditional of all in terms of romance novels, not for her independence, but for her personality—she’s an unlikable minor character in the first two standalone books. Some might call her a bitch. I call her “Miss Understood”! Eliza is selfish, mean-spirited, and has a temper. Why? We find out in the third standalone novel that I’m writing now. The title hasn’t come to me, but she is my toughest heroine. First, I need to reform her character in the eyes of the readers, though there is one special man who already loves her to pieces. Second, she has to find her place in this world. She makes love to one man, then spurns him, gets engaged to another man whom she never loves and eventually dumps him, then, due to a lost wager, marries another man whom she really hates, making her my first truly desperate housewife. Luckily, she has a great hero on her side, who will do anything to help her. Or will he?

Just leave a comment and you’re entered to win.

Click on the blue froggy button below and jump to the next blog. Good luck!

52 thoughts on “Hot Summer Romance Giveaway Hop — July 18 – 21”

  1. I never thought about picturing Desperate Housewives in the 1880’s, very interesting concept. Thanks for sharing and for the awesome giveaways.

    1. I’m feeling pretty desperate right now, but it’s due to the extreme heat that we don’t normally get in Massachusetts. Thanks for dropping by. Good luck on the Grand Prizes.

  7. I am definitely getting these books , I love heroines like this , one having her heartbroken the other super independent. I fell in love with Historical Romances when I was a teen and though I had jumped genres it’s always been my first love reading wise.

    vampiremistress2010(at)gmail(dot)com

    1. Thanks, Dawna. I appreciate your kind words and good luck with the hop! Maybe you’ll be reading on a brand new Kindle.

  9. I’m more interested in the third heroine to see how she’s reformed.
    bituin76 at hotmail dot com

  10. I am always intrigued by the historical romances. The scholar in me wants to know how accurate they are and the modern romance fan in me doesn’t give an s.

    jess820[at]gmail[dot]com

    1. That’s sort of how I was when reading them, but as the writer, I try hard to be accurate (I do a lot of research). Sometimes, however, I really need something that hasn’t quite happened yet. For instance in An Irresistible Temptation, Sophie needed a symphony in San Francisco, but she was about a decade too early. I had to fudge a little, but I put a disclaimer in the front of the book.

    1. Oh, don’t judge my Eliza too harshly. She loves the same man all her life, but he seemed a bit unreliable so she had to get engaged to a steadier man, one who pleased her father, then she got married to another for a completely different reason–she lost a poker game and had to! But she stays true to the man she loves. He just needs to grow up a bit and become her hero.

  12. I like the concept of Eliza’s character so much! I’s definitely better that the traditional ones!
    swordlily_girl(at)yahoo(dot)com

    1. Oh my goodness, I now must stand up for Charlotte and Sophie. They are not traditional either; I hope you get a chance to meet them between the pages of my books.

      Thanks for stopping by.

  13. I love the new thoughts this post generates and I’m loving the sound of your books 🙂
    Thanks for the awesome giveaway!
    dixiedukegurl2 AT yahoo DOT com

  14. These look wonderful! I love your nontraditional heroine! Thanks so much for the giveaway/hop! Kyla Patton- kamclauc AT gmail DOT com

  15. Sounds like a great read!!
    Thanks for the chance to win!
    natasha_donohoo_8 at hotmail dot com

  17. I know the desperation of wives today and we have more privleges than women in the 1880’s. Looking back at our history as women would be eye opening to many. Your book well do that without many of them even knowing that it is teaching a little bit of history. Well Done!

    [email protected]

  19. Ooh, I love the idea of 1800’s Desperate Housewives! 😉
    I will be adding these to my TBR. I enjoyed the blurbs. Thank you also for the wonderful giveaway.
    trb0917 at gmail dot com

  20. Wow, these books sound so good (and they look good stunning as well, the covers are beautiful, you can see that a lot of time and effort went into them). It’s always interesting to see how a title can change once a book is written. The heroine of the story sounds so much different from others in that time era that I have added it to my need for read pile. Since I added that one, I also had to add the other two as well because they both sound like excellent following books as well! Now I must have them all! I’m so happy to have heard of them!! Thank you for that and also for the chance to enter the giveaway. Many many thanks!
    I hope everyone has a wonderful summer!

    Shelly H
    [email protected]

  21. This sounds like a good read. I enjoy an independent heroine, as long as she isn’t TSTL. Thanks for the giveaway.
    marlenebreakfield(at)yahoo(dot)com

    1. Wait, let me go look up TSTL . . . OK, got it, too stupid to live. I can assure you that my heroines are not TSTL.
      Thank for stopping by.

  22. Thanks for the chance at this great giveaway and for participating in this hop!!

    huntress023(at)hotmail(dot)com

  25. Thanks for participating in the hop and for a chance to win!

    dragon5174 at gmail dot com

  26. I’m really digging the feel of your books! They are right up my alley! Thank you so much for being a part of this hop and for giving me the opportunity to win! usmcwifey1(at)live(dot)com

  27. Love the sound of these! They look so good! Definitely gonna check them out! Cant wait to read them! Thank you for the fun hop and giveaway! 🙂
    shadowluvs2read(at)gmail(dot)com

    1. My sales are surging thanks to all of you. No, I’m just kidding. Just having a bit of fun. Thanks for stopping by the hop.

  29. Thanks for being on the hop. I am finding some amazing books for my summer reading. Historical is one of my favorite.

    Mel
    bournmelissa at hotmail dot com

  31. Got the news today that we have our Grand Prize Winners:

    Kindle Fire – Lisa Anderson (From Lissa Mathews’ blog)

    $50 Amazon Gift Card – Jennifer Mathis (From Adriana Kraft’s Blog)

    And for my blog, the winner of an ebook of An Improper Situation is Dawna Newman.

    Thanks to all of you for participating.

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