The evil pirate Captain Cutlass brutally murdered Raeven Russell’s fiance, and she’s vowed revenge. The daughter of a British naval Admiral, Raeven’s handy with a sword and dagger, so when she finds Cutlass she attacks.

And discovers he’s more than she bargained for.

Captain Cutlass is really the Marquis de Valère, who was a young boy when his family was murdered during the French revolution. (This novel is the third in the Sons of the Revolution series. The first is The Making of a Duchess, and the second is The Making of a Gentleman.) He went to sea and became a privateer, working hard to seek vengeance of his own until he meets and accidentally kidnaps Raeven and suddenly has the British navy after him.

I loved the interplay between Raeven’s anger at Bastien for killing her fiance, and her undeniable attraction to him. Kill him or kiss him – she wants to do both, and the combination is explosive.

In one scene, he gives her both options, lying on his berth in his ship and presenting her with his throat.

Her heart was thudding in her chest now, and her palms were sweaty. She hefted the sword, and it felt suddenly heavy and slippery against her damp skin. But she held on and walked to the berth. He squinted up at her. “Not with the sword.”

She’d been staring at that swath of bronze skin, at the corded muscles of his neck. “What?”

“If you’re going to do this, it’s personal. Make it personal. Use your dagger.”

She had the dagger strapped to her thigh under the thin dress, and she knew it would feel even more familiar in her hand than the sword. She looked at his neck, could almost see the pulse beating steadily there. With one flick of her dagger, she could end that pulse, that life, just as Cutlass had ended Timothy’s life.

She reached for the dagger, aware he watched as she lifted her skirt and unsheathed the blade.

“If I’m going to die, at least my last view was pleasant,” he drawled.

Raeven is a wonderful combination of competence and insecurity. Her skills with various weapons help her save Bastien’s life at least as many times as he saves hers. But she’s also spent her entire life on a ship with her father – her only family. When it comes to having the confidence to choose to leave her father and trust Bastien’s love for her, she wavers in a way that makes her feel all the more realistic to me.

I highly recommend The Rogue Pirate’s Bride. It has absolutely everything an adventurous romance should: characters who sparkle with wit, pulsing tension, and almost non-stop action. You’ll wish you could find a rogue pirate of your own!

Rating: 4.5 out of 5

Heat: 4 (Scorching)

Related articles

• The real pirates of the Caribbean: Guest post & giveaway by Shana Galen (readericreatedhim.wordpress.com)

Image via Wikipedia

Smarty Pants is a big rugby fan, and because he’s part Irish he supports the Ireland national team.

I’m a fan of big burly men, and because the Ireland national team has lots of big burly men I’m a fan of them, too.

So on our wedding day, our best man (Smarty Pants’ brother) managed to get us a card signed by several of Ireland’s players, including the legendary Brian O’Driscoll.

We have many photos of me jumping up and down in my wedding dress.

It looks like a Kiwi best man has beaten my brother-in-law. (Hat tip to Bronwen Evans and Elyssa Papa for tweeting it yesterday.)

He somehow got four All Blacks (the New Zealand national team) to pretend they were the bride’s ex-boyfriends and to wish the couple luck on video.

This is priceless – especially Sonny Bill Williams (on the exercise bike), who’s got “romance hero” written all over him.

Too bad the hero of my rugby romance novel is English, not Kiwi. That’s a freaking adorable accent.

What’s the best best-man gift or trick you’ve ever seen?

Related articles

• The sexiest trait a man can have (readericreatedhim.wordpress.com)
• Brian O’Driscoll reveals his fears of life after rugby | Kevin Mitchell (guardian.co.uk)

The very lucky winner is…Maureen!

Maureen, send me your mailing address to romancingkatrina (at) gmail (dot) com.

Everyone, this week you have the chance to win Shana Galen’s upcoming historical romance, The Rogue Pirate’s Bride (and learn some cool facts about pirates, too!).

Take it away, Shana!

Hello! I’m thrilled to be on Reader, I Created Him today. This is the first stop on my tour for The Rogue Pirate’s Bride. What a great way to begin! I want to thank Kat for inviting me. I met her in New York over the summer, and if you don’t know her, be assured she is really as nice and smart and talented as this blog would indicate.

Image via Wikipedia

This is my second paragraph, and I already have a confession. My book isn’t actually about Caribbean pirates. The Rogue Pirate’s Bride is set in 1802, which is a little past the heyday of the Carribean pirate. But there were still Barbary pirates operating in the Mediterranean, and they were based primarily in the ports of Tunis, Tripoli, and Algier (aka the Barbary Coast). But that wouldn’t have worked as a title, and the Barbary Corsairs had a lot in common with their Caribbean counterparts.

My pirate hero, actually he prefers to be called a privateer, is Sebastien Harcourt. He’s captain of a ship named Shadow and frequently takes on the British Navy. His men are loyal and tough. They have to be. Pirates slept in the smelly lower deck, all packed together in hammocks along with the extra supplies. Bastien, of course, has his own cabin, but his ship is small (and subsequently fast), and he’s the only one with the luxury of privacy.

I read quite a few books about pirates when I was researching for this book, and I learned some interesting facts. Bastien’s enemy, Jourdain, has a shaved head. Pirates often shaved their heads to keep their hair free of lice and bugs. Jourdain also wears gold earrings as does Ridley, Bastien’s bosun, shorthand for boatswain. A bosun is sort of like the deck supervisor. But the interesting thing about Ridley and the other pirates who wear gold earrings is that they wore the earrings so that if they were thrown from a ship during a battle or storm, and their bodies washed up on shore, the earrings would be valuable enough to provide them with a burial. Some pirates wore earrings to symbolize survival from a shipwreck. If I were a hiring captain, I might be wary of hiring any pirate with more than one earring. He could be bad luck, and pirates are very superstitious.

The life of a pirate was one of equality. For a lowborn man, it might be the only way he’d ever get to vote. Pirates divided their captured booty equally and operated on democratic principles. The crew voted on their captain and quartermaster. There are also records that indicate pirates often put aside a share of their booty to compensate men injured in battles. This “disability insurance” was truly revolutionary.

Image via Wikipedia

The Barbary Corsairs differ from the Caribbean pirates in several crucial ways. First of all, they were far less democratic. Secondly, their primary aim was not to plunder treasure but to capture Christian slaves to sell in the slave markets in North Africa. Some men were also enslaved on the galleys, where they spent the remainder of their lives shackled to a bench. One historian estimated that between 1530 and 1780 1-1.25 million Europeans were captured and enslaved by these pirates. So when Bastien and his men fight Jourdain in The Rogue Pirate’s Bride, it’s a fight to the death. Surrender is not an option. No one wants to live the rest of their life as a slave.

Oh, and there’s the small matter of Raeven Russell, the heroine. I imagine women had quite a different and horrifying experience in slavery. Since Bastien falls half in love with Raeven upon first meeting her, when she challenges him to a duel by her, he’s not about to lose her.

Giveaway!

The Rogue Pirate’s Bride will be available February 7, and I’m offering two copies to followers of Reader, I Created Him. The giveaway is open internationally, but be patient as I don’t have my author copies yet. I’ll send the prizes as soon as I receive them.

What do you have to do to win? Tell me what comes to your mind when you hear the word pirate. Johnny Depp? A ship? Gold dubloons? I’ll check back later to read your comments.

About Shana

Shana Galen is the author of numerous fast-paced adventurous Regency historical romances, including the Rita-nominated Blackthorne’s Bride. Her books have been sold worldwide, including Japan, Brazil, Russia, Spain, Turkey, and the Netherlands, and have been featured in the Rhapsody and Doubleday Book Clubs.

A former English teacher in Houston’s inner city, Shana now writes full time. She’s a wife, a mother, and an expert multi-tasker. She loves to hear from readers: visit her website at www.shanagalen.com or see what she’s up to daily on Facebook and twitter.

Related articles

• Five Fascinating Facts About Pirates! (socyberty.com)
• Interview with Lisa Dale – & giveaway! (readericreatedhim.wordpress.com)

This clears up why all my very-close straight guy friends from college dropped off the face of the earth once they got married.

Do you think men and women can be friends? Does a bit of attraction get in the way of friendship, or does it enhance it?

P.S. Why didn’t I go to Utah State??

The book details the struggle for women’s rights and how courageously individual women fought against laws they knew were wrong. It’s incredibly inspiring, especially for someone of my generation (I was born in 1979) because the changes my mother’s and grandmothers’ generations carved out meant that I could take so many freedoms and aspirations for granted.

I gave the book to my mom because she’d seen Smarty Pants give it to me and she’d briefly stolen it from me to read the first chapter. I stole it back and said she could have it when I was done.

Image via Wikipedia

Mom was born in 1954. She grew up on I Love Lucy and Leave It to Beaver. June Cleaver was her childhood heroine, and Mom dreamed of a future wearing beautiful clothes and putting on her pearls to vacuum the house while her husband and two children were at school.

She got the two children. And some of the vacuuming (though Dad does at least half of the housework himself, something that must’ve seemed bizarre to Mom when they first got married).

Mom once told me her parents didn’t encourage her to think about having a career. My grandmother believed (and still believes) wholeheartedly in thick foundation and heavy skin creams. When I was a teenager, Nonny admonished me: “Honey, you have to wear eye makeup. Boys won’t like you if you don’t wear eye makeup. And quit wearing those boy-cut jeans. They make you look like you have a ding-dong.”

I gave Mom the book this Christmas, and she started reading. I remember one of the early chapters talks about a woman who was thrown out of a courtroom by the judge because she was wearing trousers. That was the decade Mom was born into. It’s so foreign to me that it might as well have happened in Saudi Arabia.

After a few hours of reading, Mom shook her head and gave me an ironic smile. “I’ve reached the bad part.”

Remembering quite a few horrifying passages, I asked, “Which bad part?”

“The 60s. When everything changed.”

I rolled my eyes. “I can’t believe you’re reading this book as a tragedy, Mom.”

She just smirked and went back to reading, probably already dreading having to go back to work in a few days’ time and wishing she could stay at home instead, twirling a vacuum over a perfectly clean carpet while toying with her pearls.

So Mom wasn’t one of those women who marched for greater rights and freedoms. The barriers she broke down, she did out of financial necessity, not ideology.

She may cringe a little when I tell her she’s a feminist, but that doesn’t mean that she isn’t a consistently remarkable example of how strong women can be. Unlike her parents, she not only encouraged me to dream big but she worked her hind end off (or, as she would say, “I worked my balls off”) to make sure nothing stood in my way.

I can’t truly imagine her being happy living the June Cleaver lifestyle. I doubt she can really imagine it either. (For one thing, June would never say “balls”.)

And I know for a fact that she would hate for me to have no other option but that one.

What did you dream of being when you grew up? Were you able to achieve that dream? What women in your life have been an example of strength?

Related articles

• Friday feminist funnies (readericreatedhim.wordpress.com)
• The sexiest trait a man can have (readericreatedhim.wordpress.com)
• The New Feminist in Me (sciencemomma.wordpress.com)
• Confessions of a feminist romance novelist (readericreatedhim.wordpress.com)
• Guest post by Sara Megibow: being a feminist romance reader (readericreatedhim.wordpress.com)

The winner of a brand-spanking-new copy of Colorado Dawn is…Amel Armeliana!

Congratulations, Amel! I’ve sent you an email asking for your address.

U.S. readers, this week you have the chance to win Lisa Dale’s contemporary novel Slow Dancing on Price’s Pier.

Have a great week!

Photo by Eric Rank

A couple of years ago, I began hearing about an author who wrote very smart contemporary romantic novels. I picked up Lisa Dale’s It Happened One Night and fell in love with her style.

Lisa’s intelligence and curiosity about a wide array of subjects shine through her stories. She’s here today talking about her latest release, A Promise of Safekeeping, and giving away a copy of her previous novel, Slow Dancing on Price’s Pier.

Welcome, Lisa!

Thank you tons for having me!

1. Your novels always feature characters who have really interesting careers – or maybe it’s the way you include fascinating bits of your research into your novels that makes their careers seem so interesting. From astronomy to flowers to the history of coffee, you cover a wide range of topics. What’s been your most interesting subject to research, and what can we look forward to reading more about in A Promise of Safekeeping?

I love all of it! I’m as nerdy as it gets…so I’ve always got my nose in a book and am trying to learn new things. Part of that comes from being a writer: we have to know things like, what certain flowers are called, what certain trees are, what are the architectural parts of a building and what period are they from…etc. Knowing those kinds of things aids in writing good descriptions.

My characters’ careers are often just an excuse for me to dig into a subject. Lauren, in A Promise of Safekeeping, is a body language expert—which is SOOOOOO fascinating. Lauren’s great at her job, but not so good at reading body language in her personal life. She can tell if a criminal is lying…but her love life is a different story. What kind of person would you be if you could read the words beneath the words?

The hero, Will, is an antiques dealer, and I think that’s because I’m starting to realize that I’m infatuated by the concept of history, by the notion of so many lives and experiences happening in the same space, by history being all around us, right now, in the present.

Will collects antique keys, which reflects the themes of “keeping” and “locking away” that run through the book. Old keys embody what I love about antiques: the mystery of the past. The inherent opaqueness of it. What did this key secret away? Or, who did it imprison? Who was it meant to keep out? I think this idea of the layers of history has been a latent theme of my writing that is just starting to come out in A Promise of Safekeeping, and more in my W-I-P.

2. Your characters face enormous challenges that many readers will recognize from their own lives. To me, this makes their happily-ever-after all the more satisfying. Do you get many emails from readers who’ve experienced the challenges your characters have?

Yes. And I love them. My books aren’t “hard” reading, but I do think they’re cathartic for many people. I do love a story that’s high on conflict, drama, and emotion—but I also love an HEA.

3. You have an MFA in fiction and have been published in several literary magazines. How did your career writing romantic fiction come about? Have you always written novels alongside shorter literary pieces?

I’ve always been reader of many genres—with the exceptions of horror, westerns, and high fantasy (though I’ve read some of these too). And I’ve always loved romantic stories and romance novels, even since the girls in my college dorm starting trading them like baseball cards. So it was natural that when I started writing books, I started with romance.

Lately, though, my books keep getting more and more complex—but always with a love story at the center. So while my prior novels were shelved strictly in romance, my new book, A Promise of Safekeeping, is shelved in fiction, but there are strong elements of genre romance as well.

4. One thing many readers might not know about you is that you offer manuscript consultations for novelists. With your MFA and previous experience working for a literary agent, what would you say are the biggest weaknesses you see in manuscripts? And what kind of stories really take your breath away?

This is so awful but I’m just going to say it: there’s a huge population of “writers who don’t read” out there. And you can tell, instantly, when a writer isn’t also a reader. How well a person writes is very often in direct correlation with how much a person reads. Professional writers read professionally.

Stephen King says it best: “If you don’t have the time to read, you don’t have the time or the tools to write.” So—anyone can write a novel by banging the keys for a long enough period of time. But it takes a reader to write a story that’s capable of touching people’s lives.

5. On your website, you say you’re a big Revolutionary War buff. Any chance of a Lisa Dale historical romance in the future?

Actually…yes! Someday in my future—you know, after my contemporaries appear regularly on the Times list—I hope to write historicals for fun. Pirates, probably—but different than you’ve ever read pirates before. But alas, me hearties, that’s years away!

Pirates, eh? You’ll love my guest post from Shana Galen next week, then.

Giveaway!

Leave a comment by Tuesday January 24th for a chance to win Lisa’s 2011 novel Slow Dancing on Price’s Pier. (Open to U.S. entrants only.)

Slow Dancing on Price’s Pier

Thea Celik has devoted herself to running her Newport coffee shop, to parenting her daughter, and to being a meaningful part of her in-law’s loving family. Her life is mild but satisfying—she’s sure of her place in the community and in her family. But when her childhood friend and husband Jonathan uncharacteristically cheats on her, her certainty about her role in the world is shaken.

Now as Thea strives to rediscover herself and remain close with the only family she knows, Jonathan’s brother Garret vows to exile her from their lives once and for all. Garret has never forgotten his history with Thea, and he hopes Jonathan’s divorce from her will mean he can reconnect with his brother at last. But his increasingly frequent encounters with Thea—and his unresolved feelings for her—threaten his relationship with his family now more than ever before.

Maddie and Angus Wallace have spent only a few nights together in their six-year marriage. The last time Angus deserted her to rejoin his regiment, Maddie struggled unsuccessfully to make a life with his family in Scotland. She finally leaves and strikes out for Colorado Territory, where she becomes a celebrated photographer introducing the world to America’s west through a female eye.

She tells her new friends in the failing mining town of Heartbreak Creek that she’s a widow, a lie that catches up to her when Angus (now Viscount Ashby, or Ash) seeks her out because he needs an heir.

But how can she even think about forgiving him, much less giving up a meaningful career, for a lazy life among the backbiting aristocracy? And how can Ash give up centuries of duty for a life thousands of miles from his family and heritage?

I’ve read all of Kaki Warner’s novels, and they go from strength to strength. Colorado Dawn is the second in her Runaway Brides series (Heartbreak Creek is first), and this novel cements Kaki’s place as one of my favorite novelists.

For me, one of the great pleasures of reading a Kaki Warner novel is the voice she gives her heroes. They’re rough, rugged and funny, but they’d do absolutely anything for their heroines. Unlike their Victorian England counterparts, there’s nothing polished about them. They’re survivalists, and it’s a good thing because hoo-boy! Kaki throws a hell of a lot of conflict their way.

Though Ash is a new member of the British aristocracy, he has much more in common with the sheriff and ranchers of Kaki’s previous novels than he does with English toffs. Ash is a Highland warrior, a soldier, who has suffered grave injuries and losses. Although he devoted most of his life to his career, and was devastated to lose it, he has managed to keep his sense of humor, as shows in this scene when he’s driving Maddie back to town after a night of passion.

They spoke little. It was one of those highly charged female-type silences that eroded a man’s confidence and had him scanning through recent events to determine what he might have done wrong. Ash tolerated it as long as he could, then looked over at his wife. “It was the uniform, right?”

In the slanted light, her eyes were as brown and clear as the medicine bottles that had lined the windowsill beside his hospital bed. Filled with promises and hope. Addictive.

“Uniform?”

“That caught your eye.” When she still showed no understanding, he explained. “I can feel you drifting away, lass, and I’m seeking a way to draw you back. The ladies always seemed taken with the uniform. As once did you. Shall I send for it?”

“Drifting away? You can say that after what we—you and I—when we—after last night?” She clasped her gloved hands in her lap and looked away, her cheeks as red as strawberry ice in a paper cone.

“So it went well for you then, love? You dinna say, so I wasna sure. But with all the squealing and carrying on, I should have known.”

Her head whipped toward him. “I did not squeal or carry on.”

“No? Then it must have been me.”

And the scene just gets better from there.

I love that Ash is a man of his time, completely befuddled at first by the fact that his wife doesn’t want to give up her photography for a lifetime of leisure and balls. But I also love that he learns how important her career is and strives to find ways to support her in it.

If you haven’t read Heartbreak Creek, I recommend you start there to get a feel for the friendships and the secondary romance that run through the series. I highly recommend this series, and for the next couple of days you have a chance to win Colorado Dawn by leaving a comment on Kaki’s guest post, One woman’s tips on writing the male point of view.

Rating: 4.5 out of 5

Heat: 3 (sensual)

Related articles

• One woman’s tips for writing in the male point of view: Guest post by Kaki Warner (readericreatedhim.wordpress.com)
• Pieces of Sky by Kaki Warner (misfitandmom.wordpress.com)

Have you read any of Kaki Warner’s novels? What did you think?

My latest post at The Season for Romance has some recommendations – and Bev is giving away Crash Into You by Roni Loren and Seven Day Loan by Tiffany Reisz, so you can test your boundaries (and restraints), too!