Elizabeth Hoyt | The Middle Child

So my May book is the third in a four book series set in Georgian England. The series is The Legend of the Four Soldiers and the book is To Beguile a Beast. The other three books are about soldiers coming home from war. But To Beguile a Beast doesn’t have a soldier hero.

Sir Alistair Munroe is a civilian naturalist.

The other three soldier heroes were in the British army when their regiment was decimated by the French and their Indian allies. They volunteered for the army or bought a commission, but in any case, they chose to be there.

Sir Alistair just happened to be at the wrong place at the wrong time.

And while the other heroines in The Legend of the Four Soldiers series are aristocratic heroines, Helen Fitzwilliam, the heroine of To Beguile a Beast is no aristocrat.

Nor is she a lady.

Click to read the rest and to comment on Elizabeth's blog.

Sara Reyes | Where's Your Bookmark today?

I signed off with that last week and didn't get a whole ton of feedback, but ah well, it didn't stop me from reading more stuff. So, because I've got a full day including an 8am stop at Central Market Plano for their 'to-die-for' pancakes -- very very early on a Saturday -- I need to buckle down and write.

This week was filled with thrillers, weepers, and a little bit of historical romance.

First off...finally finished DARK OF NIGHT and was a bit disappointed in the quality of the book. I mean, seriously folks, it's a f@#ing hardcover and the pages are falling out with one read? And I am NOT a messy reader. No dog earing, no cracking of spines or folding of pages. Geez! That put me off greatly BTW. Even if I got it at Costco and not full retail, a hardcover with pages falling out! What has the world come to? Oh, and the book was good. I wasn't entirely happy with the reason for all the thrills and chills, but the ride was satisfying. Why did Nash go on all those 'covert missions'? I didn't buy the "money" angle. Ah well. Maybe there is something else down the road.

My next one was the [insert a bunch of raves here. then repeat, this one deserves a ton of raves] MEN OF THE OTHERWORLD by Kelley Armstrong. OMG. This is the compilation of four short stories Kelley's posted on her web site over the years. They're about Clayton and Jeremy. The back story so to speak! And for any fan of the "Otherworld" this is definitely required reading. And because I am special...I snatched it off the pile of books arriving for review...I'm going to treat myself to MADE TO BE BROKEN this weekend. Read and weep oh fellow KA fans.

Buy Your Copy today


Buy Your Copy today


Pre-order Your Copy today


Pre-order Your Copy today

Then I spent some time weeping, sigh, oh, yeah. Read all of the Robyn Carr Virgin Rivers books (series part two or books 4, 5, 6 and 7) in two days. I've gotten smarter when I read her, I just leave out the contact lens. It's much better than way. No nasty buildup from the extra salt in the tears. It's hard to believe she can be so consistently good. But on the other hand, thank goodness she is! I think my favorite is Paradise Valley. Although, I did enjoy the interplay between Shelby and Luke in Temptation Ridge. Then, of course, Second Chance Pass wasn't shabby either. Paul tried so HARD to be the best friend! And since I missed the Christmas story, I dove into it as well. A Virgin River Christmas was the most heart-warming story I've read since A Simple Gift. The thought of Marcie spending every thing she had to track down Ian. And then, Ian, well, he was just worth the cost after a bit of polishing. He did come through for Marcie in the end and that's what's important. Every time I read about the tree I just lost it. Sigh, All done now. I've got the contacts back in and no time for tears!

Then I finished off my week with back-to-back historicals: Elizabeth Hoyt's To Beguile A Beast and Mary Balogh's At Last Comes Love. Yes, yes, it isn't available until the end of April but you want a heads up, don't you? No, okay, then I'll just say it's prime Mary Balogh reading. Balogh's four tales of the Huxtable family follows a familiar path but she's able to keep the story unfolding at the right pace and with enough emotion to make it extremely satisfying! Do tell me though what you think of the first three in paperback at $6.99 and the concluding one in hardcover for $22?

Hoyt's story is the fourth in her Legend of the Four Soldiers series, a beauty and the beast tale. A great read, I highly recommend you pre-order of this one! And if you haven't read the first three, I say, WHY NOT? She has the sensuality and the historical period down pat. So, don't miss Jasper's story in To Seduce a Sinner, plus Samuel's story in To Taste Temptation, which starts the whole series. Then you'll be ready in May for To Beguile a Beast? which moves it along and provides a few more twists and turns...my favorite! And a wounded hero, delicious! And he's got a way with lemons as well. [we'll talk in May, remind me.]

So, now that you know what I've been reading, where is YOUR bookmark?

Get out there and READ a book...
Sara Reyes
DFW Tea Readers Group
Join us at Readers 'n 'ritas in 2009!

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Elizabeth Hoyt | Muses on Detours in Life and in Writing

I’m writing my sixth historical book now—the third in The Legend of the Four Soldiers series—and already I’ve gone off my writing map. Writers generally fall into two groups: ones who plot out their story before they begin writing and those who wing it. I’m in the former camp, but here’s the thing: no matter how meticulously I plot before I write, no matter how much I try to foresee all eventualities, I always end up making detours from my plot.

Detours, in writing as in life, are sometimes frustrating (How do I get back on the main road?) sometimes confusing (Can I get back to the main road?) but usually interesting, and sometimes revolutionary.

For example.

About ten years ago my life took a major detour. I was a stay-at-home mom living in the city where I’d grown up, spending what free time I had volunteering in a non-profit organization. Then my husband got a new job. In a different state.

I wasn’t pleased, but my husband was the main breadwinner at that time in our family, so I pulled up my roots, left the non-profit I’d been so active in, and moved away from both family and friends.

And you know what? If I hadn’t made that life detour I probably wouldn’t have started writing. I would’ve stayed in the non-profit organization, stayed near family and friends who kept me busy, and never had the push to start writing a book.

All because of a detour my life took.

The detours that happen in my books are frustrating for me as the writer, but they can be revolutionary for the book. In To Taste Temptation, the first book in The Legend of the Four Soldiers series, I suddenly started writing a scene in which my hero, Samuel Hartley, is running. In London, of all places. Why? I thought. Nobody runs in Georgian England for pleasure. Where is this scene going? Why am I writing this?

Well, as you’ll find out when you read To Taste Temptation, running becomes a central facet to Sam’s character. He runs to forget, he runs for the sheer pleasure of feeling his muscles move, and in a pivotal scene near the end of the book, he runs because his world will end if he doesn’t.
All because of a detour my writing took one day.

Cheers!
Elizabeth Hoyt
www.elizabethhoyt.com

Elizabeth Hoyt | Ten Clues That You Are Watching a Really Bad Movie

So, the other day after my computer blew up, I decided that I needed a break from reality and I stuck a DVD in the player, sat back, and prepared to enjoy a whole lot of bare nekkid male chests. But a strange feeling came over me as I watched the previews to the movie. A feeling that I may have chosen A Really Bad Movie.

Herewith is a list of my Ten Clues that perhaps I was not the target audience for the movie 300:

1. The pre-movie advertisements are for violent video games aimed at fourteen-year-old boys.

2. The men are all wearing leather shorts.

3. All the bad guys are ugly or gay or both, and the chief bad guy is wearing gold lipstick.

4. Sacred lepers.

5. Eugenics is a good cultural practice and the only people who are against it are wussy hunchbacks who can't fight like real he-men anyway.

6. The traitor bad guy has a bad guy mustache.

7. The traitor bad guy tells the heroine that the only way she can save the hero is to have skanky sex with him. And she falls for it.

8. War rhinos.

9. The Deep and Meaningful love scene employs more than five positions.

10. The hero says--actually says--that the only way they can lose is if someone tells the Persians about the secret goat track back entrance to Thermopylae. Oh, and then he rejects the hunchback who told him about the secret goat track back entrance. Dude! Use your head!

Bonus 11th Clue: arterial blood spray is used as an artistic device.
So, while this movie was definitely divorced from reality, and certainly had a whole heapin’ spoonful of bare nekkid male chests, I would not recommend it. Instead, if you need your own break from reality, I suggest picking up a good book, such as, oh, The Serpent Prince, out this month. I think you’ll find it more enjoyable.
Cheers!

Elizabeth Hoyt

http://www.elizabethhoyt.com/

THE RAVEN PRINCE, Available Now!
THE LEOPARD PRINCE, Available Now!
THE SERPENT PRINCE, Available Now!
TO TASTE TEMPTATION, May 2008