Carly Phillips | Romance

Today is my favorite day of the year. Forget the hype. Forget the sensationalism. Forget the commercialism and the chocolate, the roses and gifts. Valentine’s Day is special to me because it symbolizes what I write about all year. LOVE.

Do you want to know the best thing about LOVE? It’s given freely. It doesn’t cost a penny.


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Emily Bryan | VEXING THE VISCOUNT

"The decision to become a courtesan is not to be made lightly. A woman must be willing to make her own choices . . . and pay for them."

“--from the memoirs of Mlle. Blanche La Tour

Thanks for the chance to guest blog here at FreshFiction. For those of you who’ve been following my blog tour, I hope you’ll bookmark this site. FreshFiction is fabulous.

When I started writing VEXING THE VISCOUNT, I wanted to play with the idea of my heroine masquerading as a courtesan. But I knew Daisy Drake wouldn’t be convincing unless she had some inside information, so I allowed her to discover the memoirs of Blanche La Tour, a French “woman of pleasure.”

Which meant I needed to research the life of an 18th century courtesan. Here’s a little of what I discovered:

Move over, Britney! Eat your heart out, Paris! Courtesans were the original prey of the paparazzi. These darlings of the London tabloids provided the cartoonists of their day with juicy on dits and outrageous exploits to lampoon. Top-tier 'birds of paradise' demanded and received generous stipends, clothing allowances, jewels, houses, a box at the opera and endless diversions from their well-placed protectors. When the relationship ran its course, these astute businesswomen often had negotiated an annuity to comfort them in retirement.

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Jennifer Lewis | Characters you love to hate

I like to blame it on the popularity of evening soap operas during my formative years, but I just adore villainous but intriguing characters. Texas Oil baron J.R. Ewing from Dallas was one of the most hated characters on television—but he was also the reason millions of people tuned in religiously for more than ten years. His cold-blooded, scheming character was originally supposed to be a small part, but he was such a hit with viewers that it wasn’t long before the whole show revolved around him. Anyone alive at the time will surely remember the angst and intrigue over the burning question: Who shot J.R.?

I’ve always wanted to write one of these odious yet absorbing characters, and with my new Hardcastle Progeny series, I finally have. The three book series revolves around billionaire tycoon Tarrant Hardcastle and his attempts to find an heir for his glittering Manhattan retail empire—by tracking down the illegitimate sons he once scorned.

Tarrant is not a nice guy.

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Make Your Blog Browsing Pay Off! Read and Comment on this week's blogs and win a $10 gift card from Jade Lee!

Thanks to Jade Lee for sponsoring this week's blog contests! Jade is giving away a $10 Amazon gift card to some one who comments on the blogs posted from Monday, February 8th to Sunday, February 15th. So drop by every day and check them out!

And don't forget about THE CONCUBINE, on shelves now! A new historical from Blaze about the original contests to be the Empress of China! And you thought it was all just invented with "American Idol!"

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Allie Pleiter | BLUEGRASS COURTSHIP

My first crack at the "plane Jane" heroine took me by surprise. Given my love for larger-than-life characters, I wasn’t sure my muse was up to the challenge. Then I remembered that one of the best matches for a small-town-practical girl would be a big-city-dynamo of a guy. One Sunday night I was sniffling my way through yet another episode of Extreme Makeover Home Edition (come on…I dare you to watch that without crying at the end), thinking how any red-blooded American female would enjoy watching Ty Pennington rip up her hardwood flooring…and voila!—the idea for Bluegrass Courtship was born. Of course, I had to give this my own quirky twist, so I invented Missionnovation, the church-rehab version of home makeover a show. After all, how many church buildings could use a spruce-up to match the vitality of the congregations inside?

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Ann DeFee | A Valentine Day Greeting

I received my first “significant” Valentine in the second grade. The kid grapevine was abuzz with the news that Arlon (hottie of our class) wanted to be my boyfriend, and when he presented me a frilly red Valentine my eight-year heart was thrilled beyond belief. Since February is dedicated to love and romance I thought I would share some quotes that range from the sublime to the hilarious.

Faces of Love

If you get a card with a picture of Cupid on it, consider this one.

• I don’t understand why Cupid was chosen to represent Valentine’s Day. When I think about romance, the last thing on my mind is a short, chubby toddler coming at me with a weapon.
  Author Unknown.
  

And if you’re having second thoughts about love, here’s another one.

• Love is much nicer to be in than an automobile accident, a tight girdle, a higher tax bracket or a holding pattern over Philadelphia.
  
  Judith Viorst, Redbook, 1975

Okay, I got that out of my system, now on to the sublime.

• Sometimes we make love with our eyes. Sometimes we make love with our hands. Sometimes we make love with our bodies. Always we make love with our hearts.
  Author Unknown.

Anyone who has ever been in love knows that it involves faith, soul, body and heart.

• Soul meets soul on lovers’ lips.
  Percy Bysshe Shelley



• A man is not where he lives, but where he loves.
  Latin Proverb



• I never knew how to worship until I knew how to love.
  Henry Ward Beecher



• A kiss is a lovely trick designed by nature to stop speech when words become superfluous.
  Ingrid Bergman

Celebrate Valentine’s Day by telling someone you love them. Remember that love comes in many forms – from a mother’s love to love of your pet. But it is everywhere.

And on that note, here’s a quote from Sean Conner.

• Love may not make the world go round, but I must admit that it makes the ride worthwhile.

Have a great Valentine’s Day

Ann DeFee
Ann-Defee.com

The Man She Married, Harlequin American Romance, February 2009

Top Gun Dad, Harlequin American Romance, October 2009

Donna Russo Morin | Characters are the soul of the plot; plot is the receptacle of the soul.

That’s the answer I give whenever asked the timeless question, “which is more important, character or plot?” And invariably I get a look of skeptical confusion. But to be truthful, we must recognize that not only can one not exist without the other, but that one cannot be successful without the other…a good character can not carry a book without a stirring story to breathe in.

When we fall in love with a character, it is not only his or her instinctive traits that endear them to us, but their responses to the situations in which they find themselves. Quite frankly, Scarlett O’Hara (one of my favorite heroines of all time) would simply have been deemed a demanding diva if she acted the way she did under normal circumstances. If the war hadn’t broken out and if her struggle did not become one of survival for herself and her family, she would have become a character worthy of reality show depiction and abhorrence.

Jeanne du Bois, the protagonist of my recent historical fiction release, THE COURTIER’S SECRET, would have been considered no more than a spoiled brat were her father not a controlling and abusive man, did she not live in a society that afforded her no control over the course of her own life.

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Sandi Shilhanek |The Great Debate: Read the Book or Watch the Movie?

If you follow my contributions to this blog you know that I often get my inspiration from one of my many yahoo groups. Thanks to one of those groups I have my idea for this week…. what is your opinion of books made into movies?



The book being discussed is The Secret Life of Bees, which I personally have not read. I have not seen the movie either, but am being led to believe it shall soon be available on DVD.

So the dilemma is…do I read the book first or watch the movie first?

What would you do?

What about when you have already read a book, such as when I had already read The Pelican Brief by John Grisham, and then it was turned into a movie.

Naturally I had to see the movie, and I felt very satisfied that the movie followed the book.

However, when I read The Client (my personal favorite Grisham book) I was disappointed when I saw the movie because I didn’t think it followed the book well at all.

This leads to the idea of Harry Potter…the books versus the movies. Naturally they can’t put everything from such a large book into a movie. Should they break it into several movies, or should they do as Reader’s Digest does and show a condensed version?

As you can see I’ve got lots of questions and not many answers about books and the movies they turn into. I’m hoping that because you came here to read this week’s contribution that you can provide me with some good answers, or at least some interesting ideas to ponder.

Until next week...

Sandi
DFW Tea Readers
Readers 'n 'ritas...celebrating literary obsessions

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