On March 20th I'm going to be blogging at the Pink Heart Society (where I am a regular monthly columnist) about the author who I consider to be the main influence for me in my early days writing for Harlequin Mills & Boon.
When I first started writing romance, I read several hundred books. I hadn't read any in the genre unless you count Jane Austen and Georgette Heyer until a friend of mine pointed me in the direction of Harlequin and said, "I think you could write a book like these."
Obviously I had a lot of catching up to do as there were literally thousands of books I hadn't read. So I set to reading. And as I read, I found authors whose voices spoke to me, authors whose books resonated, authors I began to look for every time I went into a new or used bookstore.
Jane Donnelly was the most important of those authors for me. So she's the one I'm going to be writing about on March 20th.
But I'd love to know which authors have really spoken to you. Whose books are keepers on your shelves? Any particular books?
Even now I go back and read Jane Donnelly's at least every year or so. Each time it's like a master class in writing -- as well as being emotionally right on target as always.
Anne
website ~ blog
One-Night Love Child, Harlequin Presents, March 08, HM&B Modern, April 08
Antonides' Forbidden Wife, HM&B Modern, November
Hi Anne,
The first M&Bs I ever read (back in the '80s) were Anne Mather, Sally Wentworth and heaps of others (memory like a sieve, so I can't remember titles, sorry), and then of course there's Anne McAllister
, Kate Walker and Liz Fielding...
I might not be able to remember details etc., but I do know that I've wanted to write for M&B since I was thirteen
, so I can safely say that all of the above resonated with me.
My earlier reading included Enid Blyton (Wishing Chair, Enchanted Wood, School series & Famous Five, etc), and later on Charles Dickens (Great Exoectations, Oliver Twist...) and Elizabeth Gaskell (North & South).
Oops, I'm rambling again, so I'll stop now (although I could go on forever
)
Love,
Sue xx
P.S. All the authors I've mentioned are still on my keeper shelves.
P.P.S. Looking forward to reading your PHS post.
(I'm really going now.
)
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Thanks, Sue
Thanks, Sue. I'm glad to be in such great company on your keeper shelf. And I'm delighted that you're pursuing a career writing for M&B and that you've wanted to do it so long.
I hadn't even read a romance (save Jane Austen, if she counts, which by my standards she does, but others exclude her) when was in my 30s and a friend introduced me to the genre. I felt like she'd opened a whole world to me -- which, of course, she did.
I remember Anne Mather's books with great fondness when I was just starting to read them. They were so INTENSE. Still are. I'm happy to see she has a new one out in March. I've got it to read when I get enough of Sebastian written.
Cheers!
Anne
website ~ blog
One-Night Love Child, Harlequin Presents, March 08, HM&B Modern, April 08
Antonides' Forbidden Wife, HM&B Modern, November
Hi Anne,
Another great topic - I could write for days on this one! I've been reading Presents since they were first introduced and actually still have some of the first ones. Anne Mather, Emma Darcy, Miranda Lee, Lynne Graham, Lucy Monroe, Sandra Marton are some of my very favourites and I have glommed most of their backlists. I've read a number of your HPs too, & they are on my keeper shelf with the others. It has been only in the past 2 or 3 years that I've read other Harlequin lines so I really only know the authors who "crossed-over" into the HP line. Although I am a big fan of Debra Webb's and Gayle Wilson's.
Favourite authors from years ago that still appeal? Georgette Heyer, Mary Stewart, Mary Balgoh, Jo Beverley, Linda Howard & Loretta Chase, just to name a few.
I've put Mary Stewarts "Nine Coaches Waiting" onto the TBR pile. I recently read an excellent review on the AAR website and it whetted my appetite to re-read the book. I found the review quite interesting because it was from an adult's POV. I read and fell in love with it as a teenager, so the insight was quite different.
One book I read many years ago and I've never forgotten is Annemarie Selinko's "Desiree". It is a fictionalized account of a real person, a young woman who was engaged to Napoleon when she was 14 years old and later became the Queen of Sweden. Fascinating story covering her life from 14 to 50. It is written in the 1st person, as she writes in her journal. I enjoyed it so much that I even did my own investigation on the Swedish Royal Family and found her listed. They made a movie from the book in the late 50's with Marlon Brando and Jean Simmons - but they ruined it, of course.
Thanks for asking!
~ ElleJay - Team member of Novel Obsession
There is no pleasure in having nothing to do; the pleasure is having lots to do and not doing it!
Very interesting topic ....
when my Mom started reading HP's at their launch I was a teenager and I went through my puberty with Anne Mather, Anne Hampson, Violet Winspear, Rachel Lindsay, Charlotte Lamb ...... oh, Charlotte Lamb has some sexy scenes! .... well, for the late 70's and a to a very innocent teenager they were very sexy! LOL .... oh, and Taylor Caldwell, ahhhh such wonderful romantic sagas!
when I got to my 20's I grew to love mysteries, suspense, thrillers .... and soon I was reading both Kellermans, Saunders, King, Cook, Crieghton, Kienzel .... and later Grishem and Clancy (love that Jack Ryan) ... and when I vacationed at a friends in the Bahamas a few years running, I read all of his Robert Ludlums (yum, Jason Bourne!)
and then in my mid 30's I just couldn't read .... I'd start a book and it wouldn't hold my attention ... this kept up quite a few years .... in fact, for about 7 years (hmm, must of broke a mirror) ..... my reading drought ended when I picked up a Harlequin Intrigue at a garage sale ..... it was Julie Miller's Kansas City Bravest .... and I was hooked .... I had discovered Intrigues (hadn't even known Harlequin had such a line, nor Temptation, nor Flipside, nor Americans, doh!) ....
so my more recent authors on the keeper shelf are Julie Miller, JoAnn Ross, Joanna Wayne, Susan Kearney, Gayle Wilson, Amanda Stevens, Leslie Kelley, Nancy Warren, Alison Kent, Jo Leigh, Kristin Hardy, Sylvie Kurtz, Jessica Anderson, Debra Webb, Suzanne Brockmann, Dana Marton ..... those are the Intrigue & Temptation authors I got hooked on when I found I could read again
I've discovered Medicals and have added Olivia Gates, Amy Andrews, Kate Hardy, Alison Roberts, Marion Lennox, Lilian Darcy .. to my shelf ....... and my sister dropped off a couple of huge boxes of HP's last year, and I found Lynne Graham, Sandra Marton, Miranda Lee, Michelle Reid, Lucy Monroe, Helen Brooks, Carol Marinelli, Kate Walker, Anne McAllister, Susan Napier ... and soooooo many more ......... HR's have given me Susan Fox, Liz Fielding, Jackie Braun, Natasha Oakley (this gal is going far!), Lucy Gordon,
there are others ..... and participating in the Book Challenge since 2006 has added so many new authors .... my TBR is massive! thanks to the Challenge .... and I've really enjoyed reading the debut authors that have started publishing in the last few years, a few are on the keeper shelf and I'm eagerly watching for new releases ......
because of my large reading drought, I often think of reading as before and after ... and now in the after, when I come across an author that absorbs me in her world, I have to find her backlist so that she can do it all again and again ...
there are two books that I have read recently (in the after) that will stay with me ..... Vicki Hinze's Her Perfect Live ... and Olivia Gates' Doctor on the Frontline .... those two touched me and I reach for them like they are good friends
~~ KatherineT ~~ I'm a Harlequin Addict, and I'm proud of it!
~~ Quiet Canadians ~ 2008 Book Challenge Blog
a movie from the book in the late 50's with Marlon Brando
Hey! I loved that movie. I didn't know it was a book.
"Perhaps what the average member of a group is capable of doesn't limit what a given individual can accomplish." -- Boston Globe, letter to the editor
March's Member of the Month!
Hi FF!
Yes, it was a book. And the movie was good, except once you read the book you realize just how much they missed or changed.
I just checked and you can still get it on Amazon.ca either new or used so you may want to check it out.
I'll look forward to hearing from you if you do get to read it!
~ ElleJay - Team member of Novel Obsession
There is no pleasure in having nothing to do; the pleasure is having lots to do and not doing it!
Thanks for the info.
Thanks for the info.
"Perhaps what the average member of a group is capable of doesn't limit what a given individual can accomplish." -- Boston Globe, letter to the editor
March's Member of the Month!
RE: KEEPERS
HERE ARE MINE ~~
"I went to a FIGHT the other night...and a HOCKEY GAME broke out!! "
HockeyDET@comcast.net
More Keepers!
ElleJay and Katherine T -- wow, you guys are giving me so many authors I don't even know where to start! I'm glad you've found so many that speak to you.
I'll be keeping an eye out for them, believe me. Some I've read, some I'm not familiar with yet. But it's terrific to have recommendations. I did a book with Lucy Gordon once -- a Desire called Blood Brothers. She's a fantastic writer. I'm delighted that she's doing Harlequin Presents now as well as Romance.
Frenchie, I didn't know it was a book, either. Hmmm. But then, generally, the books have more to them than movies. But I've enjoyed the Bourne books and movies both!
Hockey, thanks for such fervent recommendations of the two on your keeper shelf. I've heard great things about Michelle's book. And Ireland -- hey, that works for me!
Thanks for all the suggestions. And if you read a really great book in the future, if you want to come back and post it, that'd be great. Then we'll know what's worth reading!
Anne
website ~ blog
One-Night Love Child, Harlequin Presents, March 08, HM&B Modern, April 08
Antonides' Forbidden Wife, HM&B Modern, November
I'll take you up on your offer...
And recommend Lisa Kleypas' Sugar Daddy. I can't get over how good it was. I wasn't able to finish it in the evening and had to put it down until the next day. But that wasn't bad as I even dreamt about it! I just blogged it today and can't wait until the end of the month for the sequel!
~ ElleJay - Team member of Novel Obsession
There is no pleasure in having nothing to do; the pleasure is having lots to do and not doing it!
Sugar Daddy
That's a high recommendation, ElleJay. I don't believe I've ever read anything by Lisa Kleypas. Obviously I'll have to remedy that. Thank you for the suggestion. I'll try to track down the book as soon as I've made Seb-the-hero do what he's supposed to do for the entire week. Wish me luck!
Anne
website ~ blog
One-Night Love Child, Harlequin Presents, March 08, HM&B Modern, April 08
Antonides' Forbidden Wife, HM&B Modern, November
You can't go wrong with Lisa Kleypas
Her historicial novels are just excellent - and very sexy. She has had an interesting career. One of her earliest novels, Dreaming of You, did very well and then she wasn't so popular until the late 90's and she's just been soaring ever since. Sugar Daddy is her first contemporary.
I checked The All About Romance website - they have reviewed 18 of her novels over the years and only 2 are listed as a C grade. 7 are A- or higher and and 9 are B to B+. She has scored high on their Annual Reader poll for a number of years now.
They also have some excellent interviews on their site. Here's the link if you are interested: http://www.likesbooks.com/kleypasataar.html
Good luck getting Seb to do want you want him to do!
~ ElleJay - Team member of Novel Obsession
There is no pleasure in having nothing to do; the pleasure is having lots to do and not doing it!
Lisa K
Thanks, ElleJay. I'll check the website when I'm taking a break from Seb. I remember her being a protegee of Kathryn Falk's even before I started to write. So she's had a long and successful career, that's for sure. As she has written a contemporary, I'll probably get to it quicker as I tend to read them more than historicals (except for regencies which I love).
Anne
website ~ blog
One-Night Love Child, Harlequin Presents, March 08, HM&B Modern, April 08
Antonides' Forbidden Wife, HM&B Modern, November
Caution on the web site, Anne!
Don't read the blurb on her 2nd contemporary to be released in March - it will spoil Sugar Daddy if you know what it is about. I'm so glad I didn't know until I finished SD!
~ ElleJay - Team member of Novel Obsession
There is no pleasure in having nothing to do; the pleasure is having lots to do and not doing it!
Warning!
Thanks, ElleJay. I'll keep that in mind.
Anne
website ~ blog
One-Night Love Child, Harlequin Presents, March 08, HM&B Modern, April 08
Antonides' Forbidden Wife, HM&B Modern, November