Win a copy of Moonstone Obsession!
Most people would describe my husband and I as very romantic – we hold hands in public, we gaze into each others eyes still. We’ve been told that we’re a cute couple – and after nearly 22 years of marriage, I’ll take that!
What we’re not really good at is anniversaries.
We remembered our first – we booked a holiday back to our honeymoon destination at beautiful Harvey Bay, the second… well, the second was ‘celebrated’ at hubby’s work function because we both forgot. Yep that’s right, we forgot our wedding anniversary.
Actually to be fair we both knew that April 16 was our wedding anniversary, we just didn’t realise that day happened to be a Tuesday, so we spent it at an awards ceremony. Hubby collected the award for his work unit and canapes and champagne were laid on, so I guess that’s not too bad!
Anyway, speaking of almost forgotten anniversaries, I almost forgot that today is the second anniversary of my debut novel Moonstone Obsession.
Time has flown so fast! But I remember the excitement of the last minute proofreads and refreshing the Amazon web page until there it was, my very first full length novel – I was a brand new author sending something I had worked out into the wide world, all by itself.
I started writing historical romance because I was looking for a story I wanted to read and after several attempts to get back into reading after a decade or so of reading only ‘serious stuff’, I found my experience was hit and miss but it did narrow down what I did like:
- Strong but not obnoxiously pig-headed heroines
- Heroes who were well-rounded and not, (as I’ve since learned the term is) alphaholes
- Stories that eschew the silly ‘great misunderstanding’ for something which plays for higher stakes
- History, real history with real events and real people
And from that wish list, the story of Sir James Mitchell and Selina Rosewall was born, set in England the turbulent time of the early French Revolution.
I’m greatly encourages by those who have read Moonstone Obsession and given me feedback. Without it I would not have written the story of Lady Abigail Houghall who really was a nasty piece of work in Moonstone Obsession. I could not in good conscience leave her in that state – there was something about her that demanded her own story and own right to be happy – and that’s where Moonstone Conspiracy was born.
Even then, there was another character I couldn’t leave alone – Toby Jackson, the hero’s good friend, a man you always want in your corner. He had to have his happily ever after too, so the short story which bridges both Obsession and Conspiracy was written – you’ll find it in Etopia Press’s Valentines Heat II anthology
Thank you for joining me down memory lane. I’d love to hear what you think of James and Selina, Toby and Ann, Daniel and Abigail, as well as any of themes explored in the Moonstone universe.
You can join me on tour this week for Moonstone Conspiracy!
