By Mary Jo A year and a half ago we took a lovely little New England cruise (here's the link to my blog about it), and our first stop was at New Bedford, Massachusetts. We were told not to miss the New Bedford Whaling Museum. (I assume that's a squid on the museum entrance!) Being a 21st female with a conservationist bent, I was somewhat dubious about a museum dedicated to killing whales, but in fact, it was fascinating. New Bedford was the whaling capital of the world back in the 19th century, and now it's one of America's top... Continue reading

by Mary Jo Cats of 2019 Anyone who has read many of my stories is probably not surprised when a cat wanders through the pages, much as they wander through real life. It's worth noting that while my characters are fictional (apart from cameos of real historical figures), my cats are just about always real cats, often but not always mine. (That's my Panda on the left.) Since I finished the Book That Ate My Life just before Christmas, I've been in a light-minded mode, which is why I got the idea of talking about the cats that have appeared... Continue reading

by Mary Jo If you've read many Christmas Regency romances, I'm sure you've encountered the kissing bough. Christmas trees didn't become common in Britain until the Victorian age, and were brought into fashion by the Royal Family's German connections. But the kissing bough has deep roots in British history and is part of the tradition of bringing evergreens into the house at the holiday season. It's essentially a globe of greens with a bunch of mistletoe fastened to the bottom. Traditionally one white mistletoe berry was removed each time there was a kiss. I presume that festive householders would refresh... Continue reading

By Mary Jo There have been novella anthologies on many themes and for many holidays, but Christmas novella anthologies blow all the rest out of the water. A novella is usually defined as between 20K and 40K words, so it's more than a short story--it's long enough to have character development, a proper romance, and a plot. Christmas, with warm fuzzies and over the top sentimentality, is perfect for novellas. <G> Those of us who started out as Regency writers at NAL tend to have written more than our share of Christmas novellas--I certainly have! I've collected mine into two... Continue reading

By Mary Jo Just in time for the holidays! It’s a Wonderful Regency Christmas , a collection of six Christmas stories by the late and much missed Word Wench, Edith Layton, has just been released. Edith wrote many and varied wonderful stories, but she had a special gift for Christmas novellas. For the first time, these six novellas are available in one volume. The stories have been out of print for years, so this is a special treat for Layton Lovers and else who loves a warm, romantic holiday tale. This collection includes the following stories: The Duke’s Progress It’s... Continue reading

by Mary Jo FINALLY these two audio projects are available after a long time in process. Both are narrated by the most excellent Siobhan Waring, who has narrated four other of my Fallen Angels books. One of my goals has been to have all seven books in my Fallen Angels series available in audio, and with Angel Rogue, Fallen Angels #4, that goal has been achieved. I've always had a special fondness for Robin and Maxie, the protagonists of Angel Rogue. Lord Robert Andreville is the black sheep son of an aristocratic family. He first appeared as an ambiguous secondary... Continue reading

By Mary Jo Part 1 of our Baltic cruise covered Stockholm, Finland, and Estonia. The cruise is called Viking Homelands, and many of the places we visited were founded as Viking trading ports. Now some highlights of the rest of our journey. Russia; St. Petersburg, Russia was the easternmost stop of our voyage, and it's a city with more than its share of glamour and drama. It was founded in 1703 by Czar Peter the Great as his "window on the west." At the time, the country was largely landlocked (Archangel, the only other port in European Russia, is far... Continue reading

The Heart of Northern Europe by Mary Jo I never thought much about the Baltic Sea until we decided to take a cruise called Viking Homelands, which meant cruising the Baltic. "Viking" is a general term for the Scandinavians who were great navigators, raiders and traders. Norwegian Vikings usually headed west across the North Atlantic, the Danes sailed south to harass Britain, and the Swedish Vikings traveled east into the Baltic, where the established numerous trading settlements. The Baltic, like the Mediterranean, is a marginal sea, meaning it's largely enclosed by land with only limited access to the ocean. For... Continue reading

by Mary Jo Holiday anthologies are fun to read and fun to write, so I was happy to sign on to this project with two other Kensington authors, both bestsellers and friends of many years, Madeline Hunter and Sabrina Jeffries. Seduction on a Snowy Night received a starred review from Library Journal, and is listed as one of BookPage's top Christmas romance reads. Publishers Weekly said, "Christmas touches appear throughout, and the passion is hot enough to melt a snow bank. This fanciful Regency anthology will keep readers warm all winter." Though the three of us all write mostly in... Continue reading

by Mary Jo One of the great pleasures of going to a conference in NYC is the opportunity to go to a Broadway show, by which I mean something generally fun and upbeat, with music. (Past choices have included HAIRSPRAY, BILLY ELLIOTT, and SOMETHING ROTTEN, all wonderful in different ways.) Since Pat Rice and I were rooming together, we looked at what was currently available and she suggested the Canadian musical, Come From Away which she'd seen in California and was willing to see again, which was high praise. I wasn't familiar with the show, but she said it was... Continue reading

By Mary Jo In June, I blogged about the cover evolution of my book Petals in the Storm, from its first appearance as a Signet Regency titled The Controversial Countess to the most recent incarnation. Here's the link if you'd like to see the cover changes over the years Petals is my only book with a first scene that was the last scene of the previous book, only told from this hero's point of view while in The Bargain, we watched the action through other eyes. It was that last scene that made me interested enough in Rafe Whitbourne, the... Continue reading

by Mary Jo I've loved Word Wench Anne Gracie's Marriage of Convenience series, and I pounced on Marry in Secret, which has just been released, along with an audiobook version. Today Anne is here to talk about the book and the series. MJP: In a brief recap of the series, Book 1, Marry in Haste, features Cal Rutherford, Lord Ashendon, an intrepid army officer who finds himself terrorized by a gaggle of uncontrollable young females for whom he is responsible. The book won the Holt Medallion for best historical romance, and won three awards from ARRA, the Australian Romance Readers... Continue reading

Mary Jo We Wenches are creatures of The Book, but we also enjoy stories in other formats. Here's a selection of what we've been watching and enjoying on TV/streaming/movies lately. From Nicola: I’ve been glomming on Killing Eve, which is a British spy thriller TV series where a female intelligence officer tracks down a female psychopathic assassin. It’s based on the Villanelle books by Luke Jennings which I haven’t read so I’m not sure how close the show mirrors the books, whether the book or the TV series is better, or whether it matters! The series has won multiple awards... Continue reading