Books with Buzz: Connie Brockway Interview and 10-Book Giveaway (Contest Now Closed)

On February 2nd, The Golden Season, Connie Brockway’s newest historical romance, will be released. But 10 lucky readers won’t have to wait that long. Read on for details.

I haven’t made any attempt to disguise my delight at Connie Brockway’s return to historical romance.  As her second historical novel following her return, my expectations were high when I turned the first page.  The author didn’t disappoint.  The Golden Season manages to be strike a perfect balance between light, funny, and charming, while also being moving and deeply emotional at the same time.  And that, fellow readers, isn’t easy.

The author took the time to answer a few of my questions (and I hope she will answer yours, too, in the comments section) about the book.  And, even better for 10 lucky readers, I’ve got 10 copies to give away to 10 lucky commenters.

All you need to do to enter is comment to this post by 11:59 p.m. on Thursday, January 14th. The 10 winners will be randomly selected and posted here on Friday morning.  The usual caveats apply:  This contest is open only to readers in the U.S. and Canada and, since the purpose of the giveaway is to put early books into the hands of readers who wouldn’t  otherwise get them, if you review for another Web site or blog that receives advance copies, please don’t enter.

Ready to hear what Connie has to say about The Golden Season?

Connie, let’s start off with the Official Books with Buzz Kick Off Question.  Could you tell our readers a bit about your upcoming historical romance release, The Golden Season?

It’s about Lydia Eastlake, who truly, sincerely and unapologetically enjoys her wealth, beauty and status in society and then, through no real fault if her own other than a certain lack of attention, loses it all and, amazingly enough, discover she hates the idea of being poor.  I know. Gasp. Who’da thunk?

In order to rectify the situation, she decides to invest in her one remaining commodity: herself. Keeping her looming insolvency secret (because a woman who is obviously angling for a rich trout isn’t going to catch anything), she dolls up and goes husband hunting during one last golden season. She finds the perfect candidate in Ned Lockton handsome, dashing, wonderful and rich captain just returned from the wars with France and falls madly in love. And then discovers that Ned is doing exactly what she is, looking for a rich wife to drag his extended family from the brink of bankruptcy where they’ve landed themselves during his absence.

What’s a girl who’s never had to wash her own hair, let along clothing, to do? And how can a man saddled with a horde of beloved desperate family members going to choose his happiness over theirs?

What’s your absolute most favorite-ist thing about this one?

Oh, it’s Lydia. She loves her life. She enjoys her life. She doesn’t want to give it up. There’s no admirable or desperate reason she needs to be rich. As she says, she’s just “very, very good at it.” I love Ned, don’t get me wrong, but he’s just doing what he has to do. Lydia has a choice right from square one and she knows what she wants and she doesn’t apologize for that. Yet, by the end of the book, she’s become so much more adult and …evolved.

Connie, you are a total mistress of light and dark, but usually not so much in one book.  I’d venture that there is a definite tonal shift in this one from light to just a teensy bit darker. Not as dark as you have been in the past, but still.  It’s also represents a realistic character arc for Ned and Lydia who are both people who know how to skate through life, but feel far more deeply than anyone – maybe even themselves – suspect.  Thoughts?

Other than “thank you”?  I’ve probably done my career more harm than good with my inability to stick to one reliable tone. In The Golden Season I was able to mesh those tones more than I have before and I liked that. The lives most of us lead aren’t all lightness and froth or unremittingly dark and tragic. We experience both, sometimes at the same time.

I’ve never hidden the fact that All Through the Night is my absolute favorite historical romance and has been since the day that I first read it.  I know why I love it, but I’d be interested to know why the author thinks this book still resonates so strongly long after my first reading of it.

Bondage. It’s the gift that keeps on giving.

Nah, honestly, I haven’t any idea.

Does the author have a favorite from amongst the many splendors of the Connie Brockway booklist?

The Connie Brockway oeuvre? I like it.

Oh, I really like As You Desire and for one reason alone. It was fun to write from start to finish. And Harry will always be my guy, possibly because Harry and Doc Danger (a.k.a.  my DH)  share a lot of the same characteristics.

I have to admit to dancing a completely undignified jig when I learned that you planned to return to historical romance after writing two contemporaries – both of which I totally enjoyed.  Are you planning to venture into contemporary waters again?

Definitely! I’m working on three books concurrently; one’s a odd, Victorian mystery. One’s a very dark, very angsty historical romance with a very difficult heroine and an even more difficult hero –if you liked All Through the Night, this is in the same style. Dark, darker and darkest—and a contemporary black-comedy women’s fiction set in a fly-in fishing camp in Alaska.

And now for the official Books with Buzz Wrap-up:  What’s next for Connie Brockway?

I have two anthology stories out in the next year. The one in Cupid Cats, from NAL in July, is a soft tear jerker with paranormal elements. Katie MacAlister headlines along with Vicki Lewis Thompson. And the other is in The List, a Regency of interconnected stories with Eloisa James and Julia Quinn. It’s Eloisa’s baby and a brilliant idea—a man is given a list of potential brides by his sister and told to choose one by the end of her house party.

Thanks, Sandy!

And thank you, Connie!  Remember, to enter for your chance to win one of the 10 copies of The Golden Season all you need to do is comment to this post by 11:59 p.m. on Thursday, January 14th.

– Sandy AAR