Jennifer Wilck on why she writes diverse characters
So too, do we want to see characters who look like us, talk like us, act like us and even worship like us. Readers are diverse, and characters should be too. I absolutely love to […]
Avon Gale and Roan Parrish on Heart of the Steal (and a giveaway!)
The authors are giving away a copy of this ebook to two lucky AAR readers. Make a comment below to be entered in our drawing!
Roan: Heart of the Steal was born in a moving truck, on a hot as hell August day in the South. Well, that’s not entirely true—it had existed before, IN AVON’S TWISTED BRAIN.
Avon: Yes! And it was very convoluted and involved a side plot with a serial killer. Which is just what you want in your opposites-attract romance novel, right? I was having a lot of problems with the story and wanted to talk it out with Roan, and what I was really in love with about the story was the characters far more than my plot. When I was talking it out with her, she immediately started giving me such great ideas, especially for Vaughn, and I just knew that she had to write […]
A guest post by Aussie Author Louise Cusack
This four-book series of sexy romance novels is about four girlfriends who are indispensable in each others’ lives (the same way my own girlfriends are vital to my happiness). My characters: Jill, Angela, Louella and Fritha drive each other crazy, but they’re there for each other, no matter what, delivering hugs or tough-love as the situation requires! The series is set in Australia, where I live, so I’ve showcased our great landscape, from the glitzy glamor of Sydney and Surfers Paradise to the dry, dusty outback and the lush beauty of Byron Bay and Belandera. Then there are the men who fall in love with my girls… Anyone who’s ever drooled over a Hemsworth will understand what there is to like about Aussie men, and I’ve thrown in a Brit bad […]
The Anti- Alpha Male: A guest post by Christopher Harlan
Mourning dress in Jane Austen’s time: A guest post by Candice Hern
In the 18th and 19th centuries, when a family member died, it was important to honor that person with a public display of mourning. Black clothing was a public show of respect. We do that today by wearing black or dark clothing to funerals, though even that is no longer considered important. But the Georgians, and especially the Victorians, wore mourning clothes for much longer than one day. Sometimes, for widows in particular, mourning clothes may have been worn for a year or more. Queen Victoria wore black mourning dresses for 40 years after the death of her husband, Prince Albert.
Figure 1: Ackermann’s Repository of […]
Avon Gale on queer representation in sports romance.
Of course I want my characters to have their HEA with their love interest (even if I have to put them through the wringer to get there!) But I need to make sure my characters – who are playing in the lowest […]
A First Chapter from Bronwen Evans: Addicted to the Duke
Prologue
The Greek isle of Mykonos: August 1811
Alexander Sylvester Bracken, the Marquess of Tavistock, heir to the Duke of Bedford, on no account considered himself a hero. In all his twenty-five years, he’d never rescued anyone, let alone a young girl. […]
Layla Rayne shares three fictional partnerships she loves
Irish and Whiskey’s partnership—professional and personal—is at the heart of the AIW series. It’s also one of the reasons I love writing romantic suspense. Sure, the intricate plots, high stakes and car chases are a draw too, but having been raised on a steady diet of cop shows, this genre is a natural fit and first love. When asked […]
The Best of All Worlds: A Guest Post by Sherry Thomas
Even better, the authors’ names would be on the cover, but their stories would be presented anonymously. And then readers can make a game of guessing who wrote what.
I didn’t need to think long or hard before I said yes. I didn’t have anything I’d been “afraid to write up until this point”, per Judith’s original wording—I’ve always written what I wanted to write. But by joining the anthology, I would gain a deadline.
In a professional writer’s life, projects that come with a hard […]
All About the Money: A Guest Post by Santino Hassell
For books with wealthy characters or celebrities, my catnip is when they are utterly flawed. Give me a billionaire with a tragic past who has some hang-ups but isn’t a total coldhearted jerk, and you have me. I don’t want to read about what money can do for people. I want to read about what it’s done to people.
That’s the route I tried to go when writing about Ashton Townsend in Concourse, the next standalone novel in the Five Boroughs series. Ashton is the queer son of the wealthy family who runs Townsend Telecom—the AT&T of the Five Boroughs Universe. His stunning androgyny put him on the runway for as long as he […]
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