I’m thrilled to welcome Soul Mate author Caroline Warfield to the Power of 10 series. Today, Caroline shares the reasons she loves historical romance and her latest release, Dangerous Weakness.
Here’s Caroline!
1. Castles and manor houses—I wouldn’t want to clean one but it is fun to fantasize living in one. I would particularly love a house with fabulous views from every window.
2. Servants—who wouldn’t want them?
3. Tall ships—they look glorious under sail, and impressive when docked. Although I would without doubt suffer from mal-de-mer if I had to sail on one, I love to look at them.
4. Paper—deep cream-colored vellum, or scrolls of parchment or papyrus. Old books and documents draw me like a bee to honey.
5. Houses with libraries in them—nothing is better than walls lined with books, dark wood and the smell of bees’ wax.
6. Standards—most historical periods come with clear standards for behavior, honor, and romance. The rules give structure to the age old dance of love, and ease the writer’s task.
7. Clothes—long gowns and soft fabrics look yummy. Periods in which the fashions are simple and take a natural shape such as ancient Rome, the Regency, and the first thirty years of the 20th century appeal to me the most.
8. Heroes—men who have honor and courage, with a mix of protectiveness and tenderness. Heroes who aren’t afraid to both manage a nation and build a family, bending from great issues to small children when called upon.
9. Family–sadly enough I find stories about family and life-long marriage easier to write when placed in an earlier time.
10. History itself—I love stories placed against the great events with their larger than life heroes.
Blurb
If women were as easily managed as the affairs of state—or the recalcitrant Ottoman Empire—Richard Hayden, Marquess of Glenaire, would be a happier man. As it was the creatures—one woman in particular—made hash of his well-laid plans and bedeviled him on all sides.
Lily Thornton came home from Saint Petersburg in pursuit of marriage. She wants a husband and a partner, not an overbearing, managing man. She may be “the least likely candidate to be Marchioness of Glenaire,” but her problems are her own to fix, even if those problems include both a Russian villain and an interfering Ottoman official.
Given enough facts, Richard can fix anything. But protecting that impossible woman is proving to be almost as hard as protecting his heart, especially when Lily’s problems bring her dangerously close to an Ottoman revolution. As Lily’s personal problems entangle with Richard’s professional ones, and she pits her will against his, he chases her across the pirate-infested Mediterranean. Will she discover surrender isn’t defeat? It might even have its own sweet reward.
Excerpt
“We will marry of course,” he told her. “Quickly, but not so abruptly as to cause comments.” He walked toward the door, expecting her to follow.
“I beg your pardon,” she called out to him. “We will what?”
He turned on his heel. “Miss Thornton, you will be the Marchioness of Glenaire. That is far from ideal, and the difference in our state will no doubt cause talk. We will have to endure it.”
“Why?” she demanded. “Why this ‘far from ideal’ demand? Has Lady Sarah refused you?”
“Don’t be coy, Miss Thornton. You have led me into folly at every step. After last night I have no choice. I shall have to marry you. My family—”
“Your family would have kittens if I married you, which I will not.”
“You have respectable, if not the highest, breeding, you will show to advantage when properly dressed, and you will do well as a diplomatic hostess. My family, I was going to say, will have to deal with it.” He stalked away. “So will you.”
“I will not,” Lily shouted after him.
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Bio
Caroline Warfield has at various times been an army brat, a librarian, a poet, a raiser of children, a nun, a bird watcher, an Internet and Web services manager, a conference speaker, an indexer, a tech writer, a genealogist, and, of course, a romantic. She has sailed through the English channel while it was still mined from WWII, stood on the walls of Troy, searched Scotland for the location of an entirely fictional castle (and found it), climbed the steps to the Parthenon, floated down the Thames from the Tower to Greenwich, shopped in the Ginza, lost herself in the Louvre, gone on a night safari at the Singapore zoo, walked in the Black Forest, and explored the underground cistern of Istanbul. By far the biggest adventure has been life-long marriage to a prince among men.
She sits in front of a keyboard at a desk surrounded by windows, looks out at the trees and imagines. Her greatest joy is when one of those imaginings comes to life on the page and in the imagination of her readers.
Where to find Caroline…
Website | Facebook | Twitter | Newsletter
Giveaway
Caroline will give a Kindle copy of the winner’s choice of Dangerous Works or Dangerous Secrets to one randomly selected person who comments.
I collect oxymorons—or to be more technically correct, oxymora—and like to pepper my conversations with same difference, random order, and open secret. When I use less common oxymora such as planned spontaneity, controlled chaos, clean dirt, and pontificatory salvos, I enjoy watching the puzzled expressions on the faces of listeners who wonder whether they should laugh or not.
Joanne Guidoccio 