Q-So your mission is what, exactly, when it comes to the love
scenes?
A-As I said, I started out pretty tamely when I was writing for
certain traditional romance lines, but then I thought, “Why?”
Falling in love is so exciting, and literally being laid bare–meeting, getting to know each other, becoming intimate. Revealing your innermost self to another human being, and
asking for unconditional love, and trying to offer it in return. I
wanted to capture that whole experience, the highs, the lows, and
the passion, above all.

I also got tired of the formula romances where there was a bit of
action, so to speak, on set pages, and then you get the ‘big bang’
on like page 200 of a 218 page book. LOOONG wait for sometimes
a pretty lame payoff.

In addition, I think a lot of romances ‘cheat’ the reader, because,
for instance, the couple already know each other, had issues in the
past, and so on, and so we never really see the falling in love part.

Or, all we see is LUST. The Rake tomcats around until he finally
finds his favorite sex kitten. Who is either a bluestocking and
boring, and he brings out her hidden depths, so to speak, or she is
a shrew and he has to tame her.

Q-Yes, that’s about the size of many of the romances I’ve read
recently. Which is what I loved about The Model Master and The
Model Mistress, and The Model Husband. They are all so ordinary,
yet extraordinary in the way they fall in love.

A-Thank you, that was the intention, and also to give images of
sex-positive, happy relationships, with couples who the reader will feel are
genuinely committed to one another, not just ’settling’ as so many
seem to in Regency romances, for the sake of money, status, because
they have been blackmailed, and so on. I want to show couples who
are wild about each other, and will continue to be, long after the
reader has put down the book.

Q-Yes, and that’s another thing about this series–we get to see
them develop and revisit the couples sometimes years after they met
and married. How long is the time span on the books, roughly?

A-From 1812 to 1822, ten years from the events in The Mad Mistress to the end of the series, or at least what I think it going to be the end. So yes, 10 years, 18 books, and
there is definitely a time span because some of the books, like
Ruthless and the later ones, are very specific about dates and
events.

As I said, the background to the events is the Napoleonic
Wars, so you can expect soldiers, spies, a race against time, and
so on in various of the novels. There is always some suspense, and more to
things than you might think at first glance.

Q-Wow, yes, Ruthless. That’s another shocker of a romance. I don’t want
to give away any spoilers, but I have to say, I read it in one
sitting, I was so embroiled in the world you created in the book. Some of the characters we’ve seen in the background, as well as the ones we know and love, well, wow. What a shock.

A-I know what events you’re referring to, and yes, I had hysterical
readers at the time screaming in agony “HOW COULD I?” until they read
the whole of the book. Phew!

But all of the events in that book really DID happen. I just
inserted my fictional characters into the action and let it rip, so
to speak.

Q-Talk about love scenes there too, in Ruthless. Really magical.
No ripped bodices! And the new characters we get to meet are amazing. And
ironically, take us right back to where the series started.

A-Yes, Alistair Grant the barrister was a supporting character for so long in the book, all the way back to The Mad Mistress, in fact, and then throughout the series, Guardian of the Heart, The Mistaken Miss, when he gives the fallen Philip Marshal a second chance on a wonderful life. And in Ravished too. As a lawyer, and a secondary character, he’s been very solid, and predictable, so I was not sure I could make him an out and out hottie, but everyone says he
is, so I’m delighted. It’s amazing what falling in love can do for you.

Q. I loved him and the couple together. And you introduce some other great characters too.
A. Yes, some of them were in previous Rakehell novels and the different strands all start to come together in the middle of the crisis that they have to confront in Ruthless. And all of the new friends Alistair makes help continue the series in Madness, Beguiled, and Beguiled Anew.

Q. The last books certainly are shockers on a number of levels. And as you say, you are writing about the real history of the period, so that makes it even more interesting for all of us readers out there. You create, if anything, some even more exciting characters at what looks to be the end of the series. It really left me dying to read more. So is it really going to be the end of The Rakehells?

A. Until next time…