M.M. Wakeford's Blog

The time is nearly here for the release of The Viscount's Forbidden Love , the fourth and final book in The Stanton Legacy series. It's been quite an emotional journey, writing about the Stanton family's lives and loves, and none more emotional than this final installment.

Writing a gay love story in an era where homosexuality was not accepted by society—indeed in Britain, it was illegal and could come with a ten year jail sentence—was sure to provide lots of angsty moments. I wanted to write a romantic, uplifting story with a happy ending (HEAs are, after all part and parcel of the genre), yet make it feel authentic for the time period. Obviously, our gay lovers cannot be fully out in society nor do they get a chance to marry like they could do if this were a contemporary romance.

At the same time, all these societal constraints do not mean that gay men in that era never found enduring love and happiness. It was a challenge, therefore, to come up with an ending that satisfied the romantic in me, but still could be believable. I hope I managed to pull it off. This story is poignant, sexy and yes, there is a happy ending, though with bittersweet elements.

It's out on KU and paperback from 1st July.

For my latest novel, out on 15th December, I decided to dip my toes into the historical romance genre. It's not as big a departure as it might seem on the surface, for I have been an avid reader of historical romances since my teens. I've grown up on a diet of Jane Austen, Charlotte Bronte and Elizabeth Gaskell, moving on to more modern authors such as Georgette Heyer, Anya Seton and M.M. Kaye.



Fast forward to 2023, and I decided to write a romance set in that regency/early Victorian world that I know and love so well. I wanted to pay respect to that world, making the writing feel authentic and not anachronistic, while at the same time not making it a "closed door" romance - I do like my spice! I figured people may have been prim and proper in their public discourse, but in private undoubtedly got up to all sorts of shenanigans, as is hinted in private letters written in that period.

And lastly, I thought this period setting would also allow me to explore a theme that is very personal to me - that of feeling unvalued and overlooked in the society around you - until of course, you meet the one person who truly sees and appreciates you. There is a scene in The Viscount's Scandalous Affair which is taken straight out of my own experience. I grew up in an Arab society where a girl was expected to look decorative and make a good marriage (but not date). When I reached my late twenties without achieving this coveted objective, I was deemed by many to be "on the shelf". My parents by then had sadly passed away, and I found myself being matched by well meaning family members and friends with a variety of older, often unattractive divorcees, who were deemed my last hope of getting married.

I suppose I had enough self worth to say no to these suitors. By the same token, I was not under consideration when it came to the more eligible suitors. That scene in the book where Charlotte overhears her aunt and Lady Powell discussing potential brides for Mr Weston, and neglecting to think of her, is based directly on something that happened to me. I hope I managed to convey that awful feeling of hurt and humiliation she feels when she realises she is not considered "good enough" for Mr Weston.

I wanted Charlotte, plain and poor and unvalued, to meet her opposite in every way - Frank is rich, handsome and well connected - and to go from being overlooked to being the centre of his world once he truly had his eyes opened to her worth.

If you pick up a copy of the book, I do hope you enjoy it, and revel in Charlotte finding her own happily ever after. The Viscount's Scandalous Affair is out on Kindle Unlimited and paperback from 15th December, 2023.

First, a summary of my latest news:
My latest novel, Krantor's Mate, will be released on May 1st, 2023 - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1...

ARC sign up for the book is still open until April 10th on the following link: https://forms.gle/PQPRBncWe27sSQxq8

I've also written a prequel novella, Laijar's Temptation, to go with Krantor's Mate, which I'm offering for free to my readers on Book Funnel via this link:
https://bookhip.com/PLVZSAZ

And so I come to the question at the top of this blog. What next?

I've never thought of myself as a one-trick pony, and despite my recent foray into sci-fi romance, I'm still very interested in writing other romance genres. I'd love to try my hand at a historical sometime soon, and I also have plenty of ideas for contemporary romances.

However... I'm not quite ready yet to leave the world I created in Krantor's Mate behind. So for now, all I can say is that my next work, as yet untitled, will be set on Krovatia, the planet from which the boral crystals that feature in Krantor's Mate were stolen. And my main female protagonist will be Melinda Garcia, who we met in Krantor's Mate when she was Earth's Ambassador to Mars.

This will be a mature romance as Melinda is in her early forties, and I'm envisioning the male alien hero to be several years older - something of an alien silver fox. I'll be sure to keep you updated of the tropes in due course.

All the best,
M.M. Wakeford

I'm currently busy writing my new novel, which is going to be a standalone steamy sci-fi fated mates romance with a difference! If you've read my stories, you'll know I don't follow the well trodden path when it comes to my romances.

Come join me on this journey
I'm going to be trying out something exciting and new. I will be serializing the chapters of my new book on a site called Substack, and want you to join me on this journey as I write the book, commenting and shaping the direction the story will take. I have released the first two chapters of my story for you to read for free. These chapters will introduce the main characters and premise of the story.

Each week, I propose to publish a further chapter in the story, inviting my subscribers to join me on this writing journey and share your comments/reactions to each installment. Here are the links to the first two chapters.

Chapter 1 - Martha
Chapter 2 - Krantorven

As a valued reader, I do hope you will join me on this exciting writing journey. Do please also spread the word with your social media friends.

All the best,
M.M. Wakeford

I’m so pleased to announce that “Infatuation”, book 4 in the Love Against the Odds series will be released on Kindle Unlimited December 20th, 2022. This is the series finale and features a friends-to-lovers multicultural romance between Liv and Kamal, two characters we first met in “Liberation”.

I so enjoyed writing this – the spicy scenes are off the charts – but there’s also a beautiful romance with a hero that goes all out for the woman he loves. I think Kamal is my favorite book boyfriend in this series. Let me know what you think!

Loving the updated book cover for Liberation.

I'm so excited! I have just finished writing my second novel, Duplication, which is book 2 in the Love Against the Odds series, of which my debut novel, Liberation, was book 1.

This is a romance like you've never read before. It's set in two parallel universes, where duplicate versions of the same person get to live very different lives. What happens when two people belonging to different universes meet and fall in love? Can they overcome the odds to be together? You bet they will, but of course there's lots of angst on the way to happily ever after - and lots of steam too!

Duplication is out now on Amazon.