Love Inspired Historicals discussion

Happy Canadian Thanksgiving, Everyone!

Our Q&A will be a little different this month. Sadly Anna Schmidt and Linda Ford aren't able to be with us but we will have three authors taking part, because one of this month's books is an anthology!

Our participating October authors are: Cheryl Bolen, Karen Kirst and Laurie Kingery. We'll kick the week off tomorrow with Cheryl, followed by Karen on Wednesday. We'll take a break on Thursday and finish off the week with Laurie on Friday.

Get your questions ready for tomorrow!

Sounds good! I will try to make it on each day but my brother is getting married Friday so I might not make it. Off to check out the books

Congratulations to your brother, Laura! Family weddings are such wonderful occasions.

You can always leave a question for Laurie on Thursday then read her answer later when you get the chance.

Looking forward to the guests. I do enjoy the question and answer weeks.

Like Jenny, I enjoy the Q&As. I can't wait for Laurie to come on Friday as I've got several questions for her. Especially since her book is the only one of the 4 this month I've read.

Aggg! Apologies for being so late getting under way. The holiday yesterday and whole bunch of changes in routine at home have really thrown me off my game. Fortunately I'm far enough east that it isn't quite as bad. Now without further ado, we'll kick off our October Q&A!

Our first author in the October Q&A is Cheryl Bolen!

I was fortunate to 'meet' Cheryl when I sold my first book to Harlequin Historical in 1998. Her first book, A Duke Deceived, was just hitting the shelves and writers from various series were beginning to congregate on email loops for mutual support. Cheryl was such a warm, knowledgeable, supportive member of the group, I was sorry when she left to write Regencies for another publisher. Any time I'd bump into her in cyberspace, it was always a treat. When I sold my first inspirational Regency to LIH, I was thrilled to learn that Cheryl and I would be writing for the same line once again!

I'm chomping at the bit to get a copy of Cheryl's October LIH debut Marriage of Inconvenience. I know I should just download it for my Kindle, but for books I'm likely to keep, I want paper! :) For those of you who have been talking about story hooks with Janet, this is a popular marriage of convenience story, which Cheryl has given her own special twist. In most marriages of convenience it is the gentleman who wants a partnership for some reason other than love while the lady is often the one who first loses her heart. Cheryl has flipped that hook on its head and I suspect the results will be a unique and heartwarming story!

Cheryl, I'm very intrigued by your reformer heroine, Rebecca Peabody! What sorts of reforms is she most passionate about? Do any of them put her at odds with her new husband?

Hi, Deborah. Thanks for the warm introduction. First, let me tell you how thrilled I was to be writing at the same line you're writing for because you're one of my favorite authors.

My heroine, Rebecca Peabody, is finally getting her own story. She was the sister of my COUNTERFEIT COUNTESS (out-of-print 2005 secular romance) and best friends with the hero's sister in its sequel, ONE GOLDEN RING, which was selected Best Historical of 2006 for the Holt Medallion. Readers have been clammoring for her to have her own book.

She is very bookish and bespectacled and secretly writes essays on civil liberties. She thinks everyone should have the right to vote. She believes laborers should have the right to form unions to get a decent day's wages. She doesn't like that a handful of aristocrats have all the money and all the power.

Though she doesn't like aristocrats, she decides that marrying one would answer all her needs.

Why does Lord Aynsley contemplate marriage with this Bluestocking? He guesses she is the essayist named P. Corpus whom he admires so greatly and decides that anyone who can write with such passion is the kind of woman he wants for a wife.

So, in most areas, their ideas mesh. There is one point of conflict in their ideals, though. Lord Aynsley accepts the practice of hiring children to work in the mines he owns. Rebecca thinks it's disgraceful.

Cheryl, this sounds like it would be a wonderful story, I have read some before about kids working, is he a cruel employer, I think children should not be working they need to be kids while young and play and learn in school. I too enjoy comments on the questions times together with authors and these three will have some interesting ones from our members I am sure.

My hero justifies employing young lads in his mines because they come from fatherless homes, and they are supporting their widowed mothers and younger siblings.

England passed a reform bill of sorts in 1832, but it wasn't until much later in the century that education became compulsory and child labor regulated. Even later for the vote to be extended to everyone.

Thanks for stopping by, Paula-O.

I really like the sound of this book and will have to get a copy. I have always enjoyed marriage of convenience stories so this twist should be great.

Thanks, Laura. I love, love marriage of convenience stories. Also out this month is my CHRISTMAS BRIDES, 3 g-rated Regency Christmas tales, and two of the three novellas are marriage of convenience stories! Also, more than half of my many published novels are marriage of convenience!

My heroine, Rebecca Peabody, is finally getting her own story. She was the sister of my COUNTERFEIT COUNTESS (out-of-print 2005 secular romance) and best friends with the hero's sister in its sequel, ONE GOLDEN RING, which was selected Best Historical of 2006 for the Holt Medallion. Readers have been clammoring for her to have her own book.

I knew the name sounded familiar.

I love that you brought in the issue of child miners. It came into one of my recent HH books almost by accident, but when I did the research, it was an eye-opener. That said, I can see the hero's point of view as well - he's providing badly needed employment.

Looking forward to this book more than ever now. I may have to snag an e-book then get a paper copy for keeping.

My favorite all-time mining story is one you wrote, Deb. I want to say Gentleman was in the title. That book just blew me away.

Oh Yea, will be looking for those Christmas Brides-two great things rolled into one, like the idea. I too like to read the marriage of convenience ones...

I remember when Amazing Grace came out about William Wilberforce and how long it took to abolish slavery and it went on to say how he fought to get rid child labour also. Love that your hero is passionate about the course also.
When you were researching did you find any tibits you found exciting or unexpected.

(dont enter me in this drawer)

Cheryl -- I'm going to look for your Christmas Brides stories, too. They sound like just the thing for me.

Thanks, Janet and Paula-O. Ausjenny, the thing I found interesting -- and heartbreaking -- was the first govt. legislation over child labor did not abolish it; at first they were proud to cap the number of hours at either 8 or 10 hours a day -- instead of 12 to 16! Just makes you want to cry.

I will probably make some people mad here when I say I don't mind the govt. interfering in my life, if they do things to make life better for children. We can't always rely on people to do the right thing. Many of those lords in England were very well respected but they couldn't understand why a servant needed to make more than 5 pounds a year. And some of them spent 20,000 pounds just for diamonds on buckle.

Cheryl, both of your books sound extremely interesting. Are any of the children who worked the mines very predominantly featured in the book? Do you enjoy writing about children, or does featuring mostly adults seem more natural to you?

My favorite all-time mining story is one you wrote, Deb. I want to say Gentleman was in the title. That book just blew me away.

Blush! You made my day, Cheryl! Now that I think of it, I had a couple -- my second book A Gentleman of Substance and a more recent one Bought: The Penniless Lady. I got information off some great sites about the history of mining in the UK -- the horrible accidents and the employment of children as young as 5 or 6.

Many thanks to Cheryl for whetting our appetites for Marriage of Inconvenience!

Our featured author for today is Karen Kirst! Karen's story "Smoky Mountain Christmas" is part of an anthology with Linda Ford titled The Gift of Family: Merry Christmas, Cowboy\Smoky Mountain Christmas.

I have to say, I LOVE Christmas anthologies both as low-cost high-value gifts, but also as quick reads at a busy time of year that get me into the spirit of the Season!

I love the sound of Karen's story! Over on Janet's discussion about story hooks we discussed the Secret Baby story and how it's hard to do in Christian fiction because it often involves a child out of wedlock, but Karen has managed to make this hook work with an estranged couple!

Karen how did you find writing a novella and being part of an anthology? How was the process different for you from writing a full novel?

This book sounds really interesting and I do love christmas books. Did you find any interesting tibits in your research?

(now Im off to bed will check in the morning)

Paula-O wrote: "Cheryl, this sounds like it would be a wonderful story, I have read some before about kids working, is he a cruel employer, I think children should not be working they need to be kids while young a..."
This is the kind of heroine I love!

Deborah wrote: "Many thanks to Cheryl for whetting our appetites for Marriage of Inconvenience!

Our featured author for today is Karen Kirst! Karen's story "Smoky Mountain Christmas" is part of an anthology wit..."
I love Christmas anthologies too! Tell us all about it, Karen!

Our featured author for today is Karen Kirst! Karen's story "Smoky Mountain Christmas" is part of an anthology wit..."

Thanks, Deborah! This is my first time doing Q & A and I'm excited to join you. I enjoyed being part of this anthology. When my editor told me they needed someone to write a novella to be paired with Linda Ford, I jumped at the chance! At first I was a little nervous about writing a novella because I wasn't sure if I could fit a believable, emotion-filled love story in that amount of pages. Then I remembered a tip I heard from another LI author-have the hero and heroine already know each other. So that's how I came up with the idea of an estranged couple. If I have the chance to write another novella, I'll do it. Really liked the experience!

Ausjenny wrote: "This book sounds really interesting and I do love christmas books. Did you find any interesting tibits in your research?

Hi Ausjenny,
This was my first Christmas story, so I did a little digging to see what traditions the people had in the 1880s. I was surprised to read that church folk didn't use mistletoe because they considered it a pagan tradition. I'm not sure if this was true only in the Tennessee mountains where my story is set or if this was nation-wide. I also had to check things like, did they have hot cocoa and fruitcakes? All in all, I liked writing about the holidays.

Hi Lyn,
Smoky Mountain Christmas is about a young couple who were forced to marry. Cole, the town outcast, and Rachel, the town sweetheart, were locked in the mercantile's storage room overnight in a cruel prank. Although Cole is determined to keep his distance, his sweet wife starts to matter-and he bolts, not knowing Rachel is pregnant.
Fast forward a year and half later. Cole has returned to grant Rachel a divorce. She doesn't deserve to be tied to him for life. But then he discovers he has a six month old daughter and his plans fly out the window. He will not abandon his daughter. Can he risk his heart and try again with his wife? Will Rachel give him another chance? And what about his enemies who are trying to run him outta town?

Karen this sounds like one I would love to read, love the fact they knew one another and now have found each other again. They will have to learn to trust each other again and this is so hard when he left her before. Trust is such a fragile thing and I am glad you wrote this into a Christmas story because we as Christians need to "Trust and Obey" like the song.
Did you think about Christmas and birth of Christ when you planned the baby into the picture?

Paula-O wrote: "Karen this sounds like one I would love to read, love the fact they knew one another and now have found each other again. They will have to learn to trust each other again and this is so hard when..."

Paula,
I originally didn't have a baby planned at all! I'd thought maybe they'd lost a baby and the grief drove them apart. But my wise editor nudged me a different direction and suggested the secret child slant. Since babies are so adorable and innocent, I chose a six month old as opposed to an older child.

This sounds like a wonderful story, Karen! I'll look forward to reading it.

Barbara wrote: "Cheryl, both of your books sound extremely interesting. Are any of the children who worked the mines very predominantly featured in the book? Do you enjoy writing about children, or does featuring ..."

Actually the mine was not really featured at all in the books, but the hero's children were. I love to write children and heartwarming stuff. That's why I was so happy when Tina asked me to write for Love Inspired.

Karen Kirst wrote: "Hi Lyn,
Smoky Mountain Christmas is about a young couple who were forced to marry. Cole, the town outcast, and Rachel, the town sweetheart, were locked in the mercantile's storage room overnight in..."

Oh, I love those kind of stories, too! And who doesn't love a heartwarming Christmas tale?

Janet-Tronstad wrote: "This sounds like a wonderful story, Karen! I'll look forward to reading it."

Thank you, Janet!

Karen I look forward to checking out your book. What are your currently working on?

Karen, it sounds like a good story. I can't wait to check it out.

Is it connected to your Smoky Mountain Matches series?

Laura AKA Loves 2 Read Romance wrote: "Karen I look forward to checking out your book. What are your currently working on?"

Thanks, Laura! I'm currently writing Nathan O'Malley's story, which is book five in my Smoky Mountain Matches series. It doesn't have a firm title yet. (Book 4, His Mountain Miss, is due out April 2013.) I'm enjoying this one because it's about friends who fall in love. I like those types of stories and wanted to explore the process of how their relationship changes.

Lynsay wrote: "Karen, it sounds like a good story. I can't wait to check it out.

Is it connected to your Smoky Mountain Matches series?"

Hi Lynsay,
The hero and heroine are not central characters in my series but it is connected. It's set in Gatlinburg, TN like the series and many of the O'Malleys are in the story, especially Megan, since her book is out next.

Ok now I have to get this book! sounds so cool. Mistletoe isn't a big thing in Australia.
I think fruitcake comes from England originally too.

It does sound like a great story, doesn't it, Ausjenny?

Thanks, Karen, for telling us more about it! This anthology is definitely going on my Christmas shopping list for a couple of special people who can otherwise me hard to buy for.

We'll be taking a short break today then returning tomorrow with Laurie Kingery, another author who used to write for HH with Cheryl and me. It's like Old Home Week on GR! :)

It does. I love christmas stories.

Okay since I know things are going to be crazy for me tomorrow I am going to leave a few questions for Laurie now.

How many Brides of Simpson Creek books are there?

Can you tell me more about Simpson Creek?

Thanks so much!

Ausjenny wrote: "It does. I love christmas stories."

Thanks for having me! It was fun. :)

It will be interesting to read of Laurie's books today,thanks for coming. Is your book a Christmas one we will be discussing? I will be back later...

Dawn wrote: "Like Jenny, I enjoy the Q&As. I can't wait for Laurie to come on Friday as I've got several questions for her. Especially since her book is the only one of the 4 this month I've read."

Dawn I look forward to your questions later today!

Laura AKA Loves 2 Read Romance wrote: "Okay since I know things are going to be crazy for me tomorrow I am going to leave a few questions for Laurie now.

How many Brides of Simpson Creek books are there?

Can you tell me more about Sim..."
Laura, thank for thinking ahead! I've written (counting on fingers ) 5 "Brides of Simpson Creek" books, starting with MAIL ORDER COWBOY. My concept was to turn the "Mail order brides" idea around and make it mail order grooms, since in this small town I've set it up so there were no single men who returned from the Civil War. It could happen, right? Simpson Creek is a real tributary of the San Saba River, and runs out of San Saba, Texas. I've travelled to the site and discovered there really was a Simpson Creek community near San Saba. My heroines have formed the Simpson Creek Spinsters Club, and each book features a different heroine looking for true love--and finding it, of course. In the book out this month, THE PREACHER'S BRIDE, a girl name Faith has a secret--she has no faith. But she's in love with the town's new young preacher. Something has to give! :)

Deborah wrote: "It does sound like a great story, doesn't it, Ausjenny?

Thanks, Karen, for telling us more about it! This anthology is definitely going on my Christmas shopping list for a couple of special peopl..."

Deborah wrote: "Our first author in the October Q&A is Cheryl Bolen!

I was fortunate to 'meet' Cheryl when I sold my first book to Harlequin Historical in 1998. Her first book, A Duke Deceived, was just hittin..."

Good to see my Harlequin Historical "mates" at LIH now!

Welcome, Laurie! Thanks for jumping right in. Here's your official introduction. :)

I have long been in awe of Laurie Kingery, who has managed to combine a career in the vital, demanding field of ER nursing with another as a romance author. As Laurie Grant, she has written many secular historical romances for Leisure Books, Warner and Harlequin Historical. Now the LIH line is very fortunate to have her as one of their authors!

Laurie's October book The Preacher's Bride continues her "Brides of Simpson Creek" series. The story of Faith Bennett and Gil Chadwick is one of friendship that turns to love -- one of my personal favorite types of romance!

Laurie, I understand that during this story Faith nurses Gil's father. Do you often draw on your nursing background in your romance writing?

Laurie, Here are my questions. :)

What gave you the idea to have a woman named Faith not have any faith?

Which Spinster will be the next one to fall in love? Because we've gotten Milly, Sarah, Prissy, Caroline, and now Faith.

Laurie, I have read 3 of these brides but missed Caroline, how many more do you have planned? I love your concept of the Spinsters looking for grooms vs mail-order brides. thanks for sharing your comments today with us...

Deborah wrote: "Welcome, Laurie! Thanks for jumping right in. Here's your official introduction. :)

I have long been in awe of Laurie Kingery, who has managed to combine a career in the vital, demanding field o..."
Thanks for the great welcome, Deb! I'm thrilled that you've joined us at LIH, and appreciate you setting this up on our LIH group at Goodreads. Deb is way more organized than I'll ever be, y'all! Yes, I do find ways to use my nursing knowledge in my books. The challenge, especially when I was writing about the older preacher's stroke, was not to get too clinical in the details of the nursing care he'd need. I wanted to be accurate as far as what they'd know about stroke at the time, or apoplexy as it was called then, but not diminish the romance between the heroine and the younger preacher.