About Jennifer Haymore

I’ve been writing since I could pick up a pencil…. Wait, no…that’s what every other writer says! I started writing just before my eighth birthday, and it wasn’t on my own volition. I was sailing with my family in a 42-foot sailboat across the Pacific, and since there were no local schools (except those pertaining to fish) nearby, my mother homeschooled me. She was a strict taskmaster! A veritable slave driver! She demanded a new story every day.  So I’d sit in the boat’s galley and write. And stare out the porthole, and write some more. And doodle, and write some more. By the time we arrived in Hawaii the following year, I had a portfolio of stories, and I was hooked. Since then I haven’t stopped. (Well, much. I did take breaks now and then, for things like college, young kids, and a master’s degree.)  I love to read just as much as I love to write, and actually the reading bug hit me at about the same time my mom was cracking the whip over my head and commanding me to write. What else to occupy your time with when there are no other kids to play with and nothing to do but stare at the endless sea? Some of my most recent favorites: The Time Traveler’s Wife by Audrey Niffenegger, Outlander by Diana Gabaldon, River God by Wilbur Smith, and anything by Laura Kinsale and Loretta Chase.
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About A Hint of Wicked

CAUGHT BETWEEN DUTY AND DESIRE . . .

Sophie, the Duchess of Calton, has finally moved on. After seven years mourning the loss of her husband, Garrett, at Waterloo, she has married his cousin and heir, Tristan. Sophie gives herself to him body and soul. . . until the day Garrett returns from the Continent, demanding his title, his lands-and his wife.

TORN BETWEEN TWO HUSBANDS . . .

Now Sophie must choose between her first love and her new love, knowing that no matter what, her choice will destroy one of the men she adores. Will it be Garrett, her childhood sweetheart, whose loss nearly destroyed her once already? Or will it be Tristan, beloved friend turned lover, who supported her through the last, dark years and introduced her to a passion she had never known? As her two husbands battle for her heart, Sophie finds herself immersed in a dangerous game-where the stakes are not only love . . . but life and death.

My Review of A Hint of Wicked

Sophie, the Duchess of Calton, lost her husband Garrett at Waterloo. After seven years of mourning and searching, she finally moved on and married their mutual best friend Tristan, who lost his own wife. Though Sophie still harbors feelings for Garrett, she loves Tristan with a passion never experienced before, not even during her previous marriage to Garrett. The two of them have gotten through their grief together and are very much in love.

In the midst of carnal passion, Sophie and Tristan are surprised by the sudden homecoming of Garrett who did not die at Waterloo, but instead spent the past years with amnesia in Belgium. But now that Garrett has his memory back, he wants his wife and his name returned to him. Sophie and Tristan are now at a loss of what to do– nullify their marriage or fight it out. Sophie’s position is especially difficult since she is still very much in love with Garrett and is overjoyed that he alive and home, back to her and their daughter. But yes, she loves Tristan and does not want to separate from him either. Since Sophie can’t be married to two men, she has to choose. Of course, Garrett wants to give her no choice by declaring her marriage to Tristan illegal.

Flanked by his trusted assistant William, Garrett is having trouble coming to terms with the war. He is prone to hallucinations, flash backs, and violence. His doctor is very grim about Garrett’s eventual outlook, which makes it even harder for Sophie to give up on him. Very soon, Sophie and Tristan suspect that something is amiss, that Garrett isn’t as sick and out of control as William and his doctor say. Now not only must Sophie decide between the two and Tristan fight for his wife, but the two of them have to uncover what plot Garrett is unknowingly in the middle of.

I am a novice when it comes to romance, but I decided to give A Hint of Wicked a try because it is historical fiction and I am constantly searching for that one romance book that will seal the deal for me and make me love the genre. Or even just appreciate it. Though new to this genre, it didn’t hinder my ability to appreciate Haymore’s elegant writing style or her vast variety of adjectives that were never overused. It was, of course, predictable who Sophie would turn out with. Still, I tried not to let that bother me and instead took the book for what it was worth. Rather than accept the story as a mystery unfolding, I understood it as a progression of events I would see to the end, just to know how the events play out and what the means to the end are.

Need I mention that the book is very steamy? I don’t think I have to once you see the cover. Haymore certainly doesn’t shy away from being descriptive, she doesn’t hold back and cut out before the passion starts in full force, but her writing is such that she never descends into being crude. It is so easy to ruin a good love scene, you see, at least for me. Truthfully, sometimes Sophie annoyed me. Sometimes reading about how perfect she is got to me. But I never got bored of the love scenes.

Interview With Jennifer Haymore

What do you do to prepare to write? What is the process that gets you ready to sit down a lay out a story?

It actually takes me a while to gear myself up to write. In advance, I know I’m going to need a good chunk of time. Unlike some (very lucky and enviable!) authors, I can’t sit down for 10 minutes and whip out a page. I need a couple of hours, at least. Once I know I’m going to have the time, I sit down, clear out my email inbox so it won’t distract me, and then I look over the last bit of work I did. I usually edit it, think about it, think about where I need to go now, and then I dive in. Sometimes I write fast (my record is about 7000 words in one day); other times I write at a snail’s pace.

How much of yourself do you put in your characters? Are they extensions of you, or are they independent creations that take on a life of their own after coming from your imagination?

The heroine of my first book (which is currently unpublished and under my bed) was very much an extension of me, but since then I think I’ve branched out quite a bit. I do think, though, that all my heroes and heroines possess certain attributes I have. For example, I think they all pretty much stand on a similar moral plane as I do (although at times theirs can be amplified!).

What sort of research went into making this book?

As I wrote this book, I became addicted to Google books (www.books.google.com). There’s nothing quite like a source written in the same time period you’re writing in. I now have an extensive, organized Google books library filled with books written in the early 19th century about everything from medicine to fashion to travel and architecture and cooking. The cure for opium overdose in A HINT OF WICKED is taken from these texts! Along with Google books, I made use of published historical texts on the period, Regency & other historical websites, horse experts, and fellow members of the Beau Monde chapter of Romance Writers of America, many of whom are experts on the period.

The most historically complex aspect of A HINT OF WICKED was the legal ramifications of a woman (an aristocratic woman, who’d be treated rather differently than a commoner) being married to two men at once. The English courts were extremely complicated and very fluid during this time period, marriage laws went through radical changes about ten years later, and there weren’t any exact precedents for this situation. I bought books on the topic of historical marriage, separation and divorce in England, and I contacted legal experts for advice. Still, it was a tremendous challenge to work it out.

A Hint of Wicked is set in the early 1800s. What is the appeal of historical romance? Is the past somehow more romantic than the present?

Hmm…this is a tough question, because I really love contemporary romance too. Sometimes, yes, I think the past is more romantic than the present. There was an intensity to the time—the morals were stricter, the expectations more fierce, and double standards abounded. For example, thinking in terms of A HINT OF WICKED and marriage—once Sophie married Garrett—that’s it. Game over. Until one of their lives is over, there can be no other marriage. Hopefully they’ll be madly in love until the end of their days, because if they’re not…oops. Major, impossible-to-overcome problems ensue! I love huge life-and-death conflicts, and I love how seriously people in history approached concepts like honor and fealty. I also love the pageantry and the customs of the time.

What is the best part of writing a book?

Finishing it! There’s nothing like that feeling of accomplishment when you write “The End.”

What is the worst part of writing a book?

Feeling like it’s never going to end. Writing a 400-page book is a big job, and if you’re an impatient person (like me), you want to do it and be done…but it really does take a long time and a lot of hard work to write a book.

What is the most valuable piece of knowledge that you’ve picked up after becoming a published author that you wish you knew from the start?

There’s so much…hmmm. Maybe to trust myself and my own voice. I used to worry incessantly about my ability to communicate a scene appropriately, and I drove myself crazy over it. I’d work on one sentence for a day and still feel like it sounded juvenile and boring. As much as I’d love every single word I write to sparkle with wit and satire, my voice is my voice, and I’ve learned to appreciate it for what it is (I can’t pinpoint exactly what that is, but I can say that while it may contain an occasional glimmer of wit and satire, it doesn’t do so 100% of the time!).

What is one thing you’ve never done but would love to do?

I’d love to go on an around-the-world sailing trip for a year or two and explore a few seldom-touched corners of the world.

What would your ‘theme’ song be on the soundtrack of your life?

The Chariots of Fire theme song is running through my head, but my husband says the instrumental version of Hotel California reminds him of me.

Finally, could you share with all of us a quote that you love?

Since I was talking about trusting myself, here’s one I like from Sylvia Plath:
“The worst enemy to creativity is self-doubt.”

Giveaway!!

closed

I have been given the amazing opportunity by Hachette Book Group to give out five copies of A Hint of Wicked by Jennifer Haymore. There are a number of ways you can win this book, each good for one entry each. For each entry, leave me a separate comment. Also, make sure that you leave me a way to contact you if you win.

1.) Leave a comment below telling me that you’d like to win.
2.) Blog about this contest and leave a comment with the links.
3.) Add me on twitter (@morbidromantic) and Tweet this contest then comment with a link to the Tweet or your username.
4.) Stumble this giveaway or my main site and comment with your StumbleUpon username.
5.) Rate my blog at Blogged. Click here or find the graphic on the sidebar under ‘ranks.’
6.) Add my RSS reader here and leave me a comment telling me that you subscribe to my feed.
7.) Comment on any of my previous book reviews and leave me a comment telling me that you have.
8.) Answer this question: who would your second husband or wife be (mine would be Matsuda Ryuhei!)?

If you do all of the above, you will get eight entries. That’s eight chances to win.

Winners will be selected on 11:59pm EST on June 19th. I will be using Random.org to select the winner. When you win, I will send you an email asking for your physically mailing address, which you have 3 days to respond to before new winners are selected. No PO Boxes. This contest is open to the US and Canada only.

Participating Sites:

http://www.foreigncircuslibrary.blogspot.com/ – May 19 review
http://bookinwithbingo.blogspot.com – May 19 intro; May 21 review; May 23 Q&A; June 6 announce winners of giveaway
http://ajourneyofbooks.blogspot.com – May 21 Q&A
http://chicbookreviews.blogspot.com/ – May 22 review and giveaway
http://www.findthetimetoread.blogspot.com – May 26 review and giveaway
http://www.ReadingWithMonie.com – May 26 giveaway
http://zensanity.blogspot.com/ – May 26 Q&A
http://booksoulmates.blogspot.com/ – May 27 giveaway
http://yankeeromancereviewers.blogspot.com/ – May 28 giveaway
http://www.myspace.com/darbyscloset – May 28 review
http://confessionsofaromancebookaddict.wordpress.com/ – June 1 to 4 Q&A, review, and giveaway
http://dreyslibrary.blogspot.com – June 1 giveaway
http://www.morbid-romantic.net – June 2 review, giveaway, Q&A
http://mindingspot.blogspot.com/ – June 3 review and giveaway
http://kayespenguinposts.blogspot.com/ – June 3 giveaway
http://thereviewfromhere.wordpress.com/ – June 4 review
http://www.thebookgirl.net – June 5 review and giveaway
http://yougottareadreviews.blogspot.com/ – June 6 review and giveaway
http://reesspace.blogspot.com – June 6 review and giveaway.
http://abookbloggersdiary.blogspot.com/ – June 6 review and giveaway
http://martasmeanderings.blogspot.com/ – June 8
http://www.bookwormygirl.blogspot.com/ – giveaway
http://www.alphaheroes.blogspot.com – review

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Title: Speak
Author(s): Laurie Halse Anderson
Genre: Fiction – Young Adult
Finished: May 28, 2009
Rating: 5 Stars

Melinda Sordino has just started high school, but she is alone, friendless, and an outcast. A party that she attended was busted by the cops after she called them. Since then, her peers have ostracized her and her friends have abandoned her. Only and unfortunately for Melinda, no one asked her why she called the cops. After a few beers, she was led into the woods alone by a popular, well liked older boy and raped. Since then, her confidence has bottomed out, depression has hit, and she has told no one about it. It is near impossible for her to make new friends and she loathes to be close to people. Melinda’s assault is a secret that she carries within herself, the only outside signs her anti-social behavior and the bloody lips she continuously chews at.

Melinda cannot speak and she cannot tell anyone what happened to her. She has no friends to tell, after all, and no teachers who make her feel comfortable enough to confide in. To make matters worse, she doesn’t feel that she can talk to her parents about what happens. Left to deal with the rape and following traumas alone, she withdraws.

This book was unbelievably emotional. Rape and sexual assault are very serious and devastating crimes, and ones that a lot of people keep inside and never tell a soul about. It is hard to know what someone who has been through rape and sexual assault thinks and feels if not experienced personally. Being able to peek into Melinda’s head, to see and live the processes of depression and isolation she feels throughout, is very emotional. Speak is not a book one should read if they want light reading. Melinda’s reactions to the boy who raped her when she meets him in school are particularly hard to read— you can almost feel the sickness and fear coming off of her in waves.

Speak is about more than just rape and sexual assault. It is also about how difficult it is to be a teenager. In a lot of ways, Melinda is like any other girl her age who suffers from low self-esteem, wants to fit in and be liked, but has no idea how. I recall moments when she considered how much she wanted friends, Valentine’s, and the spirit to enjoy simple things. What else is Speak about? Depression. I saw a lot of myself in Melinda, which made this book even more painful to read. The part where she went into the closet, stuffed her mouth full of cloth, and screamed until she couldn’t scream anymore almost brought me to tears. I cannot count the number of times I have wanted to do just that. I think in some way, most of use can relate to some aspect of Melinda’s personality and struggle.

It’s hard to know why Melinda chose to stay silent for so long. Was it shame? The feeling that no one would understand? Fear? A desire to hide from the reality of what happened, that if it is never spoken out loud it would never full form into a real moment? Whatever her reason, over the course of the school year, Melinda slowly transforms. At first, she sinks and bottoms out. Eventually, summoning up her strength through a series of painful and altering experiences, she rises out of the hole she has been slipping into since the night of the party. It can hardly be said that the book is inspirational because it is hard to find inspiration in someone’s pain, but I am happy that Melinda found her voice to speak up. It shows others that they can, too, and that to admit to such things is not to admit weakness.

__________
Disclaimer(s):

- More can be found in my Reviews section.
- If you would like me to review your book, send an email to me at morbidromantic@gmail.com. Read my Book Review Policy for more information.

Hex in High Heels by Linda Wisdom
Blair loves running her vintage shop and hanging out with witchy friends Stasi and Jazz. She’s forever had a crush on hunky carpenter Jake Harrison, whose Were nature (he’s a Border collie) makes him loyal, lovable, and fierce when need be. Just as sparks are beginning to fly, Blair is served with a big surprise when Jake’s mother shows up along with his pack leader, who threatens to make Jake heel! When the alpha does the unthinkable, Blair is pushed over the edge. No one messes with her boyfriend-to-be, even if he does shed on the furniture!

TEASER TUESDAYS asks you to:
Grab your current read.
Let the book fall open to a random page.
Share with us two (2) “teaser” sentences from that page, somewhere between lines 7 and 12.
You also need to share the title of the book that you’re getting your “teaser” from … that way people can have some great book recommendations if they like the teaser you’ve given!
Please avoid spoilers!

The Dutch model is based on harm reduction: protect the public health, provide treatment options to users, and let law enforcement focus efforts on high-level drug producers instead of the drug users. As a social experiment, the Dutch people have benefitted, with abuse rates significantly lower than those seen in the United States.

- Chemical Cowboys (Lisa Sweetingham), pg. ??

I would like to welcome Mr. Ronald J. Frederick, Ph.D. to Morid-Romantic.net!

About Ron Frederick
Ronald J. Frederick, Ph.D. is a licensed psychologist and life coach, with over 15 years of experience helping people get the life they really want.

A long-time proponent of the transforming power of emotion, he co-founded the Center for Courageous Living, which offers innovative therapy, coaching and consulting. Noted for his warmth, humor, and engaging presentation style, he lectures and facilitates workshops nationally.

Frederick is a senior faculty member of the Accelerated Experiential Dynamic Psychotherapy (AEDP) Institute, as well as the Clinical Supervisor of Park House, an outpatient program at Abbott Northwestern Hospital in

About Living Like You Mean It: Use the Wisdom and Power of Your Emotions to Get the Life You Really Want
So many of us long to feel more alive, connected, and secure in our lives, particularly now, in these challenging and difficult times. Why is it so hard? Part of the problem, says Dr. Ronald J. Frederick, has to do with a fear of our feelings—a feelings‐phobia—and the consequences of expressing our feelings to others. It’s this fear that keeps us stuck, detached from the wisdom inside us and distanced from the people around us.

And yet positive emotional experiences can actually “rewire” our brain and free us up to experience ourselves and our lives more fully. LIVING LIKE YOU MEAN IT: Use the Wisdom and Power of Your Emotions to Get the Life You Really Want by Ronald J. Frederick, shows how we can overcome our feelings phobia in order to enjoy more satisfying lives.

Drawing on cutting edge science, many years as a psychotherapist and his own personal experiences, Dr. Frederick advocates that we understand and express the broad range of our emotions so that our feelings actually become allies in our search for fulfillment. His proven four-step process for tapping into the hidden power of our emotions includes:

*Recognizing the signs of fears in ourselves, and the defenses we unknowingly use to cut ourselves off from our potential power.
*Understanding how to tame our fear and exercise control.
*Learning how to experience our true emotions and make use of their many resources.
*Developing effective, measured ways to express and share our feelings.

A master story‐teller, Frederick interlaces therapeutic techniques with stories from people who have learned to recognize and deal constructively with the emotions that have kept them from living their best lives. The trick, Dr. Frederick shows, is in being able to navigate and diminish the fear that is so entangled with our feelings, so we can progress in a healthier, less encumbered direction, and get the life we really want.

Guest Post by Ron Frederick

Most everyone is born with the ability to have feelings but as infants we don’t know what to do with them. We’re not quite sure how to handle or make sense of them. We’re utterly dependent on our caregivers to teach us how to navigate this new world of emotions and help us cope with and manage our emotions, especially when these feelings are intense or overwhelming.

When our caregivers help us regulate our emotions, we develop the ability to feel and experience our feelings fully and to express and deal with them in a healthy way. And the broader the range of feelings we experience as children, the larger and more flexible our emotional range will be as we grow and develop. When our caregivers are emotionally open and skilled at attending to feelings, this whole enterprise goes off without a hitch, and we become emotionally competent ourselves. But therein lies the rub. Many caregivers don’t have these qualities. Many of us grew up with parents who were more or less uncomfortable with emotions—their own and those of others. This is precisely why and how things go awry.

If our caregivers react poorly when we get angry, sad, or even happy, we sense their discomfort and become anxious—we’re so afraid of losing their approval, of having them pull away or abandon us. We come to associate a sense of danger with our feelings and this fear gets wired into our brains. Our development as emotional beings becomes thwarted, and our emotional capacity is constricted. We end up cut off from our emotional self and cut off from others and, unless we do something to overcome this fear as adults, it stays with us.

Although we’ve been shaped by our early experiences, we don’t have to remain prisoners of our past. Even though our brain is wired to respond in a certain way, it can still change and grow. Although we can’t exactly erase our past programming, we can create new pathways that are able to override what’s already there. In other words, we can “upgrade our wiring” so that fear no longer needs to be entangled with the fibers of our feelings. The key to changing lies in having new experiences with our emotions in which we allow ourselves to be more fully present with our feelings and eventually come to experience them free from fear.

I wrote my book, Living Like You Mean It: Use the Wisdom and Power of Your Emotions to Get the Life You Really Want, to help you overcome your fears and be able to use the wisdom and power of your emotions to get the life you really want. I share with readers what I learned and developed over the years, and what I teach my clients every day: a proven four-step approach to overcoming fear and becoming more emotionally present in your life. Ultimately, you’ll come to realize your true potential to feel fully alive, vital, and deeply connected to your experience of yourself, others, and the world.

To learn more about Living Like You Mean It, please visit: http://www.livinglikeyoumeanit.com/index.html