Today I am super excited to welcome to RFTC author Maya Rodale. Maya is one of the first authors I read when I started reading historical and I just adore her books. The Heir and the Spare is one of my all time favorite books and I am just so happy she is here today. Maya is celebrating the release of her novella Three Schemes and a Scandal and has stopped by to chat. Before I give the floor over to Maya let's learn a bit about her.
Maya Rodale began reading romance novels in college at her mother’s insistence. She is now the author of numerous “dazzlingly sexy and witty” historical romance novels. A champion of the romance genre and it’s readers, she is also the author of the non-fiction book Dangerous Books For Girls: The Bad Reputation Of Romance Novels, Explained and a co-founder of Lady Jane’s Salon, a national reading series devoted to romantic fiction. Maya lives in New York City with her darling dog and a rogue of her own.
Places to find Maya:
My character made me do it!
I always scoffed when authors talk about characters taking over a story, or having a mind of their own. You know they are not real, I want point out. My characters never did that, because I am the Goddess Of My Fictional World and my every word is law (until my editor gets her hands on my manuscript). But then I invented Charlotte.
She was just the hero’s sister who was supposed to spend the book “off stage” away at finishing school. But then she came to a dinner party with the hero, the “wrong” fiancé and her overbearing mother. This happened—and this is only the beginning:
“You must know Lady Millicent Strange,” Charlotte said. “She moves in the most select circles, as it seems that you do. You must be familiar with her.”
Miss Millicent Strange had been Charlotte’s imaginary childhood friend who was the regular instigator of all sorts of trouble. “Miss Millicent Strange did it,” Charlotte would say, “and she’s so very, very sorry.”
“Lady Strange and I correspond regularly,” Lady Richmond declared, taking another sip of her wine and then dabbing at the corners of her mouth with her napkin.
In A Tale Of Two Lovers, when I needed someone to slyly poke fun at the stuffy stuffy, know-it-all matron, Char was my girl.
“Lady Stewart-Wortly, you are remarkably well versed in the contents of numerous gossip columns, considering that you insist you do not read them and expose yourself to such debauched literature,” Lady Charlotte pointed out. For a seventeen year-old girl she was quite astute.
“You are in impertinent girl,” Lady Stewart-Wortly said, accurately, with a huff.
“I know, everybody says so,” Charlotte said.
In The Tattooed Duke, her conversation with the hero begins thusly:
“My name is Lady Charlotte Brandon and I’d like to assist you in causing a scandal.”
Wycliff choked on his champagne.
“I know, I’m extremely impertinent. And yes, my relations despair of me,” Lady Charlotte continued.
As you might expect, trouble, dramatics and even explosions occur.
You can see that Lady Charlotte was not content to be a throw-away secondary character. By A Tale of Two Lovers it became clear that she required a story—and a hero—of her own!
Over a long car ride with The Husband, we schemed and plotted and came up with a story that highlighted her imagination, her wit, her penchant for trouble and her noble intentions. In James Beauchamp, she gets a hero who, while slightly exasperated by her antics, loves that life is just more fun with Lady Charlotte.
Three Schemes and a Scandal is available now from Amazon and Barnes and Noble! Visit http://www.mayarodale.com for more details, sneak peeks from the story!
QUESTION: Who are some of your favorite secondary characters in romance novels?
GIVEAWAY! I have a signed copy of The Tattooed Duke for a lucky, random commenter below. Only US addresses will be eligible to win. Thanks!
Enter the Regency world of the Writing Girls series in Maya Rodale’s charming tale of a scheming lady, a handsome second son, and the trouble they get into when the perfect scandal becomes an even more perfect match.
Scheme: A folly, a swan, a little lie . . . a compromising position
Lady Charlotte Brandon is always up to something . . . but somehow her best schemes for matchmaking often end in disaster.
Scheme: A family feud, outrageously false rumors, a shattered priceless vase . . . an even more compromising position
It’s no wonder she’s considered by at least one devastatingly handsome man to be devious, destructive, and dangerously appealing.
Scheme: A fox, a rabbit, a childhood foe, and a dashing rogue . . . the proposal to end all proposals
It’s high time someone turned the tables on the lovely Lady Charlotte, and James Beauchamp is just the man to do it. Even if it means beating Charlotte at her devious game with a scandalous scheme of his own.
Purchase: | Amazon | Kindle | Barnes & Noble | The Book Depository |
Check out the Writing Girls series:
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Want to win some goodies from Maya? Check out what's up for grabs.
Up for grabs:
- 1 lucky winner will win a copy of The Tattooed Duke
To Enter:
- Please leave a comment answering the following question: Who are some of your favorite secondary characters in romance novels?
- Please fill out each Rafflecopter form
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33 comments :
In the In Death series by JD Roberts has some of my favorite secondary characters: Delia Peabody, Ian McNabb and Dr. Charlotte Mira just to name a few. Thanks for the giveaway!
thanks for a great post and giveaway! Congrats to Maya on the new release! I'm dying to read to read these books :)
I'm with Maria. The In Death series has awesome 2ndary characters :)
New author to me and I LOVE discovering a new author. I love comical matrons, and good dynamics between siblings and the main heroine and hero are always good to read. Thanks for the giveaway!
Thanks for the congrats! I haven't read the In Death series...yet. My favorite "secondary" characters would be everyone in Julia Quinn's Bridgerton series. Does they count?
Hmmm usually my favorite secondary characters become main characters when the next novel comes out. XD Like Cam Rohan in Lisa Kleypas' Wallflowers series got his own book in her Hathaways series. However, I loved him as a secondary character (I haven't yet read him in Mine Till Midnight. So, does that count? LOL If not, I also loved the twins in Tessa Dare's spindle cove series. :)
Loved that series too, Carrie! Methinks her best secondary character/villain turned hero is St. Vincent from the Winter book (title is escaping me!).
I would have to say Simi from Sherrilyn Kenyon's Dark-Hunter series and Chris from Lori Foster's Men Who Walk the Edge of Honor series :)
I'm going to have to go with Joe Travis from Lisa Kleypas's Texas trilogy! I really hope Lisa writes his book one day. I'm also very fond of all the ladies from Little Russell Street from Laura Lee Guhrke's Girl Bachelor books and hope she goes back and writes more! :D
P.S. No need to enter me in the giveaway-already have the fab Tattooed Duke. :)
I think the secondary characters usually make the book. Those people that are just kind of in the background like Havers in the Black Dagger Brotherhood series. They give dimension to the story and I love the secondary characters.
I'm getting so many great suggestions for books to add to my TBR list! Thank you! :)
Two of my favorite secondary characters are Faye and St. John from Anne Mallory's historicals.
Just wanted to let you know that there were a few typos above, on this: I want point out., you left out "to" and on this: “You are in impertinent girl,” Lady Stewart-Wortly said, it should say "an" not "in". Sorry, kind of a grammar nut ;-) In answer to your question, some of my favorite secondary characters are Ian, Fergus, Bree, Roger Mac, Lord John Grey, and Jenny from Diana Gabaldon's Outlander series. I love secondary characters who have their own stories to add to the main story and who could become primary characters in their own book!
My favorite secondary characters would have to be the Cynster Cousins: Scandal, Vane, Demon, Lucifer, and Gabriel.
Oh how fun, I really like Charlotte! What a great secondary character =) It is fun when a secondary character is strong enough to stand out and then demand their own book. I fell in love with Casper from Wicked As They Come, he just made me want to find out more about him and wish him a HEA (though with a new character).
My favorite secondary character is the Duke of Villiers from Eloisa James' Desperate Duchesses. He finally got his own book and an HEA, but he was such a great character all through the series. It was such fun to see him go from an unsympathetic man to one that I was happy to see find happiness.
I love secondary characters! They either bring the story together, wrack it then have the hero/in fix it, or just there for simply humor. Most if not already all of Stephanie Laurens' secondary characters already got or will have their own story so I love them all.
kp_kazamei@yahoo.com
Favorite secondary character, Griffin from The Ugly Duchess by Eloisa James. Dying to see how the Pirate wins his wife back in his own book. Loved the excerpt of the Tattooed Duke that I read, definitely on the to read list
I love Villiers and Griffin! Eloisa James is the best!
Hi
Great post. I have not read this series but it is on my list as I have heard great things about it.
My favorite secondary character is probably Nix from The Immortals After Dark series by Kresley Cole.
Thanks for the chance
Pam
tpibrew@msn.com
Sometimes secondary characters are what makes a story. My favorite is Jamie Gallagher, the spirit of the hero's great-grandfather in Suzanne Brockmann's INFAMOUS. He was the best part of that book.
One of my favorite secondary characters is Reaver from the Demonica and Lords of Deliverance series by Larissa Ione. I love this world and the characters and want to know more about all the characters :)
I'm re-reading the Essex Sisters series by Eloisa James for the upteenth time and I love all her secondary characters. Griselda my fav is the sisters' chaperone and she is amazing! She gets her HEA at rhe end too!
evjochum@aol.com
One of my favorite characters is Nina from the Hannah Jayne Underworld series and all the secondary characters from the Eve Dallas books. I just love characters that add to the story and make me laugh.
Nix from the IMAD series is by far one of the best secondary charachters.
In the book The Ugly Duchess,Griffin was James's Cousin. Even if he was a pirate rogue, I felt he would have a second chance with his wife.
I think that my favorite secondary character from a series that I have read lately is Vlad from The Night Huntress by Jeaniene Frost. Love him and now he has his own series!
Love several secondary characters from JD Robb's In Death series: Summerset, Mavis, and Peabody
ivegotmail8889@yahoo.com
I love Villiers and Griffin! Eloisa James is the best!
and maya your new book looks wonderful
parisfan_ca@yahoo.com
I actually kind of love Mary from Pride and Prejudice. She so minor a character, but she has to go through so much.
I enjoy Simi in Kenyon's Dark Hunter series; Bran from Briggs' Alpha & Omega and Mercy Thompson seies; and Nïx from Cole's Immortals after Dark. Of course, there've been lots of secondary character that I really liked who have gone on to have their own stories, and I look forward to stories for the characters above.
I like secondary characters that end up being their own story later on - you see this a lot in series about families (especially in the historical romance genre). It's so fun getting to know then just enough in one book and then finding out all about them in the next.
I like the secondary characters from the Lords of the Underworld series.
I like children, and animals, and quirky elderly people - they can bring out the soft side of the main characters and are also great fun.
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