My Favorite Book Couple with Anne Gracie

Anne Gracie spent her childhood on the move when her father's job took them around the world. The gypsy life taught her that humor and love are universal languages and that favorite books can take you home, wherever you are.

Anne's popular and award-winning Regency-era romances are published by Berkley USA. She is a nationally bestselling author, a five time RITA finalist, and her books have been translated into more than 16 languages, including Japanese manga editions.

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I really enjoy a couple who strikes sparks off each other, who exchange witty banter — or perhaps crisp dialogue on her part and a series of bad-tempered grumblings on his. Which leads me to my favorite book couple — Peabody and Emerson in Elizabeth Peter's Crocodile on the Sandbank. It's a classic, and much beloved. If you haven't read it, grab a copy now.

Peabody is a brisk, no-nonsense English spinster with an interest in Egyptian antiquities. Emerson is a large, shaggy, bad tempered archaeologist, whose Arabic nickname is "Father of Curses."

They clash beautifully, and neither sees the thing that is so enjoyable to the reader — that they're falling in love.

In my latest book, The Winter Bride, the hero and heroine also clash beautifully as they duel words. Freddy, the hero, initially refuses to attend the heroine's literary society:

"Not the literary society. The horror stories those girls read are enough to make a fellow's hair stand on end."

Max frowned. "Horror stories? They don't read horror stories, only entertaining tales of the kind ladies seem to enjoy, about girls and gossip and families—"

"Horror stories, every last one of them," Freddy said firmly. "You asked me to sit in on their literary society last month, when you went up to Manchester, remember? The story they were reading then. . ." He gave an eloquent shudder. "Horror from the very first line: 'It is a truth universally acknowledged that a single man in possession of a large fortune must be in want of a wife.' Must he, indeed? What about the poor fellow's wants, eh? Do they matter? No. Every female in the blasted story was plotting to hook some man for herself or her daughter or niece. If you don't call that horror, I don't know what is!"

I loved writing this book. My hero Freddy is funny and charming, a lighthearted bad-boy rake with a powerful aversion to marriage. He's relentlessly pursued by what he calls "muffins" — ie. eligible, seriously marriage-minded women and every woman he meets in the story gives him a hard time. But there are hidden depths to Freddy and as the story progresses, he slowly reveals himself to be "an utterly to-die-for hero" (to quote Mary Jo Putney.)

My heroine, Damaris is serious and quiet, and the secrets of her past make her vulnerable and just as marriage-averse as Freddy, but underneath her cool exterior she's really something special — watch her stand up to Freddy's b*tch of a mother, and I think you'll love her as much as I do.

Amelia Peabody, indomitable Victorian, embarks for Egypt armed with confidence, journal, and umbrella. Enroute to Cairo, she rescues dainty Evelyn, abandoned by her lover. They sail up the Nile to the archeological dig of the Emerson brothers - irascible but dashing Radcliffe and amiable Walter. A lively mummy, visitations, accidents, kidnap attempts - evil is afoot.

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Damaris Chance’s unhappy past has turned her off the idea of marriage forever. But her guardian, Lady Beatrice Davenham, convinces her to make her coming out anyway—and have a season of carefree, uncomplicated fun.

When Damaris finds herself trapped in a compromising situation with the handsome rake Freddy Monkton-Coombes, she has no choice but to agree to wed him—as long as it’s in name only. Her new husband seems to accept her terms, but Freddy has a plan of his own: to seduce his reluctant winter bride.

Will Damaris’s secrets destroy her chance at true happiness? Or can Freddy help her cast off the shackles of the past, and yield to delicious temptation?

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