Guest Post with Author Theresa Romain and Giveaway

Today I am super excited to welcome author Theresa Romain to RFTC. Theresa is super nice and I her books rock! Theresa's newest book Season for Surrender comes out in just two weeks and I can hardly wait, so I asked her to come by for a chat. Before I give the floor over to Theresa, let's get to know her a bit.

Historical romance author Theresa Romain pursued an impractical education that allowed her to read everything she could get her hands on. She then worked for universities and libraries, where she got to read even more. Eventually she started writing, too. Her historical romance debut, SEASON FOR TEMPTATION, was published in October 2011. The sequel, SEASON FOR SURRENDER, will be published in October 2012.

Places to find Theresa:

| Site | Blog | Facebook | Twitter |

Jane Austen Liked Rakes

Danielle, thanks so much for letting me visit today!

Here’s my hypothesis: Jane Austen liked rakes. And not the garden kind, either.

I never had the pleasure of meeting Ms. Austen in person, so I’m not sure how she felt about rakes in her personal life. But as a storyteller, she definitely liked to use wild, charismatic young men to move her plots alone. Each of her novels has a character who could be considered a rake: he’s fashionable, brash, often charming, usually sexy—and ultimately, untrustworthy.

In her earliest-written novel, Northanger Abbey, the great Jane was still figuring out her rakes, and John Thorpe is a bit too foolish to catch the heroine’s eye. But after him? Wickham in Pride and Prejudice and Willoughby in Sense and Sensibility: a dashing and deceitful pair if ever there was one. Then came Henry Crawford, that randy opportunist, in Mansfield Park. Frank Churchill, the nicest of the rakes, in Emma. And last of all, Mr. Elliot, the fortune-hunter who elopes with a gold-digger in Persuasion.

Today’s writers of Regency-set romance are just as keen as Austen to salt their stories with rakes. I’m no different! In my historical romance debut, SEASON FOR TEMPTATION, I created a rakish friend for my good-natured hero:

…the lean, dark looks of Alexander Edgware, Lord Xavier, appealed to many women – as did his sense of barely curbed wildness. And he was intelligent, too; he could read people with uncanny swiftness, he always rose the winner from a game of cards or chance, and he could be very quick-witted, even uncomfortably so.

Like Austen’s rakes, Xavier proves himself to be untrustworthy, and his friendship with the hero falls apart because of his presumed treachery.

Presumed.

When I learned my publisher wanted a sequel—yay!—I jumped at the chance to make my first villain into my second hero. I wanted to figure out what had happened from Xavier’s point of view. I wanted to figure out what made him tick. And the more I pieced together Xavier’s story—SEASON FOR SURRENDER—the more I realized that he wasn’t at all what he seemed. Talk about untrustworthy: my own character deceived me.

Yet I liked him the better for it, and I hope you will too. SEASON FOR SURRENDER tells the story of a naughty house party, a wager gone wrong, a bluestocking heroine who’s ready to enter society…and, of course, our rakish hero, who realizes that the face he shows the world isn’t the man he wants to be inside. The story is set at Christmas, which is a good time of year for coming to terms with difficult truths and seeking forgiveness. But it’s not all sober: there are lots of naughty games, an encoded book, and plenty of mistletoe.

I’m offering a signed copy of my debut, SEASON FOR TEMPTATION, to one random entrant (open internationally). And if you’d like to leave a comment, do tell: Do you have a favorite rake in a book or a movie?

HONOR AMONG ROGUES

Alexander Edgware, Lord Xavier, has quite a reputation—for daring, wagering, and wickedness in all its delightful forms. But the wager before him is hardly his preferred sport: Xavier must persuade a proper young lady to attend his famously naughty Christmas house party—and stay the full, ruinous two weeks. Worse, the lady is Louisa Oliver, a doe-eyed bookworm Xavier finds quite charming. Yet to refuse the challenge is impossible—he will simply have to appoint himself Miss Oliver’s protector…

MISCHIEF AMONG MISSES

Louisa knows her chance for a husband has passed. But she has no desire to retire into spinsterhood without enjoying a few grand adventures first. When Lord Xavier’s invitation arrives, Louisa is more intrigued than insulted. And once inside the rogues’ gallery, she just may have a thing or two to teach her gentlemen friends about daring…

Purchase: | Amazon | Kindle | Barnes & Noble | The Book Depository | Books-a-Million | Indiebound | Powell's | Chapter's Indigo |

Check out Theresa's other book:

Click on cover for more info. 

1 lucky commenter (International Shipping Available) will win a copy of  Season for Temptation

To Enter:

• Please leave a comment answering Theresa's question: Do you have a favorite rake in a book or a movie?  
• Please fill out the Rafflecopter form.

Good Luck =)

a Rafflecopter giveaway