Please welcome Lauren on her blog tour for Music for my Soul. She is sharing with us why she writes historical romances as well as a great excerpt. Be sure to comment to be in with a chance of winning a $25 Amazon GC.~~~~~~~~~~~Why I Write Historical Romance~~~~~~~~~~~
Lauren Linwood
I am a voracious reader, recently picking up everything from the latest Debbie Reynolds’ biography Unsinkable to David Baldacci’s The Hit to the new installment from Victoria Thompson in her Gaslight Mystery series featuring midwife Sarah Brandt and Detective Frank Malloy in turn of the century New York. I escape to many times and places – helping Gabriel Allon on a mission, walking the country and getting into trouble with Jack Reacher, or finding love on Whiskey Beach.
But when I sat down to write the stories in my head, I knew I would write historical romances. No doubts there.
Even though I enjoy catching serial killers or trying court cases vicariously as I place myself in the protagonist’s shoes as I read, what I enjoy writing is that Happily Ever After ending. I like writing about relationships – the beginning attraction, the coming together, the difficulties and negotiation of obstacles blocking the way to true love, and then finally the end where two people have overcome everything in their way to unite as one. I enjoy leaving my hero and heroine at story’s end, knowing they will always be together, richer for having known one another and for committing to each other for all time.
So why historical romance?
I was the nerdy, scrawny kid with a passion for reading. My elementary school’s librarian took me under her wing and exposed me to many unique authors, but the biggest gift she gave me? Pointing me toward the biography section. She’d purchased a series of biographies that were only 80-100 pages each, and I raced through every single one of them. Some featured contemporary figures, be it politicians or sports stars, but the bulk told the stories of people in the past.
As I read these stories of real people from the past, I fell in love with so many eras in history. I read about Ancient Egypt with Cleopatra and war with the young Maid of Orleans. Benjamin Franklin took me throughout Colonial America, while I also visited the court of the French Sun King. I hid from the Nazis with Anne Frank and fought the English alongside William Wallace. I studied by candlelight with a young Abe Lincoln and danced with Henry VIII as Anne Boleyn.
History became my favorite class in school. As an adult I became a history teacher, wanting to share my passion for the people who lived long ago who shaped our world as we know it today. I wanted to bring their stories to my students, hoping to explore the fact that these famous people in many ways are similar to us. Sometimes the illustrious people we study were just ordinary people thrust into extraordinary circumstances, and they rose to the occasion.
So what better mix than romance with history? I get to revisit eras I enjoy. I have a blast researching fun facts that I can weave into my narrative. I’m able to share customs and fashions and architecture and traditions – all while bring two people together, forever.
It doesn’t get any better than that!
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As the third wife of an abusive French vineyard owner, Madeleine Bouchard hasn’t produced the expected heir after three years of marriage. Fearing he plans to kill her, she flees during a trip to England. Unable to make her way home, she joins a troupe of traveling mummers and reinvents herself as the only woman troubadour in the land, captivating audiences with both song and story. Nobleman Garrett Montayne’s fascination with Madeleine causes him to pay the troupe to bypass their next stop in order to journey to his estate. Though he suspects Madeleine of being a thief with dark secrets, love blossoms between them under the magical moon of summer solstice.
But Madeleine’s past is about to catch up with her, as her husband is set to arrive to conduct business with Garrett. Madeleine determines to free herself from her loveless marriage and make a new life with Garrett, no matter what the cost.
Purchase Music for my Soul on Amazon.
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Excerpt
Madeleine knew with certainty that the nobleman would recognize her. They spent too much time in one another’s company for him not to know her upon first sight.
Madeleine groaned aloud. Where Sir Ashby was, she was positive his friend, the brooding Lord Montayne, would soon appear. She did not care to see that one face to face, especially since he had been so angry at her when they parted.
She decided to skirt the crowd and make her way back to the performance area. She would plead a sore throat and have Farley allow her to take York’s place in the play. Just as she thought she’d made her way unseen, she heard shouts headed her way.
“Stop, thief! Stop!”
The cutpurse ran by her swiftly, throwing a cursory glance over his shoulder. She despised those who preyed upon others’ misfortune, and she was ready to see this shabby scoundrel caught. Madeleine stepped out, ready to give chase after the fellow when she was blind-sided, being thrown to the ground, the wind knocked from her.
Who had attacked her? She looked up into the blinding summer sun but could not see who stood above her. Then the shadow moved, covering her face from the harsh light.
“Why if ‘tis not Lady Montayne,” said a familiar voice. “And where the hell is my favorite cloak?”
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As a child, Lauren Linwood gathered her neighborhood friends together and made up stories for them to act out, her first venture into creating memorable characters. Following her passion for history and love of learning, she became a teacher who began writing on the side to maintain her sanity in a sea of teenage hormones.
Lauren’s novels focus on two of her favorite eras, medieval times and the American Old West. History is the backdrop that places her characters in extraordinary circumstances, where their intense desire and yearning for one another grows into the deep, tender, treasured gift of love.
Lauren, a native Texan, lives in a Dallas suburb with her family. An avid reader, moviegoer, and sports fan, she manages stress by alternating yoga with five mile walks. She is thinking about starting a support group for Pinterest and House Hunters addicts.
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