Xenia Navarre Historical Romance

This historical romance is the conclusion of a trilogy set in Georgian-era England (mid-18th century for the layperson, which would be the colonial era in America), and it’s one of my favorite periods for romance. This was THE age of the androgynous hero–very virile and sexy men who minced about in powdered wigs, glittering brocades, and high-heeled shoes. Think the vampire Lestat when he was just getting started, in those wonderful early Anne Rice books. The fact that Lestat was an aristocrat in this particular era endows him through the centuries with that flamboyant vanity that we all love so much…or at least, that *I* love so much–in the character. Whether he’s a vampire or a mere mortal, there is something about an elegant, foppish but powerful man with lace at his throat and a snuffbox that makes Xenia swoon!!

In this well-done tale, country-bred spinster Lucinda Craddock-Hayes is astonished to find a naked and battered man on her doorstep, and even more astonished when he turns out to be elegant rakehell viscount Simon Iddesleigh. Although his whirlwind courtship is swiftly followed by a marriage proposal, Lucy has the uneasy suspicion that Simon is lying about the reason behind his recent assault, and the unknown men who still stalk him. When Simon’s relentless scheme of vengeance against his brother’s killers is exposed, Lucy will need all her strength and resolve to ensure that Simon—and their love—survive the deadly game.

This was a thoroughly satisfying conclusion to Hoyt’s debut trilogy. A strong and virtuous heroine paired with an elegant but wounded aristocratic hero (sexy even when he minces about in red-heeled shoes, with Lestat-like dash!) make a highly appealing pair. I read this book while also reading Jayne Ann Krentz’s DANGEROUS MEN AND ADVENTUROUS WOMEN: ROMANCE WRITERS ON THE APPEAL OF THE ROMANCE, and found myself noticing how well Hoyt used the angel-saving-the-devil paradigm in this romance. Lucy “saves” Simon from himself in a highly convincing and moving manner.

If you’re a fan of historical romance, I can recommend with conviction treating yourself to Hoyt’s entire trilogy. Start with THE DRAGON PRINCE, which features a hero who reminded me in all the right ways of Mr. Rochester from JANE EYRE.

This book was another amazing find from The Complete Idiot’s Ultimate Reading List. The story, by an author best known for her vivid fantasy novels, was a fascinating marriage of vampire horror and detective fiction, set in Victorian-era London.

Oxford don and sometimes-covert agent James Asher is shocked when he returns to his townhouse one night to find Spanish Inquisition-era hidalgo vampire Don Simon Ysidro looming in the parlor over Asher’s unconscious wife. But the vampire’s purpose is far deeper than it appears, and Ysidro uses Asher’s fear for his wife to blackmail Asher into investigating who is murdering the vampires of London. Despite the pair’s mutual distrust, Asher and Ysidro must work together if they want to survive their investigation and stop a supernatural killer unlike any they’ve ever encountered, before the killer stops them.

I cannot express to you how refreshing, well-written, and just plain good this story was! It was an interesting cross of early vampire fiction, historical fiction and a good, old-fashioned, twisty detective story. Published in 1988, the novel’s vampires may have been somewhat influenced by Anne Rice’s early work–and of course, early Rice is one of my very favorite things to read! Despite the vampire’s current popularity, in the 1980s almost no one else was writing sympathetic vampire fiction. In Hambly’s tale, the Victorian detective twist–well-researched and presented with very sharp prose—-made the story entirely fresh. The cautious friendship that grows between detective Asher and vampire Ysidro is one of the story’s particular strengths. And the mystery is complex and surprising, with an unexpected solution to the crimes. I understand the author is a historian by training, and the Victorian-era worldbuilding is very well done indeed. There’s apparently one sequel to this story, which I will eagerly look for!

I heartily recommend this book for those who enjoy vampire fiction or Victorian-era mystery/suspense. It’s darkly textured and sometimes violent, but never gratuitously so.

More great news from the lovely women at River City Romance Writers. I have now learned that BOTH of the manuscripts I submitted for the contest have finalled: Russian Seduction in the mystery/suspense category, and Devil’s Mistress in the historical category. So Mistress will now be read and judged by an editor from Samhain Publishing.

I have to say this is encouraging feedback. I entered Mistress in several contests over the winter in order to get some feedback from within the romance industry on the read. And the story has now finalled in the first two contests where I’ve entered it. Of course, it has also benefitted from being workshopped by fellow students in the Stonecoast program at University of Southern Maine, where I’m earning my MFA in Writing Popular Fiction. As part of the program, I submit monthly writing packets to my faculty mentor, who this semester is the excellent horror/romance/YA author Nancy Holder…who has been fantastic to me. She’s helped a great deal in making my courtesan-assassin heroine in Devil’s Mistress a sympathetic character, which was not exactly easy to do!

I’ll keep you all posted on how the story does in these contests!

Cheers,
Xenia

Set in an alternate near-future Earth, this science fiction novel blew my mind! When Tyler is twelve years old and living in suburban Washington, D.C., the moon and stars suddenly vanish from the heavens on a quiet autumn night. It’s soon discovered that the Earth has been sealed in an impermeable membrane by the mysterious extraterrestrials called the “Hypotheticals,” and that outside the membrane, the solar system is aging thousands of times faster than the Earth. Consequently, inside the membrane, Earth has a projected lifespan of only 40 years, before the planet is destroyed by the rapidly aging sun. Human civilization threatens to dissove into chaos.

Led by a courageous group of scientists and visionaries, the human race seeks to ensure its survival by terraforming and starting a colony on Mars, which is made a possible near-term option because Mars, too, is aging at thousands of times the rate of time on Earth. The effort seems promising—-until Mars too is sealed within a membrane. Now the future of humanity can only be assured by the enigmatic Hypotheticals—-and only if the residents of Earth can discover a way to communicate with them.

This was an absolutely FABULOUS and riveting read. Compelling narrative, brisk pacing, strongly sympathetic characters, and an intriguing premise. Lots of suspense and and character-driven choices, and not too much heavy science. I can’t wait to read the sequel AXIS, although the author warns it will be nothing like the first book in the series.

I’d recommend this story to anyone who enjoys not-too-technical science fiction, rooted in a realistic modern world. Very imaginative and readable stuff, with an “up” ending.

Greetings to all you lovely readers!

Today was my birthday (which is not normally a matter for cheering), but I did receive a particularly lovely surprise in the mail. My sexy romantic suspense, THE RUSSIAN SEDUCTION, has finalled in the River City Romance Writers Duel on the Delta contest! It was particularly pleasant since this is not only the first contest in which I’ve entered this particular story, but the first contemporary romantic suspense I’ve written. I entered a few contests primarily to get feedback from within the romance industry on this rather exotic bird of mine. And was frankly delighted to find the feedback so positive!

Interesting also that the aspects of the story I expected to be “misunderstood” actually went over pretty well. The judges seemed to like my storyline of Russia-Ukraine at war, and seemed to like my very alpha, chain-smoking Russian hero. Now the final round will be judged by Keyren Gerlach, an associate editor at Silhouette Romantic Suspense!

If interested, you can find out more about the contest at http://rivercityromancewriters.org/duel.html I’ll keep you posted on how it turns out!

Cheers,
Xenia

Set in twelfth century France and England, this is a vivid and accessible retelling of the extraordinary life of Eleanor of Aquitaine, wife to two kings who were both allies and rivals, mother to two future Kings of England, plotter and politician extraordinaire, famed patron of the arts and a legendary beauty. The story is told from Eleanor’s point of view as a fictionalized autobiography—loaded with intrigue, passion and family drama—during the fifteen years when the dangerous lady was incarcerated in a remote English castle by her own husband, the betrayed and angry King Henry II.

I am a selective customer when it comes to Eleanor, having written a novel myself set at her court-in-exile, and having dared to use this remarkable woman as a secondary character in my story. Yet I say without reservation that THE BOOK OF ELEANOR was an exceptional novel, bringing me closer to “the essence of Eleanor” than anything I’ve read on this historical figure before, and an excellent dramatic counterpoint to Alison Weir’s stellar non-fiction biography of Eleanor’s life and times, which is called ELEANOR OF AQUITAINE: A LIFE–another book I recommend highly to anyone curious about Eleanor’s life and times.

The voice in this story was extraordinary, sprightly and wry, brilliant, humorous at times, passionate yet dignified. In the very first paragraph, Eleanor’s voice exploded from the page, sucking me in and never letting go until the end. I would read anything else this author has done, and I think there are real lessons to be learned here about making an unwieldy and substantial history accessible and intriguing for the modern reader.

Note that the story was published first in German, underscoring to my mind yet again the great interest of European readers in quality historical fiction. Look out for SHIELD OF THREE LIONS and BANNERS OF GOLD, the other medieval novels published by this talented author.

In this Victorian-era mystery set in 1880s London, outspoken society spinster Charlotte Ellison is horrified when neighborhood women begin to be strangled, including her own maid. Working-class Inspector William Pitt undertakes an investigation of the crime, and becomes intrigued by Charlotte. The two struggle to find the murderer before he kills again, and Charlotte may be the next target.

This is the first book of what is reportedly the longest-running mystery series of all time. This first book was pubbed in 1979 and, amazingly, has never gone out of print. The upper-class Victorian setting was perfect for this story and organic to it. The seething tensions of three generations of the Ellison family, the dialogue that reveals what’s NOT being said, the family secrets and long-unspoken resentments bubbling to the light added so much to the story.

WARNING, PLOT SPOILER AHEAD: I was dismayed by the murder of Charlotte’s sister, one of the main characters whose point of view we enjoyed, near the story climax. I liked this character and wasn’t prepared to have her die! But of course it served the goals of increasing the tension and stakes for the heroine to solve the crime. Because the story is a bit dark, I’m not sure whether it would be classified as a “cozy” mystery, which is the kind I find myself seeking out most frequently lately! One thing I like about reading mystery writ large is that, as with romance, you have a guaranteed happy ending. A mystery is about the quest for justice. The crime is always solved, and justice is always served in the end.

I’d recommend CATER STREET HANGMAN for fans of historical mysteries. Because the romance between Pitt and Charlotte is central to this first book and it has a happy ending, I’d also recommend it to romance readers who like Victorian-set stories and savor a bit of suspense with the read. The next books in the Pitt series are Callander Square, Paragon Walk, and Resurrection Row.

Set in ancient Egypt, this compelling story is a novelization of the true life of Hatshepsut, the famous female Pharoah who dressed like a man and called herself king. The hero of the book is Senenmut, the queen’s real-life scribe, lover, and tutor to her doomed young daughter Neferure. The story of this brilliant and daring female monarch is told by Senenmut and by Nehsi, the queen’s charismatic Nubian bodyguard.

This book was immensely appealing to me on so many levels. Although the entire story was true, it was told in a very dramatic and personal way that never bogged down for me—-not once. In fact, it was very difficult to put the book down once I started reading it. Particular strengths included Hatshepsut’s motivation for her unconventional decision, and the terrible tension between her and her militaristic heir and nephew Thutmose (who became a famous pharoah himself, and sought feverishly to obliterate all evidence that his aunt had ever ruled). Some historical novels weaken my connection to the story with frequent, multi-year jumps in chronology, as years elapse between chapters. This book avoided that challenge and presented a smooth and continuous narrative. When years passed, it was done so gracefully that I almost didn’t notice. The life-long romance between Senenmut and Hatshepsut was also very poignant.

Tarr has a considerable backlist, including a number of other novels written in ancient Egypt as well as Crusader and fantasy novels, and I definitely want to read them! Two thumbs way up for this book. It’s one of the best historicals I’ve read in a long time.

This book is the enticing first in a historical mystery series set in Tudor England at Queen Elizabeth’s court. Widowed gentlewoman Ursula Blanchard accepts a sensitive position guarding Lord Robert Dudley’s wife, who fears her husband will murder her in order to marry his beloved Elizabeth and win the English throne. When the unhappy Amy is murdered despite Ursula’s vigilance, and a beloved servant is killed as well, Ursula is driven to hunt for the killers. The clues lead her to the highest levels of the Queen’s court. When Ursula’s own life is jeopardized, she must decide how far she’s willing to go for justice.

This story was an excellent read! Astonishingly well researched, yet the research is woven seamlessly into a brisk and twisty plot, while the stakes for Ursula continue to mount. The mystery involved several surprising twists and has a fully satisfying ending. I would read this author’s other books in a heartbeat, and have just picked up THE QUEEN’S RANSOM, which is #3 in the Ursula Blanchard series. I have a lot to learn from this author about tight pacing and the use of action and intrigue to make complex history accessible to the mainstream reader.

This book is a great choice for anyone intrigued by Tudor England and the controversial romance between Elizabeth and her dashing master-of-horse Dudley. It’s also fully satisfying as a mystery. No steamy sex in this read, yet there is plenty of sexual tension between Ursula and her aristocratic suitor–who may also be involved in the crime. The violence primarily takes place off the page, yet a sense of menace is effortlessly maintained throughout.

Set of course in Tudor England under the reign of King Henry VIII, SECRET DIARY is a startlingly good retelling of Anne Boleyn’s story via a fictional journal that is discovered and read by her daughter Elizabeth Tudor when she becomes Queen. Elizabeth finds unsettling parallels between her mother’s story and her own illicit and dangerous love for Lord Robert Dudley.

The crisp and authentic period voice if this novel was a particular strength; I could hear Anne’s voice and Elizabeth’s ringing in my head. Maxwell also manages a great interweaving of research with the story, including some unusual tidbits that found their way into my own Tudor-era story. The story was nicely paced (which is often a challenge in historical novels that span many years), and the device of journal entries spaced several months apart was smooth and effective. The book also created strong sympathy for the flawed yet appealing Anne Boleyn. The reader gets the strong sense of an intelligent, independent and ambitious woman who was ultimately punished for these so-called failings.

MADEMOISELLE BOLEYN by the same author was another exceptional read, every bit as good as SECRET DIARY. This novel embodies the brilliantly executed idea to focus on the girlhood of Anne Boleyn at the French court, before she returns to England and becomes Henry VIII’s beloved. Thus, the story is “fresh” in part because it covers a period of Anne’s life that is not well traveled by other novels. It ends when Anne arrives back home on English soil, just before her fateful meeting with Henry VIII–which gave me a definite chill. This book was almost good enough to bring me to tears!

These two novels are must-reads for any fan of Tudor history or anyone curious about the charismatic Anne. Fans of Philippa Gregory’s Tudor-era novels are certain to like these books. Historical romance readers who like a rich tapestry of history with their romance will also enjoy the read.

Check out also Maxwell’s latest release, SIGNORA DA VINCI, set during the Italian Renaissance, which tells the story of the famous artist and his courageous mother. Details on this and other releases by this talented author can be found at http://robinmaxwell.com

In this Regency-set historical romance, Russian prince Alex Prokov is actually a double agent, who weds London socialite Livia Lacey in order to build a cover for snooping in high society. Livia is also unknowingly living in a house that belongs to Alex, the property of his mysterious dead mother, which he wishes to have back. Sparks fly when they meet and Alex’s courtship appears successful, but after the wedding Livia is devastated to discover Alex’s secrets, and unable to trust his promises of love. When Alex is placed in danger and only Livia can rescue him, both lovers learn the truth of their hearts.

I do enjoy Jane Feather’s work, and have quite a few of her novels on my keeper shelf. I picked up this particular romance in part because I wanted to see how the author handled her Russian hero (after hearing a romance editor in another venue say that Russian heroes don’t sell.) Of course Xenia is finishing up a manuscript with a Russian hero now, so I want to know how difficult it’s going to be to pitch! It was also rather interesting to me that Feather gave her hero similar physical traits to my Russian hero Victor, as well as the character challenge of “Russian authoritarianism.” In this book, Alex’s “foreignness", exoticism, and cultural barriers were made an issue that both appealed to and challenged the heroine.

On the question of marketability for a Russian hero, I noted that 1) the story took place in London, not Russia, 2) the Russians in the story were anglicized as much as possible, and 3) complicated names and Russian vocabulary were avoided. Thus, the hero’s Russian heritage was present as an element, but wasn’t made too obtrusive or overwhelming.

I also noted the “eight required elements” of romance presented by Pamela Regis in A Natural History of the Romance Novel, which were definitely present here: a society upset, the meet, the attraction, the barrier (Alex’s Russian heritage, spying, secrets and character traits), the recognition of love (made over a course of several scenes by both hero and heroine), the moment of ritual death (also called the big black moment by other writers. In this one, the hero is kidnapped and knocked unconscious), the declaration of love (made over two scenes, with the second scene coupled with the final element, the proposal.) The Regis formula really works!

Overall, this was a pleasant and diverting read, a good choice for fans of the Regency-set historical romance. The Russian hero, in particular, gave the story a fresh and appealing nature.

Oh what a find this author is! This historical romance is set in Regency Mauritius, France and England, and is a very fresh take on the Regency-set historical. It’s the romance of ardent Bonapartist-plantation owner Delphine Dalgleish and English spy Sir Gideon Landor. Both are working as spies for their respective governments, trying to obtain or defend the grand chiffre, the elaborate code by which Napoleon communicates with his generals in the field. The story is fresh in part because it opens on Mauritius, which is French-owned, but blockaded and occupied by the English.

Also, like Sawyer’s other work, the book straddles the line between historical romance and historical fiction. Although all conventions of the romance genre are observed including a happy ending, the author also provides considerable historical fabric and narrative as backdrop to the romance.

The flash of illumination I had while reading this story—-labeled as historical romance, but packaged as a trade paperback with a historical fiction cover—-is an understanding of what the publisher (New American Library) is trying to do in targeting both markets. It provides a goal post, when set against the work of a “pure” historical romance author, of the boundaries between the two genres, and how far a story can “tilt” toward historical fiction, but still fit inside the romance genre. Since I aspire to achieve this balance myself, by providing a lush backdrop of history and geopolitics with my romances, this book was a very useful read for me.

Another pleasing element in THE CODE OF LOVE was the very human and sympathetic interpretation the author provides to Napoleon, whom the heroine knew as a child.

Overall, this was a satisfying, well-researched and richly textured read. I would recommend it for readers who enjoy historical fiction as well as historical romance set in the Regency period. The sex scenes are quite genteel and not particularly explicit. I’d also recommend THE SIREN, which is a pirate romance set in Regency-era New Orleans–SO satisfying, and THE CHASE, both by the same author.

Dear Xenia,
I just wanted to congratulate you on the Golden Heart Award!
Alison

I wrote the essay below for the Stonecoast MFA program in Writing Popular Fiction at the University of Southern Maine. Please feel free to cite my work with attribution if you like for your own academic or other research. If you find the arguments useful or interesting, please give a shout-out on the blog or email me at Xenia@XeniaNavarre.com! I’d love to hear from you.

During the first half of this semester, my annotations for the Stonecoast MFA program have analyzed key elements in “classic” romance fiction, including Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre, Jane Austen’s Pride & Prejudice, and Nora Roberts’s Montana Sky. For reasons discussed in the previous annotations, these novels soundly meet the criteria of romance fiction described by Pamela Regis in A Natural History of the Romance Novel. Although secondary plots and characters enrich these stories, each is—first and foremost—a romance novel. In contrast, my analysis in the following pages explores a historical novel with romantic elements that transcends the genre, The Queen’s Fool by Philippa Gregory. Although the love story in this novel adheres to Regis’s romantic elements and is central to the plot, The Queen’s Fool transcends the romance genre by enmeshing the heroine’s journey inextricably with the central political and religious conflicts of her time, and using the heroine as both a lens and a vehicle to explore these broader issues. In so doing, the author raises the stakes to encompass a life-and-death struggle for Tudor England and, by inference, for any society troubled by religious tension. Yet Gregory also gives this conflict a deeply personal dimension which is expressed through the heroine’s journey.

Clues regarding the story’s broad scope and high stakes are embedded in the very first chapter, which sets the stage. The novel opens with an unidentified man’s sexual pursuit of a young woman in a garden, conveyed through a rather impersonal omniscient point of view (POV). By p. 3, we learn that the young woman is fourteen-year-old Princess Elizabeth Tudor, and that the pursuer is her stepfather Tom Seymour, who is married to Henry VIII’s widow, Queen Katherine Parr. Immediately the stakes soar, because we see the political implications for England if this seduction is successful. By p. 4, the novel’s heroine is introduced—a young Spanish émigré, the Jew and bookseller Hannah Green, who witnesses the flirtation between Elizabeth and Seymour, and sees a prophetic vision of Seymour at the scaffold. Now the stakes for this seduction have become a matter of life and death. By opening with this omniscient glimpse of high political and personal stakes, Gregory has already informed the reader that the novel’s broad scope will transcend the boundaries of romance. Yet Gregory has also met the first of Regis’s requirements for a romance, by using the adulterous and dangerous flirtation between Elizabeth and Seymour to portray a microcosm of society out-of-balance.

Several pages pass before we settle into first-person POV of the heroine, Hannah Green. She becomes the lens through which we view the story and the vehicle through which the action occurs. In the very first pages of Hannah’s POV, we find clues to the personal, life-and-death stakes for our heroine. We learn that the heroine mourns her mother’s execution and is “hiding from grief as well as the Inquisition….[W]e were convinced Protestants now. We could not have been better Protestants if our lives had depended on it. Of course, our lives did depend on it.” (p. 6-9) Moreover, the author has already established a link between the heroine’s personal stakes and the broad political and religious stakes that will hinge on the story’s resolution.

In addition to the heavy lifting these first pages have already achieved, the author manages to introduce the novel’s false hero, Lord Robert Dudley. Hannah’s fascination with Dudley is immediately apparent, which gives the impression that Dudley may be the story’s romantic hero. “I snapped my eyes open and leaped to attention. Before me, casting a long shadow, was a young man….He was the most breathtakingly handsome man I had ever seen….At the moment his dark eyes flicked to mine, I felt myself freeze, as if all the clocks in London had suddenly stopped still and their pendulums were caught silent.” (p. 10-11) This tension-fraught meeting between the heroine and the apparent hero is the second of Regis’s required elements of romance.

In the bantering dialogue between Dudley and Hannah that follows, a mutual attraction is apparent, thereby providing the third of Regis’s required romantic elements. By p. 25, Dudley has used Hannah’s attraction to him for his own purposes, by “begging her for a fool” to the king so that the unwilling heroine may be planted at court as a spy. Since it still appears that Dudley may be the story’s romantic hero, his Machiavellian use of Hannah (which will continue throughout the novel) may be viewed as a primary complication or “barrier” that impedes the romance. Another significant complication is Dudley’s marriage to Amy, although his wife is “off-screen” for much of the story. The presence of these impediments to romance is the fourth of Regis’s required romantic elements.
Despite his shortcomings, Dudley is not convincingly discredited as the romantic hero until quite late in the novel, during the siege of Calais in which both Hannah and Dudley are caught up. When the French invade the city, civilians are dying in the streets around them, and Hannah’s life is in obvious jeopardy, Dudley’s effort to protect her is modest at best. “He…twisted a ring from his finger, threw it at me, careless if I caught it or not. ‘Take this to the Windflight,’ he said. ‘My ship. I will see you aboard if we need to sail. Go now.’” (p. 403) Then he thunders off on his own mission, leaving Hannah vulnerable and entirely reliant on her own resources to survive. By this point, it is apparent to the reader that Dudley is not worthy of being the romantic hero and will not grow into a worthy hero. Thus, a happily-ever-after romance between Hannah and Dudley is decidedly not in the cards. Where, then, is the story going?

Much of the novel focuses on the heroine’s efforts to survive and thrive amid conflicting intrigues, during which Gregory deviates entirely from the customary romance plot. Before the crisis at Calais, Hannah and the false hero Dudley spend substantial periods of time apart and, while the romance between them is latent, the heroine is again used as a lens and vehicle for the novel’s broader political and religious conflicts. It is important to note that Hannah does not merely observe and comment upon these national conflicts—to the contrary. Due to her ethnic and religious origins, Hannah is acutely involved and endangered by the conflict that arises between Catholic Queen Mary Tudor and her Protestant sister Princess Elizabeth. We know Hannah’s mother was burned at the stake for heresy in the Spanish Inquisition. Understandably, Hannah evinces symptoms of what a modern reader recognizes as post-traumatic stress disorder, and Hannah has an obsessive fear of meeting the same fate. When Mary decides to wed the Spanish Prince Philip (an ardent Catholic), Hannah’s father says, “I cannot stay [in England] if it is to become another Spain….Every Sunday, every saint’s day, they burned heretics, sometimes hundreds at a time. And those of us who had practiced Christianity for years were put on trial alongside those who had hardly pretended to it. And no one could prove their innocence!” (p. 158)

The threat to Hannah becomes even more acute when she is arrested under suspicion of heresy. Although she is quickly released due to an influential friend’s intervention, her arrest serves to raise her personal stakes still higher. We see that torture and death by burning are not merely a hypothetical possibility, but a real danger for her. Her harrowing arrest and imprisonment also serve as an effective personal illustration of the national agony in England, as Catholics and Protestants struggle for dominance. Thus, the author uses Hannah as a vehicle to reflect both the personal and global stakes of the conflict. Because of the scope and consequences of these conflicts, The Queen’s Fool stretches well beyond the boundaries of the customary romance novel.

To complete our analysis of the story’s romantic elements, we must discuss briefly the secondary hero, the young Jewish doctor Daniel Carpenter, who eventually emerges as the true hero. Although Hannah is betrothed to Daniel early in the story, it is not a romantic arrangement, and she does not initially love him, since her attention is entirely fixed on Dudley. The first real indication of Daniel’s role as the true hero comes when he kisses Hannah for the first time and she notes “for some odd reason, the feeling of absolute safety that he gave me….I wanted to…let him hold me against him and know that I was safe—if only I would let him love me, if only I would let myself love him.” (p. 162) The attraction between these two, both physical and emotional, is now apparent. Yet Hannah and Daniel are often separated for lengthy periods, and Dudley (a primary impediment to the Hannah-Daniel romance) has not yet proven his falseness.

Another impediment to the Hannah-Daniel romance occurs when Hannah discovers Daniel’s infidelity during the period of their separation. Hannah is “filled with resentment that love should have brought me so low that I was whimpering at betrayal….I did not want to be a girl in love any more….I strode away [from Daniel] as if I would walk home…to England, all the way to Robert Dudley, and tell him that I would be his mistress this very night if he desired it….I had tried an honorable love and it had been nothing but lies and dishonesty: a hard road and paid with a false coin at the end.” (p. 369-71) When Hannah leaves Daniel, her disillusionment over Daniel’s past betrayal becomes a primary complication and impediment to their happily-ever-after.

For much of the novel, the author uses Daniel and Dudley to externalize Hannah’s inner conflict: her desire as a lifelong refugee to remain in England and have a stable life (represented by Dudley who is rooted to England and the court, and who demands that Hannah remain in danger to assist him), set against Hannah’s need for safety and freedom (represented by Daniel, whose top priority is always to protect Hannah, who learns to allow her substantial personal freedom, and who encourages her to embrace her Jewish heritage.) It is only after we see Dudley’s benign indifference in Calais when Hannah’s life is jeopardized, and after Hannah is given the subsequent opportunity to become Dudley’s lover and rejects him, that she recognizes the true worth of Daniel.

In similar fashion, the author uses Hannah’s conflicting loyalties to Mary and Elizabeth Tudor as a device to personalize the English nation’s divided loyalties. Hannah is drawn to Mary for her kindness and steadiness (though these qualities deteriorate as Mary slips toward fanaticism after losing and being abandoned by her husband.) At the same time, the adolescent and sexually-awkward Hannah is drawn to Elizabeth’s feminine confidence and charisma. Moreover, both royal sisters show a sincere affection toward Hannah. These divided loyalties torment Hannah until the end, when she finds the maturity to forgive Daniel for his past infidelity (which he sincerely repents) and the wisdom to recognize the true and lasting love between them. This personal growth gives Hannah the perspective to make her peace with both Mary and Elizabeth as aspects of herself. She tells Daniel, “I have seen a woman break her heart for love: my Queen Mary. I have seen another break her soul to avoid it: my Princess Elizabeth. I don’t want to be Mary or Elizabeth. I want to be me: Hannah Carpenter.” (p. 500)

At its heart, The Queen’s Fool is the story of a young woman’s growth from rebellion to maturity, which is reflected in her evolution away from the false hero Dudley to the true hero Daniel. As a key indicator of Hannah’s growth and a reflection of the larger conflicts, the love triangle between Hannah, Dudley, and Daniel is a primary plot thread. However, The Queen’s Fool is also the story of a nation at war with itself, the battle between two religions and the related tension between fanaticism and tolerance. Among her other skills as a historian and storyteller, Philippa Gregory’s genius lies in her ability to relate—with equal immediacy and relevance—the parallel stories of a nation consumed by political and religious conflict (spearheaded by the warring Tudors), and the suffering this conflict imposes on the individuals caught up in it (represented by Hannah Green.) As such, the historical novel The Queen’s Fool transcends the intimate scope of the romance genre, and tells us a story of love, discovery, and acceptance that impacts the future of a nation. The agonizing consequences of England’s religious conflict bear relevance for any modern nation struggling to chart a course between religious extremism and tolerance.

Copyright 2009 by Xenia Navarre

I’ve just finished reading a Harlequin Blaze I enjoyed, and before blogging about it, I thought it might be useful to say a few words about category romance. Most of the romances I’ve blogged on this site are what they call “single-title” books, which adhere to the “rules” of the romance genre, but in an “anything goes” kind of way. Single-title romances are bigger books, usually from 80,000-100,000 words, and they usually have more complex plots, subplots, and secondary characters than category or series romances. Single-title romances can range from historical to contemporary to futuristic to paranormal settings, and often have a significant element of suspense, an important historical conflict, or other meat on the bones in addition to a strong romance. The historical manuscripts I write myself, and have discussed on this site, are also examples of single-title concepts.

Category or series romances are the Harlequins and Silhouettes you see on the shelf at your bookstore. New titles are released every month as the old titles are sold out, so if you see something you like here, grab it quickly, because it will sell out fast. These romances tend to be shorter (as little as 55,000 words in some cases) which means the focus must stay very tightly on the romance, demanding a great deal of discipline and efficiency by the writer. According to Writing a Romance Novel for Dummies by Leslie Wainger, category books have “a consistent look–with a particular art style, graphic design…a strongly defined editorial personality, shared by all the books in the series.” The individual category romance lines range from romantic suspense (woman in jeopardy-type stories) to contemporary romantic fantasies (billionaire sheik of a fictional country offers heroine in crisis $1 million to become his mistress, for example) to paranormal, inspirational (usually Christian) romance, erotic romance and many more.

Category romance readers often buy books each month based on their familiarity with the line rather than the author. Thus, it’s one great way for a new romance writer to build an audience, because readers will buy even a brand-new author based on the reader’s liking for the overall line.

There are a few Harlequin and Silhouette lines that I really enjoy, usually the ones with a strong element of suspense and/or an exotic international setting. Once in a while, I really get into an American-set story (horse ranch in Montana type of thing) as well.

One series I read most frequently is the Harlequin Blaze line, which tends to feature hotter romances, often with an element of action or suspense. Note that these are not erotica (a topic I must blog on separately), but this is probably not the read you want to buy for your grandmother in the nursing home (unless she’s a very unusual lady with a strong heart!) or for your 11-year-old daughter.

To illustrate the concept, I’ve just finished a Blaze set in the small Californian coastal town of Santa Rey, called FLASHPOINT by Jill Shalvis. Nomadic EMT Brooke is only looking for temporary work when she drives into town and takes a job at the Santa Rey Fire Department, until she meets sexy firefighter Zach. Soon they are trying to quench fires in more ways than one, before a deadly arsonist strikes again. This was an entertaining read, with an appealing coastal setting and a nice bit of tension associated with the fire-fighter/arsonist conflict. Both the physical and emotional sides of the romance were well handled.

For me as a writer, with category romance in general, I focus on how the writer manages to tell a complete story, with hero/heroine character growth and a complete story arc, while constrained by the page count to very brisk pacing. Dialogue tends to be brief but effective, with no extraneous words, creating an abundance of white space on the page. Narration tends to be highly efficient and stripped down. Since one of my tendencies is to “write big,” I try to learn from category romance how to “write down the bones” and tell a compelling story without any flabby language.

I’d recommend FLASHPOINT as a good example of a successful category romance. It’s steamy and action-filled without being sentimental. As with most Blazes, the author does a good job of evoking the strong, sensual ache of the characters’ longing for each other. FLASHPOINT is part of a series of connected books by Jill Shalvis about the Santa Rey firefighters, but the book stands fine on its own.

I’d welcome comments from other readers out there who enjoy or shy away from category romance, with your thoughts on why. I’m really interested in getting thoughts on other Harlequin and Silhouette lines, since I haven’t had a chance to read some of them yet!

Just got a call today from the good folks at the Yellow Rose chapter of the Romance Writers of America. My dark Tudor romance, The Devil’s Mistress, has finalled in the Yellow Rose contest! This is the first of several contests in which I’ve entered the story, and it’s encouraging that the manuscript has finalled in the first one I’ve entered. The final round is being judged by May Chen, an editor at Harper Collins. I was at the horse races when the call came, and the news certainly made my day!

For those who are unfamiliar with the contest circuit, the goals (at least my goals) for entering these contests are 1) to get feedback on a new manuscript from within the romance industry, 2) to gain a useful credential and selling point if the manuscript should final or win, 3) to get a manuscript in front of editors who often decline to read unagented submissions, meaning a contest final is one of the few ways to attract their attention, and 4) in the best possible outcome, to elicit an editor “request” to read the full manuscript.

I’ll know the results of this contest in a few weeks, and of course I’ll post the outcome here! If you’re interested in finding out more about the Yellow Rose contest or the Yellow Rose chapter of RWA, you can sate your curiosity at www.yellowroserwa.com

The year is 1174. Civil war rages around the court of rebellious Queen Eleanor of Aquitaine and her fiercely estranged husband, the King of England. Set in France and England during the Crusades, THE DEVIL’S VIRTUE is a dark and sensual medieval romance spiced with intrigue. To restore peace to a sundered realm and gain salvation for two troubled souls, the queen’s convent-reared lady chancellor and the disgraced Muslim knight called the Devil of Damascus must find forgiveness and redemption through love.

Jervaise de Vaux is an embittered Crusader, scarred body and soul by a lifetime of war, who has abandoned his faith in the Christian God. Devastated by the death of his beloved wife, Jervaise seems to embrace dishonor as the Devil of Damascus, a Muslim soldier of fortune who sells his sword to the highest bidder. He is stunned when his friendship with the king elevates him to a noble title. Claiming his impoverished estates, Jervaise must seize his last chance for salvation, and wed a wealthy heiress to save his suffering people.

Alienore of Lyonstone is the queen’s privy chancellor, the only woman to stand among the queen’s council of ministers. Valiant and principled, this ardent Christian is called the queen’s most virtuous lady. In secret, Alienore masquerades as a knight on the tourney field, defending shamed damsels no proper knight will champion. In her heart, she is fighting a deeply personal scandal that threatens Alienore’s noble parentage, and her very sense of self. When she is ordered to wed the infidel Devil of Damascus with his unsavory reputation, Alienore dares to refuse. But before she can be truly free, she must prove her worth to her own greatest skeptic -—herself.

THE DEVIL’S VIRTUE has won several RWA-sponsored contests and is a current finalist in the Romance Writers of America’s Golden Heart contest, which is RWA’s largest and best-known contest for unpublished writers. An “exclusive peek” at the first chapter is posted for interested readers at www.XeniaNavarre.com Check back with the blog regularly for updates on THE DEVIL’S VIRTUE.

Set in the cosmopolitan world of modern-day Moscow, THE RUSSIAN SEDUCTION is a sexy romantic suspense of 80,000 words. When a hard-line Russian leader invades a neighboring democracy the U.S. has sworn to defend, war can only be avoided by a risky back-channel liaison between a renegade Russian submarine captain and an ambitious, by-the-book American diplomat —- the forbidden woman he’s aching to seduce.

Captain First Rank Victor Kostenko was the golden boy of the Russian Navy, a submarine commander with a maverick image, until he lost his command for an act of treason he didn’t commit. Arrogant and aggressive, he’s also savvy and super-smart —- which is why he made captain despite the drawback of his Ukrainian ancestry. The captain pairs his daunting reputation with an appetite for adventure, and he’s never met a rule he won’t break.

The Russian intel agencies exploit the renegade captain’s skills, but Victor wants out of the spy business. He’s determined to clear his name and restore the reputation of his father —- a senior officer who was killed while trying to defect, or so they claim. Tarred by his father’s treason, Victor’s reputation was destroyed. Now it’s rumored he’ll do anything to get back in his government’s good graces.

Political Counselor Alexis Castle is the highest-ranking woman at the U.S. Embassy, a rising star who yearns to live up to her father’s legacy as a legendary ambassador. Brilliant and driven, she’s earned her recent promotion the hard way: logging twelve-hour days at four overseas posts. Yet it’s whispered she owes her advancement not to her own merits, but to her prestigious father and her ex-husband —- another senior U.S. diplomat. Determined to prove her value, Alexis ALWAYS plays by the rules. She’d torpedo her career for sure if she falls for one of the world’s most dangerous men —- a bad-boy Russian sub captain who breaks every rule in the book.

All her life, Alexis has executed her duties like a shiny robot performing safely within parameters, her needles and gauges never swinging to the red. When sexy adventure junkie Victor switches on the rest of her, the attraction between them short-circuits the whole damn system. Add to the program the input that: 1) both are coming off difficult divorces from spouses who betrayed them, 2) the Russians declared her predecessor “persona non grata” for seducing the woman Victor’s just replaced, and 3) she’s been warned the pissed-off Russians might target Alexis for the payback —- and the output equals trouble.

THE RUSSIAN SEDUCTION is Xenia’s current work-in-progress. The story has been workshopped at the Stonecoast MFA program and is currently entered in several RWA-sponsored contests. Check back with the blog regularly for updates on THE RUSSIAN SEDUCTION! The first chapters will be posted soon for an “exclusive peek” by interested readers at www.XeniaNavarre.com

Set in the glittering world of Renaissance England, THE DEVIL’S MISTRESS is a dark and sexy Tudor romance of 90,000 words about a reluctant lady assassin who’s blackmailed to poison Anne Boleyn.

In 1528, revelry consumes Henry Tudor’s Christmas court. But beneath this festive façade seethes a viper’s pit of deception. Henry conspires to divorce his Spanish Queen—a fervent Catholic—and replace her with his alluring Protestant mistress Anne Boleyn. But Spain will do anything to prevent it. When Spain schemes to poison the heretic Boleyn, a reluctant lady assassin called the Devil’s Mistress is blackmailed to do the deed.

Living breath-to-breath beneath the shadow of violence, Italian perfumer and apothecary Allegra Grimaldi has sworn never to kill. Clever and wary of men’s designs, she learned the killing arts under duress from her infamous father, the Hand of God—a religious assassin who slays evildoers. To escape burning for a crime she didn’t commit, Allegra pretends to accept the Spanish commission, and disguises herself in London as the Spanish ambassador’s mistress.

When Allegra warns Anne Boleyn of the threat, she rouses suspicion from Anne’s bastard brother—the valiant French soldier Sir Joscelin Boleyn, who has sworn to protect his infamous sister. To avert a disaster that would change the face of Europe, this stalwart soldier of incorruptible integrity and the fallen woman who breathes deception must learn to trust each other, and discover the truth of love.

THE DEVIL’S MISTRESS is agented by JD DeWitt at The View Literary Agency (www.theviewlit.com). An “exclusive peek” at the first chapter is also posted for interested readers at www.XeniaNavarre.com . Check back with the blog regularly to get the latest updates!

In her past life, Xenia Navarre was a U.S. diplomat who worked with a government agency on weapons of mass destruction issues. Among her many fascinating experiences in the line of duty, she has been trapped in an elevator in one of the world’s most dangerous nuclear power plants. Shrouded in protective clothing, she has wandered the corridors of facilities once used to churn out metric tons of nerve agent and other nasties. In this capacity, she has met many of the world’s most dangerous men. A fluent Russian speaker, Xenia has traveled to many unusual places (North Korea and Belarus among others), lived in Moscow for several years, and enjoyed many other exotic and unique experiences while working to make the world a safer place.

Xenia brings this unusual background to her writing career. She writes dark medieval and Renaissance romance spiced with intrigue, as well as contemporary romantic suspense set in Russia, inspired loosely by her “other life.” She is a current MFA student in the University of Southern Maine’s Stonecoast Popular Fiction program–one of the few MFA programs in the country that allows students to earn their degrees writing “commercial fiction,” including romance.

Xenia is also a graduate of the Robert McKee Story Seminar, the Donald Maass “Writing the Breakout Novel” workshop, the Smithsonian Institution’s course titled “Conversations with Historical Fiction Writers,” and two Gotham Writers Workshops on romance. Since 2004, Xenia has been an active member of Romance Writers of America. She’s a current member of the Music City Romance Writers, and participates in several online writing groups. She maintains a website at www.XeniaNavarre.com

Xenia’s academic degrees include an M.A. in National Security Policy from The George Washington University, and a B.A. in International Relations from Michigan State. She currently lives in a Tuscan-style villa with a small vineyard in the Pacific Northwest, along with her husband John, a former senior submarine officer. Also sharing the residence are Pandora and Delilah, their two Siberian cats!

Xenia’s writing awards include:

THE DEVIL’S VIRTUE
2009 RWA Golden Heart finalist
First Place, RWA Golden Pen Contest
First Place, Music City Romance Writers Melody of Love Contest
First Place, Connecticut Romance Writers Connections Contest
First Place, First Coast Romance Writers Beacon Contest
First Place, West Houston Romance Writers Emily Award for Excellence
Second Place, Rose City Romance Writers Golden Rose Contest
Honorable Mention, Georgia Romance Writers Maggie Contest
Honorable Mention, Orange City Romance Writers Orange Rose Contest

THE DEVIL’S BARGAIN
First Place, Georgia Romance Writers Maggie Contest
Second Place, From the Heart Romance Writers Golden Gateway Contest
Second Place, Spacecoast Authors of Romance Launching A Star Contest
Third Place, Heart of Denver Romance Writers Molly Contest

This smart and sexy romantic suspense takes place on a ranch in modern-day Montana. Gorgeous party girl Angelina Mercer is recruited by straight-arrow counterterrorism agent Finn Carver to seduce a Russian Mafia don who’s selling plutonium to terrorists for a dirty bomb. Both Finn and Angelina have trust issues, but they are forced to work together and love grows between them. Will Angelina find the stolen plutonium in time to stop the terrorists from using it, and can Finn keep her safe while she’s searching?

I thought this story was extremely well done. The suspense element was unique and compelling, and of course you know Xenia always enjoys reads that touch on weapons of mass destruction, and all things Russian. Both hero and heroine were deeply flawed by past mistakes–seeming opposites whose attraction, trust and love grew in dramatic yet believable ways. This romantic suspense was written to a level of quality, and with a certain freshness and uniqueness that made it a very diverting read.

The author is also a member, along with yours truly, of the Music City Romance Writers, whom you can find at http://www.mcrw.com . I participate in the group remotely, of course, from my West Coast compound.

Annie’s latest romantic suspense is ONE DEADLY SIN, which just got a 4 1/2 star review (Fantastic–A Keeper) from the excellent Romantic Times magazine! I would certainly read more of her work, and I heartily recommend it to readers who enjoy steamy, fast-paced, intelligent suspense.

Nora Roberts is widely considered to be one of the most talented and successful romance authors in the genre today. Her fame is well deserved. Even a quick glance at her work reveals a masterful hand at painting vivid and unique settings, a deft use of research to reveal character and deepen setting without slowing the pace, sparkling dialogue that is distinctive to each character, and a narrative that skillfully blends tension with the pleasurable aspects of love. Each of these accomplishments is fueled by Roberts’s spot-on characterization, which draws readers into the story and brings every scene to life. The author’s task is made harder by the fact that several romantic heroes and heroines often share space in her novels. Accordingly, this essay focuses on the author’s use of characterization to fuel the story and deepen reader involvement in the novel Montana Sky.

The story opens in the point of view (POV) of a minor character, the neighbor Bob Mosebly, who functions in this chapter as a representative of the neighborhood’s “collective POV.” This viewpoint is well chosen, because it gives us an immediate snapshot of how this community views powerful deceased rancher Jack Mercy, around whose legacy the plot is built. It is essential that readers have a clear picture of this dominant personality whose decisions drive the story’s main characters, and Roberts does not disappoint. In the story’s very first paragraph, Bob Mosebly thinks, “Being dead didn’t make Jack Mercy less of a son of a bitch. One week of dead didn’t offset sixty-eight years of living mean. Plenty of the people gathered by his grave would be happy to say so….Jack had vowed to die the way he had lived. In nose-thumbing style.” (p. 3-4)

When introducing the primary heroine, Jack’s half-Indian rancher daughter Willa, Roberts uses POV to slingshot us from the “collective” into the heroine’s point of view. At the same time, Roberts introduces Willa’s goal (running the ranch) and her motivation (proving herself to her dead father). “[T]ime would tell if Willa had enough of Jack Mercy in her to run a ranch of twenty-five thousand acres. She was thinking of the…work that needed to be done….It was up to her now. It was all up to her.” (p. 5) Thus, only a few pages into the novel, we already have a clear picture of Willa’s goal and motivation, and (by inference) some sense of what her conflicts will be. After giving us this intimate peek, the author pulls the camera back to show us Willa from her Hollywood sister Tess’s perspective: “Cowgirl Mercy….Sullen, probably stupid, and silent.” (p. 18)

Roberts also uses these first pages to introduce the secondary heroine, Willa’s timid sister Lily. Again, the author slingshots us from the collective POV of the neighbors to the secondary heroine. While looking at Jack’s portrait, “many felt that those hard blue eyes damned them as they sat drinking his whiskey and toasting his death. For Lily Mercy, the second daughter Jack had conceived and discarded, it was terrifying. The house, the people, the noise….Self-consciously she fingered the yellowing bruise she’d tried to hide with makeup and sunglasses. Jesse had found her. She’d been so careful, but he’d found her, and the court orders hadn’t stopped his fists…But here, maybe here, thousands of miles away, in a country so huge, she could finally start again. Without fear.” (p.7-8) This introductory scene for Lily accomplishes several objectives: creating an immediately sympathetic secondary heroine; giving us her goal (to stay at Mercy Ranch) and her motivation (to be safe); and hinting at both external and internal conflicts (escaping Jesse, and learning to love again). At the same time, this hard-working scene introduces one of the two villains, Lily’s abusive ex-husband Jesse Cooke, who will be discussed in greater detail below. Then, to deepen our sense of Lily, Roberts pulls the camera back and shows us Lily from her sister Tess’s perspective: “Nervous Lily, Tess thought…with her hands pressed together like vises and her head lowered, as if that would hide the bruises on her face. Lovely and fragile as a lost bird set down among vultures.” (p. 18)

For a third time, Roberts slingshots us from the collective POV of the neighbors into the viewpoint of the third sister, polished screenwriter Tess. “Those who did remember had already decided they much preferred the mother to the daughter. Tess Mercy could have cared less. She was here in this godforsaken outback only until the will could be read. She’d take what was hers, which was less than the old bastard owed her, and shake the dust off her Ferragamos. ‘I’ll be back by Monday at the latest.’” (p. 11) Again, we’re given a snapshot of Tess’s character, her goal (to “take what was hers” and return home) and her motivation (financial gain and professional success). This perspective also gives us some hint of what her conflicts are likely to be. Because Tess is a complex character and not immediately sympathetic, Roberts takes the additional step of giving us Tess’s journal entries, which provide a more intimate look into this screenwriter’s psyche. Tess labels those around her as “characters in the cast,” and her labels reveal as much about herself as the characters she observes. For example, the secondary hero who falls in love with Lily, Indian horse-trainer Adam, is the Noble Savage. Willa is alternately called Danielle Boone, Annie Oakley, and the cowgirl queen. (p. 72-73)

Even the minor characters in Montana Sky are vividly painted, as Roberts uses “thumbnail sketches” to provide unique snapshots of each character without slowing the pace. Again employing the handy mechanism of Tess’s journal, Roberts describes elderly ranch foreman and father figure Ham as “straight out of Central Casting. The bowlegged, grizzled cattleman with a beady eye and a calloused hand.” Ranch hand Pickles (the killer’s first victim) is “a sour-faced, surly character who looks like a bloated string in pointy-toed boots.” And ranch hand Jim Brewster (who is later revealed as the primary villain) is “one of the good ol’ boy types. He’s the lanky, I’m getting to it, boss sort…..He’s given me a few cocky grins and winks. So far I have been able to resist.” (p. 73-74)

As with the heroines, Roberts uses POV shifts as a device to introduce the heroes. In the case of primary hero Ben McKinnon, the author opens by drawing the camera back to limited omniscient POV. Ben “sat as comfortably in the saddle as another man would in an easy chair. After thirty years of ranch life, it was more his natural milieu….His eyes were as sharp as a hawk’s and often just as cold in a face that had the weathered, craggy good looks of a man comfortable in the out-of-doors.” (p. 31) Next, Roberts brings us closer to illustrate the primary romantic conflict between Ben and Willa—a conflict that drives the story—through one brief paragraph of dialogue, which also gives us Ben’s motivation. “She doesn’t need either one of us to run Mercy…but I’ll do what [the will] says to do. And hell…it’ll be entertaining to have her butting heads with me every five minutes.” (p. 32) Finally, Roberts brings us still closer, right into Ben’s POV, to illuminate his ambiguous feelings toward Willa. “[H]e admitted to himself that he’d lied. He did want her. The puzzle of it was, the less he wanted to, the more he did.” (p. 38)

Similarly, the author chooses limited omniscient POV to give us our first glimpse of Montana lawyer and secondary hero Nate Torrance, who falls in love with Tess. “He looked like a cowboy, walked like a cowboy. His heart, when it came to matters of his family, his horses, and the poetry of Keats, was as soft as a down pillow. His mind, when it came to matters of law, of justice, of simple right and wrong, was as hard as granite.” (p. 16) Then, bringing us closer, Roberts illuminates both Nate’s goal and Ben’s regarding Mercy Ranch in just two lines of dialogue. Ben says, “’Nate—we’re not going to let her lose that ranch.’ Nate adjusted his hat, reached for his keys. ‘No, Ben. We’re not going to let her lose it.’” (p. 33)

As a final example of using POV to reveal character, let’s look at the way Roberts introduces the secondary villain, Lily’s abusive ex-husband Jesse. In this case, the author brings us deep into his chilling POV right away in order to illuminate his goals and motivation for stalking Lily. “The little bitch, letting that half-breed paw her. Sniveling little whore thought she could get rid of Jesse Cooke, figured she could run and he wouldn’t catch her. Put the cops on his ass. She was going to pay for that….It would all be worth it in the end. When he had Lily back, when he reminded her who was boss.” (p. 54-55) As far as the reader is concerned, we know as much as we need in order to despise and fear the villain—just as Lily does. Moreover, throughout the novel, whenever the progression of the romantic plots threatens to decrease story tension, Roberts uses the villains’ POV (for both Jim and Jesse) to ratchet up the suspense. She does this so skillfully that these mini-scenes featuring the villains are sometimes only two to three paragraphs long.

To summarize, Nora Roberts’s use of POV in Montana Sky sweeps us through a complex plot that includes three separate romances, the complications caused by two separate villains working both against each other and against the hero/heroine, and the resolution of several secondary emotional storylines (e.g., Tess’s need to accept her Las Vegas showgirl mother, the flamboyant Louella). Because of the intimacy that POV creates between these characters and the readers, we are deeply invested in each storyline, and unable to put the book down until every conflict is satisfactorily resolved.

Copyright by Xenia Navarre 2009

Below is another of the essays I prepared for my MFA program at University of Southern Maine. You’re welcome to cite for your academic research, and please give a shout-out on the blog if it’s useful!

In A Natural History of the Romance Novel, author Pamela Regis describes the eight classic elements of a romance novel, and uses Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte as one example of an early romance that follows this classic structure. However, the modern romance novel has undoubtedly “evolved” considerably since the early nineteenth century, when Jane Eyre was first published. In this essay, my goal is to describe how Jane Eyre differs from modern romance novels, with a focus on the novel’s structure and treatment of Regis’s eight classic elements.

According to Regis, the first classic element of a romance novel is a sense of society at odds—a fissure in the social structure surrounding the hero and heroine. In modern romance novels, this tension is often captured in a few brief paragraphs, often before (or during) the hero and heroine’s first meeting. In a modern romance, the author is under considerable pressure to present that fateful first meeting as quickly as possible, so that the publisher’s strict page limits can be met. However, in the 689-page, large-print version of Jane Eyre, our heroine Jane does not meet the hero Edward Rochester until p. 175. In essence, by using the first eleven chapters to describe Jane’s difficult and loveless upbringing, Bronte spends the first fifth of the novel describing that sense of a fissure in society, both at Jane’s childhood home and in the strict religious institution where she receives her education. By showing us how Jane suffers in this “broken society” and how effectively she rebels against it, Bronte creates an unusually strong bond between the reader and the heroine. For that reason, despite the lengthy “set-up” for the “payoff” first meeting between Jane and Rochester, this protracted introduction to Jane and her society works for me as a romance reader.

Starting with the important first meeting between Jane and Rochester (pp. 175-179) when she frightens his horse, then assists him on a rural lane at twilight, the novel achieves Regis’s next three romantic elements (i.e., the meeting between hero and heroine, the attraction between them, the obstacles that keep them apart) in a manner which seems conventional to the modern reader.

For example, during their first lengthy discussion on pp. 185-196, Rochester comments, “No wonder you have rather the look of another world. I marveled where you had got that sort of face. When you came on me…I thought unaccountably of fairy tales, and had half a mind to demand whether you had bewitched my horse: I am not sure yet.” Rochester’s romantic physical attraction to the plain-faced but ethereal Jane is thus revealed. His spiritual attraction to her is shown during the same discussion, when he is genuinely intrigued by Jane’s paintings. He says, “I dare say you did exist in a kind of artist’s dreamland while you blent and arranged these strange tints….The drawings are, for a schoolgirl, peculiar. As to the thoughts, they are elfish.” For her part, Jane’s attraction to Rochester (on the physical, intellectual, and spiritual levels) is likewise revealed.

As in a modern romance novel, the internal and external conflicts that separate the hero and heroine are introduced almost immediately. The moment Jane realizes the identity of the striking figure she met in the twilit lane, the reader grasps the external conflict. We understand that a permanent romantic relationship between this wealthy aristocrat and his impoverished governess is not possible. In addition, we know that, given Jane’s strong and virtuous character, a temporary physical union is equally impossible. Jane herself is keenly aware of the obstacle, and says, “It does good to no woman to be flattered by her superior, who cannot possibly intend to marry her….is it likely he would waste a serious thought on this indigent and insignificant plebeian?”

As for the internal conflicts (mostly on Rochester’s part) that divide them, the hero hints at these on p. 210, when he says, “Dread remorse when you are tempted to err, Miss Eyre: remorse is the poison of life….I could reform…but where is the use of thinking of it, hampered, burdened, cursed as I am? Besides, since happiness is irrevocably denied me, I have a right to get pleasure out of life: and I will get it, cost what it may.”

These and other hints of Rochester’s terrible secret (the lunatic wife imprisoned in his attic) foreshadow the internal obstacles that will keep the hero and heroine apart, even after the external obstacle is seemingly overcome. Viewed through the framework of a modern romance novel, the next three elements of Regis’s classic romance structure are present in Jane Eyre, well executed but (for the purpose of this essay) unremarkable: the separate realizations by hero and heroine of their love, their declarations to each other, and Rochester’s proposal (which appears to overcome the external social barrier between them.)

However, the reader intuits that a happily-ever-after is not yet possible for the couple, because we have not encountered the “big black moment”—or, to use Regis’s term, the moment of symbolic death, when all hope for a positive resolution appears to be lost. In a modern romance, the moment of symbolic death (also called the crisis) often occurs nearly at the novel’s end. When this final, overwhelming obstacle is overcome, a happily-ever-after is often achieved within a handful of pages.

In contrast, the first of two symbolic deaths occurs quite early in Jane Eyre, on pp. 493-4. Rochester’s secret has been revealed, and a traumatized and penniless Jane has fled his manor. When she loses even her small bundle of possessions, and is wandering hungry and hopeless on the heath, Jane lies down on a barren crag and falls into a troubled sleep. Of this sleep, we are told, “…a sad heart broke it. It planed of its gaping wounds, its inward bleeding, its riven chords. It trembled for Mr. Rochester and his doom; it bemoaned him with bitter pity; it demanded him with ceaseless longing; and, impotent as a bird with both wings broken, it still quivered its shattered pinions in vain attempts to seek him.”

I would argue that this night of despair on the barren heath represents Jane’s moment of symbolic death. It occurs while roughly 40% of the novel is yet before us, which marks a sharp deviation between Bronte’s novel and the modern romance. From this moment, Jane begins to recover, and places her foot on the path that will ultimately lead to the discovery of her wealthy family and the restoration of her fortunes (which, ultimately, will prove a key element to resolve the external divide of class and wealth standing between Jane and Rochester). This protracted separation between hero and heroine endures for some 160 pages, and marks another significant deviation between the structure of Jane Eyre and the shorter modern romance novel—wherein, it is commonly understood, any lengthy separation between the hero and heroine is undesirable.

Much later in Jane Eyre, we learn that Rochester has undergone his own moment of symbolic death, which stretches for the many months of his separation from Jane. When Rochester’s wife kills herself and his manor burns to the ground, our hero is injured—indeed, he is blinded. The death of his lunatic wife removes another external barrier between hero and heroine. However, while he lives in lonely exile, blinded and bitter, Rochester believes all hope of a future with Jane (whom he cannot even locate) is utterly lost. Only when Jane seeks him out, within the last forty pages of the novel, is the hope of love restored. Through lengthy discussion, the couple overcome their misunderstandings, and the existence on both sides of a love tempered by suffering is revealed. On p. 679, Jane says, “I love you better now, when I can really be useful to you, than I did in your state of proud independence, when you disdained every part but that of the giver and protector.” Describing his own transformation, Rochester says, “…only of late…I began to experience remorse, repentance, the wish for reconcilement to my Maker…Jane’s soft ministry will be a perpetual joy.”

As the novel concludes, the lovers marry. As a symbol of healing (both internal and external), Rochester recovers his sight after two years of marriage to Jane (p. 687). By the time the story concludes on p. 690, Regis’s eight classic elements of romance have been fully observed. Moreover, if one accepts the premise that the hero sometimes functions as the villain of a romance novel (by representing the force of strongest opposition to the heroine’s happiness), one also recognizes in Rochester’s remorse and healing the presence of Regis’s “optional” romantic element—the villain redeemed.

In conclusion, the style of the romance novel has evolved considerably, along with reader tastes, since the 1840s when Jane Eyre was first published. Among many other distinctions, the level of sensuality of the modern romance (excepting the sub-genres of “sweet” and inspirational romance) has grown significantly hotter. The language of the modern romance has grown simpler and shorter, while settings and secondary characters in today’s romance novel are far more likely to be presented as “thumbnail sketches” rather than Bronte’s rich and lengthy digressions. As this essay has shown, treatment of the romance novel’s structural elements in Jane Eyre might well be deemed unacceptable in the modern romance market. Nonetheless, Regis’s eight classic elements are fully present in Bronte’s work. For this and other reasons, the modern romance reader is fully engaged by the romance between Jane and Rochester, and fully satisfied with its happily-ever-after resolution.

Copyright by Xenia Navarre 2009

In this part of the blog, I’m posting several essays on writing craft that I prepared for my MFA program at the University of Southern Maine. You’re free to cite them for academic research if you like, if you credit me as the source. I’d also welcome an email or a shout-out on the blog if you find these analyses to be useful!

A Critical Analysis of Romantic Relationships in Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice
January 30, 2009

Jane Austen (1775-1817) is arguably the flagship author responsible for creating the first and most memorable popular romances novels set in Regency England. The continuing popularity of her work today—which is still regularly cinematized and has inspired numerous “spin-off” novels by contemporary authors—is attributed not only to the enduring popularity of the romance genre, but also to the strength of Austen’s writing, the deadly accuracy of her characterizations, and the witty liveliness of her dialogue. For a romance reader, much of the fascination lies in Austen’s portrayal of genuine love relationships between flawed human characters, who overcome all obstacles to achieve the requisite “happy ending.” For me, one of Austen’s particular strengths in her masterpiece Pride and Prejudice is not only the dramatic courtship of Elizabeth Bennet by Fitzwilliam Darcy (a topic about which much has been written), but also the skillful contrast between other (often less successful) romances with the love of the primary couple. The following essay is devoted to an exploration of these “secondary romances” in Pride and Prejudice.

One example of a lackluster secondary romance in Pride and Prejudice is the marriage of convenience between the pompous and none-too-bright clergyman Mr. Collins and the aging spinster Charlotte Lucas. Mr. Collins is described to possess “great humility of manner, but it was now a good deal counteracted by the self-conceit of a weak head, living in retirement, and the consequential feelings of early and unexpected prosperity…altogether a mixture of pride and obsequiousness, self-importance and humility.” (pp. 59-60) Lest we miss the unappealing nature of Collins’s character, Mr. Bennet considers that his own expectations regarding Collins “were fully answered. His cousin was as absurd as he had hoped.” (p. 58) Regarding his reasons for marriage, Collins lists among several pragmatic considerations his main motivation “that it is the particular advice and recommendation of the very noble lady whom I have the honor of calling patroness.” (p. 91) Such motives inspire a less-than-enthusiastic reception in a romantic heroine such as Elizabeth Bennet, who seeks a love relationship.

As for Charlotte Lucas, she is a pleasant but plain-faced woman of twenty-seven, entirely on the shelf in Regency England, who tells Elizabeth frankly that she accepted Mr. Collins’s proposal simply to gain independence and financial security. After accepting his suit, Charlotte “was tolerably composed….Her reflections were in general satisfactory. Mr. Collins…was neither sensible nor agreeable; his society was irksome, and his attachment to her must be imaginary. But still he would be her husband.” (p. 106)

Given this couple’s pragmatic motivations for marriage, the outcome of their marriage of convenience is unspectacular, but seems satisfactory for these two serene and unsentimental characters. Of the match, Collins makes certain to inform Elizabeth (who once spurned his suit) that “there is in everything a most remarkable resemblance of character and ideas between us. We seem to have been designed for each other.” (p. 184) For her part, Charlotte “had chosen it with her eyes open….Her home and her housekeeping, her parish and her poultry, and all their dependent concerns, had not yet lost their charms.” (p. 184) Neither blissful nor miserable in marriage, these lukewarm lovers appear to be content with their lot.

A less harmonious match is the relationship between Elizabeth’s parents, Mr. and Mrs. Bennet. To describe their characters, Austen says, “Mr. Bennet was so odd a mixture of quick parts, sarcastic humor, reserve and caprice, that the experience of three and twenty years had been insufficient to make his wife understand her character. Her mind was less difficult to develop. She was a woman of mean understanding, little information, and uncertain temper.” (p. 3)

Despite Mrs. Bennet’s poor appreciation of her husband’s depths, and his resigned tolerance of her shortcomings, the reader may discern from their spirited exchanges that a certain ease has developed between them over the years. Mr. Bennet clearly derives pleasure from teasing his wife, and her lack of discernment often allows him to prolong the pleasure. A characteristic example occurs when Mrs. Bennet implores her husband at length to force Elizabeth to accept Collins’s proposal. Misreading his tongue-in-cheek replies as usual, Mrs. Bennet throws him together with Elizabeth so that he can reinforce her will. Mr. Bennet seems about to oblige when he says, “I understand that Mr. Collins has made you an offer of marriage….Your mother insists upon your accepting it. Is this not so, Mrs. Bennet?”
“Yes, or I will never see her again.”

“An unhappy alternative is before you, Elizabeth. From this day you must be a stranger to one of your parents. Your mother will never see you again if you do not marry Mr. Collins, and I will never see you again if you do.”

[Mrs. Bennet] “….What do you mean, Mr. Bennet, by talking in this way? You promised me to insist upon her marrying him.”

“My dear,” replied her husband, “I have two small favors to request. First, that you will allow me the free use of my understanding on the present occasion; and secondly, of my room. I shall be glad to have the library to myself as soon as may be.” (pp. 96-97)

To me as a romance reader, the preceding exchange is one of many indications that this long-married couple have built a stable relationship, although clearly neither of them is in love with the other. One may indeed surmise that Mr. Bennet would have been more contented with a wife whose intellect and perceptiveness he could respect. Although Mrs. Bennet seems likely to have bustled through life with any spouse of respectable means, her poorly-understood unhappiness with the match is probably the cause of the “nervousness” and lassitude she often suffers.

By far the most disastrous marriage in Pride and Prejudice is the ill-considered elopement of Elizabeth’s immature and self-centered sister Lydia with the disreputable scoundrel Mr. Wickham. Although the wiser Jane and Elizabeth try to curb Lydia’s reckless ways, Lydia remains “self-willed and careless, [and] would barely give them a hearing. [Lydia and her impressionable sister Kitty] were ignorant, idle, and vain. While there was an officer in Meryton, they would flirt with him; and while Meryton was within a walk of Longbourn, they would be going there forever.” (p. 182) As for Wickham, his selfishness, dishonesty, and general unreliability are frequently displayed, although he manages to conceal them from casual acquaintances behind a handsome face and charming manners.

After Lydia and Wickham run away together, and Wickham is forced by Mr. Darcy to marry her, the match leaves a great deal to be desired. Specifically, “their manner of living…was unsettled in the extreme. They were always moving from place to place in quest of a cheap situation, and always spending more than they ought. His affection for her soon sunk into indifference; hers lasted a little longer; and in spite of her youth and her manners, she retained all the claims to [poor] reputation which her marriage had given her.” (p. 331) This couple’s relationship is a perfect illustration of the maxim, “Marry in haste, repent at leisure.”

In contrast to the couples described above, the marriage of sweet and sensible Jane Bennet with the generous and open-hearted Mr. Bingley is portrayed as loving and fully successful. Bingley is accurately described by Jane as “sensible, good-humored, lively; and I never saw such perfect manners!—so much ease, with such perfect good breeding!” (p. 10) In turn, Jane’s pleasant nature is well conveyed by Elizabeth, who tells her, “You are a great deal too apt…to like people in general. You never see a fault in anybody. All the world are good and agreeable in your eyes. I never heard you speak ill of a human being in my life.” (p. 11).

When Jane falls in love with Bingley (who has been misled regarding Jane’s affections and appears to have forgotten her), Austen convincingly portrays the depth of Jane’s affection. “She still cherished a very tender affection for Bingley. Having never even fancied herself in love before, her regard had all the warmth of first attachment, and from her age and disposition, greater steadiness than first attachments often boast.” (p. 193) As for Bingley, his regard and affection for Jane are apparent in every scene where the two appear together. When the misunderstanding between them is overcome and Bingley’s proposal is accepted, Bingley waxes rhapsodic to Elizabeth regarding her sister’s charms. “Elizabeth really believed all his expressions of felicity, to be rationally founded, because they had for basis the excellent understanding and superexcellent disposition of Jane, and a general similarity of feeling and taste between her and himself.” (p. 296)

By providing these contrasting portraits of happily and unhappily married couples all around Elizabeth, Austen shows the novel’s heroine (and the readers) the various templates—both satisfying and otherwise—that a marriage might follow. At least in part, it is Elizabeth’s growing understanding of these marital relationships that leads her first to decline Collins’s suit, and later to regret and overcome her initial (misguided) rejection of Darcy. When the myriad obstacles are overcome, her marriage with Darcy is clearly a love match. Based on the examples shown in Pride and Prejudice, we are fully prepared to believe that Elizabeth and Darcy’s marriage will follow the happy example of Jane and Bingley, rather than the less-fulfilling matches that surround them.


Copyright by Xenia Navarre 2009

This is a fast-paced paranormal romance set modern-day Zaire. CDC virus hunter Rikki Kinn is doing humanitarian aid work in Africa when she discovers a natural reservoir of a lethal virus that is being weaponized by a criminal cartel. When the cartel tries to kill her, sexy bodyguard/shapeshifter Amiri is hired to protect her, and must confront his own demons and dark past in the process.

I LOVED the multicultural aspect of the romance, the fact that he’s African (Kenyan), which is very hot. Amiri was an exotic and effective hero. Of course, I loved the premise and the biological weapons aspect (those of you who know Xenia’s other life will understand why!) I loved the setting in the jungles of Zaire, and the heroine’s grit and smarts.

I am over the moon these days about Marjorie Liu in general. I’ve read several of her books, and never been disappointed. It’s a very fresh take on the paranormal romance, and her stories stay on my keeper shelf.

I’d recommend this fast, sexy, grabby book to fans of paranormal and action romance. There is some violence and strong language, but it’s necessary to the plot and these characters. A very appealing story with a hint of darkness.

This book was a very innovative futuristic romance–a post-nuclear Siberian trucker story!

Set in a late 21st century Arctic wasteland, tough girl Raina is trying to win a trucker’s race for desperately needed interdollars when she forfeits the race by saving gorgeous loner Wizard from a truck stop brawl. But Wizard is much more than he appears—a genetically enhanced superhuman assassin, and Raina discovers their pasts are linked in ways that make her, too, something more than human.

I LOVED this story. It was turbo-charged, sexy, fast, smart, with an extremely tough yet smart and cautious heroine, and a coldly logical Spock-type hero. The trucks, the ice pirates, the futuristic gadgets, the hostile environment—they were all grabby. So good it makes me want to write one myself, though I doubt I’d have her knack for it!

Speaking from a writer’s perspective, I noticed in this story how Kenin can paint a perfectly clear and strong picture with just a sentence or two of setting, stark but effective. Also how love scenes can be fully developed over several pages, yet still be hot and the pacing fast. I’d read anything else this author has written.

This book would be a great choice for anyone who enjoys futuristic or action romance, and it’s a great choice to introduce male readers to the extremely innovative romances on the market today. The story was hot, fast, intense, with lots of sex and violence (but nothing that I found over the top.) And the swearing was futuristic, with “frig” and “slag” replacing the f-word we are all familiar with. I recommend this one with great enthusiasm.