Talking BLOOD LILY with Rose Lerner– and Give Away!
The lovely Rose Lerner has a Regency romance out, Sweet Disorder
Rose distilled the essence of those interviews into a post about the dead first husband trope on Heroes and Heartbreakers, but, since the interview questions and answers were all such fun, she’s also posting each of the interviews in its entirety on her blog.
You can find my interview, which is a lot about The Betrayal of the Blood Lily
Other authors interviewed include Jeannie Lin, Tessa Dare, and Courtney Milan. If you’re curious about the way writers’ minds work when we’re shaping our stories, definitely stop by Rose’s blog and take a peek at these!
And because everything is more fun with a give away– and we missed our regularly scheduled give away this Monday– here’s your question for a signed copy of The Betrayal of the Blood Lily
What’s your favorite Dead First Husband book?
(You can find my favorite mentioned in the interview.)
Winner to be announced on Friday!
And Only to Deceive.
Not even trying to suck up, but I haven’t read many of these so my favorite is the Blood Lily! 🙂
don’t have one; don’t really like to read those
I agree! Love Tasha Alexander’s Lady Emily series.
This is the only Pink book I don’t have so I’m super excited about this contest!
My favorite Dead First Husband book is outside the box: Lightning by Dean Koontz.
Based on your interview I would have to say I prefer The Garden Intrigue, but both sounded really good.
I loved the Lyon’s Bride by Cathy Maxwell. Would love to read your book.
I haven’t read many DFHs books, so I’m going to say The Garden Intrigue.
And that’s not by default. I love your books.
I like the humanity of Penelope, but really think worse of Freddy than you do !..My favorite DFH book is Mary Balogh’s The Proposal, in which she brings a minor character from an older series, Gwen, Lady Muir and gives her a book of her own. Many questions about Gwen are answered, including the ins and outs of that first marriage and how she got hurt. Very satisfactory.
I love this one too, Sheila, and am a fan of Mary’s books!
Blood Lily and Garden Intrigue are both fantastical (made that word up!)
Blood lily! Yay for giveaways!
Saving Grace by Julie Garwood. Even though it turns out he’s not really dead, the heroine thinks he’s dead for most of the book. 🙂
Is there a better dead husband than Stephanie Plum’s dead ex, Dickie?
The Blackbird Sisters series by Nancy Martin
There’s nothing like a classic – Georgette Heyer’s The Reluctant Widow, in which the husband is dying when the ceremony takes place. The widow has to deal with debt collectors, suspicious strangers, suspicious non-strangers, spies, a whole lot of dust, and gets hit on the head for her trouble, but at least she gets the hero in the end. It’s one of my all time favorites.
Since it hasn’t been mentioned, I’ll bring up When He Was Wicked, by Julia Quinn. But Blood Lily is really my fav!
Loved your interview, Lauren, and of course both books you mentioned.
Deanna Raybourn’s A Spear of Summer Grass is a good one for this – Delilah’s outrageous behavior is explained by the death of her first husband.
For a twist on the topic, I would mention Mary Balogh’s One Night for Love, in which the hero marries his dead sergeant’s daughter to protect her during a Portuguese campaign of the Napoleonic Wars, only to see her “killed” before his eyes – dead first wife – fast forward two years later when he is about to marry wife #2.
I haven’t many DFH.
I loved JQ’s When He Was Wicked and Blood Lily.
Thanks for the giveaway !
I really love Tasha Alexander’s And Only to Deceive and the rest of the Lady Emily series
Not to go along with everyone else, but And Only to Deceive/Lady Emily would be my first choice too! I love that she falls in love with Phillip through his journals and that brings her closer to him after his death, but doesn’t impede her from finding love later.
Sorry if this sounds like I’m trying to suck up. I haven’t read much of those books though, so it’s The Blood Lily for me.
I have to agree with everybody else. I love the Lady Emily books, and the lady Julia Grey books, and The Blood Lily. But my favourite would have to be The Reluctant Widow. It is so funny, especially the “dear doggy.”
I love Victoria Holt’s The Silk Vendetta and also Tasha Alexander’s Lady Emily series, of course, starting with And Only To Deceive.
Mine is A Woman Scorned by Liz Carlyle. It features Jonet Rowland whose husband the Marquis of Mercer was murdered, and the delectable Captain Cole Amherst. It’s full of mystery and simmering sexual tension, as well as mistrust and suspicion.
Gone with the Wind – which could technically be a Dead First and Second Husbands book…
The whole DFH element had never deeply crossed my mind until reading your interview. Thoughtful. Remarkable to me. These sensitively written complexities are what draw me to your books.
Madam Will You Walk by Mary Stewart-one of the best!
I don’t particularly like DFH books- I like my romances mostly perfect (and I suppose unrealistic) so that my heroines are getting married for the first and of course, only time. I do like The Countess by Catherine Coulter, although the husband is not dead for at least most of the book….
The first Lady Julia Grey book is a great DFH story; also Tasha Alexander’s And Only to Deceive.
I’ve also been reading Frances Brody’s Kate Shackelton series, wishing her husband would either reappear or she would find another to love.
I will second Gone with the Wind!
My fav is Mary Jo Putney’s Shattered Rainbows, also recommend Mary Balogh’s Slightly Dangerous and Jo Beverley’s Secrets of the Night and Christmas Angel.
I have to agree with those who said the Tasha Alexander’s And Only to Deceive and Deanna Raybourn’s Silent in the Grave. They are 2 of my favorites and great starts to new series.
I love the Lady Emily series so I’ll go with those.
The Wicked Widow Meetas Her Match by Stephanie Soane
Not a DFH, a DFW, loved David Copperfield by Charles Dickens!
Another really good one I forgot to mention is Anna Grant’s (Tracy Grant) Dark Angel.
Awfully glad someone mentioned “Madam Will You talk” by Mary Stewart. Way to go, Mary Lou!