Teaser Tuesday: THE PINK CARNATION IN LOVE
I have another little secret project that I’ve been itching to tell you about– a Pink Carnation novella!
The Pink Carnation in Love will be appearing in e-form on June 16, 2015.
I’d always wanted to write about the Pink Carnation’s failed love affair with the Chevalier de la Tour d’Argent. (Whom those of you who are current with the series may also know by another name….) I didn’t like the idea of a novel without a happily ever after, but a novella, on the other hand, provides a space for a different sort of story.
The Pink Carnation in Love takes place in Venice in 1807, just a little bit before Pink XII, The Lure of the Moonflower. The title is, of course, a nod to Casanova in Love— because how can one think of Venice without thinking Casanova?
Unlike my earlier Pink Carnation novellas, which were ad hoc productions for my own amusement, this one is being written officially, in conjunction with my publisher, which means that it will be edited, and formatted, and have proper cover art, and all of those fun things.
The talented folks in the Penguin art department are currently hard at work on the cover, so I promise to share it as soon as I have it!
Oh I can’t wait!
I always loved him…glad Jane has a bit of time with him before Jack…Well…glides into her life.
HOORAY!
Huzzah !
This is so exciting! Ditto to all of the above comments!
I will have to go back and reread the book where Jane meets the Chevalier. Which one is it?
It was Plumeria as I recall.
I thought it was The Mischief of the Mistletoe where they first met?
Hmmm. I don’t remember Jane in that one… As good excuse as any re-read it!
Oh, can not wait!
This is SO exciting! Can you let us know how long the novella will be since it’s all proper and official?
Hi, Karen! I won’t be writing it until I’ve finished “Moonflower”, so it’s all guesswork at this point– but I’m guessing it will probably run around a hundred pages. But I do always tend to wind up writing longer rather than shorter.
Lauren: As I read about your finishing off this lovely little idea, I was reminded of Kristy Dare and Jack out dangling halfway through their story. Back in 2012 (I checked!), you’d hoped maybe sometime after you corralled Miss Gwen, who was misbehaving, you might get back to them. Do you have any plans to dust off the outline and try again?
Kristy, I so wish I could! But when I finished Miss Gwen’s book, I jumped right into writing “That Summer”. And as soon as that was done, I had to scurry to write “Midnight Manzanilla”. By the time that was finished, I wound up signing contracts for the final Pink and two more stand alone novels, another novel that I’m writing with Karen White and Beatriz Williams, plus this novella, and a short story. So with one thing and another, my workload has tripled over the past year. Plus a toddler. I’m really kicking myself for not having pushed myself harder and finished “Dare Me” three years ago, when I had the time…. Of course, you never do realize that you have time when you have it, do you? Alas.
I don’t know how you do it, Lauren. More power to you and of course, lots of good wishes!
So looking forward to this after their interaction in Purple Plumeria. The Chevalier is an interesting character.
Oooh, this is so exciting. I was really mourning the end of the Pink books. But now we are getting a novella!! I can’t wait.
Fabulous news!
Great to have something to look forward to in the new year. Like Suzanne, I will miss the series. The novella will “ease the pain”.
Yeaaaaay!!! Any Pink news is good news and I am so happy that you will be writing a bit more in this universe! We do love them so!!! 🙂
(and I am not loosing hope that one day, you’ll be able to get back to Dare me and finish it!!!)
Celine, I seem to have missed something. What is “Dare Me”?
Suzanne, it’s a contemporary romance novel I started writing for fun back in the summer of 2011. I kept meaning to finish it, but what with one thing and another…. You can read what there is of it starting here: https://laurenwillig.com/news/2012/06/23/dare-me-chapter-one/
Hooray! Please tell me it’ll be available in print too? How exciting!
I’m afraid this one is e-only, Chanpreet. Maybe someday they’ll do a Pink Carnation novella print anthology. : )
What will I do? I do not have any kind of electronic reader. Don’t like them. I prefer a real book with real pages. Could I get this on my laptop?
Cathy, I don’t either (I so prefer physical books!). But you can download e-books to your computer. I’ll get the details on how from my publisher as we get closer to the release date. (I’ve used the B&N e-books for computer program, but it was long enough ago that I don’t remember exactly how it worked, just that it was surprisingly easy.)
Was this novella ever published? I cannot find it on Amazon nor Barnes & Noble web sites. Also not on the Penguin Books web site.
I really love reading your books.
I have the same question. Was this ever published? I have all of the other books/audiobooks/novellas and Bunny & Biscuits but can find no trace of The Pink Carnation in Love.
Sadly, no! This got squeezed out of the writing roster due to a deadline crunch after my first child was born (because signing up to write two books, a novella, and two short stories in under a year SEEMED like a great idea– until the kid actually arrived and I realized that whole writing while the baby naps thing might not be as easy as people said!). In the end, it came down to a question of write the novella and push the actual last Pink book back a year or write the book on time and skip the novella. So the novella got skipped.