Posted May 05, 2010 to Digital, Media Appearances
Meredith Blake of the The New Yorker Book Blog wrote an article about the Mills & Boon announcement of a series of books set at National Trust locations, wondering if the same could be done in the US.
Cue my groans and pounding of head on desk at mention of “quivering” and bodices ripping, alas. But I was asked to discuss US historical locations that would work in a romance, and I pointed out that romance already has embraced settings that are historically significant in the USA:
I’m hardly an expert on romance novels—though Lauren Colins’s’ Profile of Nora Roberts certainly brought me a step closer to that lofty goal—so I turned to someone who is, Sarah Wendell, of the blog Smart Bitches,Trashy Books. I asked her if there are any Harlequin titles analogous to “Scandalous Innocent,” and she steered me to “The Rebel and the Lady,” a novel set at the Alamo. She also mentioned the “Luxe” series, set on the Upper East Side of Manhattan at the turn of the century (think of it as a YA version of Edith Wharton). Wendell says the historical setting is just as alluring to American readers as it is to Brits, even if we don’t have quite so many viable romantic settings. “Funny thing about American romance readers: many of us were introduced to narratives focused on the heroine through the Sunfire series from Scholastic. Each book featured a romantic young woman’s story set against an historic event—the Civil War, the Johnstown, Pennsylvania, flood, etc.”
I totally loved the Sunfire series – and I love US-set historicals as well. What about you?