Welcome Guest Author Maggie Robinson/Margaret Rowe! Comment to Win!

Thanks so much to Sabrina for having me here on my never-ending promo journey. :) It seems like I just did all this, and I guess I did—the two of me (Maggie Robinson and Margaret Rowe) had books come out in May and June. Maggie’s fortunate enough to have a novella in Lords of Passion out now, and Mistress by Midnight releases December 28! Margaret has to wait until March 1, when Any Wicked Thing comes out. Whew! Craziness.

But completely lovely craziness for someone who is a typing class drop-out and suffers from carpal tunnel. I wonder how many words I’ve mis-typed in the seven years I’ve been writing, LOL. Turns out I should have listened to my father, even if he did think that women could only be teachers, nurses or secretaries. But I snuck out of the adult ed night typing class I enrolled in with my then-boyfriend to kiss in his Karmann Ghia convertible. I was a hopeless romantic even back then.

The role of women in society has changed a whole lot from my adult ed days, and even more so from the late Regency period I write about. As a woman of a certain age, I have trouble relating to the innocent ingénue making her debut, so most of my heroines have “a past,” or want to acquire one. Prudence Thorne from “Not Quite a Courtesan” in Brava’s Lords of Passion has been happily widowed and wants to see what all the fuss is about after witnessing the passion of her cousin’s new marriage. The dashing, disreputable hero Darius Shaw finds Pru to be a quick study who even teaches him a thing or two. Laurette Vincent in Mistress by Midnight knows what passion is and has tried to avoid it, but hero Desmond Ryland, Marquess of Conover, has other ideas and breaks every rule to get her back into his bed.

I’ve discovered a recurring theme for my books—mature heroines who’ve been hurt but discover “there’s still a little chicken left on that bone.” Craig Morgan’s country song may be 21st century, but it works pretty well for my 19th century characters.







Here’s my favorite verse:

“But it ain’t over until you say it is.
Don’t pour out your Coca-Cola if it’s still got a little bit of fizz,
Little bit of juke left in that jive,
Little bit of honey left in that hive,
There might not be a lot of roll left in that stone,
Still a little chicken left on that bone.”

Now in case you think I’m writing about absolutely ancient, decrepit people, most of my characters tend to be in their thirties—which was definitely middle-aged in 1820. Thirty sounds pretty young, but the likelihood of having all your teeth back then was not a given. But since I write romance, all my heroes have gorgeous teeth and fresh breath, LOL.

You’re never too old for love if you open yourself up to the possibilities. Hopelessly romantic still? You bet! Does it matter how young/old or virginal/experienced the heroines are in the books you read? I’m giving away a signed copy of both Lords of Passion (Pru, 29) and Mistress by Midnight (Laurette, 29) to one random commenter!