I’m very pleased to have Deborah Hale visiting the blog today. Since winning the prestigious Golden Heart Award in 1997, she’s written more than thirty books in the genres of historical romance, historical fiction, otherworld fantasy and inspirational romance. Her work has been translated into more than a dozen languages with over two million copies sold worldwide. Quite a pedigree, don’t you think? Let’s find out what’s going on in Deb’s writing world.
You’ve written something like twenty historical romances. Do you have a favorite period to write in?
I love both the Regency and Georgian periods for their elegance. They are far enough back in history to have an enchanted quality yet they have enough in common with the modern world that readers can identify with them.
Tell us about your Glass Slipper Brides series, and your latest book.
Glass Slipper Brides is a series of inspirational Regencies about a group of governesses who met and bonded at a horrible charity school like the one the Bronte sisters attended. After leaving school they go to work in households throughout England and keep in touch by letter. Because of this, each story can easily be read on its own, though I do mention the other friends and sometimes bring them briefly into each others’ stories.
The Earl’s Honorable Intentions is the fourth story of six (the first one is a novella). It’s about career cavalry officer who inherited his title after the death of his elder brother. He returns home, wounded, after Waterloo determined to make sure Napoleon doesn’t return to power for a third time. His children’s governess wants him to leave that mission to others and instead become a devoted father to his three motherless children. That is a role the earl doesn’t believe he’s cut out for.
You also have a “new” Civil War romance out. What can you tell us about that.
That’s right! I was thrilled to get back the rights to one of my backlist books. I gave it a new title, In A Stranger’s Arms and commissioned a new cover from Kim Killion that took my breath away.
This story was inspired by the film Sommersby, which I loved, except for the ending. It’s about a proud Confederate widow who has to marry a former Union soldier in order to hang onto her family’s plantation. Her new husband is very secretive about his past and bears an unsettling resemblance to her first husband. It’s a story about the healing, redemptive power of love. One of my favorite characters is my heroine’s feisty little daughter who was inspired by a picture of my husband’s great-grandmother! Her picture is posted below.
What’s up next in Deborah’s writing life?
In November the next Glass Slipper Brides book comes out, The Duke’s Marriage Mission and I’m currently working on the last one, which will have a hero who’s a mill-owner/philanthropist rather than a nobleman. After that, I’m trying to decide which of a number of new projects I’d like to pursue!
Vanessa, here. Sounds like you’ll be busy, Deb! For my readers, Deb is graciously giving away a copy of His Compromised Countess. Let’s talk covers, because Deb’s are really beautiful. Just tell us which one of her covers you like the best and why for a chance to win her book!