Hi everyone! I just wanted to let you know that I posted a brand new excerpt of A TOUCH OF SCANDAL over on the bookshelf page. Please head on over to meet Garrett and Kate!

http://www.jenniferhaymore.com/bookshelf/a-touch-of-scandal/

A Touch of Scandal releases in six weeks!

I received a little gift in my inbox this week. What is it? It’s the step back (inside cover) for A Touch of Scandal! I’m so excited!

Congrats to Denise B., who won the Fun Fridays contest today (per random.org)!

Okay, since I’ve been deep in this dark, dank writer’s cave and I’m late on this today, I feel like making up for my lack of timeliness to y’all by doubling the winnings for next week. So for next week, I’m going to give four books–yes, four!–to the winner! They just need to be chosen from the remaining books listed over on the bonus features page.

Here is this week’s question: What are the titles of Jennifer’s 2nd and 3rd books? (Hint: Both are sequels to A HINT OF WICKED, and both will be released in 2010! And did you know the third book has a Christmas theme? I’m so excited! Bigger Hint: You can find the answers on the FAQ page!)

So head on over to my bonus features/contest page to enter to win four books–winner will be drawn on October 9!

Hi everyone! I’m over at Romantic Crush Book Junkies today! I’m talking about A Hint of Wicked and its sequels, where I get ideas for my books, and lots more! I’m also giving away a copy of A Hint of Wicked to one responder. Please come stop by and say hi!

http://romanticcrushjunkies.blogspot.com/

In honor of my husband’s birthday today, the winner of this week’s Fun Friday contest was entry #28!

First Name: Gail

Last Name: H.

Email: ghurt110@b….

Congrats! Gail, please go to my contest page and select the two books you’d like. Then email me with your books and your snail mail address.

Thanks to EVERYONE who entered! And…everyone had the right answer! LOL! Here is the question for week #3:

Book #2, A TOUCH OF SCANDAL, features one of the heroes from A HINT OF WICKED as its hero. What is his name?
(If you haven’t read A HINT OF WICKED, you can guess! I won’t penalize you if you get the wrong answer, as long as it’s a good guess! )

So head on over to my contest page and enter! Have fun!

Congrats to Jessica M., who won (per random.org) my most recent contest! She gets a copy of A HINT OF WICKED by me, a copy of HIGHLAND OBSESSION also by me (but writing as Dawn Halliday, lol), and a bunch of author goodies.

Thanks to all who entered the contest! I asked about online sites that you go to for book information and your entries introduced me to several brand-new-to-me sites!

Stay tuned for my next contest. I have a wild idea for an ongoing contest to build up for the release of A TOUCH OF SCANDAL…

And, if you’re a writer, be sure to check out my contest over at Dawn Halliday’s site. There’s still time to enter for a critique by agent Barbara Poelle!

Thanks again! And congrats to Jessica!

I just found this while doing my endless research about servants’ lives.

It has been frequently observed by travellers and men of experience that comfort is a term only understood in England and scarcely applicable to the habits of any other nation.

From:

The Servant’s Guide and Family Manual

By Katherine Golden Bitting
Collection on Gastronomy (Library of Congress, 1831)

I have to say, I love the vanity of the English during this period!
So…hmmm. What do you think? Was she right?

I love getting reader emails. Thanks so much to all of you who have emailed me about A HINT OF WICKED!

By far, the most common question I’m receiving in emails lately, is: When will A TOUCH OF SCANDAL be out?
Answer: April, 2010.

It seems like a long way away. I have to admit, I’d love it if it were to release next month (even though I haven’t finished copyedits yet, lol!). But on the other hand, I know April will be here before we know it.

And I have a special treat to show all of you today:

Isn’t it pretty? I think they did a great job evoking the emotion of the story, and the woman looks exactly like how I imagine the heroine, Kate. (Plus blue and gold were the colors of both my universities!) Anyway, I just love it!

I’m off to the Romance Writers of America annual conference in Washington, D.C.! If you’re in the area, please come visit us! There’s going to be a massive romance writer signing on Wednesday. If not, add a comment about what you think of the ATOS cover (honest opinions, please!), and I’ll randomly select one commenter when I come home to receive a signed copy of A HINT OF WICKED! Have a great week everyone!

So I just finished researching marriage traditions of the 18th century. There are actually two marriages in this book…ahhh, but no spoilers today!

As usual, I ended up getting distracted–this time by marriage rites of various cultures during that same century, and I came across a description of the marriage ceremony of the Hotentots:

The Suri, or master of religious ceremonies, pisses on the bridegroom, who receives the stream with eagerness and rubs it into the furrows of the fat with which he is covered. He performs the same ceremony on the bride, who is equally respectful.

Sketches of the History of Man By Henry Home Kames, 1813

Um….yeah.
Just makes me happy I write romances that take place in the United Kingdom! The culture and society was different from ours…but rather easier to portray as romantic, in my opinion.

One of my favorite romance blogs is Risky Regencies, where they’re talking today about “The First Time,” i.e. the virginal heroine and how she is portrayed in historical romance.

Kate, the heroine of my current book, is my very first virginal heroine. Kate is a woman whose rampant curiosity nearly overwhelms the entire experience of her deflowering. So I find this topic particularly interesting, because they’re talking about what makes and breaks a “first” sex scene in historical romance (particularly Regencies).

Along a similar vein, I’ve been reading about women’s ideals of romance and maidenhood, and how they were viewed by writers in the 19th century. Here’s one opinion:

Madame St. Henry was as sweet and amiable a woman as I have ever known. She bore her husband’s ill-treatment as saints do their earthly injuries, and made him such a wife as all men desire but few deserve.

She had one–fault, shall I call it? No; it was a weakness: her sensibility of disposition was the grave of her happiness. In the days of her romantic maidenhood she had indulged this passion so fatal to the serenity of human life; so that when the blast of the world came she had no strength to resist it. She had formed an idea of the happiness of married life, such as all women of refined and sensible dispositions will form; and she was disappointed, as all such women assuredly will be.

So highly wrought had been her feelings that she found no fortitude within herself to sustain this cruel shock. Soon after having given birth to the subject of this memoir she died, and was perhaps glad to get to her grave.

–The London Magazine By John Scott, John Taylor, 1824

So much for romanticism, huh? Sigh…