Francesca is looking forward to the publication of the first Beach Hotel novel during both #RomanceReadingMonth and the #RespectRomFic campaign.
As a romance writer, I belong to the Romantic Novelists Association (RNA), which is currently heavily involved in #RomanceReadingMonth, and in the #RespectRomFic campaign.
It’s a sad truth that the romance market never gets the respect that other fiction genres are given, such as crime, historical and literary. It’s almost certainly down to it being considered a ‘woman’s’ genre, even though a lot of men do read them too. Sad, isn’t it?
The fact is, it’s the second biggest selling genre in books! That’s just counting the ones that are placed in the romance category. If you take other books that have romance in them, but have been placed under other categories, then it would be the biggest selling genre. And of course, most ‘romance’ books aren’t only about love, they also come under other categories such as historical, saga, crime, mystery, comedy, YA, action, scifi, fantasy… etc!
If you’re on Twitter, Instagram, Tiktok or Facebook, you’re likely to see these two hashtags and the image at the top. Do feel free to like and share these tweet/posts, and let’s see if we can get romance books the respect they deserve.
The RNA had a FREE mini virtual lit fest on YouTube on Valentine’s Day, with panels of romance writers and also publishers talking about different aspects of romance and the publishing industry. Most of them are available for anyone to watch, so if you fancy a listen, here are the links:
The Key to Writing Bestselling Romance
Editing Session with Hayley Milliman (ProWritingAid)
I’m really delighted that A New Start at the Beach Hotel is being released in #RomanceReadingMonth, and I really hope that readers enjoy the romance between my main character, Edie, and the man she falls in love with. Of course, it’s never plain sailing, but then that would be a bit boring in a story, wouldn’t it? Apart from being a romance, it also comes under saga and historical. As much work went into the research of it as any other historical novel. And knowing a lot of saga/historical writers as I do, I know they’d all say the same!
Published by Hera Books / Canelo
Happy reading in #RomanceReadingMonth!
Available to pre-order now:
Links to books in other countries
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Hello Nicola, and welcome to Write Minds. First off, do you see yourself in any of your characters?
Tell us about your setting and why you chose it?
Bodmin, the Moor, and the River Fal where we also sail. The Cornish Lady is set in Trelissick House and A Cornish Betrothal in Trerice.
I love the research aspect of writing historical novels. I usually have a theme I want to explore. Each book centers round different aspects of the history in Cornwall, 1793-1800 and a lot of my information is gleaned from academic papers or books written specifically about the subject. We are so lucky having google at our fingertips! However I can’t get my head into my characters until I can prove something happened at exactly the time I want it to happen, to a group of people I want to represent, in a specific place, at a specific time. That gives me the authority I need. For example, in A Cornish Betrothal, I have a lady herbalist, a young physician, and others on the infirmary committee which has been called to raise funds and approve the design of the New Infirmary in Truro. Imagine my delight when I found the actual minutes of the 
committee meeting held in 1790 in the Records Office in Truro. All the records and archives are now housed in Kresen Kernow in Redruth and I have enormous fun making sure I have proof of what I’m going to include in my books. It’s not always easy to read some of the handwriting though, even armed with a huge magnifying glass.
Believe it or not, I’ve written each of my books in a different place. Once I’ve finished writing a book, it’s as if I have to move on. I just can’t write another in the same place. It’s very strange. I wrote my first book at the kitchen table, my second at the dining room table. The third was written in my daughter’s bedroom and the fourth in my son’s. By the time I was writing my fifth book my grandchildren were older so I could move the cot out of the back bedroom to make an office. Now, writing my sixth, I’ve turned my desk to face the opposite wall and that seems to have done the trick. Any more books and we’ll have to move house. And no, my new office is never usually this tidy!
Eighteen months have passed since Midshipman Edmund Melville was declared missing, presumed dead, and Amelia Carew has mended her heart and fallen in love with a young physician, Luke Bohenna. But, on her twenty-fifth birthday, Amelia suddenly receives a letter from Edmund announcing his imminent return. In a state of shock, devastated that she now loves Luke so passionately, she is torn between the two.
Rosemary had been ill but was recovering and looking forward to the release of the third novel in her Derwent Chronicles series, Until We Can Forgive. She was busy getting started on her blog tour questions, when she was sadly taken from us. Here we recall times we’ve spent with Rosemary, and take a look at her latest novel.
Francesca: I first met Rosemary in an Adult Education class for creative writing, run by Elaine Everest, back in 2006. We’d been in various classes together since that time, as well as both attending Writers’ Holiday weeks and many Romantic Novelist Association events. Often she wrote things that were a little different, like a novel she was working on several years ago that involved chemistry classes and poisonings!
She was a well informed and cultured woman, with knowledge of foreign languages, yet never blew her own trumpet. She was great fun at social events. I recall the last RNA conference we were at, one evening, sitting around our flat’s kitchen table, playing a game which involved singing various songs, and Rosemary joining in as enthusiastically as the rest of us (I dare say a little alcohol was involved!). She will be sorely missed by me, and there’ll be a Rosemary-shaped hole in our group of friends for evermore.
Elaine: I first met Rosemary at The Write Place in 2012. I will always remember Rosemary as a well read and intelligent person. Her interests were quite diverse, as indeed was her reading. I know she loved playing bridge, going to the theatre and having some more unusual holidays. However, she also had a scatty side to her unassuming nature. She was a lovely lady that would never want to offend anyone and was also someone you couldn’t get cross with.
When we were travelling to Romantic Novelist’s Association events together, like the conferences, she was often waiting for everyone in the wrong place. We all worried about losing her when we were going anywhere as a group. I remember arranging to meet her just inside the doorway of a summer party we were both attending and I waited for sometime before I was told she was already upstairs. She was very apologetic when she realised but it was just another moment where you just thought ‘that’s Rosemary’, she didn’t have a malicious bone in her whole body.
Spring 1919: WW1 is over and a fragile peace has descended over the country. Now living in Cambridge with husband Edmond, Amy Derwent is settling into her new life as wife and mother to little Beth. But the shadow of the Great War looms large, particularly as the injuries Edmond sustained at Ypres still take their toll on him today.
Hello Elaine, and welcome back to the blog with your second ‘Teashop’ novel.
Elaine Everest is from North West Kent and she grew up listening to stories of the war years in her home town of Erith, which features in her bestselling Woolworths Girls series. A former journalist, and author of nonfiction books for dog owners, Elaine has written over sixty short stories for the women’s magazine market. When she isn’t writing, Elaine runs The Write Place creative writing school in Hextable, Kent. She lives with her husband, Michael and sheepdog Henry. You can find out more about Elaine on Twitter @ElaineEverest or Facebook /elaine.everest
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