They say it's one of the most stressful things to do - apart from losing a puppy in your back yard that you thought you'd made puppy proof - (don't worry - he turned up in next door's yard). We've just spent the last few days helping daughter and her boyfriend move from a smallish flat to a largish house. I'm still trying to figure out how 18 men's dress shirts and a huge pile of other stuff ended up on my - will you please iron these- list of things to do. What can I say - I'm a saint and sucker.
Apart from missing mobile phone chargers, absentee sunglasses, an argument over a raclette dish (who knew they were so big!)and improvised curtains made of cardboard boxes - all went relatively smoothly. EXCEPT - we arrived home to find son and girlfriend are also moving this weekend - back to our house. Their flat has been invaded by mice. So we have another removal job to do and I'll need to check every bag in case they bring any little critters with them otherwise I'll be moving too.
Friday, June 26, 2009
Friday, June 5, 2009
Happy Ever After
When I read a book, I expect the experience to be a positive one. If it isn’t, I don’t finish the book. It usually gets tossed to the bedroom floor with a grand flourish in the hope that husband will notice so I can rail about the disappointment of wasting my time and money. Of course having to get out of bed to mop up water, having knocked over my glass, sort of spoils the moment.
Genre expectations exist for all types of books. Fans of mystery novels expect to see a crime being solved, horror fans want to be scared witless, readers of fantasy require an imaginative challenge and hard core sci fi readers – ah well, I don’t get those weirdoes but that’s probably because I was crap at physics. The requirement for a HEA in romance books has some people rolling their eyes but what’s wrong with romance readers expecting a happy ending? What’s wrong with anyone wanting a happy ending?
I read to be entertained, to be removed for a while from my ordinary life on my mega-yacht drinking champagne and be transported to a fantasy world of good looking guys. I don’t mind if they’re alive or undead, werewolf or gargoyle, prince or pauper, (but not zombies- I have to draw the line somewhere). But I need to know that the world I enter will become ordered and safe and happy by the end of the book.
To be honest, I like HEA or HFN in everything I read, romance or not. That doesn’t mean to say I don’t read books with unhappy endings, I do, though most often by accident. It’s not something authors announce on the back page – oh by the way, I kill off that lovely hero and leave the heroine to take poison on his grave. Strangely enough, it’s books with unhappy endings that have stayed with me longer than the others. Jay McInerney’s Ransom is a case in point – I love it because I became so emotionally involved with the hero. I faithfully read all the brilliant Karin Slaughter’s series and was staggered by what she did to her hero who’d I’d grown to love over several books. I had to go back and read it again because I wondered if I’d made a mistake. She was paranoid about people revealing the end and threatened disembowelment at the very least for those who spoilt it for others. Fearing she might come after me with a knife, I won’t say too much but I still think about that ending and don’t understand WHY she did it. Even if she’d gone as far with that character as she could, why kill him?
Unhappy endings are not common in romance. If I ended up in floods of tears because one of the MCs died or walked away from love, I’d feel cheated and annoyed. I don’t mind crying at their angst part way through and I don’t mind crying with happiness because they end up together, though it doesn’t happen often. The crying I mean. Readers need characters to get what they deserve. I want the villains to receive their comeuppance. I expect the hero and heroine, or heroes, having completed their journey and learned life’s lessons, to be rewarded with happiness. That’s why I read romance. I want the world to be fair and just.
So what’s the attraction of romance books when I know what’s going to happen? If the ending is predictable, why bother reading? Because HEA isn’t straight forward and is only a small part of the whole. We don’t know the journey the MCs will take and if a writer is skilled enough, she or he will make that journey so compelling we feel the happy ending is the perfect finish.
It might be the fairytale ending of marriage, 2.4 kids and a blissful ride into old age. It might be more a HFN, the feeling of satisfaction that having shown characters maturing during the book, the author has given them the hope of a better life in the future. So it’s really what comes before HEA that’s important- the journey, the learning experience, the battling through difficulties and disappointments as the relationship grows so that the readers feels these two or three – ooh, maybe more – characters can’t live without each other.
How about romance books that don’t have the HEA – or at least my view of a HEA. Gone with the Wind – is the one most commonly quoted. Rhett walks away but we don’t know if Scarlet follows. Personally I couldn’t give a damn, my dear. She was horrible! Remains of the Day is a great story but definitely has an unhappy ending. Jude Deveraux’s – A Knight in Shining Armor is a time travel romance where the hero goes back to his own time and leaves the heroine in the present. We get a sort of HEA but the ending still niggles with me that the two main protagonists don’t end up with each other.
I suppose I learnt a lesson from that with my story – Power of Love – to be released by Ellora’s Cave on the 20th May. It’s the story of a woman whose boyfriend has been killed. He returns as an angel. I never plan my stories – so I got towards the end and thought – how am I going to keep them together? It never crossed my mind that Joe would go off to heaven and leave Poppy to find another love. No, they had to stay together so I made it happen. Ah, the power of the pen!
Genre expectations exist for all types of books. Fans of mystery novels expect to see a crime being solved, horror fans want to be scared witless, readers of fantasy require an imaginative challenge and hard core sci fi readers – ah well, I don’t get those weirdoes but that’s probably because I was crap at physics. The requirement for a HEA in romance books has some people rolling their eyes but what’s wrong with romance readers expecting a happy ending? What’s wrong with anyone wanting a happy ending?
I read to be entertained, to be removed for a while from my ordinary life on my mega-yacht drinking champagne and be transported to a fantasy world of good looking guys. I don’t mind if they’re alive or undead, werewolf or gargoyle, prince or pauper, (but not zombies- I have to draw the line somewhere). But I need to know that the world I enter will become ordered and safe and happy by the end of the book.
To be honest, I like HEA or HFN in everything I read, romance or not. That doesn’t mean to say I don’t read books with unhappy endings, I do, though most often by accident. It’s not something authors announce on the back page – oh by the way, I kill off that lovely hero and leave the heroine to take poison on his grave. Strangely enough, it’s books with unhappy endings that have stayed with me longer than the others. Jay McInerney’s Ransom is a case in point – I love it because I became so emotionally involved with the hero. I faithfully read all the brilliant Karin Slaughter’s series and was staggered by what she did to her hero who’d I’d grown to love over several books. I had to go back and read it again because I wondered if I’d made a mistake. She was paranoid about people revealing the end and threatened disembowelment at the very least for those who spoilt it for others. Fearing she might come after me with a knife, I won’t say too much but I still think about that ending and don’t understand WHY she did it. Even if she’d gone as far with that character as she could, why kill him?
Unhappy endings are not common in romance. If I ended up in floods of tears because one of the MCs died or walked away from love, I’d feel cheated and annoyed. I don’t mind crying at their angst part way through and I don’t mind crying with happiness because they end up together, though it doesn’t happen often. The crying I mean. Readers need characters to get what they deserve. I want the villains to receive their comeuppance. I expect the hero and heroine, or heroes, having completed their journey and learned life’s lessons, to be rewarded with happiness. That’s why I read romance. I want the world to be fair and just.
So what’s the attraction of romance books when I know what’s going to happen? If the ending is predictable, why bother reading? Because HEA isn’t straight forward and is only a small part of the whole. We don’t know the journey the MCs will take and if a writer is skilled enough, she or he will make that journey so compelling we feel the happy ending is the perfect finish.
It might be the fairytale ending of marriage, 2.4 kids and a blissful ride into old age. It might be more a HFN, the feeling of satisfaction that having shown characters maturing during the book, the author has given them the hope of a better life in the future. So it’s really what comes before HEA that’s important- the journey, the learning experience, the battling through difficulties and disappointments as the relationship grows so that the readers feels these two or three – ooh, maybe more – characters can’t live without each other.
How about romance books that don’t have the HEA – or at least my view of a HEA. Gone with the Wind – is the one most commonly quoted. Rhett walks away but we don’t know if Scarlet follows. Personally I couldn’t give a damn, my dear. She was horrible! Remains of the Day is a great story but definitely has an unhappy ending. Jude Deveraux’s – A Knight in Shining Armor is a time travel romance where the hero goes back to his own time and leaves the heroine in the present. We get a sort of HEA but the ending still niggles with me that the two main protagonists don’t end up with each other.
I suppose I learnt a lesson from that with my story – Power of Love – to be released by Ellora’s Cave on the 20th May. It’s the story of a woman whose boyfriend has been killed. He returns as an angel. I never plan my stories – so I got towards the end and thought – how am I going to keep them together? It never crossed my mind that Joe would go off to heaven and leave Poppy to find another love. No, they had to stay together so I made it happen. Ah, the power of the pen!
Thursday, May 21, 2009
Interviews!!
A lovely interview here with me by Fran!! - Salt Lake City Examiner
http://www.examiner.com/x-5288-Salt-Lake-City-Romance-Novels-Examiner~y2009m5d21-Welcome-Romance-Lovers-Today-I-am-interviewing-British-Romance-author-Barbar-Elsborg?#comments
And another great one here with Bobby at Bookwenches review site
http://www.bookwenches.com/interviews.htm
Thanks guys!!!!
http://www.examiner.com/x-5288-Salt-Lake-City-Romance-Novels-Examiner~y2009m5d21-Welcome-Romance-Lovers-Today-I-am-interviewing-British-Romance-author-Barbar-Elsborg?#comments
And another great one here with Bobby at Bookwenches review site
http://www.bookwenches.com/interviews.htm
Thanks guys!!!!
Friday, May 8, 2009
Power of Love - out 20th May from Ellora's Cave
Sometimes love lasts a lifetime. Sometimes love reaches beyond death.
Joe is a lost soul.
When Detective Joe Dalziel is killed in the line of duty, the result of a blunder by his girlfriend, Poppy, he ends up stuck between worlds, not quite in heaven, not quite in hell. Joe wakes with gray wings and a mission. He thinks he has to save Poppy from herself and persuade her to let him go. But can Joe move on, or will he destroy himself clinging to the one thing he couldn’t hold onto in life? Love.
Poppy is a soul lost.
She’s lost her heart, her sanity and the only man she ever loved. Six months have passed since Joe died but Poppy can’t say goodbye. Tormented by guilt over his death, Joe is still part of her life. Everywhere she looks, he’s there—talking to her, touching her, sharing ice cream and showers. Not really there, only if you want something enough, can love make it happen?
Sometimes love lasts forever.
Joe is a lost soul.
When Detective Joe Dalziel is killed in the line of duty, the result of a blunder by his girlfriend, Poppy, he ends up stuck between worlds, not quite in heaven, not quite in hell. Joe wakes with gray wings and a mission. He thinks he has to save Poppy from herself and persuade her to let him go. But can Joe move on, or will he destroy himself clinging to the one thing he couldn’t hold onto in life? Love.
Poppy is a soul lost.
She’s lost her heart, her sanity and the only man she ever loved. Six months have passed since Joe died but Poppy can’t say goodbye. Tormented by guilt over his death, Joe is still part of her life. Everywhere she looks, he’s there—talking to her, touching her, sharing ice cream and showers. Not really there, only if you want something enough, can love make it happen?
Sometimes love lasts forever.
Wednesday, May 6, 2009
A real blog
Finally I have a website to promote my wonderful self I can actually use this blog to actually - er - blog. I've been waiting to do this for ages and of course now I have no idea what to say. Maybe my thoughts about attending the Romantic Times conference in Orlando would be a good start.
First paperback, first conference and a long way from the UK but such a thrill. I met so many great people - readers, writers, booksellers, agents, editors and male models. oops - forget I said the latter but Jeremy - you had lovely eyes, a sweet nature and I voted for you.Sorry you didn't win.
All my writing life, I've dreamed of seeing a book in print with my name on the cover. One of the reasons I publish erotica under my real name. That dream came true this year. I sat in the room with hundreds of famous authors and sold all my alloted number of books, had my photo taken by a fan and finally - after two hours - burst into tears when it finally sank in that a dream had come true. Not everyone is so lucky I know and I'm humbled by the experience. I'm going to have to find another dream now.
First paperback, first conference and a long way from the UK but such a thrill. I met so many great people - readers, writers, booksellers, agents, editors and male models. oops - forget I said the latter but Jeremy - you had lovely eyes, a sweet nature and I voted for you.Sorry you didn't win.
All my writing life, I've dreamed of seeing a book in print with my name on the cover. One of the reasons I publish erotica under my real name. That dream came true this year. I sat in the room with hundreds of famous authors and sold all my alloted number of books, had my photo taken by a fan and finally - after two hours - burst into tears when it finally sank in that a dream had come true. Not everyone is so lucky I know and I'm humbled by the experience. I'm going to have to find another dream now.
Saturday, February 28, 2009
Monday, February 23, 2009
Anna in the middle
Coming soon from Ellora's Cave - release date 27th March 2009
Anna is in the middle of a mess.
She’s being stalked by a manipulative guy who’s about to marry her sister and has everyone convinced Anna is jealous. Her luck changes when she meets tall, dark and gorgeous Jax. But after a steamy night of sex, Anna discovers something that makes her think he's married.
Jax is in the middle of a dilemma.
He's torn between the man he loves and a woman he’s just met. Tracking her down means risking what he already has. Jax is desperate to find her, but will she understand what he’ll have to tell her?
Will is in the middle of heartache.
He knows Jax loves him, though he’s never said it. He also knows Jax has found a woman. Torn between being a good friend and Jax's lover, Will’s not sure their relationship will survive. The only way to find out is to locate Anna for Jax. But when Will finds her, he discovers the reason Jax has fallen so hard.
Anna is in the middle of a mess.
She’s being stalked by a manipulative guy who’s about to marry her sister and has everyone convinced Anna is jealous. Her luck changes when she meets tall, dark and gorgeous Jax. But after a steamy night of sex, Anna discovers something that makes her think he's married.
Jax is in the middle of a dilemma.
He's torn between the man he loves and a woman he’s just met. Tracking her down means risking what he already has. Jax is desperate to find her, but will she understand what he’ll have to tell her?
Will is in the middle of heartache.
He knows Jax loves him, though he’s never said it. He also knows Jax has found a woman. Torn between being a good friend and Jax's lover, Will’s not sure their relationship will survive. The only way to find out is to locate Anna for Jax. But when Will finds her, he discovers the reason Jax has fallen so hard.
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