Author Lucy Monroe: Proud to be a book geek
Lucy Monroe, author of Not Just the Greek's Wife, which comes out today, likes to spread the love by writing in several different romance genres, including paranormal, short contemporary, single title and historical. Here, she shares her love of books with us.
Lucy: One of the things I love most sharing in common with my readers is our absolute love of romance and reading. We've remarked many times on the fact we often share the same auto-buy authors and comfort reads. It's so amazing to share such a deeply held passion with other readers from around the globe.
Alpha heroes are a must for me in any romance novel and most of the readers who chat with me on Facebook and Twitter agree. We like strong, sexy stories with enough emotion to make us remember the book a month later and want to reread it.
Many of us started reading romance with Harlequin Presents, back when maybe we were considered too young to read such "racy" stuff. LOL I remember "borrowing" my oldest sister's from where she kept them in the drawer beside her bed. I adored Jacqueline Baird, Helen Bianchin, Emma Darcy, Penny Jordan and Lynne Graham. I still do.
If you look at my mass market paperback wall in my library, you will notice a predominance of books with a narrow, white spine. Those are my Presents "keepers" – the books that will never get lent out, put in a jumble sale or donated to a book drive. Some were published 30 years ago, some last month. Like so many other romance readers (it's still the best-selling romance imprint in the world), I truly love Harlequin Presents.
It amazes me how an author like New Zealand-born Helen Bianchin, who published her first book in 1975, has changed with the times and continues to write sexy, compelling romance relevant to modern women. Living in Australian, she often writes delicious Australian heroes of Mediterranean descent. This comes as no surprise, considering she married her own gorgeous Italian-born Australian so many decades ago.
Don't you love hearing about a real-life HEA that lasted? Helen is one of my heroes!
Another Australian author, Emma Darcy, blew the door wide open on heroines acknowledging their own sexuality and acting on their needs (not just those of the hero). These ladies were writing books to empower women back when romance was continually denigrated as chocolate-box fiction.
Lynne Graham is an author who continually challenges me to write deeper, more emotional and meaningful books because she sets the bar so high. Her Sicilian heroes are my favorites, but she has done some absolutely drool-worthy Greek tycoons as well. If you love a book that will make you bite your nails with tension, want to strangle the hero and then want to hug him, she's got to be on your TBR list!
The first time I fell in love with a Greek tycoon, he was written by Jacqueline Baird, though. She's the queen of writing the hero as the villain and redeeming him by the end of the book. Just thinking about her books makes me sigh happily.
In fact, it was a book by Jacqueline Baird that inspired me to write my first Harlequin Presents. Now I'm celebrating the release of my 28th title for Harlequin. Did I mention the hero is a Greek tycoon? Yep, they are still my favorite.
Not Just the Greek's Wife is about second chances and learning to fight for love, not merely take it for granted. So often we think love should be easy, our own HEA should come and stick around because it just is.
That's not the way life works and romance novels show how very hard it is to find and keep love, but they also show us that it's worth it when we do and that the HEA can happen.
I invite you to share in my obsession with romance. Read a Harlequin Presents because the authors who write them respect our genre and their love for romance comes through on every single page.
Go ahead, admit your secret vice: Who is your favorite Harlequin Presents author? What is your favorite book by her lately? What makes this amazingly long-lasting romance imprint work for you?
Hugs and happy reading.
You can find out more about Lucy and her books at her website, LucyMonroe.com.