Romancing September Across the World – Day 14 – Jane Godman

Welcome to Day 14 of the 2^nd Annual Romancing September Across The World Blog Tour. I’ve teamed up with Rosie Amber again this year. We’re promoting 30 awesome romance authors in 30 days. Help us out by cross promoting when you can and check out these authors.

Don’t forget to go over to Rosie Amber’s page and check out her page too.

Today my guest author is Jane Godman and I want to thank her for blogging with me today. Here is a little about her and her book Echoes In The Darkness.

• What inspired you to write this book?

I do love a good gothic romance. You know when you watch a scary film (usually through your fingers) and that character who is alone in the house goes into the attic (or maybe the cellar) to find out what the unexplained noises are? That’s why I write gothics. When we see those scenes in films, or read them in books, we usually switch all the lights on before we sigh with relief and say, “You wouldn’t do that in real life. You’d run screaming out of the door.” But we still love to watch or read those scenes…because they give us shivers.

But I wanted to update the gothic and that was my inspiration. Legacy of Darkness, my first Shivers novel, includes all of the classic gothic elements—a gloomy castle, an innocent heroine, strange characters, dark secrets and noises in the night. But it is also a ‘new gothic’. These have elements of the unexplained, but they are not paranormal romances. Generally, the heroine and heroine are human beings who may have paranormal experiences. Shivers have high levels of sensuality, but their strong gothic story line makes them much more than an erotic romance. My Shivers books are the best of both my favourite genres, they are historical gothics.

Echoes in the Darkness is my second Shivers book and is the sequel to Legacy of Darkness.

So my other inspiration was the mad, bad and definitely dangerous to know Jago family and my desire to keep telling the story of their dark legacy. Although the books do stand alone in the sense that they don’t have to be read in sequence, the three books in the series (the third book, Darkness Unchained, will be out in October 2014) are in chronological order from the 1830s to the 1920s.

• What’s your favourite part of this book and why?

My favourite part of Echoes in the Darkness is Dita’s memory of a mad one night stand she had in Paris. She doesn’t even know the name of the man she slept with, but she has fallen in love with him. This is how they met…

Excerpt

I lay back on the velvet chaise longue while two men stood to one side of me, discussing my nipples. The conversation had been going on for some time and my left calf was cramping painfully. When I attempted to stretch my foot out, however, Maurice squealed in outrage. “Cherie! S’il vous plaît. Please, the pose you strike now is perfection, do not, I beg you, ruin it!”

I subsided, surreptitiously wiggling my toes when he wasn’t looking. He was, after all, paying me double my usual hourly rate for this private sitting, so it wouldn’t do to upset him.

“The colour and texture are quite divine, reminiscent of perfectly placed rose petals on cream silk,” Claude said pompously, regarding my errant breasts thoughtfully. “But the nipples should stand proud, and they will not stay that way.” He stuck his lower lip out sulkily and regarded me with an accusing stare.

“It’s too warm in here,” I pointed out for the third or fourth time. My head was thrown back over the curve of the chaise so that the heavy mass of my hair tumbled almost to the floor. Maurice had piled cushions behind me so that my back was arched, emphasising the contrast between the slenderness of my waist and the full curves of my breasts. I held two feathered fans, one shielding my face so that only my eyes showed above it, and the other teasingly positioned so that it didn’t quite cover my pubic bone.

The third man had not spoken since he entered the room. He stood in the shadows beyond the light of the open window, and all I had was the impression of height and a faint aroma of expensive cologne. Maurice and Claude had greeted him with fawning sycophancy, so I assumed he was a wealthy patron.

I heard the stranger move across the room. Whatever he was doing now, he was out of my vision, but, after some clattering around in Claude’s tiny kitchen area, he approached me. My boredom vanished instantly. I had heard men described as “beautiful” and dismissed the phrase as overly poetic. Suddenly, I knew exactly what it meant. This man’s masculinity was so perfect—so pure—that my breath caught in my throat just to look at him. His smile was as devastating as the first ray of sunlight breaking through storm clouds. I knew, beyond rational thought or reason, that this was a defining moment, a point from which there was to be no return. This man was going to change my life. Was it as simple as love at first sight? The cynic in me dismissed the notion. And I had more cause than most to be cynical about men. Nevertheless, I was severely jolted.

He came and sat on the edge of the chaise, his hip pressed into the curve of my waist. I had never seen eyes so unambiguously gold. The contrast of their brightness against the raven-wing darkness of his hair and tawny tint of his skin was stunning.

“This could hurt a little. But I think you might also quite like it.” He held up his hand to show me a glass full of ice, which he placed on the floor. The piece he held in his other hand was already starting to melt in the cloying heat of the Parisian afternoon.

I returned his stare challengingly over the top of my fan, and the grin deepened appreciatively. Cupping my left breast with a warm hand, he ran his thumb lightly over my nipple. It hardened instantly.

“Mais oui! But yes!” Claude cried out exultantly. “That is what I wanted! Exactement.”

The stranger was concentrating on caressing my breast and did not reply. His eyes remained locked on mine as, very gently, he lifted the piece of ice and used it to draw a circle around my already sensitised nipple. My back arched and I bit my lip as a maddeningly wonderful bolt of pain shot through me.

He moved his hand to my right breast and repeated the process. I wanted to scream. But I wasn’t sure if I wanted to scream at him to stop, or because I never wanted the velvet torture of his touch to end. “It’s funny,” he observed casually. “I thought from a distance that, because your eyes are so dark, they must be brown. But now I see they are the exact shade of the heart of a purple pansy. And,” he added, leaning closer so that Claude and Maurice couldn’t hear, “now you are aroused, there are thunderclouds of passion looming just below the surface.” His French was perfect, but there was a faint trace of an accent.

He rose abruptly, brushing back the lock of hair that flopped forward to caress his brow. “Just use the ice when you need to,” he instructed me, indicating the glass next to the chaise. “That should keep Claude here quiet while he gets his masterpiece started.” He began to walk away toward the door and I lay back, unable to speak. I was completely stunned by the effect he had on me. My nipples were throbbing painfully, a sensation that had nothing whatsoever to do with the ice. Pausing with his hand on the door handle, he flashed that incredible smile my way once more. But his words were directed at Claude, “Do tell our mutual friend I was looking for him. And that he can’t hide forever. I will find him.” Then he was gone.

Throughout the remainder of that sultry, cloud-dulled afternoon, my whole body thrummed with longing. Even Claude’s posturing and Maurice’s rattling, self-absorbed conversation could not pierce the bubble of my anticipation. A drizzling rain had begun to fall by the time I left the tiny attic apartment and stepped into a darkening evening. Sure enough, my golden-eyed stranger was lounging against a gatepost across the street. Just as I knew he would be. His hands were dug deep in his coat pockets, and a brooding, haunted look lowered his brow. I went and stood before him, so close that, when we both breathed out at the same time, our bodies touched. The spicy undertones of his cologne made my nostrils twitch appreciatively. He cupped my face in his hands, studying me intently.

“My God,” he said in English. “You are the most perfect thing I have ever seen.”

“Finish what you started,” I whispered, also in English. And, obligingly, he pulled me to him, crushing me against his chest and bruising my lips with the intensity of his kiss. Dragging me along with him by the hand, he propelled us with long, urgent strides down the narrow, cobbled street. Because we had to stop to kiss under every streetlamp, by the time we reached his apartment, I was soaked to the skin and half-crazy with lust.

• What is your philosophy on writing and life?

With my writing, I’m happy to write. If my work is published, that’s fantastic. If people enjoy reading it, that’s amazing (and I love it when they tell me about it!). But, first and foremost, I write for me because, as cheesy as it sounds, writing satisfies and soothes me.

In life, I believe you have to make the best of what you have. I’m a naturally happy person, but sometimes you have to work at being happy and remind yourself of all the good things you have. There are times when it can be hard to do that, but you have to pick yourself up and keep going. In both writing and life it’s good to develop some ‘bouncebackability’.

• Name your three favourite books that you’ve written — feel free to list buy links

That’s quite easy, as my first three Harlequin Shivers books are the only three currently available (although the others are coming soon!).

So they are:

LEGACY OF DARKNESS

1837 Cornwall, England

Orphaned, penniless and reduced to the role of lady’s companion, Lucy Alleyne is relieved when a distant relation spirits her away to Castle Athal. But gratitude soon gives way to fear—and unlooked-for pleasure.

The ancient Cornish castle is a dark monument to family, fortune and infamy. Within its walls, the Jago family keeps its wards close…and its secrets closer. As soon as Lucy arrives at her new home, she is drawn to Tynan, Earl of Athal. Although the young lord is handsome and caring, he is tortured by mental illness, like his father before him. They share a meeting of souls which is completely opposite to her very physical response to Tynan’s uncle, Uther: a commanding, seductive presence whose leonine power radiates from his every word and gesture.

These two Jago men have innocent Lucy enthralled: mind, soul and body. But if she remains within the poisonous castle keep, with its history of ill-starred passion and madness, a mere broken heart will seem a mercy.

LEGACY OF DARKNESS is available from Amazon: http://tinyurl.com/lcng4mw

and Harlequin: http://www.harlequin.com/storeitem.html?iid=51369

and everywhere ebooks are sold

ECHOES IN THE DARKNESS

Not betrothed, but beguiled.

In artistic circles she is the Divine Dita, Paris’ most sought-after nude model. But now she’s not so much posing as playing a role: fiancée to the next Earl of Athal. The charade is a favor to Dita’s friend, Eddie Jago, a dissolute painter…and the aforementioned heir. As deceptions go, it is innocent compared with what will come.

On the grim Cornish coast, from the ashes of a ruined castle rises the Jagos’ sumptuous new manor house. The fresh-hewn stone, however, cannot absorb the blood of centuries or quiet the echoes of past crimes. Dita struggles to decipher the family: the infirm Earl and his inscrutable wife; resentful Eddie; sheltered sister Eleanor. And Cad: the handsome second son whose reputation is spotless in business—scandalous everywhere else.

Drawn by friendship, ensnared by lust, Dita uncovers a sordid tangle of murder, desire and madness. It will lay her bare as no portraitist has done before.

ECHOES IN THE DARKNESS is available from Amazon: http://tinyurl.com/nkjvk4t

and Harlequin: http://www.harlequin.com/storeitem.html?iid=52852

and everywhere ebooks are sold

VALLEY OF NIGHTMARES

It’s 1938, and war is looming as Lilly Divine leaves London for life as a governess in a crumbling mansion. Her employer, Gethin Taran, a man as remote and compelling as the mountains encircling his home, soon has Lilly intrigued and enthralled. But there is danger as well as passion in the valley, and its ghostly source begins to stalk Lilly’s nightmares….

Mood, mystery…romance that makes you shiver.

VALLEY OF NIGHTMARES is available as part of the third Harlequin Shivers four book box set from Amazon: http://tinyurl.com/qxhma34

and Harlequin: http://www.harlequin.com/storeitem.html?iid=52857

and everywhere ebooks are sold.

• What are your goals for this year?

My first goal is to see my historical romance series published. I wrote this series of books a few years ago and they were published by a small company that went out of business. I’ve now rewritten the books. I love the characters and the era (Georgian England—think men in cloaks and powdered wigs) so I would like to share them with a wider audience.

I am also writing a very dark romantic suspense series and my other goal is to finish that!

6) If you had to give one piece of advice what would it be?

When it comes to writing my advice would be to write the sort of books you want to read. There is no magic formula and, if you try to find one, you will only end up selling yourself and your potential readers short. Then be yourself and stay true to your story. Don’t try and make your book something it’s not just to get it published, or to please other people. Listen to readers, but also think about what the advice they give you is actually saying. Is it saying something about your writing or about their personal preference? You have to accept you can’t please everyone.

Oh, and stick at it. In your writing, and in life. As Winston Churchill said, “Never, ever, ever give up!”

Please provide us with the book bio/description, j-peg author photo, j-peg book cover, buying links, links to author social media

Book Bios and Links

VALLEY OF NIGHTMARES is available as part of the third Harlequin Shivers four book box set from Amazon: http://tinyurl.com/qxhma34

and Harlequin: http://www.harlequin.com/storeitem.html?iid=52857

and everywhere ebooks are sold.

It’s 1938, and war is looming as Lilly Divine leaves London for life as a governess in a crumbling mansion. Her employer, Gethin Taran, a man as remote and compelling as the mountains encircling his home, soon has Lilly intrigued and enthralled. But there is danger as well as passion in the valley, and its ghostly source begins to stalk Lilly’s nightmares….

Mood, mystery…romance that makes you shiver.

ECHOES IN THE DARKNESS is available from Amazon: http://tinyurl.com/nkjvk4t

and Harlequin: http://www.harlequin.com/storeitem.html?iid=52852

and everywhere ebooks are sold

Not betrothed, but beguiled.

In artistic circles she is the Divine Dita, Paris’ most sought-after nude model. But now she’s not so much posing as playing a role: fiancée to the next Earl of Athal. The charade is a favor to Dita’s friend, Eddie Jago, a dissolute painter…and the aforementioned heir. As deceptions go, it is innocent compared with what will come.

On the grim Cornish coast, from the ashes of a ruined castle rises the Jagos’ sumptuous new manor house. The fresh-hewn stone, however, cannot absorb the blood of centuries or quiet the echoes of past crimes. Dita struggles to decipher the family: the infirm Earl and his inscrutable wife; resentful Eddie; sheltered sister Eleanor. And Cad: the handsome second son whose reputation is spotless in business—scandalous everywhere else.

Drawn by friendship, ensnared by lust, Dita uncovers a sordid tangle of murder, desire and madness. It will lay her bare as no portraitist has done before.

LEGACY OF DARKNESS is available from Amazon: http://tinyurl.com/lcng4mw

and Harlequin: http://www.harlequin.com/storeitem.html?iid=51369

and everywhere ebooks are sold

1837 Cornwall, England

Orphaned, penniless and reduced to the role of lady’s companion, Lucy Alleyne is relieved when a distant relation spirits her away to Castle Athal. But gratitude soon gives way to fear—and unlooked-for pleasure.

The ancient Cornish castle is a dark monument to family, fortune and infamy. Within its walls, the Jago family keeps its wards close…and its secrets closer. As soon as Lucy arrives at her new home, she is drawn to Tynan, Earl of Athal. Although the young lord is handsome and caring, he is tortured by mental illness, like his father before him. They share a meeting of souls which is completely opposite to her very physical response to Tynan’s uncle, Uther: a commanding, seductive presence whose leonine power radiates from his every word and gesture.

These two Jago men have innocent Lucy enthralled: mind, soul and body. But if she remains within the poisonous castle keep, with its history of ill-starred passion and madness, a mere broken heart will seem a mercy.

Social Media

Website: http://www.janegodmanauthor.com/

Twitter: @JaneGodman

Email: janegodman@ymail.com

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Jane-Godman-Author/

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6923685.Jane_Godman

Thanks so much for joining us on this grand adventure we call Romancing September Across the World 2014 Blog Tour.

As always, good writing and May God Bless You…