Guest Janet Mullany & Second Chances

Maggie here. It's no secret I love Janet's books. Whether she turns Jane Austen into a vampire or writes a Regency romantic comedy, she's one of my favorite authors. She's here to celebrate the rerelease of her award-winning book Dedication. Isn't the new cover fabulous?

Here's the blurb: Adam and Fabienne came of age and fell wildly in love during a time of revolution but times have changed. Now he’s a respectable country gentleman and she’s a powerful patroness of the arts and they have little in common … or do they? She’s falling in love as she exchanges letters with a reclusive female gothic novelist, and Adam can’t help responding, but surely she knows who he really is, a man writing women’s books under a woman’s name? As their lives become entangled again after two decades apart, dark secrets and betrayals from the past are revealed, threatening them and others they love.

And now, here's Janet talking about Second Chances:

Greetings, Vauxhall Vixens, and thanks for having me visit! I’m here to tell you about my almost-new book Dedication and give away a couple of downloads, but although this guest blog really is all about Me Me Me and My Book, I want to engage you in a discussion of the Second Chance trope. Dedication, which was published originally in 2005 as a Signet Regency (polyester gowns on the cover, no sex, although mine had LOTS) is a second chance book in more than one sense: I had the opportunity to rewrite it, partly for the market but also because the book had problems and I wanted to get them fixed. I’m over at Romance Bandits today talking about how I sexed up the book if you want a, yes, second chance at commenting to win a copy!

But this book is all about second chances. So, gasp shock horror, there are flashbacks to earlier times twenty years ago (one of my original discarded drafts had flashbacks in the point of view of a dead person which breaks so many rules I don’t even know where to start). The hero and heroine, Adam and Fabienne are quite young when they first meet. Adam is a very naughty boy and Fabienne lets him get away with an awful lot of stuff she shouldn’t.

Without entering into spoiler territory too much, twenty years pass. But, guess what, they haven’t been pining away for each other. They fixed themselves—mostly—and I believe that growing up and getting over yourself makes for an interesting book. Interesting for me, certainly. First, the characters can really get into trouble because they think they have immunity and at the same time they have a certain amount of self awareness. Enough to keep them out of trouble? Absolutely not.

Also they have new responsibilities and concerns, finding themselves the older generation dealing with unruly youngsters. One of the fascinating aspects of the Regency is that the French revolution, from which Fabienne escaped, was pretty much the 9/11 of the British ruling class, their worst case scenario. And although Fabienne is a dispossessed French aristocrat, she was, and still is, very much in sympathy with the ideals of the revolution. Many of them were, but not so much in Romancelandia. Adam, who was really into sex, drugs, and the sonata form is now very respectable (on the surface); she thinks he’s sold out.

 Lots of fun stuff. Naturally I went around boasting that I wouldn’t ever write a book about virgins dithering around in drawing rooms, and went on to write a book that was exactly that, The Rules of Gentility.

Tell me what you think of second chance stories. What are your favorites?

Leave an answer for Janet for a chance to win a delightful download of Dedication! For more info on this and Janet's other books, we have lots of links!

Website: www.janetmullany.com

Order link: http://www.loose-id.com/Dedication.aspx

Book trailer link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2758x2zKV1I

Excerpt: http://www.janetmullany.com/dedication-1/?action=excerpt

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Janet-Mullany-Author/144530775580812


Twitter @Janet_Mullany