May 28, 2025 • 32 mins
Ally Hudson joins the podcast to read from her latest release, THE SCOTTISH SCHEME. Hudson discusses her unique entry point to writing historical romance, transitioning from first to third person narrative, and her appetite for breaking traditional romance rules. Plus, we talk about our love of American Girl dolls!
00:00 Introduction to the Podcast
01:16 Reading from 'The Scottish Scheme'
13:31 Interview with Ally Hudson
16:57 Exploring the Fantasy Elements in Historical Romance
17:35 Transition from Fantasy to Historical Romance
19:37 Influences and Inspirations in Writing
21:00 Research and Authenticity in Historical Romance
23:23 Breaking Romance Rules: Love It or Leave It?
29:19 Writing Diverse Characters and Breaking Publishing Norms
31:50 Conclusion and Where to Find More
Find out more about Ally Hudson at https://www.allyhudson.com/
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:04):
Welcome to the historicalromance sampler podcast.
I'm your host, Katherine Grant, andeach week I introduce you to another
amazing historical romance author.
My guest reads a little sampleof their work, and then we move
into a free ranging interview.
If you like these episodes, don'tforget to subscribe to the historical
(00:24):
romance sampler, wherever youlisten to podcasts and follow us
on Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube.
Now let's get into this week's episode.
I am super excited to bejoined today by Ally Hudson.
Ally is an Amazon bestsellingauthor of Steamy Regency Romance
crafting captivating Tales ofLove, healing, hope, and Family.
(00:47):
Her debut series Most ImprudentMatches, weaves Together eight
unforgettable love stories spanningdecades blending humor and heart with
devoted heroes and capable heroines.
Ally's stories celebrate thecountless forms love can take, each
one deserving its moment to shine.
Beautiful sentiment.
(01:08):
And Ally, I'm so excited to have you.
Thank you.
I'm excited to be here.
Yeah.
So which of these amazing storiesare you reading for us today?
I am reading my new release.
It comes out June 3rd.
It's called The Scottish Scheme.
I'm starting with the prologue.
But one thing to know about my books isthat I tend to interweave the stories,
(01:29):
so it's actually set in the weddingof the characters from book three.
Very fun.
So you get a little, a couplecameos and a little bit of
hint of what's going on there.
So this is the prologue.
It's set in 1813.
All right.
And we're starting with Tom.
The ceremony hadn't beenbeautiful, nor was the wedding
(01:49):
breakfast, any sort of improvement?
No.
The best that could be saidwas that it was expensive.
My new sister recited her vowswith barely restrained tears,
a tensile note in her voice.
I could not blame her for thereaction, not with the twisted set
of my brother's mouth when he had
to glance her way.
Hugh really could be an asswhen he set his mind to it.
(02:09):
With the other failure ofHugh's marital prospects, my
mother's eye turned towards me.
I was barely eight and 10, hardlyin society at all, but she had
already thrust three frippery coveredmisses in my direction that morning.
Every single one had been asindistinguishable as the last.
This one had light hairwith an oversized bow in it.
Every time her head bobbed, whichwas often as she seemed determined
(02:31):
to agree with everything I said,it flapped about despondently.
Surely it was intended to match thebow on her dress, but that had been
severely starched and sat like two stiffpeaks directly atop her ample bosom.
Certainly the intended effect.
The lady and I had already exhaustedthe readily all available topics,
the ceremony and the weather.
And no person of any taste couldcompliment the decorations the
(02:53):
Duchess of Sutton had chosen on theoccasion of her niece's wedding.
"Your dress is veryfine, miss Kensington."
It was a safe enough topic.
Ladies liked compliments, andI knew little enough about her
to compliment anything else.
"Thank you, Mr. Grayson. My maid saidthat it suited my coloring, but I wasn't
certain." Her voice could not possiblybe that naturally high pitched, could it?
(03:14):
"Yes. It looks lovely with youreyes." It was the wrong choice.
Her head tilted to the side andpuzzlement and her brow dipped low.
"It does?" "Yes."
Christ.
I hated speaking to ladies.
And why was my cravat so tight?
"My dress is orange.
My eyes are blue." "Yes." Damn.
I wouldn't have guessedorange on the dress.
It had taken years to recognize thatmy eyes worked, or rather, didn't
(03:36):
work differently than other people's.
And it was even longer before Iunderstood precisely how, where
everyone else saw distinct colors,
I saw shades of what I now knew was brown.
I could identify the tone ,and there werea few colors I was better at guessing
than others, but I could never be sure.
"You have unusual tastes, Mr.Grayson, if you'll excuse me, my
mother is in need of me." I bowed,resisting the accompanying eye roll.
(03:58):
She was probably envisioning our futurehome entirely too garish to abide.
It wasn't my first fumble witha lady, and I rather suspected
it wouldn't be the last.
I couldn't lament my failure,and I wouldn't miss her company.
My condition hadn't been a seriousconcern yet, nor my utter inability
to converse with eligible misses.
I certainly hadn't found one thatI had any interest in actually
impressing, but at some pointit might prove an impediment.
(04:21):
Mother had thrown a fair few ladies inmy direction after Hugh announced that he
meant to honor his fraudulently broughtabout engagement to the deceitful scheming
strumpet, so she needed a daughterwho wouldn't shame the entire family.
It stood to reason with the sheervolume of options that mother
was shoving in front of me,
there would be at least one thatcaught my eye, but thus far,
such a lady had proved elusive.
(04:41):
Each of the ladies have been perfectlypretty in a rather bland sort of way.
Their gowns were fine, decoratedwith laces and ribbons and bobbles.
They were tiny, delicate, fragilethings with even temperaments
and banal conversations.
Topics were restricted to the recentweather, the present weather, the
upcoming weather, recent balls,present balls, upcoming balls.
It was a slow Sisyphean kind of torture.
(05:02):
I ducked behind a pottedplant to extend my reprieve.
Mother was in the center of thetulle covered hell, too busy feigning
a preening delight for the gueststo be occupied with matchmaking.
She smiled and thanked as though shehad not but two hours ago begged Hugh to
leave the new lady Grayson at the altar.
Her present efforts were impressive.
If I hadn't caught each and everyglower at the bride, I would've
thought her pleased with the match.
(05:23):
She wasn't though.
No, it seemed our hostess, theDowager Duchess of Sutton was the only
one pleased with this turn events.
It was a fair victory to Crow over.
She'd secured a viscount forher unfortunate miss of a niece.
A bony hand grasped myelbow, yanking me forward.
Somehow I'd missed mother's distinctivescent of lilacs and decay, and she'd
found some time in her schedule betweenartificial gratitude and seething vicious
(05:43):
flowers to return to her matchmaking.
"His grace, the Duke of Rose Hill."
She hissed as she dragged me along.
" He has an unwed sister and a widowedformer sister-in-law under his charge.
You met them once last year." "Mother."It was a half-hearted protest.
I'd learned long ago to choose mybattles with her and making nice with
the Duke sister for a few momentsor chatting with a lonely widow
wasn't worth the argument.
(06:04):
She pulled me along, clawsdigging into the wool of my coat
until she paused in front of.
Oh.
Dimly, under the rushing of myears, I heard mother rattling on.
"Lady Grayson, your mother introducedus at her annual ball a few years ago.
It's a tragedy she stopped hosting."The gentleman was clearly distracted.
He offered mother a brief glance beforehis gaze flicked back to the crowd.
He was... beautiful.
(06:26):
Dark hair swept off his wide forehead.
Matching thick black brows,topped equally dark eyes.
His skin was pale, and his jaw hinted atthe ease with which he could grow a beard.
He was shorter than me, shorter thanHugh, too, and stocky, but the cut of
his crisp black and white waist coathinted at the muscled form beneath.
There was nothing delicate about him.
His expression, his appearance,his grooming, his apparel was all
(06:47):
severe sparing and breathtaking.
This.
This was what all the stories talkedabout, the swirling fluttering
tightening of my chest, the dampnessblooming on my palms, the way the air
had thickened to a soup consistencythat made breathing difficult.
Somehow when I inhaled, it wasstill fleeting and substantial.
There was too much air in theroom and not enough in my lungs.
"She's still," he started,his voice was a musical tenor.
(07:10):
His hand gestured between us for amoment, flicking to one side before
clenching in a fist at his waist.
The gesture was enough toensure I noticed sturdy, strong
fingers beneath a white glove.
"She's still mourning my father," hefinished his lips twisting all the way
to one corner of his mouth by the end.
"Oh, and please once again, passalong my deepest condolences. I lost
my dear Henry some years ago, butthe grief as sharp as it ever was,"
(07:31):
mother simpered.
"I will. I'm certain she willbe grateful." His gaze flicked
about the room, still distracted.
"Your grace, may I have the pleasureof introducing my youngest son,
Thomas Grayson?" Mother followed therequest with proper curtsy deeper
than I thought her capable of.
She excused herself, slippingoff with a significant look.
I was supposed to do something,but what was anyone's guess?
(07:52):
Because with mother's away, theair filled with an overwhelming
masculine cedar scent.
It shoved useful thoughtsclean from my head.
"Pleasure," he murmured in my direction,still glancing uneasily about the room.
"The honor is all mine,"I replied automatically.
His silence settledlike a wall between us.
Several gulps of his woody scent leftme painfully aware that I was gaping
like a dolt, but I was still tooovercome for intelligent conversation.
(08:15):
"It was a lovely ceremony,"I added trying again.
It was inane and entirely false.
I'd never seen two people less enthusedwith the prospect of wedded bliss.
" Yes, quite," he returned as hisattention shifted back to me.
"Remind me again of your relation tothe bride." I blinked, head of leather.
"She is my sister of, buta few hours." "Oh, right.
Yes, of course.
So you are not familiar with the layer outof the house, then?" He asked, his eyes
(08:37):
returning to the crowd.
I was fully gaping.
"No, not any more so than anyoneelse. Are you looking for something,
your Grace?" His gaze finally foundmine, catching there for a moment.
His eyes were so dark.
I was absolutely certain that theywere brown, near black, and not
some other color I only assumed wasbrown for reasons I couldn't name.
It was essential to me thatI know what color they were.
Truly.
(08:58):
"No, yes." He broke off studying myentire forum with a critical eye.
"No," he finally settled.
Dismissed.
Thoroughly, completely, unambiguously.
"Right? I'll just be on my way, then," Imuttered a forlorn note creeping in, but I
was unwilling to force my company on him.
Rosehill sighed, as he shiftedhis weight back on his heels.
Then he tipped his headback to the ceiling,
(09:19):
eyelids shut.
When he finished his ritual, hisgaze found mine pinning me in place.
"You haven't noticed any escape routes,have you?" "Escape routes?" "Nevermind.
It's Davina." He called out tosomeone behind me, beckoning
them forward with both hands.
A lovely girl in a fine frockof an indeterminate color
return to his side, arms crossedan expression, unimpressed.
"You summoned?" She asked,mouth twisted in a pout and then
(09:41):
her gaze flicked towards me.
"Who is this little cricket?" I- what?
Cricket?
"He is not..." his grace said,trailing off, waving away
the thought with one hand.
"Mr. Timothy Gregerson. Mr. Gregerson,lady Davina," he gestured between us
not taking his gaze from the lady.
"It's Tom-" "and where have youbeen?" His grace demanded of the lady.
His lady.
My heart ached in patheticagony at the thought.
(10:03):
"I was with C," She insisted.
And then she turned towards me.
"Mr. Gregerson, it is an absolutepleasure to make your acquaintance."
There was something flirtatious inher tone that had me stepping back.
"It's Mr.-" "No, absolutely not,"Rosehill asserted in her direction once
again ignoring my attempted correction.
"Xander, don't be rude," she retortedwith a petty stomp of her foot.
Xander.
(10:23):
He dragged a rough hand throughhis hair and mussing the perfectly
coiffed strands enticingly.
"Get in the carriage," he ordered.
Lady Davina grumbled butstill made to follow his
instructions, floating past him.
One step.
Two.
"Freeze," he demanded.
She obeyed, pausing mid stepwithout so much as a huff.
"Turn." The pivot on herheels was slow, deliberate.
When she finally faced us,her eyes were wide with false
(10:45):
innocence and her lips were parted.
Rosehill's hand shot out in front of him,
palm up.
"Reticule." She rolled her eyesand answered before plopping
the beaded bag in his palm withthe previously foregone Huff.
He loosened the drawstring, pullingout a glinting decorative snuff box.
Rosehill sighed, handing thebox aloft for me to take.
I raised my palm unthinkingly,and he dropped it in, gloved
(11:06):
fingers brushing against my hand.
My heart tripped a beat or two.
"Can you see this returned to its rightfulplace? Thank you so much, Mr. Granger."
"I don't-" He was already shooing thelady I was beginning to suspect with
some relief was the sister and not aromantic prospect towards the door "-live
here, and it's Grayson. Tom Grayson!"I called after them, pathetically.
The snuff box, lay in my open palm,delicate gold flowers and vines
(11:29):
wrapping around and a refined agate lid.
Without considering the implications,I curled my fingers around it
and slipped it into my pocket.
I thought no more of it.
At least not until that night whenI snuck it into my bedside table
where it would remain for some time.
Ooh, what an intriguing prologue.
I am very excited to talk to you aboutthis scene, but first, we're gonna
(11:52):
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Well, I am back with Ally Hudson whojust read a sample of the Scottish
scheme and the very first thingthat stood out to me as you started
(13:40):
reading is this is in first person.
We talk about that a lot on thepodcast, but I've never actually
had a first person story.
So can you tell me about yourcreative decision to, to do that?
So I. My entire series is in firstperson and heads up for my readers.
I am switching to thirdperson for the next series.
(14:01):
I originally set out to write a romantasywith reincarnation and had a set one,
one reincarnation was set in 1814,and it took over, and so I ended up
scrapping the majority of it and startingwith the bones of that reincarnation.
A lot of things changed from that.
Our love interest here, Xanderwas actually originally a
(14:22):
villain and he was straight.
So a lot got scrapped.
Wow.
But that is why I set off in first person.
It was actually first person present tense
originally.
I did switch it to past tense but Idecided to keep it in first person,
partially because I think historicalromance readers love third person,
but it's growing in other genresthat we see first person a lot.
(14:46):
And it's actually kind ofpreferred by a lot of readers
of contemporary and romantasy.
And I think we need to try andreach out to some of those readers.
I think that, especially romantasy,I think there's a lot of overlap.
And things they like about romantasy, theForbidden Love that has actual stakes.
The enemies to lovers wherethey're actual enemies.
And you know, in contemporary romance,if you don't really get real enemies,
(15:08):
it's like a workplace enemies tolovers and it's just an HR violation.
So one of the ways that I'm tryingto reach out to those readers is by
trying first person, but I am having,you know, a hard time with some of the
traditional historical romance readers.
They're not interested in first person.
It's jarring for them.
So I am caving to peer pressure on that.
(15:32):
Well that's really interesting.
And I was gonna ask you know, youset up this series as love stories
spanning decades, and now you'vementioned that originally it was
whole reincarnation, which Yes.
Something different.
So for the series as it exists Yes.
Can you tell us about your vision forit and how you came to this series idea?
So I started writing it and I fell inlove with two characters in that little
(15:57):
section that I had created, and they justscreamed that they needed their own story.
It was Augie, who has book two, andCeline, who has book four and five,
which is a little, little teaserof something different that I do.
Both of them screamed that theyneeded their own book, at which point
I was like, there's no way to writethis as a reasonable length fantasy
novel with what I'm trying to do.
(16:19):
The scope just got too big.
And then it kind of tookon a life of its own.
And I'm half planner, half pantser, so Iknow who's gonna end up with whom and how.
They're like, like a one sentencedescription of how they're
gonna do it, and then it's allflying by the seat of my pants.
So they, they kind of take a lifeon, take on a life of their own.
(16:42):
And I've kind of had to reign innew characters that I introduced so
that they don't get their own book.
Too many books.
And so it's, and it's, it startedas you wanted to write fantasy.
Mm-hmm.
This is historical romancewithout fantasy element.
No fantasy element.
Right.
There's, there's a little bitof hint of it occasionally, but
it's not officially fantasy.
(17:03):
There's like a little.
Little bird that flipsthrough a few books that is.
Hinted at being a deceased loved one, so,
oh yeah.
And will you return towriting fantasy, do you think?
I have a couple of ideas, so I'm notopposed to it, but at this point I have
so many historical romance ideas thatI don't, I. See, having time for it.
(17:26):
Unfortunately I don't have thecapability to write full-time.
So I have to work a day job andit's distracting, unfortunately.
And so you were originallydriven to write fantasy.
Were you reading a lot of fantasyand when you decided to make it
historical romance, had you alreadybeen reading historical romance?
What was your transition like for that?
(17:47):
So I was a latchkey kid and I stolemy mom's library books before we
had a good internet connection.
I am dating myself a little bit and shewas reading historical romance always.
So I was reading a lot of things Iprobably shouldn't have been reading,
which have been bodice rippers here.
But I would steal her library books.
So I've been reading historical romanceforever and I actually started when I
(18:08):
was young reading historical fiction.
I was a big American girl fan.
So I'd been reading historicalfiction my whole life, and I
actually read that more than fantasy.
I think the fantasy ideahad just been percolating.
When I finally sat down to write it,it'd been percolating for so long
that I wanted to give it a shot,but I wasn't sad about scrapping it.
(18:28):
Okay.
And which American Girl dolldo you identify with the most?
Kirsten.
I was blonde with thebangs and everything too.
My hair got darker as I got older, but Iactually looked quite a bit like her too.
So I dressed as her forHalloween and everything.
Did you have hair long enoughto try to approximate her braid?
It was long enough and my mom woulddo it in the little, little braids
(18:49):
and everything, and she sewed me thewhole blue dress with the red apron
and the bonnet and the whole thing.
Amazing.
Amazing.
It was, it was delightful.
Yeah, my love of reading and,everything was due to my mom.
She passed away in December,but she was my first, my first
beta reader for everything.
So she's read my, she'sread the smutty scenes.
(19:12):
Yeah, so it's been a little bit hard towrite now that she passed, but I have
a few friends who've stepped up to bemy first I, as we go chapter readers.
So,
yeah.
Oh, I'm sorry for your loss.
That's, thank you.
Really hard.
But it's, it's nice, it feel, itfeels close to her though still
to keep writing and reading.
So, yeah.
Every time I read a book I'mlike, she would've loved that.
(19:33):
She probably already readit and I just don't know it.
So which of the historical romance authorsthat you read then or now would you
say have influenced your work the most?
I love a romping, fun time.
So I tend to veer towardsTessa Dare, Sarah McLean.
(19:55):
I read a lot of the Bridgertonnovels before I got a little annoyed
with the Duke and I kind of rapescene, that really bothered me.
But before that, I reada lot of Bridgerton.
I also really like some of theindie authors Aydra Richards-
i'm hoping I'm pronouncing thatcorrectly- does not get enough love.
I work closely with Laura, who alsobreaks the rules a little bit and
(20:15):
throws a male, male book... laura Linnthrows a male, male book in the middle
of a male, female series as well.
That's kind of how we became friends.
And we also are willingto kill a main character.
That's, that's my other rulebreaking, ooh book four is a novella.
And the character is a widow inbooks one through three, and it's
the story of her first love, and thenBook five is her Happily Ever After.
(20:38):
Mm-hmm.
But yeah, I, I am willingto kill a main character.
That one's not a romance.
It's historical fiction, but it'sin the middle of my romance series.
Which is one of the things Ilike about being an indie author.
I'm allowed to throw in a malemale and throw in not happily
ever after into the middle of myseries, and no one can tell me no.
So.
Yes.
Absolutely.
(20:59):
Absolutely.
And then what's your approach towardsresearch in the historical romance genre?
I do as much research as I can.
Sometimes I find myself in acorner where something I thought
I knew was correct is not.
But I, if I think it's correct, I assumeeveryone else thinks it's correct.
(21:19):
And so every once in a while you're on asubreddit, like the Historical Romance sub
Reddit, and someone's complaining aboutsomething being historically inaccurate
and you're like, actually, you are wrong.
But I don't wanna getthat post about my book.
So sometimes I'll fudge it a little bit.
But I do try and do a lot of research.
I do like... one of my books staris a baker, so I was doing a lot of
(21:41):
historical research into some of therecipes they were making then, and then
I tried to make them myself with the,
oh, that's fun.
I'm not, I'm not doing it by hand.
But so that, there's a little bit in myblog where I was trying different recipes.
Were they good?
No.
I don't know if it was a me problemor a lack of sugar problem, but
(22:05):
yeah, some of 'em were okay.
Some of them were real dry
and very bland.
Let's see what else.
I have kind of accidentally curateda YouTube algorithm that is just
historical clothing and historical food.
Which is delightful.
(22:26):
I'm very happy there.
But my, my YouTube algorithmis a little strange.
The book that comes afterthis one is a road trip book.
So I am following through actualhistorical coaching ends and
we're, we're following an actualroad through that journey.
So I try to be as historicallyaccurate as possible.
There's obviously things that youdon't know that you don't know,
(22:48):
so I'm sure I'm making mistakes.
But I do my best.
I keep a little dictionary thatgives me the origin of every word
that I think might be too new handy.
So I try and catch thelanguage and things, but yeah.
Well, I love the idea of baking and I. Idon't understand historical dress until
(23:10):
I see somebody like explaining it to mein video form or preferably in person.
Understand.
Well, we have touched on it already, butit is time to find out how many romance
rules you break with love it or leave it?
(23:33):
[Musical Interlude]
So Ally Hudson, love it or leave it?
Protagonists meet in thefirst 10% of the story.
I love it, but I don'tget mad if they don't.
So most of my protagonists meet in thefirst 10%, but book one I'm setting up a
lot and they don't meet for a little bit.
It's probably 30, 40%,which is pretty late.
(23:56):
Hmm.
All right.
Love it or leave it?
Dual point of view narration.
I like both as a reader.
As a writer, I try to bereally, thoughtful about
which point of view I'm using.
So some books are singlepoint of view, some are dual.
The one I'm currently drafting issingle for the first three quarter
(24:17):
or first little over a third.
And then I'm switching to dualPOV because somebody has a secret.
And I don't want everybody to know it yet.
Wow.
Okay.
Yeah.
Secret motivations and people don'tneed to know who they are yet.
That's so creative.
I love that.
Love it or leave it?
Third person, past tense.
I love it as a reader, but I, as wesaid, write first person past tense,
(24:40):
and I am switching to third person
past tense.
I read a lot of, lots of genres, soit doesn't bother me either way, but
I understand it can be jarring forpeople who only read third person
past tense to switch to first person.
So I hear the complaints,I acknowledge them.
Love it or leave it?
(25:00):
Third act breakup or dark moment
I. I love it actually.
I love that feeling that I get.
It might be a medical condition whereyou get like a pain down your arm when
something awful has happened in the book.
I don't know, I shouldprobably see a doctor,
I think it's called a heart attack,
probably a medical condition, but Ionly get it when I read like the heart
(25:22):
breaking moment where they're devastatedand they're never gonna be happy again.
I crave that.
Yes, because you know there'sa catharsis at the end of it.
Yeah.
Love it or leave it?
Always end with an epilogue.
I love a good epilogue.
I won't complain if it's not there, butmy books always have an epilogue thus
far, and I don't see that changing, so...
(25:44):
all right, love it or leave it?
Always share researchin your author's note.
I don't always shareresearch in my author's note.
I actually almost never do.
I probably should, but I don't reallywrite much of an author's note.
Honestly.
I, I write them on books that Ithink need like a little warning.
So the book that is not a happilyever after Devil of mine has an
(26:05):
author's note that's like, Hey,this is not a happily ever after.
Don't read if you don't.
want That's my attempt to get outof the flaming reviews for yelling
at me for killing a main characterand not quite romance novel.
So they can't say they weren't warned.
All right.
So let's talk about this ruleand many others maybe that you
(26:25):
break that I didn't ask about.
So what made you decide to write it as itsown novel rather than putting it in the
form of a happy ever after romance novel?
We have a lot of widows in historicalromance, which I think is accurate.
People died a lot younger you know,throughout history than they do now.
And every single one that I'd seen eitherhad a really unhappy, unhappy marriage,
(26:50):
which I also do in a different book.
Or they had a happy marriage, but ifyou got to experience that with them
at all, it was a couple chapters tops.
And so you didn't getto know this character.
You're just mourning through the, ifit's a widow, a female man character,
but you yourself are not mourning them.
And I always wanted to explorewhat that would look like.
(27:12):
And that
character was one of the ones Imentioned that I fell in love with
and decided needed her own book.
That's Celine.
I'm obsessed with her.
And I wanted this kind of lovetriangle, but not a love triangle.
Also like I feel like because Iloved her so much, I wanted her
to have two great love stories.
(27:33):
And so, and I knew I could endit on a happily ever after.
There in the author's note,there's, here's where you can
stop for a happily ever after.
But like so much of her story in the nextbook is about her grief journey, and I
wanted readers who wanted to experiencethat to be able to, you don't have to
have read it to enjoy the next book, butit's there if you're curious about why she
(27:54):
loved this man so much and why his deathhas affected her in the way that it has.
And have you, what, what haveyou heard from readers who have
decided to read both books?
Readers who have read it, love both books.
They are probably whereI got the most fans from.
Yeah.
But there's a lot of readers who won'tread it, and I knew that going in.
(28:16):
I, I fully expected to not havea lot of readers for that and to
potentially lose some readers for it.
I don't know that I've lost readers,but I do know that that book doesn't
get picked up as often, nor should it,or it'll get like two page reads on
Kindle Unlimited and then disappear.
I'm like, yep.
The authors note worked.
(28:36):
Yeah.
You didn't read the book.
That wasn't for you.
Perfect.
So, yeah, I just wanted to explore thatand I think there is an audience for it.
It's just a small audience.
But they really enjoyed itand I'm glad that I did it.
And it's one of the reasons I'm happythat I decided to go indie because I
would never have been allowed to do thatas a traditionally published author.
So yeah, I love to see artists being trueto their own artistic soul and taking the
(29:02):
risks that you wanna take.
And you know, there are alwaysreaders out there for your stories.
Yeah.
And there are plenty of readers out therewho love a sad ending to love story.
Just look at Nicholas Sparks fans.
Yes, exactly.
Are there any other rulesthat you like to break?
Well the first person and then I did throwmy male male book in the middle of my
(29:23):
traditionally male female series, and Iam still figuring out the pairings exactly
for the next series, but I'm thinkingthere's probably going to be a, sapphic
pairing in that one that, that one of thecharacters is kind of hinting that to me.
Yeah, I just don't wannasegregate my characters.
It is not real life like.
(29:43):
There's, there's no rule thatsays that you have to do it.
So,
yeah.
So the rule that you're referencing, justto clarify, is not that you're adding
the existence of LGBTQ Characters.
No.
They're there.
They've always been there.
There's a like publishing rule or Yes.
Like rule of thumb that like, oh, well youhave to publish that as a separate line.
(30:04):
There should be a wholeseries of gay characters.
Yes.
And a whole series of straight characters
and never the two shall mix.
Yes.
You can't, you can't mixthem in the same series.
And I just don't think that we'regiving readers enough credit.
You know, I, I read all pairings, andI think that I'm not alone in that.
So we'll find out in June.
(30:26):
But I, I think that I've had a couplereaders ask for Tom and Xander.
It's, it's been hinted and buildingin previous books, so that was
really exciting when somebodyspecifically asked for that.
'cause Tom has, Tom has beena fan favorite since book one.
People have been asking for Tom and I waslike, oh no, they're gonna be really upset
if they're looking for Tom and a lady.
(30:48):
But so far no one has outwardly complainedabout the hints that Tom is gay.
So Xander is kind of out in mybooks, not not in wide society, but
the readers know.
But the readers know
Well, I love, I didn't even get tomentioning, but I loved the clenched
fist that we see and this wholeprologue setup that is clearly a
(31:11):
bad first impression and how that, Imean, you know, there's just so much
pride and prejudice resonance there.
I'm excited for readers to get tofollow through and see what happens.
Me too.
The whole Rosehill family has alwaysbeen a little bit Schitt's Creek coded
if anyone's ever seen, seen that show.
So the moms a lot, the sister is a lot.
(31:31):
Xander can be a lot.
So I, I kind of wanted to createa little a little Schitt's Creek
world for them, for Tom andXander to live happily ever after.
And so I hope everybody's kind ofexcited to see how I managed to
create a happy little bubble for them.
Yeah.
Well, that's awesome.
Well, Ally, thank you so muchfor coming on the podcast today.
(31:54):
Where can readers find you and your books?
They can find me on Ally hudson.com.
I am on Facebook and Instagram.
Not on TikTok, not on YouTube,except for this and obviously Amazon.
My paperbacks are availablewide release though.
Great, and I will put a link toyour website in the show notes.
(32:15):
So listeners, you can justclick right on through.
Thank you.
Thank you for coming on.
This has been really fun.
Thank you.
That's it for this week!
Don't forget to subscribe to theHistorical Romance Sampler wherever
you listen, and follow us onInstagram, TikTok, and YouTube.
(32:36):
Until next week, happy reading!
Welcome to the historicalromance sampler podcast.
I'm your host, Katherine Grant, andeach week I introduce you to another
amazing historical romance author.
My guest reads a little sampleof their work, and then we move
into a free ranging interview.
If you like these episodes, don'tforget to subscribe to the historical
(00:24):
romance sampler, wherever youlisten to podcasts and follow us
on Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube.
Now let's get into this week's episode.
I am super excited to bejoined today by Ally Hudson.
Ally is an Amazon bestsellingauthor of Steamy Regency Romance
crafting captivating Tales ofLove, healing, hope, and Family.
(00:47):
Her debut series Most ImprudentMatches, weaves Together eight
unforgettable love stories spanningdecades blending humor and heart with
devoted heroes and capable heroines.
Ally's stories celebrate thecountless forms love can take, each
one deserving its moment to shine.
Beautiful sentiment.
(01:08):
And Ally, I'm so excited to have you.
Thank you.
I'm excited to be here.
Yeah.
So which of these amazing storiesare you reading for us today?
I am reading my new release.
It comes out June 3rd.
It's called The Scottish Scheme.
I'm starting with the prologue.
But one thing to know about my books isthat I tend to interweave the stories,
(01:29):
so it's actually set in the weddingof the characters from book three.
Very fun.
So you get a little, a couplecameos and a little bit of
hint of what's going on there.
So this is the prologue.
It's set in 1813.
All right.
And we're starting with Tom.
The ceremony hadn't beenbeautiful, nor was the wedding
(01:49):
breakfast, any sort of improvement?
No.
The best that could be saidwas that it was expensive.
My new sister recited her vowswith barely restrained tears,
a tensile note in her voice.
I could not blame her for thereaction, not with the twisted set
of my brother's mouth when he had
to glance her way.
Hugh really could be an asswhen he set his mind to it.
(02:09):
With the other failure ofHugh's marital prospects, my
mother's eye turned towards me.
I was barely eight and 10, hardlyin society at all, but she had
already thrust three frippery coveredmisses in my direction that morning.
Every single one had been asindistinguishable as the last.
This one had light hairwith an oversized bow in it.
Every time her head bobbed, whichwas often as she seemed determined
(02:31):
to agree with everything I said,it flapped about despondently.
Surely it was intended to match thebow on her dress, but that had been
severely starched and sat like two stiffpeaks directly atop her ample bosom.
Certainly the intended effect.
The lady and I had already exhaustedthe readily all available topics,
the ceremony and the weather.
And no person of any taste couldcompliment the decorations the
(02:53):
Duchess of Sutton had chosen on theoccasion of her niece's wedding.
"Your dress is veryfine, miss Kensington."
It was a safe enough topic.
Ladies liked compliments, andI knew little enough about her
to compliment anything else.
"Thank you, Mr. Grayson. My maid saidthat it suited my coloring, but I wasn't
certain." Her voice could not possiblybe that naturally high pitched, could it?
(03:14):
"Yes. It looks lovely with youreyes." It was the wrong choice.
Her head tilted to the side andpuzzlement and her brow dipped low.
"It does?" "Yes."
Christ.
I hated speaking to ladies.
And why was my cravat so tight?
"My dress is orange.
My eyes are blue." "Yes." Damn.
I wouldn't have guessedorange on the dress.
It had taken years to recognize thatmy eyes worked, or rather, didn't
(03:36):
work differently than other people's.
And it was even longer before Iunderstood precisely how, where
everyone else saw distinct colors,
I saw shades of what I now knew was brown.
I could identify the tone ,and there werea few colors I was better at guessing
than others, but I could never be sure.
"You have unusual tastes, Mr.Grayson, if you'll excuse me, my
mother is in need of me." I bowed,resisting the accompanying eye roll.
(03:58):
She was probably envisioning our futurehome entirely too garish to abide.
It wasn't my first fumble witha lady, and I rather suspected
it wouldn't be the last.
I couldn't lament my failure,and I wouldn't miss her company.
My condition hadn't been a seriousconcern yet, nor my utter inability
to converse with eligible misses.
I certainly hadn't found one thatI had any interest in actually
impressing, but at some pointit might prove an impediment.
(04:21):
Mother had thrown a fair few ladies inmy direction after Hugh announced that he
meant to honor his fraudulently broughtabout engagement to the deceitful scheming
strumpet, so she needed a daughterwho wouldn't shame the entire family.
It stood to reason with the sheervolume of options that mother
was shoving in front of me,
there would be at least one thatcaught my eye, but thus far,
such a lady had proved elusive.
(04:41):
Each of the ladies have been perfectlypretty in a rather bland sort of way.
Their gowns were fine, decoratedwith laces and ribbons and bobbles.
They were tiny, delicate, fragilethings with even temperaments
and banal conversations.
Topics were restricted to the recentweather, the present weather, the
upcoming weather, recent balls,present balls, upcoming balls.
It was a slow Sisyphean kind of torture.
(05:02):
I ducked behind a pottedplant to extend my reprieve.
Mother was in the center of thetulle covered hell, too busy feigning
a preening delight for the gueststo be occupied with matchmaking.
She smiled and thanked as though shehad not but two hours ago begged Hugh to
leave the new lady Grayson at the altar.
Her present efforts were impressive.
If I hadn't caught each and everyglower at the bride, I would've
thought her pleased with the match.
(05:23):
She wasn't though.
No, it seemed our hostess, theDowager Duchess of Sutton was the only
one pleased with this turn events.
It was a fair victory to Crow over.
She'd secured a viscount forher unfortunate miss of a niece.
A bony hand grasped myelbow, yanking me forward.
Somehow I'd missed mother's distinctivescent of lilacs and decay, and she'd
found some time in her schedule betweenartificial gratitude and seething vicious
(05:43):
flowers to return to her matchmaking.
"His grace, the Duke of Rose Hill."
She hissed as she dragged me along.
" He has an unwed sister and a widowedformer sister-in-law under his charge.
You met them once last year." "Mother."It was a half-hearted protest.
I'd learned long ago to choose mybattles with her and making nice with
the Duke sister for a few momentsor chatting with a lonely widow
wasn't worth the argument.
(06:04):
She pulled me along, clawsdigging into the wool of my coat
until she paused in front of.
Oh.
Dimly, under the rushing of myears, I heard mother rattling on.
"Lady Grayson, your mother introducedus at her annual ball a few years ago.
It's a tragedy she stopped hosting."The gentleman was clearly distracted.
He offered mother a brief glance beforehis gaze flicked back to the crowd.
He was... beautiful.
(06:26):
Dark hair swept off his wide forehead.
Matching thick black brows,topped equally dark eyes.
His skin was pale, and his jaw hinted atthe ease with which he could grow a beard.
He was shorter than me, shorter thanHugh, too, and stocky, but the cut of
his crisp black and white waist coathinted at the muscled form beneath.
There was nothing delicate about him.
His expression, his appearance,his grooming, his apparel was all
(06:47):
severe sparing and breathtaking.
This.
This was what all the stories talkedabout, the swirling fluttering
tightening of my chest, the dampnessblooming on my palms, the way the air
had thickened to a soup consistencythat made breathing difficult.
Somehow when I inhaled, it wasstill fleeting and substantial.
There was too much air in theroom and not enough in my lungs.
"She's still," he started,his voice was a musical tenor.
(07:10):
His hand gestured between us for amoment, flicking to one side before
clenching in a fist at his waist.
The gesture was enough toensure I noticed sturdy, strong
fingers beneath a white glove.
"She's still mourning my father," hefinished his lips twisting all the way
to one corner of his mouth by the end.
"Oh, and please once again, passalong my deepest condolences. I lost
my dear Henry some years ago, butthe grief as sharp as it ever was,"
(07:31):
mother simpered.
"I will. I'm certain she willbe grateful." His gaze flicked
about the room, still distracted.
"Your grace, may I have the pleasureof introducing my youngest son,
Thomas Grayson?" Mother followed therequest with proper curtsy deeper
than I thought her capable of.
She excused herself, slippingoff with a significant look.
I was supposed to do something,but what was anyone's guess?
(07:52):
Because with mother's away, theair filled with an overwhelming
masculine cedar scent.
It shoved useful thoughtsclean from my head.
"Pleasure," he murmured in my direction,still glancing uneasily about the room.
"The honor is all mine,"I replied automatically.
His silence settledlike a wall between us.
Several gulps of his woody scent leftme painfully aware that I was gaping
like a dolt, but I was still tooovercome for intelligent conversation.
(08:15):
"It was a lovely ceremony,"I added trying again.
It was inane and entirely false.
I'd never seen two people less enthusedwith the prospect of wedded bliss.
" Yes, quite," he returned as hisattention shifted back to me.
"Remind me again of your relation tothe bride." I blinked, head of leather.
"She is my sister of, buta few hours." "Oh, right.
Yes, of course.
So you are not familiar with the layer outof the house, then?" He asked, his eyes
(08:37):
returning to the crowd.
I was fully gaping.
"No, not any more so than anyoneelse. Are you looking for something,
your Grace?" His gaze finally foundmine, catching there for a moment.
His eyes were so dark.
I was absolutely certain that theywere brown, near black, and not
some other color I only assumed wasbrown for reasons I couldn't name.
It was essential to me thatI know what color they were.
Truly.
(08:58):
"No, yes." He broke off studying myentire forum with a critical eye.
"No," he finally settled.
Dismissed.
Thoroughly, completely, unambiguously.
"Right? I'll just be on my way, then," Imuttered a forlorn note creeping in, but I
was unwilling to force my company on him.
Rosehill sighed, as he shiftedhis weight back on his heels.
Then he tipped his headback to the ceiling,
(09:19):
eyelids shut.
When he finished his ritual, hisgaze found mine pinning me in place.
"You haven't noticed any escape routes,have you?" "Escape routes?" "Nevermind.
It's Davina." He called out tosomeone behind me, beckoning
them forward with both hands.
A lovely girl in a fine frockof an indeterminate color
return to his side, arms crossedan expression, unimpressed.
"You summoned?" She asked,mouth twisted in a pout and then
(09:41):
her gaze flicked towards me.
"Who is this little cricket?" I- what?
Cricket?
"He is not..." his grace said,trailing off, waving away
the thought with one hand.
"Mr. Timothy Gregerson. Mr. Gregerson,lady Davina," he gestured between us
not taking his gaze from the lady.
"It's Tom-" "and where have youbeen?" His grace demanded of the lady.
His lady.
My heart ached in patheticagony at the thought.
(10:03):
"I was with C," She insisted.
And then she turned towards me.
"Mr. Gregerson, it is an absolutepleasure to make your acquaintance."
There was something flirtatious inher tone that had me stepping back.
"It's Mr.-" "No, absolutely not,"Rosehill asserted in her direction once
again ignoring my attempted correction.
"Xander, don't be rude," she retortedwith a petty stomp of her foot.
Xander.
(10:23):
He dragged a rough hand throughhis hair and mussing the perfectly
coiffed strands enticingly.
"Get in the carriage," he ordered.
Lady Davina grumbled butstill made to follow his
instructions, floating past him.
One step.
Two.
"Freeze," he demanded.
She obeyed, pausing mid stepwithout so much as a huff.
"Turn." The pivot on herheels was slow, deliberate.
When she finally faced us,her eyes were wide with false
(10:45):
innocence and her lips were parted.
Rosehill's hand shot out in front of him,
palm up.
"Reticule." She rolled her eyesand answered before plopping
the beaded bag in his palm withthe previously foregone Huff.
He loosened the drawstring, pullingout a glinting decorative snuff box.
Rosehill sighed, handing thebox aloft for me to take.
I raised my palm unthinkingly,and he dropped it in, gloved
(11:06):
fingers brushing against my hand.
My heart tripped a beat or two.
"Can you see this returned to its rightfulplace? Thank you so much, Mr. Granger."
"I don't-" He was already shooing thelady I was beginning to suspect with
some relief was the sister and not aromantic prospect towards the door "-live
here, and it's Grayson. Tom Grayson!"I called after them, pathetically.
The snuff box, lay in my open palm,delicate gold flowers and vines
(11:29):
wrapping around and a refined agate lid.
Without considering the implications,I curled my fingers around it
and slipped it into my pocket.
I thought no more of it.
At least not until that night whenI snuck it into my bedside table
where it would remain for some time.
Ooh, what an intriguing prologue.
I am very excited to talk to you aboutthis scene, but first, we're gonna
(11:52):
take a quick break for our sponsors.
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Come hang out with us.
Hey, audiobook listeners!
Have you checked out the officialHistorical Romance Sampler
Season 1 playlist on Libro.
fm? On the playlist, you'll findhistorical romances you heard here first
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fm. Plus, if you're not yet a Libro.
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Head on over to the Historical RomanceSampler link tree to learn more.
Well, I am back with Ally Hudson whojust read a sample of the Scottish
scheme and the very first thingthat stood out to me as you started
(13:40):
reading is this is in first person.
We talk about that a lot on thepodcast, but I've never actually
had a first person story.
So can you tell me about yourcreative decision to, to do that?
So I. My entire series is in firstperson and heads up for my readers.
I am switching to thirdperson for the next series.
(14:01):
I originally set out to write a romantasywith reincarnation and had a set one,
one reincarnation was set in 1814,and it took over, and so I ended up
scrapping the majority of it and startingwith the bones of that reincarnation.
A lot of things changed from that.
Our love interest here, Xanderwas actually originally a
(14:22):
villain and he was straight.
So a lot got scrapped.
Wow.
But that is why I set off in first person.
It was actually first person present tense
originally.
I did switch it to past tense but Idecided to keep it in first person,
partially because I think historicalromance readers love third person,
but it's growing in other genresthat we see first person a lot.
(14:46):
And it's actually kind ofpreferred by a lot of readers
of contemporary and romantasy.
And I think we need to try andreach out to some of those readers.
I think that, especially romantasy,I think there's a lot of overlap.
And things they like about romantasy, theForbidden Love that has actual stakes.
The enemies to lovers wherethey're actual enemies.
And you know, in contemporary romance,if you don't really get real enemies,
(15:08):
it's like a workplace enemies tolovers and it's just an HR violation.
So one of the ways that I'm tryingto reach out to those readers is by
trying first person, but I am having,you know, a hard time with some of the
traditional historical romance readers.
They're not interested in first person.
It's jarring for them.
So I am caving to peer pressure on that.
(15:32):
Well that's really interesting.
And I was gonna ask you know, youset up this series as love stories
spanning decades, and now you'vementioned that originally it was
whole reincarnation, which Yes.
Something different.
So for the series as it exists Yes.
Can you tell us about your vision forit and how you came to this series idea?
So I started writing it and I fell inlove with two characters in that little
(15:57):
section that I had created, and they justscreamed that they needed their own story.
It was Augie, who has book two, andCeline, who has book four and five,
which is a little, little teaserof something different that I do.
Both of them screamed that theyneeded their own book, at which point
I was like, there's no way to writethis as a reasonable length fantasy
novel with what I'm trying to do.
(16:19):
The scope just got too big.
And then it kind of tookon a life of its own.
And I'm half planner, half pantser, so Iknow who's gonna end up with whom and how.
They're like, like a one sentencedescription of how they're
gonna do it, and then it's allflying by the seat of my pants.
So they, they kind of take a lifeon, take on a life of their own.
(16:42):
And I've kind of had to reign innew characters that I introduced so
that they don't get their own book.
Too many books.
And so it's, and it's, it startedas you wanted to write fantasy.
Mm-hmm.
This is historical romancewithout fantasy element.
No fantasy element.
Right.
There's, there's a little bitof hint of it occasionally, but
it's not officially fantasy.
(17:03):
There's like a little.
Little bird that flipsthrough a few books that is.
Hinted at being a deceased loved one, so,
oh yeah.
And will you return towriting fantasy, do you think?
I have a couple of ideas, so I'm notopposed to it, but at this point I have
so many historical romance ideas thatI don't, I. See, having time for it.
(17:26):
Unfortunately I don't have thecapability to write full-time.
So I have to work a day job andit's distracting, unfortunately.
And so you were originallydriven to write fantasy.
Were you reading a lot of fantasyand when you decided to make it
historical romance, had you alreadybeen reading historical romance?
What was your transition like for that?
(17:47):
So I was a latchkey kid and I stolemy mom's library books before we
had a good internet connection.
I am dating myself a little bit and shewas reading historical romance always.
So I was reading a lot of things Iprobably shouldn't have been reading,
which have been bodice rippers here.
But I would steal her library books.
So I've been reading historical romanceforever and I actually started when I
(18:08):
was young reading historical fiction.
I was a big American girl fan.
So I'd been reading historicalfiction my whole life, and I
actually read that more than fantasy.
I think the fantasy ideahad just been percolating.
When I finally sat down to write it,it'd been percolating for so long
that I wanted to give it a shot,but I wasn't sad about scrapping it.
(18:28):
Okay.
And which American Girl dolldo you identify with the most?
Kirsten.
I was blonde with thebangs and everything too.
My hair got darker as I got older, but Iactually looked quite a bit like her too.
So I dressed as her forHalloween and everything.
Did you have hair long enoughto try to approximate her braid?
It was long enough and my mom woulddo it in the little, little braids
(18:49):
and everything, and she sewed me thewhole blue dress with the red apron
and the bonnet and the whole thing.
Amazing.
Amazing.
It was, it was delightful.
Yeah, my love of reading and,everything was due to my mom.
She passed away in December,but she was my first, my first
beta reader for everything.
So she's read my, she'sread the smutty scenes.
(19:12):
Yeah, so it's been a little bit hard towrite now that she passed, but I have
a few friends who've stepped up to bemy first I, as we go chapter readers.
So,
yeah.
Oh, I'm sorry for your loss.
That's, thank you.
Really hard.
But it's, it's nice, it feel, itfeels close to her though still
to keep writing and reading.
So, yeah.
Every time I read a book I'mlike, she would've loved that.
(19:33):
She probably already readit and I just don't know it.
So which of the historical romance authorsthat you read then or now would you
say have influenced your work the most?
I love a romping, fun time.
So I tend to veer towardsTessa Dare, Sarah McLean.
(19:55):
I read a lot of the Bridgertonnovels before I got a little annoyed
with the Duke and I kind of rapescene, that really bothered me.
But before that, I reada lot of Bridgerton.
I also really like some of theindie authors Aydra Richards-
i'm hoping I'm pronouncing thatcorrectly- does not get enough love.
I work closely with Laura, who alsobreaks the rules a little bit and
(20:15):
throws a male, male book... laura Linnthrows a male, male book in the middle
of a male, female series as well.
That's kind of how we became friends.
And we also are willingto kill a main character.
That's, that's my other rulebreaking, ooh book four is a novella.
And the character is a widow inbooks one through three, and it's
the story of her first love, and thenBook five is her Happily Ever After.
(20:38):
Mm-hmm.
But yeah, I, I am willingto kill a main character.
That one's not a romance.
It's historical fiction, but it'sin the middle of my romance series.
Which is one of the things Ilike about being an indie author.
I'm allowed to throw in a malemale and throw in not happily
ever after into the middle of myseries, and no one can tell me no.
So.
Yes.
Absolutely.
(20:59):
Absolutely.
And then what's your approach towardsresearch in the historical romance genre?
I do as much research as I can.
Sometimes I find myself in acorner where something I thought
I knew was correct is not.
But I, if I think it's correct, I assumeeveryone else thinks it's correct.
(21:19):
And so every once in a while you're on asubreddit, like the Historical Romance sub
Reddit, and someone's complaining aboutsomething being historically inaccurate
and you're like, actually, you are wrong.
But I don't wanna getthat post about my book.
So sometimes I'll fudge it a little bit.
But I do try and do a lot of research.
I do like... one of my books staris a baker, so I was doing a lot of
(21:41):
historical research into some of therecipes they were making then, and then
I tried to make them myself with the,
oh, that's fun.
I'm not, I'm not doing it by hand.
But so that, there's a little bit in myblog where I was trying different recipes.
Were they good?
No.
I don't know if it was a me problemor a lack of sugar problem, but
(22:05):
yeah, some of 'em were okay.
Some of them were real dry
and very bland.
Let's see what else.
I have kind of accidentally curateda YouTube algorithm that is just
historical clothing and historical food.
Which is delightful.
(22:26):
I'm very happy there.
But my, my YouTube algorithmis a little strange.
The book that comes afterthis one is a road trip book.
So I am following through actualhistorical coaching ends and
we're, we're following an actualroad through that journey.
So I try to be as historicallyaccurate as possible.
There's obviously things that youdon't know that you don't know,
(22:48):
so I'm sure I'm making mistakes.
But I do my best.
I keep a little dictionary thatgives me the origin of every word
that I think might be too new handy.
So I try and catch thelanguage and things, but yeah.
Well, I love the idea of baking and I. Idon't understand historical dress until
(23:10):
I see somebody like explaining it to mein video form or preferably in person.
Understand.
Well, we have touched on it already, butit is time to find out how many romance
rules you break with love it or leave it?
(23:33):
[Musical Interlude]
So Ally Hudson, love it or leave it?
Protagonists meet in thefirst 10% of the story.
I love it, but I don'tget mad if they don't.
So most of my protagonists meet in thefirst 10%, but book one I'm setting up a
lot and they don't meet for a little bit.
It's probably 30, 40%,which is pretty late.
(23:56):
Hmm.
All right.
Love it or leave it?
Dual point of view narration.
I like both as a reader.
As a writer, I try to bereally, thoughtful about
which point of view I'm using.
So some books are singlepoint of view, some are dual.
The one I'm currently drafting issingle for the first three quarter
(24:17):
or first little over a third.
And then I'm switching to dualPOV because somebody has a secret.
And I don't want everybody to know it yet.
Wow.
Okay.
Yeah.
Secret motivations and people don'tneed to know who they are yet.
That's so creative.
I love that.
Love it or leave it?
Third person, past tense.
I love it as a reader, but I, as wesaid, write first person past tense,
(24:40):
and I am switching to third person
past tense.
I read a lot of, lots of genres, soit doesn't bother me either way, but
I understand it can be jarring forpeople who only read third person
past tense to switch to first person.
So I hear the complaints,I acknowledge them.
Love it or leave it?
(25:00):
Third act breakup or dark moment
I. I love it actually.
I love that feeling that I get.
It might be a medical condition whereyou get like a pain down your arm when
something awful has happened in the book.
I don't know, I shouldprobably see a doctor,
I think it's called a heart attack,
probably a medical condition, but Ionly get it when I read like the heart
(25:22):
breaking moment where they're devastatedand they're never gonna be happy again.
I crave that.
Yes, because you know there'sa catharsis at the end of it.
Yeah.
Love it or leave it?
Always end with an epilogue.
I love a good epilogue.
I won't complain if it's not there, butmy books always have an epilogue thus
far, and I don't see that changing, so...
(25:44):
all right, love it or leave it?
Always share researchin your author's note.
I don't always shareresearch in my author's note.
I actually almost never do.
I probably should, but I don't reallywrite much of an author's note.
Honestly.
I, I write them on books that Ithink need like a little warning.
So the book that is not a happilyever after Devil of mine has an
(26:05):
author's note that's like, Hey,this is not a happily ever after.
Don't read if you don't.
want That's my attempt to get outof the flaming reviews for yelling
at me for killing a main characterand not quite romance novel.
So they can't say they weren't warned.
All right.
So let's talk about this ruleand many others maybe that you
(26:25):
break that I didn't ask about.
So what made you decide to write it as itsown novel rather than putting it in the
form of a happy ever after romance novel?
We have a lot of widows in historicalromance, which I think is accurate.
People died a lot younger you know,throughout history than they do now.
And every single one that I'd seen eitherhad a really unhappy, unhappy marriage,
(26:50):
which I also do in a different book.
Or they had a happy marriage, but ifyou got to experience that with them
at all, it was a couple chapters tops.
And so you didn't getto know this character.
You're just mourning through the, ifit's a widow, a female man character,
but you yourself are not mourning them.
And I always wanted to explorewhat that would look like.
(27:12):
And that
character was one of the ones Imentioned that I fell in love with
and decided needed her own book.
That's Celine.
I'm obsessed with her.
And I wanted this kind of lovetriangle, but not a love triangle.
Also like I feel like because Iloved her so much, I wanted her
to have two great love stories.
(27:33):
And so, and I knew I could endit on a happily ever after.
There in the author's note,there's, here's where you can
stop for a happily ever after.
But like so much of her story in the nextbook is about her grief journey, and I
wanted readers who wanted to experiencethat to be able to, you don't have to
have read it to enjoy the next book, butit's there if you're curious about why she
(27:54):
loved this man so much and why his deathhas affected her in the way that it has.
And have you, what, what haveyou heard from readers who have
decided to read both books?
Readers who have read it, love both books.
They are probably whereI got the most fans from.
Yeah.
But there's a lot of readers who won'tread it, and I knew that going in.
(28:16):
I, I fully expected to not havea lot of readers for that and to
potentially lose some readers for it.
I don't know that I've lost readers,but I do know that that book doesn't
get picked up as often, nor should it,or it'll get like two page reads on
Kindle Unlimited and then disappear.
I'm like, yep.
The authors note worked.
(28:36):
Yeah.
You didn't read the book.
That wasn't for you.
Perfect.
So, yeah, I just wanted to explore thatand I think there is an audience for it.
It's just a small audience.
But they really enjoyed itand I'm glad that I did it.
And it's one of the reasons I'm happythat I decided to go indie because I
would never have been allowed to do thatas a traditionally published author.
So yeah, I love to see artists being trueto their own artistic soul and taking the
(29:02):
risks that you wanna take.
And you know, there are alwaysreaders out there for your stories.
Yeah.
And there are plenty of readers out therewho love a sad ending to love story.
Just look at Nicholas Sparks fans.
Yes, exactly.
Are there any other rulesthat you like to break?
Well the first person and then I did throwmy male male book in the middle of my
(29:23):
traditionally male female series, and Iam still figuring out the pairings exactly
for the next series, but I'm thinkingthere's probably going to be a, sapphic
pairing in that one that, that one of thecharacters is kind of hinting that to me.
Yeah, I just don't wannasegregate my characters.
It is not real life like.
(29:43):
There's, there's no rule thatsays that you have to do it.
So,
yeah.
So the rule that you're referencing, justto clarify, is not that you're adding
the existence of LGBTQ Characters.
No.
They're there.
They've always been there.
There's a like publishing rule or Yes.
Like rule of thumb that like, oh, well youhave to publish that as a separate line.
(30:04):
There should be a wholeseries of gay characters.
Yes.
And a whole series of straight characters
and never the two shall mix.
Yes.
You can't, you can't mixthem in the same series.
And I just don't think that we'regiving readers enough credit.
You know, I, I read all pairings, andI think that I'm not alone in that.
So we'll find out in June.
(30:26):
But I, I think that I've had a couplereaders ask for Tom and Xander.
It's, it's been hinted and buildingin previous books, so that was
really exciting when somebodyspecifically asked for that.
'cause Tom has, Tom has beena fan favorite since book one.
People have been asking for Tom and I waslike, oh no, they're gonna be really upset
if they're looking for Tom and a lady.
(30:48):
But so far no one has outwardly complainedabout the hints that Tom is gay.
So Xander is kind of out in mybooks, not not in wide society, but
the readers know.
But the readers know
Well, I love, I didn't even get tomentioning, but I loved the clenched
fist that we see and this wholeprologue setup that is clearly a
(31:11):
bad first impression and how that, Imean, you know, there's just so much
pride and prejudice resonance there.
I'm excited for readers to get tofollow through and see what happens.
Me too.
The whole Rosehill family has alwaysbeen a little bit Schitt's Creek coded
if anyone's ever seen, seen that show.
So the moms a lot, the sister is a lot.
(31:31):
Xander can be a lot.
So I, I kind of wanted to createa little a little Schitt's Creek
world for them, for Tom andXander to live happily ever after.
And so I hope everybody's kind ofexcited to see how I managed to
create a happy little bubble for them.
Yeah.
Well, that's awesome.
Well, Ally, thank you so muchfor coming on the podcast today.
(31:54):
Where can readers find you and your books?
They can find me on Ally hudson.com.
I am on Facebook and Instagram.
Not on TikTok, not on YouTube,except for this and obviously Amazon.
My paperbacks are availablewide release though.
Great, and I will put a link toyour website in the show notes.
(32:15):
So listeners, you can justclick right on through.
Thank you.
Thank you for coming on.
This has been really fun.
Thank you.
That's it for this week!
Don't forget to subscribe to theHistorical Romance Sampler wherever
you listen, and follow us onInstagram, TikTok, and YouTube.
(32:36):
Until next week, happy reading!
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