April 2, 2025 • 29 mins
Carol Coventry joins the podcast to read from COUNTING ON LOVE. Carol, who transitioned from a career in the medical field to writing historical fiction as Susan Coventry and romance as Carol Coventry, shares her insights on writing historical fiction vs historical romance. Plus, we talk about her research process, her approach to ‘low steam’ romance, and her favorite romance rules to break.
00:00 Introduction to the Historical Romance Sampler Podcast
01:32 COUNTING ON LOVE by Carol Coventry
13:55 Interview with Carol Coventry: Research and Writing Process
23:58 Love it or Leave it: Romance Rules Discussion
27:42 Conclusion and Upcoming Releases
Find out more about Carol Coventry at https://susancoventry.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.
All right.
I am super excited to bejoined today by Carol Coventry.
Carol Coventry is the romancewriting alter ego for historical
novelist Susan Coventry.
(00:46):
A quarter of a century working in themedical field has taught her that after
any tough day, nothing soothes the spiritlike a guaranteed happily ever after.
Escaping to the Regency era is likea mini vacation, and after she spent
so much time there, she felt likea native and began spinning her own
tales of historical romance afterwinning the grand prize in drag.
(01:09):
After winning the grand prize in DragonBlades Write Track Contest, Carol
published Counting On Love, the first inher series, the Taverstons of Iversley.
Carol, I'm so excitedto have you here today.
Good to be here.
So you are reading forus from counting on Love.
(01:29):
What should we know about thestory before we get started?
Okay, so this is Counting on Love.
It is the first in a four book series, asyou said, that Taverstons of Iversley and
it's a slow burn and what I call a lowsteam, but not no steam love story and the
blue stocking heroine and a beta hero.
So what you need to know first is thatthe heroine Lady Georgina Stewart,
(01:53):
is a Duke's daughter, and she's beingcourted by Lord Jasper Taverston who
is the heir to the Earl of Iversley.
And Georgiana is beautiful and charming,and Jasper is handsome and charming,
and everybody in the tongue thinksthey're gonna make a perfect match.
But what the people don't know is thatGeorgiana is a math genius, and it's
something that she has had to hide allher life because ladies don't do math.
(02:16):
And then the other problemthat she's having is she's
finding Jasper to be a bit dull.
However, Jasper invites her to thefamily's country estate and she
goes, and there she meets his twobrothers, Crispin and Reginald.
Reginald is the third son and he'sconsidered to be the brilliant brother.
He's a Greek scholar.
But he has recently been tappedby Jasper to straighten out
(02:37):
the family's account books.
And they're in a mess becausethe steward just recently died.
So.
So that's kind of wherethe story is picking up.
And I said it's a slow burn,and that's because Georgiana
is being courted by Jasper.
So she and Reginald are very carefulin how they interact with each other
and they kind of fall for one another'sintelligence and personalities
(02:58):
before they'll realize or admit toeach other that there's a growing
sexual attraction between them.
So I'm going to read from the scenewhere Georgiana realizes that she's
falling in love with Reginald.
Awesome.
The library door was wideopen and so were the curtains.
Reginald was seated on aspindly chair that matched the
(03:19):
one in the second little nook.
Georgiana knocked lightly onthe doorframe, then went in.
Reginald's head came up from his ledger.
He didn't look particularly happy to seeher, but neither did he look displeased.
She held up the plate.
"Crispin was in the breakfastparlor trying to read a newspaper.
He sent me here with these for you.
I must have been annoying him.""Crispin is shockingly easy to annoy.
Come in, come." He stood up."Whereas I am pleasant to anyone
(03:42):
bearing Cook's rolls." She crossedthe carpet and joined him in the nook.
Then she realized at oncethat she shouldn't have.
He wasn't wearing a cravat and thetop button of his shirt was undone.
She set the plate down, intending toleave directly, but the ledger over which
he had been hunched was surrounded byscratch paper and scribbled calculations,
and she couldn't tear herself away.
Of course Reginald wouldnotice her lingering.
(04:03):
She imagined it was hard for him not to.
Leaving a plate of rolls shouldonly have taken a moment.
He gestured to the papers.
"Does this mess make your head hurt?"She knew he was not referring to
the splash of papers, but ratherthe inefficient figures upon them.
But she refused to be so thin skinnedas to now imagine he was mocking her.
"I confess it does. Why are you spendingso much time on accounts? Surely you have
(04:24):
a steward." He rubbed his double cheek.
This sleepy, somewhat rumpledlook was oddly attractive on him.
Of course she'd never seen a gentleman somussed.Yet t somehow she didn't believe
she'd find disheveledattractive in any other man.
Faith.
This train of thought wasterribly inappropriate.
She forced herself to focus on his words.
"We did. The man passed recentlyand hadn't been keeping keeping up
(04:46):
for several months. I don't think itwas top most in Jasper's mind until
he saw how muddled it had become."
"But surely he doesn't expectyou to be his steward." "Oh no.
Jasper's experience expectationsare more in line with my father's.
Fairly medieval ones.
First son, heir, second son,soldier." She finished the triad.
"Third son to the church." He nodded.
(05:08):
Then yawned beforesitting wearily back down.
"Jasper has a man in mind to takeover, but he wanted the books a bit
cleaner before handing them off."
"And then?" "Then?" "What will youdo with yourself?" She couldn't
really see him as a clergyman.
"What would you be doing if youweren't pouring over these ledgers?"
He hesitated, then gestured toa leather case on the floor.
(05:29):
It was the clasped oneshe had noted before.
"In there, I have a manuscript inancient Greek that was presumably
meticulously copied by monks a fewhundred years ago, if bastion is correct."
"Frederick Bastion?" "Yes.
By God.
How do you-?" "My brotherCharles has mentioned him.
I've only heard the name.
Sorry, go on." He gazed it her amoment as if he were going to say
something different, but then continued.
(05:51):
"If he's correct, there was no onealive today who knows what these
manuscripts say." " Plural manuscripts?"
"He has 12 of them." "And you aregoing to learn what they say." Oh, now
this... goose flesh rose on her arms.
"Well, a few pages of one." He rubbed hishands down his thighs and smiled ruefully.
"After that, I suppose I willsettle into a living at Framingham."
But he tapped the ledger.
(06:12):
"I have forbidden myself to work on theGreek until I get these accounts sorted."
It occurred to her that she couldsort them out for him, but putting
her nose into the Taverston's financeswould be... it would be heinous.
It would also be fun.
"Are you even almost finished?" "Ithought I was." He shook his head.
"I was rattled yesterday by thatmistake of eight versus five.
(06:33):
What if I'd been sloppyreading others handwriting?
So I've been double checking some ofthe receipts and they look correct.
But what if they're not?
I really don't want gothrough them all again.
Then I remember what you saidabout patterns." "What I said?"
"Yes, most of the expenses arefor the same thing over and over.
If the cost was the same each time, Iwouldn't have to sum it up all each time."
"Well, obviously, but?" "Butthe cost is not always the same.
(06:56):
Sometimes it's more, sometimes less.
I'd have to look deeper intothe invoices to see why.
And well the devil, it's too boringto contemplate." She laughed lightly.
"I can imagine." "So I went backto assuming that the entries I made
were correct and just tallying themto get the whole thing finished."
He pointed to his scratch paper.
"And I shouldn't have beenworking on it so late because
(07:17):
none of my sums came out the same.
Twice." "You should have gone to bed.""Yes, but then here's the worst of it.
When I started this whole project, Ithought I'd be clever and start by looking
at the account books from five years ago.
Bradwell was taking care of things then,so I decided I would simply do as he
did." "That makes sense." "But becauseI have become so hopelessly muddled
that I can't even add and subtractanymore, I thought, last night I thought
(07:39):
I'd go back to that first book andjust tally the columns." He frowned.
"Like a schoolboy exercise."
"I'd call that a drastic measure." Shepicked up one of the rolls and broke
off a piece, but she was fidgety, nothungry, so she set the bread down.
"I hope you weren't redoing all thebooks for the past five years." "It
wasn't my intention, but..." now hepulled his hand through his hair.
"I was up all night."
(08:00):
She tried not to think of himsitting there through the night.
There was something more intimateabout that than picturing him in bed.
Which she would never do.
Reginald opened a worn book with a frayedcover and pushed it in front of her.
On the desk he pointed to a column.
"Please tell me I'm wrong."
Georgiana drew a breath debating whetherto look, but she knew she was going to.
It was either look at the page orat the base of Reginald's throat,
(08:22):
right there in front of her.
She turned to calculating the costsand revenues and then compared
her result to the total thathad been recorded at the bottom.
"That is incorrect." The significanceof that fact gave her a cold, heavy
feeling in the pit of her stomach.
"Have you another ledger? Anotheryear?" He pulled out another from a
short stack on his desk and openedit to a page he had dog eared.
"Six years ago, randomly selectedquarter. This page." She ran
(08:45):
her finger down the column, thenlooked into Reginald's pallid face.
"Oh," she said full of sympathy,but unsure what else to say.
They were each off by 30 pounds.
If that was true of every quarter,the books were off by 120 pounds a
year for who knew how many years.
"Damnit," he swore.
"I'm sorry.
I should not have burdened you.
God, if I wasn't so tired.
I never, I'm sorry.
(09:06):
It's inexcusable.
I just hoped I was wrong.
And you would." She waved his protestaway. "How many have you checked?" "Three
quarters from randomly pulled years, andthey're all off." He nodded. "Not always
by the same amounts, but usually close.
Maybe I'm wrong." He heaved a sigh."But if I am, it's not by much.
I was concentrating on thenumbers without paying much
attention to what they were for.
(09:27):
So after I talked to you, I realized Ishould be looking for patterns but..." he
waved a hand towards the bookshelf whereshe had seen rows and rows of old ledgers.
"It will take years." "If your stewardwas dipping..." "But he wasn't.
Not bradwell.
I would stick my life on hishonesty and his competence.
I can't make sense of it."
She said nothing.
His father's steward had beenstealing from the family and now
(09:49):
the man was dead and nothing couldbe done, and his father was dying.
Reginald wanted to do thisone simple thing, and it had
devolved into a nightmare.
He murmured, "and I feel as if I couldjust decipher the books." "Oh, Reginald."
Her heart broke for the man becauseshe knew he wanted to do what
he loved, what he lived for, andwas instead trying to reconcile
himself to doing what was expected.
(10:09):
Gently, she said, "It's notancient Greek. You can't translate
it." No, no, it's not Greek.
Unfortunately, it's numbers.""I-" "oh God, Georgina.
No, I'm not asking you.
Of course I'm not.
I'm just bemoaning my own inadequacy.
I know Bradwell is not an embezzler, butsomething is not right, and I'm concerned.
This is something that willcome back to haunt Jasper.
(10:30):
He should at least know there's somethinghidden, and the answer is in those books
somewhere, the money came in, it went out.
It has to add up." He could not haveseduced her more effectively than that.
"I'll help you." "I can't ask that.""Reginald, you can't put something like
this in front of me and then snatch itaway. It would be as if Bastion took away
that manuscript and said, nevermind." Helooked at her hard, then shook his head.
(10:52):
"Bradwell was the family'saccountant for 47 years.
47. Do you know howmany ledgers that spans?
Jasper's not gonna let me lock youaway in the library-" "Reginald-"
"for hours at a time, days on end.
He has a million things planned.""Reginald, I don't think he'll notice."
She looked down at her hands and willedthem not to tremble with excitement.
"It won't take me all that long." LadyGeorgiana Stewart realized she had just
(11:15):
made an unimaginably arrogant statementabout her own mathematical abilities.
Yet the scholarly gentlemansitting before her did not shy
away grimacing with distaste.
He smiled.
It was not only the turn of his lips,but the way his sky at thus blue
eyes suddenly appeared to be litfrom behind crinkling at the corners.
It took her breath away.
He said, "I won't get in your way.Just tell me what you'll need." Oh,
(11:35):
at best, she'd expected him to handher a stack of ledgers and fire
off a plotting set of instructions.
Then breathe down her neck.
What else could shehave expected him to do?
But this man, this unbearably, marvelous,sensible man, ceded control over
a problem with a smile to a woman.
It came to her all at once.
A revelation.
This is the one.
Her mind began rolling back to everyinteraction, every moment they'd
(11:57):
shared since he'd frightened herawake and they'd contrived to lie to
their loved ones she had known then.
And later when he took it upon himselfto put that horse out of its misery.
And when he had watched her do sumsin her head and been impressed rather
than appalled, rather than intimidated.
Well, no, it was easy to lookback and believe she had known all
along, but she knew she hadn't, andshe couldn't be in love with him.
She had only known him for less than aweek, but she could love him given time.
(12:21):
At once came the horrified realizationthat she would love him given time.
She could not marry Lord Jasper Taverston.
Woo,
what a pivotal scene.
And I don't know that accountbooks have ever been so sexy.
(12:42):
Well, I have a lot of questionsfor you, but first we're gonna take
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(13:46):
I'm back with Carol Coventry, whojust read a very fun and mathematical
excerpt from counting on love.
So I just adored being in the headsetof Georgiana who finds it fun to do
accounts and is lusting over her mathas much as she's lusting over Reginald.
(14:07):
And it just occurred to me that theydidn't have calculators in the Regency.
And how on earth does anyone handle that?
So I guess I'd like to start by findingout, I know that you know, as Susan
Coventry, you write historical fiction,and so what is your approach to research
when you approach historical romance anddid you, for example, go down a rabbit
(14:31):
hole on, do they have calculators?
So yeah, I always for both thehistorical fiction and the historical
romance, I always way over researchand spend far too much time doing it.
I love the research aspects and Ithink with historical romance more
so than with historical fiction, thetrick is leaving most of that out.
When I started with the historicalromance, I got most of my feel for it by
(14:55):
just reading other historical romances.
And it wasn't until, so I felt like I hada framework for it, but it wasn't until
I start writing that I go, oh, I needto know this, or I need to know that.
And then I would reallydig into the research.
Yeah.
And so, so you were researching as youwere writing, and what is your personal
(15:18):
approach to the tightrope of historicalaccuracy versus telling a fun story?
I, I really want to beas accurate as possible.
There are times when your, yourresearch doesn't really bear
out what you think you knew.
And then it's tough to go with, well,if everybody thinks this, should I just
stick with this or should I throw in this?
(15:39):
Throw this loop in there that goes,well, I have some actual research that
I'm never gonna be able to explain toyou, but that I know that this is right.
So that's kind of where I find thetight rope to walk is when to go with
your gut versus what you just read.
Do you have an example of that?
One of the examples would be whenthe London season would occur.
And most often we think, well, itstarts in the spring and runs through
(16:02):
the summer, and that makes it alot nicer than to imagine people
slogging through the wet and the snow.
But when I was looking at, okay, sowhen did it start and when does it end?
And it was more variable than that.
And kind of earlier in thefrom my understanding earlier
on in the regency period.
It was not as set as it waslater on in the Victorian period.
(16:24):
And it, it really correspondedwith when Parliament was in session
because that's when all the Lordsand ladies had to come back into
London to be there for parliament.
And so that's when theywould have their parties.
So sometimes it would happenover the winter if they
would be there in the winter.
And so then I looked up.
When was Parliament in sessionduring this, you know, 1812?
(16:45):
1813 And they were insession over the wintertime.
So I had the season start startin the winter, which was difficult
because then you are picturingthem slogging about in the mud.
So.
Yeah, I've, I've run into that as well,where it's like, wait a second, I have
this idea of the season as a concept.
And then when you match upthe dates, it's like, oh.
(17:06):
Mm-hmm.
Also, like, if it's reallyhot, like, weren't they leaving
and, and was everyone there?
It is interesting to, to match up thehistorical texts with the genre texts.
Mm-hmm.
Yeah.
So Counting On Love is yourfirst historical romance.
You'd been writing historicalfiction before that.
(17:26):
So I'm curious, what does writinghistorical romance afford you?
The author creatively orpersonally or whatever, compared
to writing historical fiction?
The thing I love about historical romanceis the guaranteed happily ever after.
And when I started reading a lot ofromance, it was really for that escape.
(17:48):
And that is kind of, you go through itand you get all nervous about it, and then
you go, they're gonna end up together,so relax, they're gonna end up together.
And and the focus is reallyon that love relationship.
And so it's two it's really kindof two different sides of my brain.
The one that just wants therelaxation and the fun dialogues.
And then the other side thatgoes with history is really
(18:09):
a lot more complex than that.
And there's a lot of unpleasantness inhistorical fiction and a lot of that you
don't really wanna bring into romance.
So romance is my escape.
Yeah.
And you mentioned thatthis is low, but no steam.
Is there steam in your historical fictionand do you approach steam differently
(18:29):
when writing your historical romances?
Yes, I, I think I go with aboutthe same level of steam in both.
And that's, well, I guess, you know, thebook that I'm having come out in November.
In November, that's not romance.
There's love in there and there'sreferences to sex, but you never see
them, like it's very closed door.
(18:50):
And then the regency in the romances,you know, I have the door like
ajar and you can kind of peek in,but you're not in there with them.
So I don't, yeah, I don't think myapproach is all that different in the
ro with the steam level in romanceversus general historical fiction.
Yeah.
Was it fun for you to kind ofsay, oh, I can lean into this
and open that door a little bit?
(19:11):
Or was it and un anawkward, uncomfortable?
Yeah, it's more uncomfortable, youknow, and I think it's because I'm
always thinking about readers that Iknow, you know, and so, I mean, that
was really difficult for me while Iwas still working, you know, in the,
and thinking, oh, I don't wanna goin and see these people tomorrow if
(19:32):
they've read my sex scene last night.
So so I find that as long as I don'tthink about people actually reading
it, then I'm, then I can write sex.
Otherwise I don't wanna think about it.
Yes, yes.
I'm very familiar with that.
And in your setup for this book and alsoit was kind of coming through in the
text, you know, Georgiana and Reginaldactually are reacting to each other in
(19:57):
a different way than society expectsattraction to work, which is that Gianna
is attracted to Reginald 'cause he's
this brilliant person, and he'sattracted to her because she's
brilliant, not because she's thischeerful, beautiful debutante that
is the perfect match for his brother.
And I heard that and I kinda had thisfilter of like, oh, you're exploring
Sapio sexuality or Demisexuality.
(20:18):
And I wondered, did you
have those, you know, labels for lackof a better word in mind, or is that
something that I'm bringing and applyingand projecting onto your characters?
I very much had those two labels in mindwhen I was writing, and that was part
of, I wanted to see if I could do it.
But then after I had written a book,I'm like, I don't wanna put those
(20:39):
labels on them because I don't want...
I don't wanna get it wrong, you know,I don't wanna be saying, oh, this
is a sapiosexual and a demisexual,and have people go, yeah, you
dunno what you're talking about.
So I stayed away from thelabels, even though that's
kind of what I was going for.
Yeah.
Well I'm not an expert, but Ithink you, you, you conveyed that.
Right?
And I think, you know, I've written acharacter before where I didn't really
(21:01):
want to say this is what a demisexualperson experiences, but I've also found
it really interesting to try to writethat character in the context of romance
books because we have so many beatsthat are expected by readers and are
like physical markers of attraction.
Mm-hmm.
So how did that go for you as you wereexploring these two, you know, alternate
(21:26):
versions of attraction coming together?
Mm-hmm.
I think this is why it took them a whileto get together because I, I really
needed them to see those aspects in,in each other that would eventually
kind of pull on those lust strings.
Right.
I mean, it's, it it took a while, butthey, they got there because they were.
(21:51):
They were entranced by oneanother and then the sexual
attraction came after that.
Yeah.
Yeah.
That's cool.
That's really cool.
So who are some of the historicalromance authors that you kind of think
about when you're writing historicalromances that you wanna emulate
or who are influencing your work?
I kind of cut my teeth on Georgette Heyer.
(22:14):
I, I don't even know how to pronounceher name, but she was the one that really
made me start reading a lot of romance.
I just loved her stuff, reading it,you know, now I, there's things that
are problematic about it that you kindof have to like look away from now
'cause she wrote way backin like the twenties.
But more recent things.
I love Mary Balogh.
(22:34):
I love the depth of emotion thatshe can bring out in her characters.
I love Mimi Matthews, you know, I thinkshe's got really great plotting and she
also does closed door kind of romancesso she can pull out that kinda sexual
tension without going into the sex.
I like Mary Lancaster who, she kindof writes she writes really nice,
(22:57):
just regency romance or historicalromance, but she also does historical
mysteries where you can kind offollow the couple as they through.
A couple of that's fun of I love that too.
So yeah, I mean, I think the, the onesthat I would like to emulate the most
are the ones that really get dialogueand kind of, that banter really well.
That's, that's what I, that's whatI love reading and it's what I
(23:19):
would hope to be able to write.
Yeah.
Is that what kind of hooks youinto a story or do you start more
from characters or a plot idea?
It starts for me in the writing.
It starts more from like a scene.
I'll have like a scene in my head andI, it's usually the reconciliation scene
that kind of comes into my mind first.
(23:39):
And so then I gotta kind of work backfrom that to go Okay, why did up, you
know, and what brought them to this point.
So I really, I do kind ofstart with characters and a
single plot point, and then.
Go from there.
That's cool to start with.
That breakup gives you a lotof momentum to get there.
Mm-hmm.
Yeah.
I think we can move toLove it or leave it.
(24:01):
[Musical Interlude]
All right.
Love it.
Or leave it.
The protagonists meet inthe first 10% of the novel?
I'm gonna swim against the currenton this one and say, leave it.
Most books that I read and the books twothrough four that I wrote, they do, they
either know each other from the beginningor they meet right at the beginning.
(24:23):
But I think it's, to me, it's moreimportant that the reader gets introduced
to the two characters right away thanit is that the two characters get
introduced to each other right away.
And that's what, in Counting On Love,it takes a while before they meet
because she's meets Jasper first.
And what I really want is my readers tofall in love with the characters first,
and then watch them and go along for theride as they fall in love with each other.
(24:47):
Hmm.
All right.
Love it.
Or leave it?
Dual point of view narration.
That's a Love it.
All right.
Love it or leave it?
Third person past tense.
That's also a, a love it.
For romance especially, Ithink that just works best.
Love it or leave it?
Third act breakup or dark moment.
(25:07):
I love that there is a dark moment and asubstantial breakup that you think, oh,
they're never gonna get back from this.
But I don't necessarily thinkit has to be in the third act.
I think it can happen a couple, evena couple times during the book, so
Oh, interesting, interesting.
Love it or leave it?
Always end with an epilogue.
I'd say leave it for that.
(25:29):
Also, I don't need anepilogue for every story.
I do, kind of like at the end of a seriesto have an epilogue and kind of a little
wrap up and see where all the charactersare, but I don't need one every book.
All right.
Love it or leave it?
Share research in your author's note
That for me in a, in the romances,it's a leave it, but in general
historical fiction, then it's a Love it.
(25:50):
Oh, interesting.
Is there a reason why youdon't like it in romances?
Well, you know, I, I kind of, likeI've said, I try not to overburden
the romances with all the great stuffthat I found during my research.
And I don't wanna just use theauthor's note as just a dump to
put in all that stuff because Icouldn't work it into the story.
It's just too much.
(26:10):
So, and that with the happily everafter, it kinda feels like it's done.
When the story's done, it's done.
So that's it.
Whereas with general historical fiction,there is so much more stuff and you wanna
say, okay, this, you know, why I chose touse this piece of history versus that one.
So it just seems more like there's moreof a need for it in, in the general stuff.
(26:32):
Interesting.
All right.
And are there any other romancerules I didn't ask about that
you like to break or play with?
So the one that I did, that I playedwith mostly in the next book in Holding
Onto Love is timeline or chronology.
And usually with romances I don't knowif it's a rule, but what generally
happens is you start at the beginningand march on through to the end and, in
(26:54):
holding onto love, it doesn't do that.
And so I, I like playing around withwith the timeline and the structure.
It starts kind of right where CountingOn Love is ending, but by that time, the
two characters, which would be Jasperand, and his mistress have broken up.
And so the timeline, the presenttimeline of that book is that
they're have to get back together.
(27:15):
You know, they're apart and they haveto get back together, but there's also
the whole story, the whole backstory ofthem falling in love in the first place.
So that's this kind of goes backand forth in chapters so that we
can see 'em in both timelines.
And that's not something thatI generally see in romance, but
I wanted to try it in this one.
So, so I broke that rule, I guess.
Yeah.
That's very interesting.
(27:36):
I am curious to to read thatand see how that works out.
Well, thank you for playing.
Love it.
Or leave it.
I have enjoyed hearing about howyou approach these romance rules.
So where can our listenersfind you and your books?
The Taverstons of Iversley.
The best place to find more is to goto my website at susancoventry.com.
(28:02):
That will have a link kind of at thetop of the page to my newsletter,
so you can get hooked up with that.
I also have a blog at susan coventry blogspot.com, where I review a lot of books.
So if you wanna kinda see what I'mreading which is all over the map
you can look at my blog, but thestarting place would be my website.
Awesome.
And I will put a link to yourwebsite in the show notes.
(28:24):
So listeners you can head on.
And click through.
All right.
Thank you.
Carol, thank you so much for coming on.
This has been a blast and I'm excited.
Counting on Love Is Out,is Holding Onto Love Out?
Holding Onto Love is Out.
And then the third book in the series,waiting For Love comes out March 14th.
Okay, so by the time that this episodeairs Waiting for Love will be out as well.
(28:46):
So listeners, you can go consume threeoutta the four books in the series
and get really excited for book four,so All right, well thank you so much.
I appreciate you coming on.
Well, thank you for having me.
It was fun.
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.
(29:10):
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.
All right.
I am super excited to bejoined today by Carol Coventry.
Carol Coventry is the romancewriting alter ego for historical
novelist Susan Coventry.
(00:46):
A quarter of a century working in themedical field has taught her that after
any tough day, nothing soothes the spiritlike a guaranteed happily ever after.
Escaping to the Regency era is likea mini vacation, and after she spent
so much time there, she felt likea native and began spinning her own
tales of historical romance afterwinning the grand prize in drag.
(01:09):
After winning the grand prize in DragonBlades Write Track Contest, Carol
published Counting On Love, the first inher series, the Taverstons of Iversley.
Carol, I'm so excitedto have you here today.
Good to be here.
So you are reading forus from counting on Love.
(01:29):
What should we know about thestory before we get started?
Okay, so this is Counting on Love.
It is the first in a four book series, asyou said, that Taverstons of Iversley and
it's a slow burn and what I call a lowsteam, but not no steam love story and the
blue stocking heroine and a beta hero.
So what you need to know first is thatthe heroine Lady Georgina Stewart,
(01:53):
is a Duke's daughter, and she's beingcourted by Lord Jasper Taverston who
is the heir to the Earl of Iversley.
And Georgiana is beautiful and charming,and Jasper is handsome and charming,
and everybody in the tongue thinksthey're gonna make a perfect match.
But what the people don't know is thatGeorgiana is a math genius, and it's
something that she has had to hide allher life because ladies don't do math.
(02:16):
And then the other problemthat she's having is she's
finding Jasper to be a bit dull.
However, Jasper invites her to thefamily's country estate and she
goes, and there she meets his twobrothers, Crispin and Reginald.
Reginald is the third son and he'sconsidered to be the brilliant brother.
He's a Greek scholar.
But he has recently been tappedby Jasper to straighten out
(02:37):
the family's account books.
And they're in a mess becausethe steward just recently died.
So.
So that's kind of wherethe story is picking up.
And I said it's a slow burn,and that's because Georgiana
is being courted by Jasper.
So she and Reginald are very carefulin how they interact with each other
and they kind of fall for one another'sintelligence and personalities
(02:58):
before they'll realize or admit toeach other that there's a growing
sexual attraction between them.
So I'm going to read from the scenewhere Georgiana realizes that she's
falling in love with Reginald.
Awesome.
The library door was wideopen and so were the curtains.
Reginald was seated on aspindly chair that matched the
(03:19):
one in the second little nook.
Georgiana knocked lightly onthe doorframe, then went in.
Reginald's head came up from his ledger.
He didn't look particularly happy to seeher, but neither did he look displeased.
She held up the plate.
"Crispin was in the breakfastparlor trying to read a newspaper.
He sent me here with these for you.
I must have been annoying him.""Crispin is shockingly easy to annoy.
Come in, come." He stood up."Whereas I am pleasant to anyone
(03:42):
bearing Cook's rolls." She crossedthe carpet and joined him in the nook.
Then she realized at oncethat she shouldn't have.
He wasn't wearing a cravat and thetop button of his shirt was undone.
She set the plate down, intending toleave directly, but the ledger over which
he had been hunched was surrounded byscratch paper and scribbled calculations,
and she couldn't tear herself away.
Of course Reginald wouldnotice her lingering.
(04:03):
She imagined it was hard for him not to.
Leaving a plate of rolls shouldonly have taken a moment.
He gestured to the papers.
"Does this mess make your head hurt?"She knew he was not referring to
the splash of papers, but ratherthe inefficient figures upon them.
But she refused to be so thin skinnedas to now imagine he was mocking her.
"I confess it does. Why are you spendingso much time on accounts? Surely you have
(04:24):
a steward." He rubbed his double cheek.
This sleepy, somewhat rumpledlook was oddly attractive on him.
Of course she'd never seen a gentleman somussed.Yet t somehow she didn't believe
she'd find disheveledattractive in any other man.
Faith.
This train of thought wasterribly inappropriate.
She forced herself to focus on his words.
"We did. The man passed recentlyand hadn't been keeping keeping up
(04:46):
for several months. I don't think itwas top most in Jasper's mind until
he saw how muddled it had become."
"But surely he doesn't expectyou to be his steward." "Oh no.
Jasper's experience expectationsare more in line with my father's.
Fairly medieval ones.
First son, heir, second son,soldier." She finished the triad.
"Third son to the church." He nodded.
(05:08):
Then yawned beforesitting wearily back down.
"Jasper has a man in mind to takeover, but he wanted the books a bit
cleaner before handing them off."
"And then?" "Then?" "What will youdo with yourself?" She couldn't
really see him as a clergyman.
"What would you be doing if youweren't pouring over these ledgers?"
He hesitated, then gestured toa leather case on the floor.
(05:29):
It was the clasped oneshe had noted before.
"In there, I have a manuscript inancient Greek that was presumably
meticulously copied by monks a fewhundred years ago, if bastion is correct."
"Frederick Bastion?" "Yes.
By God.
How do you-?" "My brotherCharles has mentioned him.
I've only heard the name.
Sorry, go on." He gazed it her amoment as if he were going to say
something different, but then continued.
(05:51):
"If he's correct, there was no onealive today who knows what these
manuscripts say." " Plural manuscripts?"
"He has 12 of them." "And you aregoing to learn what they say." Oh, now
this... goose flesh rose on her arms.
"Well, a few pages of one." He rubbed hishands down his thighs and smiled ruefully.
"After that, I suppose I willsettle into a living at Framingham."
But he tapped the ledger.
(06:12):
"I have forbidden myself to work on theGreek until I get these accounts sorted."
It occurred to her that she couldsort them out for him, but putting
her nose into the Taverston's financeswould be... it would be heinous.
It would also be fun.
"Are you even almost finished?" "Ithought I was." He shook his head.
"I was rattled yesterday by thatmistake of eight versus five.
(06:33):
What if I'd been sloppyreading others handwriting?
So I've been double checking some ofthe receipts and they look correct.
But what if they're not?
I really don't want gothrough them all again.
Then I remember what you saidabout patterns." "What I said?"
"Yes, most of the expenses arefor the same thing over and over.
If the cost was the same each time, Iwouldn't have to sum it up all each time."
"Well, obviously, but?" "Butthe cost is not always the same.
(06:56):
Sometimes it's more, sometimes less.
I'd have to look deeper intothe invoices to see why.
And well the devil, it's too boringto contemplate." She laughed lightly.
"I can imagine." "So I went backto assuming that the entries I made
were correct and just tallying themto get the whole thing finished."
He pointed to his scratch paper.
"And I shouldn't have beenworking on it so late because
(07:17):
none of my sums came out the same.
Twice." "You should have gone to bed.""Yes, but then here's the worst of it.
When I started this whole project, Ithought I'd be clever and start by looking
at the account books from five years ago.
Bradwell was taking care of things then,so I decided I would simply do as he
did." "That makes sense." "But becauseI have become so hopelessly muddled
that I can't even add and subtractanymore, I thought, last night I thought
(07:39):
I'd go back to that first book andjust tally the columns." He frowned.
"Like a schoolboy exercise."
"I'd call that a drastic measure." Shepicked up one of the rolls and broke
off a piece, but she was fidgety, nothungry, so she set the bread down.
"I hope you weren't redoing all thebooks for the past five years." "It
wasn't my intention, but..." now hepulled his hand through his hair.
"I was up all night."
(08:00):
She tried not to think of himsitting there through the night.
There was something more intimateabout that than picturing him in bed.
Which she would never do.
Reginald opened a worn book with a frayedcover and pushed it in front of her.
On the desk he pointed to a column.
"Please tell me I'm wrong."
Georgiana drew a breath debating whetherto look, but she knew she was going to.
It was either look at the page orat the base of Reginald's throat,
(08:22):
right there in front of her.
She turned to calculating the costsand revenues and then compared
her result to the total thathad been recorded at the bottom.
"That is incorrect." The significanceof that fact gave her a cold, heavy
feeling in the pit of her stomach.
"Have you another ledger? Anotheryear?" He pulled out another from a
short stack on his desk and openedit to a page he had dog eared.
"Six years ago, randomly selectedquarter. This page." She ran
(08:45):
her finger down the column, thenlooked into Reginald's pallid face.
"Oh," she said full of sympathy,but unsure what else to say.
They were each off by 30 pounds.
If that was true of every quarter,the books were off by 120 pounds a
year for who knew how many years.
"Damnit," he swore.
"I'm sorry.
I should not have burdened you.
God, if I wasn't so tired.
I never, I'm sorry.
(09:06):
It's inexcusable.
I just hoped I was wrong.
And you would." She waved his protestaway. "How many have you checked?" "Three
quarters from randomly pulled years, andthey're all off." He nodded. "Not always
by the same amounts, but usually close.
Maybe I'm wrong." He heaved a sigh."But if I am, it's not by much.
I was concentrating on thenumbers without paying much
attention to what they were for.
(09:27):
So after I talked to you, I realized Ishould be looking for patterns but..." he
waved a hand towards the bookshelf whereshe had seen rows and rows of old ledgers.
"It will take years." "If your stewardwas dipping..." "But he wasn't.
Not bradwell.
I would stick my life on hishonesty and his competence.
I can't make sense of it."
She said nothing.
His father's steward had beenstealing from the family and now
(09:49):
the man was dead and nothing couldbe done, and his father was dying.
Reginald wanted to do thisone simple thing, and it had
devolved into a nightmare.
He murmured, "and I feel as if I couldjust decipher the books." "Oh, Reginald."
Her heart broke for the man becauseshe knew he wanted to do what
he loved, what he lived for, andwas instead trying to reconcile
himself to doing what was expected.
(10:09):
Gently, she said, "It's notancient Greek. You can't translate
it." No, no, it's not Greek.
Unfortunately, it's numbers.""I-" "oh God, Georgina.
No, I'm not asking you.
Of course I'm not.
I'm just bemoaning my own inadequacy.
I know Bradwell is not an embezzler, butsomething is not right, and I'm concerned.
This is something that willcome back to haunt Jasper.
(10:30):
He should at least know there's somethinghidden, and the answer is in those books
somewhere, the money came in, it went out.
It has to add up." He could not haveseduced her more effectively than that.
"I'll help you." "I can't ask that.""Reginald, you can't put something like
this in front of me and then snatch itaway. It would be as if Bastion took away
that manuscript and said, nevermind." Helooked at her hard, then shook his head.
(10:52):
"Bradwell was the family'saccountant for 47 years.
47. Do you know howmany ledgers that spans?
Jasper's not gonna let me lock youaway in the library-" "Reginald-"
"for hours at a time, days on end.
He has a million things planned.""Reginald, I don't think he'll notice."
She looked down at her hands and willedthem not to tremble with excitement.
"It won't take me all that long." LadyGeorgiana Stewart realized she had just
(11:15):
made an unimaginably arrogant statementabout her own mathematical abilities.
Yet the scholarly gentlemansitting before her did not shy
away grimacing with distaste.
He smiled.
It was not only the turn of his lips,but the way his sky at thus blue
eyes suddenly appeared to be litfrom behind crinkling at the corners.
It took her breath away.
He said, "I won't get in your way.Just tell me what you'll need." Oh,
(11:35):
at best, she'd expected him to handher a stack of ledgers and fire
off a plotting set of instructions.
Then breathe down her neck.
What else could shehave expected him to do?
But this man, this unbearably, marvelous,sensible man, ceded control over
a problem with a smile to a woman.
It came to her all at once.
A revelation.
This is the one.
Her mind began rolling back to everyinteraction, every moment they'd
(11:57):
shared since he'd frightened herawake and they'd contrived to lie to
their loved ones she had known then.
And later when he took it upon himselfto put that horse out of its misery.
And when he had watched her do sumsin her head and been impressed rather
than appalled, rather than intimidated.
Well, no, it was easy to lookback and believe she had known all
along, but she knew she hadn't, andshe couldn't be in love with him.
She had only known him for less than aweek, but she could love him given time.
(12:21):
At once came the horrified realizationthat she would love him given time.
She could not marry Lord Jasper Taverston.
Woo,
what a pivotal scene.
And I don't know that accountbooks have ever been so sexy.
(12:42):
Well, I have a lot of questionsfor you, but first we're gonna take
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(13:46):
I'm back with Carol Coventry, whojust read a very fun and mathematical
excerpt from counting on love.
So I just adored being in the headsetof Georgiana who finds it fun to do
accounts and is lusting over her mathas much as she's lusting over Reginald.
(14:07):
And it just occurred to me that theydidn't have calculators in the Regency.
And how on earth does anyone handle that?
So I guess I'd like to start by findingout, I know that you know, as Susan
Coventry, you write historical fiction,and so what is your approach to research
when you approach historical romance anddid you, for example, go down a rabbit
(14:31):
hole on, do they have calculators?
So yeah, I always for both thehistorical fiction and the historical
romance, I always way over researchand spend far too much time doing it.
I love the research aspects and Ithink with historical romance more
so than with historical fiction, thetrick is leaving most of that out.
When I started with the historicalromance, I got most of my feel for it by
(14:55):
just reading other historical romances.
And it wasn't until, so I felt like I hada framework for it, but it wasn't until
I start writing that I go, oh, I needto know this, or I need to know that.
And then I would reallydig into the research.
Yeah.
And so, so you were researching as youwere writing, and what is your personal
(15:18):
approach to the tightrope of historicalaccuracy versus telling a fun story?
I, I really want to beas accurate as possible.
There are times when your, yourresearch doesn't really bear
out what you think you knew.
And then it's tough to go with, well,if everybody thinks this, should I just
stick with this or should I throw in this?
(15:39):
Throw this loop in there that goes,well, I have some actual research that
I'm never gonna be able to explain toyou, but that I know that this is right.
So that's kind of where I find thetight rope to walk is when to go with
your gut versus what you just read.
Do you have an example of that?
One of the examples would be whenthe London season would occur.
And most often we think, well, itstarts in the spring and runs through
(16:02):
the summer, and that makes it alot nicer than to imagine people
slogging through the wet and the snow.
But when I was looking at, okay, sowhen did it start and when does it end?
And it was more variable than that.
And kind of earlier in thefrom my understanding earlier
on in the regency period.
It was not as set as it waslater on in the Victorian period.
(16:24):
And it, it really correspondedwith when Parliament was in session
because that's when all the Lordsand ladies had to come back into
London to be there for parliament.
And so that's when theywould have their parties.
So sometimes it would happenover the winter if they
would be there in the winter.
And so then I looked up.
When was Parliament in sessionduring this, you know, 1812?
(16:45):
1813 And they were insession over the wintertime.
So I had the season start startin the winter, which was difficult
because then you are picturingthem slogging about in the mud.
So.
Yeah, I've, I've run into that as well,where it's like, wait a second, I have
this idea of the season as a concept.
And then when you match upthe dates, it's like, oh.
(17:06):
Mm-hmm.
Also, like, if it's reallyhot, like, weren't they leaving
and, and was everyone there?
It is interesting to, to match up thehistorical texts with the genre texts.
Mm-hmm.
Yeah.
So Counting On Love is yourfirst historical romance.
You'd been writing historicalfiction before that.
(17:26):
So I'm curious, what does writinghistorical romance afford you?
The author creatively orpersonally or whatever, compared
to writing historical fiction?
The thing I love about historical romanceis the guaranteed happily ever after.
And when I started reading a lot ofromance, it was really for that escape.
(17:48):
And that is kind of, you go through itand you get all nervous about it, and then
you go, they're gonna end up together,so relax, they're gonna end up together.
And and the focus is reallyon that love relationship.
And so it's two it's really kindof two different sides of my brain.
The one that just wants therelaxation and the fun dialogues.
And then the other side thatgoes with history is really
(18:09):
a lot more complex than that.
And there's a lot of unpleasantness inhistorical fiction and a lot of that you
don't really wanna bring into romance.
So romance is my escape.
Yeah.
And you mentioned thatthis is low, but no steam.
Is there steam in your historical fictionand do you approach steam differently
(18:29):
when writing your historical romances?
Yes, I, I think I go with aboutthe same level of steam in both.
And that's, well, I guess, you know, thebook that I'm having come out in November.
In November, that's not romance.
There's love in there and there'sreferences to sex, but you never see
them, like it's very closed door.
(18:50):
And then the regency in the romances,you know, I have the door like
ajar and you can kind of peek in,but you're not in there with them.
So I don't, yeah, I don't think myapproach is all that different in the
ro with the steam level in romanceversus general historical fiction.
Yeah.
Was it fun for you to kind ofsay, oh, I can lean into this
and open that door a little bit?
(19:11):
Or was it and un anawkward, uncomfortable?
Yeah, it's more uncomfortable, youknow, and I think it's because I'm
always thinking about readers that Iknow, you know, and so, I mean, that
was really difficult for me while Iwas still working, you know, in the,
and thinking, oh, I don't wanna goin and see these people tomorrow if
(19:32):
they've read my sex scene last night.
So so I find that as long as I don'tthink about people actually reading
it, then I'm, then I can write sex.
Otherwise I don't wanna think about it.
Yes, yes.
I'm very familiar with that.
And in your setup for this book and alsoit was kind of coming through in the
text, you know, Georgiana and Reginaldactually are reacting to each other in
(19:57):
a different way than society expectsattraction to work, which is that Gianna
is attracted to Reginald 'cause he's
this brilliant person, and he'sattracted to her because she's
brilliant, not because she's thischeerful, beautiful debutante that
is the perfect match for his brother.
And I heard that and I kinda had thisfilter of like, oh, you're exploring
Sapio sexuality or Demisexuality.
(20:18):
And I wondered, did you
have those, you know, labels for lackof a better word in mind, or is that
something that I'm bringing and applyingand projecting onto your characters?
I very much had those two labels in mindwhen I was writing, and that was part
of, I wanted to see if I could do it.
But then after I had written a book,I'm like, I don't wanna put those
(20:39):
labels on them because I don't want...
I don't wanna get it wrong, you know,I don't wanna be saying, oh, this
is a sapiosexual and a demisexual,and have people go, yeah, you
dunno what you're talking about.
So I stayed away from thelabels, even though that's
kind of what I was going for.
Yeah.
Well I'm not an expert, but Ithink you, you, you conveyed that.
Right?
And I think, you know, I've written acharacter before where I didn't really
(21:01):
want to say this is what a demisexualperson experiences, but I've also found
it really interesting to try to writethat character in the context of romance
books because we have so many beatsthat are expected by readers and are
like physical markers of attraction.
Mm-hmm.
So how did that go for you as you wereexploring these two, you know, alternate
(21:26):
versions of attraction coming together?
Mm-hmm.
I think this is why it took them a whileto get together because I, I really
needed them to see those aspects in,in each other that would eventually
kind of pull on those lust strings.
Right.
I mean, it's, it it took a while, butthey, they got there because they were.
(21:51):
They were entranced by oneanother and then the sexual
attraction came after that.
Yeah.
Yeah.
That's cool.
That's really cool.
So who are some of the historicalromance authors that you kind of think
about when you're writing historicalromances that you wanna emulate
or who are influencing your work?
I kind of cut my teeth on Georgette Heyer.
(22:14):
I, I don't even know how to pronounceher name, but she was the one that really
made me start reading a lot of romance.
I just loved her stuff, reading it,you know, now I, there's things that
are problematic about it that you kindof have to like look away from now
'cause she wrote way backin like the twenties.
But more recent things.
I love Mary Balogh.
(22:34):
I love the depth of emotion thatshe can bring out in her characters.
I love Mimi Matthews, you know, I thinkshe's got really great plotting and she
also does closed door kind of romancesso she can pull out that kinda sexual
tension without going into the sex.
I like Mary Lancaster who, she kindof writes she writes really nice,
(22:57):
just regency romance or historicalromance, but she also does historical
mysteries where you can kind offollow the couple as they through.
A couple of that's fun of I love that too.
So yeah, I mean, I think the, the onesthat I would like to emulate the most
are the ones that really get dialogueand kind of, that banter really well.
That's, that's what I, that's whatI love reading and it's what I
(23:19):
would hope to be able to write.
Yeah.
Is that what kind of hooks youinto a story or do you start more
from characters or a plot idea?
It starts for me in the writing.
It starts more from like a scene.
I'll have like a scene in my head andI, it's usually the reconciliation scene
that kind of comes into my mind first.
(23:39):
And so then I gotta kind of work backfrom that to go Okay, why did up, you
know, and what brought them to this point.
So I really, I do kind ofstart with characters and a
single plot point, and then.
Go from there.
That's cool to start with.
That breakup gives you a lotof momentum to get there.
Mm-hmm.
Yeah.
I think we can move toLove it or leave it.
(24:01):
[Musical Interlude]
All right.
Love it.
Or leave it.
The protagonists meet inthe first 10% of the novel?
I'm gonna swim against the currenton this one and say, leave it.
Most books that I read and the books twothrough four that I wrote, they do, they
either know each other from the beginningor they meet right at the beginning.
(24:23):
But I think it's, to me, it's moreimportant that the reader gets introduced
to the two characters right away thanit is that the two characters get
introduced to each other right away.
And that's what, in Counting On Love,it takes a while before they meet
because she's meets Jasper first.
And what I really want is my readers tofall in love with the characters first,
and then watch them and go along for theride as they fall in love with each other.
(24:47):
Hmm.
All right.
Love it.
Or leave it?
Dual point of view narration.
That's a Love it.
All right.
Love it or leave it?
Third person past tense.
That's also a, a love it.
For romance especially, Ithink that just works best.
Love it or leave it?
Third act breakup or dark moment.
(25:07):
I love that there is a dark moment and asubstantial breakup that you think, oh,
they're never gonna get back from this.
But I don't necessarily thinkit has to be in the third act.
I think it can happen a couple, evena couple times during the book, so
Oh, interesting, interesting.
Love it or leave it?
Always end with an epilogue.
I'd say leave it for that.
(25:29):
Also, I don't need anepilogue for every story.
I do, kind of like at the end of a seriesto have an epilogue and kind of a little
wrap up and see where all the charactersare, but I don't need one every book.
All right.
Love it or leave it?
Share research in your author's note
That for me in a, in the romances,it's a leave it, but in general
historical fiction, then it's a Love it.
(25:50):
Oh, interesting.
Is there a reason why youdon't like it in romances?
Well, you know, I, I kind of, likeI've said, I try not to overburden
the romances with all the great stuffthat I found during my research.
And I don't wanna just use theauthor's note as just a dump to
put in all that stuff because Icouldn't work it into the story.
It's just too much.
(26:10):
So, and that with the happily everafter, it kinda feels like it's done.
When the story's done, it's done.
So that's it.
Whereas with general historical fiction,there is so much more stuff and you wanna
say, okay, this, you know, why I chose touse this piece of history versus that one.
So it just seems more like there's moreof a need for it in, in the general stuff.
(26:32):
Interesting.
All right.
And are there any other romancerules I didn't ask about that
you like to break or play with?
So the one that I did, that I playedwith mostly in the next book in Holding
Onto Love is timeline or chronology.
And usually with romances I don't knowif it's a rule, but what generally
happens is you start at the beginningand march on through to the end and, in
(26:54):
holding onto love, it doesn't do that.
And so I, I like playing around withwith the timeline and the structure.
It starts kind of right where CountingOn Love is ending, but by that time, the
two characters, which would be Jasperand, and his mistress have broken up.
And so the timeline, the presenttimeline of that book is that
they're have to get back together.
(27:15):
You know, they're apart and they haveto get back together, but there's also
the whole story, the whole backstory ofthem falling in love in the first place.
So that's this kind of goes backand forth in chapters so that we
can see 'em in both timelines.
And that's not something thatI generally see in romance, but
I wanted to try it in this one.
So, so I broke that rule, I guess.
Yeah.
That's very interesting.
(27:36):
I am curious to to read thatand see how that works out.
Well, thank you for playing.
Love it.
Or leave it.
I have enjoyed hearing about howyou approach these romance rules.
So where can our listenersfind you and your books?
The Taverstons of Iversley.
The best place to find more is to goto my website at susancoventry.com.
(28:02):
That will have a link kind of at thetop of the page to my newsletter,
so you can get hooked up with that.
I also have a blog at susan coventry blogspot.com, where I review a lot of books.
So if you wanna kinda see what I'mreading which is all over the map
you can look at my blog, but thestarting place would be my website.
Awesome.
And I will put a link to yourwebsite in the show notes.
(28:24):
So listeners you can head on.
And click through.
All right.
Thank you.
Carol, thank you so much for coming on.
This has been a blast and I'm excited.
Counting on Love Is Out,is Holding Onto Love Out?
Holding Onto Love is Out.
And then the third book in the series,waiting For Love comes out March 14th.
Okay, so by the time that this episodeairs Waiting for Love will be out as well.
(28:46):
So listeners, you can go consume threeoutta the four books in the series
and get really excited for book four,so All right, well thank you so much.
I appreciate you coming on.
Well, thank you for having me.
It was fun.
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.
(29:10):
Until next week, happy reading!
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