Finally, a new book! Loving a Lost Lord

by Mary Jo

For those who have been pining for a straight historical romance from me—the time has come!   It’s good to be killing off heroes again.  <g>  Of course, anyone who has read many of my books probably realizes that main characters aren’t as dead as they might appear, and that’s true of Loving a Lost Lord, first book in my new Lost Lords series. 

In 2008, my only releases were reprints from hardcover and the like.  Changing publishers often means a gap in the publication schedule, plus my editor wanted to find exactly the right time to release LALL.  Hence—June 30th, 2009.  Though usually books start showing up in stores a few days earlier.

The series is set in the Regency, mainly because I love the period, but also because it’s such a fascinating point in time.  Romanticism, revolution, war, social change—the Regency is eternally balanced on the intersection between the ancien regime and modernity.  And men look very fine in full Regency fig. <G>

The second book of the series is finished and scheduled for May 2010.  (No title yet.)  I’ve got several other guys who are hero material, so I’d like to do an open-ended series.  Trilogies are just so skimpy.  <G> 

Over the last several years, I’ve received a ton of e-mails from people who wanted to see more of the characters created in The Marriage Spell.  I’d originally intended that to be the beginning of a new series, but then I changed publishers, and a new house wants a new series. 

But those characters were in my head, so when I came up with the Lost Lords idea—young men who bonded at the Westerfield Academy, a school for boy of “good birth and bad behavior,” several of the characters were definitely akin to those in The Marriage Spell.  The hero of LALL is the Duke of Ashton, a sort of non-magical cousin of Ashby in the earlier book.

I gave him pretty much the same story, too.  The book begins with Lady Agnes Westerfield, the unconventional duke’s daughter who founded the Westerfield Academy.  In the middle of a dark and stormy night, three young men come to her door to break the tragic news that Ashton, who had been their classmate in Lady Agnes’s first class, had been killed in the explosion of his steam yacht in Scotland.  Her former students had come to her as much for comfort as to share the news.

But when Lady Agnes learns that no body has been found, she returns to full schoolmistress mode and orders them to go searching for Ashton, and to by God bring him home, dead or alive! 

So off go Randall, Masterson, and Kirkland, figuring that will be pure luck if they find his drowned body, but at least they’re doing something, not feeling helpless.

Meanwhile, on the far northwest coast of Cumberland, lovely Mariah Clarke is rejoicing in finally having a home.  As a girl she’d lived with her part-Gypsy great grandmother while her father, a gamblin’ man survives on his charm, skill, and ability to get himself invited to house parties.  After Granny Rose’s death, Mariah traveled with her father.  They're close, but she isn't fond of their unsettled life.  After several years, he wins a pleasant estate in Cumberland, and she becomes Miss Clarke of Hartley Manor. 

With shocking abruptness, Mariah’s father is killed on a journey south and she is alone in the world.  Alone, and being pressed for marriage by the former owner of Hartley Manor.  Afraid that in a moment of weakness she might say yes, she performs a Gypsy ritual asking for her help—and then finds a half-drowned man rolling onto the shingle beach of Hartley Manor.  An exotically handsome man with no memory, mesmerizing green eyes—and a complete willingness to believe Mariah’s impulsive claim that she’s his wife….

Okay, one of the reasons I love historical romance is because one can write over the top plots, and this is one of them.  I was recently asked why I like amnesia plots (this is my third—I do about one a decade <G>), and the reason is simple.  Strip away a person’s memory and even more important, the expectations of everyone around, and what emerges?  I think this is a chance for a person to become more truly him or herself. And that’s what happens for Adam, a half-Hindu duke who spent many years learning how to appear absolutely conventional.  Now he’s himself—whoever that is. 

There are lots of adventures, of course.  One of the most fun aspects of the book was a scene with a diving bell as Adam’s friends work with a salvage operator to find the wreckage of Adam’s steam yachts.  Diving bells are very cool—Aristotle mentioned them, and it’s said that Alexander the Great descended in an early bell.  The things one learns in this business! 

In more blatant self-promotion, Loving a Lost Lord received starred reviews from Publishers Weekly, Library Journal, and is a Romantic Times Top Pick:

“The enchanting first Lost Lords novel confirms bestseller Putney as a major force in historical romance….Sensual romance heats up between the couple until Mariah reluctantly reveals the truth.  When she learns of Adam’s real history, Mariah must make a terrible choice.   Entrancing characters and a superb plot line catapult this tale into stand-alone status.”
 Publishers Weekly, starred review

“Compelling, flawless prose, gentle humor, exotic elements (courtesy of Adam’s half-Hindi heritage), and irresistible characters caught in a sweet, sensual dilemma will leave readers smiling, breathless, and anxiously awaiting the next adventure in Putney’s new “Lost Lords” series. Readers who loved Putney’s “Fallen Angels” series are in for a rare treat; fortunately, there are more delicacies to come! Putney (A Distant Magic) writes some of the most sensitive, exquisite historicals in the field.”
 Bette-Lee Fox, starred review, Library Journal

“TOP PICK! If you loved the Fallen Angels, you'll adore the Lost Lords: men who formed unbreakable bonds while at a school for boys of "good birth and bad behavior." Only the incomparable Putney could bring them to life and have readers yearning to be close to such dynamic heroes and the women who tame them.”
 Kathe Robin, Romantic Times, four and a half stars

But ultimately, what matters is if readers like the book.  If you pick up a copy, I hope you enjoy it.  If you want to sample the goods, there are two excerpts on my website, http://maryjoputney.com/  (First chapter and first meet.)

I’m giving away a signed copy of Loving a Lost Lord to someone who comments on this post between now and Thursday midnight.  Also, some time in the next week, a video for LALL should go up on my website, if you enjoy such things. 

So--after all the years and zillions of classic historical romances that have been published, do you still like them?  Or have you grown jaded?  What makes you love a historical romance?  I love hearing the opinions of intelligent readers like those who come to Word Wenches!

Mary Jo, always willing to kill off another hero <g>

Comments

[NinaP]

OMW! I am so excited. [see Nina jumping up and down] A new MJP. There is nothing like your work, Mary Jo. [okay, I'll shut up now]

I am still very much in love with Regency Romance. The era is so old, replete with codes of honor and stoic tradition, yet hungry for revolutionary thinking. I was on Google books today and was caught up by an 1807 medical journal account of a man-midwife who successfully delivered a woman suffering from what we would now call placenta previa. Mother and babe doing fine. Fascinating. But not very romantic. Sorry. Never read a romance novel where the hero was a man-midwife. But I bet you could turn him into gold, Mary Jo.

Nina, also looking forward to MJ’s YA.

[Patricia Barraclough]

I work at a small county library and your books are always popular. I work primarily with the children's section, but I am the only one who reads romance, so I get to pick those. I haven't found one of your books that I haven't thoroughly enjoyed. This new series sounds great. I look forward to reading it and putting it on the shelf. I love my job. I get to pick the books we order, and I get to read them first!
I just started reading romance about 15 years ago. I like the historicals partly because I love history. Also, you can be a little over the top, as you said, and get away with it. There is so much history to pull from, you will never run out of plot possibilities.
Keep up the wonderful writing.

[Lori]

I do love historicals. They are my comfort reads. There's just something about them - sometimes graceful and enchanting, sometimes rough and dark, but they always take me away from my "today" life and transport me somewhere else.

[Janice]

I seem to be firmly stuck in the 200 years or so surrounding the regency era, for some of the reasons you mention - a changing time; the love of poetry & literature & a well turned phrase; the great houses & their dependents; heroes & villains; and the clothes! I just love a 'problem story' - a heroine who has a problem, in an era when women had few alternatives - how will she solve it & how will she find some kind of personal happiness in such a male-run society? But she has to solve it in a way that's credible given the era. So if the blurb says governess, left penniless, courtesan or widow, I'm hooked already. Naturally I hope she finds a terrific hero, but what hooks me in is my identification with the heroine.

[Helen]

Mary-Jo I live in Australia and get my books from Renezvous in Melbourne and was checking out the July releases catologue the other day and your book jumped out at me I love the sound of it I love historicals.
When I put my order in next week sometime your book will be on it. I haven't as yet read any of your books but I am sure that as soon as I read this one I will be out hunting your backlist down so as I have them all.

Congrats on the release I am really looking forward to reading this one.

Have Fun
Helen

[Maggie Robinson]

Congratulations, Mary Jo!Can't wait to get your book in my hot little hands.

The very first 'book' I wrote (it turned out to be a novella) featured an amnesiac heroine who found herself in a whorehouse. Uh, safe to say this little tale should never see the light of day.:)But your book sounds waaay better!

[Marcella]

Just keep on killing them, Mary Jo! ;)

[Carol]

Hi Mary Jo,
I too love your books. I am looking forward to reading The Lost Lord series starting with Loving a Lost Lord. I love History and I love reading historical romance. The Regency era is one of my favorite next to anything involving a Scottish Highlander. :)
Thanks for the post Mary Jo.
Carol L.
Lucky4750@aol.com

[merry]

Mary Jo,
I love your books, and can't wait to read LOLL. Your books always explore character and character transformation with a great deal of depth, and are such fun to read.

My husband asked me if all romance novels are set in Regency England. I thought that was a pretty funny question. I replied,no, but most of romance novels I read are. I guess he got the wrong idea from looking at my book collection.

There is a small diving museum on the waterfront in Gloucester, MA. It's the creation of one man. He has some pretty old diving equipment there, but I don't remember if any of it goes back as far as the regency period. I find it amazing that people have been diving for such a long time.

Congratulation on the book release.
Merry

[Liz Brooks]

MJ-I love your books! Can't wait to read this one:)

[kay]

I've had your book on my list for two years now or whenever you hinted at it on your website. So, I'm pretty excited, just ordered it the other day and am waiting for it to come in. I love history, love historical novels, love Regency. I'm not sure why that time period because I love other time period as well, but Regency holds a special place in my heart. It's not the clothes because I like Edwardian clothes better, I think it's the language of the period, the feel of the period and it was a very exciting time. I don't read contemporary, unless I'm forced to or there is time travel back. Back to Regency.

[piper]

I can't seem to tear myself away from the Regency Romances. I enjoy the old ones and I like the new ones. Having said that - there are a million (or so it seems) poorly written ones, and not so many well written ones. I'd say yours are in the latter, and really there can never be too many well written books, no matter what the genre.

[piper]

Okay, I meant to say that yours are well written. On re-reading my post that doesn't come across...

[Anita Yancey]

I love historical romances. I love the settings and the historical facts that are written in them. I enjoy details about the clothing and language. There isn't anything I don't like about them. I'm sure I will enjoy Lost Lords.

[Lois]

Hi and can't wait to get it! :) Me, after a few years of reading historical (my historical is 99.9% Regency), I still love it, and I didn't know of anything Regency (or Jane) until I started reading romances and got to looking around online about it all. I look at it like the contemporaries I read -- I read ones that I love and think are great, read ones that I gave away because I know I'm never reading again. I like the period because it's far enough away from the modern world, yet not too far to be unusual. . . yet, in the end, what brought me to historical is the romance, and saw it was in England and something different from today. The atmosphere and look and everything that goes with it, was just icing on that proverbial cake. :)

Lois

[Linda Banche]

I find I can never get enough historical romance, and specifically Regency romance. And I love the kind of story that is long on story and detail and that brings you into the book's world. And I prefer sex in its place, but not overpowering.

The first book of yours I read was "Shattered Rainbows". Knocked my socks off. That's exactly the kind of book I want. I loved the Fallen Angels.

Stories like this have been thin on the ground for the past few years. I miss them and want them back. "Loving a Lost Lord" sounds like they're making a comeback. I hope, I hope.

[april]

I'll actually admit to not really loving amnesia stories. That said, I can't think of one Mary Jo Putney book I dislike so there are obvious exceptions. I preordered LALL so long ago that I forgot that it was coming out. I love when books mysteriously show up at my door. I actually read the excerpts and can't wait to read this one.

As for historicals, I don't seek out new historical authors, but I do enjoy them still and glad some of my favorite authors haven't switched time periods. It's comfortaing to read a historical for me every so often.

[liz m]

Being jaded for classic historicals? That's like being jaded for chocolate. I might want to jump around the time periods a bit more than I sometimes can, but the historical is a major food group for my brain, and I'm not giving it up.

I like that they are far away enough that I don't have to identify with the h/h's choices, that it's a fairy tale which can still illuminate something about anyone's life, that kids aren't the only ones able to 'play princess'

[Stephanie]

I was delighted to hear about the new book--it has been too long a wait--and I already like the previews I've read in your newsletter. Historical romance in general seems to be undergoing a renaissance this year, and as a reader, I couldn't be happier. LALL was already on my To Buy list, though I certainly wouldn't object to winning a copy--especially a signed one!

[Mary Jo Putney]

From MJP:

Who lovely to see how many people still love classic historical romance! (Okay, I was probably fishing for compliments a bit, and thanks so much for indulging me!)

Nina, as you say, the sense of honor is a powerful piece of characterization that works so well in historicals. In these day, we aren't as likely to talk about such thing aloud.

Merry, diving suits are a relatively new development, but a diving bell--a heavy inverted cup that traps air underneath so people can breathe--has been around for a very long time. We should never underestimate the ingenuity of our ancestors!

Patricia, how cool that you can buy the romances for your library! And get to read them first. :)

Maggie, the amnesiac heroine in the brothel actually sounds rather intriguing. :) As always with writing, execution is all. Now that you have more experience, who knows....?

Piper, I got a chuckle out of both your original comment and the hasty amendment. :) Thanks.

Linda, Shattered Rainbows was one of my personal favorites. Michael counts as one the "near dead" heroes. :)

April, I'm glad you're willing to try LALL even though you don't love amnesia. Like you, there are some plotlines I'm not wild about--but I'll read them if they're by writers whose work I like.

Liz, I sense a slogan here: "A woman who is tired of historical romances is probably tired of chocolate." :) One could write a blog about that! Though not a very serious blog. You're so right that historical romance lets adults play princess, too.

Yes, classical historical romance is on the upswing. Here at WordWenches, it never went away, but more is good!

Mary Jo

[Janga]

I have read the excerpts, and they left me even more eager for LALL than I already was. I've has this book on my book calendar since I first saw the release date.

If this series is just half as good as the Fallen Angels books, the Lost Lords stories will all be keepers. But then I know if a book is by MJP, it's a keeper.

[willaful]

I confess to have gotten somewhat jaded because there is so much mediocrity in the genre right now. But there is still plenty of room for excellent, original stories, and when you read a really good historical -- I just finished Sherry Thomas' _Not Quite a Husband_, which was terrific -- there's nothing like it.

[chey]

Hi Mary Jo,
Congratulations!
I like the idea of open-ended series too. Sometimes I just don't want the series to end!
I still love historical romances. I think it's because I can entre into another world.

[Melissa]

HI, Mary Jo! You are my favorite romance author, and your book, One Perfect Rose, was the first historical romance I ever read (10 yrs ago this summer) and got me hooked on a genre I previously had no interest in (yeah, I was a snob!). In between new releases, I've reread many of your books countless times and look forward to LALL. Thank you for a decade of great reads!

[Robin]

It's difficult to not repeat what others have said here, but I am literally counting the hours until I can purchase my copy of "Loving a Lost Lord"! I have two all-time favorite literary series: one is "The Lymond Chronicles" by the late, great Dorothy Dunnett, and the other is the Fallen Angels series by Ms. Putney (yes, I'm also a fan of the Bride and the Silk series!). I did very much enjoy the alternate reality series that preceded this one, but like others who have posted here, the classic historical series remains my first love in terms of romance fiction. Can't wait to read LALL!

[cheryl c.]

Oh, this book sounds absolutely wonderful! I am so glad that it is going to be part of a series, too.

I read both contemporaries and historicals, but historicals are my favorite. I never tire of them because each author has her own unique voice. Even similar plots can be told in different ways.

[Mari]

I miss historicals too! Will pick this one up, definitely.

[Sherrie Holmes]

From Sherrie:
"Being jaded for classic historicals? That's like being jaded for chocolate."

LOL, LizM!!! My sentiments, exactly. I laughed out loud when I read your comment.

I love historicals. I'll read a contemporary if I'm force to *g* and there are some great contemp writers out there, but give me a Putney historical any day!

And speaking of Putney, HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MARY JO!!!!! May your fondest wish come true, and may all your books be best sellers. Enjoy your special day, sweetie! (Oops, did I just let the cat out of the bag?) *g*

[liz m]

I dunno, but I heard a yowl as something streaked past me.

And in honor of her now disclosed event I have to toss in a quote for the occasion from (yet another) author I know we both like -

"One trouble about resisting a temptation is that it may never come again." - Don Marquis.

Take it to heart, and have a great party.

[cheryl c.]

I will add my happy birthday wishes, Mary Jo! I won't ask which one this is!!!

[anne gracie]

Have a fabulous birthday, Mary Jo.
It seems, with the release of LALL, you've given us a present instead! Very kind of you! LOL.
I love the premise, and have ordered it already. Can't wait to read it. I hope it gets to me before I leave for the USA.

[Mary Jo Putney]

From MJP:

**I dunno, but I heard a yowl as something streaked past me. **

ROFL Oh, Liz, you do understand introverts. I tend to keep my private life off the internet, but since SHERRIE LET THE CAT OUT OF THE BAG, I'll say that people's comments have been a very, very nice birthday present today. Thanks to all.

**"One trouble about resisting a temptation is that it may never come again." - Don Marquis. **

Hmmm, that sounds like something the hero of my third Lost Lord book might say....

Mary Jo

[Evelyn]

Mary Jo: I am a big fan and own all of your historical, regency, and contemporary novels. Unfortunately I am not a fan of paranormals so stopped reading your work for a while. (No slam on your writing, the genre just doesn't work for me.) I'm thrilled to see you have a new historical. Can't wait to get my hands on it. Thanks!

[Crystal B.]

Loving a Lost Lord sounds wonderful. I love the cover. I am a big fan of historical romance.

[Andrea Pickens]

Chiming in late, Mary Jo, but echoing everyone else, I cant wait to grab up a copy of Lost Lords. I jusy love the rpemise of the school for "bad boys" . . . this series is going to be delicious.

I think the reason historical romance stays so vital and appealing to readers is because authors (like you!) keep coming up with fresh twists to the period people and events. Pushing the envelop of tradition, makes for intriguing juxtapositions, and creates real interest ofr modern readers.

[JJ Johnson]

Historicals are my favorite, but I find it's very much like my favorite food, where every few months I need to switch it up a little and read a contemp. or suspense romance. I'm reading a suspense right now, but I've got to get a book for our lake trip coming up, and I always save the very very best books for summer lake trips! When else do you get to sit and read for hours at a time?! So if I'm not your lucky winner I'll go snap a copy up before we head out of town! Looking forward either way to meeting your new characters!

[Mary Jo Putney]

From MJP:

No problem about not liking my fantasies, Evelyn--we all have distinctive tastes, and when better to honor them than when reading for pleasure?

Andrea, I think you're right--history has so much richness and depth that there is no end to the things we can plant in its soil. As you've done. :)

Mary Jo

[Robyn L]

I love the sound of the Lost Lords series.
It is so interesting to read about history way back and learn the customs and eccentricies of then.

[Donna Cattell-Gordon]

I have just devoured Loving A Lost Lord. I loved the hero, Adam. I loved the whole book. But now I have to wait a year for the next installment. I have been driving myself crazy trying to figure out which lord is next. Can you throw me a bone, Ms. Putney? Who will the next book be about? (I am betting it will be Randall and perhaps with Julia??)

Donna Cattell