Hi, Edith herownself here!
Speaking of covers, (she said, cleverly referring to her last blog on covers featuring heroic male blondies) as well as talking about books) what do you think is the best season for loving?
How can you tell if the book you're reading is set in that season?
Most are non-specific.
I just got a look at my new cover for A BRIDE FOR HIS CONVENIENCE, coming out from Avon in December. There's lots of snow on the cover, as well as some between the pages. (Sorry, no picture of it, I have no access to a scanner today.) But I think my hero and heroine had better put on some more garments. Babies, it looks cold out there.
Snow on a cover is apt for a December book, at least here in the Northeast.
But I've come to think on, I've never before seen snow featured in a non-Christmas book. Thinking about it led me to some odd conclusions:
1) Snow is most always part of Christmas Historical Romances. This includes prime plot points such as snowstorms stranding heroes and heroines at house parties and inns. Orphans and lost children are frequently found freezing in the streets of London town too. Heroes enter a house stomping the snow from their high glossy boots. Covers feature coach and horses struggling through the snow. Or lovers gazing out of a frosty window.
The interesting thing is that when it does snow in a book, it's always part of the plot.
2) Yet when it's spring, summer or autumn in a book, that often has nothing to do with the cover or the plot.
And - 3) There's never rain on the cover, at least that I can remember.
(And you may remember from a previous blog that I purely love to write about rain.)
Yet most Regency set Historical Romances-and Medieval and Victorian and Georgian ones for that matter-take place in England. England, where they are certainly not strangers to precipitation. True, rain isn't easy to paint on a cover. And maybe all that sloshing about discourages readers. But still. No rain in GB?
Hmmm.
Aside from Christmas themed books, I can recall only one snowy book apart from my own "LORD OF DISHONOR": a Regency from Joy Freeman called "THE FROST FAIR."
The dynamic duo of Tom and Sharon Curtis, writing as Laura London, had a sweltering hot day in London in one of their books. "THE BAD BARON'S DAUGHTER."
Mary Balogh had a "LADY WITH AN UMBRELLA."
I do believe I have included rain, heat and blizzards in my time. But then, I am a huge fan of weather. In fact, I had a collection of five linked novellas: "A LOVE FOR All SEASONS," from Signet, and believe me, I had me some Weather in them!
But is that all there is?
I know I've forgotten some good ones.
Springtime is wedding ring time. Brides and flowers, we got plenty of. Summer is for al fresco lovers in the meadow; that's a classic Romance cover theme. And autumn leaves make making out by a fireplace something wonderful to see. Daytime and nighttime are illustrated. But rarely, the time or year.
So Gentle Readers, I ask you: what books and/or covers have you encountered that feature weather? And what season do you prefer your love stories set in, if any?
Give me some storms! Or heat waves. Wind and floods or cyclones or waterspouts - anything that makes weather more than a mere background in a Historical Romance. Cover or story.
And no fair mentioning "Winnie the Pooh and the Bustery Day" or "Gone With the Wind."
One randomly selected reader will receive her/his choice from my backlist. (Name two in case I've only one.)
So, go ahead. Make my day's weather.
