Word Wenches

WWR—What We've Read in November

Anne here, and this month we have a bumper crop of recommended reads for you, from YA to timeslip, to Christmas treats, romance, literary fiction, crime and more.

We'll start with Christina: This month I’ve read and enjoyed a couple of books recommended by fellow Wenches. First and foremost, The Christmas Escape by Sarah Morgan which was exactly as wonderful as I had hoped. The fact that it is set in snowy Lapland in the north of Sweden was just the icing on the cake! I now long to go there to take sleigh rides through the forests and see the aurora borealis in all its glory.

Then there was Boyfriend by Sarina Bowen, which I thoroughly enjoyed. I was very happy to find that it was the first in a series penned by different authors, all connected through the fictional US college Moo U in Vermont. The second book in the series, Blindsided by Victoria Denault, was just brilliant! As well as keeping up with hockey practice and his studies, hockey star Tate Adler is trying to save his family’s farm by doing an illicit side job. Their neighbours the Todds have their own problems. They are sworn enemies so when fellow student Maggie Todd finds out what Tate is doing, she doesn’t hesitate to blackmail him. But whenever they meet, sparks fly and their chemistry is off the charts. Can they risk a relationship or will the feud remain forever? This love story was just explosive and I loved every minute of it. I’m now reading my way through the rest of the series.

A friend also recommended a brilliant YA series by L.J. Shen, starting with Pretty Reckless. It’s raw and angsty with a lot of misunderstandings, but I’m thoroughly enjoying these stories too. Penn Scully is from the wrong end of town with a drug addict mother and a deadbeat step-father, while Daria Followhill is a rich and spoiled princess. He believes she took away the only thing he ever loved and is out for revenge. When Penn’s mother dies, Daria’s parents decide to take him in as a foster son and he can set his plans in motion. As for Daria, she’s tired of always coming second in her mother’s eyes and wants to lash out at everyone and everything. But things don’t go to plan for either of them …

Next comes Pat, who says: If you’re in a literary mood, Anne Tyler is always a good bet.

In REDHEAD BY THE SIDE OF THE ROAD, Micah Mortimer, is a 40-something computer tech. He’s the youngest of a large, messy family, and in consequence, he’s a tad obsessive about keeping his personal life contained, so contained that he has a bad habit of shutting doors on the world. The story follows Micah through a series of events that opens his eyes to what he’s been missing all his life. There’s no violence, no sex, just a lovely journey of discovery told by a fabulously talented writer. It’s wonderful to settle in for the evening in safe hands—I didn’t skim a single page!  

What We're Reading in May 2023

Anne here, and before we jump into talking about the books we've read in the last month, some of you have noticed that the comments on some posts seem to have disappeared. We don't know why, we have reported it to #Typepad (the blog host) but be assured your comments ARE making it through to the site, and we hope they'll be restored soon. So feel free to comment — we'll still respond.

Now, on to the books we've been reading.
We start with Pat who is recommending T. L. Huchu, THE LIBRARY OF THE DEAD

This is a dystopian young adult set in an Edinburgh after some disaster that’s laid waste to. . .well, whatever the author needs out of his way. Apparently some people still have modern housing and normal lives, but the protagonist is a fourteen-year-old girl who can enter the spirit world and lives in a camper with her grandmother and little sister after her middle class  life was destroyed by something or other. Despite my quibbles, this is a brilliantly written book. The protagonist is bold, probably a genius, and intent on taking care of her small family. When forced by guilt to forget making money to help someone for free, she’s dragged into a nightmare that she almost doesn’t escape. But in the process, she learns about an underground magical library, meets a snarly magician who helps her out, and finds a wheelchair-bound best friend. I loved the spirit parts and skimmed the violent ones, but I’ll be ordering the next book as soon as the ebook becomes a reasonable price.

Next is THE HEART PRINCIPLE, by Helen Hoang

In ways, this book is almost painful to read. Don’t get me wrong. It’s a brilliant book, the characterization and conflict are spot on. I just finished, and I’m thinking of reading it again. But it’s intense. I could feel the tension from the very first page, recognized the character’s autism before she does, and I don’t think I’m spoiling anything by saying it’s obvious the author knows what she’s writing about.

The themes are universal—know and accept yourself, caregiving is tough on everyone, and forgiveness is love. The story is beautifully romantic. The sex is graphic. The dry humor is very low level compared to earlier books THE KISS QUOTIENT and THE BRIDE TEST. But it’s well worth reading. Highly recommended.

Mary Jo here, and I have two bride stories here for June!

First is The Bride Wore White by Amanda Quick, which is the historical pseudonym of Jayne Ann Krentz. 

As the blurb says:   "Being Madame Ariadne, Psychic Dream Consultant, wasn’t Prudence Ryland’s ideal gig, but it paid well which was reason enough to do the work—until she realizes that her latest client intends to kill her. But Prudence, a master at reinvention, finds a new job and home as far away as possible and is finally able to relax—which turns out to be a big mistake. Letting her guard down means being kidnapped and drugged and waking up in a bloodstained wedding dress in the honeymoon suite next to a dead man. With the press outside the hotel, waiting with their cameras and police sirens in the distance, it’s obvious she’s being framed for the man’s murder. Prudence knows who is responsible, but will anyone believe her?"

The Marriage Spell!

The Marriage Spell

by Mary Jo

Finally The Marriage Spell is available as an ebook!  Because the story has fantasy elements, it's listed as by "Mary Jo Putney writing as M. J. Putney."  I intended for the book to be first of a new series, but Ballantine didn't want that or me, so The Marriage Spell ended up being a standalone Regency historical with magic. and I went to a different publisher, Kensington, where I've been ever since. That's life in the book business!

I've been independently releasing my backlist books since 2011.  Production and cover development take time, which is why my backlist project has been going on so long. Now the cupboard is bare except for novellas and short stories.  (I intend to release those as well over time.)

AAW: Favorite Furnishings!

by Mary Jo

This Ask A Wench blog was inspired when we started talking about furniture in our private Word Wenches email loop, and we found out that we all had stories about favorite things!

Here is the question I asked: "Do you have a particular piece of furniture that you cherish? Tell us its story!"

And here are the replies:

From Pat Rice:

I HAD wonderful pieces that I cherished—the Victorian sofa my stepfather reupholstered in lovely wine and cream to match my Tudor-style dark oak living room; the dark oak dining table that was our very first piece of “bought” furniture, the one with scars in it from little hands pressing too hard with writing instruments while doing homework; the beautiful Bentwood rocker from my mother that I rocked my babies in… and the magnificent handmade mahogany Queen Anne bedroom suite I bought with my first big royalty check. ( the pic shows the table and the antique sideboard I picked up at a yard sale!)

They’re all gone now, left behind when we moved across the country to a modern cottage on the Pacific coast. These days, we live with thrift store bargains—because new, they probably cost more than all the above furniture did when we bought them. I no longer feel guilt at dumping a designer leather couch when we move to a house where it doesn’t fit. I can buy an even better one in a design that matches. Throw away furniture—it’s a Thing.

Nicola contributes a "Slightly macabre piece!"

 When I was a child my grandparents, who lived with us, bought an 18th century grandfather clock that stood in the hall, its loud tick filling the air and somehow giving a sense of reassurance and permanence. I loved that clock! I loved its painted face and the fact that it was much taller than I was, and that it had been made in the North of England and was so old.

Fast forward fifty years, and when we were clearing my parents’ house I really wanted to take that clock home to live with me. But there was a problem. It was too tall. Or our ceilings were too low. Whichever way you looked at it, it didn’t fit. We thought about taking several inches off the bottom of it, which wasn’t really feasible. We even thought about lowering a small part of the floor but that was even less practical. In the end I had to accept that it just wasn’t going to happen. My step-brother has it now and as he loves it too, that’s good enough for me.

 

An interview with Alissa Baxter

Mary Jo:

Today I'm interviewing my Regency writer friend, Alissa Baxter. She lives in South Africa so we first met online, but she inspired me to travel to South Africa twice to visit with her and her family, and once to speak to ROSA, the wonderful South African Romance Writers group. Yes, romance really is everywhere!

Alissa is having a very busy year, and will have four new Regencies published in 2023-- and ALL FOUR of the heroines are scientists!

Her first book of the year was The Baronet's Lady Biologist, the third in her Linfield Ladies Trilogy. And that is the author on the cover!  Alissa, can you tell us how you came to be your own cover model?

 

Peace of Amiens

The Peace of Amiens

Mary Jo

Most Regency readers and writers are generally aware of the Peace of Amiens, a 15 month period of peace from March 1802 until May 1803.  It's the marker between the French Revolutionary Wars and the Napoleonic Wars and was the only period of general peace in Europe until 1814, when Napoleon abdicated his throne.  (1815 was when he returned from exile, reigned for the Hundred Days, and was responsible for the slaughter of masses of men at Waterloo.)

 

Ask-A-Wench about. . . audio books

Anne here, with this month's ask-a-wench question, a thought-provoking question from Janice (and for which she'll receive a free book).  Thanks, Janice.

With the popularity of audiobooks and the increasing ease of obtaining them, I am seeing more comments and reviews from readers talking about books they listened to rather than read in print. Has this affected your writing process at all?   I know when I have to compose something I hear the words in my head and then I put them on the paper. I know some people put the words on the paper and then read them aloud or in their heads. The sound and the rhythm are very important - but I don't have to think about how they will sound if someone else says them. Is this a consideration for you?

Christina said:  I don’t listen to audiobooks myself – I’m a very visual person and don’t like having things read out to me as I need to see the words. I don’t usually read my work out loud to myself either, except occasionally a bit of dialogue. Therefore, I never used to take them into consideration at all when writing my own stories. They were just something my publisher had done, and I never even listened to the author copies they sent me when audiobooks used to be on CDs. I received two and kept one for my shelf, while sending the other to a second cousin of mine who was blind. A couple of times, I had to provide a pronunciation list for the narrator as some of my books contained Japanese words, but I had no direct contact with anyone and never checked whether they got it right.

Then I changed publisher, and to my surprise they asked for my opinion on the person who was to record my first book for them. I listened to a few different narrators and agreed one of them was the best. As far as I was concerned, my input was over, but that turned out not to be the case. Again, I was asked about pronunciations, since I had included a whole bunch of words and phrases in Old Norse. When adding those, it never occurred to me that some poor soul would have to read them out loud. In my head, I’d pronounced them the way I thought might be right, using Swedish as my guide. However, for the purposes of the audiobook, guessing wasn’t good enough. So I had to consult with the kind lady who had helped me find the right words in the first place – she has a PhD in Old Norse and speaks Icelandic too. Then I had to learn to pronounce the words myself, before teaching the narrator how to do it. We had a session via Skype, which was great fun, both of us tripping over the unfamiliar sounds and laughing. There’s a lot of guttural stuff in Old Norse, and sometimes you sound like you’re just clearing your throat <g>. For every book since, I’ve had those sessions with the narrator and we are both getting used to Norse words and phrases. I’m even tempted to use them in real life sometimes! Doesn’t þegi þú! (pronounced THEY-ghi THOO – the TH as in the word ‘three’ and then a throaty ‘g’ as in the Scottish word “loch”) ) sound much better than ‘shut up!’ for example? So yes, these days I do think a little bit about what I’m adding to my stories, but if the words need to be in there, my reader and I will simply have to learn how to pronounce them.

Travel Scarves

Travel Scarves

By Mary Jo

I'm not sure when I first fell in love with scarves and shawls, but I suspect it was related to long hours at a computer and not liking to have a cold neck.  Besides being warming, scarves add color and a bit of dash to someone like me who is a pretty casual dresser. 

I have a lot of scarves of different weights, sizes, and textures. On a cold day, I want something cozy and may even layer a couple of different scarves. In warmer weather, I wear something lighter.  And when I'm traveling, I regularly succumb to the lure of buying new scarves which are not only lovely and enticing, but have the advantage of being easy to pack.  Plus, when traveling you can add a bright scarf to basic black and have a new look every day. 

So here are some favorites I've acquired when traveling, and naturally, they all have stories.  The model is Snow Bear, who is the biggest fashionista among our stuffed companions, and she loves the chance to dress up!

1) Chinese silk from Melbourne. 

When I was speaking at a Romance Writers of Australia conference in Melbourne, which is Anne Gracie's home turf, she took me to a nearby neighborhood called The Lanes, which is also the setting for Kerry Greenwood's delicious Corinna Chapman books. It's full of lovely shops and shopping arcades, and in 'the silk shop,' I found this gorgeous shawl length scarf.  It's shimmery and purple and orange, and the biggest problem was choosing the scarf I liked best!

 

An Amazon Adventure

A Return to the River Sea

By Mary Jo

The Mayhem Consultant likes a good warm weather winter getaway, so when I studied some possibilities, I saw that Viking was doing cruises between Manaus, Brazil and San Juan, Puerto Rico.  (The picture at the left was taken as we took a tender out to the Viking Sea when we arrived in Manaus at sunset.)

Manaus is on the mighty Amazon river, a thousand miles from the Atlantic Ocean.  In 2014 we did a cruise of the Upper Amazon coming from Peru and it was great.  We were on a very small ship and spent much of our time on skiffs going into the jungle to see sloths and giant lily pads.

The Amazon is the largest river in the world in terms of water flow.  (The Nile might be longer, but that question is debated.)  This cruise on the Brazilian Amazon was very different from the upper Amazon.

The Amazon watershed is vast and many rivers flow together to make a river so mighty that it has been called the river sea. (The image of the Amazon watershed on the left is from Wikipedia.)

Manaus is the capital of the Amazonas province, and it's smack dab in the middle of the Amazon rain forest.  Driving from the airport to the riverside, I was struck by how any land that wasn't covered with buildings or asphalt was being claimed by the jungle. Intense bursts of greenery were everywhere, such as the picture on the right.  I took that when we were on the bus to the river to show the rain forest exuberance.

At the height of the late 19th Century rubber boom, Manaus was one of the richest cities in the world and many great singers and dancers performed at the dazzling neo-classical opera house.(Picture of the facade is on the left.)

One reason I was intrigued by the idea of Manaus is because it's the setting for most of Eva Ibbotson's wonderful A Company of Swans, the tale of Harriet Morton, the shy, dance-loving daughter of a rigid Cambridge academic who runs away from home to join the chorus of a Russian ballet company

A Company of Swans is Eva Ibbotson at her witty, romantic best, and I couldn't resist the thought of visiting the opera house where Harriet and her friends performed.  But the end of the rubber boom was hard on the city, and there are still signs of poverty. 

The picture of the colorful banner on the right was taken from the opera house garden and a dark and rather rundown building is visible between the banner and the opera house. The opera house was closed for most of the 20th century, but has now reopened as a performing arts center, and the city has developed a sizable industrial economy.  It's also a major port for shipping on the river.

We got home just last night and I'm very travel fatigued, so I'll say more about our journey later.  For now, I'll suggest reading A Company of Swans so you can fall in love with Eva Ibbotson's magical Amazon!

Mary Jo

Winners!

Anne here.

We ended up choosing two winners for Mary Jo Putney's giveaway of her book, Lady of Fortune.

They are Jane I. N. and Michele H.

They have been notified by email.

Thank you to everyone who read the post and left a comment.

WWR—What We've Read in February

Anne here, and it's my pleasure to present to you some of the books we wenches have been reading in the last month. 

We start with Pat, who read Deb Richardson-Moor's book, MURDER, FORGOTTEN 

I got quite excited when I started reading this contemporary mystery, thinking I’d found a really good new mystery writer. And the book is definitely well-written, with well-drawn characters and lots of red herrings and one could never be absolutely certain who the killer was until the end. There was even a point at the beginning where I was becoming annoyed with the main character for not realizing the obvious—and the author turned it around beautifully. Unfortunately, she picked up the same clue again later and let the character be an idiot. Worse yet, she killed off a POV character to whom I was attached. And from the very beginning, the one major clue everyone kept asking about was so verrrrry obvious. . .

But its redeeming value is the women’s fiction setting of Sullivan’s Island in South Carolina, with lots of lovely beach homes and nosy neighbors. The two main protagonists are mother and daughter, the mother a writer and the daughter an artist. The book starts with the mother slipping into dementia and her husband already murdered. As the police examine all the close-knit neighbors, secrets are unwound, and it’s impossible to know how much more is hidden. I’ll admit, I read every word and enjoyed it—but there were points when I really wanted to scream: Stop being stupid! So if you want to sink into a southern who-dunnit, this is fine. Just don’t expect perfection.

Next we have Nicola, who read and recommended  A SEASON FOR LOVE by Ally Sinclair, and had a bunch of Wenches running off to buy it. (It's on special too at the moment)

Emma Love takes over her mother’s matchmaking company and with the help of her brother determines to expand the business through a series of events with a Jane Austen style Regency theme.  However, this is Regency with a modern twist in the sense that the book is a contemporary Rom Com so the couples embarking on this old-fashioned style of courtship are more accustomed to online dating and casual hook ups than dancing the cotillion. Our heroine Emma is too fixated on developing the business to consider romance herself – until she bumps into the infuriating Mr Knight, for whom she just doesn’t seem able to find the perfect match. Meanwhile her friends Annie, Jane and Lydia are all at different stages of relationships and all are looking for something but not sure what form, if any, their HEA will take. The plot is structured around a modern version of the events of the Season and it’s completely charming and at times laugh out loud funny. A Season for Love is a book that manages to explore so many different aspects of love, friendship and relationships in a way that is thoughtful, diverse and emotional. It’s such a joyful book but profound and thought-provoking at the same time. I loved it and it left me feeling uplifted.

(Anne notes, this is the English author, Ally Sinclair, not the Australian author, Alli Sinclair.)

Lady of Fortune!

Lady of Fortune:

Anne Gracie interviews Mary Jo Putney

Anne: Mary Jo, I've just finished reading Lady of Fortune, and I have to say I thoroughly enjoyed it. And I'm not the only one. Here's a snippet of a current review: "A story which captivated me from the first page and I devoured in no time, eager to see how everything will come to its end."

Here's the set-up for Lady Of Fortune: Christa, the young half-French half-English Comtesse D'Estelle, narrowly escapes execution in the French revolution, but during her escape her English half-brother, Charles, Lord Radcliffe and her mother are attacked and presumed dead. Orphaned and grieving, Christa lives in the country with her step-uncle and guardian, the new Lord Radcliffe, but when she reaches the end of her year of mourning, to her shock, her guardian informs her that she is, in fact penniless. He proposes a solution to her situation that prompts Christa to run away to London, where she seeks work.

 

Water Wise

Water Wise Bermuda

by Mary Jo

Anne Gracie found this interesting article from Atlas Obscura which describes how the island of Bermuda has managed to survive and flourish with absolutely NO natural sources of fresh water: no streams, lakes or rivers.   Since the Mayhem Consultant and I spent a brief honeymoon there, Anne suggested that I might revise the original travel blog with an emphasis on how how the island has managed with no natural sources of drinking water.

Except one: Rainwater. 

On our previous visit, our guide pointed out the white limestone roofs of all the buildings and explained that they caught rainwater and channeled it into cisterns under the houses.  At the time, that was just one more interesting fact about the island, but the AtlasObscura article explains a good deal more about this brilliant but simple architectural feature that made it possible to support one of the greatest population densities in the world.  (About 65,000 people on a mere 21 square miles of land pieced together from 181 islets.) 

All roofs on the island are required to be made of limestone and designed for rain catch.  The island is actually made of limestone so when erecting a new building, the stone taken from the ground can be used for the inch thick roofs. And those roof are TOUGH.   Some island roofs have lasted since the 17th century. 

 

Anne Gracie found this interesting article from Atlas Obscura which describes how the island of Bermuda has managed to survive and flourish with absolutely NO natural sources of fresh water: no streams, lakes or rivers.   Since the Mayhem Consultant and I spent a brief honeymoon there, Anne suggested that I might revise the original travel blog with an emphasis on how how the island has managed with no natural sources of drinking water.

Except one: Rainwater. 

On our previous visit, our guide pointed out the white limestone roofs of all the buildings and explained that they caught rainwater and channeled it into cisterns under the houses.  At the time, that was just one more interesting fact about the island, but the AtlasObscura article explains a good deal more about this brilliant but simple architectural feature that made it possible to support one of the greatest population densities in the world.  (About 65,000 people on a mere 21 square miles of land pieced together from 181 islets.) 

All roofs on the island are required to be made of limestone and designed for rain catch.  The island is actually made of limestone so when erecting a new building, the stone taken from the ground can be used for the inch thick roofs. And those roof are TOUGH.   Some island roofs have lasted since the 17th century. 

 

What We're Reading in January!

Nicola here, introducing this month’s What We’re Reading. As usual we’ve got an interesting mix, and we’re really looking forward to hearing about your latest reads as well. Looking at my Kindle, all the most recent books on there are recommendations I’ve picked up from the other Wenches and these posts.

Having read every single one of the Jayne Castle Harmony and Rainshadow series, with attendant dust bunnies, I turned to the Arcane series and now to the Fogg Lake series, which is a contemporary romantic suspense trilogy with paranormal elements. There’s a Midwich Cuckoos vibe going on here. Years ago, the small town of Fogg Lake experienced something called The Incident, a mysterious explosion in the cave system beneath the town. The residents were knocked unconscious and when they recovered, they found they had new psychic powers.

Book 1 in the series is The Vanishing,written under her Jayne Ann Krentz name. Catalina Lark and her friend Olivia St Clair witness a murder when they are teens but no one believes them as it took place in the caves of their hometown Fogg Lake, and people think they were hallucinating. Years later, Olivia disappears and it becomes clear that someone is hunting the witnesses to the murder. Catalina sets out to find her friend with the help of Slater Arganbright, a mysterious operative from a shadowy law enforcement agency called The Foundation.

There are lots of parallels with the futuristic books in terms of the special powers that the protagonists possess, the strong heroines and the very hot heroes and even hotter romance. But – no dust bunnies!

Fond of Fire

By Mary Jo

Taming fire was surely one of the most significant developments in human history.  Probably the discovery happened numerous times and numerous places, but the results were profound. Fire provided warmth, hot food, the ability to venture out into darkness, fire pottery and bricks.

It could also be a tool for long distance communication.  There's a marvelous scene in The Return of the King, the third Lord of the Rings movie, where signal fires are lit to summon the troops to battle.  It's breathtaking to watch the fires catch on distant peaks.

 

The Edible Yule Log

The Bûche de Noël

by Mary Jo

Yule logs have a long tradition in Northern European winter festivals, probably a fusion of winter solstice customs with Christian Christmas celebrations.  Traditionally a large log would be dragged into the house and lit on Christmas Eve and it was supposed to burn for at least three days, or better yet, till the New Year. 

This made a great deal of sense when household gathered around a hearth, but as times changed and hearths were replaced by wood burning stoves, what became of the Yule log?

Why, it became a cake!  In 19th century France, the Yule log tradition was transformed into the magnificent Bûche de Noël, a delicious roll cake designed to look like a Yule log.  The filling can be chocolate, vanilla, or perhaps chestnut cream.  (I always go for chocolate. <G>)  The icing is often chocolate but can a pale butter cream.  In either case, the icing is scored with a knife or fork to create the appearance of bark. 

The log is often decorated. There may be holiday items like little Clauses, but I like the traditional bright berries and meringue mushrooms designed to make the log look more foresty. 

I'd heard of Bûche de Noël cakes, but didn't meet up with them in person until fairly recently.  I was delighted when they appeared at my local gourmet market, saddened when the market no longer brought them in, and was ecstatic when a French bakery opened nearby and began to offer the real thing.  They were a stunner at Christmas Eve parties and disappeared until only smear of crumbs and icing were left.

More recently, they have started to appear in multiple markets, a happy benefit of globalization of food.  The one I got this year was less elaborate, but it still tasted very, very good!

Have you experience a Bûche de Noël?  If so, what did you think of it?  Did you imagine ancient northern forest--or was it mostly about the chocolate? <G> Tell me about it!

Mary Jo, with one large slice of log preserved in the freezer to surprise and delight later.

Magic Mall Moments!

By Mary Jo

I'm not a great lover of shopping, but every holiday season, I make sure to  visit Kenilworth Bazaar, a small friendly mall near me.  Every year, volunteers create a wonderful train garden with multiple trains and lots of different scenes.

This year's train garden covers all eras from cheery dinosaurs to a cow napping space ship!   The garden is large and there is always a crowd around the plastic walls as people of all ages delight in the whimsy and spectacle.

And watching the people is as much fun as watching the trains!  Have you ever seen a train garden?  If not, would you like to?

Mary Jo

 

We Wish You a Merry Christmas!

Nicola here, wishing you a very Happy Christmas to those who celebrate the festival and happy holidays to everyone celebrating their traditions. Today is the first day of Word Wenches’ annual tradition of short daily blogs over the Twelve Days of Christmas.

This year for the first time in as long as I can remember, and possibly the first time ever, I’m spending Christmas in a hotel. Every year for the past forever we’ve either been at home, hosting family and friends, or visiting them as their guests. This year, though, my mother-in-law went into a care home near my sister-in-law’s home in the North of England so we are staying nearby in order to see everyone over the festive season. I’m writing this before we go and I’m wondering what it will be like. The hotel promises all manner of wonderful treats: delicious food including the full Christmas dinner, festive afternoon tea, carols and other live music and the chance to work off all the food in the gym and pool. It sounds great. But even at Christmas I find I still think about writing – will it be the sort of hotel that would be a good setting for a murder mystery? What will our fellow guests be like? Will there be rows – or romances? (I’ll be taking note!) Will it snow??? All will no doubt be revealed as our Christmas trip progresses! Wherever you are in the world and however you celebrate, the Wenches wish everyone peace and joy in the year ahead.

How are you spending the holiday season? Will you be at home, or away? Are there any special holiday traditions you enjoy with family and friends? 

Cats and Christmas Trees!

Cats and Christmas trees

By Mary Jo

Cats have been around since time immemorial and Christmas trees became popular in the mid-19th century, when Victoria and Albert introduced the German custom of decorating trees into the British royal palaces and from there to most of the English speaking world. (In other words, they went viral. <G>)

And if Victoria had a cat, it probably climbed her tree.  But cameras, especially easy to use cell phone cameras, have really helped cats in Christmas trees become a true internet meme. (The image of the black and fallen tree is from Facebook and I think of it as "My work here is done. <G>)

At least a couple of times when I was a kid in our farmhouse, cats brought down our tree  and very messy it was. That hasn't happened in many years because tree stands are much more stable now.

I've had a few cats who were Christmas tree climbers, and many of them enthusiastically bat at low hanging ornaments.  ("Look, they hung all these nice play toys just for me!")

The cat below, right, is the Mayhem Consultant's cat, Reggie the Rascal.  Don't believe that innocent look.  He has climbed trees and he loves scooting up tree decorating ladders, then prowling the valances.

But mostly my cats are content to lounge underneath and possibly check the tags to see who gets what.  (That's PandaMax on the left, doing exactly that.)

 

The number of jokes about cats climbing trees and sometimes pulling trees them over got me to thinking about pets in Christmas trees in general.  Cats are small and agile and have claws designed for climbing.

Probably a ferret would also be a climber, but they aren't that common as pets. Parakeets and other pet birds can fly across a room and land on a branch and perhaps cause some damage if they're larger types like macaws. 

Dogs aren't built for climbing, but a friend of mine assures me that the enthusiastic wagging tail of a Labrador retriever can reap a serious harvest of ornaments!

Thus, the number one rule for pet owners who put up trees it to PUT UNBREAKABLE ORNAMENTS ON THE LOWER BRANCHES.

We have a nice collection of lightweight, hard to break plastic apples that look pretty and have a  high tolerance for being knocked across a room.  (They make a distinctive rattling sound as they roll merrily across a hardwood floor at 2:00 am.

So the bottom line is that with decorating care it's possible to have both pets and trees which is good for those of us who love both.

Do you have experiences with pets and Christmas trees?  Tell us about them!

Mary Jo

AAW: Word for 2023

Choose a Word for 2023:

by Mary Jo

Since 2022 is drawing to a close (already?!), it's time to think ahead about what we'd like in 2023. I've done this before here and in another group, but I think it's an interesting and mindful exercise to choose a word that can be a keyword or inspiration or talisman for the year ahead.

Do you want to EXPERIMENT and try something new? Learn to RELAX and let go of as much stress as you can? How about learning to FOCUS better? (That's a word I've claimed in the past!) Do you want to CLARIFY relationships or other elements in your life? Worth thinking about!

And the Wenches have been thinking about this!  Pat Rice is first:

I fear I very much live in the moment. Thinking or planning for a year doesn’t happen. Worse yet, I’m not inclined to meditation, inspiration, or reflecting on the past or future, possibly because I don’t believe I have much control over the events that most shape our lives. So I am hopeless at questions like these.

At best, I can plan for the events I want, and hope that eventually, the Fates will offer me opportunity. Does that constitute a keyword—opportunity? Once upon a time, I practiced writing, taught myself craft, wrote thousands of pages, and eventually, after years of sending out books, a new publisher decided to start a historical romance line and bought my book. I am not entirely certain opportunity encompasses all that.

 So I’ll simply choose the word ENJOY. While I’m wishing and hoping and plotting, I mean to enjoy the moment I’m in. If an opportunity to go out to lunch with friends interferes with my deadline, I’ll forget the deadline and enjoy the lunch because the chance might not come again.

Making Plans . . .

Hi all, Anne here.

We Word Wenches are currently making plans for the blog in 2023, so let us know what you enjoy about the blog.

And if you have any suggestions, ideas, or thoughts about what you'd like more of in the blog, less of, new features, please make them.

I can't guarantee we'll follow them, but we will certainly seriously consider them.

Thank you.

 

November What We're Reading!

by Mary Jo

Christina kicks off:

Snowed in for Christmas by Sarah Morgan.

Ms Morgan has done it again – I didn’t think she could improve on last year’s Christmas story, but this is her best one yet and I absolutely loved it! It was one of those books where you can’t wait to finish to see how it ends, but at the same time you are devastated to have to leave this fictional world. There is plenty of family drama, lots of delicious romance and some wonderful characters, all set against the backdrop of a gorgeous country house in the wilds of Scotland.

I think my favourite character was the grandmother, Nanna Jean, whose outspoken comments had me laughing out loud. I hope I can be like her when I’m old! One of the heroines, Lucy, has no family left and is dreading Christmas, but when she ends up spending it with the Miller family everything changes. She’s an outsider but they make her feel welcome and included, and it was incredibly heart-warming.

And although the family may seem perfect to her, they are far from it, with tensions and undercurrents rife. Daughters of the house, Alice and Clemmie, have their own problems and heartache, and I felt for them as they fought for what they wanted. Being snowed in proves to be a blessing, as they are all given the chance to work through their problems rather than run away from them. I was rooting for all of them every step of the way and couldn’t have put this book down if my life depended on it! Highly recommended.

 

Islands in the Sun

By Mary Jo

A week ago, I told you about the first part of our recent cruise vacation, which described London and the shipboard experience.  Today I want to talk about our three ports of call while we were still in European waters. 

Originally we were scheduled to stop in Tenerife in the Canary Islands, then Madeira, then Bermuda when the ship was most of the way across the Atlantic.  But Bermuda's landing requirements were so complicated and difficult that the cruise line canceled Bermuda and added in Lisbon as the first stop out of Britain.

Lisbon

Great idea!  We visited Lisbon once before on our way to cruising the Douro River in Northern Portugal, the cruise that inspired my book Once a Soldier.  I remember it as a hilly city of broad boulevards, which were a result of a devastating earthquake in 1755.  The destruction was vast, and much of the city was rebuilt according to more modern principles.

 

London Calling!

London calling!

by Mary Jo

Did you know that cruise ships migrate like birds?  In summer they flock to Europe, cruising from Nordic regions to the Mediterranean and more.  In autumn, they turn and head to the Western hemisphere, particularly the Caribbean.  They do this because tourists follow the sun, and so do the cruise ships.

This means that ships do repositioning cruises twice a year, spending days crossing the Atlantic with very few ports of call.  This is great if you like lots of lazy days at sea and the Mayhem Consultant and I do.  Hence we cruised from Southampton in England to Miami, with three stops in Europe and seven glorious sea days. 

 

Titles & Audiobooks

Answering Questions: Aristocratic Titles and Audiobooks

Compiled by Mary Jo

The Wenches invite readers to submit questions to us, and due to general overwork, two interesting questions got lost, but now are found.  So both questions are being answered today, and the questioners will each get a book from me.

Here is the first question from Rosa Berini Franco:

I would like to ask you about a question that has us debating several friends who are fond of historical romance.  The question is the following:

 When a distant relative inherits a title (e.g., earl) from someone who dies without direct heirs, do the sisters of that relative receive the courtesy title of lady?  By distant relative, I am referring to a fourth or fifth degree cousin who has no title whatsoever.

A Distant Magic

by Mary Jo

October 6th is the release date for A Distant Magic, the final book in my Georgian paranormal historical trilogy. 

The Trilogy

In Book 1, A Kiss of Fate, Duncan Macrae is the most powerful weather mage in Britain.

In Book 2, Stolen Magic, Simon, Lord Falconer, is the Guardian enforcer.

In A Distant Magic, Nikolai Gregorio is a crusader, and his life and soul are dedicated to ending slavery. 

 

Cruising the Duoro River

By Mary Jo:

I'm well down the road to insanity as I try to finish a book by mid-October, so I'm invoking Wenchly privilege to rerun an older blog with some editing where appropriate.  What I chose is this long ago 2006 blog describing a riverboat cruise along the Douro River into Spain.

I first read about riverboat cruising in a magazine several years ago, and promptly decided I wanted to give it a try.  I’ve done several ocean cruises, especially in the Caribbean, but rivers in Europe sounded different and fascinating.  The boats are much smaller, holding maybe 130 or so people, and the venues are fabulous. 

Much of European civilization developed along rivers, and traveling them would be a wonderful way of seeing Europe without a lot of packing and unpacking.  The boats park in the center of towns and cities, and one can seen a great deal of the countryside in peace and comfort.  The quintessential riverboat cruises follow the great rivers of northern and eastern Europe: the Rhine, the Elbe, the Danube, etc. 

Ask A Wench About Chocolate!

Nicola here, with this month's Ask A Wench. It’s US National Choose your Chocolate Day (but that doesn’t mean that the rest of us can’t join in, right?) So here on the Wenches, we decided to chat about our relationship with chocolate. Is it a love story or a break up story? How long have we known chocolate for and how has our relationship with chocolate developed? 

Christina: I can’t remember a time when I didn’t know what chocolate was – it’s my main vice, the one thing I don’t think I could give up! As a child, I remember eating something called ‘Guldnougat’, which was basically a chocolate bar that was a mixture of milk chocolate and hazelnut paste (this is usually called Gianduja in the UK). It was incredibly messy to eat as it tended to melt when clutched in a small warm hand, but I adored it. Swedish chocolate on the whole is delicious, especially anything made by the most famous brand Marabou. Personally, I prefer the types without anything added other than nuts, but they have just about every flavour under the sun.

Stolen Magic!

by Mary Jo

Stolen Magic,Book 2 of my long out of print Guardian paranormal historical trilogy, will be released tomorrow (September 8th) in ebook and print.  (The audio is already available.) As with all my stories with fantasy elements, I use the name M. J. Putney to differentiate them from straight historical romances.

The Characters and Story:

Duncan Macrae, the hero of book 1, A Kiss of Fate, is dark and Scottish and literally a force of nature, a weather mage who could call the winds and change the course of battles.  His lady, Gwynne Owens, is English and a Guardian who thinks she has little magic. Until passion unlocks her powers, which are great enough make her Duncan's match, and his nemesis.

Simon, Lord Falconer, the hero of Stolen Magic, is English, blond, and very different from his close friend, Duncan Macrae. As the chief enforcer of the Guardians, he is known for his immense power combined with rigorous control and integrity.  This makes Simon respected, feared, and sometimes hated.   He believes he is doomed to be forever alone until a mission to punish the rogue Guardian Lord Drayton goes horribly wrong and he is transformed into a unicorn.

Simon escapes with the aid of Meg, another of Drayton's victims.  She's a mysterious sprite with wild magic unlike anything Simon has ever seen before, and she can temporarily restore him to his human form.  They pledge to do whatever is necessary to bring down Drayton. The need for each other’s magic binds them together–and releases the more ancient magic of passion. But even the combined powers of Simon and Meg may not be enough to stave off catastrophe for all Britain. Only a desperate act of love may win back the future–or destroy all they hold dear.

 

Turkish Delight!

Turkish Delight

By Mary Jo

In April and May of this year, we took a marvelous cruise from Italy to Istanbul.  I've written three blogs already:

The first was our time in Northern Italy, staying at a grand hotel on the legendary Lake Maggiore, and enjoying the all time best, warm-hearted wine tasting:

https://wordwenches.typepad.com/word_wenches/2022/05/italian-lakes.html    

Next was cruising down the Eastern Adriatic and visiting several amazingly beautiful and hospitable countries. (That's Kotor, Montenegro on the right.)

https://wordwenches.typepad.com/word_wenches/2022/05/adriatic-shores.html 

Next was Greece, mother of so much Western European culture, where we saw several splendid islands as well as notable mainland sites:

https://wordwenches.typepad.com/word_wenches/2022/06/greek-highlights.html 

 

Ask A Wench — Bird Watching.

Anne here, and today the wenches are talking about birds. A few weeks ago, when we were chatting on line, as we often do, we started to share bird stories, and it transpired that we were all very fond of birds. So the question we each answer today is this: What are some of your favorite birds, and where do you get to see them?

Nicola: As a child I loved the English garden birds such as the robin, which I read about in my books and saw when I visited my grandparents. We lived in the city and had a tiny garden but my grandparents lived in the countryside and were surrounded by nature. My grandfather was a keen gardener who knew all the different birds we’d find when we were outside and would point out to me the blackbirds, blue tits and sparrows. It wasn’t until I travelled abroad as an adult that I realised that birds with similar names could be quite different in other countries! I loved seeing an American Robin, for example, and was surprised how different it looked from a European one – except for the orange chest!

My dh is a keen birdwatcher and far more interested and knowledgeable than I, and when we moved to our village in Oxfordshire, we became involved with Royal Society for the Protection of Birds in species protection. It was an exciting time; we had one of the rarest birds in the UK, the Montagu’s Harrier, nesting locally. This beautiful bird of prey is very common in some other countries but not in England. For a number of years, we monitored the breeding pairs and the nests and learned so much about them. Sadly, the harriers are long gone from our area now but instead we have red kites which are also stunning birds. I love the kites, which are a successful re-introduction into the UK. In the Middle Ages they were common and would fly over towns and cities looking for scraps of food to eat. With their forked tails they were known as “devil birds.” They died out but now they are back and I enjoy seeing them up on the hills and flying over the village.