CONTEST TODAY!!! 5 Lucky Commenting Bellas, randomly selected, each win a copy of Jennifer Ashley's "The Madness of Lord Ian Mackenzie" from Dorchester. Check back tomorrow to see if you've won.
From Jennifer: Hi all. Thanks, Michelle and Bellas, for giving me the opportunity to come here and talk about Madness of Lord Ian!A question I’ve gotten since I conceived this book is “why on earth did you write about a hero with Asperger’s?” A man who has trouble relating emotionally to others? Who will have great difficulty saying the three little words, I love you?Romances, to me, are about the power of love getting you through anything—about two people finding their strengths by coming together. The more difficult the problems are to get through, the more poignant the romance. Ian faces not only the problem of relating to other people, but also doing it in a time (Victorian England) when people had no idea what Asperger’s was, nor were they tolerant of anyone who was “different.”With Ian I wrote a man who believes he will never find the joy of falling in love (or having a “normal” life in any way). He wishes for a fulfilling relationship but is convinced it will never happen for him (sex, yes; love, no).
Enter Beth, who has experienced a fulfilling relationship (with her late husband), and can’t imagine how Ian believes he’ll never have that in his life. The memory of her happiness with her husband gets her through lonely times, and her heart goes out to Ian no matter how much he unnerves her.It was very difficult writing Ian because he couldn’t do some of the things romance heroes are supposed to, in particular, pin the heroine with his powerful and manly gaze! (Ian can't look anyone directly in the eye.) Plus Ian firmly believes that his feelings for Beth are purely physical (he wants the relationship very, very much and will do anything to get it, but he doesn’t believe it’s love).How to make this guy say the magic words and mean them?Ian believes he can’t feel love, but from the moment he meets Beth, he worries about her, wants to be with her, and wants to protect her. And slowly, through the story, he allows Beth to draw out of himself things no one else has been able to (a Beauty and the Beast story). Beth teaches Ian a lot about himself, life, and love and makes him see, in the end, that he is perfectly capable of loving her.
Every second of writing this book was both joy and frustration. Ian was not easy to pin down, and he wanted to do many things I didn’t want him to! But I also loved writing Beth, a resilient heroine who doesn’t take crap from anyone. Together these two found their happily ever after (and it wasn't easy for them). You'll them again in future books.I hope everyone enjoys Ian’s story!
If the hero literally doesn’t know what ‘I love you’ means, when and how do you think he might realize he’s in love? How does this jibe with the idea that the hero in romance always has to say ‘I love you’ for the romance to be successful? How do you feel about romances w/ heroes/hns w/disabilities?***
Encore! Book 2 of Jennifer's Highland Pleasures series, "Lady Isabella's Scandalous Marriage," is out mid-'10. You'll meet Isabell and Mac in "Lord Ian" and'll be dyin' for their story. Check out Jennifer's Allyson James and Ashley Gardner reads and Tudor historicals, too.
Encore due! Learn more about Asperger's Syndrome (AS) here plus a mom's take on loving a child with AS here.
Encore tre! Read more about heroes like Ian here.
***
"Tails of Love" fund-raising anthology authors Lori Foster, Stella Cameron, Diane Castell & Pals GuestBlog Tuesday! They're kicking off the
Tails of Love Pet Photo Mascot Extravaganza!