Guest Post - Why Janice Preston is Hooked on Regency Romance - RNA Awards Week

Thank you, Rachel, for inviting me onto your blog to celebrate the Romantic Novel Awards and the shortlisting of my second published novel, From Wallflower to Countess, for the 2016 RoNA Rose, the award for category/series and shorter romance. 

To introduce myself: my name is Janice Preston and I write Regency romances that place the developing romance centre stage and in which the inner conflicts of both hero and heroine drive the plot.

The strictly-correct definition of the Regency is the nine years (1811 to 1820) when the then Prince of Wales (later George IV) ruled as Regent in the stead of his mentally-incapacitated father, King George III. The wider Regency period, or “long Regency” as it is sometimes known, has come to mean the years from the last decade or so of the 18th century up to 1830, when George IV died. It is an era defined by distinct trends in architecture, literature, fashion and style, its tone set by the flamboyant and hedonistic Prince of Wales and his passion for culture.

It was a fascinating time… a time of great social, political and economic change. It was a time of dazzling luxury and over-indulgence amongst the upper classes, but also a time of huge social injustice and unrest for many ordinary folk as Britain made the transition from a rural-based economy to one that was increasingly industrial and urban.  It was the time of Nelson and Wellington; of Watt and Stephenson; of Telford and Trevithick. But it was also the time of Jane Austen and Sir Walter Scott; of Turner and Constable; of Keats, Shelley and Byron.

So why did I choose to write romances set in the Regency era?

Actually, I don’t think it was ever a conscious decision. I loved the novels of Jane Austen and Georgette Heyer as a teenager, and my love of Regency romance as a genre—both the traditional and the more recent, steamier Regencies—seeped into my subconscious. So when the day came that I tentatively set fingers to keyboard, it didn’t even occur to me to write a romance set in any other time. Plus (as I have confessed before) there is something about a hero on horseback… give me a powerful steed over a swish car any day.

My characters might inhabit the privileged, upper echelons of society, with its manners, fashion and strict propriety (for the women, if not for the men) but this does not mean life for them is charmed. 

I like to explore the predicaments my heroines face when life, for whatever reason, goes awry (and life could go very awry, particularly for women—there was no welfare state in those days). And I love to watch as the hero—whether a hardened rake who has seen and done it all or a jaded aristocrat who has sworn off love —falls in love against his every intention and often his better judgement. 

To put your characters through the emotional wringer and finally reward them with a happy-ever-after… that’s what romance is all about.

All about Janice Preston

Janice Preston grew up in Wembley, North London, with a love of reading, writing stories and animals. In the past she has worked as a farmer, a police call-handler and a university administrator. She now lives in the West Midlands with her husband and two cats and has a part-time job with a weight management counsellor (vainly trying to control her own weight despite her love of chocolate!)

Links (social and purchase)
My website is www.janicepreston.co.uk , where I also blog sporadically and where you can read the first chapter of each of my published novels.
I have an author page at https://www.facebook.com/janice.preston.author and my profile is at www.facebook.com/janice.preston.77
 I’m also on Twitter at @janicegpreston 

From Wallflower to Countess is available to purchase on Amazon - http://amzn.to/1pd9VTO

Thank you so much Janice for sharing your love of the Regency Era with us. I'm sorry to say you haven't converted me to being a Regency Romance reader, however I'm sure plenty of people that read this will know exactly what you mean and love Regency as much as you do. Good luck with your award.

Congratulations to Janice Preston on her nomination for the RoNA Rose Award. Which of these books did you love? Which do you think should win the award?