Sold and Seduced Review

The Romance Junkies have reviewed Sold and Seduced. It received Five blue ribbons. So I am very pleased. My favourite part of the review was Michele Styles is a much beloved historical author and SOLD AND SEDUCED is a prime example of the reason why her fans are so devoted. With characters so vivid you can see them in your mind’s eye and a plot that will keep you glued to the pages awaiting each battle of wills between Fabius and Lydia. There’s an undertone of some wrong doing from someone associated with Lydia’s father but we’re kept in suspense until near the end of the book. I loved the historical aspect to the storyline and was fascinated by the different types of marriage and Lydia’s horrified reaction to what she perceived as being forced into an archaic marriage. I have to confess I love how Fabius challenges Lydia with the kissing wager. There’s no doubt that it gets her thinking about kissing him constantly and actually seems to bring them closer rather than destroy their relationship.

The news absolutely made my day. So thank you to Chrissy and all the rest of the team at Romance Junkies. It is reviews like this that remind me why I am writing and who I am writing for.

Sold and Seduced in the shops

My friend Kate Hardy has sent a photo of S&S in WH Smith's in Norwich.

Red Rose for Authors has done a lovely review of Sold and Seduced. You can read it here. My favourite bit of the review was: This sensual, beautifully written and researched book is an absolute joy to read. I think it is equally as good as her first – The Gladiator's Honor – which has been short-listed for the RNA Romance prize. It quite made my morning.

Today the children go back to school, and i have to get very serious about my writing. I have allowed it to slip, and I need to reassert my discipline. However, I do think that it is often like this -- the first few weeks are slow as I stumble around and then I pick up speed as I begin to know my characters better. It is one reason why I like to write down the number of words done each day. It means I can go back and check. A sort of comfort blanket for those days when I feel daunted. I have only written 4.5k words since last Tuesday, but I am still on course for finishing the first draft by 8 June.

Over the weekend, I read the column --A Writer's Year and the woman was extolling the fact that she had written 25k in 4 weeks as being wonderful. I suppose it is -- it depends where you are in the novel. But she was then going to take six weeks off as she had other things to do and maybe she would come back to it. If I am 25k into a novel, I find I can't time off, it begins to consume my waking hours. Even if I have other things to do, I would make sure I spent sometime every day on that novel. I would owe it to my characters. Otherwise, after six weeks, I would have to start all over again.

As I said to my dh after reading the article, either you are a novelist and make the time, or you're not. And this woman holds herself out as a full time novelist. It is why she is writing her column in the newspaper and advising other people on their novels. Good work habits pay off in the end. It is all about discipline. There again the only way I ever finished any writing was to work on it each day.

I don't have the time to sit down and write 10k in a day. I can remember when I first started, I read on e-harlequin about writing two pages per day and how that would give me two books per year. I can do that I thought, and it helped me. I now do considerably more than two pages -- my ideal is about 10, in addition to any editing. For me, I need the discipline of working a little each day.

It is probably one of the reasons that I like the Tharp book so much as she does have a heavy emphasis on discipline.

Cataromance review for Sold and Seduced

Once again Julie Bunello has penned an intelligent and thoughtful review. It is always a joy to read Julie's reviews. Julie takes a lot of trouble with her reviews. She loves series romance, but is also unafraid to express her opinion. It is all a writer can ask for -- an honest reviewer. Reader feedback in whatever form is such a gift.

My favourite bit of the review was:
With Sold and Seduced, Michelle Styles transports her readers back to Ancient Rome with her assured storytelling prowess, her astounding historical knowledge and her wonderful ability to make her readers feel as if they are living the story rather than just reading it. Atmospheric, evocative and entrancing, Sold and Seduced is a compelling romantic novel which captivated me from the very first page!

You can read the whole review here.