The Reluctant Bride is so much more than a Regency romance; it's romance woven through a plot full of spies, traitors and adventure. Add one of the most swoon-worthy heroes – who's not even titled gentry! – and you get a truly fantastic historical. It was a joy to work with Beverley Eikli on this book and I'm happy that her long-awaited publication day has arrived. Beverley's here today with some interesting insight about her approach to editing and the many changes this book has been through.

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Beverley: Hi Rachel, Thanks so much for having me here.

Rachel: Thank you for stopping by! I remember during our first set of exchanged emails when we were introducing ourselves you told me up front that you quite enjoy the editing process and looked forward to it. Music to an editor's ears! Since a lot of authors fear edits, what's your secret? 

Liz Harris is not a cookie-cutter romance author; her unusual locales and atypical relationship dynamics bring something fresh to the genre, and her detailed descriptions of those locales truly whisk the reader away to another time and place, taking on as much importance as the characters themselves. Her latest novel, A Bargain Struck, is a romance in reverse: a marriage on page two that leads to love by the final page. The Daily Mail calls it a "sure hit", and I quite agree! Today Liz is here to share with us how she goes about plotting and revising her early drafts of a book.

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Many thanks for inviting me to join you today, Rachel.

I was handed the idea for my first published novel, The Road Back, on a plate – or, rather, in an album: the novel was inspired by the album compiled by my uncle after he’d visited Ladakh, north of the Himalayas, in the 1940s.

My inspiration for A Bargain Struck came from a very different source – it came from the radio. While driving along one day, thinking about what to write that would fall into the same genre as The Road Back, I heard someone talking about mail-order brides from Russia. I sat up. The concept of mail-order brides was a really romantic concept, I thought. But not in Russia. Before I’d reached my destination, I’d relocated my developing storyline to the wide open plains of Wyoming, where mail-order brides were a common occurrence, and set the story in 1887, a very interesting year in the history of Wyoming.

I enjoy reading YA in my spare time but had never had the pleasure of editing a YA novel until Christina Courtenay's New England Rocks landed on my desk. I'm so glad it did! Not only is the story fun, but it was a particular thrill for me since it centers on a British teen girl going to an American high school. (If you've missed it elsewhere, I'm an American who lived in England for four years, albeit as an adult, and moved back to the US just last month.) Christina and I had many good laughs about the idiosyncrasies of American vs. British English! I'm delighted to have Christina here today to talk about editing.

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EDITS – that is a word that can strike fear into most authors, I think! At least it does to me. And yet, they’re hardly ever as bad as I think they’re going to be.

I’ve had critique partners for years and although I greatly value their comments and input, I’ve learned not to take every single thing they say as gospel. Instead, I look at what they tell me and decide whether I agree that they have a valid point or not. If they do, I rewrite, if not, I don’t. Easy, right? Except, what if I’m wrong?

My favourite type of book is one where a romance supports a wider plot, where the growing relationship is interwoven naturally with the characters’ situation rather than the purpose for it, and The Elephant Girl delivers just that. A whodunit chock full of red herrings and a list of suspects that would make Agatha Christie proud, the romance is the perfect addition to this tightly woven mystery. I was so excited to work on this manuscript and couldn’t be happier that publication day has arrived for my author Henriette Gyland, who’s here today to talk about writing and editing this story.

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Rachel: Welcome, Henri. Can you tell us about how this story came to be published?

Henri: I wrote the first draft a few years ago during the month of November, taking part in the international challenge National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) where the aim is to write at least 50,000 words in one month. After I’d finished it I sent it to my writing buddy and started the first revision following her input. Then it went to the New Writers’ Scheme run by the Romantic Novelists’ Association, received a good reader’s report, but there was still work to do on the manuscript so I revised it one more time before sending it to about six agents. None of them took it although two of them requested the whole manuscript.

Happy Publication Day to my author Jane Lovering! Hubble Bubble is peppered with laughs throughout in true Jane fashion; her characters are real, with relatable issues and emotions; and the romance sizzles. I’m happy to welcome Jane here today to talk about the writing and editing that lead to this happy day. 

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Hi Rachel, thanks very much for having me here! Your blog is very tidy, isn’t it? I’m used to places full of biscuit crumbs and dog hair, but it’s very clean and neat in here. You didn’t tidy up just for me, did you? Because I’ve brought two cream slices to eat while we chat, and you know how those things just go everywhere once you bite into them … Perhaps I ought to have a plate? Oh, and while you’re up, I’ll have a cup of tea, please. Splash of milk, no sugar and strong enough to bend a spoon.

Where were we? Oh, yes, I remember, I came over to talk about Hubble Bubble, didn’t I, and the writing and editing process? I’ll try to concentrate then … oh, look, there’s the cream … sorry about the mat. It’ll be fine, sponges off a treat.