Blurb:

As a member of Eshu, those who can shift into any animal at will, Jacob Adams is used to knowing and getting what he wants. And when he meets Mary Katherine Day as they work together on the Underground Railroad, he not only knows that shes going to be his wife, but he expects her to accept her fate willingly. A businesswoman of independent means, Mary Katherine has no interest in marrying, which to her mind is bondage only slightly less vile than the slavery she works so hard to help others escape. Jacob embarks on a campaign to lure her into his bed by awakening her virginal body to the delights to be found there. Though she struggles against her sensual nature, Mary Katherine eventually succumbs to the irresistible lure. Initially shes convinced that they can maintain their sexual relationship without marriage, but it quickly becomes apparent that their passion is too intense to hide in such a small town and she is risking a horrible scandal that could destroy her life. Shortly after theyre married they are forced to confront ancient enemies and a secret that could ultimately destroy their relationship.

What drew you to exploring the lives lead by African Americans during this period in US history?

We’re a couple of history geeks. We’ve both read a lot of African-American history. Underground resistance movements are fascinating. This was an exciting time in this country’s history. A time when people were willing to put their lives on the line for something they believed in so strongly. With those type emotions whirling around, it seemed a natural setting for a love story.

Does the interracial aspect enhance the story and the history? Does it make historical accuracy more difficult to maintain?

Given is not an interracial story. Mary Katherine and Jacob are both African American. However, the follow-up to Given, Taken is an interracial and you meet those characters in Given.

What sources did you use to create a balanced, yet truthful viewpoint for your novella?

Too many to count, but the best one by far is a book called Beyond the River by Ann Hagedorn. The book focuses on the Underground movement in Ripley, OH. It also gives the history of the Gist settlement which is the setting for our story.

What do you feel is the main purpose/goal of an African-American historical romance?

Same thing as any romance: an entertaining, sexy story with believable characters. Obviously where history is involved you have to ensure historical accuracy, but other than that, the reader should get what they pay for.

How do you reveal the ugly side of history as it pertains to minorities?

Jacob is a conductor, Mary Katherine is a stationmaster, their lives and freedom are in constant jeopardy. Jacob also struggles with the constraints of being a free man, but not really being free even in a northern state like Ohio. They still lived under very restrictive laws. We don’t belabor these points, but they are a part of the story, especially the constant presence of slave catchers. So yes, there are some ugly scenes and the n-word is used.

Did you discover anything unexpected during your research?

The existence of the Gist settlement and several similar land grants. Samuel Gist was British and owned a large plantation in Virginia. When he died he manumitted his slaves and bought property for them in Ohio because free blacks couldn’t live in Virginia.

Do you think it possible for historical romances featuring non-white characters to appeal to the general historical romance audience?

It’s possible, but unlikely. Americans do seem to like reading history, so it might be possible, but it would be surprising.

What do you foresee for your career in the future?

Probably the same as every other writer out there, breakout success and best-seller lists. To be able to make a living as a writer.

Since you’ve been published as a contemporary romance writer, could you see yourself writing historical romances, permanently?

Roslyn Hardy Holcomb: Historicals are my first love, I could definitely see it. Obviously it would depend on how well they sell.

Lisa G. Riley: Ive always loved historicals, and in fact, Ive got a couple more planned. However, besides the follow-up to Given, these planned books are not anywhere near the top of my to-do list!

Finally, what would you like readers to take away from your novella?

A good, well-written story that delivers.

Visit Roslyn Hardy Holcomb at RoslynHardyHolcomb.com and Lisa G. Riley at LisaGRiley.com. Given can be purchased from Loose-Id on February 9th.

Black romance writers: The authors remain the same year after year, so if you have a newsletter, get the word out. Here’s the link to the poll.

For a moment I was inclined to agree that the reason “those people” don’t read AA romance is because of the stigma against the genre, but my involvement on a post by Clutch Magazine, entitled “Selling Ghetto” made me think otherwise. Based on the comments, the readers of this online magazine targeted to upscale black women have no clue genre fiction written by black authors exists!

I think black authors need to step up and write a variety of books! NOT just one! I would love to see more black authors branch out, you don’t know how many other black readers that are into stuff like Twilight/vampire fiction, Nicholas Sparks romance novels/romance novels in general, Sci-Fi, interracial novels etc… I WOULD LOVE TO SUPPORT MORE BLACK AUTHORS WHO WRITE BOOKS THAT I LIKE READING.

Granted, I think they don’t know because they head for the African-American Literature section when they enter a bookstore. They also don’t know because they see rows and rows of books in the romance and sf/f and mystery and YA with white cover models. Or, because the bookstores don’t order genre fiction written by black authors due to population demographics. Or, they stumble across L.A. Banks, or Brenda Jackson, or Beverly Jenkins, et al, and have no one to turn to for book buying advice/recommendations. The bottomline is that there is an untapped audience out there–you just have to know where and how to tap into it.

Last year, Justine Larbalestier sparked a controversy and movement in the blogosphere over her cover for the US edition of her book, Liar, when Bloomsbury made plans to ship the books to our shelves with a vaguely Asian female on the cover. The big hoopla was that the narrator was a young black woman. A concerted effort to make the insult known to Bloomsbury through a blogging and (I think) email campaign was launched, and quite soon, Larbalestier unveiled the new cover for Liar, this one featuring the black model it should have had in the first place. Apparently, based on these two YA blogs here and here, it has happened to another Bloomsbury title.

Perhaps we in the online romance community can take a cue from these passionate and intelligent teenagers…

Jane @ Dear Author blogged about this here. You can find contact information for writing and/or emailing Bloomsbury.

According to the RWA (their previous stats were more detailed, so I’m including them), the average age for a romance reader is around 45, tends to live in the South or the Mid-West, is married, has children, has at least an undergraduate degree, and is a white-collar worker. The stats aren’t broken down by ethnicity, but I’m certain that the majority, perhaps even all, of the readers surveyed were white. Despite my desire for their inclusion into the general romance audience, African-American romance readers have different expectations for their romance fiction, as I discussed earlier.

However, as I tuned into the new (unfortunately) BET web series, Buppies, I was suddenly struck by how unlike AA romance it was. Oh, sure, it did perpetuate some of the stereotypes and bogeymen that have been floating around the professional black community for the past ten years, and there’s drama, drama, drama galore, but it’s…well, smart. Couple this with shows like Girlfriends, The Game, or Half & Half (I miss that show!), and it leaves me confused about the typical audience for AA romance. For one thing, if you hang around online a bit, you’ll notice that there is a large, and growing segment of black men and women forming communities online (and these are hilarious, smart, pithy folks) AND watching the same TV shows. Yet, somehow, in its current incarnation, I cannot see these people rushing into the store to pick up the latest Kimani or Dafina. They might read some Zane, or some Eric Jerome Dickey, they’ll probably cop the upcoming Helena Andrews memoir/chick-lit Bitch Is the New Black, maybe some nonfiction written by a black sociologist or historian, but the romance genre is invisible to these people, who admit to being voracious readers.

To these people, the Essence Best-seller list is glanced at, but isn’t taken as the gospel truth as to what books they should buy. To these people, “Harlequin Romance” is just as much a punchline as it is to their white counterparts, but they have no clue Kimani Press even exists. To these people, if they did pick up a AA romance novel, it would seem staid and self-conscious, as well as not being conscious of its cultural heritage. And so on…

Time and time again I hear about the “niche”–but I posit this: perhaps the niche isn’t just holding black writers back from non-black readers, but from “those people” I mentioned above, as well.

From the Romance Slam Jam Newsletter:

Named after the co-founder of the Romance Slam Jam Conference, the Emma Awards is THE premier awards event for readers and authors of Black romance. Congratulations to the 2010 Emma Award finalists:

Favorite Hero
Quest Ramsey, A Lover’s Soul by AlTonya Washington
Lawrence Hightower, Law of Desire by Gwyneth Bolton
Patrick Hightower, Sizzling Seduction by Gwyneth Bolton

Favorite Heroine
D’Andra Smalls, Body by Night by Zuri Day
Samantha Dash, Make it Hot by Gwyneth Bolton
Aisha Miller, Sizzling Seduction by Gwyneth Bolton

Best Inspirational
Chosen by Patricia Haley
Lady Jasmine by Victoria Christopher Murray
Secrets and Lies by Rhonda McKnight

Best Romantic Suspense
Law of Desire by Gwyneth Bolton
Secret Agent Seduction by Maureen Smith
Sizzling Seduction by Gwyneth Bolton

Best Sequel
Law of Desire by Gwyneth Bolton
Sizzling Seduction by Gwyneth Bolton
Trust Me by Melanie Schuster

Best Steamy Romance
Make You Mine by Niobia Bryant
Sizzling Seduction by Gwyneth Bolton
Sultry Storm by Celeste O. Norfleet
The Sweet Spot by Kimberly Kaye Terry

Best Romance of the Year
Body by Night by Zuri Day
Law of Desire by Gwyneth Bolton
Touch of Heaven by Maureen Smith

Favorite Debut Author of the Year
Iris Bolling
Jasmine Alexander
Jewel Amethyst
Joan Early
Katrina Spenser
Keith Walker
Niambi Davis
Rhonda McKnight
Sandra Foy

Author Of the Year
A.C. Arthur
AlTonya Washington
Celeste O. Norfleet
Gwyneth Bolton

FTC disclaimer: I received a copy of this book from Dorchester for review.

I was initially skeptical of reading this book. I’m a huge fan of marriage of convenience stories, but not a fan of plus-size heroines, since nine times out of ten, these characters tend to be stamped in the same mold. However, Amethyst (why the author chose this surname I have no clue–the copyright page reveals her name to be Jewel Daniels) won me over because Tamara’s weight problem was presented quite realistically. But let’s rewind to the premise: Tamara Fontaine is left at the altar by her unscrupulous fiance, who has also wiped out her finances. In a bind because of her unemployment, her best friend Jordan offers a solution: a temporary marriage to Ghanaian scientist, Kwabena Opoku, who is in need of a green card.

Tammy is presented to us as slightly naif, but her optimism in the face of adversity is extremely appealing. Throughout the book, she did have a tendency to mope and leap to conclusions, but I wasn’t too annoyed by this because she was brutally honest with herself and her flaws. Kwabena could have been too good to be true: sexy, educated, well-connected, and extremely good at his profession, but Amethyst was able to make him three-dimensional because he fit Tammy so well. The secondary characters, with the exception of the semi-antagonist, served to build up the romance between Tammy and Kwabena. The book isn’t very long, but the plot was packed full to the brim as the narrative structure is definitely not that of a typical romance (of course there is a HEA, but the twists and turns were very organic and character-driven; I didn’t “feel” the plot moving with each page).

One of the main reasons why this book worked for me is the multicultural world Amethyst presents us with: too many AA romances are narrow in focus, completely ignoring the greater African diaspora residing within America. Not so in A Marriage of Convenience: a portion of the conflict between Tammy and Kwabena is cultural, as the two make assumptions about one another based on the perspective of coming from two different cultures. And these cultures were not paint-by-numbers: I got the sense that Amethyst was very familiar with Ghanaian culture and West Indian culture and did not write her characters based on information learned from a book.

What kept me from really loving the book were the weak spots in Amethyst’s writing. As I said before, the secondary characters helped Tammy and Kwabena’s romance, but when taken on their own, they are flat and stereotypical, and can come across as a bit deus ex machina. Also, there were times when the plot faltered a bit and unnecessary drama was tossed into the mix to keep the pacing up. Thankfully, both issues were few and far between. Taken as is, I greatly enjoyed A Marriage of Convenience–despite the bits of drama in the book, it felt familiar and realistic to me. I am eager to read more from Amethyst.

Grade: B-

The need for a break-out black romance author has been mentioned more than once. Monica Jackson has discussed the ingredients required of this author (multicultural cast, mainstream plot, et al), and I wholeheartedly agree with her. However, after reading a few stand-out contemporary romances written by white authors whose debuts have received a lot of buzz, I have my doubts as to whether a black author could break out. This dovetails with my frustration with the guidelines for Kimani Romance as well as the general tone of a black romance novel.

On the whole, the majority of the AA romances I’ve read (and despite enjoying more than a few) have felt rather, well, staid. There was a primness to the characters and the storytelling that just didn’t feel quite current. Granted, I do come to the genre with my own expectations and likes and dislikes, and all taste is subjective, but I always feel the writers are holding something back. When I contrast this with the most recent white contemporary romance I’ve read, the AA contemporary romance can come across as the former’s slightly shy, cautious, and “good” older sister.

Because the black author will be marketed primarily to black readers, black authors must cater to the desires of the niche, which I feel are somewhat at cross-purposes with the desires of the mainstream romance reading community (which includes readers from all backgrounds). However, I think an author of interracial romances (bw/ [insert ethnicity] m) stands a chance of breaking out. One thing I find interesting is how boundary-pushing I/R romances can be–it appears that black women feel more comfortable reading a book with elements similar to what is found in white romances if the hero is not a black man. Even L.A. Banks is guilty of this, and I honestly can’t see Damali getting up to the things she gets into had Carlos been African-American, as opposed to Mexican-American.

The break-out black author will also have to push beyond contemporary romance as well. She will need to write paranormal romance and/or urban fantasy, to write gritty romantic suspense; glamorous, jet-setting romance; romances with witty, sexy banter. Her character(s) will be black, but unique, and not written with the aim of presenting a positive image. Also, the sex has to be hot and erotic–no holds barred. More importantly, the break-out black author must have an agent and editor to fight for her books to be treated like the rest of the genre. This means the break-out black author is required to pursue an agent who might not list “African-American/Multicultural Fiction” on their site, and the break-out black author must publish with non-AA niche imprints. They also must make contacts outside of the AA book niche–and they cannot be afraid of alienating other black writers and black readers in their pursuit of the mainstream.

So…is this possible? What do you all think?

In my quest to discover excellent AA romance, I’ve had to turn to new avenues for book reviews. Sites like AAR, DA, SBTB, TGTB&TU, etc don’t focus on AA romance, making reviews few and far between. I have found a few sites with a decent quantity of reviews, and do check amazon.com on a regular basis, but I’ve begun to notice a common thread in reviews for AA romance that slightly disturbs me. Since I am relatively new to AA romance, knowing only the names of the biggies (Jackson, Alers, Hill, and so on), I cannot honestly say the reviews are sugar-coated. However, I do notice that just about every AA romance on amazon is given 4-5 stars and are full of gushing reviews. It’s rare to see a 2- or 3-star review, and I don’t think I’ve ever seen a 1-star review. All of which is quite uncommon in the review sections for non-black authors. There you will see books raked through the coals, drug out and torn to tatters, and then those tatters ripped into tinier pieces (for amusement, check out the reviews for LKH’s Anita Blake books).

The romance genre frequently deals with the concept of “negative” reviews: sites like AAR have been targeted in the past for being “negative,” and the crop of established review blogs tend to be painted as a gaggle of “mean girls.” There exists a segment of romance readers and romance fans who frown on any critical discussion of a romance novel, and only desire happyhappyjoyjoy when talking about the genre. As such, I find it difficult to believe that there are no “bad” AA romances being published. It makes me even more wary to try books when I do see a review of an AA romance novel at one of my regular haunts and contrast it to the reviews from black review sites. In the process I’ve come to feel that black readers are so hungry for books with characters who look like them, they are willing to largely overlook issues non-black romances are lambasted for. Granted, because of the infancy of AA romance and its marginalization, it requires positivity to thrive, but I feel AA romance readers and authors are done a disservice with the unyielding cheerleader review process.

For one thing, reviews are for readers. They may not be entirely impartial, but their sole purpose is to inform prospective consumers of what worked and what didn’t work in the story for the reviewer. I admit that when I sit down to write a review for SBR (some coming soon, I promise), the back of my mind is tickled with the thought of presenting a “positive” facade of AA romance, but I weigh the fact that a book is a product–a product to which you have emotional ties, but nonetheless a product. Part of the reason why the FTC instituted its confusing laws regarding blogging and free/promotional items is because a growing segment of extremely popular consumer blogs were publishing positive reviews in exchange for money and/or more free stuff. Another reason why I feel reviews–whether here, or on amazon, or on another site–should be truthful is because it tarnishes the “brand.” After a number of debacles, there are a lot of people who don’t trust amazon.com reviews. Therefore, the brand is tarnished for these readers, and if they spread the word that amazon.com permits the deletion of “negative” reviews, or allows authors to berate reviewers, or allows friends and family members to spam pages with positive reviews, anything and everything published on the site is rendered untrustworthy.

I want to be trusted. Whether a reader agrees with my consensus or not, at least they trust that my reviews are not influenced by anything other than my own personal opinions and biases. Ultimately, the barrage of positive reviews for AA romance will hurt it in the long-run, and as the genre eventually mainstreams, the lack of true review/criticism will burn a lot of new readers.

Via Romantic Times magazine:

Enter to Win an RT Pre-Con & General-Con Registration

A Lasting Legacy For Ann Peach

At last year’s convention in Orlando, we awarded our first RT Convention Grant to aspiring writer Sherri L. Hollister from Aurora, N.C., in honor of Ann Peach, our colleague and friend who lost her battle with cancer in 2006. She was a valued contributor to the magazine, to our “Aspiring Writers’ Meeting Place” web column and, most notably, to the pre-convention intensive program for beginner writers at the RT convention. She provided individual attention to shy newbies and gave them the encouragement and confidence they needed to put pen to paper and pursue their dreams of getting published. Her passion for writing and her love of teaching were infectious.

To honor Ann’s memory and to continue her legacy of helping aspiring writers, her family is sponsoring an annual grant for one deserving beginner writer. The grant will include registration for the pre-convention “Beginner Writer” program together with a general RT convention registration, a value of $610. Thank you to the Peach family for this honored gift and for preserving the memory of a cherished friend and instructor.

HOW TO ENTER:
The Second Annual Ann Peach RT Convention Grant

The grant, which covers the cost of the pre-convention “Beginner Writer” program registration and the general RT convention registration (a value of $610), is open to all BEGINNER aspiring writers who are passionate about the craft of writing and are determined to someday be published. Note: The pre-convention registration is for the “Beginner Writer“ program currently led by Judi McCoy and NOT for the “Advanced Aspiring Writer“ program led by Bobbi Smith.

To enter (in 250 words or less for each question),
tell us why you want to be a writer and why you feel you would be the most deserving of the grant. Also in 250 words or less, submit a short description of the book you want to write.
Send entries to: Ann Peach Grant, c/o Corrie Peach, P.O. Box 797, Marion, TX 78124, or e-mail Corrie.Peach@Hotmail.com.

Deadline for entries is Wednesday, January 20, 2010. The winner will be notified in February and will be announced in a future issue of RT BOOK REVIEWS.