General Eisenhower served as five star General of the Army.
Top Chef Eric Ripert received a five star rating for his NYC
restaurant, Le Bernardin.
Today's guest, Leigh Michaels, earned a five
star review for THE WEDDING AFFAIR.
Please join me in welcoming romance veteran and Regency connoisseur, Leigh Michaels:
Please join me in welcoming romance veteran and Regency connoisseur, Leigh Michaels:
Leigh
Michaels is the author of nearly 100 books, including 80 contemporary novels,
more than a dozen non-fiction books and three Regency romances from Sourcebooks
Casablanca: The Mistress’ House, Just One Season in London and The
Wedding Affair. More than 35 million copies of her romance novels have been
published by Harlequin. A 6 time RITA finalist, she has also received two
Reviewer's Choice awards from RT Book Reviews, and was the 2003
recipient of the Johnson Brigham Award. Leigh also teaches romance writing on
the Internet at Gotham Writers’ Workshop. She lives in Ottumwa, Iowa.
For more information, please visit www.leighmichaels.com.
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| Coal Palace, Ottumwa, Iowa |
Kim: My neighbors proudly display their Hawkeyes flag! Tell us your your favorite sight,
sound, and smell of your home state!
Leigh: [waving back madly] I’m a native Iowan, so of
course the Hawkeyes are dear to my heart too, partly because the University of
Iowa Library is collecting all my papers, manuscripts, fan mail, editorial
correspondence, and memorabilia for their popular culture collection. They say
it’s unusual to have such a big body of stuff – 80 contemporary romances, three
historical romances (so far) and well over 20 years of details of my writing career.
I say someday a grad student is going to be cursing me while she digs through
97 versions of one of my manuscripts to write her master’s thesis on how I did
it. :-)
The thing I like best about living in Iowa is
the seasons. Not this past summer so much – with the heat – but I love the
changing colors from pale green in spring to shocking red in fall. And kettle
corn. Definitely kettle corn at every summer festival…
Kim: I found this interesting tidbit on your
website,
"She is also the coauthor with her husband,
Michael W. Lemberger, of a book about the St. Louis
World's Fair of 1904."
What inspired you to write about this subject?
Leigh: The St. Louis World’s Fair was held in the
city’s Forest Park, and that’s where my husband and I honeymooned a zillion
years ago so the area is dear to our hearts. A while back he came across a
collection of stereoscopic (3D) photographs of the fair, taken in black and
white and then hand colored, so we used those views of the real people and
events and exhibits, along with new photos of the park as it is today and
souvenirs of the fair, to create the first all-color book about the 1904 World’s Fair.
Kim: You have a versatile career as a writer and
teacher - what have you learned from your experience as a teacher that
helps you as a writer?
Leigh: That there is always something else to learn!
A writer either pushes to get better, or she gets lazy and slides downhill –
there’s no such thing as reaching a level of competence and staying there.
Kim: What inspired THE WEDDING AFFAIR?
Leigh: My
husband, actually. When I finished writing the previous book, Just One Season in London, he wanted to
see the wedding actually take place. (How rare is that, for a guy to not only
read his wife’s spicy historical romances but offer useful suggestions to make
them better?) At that time I thought this story would happen at a regular house
party, but his comment made me think about weddings and all the possibility for
scandal as a varied crowd gathered to honor a bride and groom.
 |
| The Village Wedding by Sir Samuel Luke Fildes |
Kim: What's next for Leigh Michaels?
Leigh: I took a break after writing The Wedding Affair, but now I’m working
on another triple story – three heroes, three heroines, three romances
intertwined in one book. But I don’t like to talk too much about books while I’m writing them, because once I’ve told the story I don’t
feel as driven to write it!
THE WEDDING AFFAIR BY LEIGH
MICHAELS
IN STORES SEPTEMBER 2011
You’re invited to
the wedding of the year!
The Duke of Somervale, whose sister’s wedding is the event
of the ton, is fighting off debutantes and desperately needs help from
beautiful, stubborn Olivia Reyne. But she is engrossed with problems engulfing
her dearest friends and family. The last thing Olivia needs is to be embroiled
with a duke whose dark gaze makes her forget herself entirely...
Discover a new side of a beloved
author as Leigh Michaels draws you into the glittering, glitzy world of Regency
England and an affair you’ll never forget.
Mahalo, Leigh,
for joining us at SOS Aloha! Check out my five
star review at Amazon (at this link) and Goodreads (at this link).
Soucebooks is giving away two sets of Leigh’s trilogy: The
Mistress’ House, Just One Season in London and The Wedding
Affair … oh, wouldn’t I like to win one set! To enter the
giveaway,
1. Leave a comment about a “scandalous” moment at a
wedding you attended.
My in laws recently played our wedding video to my children. They
laughed at the “cutting the cake”. To understand the humor,
let me share that my older brother was mentally handicapped. He
sat quietly through the service and reception. But when we saw that
we were cutting cake, he made a bee line to the action! Our video has
him pushing my husband out of the way for his slice. It truly made
the moment special! By the way, my brother was named Byron as
my father admired Lord Byron’s poetry.
2. This giveaway is open to US and Canadian residents
only but I encourage all readers to comment as weddings are unique around the
world.
3. Comments are open through Saturday, September 3, 10 pm in Hawaii. I’ll post
the winner on Sunday, September 4.
Mahalo,
Kim in Hawaii
Kim in Hawaii
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| alohabridal.info |
I can't think of any scandalous moment at a wedding. All the ones I have been to went fine except for the time the best man passed out and fell off the altar.
ReplyDeleteI've never been to a scandalous wedding either. My cousin and I were known to do one to many shots years ago at family weddings and nine months later he had a baby.
ReplyDeleteI've never been to a scandalous wedding. They have all been pretty normal. No one even fainted! lol
ReplyDeleteThe only "kind of" scandalous wedding I've been to was the wedding of my brother-in-law's sister. For a while it looked like the groom was not going to show up. I was probably about eleven or twelve at the time, and can remember that there was a bit frenzy because he was not there, and the bride was all upset. But then he ended up showing, and they did get married. During the ceremony she walked up a couple of stairs and ripped her dress. I remember it being very quiet in the church and then there was this loud ripping sound. It's been many years now and they are stilll married.
ReplyDeletecsolinda(at)hotmail(dot)com
I love the stories -- keep them coming! Thanks, everyone, for stopping by to help celebrate.
ReplyDeleteHi Leigh! Congrats on the new release!
ReplyDeleteI'd say this was pretty scandalous (if anyone else at the wedding found out) and VERY inappropriate:
My bff and I were going out to the car to get our change of clothes for the reception. We passed by one of the cars IN THE CHURCH PARKING LOT and one of the bridesmaids and the groom's friend were getting busy (hope he's tinted his windows since). IN A CHURCH PARKING LOT! I though they'd get struck by lightning. My bff and I never told anyone about that. lol.
This trilogy sounds wonderful! I've never read a book by Ms. Michaels so this would be great to win. The most scnadalous thing I know of that happened at a wedding I attended was for one of my best friends- after the ceremony the bridal party stopped for "drinks" at a bar on the way to the reception, the bride and groom both got a little too drunk and as the bride went to get into the limo the groom tripped in the parking lot and ripped the back part of her dress, taking the skirt part off. They had to stop at a store to get white thread and a needle and when they got to the reception - both my other friend and I (who now how to sew) went out and made a temporary repair so that she could cut the cake, take the first dance and have some photos taken before she changed to an emergency outfit her mom went back to the house for. Both her parents and her inlaws were a little ticked off...but luckily they are still married, have a little boy and now everyone laughs about the reception.
ReplyDeleteNow, my sister has the best wedding scandal story from a wedding she attended that ended up in a real Hatfields and McCoy brawl between the two families that I wish I had attended!
The weddings that I attended were all uneventful bordering on boring. LOL
ReplyDeleteWell, not really scandalous but I just attended a wedding that included 5 Newfoundlands. A couple of them barked when they asked the question about does anyone object to this marriage lol. And my husband was late for ours but that's a whole 'nother story lol.
ReplyDeletecatslady
I haven't been to a wedding where there was anything scandalous - that I'm aware of. How boring is that??
ReplyDeleteYears ago, I was at a wedding reception where the cake cutting ceremony became too lively. It ended up with bride and groom throwing chunks of cake at each other and screaming unkind words. Not pretty. They are still married, though.
ReplyDeleteThe closest thing to a scandal that I can think of came at my now brother-in-law's and best friend's rehearsal night for their wedding. My DH was best man and I was maid-of-honor. When I walked in, he started staring at me for several minutes without saying a word. All I could think of was that I didn't like the way he was looking at me, and guess I stared back at him. Everyone was talking about it for months afterward. We had our first date on the next day after their wedding and got married a little over a year later.
ReplyDeleteNot scandalous but my cousin's wedding was rife with near misses.
ReplyDeleteHer father was dead, so her brother was to give her away. He never made the plane due to a recurrence of malaria. My father had to come up with tux at the last moment. (I think a tailor friend opened after hours to help out.)
A bridesmaid never made it out of Japan due to a typhoon.
The non-drinking family of the groom enjoyed the rehearsal dinner party so much, my dad had to restock the bar for the reception.
And the groomsmen taped "help" to the black soles of the groom's shoes, knowing he would be kneeling during mass.
The wedding was on Halloween and the men were in black and the bridesmaids in orange.
Unfortunately, the photographer never showed up, and I at 12, armed with a Kodak, missed memorializing some great moments.
Oh do I have a scandalous moment at a wedding for you. My brother was getting married for 4th time...*sigh* and if that isn't bad enough...they had the reception at one of my soon to be sister in laws house. She made a point of telling everyone not to get into the refrigerator that was in the corner..that was the owners fridge..our fridge with the drinks for all of the guests was over by the food. Well at the time my mom and her boyfriend were really heavy drinkers and they looked in the fridge they weren't allowed in and saw 2 cases of beer. Oh no.
ReplyDeleteAs we were leaving my brother and sister in law asked everyone to take some of the left over food with them so we didn't leave to much for the owner of the house...instead of taking a bunch of food..my mom and her boyfriend went over to the forbidden fridge and started piling the beer into her purse, and into a reusable bag he brought with him...
Everyone saw them doing this and we never lived it down and this was 17 years ago...lol
Oh and congratulations on the new release! I can't believe I forgot to say that. The interview was insightful. I love getting to know a little bit more about the authors I read :) Can't wait to read this book. I love a good romance story.
ReplyDeleteI have never been to a scandalous wedding! Would like to though! Thanks for sharing today!
ReplyDeleteHave never been to a scandalous wedding.
ReplyDeleteI have never been to a scandalous wedding. TBH, I'm not sure how I would handle myself if I were to see something scandalous.
ReplyDeleteCongrats on the new book. Ottumwa, Iowa -- isn't that where Radar O'Reilly was from?
ReplyDeleteLove all the wedding stories!
The scandalous wedding I attended was my sister's. I was maid of honor. She was feeling queasy in the morning, and I said it was nerves. In the middle of the ceremony she looked at me and said she was going to throw up, then she thrust her bouquet at me, turned around and ran down the aisle for the bathroom in the bride's room. I ran after her, leaving the groom and wedding party all in bewilderment. I think some in the audience thought she had cold feet. She came back down and finished the ceremony, but was looking a little yellow around the gills. She sat on a chair in her reception line because she as so tired and, I later found out, that a lot of the people there assumed she was pregnant and "had to get married." (She's not that kind of girl.) Turns out she had hepatitis (had to cut the honeymoon short). I can't remember if it was A or B type, but we all had to get gammaglobulin shots (painful!) and her eyes looked like they had been colored in with a yellow highlighter. We think she got Hep from a tanning booth. They did have their first child six years later and have been married for 26 years this summer.
~Janet
*Waving to Leigh and Kim!*
ReplyDeleteLeigh, I was so pleased to see your interview with Kim today! I'll never forget that it was during your presentation at the writing conference in Madison that I first heard of RWA ;). CONGRATS on the release of The Wedding Affair this month!
As for a wedding moment...I went to one where the groomsmen were all very drunk and one of them got the idea that they should start drinking champagne out of the bridesmaids' shoes at the reception. Yuck! I know there are more scandalous stories out there, but the memory of it still makes me cringe every time ;).
No scandalous wedding moment/story to share, but I'm enjoying everyone else's stories!
ReplyDeleteCongrats on the new release, Leigh!
I can't really think of any scandalous wedding stories but when watching my sister's wedding video, I loved seeing my grandfather falling asleep. To be fair, the service was long and by that time, he had 9 children that had married (most more than once) along with numerous grandchildren who had married (many also more than once). I am sure that weddings were very boring to him.
ReplyDeleteMy favorite wedding memory was my grandparents 50th wedding when they renew their vows. So sweet and beautiful.
I haven't been to too many weddings and it's safe to say I haven't been privy to any scandalous moment. Those moments are experience in books. I do have a guilty pleasure though and sometimes like to peek into other people's scary bride moments. There is this site with so many horror stories and some are quite entertaining. The site is Etiquette Hell (dot) com.
ReplyDeleteThese stories remind me of great moments like my granddaughter yawhing through her dad's and step-mom's wedding...
ReplyDeleteAnd the day when my husband and I renewed our vows and friends gathered round us to share a blessing, hands outstretched. I looked up to see my BFF blessing me with the Vulcan "live long and prosper" salute!
Yes, Ottumwa is where Radar (the character, not the actor) is from in the TV show and movie M*A*S*H -- though the city is not much like the way it was portrayed there. No dirt streets. :-)
Thank you, everybody, for the warm welcome today -- and all the great comments.
I can't think of a scandalous moment at any of the weddings I've attended.
ReplyDeleteMy favorite wedding recolection isn't as much scandolous as funny and fitting. When my rather staid younger son got married his older brother was his best man and in true fasion gave a great (but humorous) "toast" to his younger brother. At the time I was amazed that he didn't include any of his usual "jokes" but was rather quite serious. That all changed when the band started playing after the couple's first waltz all of a suddent my younger son's "big brother" led out a collection of my "just married" son's best college friends (The Citadel a rather "sedate" institution), the band struck up and they did a roaring redition and danced to "YMCA" with all the necessary arm movements!
ReplyDeleteNeedless to say the elegant reception rapidly turned into a roaring party with toasts and a frolicking good time was had by all!
I guess the only semi-scandalous things I can think of was our insistence at paying for the wedding party's outfits (I never do understand forcing some poor soul to pay for an outfit that you like) and...my husband threatening to start the ceremony before his mother arrived very tardily (having been tho only one who did not stay in the hotel overnight with everyone else)!
ReplyDeleteINTERNATIONAL
ReplyDeleteI went to a wedding, years ago now, where the bride wore black. She decided that it was her wedding & she could wear what she liked & wasn't black slimming? It was not a church wedding, but none-the-less scandalous!!! One of the elderly aunts said she may as well have worn red like a scarlet woman & be done with it. It was hilarious from a spectator's point of view.
This wasn't really scandalous but funny. When my son got married his wife wanted lots of music in the ceremony... my grandson (6 yrs old) was a jr. groomsman, the ceremony lasted almost an hour, halfway thru my grandson was "dancing" needing "to go"... finally I motioned for him to come to me and my dad took him to the men's room. I felt so sorry for him that day!
ReplyDeleteCongrats on the new release, would love to read this series!
Great interview, Kim you're the best!~
I actualy haven't been to a wedding since my mom's when I was twelve, and nothing scandalous happened at that one-- it was very lovely :-)
ReplyDeleteThe only wedding I've ever been to was when I was seven years old. As far as I know, nothing scandalous happened - but I was seven and paying more attention to my hungry stomach than everyone around me!
ReplyDeleteI've heard of some fairly provocative things happening at weddings, but I never saw anything happen myself.
ReplyDelete