Aloha to Shana Galen and I KISSED A ROGUE (Covent Garden Cubs Book 3)

Shana Galen is celebrating the upcoming elease of I KISSED A ROGUE, Book 3 in her Covent Garden Cubs series.  This gorgeous cover is available March 1 from Sourcebooks.  Shana joins me for a cozy chat ...

Shana Galen is the bestselling author of fast-paced adventurous Regency historicals, including the RT Reviewers' Choice The Making of a Gentleman. Booklist says, "Galen expertly entwines espionage-flavored intrigue with sizzling passion," and RT Bookreviews calls her "a grand mistress of the action/adventure subgenre." She taught English at the middle and high school level off and on for eleven years. Most of those years were spent working in Houston's inner city. Now she writes full time. She's happily married and has a daughter who is most definitely a romance heroine in the making. Shana loves to hear from readers, so send her an email or see what she's up to daily on Facebook and Twitter.

Learn more about Shana and her books at shanagalen.com.

Kim: Let’s chat about kisses. What is your favorite flavor of Hershey’s Kisses?

Shana: I would have to say caramel. I love everything caramel. Last year I went vegan, so I don’t eat Hershey’s kisses anymore, but I have found some yummy caramel candies made out of coconut milk that are fabulous.

Kim: How do you come up with your character's names for the historical setting?

Shana: This is always a challenge because I want to use names that are historically accurate, but I don’t want the characters to seem too old-fashioned. Mildred and Archibald just aren’t sexy names to modern readers. So I spend some time looking at lists of people from the Regency period and going over popular names for the time. Brook was actually a popular name for a man. I know now we think of Brooke as a feminine name, but I think it still has a masculine ring. Lila is short for Lillian-Anne, which were also common Regency names. I don’t think a woman would have been named Lila in the Regency, but her family might have given her that name as a nickname, especially if she has a younger sibling who has trouble pronouncing her full name.

Kim: While researching for your Covent Garden Cubs series, can you share a fun fact about Covent Garden and/or Bow Street Runners?

Shana: I think the most interesting facts I learned were about how closely the classes of London lived to each other. Mayfair might have been the bastion of the wealthy and powerful, but it was right next to St. Giles, a very poor area with lots of crime. And while the Bow Street Runners were mostly very honest, admirable men charged with an impossible task of controlling the rampant crime in London, not all were so honest. It’s not hard to understand why when right across from their offices in Bow Street a tavern called The Brown Bear housed criminals who operated freely out of the establishment. Some of the Runners who drank there made deals with the criminals and ran schemes with them. But if it wasn’t for these first “police officers,” London wouldn’t be the city it is today, and it’s certainly much safer than it was 200 years ago.

Covent Garden, 1726

Peter Angelis

Mahalo, Shana, for joining us today ... and congratulations on the new release!

Once she spurned the man…

When the Duke of Lennox hires Sir Brook Derring, England’s best investigator, to find his daughter, Brook intends only to rescue the lady and return to his solitary life. He deals with London’s roughest criminals every day of the week; surely he should be able to endure seeing his first love again—the perfect girl who broke his heart...

Now her life depends on him

Lady Lillian-Anne Lennox has always done her best to live up to her father’s standards of perfection—at the cost of following her heart. When she’s kidnapped and her perfect life is shattered, Lila has another chance. Together, Lila and Brook navigate not only the dark and deadly side of London, but the chasm of pride and prejudice that divides them.

I am giving away a book choice from my convention stash, including several titles from Shana Galen, to one randomly selected commenter.  To enter the giveaway,

1.  What is your favorite flavor of Hershey's Kisses?  Mine is Macadamia Nut which can only be found in Hawaii.

2.  Comments are open through Saturday, February 27, 10 pm in Baltimore.

3.  I'll post the winner on Sunday, February 28.

Mahalo,

Kim in Baltimore

Aloha Spirit in Charm City

More books in the series ...