Friday, February 26, 2016

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

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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

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More books in the series ...


53 comments:

  1. We actually don't have Hershey's Kisses here. Deprived for sure!!

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  2. I have never had Hershey's Kisses, so I don't know what my favorite is. But anything with chocolate is delicious :)

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  3. not sure but love to many kinds to have a fave

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  4. Any kind of Hershey's Kisses is "to die for." With nuts is even better. Almonds are great. Macadamia nuts would also be great in Kisses. To bad they don't have them where I live. Mahalo.

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  5. I don't have a favorite kind of Hershey's Kisses - they're all good!

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  6. I like the Hershey Kisses with almonds the best.

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  7. I like the dark chocolate ones.

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  8. Love Hershey's Kisses - milk and dk choc are my favs.
    ladbookfan

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  9. I love Shana's books! As for kisses, the real thing are the best, but you are talking chocolate. Hmmm, I love dark chocolate so anything with that is good. :)

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  10. I too like them all (including dark lol). I just had some that had a cherry flavor that were very good.

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  11. I love Hershey Kisses period....I love them all.

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  12. So happy to see Shana's newest release, Kim! I love her stories. And after reading your interview with her I realize that times haven't changed that much in relation to economic classes living so close together. The street we live on is a quiet middleclass neighborhood with a good paved street, but just one street over is a noisy crime-ridden neighborhood with potholes in the street. And as to my favorite Hershey Kiss? Just the original plain ol' solid chocolate...as it melts blissfully and slowly in my mouth. Ha! Thanks for your post, Kim. jdh2690@gmail.com

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    1. Interesting, Janice. That's true in lots of areas in Houston too.

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  13. I don't like Hershey kisses, or their chocolate. It's too bitter for my taste. I've read all of Shana's books, so there's no need to enter me in to the contest.

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  14. Congratulations on the book, Shana! My favorite Hershey Kisses are the original milk chocolate ones! Macadamia sounds good, though, Kim!

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  15. I prefer dark chocolate, so I'll pick the Special Dark Kisses

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  16. Any kind of hershey is good except the white ones I don't like white chocolate so I don't eat those

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    1. Can you believe my daughter likes white chocolate? Weird, but then my husband does too.

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  17. My favorite flavor is milk chocolate with almonds. Congratulations on the new book, Shana. I am sure it will be another good one.

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  18. I don't get Hershey where I live. What am I missing?

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    1. Not a whole lot. They're good, but you probably have good chocolate where you are too.

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  19. I'd love to try the Macadamia Nut ones! My fav are almond ones. :-)

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  20. Original is my favorite. I think you can buy the macadamia nut ones at Chocolate World which is just outside of Hershey Park. You can visit Chocolate World for free and park there for free if you're just going to Chocolate World, otherwise, you have to pay the fee for the Park parking.

    Denise

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  21. Mm, never tried the Macadamia nuts but they sound delish. I like all the flavors but dark chocolate is my favorite. Or White. I'm not picky :)

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  22. Linda, you don't get Hershey's; so sorry; there are wonderful. I like all kind of chocolates, particularly chocolate covered nuts. And Dark Chocolate Macadamias are wonderful. Had people bring them to me from Hawaii.

    Patty B43

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  23. Congrats on the new release. Thank you for the giveaway. I love cherry cordial. So delish. The macadamia sounds amazing.
    Carol L
    Lucky4750 (at) aol (dot) com

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  24. Congrats on the new release. Thank you for the giveaway. I love cherry cordial. So delish. The macadamia sounds amazing.
    Carol L
    Lucky4750 (at) aol (dot) com

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  25. I like snickers and chocolate brownies. Outside of that, not much of chocolate lover.
    Karen T.

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