Get to Know the Author: Sarah M. Eden

Today we welcome Regency romance author, Sarah M. Miller, back to JDP NEWS! I have previously interviewed Sarah about her writing and research methods. You can read that interview here. Today we visit with Sarah about her some of her reading preferences.

JDP:  Sarah, did your mother read to you as a child?

Sarah: I didn't realize until I was an adult that there were moms who didn't read to their children. Stories and reading were just part of my childhood and I assumed for a long time they were integral to everyone's early years. Here's yet another way in which I didn't realize what a fabulous mom I have. Makes a girl wanna call her mom and say "Thanks!"

JDP: Do you remember a favorite book from your childhood?

Sarah: One that has always stuck with me is The Butter Battle Book by Dr. Seuss. When I was a wee little girl (even wee-er than I am now), I couldn't get this book out of my head, and not because I loved it that much. It stuck with me because it bothered me so much. This book, you understand, does not have an ending. I knew how I wanted it to end, but that wasn't good enough for me. I wanted to know how it actually ended, not how I imagined it. I don't know if that makes me OCD or just an author. Maybe there's not really a difference between the two.

JDP: Name a favorite author as an adult.

Sarah: Most of my favorite authors are adults. (Just kidding, Joyce.) I love, yes LOVE, Georgette Heyer. I also rather envy her… I have a whole "covet thy favorite author's authorness" thing going on with Georgette Heyer. She is credited with inventing the historical romance genre, which makes her extremely cool. She also had the luxury and ability to write Regency romances in the language of early 19th Century England. Modern readers and publisher won't go for that, so Regency romance authors today have to seriously modernize their word choice. Heyer is my go-to author for a Regency escape. With her, your guaranteed to laugh, to loose yourself in a by-gone era and sigh contentedly at the end.

JDP: As readers of JDP NEWS know (or should by now), Georgette Heyer is one of my all-time favorites, too, and I don’t even write Regencies! It’s her humor that keeps me coming back and back and back again. Make me laugh as an author and I’m your forever. :-) But back to our 21^st Century Regency author guest! Can you share with us a book you’ve read multiple times?

Sarah: Persuasion, by Jane Austen. Her most famous work is, by far, Pride and Prejudice, but I think Persuasion is her best. It was the last book she finished before her death and was published posthumously. I think it is her most mature work and the heroine, Anne Elliot, and hero, Capt. Frederick Wentworth, are my favorites--they are so carefully crafted and so tenderly portrayed. I have read it over and over again.

JDP: Kindle, Nook, or good old hard copy?

Sarah: I think if I had a Kindle or a Nook I would be more of a fan of ebooks. As things sit now, I do my ebook reading on a teeny, tiny iPhone with a crack in the screen. I wouldn't recommend it. So, for the time being, I choose "good old hard copy."

JDP: What’s your favorite place to read?

Sarah: Anywhere my children can't find me.

JDP: What are your three favorite reading genres.

Sarah: 1-Romance; 2-Historical Romance; 3-Regency Romance (Did I mention I like romance?)

JDP: What’s the last book you read?

Sarah: Frederica, by Georgette Heyer. That one never disappoints!

JDP: Agreed! What are you’re reading now?

Sarah: Sense and Sensibility, Jane Austen

JDP: What’s next on your reading list?

Sarah: Cross My Heart, Julie Wright -AND- The Legend of Shannonderry, Carole Warburton

JDP: What you would like to read more of? (author, genre, etc)

Sarah: I would just love to have time to read more in general. Life has gone crazy lately and I feel like I don't have enough time to get through the list of books I want to read.

JDP: Share a favorite book that you’ve read in the last 12 months

Sarah: This is likely not at all what anyone would expect me to say, but here goes. I've been doing some research (something I do a lot of) for an upcoming project and came across a book I absolutely devoured. Scotland: a concise history by Fitzroy Maclean. It was fascinating in a very I'm-a-history-nerd kind of way. I read it three times before the library absolutely insisted I return it.

JDP: As a history nerd myself, I can relate, Sarah! (Well, not to Scotland, but give me a biography on Henry II and I’m off to the races.) Thank you so much for visiting today.

More about Sarah! : At the ripe old age of five, Sarah M. Eden wrote her first book. Entitled “The Sun,” this work of literary genius contained such awe inspiring passages as, “The sun is yellow.” It was a ground-breaking success among the kindergartens of Roadrunner Elementary. On the heels of this triumph, she went on to write absolutely nothing for many, many years. Now, at the ripe old age of a bit more than five, Sarah has ten historical romances to her name, including Courting Miss Lancaster (2009), The Accidental Wife (2010) and 2008 Whitney Award Finalist, Seeking Persephone.

When not reading, writing or researching, Sarah spends her free time avoiding responsible things like cooking dinner, doing laundry and sleeping regularly. She can be found on the web at www.SarahMEden.com, where she makes friends, influences people and entertains herself.

Books published (and currently available):

Courting Miss Lancaster

The Kiss of a Stranger

Summary of The Kiss of a Stranger: 

When Crispin, Lord Cavratt, thoroughly and scandalously kisses a serving woman in the garden of a country inn, he assumes the encounter will be of no consequence. But he couldn’t be more mistaken— the maid is not only a lady of birth, she’s the niece of a very large, exceptionally angry gentleman, who claims Crispin has compromised his niece beyond redemption. The dismayed young lord has no choice but to marry Miss Catherine Thorndale, who lacks both money and refinement and assumes all men are as vicious as her guardian uncle. Trapped between an unwanted marriage and a hasty annulment, which would leave his reputation tainted and Catherine’s utterly ruined, Crispin begins guiding his wife’s transformation from a socially petrified country girl to a lady of society. Their unfolding relationship reveals encouraging surprises for both of them, and privately, each of them wonders if theirs may become a true marriage of the heart. But their hopes are dashed when forces conspire to split asunder what fate has granted, and as a battle of wits escalates into a life-threatening confrontation, will it be possible for Crispin and Catherine to live happily ever after?