Welcome to the next interview in my Romance Thursdays series with Hallie Alexandra. If you missed the first post and interview with Giana Darling check it out now. Romance Thursdays is a feature that spotlights romance authors to highlight how amazing the romance writing community is.
Each week I’m will be interviewing a different romance author from across subgenres as well as both traditionally and self-published. I want to share their experience writing romance and why they love it so much. While also focusing on their writing and books.
This week on Angel Reads we have Hallie Alexander. Hallie is the author of the Sons of Neptune series, A Widow’s Guide to Scandal is the first book in the series and features heroic rebels at the brink of the American Revolution. You check out my review of A Widow’s Guide to Scandal now. Now let’s get into the interview.
Hi Hallie, and welcome to Angel Reads. For those that haven’t read anything by you yet. Tell us a little about yourself and your books?
Hi Angel. Thank you for having me here. When I’m not writing, I am a librarian in a very large public system and mom to three kids learning virtually this school year <sigh>. Before that, I was a cake decorator, and before that, a graphic designer. Would you believe I have a degree in Biology? I’m sure I’m not done figuring myself out yet.
When I started writing historical romance, I missed the memo it had to be Highlanders, Regency, or American West. Yeah, I know there are more historical sub-genres, but the American Revolution isn’t typically one of them. It’s always been a period that interested me. If I’m being honest, it was probably the clothes that drew me in. Then there’s the whole rebellion thing. I love me some nerdy, noble rebels.
I hope readers take a chance on A Widow’s Guide to Scandal even though it lacks a ‘most eligible duke’ who refuses to fall in love until he does because it features… a (wealthy) rebel rogue who refuses to fall in love until he does.
I posted the first chapter on my website. See if you like it!
Why did you start writing romance novels? Is there anything in particular that drew you to it over other genres?
Unlike a lot of romance authors, I didn’t grow up reading the genre. I came to it later in life after being drawn to and regularly dissatisfied by historical fiction. There simply wasn’t enough kissing! Or the love interest died!
As for why I started writing? I wanted to fill in the blanks for the folks for whom history disregarded.
You published your debut historical romance novel, A Widow’s Guide to Scandal, this year. What was that experience like?
I learned a big lesson along the way. Era and setting are everything in historical romance. Unfortunately for me, having read across sub-genres of both historical romance and fiction, I didn’t realize at the onset that there are specific sub-genres of historical romance that sell. My book is one of a handful of American Revolution romances. A few big names have sold books or novellas set during the American Revolution, such as Beverly Jenkins, Alyssa Cole, Laura Lee Guhrke, Julia Quinn, and believe it or not, Kerrelyn Sparks. None, obviously, made a career out of it.
Prior to accepting my contract with Soul Mate Publishing, I’d met with agents and editors at a conference who were enthusiastic about the plot of Scandal, but none had any interest in 1776 America. Ironically, all of their wishlists included new time periods and settings. I guess they wanted new, but not too new??
The one thing I did right on my path to publication was entering my manuscript into writing contests. It’s the best way to get industry feedback and get your manuscript into the hands of a decision-maker. One judge from the (NEORWA) Cleveland Rocks Romance Contest was the acquiring editor for Soul Mate Publishing.
What is your favourite thing about romance as a genre? Why do you like reading and writing it?
Absolutely the endings. No, the middle. Definitely the middle. Wait, the meet-cute. Ok, I like all the parts. The endings, because I don’t have to fear how they will end. Real-life can be too unreliable, I like my fiction full of hope and constancy. The middle, because that’s where the real work of chasing goals and falling in love happens. The characters are growing and doing on so many levels, it can be very challenging to juggle writing all the parts at once! And of course, the meet-cute. The, ‘Oh, you’re hot but toootttally not my type.’ Sure. That’s when the writer in me cracks her knuckles and says, “You sure?”
A Widow’s Guide to Scandal is a historical romance novel set in America. What drew you to writing historical romance? And what were the factors that made you decide to set it in the US?
About ten years ago, I took an American Revolution walking tour of the Connecticut town I used to live in. This was one of the Patriot towns Royal Governor Tryon burned to the ground—ok, the British left like four structures standing because the officers needed a place to sleep after all that destruction. I played around with “what if” and came up with “what if it were personal?” Then I played fast and loose with the facts because most of the time, the truth is harder to believe if told as fiction.
Of course, someone has to fall in love to make it all worth fighting for! Nothing says ‘grand gesture’ like, “I’m going to save not only you but your entire stupid town, risking my life to prove I’m worthy of your love.”
Let’s face it, there needs to be more than knuckle-bumping when it’s over. Look what they’ve gone through! They deserve everlasting love. BTW, none of that is spoilery because it’s a romance. You already know that character will have proven themselves worthy by the end. If it were historical fiction, one of them wouldn’t make it out alive or unscathed, and it would probably be the woman, leaving behind a shell of a man who will never love again. Why would I want to write that?
Who are some of your favourite romance authors? Who inspired you to write?
It’s a long list, for sure. My top two are Tessa Dare and Courtney Milan. I tried to come up with a third and realized that slot was crowded with a whole slew of talented writers. I need humour in my romance, characters with interests separate from their views on marriage, and a diverse cast.
I don’t care if your hero tied his cravat wrong, but London was a multicultural town from the beginning, and that ought to be reflected in historical romances set there. Unfortunately, though Tessa’s books are funny and populated with interesting characters, she falls short on diversity. Quite the opposite of Courtney’s whose recent books are very diverse and, incidentally, never read like a lecture or a cautious tale of what could happen if you dared to live your best life apart from the dominant (white, Christian, cishet, and wealthy) society.
Felicia Grossman, who ranks in that top three-tier, wrote two historical romances centred on Jewish characters. I hadn’t really thought about putting myself on the page like that when I started to write Scandal, but then Mrs Moskowitz—my apparent alter ego—showed up on the page. Since there was a vital Jewish community in Manhattan at the time of the Revolution, I saw no reason to send her and her outrageous friends away or change who they were. She happens to have a son of marrying age. I look forward to writing his story!
What are some of the ways that you think we can start overcoming the stigma of romance novels?
The next time someone tries to put down romance novels as smut, you can offer them a copy of your favorite book, and tell them they can either open it to page 224 if they think romance novels are just porn, or they can read it from cover to cover like a normal person, through all the stakes and rewards and personal growth, and allow their opinion on the genre to evolve organically.
(Just kidding. A hater’s gonna hate.)
Not everyone has to like reading romance just like I don’t have to like reading about gruesome murders. Emotional depth isn’t for everyone, and neither is gore.
But if the argument is that romance novels are too formulaic, the other big complaint about them, then I’m sure that reader prefers experimental literary fiction above all else, never touching a James Patterson or Agatha Christie. Guess what? All genre is formulaic because a reader comes to a book prepared to go on a journey, be it self-reflection, falling in love, solving a murder, or taking over the world. It’s all the same beats but with different interpretations. Just like music.
The bottom line is those readers who vocally shun romance because someone told them it’s shameful probably feels a lot of shame themselves for their own sexuality and for letting others think for them.
Oh, and while we’re at it, only romance authors should be allowed to write culture articles during the month of February. Books are not guilty pleasures; putting others down for what they enjoy is.
Do you currently have any books in the works? Is there anything that you are looking forward to writing, but haven’t started yet? Is there something different that you want to try writing?
Books 2 and 3 of my Sons of Neptune series are still in various stages of drafting.
I have a Gilded Age short romance in the Love All Year holidays anthology that came out September 22, and I absolutely loved writing it. Not only was it an #OwnVoices romance, but the timeline felt more accessible and personal than the 18th Century. I was able to pour through tons of photographs of Manhattan in the 1890s.
I may explore the Gilded Age again. There were so many advancements in science and engineering, and feminism! which leaves a lot for an author to play with. Plus, there was a huge wave of immigrants who came to America and made it a truly amazing place. So many heroes and heroines rising from the ashes of poverty and bigotry. My fingers itch to tell their stories!
Thank you so much for coming by Angel Reads. It was lovely having you here. And I can’t wait to read more of your books!
If you haven’t picked up A Widow’s Guide to Scandal by Hallie Alexander and you love historical romance then this one is for you. I had a blast this week and I hope that you enjoyed this interview with Hallie as much as I did.
If there is an author that you would like to see featured here, please do let me know and I will try my best. If you are a romance author and would like to be apart of Romance Thursdays, don’t hesitate to message me.
Have you read a book from Hallie Alexander before? Are you excited for more Romance Thursday posts? Let’s Chat!
About the Author
Hallie Alexander’s debut, A Widow’s Guide to Scandal, was published in 2020 by Soul Mate Publishing. It was a finalist in the 2019 Cleveland Rocks Romance Contest. Hallie writes steamy, American historical romances with noble heroes and strong heroines determined not to fall in love until they do. Expect lush history and lots of smooching. And, if there is an element of humor and hijinks, or a fraying in the fabric of the patriarchy? Even better. Hallie is a Northerner living in the South with her husband, three children, and Doodles of Mayhem™, Bruno and Willow.
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