Ashlyn Macnamara

Some Pieces Are More Interesting Than Others

Ashlyn — Thu, 09 May 2013 23:34:31 +0000

Bumming Around–A Quest for Cheek

Ashlyn — Sat, 20 Apr 2013 13:10:42 +0000

Ashlyn MacnamaraAshlyn MacnamaraI have never before attended the Romantic Times Booklovers Convention, a situation I plan to remedy in about two weeks. And if the convention itself didn’t offer enough activities, I plan on adding a quest to my to-do list. Here’s why. Back in January, my editor sent me my cover art for my second book. Once I got done wiping the drool off my keyboard, I asked her for the name of the model. I may have had a wild idea of inviting him to my release party. However, my editor side-stepped the question of the man’s identity, leaving me to make up a name for him. In my head he’s Mr. Buns-of-Steel. Now I have it on relatively good authority, having read recaps of past conventions, that cover models attend the RT events, which leads me to my quest....

The Great Weight-Loss Secret

Ashlyn — Mon, 18 Mar 2013 14:03:09 +0000

Ashlyn MacnamaraAshlyn MacnamaraI logged onto Amazon this morning, as you do when you have a book out, to check on my ranking. I know, an author can drive herself nuts doing this, and I promise I’m not checking every hour. Most of the time anyway… Imagine my shock when I saw that A Most Scandalous Proposal was ranked #4. NUMBER 4!!! OMG, that’s the best I’ve ever seen it. Granted, it was in Books > Health, Fitness & Dieting > Relationships > Mate Seeking which isn’t exactly its proper category, but I’ll take it. And then I got to thinking… My characters are seeking mates. They are in relationships. And you can use my book as a means to losing weight. Yeah, seriously. Let me tell you how. You don’t need much. Just a copy of my book and a treadmill. And...

Happy Book Birthday!

Ashlyn — Tue, 26 Feb 2013 06:00:55 +0000

Ashlyn MacnamaraAshlyn MacnamaraIt’s here at last, the birthday of my debut, A Most Scandalous Proposal. And let me tell you, this has been one long pregnancy. Three years, in fact. Yep, I started writing this book in 2010. I can show you its conception, even. No, this isn’t the kind of overshare you see on certain blogs. Really, it’s not TMI. Or pehaps it is, but it’s more scary than anything else. See, I’m going to show you my notebook. Back in early 2010, I wasn’t even planning on writing Regencies. I was working on a series of historical romances set during the American Revolution and just after. But then I read, in rapid succession, two Regency-set novels that changed the course of my writing life. The first was Beverley Kendall’s debut Sinful Surrender. The heroine of that book suffered from an...

Trailer!

Ashlyn — Fri, 15 Feb 2013 21:16:39 +0000

And Now For Something Completely Different

Ashlyn — Tue, 12 Feb 2013 14:00:27 +0000

Ashlyn MacnamaraAshlyn MacnamaraRegular readers, if any, will have noted my debut is coming out in, well, two weeks. *Gulp* However, I’m not here to talk about that today. I’m here to talk about my second book, A Most Devilish Rogue, which now has a cover. And what a cover it is. My second book features George Upperton, a fellow who fancies himself fairly cynical, fairly jaded, and something of a dandy. Given the title, I expected a beefcake cover. A beefcake cover I has, and I love it. Cut for maximum suspense and drama. Click here: You can meet this fine fellow in person at your favorite bookstore on August 27, 2013. BTW, Lady B will be hosting me and a few friends on Valentine’s day at The Ballroom Blog. See you there. I believe George might put in an appearance. This...

Gearing Up For My Blog Tour

Ashlyn — Mon, 04 Feb 2013 07:00:34 +0000

Ashlyn MacnamaraAshlyn MacnamaraIt’s February already. How is that possible? It seems like not that long ago, I was trying to figure out how to apply the advice my editor gave me in my first ever revisions letter. Now that book is coming out in three weeks and I’m popping my head up for a moment from the revisions on my second book. I’ve got a blog tour planned over the next couple of months and my first stops begin this week. Tomorrow I’m doing an interview over at Lost In Fiction. As well, I’ve written a post for the Romance at Random blog.The good people at Random House are also giving away some advance copies of A Most Scandalous Proposal, so I hope to see you in the comments. On Thursday the 7th (my birthday, but that’s a secret–I’ve reached the age...

Oh Christmas Tree

Ashlyn — Tue, 18 Dec 2012 15:47:47 +0000

Ashlyn MacnamaraAshlyn MacnamaraI’m not sure I can think of a more iconic symbol of the season than the Christmas tree. Whether you go to your local tree lot or, in the words of Clark Griswold, head “out into the country in the old front-wheel drive sleigh to embrace the frosty majesty of the winter landscape and select that most important of Christmas symbols” or horrors, trot out an artificial tree that does its duty year after year, as long as you celebrate Christmas, you probably wouldn’t pass on a decorated piece of greenery in your home. As strange as it might be to contemplate, though, Christmas trees were not always a mainstay of the winter holidays in the English-speaking world. In German-speaking countries, they’ve been a mainstay of the winter holidays since at least the 16th century. George III’s wife, Charlotte of...

Holiday Must-Haves

Ashlyn — Tue, 11 Dec 2012 09:00:32 +0000

Ashlyn MacnamaraAshlyn MacnamaraYesterday, I guest blogged at Chicklets In the Kitchen about some of the Christmas traditions my French-Canadian in-laws observe. But the comments got me thinking back a bit further in time to my own childhood. Someone mentioned their typical Christmas morning breakfast, something you could eat quickly before diving into the real business of opening presents, and I remembered we had a breakfast like that, too. On Christmas morning, we opened our presents to the lingering scents of yeast and cinnamon, butter and brown sugar, because my mom often made sticky buns for the occasion. Sticky buns are all kinds of delicious and all kinds of verboten in these days of low-fat, low-sugar, gluten-free everything. And the best part is? There’s a make-ahead trick so you’re not up at 3 AM kneading bread dough and waiting for it to rise....

The Next Big Thing

Ashlyn — Mon, 03 Dec 2012 09:00:36 +0000

Ashlyn MacnamaraAshlyn MacnamaraMy friend Selena Fulton tagged me to participate in this round-robin interview, so here I am, talking about my second book. What is your working title of your book? The working title was RUINED, which I loved because the word could apply to both the hero and heroine, in more than one sense, but my publisher decided it was too negative for a romance. So they retitled it A MOST DEVILISH ROGUE. And that description most definitely does apply to the hero. Where did the idea come from for the book? George Upperton, the hero of this book, appears as a sidekick in my debut, A MOST SCANDALOUS PROPOSAL. I admit to developing a bit of a crush on his wise-cracking, cynical self, so I knew eventually I would write his story. And then a scene popped into my head...