Author Override: Manda Collins

Author Override is the place where authors take the reins and take you on a journey into their world. Some may allow you into their private writing dens. Others may take you along with them on research trips or interviews. Whatever the case may be, sit back, relax and enjoy the ride because here you’ll get an in-depth look into an author’s musings.

To the Victor Go the Spoil(er)s

If you’ve been in the internet version of Romancelandia for any amount of time, you know that one of the most grievous offenses you can commit against your fellow readers is to spoil a book for another reader. For those of you who don’t know, spoiling is when you openly reveal some plot point or detail from a book that is not revealed in the back cover copy or promotional materials. Or depending on the reader, anything about the book that the reader wishes to experience on their own as part of the reading experience.

As a reader, I am of two minds regarding spoilers. On the one hand, I want to be surprised as I’m reading. On the other hand, there are certain things that I’d much rather know going into a book so that I can make a decision about whether to read the book at all. For instance, there’s a certain mystery writer I’ve been glomming lately who killed off a major character in one of her two series. I’d heard about it at the time, and how many romance/mystery readers were angry and disappointed by the author’s decision. But, since I wasn’t reading the series I didn’t have an opinion about it one way or the other. When the first book in the “killing off” series became available for free as an e-book, I’d long since forgotten about the scandal and picked it up and started reading. But something was niggling me about it in the back of my mind. A quick Google search told me that the character I was really enjoying in the freebie was the one who got killed off. So I made the decision to stop reading before my heart got broken. Then I picked up the second series and started reading it and I love it. I just hope she doesn’t decide to kill off any of these characters!

In my current release, HOW TO ROMANCE A RAKE, there’s a detail about the heroine’s disability that I would rather not get spoiled. But when I got my ARCs from the publisher, I saw they’d put the Author’s Note—where I totally spill the beans about Juliet’s injury—in the front of the book! So I was, in essence, spoiling my OWN book!

I have a friend who no matter what the book is, reads the ending first to make sure that the hero and heroine she wants to get together actually gets together. I’m not quite that bad. As long as neither the hero nor the heroine is killed off, I prefer not knowing what’s going to happen next. To me that’s one of the main joys of reading. And even though I’ve read more books than I can count, I still remember some of the most exciting moments where I was genuinely surprised by the outcome. Starting way back when I was thirteen and was SHOCKED to see Jane Austen’s EMMA paired up with what to me was an old man, ie. Mr. Knightly, who was about the same age that I am now.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Manda Collins spent her teen years wishing she’d been born a couple of centuries earlier, preferably in the English countryside. Time travel being what it is, she resigned herself to life with electricity and indoor plumbing, and read lots of books. An affinity for books led to a graduate degree in English, followed by another in Librarianship. By day, she works as an academic librarian at a small liberal arts college, where she teaches college students how to navigate the tangled world of academic research. A native of coastal Alabama, Manda lives in the house her mother grew up in with three cats, sometimes a dog, sometimes her sister, and more books than strictly necessary.

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What about you? Do you read all the spoilers you can get? Or do you try your darndest not to get spoiled? Are there some books that you remember being especially surprised about as you read them? Share ‘em with me! I’ll give away a copy of HOW TO ROMANCE A RAKE to a random commenter!

You can lead a wallflower to the ball, but you can’t make her bloom—unless one daring young bachelor turns up the heat…

What’s a nice girl like Miss Juliet Shelby doing at a place like Lord Deveril’s ballroom? With her shy demeanor, she’s a total stranger to the dance floor and a source of mockery for the ton. So imagine her surprise when Deveril gallantly comes to her defense—and offers to teach her to dance! Juliet can hardly believe the most handsome bachelor in London would notice her, until he takes her in his arms and sets her heart ablaze…

Lord Alec Deveril has never felt such a spark of attraction for an unmarried lady before. Unlike the “fashionable” ladies he’s accustomed to, Juliet possesses a generous spirit, a fiery intelligence—and an explosive secret. Deep in the London underworld, a dear friend has vanished, and Juliet fears the worst. Deveril insists on helping, escorting her through the darkest alleys in town. But he too is hiding a shocking secret—and the only way he can defeat the devil in his past is to seduce the angel in his arms…

READ OUR REVIEW

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ARC Review: How to Romance a Rake by Manda Collins

How to Romance a Rake

by Manda Collins

Ugly Ducklings #2

Miss Juliet Shelby has had a tendre for the dashing Lord Alec Deveril since she first met him, but as one of the "Ugly Ducklings" she knows he is well above her social standing and despite his gentlemanly manners and friendship she knows he will never want anything more. As well as being on a lower social rung, she is also crippled and cursed with a selfish overbearing mother who is ruthlessly intent on her marrying a man she finds repulsive and a little scary. But with one of Juliet's old friends disappearance and the offer of dancing lessons, Alec and Juliet become close and neither can seem to deny their attraction.

After reading How to Dance with a Duke I have been looking forward to reading the next in the Ugly Ducklings series and I wasn't disappointed, it was fun, romantic and sweet. As with How to Dance with a Duke the book had a mystery to be solved, which gave Juliet and Alec an excuse to spend time together, but more then that the mystery itself was genuinely interesting if not a little disturbing (in a good way!) and I liked the unexpected twist at the end.

Although the title of the book How to Romance a Rake is deceiving as I thought Alec was in no way rakeish at all, he was a gentleman and a very sweet, gallant one and I did like him. He was the kind of man you would bring to meet your parents but would still ravish you on the carriage back home! Juliet, although I preferred Cecily from the first book, I still really liked and it isn't often that you have a heroine with such a disfigurement.

This was an enjoyable almost a friends-to-lovers book where the hero and heroine were perfectly suited and an interesting mystery to make sure the story is told at a steady pace, I highly recommend it!

*ARC provided by publisher

Purchase Links: Amazon

Review: How to Dance with a Duke by Manda Collins

3.5 Feathers

How to Dance with a Duke

by Manda Collins

(Ugly Ducklings # 1)

Miss Cecily Hurston is on the hunt for a thief and a missing, possibly murdered, man to try and clear her scholarly father's name. Her father has been struck down by a stroke and is unable to communicate and his journals missing, the only place that may hold some clues is the Egyptian Club of which her father is a founder. Unfortunately a woman must be married to a member to enter, deciding that it is the only way Cecily is determined to be a marry by becoming a social success after years mouldering away as a bluestocking wallflower with her cousins, cruelly called "the Ugly Ducklings". However, a chance encounter with the new Duke of Winterson, Lucas, changes everything, especially as he is the older brother of the missing man and is determined to find him.

This is Manda Collins debut novel and I have to say it is fantastic, her writing is polished and her mixture of mystery and romance engrossing as well as a great change from the normally fairly straight forward historical romances. This book is comparable to Amanda Quick's books, which normally have some kind of mystery centered round a archeological or some type of intellectual pursuit and a romance between the main characters.

What I liked a most about this book was the characters of Cecily and Lucas, Cecily was a headstrong and clever female worried about her future, especially with her father ill. I liked her strong personality and also how she tried to use her intellect as a defense and a shield to hide herself away, she was a very well drawn character. Lucas was also very sweet, he was honorable and most of he had the good sense to fall in love with Cecily. The romance between them was there from the very beginning, you knew at least that they were attracted to each other, but it seemed that the romance grew from a friendship and respect for each other, rather then some mad desire to sleep with her, then fall in love.

The mystery element of the story was good, although perhaps not the strongest I have read, more it was a device for getting Lucas and Cecily together, but there were gaps where nothing was happening and I did guess the culprit fairly early. But this didn't detract from my enjoyment of the book.

But, although I did like this book and I had fun reading it, it hasn't captured me, it did have some great elements in it but it isn't a book that stands out too much from the crowd of other romances. But, I would definitely recommend it if you are looking for a quality example of a historical romance, and I will be looking out for the next book in the series. 

Purchase Links: Amazon