Cate: Please welcome Berengaria Brown. Berengaria, will you please share a short bio with us?Berengaria: Berengaria is a multi-published author of erotic romance: contemporary, paranormal (ghosts, vampires and werewolves) and Regency-set historical. She loves to read all different kinds of romance so that is what she writes: one man/one woman; two women; two men; two men/one woman; three men…. Whatever the characters need for their very hot happily-ever-after, Berengaria makes sure they get it.
Cate: Tell us about “Lady Caroline’s Reward” and where it's available.
Berengaria: I have written several lesbian erotic romances but this is my first Regency-set one. The Regency period in England has fascinated me since I read Georgette Heyer as a young teenager, and especially the way the women of that day managed to circumvent the very strict rules of that time period to find happiness.
Cate: Please tantalize us with a story blurb or excerpt.
Berengaria: Lady Caroline Eversley is the only child of the Earl of Blackshire. He is growing forgetful and she needs a chaperone so hires Miss Dinah Watkin, a distant relative whom she met once at a family gathering and enjoyed good friendship with.While dealing with unwanted suitors, Dinah and Caroline fall in love, and Dinah teaches Caroline all about sex. But the problem of Caroline’s suitable chaperonage refuses to go away. And in Regency England, unmarried women had almost no rights. Whatever will happen to them as the Earl’s health fails?
Cate: What inspired you to write about the theme?
Berengaria: In all my books the characters dictate their own happy ever after. But with all the rules and regulations of that day—women had almost no rights at that time—I wondered how two women could ever find happiness without being forced into unwanted marriages.
Cate: How do you develop your plots and characters?
Berengaria: The characters appear in my head and start talking to me. Once I have an understanding of where we are going I start writing. Some days I think I just take dictation!
Cate: I love that. :) Do you feel as if the characters live with you as you write? Do they haunt your dreams?
Berengaria: I haven’t ever dreamed about them but they do get very bossy when they want their stories told. And sometimes they totally hijack the plot. In “Intensity” which is a contemporary MMF paranormal, the ghost just totally took over the book.
Cate: What's next for you?
Berengaria: I have a vampire story that came out on 11 November, called “Eternity” and a contemporary lesbian story, “Paige’s Passion” releasing in the new year.
Cate: Congrats! Any other published works?
Berengaria: “Eternity” will be joining “Intensity” and “Complexity” which are out at Siren BookStrand. They are all contemporary-set paranormals, all set in the same world and are MMF stories.
Already out at Torquere with “Lady Caroline’s Reward”, are “Dogged Pursuit” an MM werewolf, and “Seducing Susannah” an MMF short story.
“Huldah’s Two Hikers” another MMF contemporary, is available at Whiskey Creek Torrid.
“Dinner Delights”, an MF, “Carnal Connections”, an MMM, and “Loving Lydia” an FF story, are all contemporaries available at Breathless Press.
At Ellora’s Cave I have “Dance For Three”, and “Double Satisfaction” which are both MMF contemporaries and releasing TODAY is “Summer Sizzle” an MM contemporary..
And at Silver Publishing I have “Rowena’s Ghostly Menage”, a paranormal ménage but with an MF HEA, and “Chinese Love Triad”, a contemporary MMF.
Cate: Describe your writing in three words.
Berengaria: erotic, light-hearted, tender.
Cate: What’s the most challenging aspect of writing? Most rewarding?
Berengaria: The most challenging is to ensure the plot is coherent with no errors of fact or consistency. The most rewarding thing is when someone says they read one of my books and liked it.
Cate: What’s the most interesting comment you have received about your books?
Berengaria: People have been encouraged by the fact that a heroine with faults and flaws can still find love and happiness.
Cate: Flawed characters are among the most interesting, I believe. Who are some of your favorite authors and books? What are you reading now?
Berengaria: Georgette Heyer is the author who got me addicted to Regency romances, and Jaid Black started me reading erotic romance.
Recently I have been reading Tracy Cooper-Posey’s, “Blue Knight”, the latest book in her Guns ‘n’ Lovers series; Anny Cook’s “Alpheli Solution”; and Amarinda Jones’ “Always You”.
Cate: Where can readers find you on the web?
Berengaria: I update my blog several times a week: http://berengariasblog.blogspot.com/
My website is: http://berengariabrown.webs.com/
Friend me on Facebook, follow me on Twitter.
Cate: Is there anything you’d like to ask our readers?
Berengaria: I write across a huge range of genres. I’d love to know which ones they prefer.
Lady Caroline’s Reward PG Excerpt
Later that evening, the women sat by the fire in the book room, their fingers moving diligently as they sewed. Hugh, Thomas and John were all upstairs with Caroline’s father. His suite of rooms was always heated warmly and he was never left unattended even for a moment.
Dinah gazed at Caroline. She really did look lovely in the firelight, her pale cheeks slightly flushed by the warmth of the fire, the long hair coiled neatly on her neck and gleaming with reddish highlights, her slender fingers busily employed mending one of her father's shirts.
Dinah's heart lurched. She could fall in love with this woman. Not only was Caroline beautiful, but she was also highly intelligent and courageous in the way she was facing the adversity of her father's, and therefore her own, situation.
"Have you ever been kissed?" Dinah asked suddenly.
"Well, just a few quick pecks by boys who shouldn't have when I was younger. At family gatherings and such. And one or two of the suitors have tried. That's why I made sure Hugh Howel was always with me. They totally ignored the fact my maid Betty was in the room!"
"Would you like to be kissed? Properly kissed?"
"But who-- What? You--"
"Yes, me. May I kiss you?" Dinah put her needlework down on the side table and slid along the sofa to the end where Caroline sat.
Caroline's hands dropped to the sofa. With no objection forthcoming, very gently, Dinah turned Caroline's head toward her and kissed those ripe pink lips. Softly, gently, sweetly, but with enough heat and passion to warm their lips. Very soon, Caroline responded, one hand reaching up to rest on Dinah's arm.
Caroline's lips softened under Dinah's caress, and Dinah licked along the seam, urging her to open her mouth. Caroline did, and Dinah’s tongue slipped inside, very gently running along Caroline's teeth and all around the warm wet cavern.
Dinah's hands firmed on Caroline's head, tilting it slightly as her tongue thrust into the younger woman's mouth.
Caroline groaned and responded more passionately, kissing back with enthusiasm.
Dinah increased the heat by sucking a little on Caroline's tongue pulsing in and out before retreating again.
Caroline melted into Dinah, leaning against the older woman and holding both her shoulders as she returned the kisses very passionately now.
Deliberately, Dinah took one hand off Caroline's head and placed her palm against Caroline's breast, smoothing it up and over the nipple. A nipple that was standing up, a hard, excited little peak.
Caroline's tongue delved into Dinah's mouth, exploring the roof, the sides, the teeth. Dinah responded by sucking on it as her hand slid down inside the bodice of Caroline's gown, hot on her flesh, to rub the globe of her breast and tweak the nipple between her fingers.
"I... Oh... More," gasped Caroline, then returned to kissing Dinah, her arms now grasping the older woman firmly.
“Lady Caroline’s Reward”, has its own webpage with covers, blurbs and excerpt: http://berengariabrownsladycarolinesreward.blogspot.com/
Cate: Thanks so much for being my guest, Berengaria! Best of luck to you.
