Get Lost with Shana Galen & "The Rogue Pirate's Bride"

Get Lost in This Story…

Revenge should be sweet, but it may cost him everything...
The Marquis de Valère escaped certain death in the French Revolution and is now an infamous privateer. Out to avenge the death of his mentor, Bastien discovers himself astonishingly out of his depth when confronted with a beautiful, daring young woman who is out for his blood...

Forgiveness is unthinkable, but it may be her only hope...
British Admiral's daughter Raeven Russell believes Bastien responsible for her fiancé's death. But once the fiery beauty crosses swords with Bastien, she's not so sure she really wants him to change his wicked ways...

Today, I am beyond thrilled to welcome historical romance author Shana Galen to the blog!  Shana writes fabulously emotional, adventurous stories that you will adore.  If you haven't gotten the chance to read one of her novels yet, you should stop right now and go pick one up!  Don't worry...we'll wait!

Okay, now that you're back, with a Shana Galen love story in hand, let's learn a little about her before we move on to her guest post and giveaway...

Shana Galen is the author of numerous fast-paced adventurous Regency historical romances, including the Rita-nominated Blackthorne’s Bride. Her books have been sold worldwide, including Japan, Brazil, Russia, Spain, Turkey, and the Netherlands, and have been featured in the Rhapsody and Doubleday Book Clubs. A former English teacher in Houston’s inner city, Shana now writes full time. She’s a wife, a mother, and an expert multi-tasker. She loves to hear from readers: visit her website at http://www.shanagalen.com/ or see what she’s up to daily on Facebook and Twitter.

Fathers Be Good to Your Daughters

By Shana Galen

First of all, I want to say thank you to all the authors at Get Lost in a Story for having me here today, especially Heather Snow, who so graciously invited me. I’m excited to be sharing February with her as a release month! Congrats on Sweet Enemy, Heather!

Like most authors, I’m a reflective person. I think a lot about everything, but especially about my books. Probably because I work on them for months and months and live with the characters daily. One thing that occurred to me about my writing, after I’d written two or three books, was that I tend to focus on relationships between fathers and daughters. Oh, I have the odd book here and there where the mother is more prominent than the father, but if you’ve read much of my work, you know the mother is often dead or secondary. It’s the father-daughter relationship where I put my focus.

It should be no surprise then that the father-daughter relationship is key in my new book The Rogue Pirate’s Bride. Raeven Russell’s mother died when she was born. If you’re one of my heroines, your mother had better beware! Raeven was raised by her father and has been sailing with him since the age of four. When the book opens, she’s nineteen and her father is an Admiral in the British Navy. Raeven respects her father, but she doesn’t always adhere to his rules. Understandably, this causes some friction in the relationship.

I enjoyed writing the character of George Russell because he’s one of those men who is gruff on the outside but very loving on the inside. He loves Raeven more than anything, though he’s not always sure how to show it.

I said earlier that I’m a reflective person, and I’ve asked myself why I focus so much on this father-daughter relationship. My mom is a wonderful person. She and I talk several times a week, and she was a great mom when I was growing up. My dad wasn’t a bad dad, but he wasn’t exactly present, either. I remember him working late and being gone most weekends, fishing or hunting or whatever he did. I don’t think it was until I was in college that he decided to have a meaningful conversation with me.

This isn’t to say that he didn’t love me. I knew he loved me and was proud of me, but I don’t think he knew how to show it. I don’t want to start practicing psychology without a license, but I suppose my interest in fictional father-daughter relationships stems from my real relationship with my father. The Rogue Pirate’s Bride is particularly special to me in this regard because, even though it’s dedicated to my mom and mother-in-law, I acknowledge my father in the back because he worked with me on a lot of the seafaring research needed for the book. I can’t tell you how much that time working together mean to me.

I thought I’d give a short excerpt from The Rogue Pirate’s Bride to illustrate Raeven and her father’s relationship.

“I don’t care if the rogue planned to assassinate the King!” Admiral Russell boomed, hands cutting the air in front of Raeven. “I don’t care if the blackguard plotted to kidnap the Regent—though we might all be better off if he did,” he muttered. “It’s no excuse for your reckless behavior. Your behavior is impulsive, undisciplined, unrestrained, un...” He gestured violently, face red, too angry to form the words.

Raeven pursed her lips and waited. “Unacceptable?” she ventured.

“Damn it, girl!” He slammed a fist down on the cherrywood desk in his cabin, sending a sextant crashing to the floor and several maps flying into the air like startled seagulls. From behind the admiral, Percy gave her a pained look. She knew what he was thinking—why did she try to help? Why did she not keep her mouth shut? There was no reasoning with her father when he was in this state. In her opinion, there was never any reasoning with him.

He shoved his palms down hard on the desk and leaned over until his face was level with hers. “Do you find this tedious, girl? Am I keeping you from another, more pressing, engagement?”

“No, but—”

“Good because you and Mr. Williams will be busy swabbing the decks and emptying the buckets all day.”

Percy closed his eyes and shuddered. It wasn’t the first time her actions had caused him grief. But she’d find a way to make it up to him. Just as soon as she had Cutlass.

“Fine, but—”

“Fine? Fine?” He was about to speak again, but before he could form the words, he erupted into a storm of hacking coughs. It was three or four minutes before he recovered, and then drawing the handkerchief from his purpling face, he wheezed, “You don’t feel even a moment’s remorse. Do you comprehend the trouble you might have gotten into? The pirate could have raped you, girl! Worse, he could have decided to have you keel hauled or flogged or—” He dissolved into another coughing spell.

“No, he couldn’t. He was too eager to be underway,” Raeven said, taking advantage of her father’s incapacitation.

“Oh, well that’s even better! At this moment you could be somewhere in the middle of the Channel with no one but Mr. Williams the wiser. That blackguard could sell you into slavery or take you to—”

“Sir.”

But he was still listing all the horrors that might have happened. Horrors of which she was well aware. Horrors she had escaped. Easily escaped, at that.

“Sir...Father!”

“What!” He stared at her, arms locked at his sides. “What have you to say for yourself?”

“He’s getting away.”

Do you ever wonder about what inspires an author or why he or she tends to write about certain topics? Does personal knowledge about the author ever lessen your enjoyment of a book? I’ll be checking in all day to read your comments. I’m also pleased to offer copies of The Rogue Pirate’s Bride to two readers who comment (U.S. and Canadian residents only).



Thanks, Shana, for visiting with us today!  And readers, don't forget to come back tomorrow when Angi hosts Hope Ramsay!