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E Journey

E Journey

About

I'm a realist in my writing, as well as my art. I don't have as much imagination as many other writers—a handicap (or strength) that comes partly from my training and experience as a mental health researcher/evaluator and program developer. I'm also a flâneuse—a female observer-wanderer. So, I watch, and observe. And listen. That's where the meat of my writing comes from.

But I’m also a sucker for happy endings. I find enough that depresses me about real life, but seek no catharsis by writing about it. I want escape, entertainment. I don’t strive to enlighten. Not consciously, anyway, but because my previous training has given me a bias, I’m interested in the inner lives of characters, including the passages they go through.

 I’m inspired by Jane Austen and Elizabeth Gaskell and their awesome feminist heroines. So, I tend not to rely on broad shoulders and heaving bosoms. Instead, I go into protagonists' thoughts and emotions, their conflicts and their joy, their struggles to reach balance and grow. My novels deal with insecurities and disappointments, love/hate relationships with parents, characters who seem to behave out-of-character, and even life events not typically included in romantic fiction.

I have a book blog here:

Escape Into Reality,
an author website here: Evy Writes


and musings on travel, art, and food here: Journey on a Limb

 

A King Under Siege: Book One of The Plantagenet Legacy

A King Under Siege: Book One of The Plantagenet Legacy

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<p>Richard II found himself under siege not once, but twice in his minority. Crowned king at age ten, he was only fourteen when the Peasants' Revolt terrorized London. But he proved himself every bit the Plantagenet successor, facing Wat Tyler and the rebels when all seemed lost. Alas, his triumph was short-lived, and for the next ten years he struggled to assert himself against his uncles and increasingly hostile nobles. Just like in the days of his great-grandfather Edward II, vengeful magnates strove to separate him from his friends and advisors, and even threatened to depose him if he refused to do their bidding. The Lords Appellant, as they came to be known, purged the royal household with the help of the Merciless Parliament. They murdered his closest allies, leaving the King alone and defenseless. He would never forget his humiliation at the hands of his subjects. Richard's inability to protect his adherents would haunt him for the rest of his life, and he vowed that next time, retribution would be his.</p>

Story Behind The Book

Someone asked me not too long ago if there was something in Hello, My Love that reflected my worldview or my philosophy of life (as opposed to that of the characters). I assume, of course, that there would be since what we write comes from within us. On the other hand, someone else said that a book of fiction is not a place to expound on an author’s world view, especially not coming from the mouths of characters. I’m not sure where such an idea comes from. The thing is, we write for so many different reasons. Distinction is often made, for instance, between literary and genre fiction—the oft-cited one having to do with their reason for being: genre is plot-driven and literary, driven by character growth or as someone said, meaning. But nothing is ever that simple, especially where writers and literary analysts who tend to split hairs are concerned. So, this distinction is frequently debated. Of course, many writers don’t sweat such details. They just write. One passage in a New Yorker article resonated with me, in particular: A good mystery or thriller (genre fiction) isn’t set off from an accomplished literary novel by plotting, but by the writer’s sensibility, his purpose in writing, and the choices he makes to communicate that purpose. For me, much resides in this quote, for I agonize all the time why I write and why I choose to write the fiction I have so far produced. I can do little about “sensibility.” I assume, by now, that is a given since I have already amassed my own unique history. So, why have I written romance novels? The main reason, of course, is I like reading a good well-written romance. My love for reading, after all, was sparked and sustained by devouring Jane Austen. I like happy endings. I find enough that depresses me about real life, but seek no catharsis by writing about it. I want escape, entertainment. And yet, I do prefer writing which shows much thought has been put into choosing the most economical, liveliest prose possible. I strive to do this in my own writing. Have I succeeded in doing this or not? I don’t really know. But I think (or, at least, I hope) I get a bit better with every book I write and making choices is becoming easier.

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Reviews

<div class="col-xs-12 col-sm-9 col-md-9 col-lg-9"> <div class="endorsement"><em>“The unexpected surprises and emotional encounters of this novel keeps the reader enthralled until the very last page.”</em></div> <div class="endorsement-credit"><a>GoodbooksToday.com</a> Reviews</div> <div class="col-xs-12 col-sm-9 col-sm-pull-3 col-md-9 col-md-pull-3"> <div class="endorsement"><em>  ... unlike anything I expected.  The book takes a literary, novel approach ...  A lot of things are going on that have nothing to do with the romance, but that shapes characters into three-dimensional people one can easily relate to.</em></div> <div class="endorsement-credit">— <strong> <a href="http://bookaholicramblings.wordpress.com/">Bookaholic Ramblings</a></strong></div> </div> </div>