Today I’m sitting down with the very talented Courtney Milan and chatting about her latest–and undeniably greatest–historical romance titled UNVEILED. This book was a February Top Pick and earned each and every one of its 9 1/2 Stars! Please extend a warm welcome to Courtney.

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I read UNVEILED and absolutely loved it! I think it’s your best book to date and I’ve read you feel the same. What made this book different for you from PROOF BY SEDUCTION and TRIAL BY DESIRE?

Mostly, I’ve just grown as a writer. Between my debut and UNVEILED, I wrote more than half a million words. You have to learn something doing that! I’ve also come to understand what kind of stories are natural to me–I do better with stories where there is high, personal conflict between the hero and heroine.

But there’s one other thing: writing PROOF and then TRIAL convinced me that when I start a series I need to envision all the books at once. So when I was working on UNVEILED, I wrote pieces of both Mark and Smite’s books. That meant I had to see the story from everyone’s point of view, not just Ash’s and Margaret’s. That made the brothers feel more real to me than anything else.

Can you tell the readers a little bit about UNVEILED?

Lady Margaret loses everything when it comes out that her parents’ marriage was invalid: her dowry, her place in society, even her fiance. Then she meets a man who is willing to look past her ruin. He doesn’t see her illegitimacy; he sees what she can become. But he’s the man who destroyed her life by having her declared a bastard in the first place.

Click to read Top Pick review!

Ash, the hero of UNVEILED, was for me A Hero to DIE For! If you were forced to categorize him, where would he fall within the alpha and beta roles?

100% alpha. He is the kind of person who walks into a room, and immediately takes up the center of attention. People like him. They want to do what he wants them to do.

The only way you could arguably say that he is not an alpha is that he is actually a really nice guy–but last time I checked, you could be nice and still be a leader of men. Being an asshole doesn’t make you in charge. It just makes you an asshole.

I absolutely loved Margaret, the heroine. Why was she the perfect match for Ash?

Ash takes a sly pride in circumventing rules; Margaret knows what they are. This means that Margaret also knows what purpose rules function. In many ways, Ash needs someone to act as his conscience, and it’s through seeing how what he does affects Margaret that he understands how to go forward.

Can you tell us about UNCLAIMED, which will be Ash’s younger brother, Mark’s story?

Mark has written a book about chastity which has brought him popular acclaim–as well as enemies, who hire Jessica Farleigh, a courtesan, to seduce him and destroy his reputation. But Jessica finds that rather than seducing Mark, she’s falling for him….

In UNCLAIMED, Mark is a virgin. Did you have to consciously rein in on the testosterone when writing his character? *chuckle*

Ha! He’s been refraining out of principle, not out of lack of desire. Men that aren’t having sex don’t have less testosterone. Just remember: Before Sir Lancelot met Guinevere, he was a virgin, too.

I’m all for those dark and brooding kind of heroes, so I was immediately taken by Ash’s other brother, Smite. Can you tell us anything at all about his story?

Ah, Smite. He’s dark. He’s not…he’s not entirely brooding, see? He’s sarcastic, yet matter of fact. He’s harsh, but underneath, he has a really soft heart. You’ll see more of him in UNCLAIMED, and as you can imagine, Mark has a very different view of Smite than Ash does.

And I am afraid to say anything about his story until I get the okay from my editor. After all, she might not like it.

Which comes first for you, the characters or the story?

It doesn’t work that way. I have bits of characters floating in my mind. I have bits of story floating in my mind. At some point, character collides with story with sufficient force that they stick together; they then have enough mass to attract plot points and other characters. After some amount of accumulation, I know I have something that is a book. I have hundreds of plot points and bits of characters floating in my mind, waiting to come together. Neither comes first. It’s the marriage of story and character that has to happen.

If you could give any one particular piece of advice for aspiring authors, what would it be?

Edit more.

What’s the best thing about being published and what’s the thing you like the least?

The best thing about being published is fanmail. The worst thing about being published is that I’m kind of neurotic and so I end up refreshing Amazon to see if there are new reviews every twenty minutes, unless I switch off the internet–which I do, because it’s the only way I can get work done.

The hardest part of being an author for me is keeping track of names. In the first version of UNVEILED, one of Margaret’s brothers was Edmund, Edgar, and Edward–I could never remember which–and Margaret’s fake last name wavered from Lowell to Lowood. In fact, I don’t remember anymore which one I settled on!

I just handed in the almost-final version of UNCLAIMED and literally the day before I gave it to my editor, I realized I had three characters who had “George” as a first name: George Weston, George Lewis, and George Dickon. Whoops!

Names do not stick in my head.

To read more about Courtney and her books, you can visit her at www.CourtneyMilan.com. Today, Courtney will be giving away an autographed copy of UNVEILED and TRIAL BY DESIRE to one lucky commenter.

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By Giveaways, Harlequin, Miscellaneous58 Comments on Courtney Milan Gets UNVEILED

58 Replies to “Courtney Milan Gets UNVEILED”

  2. Courtney — I’ve always been lousy w/ names & dates. While I enjoyed history I never did too well in it for those reasons (very annoying). Haven’t had a chance to read either book though I’ve heard lots of good things about them and they do sound good.

  3. I love love love her books! Have all of them on my Kindle so don’t enter me for the contest but they are amazing!

  4. I am HORRIBLE with names of book characters. Titles as well. It’s not unusual for me to say, “Yknow that book, the one with the hero that was traumatized in war, and the cover was blue-greenish?”

  5. “Being an asshole doesn’t make you in charge. It just makes you an asshole.” Hear! Hear! Love this, Courtney!

    Enjoyed your interview. Your books appeal to me greatly and I’d love to win!!

  6. I’ve really enjoyed Proof of Seduction and looking forward to Unveiled! I’ve seen all positive reviews.

  9. Unveiled sounds like a fabulous read. I’m glad it’s the start of a series. I love knowing there are connected books that will be coming out in the future. I’m looking forward to reading all three. Mark and Smite sound like they will make great heroes.

  10. Few monts back I read PROOF BY SEDUCTION by this author and I enjoyed it a lot so can’t wait to read her lastest books!

  11. I love Courtney Milan’s books since her first debut, and I agree that she has grown so much and gone so far in her writing! UNVEILED was by far her best work yet – and I cannot wait to find out more about Mark and Smite! Their stories should be very interesting!

  12. I loved your interview, Courtney! I also have a tough time remembering names, so don’t feel bad. There are a lot of us, I think! Loved the covers of Unveiled and Trial by Desire. You are a new author for me, and your books sound wonderful.

  13. Courtney,

    Wonderful interview. I by the way love the name George, It is my very new and first grandsons name! George Bryan… He is a doll. LOL!

  14. Now I know to be sure to put good reviews of the books I love on amazon. That way authors will know I loved it. 🙂 I think it sounds great. I already want to read the whole series. I can’t wait to read it so hopefully I win. 🙂

  15. I can not wait to read Unvieled! It’s been on my TBR list since I finished Trial and with everyone raving about about it I know its going to be a keeper, hence the not buying on my Kindle so I have an actual copy in my hands. I think the greatest quote from the interview is “Being an asshole doesn’t make you in charge. It just makes you an asshole.” Oh how right you are!

  16. I can’t wait to read Unveiled. I have heard nothing but good things about it and it looks really good.

  17. Oooh what an interesting conflict you serve in Unveiled. Have heard great things about the book.

  19. I can’t wait to read UNVEILED. Tessa Dare was the first person to introduce me to the book and my Twitter feed has been blowing up with praise for the book. Congratulatons Courtney! I love nothing more than a book series. 🙂

  20. I can’t wait to sit down and devour my copy of UNVEILED, Courtney. I loved your other books and this hero sounds wonderful. Great conflict always makes for such a fun read. And the brothers–yummy! Can’t wait.

  21. Great interview! I have to admit that I chuckled when I read about the name confusion. I admit I sometimes get confused with characters names when I read them. Especially if there are many characters with names starting with the same letter. Both books sound awesome! Congratulations on the great reviews.

  22. I fell in love with Courtney’s stories with the very first one….”The Wicked Gift.” It was like a breath of fresh air in the world of historical romance, and I loved William and Lavinia’s story!. With each new story you bring something new and at the end of each one I always say….awwwwww. Thanks Courtney!

  23. I am always looking for new authors to read. This book sounds really good so I have added it to my TBR list.

  24. Hi Courtney! Thanks for the opportunity to win your books. I read a library copy of Trial by Desire and loved it so much I nominated it in three categories for Best of 2010 at AAR. It was my number one most awesome romance read in 2010. I would be honored to receive my own copy of TbD and Unveiled.

  25. Loved this story. Read it straight through in one night. And I can see how working on all three of the stories in this series at the same time gave this story added depth. I had thought that one of the reasons the story was so strong was that the secondary characters, especially Mark, had a depth that really helped inform the story and the motivation of the central character, Ash. It’s nice to understand how you accomplished that. Great interview!

  27. I’ve just finished reading Unveiled and I enjoyed it very, very much. I totally agree about alpha heroes. They can be powerful and in charge, without being callous and domineering. Ash is a perfect example of a humane alpha, to my mind.

    And what a relief to hear I’m not the only one who has ‘name’ trouble. Quite recently, it dawned on me that I have two completely unconnected works coming out in the next year where the hero and heroine are called Patrick and Miranda. LOL

    I have This Wicked Gift on my Palm PDA already, but will shortly be buying all your other titles in whatever format I can get them. 🙂

    And looking forward to Mark’s and Smite’s stories too.

  30. I am just going to step up on the gush pedestal and praise this book to everyone!! It is one the best historical romances I have read in a long time. I am already champing at the bit for Mark’s story; however I am so into smart, sarcastically witty and brooding male characters that I may just literally die from lack of patience for Smite’s story. Okay, getting off my gush box but thanks so much for writing this book.

  31. Oh yes, Unveiled is a terrrific book. As I was reading it I kept thinking, “This is so well done…the characters are so well-defined…the conflicts are so grounded in emotion…the character growth arcs flow naturally from the interactions and reactions of Ash and Margaret…”

    Can’t wait to read Mark’s story, and hope Courtney’s editor gives the go-ahead for Smite’s.

  33. It’s hilarious that your own characters’ names don’t stick around in your head! Is it the same way in real life? 😀

  37. I have read both Proof and Trial, and they are now on my Keepers shelf. You are an immensely talented writer. Thank you for giving us characters that are not paragons (impossibly handsome, beautiful, talented, strong….etc.,)but flawed in ways that are real. Their difficulties don’t magically disappear at the HEA, but we are left with the conviction that their lives will be happier because they have a partner who loves them unconditionally.
    So, I already know that I will looking for Unveiled as soon as it comes out. May you have many, many more “collisions” in your creative mind!

  40. Your books sound great. I would love to win a copy b/c I am always looking for new authors. I read everyday….usually a book a day!

  42. Loved “Unveiled” and it’s a toss up as to whether I’m looking forward to Mark’s or Smite’s story more. Will Richard get a mention in the later books as well?

    Also, have you forgiven the cat?

  43. Hello, Pixie Sister! I loved your first two books and I am really looking forward to this series! I can completely relate to having to write a couple of million words to finally realize what it is you are meant to write. Writing, like any artistic endeavor requires practice! And inspiration! I’ll read Unveiled for inspiration and then it is back to the practice room for me!

  44. Hey Courtney, I’ve enjoyed everything of yours that I’ve read so far. I don’t really care about names, so you can name all your heroes the same and as long as you write the same fantastic stories, it’s all good.

  48. I can’t wait to read this book. It sounds so good. The only story of Courtney’s that I’ve read so far was The Wickedest Gift but I’ve got Proof By Seduction waiting on my TBR pile.

  49. I am looking forward to reading Unveiled , I have heard so many good things about it! I can’t wait to get a copy! Thanks so much for the chance to win!

  51. I enjoyed reading Courtney’s blog post. It’s always fascinating to hear how authors put their stories together. These two books look really interesting. And what beautiful covers!

  52. Thank you for the enjoyable interview. I found your “Collision Method” of story development interesting. This sounds like it will be a good trilogy with UNVEILED as a good start. Best of luck with the release of UNVEILED and the development and release of the rest.

  53. A very interesting post with Courtney. Love her description of her Alpha males. I love reading books with siblings. Looking forward to reading her books.
    Carol L
    Lucky4750@aol.com

  54. Hey Courtney, Loved the interview. I really liked your book Proof By Seduction.
    And this one sounds great too, Ash seems like my kind of guy 🙂

  57. Sorry I missed checking this post yesterday but my husband ban me from the computer (it was our 41st Anniversary and he said the day was for “us”).

    Courtney, I love your books and should come with a warning “CAN NOT BE PUT DOWN WITHOUT FINISHING”! After reading Trail By Desire I realized that once you start you can’t stop to you find out how it will end. How long before Unclaimed is to be released – I want to order it NOW! I look forward to reading Unveiled while I’m waiting.

    Please tell all your readers that you have already started the one to follow Unclaimed.

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