Five Questions for Jess Michaels

I am thrilled to be hosting one of my favorite erotic historical authors today, Jess Michaels (aka Jenna Petersen). She is currently celebrating the release of An Introduction to Pleasure, the first book in her Mistress Matchmaker series, with Samhain Publishing.

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1) I know why I love to read erotic historicals. (Corsets coming off is so much sexier than anything modern day!!!) Why do you love to write them?

Writing a book with a sexual conflict central to the story is really challenging and fun. Plus I like to add a lot of emotional stakes in with the eroticism (which has been the most praised element of my erotic historicals). So it makes for a very intense writing and hopefully reading experience.

2) What inspired the Mistress Matchmaker series?

Actually I've been wanting to write these books for over five years. They were a proposal I wrote after I turned in EVERYTHING FORBIDDEN and my publisher wanted more stories in that series rather than to start something new. With three sisters to write about, plus a related book in that series, I just never got to come back to the Mistress Matchmaker before I stopped writing as Jess Michaels for a while, so I'm just so excited to be able to finally write these stories after all this time.

3) Does a lot of historical research go into your writing?

I've been writing in the Regency period for a long time (7 years since my first book came out and I wrote Regency for five years before that) so at this point it's mostly spot research on elements or events and that sort of thing.

4) Is it harder to write historical romance than contemporary? Which do you prefer?

I'm not sure harder is the right term, at least for me. It's different because there are different rules to Society and behavior in general and that makes it fun. As for what I prefer, I don't write a lot of contemporary (just a few stories have been contemporary romance, though I do write contemporary urban fantasy under my Jesse Petersen name), so I prefer and get more story ideas for historical.

5) Can you tell us a little about what's next in the series?

The first book is about a woman who has no experience as a mistress and needs training, the second book is about a more experienced woman and a friendship turning to lovers. The last book is about the mistress matchmaker herself. :) I'm almost done writing the third book now and the release dates are : AN INTRODUCTION TO PLEASURE (June 19); FOR DESIRE ALONE (November 6), HER PERFECT MATCH (March 5, 2013), so they're releasing very quickly, first as ebooks and then as paperback from Samhain Publishing.

Thank you so much for joining me today, Jess! I wish you continued success with the new series. I know An Introduction to Pleasure will be burning a hole in my Kindle until I get around to reading it!

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An innocent lady’s education could be a gentleman’s wicked seduction.

Lysandra Keates is running out of options. Her father is dead, her mother is ill, and her efforts to find respectable employment have ended in failure. With her small savings bleeding away, she swallows her pride—and her terror—and turns to Vivien Manning, an infamous courtesan, to match her with a wealthy protector.

For years, Viscount Andrew Callis has lived a monastic existence at his country estate, hardening his body against the snobbish, lazy young man he once was, hardening his heart against grief over the deaths of his wife and infant son. When Vivien asks him to spend one month training a young woman in the ways of a mistress, his mind resists…but his body responds with an ache he thought long dead.

As Andrew begins his gentle tutelage, he finds himself falling under the spell of Lysandra’s innocent charms. And as they give in to the powerful hunger, the last thing Andrew ever expected, or wanted, forms between them. An emotional connection that could carry them well past the training period—if only Andrew can open his heart to the possibility of love.