Off The Beaten Track: A Roman Romance

Today's Off The Beaten Track contributor is the wonderful Christina Phillips. She's always loved writing, and while her efforts in eighth grade usually involved space ships, time travel and unfortunate endings, as soon as she discovered romance novels a whole new world opened up. She now writes ancient historical romances about strong heroines and gorgeous warrior heroes who, no matter how torturous the journey, are guaranteed a happy-ever-after. Christina was born in the United Kingdom, but now lives in sunny Western Australia with her real-life hero and their three children.

Thank you Alli, and the wonderful ladies at Novel Adventurers for having me on your blog today!

I thought I’d chat today about the historical background of my ancient historical romances for Berkley Heat—FORBIDDEN (out now) and CAPTIVE (out next month). The Forbidden series is set during the first century AD, during the early years of the Roman occupation of Britain.

I’ve always loved history and growing up in England I took our rich heritage for granted (you can bet I’m kicking myself now!). We’ve been invaded by Romans, Saxons, Vikings and Normans, and as a teen I adored reading sexy romances of fearless warriors and their beautiful maidens. But I never expected that one day I’d be writing them!

And yet as soon as Maximus, the Roman centurion hero of FORBIDDEN, stormed into my head late one night, I was hooked. Why was he searching for his Druid princess lover when they were the deadliest of enemies?

The reason I chose Wales as my setting was because of its links to the Druids, and the fact the Isle of Anglesey—then known as the Isle of Mon—was the Druid stronghold. I wanted the odds stacked overwhelmingly against Maximus and his heroine Carys being able to declare their love for each other and having her a Druid—and a Druid princess at that—fit perfectly.

Claudius, the Roman Emperor at the time, hated Druids with a passion and wanted all trace of them wiped out across his Empire. Couldn’t be better for the purposes of my plot! I now had historical back up for my Romans’ determination to hunt down and eliminate the elusive clan of Druids who had escaped them during the initial invasion.

The second book, CAPTIVE, follows the story of Carys’s best friend Morwyn. After she’s captured by a tough Gaul mercenary she’s taken to Camulodunum—present day Colchester in Essex in S.E. England—which at that time was the Roman capital of Britannia. It was only after the Boudicea revolt in AD 61, when Camulodunum was razed to the ground, that Londinium (present day London) became the capital city.

AD 51, the year in which CAPTIVE is set, is also the year when Caratacus, a displaced Briton king, rose up against the Roman invaders in what he hoped would be a decisive battle. I was intrigued as to how he and his rebels managed to evade the Romans for so long and Caratacus and his vision for freedom became a vital thread of the book.

I’d love to giveaway a copy of either FORBIDDEN or CAPTIVE to one lucky commenter—just leave a comment in this post or let me know what ancient or unusual time period in history do you love reading about in romances?

Entries will close at 11.59 February 4, 2011 EST.

 

FORBIDDEN:

Between a warrior and a princess comes an erotic passion as all-consuming as the hatred between their warring worlds…  

Excerpt: Over 18s Only, please!

http://www.christinaphillips.com/Forbidden%20Chapter%20One.htm

CAPTIVE:

Trained in sensuality, a Druid priestess finds herself falling for the wrong man—the warrior who’s taken her prisoner…

Excerpt: Over 18s Only, please! http://www.christinaphillips.com/Captive%20Excerpt.htm

For extra chances to win Forbidden goodies, subscribe to my newsletter: http://au.groups.yahoo.com/group/Christinaphillips/

My Website: http://www.christinaphillips.com