The Writers Who Read series continues this week with historical romance author Ashlyn Macnamara. Welcome, Ashlyn!
Who are you?
I’m USA Today bestselling author Ashlyn Macnamara. I write Regency romance with a dash of wit and a hint of wicked. My current release is a novella in a Christmas anthology called All I Want for Christmas Is a Duke.
My next series revolves around the three daughters of an addlepated duke. He’s certain he’s on his deathbed and insists his daughters make proper society matches. They, on the other hand, all have contrary ideas about the kind of man they really belong with. The first book is entitled To Lure a Proper Lady, which comes out at the end of next March.
But mainly I’m just a big old geek.
Which book or series was your gateway into the world of reading?
Good Lord, you’re making me dig back into the distant past here. I loved books since before I could read them myself. My top-choice bedtime story was from a collection of fairy tales my family owned. When I really didn’t feel like going to bed, I always demanded the longest story in that book, a Russian fairy tale called “Wasilissa the Beautiful.” It came in at something like 50 pages. I can still hear my dad’s groan, but he read it to me.
Once I could read for myself, the first series I read over and over was the Little House books by Laura Ingalls Wilder.
Nowadays, what makes you crack open a book instead of pressing play on your favorite Netflix show?
Um… I don’t even have a Netflix account. Nor, for that matter, do I watch much TV. Give me a book, please.
Which authors are auto-buys for you? Why?
In romance, Tessa Dare, Tracy Brogan, Jennifer McQuiston, Sarah MacLean, and Lisa Kleypas spring to mind. Each of these authors knows how to incorporate humor with a compelling story line and delicious tension.
My other drug, I mean genre of choice, is fantasy. I came to the Game of Thrones party rather late, but perhaps that’s a good thing. Though certain events in those books traumatized me, I’m anxiously awaiting the next instalment (and, no, I haven’t seen the television series). I love these books for the complex world, the flawed characters, and the fact that I truly don’t know what’s going to happen. Really. High fantasy can become predictable, but not this series.
What is your book kryptonite–those unique settings, tropes, or character types that make you unable to resist reading?
I think the main reason I read is to escape, whether I’m trying to avoid bedtime or my own mundane problems. So give me a world I can lose myself in. That might be a ballroom or a battlefield, but give me a time and place that is nothing like my day-to-day existence, and then make me experience it in all its richness.
What is your ideal time and place to read?
I can manage most anywhere, but I’m especially fond of reading in bed before I go to sleep. Vestiges of the bedtime stories of my childhood? Perhaps.
Are you a re-reader? Why or why not?
If I love the story, yes, absolutely. I read those Little House books over and over. Then when I was a bit older, I discovered Lloyd Alexander’s Chronicles of Prydain. I read those over and over until I was ready to take on The Lord of the Rings. There was a time in my life when I read that trilogy every single year. When it comes to Tolkien, anyway, I think the draw there was noticing something new on every read. I gained a greater understanding of the depth of history and the story with every new nuance I picked up.
Which books have had the biggest influence on your writing?
In the inspirational sense, without doubt Stephen King’s On Writing. It was so validating to discover I write the way he does—meaning I stick a couple of characters in a situation and let them figure it out. I read that book at a point where I was struggling with a manuscript, and it was more helpful than I can express.
What makes a book a satisfying read for you?
Anything I can lose myself in. Being a romance author, I’m also partial to a happy ending.
What are you reading right now?
I’m actually between books right now. I just finished Lisa Kleypas’s first historical romance in years, Cold Hearted Rake. I still need to pick up Anne Barton’s latest, One Wild Winter’s Eve. In fact, I should just go do that now.
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You can find out more about Ashlyn on her website, Facebook, or Twitter (@ashlyn_mac).