"Wickedly Ever After"
Known for his wicked ways, the Marquess of Grenville is far from marriage material. But when Miss Eleanor Palmer tries to tell him so, she quickly finds the heat of his kiss melting her determination to say "no" into an uncontrollable desire to say "yes…"
"Scandalously Ever After"
Most men who visit the Red Door brothel enjoy sampling the variety of feminine delights, so Calliope is surprised when Captain Jack Prescott claims her for a week of passion. But satisfying his every sexual desire provides them both with complete carnal pleasure…
"Sinfully Ever After"
Lady Jane St. Clair loves her fiancé, but Gerard Nash is a notorious rake who likes adventurous women. Wanting to show him just how bold she can be, Jane masquerades as a young ingénue at the Red Door where she and Gerard experience sinfully erotic ecstasy…
Visit Jackie Barbosa's web site
Read an excerpt from "Sinfully Ever After"
About Jackie Barbosa
I learned to believe in love at first sight when I met my husband almost nineteen years ago. Eighteen wonderful years of marriage have since taught me to believe in happily ever after as well.
I hold a BA in Classical Studies from the University of California at Santa Cruz, and an MA in Classics from the University of Chicago. I live in Southern California with my husband, our three children, one cat, and two rats. (No, the rats were not my choice, but they're not bad little critters, especially after you've watched Ratatouille a few times!)
Although I've been telling stories since before I learned to read or write, Carnally Ever After was my first published novella, and I can't thank Cobblestone Press enough for giving me a chance to share my passion for history and romance with you!
Back list:
From Cobblestone Press:
Carnally Ever After
The Gospel of Love: According to Luke
The Pleasure Club: The Priest
Comrades in Arms
An Interview with Jackie Barbosa
By Holly Hewson for The Romance StudioHH: Jackie, thank you for talking with us at TRS. Please tell us about your featured book, Behind the Red Door. JB: Behind the Red Door is a collection of three novellas set in Regency England. The stories are connected by cast of characters and a very exclusive London brothel called the Red Door.
HH: First tell us about Wickedly Ever After. JB: Wickedly Ever After is the story of a very reserved and innocent young lady, Eleanor Palmer, who finds herself falling for a notoriously dissolute marquess, Nathaniel St. Clair. Eleanor loves to read Classical literature, and thinks of herself as very high-minded and scholarly, and Nathaniel is anything but. Or so she thinks. Nathaniel's a good deal more clever than she imagines, and he uses her love of literature to woo her by introducing her to some very dirty Latin poetry.
My favorite part of writing Wickedly Ever After was working the Latin and Greek poetry that appears in the book into rhymed couplets. Let me tell you, it wasn't easy, but I'm really pleased with the end result, and I have a much greater appreciation for what the poet/translators of the 19th century had to struggle with when they did their translations.
HH: What can you tell us about Scandalously Ever After? JB: The Peninsular Wars may have ended more than a year ago, but they’re not over for the hero of Scandalously Ever After. Cursed with an eidetic memory, Jack can recite the names and see the faces of every man he sent into battle, hear their dying howls of agony, and taste the bitter flavor of their fear. Awake or asleep, he can’t escape the twisted, violent images or his remorse for having knowingly condemned so many soldiers to certain death. That is, until he chances upon perhaps the one woman who can accept him without judgment or condemnation. Unfortunately, that woman is a courtesan at the Red Door brothel.
I loved writing this story because Jack is so tortured by his past, and Callie, despite being a woman of "low virtue," is the perfect balm for his soul.
HH: What can you tell us about Sinfully Ever After? JB: Of all the novellas in Behind the Red Door, I think Sinfully has my favorite heroine, Lady Jane St. Clair. She should be happy because she’s just accepted a proposal of married from the man she adores. But the Earl of Chester is a notorious rake who has dallied with London’s loveliest women, and “Plain Jane” can never hope for his fidelity.
Gerard Nash is resigned to a lustless marriage and, for appearances, has given up his mistress. But celibacy is not for him, and in the weeks before the wedding, he frequents London's poshest brothel. There, a masked woman with the body of a goddess brings him exquisite pleasure. There’s just one catch.
This prostitute must remain a virgin.
HH: This anthology is released by Kensington Aphrodisia. What can you tell us about that? JB: The first novella in the anthology, Wickedly Ever After, was originally published as a standalone ebook by Cobblestone Press. But a lot of my writing friends encouraged me to submit it to Kensington, and it was only on a six month contract, so I queried an editor at Kensington. I got an immediate request for the full manuscript followed, about a month later, by a request for outlines for the other two proposed novellas in the series. A month after that, I got a call offering me a contract for the book. The rest, as they say, is history.
HH: What else do you have in store for lucky readers? JB: In June, the second novella in my Gospel of Love series at Cobblestone Press, According to Matthew, will be out. The Gospel books are all contemporary-set stories, narrated in first person by the heroes. They are a lot of fun to write, and I hope, to read.
HH: How did you get your start as a writer? JB: Depends on what you mean by "start," lol. I wrote pretty obsessively as a kid -- from the time I was in the second grade right through my early twenties. But real life kind of intervened. I went to college and then graduate school (I have a Master's degree in Classics), got married, got a job, had kids. Writing took a backseat, and I didn't really miss it. Every once in a while, I'd get an idea for a story and make a few pecks at it, but ultimately lose interest.
Then, in February of 2006, for some reason, two characters popped into my head and refused to get out. They insisted on being WRITTEN DOWN. That book was the first single title I ever finished (and it came in at a whopping 136k in the first draft, lol), and it's still gathering dust under my bed, as there were many many problems with it. I started on a second book and then, on a bit of a dare, wrote a short story intended for an Ellora's Cave call for submissions titled Carnally Ever After. Ellora's Cave turned it down, but Cobblestone Press offered me a contract on it. That story is a prequel to the novellas in Behind the Red Door, so it's safe to say that if that story hadn't been published when it was, my Kensington release wouldn't be coming out now.
HH: What can you tell us about making that first sale? JB: It's funny, I always think of myself as having had two first sales. Carnally Ever After was my first contract offer, but the story was so short (under 15k) that it didn't even qualify for novella status. I was ecstatic, of course, when I got the offer, but it felt like only a small step in the direction of really being "published." It wasn't until Kensington offered for my anthology that I felt like a real, published author.
HH: How have things changed for you since then? JB: In most ways, things haven't changed much. I'm still seeking that elusive second NY contract, and in the meantime, I'm still writing, promoting, and wasting time on Twitter. With a little luck and a lot of help from my amazing agent, Kevan Lyon of the Marsal Lyon Literary Agency, I hope to have another sale to announce in the next few months. In the meantime, I just keep plugging!
HH: How do you plan to spend the summer? JB: Pretty much the same way I spend the rest of the year, except with the children underfoot on a regular basis (I have an 11yo, a 9yo, and a 7yo). I still hold down a day job, but am fortunate to be able to work from home. So I work my eight-hour day, write for a couple of hours (or web surf, lol, let's be honest!), and then do the mom/wife stuff. It's a little more challenging to get everything accomplished during the summer months, but then, it's not easy otherwise.
Thanks so much for the interview and for featuring my book on The Romance Studio!
HH: Thank you!
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