# 15 

Maet--I think it's lovely that THE BARTERED BRIDE will soon be available in Italian.  The poor heroine has a hard time--she is the daughter of the heroine of SHATTERED RAINBOWS, and was such a smart, resilient little girl that I had to take her to the far side of the world and give her many challenges.  But I gave her one of my favorite heroes as a reward. *g*

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#16

MarchRose, I'm glad you've enjoyed so many of my books.  In my experience, readers of historical romance like to get their fantasy from the sumptuous setting, and adding magical and paranormal elements just get in the way of that.  Not all readers, but many.

As for whether the popularity of paranormal romances is starting to decline--I have no idea!  I'd think that readers would be sick of vampires by now, but apparently not. *g*  Paranormal romance is very, very good at providing the dark and dangerous heroes that so many readers love, so it should be around for a long time, even if popularity declines some.

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#21

Maristella--am I really one of the most popular romance writers in Italy?  What a wonderful thought!

As for covers--I might have a bit of influence on my American covers, but none at all on the covers of my foreign editions.  Just as European publishers by the rights to translate a book from the authors, they also buy the right to reproduce covers from cover artists.  I suspect that there are catalogs of available romance images, and someone looks at the catalog and say, "Let's use that one, it's on sale today."  *g*

I do think that publishers have a sense of what will sell well in their countries, so I presume they pick images that many readers will respond to. 

As for my American covers--some I like, some I don't.  But they all say very clearly "historical romance," and that is important when it comes to selling books.  My job is writing the book.  It's up to my publisher to sell it to as many readers as possible, so I must trust them to do their job.

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#19

Agata, the male friendships are certainly the heart of the Fallen Angels series.  There is something very appealing about men showing loyalty and support. None of the Fallen Angels men very good families, so they become family for each other. 

The new series I'm starting now has a similar structure of male friendships.  The first book, LOVING A LOST LORD, came out in the US in July, and the second, NEVER LESS THAN A LADY, will be out in May.  I'm about to start writing the third.  I hope they are published in Italian soon!

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# 20

*G*  Bad Andreina to try to get me to state preferences about regions of Italy!  If I set a book in Italy, it would have to be a road book so my characters could visit different parts of your beautiful country.  The only cities I've seen are Florence and a bit of Milan, but I certainly intend to see more in the future!

And yes, of course you many call me Mary Jo.  As I'm sure you know, we Americans are famously informal.  *g*

# 24

Veronica--Not only are happy ending fun, but they are real.  Many, many people manage to build happy, rewarding lives for themselves.  A joy of romance is that the stories show that such thing are possible.

Viva romance!

Mary Jo