It was the usual sort of academic battle: footnotes at ten paces, bolstered by snide articles in academic journals and lots of sniping about methodology, a thrust and parry of source and countersource. My sources had to be better. Lauren Willig More Quotes by Lauren Willig More Quotes From Lauren Willig They were close enough that he could feel the hurried beat of her heart. He could feel Charlotte's indecision in every word she didn't say and every move she didn't make. She was tense with uncertainty, quivering with irresolution. She might not be leaning into him, but she wasn't pulling away, either. Lauren Willig heart might moving Gentlemen do so appreciate a nicely trimmed décolletage. Lauren Willig appreciate gentleman One of our fundamental human needs is finding our partner that we hope we will stay with for the rest of our lives. You often find the same search in other genres. The mystery novel has a romance subplot. Literary novels often focus on that relationship but do not often end well. Lauren Willig you focus hope relationship Iris Johansen's lovers weathered the sack of city states and the vagaries of the French Revolution; Judith McNaught's heroines endured amnesia, social ostracism and misunderstandings so big they deserved their own ZIP code. Lauren Willig city own big revolution Every young girl wants to be a princess. Then, when you find a real-life one, it's very easy to imagine yourself in that role. Lauren Willig yourself you princess girl I never sat down and said, 'I'm going to write historical fiction with strong romantic elements.' It was just the way the stories went. Lauren Willig down strong romantic way When I was 6, a family friend gave me E.L. Konigsburg's 'A Proud Taste for Scarlet and Miniver' and launched me on a full-blown Eleanor obsession. I wanted to ride off on Crusade, to launch a thousand troubadour songs, to marry a king - and then jilt him and marry another. Lauren Willig king ride me family Ever since reading Jean Plaidy's 'Queen in Waiting,' I've felt deep admiration for Caroline of Ansbach. Lauren Willig queen deep reading waiting I'm an eighteenth-century girl at heart. I wouldn't mind being set down in London in 1715, in the midst of all the drama of the Hanoverian succession. Lauren Willig down girl mind heart Romance tends to be the whipping boy of genre fiction. Lauren Willig boy genre romance fiction People who would never sneer at sci-fi and murder mysteries have no trouble damning the whole romance genre without reading one. Lauren Willig never reading trouble people I think sex is a very minor part of most romance novels. Lauren Willig i-think think romance sex I couldn't make myself write serious; I was surrounded by serious: in monographs, in articles, in my own dissertation prospectus, in the very earnest e-mails of students telling me just why that paper couldn't be in on time, cross their hearts and hope to get an A-minus. Lauren Willig myself me hope time Did I invent anything? I don't think so, not really. But if I've helped make history fun... then my work here is done. Lauren Willig think work fun history There's a horrible stereotype of both the romance writer and the romance reader as somehow undereducated and unprofessional, when in fact there are a number of incredibly well-educated professional women who have chosen to leave their other careers and go into writing romance. Lauren Willig professional go women writing My books fall in the wobbly middle between historical fiction and historical romance. Lauren Willig books romance historical fall I've been typed as historical fiction, historical women's fiction, historical mystery, historical chick lit, historical romance - all for the same book. Lauren Willig women mystery historical book I've had mainstream readers complain that the book is really a romance, and romance readers complain that the book isn't a romance - with the same book! It really depends on the individual reader's expectations going into the story, and that's very hard to predict person to person. Lauren Willig person story expectations book Like everyone else, I grew up loving the Anne books, but L.M. Montgomery is so much more. Like Jane Austen, she has an eye for the absurd and a gift for the 'mot juste.' Lauren Willig loving everyone gift eye As a friend once pointed out, the crotchety dowagers do tend to get all the best lines. That may be why I have so many of them in my books. Lauren Willig why friend best lines