Time And Place
Certain places seem to go in and out of fashion. When I wrote VIVA LAS BAD BOYS! I hadn’t read a romance set in Las Vegas for years. A bunch of us got the same idea for the same setting at the same time. Not a surprise since, well, there are only so many real cities and towns out there. After that, you have to make them up. And, really, who could make up Las Vegas? Of course, it’s also possible authors have been using the setting all along and I didn’t notice until I wrote one. Who knows.
Some other Las Vegas set romances (in case you’re interested):
-Erin McCarthy’s series: High Stakes, Bit The Jackpot and Bled Dry.
-Katherine Garbera’s What Happens in Vegas series: His Wedding-Night Wager, Her High-Stakes Affair and Their Million-Dollar Night.
-A new sale where the book is based in Las Vegas:
FICTION: WOMEN’S/ROMANCE
Anya Bast, Jodi Lynn Copeland, Lauren Dane and Kit Tunstall’s WHAT HAPPENS IN VEGAS…, a contemporary erotic romance anthology featuring four connected novellas set in Sin City, to Susan Pezzack for Harlequin Spice, in a nice deal, by Laura Bradford at Bradford Literary Agency (World).
My next book is set on the Hawaiian island of Kauai. Haven’t see many Hawaii set romances either. Again, I could just be missing them. I’ll have to look for those too.
November 28th, 2006 at 12:26 pm
Vegas looks like it’s going to be a hot urban fantasy setting too.
I’ve just read one vampire novel set in Vegas, and I know of at least one more to be released next year.
November 28th, 2006 at 1:38 pm
I can’t think of any books I’ve read recently being set in Hawaii. I think it’s a good idea and now that you are so close, wouldn’t it be great if you could go there do do research!
November 28th, 2006 at 5:37 pm
Love books set in Hawaii. Haven’t read one in quite a while.
November 28th, 2006 at 8:47 pm
Annette Mahon writes books set in Hawaii. A few other authors have too. I’m trying to remember Linda’s last name. Shoot. Must go search.
November 29th, 2006 at 1:12 am
Carol - That’s exactly what I did when I wrote YOUR MOUTH DRIVES ME CRAZY. Making a trip to Hawaii tax deductible is a priceless thing. Only problem was that I actually had to do a bit of work while I was on that beautiful island..
I don’t know who Annette Mahon is. Now I have to go search too
November 29th, 2006 at 12:39 pm
Love books set in Hawaii. I read a ebook not too long ago with Hawaii as the setting.
November 29th, 2006 at 1:00 pm
LOL Helen! I’m sure you had some fun, too, and I can’t think of a nicer place to be when you have to work!
December 8th, 2006 at 5:11 pm
I took two trips to Las Vegas this year - both times I came back home and wrote a book. One of the books I wrote, Stripped, is in the What Happens in Vegas anth and the other one is out there making the rounds now. My husband keeps reminding me that both stories came to me when I went to see strip and burlesque shows, but I suspect he may have ulterior motives.
I have a thing about cities/places as characters. Las Vegas is just larger than life and I’ve never been to a city that inspired me more other than New Orleans.
I didn’t notice many either until after i took my first trip there in March but Susan Andersen has a series set there too with showgirls as the main characters.
I read an Elizabeth Lowell once that was set in Hawaii but I can’t recall the name. It’s a gorgeous setting.
December 12th, 2006 at 1:11 pm
I am tiring of the hype of Sin City. Both the movie and the city are pits of despair.
January 11th, 2007 at 10:57 pm
Thank you, Jordan, I do indeed write romances set in Hawaii. There are currently ten of them in print and number eleven will be out in April of 2007. All my books have local heroines. I am a third generation islander and like to think I protray the “real” Hawaii. All my heroines are local girls which make the books multicultural. All all except one is set on the Big Island; one is on Maui.