Broken Shackles at Morley Literature Festival
I love romance, both in real life and on the page. Unfortunately (or not, depending on what way you look at it) literature has always been a slightly more reliable source…
So I was flattered to be invited to do a reading at the launch of Leeds-based raunchy romance novel Broken Shackles on Saturday.
Written collaboratively by seven romance lovers in Leeds under the pen name of Adele Morley, this steamy, definitely not suitable for work novel is the story of feisty temptress Victoria Quartermain and dashing, but deadly hero Nate Rothwell.
The evening was a blast, with romantic crooning from the gorgeous, frilly-shirted Frank Lee Marvellous, an informative and funny presentation from Mills and Boon writer Janey Rogers on how Star Wars makes the perfect Mills and Boon, and fast paced and pitch-perfect poetry from Katie Sandham.
I myself read from Fiona Harper’s Swept off Her Stilettos, a modern Mills and Boon romance starring vintage shop owner Coreen who falls for her best friend during a murder mystery weekend.
Mills and Boon often gets derided, but their popularity and cultural impact is immense. As Janey explained, a Mills and Boon book is sold every three seconds.
As the evening showed, romance as a genre isn’t dead, and there are many of us either holding out for a hero, or happily dreaming of a (fictional) one.
An extract from Broken Shackles was read at the event, and from the sounds of it they had some difficultly finding a bit that wasn’t too rude!
You can download Broken Shackles for the princely sum of 99p if you fancy some Northern-based raunch. Plus, it’s an eBook, so you can read it on the bus and no-one will know!
Jess Haigh
What do you think?