Healing Hearts is a sweet historical romance story that any girl could love. This tale is the perfect combination of drama, angst and passion that will entertain you throughout. If you are looking for that stunning, but all too brief read, Healing Hearts  is the novel for you. (Lisa, Once Upon a Chapter)

You know, sometimes you read a review that just screams, “buy the book!” Taryn Kincaid’s Healing Hearts is winning a lot of those reviews.

Taryn Kincaid has written a wonderful Regency romance. I adore stories of wounded heroes and the heroines strong enough to help them heal. Life and memorable novels include tears, but a romance has a guaranteed happy ending — and I like that.

Join Taryn as she answers my questions and shares her enjoyment of the Regency world.

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You’ve called your heroine Emma, are you a Jane Austen fan? Do you have a favourite Austen novel? If you’re not a fan (heresy), why not?

Well, really my heroine is named after Harry Potter’s Emma Watson. No? Would you believe Emma Thompson? Oh, okay. I LOVE Jane Austen. And of course I love Emma. And Clueless! My top three Austen novels are Pride & Prejudice, Sense & Sensibility and Emma. I’ve read and re-read them all. And watched and re-watched almost all the movie versions of them! Loved Keira Knightly as Elizabeth Bennett. And Mathew MacFadyen. And Colin Firth! Need we say more? Colin Firth is Darcy. (Also Mark Darcy in Bridget Jones.) But I digress. I tend to go running off on tangents.

Emma just seems the archetypical Regency name. That or Jane. Couldn’t very call my heroine “Babs,” after all.

Who is your favourite side character in “Healing Hearts”? Tell us about them.

That would be Oliver Garrett, Adam’s “valet” (I say this in jest) and right-hand man, the retired sergeant who was Adam’s batman when they fought on the Peninsula. When Adam was wounded at the battle of Albuera (where Emma’s brother was lost), Garrett watched over him, guarding him like a zealot and preventing any, shall we say, um, medical mishaps. Although he makes only a brief appearance in Healing Hearts, he’s pivotal to the plot in two respects. What are those? Oh, ho, no. That would be telling!

I love Regency language, the genteel curses and the rougher thieves’ cant. Imagine calling someone on a lie by saying, “What a whisker!” How about sharing some Regency phrases? Do you think we could work them into modern conversations?

When I first started reading Regencies, the comedy of manners short novels that seem to be disappearing now, I was enthralled with the colloquialisms, slang and cant. Sets the scene. Puts you right in the thick of things. You are there! Even if you haven’t heard an expression before, somehow you just know. But, as in all things, a little can go a long way. There are very few in Healing Hearts–it’s not your traditional London season ballroom/drawing room Regency. I love all the ways of saying someone is drunk (foxed), broke (without a feather to fly with, pockets to let, on dun street) or a simpleton: chuckleheaded, hen-witted. I do use these last–especially chuckleheaded– in modern conversation! And I do make them up! You can couple anything teensy-weensy with “brained.” (Don’t tell. The Regency purists would shoot me for that.)

Release day in a week. I’m so excited for you and sending you tons of good karma. How do you plan to celebrate?

Aside from Snoopy Dancing around the house and everywhere I go? Oh, chocolate. Lots of it! Works in good times and in bad, don’t you think?

Describe your perfect writing day. Does it include coffee and a quiet house, or rock music and an inspirational glass of wine? Would it include Twitter or disconnecting the internet?

My days, writing or not, include coffee. Coffee is one of my major addictions. That and Twitter. I’m not very good at it but I love it. Twitter, I mean. I’m great at coffee. No, I can’t write with music on. I get distracted by the lyrics and start tapping and singing along. Not that I can do either. Um, yes. I mentioned the Twitter thing, right? Blogging is another. (I LIVE for comments on my blog!) My perfect writing day, a day I’m really in the zone and moving along, definitely means I’m ignoring the internet. (Except for dictionaries, thesauri, Google…well, maybe just the occasional Twitter peek…)

Thanks for having me in, Jenny. This was so much fun. I hope everyone enjoys Emma and Adam and Healing Hearts as much I enjoyed writing them!

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from Carina Press

As a girl, Emma Whiteside asked Adam Caldwell, Viscount Riverton, to wait for her to be of marriageable age. Now, twelve years later, Emma hates Adam as much as she once loved him, holding the former army major responsible for the death of her brother on the battlefield.

Adam already blames himself for the loss of the men under his command. But the fiery young woman Emma’s become sparks his arousal, as well as emotions Adam thought long dead. The passion between them makes him want to reclaim the man he was before the war.

Though she tries to hold on to her hatred, Emma’s longing for Adam is undeniable, especially after the two share a smoldering kiss. Still, Adam is certain no woman would want a man so damaged. Can Emma prove him wrong?

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You can find Taryn blogging, Twittering and on Facebook.