5 Ways to Tell if You Should Be Reading Historical Romance by Sarah Ballance

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When the first book in my Sins of Salem series was contracted, I could count on one hand the number of historical romances I’d read. Ever. (Yeah, that whole contract thing? Craziness!) I hadn’t yet fallen in love with the genre, but now I’m fully convinced it’s one in which every reader should indulge. Are you missing out? 

Here are some signs:

1.      You’ve always wanted to visit Regency England, the Scottish Highlands, Viking waters, or colonial America, but you’re not exactly on board with time travel. Also, there’s no way you’re giving up hot showers to get there.

2.      You love rediscovering forgotten language. Where else are you going to find words like ratsbane, maggot-pie, jackanapes, or beslubbering pumpion? If you can toss out one of those insults during your next argument, you’ll win it hands down. (Assuming , that is, you can keep a straight face.)

3.      You need a break. Let’s face it…life is stressful. Dig into a contemporary and you’re reading about someone else’s contemporary problems. Open a historical romance and some of those problems almost seem romantic. A sexy, stubborn duke who needs the right woman to soften that hard heart? Yes, please.

4.      You dig cultural immersion. Some people go to museums for this stuff, but you live and breathe it alongside the characters, and you walk away a much richer person…as long as people don’t start thinking you’re nuts for talking like you’ve been there. But that’s okay, because you have.

5.      You love learning stuff that pretty much no one else knows . Seriously, did anyone out there think for a moment that Puritans were sex-crazed fiends who would divorce one another if the action wasn’t happening in the bedroom? It’s true. Mind. Blown.

Ready to lose yourself in a historical romance? AN UNEXPECTED SIN will whisk you away to the Salem witch trials, which is probably the last place you’d expect to find a story of young love. Of course, against the backdrop of hysteria and accusations, theirs is anything but a typical affair…

Sarah Ballance is a multi-published author of contemporary, historical, and supernatural romance and romantic suspense. She's been married to her own romantic hero for what he calls a "long, long time" (and no, he'll never hear the end of saying that). Together they have six children ... and clearly too much time on their hands. She currently writes for Entangled and has upcoming releases from both Entangled and Samhain Publishing.

Salem, Colonial

The moment the stranger’s dark eyes meet hers, Anne Scudder’s world is immediately overthrown by chaos. That single flare of desire is immediate, driving away all notions of propriety. Instead, Anne is consumed with sinful thoughts—ones that no unmarried girl should ever have for a man who isn’t her husband…

But Josiah Cromwell is no stranger.

It’s been six years since Josiah stole kisses from Anne, his best friend’s younger sister. Six years since Josiah left after his best friend’s death, burdened by the knowledge that he was responsible for destroying Anne’s family. Now he’s returned to claim the woman he can’t live without. But even as their desire threatens to consume them both—body and soul—the dark workings of suspicion and witchcraft are afoot.

Because in Salem, too much passion can lead a woman to ruin… and condemned to death.