Guest: Heather Snow

Hi friends! First of all, my apologies to Ms. Snow that I’m hi-jacking her post, and I wanted to let you know there is a lot going on right now, so I might be off with the scheduling.

As you see, we’ve got Heather Snow visiting with us today! I haven’t had the chance to read her debut book yet but it’s near the top of my TBR universe. It sounds awesome. (And her second one too, of course!) And pay attention – Ms. Snow has a question for all of you, and a prize up for grabs! NB you have to answer the question to be entered to win! 😀

Miss Smartypants

Hi! My name is Heather Snow and I’d like to thank the lovely Limecello for inviting me for my very first visit to “A Little Bit Tart, A Little Bit Sweet”. I’m thrilled to be here.

I’ve recently returned from the Romance Writers of America® Conference, where I got to participate in my very first publisher book signing and Literacy Autographing (a charitable event where all proceeds from books sold go to promote literacy worldwide).
Now, when you are a debut author trying to peddle her wares amongst a thousand other great (and I mean great!) authors in a huge room full of lovely books, you really have to be able to express in just a few words what makes your book stand out. For my historical romances, I knew it was two things: my science-savvy heroines and the mysteries they had to solve. I needed to let readers know that my heroines were not your average debutantes.

At my first large signing at the RT convention in the spring, I hadn’t quite figured this out ahead of time, but I quickly did some guerilla marketing MacGuyver style, using only scrap notebook paper, a signed by author sticker and my trusty blue pen.

It worked! People stopped long enough for me to kiddingly ask them if they liked Miss Smartypants heroines, and I was thrilled when they enthusiastically cried, “Yes!” Then I got to tell them about my regency-era lady scientists: the lady chemist from my debut and the heroine of my latest, a regency-era lady criminologist who also dabbles in forensic science. And do you know what? I found readers were as excited to hear of a ‘different’ type of heroine as I had been to write about them.

So, for all of us who love our historical heroines brainy and brilliant, I thought we could share some other of our favorite Miss Smartypants. Here are a few of mine:

For older books, you can never go wrong with Amanda Quick. But here’s another you can try:

My Darling Caroline by Adele Ashworth: Caroline Grayson is a brilliant, independent lady whose true passion is botany.


For some more recent titles, how about:

Not Quite a Husband by Sherry Thomas: Bryony Asquith rebelled against society by becoming a doctor

To Sin With A Scoundrel by Cara Elliott: Lady Ciara Sheffield is a reclusive widow known for her scientific scholarship. (The other two novels in her Circle of Sin trilogy feature an antiquities expert and a lady botanist)

A Week to Be Wicked by Tessa Dare: Lady Minerva Highwood’s passion is geology, and her personality is just so adorably scientific.

And finally, I humbly offer my first two novels:

Sweet Enemy: Beakers and ball gowns don’t mix, so when a lady chemist goes undercover as a husband hunter to investigate the earl whose family she suspects murdered her father, romance isn’t part of her formula. But it only takes one kiss to start a reaction she can’t control…

Sweet Deception: A lady criminologist finds herself tangled up in the dangerous final mission of a spy who just happens to also be her long-lost first love. But when deception, however sweet, is the name of the game, no one can be trusted. And every love—and every life—is at risk…

For excerpt and buy links, please visit Heather’s website books page.

Do YOU like Miss Smartypants heroines? And if so, please share some of your favorites! I’d be happy to give away a copy of my debut, Sweet Enemy.

Bio: Heather Snow is a historical romance author with a degree in Chemistry who discovered she much preferred creating chemistry on the page, rather than in the lab.  She is forever trying to wrangle her left and right brain to work together (some days with more success than others!), but if her two sides had to duke it out, left would win every time—which can be a creative challenge.  Luckily, she loves challenges…she just goes about solving them analytically.
Heather lives in the Midwest with her husband, two rambunctious boys and one very put upon cat.  She sincerely hopes you find her stories have just the right chemistry…

Beyond her website, you can also find Heather on Facebook, and Twitter.

0 thoughts on “Guest: Heather Snow

  1. librarypat

    I definitely like a heroine who is smart and not afraid to show it. Your Veiled seduction series came to mind as well as Cara Elliot’s Circle of Sin series. There is another series that has women with “professions” not commonly found – one is a book seller – but at the moment I can’t remember the author or a title. Smart women usually found a way around not being allowed to follow their intellectual passions.

    Reply
  2. Izz

    congratulations for your debut!
    nobody wants to read TSTL heroine, so yes I Iike brainy and briliant heroine or ‘different’ type of heroine. I have never read historical romance with forensic science element. This would surely give a new vibe in this genre. My favorite brainy heroine is Jessica from Lord of Scoundrels by Loretta Chase ;D

    Reply
  3. Aline Tobing

    Hi, Heather.. Congrats on your debut novels!
    Nothing thrilled me like brainy, feisty heroines in historical novels. They are the perfect match for those delectable heroes 😀
    By the way, I don’t think I ever read a novel with a chemist or criminologist as the heroine yet, so I’m sure going to pick up your books 🙂
    Some of my fave “brainy” heroines are the novelist, Sarah Fielding, from Lisa Kleypas’ Dreaming of You & the columnist, Penelope Featherington, from Julia Quinn’s Romancing Mister Bridgerton.

    Reply
  4. eli yanti

    Congrts Heather 🙂

    Yes, love smart heroine and the heroine i like was from annie gracie’s book – bride by mistake 🙂

    Reply
  5. Diana N.

    Amanda Quick and her alter egos–Jayne Ann Krentz and Jayne Castle–are my go to authors for smart and quirky women.

    Reply
  6. JoAnne

    I do love smart heroines and enjoyed reading Sweet Enemy. I actually reviewed it for Romancing-the-Book.com and liked it and look forward to reading other books in this series.
    There are many smart heroines that I’ve come across in my readings. All the women in the Fool’s Gold series by Susan Mallery are strong heroines – the mayor, firefighters, librarian, goat herder to name a few.
    Sherryl Woods also has strong heroines in the Sweet Magnolia series as she does with the O’Brien family and those that marry into it in her Chesapeake Shores series. Give them a try.

    Reply
  7. Erin S

    I loved Cara Elliots Circle of series and Tessas heroines always such inner and intelligence.

    There are lots of smartpants girls out there from the Writing Girls series to the Forever series to Allison Chases bookshop owning spies.

    Reply
  8. Mich

    Congrats on the debut, Heather. Like some of the others above, I also read the Amanda Quick books, because I love the smart and sassy heroines. Oh and awesome job with the on the fly tag for your book poster – I love it!

    Reply
  9. ladymilano

    Congratulations, Heather for your debut!
    Just after read your synopsis, I just become really curious about this book (it’s about a couple months ago) I knew it from a blog too (and giveaway for sure), unlucky me I did’nt win it.
    I love smartypants heroine, because I don’t like smart or genius guy much, so I like to be the smart one. *pfhh*

    Reply
  10. jeannemiro

    Hi Heather!

    Congratulations on the release of Sweet Deception! I loved Sweet Enemy and just wish I could have read them both together and plan on writing your publisher and asking them what took them so long to release it! I think we should all start a write in campaign to publish your books faster!

    I must admit that my love of “Miss Smartypants heroines” goes all the way back to the late 1950’s when I read my first Nancy Drew mystery as a pre-teen when I was just 12 years old. What a great experience to see a “girl” being the one to solve a mystery! Then in High School my favorite class was chemistry which came in handy when I had only sons who likes to “experiment” in the kitchen. If only the attitudes of my teen years by educators were are far sited as the conglomeration of authors who wrote the Nancy Drew mysteries more women my age would have become not only detectives but scientists as well! I always admired women like Madam Curie and the strides they made against all odds that helped women today and given them the courage and strength to be able to study what they are really interested in instead of what is “expected” of them whether it’s science, medicine, or being a Mom, still one of the most important jobs in the world..

    Reply
    1. Heather Snow

      Oh, Jeanne! As flattered as I am by that, it’s not the publisher that has me 6-9 months between books. That’s all me. Between the Heir (4) and the Spare (1), that’s all the faster I can write. Once the boys are a little older and in school, I should be able to pick up the pace…

      Reply
  11. Cathy P

    Congrats, Heather! I love your books. I love feisty and smart heroines. The only ones I can think of right off hand are Minerva and Celia in Sabrina Jeffries Lord of Stoneville series although I know I have read more.

    Reply
  12. Heather Snow

    Hi everyone! And that you so much for coming by to meet me today! Sorry for not responding individually to each post, but my husband just took the boys out of the house for a few hours and I am RACING to meet my deadline for SWEET MADNESS 🙂

    I LOVE how many of us adore our brainy heroines, and you guys have given me several new books to add to my TBR list. Smart girls move right to the top 😉

    And thank you SO much for all the congrats on the release of SWEET DECEPTION!

    Reply
  13. Jane

    Congrats on the new release, Heather. I adore smart heroines and one of my favorites is Lydia from The Last Hellion by Loretta Chase.

    Reply
  14. Barbara E.

    I do love Miss Smartypants heroines. I loved Ivy Sutherland in Allison Chase’s Outrageously Yours, Bryony Asquith in Sherry Thomas’ Not Quite a Husband, and of course Liliana Claremont in your Sweet Enemy. 😀

    Reply
  15. jeannemiro

    Heather –

    Have fun with the heir and the spare now because when they get to be teenagers you’ll have not only them but all their friends at your house as well! My husband still talks about the time when he looked up at the four teenage boys sitting at our dinner table and said to me “There are four boys eating at our table and ours are both working!”.

    We had so many “stray boys” eating at our house that the first time they were a guest and from then on I made them part of my family and gave them chores to do!

    Reply
  16. June M.

    I have always loved the intelligent heroines. Trying to think of a couple of ones that have not been mentioned:
    Lizzy from the Knight series by Gaelen Foley (DEVIL TAKES A BRIDE) was a blue stocking character and also from that series Eden (HIS WICKED KISS) was raised in the jungles of South America and helped her father with his research.

    Sabrina Jeffries also writes some great, intelligent heroines including:
    Madeline Prescott (LET SLEEPING ROGUES LIE) from the Schools for Heiress series, was a teacher/scientist
    Lady Minerva Sharpe (HOW TO WOO A RELUCTANT LADY) from the Hellions of Halstead Hall, was a Gothic novelist.

    Those are some of the historical heroines that jump to my mind right now.
    Congrats on the new release 🙂

    Reply
  17. Kim

    Congratulations on your book. I do like smart heroines with a bit of an attitude. In the contempoaray genre, Susan Elizabeth Phillips wrote about a physics profeesor in Nobody’s Baby But Mine.

    Reply
  18. Chelsea B.

    Miss Smartypants heroines are my FAVORITE! Nothing better than a smart lady making her hero all befuddled 😉

    Reply

Join the conversation!

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.