Authors I Admire - Patricia Veryan

One of the aims of this blog is to spotlight the different authors I have enjoyed. Patricia Veryan is the first one I wish to talk about and I can think of no author more deserving than to be the first than her. I mentioned in an earlier blog that I took a bit of a hiatus from reading romance. Ms. Veryan is the one who brought me back into the fold. The first book was I read was Cherished Enemy. I spotted this one at the library quite a few years ago and picked it up in large part because of the beautiful cover. I read the back blurb and to be honest, it didn't seem all that good a book judging by the synopsis so I didn't check it out. On the next visit, it was still on the shelf and again I picked it up to admire the cover and again put it back down. The next visit I did the same thing and instead of putting it back I thought "this is ridiculous, just check out the darn book." Keep in mind, I wasn't reading romance books at the time. When I got home I started reading it and was completely enchanted. I gathered that this book was part of a series and Cherished Enemy was somewhere in the middle of the series. When I finished and returned the book, very reluctantly. I was very temped to say I lost the book and pay the price. I searched for and found the other books in the series as well as a few other books she had written. I read them and fell deeper and deeper in love with her writing. Not to long after that I found a copy of Cherished Enemy at a Flea Market and thus an obsession was born. I had to get the rest of the series and every other book she had written for my very own. I haunted flea markets and used book stores in what I called my quest. I managed to find a few of them but there were so many more I couldn't find. Finally, in desperation, I sent a letter to the publisher hoping they would pass it on to Ms. Veryan. Much to my utter astonsihment and delight, some months later, I received a letter from her. And what a wonderful letter it was. She had some copies of her books she autographed and sent to me. She also turned me onto to other fans of her work that were able to help me find the copies I was missing. I now have all but her most recent books in a prominent place on my bookshelf.
It's hard to say everything that makes her books so special. One thing that sets her apart is her wonderful ability to make me laugh and cry in a very short period of time, often in the same chapter. She has a wonderful sense of humor and at the same time can write with such poignancy and emotion. Her heroes are all so tortured but yet so noble, even those who have a rocky start. In particular there is a character who makes his appearance in Practice to Deceive, the first book of The Golden Chronicle series. Roland Otton is an utter villian. Yet at the same time there is something very compelling about him. He continues to appear in subsequent books and we learn more about him and why he is the way he is. He finally becomes the hero in the last book of the series The Dedicated Villian and by this time I challenge anyone who reads the whole series not to fall in love with him. He makes the ultimate sacrifice for his lady love and allow himself to be captured and tortured in order to save her life. To this day I still skip the torture scenes as they are too difficult to read.
She writes equally wonderful heroines. Dimity Crawford, the heroine in Love Alters Not is one of my all time favourite heroines of all the books I have read. She is compassionate, loyal and brave.
All of Ms Veryans books are on my keeper shelf and in my more morbid moments, I think that in case of disaster, what would be the first thing I would save. Without question it would be my collection of Patricia Veryan books.