It's not only us readers who love North and South!!

I stayed up late last night working on this. (in fact I slept in- yelp!)

I said I had something special planned for today.

This is an author who I came thisclosetomeeting in Dallas. She visited our room and I missed her by less than five minutes. I knew she was a North and South fan from the Avon Authors Bulletin Board so when I appealed her her for help and mentioned that we almost met - low and behold she remembered almost meeting me too.

When I did ask for her for help with The Crusade and thoughts on North and South she very graciously agreed.


So I bring you ---Sabrina Jeffries. She's quite busy as her newest book in The School for Heiress, Let Sleeping Rogues Lie is due out soon (February 19 - so remember that date)
She also wrote a pretty nice pirate book - The Pirate Lord which is always on my list when someone is looking for a good one!



And without further adieu - here are Sabrina's thought on North and South.

I saw “North and South” about six months ago at the recommendation of a reader. I had already fallen in love with Richard Armitage on “Robin Hood” (Jonas Armstrong as Robin is fine, but too young-looking to fantasize about—Richard as Sir Guy of Gisborne is, well, yum!). The idea of RA in Victorian-era clothing was just too good to pass up, even if the 4 hour length did seem rather daunting.

Alas, it flew by WAY too fast, so fast I had to watch parts of it again immediately afterward to assess the … er … acting. That’s it, the acting. What can I say, I’m thorough.

But what made it so special was the melding of RA’s talent with a great story. Here are three reasons I found it a wonderful romance:

1) The character of John Thornton. Nothing’s sexier to me than a self-made man, a guy who pulls himself up by his bootstraps. I’ve written a few, but not as many as I’d like (CURSE that need for variety). Thornton is that wonderful blend of determination and vulnerability that just grabs me every time, and RA is a master at portraying that. Besides, who doesn’t like a guy who protects and defends his mother?

2) The plot. Without risking spoilers, Margaret is forced to keep a secret from John, thus tarnishing her character in his eyes. Yet despite the wretched things he believes about her, he still wants her very badly, and that always appeals to me—a guy going against his better judgment (or what he THINKS is his better judgment, anyway).

3) The end. Oh. My. God. That scene with the hands on the train platform gets me in the gut every time. I think I’ll have to go watch it again right now.

Sigh. It was one of the best period romances I’ve seen in a long while.

It's nice knowing isn't it, that we aren't the only ones that go all swoony!!

Thank you Sabrina for helping us spread the word!!


And remember - if your interested in winning the book by Elizabeth Gaskell, be sure to let us know in the comments. Draw will be on Sunday