Awesome Romance Writer: Jo Beverly
This week’s Awesome Romance Writer is about an author who has had a profound effect on me as a reader and as a writer. NY Times Bestselling author and Romance Hall of Fame for Regency novelist Jo Beverly is one of the first romance writers that I read and was inspired by. She passed away on May 23rd. This blog post is in her honor.
Born in England, Jo Beverly had a degree in English history and wrote romances set in medieval 
England, the Georgian period, the Regency as well as several fantasies. Each of her stories contain carefully researched details and unusual facts. In A Lady’s Secret, a Georgian playboy meets up with an Italian girl running away from a convent. With the “help” of a papillon dog he carries in his pocket, he helps her reach England. Their wonderfully described trip across France is based on the 1770 Gentleman’s Guide in his Tour through France Wrote by an Officer… Â
A ground-breaking writer, Jo Beverly was one of the first authors to put sex scenes in her books and to portray couples in unusual situations. In An Arranged Marriage, the first of her novels that I read, the hero marries a young girl after his identical twin brother gets her pregnant. But he cannot give her the love he wishes because he is in the middle of seducing a French spy to attain secrets for the government. His emotional torment is vividly portrayed as his duty to his country conflicts with his honor as a husband.
In An Unwilling Bride, an independent woman’s rights school teacher and follower of Wollenstonecraft is pressured into marrying a duke’s heir by the selfish duke, and it is the hero’s mistress who teaches them how the compromise and find a loving relationship. In A Most Unsuitable Man, a heiress sets her sights on a duke only to be attracted to a penniless seventh son with a mentally ill brother. Beverly provides a vivid picture of how mental illness as addressed in this period.
Jo Beverly also had the ability to infuse her stories with humorous touches. Another of my favorite reads is Secrets of the Night. Set during the Georgian period, Lord Brand Malloren is left for dead. Suffering from amnesia, he is taken captive by a masked woman who in between discussions of farming and horse breeding seduces him.
My favorite of all her works is Forbidden Magic. In this story with paranormal elements, a lewd shelagh (an Irish pagan naked stone 
female statute) grants wishes, but always with a nasty twist. The hero is a bizarre, but kind-hearted Earl who goes by the name of Sax. He has a pet parrot, a rescued dog, and a household of loyal deformed and reformed servants who furnish it with oddities he can break when he has an anger fit. His conniving grandmother has picked a wife for him he cannot abide. Instead, he marries penniless Meg who has a young brother and sister to care for and who believes the surprising marriage is the result of her wish on the shelagh. Waiting for the nasty twist to happen, Meg digs herself deeper and deeper into trouble from which the Earl joyfully and humorously extracts her. Eccentric Sax, with his humor and kindness ranks high as one of my all time favorite heroes.
But every one of Jo Beverly’s heroes is amazing whether they are dragons, fairies, dukes, ex-military, spies, smugglers, opium addicts, or penniless younger sons. And you can be sure, each one gets the one woman meant for them.
Who’s your favorite Jo Beverly romance hero and heroine?
I’d love to get your comments
OMG so sad that she died. I love all her books.
N ARRANGED MARRIAGE is still my favorte because it is one of the first book that i read. I then read all of them.
That’s my favorite too. Nick is such a torn hero.
I read several of her books years ago.I can’t recall any titles off the bat, but she made an impression on me.
She wrote so many books, it isn’t surprising you can’t remember the titles. But you remember her. That’s all that matters to an author.
I didn’t know Jo Beverly, but she sounds like an outstanding person besides a great writer. All of you who were her friends have my deepest condolences.
Oh, gosh. Didn’t know that Jo passed away. I met her at a RWA literacy signing, and thought her charming and informative. I still use her pamphlet on the aristocracy hierarchy. A lovely memorial – thanks for the post. Oh, and I haven’t read a Beverly novel I didn’t like, so picking one is waaay too hard!
I agree it is hard to pick one. I also find that if I reread one then I have to read all the books in the series. Jo Beverly was so good at tying the characters from one book into another. You always learned more about how their love relationship developed and matured.
Jo Beverley was a romance icon. I was so saddened by her passing. She was an awesome author. This is a very nice tribute to her memory.
I wish I could have paid tribute before she died. That is one reason I am doing my Awesome Romance Author guest posts. Eventually I hope to cover all my favorites.