I’d like to welcome author Robin Danner.  The book that has inspired her is Whitney, My Love by Judith McNaught, a classic historical romance and one of the most beloved books ever written in the romance genre. Read on to see how and why this book inspired her.

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            When I sat down to write about the book that inspired me, I never realized there was such wildly varying opinions on it. I read Whitney, My Love when I was a pre-teen and I fell in love with the passionate hero, Clayton Westmoreland. Never in my adolescent mind did I realize that the dubious consent scene was once written as an actual rape scene. (Had I known this little tidbit, you could bet your bottom dollar that I would not be writing about this book today!)

The book was first published in 1985, but it was not until the sanitized version was reprinted that it came to my attention. I loved all of Judith McNaught’s books, but Whitney is the one that sticks out in my mind to this day. I have reread it often over the years and it never fails to be enjoyable.

Whitney is the typical hoyden that every Regency heroine should aspire to, a tomboy that grows into a ravishing beauty, but yet is misunderstood by everyone around her. Perhaps that is why this book resonated with me. I was at that tender age where you begin to be self-conscious of what others think and boys become a facet of everyday conversation. Who wouldn’t want to be like Whitney…to come back after a few years in Paris and be the belle of the ball?

But my love of Judith McNaught went beyond the characters. It was her descriptive scenes and the passion that practically oozes from every page. To this day, I have yet to capture even a tenth of her ability to weave a tale so completely full of description that the reader has a sense of it unfolding before her very eyes.

When I returned to writing after a six year hiatus, Whitney, My Love was the very book I pulled off my keeper shelf to reread for the hundredth time to get a sense of what I love so much about the genre of historical romance. What I found is yes, the characters are flawed, but that is what makes the book so appealing. By the end of the book, Clayton realizes the error of his ways and transforms into a hero worthy of Whitney.

Despite the debate that rages over this book, I will always be fond of it. Whitney, My Love cemented a love of historical romance in a young girl who, from that moment on, kept her nose firmly planted between the pages of a book. Judith McNaught provided me hours of entertainment and the inspiration to become a romance author.

Bio:

Robin Danner writes sweet and sexy historicals and lives in Alabama with her husband and three sons. When she is not writing, she enjoys watching reality television and singing karaoke … quite possibly off-key!

She is a graduate of Troy University and published her first novel not long after earning her degree in Biology. She currently shuffles her time between writing, work, and her family.

Find out more about Robin at http://robindanner.webs.com or join her on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/robindanner. Find Robin on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/robindannerauthor.

And read her latest: Available at Liquid Silver Books.