Carolina Prescott writes historical romance, but she likes reading them just as much. The first “real” romance novel she read was Victoria Holt’s Mistress of Mellyn. One spunky governess, one spooky castle, and one dark, brooding hero later, she was hooked.
Perhaps a little history is in order.
“I spent large amounts of my childhood reading The Red Fairy Book, The Blue Fairy Book, The Green Fairy Book, Hans Christian Andersen’s Complete Fairy Tales, and a host of other fairy tales,” says Prescott. “Then there were the musical romances—Camelot, Cinderella, My Fair Lady, The Sound of Music—just to name a few. As a young adult, I shivered my way through Victoria Holt’s gothic romances and Phyllis Whitney’s best romantic mysteries, and was delighted to find out they were just the very tippy-tip of the iceberg.”
The big attraction to romance? The requisite happily ever after. “Everyone deserves a happy ending,” says Prescott. “Romances guarantee that every reader gets one.”
All that reading of romances and happy endings led Prescott to the logical next step: writing romance—specifically, historical romance. She favors the regency and late Victorian time periods right now, but is looking forward to setting a series at the time of the American Revolutionary war. “Writing romance is something I’ve always wanted to do,” says Prescott, “and I like the fact that the romance writing business is largely run by women and consistently outsells all other genres in the publishing industry. However, the bottom line—as with any business venture—is that I’m in it to succeed. Enjoying what I do is just icing on the cake.”
Ms. Prescott divides her time between an apartment in the trees (and a block from Starbucks®) in Northern California and a house on a hill in her native North Carolina, where she is making a home for friends and family and a very understanding Brittany spaniel.