I recently had the pleasure of interviewing Clyve Rose: An Award-Winning Author of Historical Fiction. Clyve Rose is an accomplished author of historical romance fiction, with a career spanning almost two decades. She has established herself as a prominent figure in the genre, with several of her works reaching the #1 position on Amazon, generating a huge following among readers in Australia and the United States.
Rose has won several accolades for her work. Her debut novel, Always a Princess, won the Bookfest Gold Medal in 2021, and her second release, The Christmas Salon, was awarded the Irwin Award in 2022. She has a talent for taking readers on a journey through time, as she intricately weaves her stories with fascinating details about historical eras of the past.
What sets Rose apart from other authors of historical fiction is her ability to create deeply touching stories that resonate with readers on a personal level. Her characters are compelling, their struggles and triumphs captivating, leveraging empathy from readers who find themselves rooting for the protagonists.
Currently, Rose is working on her next book, a historical romance set in the early 1900s, which follows the journey of a young woman who becomes involved in the fight for women’s suffrage. It’s clear that there is no stopping Clyve Rose as she continues to captivate readers with engaging stories that take them back into fascinating periods in history.
We ask Clyve to tell us about The King’s Mistress: Sequel to Always a Princess
Lady Lydia Clifton flees her father’s chosen groom – and travels under a false name. She decides it’s safer if she pretends to be mistress to a man few would wish to cross – and chooses Valkin Brishgen, the Romany King who’s acquainted with her family and known to be fiercely protective of his women.
That’s all very well, but what happens when she runs slap-bang into the man himself? Valkin hasn’t seen her since she was a young girl (she appears in my debut novel Always a Princess).
Lord Brishen doesn’t recognise the woman claiming to be his mistress. She’s lying about her name and she’s definitely not one of his lovers…yet. So why does he feel so drawn to her? So fiercely protective, in fact, that he risks his Romany to keep her safe…her curious combination of vulnerability and strength intrigues him until he can barely stand to be near her. Loving an Englishwoman is dangerous for any Romany, but for the Romany king to love a woman whose past he cannot account for is downright foolish. Unless he’s in love, of course.
The King’s Mistress is the story of a woman who’s been taught she’s worthless for so long that she’s forgotten she’s really strong and smart and has value as herself, until she has to rely on her own wits, her own skill – and until someone shows up to remind her of her worth. Someone who sees her differently – and falls in love with the woman he sees, even though he’s not sure who she is. Buy Now on Amazon
What is the PRIMARY benefit, above all others, that your potential reader will gain from reading this book? The story offers a bit of adventure, a bit of mystery, some heat and overall, an overwhelming belief in the power of love to shift our perspectives – of other people, and of ourselves.
Hopefully, it offers a look at a woman who is stronger than she’s been taught she is – and slowly comes to accept and know this about herself. To step into her power, despite years of alienation and abuse (note – this happens off page). It also offers a happy ending for my lovers. That’s always the best part!
If you had to compare this book to any other book out there, which book would it be? I’d compare it to Julie-Anne Long’s Pennyroyal Green series, because this was my primary inspiration in creating the world of Clifton Hall and its inter-connected stories. I was also influenced by the way Mary Renault wove real history into her fiction – and I try to do the same when incorporating my research.
Hundreds of thousands of books come out every year. Why should someone buy THIS book? I feel it’s a different take on Regency England. England was a shared land by this time. The Romany had lived in England for hundreds of years, and their stories are so rarely told – yet the Romany were there. They lived, and loved and danced and sang. Grew families and clans and legacies that still exist today – along with the prejudices that sideline their narratives. The Romany are more than the way Austen wrote them in Emma, or Bronte depicts them (sort of) in Jane Eyre. The scene where Rochester disguises himself as a ‘gypsy fortuneteller’ annoyed me as much as the way they’re referred to in Emma.
By the Regency era, even speaking to a Romany could see someone hanged – or not. It was rather arbitrary, but the depiction of these families as ‘not-quite-us’ is found in many contemporary sources.
Who is your target audience? Readers of historical romances, who enjoy a different take on the era with well-researched facts woven in here and there. Readers who enjoy nuanced characters, and who also like a high level of steam.
Did your environment or upbringing play a major role in your writing and did you use it to your advantage? I have some Roma heritage (Russian – not British), and I drew on this and my other marginalized heritage to offer a different take on a Regency-era story. I am also neuro-divergent, as is Lydia, the heroine.
Tell us your most rewarding experience since publishing your work? Being able to pop my book baby into the hand of Julia Quinn (the author of the Bridgerton novels) on Valentine’s Day weekend.
How would you describe your writing style? Nuanced, sensual, detailed and tending towards the lyrical. In fact, there’s almost always a song or two in my novels, and I love writing nature scenes and weather.
Are your characters pure fiction, or did you draw from people you know? Every character I write is drawn from people I know. Some are individual and others are composites but everyone’s there.
Are you more of a character artist or a plot-driven writer? I am working on balancing both because I have been honing my mystery writing skills, so that meant more focus on the plot. Romances foreground characterization and I do enjoy this, but I am also keen to try my hand at a mystery or two. That said, I feel characterization is my primary strength at the moment.
What do you hope to accomplish with your book other than selling it? I write to (hopefully) move people. If people enjoy my words, then I’m satisfied.
About Clyve Rose
Clyve Rose has been writing historical romance fiction for the best part of two decades. She works in the historical romance, fantasy, and speculative fiction genres. She also creates literary novels under an alternative pen name. In between her devotion to fiction writing, Clyve researches various mythologies and historical periods, often basing her characters on actual historical personalities.
When Clyve isn’t writing fiction, she can be found pounding the sand at just about any of the beautiful beaches near her Australian home. She is also addicted to short-haul ocean swims and has a ‘thing’ for Poseidon, ancient Greek god of the Seas. Much of the inspiration in her stories is drawn from the ocean landscapes near her home.
One of her novels was longlisted for a 2010 Hachette Award for Fiction while her paranormal short story The One Below is a Sexy Scribbles award-winning piece.
The first piece she ever had published was a fictional biography of an erotica writer who made a living crafting extremely explicit dating profiles for online chat sites. She lives fairly simply these days, sharing her home with a small white demon-dog and a budding Amazon warrior. Clyve Rose believes that love is the highest and strongest force in the world, and that it only manifests when we are our best and truest selves. Anything less, and we diminish our divinity. She believes she will continue writing about love in all its various, glorious forms, and that one day her epitaph will read ‘just one more read-through’.
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Where can our readers purchase your book?
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