Ingela F. Hyatt
Editor & Webmistress
Historical Romance Club
HRC@Parksville.net
www.historical-romance.cjb.net

Historical Romance Club www.historical-romance.cjb.net is dedicated to the promotion of historical romance and authors. We are proud to say we review the latest romances from some of the biggest publishers including: Time Warner, Ballantine, Bantam/Dell, Pocket Books, St. Martin's Press, etc., as well as from individual authors and publicists. We have also had the pleasure of interviewing some the top authors and newest rising stars in the genre such as: Virginia Henley, Jo Beverley, Nicole Jordan, Gaelen Foley, Tina St. John, and many others. As it says on our website: HRC is dedicated to knights in shining armour saving damsels in distress.

What inspired you to create the site?

My love affair with historical romance began when I was fourteen years old, and was introduced to Johanna Lindsey novels. In high school I drifted away from romance, only to rediscover the pleasure of reading it once again as a young adult. It was around this time my family decided to take our small printing business to the Information Super Highway.

My job was graphics and design. I spent a lot of time creating fun, personal websites on the side, but none of them held my interest for long. It wasn't until one day while I was searching the Internet to expand my list of authors to read, that I discovered a glaring lack of websites dedicated to the specific genre. Sure, there were lots of websites dedicated to romance as a whole, but very few to Historical Romance. Suddenly, I was inspired by the idea of creating my own website, and so Historical Romance Club was born in June 2003.

What is unique about what your site offers the historical romance reader?

I think the fact HRC is dedicated to historical romance and its sub-genres: fantasy, time travel, gothic, etc., is what makes the website unique. You will never find any reviews on contemporary, romantic suspense, chick lit, etc., and I believe that makes a difference to readers who love historical romance as much as I do.

Our goal is to make HRC into a little community where readers of the genre can come in, sit back and relax while they peruse our reviews, interviews, enter our contests, etc. I am always trying to improve HRC which is why we have added various new features like our message boards where readers can discuss their favourite authors, and search for books they've lost or forgotten.

What do your readers enjoy about visiting the Historical Romance Club?

Our informative reviews on the latest historical romance releases. I've had many readers tell me they have purchased novels because of our reviews, which is precisely the goal behind HRC: to promote historical romance. I think they also enjoy our interviews with so many of the top authors and newest rising stars, and of course our contests. And the fact we are always adding new features to make it easier for readers to find what they're looking for: big hunky men brave enough to rescue the women they love, sweep them into their powerful arms, and bask in the glow of true love (with a good dose of steamy love scenes on the side).

Tell us about the Historical Romance of the Year Award.

I was so overwhelmed by the responses of the writers who either won or had honourable mention, that I realized it should be an annual event. I was truly astounded by both Sue-Ellen and Teresa's e-mails when they found out they had won. HRC was still quite small at that point and for them to be so proud really gave the whole website a sense of validation and purpose.

I am very particular as to what I like and don't like, which does make it hard to choose award winners. For example, this year, (2004 Awards) was the most difficult as we had read so many books last year. It took me several months before I finally decided who would be nominated, let alone who would win. We also added six new categories, giving away a total of ten awards.

And these awards are not to be taken lightly. When I read a book, I look at many different aspects of a novel before I rate it and write my review, and the same attention goes into choosing nominees and award winners. We had over eighty nominees for HRC's awards, but only ten won, with A Deal with a Devil by Liz Carlyle winning the Historical Romance of the Year. As I gaze at the books I've already reviewed and those spilling over on my bookshelf, awaiting their turn, I suspect the 2005 awards are going to be even more difficult to decide, which makes it all the more exciting.

What challenges/benefits do you experience as the Webmistress and Editor of the Historical Romance Club?

Time is one of the biggest challenges, there is just never enough hours in the day to do everything that has to be done. One of the things about HRC which makes it challenging is the fact it is an ever growing, organic website. As the Editor, I'm always having to think months in advance as I review books, contact authors for interviews, get romance news, figure out contests etc.

As the Webmistress, I'm constantly looking for ways to improve the website, whether it be the look, or some new feature, or a better, easier and faster way to add information to the website, getting it into the reader's hands. I like dawning both cloaks, but then I enjoy challenges, it's what let's us know we're alive.

There are also some great benefits such as the people you meet. Authors I would have never met, let alone developed friendships with if it hadn't been for HRC. It has also expanded my author list to such a degree that I know I would have never discovered half the authors I've read if not for the website. And then there is the fact that I'm doing something I love: reading historical romance.

I would like to add that recently we did a complete make over of HRC, which took nearly two months, converting some two hundred HTML pages to Flash. I am very proud how the website has turned out, and the response from authors and readers has been wonderful.

Because of this new website, we have added many more features, such as Banner Advertising for published authors, and will be adding more features for readers and authors alike, in the near future. We are also looking for reviewers who are interested, not only in reading hard bound historical romance, but eBooks and Erotica, with an emphasis on Western/Colonial. We have already attained several talented reviewers who love to read the genre, but we are always looking for more. I would also like to thank the staff of HRC, the authors and of course the readers for making the Historical Romance Club such a success.

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