Jo Beverley Books

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Jo Beverley was an English-Canadian author that wrote romance novels. Born in 1947 in Blackpool, Lancashire, she attended Layton Hill Convent in Blackpool and Keele University in Staffordshire (Degree in English History).

Initially, she worked as a youth employment officer in Newcastle-under-Lyme and West Bridgford following her graduation. But then her husband, who she met at Keele University, moved to Nova Scotia (Dalhousie University) for his post-doctoral research, and the author followed.

Unfortunately, she quickly found that Canada’s labor market had no use for her professional qualifications. This drove her to experiment with creative writing. Beverley became interested in the field at an early age, finishing her first romance story at sixteen.

She finally wrote ‘An Arranged Marriage’ in 1977 but couldn’t find a willing publisher for the manuscript. The woman-centered childbirth movement kept her busy for a while. She also dedicated her time to raising her children.

But eventually, she turned her attention back to writing, publishing ‘Lord Wraybourne’s Betrothed’ in 1988. Rather than abandoning ‘An Arranged Marriage,’ she retrieved the manuscript, rewrote the story, and sold the book in 1991.

By then, the author’s style had evolved. Her earliest followers took note of the significant length of Beverley’s Regencies, not to mention the emphasis she placed on sex. This was a stark departure from the format Georgette Heyer had popularized in previous decades.

She took inspiration from Lolah Burford’s strange but beautiful stories. Beverley was not afraid to tackle forbidden themes and concepts. Although the shift was not intentional. She described it as a gradual drift.

The author preferred letting her characters tell their stories instead of dragging them along a pre-determined path. Sometimes, she couldn’t predict the detours they took along the way.

Beverley was fortunate. When she first dipped her toes into publishing, she was unaware of the narrow boundaries surrounding the Regency romance genre within which writers were expected to operate. As such, she had no qualms about breaking those boundaries.

The author has credited a talk (The State of Romance in Fiction) she attended in 1984 for taking her career to the next level. She met the executive advisor of the Writers’ Association for Romance, who was so impressed by her writing that she became Beverley’s agent.

Beverley stood out because she disagreed with the sentiment that the Regency period was a prissy era devoid of sex. Interestingly, the sensuality in her books would vary depending on the era.

For instance, people in early Medieval times were too busy surviving to indulge in sexual decadence. Conversely, the Georgian Period was extremely amoral, which explains the erotic elements in Beverley’s Georgian romances.

While her novels initially felt like a gamble, they won the author a sizable following in numerous countries worldwide. By the time she died in 2016, the author was a juggernaut in the romance genre.

Beverley encountered and overcame a bout of cancer in 2012. But it returned four years later. Those who knew her said that her cancer moved quickly when it resurfaced.

Jo Beverley Awards

Beverly’s accolades include The Golden Leaf Award, numerous RITAs, and a Readers’ Choice Award.

Best Jo Beverly Books

The author’s real name is Mary Josephine Beverly. She’s among the members that founded the Ottawa Romance Writers’ Association. Beverly’s best books include:

An Arranged Marriage: Eleanor’s brother shattered her prospects for the future when his greedy scheme ruined her reputation. She had no choice but to settle for a marriage of convenience to Nicholas Delaney. It wasn’t long before stories about her misdeeds reached her mysterious husband’s ears.

Rather than imploding from the shame, Eleanor was determined to keep her cool even though Nicholas’ charm had already claimed her heart.

For his part, Nicholas had bigger concerns, or so he kept insisting. He had a secret political mission. But Eleanor’s beauty was slowly becoming the sort of distraction he couldn’t ignore.

An Unwilling Bride: The Duchess of Belcraven couldn’t hide her folly, not when the fruit it bore had taken the shape of a son. Fortunately, her husband had two older boys. The couple thought they could overlook the scandal surrounding the third son.

But then the older boys drowned. Now, two decades later, an arrogant ducal heir must come to terms with his illegitimacy and the forced marriage to an independent school teacher he’s expected to endure.

When Does The Next Jo Beverley book come out?

Jo Beverley doesn't seem to have an upcoming book. Their newest book is Merely a Marriage and was released on May, 30th 2017.

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