Today we have Misty Urban on the blog, here to answer a few questions alongside the release of The Knight Falls First, book 7 in the Ladies Least Likely series!

Welcome! Can you tell us a little bit about yourself and what got you into writing?

According to family legend, shortly after I learned to write as a child, I started composing stories for my younger sister. I’m told these early efforts involved a lot of cats, rats, and possibly bats. All through school, I’d complete my classwork, then whip out a notebook and write. I have piles and piles of these notebooks, and I’ve asked my family at my demise to burn me upon them like a pagan queen on her pyre. I suppose it was inevitable that, after attempting several times to pursue a practical degree and career, I would end up leaving it all to write. My mind is always full of stories, and I love sharing them.

Are there any books that have really influenced you as a writer?

The Arthurian legends, The Lord of the Rings, Anne of Green Gables, and the books of Dianna Wynne Jones were the worlds I lived in as a child. Reading The Mists of Avalon was formative for this 16-year-old and probably explains a lot about me. Later, reading the stories of Lorrie Moore made me want to write literary fiction. But it was reading Jane Eyre for my high school English class that really captivated me into the study of literature and, I suppose, historical romance. That book completely swept me away. The world, the writing, Rochester, Jane’s struggles and growth, all of it called to me.

What do you enjoy most about writing historical romance?

I really saw myself in Jane Eyre, which is funny because I was not a poor orphan. It was something about the way she looked at the world, sensitive and wounded. But she still found love and a happy ending. I think all my romances are just trying to give Jane—and that young girl inside me—love and the promise of security and happiness. I enjoy exploring a world somewhat like our own and figuring out how an intelligent, ambitious woman could thrive among so many restrictions.

What inspired the Ladies Least Likely?

That quest to find a place in the world, really. All my historical romances are set in the same world, where a girl’s school in Bath, Miss Gregoire’s Academy, is quietly and radically educating young women to be exactly what they want to be, to follow their dreams and passions. Though the first six books in the series follow very different characters, they’re united by that theme of determined and daring young women carving out their place—and falling in love with the partner who helps make their dreams possible.

What’s behind this book in particular?

The Knight Falls First is the first real sequel in the series; it follows the events of the first book, Viscount Overboard. I’m interested to see how readers will feel about returning to Newport, Wales, 1799, and the community I invented there. I knew when I finished the first book that Anne and Hewitt were going to collide, though it would require some redemption for Anne, since she doesn’t come off well in Viscount Overboard. It turns out Hew needs redemption as well, so they explore ruin and redemption together.

Can you tell us about your writing space? Where do you do most of your writing?

In winter, I snuggle downstairs in my office beside the sun lamp and the heater, surrounded by my shelves and shelves of books. But in summer, to catch the light, I’m at the kitchen counter. Right now I’m watching the male cardinal hop through the maple tree outside the kitchen window while I drink my morning coffee and wait for the kids to wake up.

What helps you when you have writers block?

For me, writer’s block is a matter of simply not understanding my characters well enough yet. If I do something else—take a walk, clean the house, drive the kids to their activities—I can typically get enough distance to see what’s going on with my story. If I’m really stuck, I pull out that notebook that is never far from my side. Writing longhand, character sketches or dialogue, always shakes something loose.

What are some things you are really enjoying right now? Books, TV, foods, etc.?

I recently attended the Historical Novel Society conference in Las Vegas—I was on a panel discussing historical romance, actually—and I came home with an armload of books from authors I met: Fiona Davis, Margaret George, Kate Quinn, Heather Webb, Monica Chenault-Kilgore, Madeline Martin, Eva Devon, Gill Paul, Silvia Moreno Garcia. I can’t wait to float in the pool and read!

Want to know more about The Knight Falls First?

Anne Sutton has the beauty and breeding to make a gentleman’s wife, but not the dowry. When her parents offer her to the vile Calvin Vaughn, Anne does something a gentleman’s daughter would never do: she decides to ruin herself. And the best means at hand is Calvin’s prodigal older brother, Hew, lately returned from war.

Hewitt Vaughn is either the hero of Acre or under a cloud of disgrace-he’s yet to find out which. He’s home to recover from his wounds and take charge of the family estates; stealing his brother’s fiancée is decidedly not a way to redeem himself. But when the lovely, desperate Anne entreats Hew’s help, how can he, as a man of honor, deny her?

When Anne’s plan spectacularly backfires, the only solution is a forced marriage-to each other. But as she makes a home in Newport, Anne wonders if Hewitt Vaughn is the smartest mistake she ever made. And Anne might be the future he never dreamed he could have, but to win her, Hew has to persuade her he would have chosen her anyway-and he’ll have to defeat the dangerous enemy who wants to take everything from them, including one another.

Meet Misty Urban:

Misty Urban wrote her first story at age 5 for the benefit of her younger sister. It was, sources say, a rather conventional piece involving cats, mats, and possibly bats (the work is no longer extant). Her next venture, a journalism/reportage effort entitled “The Urban Star,” peaked at a circulation of 3. She wrote her first novel at age 16. It remains unpublished.

Her subsequent career paths have included stints as a bookseller in Madison, WI; an MA student at Florida State University in Tallahassee, FL; a combined MFA/Ph.D. student at Cornell University in Ithaca, NY; and four years as an assistant professor at Lewis Clark State College in Lewiston, ID. She has most recently come to rest in eastern Iowa, where she reads and writes in the company of one handsome park ranger, two young aspiring writers, and a rather heavy collection of books.

You can find her on Instagram, BookBub, as well as her website. And, of course, if you want to stay up to date with what Misty has going on, you can sign up for her newsletter here.