The Ultimate Disguise
(by Jenna Petersen)

As I’m writing this, I just got home from a celebratory lunch with my friend Julie (celebrating the release of WHAT THE DUKE DESIRES). Afterward, we headed to our local Halloween store to look at costumes. It’s amazing the wide variety of things you can pretend to be for a party or trick or treat. That got me thinking about how many times the heroes and heroines of my books disguise themselves.

I’m not talking about literally, of course...although in my SEDUCTION IS FOREVER, my heroine did actually physically disguise herself. I mean more that I’ve written several heroes or heroines who pretend to be things they aren’t.

For example, in LESSONS FROM A COURTESAN, my heroine, Victoria, pretends to be a courtesan. In HER NOTORIOUS VISCOUNT, my hero, Nicolas, has been living one life as an underground fighter and now must reclaim his life as a gentleman, which is definitely not natural to him.

I’m continuing the theme in my newest release, WHAT THE DUKE DESIRES. There are several characters pretending to be something they’re not. My hero, Simon Crathorne’s father, pretended to be a good man, but his lies led to all kind of trouble and pain for others that Simon has to resolve.

My heroine, Lillian Mayhew, is also pretending. Her family was destroyed by Simon’s father and she’s determined to destroy his good reputation as revenge. Falling in love with Simon complicates that plan significantly. Oh...and there are a few more secrets and disguises you’ll have to read the book to find out about! :)

The book launches my new series, “The Billingham Bastards”, so I’ll be continuing my “disguise” theme for many books to come!

What are your favorite books that involve disguises, either literally or with characters pretending to be something they aren’t? And, what are you going to be for Halloween? I’m thinking zombie...