Nora’s flown off to Louisville for this year’s Kentucky Derby.  I’ve seen photos of the hat and it’s just amazing and fabulous.  Travelogue and photos to follow early next week. (You can read about her 2013 Derby experience here.)

So while La Nora is away La Laura will play.

The first weekend in May always makes me think about Nora’s Derby books specifically her very first book Irish Thoroughbred and it’s sequel Irish Rose (which are currently packaged in one book as Irish Hearts) as well as True Betrayals.  Perhaps it’s unfair to compare the books because category romances are more limited in scope than a big romantic suspense, but I think as Nora was a maestro at giving us fully fleshed out stories and characters when she wrote for Silhouette that it’s not so much comparison as it is companion.

A couple of questions to stir the conversation pot:

If you are an active re-reader, which do you reach for more often: Irish Thoroughbred or True Betrayals?

Adelia Cunnane is a heroine who knows exactly what she wants to do with her life and does it while Kelsey Byden has spent years trying one thing or another until she finds her footing in the world of thoroughbred racing.  Which sort of heroine do you prefer the one who knows what she wants or the one who is seeking her place?

More favored hero: Travis Grant or Gabe Slater?  I’ll have to admit that Travis is a bit more mysterious since Nora was constrained by the category romance standards of 1981 which meant readers never got the hero’s POV (point of view), but she gives us as full a picture of him as she can.

Finally, do you watch the Derby every year?

Laura