Remembering Jo Beverley
We were saddened to hear about historical romance author Jo Beverley’s death yesterday. (You can read about her and her passing at the Word Wenches blog.) Ms. Beverley was a giant in her field. She wrote over 40 historical romances and won five RITA awards. She is one of only 18 writers inducted into the RWA Hall of Fame. Ms. Beverley was a frequent poster on our boards and several of our staff have lovely memories of her and her books.
Maggie Boyd:
On our own boards Jo once said, “I like my romance rich and over the top“. She certainly seemed to write to that criteria. My very first Jo Beverley novel was A Most Unsuitable Man. While I list several of her books among my favorites, this is the book that got m
e hooked on this particular author. I think what I loved most about the tale was the high drama and the wonderful hero. Fitzroger was strong, brave, resolute and heroic. He became heroine Damaris’ champion not by fighting a villain for her but by saving her from embarrassment. It sounds a little thing but I think all of us could use just such a hero from time to time. And the story was just how Jo described her own favorites – rich with romance and over the top adventure. I also remember Ms. Beverley as a fun and funny presence on our site. Once when we were talking about the deplorable lack of Westerns in Romance she mentioned that titles are what captured the eye of readers. Her solution to our Western scarcity was for someone to name their book “The Wagon Train Duke“, since books with Duke in the title seemed to sell well. This was years ago on the boards and perhaps I’m not remembering it perfectly but I can remember that the whole thread – and her contributions to it – made me laugh really hard at the time.
Shannon Dyer: 
My favorite is an Unwilling Bride. I loved Beth and Lucian’s relationship. They were so obviously perfect for each other, but neither wanted to admit it. Sometimes, that kind of stubbornness is annoying, but Ms. Beverley made it charming. Ever since I devoured that book, her books have been autobuys for me.
Caroline Russomanno: 
I loved Dark Champion. Medievals were thin on the ground by the time I got into romance, and this one, with its high passions, political arranged marriage, and warrior hero, is everything I love about the subgenre. I always was grateful to Beverley for pushing the boundaries of historical settings – building the bulk of her career in Georgians when the easy, proven winner was Regency. It made our romance world so much richer.
Anne Marble:
I met Jo at RWA National in Dallas (was that way back in 2007)? When she realized I was attending, she scolded me for not telling her I was there earlier. :-) And we’d never met — she only knew me through AAR and mailing lists. (And I learned a LOT from her posts on AARlist!) She was one of the first authors I followed on Facebook, and one of the first who had to create a special group for her fans because she gained too many followers. I will certainly miss her posts.
An Arranged Marriage was one of the first romance audiobooks I bought when I tried to branch out into audiobooks — and one of the few longer books I was able to listen to all the way through. Just finding out how Eleanor and Nicholas would work through their marriage kept me listening. I loved that even in Regencies, Jo wasn’t afraid to tackle controversial topics — rape, infidelity, abuse, and more. Her characters were never perfect, and that’s what made the stories so strong. I think a writer has done something right when some people get up in arms about their hero and heroine!
Do you have a memory of Ms. Beverley to share? What’s your favorite of her many many books?
I am so so sorry that there will never be a new Jo Beverley for us to enjoy. I loved some of her books, but liked all of them and her writing was always intelligent, thoughtful and authentic. My favorites of hers were the medievals “The Shattered Rose” and “Dark Champion” and the novella “The Trouble with Heroes”. Her characters were always honourable thoughtful people trying to do the right thing in a difficult world and spoke to me immensely. She will be missed.
Jo was one of my auto buy authors and Devilish one of my top 10 books ever. I met Jo once at a Regency event in London and count myself privileged to have done so. I was so sad to read this and will miss her style dreadfully. My sincere condolences to her family.
I’ve enjoyed most of Jo’s books and will miss her as an author.
My favorite personal item about Jo is when she and her husband drove across Canada from Victoria to the east coast to move, eventually, to England. She sent an email every day with pictures of what she saw out the front window. If you have ever done that trip you know it is absolutely flat and boring until you get to Quebec and some mountains. It was absolutely hysterical – day after day with Hwy 1 stretched out in front of the car and flat land on either side. She had a great sense of humor!
Jo Beverley used to join in on sites like Goodreads like she was some regular, common romance reader. With all that day-to-day interaction, I am shocked she is gone.
Not the best explanation, but I will always remember her as the friendly author always up for a chat!
I met Jo Beverly a number of years agoo at a RT convention in Toronto. As it was only a couple of hours away I thought I’d go. I happened to be sitting at a table with a few other people and she stopped by and sat for a while. Rothgar was scheduled to come out very shortly and she was handing out buttons and talking about how much she loved writing his story. As I had read a number of her books including the first few Malloren books and authore were/are my rock stars, I was just in awe that I was sitting at the same table as Jo Beverly.
My introduction to Jo Beverley’s books was A Lady’s Secrets. It remains one of my favorites. I loved the jokes about Robin’s name and Petra’s introduction to, and acceptance by, the father she never knew growing up. I went on to read all of her Malloran novels, and then the Rogues novels, and enjoyed all of them. I just finished her latest, The Viscount Needs a Wife, today. I understand there is one more book that will be published sometime later. She tackled a wide variety of characters and plot lines so each book felt unique. I never met her, but I hope her family knows how much her readers will miss her.