ALEXANDER, Victoria

PERSONAL:

Married; children: two. Education: University of Nebraska, received degree.

ADDRESSES:

Home—P.O. Box 31544, Omaha, NE 68131. E-mail—[email protected].

CAREER:

Writer. Previously worked as a television news reporter.

AWARDS, HONORS:

Write Touch Readers' Award, 1996, for Yesterday and Forever; Holt Medallion finalist, 1998, for The Emperor's New Clothes; Colorado Award for Excellence, 1999, for The Wedding Bargain; Write Touch Readers' Award finalist, 1999, for Paradise Bay, and 2003, for Her Highness, My Wife; Holt Medallion award, and Colorado Award of Excellence finalist, both c. 1999, both for Believe; Holt Medallion award finalist, and Write Touch Readers' Award finalist, both 2001, both for The Husband List; Write Touch Best Historical finalist, and RITA finalist, both 2004, both for Love with the Proper Husband.

WRITINGS:

Yesterday and Forever, Leisure Love Spell (New York, NY), 1995.

The Princess and the Pea, Leisure Love Spell (New York, NY), 1996.

The Perfect Wife, Leisure Historical (New York, NY), 1996.

The Emperor's New Clothes, Leisure Love Spell (New York, NY), 1997.

Play It Again, Sam, Leisure Love Spell (New York, NY), 1998.

Believe, Leisure Love Spell (New York, NY), 1998.

Paradise Bay, Leisure Love Spell (New York, NY), 1999.

The Wedding Bargain, Avon (New York, NY), 1999.

The Husband List, Avon (New York, NY), 2000.

The Marriage Lesson, Avon (New York, NY), 2001.

The Prince's Bride, Avon (New York, NY), 2001.

Her Highness, My Wife, Avon (New York, NY), 2002.

The Lady in Question, Avon (New York, NY), 2003.

Love with the Proper Husband, Avon (New York, NY), 2003.

The Pursuit of Marriage, Avon (New York, NY), 2004.

A Visit from Sir Nicholas, Avon (New York, NY), 2004.

Also contributor of novellas to anthologies, including The Night before Christmas, 1996, The Santa Paws Anthology, 1997, and The Cat's Meow Halloween Anthology, 1998, all from Leisure Love Spell; Secrets of a Perfect Night, Avon, 2000; and The One That Got Away, Avon, 2004.

SIDELIGHTS:

A former television journalist turned writer, Victoria Alexander has published over a dozen romance titles, most of them set in Regency England. Her book career began in 1995 with Yesterday and Forever, the story of an American tourist who finds timeless love in England. Alexander followed this debut title the next year with The Princess and the Pea, in which a man's desire for a wealthy wife results in romantic complications, and The Perfect Wife, wherein a pair of English aristocrats find love and adventure while searching for lost gold in Egypt. Michell Phifer, writing for the Romantic Times Web site, proclaimed the latter title "delightful."

Alexander's next novel, The Emperor's New Clothes, concerns the romantic entanglements that ensue in rural Wyoming when a disinterested mayor, who enjoys tending his ranch, agrees to escort a flamboyant gambler who poses as a countess to lure wealthy suitors. Alexander followed this work with Play It Again, Sam, in which a plucky canine connives to reunite lovers whose romance came to a tragic end almost two hundred years earlier. Library Journal contributor Kristin Ramsdell deemed the novel "wonderfully whimsical."

In 1998, Alexander published Believe, an historical tale in which a woman runs afoul of a wizard and suddenly finds herself in the Middle Ages, where she becomes drawn to a dashing knight. Following that, Alexander issued Paradise Bay, which she described in a Writers Space Web site chat as the story of "a woman who has her life pretty much planned out for her until she meets a great looking computer nerd who isn't at all what she thinks he is." Jill M. Smith, in a Romantic Times assessment, described Paradise Bay as a "lighthearted, sexy and fun-filled read."

In The Wedding Bargain Alexander tells the story of an aristocrat who consents to marriage with the stipulation that her suitor—an irascible opportunist—first performs twelve difficult and heroic tasks. Romantic Times reviewer Maria C. Ferrer called this novel "a wonderful, sensual, romantic tale." In The Husband List, Alexander presents a widow who stands to inherit a sizeable fortune if she can remarry before her thirtieth birthday. She coldly proposes to a destitute aristocrat, who responds by requiring conjugal rights in addition to financial security. Writing on the Romance Communication Reviews Web site, Carol Carter called The Husband List a "fun romp," while a contributor for Publishers Weekly found it a "delightful read."

The Marriage Lesson continues Alexander's lighthearted approach in a tale of a romance between an adventurous debutante who finds herself drawn to an aristocrat who has been enlisted to find her an acceptable suitor. A critic for Publishers Weekly noted this novel's "humor and romantic tension," and called it a "rollicking romance." In The Prince's Bride, more aristocrats search for love and discover it where they least suspect it to be. A contributor for Publishers Weekly commented that "while this isn't Alexander's best effort, readers who were hooked by her earlier books will undoubtedly pluck this one off the shelf."

Reviewers found more to like in the 2002 title Her Highness, My Wife, which posits the question, in the words of a Publishers Weekly reviewer, of whether or not "a woman [can] be both a dutiful princess and a devoted wife." The same reviewer called the novel "polished and delightful." Further Regency dalliances are delineated in Love with a Proper Husband, a novel with "snappy dialogue and droll situations," but also one that, according to a contributor for Publishers Weekly, "fails to lay a solid foundation." Alexander's 2003 Regency-era romance, The Lady in Question, is a "silky weaving of humor and intrigue," as one Publishers Weekly critic summarized, and a blend of "playful prose and seamless storytelling." And Alexander's 2004 title, The Pursuit of Marriage, presents further Regency adventures when a plucky young woman gets under the skin of a handsome suitor and challenges him to prove that he is more than just another handsome face.

Alexander told CA: "I've always been a writer. My first attempt at a book was a spy-type thriller that I abandoned after I wrote myself into a corner. Of course, I was in the fifth grade at the time. My first career was as a TV news reporter, so I've written nonfiction (news) for most of my adult life. That's had a huge effect on my fiction writing. As a reporter, you're an observer. I've been able to see people in all sorts of situations—tragic as well as triumphant. I've watched people cope with disaster or accept miracles in their lives and go on. That's had a huge influence on my writing. It's also influenced what I write. I saw far too much tragedy and injustice as a reporter. I'd rather make readers laugh than cry. Real life is extremely difficult and people don't always live happily ever after. When I write, I can make sure they do.

"When you start to write I think you're really rather stupid about just how hard it's going to be. This is real work. For me, every book is harder than the last. As much as I wish that wasn't true, I think it's a good thing. If every book is more difficult, it means you're still reaching and stretching and challenging yourself. My favorite book without question is always the one I just finished.

"I hope my books provide readers with entertainment, laughter, and enjoyment. I try to write the kind of books I like to read. If I can take readers away from their own lives for a few hours, then I've been successful."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Library Journal, February 15, 1998, Kristin Ramsdell, review of Play It Again, Sam, p. 130.

Publishers Weekly, July 17, 2000, review of The Husband List, p. 180; March 12, 2001, review of The Marriage Lesson, p. 68; November 12, 2001, review of The Prince's Bride, p. 42; July 1, 2002, review of Her Highness, My Wife, p. 61; March 10, 2003, review of Love with the Proper Husband, p. 59; October 20, 2003, review of The Lady in Question, p. 40; April 26, 2004, review of The Pursuit of Marriage, p. 47.

ONLINE

BookBrowser.com,http://bookbrowser.com/ (September 20, 2000), Harriet Klausner, review of The Husband List.

Romance Communication Reviews,http://www.romcom.com/ (August 15, 2000), Carol Carter, review of The Husband List.

Romantic Times Online,http://www.romantictimes.com/ (May 18, 2001), Jill M. Smith, review of Paradise Bay; Michell Phifer, review of The Perfect Wife; Kathe Robin, review of The Husband List; Maria C. Ferrer, review of The Wedding Bargain.

Victoria Alexander Home Page,http://www.eclectics.com/victoria/ (July 26, 2004).

WriterSpace.com,http://www.writerspace.com/ (September 20, 2000).