Inspiring Fragrances

by Shanna Hatfield

When I'm writing a story, I try to engage as many senses as possible.

One thing that helps me, as I develop the characters, is to imagine how they might smell to their love interest.

A while back, I ordered a bottle of "genuine" Ogalalla Bay Rum just to see what it smelled like. In truth, I could see how it might have set girlish hearts aflutter back in the heyday of those long cattle drives.

For my latest release, I tracked down a bottle of Tabu perfume because I mention it in the story.

Created by Jean Carles in 1932, the perfume is sweet, ambery, spicy and complex. Tagged as "the forbidden perfume," it was a great fit for the character wearing it.

I also delved into other perfume of specific eras which led me to Bésame Cosmetics which offers a line of perfumes that highlight decades of the 1900s. <Disclaimer: Bésame Cosmetics doesn't know me from Adam's off ox and this is not a paid endorsement. I just like their awesome products.>

It's so fun to be able to smell a fragrance and imagine my characters wearing it (or in the case of the heroes in the stories - admiring it!). For Garden of Her Heart, my new release, I chose the 1940s fragrance which is an aromatic, floral scent that was absolutely perfect for the heroine of the story.

Do you have a favorite fragrance?

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Can forbidden love blossom 

   amid the constraints of war?

The moment the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor, life shifted for Miko Nishimura. Desperate to reach the Portland Assembly Center for Japanese Americans, she’s kicked off the bus miles from town. Every tick of the clock pushes her closer to becoming a fugitive in the land of her birth. Exhausted, she stumbles to her grandparents’ abandoned farm only to find a dying soldier sprawled across the step. Unable to leave him, she forsakes all else to keep him alive.

After crashing his plane in the Battle of the Atlantic, the doctors condemn Captain Rock Laroux to die. Determined to meet his maker beneath a blue sky at his family home, he sneaks out of the hospital. Weary and half out of his mind, he makes it as far as a produce stand he remembers from his youth. Rather than surrender to death, Rock fights a battle of the heart as he falls in love with the beautiful Japanese woman who saves his life.

A poignant, sweet romance, Garden of Her Heart proves love can bloom in unlikely places even under the most challenging circumstances.

Available on:

    

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USA Today Bestselling Author Shanna Hatfield writes character-driven romances with relatable heroes and heroines. Her historical westerns have been described as “reminiscent of the era captured by Bonanza and The Virginian” while her contemporary works have been called “laugh-out-loud funny, and a little heart-pumping sexy without being explicit in any way.”

Convinced everyone deserves a happy ending, this hopeless romantic is out to make it happen, one story at a time. When she isn’t writing or indulging in chocolate (dark and decadent, please), Shanna hangs out with her husband, lovingly known as Captain Cavedweller.

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