August 3, 2014

New Mexico for Unusual Historicals--Jeannine D. Van Eperen



I do not currently live in New Mexico nor was I born there, but to me New Mexico is always the place I think of as home. Why do I? You may wonder. I ask myself the same question. Perhaps it is because my family lived there for many years. I attended the University of New Mexico. I think it is interesting that a nephew, a niece, my son and I all had the same professor for an Anthropology class. My son was born in Albuquerque as were most of my nieces and a nephew. My entire family including my sister, brother, a cousin and her family followed us to Albuquerque and we spent weekends together exploring the wonderful beautiful mountains, small lake areas, interesting towns such as Taos, Santa Fe, Truth or Consequences and places like Inscription Rock not far from Grants.

New Mexico is often the setting for many of my romance novels. I’ve written some modern romances as well as several historical. Set during the Great Depression of the 1930s  is Rose of the Rio Grande . Daughter of Spain that takes place during the first settling of Santa Fe. Daughter of Spain is the book of my heart and I am very proud of it. It is set in the time of the Conquistadors and the Inquisitions of Spain. It is about people who are trying to make a new life. I pride myself on the books authenticity.

For those who wish to visit beautiful, historic New Mexico, I usually advise not to stick to the big highways, but take some of the smaller roads and byways. To get from Albuquerque to Santa Fe, for instance, don’t take the freeway but drive through the Sandia Mountains to the east of Albuquerque, and while you are at it, drive up to the top of Sandia Peak before heading on to Santa Fe to see the interesting sights the capitol city has to offer, and it has many.  While you are in New Mexico try a Chili Cheese Burger at a Blake’s Lotta Burger. If you are anything like me and my family you’ll go back for more. In fact while writing this, I must have had a senior moment. I couldn’t think of Blake’s. I sent out an email request to my family and all answered in minutes with Blake’s.
New Mexico lives up to its Land of Enchantment nickname in many ways. Visit and you’ll see.
My books set in or partially in New Mexico are: Highway to Love, Interlude; Rose of the Rio Grande, No Escape from Love, You Can Bank of it, Golden Rod and Daughter of Spain. Wydecombe Manor, I believe could be regarded as unusual is a historical romance set in the present and in 14th century England. My website features all my 25 books as well as reviews by me on other writers’ works. Please visit my site www.Jeanninevaneperen.com.
(all info provided by author)

6 comments:

  1. Nice article. I have never heard of a novel set during the time of the Spanish Inquisitions..I can imagine the amount of research you had to do..and don't you love it. And I love New Mexico, too.
    We are native Texans but wandered over to Las Vegas, NM to live one year. My husband taught at NM Highlands during the year the students rebelled and had a sit-in at the main building. The day we drove in, NM Highlands was in the news! We should have know, but we stuck it out a year...the atmosphere at the university was not good.
    But that one year sticks in our minds as one of the happiest for all of us. Our children were in 1st and 4th grade, boy, girl, and we camped up on the mesa, ice skated, hiked, etc. Our kids, now in the early 50s still recall that year of living in a real adobe house, the oldest one West of the "line" that separated Las Vegas.
    Thanks for the memories.

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  2. Hi, Jeannine,

    Although we've visited the west seven times, I've yet to see New Mexico and would like to do so. The editor of my Five Star/Gale novels, Alice Duncan, lives in NM, Roswell, to be exact.

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  4. Thank you for your blog on New Mexico. When I relocated west it was a toss-up between NM and AZ and the weather was the deciding factor. Coming from the northeast, I couldn't face snow or cold weather. But I still think of the beauty of NM and have returned several times since.

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  5. New Mexico sounds beautiful! I've never visited the American Southwest, but I hope to someday and I'm bookmarking your "travel guide" for my journey!

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  6. Husband loves the dry heat of the west. I'm sure once he gets to retire, we'll head to New Mexico to try some camping there. Thanks for sharing info about the state.

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