Professor Publishes New YA Regency Romantic Comedy
Published: April 11, 2023 | Author: Abbie Cochrane | Read Time: 5 minutes
Southern Utah University’s Dr. Rosalyn Eves is set to release her latest publication, a regency romantic comedy called An Improbable Season, in April 2023. The book, a more “PG” variant of the hit Netflix series, Bridgerton, is available for pre-order now. Dr. Eves will be doing a book signing on April 25, 2023, from 6-8 p.m. at Main Street Books in Cedar City, Utah.
Dr. Eves, assistant professor of English at SUU, has previously released several books including the Blood Rose Rebellion series (2017-2019) and a standalone novel titled Beyond the Mapped Stars (2021), both of which are popular among YA readers.
An Improbable Season takes place in 1817 England as a new London Season begins. Sisters Thalia and Kalliope, and their cousin Charis, have individual plans for success once they arrive in London. Thalia means to publish her poetry, Kalli aims to find her place in high society and find a husband, and Charis hopes to earn her place among the (male-dominated) scientific community. Things go south when Kalli finds herself tangled in a scandal and desperate to redeem her reputation with the help of an arranged marriage, Thalia’s dreams of becoming a great poet are also jeopardized when she finds herself attracted to a charming rake, and Charis unexpectedly becomes the social favorite and is tossed into the greatest scientific anomaly that one can experience–romantic attraction.
Even before she could write, Dr. Eves was telling stories. Hailing from outside Bozeman, Montana, Dr. Eves moved to Provo, Utah when she was 11. Around the same age, she decided she wanted to write books. She attended Brigham Young University for her bachelor’s in English, and she earned her master’s and Ph.D. degrees in English from Penn State.
“English was always one of my favorite classes, so it seemed a natural fit to go into English. My parents were college professors before they retired, so I started college thinking I'd like to be a professor,” said Dr. Eves.
It took her about thirty years to get her first book published. Her works have been a success ever since. Her specialty is historical fiction and young adult fantasy hybrids.
“I started with young adult fantasy because that’s a lot of what I’d been reading. More recently, especially because of the pandemic, I’ve been reading more rom-coms rather than straight-up fantasy because it’s not quite as heavy,” said Dr. Eves. “I draw inspiration wherever I can find it. If I get a good idea, I will usually try to develop it. My books all have an element of history in them, so I do get some ideas from research. Reading about events that were happening at a certain time in history sometimes gets me to think about ‘how would a character react to this?’”
As seen with her upcoming release, Dr. Eves is leaning more into the romantic comedy genre and eventually wants to write more contemporary books. Her mom was the one who inspired her love of Regency romance, and to this day, considers the genre a “comfort read.”
“I was kind of nerdy as a kid, and I guess there was something really appealing about a world where the social rules were so clearly defined and it was very understandable how you would interact with people and what the guidelines were,” said Dr. Eves. “Whereas, when I was growing up, I didn’t really know how to talk to people. And of course, like any other era, the Regency era has its problems, but part of what we love about it is the ballgowns and the wealth that you’d see in something like Bridgerton, but that was partly because Britain was a colonial power. So it’s not all perfect, but I think it’s a fun period to escape to.”
While An Improbable Season delves into the romantic aspect of the girls’ lives, Dr. Eves says that it is also very much a story of sisters. For her, it is something that she wrote for the enjoyment of herself and her readers, whereas previous books held a deeper personal meaning. However, there is still a theme to be found in An Improbable Season.
“The message of the book is partly ‘you have to love yourself first,’ because all my books have that as a theme. But really I think it’s the idea of these young women coming together and supporting each other,” said Dr. Eves.
Before coming to SUU, Dr. Eves worked at BYU running the writing fellows program. Now, Dr. Eves teaches English 1010 and 2010, as well as other classes in the rhetoric tract of the English department, including a Feminist Rhetoric class (English 4160) which will be offered Fall 2023. Winning an SUU Influencer award is one of Dr. Eves’ biggest accomplishments at the University so far.
She’s also taught a few literature classes on campus, the occasional creative writing course covering writing for publication, finding an agent, and other business-related aspects of writing, and several classes at the Teen Author Boot Camp.
To any would-be writers, Dr. Eves offers this advice:
“I think the best thing you can do to help you become a good writer is read a lot. Write the stuff that you like to read. Find people that can give you feedback, go to conferences. I don’t think there’s one easy answer, but if you want to write, write. You don’t have to have certain qualifications or special experience. You just have to really love it and that will carry you through the hard parts.”
Preorder An Improbable Season anywhere books are sold, including at the SUU Bookstore. Attend Dr. Eves' book signing at Main Street Books on April 25, 2023.
Tags: Cedar City College of Humanities and Social Sciences English