Vampires. Hockey Players. Titled aristocrats.
These are the building blocks of romance series, and I’m pretty sure you, gentle reader, saw a very hunky coterie of male vampires (a la JR Ward), a team of hunky male Hockey Players (a la Cathryn Fox) or a table full of dukes, earls and viscounts in their gaming dens (Maclean, Kleypas, Balogh, Dare, etc). And why wouldn’t we? We are still living in a world where ‘woman’ or ‘female’ is a qualifier for all of these words and more.
I’m not here to shame you about this. Because I have eaten up all of those things and would happily do so again. There is something alluring about coming into the inner-sanctum of broken male characters, doing manly things to cope with those wounds, before coming head to head with a woman who Will Not Put Up with that Crap, Thank You Very Much. (You just swooned, didn’t you? I did.)
What happens when the hero comes into her world? She’s just trying to survive, figure things out and maybe she has a plan for that when in waltzes Mr. Definitely Unexpected and Why are You Making Me Feel Things?
It’s far less common as it turns out, which is kind of fascinating, but it’s a scenario that appears to be the most common in historical romance. Perhaps it is the subtle—or not so subtle in my case—Influence of Jane Austen, who wrote from a woman’s perspective because of the very real separation of the male and female spheres in early 19th century England.
I’m not sure if Lisa Kleypas started this trend with her Wallflower series, but the Wallflowers set itself apart other big series at the time – the Bridgertons, Hathaways, and Bedwyns because the focus of the relationship wasn’t solely familial. The Wallflowers became friends and allies of each other through their common goal to escape being wallflowers…and the rest, as they say, is history.
We’ve seen resurgence of Victorian era/Gilded Age romances that centre on female relationships. Elizabeth Everett’s Secret Scientists of London Series, Manda Collins’ historical romance-mystery mash up Ladies Most Scandalous, Mimi Matthews Belles of London, and my own Scandalous Spinsters series, set in Victorian Canada, are all based around female relationships.
‘The Everwell Society of Scandalous Spinsters and Wayward Women’ was born after a conversation with two day-job colleagues. I was taken with the idea of how women whose value is limited to what they bring to a marriage, might exploit that public expectation for their own goals. The Everwell Society of Sorrowful Spinsters and Woeful Widows—the public facing name for their clandestine operation is deliberately ridiculous, but it speaks to how women somehow are not supposed to be fulfilled without marriage and childhood, or have no identity outside of a man’s.
All of the characters in this series are in their thirties or early forties, easily so far on the shelf as to make them part of the woodwork—at least in Society’s eyes. It also makes it easier for them to take on the extra-legal work to help women under the thumb of a society made for, and by, wealthy white men.
“So where are all the sorrowful spinsters and woeful widows?”
“We put that on the cards to keep it respectable,” Elouise said. “No one likes for women to actually enjoy being unattached. There has to be some kind of failing.”
– A Dangerous Diversion
As a writer, I adore writing banter, not just between my hero and heroines, but between the FMCs themselves. All of the Everwell Spinsters are unique women, with distinct personalities. They have to rely on and work with each other. And like a family, sometimes they get on each other’s nerves. But they are also there for each other.
Elouise Charming, not for a moment buying into the ‘fake relationship trope’ Phillipa Landry is proposing from A Dangerous Diversion:
Of course, the Scandalous Spinsters are a romance series, so there are heroes, and I love my Everwell men. Having them invited to Sunday dinner by the two Society matriarchs is always a pivotal moment of the hero’s acceptance, not just into the heroine’s life by the larger world of Everwell. With each book, the society gets richer by the hero’s allyship. The bonds of friendship and support do not end with the marriage. The marriage adds a stronger web of support.
I swoon and smile when I see the hero of another book help his wife to come to the aid of one of their female friends. Is it a microtrope? “Hero sticks up for my best friend”? Whatever it is – I love it. I just finished reading the Muse of Maiden Lane by Mimi Matthews (a fantastic series I absolutely insist you go read), and when that trope arrives, I get a swoony little smile on my face I cannot seem to wipe off. It never gets old. It’s sexy AF. (Jasper Blunt, I’m looking at you sir).
One of the things I want for readers of the Scandalous Spinsters is to feel a part of the Everwell Society. Whether they are married or not, young or older, a woman, a man, non-binary, it doesn’t matter. I always hope the reader feels they are sitting in the parlour with Phillipa, Elouise, Gemma, Maddy and Rimple, planning their next caper, or sizing up this new handsome hero in waiting to see if he’s worthy of a seat at the dinner table. That’s the power and the fun of writing a female-centric series like Everwell. We can all belong to the Everwell Society.
About the Author
Michelle has always been drawn to the magic of fairy tales and swoony historical romances—the kind with flickering candlelight, brooding heroes in puffy shirts, and breathtaking landscapes. Her writing is rooted in a love of pure historical escapism, inspired by the timeless works of Jane Austen and modern masters like Lisa Kleypas.
She is the author of eight historical romance novels, including the fairytale inspired Enchanted Tales series and the Scandalous Spinsters series, about a charity set in Victorian Halifax that goes to some extraordinary – and occasionally extra-legal – means to help women in need. She has recently signed with Dragonblade Publishing for The Whetherby Witches, a witchy historical romance series coming in 2026. https://www.michellehelliwell.com/
You can find her on occasionally on Facebook, Instagram, Threads and Bluesky, and most especially reaching out to readers through her biweekly newsletter.
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