Love and Betrayal on the Ides of March

 

Cleopatra Trailer Screenshot, Public Domain, Wikimedia

Vincenzo Camuccini, Death of Caesar, Public Domain, Wikimedia

History marks March 15^th as a date to “beware.” From our perspective, the day’s negative rap began in 44 BCE, when Brutus, Cassius, and other Roman senators assassinated their Roman emperor and supposed friend, Julius Caesar. I can see the scene in my mind’s eye, not only because of Shakespeare’s play and the movies, but also from learning about the event as a child in elementary school. However, the Ides of March didn’t start with the assassination. On the old Roman calendar the Ides fell on the first full moon of the New Year, which began in March. Romans viewed it as the deadline for settling debts. Isn’t it interesting that the assassins chose that particular day for their deed of betrayal?

As a theme of the human condition, betrayal plays a part in several Pen Dames novels, along with other motifs such as love, passion, danger, revenge, inner strength, and heart stopping adventure. Some of our books touch upon all of these. To heat up your Ides of March, check out these exciting reads! They are some of my favorites by Pen Dames authors.

In Loretta C. Rogers’ When Comes Forever, both hero and heroine are betrayed by their families. Their heartbreaking travails and growing attraction draw them together to fight their way through the treachery and intrigue.

In Linda Tillis’ A Heart for All Time, the heroine meets the hero at a hair-raising moment--as he is in the process of being hanged. You’d think things could only look up from there, but many other perils threaten these two valiant souls.

In Katherine Eddinger Smits’ Water Desires (Love’s Siren Song II), the odds are against the heroine. She has to seek the strength to deal with a dying father, a resentful mother, and a secretive mentor, while trying to recover from illness and salvage a seemingly doomed future with her true love.

In Jennifer Taylor’s Mercy of the Moon (Rhythm of the Moon series), a sinister killer is on the loose. Danger lurks in the dark for the heroine and hero, both from the outside and from within.

In Flossie Benton Rogers’ Runes (Wytchfae 1), both heroine and hero suffer betrayal and must stand together to come out ahead. Fittingly for the Ides of March, Julius Caesar’s assassin, Cassius, makes an appearance in the story. He is one of the loathsome Grims, a dissipated ghoul following the orders of a vampiric Underworld queen.

If you have already enjoyed these or other Pen Dames books, please consider leaving a short review on Amazon, Goodreads, BookBub, or elsewhere. You’ll be sure to win a Pen Dame’s heart!

Thanks for reading!

Flossie Benton Rogers for the Pen Dames

Heart, Humor, and Happily Ever After