In just four weeks I’ll be in England! I’m going on the Duke of Wellington tour with my pals Kristine Hughes and Victoria Hinshaw of Number One London Blog. I’ve also talked my sister into going with me, since the dh will still be recovering from back surgery (he’s doing great, by the way!!!)

We’re flying into London a few days before the tour begins so that I can visit the Mills and Boon offices in Richmond and meet with my editors in person. And so we can tour around London a little and go shopping.

I think we can do some shopping at Regency shops!

We’ll go to Floris on Jermyn Street in Mayfair.

Floris was founded in 1730 by Juan Famenias Floris, who came to England to seek his fortune and found it by creating the scents of his island home of Menorca. His scent shop is in the original location and its beautiful mahogany counters were purchased from the Great Exhibition. Some Regency customers included Beau Brummell, Mary Shelley, and the Prince Regent who, as George IV, appointed J. Floris Ltd. as Smooth Pointed Comb-Makers to the King in 1820.

I also want to go to Fortnum & Mason on Piccadilly.

Fortnum & Mason was founded in 1707 by William Fortnum and Hugh Mason. Fortnum was an enterprising footman in the royal household of Queen Anne who sold the half-used candles discarded by the Queen and made a tidy profit. He partnered with Mason and opened a small grocery shop on Market Street. Fortnum & Mason specialized in selling luxury food items like fresh poultry or game served in aspic jelly, but it also supplied dried fruit, spices, and other preserves to British officers during the Napoleonic war.

My husband wants an English cap, so I’d love to purchase one at Lock and Co. Hatters on St. James’s Street.

Lock and Co. Hatters had its origins in an original hat shop begun in 1676 by Robert Davis. In 1747 James Lock became apprenticed to Charles Davis, Robert’s son, and Lock inherited the business in 1759 when Charles died. He moved the Hatters shop to No. 6 St. James’s Street where it continues today. Lock and Co. made hats for both the Duke of Wellington and Admiral Lord Nelson. Both are on display in the shop.

Then there is Hatchards Bookshop on Piccadilly. I must stop there and see what delights they have to offer. My characters are always purchasing books there as have Londoners since 1797.

Too bad we cannot have an ice at Gunter’s Tea Shop in Berkeley Square. It moved to Curzon Street and then closed in 1956.

Do you have any shopping suggestions for me? We’re also going to Deal, Brighton, and Windsor!

Last week, I went to RWA, where I spent quality time with my RWA roomie, Carolyn Jewel (note: She does NOT like the heat).

Now I’m back at work and life, which includes writing, and I have an October 1 deadline for the second book in my Dukes Behaving Badly series. Which would be fine if I had more than 28,646 words written on it. But I don’t, so the next two months will be me working at my dayjob, rushing home, and writing until dinnertime.

Meanwhile, my editor emailed because they were going to have a cover conference, and she needed to know what the book was about. I still have no clue on that, but I do know what they look like, because that’s probably the first thing I know anytime I start writing a story.

She is gorgeous, one of the most beautiful women in Society; he is charming and rakish (of course). They enter into a marriage of convenience, and the whole story is about how they eventually, and inconveniently, fall in love.

Anyway, I’ve got lots more writing to do, and only two months to do it, so I’ll leave you with my inspirations and get back to it. Hope everyone is having a happy weekend!

Megan

This week I am so excited we have a brand-new guest blogger here at Risky Regencies!!!  We love all kinds of time periods, and today we’re taking a look at the 1950s, courtesy of my good friend Alice Dean!  (Who is also working on an exciting new 1920s project with me…stay tuned for more!)  Leave a comment to win one of her backlist, any title of your choice….

Although I was born a few years after Elvis Presley burst upon the music scene, I have been a fan my entire life. I don’t remember first discovering Elvis, it just seems that he’s always been a part of my life. I’ve also always wanted to be a writer. I wrote my first romance when I was eleven years old, and the title was “Just Pretend” after an Elvis song. My hero’s name was Lonnie (Elvis’ character’s name in the movie, Tickle Me), and I actually described him in the story as looking like Elvis. 

I’ve more or less carried on with the Elvis theme, somewhat, in my stories, but hopefully, my writing has improved.  Nearly every one of my published novels and short stories mention Elvis, but in an upcoming story, he’s more of a focus than usual. My Vintage Historical Romance, End of Lonely Street (a phrase from the song, “Heartbreak Hotel”) releases from The Wild Rose Press on January 7, 2015, the day before what would have been Elvis’ eightieth birthday. (Can you imagine an eighty-year-old Elvis??? I can’t).

The story is set in November,1957, and I’m not sure how the story idea occurred to me, but as soon as the era was in place, I knew my heroine would be an Elvis fan. It’s funny that, while the time period wasn’t terribly long ago, I still had to do a bit of research. Such as…

• What clothing was popular in 1957 for a college-aged young woman? For young men? (I learned that poodle skirts were for younger teens, and leather jackets and Fonzie-type guys were really more of a cliché, an image of the 50’s rather than a common occurrence.)

• My heroine is going to school to be a teacher, and my hero recently got out of the military and became a deputy in the small town where the story is set, so, I had to find out what the requirements were for both of those positions in the late 1950’s.

• I had to be sure I used the proper terminology for the time period without overdoing it and without my characters sounding juvenile.

• In the story, my heroine is coordinating a fund-raising dance, and at first, I was going to have them sell tickets for $2.00 apiece. Then, I heard a caller on Elvis Radio who said he paid $1.50 for an Elvis concert in 1956, so $2.00 for a dance seemed a little steep.

• What Elvis songs had been released by November of 1957? Did the world yet know that he would be drafted into the Army the following year? (It was announced in December, 1957, so I didn’t mention it in my story)

• My heroine was reading a book, and I had to find one that was out during that time. I chose End of the Affair (Which I purchased a print copy of, and I plan to read).

• Also, I have a character in the story who is suffering from heart problems, so I researched what heart diseases they’d discovered at that time, and what treatments/surgeries were available.

I’ll have to say, the research was fun, as was writing the story. I’ve shared the cover and blurb below.

AND…we are holding a drawing where one winner will receive a free ebook copy once the book is released, plus their choice of any of my available titles (Currently, all of my short stories and novels are contemporary, I’m afraid.  You can find a list here)

Be sure to leave your email address in the comments!

Blurb:

All Toby Lawson wants is to go to college to become a teacher and to be free of her alcoholic mother and some painful memories. But when her mother nearly burns the house down, Toby must put her dreams on hold and return home to care for her. The only time she isn’t lonely and miserable is when she’s listening to her heartthrob, Elvis Presley. His music takes her away and helps her escape from everything wrong in her life.

Noah Rivers has always loved Toby, but no matter what he says, she can‘t get past the fact that her drunken mother once kissed him. He soon realizes the true problem lies in Toby’s belief she’s not good enough for him and in her fear she will be just like her mother.

What will it take to prove to her that she deserves to be happy, and that he would give anything to be the man to make her dreams come true?

About Alicia:

Alicia Dean lives in Edmond, Oklahoma and is the mother of three grown children. Alicia loves creating spine-chilling stories that keep readers on the edge of their seats. She writes paranormal and romantic suspense for several different publishers and was one of the launch authors for Amazon’s Kindle Worlds with two Vampire Diaries stories and one Gossip Girl story.

She’s a huge Elvis Presley fan, and loves MLB and the NFL. If you look closely, you’ll see a reference to one or all three in pretty much everything she writes. If she could, she would divide all her time between writing, watching her favorite television shows-such as Dexter (reruns, now that it has ended), Vampire Diaries, Justified, and True Blood-and reading her favorite authors…Stephen King, Dennis Lehane, Michael Connelly, Lee Child, and Lisa Gardner to name a few.

Find her here:

Email: AliciaMDean@aol.com

Website: http://aliciadean.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Alicia-Dean/131939826889437?ref=br_tf

Twitter: https://twitter.com/Alicia_Dean_

My time has been taken up in honorable ways, such that I’ve been unable to give my usual attention to my Risky Regencies Blog.
Here’s the perfect picture of me and how I’m spending my time:

Actually, that’s Florence Nightingale in the Crimea, “The Lady with the Lamp” by H. Rae, but it pretty much depicts how I’ve been spending my time!

I’ve also been enjoying the photos and postings on Facebook about the RWA conference. Welcome back all you lucky people who attended, especially those who also attended the Beau Monde conference!

How has your week been?