Risky Regencies

Read a Regency Romance!

Updated on August 18, 2014 by Diane Gaston

Today I’m one of the authors for Read A Romance Month, which is taking the whole month to celebrate romance and to encourage readers to read a romance!

Read A Romance Month is an idea conceived by romance fan, NPR feature writer and Kirkus reviewer, Bobbi Dumas, as a way for romance authors and fans to come together to celebrate the genre they love–Romance!

Bobbi lined up 93 authors to write essays about celebrating romance and who answer some fun interview questions. I’m delighted to be a part of it. You can read my essay here.

One of the interview questions for the authors was to tell about a book that changed our lives. I did not choose one book, but a whole genre–the genre of Regency Romance!

I didn’t discover Regency Romance until after I’d started writing. I’d read a few of the historical romance groundbreakers, like The Flame and The Flower, but when my friend Helen pointed me to the traditional regencies and to Georgette Heyer, I found the world where I belonged!

I can think of three books that stood out for me in that period, although I’d read dozens. I devoured the Signets and Zebras and I still miss those shorter “trads.”

1. The Rake and The Reformer by Mary Jo Putney

The Rake and the Reformer was the first traditional regency I read and I loved it. I loved the characters and the real issues they struggled with. I loved the world they lived in. I was hooked. Mary Jo went on to rerelease this book in a longer version titled The Rake, but I always preferred the story in its original form.

2. Venetia by Georgette Heyer

I loved Heyer’s Regency romps, but Venetia, for me, was pure romance and that was what I loved about it. It was so clear to me how these two characters needed and deserved each other and I loved how Heyer brought about the happy ending.

3. The Last Frost Fair by Joy Freeman

This book gets mixed review on sites where it is rated, but I loved it. It was so very emotional and its hero and heroine needed to go through so much before they found their happy ending. Before reading this, I had no idea that a Frost Fair on the Thames could have existed.

I could also have included the early traditional regencies by Mary Balogh to this list–An Unlikely Duchess and A Precious Jewel, are two that come to mind. An Unlikely Duchess was as madcap as Heyer could be, and A Precious Jewel showed me that an author could be daring in her choice of characters and story lines and still write a successful romance.

When Amanda, Megan, Janet, and Elena, who were all writing traditional-but-risky regencies at the time, asked me to join Risky Regencies blog, I was delighted that they thought my books fit in with theirs, because they were also writing the sort of books that changed my life!

What Regency romances were important for you?

Go to Read a Romance Month for a chance to win a signed copy of A Lady of Notoriety!

Posted in Reading, Regency, Risky Book Talk | 5 Replies

Summer’s going fast!

Updated on August 15, 2014 by Elena Greene

I’m insanely busy, so my apologies for a quick, catch-up kind of post.

I haven’t had a great deal of time for writing, but I’m still doing some story brainstorming. Last weekend, I spent a day at Salt Springs State Park in PA with friends from church. I hiked up a waterfall (no pics of the waterfall as I am too klutzy to dare carry a camera or phone while doing something like that) and also walked along the creek. Later I spent some time working on ideas for another novella, this time a sequel to Lady Em’s Indiscretion, rounding out the trilogy.

I’ve also been working on another Big Project which I’ll tell you all about when the time gets closer.

Now I’m concentrating on getting my oldest ready to head off to college next week. So many emotions! I had a mini-meltdown, breaking into tears as we were leaving Bed, Bath & Beyond yesterday. But I’m excited too, and of course happy that my daughters have opportunities not available to ladies in the Regency. (Read more about education during the Regency in this article by Cheryl Bolen.)

A fan has suggested I write a story inspired by these experience, kind of “Yentl in the Regency”. I don’t know. Has that already been done? How’s everyone else spending the end of this summer?

Elena
www.elenagreene.com

Posted in Risky Book Talk | 2 Replies

Reader, I Married Him

Updated on August 11, 2014 by Amanda McCabe/Laurel McKee

“Mr. Collins to be sure was neither sensible nor agreeable; his society was irksome, and his attachment to her must be imaginary. But still he would be her husband. Without thinking highly either of men or of matrimony, marriage had always been her object; it was the only honourable provision for well-educated young women of small fortune, and however uncertain of giving happiness, must be their pleasantest preservative from want. This preservative she had now obtained; and at the age of twenty-seven, without having ever been handsome, she felt all the good luck of it.”

on Charlotte Lucas’s marrying Mr. Collins
Pride & Prejudice, Volume 1, Chapter 22

Last week, at 6:30 on a Friday evening, I married my sweetheart (and future romance novel inspiration), Kyle! It was nothing like Charlotte Lucas’s pragmatic arrangement, really nothing like a small church Regency wedding at all (except that it was small! We married in the garden of a hotel in Taos, New Mexico, with 10 people there including us, and a lovely dinner with cake and champagne after). There were no grand spectacles, a la Marie Antoinette’s great crush or the Cambridges’ regalness, but it was beautiful and romantic, and exactly what we wanted. It was a day I never thought would come for me–walking down the aisle toward a man I am madly, romance novel-style in love with, my best friend and partner in a crime. And now we’ve stared a new life together, which I find to be amazing (and scary as heck, natch).

My dress was a pale pink silk and soft white organza, with a pleated bodice and pearl-beaded satin belt, strapless with a pleated bodice, and I told the salon I wanted a “fairytale” look for the hairstyle and makeup, which I think they did so well with long curls and soft lipstick. The vows were tailored just toward us, how we met, how we share a love of music and theater and creativity, and my best friend and her husband read a lovely poem that perfectly depicts “us.” (see it at the end of this post!). The rain held off until just after we finished the photos and went in to dinner, so all went off perfectly. 🙂

Next year we’d like to renew our views in England, maybe Bath in Regency attire at the Pump Room, or Tudor garb at Hever Castle. Or maybe I’ll be crazy, get a Kate lookalike gown and parade around Westminster Abbey!!! With him, the adventure is endless.

What was your wedding like? What would you have done differently/the same? Where would you have a wedding now? And whos had your very favorite wedding ever (in books, in history, or in real life!). We have wedding fever here today….in fact, I will give away a signed copy of my book “Betrayed By His Kiss” (not out til October!) to one commenter on the subject of weddings….

“I Like You” by Sandol Stoddard Warburg

I like you and I know why.
I like you because you are a good person to like.
I like you because when I tell you something special, you know it’s special
And you remember it a long, long time.
You say, “Remember when you told me something special?”
And both of us remember

When I think something is important
you think it’s important too
We have good ideas
When I say something funny, you laugh
I think I’m funny and you think I’m funny too

I like you because you know where I’m ticklish
And you don’t tickle me there except just a little tiny bit sometimes
But if you do, then I know where to tickle you too

You know how to be silly
That’s why I like you
Boy are you ever silly
I never met anybody sillier than me till I met you
I like you because you know when it’s time to stop being silly
Maybe day after tomorrow
Maybe never
Too late, it’s a quarter past silly!

That’s because you really like me
You really like me, don’t you?
And I really like you back
And you like me back and I like you back
And that’s the way we keep on going every day

If you go away, then I go away too
or if I stay home, you send me a postcard
You don’t just say “Well see you around sometime, bye”
I like you a lot because of that
If I go away, I send you a postcard too
And I like you because if we go away together
And if we are in Grand Central Station
And if I get lost
Then you are the one that is yelling for me

I like you because I don’t know why but
Everything that happens is nicer with you
I can’t remember when I didn’t like you
It must have been lonesome then
I like you because because because
I forget why I like you but I do

So many reasons
On the 4th of July I like you because it’s the 4th of July
On the fifth of July, I like you too
If you and I had some drums and some horns and some horses
If we had some hats and some flags and some fire engines
We could be a HOLIDAY
We could be a CELEBRATION
We could be a WHOLE PARADE

See what I mean?
Even if it was the 999th of July
Even if it was August
Even if it was way down at the bottom of November
Even if it was no place particular in January
I would go on choosing you
And you would go on choosing me
Over and over again

That’s how it would happen every time
I don’t know why
I guess I don’t know why I really like you
Why do I like you
I guess I just like you
I guess I just like you because I like you.

Posted in Frivolity, Giveaways, Weddings | 9 Replies

The Duke of Wellington and The Tower Of London

Updated on August 11, 2014 by Diane Gaston

One of the stops on the Duke of Wellington tour (only 3 more weeks and I’ll be in London!) will be the Tower of London. I’m very excited about this because I’ve never visited the Tower of London.

What, you ask, does the Tower have to do with the Duke of Wellington? The duke was Constable of the Tower from 1826 to 1852.

The Constable of the Tower has always been a prestigious one. Although now the role is largely ceremonial, in Wellington’s time the Constable was the man in charge of the Tower, and, typical of Wellington, he set about to make improvements.

1. He closed the Royal Menagerie.
The Royal Menagerie had been at the Tower since the early 1200s and had housed all sorts of exotic animals, like ostriches, elephants, lions, tigers, kangaroos, etc. The waste from the animals drained into the moat, creating disease and noxious odors, plus there were some vicious animal attacks, including a fight between a Bengal tiger, tigress and a lion, ending in the lion’s death. The animals were moved to the London Zoo at Regent’s Park.

2. He drained the moat.
The Surgeon General at the time described the moat as ‘impregnated with putrid animal and excrementitious matter… and emitting a most obnoxious smell.’ The moat was blamed for several soldier’s deaths and for cholera outbreaks. The Duke drained the moat and created a dry ditch or fosse that visitors see to this day.

3. He build the Waterloo Barracks.
To adapt the Tower for modern warfare and a professional army, he closed the Tower pubs, instead creating an army canteen and an officer’s mess. He built the Waterloo Barracks to house 1,000 soldiers. The Waterloo Barracks is also where the Crown Jewels are kept.

4. He made the awarding of Yeoman Warder to be based on distinguished military service.
Before Wellington’s time as Constable, the post of Yeoman Warder could be purchased for 850 guineas or even inherited within families. The Duke brought these practices to an end.

5. He oversaw the rebuilding of the Tower after the fire of 1841.
After the fire, Wellington strengthened the Tower, making it secure from potential civil unrest.

6. He increased the number of visitors to the Tower.
Under the Duke, tourism at the Tower increased–much to his displeasure. Wellington did not approve of public visiting the Tower. He felt them a nuisance and a threat to security.

The Tower will have a special exhibit of the Duke of Wellington’s influence during his time as Constable of the Tower on the newly opened North Walk. I can’t wait to see it!

Posted in Risky Regencies | 3 Replies

Shrubbery

Updated on August 8, 2014 by Myretta

Kensington Gardens, 1798

In the late 18th Century, landscape architect, Lancelot “Capability” Brown, diverged from the rigidly formal gardens favored at the time and designed naturalistic landscapes, breaking up the gardens with “follies, cascades, lakes, bridges, ornaments, monuments, meadows and wood.” (The Omnipotent Magician: Lancelot ‘Capability’ Brown, 1716-1783 by Jane Brown).

One of his legacies appears to have been a nice collection of shrubbery into which my characters keep disappearing. Early in the manuscript on which I’m working, the hero takes the heroine off the beaten path in Kensington Gardens and into a rather lovely shrubbery during which stroll they are, alas, interrupted. But don’t worry. There will be other shrubberies.

Unfortunately, my hero finds himself in a shrubbery with the wrong woman during a morning party at a London estate. Fortunately, he is rescued by the hostess. Today, I thought I’d share the rescue with you.

Simon was dumbstruck. It wasn’t that he was unaware of his sister-in-law’s wishes and he would have to be blind and deaf to miss Lady Margaret’s blatant overtures. He had not, however, expected such a flagrant bid for a proposal. He knew he shouldn’t have gone near the shrubbery.

As Simon stared in amazement at the woman clinging to his arm, and searched his mind for an appropriate response that would not land him in front of a parson, he was saved by a party led by Lady Frampton. The hostess was ostensibly leading a group through a tour of her gardens. From the conversation, it seemed as though she had just run them through the parterre and hustled them into the shrubbery where she claimed to have the largest Hawthorne in Middlesex County. Simon smiled. Perhaps Lady Frampton had found her missing sheep. The group stopped abruptly in front of Simon and Lady Margaret.

“Join us?” Lady Frampton asked.

“We were just returning to the garden,” Simon said, on a sigh of relief.

“Very well, then. Off with you.” Lady Frampton nodded, and Simon could have sworn, winked again.

And so, having shared this with you, I return to the manuscript. I am very near to reaching the ultimate shrubbery.

Posted in Regency, Writing | 3 Replies