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Category: Giveaways

Posts in which we or our guests offer a giveaway.

Susanna Fraser and An Infamous Marriage

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Diane here, announcing that today Susanna Fraser, one of our new part-time Riskies (posting every third Friday), is here to talk about An Infamous Marriage, her latest book from Carina Press, to be released tomorrow, Nov. 5! 

 Susanna has been a long time, frequent commenter to Risky Regencies, even before her first book, The Sergeant’s Lady, was published. She and I share a love of British soldiers–Regency-era, that is–and Wellington.

Reviews for An Infamous Marriage:

“I was happy to read a historical romance in which the time period and setting actually matter…Fans of understated, atmospheric Regencies like those by Carla Kelly and Edith Layton won’t want to miss this. I give An Infamous Marriage 4 stars.” — Willaful Review

“Loved this book! The romance was sweet and passionate and the characters felt so real…An Infamous Marriage is a spectacular historical romance.” — Imagine A World Review

“…an intriguing story with a fast pace…Hours of engrossing page-turning….” — RT Book Reviews

Susanna will give away one download of An Infamous Marriage to one lucky commenter here, but there is more! Commenters here who include their email addresses in the comment (yourname AT yourhost DOT com format) will also be entered for Susanna’s blog tour grand prize, a $50 gift card to the winner’s choice of Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or Powell’s Books. That grand prize winner will be drawn by Susanna on Nov. 6. 

 An Infamous Marriage will also be available in audio format from Audible.com. How cool is that?

 Welcome Susanna! I love the premise of this book!

 Tell us about An Infamous Marriage.

Jack Armstrong and Elizabeth Hamilton marry out of duty and necessity with no thoughts or expectations of love. They’re quickly separated by Jack’s military duties, and their post-marital courtship by correspondence falls apart when Elizabeth gets words of his amorous exploits an ocean away. When he returns at last after a five-year absence, she’s not in a forgiving mood…but he falls in love with her at second sight.

Northumberland, 1815
At long last, Britain is at peace, and General Jack Armstrong is coming home to the wife he barely knows. Wed for mutual convenience, their union unconsummated, the couple has exchanged only cold, dutiful letters. With no more wars to fight, Jack is ready to attempt a peace treaty of his own.
Elizabeth Armstrong is on the warpath. She never expected fidelity from the husband she knew for only a week, but his scandalous exploits have made her the object of pity for years. Now that he’s back, she has no intention of sharing her bed with him—or providing him with an heir—unless he can earn her forgiveness. No matter what feelings he ignites within her…
Jack is not expecting a spirited, confident woman in place of the meek girl he left behind. As his desire intensifies, he wants much more than a marriage in name only. But winning his wife’s love may be the greatest battle he’s faced yet.

What inspired this story idea?

I realized I’d never yet written a rakish, bad boy sort of hero, so I gave myself the challenge of creating one I could find likable and redeemable. Also, though there’s nothing especially Wellingtonian or Nelsonian about Jack’s personality, I’ve often thought what horrible husbands both of England’s great war heroes were. So I found a certain vicarious satisfaction in taking a powerful, high-ranking officer, marrying him to an outwardly meek and humble woman…and then giving her the chance to humble HIM.

Did you come across any interesting research while writing An Infamous Marriage?

Definitely. Jack spends many years stationed in Canada, including the entire War of 1812. Going into the story, I knew almost nothing about life in Canada much before Anne of Green Gables’ time, and little more about the war beyond what I learned to pass my high school history tests. I am now far less embarrassingly ignorant about my neighbors to the north (and to me in Seattle they really ARE neighbors–depending on how long the line is at the border crossing, I could be in British Columbia in 3-4 hours), and the conduct of the War of 1812. For example, I’d known almost nothing about the extensive interactions between the British and the Native American population, including the alliance between Tecumseh, the great Shawnee leader who tried to unite the tribes to halt American expansion, and the British general Sir Isaac Brock. All that research mostly ended up as mental backstory for Jack, simmering below the surface of the story, but I hope to make fuller use of it in some future tale.

You and I both LOVE Regency soldiers as heroes. What is it about a British soldier that captivates you?

Well, I’d be lying if I didn’t give Sean Bean’s Sharpe some of the credit, not to mention those sexy uniforms in general. 😉 But mostly it’s that while I’m not an Army brat, I come from a family with a tradition of military service. My background gave me an interest in military history, so the aspect of the Regency that naturally fascinates me is the wars.

Willaful Reviews praised your writing as being “actually set in the Regency rather than in that Never Neverland mash-up that’s been dubbed ‘The Recency’ or ‘Almackistan’.” How important is it to you to have your history right in your stories?

I do my best to get the history right because I feel I owe it to the people who actually lived then to portray their world as accurately as I can. Also, to me the joy of historical fiction of any genre is a sort of mental time travel, and I want to make my books the best TARDIS for my readers that I can. 🙂

That said, I don’t think it’s possible to write a 100% accurate story from 200 years’ distance, and eventually I have to let go of my own perfectionism and write. And I worry more about getting my characters’ mindset and attitudes right than the exact number of days it took to travel from Edinburgh to London in a post-chaise in good summer weather or the precise price of a top-quality hunter.

What is next for you?

I’ve just sold a novella to Carina, title and release date still TBD, set in the aftermath of the Battle of Vittoria in 1813–which my fellow military history geeks will recognize as the one where the
British army captured the French baggage train, including assorted royal treasures belonging to Joseph Bonaparte or looted from Madrid.
The plot hinges on a gorgeous ruby necklace plundered from the battlefield. It’s also an interracial romance. The hero is a black British soldier, the son of slaves who escaped from a Virginia plantation during the American Revolution to take the British army’s offer of freedom to slaves who helped their war effort.

What little-known corner of history, Regency or otherwise, would you like to see incorporated in a historical romance?

Thanks, Susan, for being our guest/mini-Risky!

Readers, don’t forget to include your email address in your comment (yourname AT yourhost DOT com) if you want to be added in Susanna’s Blog Tour Grand Prize. All comments here will have a chance to win a download of An Infamous Marriage.

Posted in Giveaways, Interviews | Tagged , , | 27 Replies

Susanna Fraser An Infamous Marriage Winner!

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Here’s proof that the last number in a series really can be picked by a random number generator. The winner of a download of An Infamous Marriage by Susanna Fraser is……

Jessica!!

Jessica, your email address will be sent to Susanna and you will hear from her regarding what type of download you would like.

Susanna will be picking the winner of her grand prize contest separate from Risky Regencies.

Now, get out and VOTE!

The Riskies

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New Book! Born to Scandal

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I have a new book out!
Born to Scandal is my homage to Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre. It’s the story of a governess and a lord complete with secrets and betrayal.

From the back cover:

“People talk as if there is something wrong about Lord Brentmore. Something about his past.”Lord Brentmore–half Irish peasant, half English aristocrat–grew up under a cloud of scandal. Even money and a title aren’t enough to stay the wagging tongues of the Ton. But he’s vowed that his children will never experience the same stigma.
After the death of their infamous mother they need a reputable governess. Anna Hill is too passionate, too alluring, but she fills Brentmore Hall with light and laughter again–and its master with feelings he’d forgotten.
But a lord marrying a governess would be the biggest scandal of all!

I’ve received some reviews!

5 Stars! “Beautifully written, with a delicious romance, Born to Scandal by Diane Gaston was written to be savored and enjoyed as we do with all fine wines.” — Debby, Cataromance

4 Stars! “Like the original, Gaston’s homage to Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre is a story about lies and betrayal with a governess at the center. This one is well written, brimming with emotion and populated with characters readers will come to care about and root for. And, best of all, the governess gets her happy ending!” — Maria Ferrer, RT Book Reviews

We often ask our guests where the idea for their books came from. I am not sure where the idea for Born to Scandal came from. In fact, I can’t remember writing the first chapter. My friend Julie brought back a full manuscript of mine that she had in her possession. Loose inside it was this first chapter. I didn’t even remember it. After reading it, I did remember my idea for the story, my desire to tell a governess story, like Jane Eyre.

So when I needed a new story idea, I went with this one.

Another thing I liked about it was the challenge of writing a story where not much happens except the hero and heroine working out their relationship. There’s no villain, no battle scenes (sigh!), no road trip–except a short one.

To celebrate the release of Born to Scandal, I’m giving away one signed copy to one lucky commenter.

What do you remember about the first time you read Jane Eyre?

 

Posted in Giveaways, Risky Book Talk | Tagged , , | 16 Replies

It All Comes Back To Jane Austen

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Welcome to our new home! We expect our new home to be ever more comfortable. I watch a lot of HGTV – House Hunters, Property Virgins, Property Brothers, Love It or List It – so I see lots of new homes. Let me assure you, the Riskies have moved in to space that is more “open concept” and all of our appliances are stainless steel and our counters, granite….Or the Regency equivalent.

And who better to invite to our new home but Jane Austen, who will stay with us until her birthday December 16. In honor of Jane, we thought we would each take turns discussing What Jane Austen Has Meant to Me.

There will be prizes – including a grand prize of a $50 Amazon gift card! My prize today is the British Library Writers Lives edition of Jane Austen by Deirdre Le Faye. Eventually we will be using Rafflecopter for giveaways, but I don’t quite know how yet, so I’ll randomly choose a winner from the comments on this blog.

I’ve mentioned before that I came late to loving the Regency, not until I started writing in 1995. I’d read Pride and Prejudice and Sense and Sensibility in some English class along the way, but it wasn’t until my writing pals Helen and Julie introduced me to Georgette Heyer and Regency Romance (the Signets and Zebras) that I began to really fall in love with the Regency.

One event clinched it.

Helen, Julie, and I went to see the 1995 Amanda Root/Ciaran Hinds movie Persuasion, which had been a BBC TV production in the UK but released in theaters in the US. It was this movie adaptation of a Jane Austen book I’d never read that made the Regency come alive for me.

From the country house of the Elliots to the chic rooms in Bath to the simple seaside abode of the Harviles, the Regency world the move depicted seemed so real to me. Maybe it was because the whole movie was filmed on location, but, even so, the details were not prettied up for film. The livery of the Elliot footmen looked a bit shabby, as it would have for a baronet whose fortunes were dwindling. Skirts and boots got muddy during country walks, as they would have in a time without paved walkways. The dancing was boisterous but not polished and practices, as professional dancers would have performed. The hero and heroine were attractive but not “beautiful people.”

The Regency people in the story also acted in ways I believed were true to the period. The emphasis on status, on honor and obligation seemed genuine to me. There were bored privileged young women, proud impoverished ones, scheming social climbers. There were also “normal” people, like the Musgroves and the Crofts. And Ann and Wentworth, of course.

Jane Austen may have been exploring the role of persuasion throughout the story, but she also crafted a lovely, satisfying romance, with familiar Romance themes. Persuasion is both a reunion story (Ann and Captain Wentworth were once betrothed) and a Cinderella story (Ann, the put-upon sister finds great love in the end). The conflict was poignant – Ann regretted breaking her betrothal to Wentworth; Wentworth remained bitter that she threw him off in order to seek better prospects.

There’s a lovely villain in Ann’s cousin, William Elliot, who becomes intent on courting her, and more complications ensue when Wentworth considers himself obligated to marry the injured Louisa Musgrove. The steps Ann and Wentworth each make to find their way back to each other are subtle, but very satisfying and very typical of romance novels of today.

After seeing the movie, I had a picture in my mind that was my Regency. I read Persuasion and Pride and Prejudice and all of Jane Austen’s books, even Lady Susan. The social attitudes from Jane Austen’s books seeped into my brain, as did the language, the rhythm of the conversation.

So you might say Jane Austen helped create my Regency world!

Have you seen this version of Persuasion? What do you think of it? Comment for a chance to win today’s contest.

Holiday Giveaway! And also remember to enter the Harlequin Historical Authors Holiday Giveaway. Today’s day is Sarah Mallory’s. For more details, go here.

Posted in Giveaways, Jane Austen | Tagged , | 26 Replies