The Rogue’s Dynasty: A Marquis to Marry, Amelia Grey: Author Guest Post, Review, & Giveaway

Alexander Mitchell Raceworth, the dashing fourth Marquis of Raceworth, is shocked when the alluring young Duchess of Brookfield accuses him of stealing priceless pearls belonging to her family. Susannah Brookfield is the most beautiful, enchanting woman he has ever met, but despite his attraction, he’s not about to hand over the pearls.

Though suspicion and mistrust drive them apart when the pearls are stolen, Race suggests they pool their resources to recover them. If they do find them, will they finally be able to give in to love, or will the truth of the elusive necklace tear them apart once and for all?

A Marquis to Marry, Book Two in the Rogues’ Dynasty Trilogy, In Stores October 2009

AUTHOR GUEST POST…A lot of readers have asked me why I write historicals. The easy answer is because I love reading them! But realizing this blog needs to be a lot longer than five or six words, I’ll give a more detailed answer.

I have always enjoyed reading about history and probably because history is a story. It was someone’s life, someone’s adventure, someone’s love. It was an event; a war, an invention, a disaster. History is filled with drama, emotion, action, joy, and sorrow. It can be humorous, heartwarming, frustrating, and even unbelievable. I love reading about it all.

It isn’t a chore for me to pick up a history book, it’s a choice. I enjoy it whether I’m reading about the Battle of Little Bighorn, Henry VIII, how the earth was formed, or who really shot President Kennedy. Sometimes I like to use real people from the past in my books, such as Jerome Bonaparte and Benedict Arnold. And I have been known to use real events, such as the Homestead Steel Mill Strike of 1892 and the marriage of the American ingénue Betsy Patterson to Napoleon’s youngest brother, but for the most part, I use only fictional characters simply because I can make up whatever I want to without restrictions.

While reading, I’m especially happy when I stumble across a little known fact of history and bring it to life as I did with the famous Talbot pearls, which are the center of the intrigue in my latest book A Marquis To Marry, the second book in The Rogues’ Dynasty Series.  I get excited when I come across a book like Lord Chesterfield’s Letters To His Son, which roughly spanned the years from 1740 until 1768. I used a different quote from the book at the beginning of each chapter in A Marquis To Marry, but the true fun of this idea was having characters in the book attribute quotes to Chesterfield that he never said.

Another reason I write historicals is because of all the time periods in history; I absolutely adore the Regency. Society was so strict about what was proper. It’s a challenge for me to see just how many rules I can let my hero and heroine get away with breaking. For instance, in A Marquis To Marry, my heroine is a thirty-year-old widow, yet she can’t go anywhere alone. Not to the park, fabric shopping, or to a party. She must have a lady companion or a family member with her. So, of course, I have to come up with some interesting ways for her to be alone with the hero. I do write romance after all!

And then I write historicals because there is the small fact that years ago I was writing a contemporary, I asked a published friend of mine to read it for me and offer suggestions on how I could improve it. Her critique was that she thought my tone and voice were more suited for historicals!  Yes, she’s still a friend, and she was right.

Lastly, I write historical Regency romance because it gives me an opportunity to have a  slower build to the love scene. Because of the strict rules I mentioned earlier, I have to study, plan and figure out ways to get my hero and heroine together in a romantic setting in a time period when women were seldom left alone. One of the ways I did this in A Marquis To Marry was by making the hero and heroine backdoor neighbors. Of course, I had to make it a little more difficult for him simply walking from his house to hers in the black of night, so I had their grounds completely separated by a seven-foot-tall, three-foot-wide yew hedge. Rest assured the hero found a way through it.

So now that I’ve told you some of the reasons I write historicals, why don’t you tell me why you enjoy reading them?

ABOUT THE AUTHOR…Amelia Grey’s awards include the Booksellers Best and the Aspen Gold, and as Gloria Dale Skinner, the coveted Romantic Times Award for Love and Laughter and the prestigious Maggie Award. Her books have been featured in Doubleday and Rhapsody Book Clubs. Happily married for twenty-five years, she lives in Panama City Beach, Florida.

FROM THE BOOK FAERY REVIEWS…How could I not enjoy one of Amelia’s books? She’s one of my favorite historical romance authors and each book I read gets better. It was easy to slip into Susannah’s mind and feel as she felt facing the handsome and cool Race. The end was definitely not what I expected (and no I won’t spoil it for those who haven’t yet read it). I enjoyed her second novel in The Rogues’ Dynasty series but I felt a little disappointed because I wanted more adventure and danger in the storyline.

You can see her interview from April earlier this year with The Book Faery Reviews and my review of her first book in the series A Duke to Die For here.

Grey’s last book in the series, An Earl to Enchant, is definitely one I can’t wait to get a hold of. Morgan’s story comes out in April 2010. Here’s a little teaser from the preview I read…

With her hood off and in the light from the lamp, he could see she was younger than he’d expected, and her delicate-looking skin was uncommonly pale. He was surprised that her full lips had little color and dark circles lay under her large, expressive eyes as if she had recently been gravely ill or hadn’t had proper rest for several days. There was something infinitely compelling about her. Something told him she would be worth every penny he was paying her.

You can catch her on her tour at the following stops…
September 19 – A Journey of Books Guest Blog
September 30 – Lib’s Library
October 2 – Romance Reader at Heart’s Novel Thoughts Blog
October 5 – Love Romance Passion Guest Blog
October 6 – Yankee Romance Reviewers Guest Blog
October 7 – Cheeky Reads Interview
Long and Short of It Guest Blog
October 8 – The Good, the Bad, the Unread
October 9 – Books Like Breathing Interview<

BOOK GIVEAWAY…Thanks to SourceBooks, The Book Faery Reviews is giving away 1 copy of A Marquis to Marry to one lucky commenter of this post. Commenter’s must have a US/Canada address and no PO Boxes. Leave us a comment on why you like to read historical fiction for your first entry. For additional entries you can do the following:

1) Tweet (make sure you add in “@farrah1230 #tbfr” so I can find the tweet easily)

2) Technorati The Book Faery Reviews MAIN page (http://tbfreviews.net)

3) Stumble The Book Faery Reviews MAIN page (http://tbfreviews.net)

4) Post about this giveaway on your blog or other social networking site and leave me the link

5) Be an e-mail subscriber

6) Be an RSS Reader subscriber

This giveaway will run til October 31st and The Book Faery Reviews will be announcing the winner November 1st.