Welcome to Sugarbeat’s Books – The Home of the Romance Novel!
Today we are welcoming Maggi Anderson, author of The Reluctant Marquess, to the blog. She is touring with Goddessfish promotions to promote this book. I’ve actually read this book and liked it! I’m going to post my review tomorrow so be sure to come back and read my thoughts!
Maggi is giving away 2 $10.00 Amazon GCs to randomly drawn commenter from this tour. You know how to increase your chances of winning…..click HERE and find other blogs to leave comments on from the tour as well as leaving your info here!
The topic I asked Maggi to talk on is the challenges that she faces when writing historical romance. So, here are her thoughts!
What challenges do I face when writing a historical romance? Writing a romance set during a historical era is like creating a soup.
First you take your story.
And create your world with its historical setting.
Then add your hero and heroine.
Add large dollops of external and internal conflict, to bring about a plausible happy ending.
Sounds easy doesn’t it? But for me at least it never is. No matter how many books I write. I have the masters of the genre to draw on, Georgette Heyer – for her wonderful world creation, and her characters – always opposites! Victoria Holt for her superbly conceived Gothic mysteries. Mary Stewart for her romantic suspense and her prose.
Apart from the conflict situations my hero and heroine face, they are also opposites in personality, and bring different strengths to the relationship by the time I type ‘end.’ I can recommend a book for romance writers which I’ve found helpful: The Complete Writer’s Guide to Heroes & Heroines. Sixteen Master Archetypes, by Tami D. Cowden, Caro LaFever and Sue Viders. In their words, “strong characters may carry a weak plot, but weak characters cannot be hidden by a strong plot.”
Challenges aside, I do enjoy the research. The historical content especially, which adds flavor to a romance. It might be the time of war, political unrest or dramatic change. The eras in which I write, Georgian, Regency and Victorian are all very different. Fashion was different. Society’s mores were different. The Georgian era in which I set The Reluctant Marquess was wilder and freer than the Regency and Victorian periods which were governed by stricter societal rules. But a woman was expected to marry, have children and to run the home.
Despite the restrictions placed on them, there are a great many inspirational women throughout history. But by the late Victorian period more women had freedom to do as they pleased. But marriage was still the first (and expected) option for a woman.
So my heroine knew she must marry. Did love come into it? Not that often. More likely it was a contract to suit both parties. In the Reluctant Marquess, sophisticated rake, Lord Robert does not expect to love his wife. It is unusual for Charity, a country-bred girl to expect him to do so. But she does. And fights for it.
Hopefully my ‘soup’ is light and delicious on the pallet as The Reluctant Marquess was meant to be, a light-hearted romp which is pure escapism.
When I begin to plot a story, I try to make my characters dynamic and lend their actions a certain veracity. Think of those that leap out from our best loved stories. In Margaret Mitchell’s Gone with the Wind for example, Scarlett O’Hara and Rhett Butler, were two flawed human beings, larger than life, but their motives are clear as they attempt to overcome the adversities facing them.
Even though writing historical romance undoubtedly has its challenges, I am inspired by the best.
Regards,
Maggi
Maggi Andersen is an Australian author. She lives in the beautiful Southern Highlands of New South Wales with her lawyer husband, their cat and the demanding wildlife. Maggi has two degrees, a BA in English and an MA in Creative Writing. Georgette Heyer, Victoria Holt and Mary Stewart were strong influences on her writing. She began her career when her children left the nest and writes in a variety of genres. Her historical romances are set in the Georgian, Regency and Victorian era.
I’d like to thank Maggi for dropping by and sharing about her book! Remember to leave a comment to be entered into the giveaway and remember to drop by tomorrow and read my thoughts of this neat book!
Blurb: Charity Barlow wished to marry for love. The rakish Lord Robert wishes only to tuck her away in the
country once an heir is produced.
A country-bred girl, Charity Barlow suddenly finds herself married to a marquess, an aloof stranger determined to keep his thoughts and feelings to himself. She and Lord Robert have been forced by circumstances to marry, and she feels sure she is not the woman he would have selected given a choice.
The Marquess of St. Malin makes it plain to her that their marriage is merely for the procreation of an heir, and once that is achieved, he intends to continue living the life he enjoyed before he met her.
While he takes up his life in London once more, Charity is left to wander the echoing corridors of St. Malin House, when she isn’t thrown into the midst of the mocking Haute Ton. Charity is not at all sure she likes her new social equals, as they live by their own rules, which seem rather shocking. She’s not at all sure she likes her new husband either, except for his striking appearance and the dark desire in his eyes when he looks at her, which sends her pulses racing.
Lord Robert is a rake and does not deserve her love, but neither does she wish to live alone. Might he be suffering from a sad past? Seeking to uncover it, Charity attempts to heal the wound to his heart, only to make things worse between them. Will he ever love her?
AUTHOR WEBSITE: http://www.
AUTHOR BLOG: http://www.maggiandersen.
TWITTER: @maggiandersen
FACEBOOK: http://www.facebook.com/pages/
Excerpt:
“Nefarious dealings go on next door,” Robert commented almost to himself as he and Charity crossed the footpath to the front door.
Charity’s eyes widened. “What sort of dealings?”
He felt unsure whether to tell her and wished he hadn’t spoken. “A house of ill-repute,” he finally said.
“Is that all?”
He held the door open for her to enter the vestibule, annoyed that she wasn’t impressed or shocked by such a revelation. “They are said to charge barren couples quite a lot of money to assist them in their quest for a child. With the use of special beds.”
“Oh.” Charity bit her lip. She put her head down and continued walking.
Bemused, Robert wondered how an innocent comment could stir up a veritable nest of unspoken feelings. “It mainly serves as a brothel offering no end of delights,” he added striding to catch up with her. His somewhat callous remark was an endeavor to guide their conversation in a safer direction. But it only served to make him recall the night of passion they had shared. A glance in Charity’s direction confirmed she was thinking of something similar, for her footsteps had faltered, and her eyelid’s looked heavy as she flicked her bottom lip with her tongue. He suffered a strong urge to draw her into that dark corner and kiss her. He found himself seriously considering it, and far more. Raising her skirts and…
He took her arm. “Charity?”
“Yes?”
A door opened at the end of the corridor and a servant poked his head out. “Please come in, Lord and Lady St Malin.”
Robert took off his hat and held it somewhere near his groin. “Shall we go in, my dear?”
Charity nodded her eyes a little vague.
Related articles
- Why Do I Write Historical Romance? (rosesofprose.blogspot.com)
Thank you for hosting Maggi today.
You are welcome – I’ve enjoyed her book!
I can hardly wait to read this story. it sounds awesome. I love this genre and am excited to see this one.
Thanks for hosting me, Sugarbeat. Good luck with the contest, Momjane!
Oh yes, this one is on my wishlist indeed!! I love the premise of this story! It just gives me the giddy goosebumps when a man doesn’t realize what he has until someone else wants it. LOVE IT!!
So glad to have found Maggi, as she is a new to me author. I will be looking up all of her books and socially stalking her now 😀
Gena Robertson
robertsongena@hotmail.com
Lol! Thanks for dropping by Gena. Good luck!
“The Reluctant Marquess” will definitely be one of the first books I put on my new kindle fire, when it arrives this week Maggie. Love the premise of the story – the tension between the two main characters steams off the blog pages – can’t wait to get to the actual story.
Thanks for the tip for The Complete Writer’s Guide to Heroes & Heroines. Sixteen Master Archetypes, by Tami D. Cowden, Caro LaFever and Sue Viders.
Will be chasing that down also.
Thanks for dropping by and commenting, Elle. I hope you enjoy my book. If you like intrigue please keep A Baron in Her Bed, Book One: The
Spies of Mayfair series in mind – coming Sept. 6th! More details on my website.
Thank you for such an enjoyable interview and for giving us all a chance to read an excerpt of “ The Reluctant Marquess”.
I absolutely adore and appreciate a good love story. I’d really love to read this story as it contains everything that I like in a book, i.e. passion, intrigue and romance. I love to be swept away to another time and place where people lived, loved, and were finding their way to each other.
I’m glad you enjoyed it Diane. Thanks for commenting. Good luck with contest!
This sounds like a fantastic book. Just put it at the top of my wishlist. Thanks for the excerpt. I love books with conflict in them. Thanks for the blog tour.
e.balinski(at)att(dot)net
Hi Joanne, thanks for dropping by and leaving a comment.
Maggi…You mention doing research. As a librarian, I’m always interested in the research process employed by authors. As you mostly an online researcher? Do you have favorite book resources that you use?
catherinelee100 at gmail dot com
Hi Catherine, some online research is great, although you have to be careful it’s a reliable source I find. I have a weakness for paper books. There’s barely a space left in the house, no I lie, there isn’t one for another book! And yet I just ordered one on Georgian jewelry. I have a great list of Georgian, Regency and Victorian websites on my blog and intend to list my library of research books soon. If you’re interested you’ll find them at: http://www.maggiandersen.blogspot.com
I love it when a country miss turns a town rake head-over-heels!
The research sounds fascinating – is it ever a struggle to know when to stop the research & get to the writing?
sallans d at yahoo dot com
Hi Diane, thanks. No it’s never a struggle for me to take up writing. I prefer it to researching. Right now I’m working on Taming A Gentleman Spy which is the second book in my Spies of Mayfair Series. It has required a lot of research and I’m itching to get writing. A large family features in this one, the Brandreths.
You are a new-to-me author and I believe I will enjoy following you around on your blog book tour. I really like tours such as this because it allows me to become acquainted with authors I would never find otherwise.
Hi Karen, thanks for popping in to the tour. I hope you find my talks on writing romance interesting.
I enjoyed the interview and excerpt. The book sounds very good.
bn100candg(at)hotmail(dot)com
Thanks bn for the comment. Good luck with the contest!
I can’t wait to read the whole story of Charity and the Marquess! Thank you for the interview and giveaway.
You’re welcome Phoenix. Thanks for the comment and good luck with the contest.
THE RELUCTANT MARQUESS is exactly the kind of book I love to read. I know I will thoroughly enjoy reading this.
marypres(AT)gmail(DOT)com
Thank you for hosting this giveaway and for sharing your thoughts on the book. The plot appeals to me, so I look forward to reading the Reluctant Marquess. Maybe I will share your opinion that Robert is not good enough for Charity, but still it is good to know that there is happily ever after ending:)
oloore at gmail dot com