Introducing Victoria and Violet by Rachel Brimble

 Today I'm hosting Rachel Brimble, author of twenty-nine novels, most recently, Victoria and Violet. 

Introducing Victoria & Violet…

My latest book, Victoria & Violet, is the first novel in my brand-new Royal Maids series and I am super proud of it because it is the first book in which I have included real people and real events alongside the fictional. To do this has been an ambition of mine ever since my first book was published in 2007 so having achieved it feels like a very big deal.

Best of all, readers and reviewers are loving it, too!

Although Queen Victoria, Lord Melbourne, the Duchess of Kent, Lehzen and others feature in the book, the story really revolves around the lives and burgeoning romance of fictional housemaid Violet Parker and fictional assistant to Lord Melbourne, James Greene. These two characters were a joy to create, and their electricity was immediate which made a usually hard job all the easier!

Their paths have crossed a few times before the book opens, but the interest is firmly in James’s court (so to speak!), rather than Violet’s who has far more important and life-changing things on her mind than romance, such as escaping the clutches of her overbearing mother and forging a life of her own. Of course, it is not as though Violet would ever consider James a possible suitor considering his superior status…yet he really is most persistent!

All too soon, James and Violet are thrown together over and over again as their roles become ever more important to Victoria and Lord Melbourne. Amid a court that travels from the gardens of Windsor Castle to the corridors of Buckingham Palace to the wedding of the Queen herself, Victoria & Violet takes you on an adventure of drama, intrigue and romance that I hope has you quickly turning the pages!

Why not give it a try?

Happy reading,

Rachel x

It should be a dream come true to serve the Queen of England…

When Violet Parker is told she will be Queen Victoria’s personal housemaid, she cannot believe her good fortune. She finally has the chance to escape her overbearing mother, a servant to the Duchess of Kent.

Violet hopes to explore who she is and what the world has to offer without her mother’s schemes overshadowing her every thought and action.

Then she meets James Greene, assistant to the queen’s chief political adviser, Lord Melbourne. From entirely different backgrounds and social class, Violet and James should have neither need nor desire to speak to one another, yet through their service, their paths cross and their lives merge—as do their feelings.

Only Victoria’s court is not always the place for romance, but rather secrets, scandals, and conspiracies…

BUY: https://geni.us/u0GmS5

Rachel lives in a small town near Bath, England. She is the author of 29 novels including the Ladies of Carson Street trilogy, the Shop Girl series (Aria Fiction) and the Templeton Cove Stories (Harlequin). Her latest novel, Victoria & Violet is the first book in her new Royal Maids series with the Wild Rose Press and released 17^th October 2022.

Rachel is a member of the Romantic Novelists Association as well as the Historical Novel Society and has thousands of social media followers all over the world.

To sign up for her newsletter (a guaranteed giveaway every month!), click here: https://bit.ly/3zyH7dt

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Things That Last

 I have always loved old things: antiques, traditional ways of doing things, old photographs, stories about earlier times. This is probably why I write historical fiction/historical romance.

A while ago as I poured water into my Mr. Coffee®, it occurred to me that I’ve been using the same coffee maker almost every day for thirteen years. Now I’m wondering what its life expectancy is (for purposes of comparison, the dishwasher, refrigerator, and the washer, all new in 2008, had to be replaced in the last two years). The gas stove, bought at the same

time, has no oven light and no clock because it’s strictly gas, with no electric bells and whistles, is still going strong. I did have to have a repair guy come in to clean the soot out of the bottom of the oven when the holes got plugged and the oven stopped heating*. My Kitchenaid Junior stand mixer, now about forty years old, still works. By comparison, I’ve been through three (three!) printers in thirteen years.

That led to contemplation of things that last.

Years ago, I bought a Hoosier kitchen cabinet. For the benefit of those who aren’t familiar with the term, it’s like this early 20^th century advertising 

illustration. There were many different styles (mine is narrower and taller). My current house, like the last one, does not have a lot of built-in cabinets, so my Hoosier is a godsend. It houses my crockpot, some small kitchen equipment, dried fruit, spices and seasonings (including the weird medieval and 18^th century ones like musk, and the chiles and chile powders because this is New Mexico, after all), and it also serves as the liquor cabinet. I believe it’s over a century old. It will outlast me, and that’s an oddly comforting thought.

Maybe that’s why shabby chic furnishings, antiques and genealogy are popular: they spell stability. And I think the appeal of historical romance novels lies in the desire for things that last:  a long line of ancestors and a house inhabited by the same family for decades or centuries, heirlooms, enduring love.

But even if we don’t trace our ancestry back more than a generation and aren’t rooted in the same soil that nurtured our great-great-great-grandparents, we are still part of the continuity of centuries. I have my father’s heavy bone structure, my mother’s singing voice, my father’s aptitude for special relationships (you know, that thing about what direction gears are turning? Didn’t get that from Mum), and my mother’s skill with the language. My father and I both inherited his mother’s chin. I don’t know where my nose came from. No one in any of the family pictures has it. Maybe one of my great-greats in Somerset, England, Ireland, Sweden or parts unknown contributed it. Our roots go back a long, long way.

Arundel Castle, home of the Dukes of Norfolk

*The owner’s manual blithely assumes the owner will do this at intervals. To do so, it’s necessary to remove the oven door, either have long arms or crawl into the oven, remove some weird-shaped screws at the very back, lift out the steel plate that forms the bottom of the oven, clean the gas apertures, replace the plate, re-light the oven pilot, and replace the door. No doubt some people can do it. I can’t. I’ll happily pay a gas stove repair person to come out every five years or so rather than buy a new, complicated range that would have a life expectancy of twelve or thirteen years.  

Review: The Lost Apothecary by Sarah Penner

I requested an ARC for my unbiased review of The Lost Apothecary by Sarah Penner because I enjoy historical fiction, and particularly the eighteenth century. Ms. Penner’s novel weaves the story of a modern-day woman whose marriage is in crisis and that of two women in late eighteenth century London with crises of their own. The problem is different for each one but at the same time, they are interrelated. The cuts back and forth between the centuries and the three women are done with skill and the characters are three-dimensional. The mudlarking section made me want to be there searching the Thames foreshore to find cool old stuff. This is evidently her first novel. I’ll look forward to reading her future books. 

My only reservation about the book is because of one flaw which many readers will not even notice (though I’m hoping it was corrected before release). It’s a problem not limited to Ms. Penner’s otherwise excellent book. Even those who have written historical fiction for years sometimes make assumptions about past eras: for example, that letters must have been written on parchment or that bourbon was known in 18th century England. Unless a reader happens to be informed and fussy about historical details—as I am—such things will not interrupt the flow of a good story.

 

Review: Learning to Waltz by Kerryn Reid

 

I read a lot of historical romance novels, partly for enjoyment and partly for market research. My preference is for books with some depth, good writing, and no silliness (unless it’s intentional). 

Kerryn Reid’s Regency novel Learning to Waltz came my way recently via a free review copy, and what a delightful surprise it was.  Learning to Waltz exceeded my expectations.

I won’t describe the story; if you’re reading a book review, you’ve probably already seen either the blurb or a review giving a synopsis of the plot. I’ll just say that one of the things I particularly liked about Ms. Reid’s novel was that the characters were not cardboard and the situations they faced were the sort that real people might encounter. For me, that makes a more memorable story than the dukes/earls/Mayfair ballrooms kind of romance.

Oh, and I didn’t notice any cringe-worthy anachronisms. This is so rare in the historical romance genre that it deserves mention, and I’d give it an extra star just for that. As I can’t give it six stars, I’ve bought Ms. Reid’s other historical romance, Anna’s Refuge.    

An Unsuitable Duchess

Back in 2013, when I was writing An Unsuitable Duchess—and only about 17,000 words in—I wrote a post about Time Travel to the Year 1740. An Unsuitable Duchess came out today, May 19, 2017, published by The Wild Rose Press, Inc. at thewildrosepress.com

It’s been a long, peculiar three and a half years.

Things I’ve done that I never expected to:

Received a contract offer 44 days after submitting my query letter. When I first began submitting work (back before home computers, the Internet and cell phones), getting a response from a publisher routinely took six months. Agents? They were often too busy to respond at all.

Had an “author photo” taken. Helpful hint to new authors if you find yourself in the delightful position of needing a photograph but feel you are insufficiently photogenic. Wear large or ridiculous headgear—an exuberant garden party hat, a pith helmet or an “Indiana Jones”-type hat. Holding a cat up is also a good move.

Loved the cover art! Almost exactly what I had envisioned, thanks to RJ Morris of The Wild Rose Press, Inc.

Bought a DVD of John Rocque’s 1746 map of London and Westminster. This is a treasure for anyone who needs to know the streets, yards and docks of mid-18^th century London. A modern map is almost useless—so many streets and landmarks have been destroyed or re-named. You will not find Wych Street or Craven Buildings Yard on a modern map.

Ordered promotional business cards and postcards.

Set up a Facebook page for my book: https://www.facebook.com/anunsuitableduchess/

And yes, in spite of a bad case of nerves, I’m thrilled.