Francesca Belling is torn between two worlds—her past infatuation with her brother’s best friend and her future obligations. She never intended to end up in the bed of her longtime crush, Thomas Wallingham but that’s exactly where she finds herself.
Unfortunately, mail is slow during a war. She thought he knew everything. He had never suspected.
Thomas has always wanted to be a part of the Belling’s family but he was too foolish to grab the chance when she threw herself at him before. Instead, he ran off to war. Emboldened by his new-found appreciation for a grown-up Francesca, he finds that dream is within his reach.
If she thinks he’s running away this time, she has no idea what she’s in for.
~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~
So – I write historical Romance, specifically Regency. I’d love to tell you exactly when that time period was but it’s the cause of some argument. If you want to get really technical, it’s the time from 1811 to 1820 when the Prince Regent ruled England. Some will argue that it’s any time between 1795 and 1837. But, really, won’t people argue about anything?
I write historical romance because I’m lazy.
“Huh?” you ask. When I started reading romance, my first was a Regency. Julia Quinn, actually – I came to romance late, but that confession is for another blog. It seems a bit cliché to say I fell in love with Romance but there is no other explanation. After that, I read A LOT of romance – contemporary, paranormal, you name it. Still, I kept coming back to historicals. I devoured them from all time periods, but Regencies were my favorite. There’s something about the manners of the time and the subsequent exploitation of those manners that occurs in a juicy story. Think of reading Pride and Prejudice and Sense and Sensibility or every lyrical version of Jane Austen you’ve ever seen produced.
That is Regency.
Lush. Gorgeous. Complicated.
When I poised my fingers over the keyboard to begin my very own romance, of course it was a Regency. That’s where the lazy part comes in. As a voracious reader, I knew the rules of Regency. I liked the idea of writing about a world not so very different from our own and the idea of building my own world for a paranormal was just too daunting. So I started writing about a Marquess and a Lady.
Boy, was I naïve.
I quickly discovered there are all kinds of troubles with a historical. The heroine goes to a bank. Does she go through a revolving door? No, she does not. The invention of revolving doors was patented in December 1881.
If she and the Marquess are riding through a field, does she encounter barbed wire? Nope. Barbed wire was an American thing from the time of Lincoln in 1867.
This is taking forever. All this research…
Alright, forget the barbed wire and the stupid door. Would the footman have brought muffins to her in the morning room while she was writing her letters? Probably not. The things we call muffins would have been referred to as “American Muffins” and didn’t really come to England until the late 1800’s.
Forget eating. How does she mail these letters anyway? What the hell is the deal with franking? When did stamps come around? And . . . I’m back on the internet. The first stamp was issued in Great Britain in 1840 and cost a penny.
I haven’t managed to write a single cohesive paragraph without getting lost on the internet for twenty minutes at a hop. Next it was spices, the amount of time it would take to sail from London to Boston, and the cost of letting a room in a less than fashionable district.
Then bad things started to happen. The internet wasn’t enough anymore. Pretty quickly I was cruising Amazon for research books like it was crack. I bought several about English gardens, the inner workings of the manner house, and a multitude on Regency fashions. You simply have no idea how much you don’t know about underwear until you delve into the small clothes situation these people dealt with.
I knew it had gone too far when I finally acquired a map of London drawn up in 1919 so that I could use the correct names of the streets, parks and neighborhoods.
So much for going the lazy route.
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Bio:
Amylynn read her first romance novel in 2008 after being a lifelong literary snob. By the time she was done, she was hooked. Inspired, she challenged herself to write an entire manuscript from start to finish. Lady Belling’s Secret became the first in a three series set.
She is an Arizona native and lives in the same house her husband owned before they were married. Amylynn fears she will never call another state home unless someone tells her husband there are forty nine others to choose from. In reality, she’d settle for a walk-in closet.
Her family consists of the aforementioned husband, two beautiful children, two dogs, two cats, some fish, and a hankering for a panda. She’d like it mentioned she’s never been in prison but we’ll see how that panda thing works out.
~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~
For a chance to win a print copy of LADY BELLING’S SECRET, just leave a comment below. Good luck!
LOL your post made me laugh. be careful what you wish for!
Thanks, Eileen. Ain’t that the truth?
How wonderful and fun!! I would love to win a copy of your book!!
I hope you do, too. Betty
Yes, your post made me laugh too. I’m an avid historical romance reader, rarely do my eyes touch a contemp! LOL I also love history and I think most readers of historical romance know a lot about the period…at least enough to spot a glaring error! And believe me, the poor author would probably never live it down. HR readers can be rabid sharks sometimes. But never fear…write a good, engaging story and we’re your buddies for life! Your book sounds like a winner! Thanks for the giveaway.
I’m with you in that I don’t want to see errors, glaring or otherwise. Still, sometimes, I wonder if I don’t go a bit over the top, ya know? I hope you enjoy the book if it comes your way. And I KNOW you’ll let me know if there’s an error! :0)
Cute post! Thank you 🙂 I would love an opportunity to read this book. I haven’t read this author so I’m anxious to read her work. I like the cover.
Thanks
Isn’t that cover gorgeous?! Wait until you see cover #2. I hope to have that book out by the first of May. Stay tuned for Miss Goldsleigh’s Secret.
A new author for me ;). Love hisrom, so have to read this one.
I really hope you enjoy the book.
Got some giggles in this morning! Who knew so much research would have to take place to even begin writing. Fascinating! I would love to adventure into the world of Historical Romance, and see if it is a genre for me! Thanks for the chance to win a giveaway and lovely post.
I vote you start your foray into Historical Romance with Lady Belling’s Secret. Not too heavy, fun….let me know what you think when you’re done.
Thank you for such an interesting review. I now have a new respect for you Authors who have to do so much research in order for your stories to b e authentic. I didn’t know how much was involved, and how much time you had to spend reading up on things.
“Lady Belling’s Secret” sounds wonderful, and I’d love to read it. You’re a new Author to me, and I love finding new Authors. 🙂
We LOVE being found, Diane! I wrote a pirate story once, The Sea Rose, and now if I’m on Jeopardy I can answer all the questions about Caribbean history. Cause that’s useful.
I hope you enjoy it the book.
Congrats on the new release. This book sounds fantastic. Can’t wait to read it to see more of Francesca and Thomas. Thanks for the great guest post. It takes a lot of research for a book to be accurate. Hopefully, you had some fun.
I did manage to have in between nervous breakdowns. I think the worst of it is when you want to use a word that didn’t exist back then. Sometimes there’s just not a good alternative, ya know? I hope you enjoy the book.
Thanks for this great post. Congratulations on this wonderful release which sounds memorable and special. Wishing you the best of success and enjoyment.
Thank you very much for the good wishes. I hope you enjoy it.
Congrats on your new release. Sounds wonderful. Thanks for the giveaway.
I hope you win!
Love romance, will love a copy pleasee
I love romance, too. Isn’t it just so fun? I hope you win.
That was a nice post.
I had a fun time writing it, too.
Congrats on your book, and I enjoyed your post. I can totally see how much research goes into historicals and addicting the research can get!
Do you remember as a kid ever getting lost in a dictionary? Maybe you went in to look up one word and the next thing you know you’ve read a whole bunch of unnecessary stuff? Maybe that’s just me. Research is like that though. Maybe one of these days Jeopardy will call. ;0)
What a great post, thank you for writing it. I think every genre has its research to do though.
They do indeed. At least Sci Fi gets to make up their research when they don’t like what they find. I might have to check into that.
[…] time I wrote a guest post. It’s me so don’t expect a treatise on international politics from 1800 Great Britain. […]
How fun! Your writing is new to me, and while I love reading all genres, it does seem that historical needs some extra research at times to make sure all the details are just right! Thanks for sharing a peek!
I’m a crazy big reader, too. Honestly, I’ll read anything not moving. Or moving slowly at least.
Too funny! If this is a blog post, your book must be great. Thanks so much.
From your comment to the reviewer’s ears! I hope you enjoy it.
While I may not have ever read Ms Bright, I do have to say that reading this post and knowing the care and thought she puts into her research does my heart proud. I like th think that the books I read contain info that is true and accurate to the time .Thanks for this post, have added her to my list to check for.
Thanks for the nice words, Lin. There’s nothing more frustrating than big giant errors in historical books. Sometimes I do think I get carried away, though. I hope you enjoy it.
What a great cover!!! I haven´t read any of your books yet, but they sound great.
Thanks, Stefanie. I absolutely ADORE this cover.
*chuckle* if the writing in the novel is half as entertaining as this blog, it should be a great read. Please toss my name in the hat.
You’re officially in “the hat”. I hope you enjoy the book. Pop over to my blog sometimes if you want more lunacy, pop over to my blog sometime.
I think this sounds like a great read and I do enjoy historical romance!
Me too. I love sinking into a great Regency.
Hi Amylynn!
I know exactly how you feel about snow! To get away from it I left up-state New York and went to college in Tucson so I would never had to shovel again – until I managed to marry a wonderful man who decided we would live in New England! He keeps telling me it’s a great way to not gain weight and is less expensive then joining a gym!
I loved your post and your sense of humor and since I live in an otherwise male household (1 husband and 2 sons) I know how important it is to see the humor in everyday things and to always be on the lookout for a way to “foil” a male’s evil plans!
The thing I’m looking forward to the most in Lady Belling’s Secret is seeing Francesca put Thomas in his place (and he probably won’t even realize that she’s done it!). I love your sense of humor – there is no such thing as being “too funny” and enjoying it every laugh of the way!
Congratulations on the release on Feb. 7th (my 43nd anniversary – that’s how I remember things like that) and can’t wait to read all the books in the series!
Wow! Jeanne. Thank you so much for the kind words. I wrote goofy nonsense on my blog on a regular basis. Book #2 – Miss Goldsleigh’s Secret – should be out sometime in May. Keep an eye out!
Thanks for letting me know about Miss Goldeigh’s Secret and I’m thrilled it will be out in May. I didn’t see anything about a newsletter on your web page and hope you’re planning on having one so we can keep up to date on your new releases and a link to Amazon so we can pre-order your books!
I’ll have a newsletter up an running very, very soon. Keep an eye out!
I’ll be checking back on your website looking for it! Thanks!
Alright! The sign up for the Newsletter is live. Thanks for the prodding!
Hilarious post, enjoyed it very much! I’m putting Lady Belling
on my TBR list and BTW, where does the panda come into
the story? LOL.
As soon as I figure out a way to wheedle a panda into a Regency, you’ll be the first to know! I truly hope you enjoy the book.
Great post! You made me laugh. I can’t wait to read your book.
I, on the other hand, decided to write paranormals because I’m lazy. I knew that writing a historical would require knowing what undergarments a lady of a certain caste would wear. Little did I know that I’d have to research how to blow up a car and what kind of animal draws Freya’s chariot! There’s just no getting away from that research!
Isn’t it funny, you never really think how bad the other genre’s have it. Still, I’ve enjoyed your books so I know the research was good.
As a reader I must say I do appreciate the research. A brilliant post thank you & I hope you are able to get some writing done among all the research.
I guess the writing gets done by default. ;0)
I too love historicals the most. About 9 out of 10 books I get are historicals. This one sounds like a lot of fun !
I certainly hope you enjoy it. I read so much of everything, but a good historical will suck me in every time.
I’ve always found it very annoying when people dis historical romance when they haven’t even read it – glad you came over from the dark side!
I don’t know how dark it was necessarily – just woefully ignorant. Romance writers work really, really hard and turn out amazing books. I definitely preach the gospel of romance now just like a the converts do! I find myself in very good company.
So I’ll leave a comment before I get lost in google, because now I have to go look up franking and I’m sure that will lead to an hour’s diversion from doing mundane stuff like cleaning my house. Can’t wait to read all your “research”!
~allie
Google is an evil place. I don’t know what I’d do without it. Earlier writers must have never left the darn library.
All that research sounds daunting, but a lot of fun. Congrats on the release of Lady Belling’s Secret, it sounds like a great story.
Thanks! Even with all the complaining, I’ve have a great time writing it.
This one sounds really good! Thanks for the chance to win it!
I’ll cross my crossables for you!
Nice cover, sounds really good.
Thank you very much. I LOVE that cover
Thanks for the giveaway. i would love to read this book. sounds like a really good love story.