Cheryl Bolen Reveals The Power? of the Golden Heart Award

With the entry period for Beau Monde’s Royal Ascot Contest now underway, many of us are polishing our manuscripts and daydreaming about what effect a win might have on our budding writing careers. In today’s article, Cheryl Bolen, award-winning published author of several historical romance novels, records her conversations with a group of Golden Heart award finalists. They share their thoughts on the impact which Golden Heart recognition had on their careers and their success in publishing their books.

Continue reading “Cheryl Bolen Reveals The Power? of the Golden Heart Award”

The Reticule, or The Lady’s Pocket Exposed

A cross-post from The Regency Redingote:

I first learned of the existence of that small lady’s handbag, the reticule, from the novels of Georgette Heyer. Later, as a museum curator, I had the opportunity to see a number of actual Regency-era reticules, both in person and in museum photographs. As I continued to research these often exquisite little bags, I discovered they had their origins in the late eighteenth century. Prior to that time, ladies carried their personal essentials in pockets under their skirts. Not in their skirts, under their skirts.

So, when and how did the lady’s pocket come out from under her skirt and make its debut as the reticule?

Continue reading “The Reticule, or The Lady’s Pocket Exposed”

Alicia Rasley – Featured Beau Monde Author

Alicia Rasley is today’s Featured Beau Monde Author.

Alicia grew up as the oldest girl in a family of ten. She had a lot of responsibility early, but she is a self-admitted daydreamer. Books provided an escape from her routine life, and some of the books she read were the Regency novels of Georgette Heyer. "Suddenly there was a new world for me, far from the noise and chaos of a big family and school, a place of elegance and wit," she tells us. She was inspired to write Regencies, and after beginning a dozen, she finished her first when she was twenty-five. She wrote a half dozen Regencies, winning a Rita Award along the way.

But Alicia did not stay entirely faithful to Regency novels. She wrote a couple of women’s fiction novels and two non-fiction writing how-tos. But she has returned to the writing of Regencies once again, admitting that she has been seduced back into that elegant, exciting time and place. She likes rakish heroes, reckless heroines and elegant stories.

Regardless of all the romance she has read and written, Alicia says she has always been practical and is the most unromantic romance writer one would ever meet. She pours all her romantic notions into her writing. "Just ask my husband!" she says. "He’ll tell you he really gets off easy when it comes to anniversary and birthday gifts!"

Her most recent novel is The Year She Fell.

The Year She Fell Cover for Beau Monde blog
The Year She Fell - Alicia Rasley

Find her at   Facebookregencystories.wordpress.com/http://aliciarasleybooks.com/

Assembly Room – Round-up of Regency and historical posts

Assembly Room – Round-up of the best Regency and historical posts


 A disastrous royal marriage – George and Caroline:  http://bit.ly/xhdFxF
Lady Jersey by Richard Cosway
Regency versus Victorian – which do you choose?  http://bit.ly/y202yZ
Victorian with Crinoline
Victorian with Crinoline

Chariot Elaborate with Coat of Arms
Chariot Elaborate with Coat of Arms
           Livery and coaches:  http://bit.ly/ympeiN
Weymouth – a Georgian spa for a princess: http://bit.ly/zxXaDV
What horrid novel would Jane Austen recommend?  http://bit.ly/AzykwL
I love that word fustian:  http://bit.ly/xmZXGQ
Lady with Rouged Cheeks
Lady with Rouged Cheeks
       Regency beauty secrets (and some lovely prints besides!) http://bit.ly/yjZm8Z
Capital improvements – a sophisticated review of a Regency movement http://bit.ly/ABYxBM

Posts collected by Angelyn Schmid, a member of The Beau Monde.   Like history?  Fall in love with it!  Check out my blog at www.angelynschmid.com on history and romance.

Lauren Smith – Featured Beau Monde Author

Lauren Smith - Beau Monde Author headshot

Lauren Smith is today’s Featured Beau Monde Author.

Lauren Smith has been obsessed with writing since the third grade, when her teacher convinced her to submit her mystery thriller novella to a young writer’s conference in her hometown of Tulsa, Oklahoma. Ever since that fateful day, Lauren’s been a dedicated writer. Having grown up on classics and fantasy novels, she didn’t start writing romance until her second year of law school.

Lauren is currently an Intellectual Property attorney with both American and Canadian law degrees, but she stays up late to write by the flashlight app on her smart phone. She loves writing Regency and paranormal romances. In addition to the Beau Monde, she belongs to the Oklahoma Outlaws and Passionate Ink where she writes erotic romance under the pen name Emma Rochester. Lauren was a 2011 semi-finalist for the Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley Award. She was a quarter-finalist for the 2010 Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award.

Find her at Facebook@LSmithAuthortheleagueofrogues.blogspot.com

Sisters of Ill Repute:   The Regency’s Harriette Wilson and Her Profligate Sisters by Cheryl Bolen

Today, Cheryl Bolen gives us a biographical sketch of a coterie of notable Regency Cyprians. Most Regency devotees are well-aware of the notorious courtesan, Harriette Wilson, who blackmailed scores of powerful and famous men when she was writing her memoirs. But did you know she had three sisters who joined her in her scandalous profession?

Continue reading “Sisters of Ill Repute:   The Regency’s Harriette Wilson and Her Profligate Sisters by Cheryl Bolen”

New Book Releases – February / March 2012

More New Book Releases from authors at The Beau Monde Chapter,          Lady Writing at Desk

       ( Regency historical ) of Romance Writers of America.

February/ March 2012

 

PATHS OF DESIRE by Shannon Donnelly 

Paths of Desire by Shannon Donnelly
Paths of Desire by Shannon Donnelly

ISBN: 978-0-9831423-9-3              Copyright 2012

With too many secrets in her past, and too little future as an actress, Theodosia Newell wants one thing more than all else—security. She’s seen her mother abandoned, her younger brother die, and she’s vowed never to be poor. But then her path crosses that of a man who tempts her to abandon caution and all thought for the future for a passionate affair. Can she find the courage to break from her deepest fears? And will her love prove enough to save them both?

Born with a soul for adventure, David Llewellyn cannot resist a challenge—and his enthusiasm for life is as magnetic as his personality. But two women share his life, and only one can be his. Will his stubborn refusal to make a choice between them lead him to lose everything? Or will he find, in the journey to the lost city he dreams of discovering, a path to a deeper love than he thought possible?

For ten years, the affair between David and Thea goes from passion to love. Lives are changed.  Secrets come out. Marriages end. And new ones begin. Through it all, the desire of two strong-willed people lead them to clash, and to eventually find their own path–to each other and to facing the need and love they share.  From London to Italy to Syria, the Paths of Desire lead them on a journey they must make together.

Available on Amazon Kindle and B&N Nook.

 To Dare the Duke of Dangerfield by Bronwen Evans

To Dare the Duke of Dangerfield by Bronwen Evans
To Dare the Duke of Dangerfield by Bronwen Evans

Regency Romance long novella (39,000 words) released 14th February

Let the Wicked Wagers Begin…

Lady Caitlin Southall’s temper has finally got the better of her. She’s challenged Harlow Telford, the Duke of Dangerfield, the most notorious rake in all of England, to a wager. She wants her house back. The one her destitute father lost to Dangerfield in a card game. But if she doesn’t win their bet, she not only loses her home, she loses her dignity and pride and damn it all, maybe her heart… For the handsome Duke has decreed, when he wins, she must spend the night in his bed.

Harlow Telford is amused by his hellion neighbor, Caitlin, or Cate to her friends, who seem to encompass everyone on earth except him. When she bursts into one of his private gatherings, he mistakes her for the entertainment. Her slap across his face sets him straight and raises the absurd desire to seduce the unconventional beauty into his bed. When she issues her daft challenge to win back her father’s pile of rubble, the terms are set.  And he’ll do anything to win—except fall in love…

Invitation to Ruin – RT Reviewer’s Choice – Best First Book Nominee 2011

Website:   www.bronwenevans.com     Blog: http://www.bronwenevans.com/blog/
FB:   http://www.facebook.com/bronwenevansauthor     Twitter:   @authorbevans

Alegra's Song by Alicia Rasley
Alegra's Song by Alicia Rasley

 

 Allegra’s Song by   Alicia Rasley

Released March 2012   Publisher, ISBN  Midsummer Books   ISBN: 978-1-4659-2698-2

Type of Regency (Traditional, Regency Historical, Regency Paranormal)  Traditional Regency

 The warrior returns… but he never really comes home. Allegra has longed for the return of her soldier husband. But when the war ends, he is more distant than ever. After months of trying to reach him, she leaves to chaperone her husband-hunting younger sister at a duchess’s house party. Only then does Nicholas know that to win her, he must leave the war behind and truly come home to her for good.

Author website URL / http://aliciarasleybooks.com/    Author blog  edittorrent.blogspot.com

Twitter /  @RegencyTwisters   Facebook Alicia Rasley

Tall, Dark and Disreputable  by Deb MarloweTall, Dark, and Disreputable
March 20 release:   978-0373296866
Harlequin Historical
She must make a deal with the devil himself!
Portia Tofton has always yearned for brooding Mateo Cardea.  His dark good looks filled her girlish dreams–dreams that were cruelly shattered when Mateo rejected her hand in marriage.
Now Portia’s home has been gambled away, and Mateo is the only man she can turn to.  This time, however, she has in her possession something he wants–and she finds herself striking a deal with the devil himself.

Deb is a Goddess!  Guest post at The Goddess Blogs

Deb’s Web site – http://debmarlowe.com/index.shtml

Wendy Soliman – Featured Beau Monde Author

Wendy Soliman - Beau Monde author headshot

Wendy Soliman is today’s Featured Beau Monde Author.

A British author who grew up on the Isle of Wight in southern England, Wendy was surrounded by historic buildings, castles and ancient ruins. With all that, she says it is little wonder that her first love is historical romance. So far, she has published nine Regency romances and has just started work on a new series which features the Forster dynasty.

Her most recent release from Carina Press is A Scandalous Proposition, featuring a handsome major in the Napoleonic wars and a Spanish heroine with links to the local house of ill-repute. Her next book, The Perfect Impostor, will be released in April, also from Carina Press. When two friends change places for a week, what could possibly go wrong?

Wendy is a member of the RWA, the Tampa Bay Chapter of the RWA, The British Romantic Novelists’ Association, and The British Society of Authors, Novelists Inc. She now divides her time between Andorra and Florida. She lives with her husband, Andre, and a rescued dog of indeterminate pedigree, named after the hero in one of her books, on the basis that they’re both handsome hunks, with independent spirits and naughty streaks.

Find her at FacebookTwitterwendysoliman.blogspot.comwww.wendysoliman.com

Doctors in the Regency By Alicia Rasley

Old St. Thomas's Hospital, Southwark
Old St. Thomas's Hospital, Southwark

Doctors in the Regency By Alicia Rasley

 The first realization about medicine in the Regency era is that it bears almost no resemblance to modern medicine. The great discoveries that have helped most of our great-grandparents live long enough to create our grandparents were yet to be discovered.

What historian Roy Porter calls “The Three A’s” were developed later in the 19th Century and into the 20th:

❖ Anaesthesia

❖ Antiseptics (and antisepsis)

❖ Antibiotics (ultimately)

So when you imagine a medical practice without those three, well, you’ll probably think of Regency-era physicians as not much advanced since the Middle Age alchemists and astrologers.

Continue reading “Doctors in the Regency By Alicia Rasley”

Regency Promenade – Elizabeth, Lady Melbourne

 Elizabeth, Lady Melbourne, introduced by our Regency Promenade author, Nancy Mayer.

Elizabeth,Lady Melbourne, with her son
Elizabeth, Lady Melbourne, with her son

 

Lady Melbourne (née Milbanke: 1752-1818) was one of the most famous Regency Personages.

Her two claims to fame are her son William, husband of Lady Caroline  Lamb, and her friendship with Lord  Byron, the poet. She was also known for her political influence and her lovers, including George, Prince of Wales.

She was the mother of several children by three different fathers and only the eldest, Peniston, was thought to have been fathered by Lord Melbourne.

Continue reading “Regency Promenade – Elizabeth, Lady Melbourne”

Regency Florida by Darlene Marshall

                    “THERE IS NOT SO GAY A TOWN…”  FLORIDA IN THE REGENCY ERA

Regency Florida by Darlene Marshall

St. Augustine Map 1763
St. Augustine Map 1763

In 1812 a plucky band of men of diverse races, nationalities and backgrounds came together to defend their homes from foreign invaders intent on seizing their land and destroying their way of life.

Continue reading “Regency Florida by Darlene Marshall”

Assembly Room – Round-up of Regency and historical posts

1805-1825 Almack's Assembly Room
1805-1825 Almack's Assembly Room

Assembly Room – Round-up of Regency and historical posts

          by The Beau Monde member Angelyn Schmid.

These caps are adorable:  http://bit.ly/yoWl8G

Adorable caps from Rose Lerner
Adorable caps from Rose Lerner

A birthday cake for Jane Austen: http://bit.ly/uj4t3p
Continue reading “Assembly Room – Round-up of Regency and historical posts”