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Friday, July 15, 2011

Guest Amelia Grey: Regency Twins and Arranged Marriages

Linda Banche here. Today I welcome Amelia Grey and her latest Regency historical, A Gentleman Never Tells. A Gentleman Never Tells is the first book in her trilogy about a pair of Regency twins and their older brother.

Leave a comment with your email address for a chance to win one of two copies of A Gentleman Never Tells which Sourcebooks has generously provided. Amelia will select the winners. Check the comments to see who won, and how to contact me to claim your book. If I cannot contact the winners within a week of selection, I will award the books to alternates. Note, Sourcebooks can mail to USA and Canada addresses only.

And the winners Amelia selected are Judy and catslady. Congratulations! Thanks to all for coming over.

Welcome Amelia!

Amelia Grey:

Good morning, everyone! I’m thrilled to be with you at Historical Hussies. Thank you for having me at this fabulous site.

Today I want to give you a peek into my new trilogy and a little about the first book, A Gentleman Never Tells.

While I was finishing my last book, I had this crazy idea, wouldn’t it be wonderful if a handsome, powerful-looking set of twins came to London to quietly make their fortune. And wouldn’t it be intriguing if they instead they set the town on fire with scandalous gossip because they are the spitting image of a well-respected man in London—and that man is not their father? Now they know why their mother said it would be a cold day in Hell before they set foot in London.

Well, I was hooked on the idea so I ran with it, and started plotting and planning. It didn’t take me long to realize I needed to do a little research on twins in the 1800s because it was very rare for both of them to live to be adults. Not only that, I needed some general information, too. Do they really think alike as well as look like each other? Do they feel each other’s pain? Do they know if the other is in trouble and needs help? Do they have their own secret language?

So before I could get to the twins stories, which the first one, A Gentleman Says “I Do” will be coming out next spring, and A Gentleman Surrenders which will be the second twin’s story, I had to write their older brother’s story—Tada! A Gentleman Never Tells.

Viscount Brentwood knew what his twin brothers would be facing in London so he came to help them weather the gossip only to end up embroiled in more scandal than he thought possible. And, the trouble he became involved in had nothing to do with his brothers. You’ll learn all about them in the later books.

Brentwood is minding his own business, walking his mother’s Pomeranian in Hyde Park early one morning when out of the mist a lovely and alluring young lady walks up and kisses him. Of course, this is all very much to his liking until they are caught and he finds out that she is not only another man’s fiancĂ©e, she also happens to be the daughter of a powerful duke. And if that wasn’t enough trouble for the Viscount to be in the middle of, he’s lost his mother’s dog, too.

Lady Gabrielle is beautiful, clever, and courageous. The last thing she wants is to be forced into another loveless engagement, so she isn’t going to give up her freedom easily. She has plans that her father and Lord Brentwood don’t know about. But Gabrielle discovers that Brent has a few plans of his own as together they work to find London’s notorious dog thief.

Thankfully we don’t have arranged marriages today, but if we did what lengths would you go to get out of one? Let me know for a chance to win one of two copies of A Gentleman Never Tells.

Please visit my website at ameliagrey.com or email me at ameliagrey@comcast.net for more information about me and my books.

A GENTLEMAN NEVER TELLS BY AMELIA GREY—IN STORES JULY 2011
A stolen kiss from a stranger…
As if from a dream, Lady Gabrielle walked from the mist and into Viscount Brentwood’s arms. Within moments, he’s embroiled in more scandal than he ever thought possible…

Can sink even a perfect gentleman…
Beautiful, clever, and courageous, Lady Gabrielle needs Brent’s help to get out of a seriously bad situation. But the more she gets to know him, the worse she feels about ruining his life…

Enter the unforgettable world of Amelia Grey’s sparkling Regency London, where a single encounter may have devastating consequences for a gentleman and a lady…

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Winner of the Booksellers Best Award and the Romantic Times Award for Love and Laughter, Amelia Grey’s books have sold in Europe, Russia and China. Married for twenty-five years to her high school sweetheart, she has lived in Alabama, Connecticut, New Hampshire, and now calls Panama City Beach, Florida, home. For more information, please visit www.ameliagrey.com.

13 comments:

Angelina Barbin said...

What would I do to get out of an arranged marriage? I'm a fraternal twin so I couldn't coax my sister to take my place. I have 8 siblings and 17 nieces/nephews. If I introduced my betrothed to my wild family they would probably take care of scaring him off for me.:)

Angel Barbin

Amelia Grey said...

Good Morning Ladies,

So glad to be blogging with you this morning on Historical Hussies and hope we'll have lots of fun. I'm at my desk and ready to write but I'll be checking in periodically all day so please write in.

Hi Angelina - I'm from a large family too and understand the pros and cons of a new boyfriend meeting family. Thanks for you comments.

Amelia Grey

Linda Banche said...

Hi Amelia, I can't imagine an arranged marriage to someone I didn't want. And if someone did arrange such a marriage, I would fight tooth and nail to get out of it. Gabrielle had the right idea by trying to convince Brent she wasn't suitable, but he saw through her schemes. And besides, he wanted her.

Judy said...

I would stand my ground and fight. I would not marry someone, I did not know. Thank goodness, there is not much of this anymore. Your book looks great, would enjoy reading it.

Judy
magnolias_1[at]msn[dot]com

Luanna Stewart said...

I'd arrange for my fake unfortunate demise and skip the country. Probably really hard to do nowadays with all the tracking going on. Could I live without credit cards and the internet??

Amelia said...

Linda,
I know it's difficult to imagine but young ladies had very few options and whatever their dad said was law.

But remember, Judy they were raised in the time of artanged marriages so they knew it was expected of them, even if they didn't want to do it.

Lu/Grace,
Now you have the right idea, but I sure couldn't do it without credit cards! :-)

Amelia

catslady said...

My grandparents from Sicily were an arranged marriage and they were together for over 50 years but that was another time and place and I can't imagine that happening today. I too would be sure to fight it - too stubborn lol. I also find stories about twins quite fascinating. I have two newphews that are twins and part of 7 siblings but they do have something special. Your book sounds intriguing and suspensful and something I would enjoy!

Amelia said...

Hi Catslady,

I think a lot of us would like to know what it's like being a twin, but then maybe some people have a brother or sister that they feel very close to so maybe that is lot like being a twin. I have four sisters, all very different and I don't feel like a twin to any of them! :-)

Dee said...

Hmm, arranged marriage. Really what could you do with no money, no where to go on your own and virtually no job prospects. I'd probably fake leprosy if I had to. :)

Cara Marsi said...

Amelia, I love your books. Absolutely love them. I have two of your books on my keeper shelf, "Dash of Scandal" and "Little Mischief." I can't wait to read this newest. Good interview.

JaneE2059 said...

One set of great-grandparents had an arranged marriage that lasted approximately 40(?) years.

It would depend on how nice (both physically and emotionally) the person was...as to whether I'd fight an arranged marriage. If I DIDN'T want to marry him, I hope I'd be in a position to refuse.

Chelsea B. said...

Oh, my gosh, I would do almost anything! It would be my whole life we were talking about, after all. Now, if it was arranged to someone I had, or thought I could, have feelings for....

justforswag(AT)yahoo(DOT)com

catslady said...

Thank you so much for the win and congrats to Judy too!