Aloha to Samantha Grace and IN BED WITH A ROGUE

Last week, I pulled a back muscle and spent several hours in best rest with Samantha Grace and IN BED WITH A ROGUE, Book 2 in the Rival Rogues series. From Samantha's bio,

Historical romance author Samantha Grace discovered the appeal of a great love story when she was just a young girl, thanks to Disney's Robin Hood. She didn't care that Robin Hood and Maid Marian were cartoon animals. It was her first happily-ever-after experience and she didn't want the warm fuzzies to end. Now Samantha enjoys creating her own happy-endings for characters that spring from her imagination. Publisher's Weekly describes her stories as "fresh and romantic" with subtle humor and charm. Samantha describes romance writing as the best job ever.

Part-time hospice social worker, moonlighting author, and pilates nut, she enjoys a happy and hectic life with her real life hero and two kids in the Midwest.

Samantha Grace | Facebook | Twitter | Goodreads | Pinterest

Samantha joins us today with a guest post to celebrate the release of IN BED WITH A ROGUE ...

Aloha, everyone! I’m Samantha Grace, regency romance author, and I’m very happy to be back at SOS Aloha. Let’s all imagine we are in Hawaii now sipping a cup of Kona coffee and enjoying the breeze off the ocean. Ahh… That was nice. Okay, now it’s time to jump in the Delorean time machine and travel back to 19th century England.

It’s the start of the London Season and young debutantes are flooding the marriage mart hoping to make a fortuitous match. Marriage is serious business when an entire family’s welfare could depend on (1) gaining status by marrying into nobility - female (2) gaining access to a large dowry to save entailed property - male (3) producing an heir to inherit the entailed property - male.

When a property was entailed, lands and often contents of the house couldn’t be sold off even if the property was falling into ruin. Everything was part of the estate and reserved for the next male heir. If there wasn’t an heir, the Crown could take the land, leaving the living females with no home. No pressure!

Even though it seems like a lot more responsibility is falling on the gentleman, he definitely has the advantage. There just aren’t enough gentlemen to go around, which means there’s a lot of competition when it comes to capturing a gentleman’s attention, so you have to be on your game! You’re going to need a…

Debutante Disaster Preparedness Plan

#1 Being presented at Court is nice, but your true ticket to success comes in the form of a voucher to Almack’s, the hottest dance club in 19th Century London. If you have any hope of making a marriage match, you better be at the Marriage Mart on Wednesday evenings. Almack’s is one of the few places single gentlemen and debutantes can mingle, so you better make nice with someone influential if you want that voucher. And if you aren’t dressed to the wow, you’ll never get past the bouncers aka the Lady Patronesses, so dress for success.

#2 On that note, you must have lots and lots of gowns. In fact, you better build up your stamina, because you’re going to be changing clothes several times a day. If you are lucky, the most sought-after modiste will take you on as a client. You must be the most fashionable lady in London if you expect to gain a gentleman’s attention, or that of his mother.

#3 A sweet disposition and sterling reputation will go a long way in helping you to bring a gentleman up to scratch. After all, you know how some mamas are. They only want the best for their sons, and someone who won’t challenge their position at home. To that end, be sure you’ve studied the “Etiquette Survival Guide”. One faux pas could mean ruination is nipping at your heels.

Poor Eve Thorne, my hero’s sister from IN BED WITH A ROGUE, had a disastrous first season when her betrothed jilted her at the altar. It’s not fair, but everyone believed her groom must have found out disturbing news about her and that’s why he took off suddenly and escaped to India. But big brother Sebastian is determined to make things right for Evie and he has stumbled across the perfect solution: Lady Helena Prestwick. When he discovers a secret about Helena, he has no plans to spill the beans. He has never cared for the gossipmongers who’ve hurt his sister, so why should he toss them a juicy bone? He sees an opportunity to for Helena and him to help each other out, however. On Helena’s behalf, he will search the fashionable brothels for a young woman who is obviously important to her, and Helena will use her reputation and influence to help his Evie reenter Society. It’s the perfect arrangement that neither suspect could lead to a permanent partnership.

We had a lot of fun at my recent release party posting photos of dresses we wanted to be wearing. Some partygoers really got into the spirit with changing their dress every time a new guest author showed up. So many pretty colors! Of course, if you were a debutante during the Regency period, you didn’t get to wear all those vibrant colors. You had to stick to white or pastels, but let’s throw caution to the wind! What color gown would you wear to shock the ton? I’m choosing royal blue.

Dido Elizabeth Belle and Lady Elizabeth Murray
enjoyed a shocking friendship 

Mahalo, Samantha, for sharing the Debutante Disaster Preparedness Plan!  Sourcebooks is giving away a copy of IN BED WITH A ROGUE ... 

He’s the Talk of the Town

The whole town is tittering about Baron Sebastian Thorne having been jilted at the altar. Every move he makes ends up in the gossip columns. Tired of being the butt of everyone’s jokes, Sebastian vows to restore his family’s reputation no matter what it takes.

She’s the Toast of the Ton

Feted by the crème of society, the beautiful widow Lady Prestwick is a vision of all that is proper. But Helena is no angel, and when Sebastian uncovers her dark secret, he’s quick to press his advantage. In order to keep her hard-won good name, Helen will have to make a deal with the devil. But she’s got some tricks up her sleeves to keep this notorious rogue on his toes…

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