Romantic Novelists' Association Blog: Interview with Elizabeth Hanbury

Romantic Novelists' Association Blog: Interview with Elizabeth Hanbury: I’m delighted to welcome Elizabeth Hanbury to the blog today. Elizabeth says she loves to combine humour, emotion, great characters, e...

The Cinderella Debutante

My next Regency romance The Cinderella Debutante will be published by E-scape Press on 24th September 2012!

This release is particularly exciting as it's one of two books launching E-scape's new imprint Ballgown Books which will feature historical and contemporary stories.

The Cinderella Debutante is a light-hearted Regency romance based on the Cinderella story but with a few twists.  Don't ya just love Cinderella-themed stories?! :0)

Here's the blurb:

Lucy Sinclair’s London Season was cut short by tragedy. Now, five years later, she is returning but only in the shadow of her lovely step-sister. Belinda is determined to catch a titled husband and Alex, Lord Devlyn fits the bill perfectly.

Lucy finds Alex devastatingly attractive yet knows he will be dazzled by Belinda’s beauty. It seems her one chance of love is lost forever until an unlikely fairy godmother makes Lucy the belle of the ball...
 

I hope readers will enjoy.  The Cinderella Debutante is unashamedly sprinkled with oodles of wish-fulfillment fairy dust *g*  

Look out for more details, links, giveaways and a new E-scape website for Ballgown Books soon. 

Other news: the e-book edition of Ice Angel is finally out.  


Ice Angel is Book #1 in the Cavanagh family series and the prequel to A Bright Particular Star, although both books can easily be read as stand-alone. 

Ice Angel can be purchased from   Amazon.com,  Amazon UK, iTunes, Kobo, Barnes and Noble, Waterstones and other on-line outlets. 

Astraea Press: Astraea Press Summer Sale

 Take advantage of this fabulous offer from Astraea Press - almost all their ebooks (including A Bright Particular Star) are available for just 99 cents (or equivalent) from Amazon and Barnes and Noble until 31st July!

So hurry and grab some great summer reading :)

Summer Snippets & Cherry Ripe

 A Bright Particular Star features on the Summer Snippets series at the Astraea Press blog today.  Pop over and take a look via this link.

I've also been out and about recently and you can see my photos from David Austin Roses and Old Moseley Hall by following the individual links to my Facebook author page.



One of my favourite summer fruit, English cherries, are ready for picking now.  Did you know...

Cherry Ripe by John Everett Millais

• Girls used to predict who they would marry with the cherry-stone counting rhyme, Tinker Tailor Soldier Sailor
• Before the invention of hot water bottles, heated cherry stones were placed in pans to warm beds.
• Legend has it that you can trace old Roman roads in Britain by wild cherry trees.  Soliders munching on the fruit spat out the stones whiles travelling the country.

Cherry ripe, cherry ripe,
Ripe I cry,
Full and fair ones
Come and buy.
Cherry ripe, cherry ripe,
Ripe I cry,
Full and fair ones
Come and buy

(English song, words by poet Robert Herrick 1591–1674, and music by Charles Edward Horn 1786–1849)

Summer Solstice Smashwords Offer

It’s Midsummer Eve and to celebrate the summer solstice E-scape Press have 100% off my collection of Regency short stories, “Midsummer Eve at Rookery End” at Smashwords.

Just enter the coupon code “WP35D” at the checkout. Click here to get your copy but hurry, offer ends midnight US time!

250 years of The Sandwich

John Montagu, 4th Earl of Sandwich

Ok this is another blog post about food but it's a notable anniversary LOL!

This year is the 250th Anniversary of The Sandwich.  It all started in 1762 when, as legend goes, John Montagu, the 4th Earl of Sandwich and an ardent gambler, refused to break from his games to dine formally. Instead he called for his manservant to bring him slabs of beef between hunks of bread so that he might eat it while continuing to play cards. 

His gambling friends soon adopted the same habit, and when the Earl ordered his snack, they would shout 'The same as Sandwich!', and thus, the story goes, the sandwich was born.

An alternative but less colourful version is expounded in the Earl of Sandwich's biography, by N.A.M. Rodger. He suggests that Sandwich, a hardworking member of the military who was heavily involved with the political world and the arts, is more likely to have eaten the sandwiches at his desk. 

Whatever the truth, the 4th Earl of Sandwich sparked a trend that continues to the present day, generating an industry that employs 300,000 people in the UK with a commercial value of over £6 billion.

Today Britons munch their way through 11.5 billion sandwiches per year (!!), half of which are made at home.

 

British Sandwich Week starts tomorrow 12th May.  Visit The British Sandwich Assocation (yes, there is one!) at www.sandwich.org for more information and the website for Sandwich, in Kent, where special celebrations to mark the 250th anniversary are taking place this weekend.

Glamour Puds

Everyone loves a pudding (or if you prefer, dessert).  I know I do *g*  So I was delighted to stumble across a little gem of a programme on Channel 4 called Glamour Puds.

Glamour Puds is presented by one of the world's best patisserie chefs, Eric Lanlard.  Series 2, currently showing again on Channel 4 in the UK is about the legacy of the very first celebrity chef, Marie-Antoine Careme.

Over 10 episodes Eric and his guests chart Careme's rise from humble beginnings in late 18th century Paris to become 'King of Chefs', his influence on patisserie and his legacy.

And along the way, Eric makes some sumptuous desserts :0)  All the recipes are listed on the Channel 4 website here by searching for Glamour Puds.    Check out this link on YouTube too ;0)


Souffle Pompadour is one of my favourites.  Yum!



Marie-Antoine Careme gets a brief mention in my latest Regency romance, A Bright Particular Star, available from Astraea Press, Amazon US, Amazon UK, B&N, Smashwords.

Happy Cooking!