Hallo, Hallo dear hearts!
As you might have inferred by how regularly I’ve featured #HistRom novelists and their stories on Jorie Loves A Story – this is a niche of Historical Romance I personally LOVE to read and discovering new voices of the craft is a wicked sweet delight of joy for me as a reader. Whilst I also like to feature these authors through my monthly (semi-weekly) chat @SatBookChat!
I have spent hours of wicked sweet readerly joy tucked inside Regencies over the years whilst Historical Romances are now at a record equal bit of consumption for me as a reader as Contemporary Romances! The latter was a harder sell to find the writers who are penning the stories I want to be reading in those realms of enquiry whereas with #HistRom – if I tuck into the Regency, Victorian or Edwardian eras of British LIt I am nearly going to have a #mustread on my hands! I simply love those eras of interest – love the instincts the writers have to tell those stories and I get lost inside the propriety of how society directed social interests & the art of courtship. There were a lot of hidden rules to courting and a lot of it weighed against your station in life as well.
Aside from my passion for Historical Romances – I heartily love interviewing authors as it gives me a chance to get to know their writerly style, peer into their process as fellow writers and give my readers & the visitors of my blog a front row seat into finding out if the story I’m highlighting is one which might be a wicked good fit in their own readerly lives. I love bringing readers and authors together – to help others find stories which will be wicked good #nextreads for them and to champion the joy of being a book blogger who loves chatting about the stories popping up on her bookish radar!
I am a champion of Self-Published & Indie Publishers/Press novelists – I’ve maintained this for the last seven years I’ve been blogging and am thankful I can continue to seek out and showcase the authors who might not get as much attention as others who are with Major Trade publishers. A lot of my favourite reads over the years have been from this group of authors – they take risks and they are writing stories I am wicked thrilled about having in my hands. Remember to give them a chance at giving you an unputdownable read as much as they have continued to give me every year.
And, now I hope you’ll enjoy the light-hearted conversation about The Bachelor series and an inside look into “The Bachelor Duke” as Ms Rene and I discuss the story, her characters and her love of #amwriting Historical Romances. Be sure to brew yourself a cuppa and tuck into this conversation!
The Bachelor Duke
Subtitle: The Bachelor series
by Cecilia Rene
The Bachelor Duke meets a beautiful, curvaceous lady.
Remington Warren, The Duke of Karrington, lives his life by the name society has thrust upon him. Having witnessed cruelty against the fairer sex with his own eyes, he vows never to marry to prevent himself from becoming like the monster who raised him. After ten years of being The Bachelor Duke, his life is irrevocably changed when he sees Lady Olivia St. John across the ballroom floor.
Having lived a sheltered, pampered life, surrounded by her loving family, Lady Olivia St. John longs to know passion and love. She is beautiful, bold, and has a rather large dowry. According to society, she would be a diamond in the first water of this season if it wasn’t for her one flaw.
Will she find all she longs for and more in the arms of The Bachelor Duke, or will heartbreak be her demise?
Places to find the book:
ISBN: 9798651828227
Published by Self Published
on 26th July, 2020
Converse via: #HistoricalRomance or #HistRom
+ #TheBachelorDuke, #Regency or #RegencyRomance and #HFVBTBlogTours
Available Formats: Trade paperback and Ebook
What first sparked your interest in Historical Romances and how did you sort out which era in History was your best niche? As both a writer and as a reader? What was it directly about the setting, timescape and characters which gave you the most joy to read and/or write?
Rene responds: I’ve always loved history, I mostly read and watched old American movies with my mom, slavery movies, Roots, Mandingo, or old black and whites like Imitation of Life, A Raisin in the Sun. So I’ve loved anything historical for years, then I discovered Pride & Prejudice and just became obsessed with the time and idea of courting and loving someone without sex or anything else, just sigh! But of course, I like the sex, the spicy-ness of it, the forbidden of it but still knowing they will end up together! Yesss! The direct thing that made me read is the escape of it all and the romance! The thing that made me write was ‘Hey I think I can do this!’ which is most of my life and then I do it! LOL
I have as well – my favourite classes in lower grades were always the ones which focused on History or Science. I loved whenever my History or Social Science teachers would endeavour to talk about and dissect an era in History my previous teachers had either overlooked or hadn’t had the chance to dive inside themselves. I love Classic Movies myself – Turner Classic (ie. TCM) was a favourite station of mine before I became a #cablecutter and decided to get Roku and switch-up my tv life with different streaming services I rotate in and out of my life. However, the films your mentioning are ones I’ve been familiar with but haven’t seen – I read a lot of stories about slavery and the Civil Rights movements – to where I realised I couldn’t handle seeing ‘Roots’ as I have a very sensitive heart when I’m seeing those kinds of stories in film.
I grew up learning about Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr, Gandhi and Rosa Parks as well as other men and women like them who were evoking civil rights changes and movements both stateside and/or abroad. I was raised in a family who believed in Intersectional Feminism before I even knew the term for it and to this day, I celebrate the joy of learning about different cultures, ethnicities and religious heritage.
My favourite part of your response is how “Pride and Prejudice” (also my top favourite Austen novel – as you’ll find a lot of Austen on my blog! Including what I had to share about the latest Quill Collective audiobook release which is all about PRIDE) I could feel your enthused momentum of interest and how one singular novel changed your trajectory which I think is absolutely brilliant! I agree with you about Regency Romances like PRIDE – there is something to be said for how a relationship is built on trust, romance and friendship and that the key components of what make a relationship last is not the physical attraction of the couple.
If readers haven’t yet read one of your stories, what can they expect to find within the pages of “The Bachelor Duke”? In regards to how you tackle the setting and the timescape therein? How did you approach creating the ambiance of the time and era?
Rene responds: You can always find a HEA, like for real! You get none of that ‘come up with your own outcome’. They will always find things will resolve, hopefully fairly quickly. And a reader will most likely unless I’m setting up something find an epilogue! I’m obsessed with epilogues and I like them long and happy! How did I approach the ambiance, hmm, my mind is a very detailed place so it’s not hard and I can basically see each room, each place, each scene as it’s happening. I’m so visual that way, and lots of time I have to act out (I know!) the scenes so I can describe them in detail.
I am so thankful you’ve broached a note about Epilogues! There is this new wave of interest to see Prologues & Epilogues removed from all genres of Fiction and I’m seriously trying to sort out the logic behind this new movement!? There are moments where I am reading a novel without either of those and have found myself distanced and removed from the context of the story – for the Prologue helps set the tone and pace of the story whereas like you are hinting towards yourself the Epilogue is what we ache after when we don’t yet want to part from the story or the characters who have enraptured us from the start! We want *more!* not *less!* when it comes to those stories which are benefitting from these inclusions and I am truly grateful to hear your one author who ‘gets it!’ and does it right! Rock on!
Lady Olivia St. John happliy sounds like a wonderfully independent woman and someone who knows how to handle both herself and the expectations of society – what were your favourite moments wherein Lady Olivia is first revealling her personality and perspective to your readers?
Rene responds: Oh she is! My favorite moments is anytime she’s getting a treat in front of her mother, there’s always this ‘watch me eat it!’ sort of victory she got. LOL I also loved her and the cousin Julia, their relationship is always funny to me and I hope to see more of it in book 2. Livie def has some shy qualities, like most people, even me, but I love when they come out with Remington, especially in the bedroom!
These are the reasons I am looking forward to reading your story – to see how you’ve dealt with all these relationships and to get lost inside their lives as that is what I love most about Regencies! Getting to ride their coattails and follow along as they make their way through their lives and/or the Season itself.
What was the most challenging part in developing Remington Warren’s character? Especially as he has such a set personality and perspective on life – I was curious how you tapped into his mindset and were able to present him in the story?
Rene responds: Remington was challenging on so many levels, mostly because he’s been affected by people in his past and sometimes it’s hard for someone to even understand the lasting effects of abuse or witnessing abuse. But these sort of things stick to us. So with Remington he has two such things that haunt him and keeps him from experiencing love with someone. With him I just thought ‘what if he did marry’ because I had this bachelor and everyone around him says ‘he will never marry’ but what if he did! What if there was one person that got to him! And I went from there.
I hadn’t realised there was a storyline involving abuse in your novel – I am hoping it is in the past and not on-scene as I am not a reader of stories which highlight abuse or show it in-scene. Outside of that one issue though – I liked what you had to share about how everyone deserves to find both happiness and the person who understands them the best.
Whom among the secondary characters was your favourite and whom are they closest towards, Lady Olivia or Remington?
Rene responds: Mother Di is my favorite and I have some deleted scenes that really shows her different she is. Also, I loved Amelia, she just came on the scene and stole the show in a lot of ways. That happens to me a lot! Characters just take over, like know your place!
OOh! Deleted scenes – did you share some of those on your website I wonder!? I love finding out how much an author loves her characters that she’s held onto deleted scenes! Plus, those characters like Amelia are ones I love finding myself – their unexpected and how important they become to your readerly experience is a wicked treat really! I admit, sometimes characters take me by surprise too as a writer and definitely a heap of times as reader – sometimes, writers even convince me there isn’t a clear match between couples as the case happened yesterday.
Who are your favourite characters in Historical Romances? The heroines, heroes or the rebels and rogues? And, why?
Rene responds: Well right now I’m obsessed with Rhys Winterborne from Marrying Winterborne by Lisa Kleypas, I’ve loved him since I picked that book up! I also love Penelope Tidemore in Christi Caldwell book The Scoundrels Honor. Rhys Winterborne is hot, like he jumps off the pages hot and domineering, and there’s one part at the end where Helen is saying she wanted to leave him so not to cause a scandal and he says ‘(insert stronger word here)* try it!” Like swooonnnn! Swoon! I’m blushing and will read that now! Penelope was great to me, she had a backbone but also wasn’t so overly aggressive like so many heroines and she went after Ryker with a sort of soft determination!
(*) Note: Ms Rene used a word I do not use IRL nor anywhere on my blog and it happens to be one of the words I most dislike being used in literature today. However, I am sure my readers can sort out which word it is from what I’ve inserted in its place. It is my discretion to edit the guest features I run on my blog and as I have always taken a stance against vulgarity overall, it isn’t something I would allow to run on one of my guest features or posts.
I did appreciate her enthused reaction to the question – as we all have authors and stories who give us this giddiness of #randomJOY to be reading and that is something I love embracing and sharing with my readers. We all have those moments where characters get inside our hearts and we simply don’t want to stop reading the story which introduced us to them. Hence why I read a lot of serial fiction!!
Which eras in Historical Romance do you love to read and whom are your favourite authors of that era?
Rene responds: I really love Regency and Victorian, Lisa Kleypas, Christi Caldwell, Sara McLean, Sophie Jordan. I’m also loving Gilded Age with Joanna Shupe right now and I’ve just discovered Kerrigan Byrne and I’m obsessed with her at the moment!
What do you feel was the hardest part for girls during the Season itself? Being put on the market so to speak or having to endure the long winding routes towards both socialising and being seen during the Season in order to ensure a match? How did you want to reflect this part of their lives?
Rene responds: I think the hardest part was having to marry in order to have any sort of comfort. That right there is very difficult most times as they didn’t know the person, so they had to hope and pray that the gentleman was decent and not cruel. I go back and forth with my views on marriage, and they are all negative even though I’m married, but people are crazy and difficult and different. So even marrying someone you’ve dated and known 10 yrs could be a challenge so imagine only meeting someone in a season, which is only what 3 months barely!
I have oft wondered how they managed it myself. As like you said – they only had this short window of chance meetings at the balls and then, from there it went into chaperoned courtships and they had to make life changing choices based on little experiences with each other as a couple. It is impressive how they found the kind of matches they could feel comfortable choosing and also find lasting happiness in that choice.
What do you think irked the ire of Remington about both his title and his position in life the most?
Rene responds: What irked Remington the most about his title and position was his ancestors before him, was how they treated their wives and children. His father simply mistreated Remington and his mother. He wasn’t so grand to Mother Di either but she had a little more backbone than the previous Duchess, Eliza. So after witnessing and experiencing his father’s treatment he vowed to never marry so that he wouldn’t mistreat a woman or a child.
I love the potboilers of romances set during the Season – there are so many routes of intrigue to explore – what bit of drama can readers expect to find within “The Bachelor Duke” and what do you hope readers will takeaway most from reading the story?
Rene responds: The one thing with BD as I call it is the gossiping ton! They are a nasty group, they whisper right in front of you where you can hear! There’s also a lot of drama from our villain Baron Bromswell, he’s a sneaky fox, that loves being cruel to the weaker sex. I hope what readers takeaway is always be you and ignore whispers and gossip, it’s always going to happen, but do you boo!
The gossip of the Regency is seriously impressive – I have no idea how anyone handled that kind of pressure to first find the match they were seeking and then had to contend with the gossip behind their back. It was a very arduous time in their young lives and it is a credit to those who were able to balance everything against them. Such a good takeaway to share is that you have to remain true to yourself irregardless of what is being said against you which is running through the gossip mills.
As this is the first of a series – how many stories are you planning in the series and will each story interconnect or will it be a series rooted in the fact all the focus is on the bachelors rather than the young women they are smitten by?
Rene responds: I’m only planning three in this series, but then another bachelor caught my eye! But right now 3x unless I do this other character but I did have an idea that he would start another series.
I love how you’re trying to choose between making this a quartet or to have one of the bachelors you want to write about spin off into his own series! Time will tell!
Can you give a preview of what is next and of which bachelor mentioned in “The Bachelor Duke” is centre of focus in the sequel?
Rene responds: Sure! You’ll find I’m not that secretive! Book 2 is about Henry Livingstone, The Marquess of Heartford and Lady Julia St. John.
Now how did I know you were going to say Lady Julia!? lol (smirks)
When your not researching or writing your stories what renews your spirit the most?
Rene responds: Oh I’m watching TV, working my full time job, or reading Twilight Fanfiction or listening to a historical on Audible. If none of them I’m on a Zoom with my friends and when I’m not doing all that, I’m cooking, or dealing with a moody fourteen year old, or a spoiled dog baby, or a crazy husband. Sigh!
OOh my! A lot of things are going on all at once and it is such a snapshot of reality! We’re all juggling so much in the hectic nature of our lives and I love how you carved out a bit of space for your friends. I definitely think the pandemic changed how people feel about Zoom and socially distancing themselves whilst trying to stay connected at the same time. I’m thankful you’ve had some joys along the way this year but also that you’ve found things which renew your spirit and give you a lot of wicked happiness, too!
Thank you for answering my questions and for giving us such a lovely conversation!
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NOTE: Similar to blog tours wherein I feature book reviews, book spotlights (with or without extracts), book announcements (or Cover Reveals) – I may elect to feature an author, editor, narrator, publisher or other creative person connected to the book, audiobook, Indie film project or otherwise creative publishing medium being featured wherein the supplemental content on my blog is never compensated monetarily nor am I ever obligated to feature this kind of content. I provide (98.5%) of all questions and guest topics regularly featured on Jorie Loves A Story. I receive direct responses back to those enquiries by publicists, literary agents, authors, blog tour companies, etc of whom I am working with to bring these supplemental features and showcases to my blog. I am naturally curious about the ‘behind-the-scenes’ of stories and the writers who pen them: I have a heap of joy bringing this content to my readers. Whenever there is a conflict of connection I do disclose those connections per post and disclose the connection as it applies.
{SOURCES: Book cover for “The Bachelor Duke”, book synopsis, author biography, author photograph of Cecilia Rene, the tour host badge and HFVBTs badge were all provided by Historical Fiction Virtual Book Tours and used with permission. Post dividers by Fun Stuff for Your Blog via Pure Imagination. Tweets were embedded due to codes provided by Twitter. Blog graphics created by Jorie via Canva: Conversations with the Bookish banner and the Comment Box Banner.}
Copyright © Jorie Loves A Story, 2020.
I’m a social reader | I tweet my reading life
.@joriestory🧡NEW Author Interview!
Jorie talks #Regency Romance with Cecilia Rene as she kicks-off her Bachelor series with "The Bachelor's Duke" – part of the #HFVBTBlogTours showcase featuring my fellow #bookbloggers who love #HistRom like me!😉
📙🍂https://t.co/JYHmIrmsy2 pic.twitter.com/M3FwFqGn7l
— Jorie Story 📖🎧 (@joriestory) November 6, 2020
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