History Lovers Grand Tour - Hero's Redemption

Welcome to the History Lovers Grand Tour and Scavenger Hunt!

—International—

As the name implies, we’re a group of readers and authors who love both history and romance, especially when they’re combined in a delightful story. If you feel the same, you’re welcome to join us on our Facebook page and converse with us about historical romance fiction.

Below you’ll find authors of historical romances set in a wide variety of time periods. Perhaps by participating in our Grand Tour you’ll discover some new authors for your future reading pleasure. Hop around to your heart’s content, feel free to comment on the posts, hunt for answers to the authors’ questions, and perhaps you’ll be one of our 25 lucky prize winners (see contest details below)…although you’re already a winner if you find a new story to read, do you not agree?

The theme for this tour is Courting Rituals, and for my post, I’ve chosen to talk about the Regency ball.

Courting in Regency England - Not a Spectator's Sport

Courting in Regency England wasn't for the faint of heart. It wasn't a chance to hold your crush's hand and promenade through the park. Courting was serious business and the business was all about making the best match possible. In a time when being married was a woman's career, landing the best possible man wasn't just a matter of bragging rights, it set the tone for the rest of her life.

Balls and dances were an intricate part of the courting process. These weren't the prom, but a marriage market where a young lady might finally get a chance to dance with a young man, and have a conversation with him without the chaperon hovering around. Individual dances like you’ve seen in Pride and Prejudice could last a long time, and depending on the dance, there could be a lot of standing around and waiting as the numerous couples sashayed up and down the line. All this standing around offered a good chance for a man and woman to get to know one another or to decide they weren't a good fit. Since a woman was only allowed to dance with a man twice before people started whispering that they were engaged, she had to decide fast. Think speed dating, with the rest of your life hanging in the balance.

So, what did the young couple who were a good fit do to get a little privacy at a ball? Did they sneak off to the garden, slip upstairs and find a deserted room. No. This wasn’t a frat party, and if a lady wanted to keep her reputation, which she needed to land a good man, she was careful to stay in a public place at all times. Also, her chaperone wasn’t likely to let her out of her sight, so even if the open garden doors were calling, a smart lady ignored the call. Hanky panky was for after you were married and you’d produced the heir and the spare, until then, it was all good girl all the time.

A ball was also a good time to look over the prospective candidates, learn who was who and how much they had. Women were on the market just as much as the men, so advertising their own wealth was a smart move. A ball was a good place to wear your best dresses and flaunt the goods. After all, you want the pick of the gentlemen pursuing you, not last season’s leftovers. Love might conquer all, but it rarely landed a poor woman a man with money and a title.

Marriage in Regency England lasted until ‘til death do us part and picking a partner was serious business. So, if you suddenly found yourself in Regency England, do you think you’d be woman enough to handle courting? 

The prize I'm offering is one of five ebook copies of Studio Relations, my romance set in 1935 Hollywood. Check out the Rafflecopter below for all the ways you can enter for a chance to win one copy of Studio Relations.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Here’s my question for the scavenger hunt: How many times could a woman dance with a man before people started whispering that they were engaged?

Click on the History Lovers Grand Tour page to fill in the answer, and you may continue on from there. Enjoy!

Hero’s Redemption

by Georgie Lee

London, 1817

Devon, the Earl of Malton, is a hero for his deeds at the Battle of Waterloo. But he suffers terrible nightmares, and drinks himself to sleep most nights. A habit he vows to break when he awakes one morning to find a woman sharing his bed, no memory of how she got there, and her angry brother at his door.

Cathleen is mortified when her wastrel brother and his greedy wife propose a blackmail scheme involving the earl, but as a penniless war widow she's at their mercy. She goes along with the plan and sneaks into Devon's bed one night, and ends up comforting him through a night terror.

Charmed by her beauty and kindness, Devon determines that rather than pay the blackmail, he will offer his hand in marriage to Cathleen. Although she is deeply attracted to the stoic earl, Cathleen cannot understand why Devon would want to marry her. What she doesn't know is that Devon owes her a debt that can never fully be repaid…

Buy Links

Carina Press * Amazon * Barnes and Noble

History Lovers Grand Tour Authors

Rue Allyn • Amylynn Bright • Collette Cameron • Téa Cooper • Beverley Eikli • Susana Ellis • Aileen Fish • Debra Glass • Amy Hearst • Evangeline Holland • Piper Huguley • Eliza Knight • Kristen Koster • Cora Lee • Georgie Lee • Suzi Love • Denise Lynn • Deborah Macgillivray • Barbara Monajem • Shelly Munro • Ella Quinn • Eva Scott • Shereen Vedam • Elaine Violette 

Prizes

1.      Each author will offer a prize for a contest, the specifics of which is set up entirely by her. The contest will be open to all participants, regardless of geographic location. For logistical purposes, authors may substitute a digital prize (gift card, etc.) of equal value for another prize that might prove difficult to mail to a distant location.

2.      The Grand Prize for the Scavenger Hunt will be awarded to the participant with the most correct answers to the authors’ scavenger hunt questions.  In case of a tie, the winner will be chosen randomly.

3.      The winners will be posted on the History Lovers Grand Tour page the following week.

Scavenger Hunt

·        Click on the above links to each author’s blog. The blog tour entry can be identified by the graphic in the upper right corner of the post. If it is not the top post, look for the graphic in a prominent location on the sidebar, and click on it to find the blog tour entry.

·        Read the blog post and the author’s short answer question at the end. Locate the answer to the question, then click on the link to the History Lovers Grand Tour page and type in the answer next to the author’s name. Be sure to fill in the your name and email address!

·        You may go back to same page and read more of the author’s post (excerpt, etc.) or you may click on another author’s name on the answer sheet and repeat the process.

·        When you are finished, check to make sure the spaces for your name and email address are filled in correctly, and submit your answer sheet to the tour coordinator. If you submit an incomplete answer sheet, you may come back later and make another submission with the remaining answers when you have more time.

·        Any questions about the scavenger hunt should be directed to the tour coordinator .