Sarah MacLean’s debut Regency romance, Nine Rules to Break When Romancing a Rake, was published three short years ago, but she immediately became one of the romance community’s best-loved authors. Known for her witty, vivacious heroines and her sinfully sensual heroes, Sarah is here this week answering questions about her latest release, One Good Earl Deserves a Lover. And she’s giving away a copy! Woo hoo!
Welcome, Sarah!
1. I’ll start with an easy question. All this month on your blog, you’re celebrating women and girls who wear glasses. Who do you think is the most awesome bespectacled woman in history, ever?
Oh! Not fair!! SO SO hard!
It’s been really hard for me to pick my favorites this month—especially since everyone else is choosing such wonderful examples! But I have to put a vote in for a strong, smart heroine who would leap up and save the world if necessary, so my choice is Gloria Steinem. I think she’s so fabulous—and so willing to stand up for what she believes in. And those glasses? Forget it.
Add to that the fact that she is the source of the most important heroine adage ever: “Power can be taken, but not given. The process of the taking is empowerment in itself,” and she’s my choice. Hands down.
2. Those are some spectacularly cool specs. Excellent choice. One Good Earl Deserves a Lover is the second in your latest series, the Rules of Scoundrels quartet. Can you tell us more about the quartet? And should readers read the first in the series, A Rogue By Any Other Name, first?
The Rules of Scoundrels series is centered on a pre-Victorian casino, The Fallen Angel. The Angel is widely believed to be the most scandalous, most exclusive club in London. It’s filled with excess and sin, and a member of the club can get anything he likes there. The four owners of the casino are Bourne, Cross, Temple & Chase—four fallen aristocrats, each exiled from society either by chance or by choice, and now royalty in the London underworld—where scoundrels rule.
One Good Earl Deserves a Lover is the second in the series, and it’s the story of a brilliant, bespectacled bluestocking and the dark, haunted financier of the club. There’s no need to read its predecessor, A Rogue By Any Other Name, first, but if you’re a “series” reader then you might prefer to do so!
3. I read on your blog that Pippa, the heroine of One Good Earl Deserves a Lover, was never supposed to have her own book. What happened??
Pippa took over. This has never happened to me (and I honestly hated it, so I’m kind of hoping it never happens again). But Pippa knew how she wanted her story to be told, despite the fact that she wasn’t supposed to be a heroine at all, but rather a quiet side character. Once she announced that she’d like a book, though, the whole thing was a little bit in her hands. This was a supremely terrifying experience for me, in part because it was so different than all my other books. I don’t like being so totally out of control!
4. I was recently reading Ten Ways to be Adored When Landing a Lord, and I couldn’t put it down. My husband grabbed it from me when I was reading at breakfast. After reading the back cover copy about Lord Nicholas St John being named a Lord to Land by one of the ladies’ magazines of his day, my husband asked me, “Is he a LILF?” Answer: YES! What do you think are the key characteristics for creating a Lord I’d Like to…um…Fancy?
Ha! That’s so funny! LILF!
Ok…here we go:
Humor, honor, willingness to work hard, a scar or two (either physical or emotional), and undying, unwavering adoration for the woman he loves.
5. The first book you published was a young adult novel called The Season. Do you plan to write another YA?
Absolutely! I miss YA terribly (most of my friends are YA authors—met in the aftermath of writing The Season), and can’t wait to get back to it.
Now…if only I didn’t have these fast-approaching romance deadlines…
Speed-dating round
Favorite Jane Austen hero: Knightley. I go for older, more serious, unsung heroes. Also, Frank Churchill. He’s a charmer.
Favorite British slang word or phrase: Bollocks to him/it/that/her/etc.
What’s your biggest pet peeve? When people use “that” instead of “who” when referencing a real live honest-to-God person.
Giveaway!
Sarah’s giving away a copy of One Good Earl Deserves a Lover to someone who leaves a comment here. I’ll randomly choose the winner on Tuesday February 19th. Good luck!
One Good Earl Deserves a Lover
Lady Philippa Marbury is…odd.
The brilliant, bespectacled daughter of a double marquess cares more for books than balls, for science than the season, and for laboratories than love. She’s looking forward to marrying her simple fiancé and living out her days quietly with her dogs and her scientific experiments. But before that, Pippa has two weeks to experience all the rest–fourteen days to research the exciting parts of life. It’s not much time, and to do it right she needs a guide familiar with London’s darker corners.
She needs…a Scoundrel.
She needs Cross, the clever, controlled partner in London’s most exclusive gaming hell, with a carefully crafted reputation for wickedness. But reputations often hide the darkest secrets, and when the unconventional Pippa boldly propositions him, seeking science without emotion, she threatens all he works to protect. He is tempted to give Pippa precisely what she wants…but the scoundrel is more than he seems, and it will take every ounce of willpower to resist giving the lady more than she ever imagined.
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I love it that Pippa wanted her own story told and that she wanted Cross of all people! That is just so amazing~ But I was wondering, since she took over your thoughts, did you already start the process of writing for the others when she took charge? I mean you knew she wasn’t “supposed” to be a heroine and Cross was to be married to another, if I remember correctly, so you have to have already started writing right?
P.S. I love your books!
Hi Ki!
Yep…I’d already started writing Temple’s story. He was supposed to be 2nd, and got put on the back burner in favor of Cross’s. Suffice to say, he was not thrilled with me. 🙂
Sarah
Never look a gift Pippa, I mean horse in the mouth. While it was a pain for her to make her demands a lot of writers would love to have it happen. I like your titles, they are catchy and suggest your stories are full of fun and wit. I haven’t read any of your books, you’re a new to me author.
Z
Love historical romance. All three books look great.
I love Historical romances and that’s usually all I buy. Now and then a modern book but not nearly as many. Your titles are very catchy and I love the humor in them. I have just discovered you through Kat’s interview but I think we’re going to have a beautiful friendship! I’d love to read your book! Thank you for doing this interview and giving away a copy to a lucky winner. Thank you for honoring people who wear glasses too. I have been tied to them since the 8th grade!
I hope you enjoy them, Wanda…thanks for taking a chance on me!
Whoa. I just realized that this post populated my most recent blog post on it! So cool!
Ha! It’s a plugin called Comment Luv. I think it’s cool, too!
I love how she just took over and demanded her own story! I wish other authors would do the same thing. Sometimes I read about minor characters that demand a story of their own!
I love Sarah’s books for its funny dialogue and humor in it. Would love to read her latest release. Pippa and Cross were interesting couple, can wait to read about their story.
I’m caught up with all of Sarah’s books and ready to read this one! Even though she’d like to get back to YA, I’m very glad that she decided to write adult romance as she’s one of my favorite Regency authors.
Great interview and just wanted to say how much I’ve enjoyed Sarah’s books and look forward to this newest one!
Great post. I have read Nine Rules, but have to catch up on the rest. I have Ten Ways in my TBR pile. This new book sounds great and definately adding to my must read list. Thanks for the great giveaway.
Sarah, I started reading you from the beginning and have loved every word! Think it is funny that Pippa took over. Perhaps she knew better than you! So is there now some other heroine out there, walking around aimlessly, trying to find her hero? Keep up the great work! Love Knightly, too, but Darcy will always have my heart.
Great post. I would love to read this book. It sound awesome and I love the cover.
Thank you for the interview and book excerpts, I am new to this author but I am now interested and have added all of the mentioned titles to my TBR. Thank you for the chance to win 🙂
I’ve enjoyed all of your books. Congratulations on making the NYT Bestsellers List again.
In the past, you’ve stated that not every character in your books gets their HEA. First there was Simon’s sister in Eleven Scandals and now Cross’ sister in One Good Earl. Do you still not envision either woman getting her own story? It seems like both have endured enough heartache and would make unique heroines.
Good characteristics of a lord.
I can’t wait to read Pippa’s story, I love that she starts out as quiet and serious. I have enjoyed the other books you have written and look forward to One Good Earl Deserves a Lover.
I love it when a character just takes over the authors mind and demands their own story. I think those are the special ones. I love historicals and your books.
Hi Kat and Sarah!
The first thing I have to say is “YEAH! Pippa got her own book”. I just knew you wouldn’t let me down Sarah because I fell in love with Pippa and just knew she had to have a story of her own!
I also wanted to let you know that when the blizzard hit was that Nine Rules to Break When Romancing a Rake was the first book I grabbed off my bookshelves to read in front of the fire since we lost power for 3 days and it and your following books helped to keep me from thinking about the storm! My older regret is that I didn’t have a copy of One Good Earl Deserves A Lover to get me through the last day of the storm! It’s amazing how fast you can read when there’s nothing else to do!
I love everything I have read by Sarah. Her characters are so great and her stories just suck you in,you just can’t put them down 🙂 I have all her adult books except for this one.
Since I’ve had to wear glasses since first grade (for both near and far) I like this idea of the heroine wearing spectacles. Everything gets fuzzy about a foot away from me. But in the last few years I’ve been able to read without glasses – so much easier to read in bed!
It’s great that Pippa is so smart too – I imagine she approaches everything from an unusual direction.
I have heard nothing but good things about these books. I NEED to read it!