The one match she doesn’t want to make…
Welcome to the April 11th stop on the blog tour for The Earl’s Cinderella Countess by Amanda McCabe with Goddess Fish Promotions. Be sure to follow the rest of the tour for spotlights, reviews, more guest posts, and a giveaway! More on that at the end of this post.
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Author Guest Post
Hello, and thank you so much for hosting me today! I am so excited to be here, and talk about the first book in my new “Matchmakers in Bath” series, The Earl’s Cinderella Countess. I loved spending time with these characters, in the beautiful city of Bath (which I am dying to visit again soon!), and I hope you will, too. Eleanor and Mary St. Aubin’s matchmaking business was so much fun to create, and watching them find their own romances on top of that was even better.
I know the question for this blog was—what five authors would you invite to a dinner party? I spend soooo much time thinking about this, because there are so many people I would love to meet! (I would also have to hire a good caterer, because I can’t cook much beyond omelets! Plus a sommelier to provide the wine, and a nice florist. And I would have to tell my dogs not to walk on the dining room floor after I mopped it…). I remember a quote from Alissa Wilkinson that said “A dinner party is an excuse to create and deepen friendships, to form alliances, to encounter new ideas, to stretch yourself.” * After much consideration, here’s what I decided:
1) My Grandmother! Not an author, of course, but if not for her I wouldn’t have become a voracious reader and would never have thought to write books. She had to leave school at 15, but was always reading, always learning. She bought boxes of books at library sales, thrift stores, wherever, and I could read whatever I wanted. Barbara Cartland, Victoria Holt—those were big favorites of hers. I also came across Austen and the Brontes there. She would love to meet authors! And I would dearly love to see her again…
2) Nancy Mitford. Like so many, I am fascinated by the weird, brilliant, wild Mitfords, and Nancy is my favorite (though I’m afraid she would make fun of me and make me cry, but the joy I’ve had from Love in a Cold Climate offsets that, lol). She must have been one of the funniest, sharpest people who ever lived. And I would LOVE to hear her and our next guest talk at each other…
3) Jane Austen, of course. Nuff said. Her books have given me untold hours of joy, and she must have been an absolute scream to sit next to at balls.
4) PG Wodehouse. I do seem to be going for the comic/bittersweet authors here, but nothing has ever made me laugh more than the cow creamer….
5) Only 5??? Okay. So. I want to say Shakespeare, because I am aching to ask him so many questions. But I’m going with Agatha Christie (though I guess she wouldn’t drink wine, only cream). If we could invite groups, I might cheat. (All The Inklings! Bloomsbury!). But this is my recipe for a fun dinner party, and I think Eleanor and Fred from my book would have a good time, too, since,, like Elizabeth Bennet, they dearly love to laugh
What is your dream guest list?
About the Book
The Earl’s Cinderella Countess
Matchmakers of Bath Book One
by Amanda McCabe
Published 26 March 2024
Harlequin Historical
Genre: Historical Romance
Page Count: 272
Add it to your Goodreads TBR!
Enjoy this friends-to-lovers romance set in Regency Bath
The one match
She doesn’t want to make…
The Earl of Fleetwood was Eleanor St. Aubin’s first love, but being a mere vicar’s daughter held her back from admitting her feelings. Now she’s a successful matchmaker, and the prospect of finding Frederick the wealthy wife he needs to settle his inherited debts is a nightmare come true! But returning from war, Frederick’s facing nightmares of his own. Eleanor feels compelled to help him, but could she ever be his Cinderella countess?
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Excerpt
Eleanor hesitated. She feared what could happen, how her feelings might escape, if she was alone with him again.
“Oh, yes, do,” Penelope urged. “Mary and I shall just chatter on here for a bit, and finish this wine. You two should go look for the ruins.”
She slowly took Fred’s hand as he offered to help her yo her feet, and blinked as the sun behind his bright hair dazzled her. They made their way away from the picnic blanket, into the shade of a narrow pathway that led between trees and flowering shrubs, smelling fresh and sweet in the warm day. They walked in silence, comfortable, comforting, close together, until they reached a cliff that looked down on the town between a break in the greenery. It all glowed and shimmered, just like Fred, just like that moment she had with him.
He seemed to feel it, too, studying the view with a solemn, thoughtful expression on his face. “ ‘For whatsoever from one place doth fall, if with the tide unto another brought. For there is nothing lost, that may be found, if sought.’”
“Such beautiful words of Spenser’s,” she whispered.
“They always make me think of you,” he said, his gaze so very blue and intense as he studied her. “You are like the fairy queen.”
Eleanor stared up at him, wondering if the sun had dazzled her senses, sent her flying into another realm. He thought of her as fairy queen. She knew this moment between them, very still, sparkling, a time out of time, could not last; it would vanish like all dreams. Yet his compliments, the admiration in his eyes, made her feel so warm and glowing all the way to her toes.
“Me?” she whispered. “A fairy queen?”
About the Author
Amanda wrote her first romance at the age of sixteen–a vast historical epic starring all her friends as the characters, written secretly during algebra class (and her parents wondered why math was not her strongest subject…)
She’s never since used algebra, but her books (over 100 so far!) have been nominated for many awards, including the RITA Award, the Romantic Times BOOKReviews Reviewers’ Choice Award, the Booksellers Best, the National Readers Choice Award, and the Holt Medallion. She lives in Santa Fe with two rescue dogs, a wonderful husband, and a very and far too many books and royal memorabilia collections.
When not writing or reading, she loves taking dance classes, collecting cheesy travel souvenirs, and watching the Food Network–even though she doesn’t cook.
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Giveaway Alert!
Amanda McCabe will award a prize pack containing selection of Regency DVDs, teas, and signed copies of her books to a randomly drawn winner.
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Thank you for hosting today.