Tag: victorian romance

Research Reads – The Haunting of Heatherhurst Hall

Happy Lesbian Visibility Week! Please enjoy The Haunting of Heatherhurst Hall, pictured here with the books that helped me write it.

The Haunting of Heatherhurst Hall is a sapphic love letter to the Gothic romance tradition. It was challenging but also a lot of fun to write, and a wonderful opportunity to indulge my love of spooky horror.

Most of the research was similar to what I’d read for my other Victorian romances. However, my Gothic lesbian romance involved a lot more corsets and chatelaines!

Books shown here include…

• Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier – The 1940 film is my mother’s favorite movie, so having seen it more than a dozen times in my life, picking up the novel felt only natural to me. The book is darker and more obscure, with the brooding husband’s motivations more uncertain to the narrator, and the deceased Rebecca herself more wicked, at least by his account. The sapphic undertones of the film become even more overt in the book; to say nothing of the sapphic experiences of the author’s own life.

• Crimson Peak: The Art of Darkness – This artbook of the film is not just a visual feast but also a fascinating peek into the behind-the-scenes of a cinematic masterpiece, filled to the brim with beautiful antiques and brilliant historical touches.

• To Marry an English Lord by Gail MacColl and Carol Wallace – I don’t actually recommend this one. While it gives a good overview of late 19th century American heiresses marrying bankrupt English nobility, it takes a disturbingly frivolous tone when discussing spousal abuse.

• How to be a Victorian by Ruth Goodman

• Food and Cooking in Victorian England by Andrea Broomfield

• Daily Life in Victorian England by Sally Mitchell

• Inside the Victorian Home by Judith Flanders

• The Victorian City by Judith Flanders

• Consuming Passions by Judith Flanders

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The Haunting of Heatherhurst Hall is a Gothic romance rife with horror and heartache, wherein an American heiress makes an ill-advised marriage to bring herself closer the woman who’s stolen her heart.

Amazon • Apple Books • Barnes & Noble • bookshop.org • Kobo • Scribd • Smashwords • Target • Wob

The Train Job – Rowena Althorp x Rebekah on Patreon!

A new short story is up on Patre♡n! Wherein we glimpse the romantic adventures of Miss Rowena Althorp.

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Before Rebekah could ask her name, or kiss her again—both impulses nearly overpowering her better sense—the lady stood, smoothed her skirts over the ruin of her pocket, and departed the train car as silent and sedate as a nun strolling the halls of her abbey.

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Joining me on Patre♡n will give you access to “drawer fic” – aka the 500k+ words worth of manuscripts that have been shelved until I figure out how to fix or finish them. You’ll also be invited to join an exclusive Discord server just for patrons!

A new scene will go up every week. Missing (unwritten) scenes will be indicated by brackets describing what would probably happen if the scene were written. Example: [in this scene Aubrey and Lindsey ride a carousel]

Currently posting…
♡ The Train Job – Rowena Althorp x Rebekah (ff)

Completed works…
♡ the Aubrey & Lindsey solar fantasy project (mm)
♡ A Willing Canvas – John Halloway x Lord Cyril Graves (mm)

See you on Patre♡n!

Research Reads – Oak King Holly King

For Oak King Holly King, I had to revisit all of my previous Victorian research because I decided to set it fifty years earlier than Mr Warren’s Profession and Hold Fast – which meant all the details I’d taken for granted (trains, telegrams, electricity, etc.) had vanished. However, I also got to dip back into the medieval era, which was a treat. Most of the folklore and magic research I did online, so it’s under-represented in this particular photo.

Books shown here include…
• The Mystery of Edwin Drood by Charles Dickens – a book which inspired not just Oak King Holly King, but also Mr Warren’s Profession and Hold Fast. I don’t think Dickens would approve of what I’ve done, lol.
• The Victorian City by Judith Flanders – being half history of 19th century London and half biography of Dickens made this very useful for Oak King Holly King in particular.
• Consuming Passions by Judith Flanders
• The Time-Traveler’s Guide to Medieval England by Ian Mortimer
• The Medieval Underworld by Andrew McCall
• The London Underworld in the Victorian Period by Henry Mayhew and Others – available for free on Project Gutenberg.
• How to be a Victorian by Ruth Goodman
• Food and Cooking in Victorian England by Andrea Broomfield
• Daily Life in Victorian England by Sally Mitchell
• Inside the Victorian Home by Judith Flanders

Research Reads – Mr Warren’s Profession

Mr Warren’s Profession, pictured here with some of the books that helped me write it!

It took me four years to write my first book. Partly because, y’know, first book. And partly because I had to start from scratch with my knowledge of the Victorian era. So I threw myself into research and the story grew along with it.

Books shown here include…

• How to be a Victorian by Ruth Goodman
• Food and Cooking in Victorian England by Andrea Broomfield
• Daily Life in Victorian England by Sally Mitchell
• Inside the Victorian Home by Judith Flanders
• The Victorian City by Judith Flanders
• Consuming Passions by Judith Flanders

Solar Fantasy – Aubrey & Lindsey Retold – Ch. 26 up on Patreon!

Scene 26 of Solar Fantasy – Aubrey & Lindsey Retold is up on Patre♡n! Wherein Aubrey struggles under the burden of debt.

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Frankly, Aubrey would rather have found himself underneath ten thousand pounds of steam pressure than ten thousand pounds in debt. At least some of the steam pressure could vent through a safety-valve. The debt had no such release.

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Did you want more Aubrey and Lindsey – but in a whole new world?

Joining me on Patre♡n will give you access to “drawer fic” – aka the 500k+ words worth of manuscripts that have been shelved until I figure out how to fix or finish them.

A new scene will go up every week. Missing (unwritten) scenes will be indicated by brackets describing what would probably happen if the scene were written. Example: [in this scene Aubrey and Lindsey ride a carousel]

Currently posting…
♡ the Aubrey & Lindsey solar fantasy project (mm) (90k)

See you on Patre♡n!

Solar Fantasy – Aubrey & Lindsey Retold – Ch. 22 up on Patreon!

Scene 22 of Solar Fantasy – Aubrey & Lindsey Retold is up on Patre♡n! Wherein we arrive at 12k words’ worth of never-before-seen Aubrey Warren backstory.

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All this time, he’d been looking a gift horse in the mouth with the expectation of finding fangs. Yet it seemed he’d instead found the rarest treasure of all.

Honest employment.

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Did you want more Aubrey and Lindsey – but in a whole new world?

Joining me on Patre♡n will give you access to “drawer fic” – aka the 500k+ words worth of manuscripts that have been shelved until I figure out how to fix or finish them.

A new scene will go up every week. Missing (unwritten) scenes will be indicated by brackets describing what would probably happen if the scene were written. Example: [in this scene Aubrey and Lindsey ride a carousel]

Currently posting…
♡ the Aubrey & Lindsey solar fantasy project (mm) (90k)

See you on Patre♡n!

Solar Fantasy – Aubrey & Lindsey Retold – Ch. 16 up on Patreon!

Scene 16 of Solar Fantasy – Aubrey & Lindsey Retold is up on Patre♡n! Wherein Lindsey receives some long-awaited hurt/comfort.

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Lindsey lay in his own bed in his own bedroom. But it was not morning and he was not at the hunting lodge. This was his townhouse bedroom. Which meant, somehow, he had fallen asleep in the countryside and woken up in the City.

Also, for some reason, Aubrey was here.

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Did you want more Aubrey and Lindsey – but in a whole new world?

Joining me on Patre♡n will give you access to “drawer fic” – aka the 500k+ words worth of manuscripts that have been shelved until I figure out how to fix or finish them.

A new scene will go up every week. Missing (unwritten) scenes will be indicated by brackets describing what would probably happen if the scene were written. Example: [in this scene Aubrey and Lindsey ride a carousel]

Currently posting…
♡ the Aubrey & Lindsey solar fantasy project (mm) (90k)

See you on Patre♡n!

Solar Fantasy – Aubrey & Lindsey Retold – Ch. 12 up on Patreon!

Scene 12 of Solar Fantasy – Aubrey & Lindsey Retold is up on Patre♡n! Wherein Lindsey gives Aubrey a token of his affections, Aubrey attempts subterfuge in the workplace, and Lindsey attends a foxhunt.

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As Bellerophon reached the peak of his jump, Lindsey felt the saddle shift sideways beneath him.

By then it was too late to do anything but fall.

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Did you want more Aubrey and Lindsey – but in a whole new world?

Joining me on Patre♡n will give you access to “drawer fic” – aka the 500k+ words worth of manuscripts that have been shelved until I figure out how to fix or finish them.

A new scene will go up every week. Missing (unwritten) scenes will be indicated by brackets describing what would probably happen if the scene were written. Example: [in this scene Aubrey and Lindsey ride a carousel]

Currently posting…
♡ the Aubrey & Lindsey solar fantasy project (mm) (90k)

See you on Patre♡n!

Solar Fantasy – Aubrey & Lindsey Retold – Ch. 9 up on Patreon!

Scene 9 of Solar Fantasy – Aubrey & Lindsey Retold is up on my Patre♡n! Wherein Aubrey and Lindsey enjoy a rendezvous in the botanical gardens. Please enjoy this sneak peek and join me for more.

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If Halloway intended to blackmail him, he had miscalculated, for Aubrey had put nothing incriminating into his reply to the prince’s invitation. Indeed, Aubrey had composed what was quite possibly the blandest note ever written by human hands. He had nothing to blush at, much less worry about.

Of course, that had never stopped him from worrying before.

~

Did you want more Aubrey and Lindsey – but in a whole new world?

Joining me on Patre♡n will give you access to “drawer fic” – aka the 500k+ words worth of manuscripts that have been shelved until I figure out how to fix or finish them.

A new scene will go up every week. Missing (unwritten) scenes will be indicated by brackets describing what would probably happen if the scene were written. Example: [in this scene Aubrey and Lindsey ride a carousel]

Currently posting…
♡ the Aubrey & Lindsey solar fantasy project (mm) (90k)

See you on Patre♡n!