Welcome to Amy Rose’s Parlour… Fiona Miers
May 25 2016Fellow Aussie romance author, Fiona Miers, has dropped by my parlour today to chat about her upcoming release on May 28, Lady Charlotte’s Marquess (The heir and a spare, Book 2), a sexy Regency romance!
- Amy: Can you share something about your writing? E.g. When did you decide to become a writer? What or who inspired you to write romantic historical fiction? What is your writing process?
Fiona: I starting writing seriously when I was on holidays reading Sabrina Jeffries, and literally got struck with the idea for a four part series.
My very first Regency Romance book was written by Sabrina Jeffries and from there I devoured everything she had written and published up to that point, and then Eloisa James, Stephanie Laurens and Julia Quinn. I loved the genre, the heroes, the clothes! Everything about the world was amazing and I just had to write some too.
- Amy: What story are you working on at the moment? Would you like to share an excerpt?
Fiona: I’m polishing up the third book in ‘The heir and a spare’ series. Rupert’s story which I believe will be called Lizzie’s Earl. Rupert is my biggest, most jovial hero.
Excerpt: (unedited)
“I can be very persuasive my lady.” Rupert said quietly, lacing his voice with honey and giving her a grin that she was sure had won many a woman before her.
Lizzie snorted, glaring up at the big oaf.
“You can be as persuasive as you like my lord, but I am not interested in a dalliance.”
“I can assure you I will make it a pleasurable interlude.” Rupert drawled, drawing Lizzie away from the main body of dancers, and pitching his voice low.
Again he smiled that dazzling smile and Lizzie frowned. Rupert Willoughby hadn’t been denied before, that was plain to see. She felt his thumb gently stroking her hand and that strange flutter low in her belly moved again. It was time to nip this in the bud.
“I want a husband my lord and children, not a pleasurable interlude. Can you give me what I want?” Lizzie asked him, batting her eyelashes and injecting honey into her tone. She knew the last thing this charming rakehell of a gentleman wanted, was to be shackled to one woman. The best way of making him stay away from her was to be honest about what she wanted from this London Season.
Rupert’s eyes grew wide and as they continued their dance he tripped and stumbled a little. Lizzie gripped his hand and waited for him to regain his composure.
“Uh, no.” Rupert answered, his calm facade wavering completely now.
Lizzie watched the play of strange emotions run across Rupert’s face and wanted to smooth his furrowed brow with her fingers. This thought was shocking enough to pull her out of her daze, and she snapped off the first thing that came to her mind.
“Then you will never get me into your bed. I suggest you take home the woman in green who has been eyeing you for the past hour and leave me alone.”
Damn! She hadn’t meant to be so obvious in her jealousy. She dropped her hands from Rupert’s and stormed away from him.
- Amy: Are you a plotter or a pantser?
Fiona: I am definitely a pantser, starting a new novel with a single scene and not having any idea where the story is going. However, I have started to plot a little, once I started writing longer stories and getting lost in the middle. Not extensive, details plots, more like ten dot points with arrows and asterix’s.
- Amy: Do you write to a schedule (e.g. daily page/word count goal) or when the muse decides to visit?
Fiona: I generally write when the muse strikes, but due to wanting to increase my productivity, I’ve started doing some self publishing and putting my books up for preorder on Amazon- so I have a strict deadline to stick to. That’s been challenging, but quite fun!
- Amy: What helps you get into the mood to write?
Fiona: Writing books I want to write. Because I write under two pen names and don’t restrict myself on genre, I just write what I want when I want- which helps keep things fresh and alive.
- Amy: Where do you get your inspiration? E.g. Are you inspired by people, places or actual historical events?
Fiona: People more than anything. My man is the most beautiful hero I’ve ever met. He’s complicated, tortured, alpha and hot. I love writing my hero’s now that I have some one to base them on. Before him, I dreamed about how beautiful love could be.
- Amy: Do you have a particular period of history you are passionate about?
Fiona: I do love the Regency period. Obviously. It’s just beautiful.
- Amy: What is your idea of perfect happiness?
Fiona: Everyone in my life being happy and healthy. Being loved by my husband, and being able to love him in turn. Adoring my children and having them adore me. Enough money to pay for the things we need and a few of the things we want. Being safe.
- Amy: What is your greatest extravagance?
Fiona: My nails. I love my manicures and pedicures. They’re one thing I became addicted to a few years ago and can’t seem to cut them out of my routine even when finances get really right.
- Amy: Which talent would you most like to have?
Fiona: I soo wish I could sing! I love to sing- but even my mother tells me I am tone deaf.
- Amy: What do you consider your greatest achievement?
Fiona: Having healthy and happy children, and a happy and healthy husband. I work quite hard at keeping everyone in my family as happy as possible and I consider them my greatest achievement.
- Amy: If you had a day all to yourself and your only mission was to enjoy it, what would you do?
Fiona: Stay in bed, all day. I’d have massage therapists and chefs come to the house and feed me, pamper me, and of course have my beautiful man around for all that time in between…
Thanks much, Fiona! Please read on to find out more about Lady Charlotte’s Marquess…
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Lady Charlotte is a Duke’s daughter to her very bones. She has everything her heart desires, except for the love that she secretly craves. A child of an ugly, planned marriage, she dreads the union that her parents have and swears never to marry for anything less that perfect love.
But that seems unlikely when she lives in a world of rogues, and callous gentleman. No-one is good enough for her and she will not give herself to anyone who is unworthy. Even if her brother’s friend Archie is mysterious and handsome, drawing her attention like no other.
Archibald Turner’s life took a swift turn at the tender age of eighteen when he learnt a horrific fate had settled on his brother, and Archie himself would inherit his father’s title. One of the famed ‘Spares’- he did not want the responsibility of his father’s mantle. However, duty called and he turned himself into the most perfect version that he possibly could, dreading the day fate will deliver the ugly blow.
The one thing he can’t control is his love for the strong, audacious Lady Charlotte. She makes him yearn for a future that isn’t his for the taking; and yet, when she starts to show him favour, the impossible starts to become possible and the dreams the Archie has suppressed for so long, swim into his life in bold, vivid color.
Excerpt:
“I don’t believe I’ll ever marry.” Charlotte answered with an airy wave of her hand, making an announcement of the plan on which she had only recently decided.
“Pardon?” The almost uniform reply of the five people surrounding her, with their accompanying horrified faces and wide eyes, was enough to make her giggle.
“Why ever not?” Oliver asked, his eyebrows so high on his forehead they looked closer to being part of his brow line.
“What else would you do?” John shook his head, obviously baffled by the idea that a woman would choose to remain unmarried.
Charlotte laughed again, enjoying the attention and general silence surrounding her.
“I don’t need the money or a home and I don’t necessarily think I want children. There isn’t any other reason to marry.”
Charlotte had actually spent several years thinking this through and now that she listed the reasons out loud, she had the clear realisation that it was all true. Her conversation with her mother the week before had merely solidified the idea. She also had a yearly annuity on which she could live without her father’s help should the need arise. It was also true that she would have no objection to marrying a man if she actually cared for one, but she wouldn’t be admitting to that. Not openly at least.
“What about love? Companionship?” Oliver wrapped his hand possessively around his wife’s waist and pulled her into his side.
Envy ripped through Charlotte and the feeling wasn’t at all pleasant. If she remained a single lady, would this become a frequent occurrence?
“I am blessed with family and friends for that. Besides, from what I understand from most of my married friends I’d be giving up a lot more than I could ever gain. If I do still feel a lack of something in my life, there are plenty of orphanages and charities on which I may expend my time and generosity.”
Charlotte looked towards a group of young women standing together in a corner of the ballroom. It was well known that all three had husbands who rarely spent a night at home.
“Whatever do you mean that you would be giving up more than you gained?” Sarah asked, her voice raising into a squeak. Sarah was a vicar’s daughter who had married a duke. She had gained a lot when she married Oliver, not just emotionally but financially. Charlotte laughed out loud and covered her mouth with her fan. Surely Sarah could see the humor in her question?
“I mean, legally my husband would own me. I would no longer have any control over my own money or assets and he, to make matters even worse, would have complete physical access.”
Charlotte shuddered and grimaced, then she heard her brother mutter under his breath.
“And you wonder why men keep mistresses?”
It was well known to both of them that their father spent time with his mistress every week and when the London Season was over, he was completely hers. Charlotte had told John her opinion on that.
“What do you mean?” Charlotte glared at her brother, wanting to stamp her foot on the polished floor boards.
She didn’t wonder why men kept mistresses, she already knew. Men were beasts, unable to contain their base urges, but she wasn’t going to be the wife waiting at home for her husband to return.
“I mean, if a lady like you dreads going to her husband’s bed, why would you assume a husband would want to bed you? He’d prefer the arms of a woman who would welcome him.” Although it was in no way appropriate for Lord John Dunford to be discussing such a thing with his unmarried sister, Charlotte smiled at her brother. She had never been an ordinary lady.
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Connect with Fiona…
Fiona Miers has a super busy life, like most modern women, but always finds time for reading and writing romance. Her love 
affair with the romance genre started when she was only 11 years old, when her mother, and nana, handed her, her first mills and boon. Since then she’s built her own business, become a mother to two beautiful little girls, and fallen in love with the most spectacular man on the planet.
Fiona writes MF contemporary and historical romance, writing more erotic stories under the pen name Tamsin Baker. Thank you for reading this, and hopefully you’ll love reading about her characters as much as she loved creating them.
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Email: [email protected]