Wild Florida + Political Satire

 

 WEKIVA WILD

I am delighted to share some pics my son took with the brand new, WATERPROOF camera he bought for a 10-day cruise in the Bahamas. It is about 2" x 3" and seems to have been worth the money.

I live near the Wekiva Forest, and there is a new pontoon boat tour (inaugurated Nov. 2024) that I have been wanting to try. So this week my son, his wife, and I did just that. It was idyllic. Total peace (boat has electric motor), gorgeous scenery, including umpteen water lilies, every shade of green imaginable, big birds, a bevy of baby ducks, and a 4' gator. Here we were, less than a mile from housing developments, surrounded by seemingly endless jungle. (FYI, the Wekiva River flows into the St. John's, a river that runs a long distance SOUTH to NORTH along Florida's east coast, emptying into the Atlantic at Jacksonville.

For anyone coming to Florida who would like to see WILD Florida, I cannot recommend this boat tour too highly. Check out wekivawild.com and its neighbor, wekivaisland.com. Or, if you're far away, just check the websites for the scenery.

Below, six of the pics my son took on our boat tour.

 

4' gator hiding back there under the trees

Young heron just changing from white to blue

 

POLITICAL SATIRE AT ITS BEST

 I found the gem below on Facebook. Even if you voted for you-know-who, you may find it tickles your funny bone.

 

From Political Nation
Article supposedly posted by King Charles III


To the citizens of the United States of America (and especially the Trumpists) from His most Sovereign Majesty King Charles III:

In light of your failure to nominate a competent candidate for President of the USA and thus to govern yourselves, we hereby give notice of the revocation of your independence, effective immediately. (You should look up 'revocation' in the Oxford ENGLISH Dictionary.)
My Sovereign Majesty King Charles III will resume monarchical duties over all states, commonwealths, and territories (except North Dakota, which I do not fancy).Your new Prime Minister, Sir Keir Starmer, will appoint a Governor for America without the need for further elections.Congress and the Senate will be disbanded.
A questionnaire may be circulated next year to determine whether any of you noticed. The nincompoop you’ve elected as President will go to gaol (note the correct spelling) where he belongs and it will not be a comfortable, well equipped, large prison for the rich; it will be the usual one-room cell - this is not open to debate.
A criminal is a criminal is a criminal and he will be treated the same as all other criminals.  It might be our pleasure later to hand him over to the people whose lives he ruined but first we shall see whether there’s any contrition after a few years in gaol.  
Likewise, the criminals he has pardoned will be sent back to gaol (note the correct spelling again).Elon Musk will be tried for treason and, if found guilty, will join his friend Trump in gaol (you will learn to spell this correctly).
Either way, he will be stripped of his wealth and half will be given to the poor which will eradicate world poverty; the other half will be sent to Mr Zelenskyy to put an end to Russia’s invasion - we will stop the wolf at our door. Mr Zelenskyy is a war hero and will be treated by all Americans as such.
It might interest you all to discover that when a country is at war, it is standard for the leader of that country to wear army uniform but in time you will all learn civilised protocols. A lot of you seem to have very short attention and memory spans which has been exploited to the full by Mr Trump and his cronies so effective immediately, you will read up on recent history and commence daily memory exercises until you understand that Russia was the aggressor in the war with Ukraine. 

You will keep your silly hands off Canada and Greenland. Also: To aid in the transition to a British Crown dependency, the following rules are introduced with immediate effect:
1. You will learn to resolve personal issues without using guns or lawyers you may carry on using therapists if you wish but guns will no longer be available in Costco or anywhere else. In future you may not carry anything more dangerous than a can-opener.  
2. You will tell us who really killed JFK. It's been driving us mad for decades - you will stop lying about it.
3. The letter 'U' will be reinstated in words such as 'colour,' 'favour,' 'labour' and 'neighbour.' Likewise, you will learn to spell 'doughnut' without skipping half the letters, and the suffix '-ize' will be replaced by the suffix '-ise.' Generally, you will be expected to raise your vocabulary to acceptable levels. (look up 'vocabulary').  There is no such thing as U.S. English. We will let Microsoft know on your behalf. The Microsoft spell-checker will be adjusted to take into account the reinstated letter 'u'' and the elimination of '-ize.'
4. 4th July will no longer be considered a public holiday.
5. You will stop playing baseball. It is not reasonable to host an event called the World Series for a game which is not played outside of America. Since only 2.1% of you are aware there is a world beyond your borders, your error is understandable. You will learn to play cricket but you may play England first, to take the sting out.
6. Further, you will cease playing American football. There is only one kind of proper football; you call it soccer. Those of you brave enough will, in time, be allowed to play rugby (which has some similarities to American football, but does not involve stopping for a rest every twenty seconds or wearing full kevlar body armour like a bunch of nancies).
7. I am King Charles III, that means Charles the Third (and not Charles Three); you will learn the correct form English.

 ~ * ~

Featured Books:

Today, I saw a post on Facebook about one of my all-time favorite places—Snook Haven on the Myakka River in Venice, Florida (where I lived for 25 years and which is featured in more than one book set there). Snook Haven has changed hands at least twice and been seriously flooded during a hurricane, resulting in long shut-downs during times of upheaval. So I was delighted to discover it is once again up and running.

The two books below are Romantic Suspense, set in a Gulf Coast town very similar to Venice. Oddly enough, two or three years after I wrote Paradise Burning, the area was swept by a wildfire very much like the one described in the book.

 

 When Claire Langdon's affluent, near-fairytale life in New York is shattered by scandal, she and her eight-year-old son Jamie take refuge with her grandmother in Florida. Once a bright, confident young woman, Claire has been so badly hurt that when she stumbles onto a genuine downhome hero, learning to trust, to love again, seem beyond her reach. She is also forced to deal with the discovery that there are more serious dangers in Florida than alligators, snakes, spiders, and macho males. Like a serial killer, with her name on his list.

Reviews:

"Marvelously versatile, wondrously creative, intelligently written and sensuously inventive, Bancroft's Shadowed Paradise adds new meaning to the therm 'romantic suspense.' . . . as fresh as tomorrow and seriously scary. I loved it."
Celia Merenyi, A Romance Review

"Shadowed Paradise contains all the elements I so enjoy in a book, excellent dialogue, great character development and fine descriptive scenes. The romance is steamy, the suspense is taut and exciting, and the result is a supremely satisfying, well-developed read, guaranteed to keep you glued throughout."
Astrid Kinn, Romance Reviews Today 

 Suffering from burn-out, Mandy Armitage, a vital member of her family's international investigations agency, is sent on a working vacation to Florida—as research assistant to a best-selling author. The only problem: the author is the husband she hasn't seen in five years. As if that weren't enough of a challenge, her assignment plunges her into the darkness of international human trafficking and the ruthless men who run it. As the world around her literally goes up in flames, the girl once known as Mandy Mouse metamorphoses into a dynamic, independent woman as she discovers how easily black and white can dissolve into shades of gray.

Author's Note: Although Paradise Burning is a stand-alone book, reading Shadowed Paradise first (which contains several cross-over characters) may add to your enjoyment.

 ~ * ~

For a link to Blair's website, click here. 

For Blair's Facebook Author Page, click here.*

 

For recent blogs, scroll down. For Archives, see the menu on the right.

 

Thanks for stopping by,

Grace (Blair Bancroft)  

Writing - Characterization - Names

 The pic below popped up on Facebook this week, and when I went to save it, I discovered I had downloaded it years ago. It's still a priceless example of how easily anyone can fall into stupidity. Come to think of it, it's more apt today than when I first saw it, the concept being applicable to a good deal more than simple proofreading.

 

~ * ~

 

This week, another excerpt from Making Magic With Words—the first article in the Developing Your Characters section. (Reminder:  Making Magic presents all 240,000 words of nine years of blogs on Writing, Editing, and Miscellaneous Comments in one meticulously indexed book.)

 

October 15, 2012

HOW TO DEVELOP YOUR CHARACTERS  - Names

At a booksigning at Orlando’s Central Library, a young lady asked me: “How do you develop your characters?” I gulped and thought fast, because I never took a writing class, read a “how to” book, or even stopped to think about it before. Fortunately, I managed to come up with at least the germ of a reply, but I vowed on the spot to examine the subject more thoroughly and write a blog post about it. So here is Part 1.


Put quite simply, there is nothing more important than characterization when writing fiction. Even the best Action/Adventure books and the best Erotica feature well-drawn characters. Are there many books that don’t? You betcha! (And I never get beyond the first ten pages.) But most readers demand more than guns/swords/chase scenes/explosions or heaving bosoms and graphically delineated bare body parts. For which writers like me, who really care about our characters, are eternally grateful!

As I have written when critiquing hundreds of contest entries for the Romance Writers of America:  readers want to love their heros and heroines. They want to empathize with them, feel their joys, their sorrows, the warmth of that final Happily Ever After. It’s all right for these main characters to have faults. In fact, faults, whether major or minor, usually add color to the story. But readers always need to know that these faults are going to be resolved. Or perhaps realize that the fault is so minor it can be more endearing than annoying.

Secondary Characters are important too. Even though they might not have a Point of View (the story is not being seen through their eyes), they can add an immense amount of color to your book. Villainy, humor, anger, spice, annoyance, etc. Secondary characters can be a sounding board for the Hero’s and Heroine’s thoughts or actions. They can provide shock, condemnation, comic relief. They allow exposition of ideas and plot action through dialogue with the Hero or Heroine. They can also be the Villain or the Bad Guys. As long as you don’t allow them to overshadow the Hero or Heroine (which can happen all too easily), Secondary Characters are vital to a good book.

So how do you make your readers empathize with your characters?
Where do you start?

1.   NAMES.  Your characters can’t come to life until they have names, first and last. When approaching a new book, I spend a lot of time looking through my old baby-name books, searching for first names. I scribble a bunch of possibilities on a yellow legal pad, and then I go on a search for last names. For example, for my Regency books I have a notebook full of typical surnames for the English upper classes. And long lists of less noble English surnames, most of them garnered from the phone book!* I also have a book listing all the towns and hamlets in England, an excellent source of last names for that era. If I need foreign first names, an Internet search can be very helpful. Last names? Again, the phone book, adjusting for possible Americanized spellings. (Of course, if you’ve given up phone books, you may have to look elsewhere!)

*Grace note update: In 2012, when I wrote this post, finding a phonebook was still possible. Now we have to rely almost totally on the Internet.

    When I have a list of first and last names on my yellow pad, I try pairing them up, seeing which ones will work. Which one best suits my hero . . . which best suits my heroine. Naturally, as I do this, I am forced to think about them, molding vague outlines into more human form. After that, I use a similar method to develop names for the characters in the book’s first scene. As well as any important characters who appear later in the book.

    Is this name search important, worth spending the time? For the Hero, Heroine, and major Secondary Characters, absolutely. The names should suit the people you have in mind. And the process of choosing will help anchor these people in your mind. They go, for example, from “Heir to a duke” and “Engineer’s daughter” to the names you see in the list below. They rise off the paper and become people.


2.   CHARACTER LIST.  After I have created names for my Hero, Heroine, and the characters in the book’s first scene, I type up a  Character List.  I put the character’s name first, then who they are. (If I don’t know the physical description yet, I add it as soon as it becomes clear.)  Example - the first few entries from my newest book, Lady of the Lock:

Character List  -  Lady of the Lock

Bourne Granville Hayden Challenor, Marquess of Montsale  [from Lady Silence]
    Heir to the Duke of Carewe   [added later: brown hair, flint gray eyes, mother - Rosalind]

Amanda Grace Merriwether - a young lady of the upper middle class
    [added later: bronze hair, green eyes, mother - Caroline]

John Merriwether, her father, a canal architect/engineer [added later: blond, blue eyes]    

Lady Eulalia Tynsdale - wealthy & eccentric dowager baroness

Grace note:  at the very beginning, before I’ve named everyone, part of the list might read:

Lady Tynsdale’s companion
Nasty mother & daughter in Bath
John’s young engineers
Butler in Bath

As the book progresses, I name and add each new character to the list, from friends of the h/h to butlers, housekeepers & maids. In Lady of the Lock, the list eventually ran to three pages, plus a scribbled entry for the name of a horse!

3.    FAMILY BACKGROUND. Although you may not use all the people in your main characters’ backgrounds in your book, it is helpful to figure out what their background is. Were they raised with the proverbial silver spoon, or did they struggle in poverty? Were they only children, or was the hero hen-pecked by a bevy of sisters? Did the heroine constantly struggle to keep up with a host of brothers? Is his/her aunt or grandmother kindly or a shrew? Does the father dote on his daughter, or is he, perhaps, a monster?  Has the hero been on his own since an early age? Is he a bastard? Or is his greatest obstacle learning to stand on his own two feet, because he has led too privileged a life? Is there an uncle who wants to do away with the heroine because he will inherit her fortune? Or is the heroine someone who is willing to sacrifice her happiness for her family? Do we have a wounded hero who returns from war to a country where no family waits? Or one who is deluged with so much love and “help” that he has to get away? Do we have a policeman from a long line of law enforcement, or is he the first of his “old money” family to join the force?

The list of questions you should ask yourself could be endless, but usually only a short Q&A will be enough to get you started. The rest of your characters’ personality traits or outside influences can develop as you go along. Don’t mire yourself down with endless note cards, storyboarding, movie star photos, etc.* Get your names down, decide on your main characters’ background and consequent  personalities, and let the rest develop as you begin to know your character better. As you craft dialogue that is “right” for that character. As your character interacts with the other characters in a variety of ways. Each scene should speak to you, as well as to the reader. Telling you who these characters are.

*Grace note update: I am an advocate of “to each his own.” Therefore, if note cards, storyboards, and photos work for you, by all means, use them. I just want to emphasize that it’s all right if these approaches aren’t for you.

~ * ~

This week's featured book:

 
Miss Lucinda Neville has more than a few problems. She has felled her importunate brother-in-law, become a surrogate mother to a foreigner's baby, a keeper of dangerous secrets, and staunch defender of a child someone seems to want gone from this earth. And then she finds herself under attack as well. The person with most motive? The rakish son of a marquess who just happens to have the best reason for doing away with both Lucinda and the babe.

Author's Note: Tangled Destinies is the fifth in my series of Regency Gothics in the grand tradition of the Victorian and contemporary Gothics of Victoria Holt and Mary Stewart. I would like to thank my readers for showing so much interest in my books, which are set in the early 19th century period known as the Regency. I truly love creating them.

Grace note:  So much so, I wrote seven more. My current work-in-progress was intended to be Number 13 but, though amply supplied with phantoms, is doing its best to be a Regency Romance/Adventure. I suspect the hero was simply too strong to play second fiddle to what I originally envisioned as a classic Gothic heroine. (That's the fun of being an out-of-the-mist author! Sometimes our characters simply take over and do as they please.)

 

~ * ~

For a link to Blair's website, click here. 

For Blair's Facebook Author Page, click here.*

 

For recent blogs, scroll down. For Archives, see the menu on the right.

 

Thanks for stopping by,

Grace (Blair Bancroft)  

Bruce Lindner's Letter to Republicans

 Another week of doom and gloom on social media, so here are a few pick-me-ups from my picture file. As I recall, almost all came from Facebook.

 Into every life a little humor must shine.

 

 

If you don't know what's wrong with this one . . .

Saved the "corker" for last . . .

~ * ~

 I first saw Bruce Lindner's open letter to Republicans on Facebook on February 27, 2025. I promptly copied & saved it, but when I went back to find the author, the post had vanished. It finally occurred to me to find out just how smart my search engine was, so I entered:  "Who wrote Dear Republicans; We get it. You all saw what he did to Liz Cheney." 

Wow! This post had been copied & re-posted by so many people that examples filled my screen from top of bottom. So thank you, Bruce Lindner, for writing this. And thank you, Google, for coming up with the answer I needed. I'm not a fan of AI, but . . .
 

Found on Facebook, 2/27/25

 I have added paragraphing to make it easier to read.

Dear Republicans:

We get it. You all saw what he did to Liz Cheney, and you don’t want that to happen to you. Short of outright political banishment, if you displease him in the slightest, he might even mean-tweet you from his golf cart in Florida. You all tremble at the mere thought of that.

And he knows it, which is why he does it; to control you. To get you to confirm the most unqualified Cabinet secretaries in American history. If the gravity of that situation wasn’t so solemn, it would be comical.
 

But what’s done is done. You didn’t want to suffer the indignity of being mean-tweeted, so you seated a drunk who paid a woman $50,000 to buy her silence to become America’s Secretary of Defense, an anti-science conspiracy theorist for Health and Human Services and a man who openly hates the FBI to run it.
 

You’ve watched in silence as his hatchet man—or should I say his chainsaw man—has wiped out the careers of untold thousands of Americans, the cascading effects of which will no doubt threaten the very existence of poverty-stricken communities who rely on America’s bounty and generosity.
You fidgeted in your seats a bit when he shook his fist at Mexico, Canada, Panama and Denmark. But no outright condemnation from any of you, because again, you can’t: the spirit of Liz Cheney might haunt you.
 

You’re in a unique position. Hard as it is to believe, you’re the gatekeepers. Once upon a time, in a magical epoch known as pre-Trump, Congress was a coequal branch of government. That means YOU had it within your power to keep lawlessness and tyranny in check.

But that was then and this is now. You’ve ceded your authority because; say it with me: Liz Cheney.
 

In the hierarchy of things that matter to you, in order from most to least, are:
• Me
• My personal safety
• Not getting mean-tweeted
• Getting re-elected
• People who won’t vote for me
• People in shithole countries
• The nation
 

At the far end of the courage spectrum from you and at the far side of the planet, there’s a guy named Volodimr Zelenskyy. He must look like an alien species to you, because his priorities are diametrically opposed to yours. When offered a chance to be airlifted out of his embattled nation, he turned it down and confronted the threat pouring over his nation’s borders. He then addressed his people from a darkened corner somewhere in Kyiv, reassuring them that he and his government will stand and fight on their behalf.
 

But now he and his 38 million fellow Ukrainians face a new threat: Blatant betrayal by the President of the United States. If Trump follows through with it, Zelenskyy himself, perhaps the most iconic example of raw courage in the world today, will be hunted. And if captured, meted out Navalny justice.
But that can only happen if you let it.
 

Yes, I know, you murmur amongst yourselves over martinis how you had to swallow hard to vote for Tulsi Gabbard, or to stay silent when he gutted the USAID and the national parks. But unless you take a hard stand, and say HELL NO, I’m drawing the line right HERE… you’re as complicit as he is.
This quote has never been more relevant: “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil, is for good men to do nothing.” ~ Edmund Burke
 

This is your moment. History will document your names right alongside his. I’m looking at you, Lindsey the Lionhearted. Ted the Turd. Joni, Queen of Castraters. Rise up. Fear not the mean-tweet.
Liz Cheney knowingly sacrificed her career, as did Adam Kinzinger, because they made the calculus: Who am I and what are my core values? And they deduced that there are bigger things in this world than themselves.
 

Thus far, not a single Republican in this picture has come to a similar conclusion.
Cowards, all. And if you allow Ukraine to fall by your inaction, you’ll be accomplices in mass murder, as well as the beginning of the end for NATO.

~ * ~

Grace note:  And, of course, since this was written, the overall situations have grown even more dire. Fear and famine stalk the land. Sorrow. For some, utter terror. My God, my God, Why hast Thou forsaken Me?

~ * ~ 

 Featured Book of the Week - aimed particularly at those who might have been intrigued by the glimpses of Peru found in The Indomitable Miss Lacey. A lengthy segment of Orange Blossoms & Mayhem is set in Peru.

 

Weddings and murder do not mix well. When things begin to go wrong for her family's Fantasy Wedding & Vacation business, trouble-shooter Laine Halliday gets more of a challenge than she bargained for, even with the aid of a mystery man she finds on the Inca Trail in Peru.

Author's Note: Only a few of my Golden Beach books have cross-over characters, but all share the idyllic setting of an actual Gulf Coast community, whose residents would prefer to keep its real name a secret.

Grace note:  after Hurricane Milton struck my favorite Gulf Coast town hard in Fall 2024, I finally revealed my "secret" town as Venice, Florida, where I lived for a quarter century before moving to the Orlando area to be near the grandchildren.

~ * ~

For a link to Blair's website, click here. 

For Blair's Facebook Author Page, click here.*

 

For recent blogs, scroll down. For Archives, see the menu on the right.

 

Thanks for stopping by,

Grace (Blair Bancroft)  

Recipes - 2 Salads & Oven Bacon

My photo sources seem to have nothing but doom and gloom lately, so I present a gallery of Squeak pics from 2016-2022. Backstory:  In February 2016 my daughter asked me to kitty-sit a kitten found under the hood of a neighbor's car. Both she and neighbor had a dog, so I became the Foster Mom for a scrawny dark calico kitten "just until a home could be found." (To this day, Squeak is terrified of a running car engine. She likely crawled under the hood for warmth, and can you imagine her terror trying to keep her balance when the car started moving?) Naturally, inevitably, we bonded, and Squeak and I have been growing older together for nine years now.

 

February 2016

 

Growing . . .

January 2017

Squeak, playing Queen of the Mountain, 2021

Which resulted in . . .

 

Tower constructed by Riley

 Squeak made an occasional climb up the etagère after that, but none in a long time now. For which my glass and ceramic collection is exceedingly grateful.

RECIPES

 This is an updated version of the Ambrosia recipe previously shared.

 

AMBROSIA SALAD - UPDATED

The original Ambrosia recipe (from way back when) called for whipped cream (in later versions, Cool Whip). I have adapted this to a binding of yogurt and sour cream. The amount of fruit and nuts used, plus how thick a coating you like on your fruit, dictates how much “white stuff” to make to bind the fruit and nuts together.

Few amounts are given as this depends entirely on how many people you’re feeding. Feel free to leave out any of the fruit or nut ingredients. For a single like me, I find ambrosia lasts three days in the fridge.

green grapes, halved
fresh strawberries, sliced
canned pineapple tidbits or crushed pineapple*
canned mandarin oranges
1 cup flaked coconut*
½ - 3/4 cup roughly chopped pecans
1-1½ cups mini fruit-flavored mashmallows*
Sugar in the Raw (optional). White sugar, if you must (mostly for the strawberries)

Binding:
1-2 cups vanilla yogurt
sour cream

*packaging has changed considerably since this recipe was first created. Nowadays, it’s easiest to use 2-3 “cups” of pineapple & mandarin oranges (from a 6-cup pack). Original recipe called for shredded coconut. If you can find it on Supermarket shelves, your eyes are better than mine! Flaked works fine. Fruit-flavored mini-mallows can be found on Amazon but only in large quantities. Plain white will do.


Preparation:

1.  In a large bowl, stir together yogurt & a conservative amount of sour cream. (More can be added later, if necessary, after mixing everything together.)

2.  Using a rubber (or soft plastic) spatula, carefully fold remaining ingredients into whipped topping, saving strawberries for last.

3.  Chill before serving. (Overnight works well.)

 

Grace’s Everything Salad

There are no amounts listed as that entirely depends on how many you want to feed. For a big event at Girl Scount Headquarters in Orlando, I used a large plastic container of mixed greens plus one-third to one-half of a large container of baby arugula.

Mixed greens, including baby arugula, if possible
Coarsely chopped pecans
Pine nuts
Dried cranberries (remove from fridge early to soften)
Diced cucumber (note: diced, not sliced)
Red onion, sliced thin (to taste - I used maybe 1/3-1/2.)
Feta cheese (crumbled with garlic & herbs)
Sliced green olives
3 hard-boiled eggs, thinly sliced
Fresh herbs*

*If you do not have an herb garden, I’d put rosemary & basil at the top of the “buy” list. But since that gives you way more than you need, maybe now’s the time to start at least a windowsill herb garden. (Herbs available in the garden departments of Lowe’s, Home Depot, etc.)

Just mix it all up, top with an egg slice or two; offer all-natural Paul Newman dressing. . .
Okay, you don’t have to go as far as organic dressing, but that was what I served with the salad that disappeared so fast at the Girl Scout dinner that there was nothing left by the time I hit the line. .

 

The bacon recipe below was found on Facebook. It works well, except I needed 20 minutes in my oven to get it to the crispness I wanted when the original suggested 14.

BACON IN THE OVEN

Cover sheet pan with foil, fastening foil around al four edges.
Lay out bacon strips on foil.
Place pan in COLD oven. Heat to 425°.
Cook 15-20 minutes to desired crispness.
Transfer bacon to paper towels (on cookie pan) to cool.
Cool 5 minutes to crisp.

Note: allow bacon grease to cool before attempting to get rid of it.

~ * ~

This Week's Featured Book:

Although a classic Marriage of Convenience tale, A Gamble on Love features Regency politics and Regency Christmas customs, including food (as I recall—it's been a long time!) It is also a perennial favorite, despite making its debut as a Signet Regency more than twenty years ago.  

                

 Miss Aurelia Trevor has a problem. Until she reaches the age of twenty-five, she will have no control over her beloved Pevensey Park, and by that time her unscrupulous uncle will have run it into the ground. Marriage to someone other than her uncle's leering son is her only way out, but, one by one, she rejects the men on her list of suitors. In desperation, Aurelia does the unthinkable. She hires a solicitor to find her a husband strong enough to stand up to both her uncle and her cousin. And soon learns the truth of that old adage: Be careful what you wish for.

Thomas Lanning is a man of the City. Unlike Aurelia, who stands to inherit vast land and wealth, he has made his own place in the world. He is not at all tempted by the suggestion of marriage to an heiress, but other considerations, such as a power base for a seat in Parliament, tweak his interest. Plus an unexpected twinge of chivalry when he hears the full extent of Miss Trevor's difficulties with her uncle and his family.

Aurelia, who only wants to live in peace on her acres, finds she has acquired a ready-made family in Thomas's younger sister and brother, as well as a head-strong husband whose campaign for MP fills her household with a shockingly odd assortment of characters. It seems her marriage of convenience is fast becoming a marriage of inconvenience. Just how far will this strong-willed pair bend to accommodate each other? And will they do it before it's too late?

Reviews:

"Blair Bancroft's warm and tender [novel] boasts a great heroine in Aurelia: She's attractive, courageous, vulnerable and intelligent."
Robin Taylor, Romantic Times

"Reading how they gradually learn to like and eventually love each other is wonderful. Blair Bancroft is now definitely one of my favorite traditional Regency authors and this book is a prime example of why."
Nicole Hulst, Romance Junkies

"Set against a backdrop of rural politics (and a fascinating look at the early world of "buying" votes) this is a story that entrances, enlightens and endears."
Celia at A Romance Review

~ * ~

For a link to Blair's website, click here. 

For Blair's Facebook Author Page, click here.*

 

For recent blogs, scroll down. For Archives, see the menu on the right.

 

Thanks for stopping by,

Grace (Blair Bancroft)