The Story Behind On This Christmas, I Thee Wed by Virginia Barlow

 

 

 

 

 

The Story Behind On This Christmas I Thee Wed

By Virginia Barlow

On This Christmas I Thee Wed is my sixteenth story.  In a previous story, the groom left the bride at the altar, and I thought a Regency Romance where the bride left a very eligible groom at the altar would be a fun story to write. 

 I enjoyed creating this story a great deal. 

The relationship between a man and his wife was so different back then. Women were treated as possessions and had no rights. They could not own property or voice their opinion in politics. 

I mention an incident in the book where a man put a collar around his wife’s neck and auctioned her off because he was displeased with her. This custom is referred to as wife-selling and originated around the end of 17^th century in England.

My heroine abhors the idea of being subjected to the whims of a man and runs away, hoping to make a different life.

I am a romantic at heart and believe true love finds a way. The duke has just as much reason to avoid marriage as my heroine but for different reasons. He has seen the devastation losing the love of your life can cause and avoids the situation at all costs because he believes love is a weakness.

The Wild Rose Press, who published this story, had a series named Christmas in the Castle. I wrote this story for the series and once I submitted the manuscript I received a contract.

When I wrote my first book, I purchased The Guide to Literary  Agents and submitted to every press who accepted romance submissions until I received an offer.

There is a lot of perseverance and soul searching involved, but my journey to being an author has been both fulfilling and exciting. 

I look forward to many more contracts and release days. I want to thank all my readers for their support. I couldn’t do it without you.

Happy Reading!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Title: On This Christmas, I Thee Wed

Author: Virginia Barlow

Publication Date: December 18, 2024

Pages: 280

Genre: Historical Holiday Romance

Bartered to Viscount Hudson Becker by her father, Lady Lavinia Holbrook escapes her arranged marriage and travels to her Godmother, the Duchess of Chauncy to seek asylum. Determined to put men and marriage behind her, she is unprepared for the duke’s interest or his heated kisses. 

The Duke of Chauncy believes love is a weakness and refuses to take a bride despite his mother's scheming. When the duchess makes a wager he will marry by Christmas, he considers the matter a lark. Until Lavinia gets under his skin, and he rethinks his position on love and happy ever afters.

 On This Christmas I Thee Wed is available through these fine retailers…

Amazon |  Walmart |  Target |  BooksAMillion |  Indie Bound |  Barnes & Noble |  Kobo |  Google Books |  ITunes

 

 

 

Virginia Barlow has been a dreamer her whole life. She loves reading, traveling, and roses. She will dive headfirst into any romance she can get her hands on in any genre. Although her first love is Regency Romance and always will be.  Something about the era calls to her soul like a siren’s song rising from the depths.

She loves to write steamy romances whether fantasy, historical, or contemporary, all are liberally spiced with adventure and sensual, seductive heroes. Her heroines are just as compelling with equal parts intelligence, sass, and backbone. They give as good as they get whether saving their man’s life or responding to his heated kisses, they’re all in.

The most important thing in Virginia’s life is her family, and spending time with them. When she is not bouncing a grandbaby in her arms or handing out popsicles, she is writing and dreaming up her next love story.  Virginia has published fifteen romance novels with another two on the way and has half a dozen more circling around inside her head eager to make their debut.

Website & Social Media:

Website ➜  https://www.virginia-barlow.com/ 

X ➜  https://x.com/Virgini35142126 

Facebook ➜ https://www.facebook.com/groups/3046288755596817 

Goodreads ➜ https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/19838312.Virginia_Barlow 

 

The Story Behind The Lord Blackwood Regency Romance Series by Arabella Sheraton

 

 

The Lord Blackwood Regency Romance Series

By Arabella Sheraton

I had written a few Regency romances already for my aged mum when my publisher asked for a quick holiday romance novel for Valentine’s Day. Nothing too complicated, they said, just a sweet easy to read romance. Easier said than done when writing a romance. As I plunged into the ups and downs of love and the language of flowers in the novella, I felt the backstory of the male lead, Lord Blackwood, nagging at me. He had lost his fiancée, the ravishingly beautiful Letitia DeVere, in a terrible accident while she had been on an art tour of Italy. But was there more to it? of course there was, given that no body had been recovered and so…could she still be alive? After two years? When NaNoWriMo came up in the same year, I was besieged by the characters of the novella, begging me to complete the story in a sequel called The Lady’s Revenge. NaNoWriMo was the answer to me finding the time and I competed it with flying colors. The subsequent story was worthy of any 19^th-century melodrama. What the fair Letitia been up to in those two years and why she returned home, miraculously risen from the dead, was enough to make anyone blush. I found to my astonishment that the characters had already planned and executed the story and all I had to do was be the scribe. The devious twists and turns and almost malevolent plans of the spurned Letitia had me typing furiously away at the keyboard. She truly was out for revenge and to get back her fiancé, the somewhat naïve Lord Blackwood who soon fell back under her spell – or had he? Stooping to subterfuge, blackmail, assault, and even worse, Letitia looked as if she was going to win. But fate has a way of righting wrongs and the truth, like water, always finds a way to rise to the surface. I must confess that writing this series has been an extraordinary and unexpected feat.

In this romantic traditional Regency novella, Patience Cherwell is resigned to a life of spinsterhood. Therefore, when her young friend, the lovely Lorna Hartley, comes to stay for a London season, she decides the eligible, charming Lord Blackwood is the perfect match for Lorna. Granted, Lord Blackwood, at forty, is much older than the vivacious 20-year-old Lorna, but Patience is determined to help her young friend make a good match. So why isn’t she happy when his lordship and Lorna seem to like each other’s company? The problem is that Patience is already madly in love with his lordship! An unexpected invitation arrives for Lorna and Patience to attend Lord Blackwood’s Valentine Ball. This is the perfect moment for him to propose to Lorna. Mysteriously, a corsage arrives from an anonymous admirer. Who is it for? And what will be the outcome for the wearer at Lord Blackwood’s Valentine Ball? Patience and Lord Blackwood’s enchanting story continues in The Lady’s Revenge.

ORDER YOUR COPY

Amazon → https://amzn.to/3vEp1Vd

Barnes & Noble → https://bit.ly/3vyAW6O

iBooks → https://apple.co/3p7GoLm

Kobo → https://bit.ly/3wJE8g7

This engaging traditional Regency romance is the sequel to Lord Blackwood’s Valentine Ball. Miss Letitia DeVere decides that revenge is a dish best eaten cold when she returns to London after a two-year absence to find her former admirer Lord Charles Blackwood on the verge of proposing to Miss Patience Cherwell. Lord Blackwood’s Valentine Ball proved to be the turning point in his fledgling romance with Patience. Letitia is not the kind of woman who gives up easily, as Patience and Charles soon find out. She stops at nothing to achieve her aims. However, Letitia has a dark past, with secrets that threaten to return and destroy her newfound social success. When Charles proves less malleable than in the past, Letitia resorts to subterfuge, seduction, blackmail, and even violence to force him to propose. Will he see through her tricks and remain true to Patience, or will Letitia’s seductive wiles lure him back?

ORDER YOUR COPY

Amazon → https://amzn.to/3vD5mER

Barnes & Noble → https://bit.ly/3vyAW6O

iBooks → https://apple.co/3fyBPH4

Kobo → https://bit.ly/3vPFZzK

About the Author

Arabella Sheraton grew up reading her mom’s collection of Georgette Heyer novels, the queen of modern-day Regency romance, and of course, Jane Austen’s iconic Regency novels. Although Arabella’s literary background was in publishing and editing, she had never written a fiction book. Her first novel started out in response to her mom’s complaint that she had nothing new to read. That first Regency novel was The Dangerous Duke! Since then, Arabella has penned six more authentic Regency novels and a romance self-help guide to finding the right partner, with useful quotes by none other than Jane Austen. Arabella has branched out with a mash-up of genre in her latest work in progress. A murder-mystery, time travel, Regency romance coming soon!

WEBSITE & SOCIAL LINKS:

WEBSITE | TWITTER | FACEBOOK