A Perfect Secret
(Rogue Hearts #3)
by Donna Hatch
Adult Historical Romance
Paperback, 348 Pages
December 14 2013
(Rogue Hearts #3)
by Donna Hatch
Adult Historical Romance
Paperback, 348 Pages
December 14 2013
Book Description: Desperate to protect her father from trial and death, Genevieve breaks off her engagement with Christian Amesbury and marries a blackmailer. After a year of marriage, she flees her husband's violent domination only to have fate bring her back to Christian. Just when she thinks she's started a new life of safety and solitude, her husband tracks her down, stalks her, and threatens everyone she loves.
Still brokenhearted over Genevieve's betrayal a year ago, Christian can't believe she's come back into his life--and worse, that she's done it on the anniversary of his brother's death, a death that haunts him. Though tempted to throw her back into the river where he found her, he can't leave her at the mercy of the terrifying man she married.
When her husband torments Genevieve and puts his family in danger, Christian will do anything to protect those he loves...anything except give Genevieve another chance to break his heart.
My thoughts: I LOVE Regency Romance. I have the first book of this series sitting on my shelf, waiting to be read. I have wanted to read a book by Donna Hatch for quite a while. I am glad that I am taking part in this tour, just so I have a reason to set aside time to read this book.
The story begins with heartbreak. Genevieve marries the wrong man to save her father from a charge of treason. She marries an abusive and cruel man. She breaks the heart of an honest and caring gentleman.
One year later finds her battered and emotionally spent. She has just miscarried and tries to throw herself into a river to end her unhappy life. Fortunately, Christian, the man she loved and lost, sees her attempt and rescues her from the river. It is a tough situation for both of them. He doesn't understand why she married someone else, and she isn't free to let him know she still cares for him.
The writing in this book is wonderful. Donna has done a wonderful job at pulling me in the story. Her characters are believable and I actually cared about what happened to them. I will be getting to the first book as soon as I possibly can. I would love to find out more about the brother's featured in this series.
I received an electronic copy of the book to review. I also give it 4 out of 5 stars.
Barnes & Noble * Amazon
* Book Depository * Smashwords
Donna has written a delightful post about British tea!
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* Book Depository * SmashwordsDonna has written a delightful post about British tea!
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| English tea with clotted cream |
I am
a total history geek. I freely admit this. My geekiness started way back when I
was a child pouring over the pages of the Little House series, both the books
and the TV series, among other historical stories. Later, it grew out of
necessity when I decided I wanted my stories to take place during Regency
England. Obviously, this means copious amounts of research. But research has
grown into an extreme fascination all its own. I just have a good excuse now to
get seriously geeky about anything from food to clothes to social customs--in
most historical settings in general, but the Regency era in particular.
Whenever I give into my inner geek and delve into research, I always
learn something new and fun to add to my growing arsenal of trivia. My newest
curiosity sent me in the direction of the customs of British afternoon tea.
Tea
is a time-honored tradition, and to this American, nothing says British Custom
like afternoon tea. While most of us may think of High Tea as an upper
class tradition dating back hundreds of years, I discovered
something else entirely.
Tea
in the afternoon didn't actually become common until the 1700's. By the Regency
Era,
the custom had long-since caught on and the upper class had afternoon tea about
four o’clock, which was before the fashionable time to promenade in Hyde Park
if one was in London
Food
with tea probably evolved because the upper classs ate dinner at the
fashionable time of about eight o’clock at night, and since many had not yet
adopted the custom of luncheon or nuncheon, they probably needed that small
meal in the middle of the day. Personally, I like a small meal in the afternoon
even though I do eat lunch. I would have made a great hobbit with elevensies
and lunch and afternoon tea, etc. But I digress.
“High
Tea” developed during the Victorian era. Some accounts say that high tea,
served later in the day at about five or six o’clock, originated with the lower
classes but I don’t understand how they could come home from work for high tea
and then return to work for a few hours and then go home again for dinner.
*shrug*
At
any rate, high tea is a more filling meal than afternoon tea. High tea usually
comes with white and brown bread, meats such as roast pork, fish like salmon,
scones, an assortment of sweets such as cake pie, trifle, lemon-cheese tarts,
sponge cake, walnut cake, chocolate roll, pound cake, curran
t teacake,
curd tart, macaroons, a variety of cheeses, jellies, as well as butter or
clotted cream.
According
to Laura
Boyl in her article "Tea Time" on the Jane Austen
website, the different names are derived from the height of the tables
where the meals were served. Low tea is served on a table, which in the United
States would be called “coffee tables.” High tea is served on the dinner table.
Because
the characters in my Regency romance novels all hail from the upper class, or
end up there eventually, I will focus on afternoon tea because that's what they
do every day, unless they are fighting pirates or running for their lives or
battling villains, of course.
Most
sandwiches in the UK are traditionally made with a very thin white bread,
generously buttered with potted paste. The potted paste could similar to
deviled ham, but also could be a fish paste--salmon, for instance, very thinly
spread. I guess they liked their pleasures small, thin, and
bite-sized.
Tea
was (and still is, sometimes) served in a china or silver pot accompanied by
slices of lemon or milk. They never put cream in their tea or it would ruin the
flavor. According to
Regency researcher and author, Kathryn Kane, tea leaves used during the
Regency were chopped much more coarsely than those used today. The large size
required that the tea be steeped for a longer period, but it also made it
easier to strain the used leaves from the tea after it had been steeped. There
was a special implement included in many tea services used to clear the
strainer at the base of the spout of the tea pot, or to strain the used leaves
out of each cup before it was served. You can find more detail at: http://regencyredingote.wordpress.com/2013/11/08/the-mote-skimmer-a-specialty-tea-accessory/
However, Regency author Grace Kone, who is British, told me
that if it's done correctly, the tea leaves stay on the bottom, with just
enough pouring out to make a scattering of leaves for fortune-telling. (It
sounds very Harry Potter, doesn't it?) Grace said she has never in her life
strained leaf tea. Other
British friends such as author Janis Susan May Patterson use something called a
tea ball, which is small metal case into which she places the tea leaves. These
are also known as 'tea eggs.' Other friends pour their tea into
their cups through a silver tea strainer, like the one in this picture:
Here
is a recipe, courtesy Regency author, Miranda Neville, for cucumber sandwiches:
Very
thinly sliced white bread (or whole wheat if you insist on being healthy but
really, why bother?). I use Pepperidge Farm Very Thin
Good
quality unsalted butter
English
cucumbers (about† one and a half per loaf of bread)
Salt
1.
Slice the cucumbers very thin. Put them in a colander mixed up with some† salt,
weigh them down with a plate, and leave them in the sink to drain for an hour
or two.
2.
Wash the salt off and pat dryish with a dish towel.
3.
Butter the bread.
4.
Put two layers of cucumber slices in each sandwich and press flat with your
hand so it all sticks together, preferably without becoming totally squashed.
5.
Cut off the crusts (very important). With a big sharp knife cut each sandwich
into four – triangles, squares, or strips, your preference.
And from “The
Royal Pavilion at Brighton a booklet A
Choice Selection of Regency Recipes you can now make at Home” here is a
recipe for macaroons.
Macaroons.
1 large egg white
2 oz ( 55 g) ground almonds
2 oz (55) g caster sugar
a few drops rose water
1-2 drops almond essence
about 12 slivered almonds =-optional.
Heat
the oven to 160C/325F/gas3
Line
as baking sheet with baking parchment paper. Whisk egg white
until stiff. Using a large metal spoon, fold in the ground almonds,
sugar, rosewater, and almond essence. Mix until blended into a
smooth thick paste.
Using
a teaspoon, put blobs of the mixture on the lined baking sheet, leaving
space between them to allow for expansion during cooking. Flatten with the back
of a spoon. If you like you can top each with a sliver of almond. Bake
for about 20 minutes until light golden brown. Transfer to wire rack and leave
to cool. Makes about 12.
Sounds
yummy, doesn't it?
I think for
my next book launch I will have afternoon tea. In fact, I may not wait
that long. I may just have a tea party just because it's a fun and sort of a
girly thing to do. I’m not a tea drinker, so I may deviate from tradition and
have herbal tea in my cup, but the rest of it looks like great fun. Last week,
I attended a Jane Austen tea in Salt Lake City, UT with some of my Jane Austen
geeky friends such as Sarah M. Eden. We had high tea so we had lots of
food (including non-traditional fruit and veggies) and we ate at small dinner
tables with chairs. We all dressed up and did our fair fancy.
We even had some period entertainment such as a poetry
reading, a soloist, and a flutist. It was so fun!
Have
you ever had afternoon tea?
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About Donna HatchMy passion for writing began at the tender age of 8 and I’ve been hooked ever since. Of course, I also wanted to be an actress and a ballerina, but one out of three isn’t bad, right?
In between caring for six children, (7 counting my husband), my day job, my free lance editing and copy writing, and my many volunteer positions, I manage to carve out time to indulge in my writing obsession. After all, it IS an obsession. My family is more patient and supportive than I deserve.
Tour-Wide Giveaway
- Grand Prize: $20 Amazon gift card and an ebook (INT) or print copy (US Only) of A Perfect Secret OR The Stranger She Married (winner's choice)
- 5 ebooks of A Perfect Secret
- Open Internationally
- Ends July 20th
No, because that Era don't have washing machine. LOL!
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