The WINNER of a copy of Miranda's, Confessions from an Arranged Marriage, is Mary Doherty. I've emailed Mary.

I'm thrilled to introduce historical romance author, Miranda Neville. Miranda grew up in Wiltshire in southwest England. During her misspent youth she devoured the works of Georgette Heyer, Jean Plaidy and any other historical novels she could lay hands on. Luckily for us she turned her love of Regency into a career. Several manuscripts under-the-bed (or deep in the hard drive), HarperCollins bought NEVER RESIST TEMPTATION, published in 2009 by Avon Books. Since then she's completed the four books in the Burgundy Club series. She's embarked on a new writing adventure, a series set in the very beginning of the nineteenth century with a whole new cast of characters. At this point all Miranda can say is that it will be romantic, sexy, and fun.

Welcome downunder Miranda!

Hello Bron, thanks for having me to blog today. I'm pretty excited. I’m going home next week. I am an adult. I have an adult daughter. And I’ve lived far from England, the land of my birth, for three decades. But there’s something about returning to the place I grew up that always seems like going home.

My dad doesn’t live in my childhood house anymore; after my mother’s death, he moved to a small apartment next door. I won’t be sleeping in my old room, but I’ll be right in the neighborhood, enjoying the same beautiful English countryside. I’ll go for walks along the same lanes and over the same fields where I played as a child. I’ll see people I’ve known all my life.

Because I write historical romance set in England, I always manage to fit in a bit of research. Don’t be surprised to find a lot of settings in my books that are close to my childhood home in southwest England. Some important scenes in The Wild Marquis take place in Salisbury. I’ve based a country house on Longleat House. The gardens at Mandeville House, which appears in three of my books, including Confessions from an Arranged Marriage, were partly inspired by Stourhead. And I’m about to start a book with a positive orgy of Wiltshire settings. [CLUE TWENTY-THREE:IT]

It’s not just places that inspire me. One thing I always find time for when I visit is a browse through the old photograph albums, going back to my parents’ wedding. I know I’m dating myself, but the ones from my early childhood are in black and white and there’s something so evocative about those snapshots: long ago birthday parties that only remember through those pictures; my sisters and I in ridiculous clothes and haircuts; our old black lab named Silly; the occasional old boyfriend (what did I ever see in him?). And though my books are set in the early nineteenth century, I almost always find something – a memory, and emotion – that sparks an idea.

What’s your favorite thing to do when you visit the place you grew up? Or, if you never left, what triggers special childhood memories? One lucky commenter will win a copy of Confessions from an Arranged Marriage.

Visit Miranda Neville's website for more details on her, her writing and her books.

 Thanks for being my guest today, Miranda, and have a safe trip!

THE BURGUNDY CLUB SERIES

The Rake, the Bookworm, and the Dandy. An ill-assorted trio of noblemen with two things in common: they love books and they are sexy as hell.

CONFESSIONS FROM AN ARRANGED MARRIAGE April 2012

The Burgundy Club, Book Four. The long awaited story of Minerva Montrose and the Marquis of Blakeney. 

They couldn't be more different, but there's one thing they agree on. Clever, ambitious Minerva  & the handsome sportsman  Blakeney are the last couple who should ever marry. But some plans are born to go astray...

Read an excerpt

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