5 Things You Should Know About Brazen in Blue by Rachael Miles #5Things

Rachael Miles writes ‘cozily scrumptious’ historical romances set in the British Regency. Her books have been positively reviewed by Kirkus, Publishers Weekly, and Booklist, which praised her ‘impeccably researched and beautifully crafted’ novels, comparing her works to those of Jo Beverly and Mary Jo Putney. Her novel, Reckless in Red, won first place in adult fiction: novels in the National Federation of Press Women’s writing contest. A native Texan, Miles is a former professor of book history and nineteenth-century literature. She lives in upstate New York with her indulgent husband, three rescued dogs, and all the squirrels, chipmunks, and deer who eat at her bird feeders.

WEBSITE & SOCIAL LINKS:

Website: rachaelmiles.com
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/rachael_miles1
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/rachaelmilesauthor

5 Things You Should Know About Brazen in Blue

1. Lady Emmeline Hartley, the heroine of Brazen in Blue, was as a child wounded in a carriage accident that damaged her leg. As a result, she carries a walking stick (with a steel blade in the center), not always knowing when her leg might fail her.

2. Queen Bess, a giant Newfoundland hound, serves as Lady Emmeline’s companion animal, placing herself between Em and pieces of furniture if she senses that Em might be unsteady on her feet, among other things. Newfoundland hounds had arrived in England by at least 1803, when George Gordon, Lord Byron’s beloved Boatswain was born. When Boatswain died of rabies at five, Byron wrote a famous elegy to the dog and erected a monument to him at Newstead Abbey. (It’s bigger than Byron’s). The dog on the cover is not a Newfie.

2. Lady Emmeline, as a result of that accident, experiences a form of synesthesia—a condition where one sense overlaps with another. For example, someone might see numbers as having colors or personalities (what color is eight?), or hearing a song activates the sensation of touch. Emmeline sees voices with color and texture.

3. The story draws heavily on the English ballad Tam Lin. In that story, a woman must save her lover from the enchantment of the Faerie Queen. To do so, she must pull him from his horse as he passes by in the retinue of the Queen, then she must hold him as the Faerie Queen transforms him into a series of terrifying creatures, even when he turns into a flaming fire.

4. Adam Montclair--the hero—has been tasked with gaining Em’s help in identifying a criminal, but knowing that she doesn’t wish to ever work with the Home Office again chooses to help her hide, at the risk of his own career.

Title: BRAZEN IN BLUE
Author: Rachael Miles
Publisher: Kensington Zebra
Pages: 360
Genre: Regency Romance

BOOK BLURB:

Lady Emmeline Hartley has overcome every obstacle life has thrown her way. A spinster, disappointed in love, Em is on the brink of a marriage of convenience, when the man who rejected her heart reappears in need of her help. It gives Em a chance to escape, put to use one of her most unusual talents–and perhaps convince him once and for all to risk his heart…

Adam Montclair–one of the most successful agents at the Home Office–rubs elbows with the highest levels of society. Even so, he wasn’t to the manor born. No matter how much he desires Em, as a match he is completely unsuitable. While it pains him to be near her, it’s a punishment he richly deserves. Now on a mission to uncover a plot against the government, Adam knows Em’s uncanny ability to recall voices will be essential. Yet as the two thwart the dangers in their path, it may become impossible to deny that Em is essential to happiness itself…

Book five in Miles’s The Muses’ Salon series (after Reckless in Red) delivers heady Regency romance featuring a refreshing heroine and a tantalizing mystery. Lady Emmeline Hartley permanently injured her legs at age six in the same accident that killed her mother and sisters. Her father abandoned her to be raised by servants, and Em has spent the intervening years caring for his estate with her faithful dog, Queen Bess, at her side. Now Em is on the brink of a marriage of convenience to longtime family friend Lord Colin Somerville—but she gets cold feet and flees on her wedding day, reluctantly accepting the aid of Adam Locksley, an agent of the Home Office and Em’s former lover, to get away. Though Em is angry at Adam over a perceived betrayal, Adam is determined to keep her safe. But in a delightful twist, the Home Office requests Em’s help to catch a burgeoning threat to England, and Adam and Em are quickly embroiled in a multitude of schemes. Em’s self-discovery is a delight to behold as she matures from impish child, to solemn bride-to-be, to fully self-actualized, independent woman working hand in hand with a partner. Series fans and new readers alike will be charmed.
— Publishers Weekly