Gentlemen’s fashions are a touch more difficult for me than the ladies’ fashions. It’s a real challenge to find pictures and corresponding descriptions. Even more important, I want my heroes wearing…well, for lack of a better word, manly clothes. Look at these descriptions of some of the men’s fashions of 1829:

Light blue embroidered gloves:

some young men have appeared at balls with blue dress gloves embroidered with white…

and silk cloaks:

…cloaks of the gentlemen lined with plush silk of celestial blue…

and hankies with embroidered corners:

…at balls our young exquisites sport pocket handkerchiefs of fine lawn with a hem as broad as their thumbs the corners only are embroidered.

and flowery shoes:

…shoes tied with a small rosette.

and stylishly curled coiffures:

…a young gentleman now suffers his hair to grow has it curled and parted on the left side of the forehead.

(these examples are all from The Mirror of literature, amusement, and instruction, Volume 13 By Reuben Percy, John Timbs, 1829)

Worst of all, corsets were in style for men. Here’s a caricature of the styles for 1827. Look how tightly those poor men are cinched up! (Also look at the poor ladies’ hats–but that’s a whole ‘nother post!)

© Bodleian Library, University of Oxford: John Johnson Collection

I suppose the Gentleman’s Magazine of Fashion (1827) said it best:

…they say that a tall, thin man with his waist pinched in, and if he is withal very full, looks like grasshopper in an asthma.

Sigh. Maybe I should stop researching and go directly to the Pride and Prejudice movies. Of course, these movies represented a time several years earlier than the settings of my books… Nevertheless, with some variations the basic idea is there: shirts, cravats, tailcoats…

So I’ll just think of Mr. Darcy.

Better yet, Mr. Darcy just after a swim…

So I’m researching what kind of eggs my hero and heroine would eat for breakfast, and I came upon this:

He goes on to recommend not eating fruit at breakfast (you might feel “heavyish” all day!) and eggs–yuck! He doesn’t want to have pullet-sperm in his stomach all day!

But cold pig’s face? YUM!!! (He recommends eating it with French mustard and shallot vinegar.)

Okay, I’ve got to get back to my revisions. Just had to share. LOL.

(this is from “The Maxims of Sir Morgan O’Doherty, Bart.”, Blackwood’s Edinburgh Magazine, Vol 16, 1824)

I’m researching scandalous marriages today and came across a lecture entitled “On Woman” delivered by Colonel Willyams at the Cornwall Literary and Philosophical Society in 1819.

The good colonel spends some time extolling the virtues of women, but then turns to their more despicable qualities. Then he says he’s set up some “rules and regulations” for women that he intends to get passed as an act of parliament. For women who break these rules, he suggests a “female court martial” made up of “gentlewomen of tried candour.”

What are the proposed rules, you ask? Well, here they are. I have to chuckle when I relate this to the writing community/blogs/etc. Most of us would be in big trouble!

ARTICLE 1st:

RULE: All ladies must diligently attend holy services.

PUNISHMENT: If a lady goes to church and behaves improperly, if married, she will be brought before the court martial to be “publicly and severely reprimanded.” If she’s not married, she must forfeit twelve pence.

ARTICLE 2nd:

RULE: Ladies must never speak in a disrespectful manner towards their superiors.

PUNISHMENT: Any lady to use “treacherous or disrespectful” words against her superior in rank or reputation must be rejected by her own society and “put to the bottom of the list.”

ARTICLE 3rd:

RULE: A lady can’t be mean to anyone who’s prettier or more accomplished than her, and she can’t hurt their feelings or dishonor them.

PUNISHMENT: “Any married unmarried or widow lady who shall behave herself contemptuously or spitefully towards her superior in beauty or accomplishment or shall speak words tending to her hurt or dishonour shall be punished accordingto the nature of her offence by the judgment of a female court martial.”

(Yep, I hurt your feelings, so I must PAY!!!!)

ARTICLE 4th:

RULE: No lady can cause or join in any scandal.

PUNISHMENT: If a lady is found guilty, she must “suffer silence, or such other punishment as by a female court martial shall be awarded.”

(Yeah, “silence” was italicized. What is “silence,” I wonder? She’s not allowed to talk at all?)

ARTICLE 5th:

RULE: Any lady present at a scandal must immediately “impart the information to her husband, father, brother, or other commanding officer.”

PUNISHMENT: Those who break this rule shall suffer the same punishment as article 4th.

(‘Cause, you know, the guys MUST know all the gossip, too….)

Here is the lecture (from Ackerman’s Repository) in full from Google books:


Sometimes, we’ve just got to appreciate the fact that we don’t live in the 19th century!

Well…a year and a half after I was offered my first contract from Hachette, A HINT OF WICKED is officially out! You can find it wherever books are sold. I’m so far beyond excited, I don’t even know what to say! I had this dazed, dreamlike moment when I saw my name on the sale tag at Target. Totally, completely surreal…

It’s also my anniversary, so another reason to celebrate! I’m not exactly low maintenance, so it’s a true miracle my husband has put up with me for the past (*cough*) eighteen years (*cough) (I was a BABY when I got married, really, I was!).

I’m having an ongoing release celebration…and this means plenty of opportunities for you to reap the benefits of my excitement! (I love to give stuff away when I’m in a good mood, lol!) Plus, my publisher and bloggers across the internet are giving away copies of A HINT OF WICKED.

Here are some opportunities to win stuff:

My Wicked Sexy Scavenger Hunt-giving away about $60 in products from Victoria’s Secret

My contest with amazing author Christine Wells–enter to win a copy of both our books!

Interview and Giveaway at Examiner.com

Ongoing Freebies Offering - Sign up for my newsletter as well (look on the sidebar of my blog page), because on June 20, I’ll be giving away a signed copy of AHOW, along with copies of Simply Perfect by Mary Balogh, Desire Unchained by Larissa Ione, and To Beguile a Beast by Elizabeth Hoyt to random newsletter subscribers!

Today’s blog tour stop:Drey’s Library (they’ll be giving away several copies of AHOW!)

It’s Mother’s Day weekend, right? Which means surely, surely, I can take a few hours off to finish Jackie Barbosa’s upcoming release, BEHIND THE RED DOOR! Jackie was kind enough to send me an early copy of the book. I’ve read the first novella, and let me tell you, this is one steamy, romantic, and beautifully written anthology! I hope to have Jackie as a guest here on my blog sometime this month, and I’m hoping she’ll give away a copy of her book, too, so make sure to keep an eye out for that.

In the meantime, I’ve gotten a list of 15 more stops on my blog tour from my publicist. Yikes! I don’t think I’ve ever been so social (even internet social!) in my entire life!

AND…last but not least, I received a wonderful early Mother’s Day present from my publisher. Real, beautiful copies of A HINT OF WICKED! Wait…I have to go take a picture of myself holding one of these new and shiny books…be right back…

Here it is:

Because I’m so excited, I’m going to give away a free copy to a random person who signs up for Freebies! Just go to my Bonus Features page, and sign up to receive some freebie promo items from me and a bunch of my favorite authors (Anna Campbell, Kris Kennedy, Christine Wells, Emma Wildes, and Dawn Halliday), and one person who signs up before Sunday at midnight will receive a shiny new copy of A HINT OF WICKED!

HAPPY MOTHER’S DAY WEEKEND, everyone!

In my two visits to London since I started writing A HINT OF WICKED, I spent lots of time staring at the Saudi Arabian Embassy. Only slightly intimidated by the guards bearing gigantic automatic weapons and casting suspicious looks in my direction, I’ve paced back and forth in front of the place for hours, studying it from all angles. The embassy is located at Crewe House, built in 1730 and one of the few remaining old mansions standing in Mayfair.

The Saudi government purchased Crewe House for 37 million pounds in 1984, but in my imagination, it’s the home of Sophie, Garrett, and Tristan from A HINT OF WICKED.

If it was worth 37 million pounds in 1984, I wonder how much it’s worth now? I’d sure like to make the Saudis an offer…

Here it is on a dreary London day. Sigh. Pretty, no?