Pleasure Gardens by Suzi Love

An 18th century print showing the exterior of the Rotunda at Ranelagh Gardens and part of the grounds. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

author of The Viscount’s Pleasure House. 

 

 

 

Public pleasure houses and gardens had existed for many centuries, so the idea of a 19th century Viscount making money from the Pleasure Garden and Bath House on his country estate was nothing new.

Although, the way Justin created extravaganzas in his pleasure gardens may have raised a few eyebrows in the late Regency era where morals were becoming ‘slightly’ more circumspect.

In Ancient Rome, the landscaped Gardens of Sallust were open to the public for many centuries  and included a temple to Venus and monumental sculptures.

In the 18th and 19th centuries in London, many pleasure gardens were opened, including Cremorne Gardens, Cuper’s Gardens, Marylebone Gardens, Ranelagh Gardens, Royal Surrey Gardens and Vauxhall Gardens.

Vauxhall Pleasure Gardens (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Many of the grander Pleasure Gardens contained large concert halls and hosted promenade concerts or a menagerie for family outings, but there were also many smaller gardens. Some were tea gardens for ladies, but other less publicized ones were outdoor entertainment areas for gentlemen and the women who entertained them.

Towards the end of the 18th century, pleasure touring around England became a popular pastime for the rich and leisured class, and ‘picturesque’ tourists encouraged the reshaping of gardens and  landscapes on country estates.

Capability Brown was often employed for garden redesigns and landowners began to follow the advice in William Gilpin gave in his book – for travelers to examine “the face of a country by the rules of picturesque beauty.

Extensive pleasure gardens, with irregular sight lines and prefabricated ruins of classical’ structures, were built all over England. These ideas were imitated in Europe and as far afield as the Americas, New Zealand and Australia.

 

Lithograph of Cremorne Gardens in 1862               (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

So when Justin, Viscount Hawkesbury and the hero in The Viscount’s Pleasure House, needs money quickly to extend his search across Britain for his missing family, he opens the ‘Pleasure House’ on his own estate to the wealthy and bored upper classes of London. These men, and women, will pay anything and go anywhere to find different entertainment that will, for a few days at least, let them toss off their habitual state of ennui.

To Justin, his rich peers are plump pigeons, ripe for plucking. For three years he hosts lavish themed events at the Pleasure House with Arabian tents, harem dancers, and hot baths keeping these indolent aristocrats happy.

But for Justin, pleasure turns to disgust and he is eager to wave goodbye to that lifestyle. His plans, however, are thrown into disarray by the arrival of Lady Wellsby, a country-innocent widow, who is eager to learn as much as possible from London’s notorious Virile Viscount.

Viewing his Pleasure Gardens through Chrissie’s eyes reminds Justin of the beauty of his inheritance, whereas before he’d remembered only the cruelty of his father when he evicted Justin’s mother. Justin had imagined the estate was a means to find and retrieve his family, nothing more.

Gardens are meant to be enjoyed and their beauty slowly savored. Do you have any favorite gardens you visit to walk through and admire the beauty?

 

Want to read more about The Viscount’s Pleasure House?  

Please visit these places.

Crimson Romance ebooks – Amazon – B&N  – iTunes – Goodreads

Bookworld Australia – Barnes and Noble – All Romance

Want to read more of my historical research, especially around the late Regency and very early Victorian eras?

Please visit my website.

Or read my magazine – Suzi Love’s Web roundup – http://bit.ly/UzcVXC

Or read – Suzi Love’s Daily Gossip Newspaper – http://bit.ly/11iv1Ql

Related Articles

• Romancing the Book Hero Interview and Contest (suzilove.com)
• Travel to Tourism in England from the 17th to 19th centuries (historicalhearts.blogspot.com)
• The Viscount’s Pleasure House by Suzi Love on Goodreads – Reviews, Discussion, Bookclubs, Lists (suzilove.com)
• The Viscount’s Pleasure House (suzilove.com)
• Launch Day for The Viscount’s Pleasure House by Suzi Love- Yippee! (crimsonromanceauthors.com)
• Author spotlight: Suzi Love (australianromancereaders.wordpress.com)

Meet Lady in Red: Laura Simcox

See my smiling face? That’s because I’m thrilled to be here introducing myself as a Crimson Romance author. My debut novel is ‘Summer Promises’. It’s the story of a young woman (Carly Foster) who has promised herself that her upcoming summer theater job will be a working vacation. No romance allowed. That is…until Asher Day walks into her world with a wink that melts her heart. It releases on September 17.

My name is Laura Simcox (my real name and I’m sticking to it…well…actually, I couldn’t decide on a pen name. Maybe someday? Who knows what the future holds.)

I write contemporary romance with a lot of humor thrown into the mix. I can’t resist making my heroes and heroines flirt outrageously. While I’d rather talk about them, I’m supposed to be telling you about me. (Focus, Laura.) So here we go! I picked 13 questions because I’m feeling lucky. 😉

 

1. Single, married, divorced, widowed?

I am married…twelve years ago last week, in fact. It was 99 degrees Fahrenheit on my wedding day and I ditched my stockings with glee and marched up the aisle bare-legged. Haven’t looked back and am incredibly lucky to be married to a patient, sweet man. He’s smarter than me and that’s irritating…but I get over it.

2. Parent?

Yes! Our son turned three a couple of months ago. He’s frolicking in preschool right now which is why I’m even in front of my computer.

Living where?

We live in North Carolina.

3. Doing what, other than writing?

Sigh. Potty training. But you don’t want to hear about that. At the moment, writing and walking up the steep curve of learning about social media is taking most of my time. In a former life, I was a professional costume designer for theater. I also taught college theater.

4. One—just one—physical characteristic

Tiny size 6 feet. I’d trade that size for my dress size but….well. I’d look awfully funny. 🙂

5. What’s your secret passion?

Oooh. Pirates!

6. Tell us one thing about yourself you’d never change.

My education. I was fortunate to go to an excellent public high school in Kansas and a great small college in Missouri. Grad school was the icing on the cake. I know I’m lucky.

7. If you didn’t live where you do, where would you live? Why?

I’d live in St. Louis. It’s my favorite city…not too big, not too small. Great people, food and baseball.

8. Do you write about where you live or where you’d like to live?

I write about places I’ve been. Places I’ve stayed long enough to soak up the local culture.

9. What’s the first creative writing you remember doing outside a class?

When I was a little kid, I wrote and illustrated stories while sitting in the backseat of the family car. We took epic vacations to national parks once a year and I had a lot of car time. I remember that one was about a pack of bluejays that stole all of our hot dogs.

10. What one thing from your book did you take from personal experience?

My heroine, Carly, is fed UP with her lifestyle driving from theater to theater and not having a home or a man to call home. She’s unlucky in love…but that will change! It did for me, too. 🙂

11. Do you identify closely with one particular character? How?

Yes, I identify with Ross, Carly’s best friend. He lives in the moment but is also pragmatic.

12. The best part about my writing life is:

I’m a good boss. I let myself drink iced tea all day long and avoid laundry.

13. Give us a hint about what the next book’s like.

OK! I’m working on another contemporary, but with a twist. Here’s a little blurb:

In 1780, a thief snatched one of the world’s rarest documents…a previously undiscovered Shakespeare manuscript. The thief jumped on a ship and sailed for America with privateers and pirates hot on the trail. Just before reaching the Outer Banks of North Carolina, a hurricane swept them all into oblivion. Or did it? Treasure hunter Horatio Alexander doesn’t think so, because he’s discovered a portal to a mysterious island and all signs point toward this place as the location of the fabled manuscript. But he can’t go there alone. Two people are needed to operate the portal. So what’s a daredevil to do? Put a help wanted ad on the internet, of course. Budding archeologist Miranda Perry is looking for adventure and her long lost parents. What better place to search than the place where her parents went missing? The job she runs across online for a ‘research assistant’ is the perfect fit. Packing her bags takes no time! But what she discovers when she arrives at the dig site is beyond her wildest fantasies…

I’m excited about this one because it combines adventure and the opportunity to create some wacky characters. I love me some wacky.

Thanks, readers for stopping by to read my post. For more info, check out ‘Summer Promises’ on Amazon. Here’s a pic of the cover, too!

I love visitors. Here are some links:

Laura’s website

Laura on Facebook

Laura on Twitter

Meet the Lady in Red–Shay Lacy

My name is Shay Lacy. I feel a bit decadent being called a Lady in Red. Shay is my pen name, chosen after a long, arduous Internet search. It’s amazing how many cool names are already taken by strippers. I eliminated my first twenty choices for that reason. I chose a pen name because my first novels were erotic romance and I wanted to misdirect any stalkers my novels might attract. I write erotic shapeshifter romance, futuristic romance, contemporary romance, and romantic suspense.

I’ve been married to the same man for 31 years. I chose him instead of the Army, thinking he’d be the bigger challenge. After I put my two cats to sleep last year, he demanded a fur-free home. Since that hadn’t been in our marriage contract, I was rethinking that Army decision. Alas, I had passed the maximum age for enlistment. When I see a cat commercial on TV my heart goes pitter pat. He says I’ll outlive him and then I can have cats once more. I’m not sure he realizes I write romantic suspense and can think of lots of ways to hasten a man’s demise. And if somebody offered me a free Maine Coon…

I’m a secretary by day. If you work outside the home, you know that dictatorial bosses and irritating co-workers are excellent fodder for novels. I like to make them victims and villains in my stories. And some of what goes on in the working world you just can’t pay to imagine. Truth can be stranger than fiction. Although not in some of my short stories.

Beyond writing I’m an amateur photographer. I bake fairly well. Cooking—in truth, I collect recipes and attempt them. My husband thinks I’m trying to poison him. I wouldn’t have to try—I own a textbook on poisons. I collect rocks and glass paperweights and unusual names. And, of course, I love to read.

My secret passion is glass. I love the way it looks, the way it refracts light. I love its many forms and variations. I love watching glass artisans at work. I love old glass dishes and glass goblets. I have to be careful not to become a hoarder with my passion.

If I didn’t live in northern Ohio, I’d live someplace slightly warmer where there were hills. Not too warm, though, because I love the fall, the changing colors of the leaves. But I could skip winter. I’d like to live on a lake where no gas-powered boats could roar up and down. Recently I attended a party at a lakefront condo. The side of the house facing the lake was nearly all glass. The wife had a second-floor office that looked out over the lake. I could write lots of novels from an office like that.

I write romance because I need the happily ever after. My first love is fantasy, but not every character in those books survives. If I take a journey with a character, and grow to care for them, I want to know they survived and thrived, and that they had someone to love along the way.

After vacationing in Watkins Glen, New York, the setting of my novel, Hero Needed, which Crimson will release on October 22nd, I knew I had to write a story set in that town with that crazy, unprotected train track. I included photography in the story, which my husband does as a professional, and I’m an amateur.

When I write, I find my personal traits in at least one of my characters, sometimes the hero, sometimes the heroine. Often the emotional trials in my life find their way into my writing. I didn’t have to cut anything from Hero Needed, but another novel I’m editing will have to have huge tracts severed from it. I’ve delayed because these tracts are very dear to me. The hero’s grandmother, who raised him, has dementia and is failing. I wrote this novel when my mother-in-law had to be confined to a nursing home with dementia. I know it will hurt a lot to lose any part of this story.

The best part of my writing life is being able to ask people the craziest, most outlandish, most off-limits questions for my books. People who aren’t writers or reporters have boundaries. But writers are nosy. I HAVE to know things. Even if it’s not for a work-in-progress, I know I’ll use it in a future book. The worst part of my writing life, besides having to work nights and weekends, is having so many story ideas and not enough time to write all of them. While five ideas wait their turn, five more ideas take root in my brain.

So I have a lot of stories in the works. I don’t know which I’ll work on next. It will probably be romantic suspense because I love a hunky hero helping a smart heroine figure out who done it.

You can see more of Shay Lacy at my website, http://www.shaylacy.com/.

Check in on Facebook, http://www.facebook.com/welcomeback/requests/#!/shay.lacy.7

Catch me on Twitter, https://twitter.com/ShayLacy1

Meet the Lady in Red – Interview with Galen Rose

 

Aloha! Monday is one of those days few people appreciate but yesterday, a Monday, my new book, A Place to Rest My Heart went live! I now appreciate Mondays a lot more than I used to!

Introduce yourself, please. Is this a pen or personal name? Why did you make the choice to write under that name?

I write under the pen name Galen Rose. Even in this day of dwindling privacy, I felt it best to keep certain aspect of my life and my family’s life somewhat private. To be honest under my real name, I can be political, quite sarcastic and on occasion, jump up on my soap box. I thought that side of me might be a bit much for folks to take.

Let’s get the details out of the way:

Married?: I have been married for 17 years as of this June. I credit my husband with a huge amount of patience and he has been very supportive of my writing.

Children?: We have a 15 (going on 20) year old son, who is the light of my life. (even if he gives me grey hair! Ask about the two broken arms at the same time!)

Living where?: I was born in West Virginia, lived in Virginia for a few years, then off to California. I have lived in the Santa Cruz Mountains for the past ten years and I love it here among the towering redwoods.

Doing what other than writing?: I have had many jobs over the years, McDonalds, telephone solicitor, bike repairperson in the early years, an engraver for ten years, then on to run my own business selling Celtic Jewelry and gifts on the Internet and at Renaissance & Celtic Faires. I really enjoyed this business but the down turn in the economy was showing itself so I closed the business and then said, “Now what?” That’s when I started writing.

If you didn’t live where you do, where would you live? Why? I’d live in Maui. The moment I step off the plane I relax. I love the ocean and the smell of tropical flowers on the breeze, and snorkeling with sea turtles.

Why do you write romance novels?  Because unrequited love pisses me off. It really is as simple as that. I think there has to be a happily ever after.

What did you cut from your book that felt like severing a body part? Actually, the prologue. It was very dark and intense and all the feedback I got said it didn’t work.

The best part about my writing life is: Giving all the voices in my head a place to come out and really be heard. My imagination can be very vivid and I need an outlet for it.

The worst part about my writing life is:  Devoting enough time to the next writing project, and the one after that etc… Life has a way of really intruding and managing which ball to stop juggling is hard.

What else do you write? Right now contemporary romance, but I have outlines for a couple of paranormals.

Give us a hint about what the next book’s like. It is set in Maui. The poor heroine gets left at the alter and decides to stay in Maui to continue the ‘honeymoon’ she paid for. Insert some adventure and a hunky hero in there too.

If you want to know more about me or just want to say “Aloha”, stop by:

Website

Facebook

Amazon Author Page

 

Meet the Ladies in Red – Lisa White

 

Hello Friends!  This day is huge for me because THE LAWS OF LOVE released today!!!  As my fellow Crimson Romance Authors have done in the past, I am introducing myself on our group blog by answering the standard questions posed to all our authors.  It may sound fun to most, but this shy girl from Virginia does not like to talk about herself so the task is a little daunting – but here goes:

1. Introduce yourself, please (name you write under). Is this a pen or personal name? Why did you make the choice to write under that name?  I write under my real name – Lisa White.  I used my real name for two reasons.  First, it is easier to market to friends and family with my real name.  They don’t have to remember anything special and can look me up and, hopefully, buy the book without doing too much research.  And since I have a very, very big family spread all over the country, they will help boost sales!  Second, for me it was important to use my real name to keep my writing true to me personally.  When writing a scene or developing a character, I have to ask myself: Would I want my name associated with this scene/character?  Is it good enough or would it embarrass me to have my name associated with it?  My grandfather Crockett always told me that all we really have in life is our good name.  By using my real name, I am making sure I am only giving my readers the best I have.

2. Let’s get the details out-of-the-way:

Single, married, divorced, widowed? Married to a wonderful man who makes me laugh every day.

Parent? We are blessed with two children who totally understand when mommy hides with her computer to “play with her characters”.

Living where? Southwest Virginia

Doing what, other than writing? Lawyer

One—just one—physical characteristic: Eyes?

3. What’s your secret passion? I would say writing but I guess the cat is out of the bag now!

4. Tell us one thing about yourself you’d never change. This is a tough one because I cannot think of anything.  I believe everything happens for a reason and God has a plan for each of us.  If I were to change something, I would not be the same person I am now – and I am pretty happy most of the time.  Optimism is a powerful tool.

5. If you didn’t live where you do, where would you live? Why? Another tough one.  Southwest Virginia is beautiful – mountains, rivers, lakes – and the people are fantastic.  I like to travel and experience new things, but coming home is always the best part of an adventure.

6. Do you write about where you live or where you’d like to live? I write about where I live.  For me, small towns have the best stories and characters.  My hope is that readers can relate to at least one of my characters – or at least see a similarity to someone they know from their own hometown.

7. What’s the first creative writing you remember doing outside a class? Writing poetry in elementary school.  One Christmas I even wrote a book of poems for my grandparents – do you know how many words rhyme with “cat”?

8. Why do you write romance novels? Because I love happy endings.  When I first joined Romance Writers of America, I remember being told that, in order to be classified as a romance, my novel had to have an “emotionally satisfying and optimistic ending”.  For me, with all the heartache in the world, why would I want to write anything else?  I want readers to escape with my writing – to get away from everything going on around them – even if just for ten minutes or one page at a time.

9. What else do you write? So far, just poetry and romance – but I love a good suspense so if I can come up with a good storyline, I might try that.  But of course, the suspense must have a happy ending!

10. What one thing from your book did you take from personal experience? In THE LAWS OF LOVE, the protagonist, Livi Miller is a corporate attorney who has a hard time balancing her love life with her career.  I can totally relate to that aspect of Livi’s life.  Being single and trying to have a career was not easy.  Maybe that is why I did not get married until I was thirty-four years old.

11. What did you cut from your book that felt like severing a body part? I had what I thought was a great line: “She excelled professionally thanks to this work ethic but her personal life became collateral damage”.  I loved the “collateral damage” phrase – but my editor thought the idea had already been established and the line was unnecessary.  She was exactly right – but I still hated cutting it.

12. Do you identify closely with one particular character? How? See answer to 10 above.  This idea has already been established so this question is unnecessary (see Jennifer, I did learn something!).

13. The best part about my writing life is: Taking the stories in my head and heart and putting them to paper (or computer screen as the case may be).  I just finished my second novel, have started my third and have outlines for three more.  I can’t wait to flesh out all the scenes and see where the characters take me.

14. The worst part about my writing life is:  Not enough time to write.  My writing time typically starts after 9:00 p.m when everyone else’s day is ending.  But sitting at my computer is one of the best parts of my day.

Okay – so I answered all the questions.  But if you want to know more, or simply just want to say “Hi”, you can find me on the web as noted below.  Thanks for your time and I hope you enjoy THE LAWS OF LOVE.

Best Wishes, Lisa White

www.lisawhiteauthor.com

http://www.amazon.com/author/lisawhite

Meet Lady in Red – Tessa Berkley

Good Morning, 

Hi, I’m a new Lady in Red and my name is Tessa Berkley. 

I suppose a good place to start would be to give just a bit about myself. I live in Tidewater, Virginia in a small town about 30 miles from the Atlantic Ocean. I’m far enough inland to enjoy snow in the winter and watch the bands of rain from hurricanes in the summer. My home is situated on five acres, which allows me to raise 3 children, 2 cats, and my beloved cows. I write contemporary and historical western romance.

I’m one of those people who believe in true love. I’ve been lucky to have been married for going on 36 years and yes while there is snow on the roof, the fire still burns. If you asked me what physical trait would stand out the most, it would be striking blue eyes passed down to each generation from my mother’s side of the family.  

My mother was a  unique guiding force in my life. Like her mother before her, she passed on the passion for reading. My mother never learned to drive until she was 50 years old. “Ladies, didn’t do that sort of thing.” But once she did, we’d hope in the 1956 Plymouth Deluxe and indulge our secret passion – the library.  The one thing, I am eternally grateful for is my mother fostering the love of a good story to me. Oh, I am a late life baby. An only child. My parents were 41 and 45, respectfully when I was born in the late 50’s. Poor thing, she didn’t know she was expecting until 6 weeks before my birth, but that’s another story in itself.

I love where I live, but if I could choose an area of a city other than my birthplace, I’d find myself hard pressed to decide between Texas and the mountains of Washington state. The wide open and varied horizons of Texas have long been a place of mystery calling out for me to visit. I’d love to see a herd of Longhorns or see a wild horse run across a field of sage. Likewise, the Majesty of the Olympic Mountains sing with their siren song and draw me to the waters of the Puget Sound. One day, I plan to visit both of those areas.

In the coming months, I will be releasing my first book with Crimson. I hope that readers will join me on the journey and meet Glory Beebe and her hero, Travis Hargrove as they journey toward their happily ever after. When I see you again, I’ll be telling a bit more about my novel and how I came to put their story to paper. For now, if readers would like to keep up with me, please check my website, http://www.tessaberkley.com for the latest updates, hang out with me on Facebook or twitter. I’d love to hear from you.

Thank you, Crimson Romance and the other fine Ladies in Red for sharing your column with me. I hope it will be a long and glorious partnership. 

Yours, 

Tessa