Author Guest Post with Ella Quinn: The Marriage List

As part of a large, rambunctious family, Lady Eleanor Carpenter has gained some knowledge of what makes a successful marriage.

Welcome to the November 22nd stop on the blog tour for The Marriage List by Ella Quinn with Goddess Fish Promotions. Be sure to follow the rest of the tour for spotlights, reviews, author guest posts, and a giveaway! More on that at the end of this post.

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Author Guest Post

Hello to everyone and thank you to Jenna for having me on her blog.

I’m Ella Quinn and I write fun, smart, spicy Regency romances that include family members of the hero and heroine. My current book, The Marriage List, is the 7th book in my second series The Worthingtons. The series starts out with eleven kids ranging in age from 5 to 18 and two Great Danes. During the Regency, families were always present and involved, especially when young ladies were making their come outs. Even gentlemen who wanted to entertain ladies had to rely on female members of their family to be the hostess for an event. Gentlemen could not host on their own. This is only one of the many rules that existed during the Regency. It’s probably the reason I’ve been drawn to the era for so many years. One of the fun things for me is finding a way around the strictures of the Regency in a way that could have actually happened.

But how did all this come about? I’m frequently asked why I picked the Regency, and my answer is that it picked me. After twenty years of practicing law, I started looking for something new. I never in my wildest dreams thought about writing fiction. But one day a video of an angry Regency lady started playing in my head and it wouldn’t stop. Finally, I sat down at my computer and wrote the scene. A month later I had a 100,000 completed manuscript and had to figure out something to do with it. At the time, I was living in the Caribbean and there were no author groups around me. We didn’t even have a bookstore, and the library was no help at all. However, there was the internet, and I was determined to have this book published. Self-publishing was just getting started then, so I decided to take the traditional route, and I’m happy I did.

That first book was The Seduction of Lady Phoebe, the first book in The Marriage Game. I was lucky. My journey was very fast. Two years after I wrote the book it was published. But the more important thing is that I was 58 years old when I started. Never be afraid to follow your dreams.

About the Book

The Marriage List
The Worthington Brides
by Ella Quinn

Publishing 27 December 2022
Zebra

Genre: Historical Romance
Page Count: 384
Add it to your Goodreads TBR!

By popular demand, USA Today bestselling author Ella Quinn returns Regency England’s beloved extended family, The Worthingtons, for the first in a sparkling new spin-off series! Determined to tame the marriage market on their own terms and make advantageous love matches, three confident sisters draw up a list of qualities they expect their new beaus to meet. But as they are about to discover, people are hardly ever perfect and the road to love is far more thrilling and interesting than they could ever have imagined…

As part of a large, rambunctious family, Lady Eleanor Carpenter has gained some knowledge of what makes a successful marriage. She’s even compiled a list of essential qualifications in a potential husband. John, the Marquis of Montagu, seems of good character (check), with money enough to support a family (check). But what of the many other requirements on her list?

Montagu, meanwhile, believes the key to a comfortable life lies in marrying someone quiet and docile. Yet the one lady who captivates him could hardly be more different to what he envisioned. Lady Eleanor is as opinionated as she is lovely, determined to improve working conditions for coal miners, even at risk to her own safety.

From evenings at Almack’s to carriage rides in Hyde Park, this Season will contain many pleasures—and a few surprises that compel both John and Eleanor to rethink their expectations. For one thing is certain: love will not be defined by any list…

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Excerpt

Elizabeth jumped off the sofa. “Zeus, Posy, come. It’s time to play.”

Madeline rose and shook out her skirts. “We know who those Danes belong to.”

Eleanor laughed. “I suppose it is only fair. We had Duke and Daisy.”

“And we will have our own dogs,” Alice added. “That reminds me. We should make a list of what we want in our husbands.”

Eleanor shot a smile at her twin. That was exactly what she had been thinking.

“What an excellent idea.” Madeline went to the desk and drew out a piece of cut foolscap while Alice and Eleanor took chairs from the round cherry table and moved them to the writing desk as Madeline dipped a pen in the standish. “I think he should be intelligent.”

“Yes.” Eleanor wouldn’t want a dim husband, but there was something even more important. “He should be kind.”

“Oh, indeed.” Alice nodded. “I agree.”

“I as well.” Madeline wrote down the first two qualities. “He must like animals.”

“House animals,” Alice insisted. “Most men like horses and hunting dogs.”

“And children.” Having been raised in a family where the children were never confined to the nursery, Eleanor believed allowing young children around was important.

“Like children more than just the getting of them,” Madeline wrote.

“Make us laugh,” Alice added. “It is not good enough that he has a sense of humor. Most people do to some extent, but the gentlemen we wed must be able to make us laugh.”

“And think that we are funny as well.” Eleanor was glad her twin thought of doing this.

“He must be interested in the plight of the poor and unfortunate,” Madeline added. “Ever since Dotty and Grace started the charities, the rest of our sisters and their husbands have added to them. I wish to do the same, and my husband must support me.”

“I agree,” Alice said.

“I do as well.” That was another good idea. Eleanor would not be happy with a man who did not care about others.

“Good-looking?” Madeline asked scrunching up her face.

Eleanor leaned back in her chair. “Well, I do not want to cringe when I gaze upon him. But his character is more important. Think of Byron and how handsome he is said to be, and he is a complete cad.”

Madeline nodded. “I shall write ‘passable-looking.’”

“That will do,” Alice agreed.

“He must allow me to be myself. I will not have anyone trying to control me.” Eleanor could not think of a worse fate.

“Indeed,” Alice and Madeline said at the same time, then laughed.

About the Author

USA Today bestselling author Ella Quinn’s studies and other jobs have always been on the serious side (political science professor and lawyer). Reading historical romances, especially Regencies, were her escape. Eventually her love of historical novels led her to start writing them.

She is married to her wonderful husband of almost fourty years. They have a son and two beautiful granddaughters, a Great Dane named Lilibet, and a cat named Winnie. After living in the South Pacific, Central America, North Africa, England and Europe, she and her husband decided to make their dreams come true lived on sailboat for three years. After cruising the Caribbean and North America, she completed a transatlantic crossing from St. Martin to Southern Europe. She’s currently living in Germany, happily writing while her husband is back at work, recovering from retirement. She expects to be back on the boat in 2022.

Ella loves when readers connect with her.

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Giveaway Alert!

Ella Quinn will be awarding $20 Amazon or B&N gift card to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour.

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