His scandals were right on track until she derailed everything.
As the successful owner of multiple railroad lines, Diana Barton is all too accustomed to fending off suitors seeking to stake their claim on her wealth. In order to keep the wolves at bay, Diana has contrived the perfect plan: appeal to the most notorious rake in London, the Baron Lord Bryant, to ruin her reputation and scare off the worst of the time wasters. The ruse will be no hardship—she’s secretly been fascinated by the man for years.
Lord Bryant is well aware of his questionable reputation. Indeed, he has cultivated the image carefully, and the last thing he wants is a wife. When he’s approached by the younger sister of a business associate, he tells her in no uncertain terms that he cannot help. However, when he sees for himself what she is up against, Bryant grudgingly offers his assistance. Faced with his most complicated entanglement yet, Bryant is firm in his conditions—and Diana knows that to get romantically involved with Bryant would spell certain heartbreak. But as the counterfeit couple grows ever closer, the line between truth and lies becomes blurred, threatening both Lord Bryant’s well-laid plans and the future of Diana’s railroad business.
Esther Hatch grew up on a cherry orchard in rural Utah. After high school, she alternated living in Russia to teach children English and attending Brigham Young University in order to get a degree in archaeology. She began writing when one of her favorite authors invited her to join a critique group. The only catch was she had to be a writer. Not one to be left out of an opportunity to socialize and try something new; she started on her first novel that week.
Author Interview
Life Is What It's Called - If you could meet any character from A Proper Scandal series, who would it be and why (only one)?
Esther Hatch - I would choose Lord Bryant. He has fascinated me since I first realized exactly what kind of man he was going to be in A Proper Scandal. But more important than meeting him, I would just like to give him a hug and tell him everything is going to be okay. But I wouldn’t use the word “okay,” obviously…
Life Is What It's Called - What are your next writing projects?
Esther Hatch - I’m currently working on a novella, and after that I am very anxious to start on my next book for my publisher Covenant. There will be one more novel in the Proper Scandals series, but that may or may not be my next novel with them. Nicholas' story has been percolating, but I’m not quite sure it is ready to make it out onto the page. When I finish that novel I can’t wait to start on my next book in my new series A Romance of Rank. I wish I could write faster!
Life Is What It's Called - How is A Proper Scoundrel different from the other books in this series? How is it the same?
Esther Hatch - I think this one is different in that--even more than my others in the series--it is character driven. I love Lord Bryant and Diana Barton so much and they both get a chance to shine and show us who they really are in this book. But this book definitely has some of the trademark elements of the series still. Some scandalous behavior for the time (although we always keep it proper!) Hopefully, even though this book deals with some serious problems, it will also make you laugh, and of course I think I managed to get a few good kisses in. That is always important. One kiss scene took me two weeks to edit (not write, EDIT) just so I could get it right, so hopefully that worked.
Life Is What It's Called - Why is writing important to you?
Esther Hatch - I don’t know. It snuck up on me slowly until one day I had a strong impression that this is what I am supposed to do. I was tricked into it to start, but now I can’t imagine life without it.
Life Is What It's Called - What do you hope readers will learn from A Proper Scoundrel?
Esther Hatch - To never give up on hope. I want them to know that no matter what disappointments you have faced in the past, there is always a chance for happy moments again.
Life Is What It's Called - Why do you think humor should be included in fiction?
Esther Hatch - I think it should be included for those who are looking for it. I love to read books that make me laugh, it might be my highest standard of a book. So I take my humor very seriously, but it probably isn’t for everyone and I am perfectly fine with that. If you want a book that will make you cry you might need to look somewhere else. (Although, I’m pretty sure I’ve made a few people cry too.) Humor and heartfelt desires pair well together, and I hope both are always present in my stories.
Life Is What It's Called - Who/What influences your writing?
Esther Hatch - The whole Regency genre has a huge influence on my writing even though most of what I write is set in the Victorian era. I grew up reading Jane Austen, and falling in love with Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre. As an adult my absolute favorite book became North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell, so with Jane Eyre and Gaskell, I think I naturally made the switch to Victorian pretty quickly. My books have too much humor in them to really represent the literature of that time period though. I am no Charles Dickens, Gaskell or Bronte. So they are a bit of a mashup of the fun of a modern Regency (think Eden and Donaldson) with the technological and social advancements of the early Victorian era.
Life Is What It's Called - What have you learned about Victorian England from writing this series?
Esther Hatch - The Victorian era is huge and I delve mostly into the early part of it. I’ve learned a lot about the railroad boom. There is a historical crash coming for my characters that are still involved in the railroad business, and I have debated whether or not to address that. Another huge aspect of the time period was the Corn Laws which were tariffs and trade restrictions on imported food. These laws helped protect the wealthy landowners, but made food expensive and abolishing the laws took years to overcome. As someone who often writes about wealthy landowners, the Corn laws make for some very compelling storylines.
Thank you for having me today. I'm am so excited to have Lord Bryant's story finally told. It has been a long time coming and I can't wait for my readers to get to know the real him.
Review
I enjoyed reading A Proper Scoundrel. It's a fun, light-hearted, comedic romance that was a little bit scandalous albeit still "proper" for modern audiences. Lord Bryant and Diana's characters were well-written and the dialogue between the two was engaging, conversational and humorous. Lord Bryant's appeared in the other books in this series and I think this book does a good job at explaining his sometimes "conflicting" dual-character ricocheting between thoughtfulness and scoundrel. I liked the humor in the book. The humor in the writing really sets this book apart from the others in this genre. Everything about this book was cleverly written. The story moved along well, and I felt like it was a quick, fun read. This would be a fun book to read during the summer or anytime really. I would recommend starting at the beginning of the series and working your way through all the books. You could read it as a stand alone, but you would miss all of the background information that was introduced in the other books of this series, A Proper Scandal and A Proper Charade. Overall, I recommend reading this fun, humorous Victorian romance. Click here to learn more about A Proper Scoundrel.
Please note that I received a free ebook to review, however, this is my honest opinion. The giveaway is run by the publisher. This post contains affiliate links that help support the maintenance of this blog.
What a fun interview. This book was so good!!!
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