Tuesday, March 5, 2013

The Queen's Youngest Daughter Finds Love in Mary Hart Perry's Victorian Thriller, Seducing the Princess

Kathryn Johnson, aka Mary Hart Perry, has released another title in her series of romantic Victorian thrillers inspired by the life of Queen Victoria’s daughters. I interviewed her this week about Seducing the Princess. She has generously offered to gift the first three readers to comment on this blog with a Kindle ebook copy of Seducing the Princess.



Kate: In your first novel of the series, The Wild Princess, you featured Princess Louise, a middle sister from among Queen Victoria's nine children. Who stars in your new book?

Mary: In Seducing the Princess, readers get a glimpse into the life of Beatrice, the youngest princess, referred to as "Baby" by the royal family. Because she was the last child, born just three years before Prince Albert died suddenly, her mother sheltered her to the point of smothering the poor girl. Worse than that, the queen made it clear that she expected "Baby" to remain unmarried and stay at her side as her companion until Victoria died. So... no love life, no sex life, no man at all in her life. That was the plan.

Kate: Did Beatrice object to these demands of the queen?

Mary: Not at first. It wasn't unusual for a youngest child to be expected to care for aging parents. But to give her entire life over, never being able to find a mate, that was the unfair part.

Kate: You said, not at first. I assume something happens to change the situation?

Mary: Yes. Although Beatrice didn't know it, her mother had actively worked to keep suitors away from her youngest daughter. But one young man, Henry of Battenberg, was persistent. He fell in love with Beatrice despite her awkwardness in public and her appearance, which was less than glamorous—thanks to the queen's insistence the poor girl dress in the most drab fashions and always in black or dark colors, in honor of her father's death so many years before. Henry saw something very special in Bea, loved her deeply, and did all he could to woo her, despite the queen's resistance.

Kate: How does a love story like this become a "thriller"?

Mary: That's where the fiction comes in. While researching Queen Victoria's extended family, I discovered that she not only didn't like her first grandchild, she feared for what he might do to hurt England and his father's country of Germany when he grew up and inherited their throne. Willy was rash, unpredictable, and cruel. He threw temper tantrums as a child and when he was a young adult, both his grandfather and father died within one year of each other, leaving him as the Emperor of Germany and Prussia. Although they were blood related, Victoria considered him dangerous. I took his real character (already quite villainous) and added fictional elements, imagining what he might do to spy on his grandmother and her court.

Kate: How did this espionage scheme involve Beatrice?

Mary: We see Willy (Wilhelm II) sending a young man who is just as ruthless as he is off to try to seduce Beatrice, the only unmarried daughter. If this young man, a Scot, can convince Bea to marry him, Wilhelm will have eyes and ears permanently placed within Victoria's family and court. As it turns out, the Scot will stop at nothing to get the job done.

Kate: So it's up to Henry to come to Bea's rescue?

Mary: In part, yes, but a lot of what happens is the result of Beatrice coming of age at this rather late point in her life. She's 27 years old, and very naive. But she's smarter and stronger than most people give her credit for. Ultimately, she will have to thwart Wilhelm's plot to infiltrate her mother's court—but if she succeeds, it will be at great cost.

Kate: Thank you for visiting today, on launching this latest Mary Hart Perry book. Will there be others?

Mary: Yes. I'm working on the third novel which will feature Vicky, the Crown Princess, eldest child of the family. She'll have a lot to deal with in her story, not the least of which is Jack the Ripper, the famous serial killer who terrorized all of London. If you enjoy the BBC series Ripper Street, this should be a fun story for you. Like the other two books, it involves a love story, royalty, and rich nineteenth century setting details with a rapidly paced plot. I'm looking forward to sharing it with readers—but first I need to finish writing it!

To order Seducing the Princess from Amazon.com, go to: 
http://www.amazon.com/Seducing-the-Princess-ebook/dp/B00BOR8P3C
To follow Kathryn on social media, use the following links:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Mary-Hart-Perry/169651376460162
Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5334470.Mary_Hart_Perry
Website: http://www.WriteByYou.com/

9 comments:

  1. Congrats on a great interview and on what looks to be a very interesting series of books. Historical novels teach as well as entertain. My congrats again.

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    Replies
    1. Suteko,
      Can you send me your email address at KateWorthRomance@yahoo.com so I can get it to Kathryn to send your ebook?
      Thanks,
      Kate

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  2. Thanks, Suteko! You're right. Fun + learning. How can you beat that? Mary Hart Perry

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  3. Nice interview! I love victorian stories! thank you for the nice giveaway!

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  4. OMG! I promise to read the interview & comment agai, but now I see that I'm #3 so here it goes!

    Mel

    MelanieDOTfriedmanATsbcglobalDOTet

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  5. ...I'm back!

    Great interview and the book sounds very intriguing! Would love to read it. I think the villains are as much important as the main characters and yours sounds even better since its a real person from history.

    Thanks for the giveaway!

    Mel

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  6. Kate, I actually came to your website to see when your next book will be coming out, but also I read this interview and ended up ordering Seducing the Princess.

    Still wondering about The Art of Desire, though. The excerpt is wonderful!

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  7. Hi Lady Wesley!

    I'm hard at work on my next novel. I'm battling some serious fear of failure. I took every criticism of my first book to heart, probably too much so. I want the second book to be even better... to make sure all the details are perfect (ahem, especially the titles). It is resulting in a lot of anxiety and analysis paralysis.

    I don't know what I expected it to be like, this business of becoming an author. It's a lot like walking down Main Street naked on the Fourth of July. Scary!

    One reader told me there was too much sex, another not enough. One calls it atmospheric and emotionally gripping, another says its prosey and flat. It makes my head spin and stills my hands on the keyboard. I imagine all authors go through this in the beginning. I know I have to pull up my big girl panties and get on with it.

    That's probably TMI, but I'm just being honest. Were I brimming with self-confidence, I'd probably have two more out by now. Lord knows I've started dozens. Literally dozens. If I could just get a grip, I'd be quite prolific! :)

    Thanks for the note. It is immensely encouraging to know readers are waiting for the next one. I'll make an announcement soon. I hope!

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