Today, I’m excited to shine the spotlight on historical romance author Emily Windsor! I had the chance to interview Emily and learn more about her writing, her books, and her life outside of writing. I’m always interested in getting to know the authors behind the amazing books I read, so I’m happy to have Emily here on the blog today! If you love swoon-worthy historical romances with compelling characters and remarkable love stories, you’ll definitely want to get to know Emily and check out her books!
Best-selling Regency romance author Emily grew up in the north of England on a diet of historical romance and strong tea. Unfortunately, you couldn’t study Regency slang, so she did the next best thing and gained a degree in Classics and History instead. This ‘led’ to an eight-year stint in engineering.
Having left city life, she now lives in a dilapidated farmhouse where her days are spent writing, fixing the leaky roof, battling the endless vegetation and finding pictures of well-tied cravats. For details of new releases or to get in touch, find Emily on Facebook. Instagram, BookBub, Goodreads, or emilywindsor com where you can also sign up to her monthly newsletter.
GETTING TO KNOW YOU:
Question: Your bio says you grew up on historical romance. What are the first romances you remember reading? Are there any novels that still influence you as a reader and author?
Emily Windsor: When I was in my teens, I would go to the local library and borrow at least ten Mills and Boon Masquerade Historical Romances EVERY week! At one point, the librarian actually asked if I’d like to read anything else… 😂 I still remember The Devil’s Palace by Margaret Pemberton, with her strong heroine and mysterious hero.
I graduated to Marion Chesney (so witty!) before moving onto the ‘adult stuff’ with Judith McNaught and Shirlee Busbee. Doubtless, they have all shaped the way I write and think.
Amanda Quick is still my comfort read today. Her plots are flawless and I always love her characterisation.
Q: You went from studying Classics and History to engineering before becoming a full-time author. Those are three very different worlds! Do those experiences shape the way you approach storytelling?
EW: I had to think about this one for some time! 😂
I have loved Classical mythology since I was a child and I think all those stories and legends definitely fuelled my imagination. I fell into engineering – because after all, what do you do with a Classics degree? But I ended up as a planning engineer, and I would say that the experience of planning out a project has stayed with me. I’m a plotter rather than a pantster, 😊 so plot out my books chapter by chapter, although they are very much allowed to veer off course!
I suppose I now have the best of both worlds: I let my imagination run wild and then try to corral it into a comprehensible, planned book.
Q: How do you decide which historical details to include? Have you ever uncovered a historical detail that was too good not to include in one of your books?
EW: I am a total rabbit-hole author when it comes to research, and I usually uncover so many fabby historical titbits that I’ve even been known to write an entire chapter just so I can have some outlandish historical story! (One which my editor then cuts as he doesn’t believe it could be true! 😂)
Usually I decide which details to include by putting myself completely in the character’s POV. Would they notice it? Would they know about it? And, more importantly, would they actually think or talk about it?
I particularly remember a terrible London Beer Flood in 1814 when a 22 foot wooden vat holding 320 gallons of beer burst, killing eight people (mostly women and children) in the slum streets of St Giles… Originally, I shoe-horned three paragraphs about it into Let Sleeping Dukes Lie, but I was forced to whittle it down to one. At the end of the day, it just wasn’t natural for my characters to think like a news report!
Q: If you could spend one day in any historical period, when and where would you go, and what would you want to experience while there?
EW: Oh, it has to be the Regency era – my first love!
I’d start the day with shopping! I’d go to Piccadilly and visit Fortnum and Mason, then Hatchards, maybe a modiste and a haberdashery, simply to soak up the whole vibrancy of the streets.
Then onto a ball for the evening! I want to waltz the night away wearing a gorgeous gown and, naturally, meet a duke or three!
Q: Which Regency custom are you glad we left behind?
EW: The chaperone! I’m fond of them in books as they’re wonderfully useful in keeping the two main characters from getting their hands on one another and maintaining passionate tension. But in real life? I’m rather glad we can be trusted to have a conversation (or a kiss!) without Aunt Agatha sitting in the corner! 😂
Q: Which Regency tradition do you wish still existed today?
EW: Gentlemen wearing waistcoats ALL the time. Let’s just bring it back, shall we??!!
ABOUT THE BOOK/SERIES:
Q: Congratulations on the release of The Earl of Spades, the third book in your A Lady to Suit series! Without giving too much away, what made you most excited to tell Miles and Verity’s story?
EW: Thank you so much!
I have a battered old book filled with fragments of tales and plots that have haunted me for years, and Miles and Verity’s love story was one of those. Miles’ steadfastness and Verity’s selfless determination were always key to their story but as a keen gardener, I was particularly excited to add botany to the mix – for both humour and plot.
A gentleman the London Ton desires – a newly titled earl.
To Miles Firth, Earl of Stonewold, cavalry boots are more agreeable than dancing slippers. A former captain, he’s a man of order and command. And now earl – a reluctant one.
Lauded by society as a rugged war hero and most eligible bachelor, his one flaw, in their view, is an avid interest in…plants.
A lady the London Ton disdains – an unconventional spinster.
Miss Verity Seymour would rather be hurtling around Town in her Pomona-green phaeton with her eccentric aunt and ruined cousin than brave a stifling ballroom.
Branded by society as a scandalous spinster, her one merit, in their view, is an artistic talent for…cat portraits.
But cats are not Verity’s only portraits…
Where petals and peril entwine…
Drawn together when young by passions neither could deny, their hearts were shattered, a love out of reach. Until in London’s streets and hidden gardens, their paths cross once more and every glance threatens to awaken a desire long-thought buried.
But sinister eyes also watch on, and as both peril and temptation draw close, Verity and Miles must discover if love can bloom anew or whether secrets of the past will smother it forever…
Q: Many of your characters don’t quite fit the mold society has created for them. What draws you to telling love stories with protagonists whose passions fall outside the expectations of the ton?
EW: I suppose they are simply the characters who have always had the most to say to me and the ones I feel I can connect with, and hopefully readers can connect with them too. Perhaps it’s because they have often endured some sort of hardship, like Evelyn and Casper in The Duke of Diamonds, albeit in very different ways. I think that gives them more depth and makes their eventual happiness all the more satisfying.
It’s actually a really interesting question, because it has made me wonder why I keep writing such characters!
Q: Looking back over the series so far, have any characters surprised you by becoming fan favorites?
EW: I love it when a side character becomes a fan favourite!!
Uncle Virgil in The Duke of Diamonds was one with all his costumes! Readers wanted him to have his own story. And then Aunt Theo in The Earl of Spades with her cats!
I always try to give my side characters as much dimension as the main characters, so I’m always absolutely delighted when readers love them just as much.
Q: Do you have a favorite relationship outside of the central romances, whether it’s a friendship, sibling bond, or found family dynamic?
EW: Found family is definitely a favourite of mine, especially when a character feels like a fish out of water and then finally finds their ‘home’, whether that home is a person, a group of people or even a place.
There’s something particularly satisfying about watching a character discover where they belong, especially when / where they never expected to find it.
QUICKFIRE ROUND: (One-word answers)
- Earl, duke, or viscount? Viscount!
- Garden or ballroom? Ooh…so hard…. Garden
- Country estate or London? London
- Cats or dogs? Cats
- Favorite flower? Plant? Heliotrope
- Favorite Regency accessory? Hats!
- Favorite romance trope to write? Enemies to lovers
- Favorite romance trope to read? Enemies to lovers!
- One word for Miles. Resolute
- One word for Verity. Selfless
- One word for The Earl of Spades. Destined
WRAP UP:
Q: If someone is picking up The Earl of Spades as their first Emily Windsor book, what do you hope they’ll discover about your writing?
EW: I hope they’ll discover that my books give them a little bit of everything: laughter, tears and gasps, all in one story!
Most of all, I hope they’ll find characters they care about, a romance that makes them want to keep turning the pages and a little escape into the Regency era along the way.
Q: Can you give readers an update about what’s next for you?
EW: Of course! I have a Christmas novella, The Knave of Hearts, coming out in November! It features a side character from The Earl of Spades.
And then the next year is going to be a big one! I have an author collaboration in the works (shush, that’s still a secret!) and then, finally, the last book in the series, The Prince of Clubs, which I’ve been teasing readers with ever since the first book, The Duke of Diamonds.
I’m rather looking forward to finally giving the Prince his story. And so are my FB group! I think they’ve given up as it’s been so long! ♥️
Thank you so much for featuring me! I had such fun answering the questions, and I really appreciate your support and the lovely way you’ve showcased my books. It was an absolute pleasure to be part of it! ❤️