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Angela has published a book I have waited for, for some time. She had mentioned it on various writer loops, and I could not help but fall in love with the title, Must Love Breeches. Take it away, Angela!
I
know a common question writers are asked is: Where do you get your ideas? So I
thought I’d share how my time travel romance Must Love Breeches came into
being.
The
original germ for this story was wondering who would be cool to meet if I went
back in time. I’d originally conceived going back to Jane Austen’s era, but
that idea has been well-trodden. But I knew I’d like to go back to around that
time, so I kept noodling around for historical figures in that era that the
heroine might meet. When I came across Ada Lovelace, I had my answer. Born
Augusta Ada Byron, she was the only legitimate daughter of the famous poet and
bad boy Lord Byron and his wife, Annabella Milbanke. What a tumultuous and
intriguing marriage that was! I had a hard time reining in Lady Byron in this
story, as my interpretation of her personality is not favorable, and she was
just oh-so annoying to me. I had many more scenes with her, as she lent herself
easily to being an antagonist, but this novel isn’t supposed to be a rant about
her and they were cut.
At
first I toyed with the idea of having the heroine be a love interest for
Charles Babbage, and that the heroine would then be the reason (inspiration)
for him completing the Analytical Engine. But I was fleshing out this story in
October for NaNoWriMo, and I knew that in order for him to be the hero, much more
research into his life and personality would have to happen than I had time for
before the competition started, so he was dropped as the hero (poor Charles).
I’m glad I made that decision! Babbage does appear in one scene though, so
there’s that. Ada, however, remained as a main secondary character and I had a
lot of fun researching her and her accomplishments.
The
title took me until the third draft or so, however. It started out as A Heart
for Every Fate, which was a line from a poem by Lord Byron, but it didn’t fit
the story’s tone. Then it became To Our Future, but that suffered from the same
problem. I work in a bookstore and was making up puns off of titles in the
store, and Must Love Dogs had me
think of Must Love Breeches and I
knew I had my title.
I have asked Angela to share 3 things readers
might not know about her:
1) I once tried learning Irish Gaelic! Whoah, was that a challenge! And that’s
coming from someone who’d once learned Finnish, which is often touted as
one of the more difficult languages. But yeah, Irish Gaelic was definitely
much more difficult and I gave up after a bi
2) In my twenties I directed a small local history museum outside of Atlanta.
3) Patrick
Henry, of “Give Me Liberty, Or Give Me Death” fame, is my 5th-great
uncle (I’m descended from his sister)
BOOK
BLURB
She's finally met the man of
her dreams. There's only one problem: he lives in a different century.
"A fresh, charming new
voice" – New York Times bestselling author Tessa Dare
HOW FAR WOULD YOU TRAVEL FOR
LOVE?
A mysterious artifact zaps Isabelle Rochon to pre-Victorian
England, but before she understands the card case’s significance a thief steals
it. Now she must find the artifact, navigate the pitfalls of a stiffly polite
London, keep her time-traveling origins a secret, and resist her growing
attraction to Lord Montagu, the Vicious Viscount so hot, he curls her toes.
To Lord Montagu nothing makes more sense than keeping his distance
from the strange but lovely Colonial. However, when his scheme for revenge
reaches a stalemate, he convinces Isabelle to masquerade as his fiancée. What
he did not bargain on is being drawn to her intellectually as well as
physically.
Lord Montagu’s now constant presence overthrows her equilibrium
and her common sense. Isabelle thought all she wanted was to return home, but
as passion flares between them, she must decide when her true home—as
well as her heart—lies.
Excerpt from Must Love Breeches
A reenactment ball was the perfect setting for
romance. Or not.
Isabelle Rochon fidgeted in her
oddly-shaped-but-oh-so-accurate ball gown, surrounded by women who’d sacrificed
historical authenticity for sex appeal. Red carpet ball gowns in the nineteenth
century, really? Once again she was like the dorky kid participating in
dress-up day at school when everyone else had magically decided it was lame.
“Gah. I feel like a green robot with strange
battle armor.” Isabelle pointed to her dark green dress, the shoulders flaring
out almost to a point, exaggerating their width. “What were the fashionistas in
1834 thinking?”
“I have no bloody idea.” Jocelyn squeezed the
poof of fabric at her shoulder. “These huge-ass sleeves are ridiculous.”
“Ah, screw it, we’re having fun, right? I’m not
going to self-sabotage the ball. Not after all the time I spent obsessing over
my costume.”
“And obsessing over the etiquette rules.”
“That too.” Besides, how fun was it to learn
Jocelyn shared her obsession with guys in period clothes and bodice-ripper
romances?
Isabelle eyed a guy strolling past in
tight-fitting, buff-colored pantaloons. She pitched her voice to be heard over
the string quartet. “Hmm. How about the clothes on that daring derriere?”
Jocelyn sucked on her olive and plopped the
empty stir stick into her martini. “Oh, yes. Definitely a breech-ripper.”
Isabelle choked on her Bellini, the champagne
fizz tickling her throat and nose. This was the first opportunity they’d had to
socialize outside work, so she treated this moment delicately, afraid to
puncture the mood. No need to point out he sported pantaloons, not breeches.
She should ease up on the drink, though. She
didn’t want to get plastered at the Thirty-fourth Annual Prancing Through
History Reenactment Ball. Especially since her new colleagues would be around.
And her boss. She needed to impress him.
How
can my readers buy your book?
What’s
next for you?
Now that I've embraced
being an indie, I plan to indie publish my steampunk romance, Steam Me Up, Rawley, set in Mobile in 1890, in
January/February of 2015. After that, it will be Book 2 in the Must Love
series, which will be Must
Love Chainmail, another time travel, this time set during Madog's rebellion
in 1294 Wales.
More about the author
Angela Quarles is a geek girl romance writer
whose works includes Must
Love Breeches, a
time travel romance, and Beer
& Groping in Las Vegas, a
geek romantic comedy in novelette form. She has a B.A. in Anthropology and
International Studies with a minor in German from Emory University, and a
Masters in Heritage Preservation from Georgia State University. She currently
resides in a historic house in the beautiful and quirky town of Mobile, AL.
You
can find more information about
Angela Quarles and her book,
Must Love Breeches
at:
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