Tuesday, September 27, 2011

A Class Apart


My first contemporary, A Class Apart, was just released by SirenBookStrand. As a Brit growing up on the Isle of Wight, surrounded by historic buildings, I suppose it was inevitable that I’d cut my writing teeth on regencies. The vibes from yester-year must have seeped into me like osmosis, quite without my knowledge so what else could I do?



A Class Apart is a ‘modern day’ regency – if it’s possible for such a beast to exist. If it isn’t I guess I just invented a new genre. Anyway, I got to thinking about the antics of the aristocracy in modern day England. Some things have changed little in the two hundred years that have elapsed since the regency era. As then, half of them appear to be up to their eyes in debt, or scandal, or both, but that doesn’t detract from that ‘social status’. They are still very much in demand and consider themselves A Class Apart from us lesser mortals.

Lady Octavia Radleigh is working as an interior designer for a trendy company in London, blissfully unaware that her grandfather, the Marquis of Frampton, is crippled with debts that will result in the loss of the ancestral family home, Radleigh Manor. When she find out, she’s fiercely determined to keep the manor within the family’s control, especially since the guy who wants to buy it is some financial guru with lowly origins. Quite simply, he’s beyond the pale. Jake Bentley, the would-be purchaser, is equally determined to acquire the house to prove to the world that he’s nobody’s lackey. Octavia hatches a wild plan to turn the house into an upmarket hotel, aimed at the American market. All she has to do now is persuade Jake to finance her crazy scheme.

Game on!

Boxed into a corner, Jake agrees to give it a shot. But someone is out to sabotage their efforts. As he gets to know Octavia better he concedes that she’s not all bad. Full of admiration for her feisty determination to save her home, his protective instincts are tested when she puts herself directly in the line of danger to achieve her goal…

A Class Apart is a book that I passionately believe in, so much so that I named my rescued dog Jake Bentley after the hero. Well, they’re both handsome mongrels with independent spirits and naughty streaks so it seemed like the right thing to do. And do you know what, I even dedicated the book to my Jake. A book dedicated to a dog. Has that been done before?

A Class Apart from SirenBookStrand  http://www.bookstrand.com/a-class-apart Just $4.49

Read the first chapter on my website at http://www.wendysoliman.com and let me know what you think.

Wendy

No comments: