This post is part of a virtual book tour organized by Goddess Fish Promotions. Amanda McCabe will award a prize pack containing a selection of Regency DVDs, teas, and signed copies of her books to a randomly drawn winner. Click on the tour banner to see the other stops on the tour.
Hello, and think you much for hosting me here today!! I hope you love Eleanor and Frederick and their world of Regency Bath, England in The Earl’s Cinderella Countess as much as I loved writing them. It’s a city I would love to visit again…
You asked about the background of the book, and strangely the inspiration came from a non-fiction story of World War II I read. The Marriage Bureau by Penrose Halston was on a Kindle sale one day, and I thought it sounded fascinating—two ladies who set up a matchmaking business during World War II. It was such a fun read, learning about how they were able to intuit if people might be right for each other, and how fulfilling it was to help make a little happiness in a difficult time. I wondered if that idea might work in other time periods, and so my “Matchmakers in Bath” series was born!
Of course, matchmaking in the 1810s was very different from, say, Match.com (thankfully!!). Most people met through family connections, things of that sort, but Ella and Mary St. Aubin in my book decide to help those are a bit—different. They have strange hobbies or unusual personalities for their time, or they really want true love. This agency is for them! (I also have always had a soft spot for Emma Woodhouse, though Ella and Mary are better at making matches than she was!!). I also have no sisters of my own, and love writing stories where there is a family relationship like that.
Another inspiration was Bath itself. It is one of my favorite places to visit, with its cobbled streets, beautiful, honey-gold Bath stone buildings, and sense of history. (Plus there is a great sweet shop just behind the Abbey, and I adore my sweets!)
So that is how this book came about! Would you be a good matchmaker? What’s a town that’s inspired you?
Enjoy this friends-to-lovers romance set in Regency Bath
The one match
She doesn’t want to make…
The Earl of Fleetwood was Eleanor St. Aubin’s first love, but being a mere vicar’s daughter held her back from admitting her feelings. Now she’s a successful matchmaker, and the prospect of finding Frederick the wealthy wife he needs to settle his inherited debts is a nightmare come true! But returning from war, Frederick’s facing nightmares of his own. Eleanor feels compelled to help him, but could she ever be his Cinderella countess?
Enjoy an Excerpt
Staring down at the sparkle of the glorious view before her, Eleanor stumbled a bit as she descended the carriage steps. Fred caught her before she could tumble down, lifting her high for an instant as she held tight to his shoulders, staring up in wonder at his familiar, unfamiliar, beautiful face.
He slowly, ever so slowly lowered her to the ground, a gentle slide, his gaze never leaving hers. Eleanor didn’t want to let him go, yet the chatter of Penelope and Mary as they made their way up the path, the chirping song of the birds, pulled her back into the real world again.
She stepped back, flustered. “Thank you. So clumsy of me.”
“The last thing you could ever be, Ella, is clumsy,” he said hoarsely. She noticed him running his damaged arm, as if he had wrenched it and didn’t want her to notice. She felt so shy and awful that he had to worry about such things now! Her strong, funny old friend.
They walked together behind Penelope and Mary and the footmen, toward a spot where they could spread out their picnic with the glorious view all around them. Eleanor lost herself in the chatter, the wine and laughter, and soon felt easy again, as if she was with the old Fred and she the old Eleanor, reading poetry in the Moulton Magna summerhouse.
But they were not those people still, not really, and there was a new, taut awareness she could not deny. He was at the other end of the blanket, far from her reach, yet Eleanor was achingly aware of him at every moment. As they finished their repast, and grew quiet and drowsy in the sunlight, he glanced toward her and smiled.
“Shall we walk a bit, Ella?” he asked, popping a last strawberry into his mouth. “I fear if I sit here any longer, I’ll quite go to sleep in this delightfully warm sun.”
About the Author: 
Amanda wrote her first romance at the age of sixteen–a vast historical epic starring all her friends as the characters, written secretly during algebra class (and her parents wondered why math was not her strongest subject…)
She’s never since used algebra, but her books (over 100 so far!) have been nominated for many awards, including the RITA Award, the Romantic Times BOOKReviews Reviewers’ Choice Award, the Booksellers Best, the National Readers Choice Award, and the Holt Medallion. She lives in Santa Fe with two rescue dogs, a wonderful husband, and a very and far too many books and royal memorabilia collections.
When not writing or reading, she loves taking dance classes, collecting cheesy travel souvenirs, and watching the Food Network–even though she doesn’t cook.
Buy the book at Amazon.
