England’s flourishing economy under the four King Georges (1714 – 1830) spilled over to the kitchen. Culinary delights were in demand. The number of pastry chefs and confectioners increased by almost 20,000 from the late Georgian period to middle Victorian era. Recipe books abounded. Inventors tinkered with refrigeration as early as 1755. The first gas stove was developed in the 1820s (and patented in 1826). Was cooking then the same...

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My Midnight Meetings series books work their way through 1768, heading toward Christmas Eve in the novella, Meet My Love at Midnight and a light dip into Twelfth Night in Meet a Rogue at Midnight. Part of the fun has been researching what Georgian England ate and drank during this festive time. One interesting fact was naughty pudding–once outlawed under Cromwell’s rule. Puritans and Quakers alike considered the dish “lewd” and...

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    Christmas pudding was one of the most controversial foods in history. Really! The harmless dish is most often associated with desserts, and it also comes as heartier fare in blood puddings. But did people hotly debate the morality of pudding? Yes. The popular Christmas treat was served up readily in Medieval England. Christmas then took on Mardi Gras proportions. Think an excess of everything. Gambling. Sex. Drunkenness. Fun games...

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The Lord Meets His Lady          The Scene Set-up: Lord Marcus offered to help Genevieve once before, which she turned down. Circumstances made her rethink that refusal. She’s having a tough time divulging painful secrets while digesting Lord Marcus’s genuine offer to help—and that he asks for nothing in return.     Lord Bowles brushed hair off her face, his tenderness healing her, coaxing her. She wanted to melt into...

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The Battle of the Books continues…     Two novels in my Midnight Meetings series are launching in these final months of 2017: The Lord Meets His Lady (book 3) and Meet a Rogue at Midnight (book 4, a novella). Part of the fun has been comparing hallmark scenes in romance and seeing which book fared better. I’m continuing “Battle of the Books”* with “The Heroine’s First ‘He’s...

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The Lord Meets His Lady Midnight Meetings series, book 3 Where rakish Lord Bowles fixes a cottage, and his impertinent housekeeper fixes his heart        An excerpt: “I have a few requirements milord…” Miss Turner bent over at the hearth, dumping ashes into a red pail. She could be ringing an off-key church bell with her energetic cleaning or calling the morning muster. “Mr. Beckworth asked me to remind you that...

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