Books-n-Kisses is pleased to Welcome Vicky Dreiling to the blog today. Vicky is the author of the fan named “How to” Series, How to Marry a Duke, How to Seduce a Scoundrel and How to Ravish a Rake (Spring 2012)
Vicky Dreiling is a confirmed historical romance junkie and Anglophile. Frequent business trips to the UK allowed her to indulge her passion for all things Regency England. Bath, Stonehenge, and Spencer House are among her favorite places. She is, however, truly sorry for accidentally setting off a security alarm in Windsor Castle. That unfortunate incident led her British colleagues to nickname her “Trouble.”
When she’s not writing, Vicky enjoys reading, films, concerts, and most of all, long lunches with friends. She holds degrees in English literature and marketing. A native Texan, she shares her home with her daughter and a spoiled mini-lop rabbit that lives in a slightly gnawed cardboard cottage.
Hi Vicky, Welcome to Books-n-Kisses. Thank you so much for stopping by and taking time out of your busy schedule to sit down and answer a few questions.
Vicky: Thanks for inviting me to your blog!
Q1) First, how was RWA? Did you have a blast? Are you finally recovered?
Vicky: RWA seems like a distant memory now, but I had a wonderful time. Every year, I see old friends and make new ones. The highlight of the conference was my very first book signing at the RWA Readers for Life Literacy Autographing.
Q2) Tell us a little bit about yourself.
Vicky: I’m from Texas and have held several interesting jobs including aerobics instructor, stay-at-home mom, and a 10-year stint in corporate marketing. I am a historical romance junkie and bought my first romance by accident at a supermarket. I didn’t know it was a romance until I started reading it. That book was ALMOST HEAVEN by Judith McNaught. I couldn’t put it down and have been hooked on historical romance ever since.
Q3) When did you decide you wanted to be an author?
Vicky: I wrote in diaries as a kid, but like most authors, the urge to write romance came from reading the books. One day when my kids were in school, I decided to write a historical romance for fun. I confessed my hobby to a friend. In a twist of fate, she happened to have seen a notice for a class on how to write a romance at a local branch of a university. I signed up for the class, and that led me to join RWA.
At one RWA meeting, there was a workshop on writing contests. I got excited when I heard that some of the judges were published authors. I entered five of them with the hopes of getting ‘critiques’ from published authors. Something unexpected happened. I won four of those five contests. I even finaled in the Golden Heart contest with that first manuscript. Ultimately, I did massive revisions for an editor without promise of contract, but the book wasn’t strong enough for publication.
After a trip back to college and several years ramping up a marketing career, I decided it was time to write again. The second manuscript was HOW TO MARRY A DUKE. Shortly after I began writing, I also started traveling domestically and internationally for business. That partly accounts for why it took me three years to finish the book. During that time, however, I also wrote three drafts of the book. Obviously, I was very determined to do everything possible to sell. Then I met my agent at a regional conference, and in 2009, I sold HOW TO MARRY A DUKE to Grand Central/Forever in a 3-book contract.
Q4) Let’s talk about your books (which I must say I love) in your fan named “How To Series”
Tell us about How to Marry a Duke.
Vicky: Thanks for your kind words about my books.
I got the idea for HOW TO MARRY A DUKE after watching one episode of The Bachelor TV show. When the episode ended, a premise popped into my head: The Bachelor in Regency England minus the hot tub and camera crew. At first, I resisted the idea. I couldn’t have those Regency misses jumping in a hot tub or going on overnight dates. Then I thought: But what if you could write a Regency-era version? I figured I had nothing to lose. How hard could it be? Can you hear my hysterical laughter all the way from Texas?
HOW TO MARRY A DUKE is the story of Tristan Gatewick, the Duke of Shelbourne, who needs a wife in order to beget the requisite heir he needs.The papers have dubbed him The Most Eligible Bachelor in England. Every silly belle in the ton is dropping handkerchiefs and fans for him to retrieve. Tristan is weary of playing fetch, so when he meets a matchmaker, he decides to retain her. Tessa Mansfield is a bit leery of Tristan, because he’s a notorious rake. However, she sees a golden opportunity for her matchmaking career. If she can successfully make a love match for the duke, maybe other gentlemen will seek her services. Unfortunately, Tristan is the most unromantic man she’s ever met. Nonetheless, Tessa is undaunted and sets out to teach him lessons in love. There’s just one little problem: Tristan and Tessa are having trouble resisting their growing attraction. Because the ‘courtship’ is public knowledge, they dare not give into their desire. He is honor-bound to marry one of the ‘bridal candidates,’ and she has a secret that could destroy them both.
Tell us about How to Seduce a Scoundrel
HOW TO SEDUCE A SCOUNDREL is a Regency-era spoof of THE RULES. The book features Lady Julianne and Marc Darcett, Earl of Hawkfield (aka Hawk), two characters from HOW TO MARRY A DUKE. When Tristan who cannot stay in London asks his best friend Hawk to act as Julianne’s guardian, Hawk is reluctant, but he can’t say no to his best friend. Hawk figures it can’t be too difficult. But at the first ball, he waltzes with Julianne and is stunned by his desire for her. She’s his best friend’s sister and is off-limits. When starry-eyed Julianne realizes that Hawk has no romantic interest in her, she’s heartbroken at first, but she decides to get even. With the help of friends, Julianne writes a lady’s guide to snaring bachelors in the parson’s mousetrap. THE SECRETS OF SEDUCTION causes quite a scandal, and Julianne must keep her identity a secret. Meanwhile, Hawk is having the devil of a time resisting his gorgeous ward. He’s got his own baggage and doesn’t believe he’s worthy of her. As Julianne discovers that Hawk has dark secrets, she realizes that the man she’s always known needs her love and belief in him.
Tell us about the next book How to Ravish a Rake
HOW TO RAVISH A RAKE is a Regency version of What Not to Wear to the Ball. Miss Amy Hardwick has spent several years as a hopeless wallflower, but this year, she’s determined to shed her shy reputation. Amy yearns to be one of the pretty belles, but she knows that’s impossible. However, she’s determined to be elegant and creates her own daring designs for gowns. Soon, the ton declares her the Fashion Darling of the Ton. But Amy’s wonderful night takes a scandalous turn when the most notorious rake in London mistakes her for his hussy in a dark library. That rake is none other than William Darcett, the man the scandal sheets have named the devil. After a steamy encounter with him, Amy thinks she’s escaped with her scruples barely intact. But the devil has other ideas, and Amy is having trouble resisting forbidden temptation.
Q5) What is after How to Ravish a Rake?
Vicky: Sorry, I can’t tell you yet, but keep an eye on my website for upcoming news.
Q6) Which of your characters has been the toughest to write and who has been the easiest?
Vicky: Hawk was the most difficult to write, because he hides his dark past beneath a clown mask. If readers are interested, I have a Behind the Scenes feature on my website that discusses his characterization in more detail. This feature contains spoilers, so I recommend reading the book first. Here’s a link to the article: http://www.vickydreiling.com/funstuff.html
Tessa was the easiest character to write, because I knew her history early in the planning process of HOW TO MARRY A DUKE, and I had some idea of how her past would affect the choices she made as the book progressed.
Q7) How did you come up with the idea for your “How to” Series?
Vicky: Once I got an agent, I needed to create sketches for follow-up books to HOW TO MARRYA DUKE (HTMAD) that we could submit to publishers. I positioned the follow-up books to contain spoofs of modern dating practices similar to HTMAD.
Q8) If you could co-write a book with any other author. Who would it be and what genre?
Vicky: I wouldn’t attempt it, because I can’t imagine meshing two voices in a novel. Some authors talk about developing their voices, but that doesn’t resonate with me at all. I write the way I write. Granted, I pay attention to diction to give my novels a historical flavor, so to speak, but I don’t overly season the prose with Regency parlance.
If you want to get an idea of what I mean by voice, take two historical romances written by two different authors and read portions of them aloud. You’ll probably note a marked difference in the cadence, the diction, and the sentence structure. I think there is a je ne sais quoi element to voice as well.
Q9) What are your writing rituals? Anything you have to have?
Vicky: I wear Bose Noise Cancellation headphones (from my old flying days) and listen to music on my iPOD. I’m a very good customer of i-Tunes. J
Q10) How does your play lists help you?
Vicky: I choose music that reflects scenes through either the lyrics, melody or both. In addition, each book has a theme song. The theme song for HOW TO MARRY A DUKE is I Believe in You by Il Divo and Celine Dion. Better Man is the theme song for HOW TO SEDUCE A SCOUNDREL. Right now, Sympathy for the Devil is the theme song for HOW TO RAVISH A RAKE. J
Q11) If you were not an author what do you think you would be doing?
Vicky: I can’t imagine my life without writing now.
Books-n-Kisses: Thanks Vicky for sitting down with me.
Okay… *evil look in eye*
Rapid Fire Time:
Ready?
McDonalds or Burger King? Shudders – neither. I don’t like fast food.
Summer or Winter? Spring. J
Ice cream or Frozen Yogurt? I’m lactose intolerant. I love ice cream, but it doesn’t love me. L
Burgers or Hot dogs? Burgers.
Smore’s good or bad? Good.
Paperback or E-book? Both.
GPS or Paper Map? GPS but I still get lost.
Coffee or Tea? Coke Zero
Action film or Romance? Romance
Thanks Vicky again for stopping by Books-n-Kisees. I hope you enjoyed your time here and I hope that we can get back together closer to the release of How to Ravish a Rake.
Giveaway Time:
Vicky is so great…
She has offered to giving away one Signed Audio version of book 1 How to Marry a Duke
& Signed copy of book 2 How to Seduce a Scoundrel.
To Enter:
Please leave a comment
Please leave your email (SUPER IMPORTANT PART!!!)
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Only open to the US & Canada.
Giveaway open until August 31st
Winner announced Sept 2nd.
To learn more about Vicky’s books visit her website:
I just started reading historical romances and this one looks like one I may enjoy.
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Awesome interview! And thanks for the great giveaway.
I love these kind of romance books. I have not read any of Vicky books yet but I sure will now, great blog today.
Thanks for being here Vicky.
I've done all below
Penney
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Enjoyed that interview & the description of the series – I do love Historical Romance!
sallans d at yahoo dot com
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Thanks so much for featuring my books on your website. Good luck to everyone!
I fell in love with Vicky's books when I read How to Marry a Duke (and doesn't she have great covers!). I'm thrilled to know that after I get a chance to read How to Seduce a Scoundrel that I have How to Ravish a Rake to look forward to as well.
Vicking – My husband is a Master stone mason so there was no way when we took a trip to England that we were going to miss Stonehenge! It really is a wonder to behold. We also had a great time "exploring" in Salisbury. Have you had a chance to go there? The "townpeople" there were helpful and friendly and even guided us to an off the beaten track small "local pub" for lunch!
Hopefully you'll be telling us more about that 4th book soon!
Sorry I forgot to add:
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Jeanne,
I took 10 business trips to London in 3 years and always made time for sight-seeing. I visited Stonehenge in 2006 on one of those out of London bus tours. Unfortunately, I didn't have time to explore Salisbury. But on that same tour, I also visted Windsor Castle (where I infamously set off the alarm LOL), and I also went to Bath. I've also been to Oxford, Stratford Upon Avon, and Warwick Castle. I have some photos of Warwick Castle on my website. Of course, I also toured tons of places in London over those 3 years. I admit when I visited Stonehenge I thought: Those big rocks look just like the pictures LOL. That spurred an idea for HOW TO SEDUCE A SCOUNDREL, which is in the first chapter. 🙂
Hawk sounds like the kind of hero that I am drawn to. I think characters who challenge authors, who are to difficult to write about and whose story is complicated are the most interesting. That is how I like my heroes. I like to see them overcome their past and face their fears, and of course find love.
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Hi I really need to read these they sound awesome.
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FB Patti Conn Paonessa Pusateri
musicalfrog at comcast.net
GREAT! I FOLLOW WILL SIGN UP LIKED VICKIE, A MEMBER OF MUSE
linda_bass@sbcglobal.net
Hi, Vicki!
Fun interview. Here's what I did:
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Thanks,
MJB
The best way to make s'mores is with Peeps! The heat caramelizes the sugar on the surface of the Peeps. Yum!
ironss [at] gmail [dot] com
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thanks for the great interview!! and YAY for the directionally challenged!!
(i would love book 2!!)
alainala AT hotmail.ca
+3 for following the blog, and fb page and newsletter!!