Guest Post: Carolyn Miller & Underestimating Miss Cecilia

Happy Release Day to Carolyn Miller & Underestimating Miss Cecilia! Her books are always everything lovely and romantic, and so are her covers! I’m delighted to welcome her back to the blog to share some behind the scenes facts about her new book 🙂

Underestimating Miss Cecilia by Carolyn Miller
SERIES: Regency Brides: Daughters of Aynsley #3
GENRE: Inspirational Historical/Regency Romance
PUBLISHER: Kregel
RELEASE DATE: July 23, 2019
PAGES: 352

Shy, sweet Cecilia Hatherleigh has always been in love with Edward Amherst, the boy next door. Yet he’s never seen her as anything but the quiet girl in the background as he flirts with the other vivacious women of the ton.

When a near tragedy brings Edward’s attention to his family duties, this prodigal son decides he needs to settle down with a proper wife. Cecilia hopes to convince him to choose her—but God may want her to forget the wayward nobleman and put her future in His hands alone.

These two try to find their way toward happiness, but prejudice, political riots, and the changing face of England’s societal structures begin to block them at every turn. Can their struggles turn to triumph—or will their paths permanently diverge?

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top 5 behind-the-scenes facts about underestimating miss cecilia

by Carolyn Miller

Everyone knows the story of the prodigal son, right? But have you ever thought about how life would have been for him AFTER he returned home? Obviously his dad was glad he was back, but I reckon there would have been some more fireworks with the elder brother (and maybe the wider community) down the track. Ned Amherst is my ‘prodigal son’ challenge, which proved an excellent opportunity to delve into matters of grace, good works, and understanding the freeing nature of God’s complete and utter forgiveness.

Did you know in 1800s England it was illegal to even talk to gypsies? You may recall a scene in Jane Austen’s Emma when Harriet Smith has an encounter with some gypsies. There were numbers of laws in England that made it illegal to have anything to do with gypsies – in fact, the prejudice was so immense, that a 14 year old girl was hung for talking to a gypsy! 🙁 This awful prejudice still continues today (although the laws have – thankfully! – changed) so it was interesting to incorporate authentic historical laws with our more modern (Christian-based) compassionate acceptance towards marginalised people groups.

Underestimating Miss Cecilia releases 200 years of one of the key events mentioned in it. In 1819, protestors gathered in St Peter’s Field, Manchester, England to protest the unfair parliamentary representation of the time. Large cities such as Manchester had one representative, while a tiny village (literally) sliding into the sea had two! In what was later known as the Peterloo Massacre, soldiers struck down over a dozen working class men, women and children who had gathered to peacefully protest such things. The horror this created ultimately led (over a decade later) to more equitable representation in parliament, where those elected were responsible to a wider cross-section of the community, rather than to a few monied noblemen with vested interests to maintain the status quo. Thank God for democracy!

I loved including a Regency country house party scene in this book! Before the days of radio and TV, people had to make their own fun, which is why these lovely large English estates had so many magnificent rooms for entertaining. Some guests might stay for months! To entertain the younger members, there were a number of games played, many of which involved clever wordplay, so it helped to be well read and witty. As part of the purpose of these house parties was to encourage socialisation between prospective brides and grooms, some of these games even involved kissing! (Get those fans and fainting couch ready!) These games proved lots of fun to research – I even forced my children to play some (of the non-kissing!) games – and I loved putting Cecy and Ned into awkward romantic encounters. Want to know more? Check out my website 🙂

Don’t you love reading series where you get glimpses of what’s been going on in favourite character’s lives? I do. So knowing my next book (Misleading Miss Verity) would be set in Scotland (yay!), I thought it would be good to round out some of the storylines from my previous Regency Brides series by giving little cameos to some of the characters readers have enjoyed from books including The Elusive Miss Ellison, The Dishonorable Miss DeLancey, Winning Miss Winthrop and more. I hope readers enjoy seeing what’s been happening in their lives, as they get to know Cecilia and Edward, and the way God can weave different people into our lives in different seasons for His purpose and glory.

thank you so much, Carolyn! I love the cameos of much beloved characters from your previous books! And i bet those regency games with your kids were so much fun!!

Carolyn Miller lives in the beautiful Southern Highlands of New South Wales, Australia, with her husband and four children. Together with her husband she has pastored a church for ten years, and worked as a public high school English and Learning and Support teacher.

A longtime lover of romance, especially that of Jane Austen and Georgette Heyer’s Regency era, Carolyn holds a BA in English Literature, and loves drawing readers into fictional worlds that show the truth of God’s grace in our lives. Her Regency novels include The Elusive Miss Ellison, The Captivating Lady Charlotte, The Dishonorable Miss DeLancey, Winning Miss Winthrop, Miss Serena’s Secret, The Making of Mrs. Hale, A Hero for Miss Hatherleigh, and Underestimating Miss Cecilia, all available from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Book Depository, Koorong, etc.

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I always love chatting with Carolyn Miller & now I’m even more excited to read Underestimating Miss Cecilia!

What about you? Which behind-the-scenes fact most interests you?