Regency House Parties with Stephanie Burgis

Stephanie Burgis is one of my favorite authors. If you read this blog regularly I’m sure you’re aware of that. Her latest book, Stolen Magic, just came out this Tuesday. She’s doing an awesome blog tour to help promote her book and today, she’s here with us! We decided to talk about Regency house parties since Stolen Magic takes place at a house party. Read the interview! Buy the book! Then go watch the BBC’s Regency House Party!

Make sure to look for the giveaway at the end of Stephanie’s post!

-Sara

There’s just something about house parties! The very idea gives me a little thrill every time I spot it on the back of a book or a DVD case. All those different people thrown together in one house for days on end with no escape…what a perfect recipe for drama, as tension erupts and boils over!

There’s a reason why there’s a whole subgenre of “country house mysteries”. There’s also a reason why so many historical romance novels take place at country house parties. Sooo many dangerous–or exciting–opportunities for men and women to be thrown together all through the days and evenings!

…And of course there’s so much potential for intrigue, too, as people plot behind closed doors or use secret passageways to sneak back and forth. Add in priest holes and servants’ corridors (which were traditionally hidden behind the walls of a great house’s public rooms), and the opportunities are endless.

When I think of my own favorite house party stories, I think of country house mysteries by Agatha Christie and Georgette Heyer; historical romance novels by Lisa Kleypas, Georgette Heyer, and Eloisa James; and, of course, the movie Gosford Park.

I hope some readers will also come to think of Stolen Magic, as my heroine, dauntless thirteen-year-old Kat Stephenson, spends her days defending her older sister against snobby new in-laws in a pre-wedding house party of horror…and spends her nights sneaking around the echoing halls of Hepworth Park, pursuing secret, magical adventures of her own.

Smugglers, spies, and a mysterious Marquise all join in the mix, but mostly…

There’s just something about house parties.

In honor of Stephanie’s post I’ve got two giveaways! First!!! We’re going to give away a copy of Stolen Magic. Click this link to enter –> Stolen Magic Giveaway

Second! Because I love you guys so much, I’m giving away an audiobook of Wildwood Dancing by Juliette Marillier – Wildwood Dancing giveaway