Maggie Robinson’s evil twin has been let out to play this month for the release of Margaret Rowe’s ANY WICKED THING. I have the softest spot for AWT—it’s a very erotic Regency romance, detailing a power exchange between two childhood friends-turned-lovers-turned-enemies, and it’s layered with complex emotions. Sebastian Goddard, the Duke of Roxbury, has spent a decadent decade running away from his responsibilities, while Frederica Wells has tended the home fires of disintegrating Goddard Castle. Those fires blaze upon Sebastian’s return, and Freddie’s world widens in a journey of sensual discovery. Both of them learn something about themselves along the way to their unconventional happily-ever-after.
Oh, don’t get me wrong. There are three children in the epilogue, but Sebastian will never be anything else but wicked. His needs, however, are fully satisfied by his wife. As he says in the last chapter, “She was more than enough. She was everything.” While I might be suspicious in real life that a sensible medieval scholar like Freddie could tame a man like Sebastian, it was utter romance to succeed within the pages of a book. I am a sucker for reforming the rake, and Sebastian required more reformation than most. 😉
But a bad boy would be no fun if he lost all his wicked ways. That’s what attracts us to begin with, even if such a bad boy might be uncomfortable to live with in reality. I read and write fiction to venture out of familiar territory, be it losing myself in the Yorkshire moors around Goddard Castle or in Sebastian’s bed. I can indulge my fantasies without falling into a sink hole or putting my back out. I like my “mod cons” as they say in British real estate ads, but I write historical romance, where modern conveniences and sensibilities are seriously absent.
Take Goddard Castle. It’s falling down daily. Freddie wants to buy it because it’s the only home she’s ever known and she will do any wicked thing to get it. But it’s a far cry from a well-kept keep. The secrets it holds are key to her happy ending, if the ceiling doesn’t collapse on her first and Sebastian doesn’t lock her away like Rapunzel in her tower.
Have you ever visited a castle and imagined yourself as its chatelaine? Do you have a favorite castle romance? What mod con would you have to have to live happily ever after like a princess in a fairy tale? I’ll give away a signed copy of ANY WICKED THING to one commenter!
Margaret Rowe is a former teacher, library clerk and mother of four who woke up in the middle of the night, absolutely compelled to create the perfect man and use as many adverbs as possible doing so. A transplanted New Yorker, she lives with her not-quite perfect husband in Maine, where the cold winters are ideal for staying inside and writing hot historical romances. You can visit her at her online home at: www.margaretrowe.net, follow her on Twitter @MaggieLRobinson and friend her on Facebook
I really love to visit castles and I dream all the time that I am a chatelaine … It seems to be wonderful to be a chatelaine (but of course I don’t mention all the inconvenients in my dream !). I visited Schönbrunn Palace in Austria, it was so beautiful … I want the same as home ! 😉
I can’t wait to read Any Wicked Thing and look forward to it. I love your books Maggie.
I really don’t need a Castle to be happy. I just need a great looking Highlander in a Kilt and I’ll let him be my Castle. 🙂
Carol L
Lucky4750@aol.com
I have visited a castle – on a school trip. There is actually one here in Massachusetts and it is quite interesting. It made me want to visit more! Maybe some day. And yes, I could imagine living in one!
I have visited Windsor Castle twice and Hampton Court Palace once. Of the two I would say Hampton Court Palace was my favorite. They have beautiful grounds with a gorgeous maze. The palace does have a multiple personality disorder however. It is medieval on the front and Georgian on the back. They just kept building on to it and every royal had their own design tastes. I love Windsor too, especially the town. I think I prefer the interiors of Windsor Castle. They were beautifully restored after the fire.
Love the premise of Any Wicked Thing!
I love castles… I visited Versailles outside of Paris many years ago and The Biltmore House in North Carolina. I have puzzles of castles and actually have a picture of a castle with a knight in shining armor approaching it on the wall in my bedroom. We also are annual passholders at DisneyWorld… so I love Cinderella’s Castle. However, IF I were being realistic (and who wants to be realistic?), I’d think that it would very drafty in a castle… we’re probably more comfortable in our homes… sigh…
Please enter me in your current contest. Thank you!
I love Regency romance! I’ve never been to a castle but someday I’d love to! I love the fact that Sebastian is a bad boy!
I love castles and I visit them all over Europe. They do seem rather cold and drafty though – all that stone. Fireplaces are just not sufficient to heat them and are rather smoky so if I was going to live in one, I’d have to have central heating. Most recently I visited Montreux and went to the castle there which is right on Lake Geneva.
Good morning, ladies! Thanks so much for stopping by. I’ve got a castle story. We visited Balmoral with friends, and got there at 4 PM. The castle closed at 5 and I practically sprinted down the very long drive, leaving my husband & friends way behind. They’d never seen me move so fast and tease me to this day, but I was worried I wouldn’t see enough in an hour, and I was right. Must go back someday and walk slower, LOL. We have a trip planned for London and Wales in April and I’m going to visit every castle I can!
Kacie, you have my promise that Sebastian is very bad indeed.
Stacie, I’ve walked around Windsor too. So charming.
Margay, I’ve been to the castle in Connecticut, but the name escapes me. Starts with H? Didn’t know there was a castle in MA.
LadyK, my mother was from Vienna. When we went to visit my grandmother, we spent the day at Schönbrunn. So ornate!
I’ve never seen a castle. I love your books!
Jen, we’ll just have to weave some tapestries to keep out the drafts.;)
Thanks, Dani! I love my readers, LOL.
I forget now which one it was, but in 94 I visited one of the Welsh border castle ruins, a huge stone building – even in ruins – and you could *feel* the sweat and tears of those who died there building it. In a weird coincidence there was a bloody white dove lying on my path while I was wandering around ‘hearing’ the resonances of the people who went before. I’m not usually very mystical like that, but there was a distinct feeling of otherness there during my visit even though there were many people around and you could hear the cars honking on the very busy street in front.
I don’t think I’d want to be a Medieval princess, a prince maybe. They at least had some freedom. I know one thing – if there ever is a time machine, I’ll have my nose cauterized like the main character in Connie Willis’ Doomsday Book before I go into the past! 🙂
Linda, I’ve always wanted to go to Biltmore. It looks unbelievable. When my girls were little I’d take them to Newport, and they still remember wandering around some of the estates in awe. Closest thing to castles here. I just finished reading the Dowager Duchess of Devonshire’s memoir. Chatsworth isn’t a castle but it has over 120 rooms! Would hate to dust them all.
Ooh, GrowlyCub, eerie!
We’ll be staying at Hay on Wye, which has a ruined castle and one that is functioning as a bookstore! There are tons of castles in the area and I’m going to force my husband to visit as many as we have time for. And I’m with you–I love modern dentistry and plumbing, but wouldn’t mind a brief daytrip for research purposes. 🙂
Carol, I’m perfectly happy in my humble house too. But I get tempted every now and again by those castle-country house hotels, where I could pretend for awhile. 🙂 My husband’s family emigrated from Scotland, and he has a plaid. He’s got pants but no kilt, LOL.
I would love to win this. I heart Maggie and love the naughtiness of regency erotica!
Thank you, Monica! I heart you too!
Hi Maggie! Congratulations on the new release! I have to say the premise of AWT sounds wonderful- so many tropes/themes right up my alley!
I’ve not been lucky enough to visit a castle yet, but it’s definitely on my bucket list. On the other hand, I could easily imagine myself as a chatelaine 😉 for the modcon… Can I group plumbing and central air? (heating and cooling). I… Am pretty sure those are crucial for my happiness.
And, side note- if I made any typos it’s my phone’s fault! 😛
I loved Hay on Wye, books everywhere. 🙂
It was one of the strongholds built by Edward I in his efforts to subdue the Welsh, so 13th century architecture. I’ll have to look them up and figure out which one it was now. 🙂
I never have visited any castle but I really want in the future.
Marjana, I hope you can!
GrowlyCub, I am hoping to stuff my suitcase with some great research books. 30 bookstores! I’m so excited.
Limecello, I’m with you on the central air/heat…or at least the heat part. When I woke up this morning in Maine it was -7!
Oh I remember my first castle like it was yesterday! It was Cardiff Castle in Wales and I was studying abroad in England and we took a trip there. I remember climbing to the very top of the Keep (and it was alot of stairs!) and pretending that I was waiting for my prince to save me. He never came but I still had a great time roaming around pretending I was queen of the castle. I’ve also been to Windsor which I LOVE. I’m trying to convince my family to go on another trip where we can stay in a castle but they all think I’m crazy. Anyway, I can’t wait to read Any Wicked Thing. I mean who can resist a bad boy, I know I can’t! Congrats!
Great story, Jamie. But oh those stairs. I’d need an elevator!
When I was 17 yrs old my mom took me to Switzerland to show me the country in which she was born. While there we traveled to Paris and we were able to go to Versailles in France. It is a beautiful castle. I was so mesmerized by it…didn’t want to leave and certainly did not want to leave Paris to return home. I hope to return someday with my family.
I would love to win this concert. I am a huge fan of romance novels.
oops!!! meant contest not concert. Thank u!
Amanda, you don’t want me to sing for you, but I’d love to write for you. 🙂 I’ve only been to Paris once and remember it as being very romantic. My husband and I had not been married long, and….let’s just say it was a great trip.
The book sounds interesting. I agree — love rogues and watching them change their wicked ways except in relation to their lady love 😉 While I enjoy reading romances set in castles, I don’t think I’d make a good princess in one — I want all the modern covenveinces 😉
Unusual cover!
Oh, while we are on castles and stairs. That same year I went to Pembroke Castle (where William Marshall and Isabella de Clare lived) and climbed one of the towers. I’m sitting there in the sun with my sandwich and a good book and these two German tourists arrived. They saw me and started talking about me, speculating I was taking my lunch break up there every day. Had a splendid time telling them how impolite it was to talk about people assuming they didn’t understand the language, grin. They turned bright red and disappeared fast and I had the tower to myself again. Fun memories! 🙂 Now I want to go back even worse than after the recent twitter convo about Scotland where I used to live. Sigh.
I’ve never visited a castle but I would love to visit some of the old English mansions, fictional or real, like Pemberly or Downton Abbey! The only romance set in a castle that I can recall right off hand is ‘Once Upon a Pillow’, a continuing story written by Christina Dodd and Connie Brockway. An excellent story about the Masterson Bed throughout its history.
Looking forward to reading your latest, Margaret. I’ve only read one of your Maggie Robinson books so far but I have at least one of your Margaret Rowe books on my TBR mountain range! Need to bring them to the top of the heap!
Donna Ann, I would not make a good princess. Those tiaras are heavy and mess up your hair. 🙂
GrowlyCub, one of my books out next year is set on an island in the Outer Hebrides. I love Scotland and have visited several times but have never gone to the islands. Thanks goodness for YouTube and fabulous Celtic music to get me in the mood I know there’s a boat trip you can book to island hop and that’s a dream of mine. Someday.
JCP, the cover really is beautiful in your hand. There’s kind of a faded image on the back of Freddie’s face. I think the artist captured her exactly as I imagined her. The feel is very dissimilar to my first Berkley book, Tempting Eden, but they are both fabulous covers. I’ve been really lucky, I think.
Karen, I loved Downton Abbey so much I bought the DVDs. Have seen interior shots of parts of the actual house used to film there and it needs TONS of renovation. Sooo expensive to keep these homes up, even when open to the public and rented out as film sets. To me they are valuable museums, but the preservation of people come first. It’s difficult all the way around.
I’ve never visited a castle before, but it’s on the list of things to do! I think Lynn Kurland was the first to really bring castles to life for me, because her first novels featured a modern heroine sent back in time: everything I read through her eyes was filtered by someone’s whose background was much more similar to mine than a historical heroine’s. So yes, castles are…rather drafty, right? If I could have central heating (or many fireplaces), I’d probably never leave home.
Julie, I’ve enjoyed Lynn Kurland’s books, too. She does time travel so well.
I have never been to a castle. I would love to visit one someday. I have always been fascinated by castles. Margaret’s book sounds great. What a beautiful cover.
I have never visited a castle either. I would love to some day! I’m especially interesting in visiting haunted ones. I would love to stay the night in one! I have read so many books with castles in them its hard to remember them all. I did love Teresa Medeiros’s book Charming the Prince and loved it. I’m content where ever I live as long as it has a huge bathtub! I love to strech out and read my romance books in a big hot bubble bath! Thanks for sharing today!
Hay on Wye ??? I am GREEN with envy!! All those books! Sigh!
Can’t wait to read your latest. I LOVE a good bad boy!
I’ve visited a number of castles in my travels. My very favorite is Castle Anif near Salzburg, Austria. It is the cutest little castle you have every seen and I have often dreamed of living in Castle Anif with my own barely redeemed rake! LOL
A couple of the castles I visited in Romania had an amazing vibe to them, but I’m not sure I would want to live there as most of them were associated with Vlad of Wallachia !
Running hot water would have to be my modcon. I can deal with many things, but I cannot live without a good hot bath at the end of the day! Don’t need electric heat. That’s what barely redeemed rakes are for!
Congratulations on your new book ANY WICKED THING, I really can’t wait to read it! I have never been to a castle, but would love to visit one someday. I bet it’s really something to see.
Congrats on the release of ANY WICKED THING! I enjoyed Mistress by Mistake which is my first Maggie Robinson book ever.
I’ve never visited a castle (which is actually on my bucket list) but I did visit the Doge’s Palace in Venice. Does that count? As for mod con, I can’t live without whitening strips. lol. Silly, but I’m obsessed with having really white teeth. I’m sure the heroes in the books I read all agree. After all, it seems all of them have straight, white teeth. A little suspicious.
I’ve enjoyed visiting castles in France, Germany and England (darn it I never made it to Scotland) and they’re fascinating to look at but I would get lost in most of them. I like Carol’s answer about the Highlander lol.
Thanks, Amber and Crystal!
Louisa, I really am excited. I’ve been to Wales, but never there. My current WIP is set somewhere along the Welsh border & I stumbled upon the town kind of by accident. Bookstores!!! Your castles sound delightful !(as does the rake)
Johanna, I’m a scairdy cat. No ghosts for me. 🙂
Welcome, Maggie!!! Late to the party as usual. hehehehe. I really need my Central Air–no its or maybes about it. But I’m so ready to go exploring the old castles in England and France. 🙂
Congrats on the newest release. I haven’t seen any real castles unless you count Cinderella’s castle at the Magic Kingdom. I would love to be able to visit various castles throughout England, Ireland, and France.
Please don’t enter me because I already have the book. I just wanted to comment on the beautiful cover!
Enjoyed reading your article.
I have visited several castles in Europe and England some of which were really nice and big and some were dark and dreary. Not for me-too drafty. Your book sounds really good.
I live in England and I LOVE visiting castles. My husband took me to one for my birthday – the beautifully preserved Bodiam castle (picture on my blog – it’s an unbelievably cool castle: http://readericreatedhim.wordpress.com/2011/01/24/a-birthday-weekend-fit-for-a-romance-novelist/ )
Having grown up in San Diego, I know how lucky I am to get to visit such historic places. When my husband’s British family came to San Diego for our wedding, they were amused that we got married in a house that had a plaque declaring it a historic place…built in 1925.
Thanks for buying the book, Terri! Your other package has gone out in the mail. 🙂
Joye, I think dark & dreary is a given for most castles. You don’t want windows that can let in invaders/arrows/cannon balls. Gloom City!
Danielle, of course Cinderella’s castle counts! That’s probably the first castle little girls learn about. 🙂
Beverley, this is your house. Your rules, LOL. Thanks so much for having me blog today. The Season is one of my favorite spots on the net!
I have been hearing a lot of good things about this book, can’t wait to read it.
Now that I think about it, does the Bishop Castle count? The one that’s in Colorado. My cousins and I dubbed it as Beauty and the Beast’s castle. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bishop_Castle
Quilt Lady, hope you find it & enjoy it!
Kati, that place looks amazing!
Kat, this is when we all turn on you in jealousy, LOL. My husband and I have talked about spending a year in England. I’d miss my kids too much, I think, but I’d love to go for a longer time than just a week.
I have never read anything by Margaret but that will be changing.
I would love to visit the castles in England, Scotland, & Ireland. Have never got to see any except the internet or tv. Love your book cover. Love your books!
Hi Maggie!
I really enjoyed reading your blog post! Your new book ANY WICKED THING looks really good! I love books set in castles and in Yorkshire! 🙂 I can’t think of all the books I read in castles. I did enjoy Kinley MacGregor’s “Master of Desire”.
Good luck with your new release!
Thanks for stopping by! 🙂
I was going to say I hadn’t yet visited a castle, but that isn’t really true. A couple is building one just south of Nashville, TN. The are using the plans from a 10th century (?) March castle. They had finished one tower and were almost done with the second. They have the front connecting wall and entrance completed. At present they live in one tower and when they finish, I heard they will operate a bed and breakfast type set-up.
Modern convenience I would not want to do without – a reliable water supply and indoor plumbing. Electricity was a thought, but I have had to do without both and a lack of electricity is easier to deal with.
Good luck with the release of ANY WICKED THING.
Librarypat, I was so disappointed not to get to Nashville last year. The RWA conference was moved because of the horrible flood. What an awful thing for the people who live there…and for me, who wanted to go country with my daughters. 🙂
Sue and Sandra, thank you both so much!
Debra, I hope you enjoy both Margaret and Maggie!
When I lived overseas we visited so many castles, but I had to visit Neuschwanstein (disney castle), edinburgh, and the local one (where we had prom). The one I loved best wasn’t any of those. It was the one that was the close neighbor to neuschwanstein and was the swan castle. Thee were swans in Every room. Either large or tiny Hidden ones. I think that was the only castle out of 100 that I imagined livng in.
Kandace, I was attacked by a swan once in the Lake District, so they scare me, LOL. I’ve been to Edinburgh Castle. Stirling is fantastic, too.
Congratulations on the new release. I haven’t visited an actual castle, but Darcy’s castle in the movie Pride and Prejudice is spectacular.
I visited Leeds Castle in England and loved it. Well kept grounds well kept castle and some modern conveniences, too.
I’ve never had a chance to visit a castle, but I sure would love to. I love Lynn Kurland’s books, she’s written quite a few featuring castles, either historical, and/or time travel. I especially like the ones where a modern day woman inherits a castle, I can imagine that being me. I’d have to have modern plumping and my computer, and I’d be happy to live in a castle.
Barbara, yup, I’d need a wireless connection. 🙂
Kim, P &P was filmed at Chatsworth, the Duke of Devonshire’s house. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chatsworth_House And it was also used in The Duchess. I just finished reading the Dowager Duchess of Devonshire’s memoir & it was quite a project to get the house to be self-sustaining. Over 125 rooms!
Little Lamb, I haven’t been there. I can’t wait for my April trip to England though!
Sounds wonderful Maggie, all the best for your release! Oh I would to visit a castle, maybe someday!
I think the grandest castle I’ve ever visited was Edinburgh Castle, which of course is far too large to make a comfortable home! The most interesting to me was the Tower of London, because I had not realized that it was used as a royal residence during the Middle Ages. The rooms decorated and furnished as they would have been for the royal family fascinated me!