VICTORIA VANE debuts her new lush Georgian, TREACHEROUS TEMPTATIONS and a GIVEAWAY!

As a true-blue history geek and Georgian Junkie, I consistently seek my writing inspiration from history. This is equally true of my characters, as all of my stories incorporate both real and fictional people. In Treacherous Temptations, both Lord Hadley Blanchard and Mary Edwardes  were closely modeled after real people.

The primary character I looked to for Hadley's archetype of dissolute nobleman, was the very real Philip Duke of Wharton, who lived during the same era and experienced many similar personal trials as Hadley.

Philip was the only son of a very influential Whig politician, Thomas Marquess of Wharton, who died when Philip was only sixteen. Raised from the cradle to follow in his father's political footsteps, Philip was highly educated, eloquent, and notoriously witty, but left to his own devices at such a tender age, went wild. After an elopement and subsequent failed marriage, Philip began his Continental travels, during which time he met the exiled "Pretender" and developed strong Jacobite leanings.

Philip, duke of Wharton

Because Philip was such a popular figure of his time— wealthy and tiled, and an eloquent and powerful orator and writer, George II attempted to win back his allegiance by raising him to a dukedom. Philip was only 19! Unfortunately, he was as profligate as he was talented, and soon ran into financial difficulties which he attempted to resolve by selling his Irish estates and investing all of his capital into South Sea stocks. When the bubble burst, he was completely ruined, and once more went abroad where he subsequently slipped into a completely dissolute life. Philip died tragically of alcoholism at a remote Spanish monastery. He was only thirty three.

As depicted in my fictional story, the real character of Mary Edwardes was also tied to the South Sea company. In her case, however, her commoner father had made a fortune leaving Mary one of the wealthiest women in England with an income estimated at fifty thousand pounds per year. The real Mary also made a bad marriage— to a profligate nobleman but rather than suffer in silence, chose to take matters into her own hands by choosing the stigma of illegitimacy in order to protect the inheritance of their infant son.

Mary Edwardes

Because the couple had been wed in an "irregular" Fleet wedding, it was no great difficulty for her to have their marriage records destroyed. She then baptized her son under her maiden name, claiming that she was only the mistress and not the wife of her noble husband. Her scheme worked. Mary protected her fortune for her son, became a noted patron of the arts, and never re-wed.

After reading of these two people who had less-than-happy endings, I was also inspired take matters into my own hands by re-writing their histories. Although their road to happiness is twisted with treachery, the fictional counterparts of Philip and Mary do eventually find their happy-ever-after. This is romance after all!

MY GIVEAWAY:

Winner's choice of any e-book from my backlist

ABOUT VICTORIA VANE

A lover of history and deeply romantic stories, Victoria combines these elements to craft romantic historical novels and novellas for a mature reading audience. Her writing influences are Georgette Heyer for fabulous witty dialogue and over the top characters, Robin Schone, Sylvia Day, and Charlotte Featherstone for beautifully crafted prose in stories with deep sensuality, and Lila DiPasqua for creative vision in melding history with eroticism.

AWARDS & ACCOLADES 2012:
THE DEVIL DEVERE SERIES

Library Journal Best E-Book Romance 2012
LR Cafe Best Series Nominee 2012
A Wild Night's Bride 
• Night Owl Reviews Top Pick 
• Amazon Top 100 Best seller 
The Virgin Huntress 
• Night Owl Reviews Top Pick
The Devil You Know 
• Night Owl Reviews Top Pick
• The Romance Reviews Top Pick
• LR Café Best Historical Romance nominee 2012
The Devil's Match 
• Night Owl Reviews Top Pick
• The Romance Reviews Top Pick
• LASR Reviews Book of the Month December 2012
• Swept Away by Romance Best Historical Romance of 2012
• LR Café Best Author Nominee 2012
• Swept Away by Romance Favorite Author 2012
A Breach of Promise 

• Night Owl Reviews “Top Pick”
• Reading Romances 5 flames and “Pen Award” 
• TBR Pile 5stars/Book of the month winner September 2012
• LASR Erotic Reviews 5 STAR/Book of the Month Nominee
• The Romance Studio 5 Sweetheart Nominee
• TRS CAPA Nominee 2012 
CONTACT:
victoria.vane@hotmail.com
Web: http://authorvictoriavane.com
Blog: http://victoriavane.wordpress.com
Twitter: @authorvictoriav