Spotlight & Giveaway: The Duke’s Rules of Engagement by Jennifer Haymore

Today it is my pleasure to Welcome author Jennifer Haymore to HJ!

Hi Jennifer and welcome to HJ! We’re so excited to chat with you about your new release, The Duke’s Rules of Engagement!

Thank you so much for having me!
 

Please summarize the book a la Twitter style for the readers here:

The Duke and his rules are an utter pain in her petticoats…
 

Please share the opening lines of this book:

Joanna Porter loved love.

She believed in love. In the air rushing from a person’s lungs when they laid eyes on their beloved. In how lovers’ hearts pounded in unison when they felt each other’s touch. In the way two souls could come together to create something unique, brand-new, and absolutely complete.

Please share a few Fun facts about this book…

• This is my first book release since my Highland Knights Scottish Regency romance novels, the last of which was published in 2017. I took some time off to be with my kids, but I never stopped reading or studying the writing craft. I am SO EXCITED to be back and writing again!
• I took a research trip to London and Brighton last summer, where I was able to see The Brighton Pavilion, which is (fictionally!) the passion project of my heroine’s best friend in THE DUKE’S RULES. You can find pictures of this strange and beautiful building on my website and in my social media.
• Two core themes of this story came from Jane Austen–The concept of financially strapped & struggling female survivors who lose their father/patriarch comes from SENSE AND SENSIBILITY, and the idea of a genteel matchmaker is from EMMA, though Jo is much better at matchmaking than Emma ever was!
• The hero is a weather nerd…and so am I. I LOVE discussing the weather! Am I weird? Probably, LOL. I studied British scientists’ understanding of weather in the early 1800s, and a real-life early meteorologist makes an appearance in the book.
• A lot of dukes in romance are described as muscular, but being a duke in and of itself doesn’t require any muscles at all. I figure most of them were actually pretty soft. 🙂 So, in this book, Matthew, The Duke of Crestmont, is involved in a hobby that gives him real muscles to swoon over.

What first attracts your main characters to each other?

There’s a physical attraction, of course! But their attraction really skyrockets when they show respect for each other. Jo really listens when Matthew explains his interest in weather patterns. In turn, Matthew admires Jo’s dedication in supporting her family.
 

Using just 5 words, how would you describe your main characters”love affair?

Irresistible
Passionate
Forbidden
Sweet
Sensual
 

The First Kiss…

The way she looked up at him, lips lightly parted, eyes shining… She did care, he had no doubt about it. They were together, complete in sharing a memory that had, until this point, belonged solely to him.

He couldn’t help himself. He leaned closer. Closer still.

Reaching up, he stroked a single finger over her silky cheek. She tilted her head up to his, her eyes so wide and clear and honest.

He brushed his mouth against hers, feeling her gasping intake of air rush against his lips, feeling her body tense a hairsbreadth away from his. Her lips were warm, pillowy soft, and delicious. He slipped his arm behind her back and tugged her closer.

Without revealing too much, what is your favorite scene in the book?

That’s a tough one! I have so many favorites. 🙂 One of them is definitely the ballroom scene where he takes her outside and (almost) ravishes her in the garden. It’s a turning point for both of them!

He silenced her with a kiss, then murmured, “I love it. Too much. If you keep doing that, I’m going to forget myself and take you under this tree, to hell with whoever might see us.”

No one had ever said anything so erotic to her, and she trembled against his hard body, her eyes closing with the promise of it, of the idea of him taking her right here, against this tree trunk.

“But I promised I’d return you to the ball before the dance ended. We need to stop.” Gently, regretfully, he lowered her legs until they were firmly planted on the ground. She came back to earth, in more ways than one. She looked frantically around.

“Don’t worry,” he said. “No one saw.”

If your book was optioned for a movie, what scene would be absolutely crucial to include?

Definitely the scene in Vauxhall Gardens–it’s such a visual scene and it would be so fun to see it on the big screen. There are a big group of people in the dark with thousands of tiny starlights strung overhead, and they all get separated and scramble to find one another while having their own adventures in the midst of the chaos.

Finally, the rope-dancer reached the top, the blue stream of light faded away into darkness, and the crowd burst into enthusiastic cheers, Matthew and his friends included. But then they all were instantly silenced again as fireworks exploded into the sky in a series of booms and an array of dazzling colors, and the rope-dancer danced and twirled, and even tumbled in somersaults, back down the rope. Moments later it was finished, the rope-dancer disappearing into the dark bushes and the dark sky now filled with smoke.

As the lamplighters did their work, the world twinkled into focus again, revealing people scattering in all directions. Then, in the direction of the fireworks tower, he saw a lone feminine figure turning in a slow circle.

He knew instantly that it was Jo. And she was alone.

Filled with sudden concern, he excused himself from his group and hurried toward her, calling, “Miss Porter?”

She whipped around, hand to her chest. “Oh, Your Grace. I think I’ve misplaced my party. We were watching the show and the crowd was so thick, and I just assumed they were all there, but when the lights came back on”—she closed her gloved hands into fists in front of her then snapped them open—“poof! They had disappeared.”

Readers should read this book …

If they’re looking for a fun escape from the challenges of everyday life! The last couple of years have come with all kinds of heavy stressors, and my goal in writing THE DUKE’S RULES OF ENGAGEMENT was to give the reader an escape that they could come out of feeling happy and satisfied.

What are you currently working on? What other releases do you have planned?

I’m working on the second book in the series, and it features two of the characters from THE DUKE’S RULES. It’s a bit of a role-reversal with the heroine swearing off commitment and marriage forever and the hero much quicker to fall hard and fast for her. It’s going to be a blast to write!

Thanks for blogging at HJ!

Giveaway: A paperback copy of THE DUKE’S RULES OF ENGAGEMENT.

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Excerpt from The Duke’s Rules of Engagement:

She scooted forward on her seat and opened her mouth to explain her method, but the duke stood abruptly.

“Very well,” he said. “I shall return in two days. I expect you will have a suitable candidate for me at that time.”

She rose as well. “I’m sorry, Your Grace. That is absolutely impossible. I cannot wrap a suitable bride up in a bow and hand her over to you.”

At the door, he turned to face her, his perpetually narrow eyes even narrower. “Why not?”

“Because your bride must be matched to you as an individual.”

The duke cocked a skeptical brow at her. “Matched to me as an individual? That seems hardly necessary. I simply require someone who will fulfill her duties as the Duchess of Crestmont. Perfectly, of course.”

“If you will allow me to explain to you how the process works—” she began, but he scoffed.

“I am familiar with how it works, madam. You procure me a bride. Legal documents are drafted. I marry her, she produces my heir and my spare, and that, as they say, is that.”

Jo fought from reeling back. She struggled not to clutch her hand to her chest in abject horror.

What a poor, pathetic, sterile idea of marriage this man possessed! It was tragic, really. Awful. She’d feel sorry for him if he didn’t have that disdainful, haughty look plastered on his snobbish, aristocratic face.

“No,” she snapped, “that is not that.”

Now she could see him checking his own body from reeling back. She doubted anyone ever spoke to him so sternly. Poor duke. So accustomed to people groveling and saying yes to his every pronouncement, no matter how ludicrous.

So unaccustomed to a person standing her ground.

Well, Crestmont just might have met his match with her. She was not a duke, but she was also no simpering miss who would allow a client to walk all over her. In matters of the heart, she knew her business, and he would do it her way or she’d wish him the best and watch from a distance as he sabotaged his own happiness as well as the happiness of the unfortunate lady he chose for himself.

Of course, her very soul howled at the prospect of letting him go. Lord, but she didn’t want to give up all the opportunities he’d bring to her business.

Still, she couldn’t sacrifice her standards merely to find him an expedient wife. If she did that, he and his duchess would be unhappy, and Jo’s reputation would suffer.

No. She needed to keep him, and she needed him to see the light.

“Here is how it will go,” she began, her voice laced with steel. “We will meet several times, during which I will ask you questions that will draw a clear profile of the bride who will be compatible with you. The bride who will make you the happiest man alive, while you have the same effect on her.”

He shook his head. “I have no interest in—”

“Then,” she interrupted him—so rude per the rules of society, but so, so gratifying to watch his mouth snap shut—“I will create a list among the batch of eligibles this Season and set up introductions for you through the proper channels at various social functions. You will report back to me on those in whom you see potential—and you will find potential in most, I am sure. Then, you shall choose the one to whom you feel the deepest connection, and commence to court her. Oftentimes, this courtship results in a happy marriage. However, on the rare occasion it does not, we will start the process again, until you find the woman who is your heart’s desire.”

At the words “heart’s desire,” the duke’s mouth pinched as if he’d just taken a bite of a very sour lemon. When he finally managed to unclamp his lips, he asked, “How long does this ‘process’ take?”

“My clients have taken from three weeks up to a year to find their ideal matches.”

“A year?” He made it sound like a millennium. “It shan’t take near that long for me. Three weeks, at most.”

She raised a brow. She’d only known the man for a few minutes, but she doubted it would be easy to find a perfect bride for someone as haughty and stubborn as the Duke of Crestmont. It might even take longer than a year. “Three weeks is no time at all.”

“My minutes are valuable,” the duke said. “Three weeks full of them adds up to a great amount indeed. I will take no longer than necessary to locate a suitable duchess.”

Duchess, not wife. “I see.”

The man was approaching this very much like a pesky errand. He clearly did not consider love as part of the equation. Yet in order to preserve her flawless reputation as a matchmaker, Jo would have to find a way to make him see how necessary love was.

Actually, it would be wonderful to see this cold, austere man find true love for himself. It would be her most gratifying challenge yet.

Excerpts. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

Book Info:

Some matches are made in hell…

Joanna Porter loves being one of London’s hottest up-and-coming matchmakers. But her heavenly vocation is about to turn into a nuptial nightmare—thanks to the Duke of Crestmont. He’s as handsome as he is insufferable and obsessed with all things proper. Matching him would cement Jo’s status as England’s greatest matchmaker. Except, of course, the impossible-to-please duke refuses all of her most eligible ladies…confirming his status as a complete and utter pain in her petticoats.

The Duke of Crestmont can’t believe he needs a matchmaker—let alone this spitfire of a woman whose kissable mouth and dancing, impertinent gray eyes tease him ruthlessly. But the people of his estate are counting on him to find a duchess. A proper lady with a flawless pedigree and immaculate deportment. So why can’t he stop himself from wanting his pert, lively matchmaker…instead of the perfect duchess?

Now the entire ton is watching as this determined, audacious matchmaker takes on the most powerful man in London in USA Today bestselling author Jennifer Haymore’s lively new Regency romp. And this show might just be the most outrageous one yet…
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Meet the Author:

USA Today bestselling author Jennifer Haymore is the author of over a dozen award-winning historical romances. When she’s not dreaming up scandal in Regency England, you’ll likely find her avidly listening to an audiobook while sailing, walking her spoiled husky, or on an airplane heading off to visit the exciting locale of her next novel. Jennifer loves reading romance and writing happily ever afters, and she’s grateful to all her readers for giving her an opportunity to share her stories with the world.
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