Spotlight & Giveaway: The Heiress Swap by Maddison Michaels

Today it is my pleasure to Welcome author Maddison Michaels to HJ!

Hi Maddison and welcome to HJ! We’re so excited to chat with you about your new release, The Heiress Swap!

 
Hi and thanks for having me!
 

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

Evie Jenkins didn’t know what she was thinking by agreeing to switch places with her American heiress cousin. After all, she’s naught but a poor―and usually quite sensible ―companion. All she has to do is spend six weeks among London society, pretending to be an heiress…and ensure that absolutely under no circumstances does she accept any proposals of marriage. Easy right? Wrong!. Especially when Alexander Trenton, the Duke of Hargraves is convinced she’s a title hunting Dollar Princess and is determined to expose her…
 

Please share the opening lines of this book:

“No. Absolutely not.” Yvette Jenkins shook her head hard.
Her cousin, Aimee, regularly came up with some harebrained ideas, but this one took the cake. Never had Evie heard, let alone contemplated, such a ludicrous suggestion as the one her cousin had just proposed. “I am not swapping places and pretending to be you. Definitely not. End of story. No.”

Please share a few Fun facts about this book…

• The idea for Evie’s story came to me in the shower when I thought about what it would be like for a poor companion to swap places with her American heiress cousin.
• I was inspired by the story of real-life Dollar Princesses and I just knew I had to write a series about some Dollar Princesses!!
• The term “Dollar Princess” was coined during the Gilded Age. This was a period in American history (roughly from the 1870s to the early 1900s) when a significant number of wealthy American heiresses married British nobility to gain social status. In return, their substantial dowries helped to maintain the financially struggling British aristocratic estates.
• More than 100 American heiresses married into British nobility,, with the women collectively bringing over $200 million (approximately $5 billion today) to their marriages.
• The impact of Dollar Princesses extended beyond wealth. Not only did these American heiresses inject much-needed financial support into the British aristocracy, but they also brought new cultural influences, revitalizing and reshaping the British high society in many ways.

What first attracts your main characters to each other?

There’s an instant physical attraction between them – but then they’re both attracted to each other’s personalities, and their shared love of fossils.
 

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

Enemies, Attraction, Forbidden, Unattainable, Epic!
 

The First Kiss…

They stood there, staring at each other for what felt an eternity, but most likely had only been seconds. Never had she felt so drawn to a man before. Never had she wanted to be kissed as desperately as she suddenly wanted this man to kiss her.

As if sensing her thoughts, he drew his mouth inexorably closer to her own, until it was but a breath away. Everything faded into the distance, except this man in front of her and the feelings he conjured inside her.

Desire, anticipation, a thrilling wantonness she’d never thought to feel.

Not her, not sensible Yvette Jenkins who always did as she was told. Always followed directions. Never spoke out of turn. But in this moment, she didn’t want to be sensible. She wanted one moment where she could be wild, and just be. Feel what it was to be kissed by a man that drew her to him like a flame drew in the oxygen and then consumed it.

Not knowing where the courage came from, Evie leaned over and pressed her lips against his. She was hit with such a blinding force of pleasure. His lips were so soft, yet hard and delicious, and oh, how she wanted more.

He groaned and wrapped his arms around her, his mouth slanting over hers, gently parting her lips with his, nibbling and teasing at the edges, until Evie moaned and wound her arms around his neck. She had to have more of him. She pressed her chest to his own, and her hands smoothed down behind the muscles of his shoulders, marveling at the sheer strength and breadth of him.

Then he touched his tongue to hers, and a white-hot desire swept through her.

“Oh God, you taste delicious,” he mumbled against her mouth as his hands travelled lower and cupped her buttocks.

She gasped as the hot, hard length of him pressed against her belly, sending a shaft of wanton pleasure down her body to the center of her womanhood, which began to throb in reply.

His lips began to feast on hers again, soft yet so exquisitely thorough in their exploration of her mouth that Evie felt like melting into a puddle on the floor. If this was what it felt like to be kissed, no wonder so many women dreamed of it. She tried to protest when his lips left hers, but then he began trailing them down her neck, and shivers of delight cascaded down her entire spine.

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

I think it would have to be the scene where Evie tries to get out of dancing with the duke by making up an American dance, that she thinks might deter him from pressing ahead with dancing with her… It doesn’t work of course and she’s forced to dance a rather ridiculously fast dance in front of an entire ballroom, that gets dubbed ‘The Gallop Waltz’…

Here’s an excerpt:

Her whole body tensed as the musicians readied their instruments. “I need to warn you I’m not very good at English waltzing.” She’d literally had only a handful of dance lessons with Aimee over the past two years, though that was learning the Boston waltz, which she’d been hopeless at.

“I doubt that. Weren’t you telling me yesterday how you American women have such a better education than your English counterparts? Surely, that would include dancing, wouldn’t it?” He raised his eyebrow as he stepped onto the dance floor and held out his hand for her.

“It included American dances, not English ones,” she replied through gritted teeth. Then remembering the crowd of onlookers watching her every move, Evie placed her hand in his and smiled, her lips stretching tightly across her face. Breathe. Just breathe. What did it matter that everyone was about to find out she was a fraud?

“Let’s dance the Boston waltz, then,” he said.

Evie blinked several times. “You know the Boston waltz?” Surely, her luck couldn’t be that bad…

“I was once engaged to an American,” he re-plied with a shrug. “She taught me the dance and I’m rather proficient at it, even though it has a different tempo to the Viennese waltz.”

Sickness swirled in her belly with the realization he would soon know she was an imposter.

“I might be a little rusty with it, though,” he continued, “given it’s been over a decade since I
last danced it.”

“Actually, it’s changed a lot in the last few years,” she blurted out.

“It has?”

“Oh yes, most certainly.” She nodded her head, hoping perhaps he wouldn’t want to dance if he thought it had.

“How?”

Yes, how, Evie? Once again, she reminded her- self of the fool she’d been to ever agree to Aimee’s idea, but she had to do something to dig herself out of the mess she’d created.

“Well…” she began, smacking her lips together as she desperately tried to grasp onto something that might convince him. “The tempo! Yes, that’s it. You see, it’s been influenced by the, umm…by the Southern states. Yes, that’s right.”

That sounded plausible, didn’t it?

“And because of that,” she continued, “the um…tempo is completely different to what it used to be.”

“Is it slower, then?”

“No.” Slower wouldn’t worry him. “It’s faster, actually. Much faster. And given you’re used to it being slower, I’m certain to step all over your toes.” That at least was true, regardless of the speed of the music. “So perhaps we shouldn’t dance.”

“I think we’ll manage. You can even take the lead to begin with until I get a handle on the new tempo.”

“Me, take the lead?” She tried to plaster a smile across her face to mask her infinite dread of doing such a thing but doubted she was doing a good job of it, given the odd look he was staring at her with. “Um, yes, I suppose that makes sense…even though a woman doesn’t normally do that…”

“But aren’t American women far bolder about their rights? I would think you’d relish taking the lead initially.” He raised an eyebrow, almost like he knew she was telling him fibs.

“Quite so.” Oh god, could this night turn into disaster any quicker? She turned to the musicians who were waiting for their music request. “The Boston waltz, please, but if you could increase the tempo by um…threefold, that would be lovely.”

The head musician’s jaw dropped slightly. “Threefold, my lady? Are you certain?”

“Oh yes,” Evie replied, stretching her smile even tighter across her face until it hurt. “It’s the latest fashion to dance it that way in the States. Everyone over there is doing it.”

Oh god, what was she doing?

She couldn’t even dance the Boston waltz at a normal pace, let alone faster. But hopefully making it faster would mean the duke wouldn’t even notice her missteps as he tried to keep up.

Him and the rest of Society.

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

Ooh that’s a hard one – but it would have to be Evie climbing through the duke’s study window to convince him to go along with her plan, after they were caught earlier in the night in a rather compromising situation.

Readers should read this book …

If they want a fun, romantic adventure, and love tales of identity swaps (think Parent Trap, and The Prince and the Pauper), set amid the backdrop of the glittering world of the English aristocracy and Dollar Princesses.

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

I’m working on book 2 in the series – that of Evie’s cousin, Aimee, who is the actual Dollar Princess Heiress, who has switched places with Evie for the trip.

Thanks for blogging at HJ!

Giveaway: A digital copy of The Heiress Swap and a $5 Amazon gift card ($5 Australian dollars converted to the winners currency).

To enter Giveaway: Please complete the Rafflecopter form and Post a comment to this Q: If you lived during the Gilded Age, would you have taken the chance to become a Dollar Princess? Why or why not?

 
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Excerpt from The Heiress Swap:

The entire evening had been a great deal more taxing for Evie than she’d expected.

Nothing like the wonderful experience Aimee had assured her of. It would be easy, she’d said. Nothing to worry about. Well, it had been anything but easy, not even close.

At least it hadn’t been after the arrival of the Duke of Hargrave.

When Evie had glanced over and first caught sight of the man standing in the doorway surveying everyone with an air of detachment, Evie’s breath had hitched in her throat. He was tall, muscular, and resplendently dressed in his perfectly tailored black tuxedo. Even the dark scowl etched on his face and his dark blue eyes filled with suspicion whenever he glanced Evie’s way couldn’t detract from the man’s undeniable attractiveness.

She’d never been so aware of a man before. Such a feeling was highly disconcerting, especially given the pressure she was already under pretending to be Aimee. Not only had she spent the whole dinner party immersed in the charade, doing her best to be charming and congenial while speaking with an American accent, too, but she’d also felt the duke’s steady gaze upon her all night.

The man hadn’t even made any effort to hide his perusal. And then when he’d sought out an introduction from his aunt, the countess, and he then began to interrogate her about history and paleontology, Evie had known the man was trying to test her.

Test her over what she wasn’t certain, but there was a suspicion in his tone and his gaze that he wasn’t bothering to conceal. Almost as if he was dubious of her motives, a fact that did not bode well for her charade.

Evie really didn’t know what she’d done to warrant such close scrutiny from the handsome yet extremely taciturn duke. After she’d met the countess’s son, the Earl of Braxton, earlier in the day, a meeting that had gone smashingly well as the man had been nothing but lovely, Evie had been feeling rather confident she might be able to pull off this swapping places plan with her cousin.

But since meeting the duke, she’d felt like she was being inspected by the man and found completely wanting. It wasn’t a good feeling to be having. She plastered a smile on her face at something the Earl of Brexton was saying, something about hunting in the country, though she wasn’t paying attention given the duke had started to stroll toward them.

“You’re not boring the lady with talk of fox hunts, are you, Sam?” the duke’s deep timber voice rumbled as he blithely inserted himself into their conversation.

“Of course not!” the earl declared. “I’m not, am I, Miss Thornton-Jones?”

Evie smiled graciously over at him. She liked the earl, far more than she liked his cousin who seemed to be doing everything he could to make her uncomfortable. “Not at all, my lord. Though I’m not much of a fan of fox hunts, I understand they’re quite an old tradition in England, and I do love learning about history, as I’m sure you’ve both gathered by now. Particularly you, duke, after your interrogation of me a short while ago.”

The earl spluttered on the sip of drink he’d taken while the duke merely inclined his head, staring at her far more pointedly than was proper.

“Well, you certainly do seem to have my measure, Miss Thornton-Jones,” the duke said, his voice sounding unperturbed at her comment.

“If that measure is that you’re a man driven by logic and suspicion, without emotion, then yes, perhaps I do have your measure.” She had no idea where her boldness was coming from. Usually, when it came to men, she was as demure as could be, but ever since this man had started quizzing her earlier, she’d felt her hackles rise at his inquisition. The man hadn’t believed she’d known anything about history, and that was a dangerous assumption to make when it came to Evie and her history.

It had been the only entertainment she’d had growing up, after a pile of history and paleontology books had been thrown into a street bin, and Evie had rescued them, desperate to read anything, but unable to afford to buy even a newspaper. It had been the best scavenge she’d ever done, as it had born in her a passion for learning all she could.

“My goodness, dear lady, you are fearless to say such a thing to my cousin,” the earl exclaimed, appearing utterly surprised that anyone would dare to say such a thing to the duke. “Most women are far too intimidated by him to do so.”

“Can you blame her? She is American, after all.” The duke said the word as if it was dirty.

How dare he! Though she might have been brought up in England, she was still half American, even if she didn’t feel American at all. “Why, thank you both for the compliments.”

The duke’s eyes narrowed upon her. “Was it a compliment? Forgive me, I hadn’t meant it to be.” “

Hargrave, stop being rude,” the earl reprimanded before turning his attention back to Evie. “You’ll have to forgive the duke. He doesn’t interact with women much. Obviously.”

“There’s no need to apologize on my behalf, Sam,” the duke growled.

“There’s honestly nothing to forgive.” Evie ignored the duke and focused her eyes back upon the earl. “His inexperience with the ladies is clear given his manner of conversation, or rather lack thereof.”

The earl smothered a laugh with a hasty cough, while the duke’s posture straightened, like he was readying to do battle.

“Oh, my dear Miss Thornton-Jones,” the duke all but purred, his voice drawing Evie’s attention back to him, like an unwanted compulsion. “I can assure you my experience with ladies is vast. In fact, my experience with American ladies in particular is what one could call unrivaled. I was previously engaged to an American lady, and the experience has given me an unprecedented advantage when it comes to knowing what such a lady is after.”

“You can’t paint all American ladies with the same brush, Your Grace, especially not after your experience with just one lady.” She narrowed her gaze at him. “Doing so would be the same as my suggesting that all dukes are arrogant, pompous, Englishmen after having met only you.”

The duke pressed his lips together, his eyes never leaving her own, while the earl smothered another laugh.

“My own experience and observations of your fellow countrywomen, who have been arriving by the droves and marrying impoverished gentlemen, tend to lend credence to my assumptions.”

“And based on that, you think you know what I am after?” Evie asked, watching as his blue eyes darkened as his gaze travelled to her lips. “I highly doubt that.”

“Oh, I think I have your measure,” he murmured, leaning in far closer to her than what would be considered appropriate. “I’m fairly certain of it, in fact.”

Evie tried to ignore the shiver of awareness that ran down her spine from being so close to him. She took a deliberate step backward, and channeling what Aimee would do in such a situation, Evie took in a deep breath and relaxed her lips, twisting them into the most glorious smile she could muster. “Perhaps I shall surprise you, Your Grace, for I am no Dollar Princess, as I believe you are trying to suggest.”

“Women rarely surprise me, Miss Thornton- Jones, or at least they haven’t in over a decade.”
They stood there staring at each other, both defiant in a game Evie had no idea how to play. She knew the man was challenging her on a level she’d never been challenged before. It was exhilarating and terrifying all at once. “Clearly, you haven’t been mingling with interesting ladies, Your Grace.”

Excerpts. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
 
 

Book Info:

Evie Jenkins didn’t know what she was thinking by agreeing to switch places with her American heiress cousin. After all, she’s naught but a poor—and usually quite sensible—companion. All she has to do is spend six weeks among London society, pretending to be an heiress…and ensure that absolutely under no circumstances does she accept any proposals of marriage.

When his cousin declares himself in love with a new woman visiting from the States, Alexander Trenton—the sixth Duke of Hargrave—is determined to prove that the young lady in question is just another American “Dollar Princess” desperate for an English title. She seems innocent enough, but Alex is determined to expose her…by thoroughly seducing the lovely and fiercely intelligent heiress himself.

What he assumed would be just one simple kiss erupts into something wild, uncontrollable, and much too public. Now the duke must save her reputation with a betrothal…little knowing that his charming Princess harbors a secret that would certainly ruin them both.
Book Links: Amazon | B&N | iTunes | Goodreads |
 
 

Meet the Author:

Maddison Michaels writes sexy history with a dash of mystery. She is the bestselling author of over seven novels, including her debut novel THE DEVILISH DUKE which won the 2019 Australian RWA RUBY award for best historical romance! Maddison’s novels are her way of time traveling back to Victorian London to experience a cornucopia of intrigue, romance and debauchery all from the comfort of her living room! She lives in NSW, Australia, with her own handsome hero, her beautiful but cheeky daughter, and her fur babies. Each morning she begins her day with a cup of liquid gold…coffee, of course!
Maddison absolutely loves to hear from her readers and other authors! You can find her at http://www.maddisonmichaels.com and on most social media platforms.
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