Spotlight & Giveaway: The Persuasion of Miss Kate by Kathleen Baldwin

Today it is my pleasure to Welcome author Kathleen Baldwin to HJ!

Hi Kathleen Baldwin and welcome to HJ! We’re so excited to chat with you about your new release, The Persuasion of Miss Kate!

 
Good morning, y’all! Thank you for inviting me. It’s a pleasure to be here.
 

Tell us about the book with this fun little challenge using the title of the book:

The PERSUASION of Miss Kate ( I only used the word Persuasion)
P is for Persuasion by Jane Austen meets Shakespeare’s Taming of the Shrew

E is for Every young lady yearns for freedom, don’t they? Especially if she had to take care of her younger sisters for the last ten years. Except, no young lady wants to be a spinster, does she? Of course not, at least, not forever.

R is for Responsibilities. Kate has three of them—the little troublemakers—and she must attend to them above all else.

S is for Sisters come first.

U is for Unless a dreadfully handsome childhood sweetheart comes along. Devil take his roguishly dark eyes! Kate never should have agreed to marry Lord Colter. And he never should have broken off their engagement during the Clapsforth-on-Wye Assembly ball.

A is for Anyone who has set aside your wants and desires to care for others—this book is written for you.

S is for “So good! The dialogue had me snorting my laughter . . . a clean romance, but slightly more irreverent than what you might be used to from this genre. I really liked it.” —Alicia Trenalone, NetGalley Top Reviewer

I is for “If you are anything like me, you’ll be crushing on Lord Colter from the start. Read. Enjoy. Repeat.” —Patience Griffin, bestselling author of the Kilts and Quilts series.

O is for Offered a London Season by her notorious aunt, Lady Alameda, Kate accepts. With her younger sisters in tow, Kate soon discovers her mischievous aunt intends to make her already troubled life worse.

N is for Now, he is determined to win Kate back. Lord Colter pursues her to London, but will Kate face the truth about her life, or will she let their chances at love and happiness slip through her fingers again?

Please share the opening lines of this book:

“I’m done for.”
Snip.
A withered blossom dropped into Kate’s gardening basket. “He’s sealed my fate—the wretch!”

Please tell us a little about the characters in your book.

Meet:
Aunt Honore, the notorious Lady Alameda. She is as wildly unpredictable as England’s weather. A widow, ensconced in the upper echelon of London’s high society, she does as she pleases. Honore thinks nothing of turning her nieces and nephews’ lives upside down simply for the fun of it.

Kate, Miss Katherine Linnet, is the eldest of four sisters and had the responsibility of looking after them for the last ten years. Very recently, her fiancé broke their engagement in a very public manner at the Clapsforth-on-Wye Assembly Ball. The wretch! Although, it’s probably all for the best because the last thing Kate needs is more responsibility.

Nora, just turned seventeen, next to Kate in age, and beautiful in a way that would’ve enthralled great painters. She radiates an otherworld quality that goes far beyond angelic and yet seems unaware of her effect on others. Nora remains completely oblivious to the yearning looks she receives from the young men in the village.

Sadie will turn fifteen in November and is already more trouble than a bushel full of barn cats. The girl churns out mischief faster than fresh cream can be made into butter.

Matilda, precocious little Tilly is only ten, but cleverer than all of them put together. Kate had been there at her birth. In those last dreadful moments, as blood poured from Mama’s body and her skin turned whiter with each passing second, she had pressed the wee little bundle into Kate’s arms. “Take care of her, my darling. I’m so very sorry. Very . . .”

Greyson, Lord Colter, has been in love with Kate since they were teenagers. He has observed her giving nature, her loyalty to those she loves, and in many ways knows her better than she knows herself. And although she often annoys him beyond reason, she is the one woman he wants to share his life with.

Lord Weatherford, AKA Naughty Neddy, is a bully from Greyson’s boyhood school days. A wealthy gentleman with a rather roguish reputation, he develops a mad infatuation for Nora. Aunt Honore suggests the girls avoid mentioning his name in polite company. Consequently, depending upon the situation, they refer to him by several different pseudonyms, such as Lord Weathervane, Lord Weatherbottom, Lord Weatherweasel, or . . . well, you get the idea.

Please share a few Fun facts about this book…

• I wrote this book during all the turmoil of Covid-19. I desperately needed to take a break from my more serious books and write something light-hearted and inspirational.
• Do you enjoy zany old Cary Grant movies like My Girl Friday or Arsenic and Old Lace? I do! And I adore British comedies. My favorites are two plays by Oscar Wilde, The Importance of Being Earnest and The Ideal Husband. But any British comedy will do. If your local playhouse or high school is putting on a British Comedy, please invite me. If I can get there, I’ll be in the front row.
• Thus all of my Notorious Aunt books are a bow and a nod to farcical British plays. I hope you will enjoy the light-hearted old-fashioned humor of The Persuasion of Miss Kate as much as I do.
• One more fun fact. I am an oldest child and as bossy as Kate. We both beg your forgiveness. The dear girl means well, but she can’t help herself. She cares too much.

What first attracts your Hero to the Heroine and vice versa?

Kate doesn’t know why she is attracted to Lord Colter but I think it is because he truly sees her and understands her.
Here, in Lord Colter’s own words, is why he is attracted to her:

“After your mother died, I saw how you took care of your sisters and looked after your father. I watched you give up the frivolity and silliness that consumed the other girls in our village. While they were picking out ribbons for themselves, you were carefully selecting ribbons for Nora or Sadie. While other girls were giggling and sampling sweets at the bake shop, you were wiping Tilly’s chin and giving Sadie a half-pence to buy rolls. My heart ached, wishing for some way to help. Then there was that day sledding on the hill. Do you remember?”
Their first kiss?
How could she ever forget?

The First Kiss…

How could she ever forget?
He didn’t wait for her reply. “After most of their friends left, Sadie complained of the cold, and Nora offered to take both of the younger girls home. They left along with everyone else. You stood at the top of that hill holding your rickety, old sled and dared, just for a moment, to be a girl yourself.”
Kate caught her lip, remembering flying down the hill and the exhilarating feeling of freedom.
He laughed and shook his head. “You should’ve seen your face, Katie. Despite gray skies and the cold, you glowed with delight. You let out a whoop and dove onto the sled, sliding down the hill so fast I thought for certain you’d end up in the river. I broke into a sprint, but you veered off into the trees. And then . . .” His expression softened and his cheeks flushed.
“You kissed me.”
“I did.” The corner of his mouth twisted upward. “That’s when I knew I wanted to be with you always, through tumbles and troubles, laughter and kisses—through it all.

If your book was optioned for a movie, what scene would you use for the audition of the main characters and why?

That first kiss scene.

If your hero had a sexy-times play list, what song(s) would have to be on it?

If you could have given your characters one piece of advice before the opening pages of the book, what – would it be and why?

Ahh.. what a good question.
I would share the words of an old Eagles song, Desperado.

” …freedom, oh, freedom
Well that’s just some people talking
Your prison is walking through this world all alone.”
Kate’s journey wraps around discovering that our responsibilities are often our greatest treasures. What she yearns for and perceives as freedom would, in reality, be the absence of all the people she has devoted herself to and she would miss them desperately.

What are you currently working on? What are your up-coming releases?*

I am currently working on the fifth book in the Stranje House series which has been optioned for film. The Stranje House novels are a regency set alternate history –a girls’ spy school set amidst Jane Austen’s high society.

Thanks for blogging at HJ!

Giveaway: I will give a thank-you gift eBook copy of The Persuasion of Miss Kate to two (2) of your readers who leave a comment.

To enter Giveaway: Please complete the Rafflecopter form and Post a comment to this Q: It is sometimes hard to love a bossy person, but if you know they have your best good at heart does it make it easier? Are you bossy? Any advice for people like the heroine Kate who always feels responsible for the people around her?

 
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Excerpt from The Persuasion of Miss Kate:

The Persuasion of Miss Kate
Chapter 12
London Visions Falling Down

“Wake up.”
“Katie!” Someone, namely Tilly, rudely jostled her shoulder. “Kaaatieee. You have to wake up.”
“It’s too early,” Kate grumbled, tossing to her other side and covering her head with the pillow. “Go back to sleep, Tilly.”
Tilly lifted the corner of the pillow and invaded Kate’s inner sanctum of sleep. “But Katie,” she whispered, “it isn’t early. It’s 2:30 in the afternoon, and I’ve been up for hours. More importantly, Lord Weatherbottom is here to see Nora. He brought her the most enormous bouquet of flowers I have ever seen!” Tilly wriggled so close her breath tickled Kate’s nose. “And that’s not all. He gave her a box of tiny little cakes. I ate one and it was divine. He even brought a bottle of French wine for Aunt Honore. He keeps asking if he might speak to you, but Aunt Honore told him no, that we should not waken a sleeping tiger. But he says it is a matter of grave importance, and that he cannot possibly wait.”
Tilly stopped yammering and poked her finger in Kate’s ear. “Did you hear me, Katie? I think he means to ask you for permission to court Nora.”
“What!?” Kate yanked the pillow off of her head and sat up. “What did you say?”
Tilly harrumphed the same exact way Aunt Honore does. “You heard me. He’s acting like a lovesick donkey.”
“Monkey,” Kate corrected and tried to rub the sleep out of her eyes.
“I said donkey because I was trying not to say jackass. But if you prefer—”
“No. No, donkey is fine.”
Tilly stood atop the mattress and peered sternly down at Kate. “I don’t think you understand. He won’t stop staring at Nora, even though Aunt Honore told him to mind his manners and start behaving like a grown man instead of an idiot schoolboy.” Tilly gestured broadly with her hands. “He didn’t even get mad about that. He just sighed and kept smiling so stupidly that it makes me wonder if something in his head is broken.” Tilly began jiggling up and down as if testing the mattress ticking. “Sadie thinks it is all vastly entertaining and she refuses to do a thing about it. You have to come down and straighten things out. Now!”
Kate felt as if she had an anvil teetering atop her head and her mouth was stuffed with cotton wadding. No doubt, the aftereffects of laudanum. She blinked groggily at Tilly, who kept bobbling all over the bed. “For pity’s sake, Tilly, hold still.”
“Are you coming down or not?” In her agitated state, Tilly did not refrain from bouncing. “If you won’t come down, I shall tell him to go away and never come back. I doubt he will listen to me, but at least I will try.”
“You will do nothing of the sort. Proper young ladies do not issue such demanding statements to gentleman callers.”
“You do. Or you would, if you’d get up and go downstairs.”
“I would not.”
Or at least, not anymore.
“And young ladies do not bounce on beds, either. You are in London now, and . . .” Kate was too parched to continue. “Hand me a glass of water, will you?”
“Why are you in your underclothes?” Tilly leapt off the bed and poured a glass of lemon water from a pitcher. “You told me to always wear my nightgown so I would be modestly clad in case of a fire. Don’t you care about your own modesty?”
Kate gulped down the lemon water and decided to ignore Tilly’s question. “I will get dressed as soon as I can and come down to assess the situation with Lord Weatherford for myself.”
Tilly studied Kate for a moment before her mouth twitched sideways. “Umm, you’re going to need help. Your hair looks like you got trampled at the opera.”
Kate reached up and felt the tangles encircling her head. “Don’t be ridiculous. You know perfectly well I was not at an opera last night. And anyway, one does not get trampled at the opera.”
“One might, if one is at the opera house and fire breaks out, and who knows what else might happen at one of those places.” Tilly stopped her infernal bounding around, planted her fists on her hips, and narrowed a frown at Kate. “And that addlepated Lord Weatherdrizzle has asked permission to take our Nora to the opera.”
“The opera? She can’t! She’s too young for such things. She’ll never fend him off in one of those dark, private boxes. Did Aunt Honore tell him no? Of course not. One cannot rely upon her to do anything sensible. Never mind. I will put a stop to this. You find a brush. I’ll put on a morning gown.”
Ten minutes later, Kate emerged fully clothed—albeit in a wrinkled dress and mismatched stockings, but at least she wasn’t naked, and her hair no longer resembled an unruly lion’s mane. It didn’t matter that Tilly had yanked out several handfuls while taming it.
“Which way?” Kate demanded, wishing her aunt’s white curving walls and all the Greek goddesses carved into them did not make her feel quite so dizzy.
Tilly crooked her finger and scampered ahead of her. “Follow me.”
Kate held the rail as they rushed down a wide, alabaster staircase that curled around four stories to a sitting room on the first floor.
“Nora!” Kate barked, bursting into the room ready to rescue her helpless cub of a sister and finding it inhabited—not by one disreputable male as she’d expected, but by a half dozen or more gentlemen.
Suitors.
Kate could tell by their meticulously tied cravats, their artistically combed hair, their gleaming buckle shoes, and their preening stances. But why? Why were they here? And why this great a number? So many gentlemen and flower arrangements littered the sitting room that it was difficult to ascertain a headcount.
Small, tasteful bouquets were strewn on side tables and the fireplace mantle, but on the tea table in front of the large sofa sat a massive arrangement of roses, lilies, and bright yellow flowers. The overpowering scent made Kate’s nose itch.
She took a step backward, regretting she hadn’t taken more care with her appearance, wishing they weren’t all staring at her. These were obviously gentlemen of the highest rank and Kate stood in their midst dressed like a farmgirl on wash day. Her throat, which was already dry, withered as if she’d swallowed ashes. This was no way to begin her assault on London high society.
Turn and run!
Before she could obey her inner dictum, Lord Weatherwhistle sprang up as if he’d spotted the queen. “There you are, Miss Linnet. Finally! I’ve been waiting all morning for an audience with you. Might I have a private word?”
“Here?” Kate managed to gasp. It seemed as if every eye in the room was trained on her, leaning in to hear her answer. “I-I . . .”
Aunt Honore stood and brushed out her skirts, not that hers were wrinkled. “I tried to tell him you were indisposed today.”
“Nonsense!” Lord Weatherweasel argued. “She looks hale and hearty enough. Why, I’ve seen milkmaids less sturdy.” He patted her shoulder as if they were old friends.
“Isn’t that so?” He squinted, taking a harder look. “Well, hhmm. Admittedly, she might look a bit white around the gills, but nothing a little biscuit and some tea won’t cure. Isn’t that so?” When she didn’t answer, he backed up a step. “Er . . . you do know, don’t you, my dear, that you’ve one pink stocking on your left foot and a lavender one on the right?”
Kate experienced a split second of gratitude that she did not have a loaded pistol in her hand, for she most certainly would’ve shot him. As it was, both hands balled into tight fists and her right foot arched with an intense desire to kick his left kneecap across the room. “My stockings should be of no concern to you, sirrah.”

Excerpts. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
 
 

Book Info:

A sweet, light-hearted, inspirational Regency Romance from an award-winning bestselling author.
Lord Colter is determined to persuade Miss Kate Linnet to marry him, but having raised her younger sisters since her mother’s death, Kate yearns for independence. When her aunt, the notorious Lady Alameda, offers a London Season, Kate readily accepts. With her sisters trailing along with her to Mayfair, Kate soon realizes her mischievous aunt is making her already chaotic life worse.
Can Lord Colter rebuild the bridge between them, or will Kate let their chances at love and happiness slip through her fingers again?
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Meet the Author:

More than 600,000 copies of Kathleen Baldwin’s books are in the hands of readers around the globe. Her books have been translated into several languages, and a Japanese publisher even made Lady Fiasco into a manga. Her alternate history series for teens was optioned for film and licensed by Scholastic for school book fairs.

In addition to writing books, Kathleen loves adventure in real life. She taught rock climbing in the Rockies, survival camped in the desert and snow, was stalked by a mountain lion, spent way too long in college, fell in love, and married her very own hero. They’ve raised a slew of free-spirited children.
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