THE INCONVENIENT MARRIAGE OF CHARLOTTE BECK - Kathleen Y'Barbo - Free Book

I've been waiting for this book to release. I've loved the other two books in this series. Welcome, Kathleen. Why did you become an author?

I started as a reader. Eventually my love of reading created a tiny spark of hope that someday I, too, might write something that could become a book. It still amazes me that I have.

If you weren’t an author, what would be your dream job?

I’ve already held that dream job: a book publicist. Telling others about great books and authors is what I love almost as much as writing.

If you could have lived at another time in history, what would it be and why?

I would love to have been alive in 1802 when the Louisiana Purchase forever changed the face of New Orleans and the southern United States. What an amazing time that must have been.

What place in the United States have you not visited that you would like to?

Washington DC. I’m assuming I could spend weeks in the Smithsonian alone.

I went when I was a senior in high school. We only had one day at the Smithsonian, and we only scratched the surface. How about a foreign country you hope to visit?

Switzerland because my middle son will be living there soon.

What lesson has the Lord taught you recently?

His plans are not my plans.

Tell us about the featured book.

Unlikely romance is sometimes just an inconvenient marriage away in THE INCONVENIENT MARRIAGE OF CHARLOTTE BECK (Waterbrook, June 2011)

 Charlotte Beck may be entering adulthood, but she can’t seem to keep to her stubborn, independent spirit from bucking social protocol. Fed up with her behavior, Charlotte’s father Daniel pressures her to settle into a nice marriage despite knowing she is set on going to college. Then Daniel sees Charlotte with the handsome but annoying English astronomer Alex Hambly, and everything changes.

Though Alex and Charlotte can barely stand one another, Daniel offers them a deal they can’t refuse: if they agree to marry, he will save Alex’s family from financial ruin and grant Charlotte the freedom to go to college. Reluctantly the couple agrees, but in private they plot to annul the marriage as soon as possible.

But when Alex’s feelings change and he refuses to dissolve their contract, will Charlotte find a way out of her vows? Or will she discover that maybe this marriage isn’t so inconvenient after all?

Sounds totally intriguing. Please give us the first page of the book.

“A lady carries herself with great poise and the sense that an egg sits atop her head.”

—MISS PENCE

Chapter 1

June 9, 1887 London

         What Charlotte Beck wanted, Charlotte Beck generally got.

         Thus Charlotte stood on the doorstep of Fensworth House, poised to make her unofficial debut into proper society despite the fact that she’d not yet reached the age of introduction nor been presented to the queen.

         Won’t Gussie be surprised when I write her about the evening? The thought of her best friend, Augusta “Gussie” Miller, bolstered Charlotte’s courage and reminded her why she’d insisted on being included tonight. After much pleading, Charlotte had convinced Gennie, her stepmother, that she needed to practice her social graces before her first official events of the New York and London seasons.

         As the door opened, Charlotte swallowed a flutter of nerves. A uniformed servant nodded at her, and she worried she would forget the litany of instructions on proper decorum that Gennie had again gone over with her on the carriage ride here.

         Charlotte slid a glance that she hoped conveyed thanks to the man whose duty it had been to escort the Beck ladies tonight. The same man who’d successfully lobbied on her behalf. Colonel William F. Cody, who was not only her father’s business partner but also practically family, responded with a wink, then adjusted his lapels.

         Her gaze swept past the colonel to the room a level below them, which glittered as much from the chandeliers above as from the jewels the nobility wore. The light was perfect for painting. She closed her eyes to memorize the scene then opened them quickly when Gennie touched her arm.

         Had she any breath left, Charlotte might have sighed at the loveliness of it all. But under Gennie’s instructions, the maid had pulled her corset strings so tight that even mild exertion would likely send Charlotte plummeting to the floor.

Perhaps rushing her debut was not such a wise move after all. The combined effect of nibbling at almost nothing all day and then squeezing into the lace-covered instrument of torture was not Charlotte’s idea of a grand time.

I am waiting breathlessly for my copy of the book to come. How can readers find you on the Internet?

Readers can find out more about my books or email me through my website at www.kathleenybarbo.com . They can also follow my Twitter posts or contact me through Twitter or Facebook through that page.

What fun to have you back on my blog, Kathleen!

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