A Rogue's Pleasure, Carina Press, ISBN: 978-14268-9048-2
Ever since I first cracked the cover of Shakespeare’s comedy, As You Like It, in eleventh grade English, I’ve been fascinated by the thought of men and women switching clothing–and roles–and yet still managing to not only find one another but fall in love amidst the masking.
In A Rogue’s Pleasure, my Regency-set romance reissue with Carina Press, my heroine’s name isn’t Rosalind but Chelsea. But like Shakespeare’s heroine, life-or-death circumstances–in Chelsea’s case, a beloved brother’s kidnapping–have led Chelsea to shed her skirts for breeches.
It is Regency England, the dawn of the modern age but not quite. Roadways are still largely packed earth and rutted by carriage wheels. Private coaches traveling between the countryside and London are prime targets for the rogues of the road, highwaymen whose call to “Halt! Stand and deliver!” struck reasonable terror into the hearts of many a driver and his well-heeled passengers.
In A Rogue’s Pleasure those well-heeled passengers are Lord Anthony Grenville, a war hero newly returned from Portugal and The Peninsular Campaign against Napoleon, his fiancee, Lady Phoebe Tremont, and her mother.
Alas, gentle readers, Lady Phoebe is not the heroine.
So how do Anthony and Chelsea meet? Fiction writer that I am, I like to imagine that amidst all those dashing rogues of the road, there might have been one or two plucky highway women.
Enjoy the book excerpt and afterward close your eyes, employ your imagination, and for a few moments dare to believe. 
Photo by BizUrban.com.
Hope Tarr is the award-winning author of thirteen historical and contemporary romance novels, including MY LORD JACK (Carina Press, July 12, 2010). Look for A HARLEQUIN CHRISTMAS CAROL, a Christmas anthology with Betina Krahn and Jacquie D’Alessandro, in bookstores this November 10, 2010. Visit Hope online at www.HopeTarr.com and find her on Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube.
Tags: A Harlequin Christmas Carol, Betina Krahn, Jacquie D'Alessandro, Napoleon, Napoleonic War, Regency England
Ohh! A highway woman! Sounds like gender bending fun. Is the excerpt following?
I love sexy rogues and highwaymen! Fun, fun, fun!
What a fun premise! I really enjoy stories where the hero & the heroine change roles, so to speak. Where she wears the breeches; but he is still a strong, sexy masculine man.
I used to work for a Shakespeare theater company, and love the “breeches comedies” like As You Like It and Twelfth Night. How fun to place it in Regency England where the hero will undoubtedly discover he’s chosen the wrong woman as a fiance. Looking forward to the excerpt.
This sounds great! Love a woman who can take charge!
You’ve just send me off in search of one my youtube favorites: Adam Ant’s “Stand and Deliver.”
A highway woman! Love it! I’ve so wanted the Scarlet Pimpernel-type to be female and saving the world. Can’t wait to read it. Can’t wait to read it.
Sounds like my fav type of historical romance
Sounds like a fabulous premise and exciting read. Gender-bending at its best, and in Regency England. Just my cup of tea!
I’m adding this to my list (which just keeps growing and growing and growing . . . )
Can’t wait to read the excerpt
Hi Susanna! I think I may have flubbed the excerpt. It must have a word limit. Anyhoo, if you click on “Excerpt” you get the first paragraph.
I love the term “breeches comedies,” Amy, even if in Shakespeare’s day those breeches were worn by a young boy actor, not a woman. As an aside, Victoria Holt wrote a fascinating historical fiction account of the life of actress Dorothy Jordan, long-term mistress to William, Duke of Clarence, brother to George the Fourth and later King. It was called “Goddess of the Green Room” and it talked a lot about her most famous role, in breeches of course, from which she was dubbed “Little Pickle.” I think it was a Sheridan play, not Shakespeare, but similar deal.
Hi Caridad. I loved THE SCARLET PIMPERNEL, both the book and film adaptations–remember the one with Jane Seymour?
I love it when the hero has to ask himself, “Oh no, am I falling in love with a man?” and squirm around in that place for a while before he realizes what’s going on. Looking forward to reading this!
A highway woman! Well, you’ve hooked me.
Such a beautiful cover, too.
For my very first piece of serious fiction, I tried to write about a highwaywoman. Or girl. I’m very curious about what you did with it!
A highwaywoman. A hero who is engaged but not in love with his fiancee. An author who loves the Scarlet Pimpernel “they seek him here, they seek him there,…” Heaven!
What a fun premise, Hope! Now I’ll have to read it!
Excellent! Thanks for falling in with my evil plan, Marcelle.
Thanks, Rebecca. Looking forward to hearing you read at Lady Jane’s this Monday. Love your book title, btw.
Thanks, Tia, I hope you like.
And the winner is…
((inserting drum roll))
Cathryn B!
Cathryn, please email me your snail mail addy off list at hope@hopetarr.com and I’ll get a copy of VANQUISHED out to you ASAP.
Everyone, many thanks for being so very welcoming and generally terrific.
Happy Labor Day Weekend,
Hope