Deep in debt and desperate for a solution, Julius Claydon knows that marrying a wealthy woman is his only hope.
Welcome to the April 17th stop on the blog tour for The Schoolmaster’s Daughter by Naomi Laeuchli with Goddess Fish Promotions. Be sure to follow the rest of the tour for spotlights, reviews, more guest posts, and a giveaway! More on that at the end of this post.
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Author Guest Post
Did you have a minor character who insisted on playing a larger role in the story?
Several! The most significant one being Sir Griffith. He started out by only being mentioned in a few lines in chapter one, to explain a friendship between my hero Julius and another man with a much better reputation and social standing than Julius. He also provided a sympathetic moment for Julius, so the reader wouldn’t be too angry at him for being a fortune hunter. A ‘save the cat’ moment for Julius if you will. But beyond that he never appeared again.
However, after the first draft of the book was completed, I realized that the story was missing something (and was also too short!) and so in waltzed Sir Griffith, very happy to push his way into the limelight and expand his part. He now appears throughout the book and is quite instrumental in the development of our leads’ understanding of one another and themselves. In fact, looking back on it, I don’t even remember how things reached the climax before Sir Griffith played his role. He might be a cad, but he pulled the book through into its final form and for that I have to be grateful to him.
There are a couple of other characters who insisted on becoming largely parts as well. Often this was due to me needing another side character for a scene and realizing I should just use someone that I had already introduced here or there (which invariably resulted in me having to go hunting through the book’s pages, looking for full names and descriptions. One day I’ll learn to add any new character I create to a spreadsheet for a book, just in case I need their information again!).
Finally, there’s even a hackney coach driver who, while only there for a chapter, insisted on making his presence felt for that one chapter and took up several paragraphs rather than dutifully driving our heroine through Bath in silence.
About the Book
The Schoolmaster’s Daughter
by Naomi Laeuchli
Published 19 July 2024
Genre: Regency Romance
Page Count: 234
Add it to your Goodreads TBR!
Deep in debt and desperate for a solution, Julius Claydon knows that marrying a wealthy woman is his only hope. When he meets the beautiful and rich Clara Haughton in Bath, he believes she could be his salvation, but there’s one obstacle in his path: Lydia Cray, Clara’s sharp-witted and penniless companion.
When Lydia quickly sees through his fortune-hunting motives, Julius proposes an alliance. He will help secure her future if she helps him secure Clara’s heart.
But Lydia is not all she appears to be, and she has a plan of her own: to teach him a lesson he won’t soon forget. But her scheming soon leads to unforeseen consequences for them both.
Can love spring from deception?
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Excerpt
He fetched them both a glass. “Now, tell me. How goes our business?”
“Do we have a business? I thought we had a scheme.”
“Business sounds more honorable.”
“Do you care about honor?”
He frowned and opened his mouth to retort, and then noticed her expression. Her voice might be serious, but her face was laughing, and her eyes glinted gaily. She was, he thought, very hard not to laugh along with. And so he did. “Touche,” he said. “Scheme it shall be.”
“Well then, our scheme is going quite nicely. Clara was in raptures over your care of William and Margaret. She said she had never known a man could have such a natural affinity with children.”
He grimaced. “Maybe as a rule we can’t, but we can have a natural affinity with rogues and ruffians and those two were equal parts of both.”
“I wouldn’t tell her that,” she replied thoughtfully. “It would probably not go over very well.”
“She can’t actually think those children are well behaved?”
“She thinks they are naturally high-spirited and that high spirits in children must not be checked.”
“William at least, if not checked, is likely to end up on the gallows. Margaret may even join him there. And I shall watch with pleasure.”
About the Author
Born in Taipei, Taiwan, Naomi Laeuchli has lived overseas in nine different countries on three different continents where her family was posted with the American Foreign Service. In November 2012 she moved from the Democratic Republic of the Congo back to the states and currently lives in Arizona with five horses. She works as a freelance writer and part time at the local library. She has written several interactive stories for Choice of Games, Tales, and Dorian.
Giveaway Alert!
The author will be awarding a $10 Amazon/BN gift card to a randomly drawn winner.
a Rafflecopter giveawayApril 14: Joanne Guidoccio
April 15: Sandra’s Book Club
April 16: Romance Novel Giveaways & Dawn’s Reading Nook
April 17: Westveil Publishing
April 18: Aubrey Wynne: Timeless Love & Read Your Writes Book Reviews
April 21: A Wonderful World of Words
April 22: Lisa Haselton’s Reviews and Interviews
April 23: Ellwyn’s Blog & Maggie Blackbird
April 24: Archaeolibrarian – I Dig Good Books! & Long and Short Reviews
April 25: The Key of Love & Gina Rae Mitchell
Disclaimer: As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
This is one of my favorite genres! I love the cover!
Thank you so much! I was very very pleased with how the cover turned out and I’m very happy to hear other people love it as much as I do!
It’s also one of my favorite genres!
Thank you for featuring THE SCHOOLMASTER’S DAUGHTER today.
Thank you so much for having me on your blog this morning! I really appreciate it!
Sounds like a good read.
Thank you so much! It was a lot of fun to write.
I enjoyed your guest post. Sadly, I sometimes don’t think about the minor characters all the time.
I’ve realized recently that, when reading, it’s minor characters that often capture my imagination the most.
This looks like a very good book.
Oh thank you so much!