Woot! I have been sharing posts for books by Regina Jeffers for literal years and I’m so excited to host her today in the Featured New Book Spotlight. It’s always fun to get a better, closer look at a book I’ve seen bandied about on social media — and this is another reason why stopping in here is always a smart thing to do! I’m so ready to learn about your books, I can’t tell you.

So let’s get right to it, shall we? Regina Jeffers, what song makes you think of your new book, The Earl’s English Rose?

If I were to choose a song to accompany “The Earl’s English Rose,” I would choose Amanda McBroom’s “The Rose,” sung beautifully by Bette Midler as the soundtrack of a movie by the same name. Yes, I know, my choice seems so obvious, as such is the heroine’s first name, but there is more to the lyrics which speak of the “ease” of the young woman to give her heart to a man she realizes is both her savior and her nemesis and his “inherent” lack of trust in “LOVE” itself.

Some say love, it is a river
That drowns the tender reed
Some say love, it is a razor
That leaves your soul to bleed
Some say love, it is a hunger
An endless aching need
I say love, it is a flower
And you, its only seed

The heroine, Miss Rose Vickers, although young, recognizes the fear of romantic heartbreak as real, but she does not avoid the possibility. Instead, she accepts what she cannot control and plunges head first into a relationship with a man dead set on only being her guardian.

It’s the heart, afraid of breaking
That never learns to dance
It’s the dream, afraid of waking
That never takes the chance
It’s the one who won’t be taken
Who cannot seem to give
And the soul, afraid of dying
That never learns to live

Meanwhile, Jacob Casper, the 13th Earl of Everwalt, believes his life of dissipation is all he requires until he must marry and provide the earldom the traditional “heir and a spare.” Love has nothing to do with begetting a child on his future wife. However, as Midler’s “The Rose” tells us, there are certain endeavors in life, including most importantly, falling in love, which require a considerable degree of courage on the part of participants.

When the night has been too lonely
And the road has been too long
And you think that love is only
For the lucky and the strong
Just remember in the winter
Far beneath the bitter snows
Lies the seed that with the sun’s love
In the spring becomes the rose

So, although some consider this song has something to do with dying, as it is often played at funerals, and because such was the plot, which is loosely based on the rise and fall of Janis Joplin, I think otherwise. I dwell on the lines , “I say love, it is a flower, and you its only seed” in the first verse and the last two lines of the third verse, which say, “Lies the seed that with the sun’s love, in the spring becomes the rose.” The song speaks to the durability of love. Therefore, I offer the book’s tagline: The True Beauty of a Rose Lies in its Contradictions.

OOH! What an explanation! I love it! I also love where Regina says, “There are certain endeavors in life, including most importantly, falling in love, which require a considerable degree of courage on the part of the participants.”

So. Much. Yes.

If that’s not enough for you (yet), I’ve got more! And so does Regina, thankfully. Ready for the book’s official and actual description (although what we’ve already gotten is pretty darn good)?

The new Earl of Everwalt was not one to appreciate being bamboozled by an obstinate, headstrong girl, though pretty she may be. If he did not require her to repair his reputation, he would leave her to the schemes she had concocted to save her father’s estate.

Just because he was now her guardian, the Earl of Everwalt had no right to decide who she might marry. Therefore, Miss Rose Vickers sets out for London to provide the new earl a piece of her mind, only to run into a highwayman. As if scripted, the new earl proves to be her savior, but it would be some time before the suspicious Rose and the extremely susceptible Everwalt learn the depth of their connection and the true meaning of love.

Are you ready to grab your copy? I sure am!

“The Earl’s English Rose” is one of six tales in The Regency Summer Garden Anthology.

Amazon Paperback

Kindle

Also Available to Read for Free on Kindle Unlimited

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Be sure to connect with Regina Jeffers! It’s free! It’s fun! It’ll let you learn about more of her books!
Every Woman Dreams (Blog)
Austen Authors (Blog)
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Regina Jeffers’s Website

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