Joanna Shupe Winner

The randomly chosen winner of a signed print copy of MAGNATE is:

Di

Congratulations!

Please send your full name and mailing address to:

theromancedish (at) gmail (dot) com

Today's Special - - Joanna Shupe

Photo by Kathryn Huang Photography

It's my pleasure to welcome Joanna Shupe to the Romance Dish today. I'm so excited about her new The Knickerbocker Club series, set in New York City during the Gilded Age, one of my favorite American historical periods. You can read Janga's reviews of TYCOON (a novella) and MAGNATE (first book in the series) here. 

Joanna Shupe has always loved history, a fact that is clearly evident in her writing. She was the 2013 winner of RWA's Golden Heart® for Best Historical, her first Regency historical, The Courtesan Duchess was nominated as Best First Historical by RT Book Reviews, and The Lady Hellion was named one of the Washington Post's top five romance novels. Joanna can be found online at: Facebook  Twitter.

The Gilded Age vs. The Regency

Thanks for hosting me on The Romance Dish today! I’m excited to be here today to discuss the Gilded Age, which serves as the setting for my new historical romance, MAGNATE.

In Romancelandia, we know all about the Regency. It’s the beloved time in British history of Jane Austen, Byron, and the Prince Regent. Just say the word and we imagine balls, dukes, fancy gowns, and strict social conventions that heroines love to skirt.

Most romance readers are less familiar with the American Gilded Age, a pocket of extreme wealth

and industrialization at the end of the nineteenth century. You might recognize Boss Tweed, Tammany Hall and trust busting from school, which are, in concept, about as interesting as a root canal. But stay with me, because I’m about to blow your mind (I hope).

All that stuff you love about the Regency era? The Gilded Age has it, too. Let’s break it down…

Fashion

In the Regency, English ladies wore elegant gowns with empire waists and long flowing skirts. The Gilded Age had gowns, too, and wealthy American women had oodles of money to spend on the very best, which usually meant dresses designed by the House of Worth, the originators of haute couture as we know it today.

Just search “House of Worth Gowns” on Pinterest. You. Will. Not. Be. Sorry.

 Balls

The Gilded Age had fancy balls, as well as debutantes. And yes, the balls were just as exclusive as the Regency soirees. You might have heard the term “The Four Hundred,” which originated because Mrs. Astor’s ballroom only held four hundred people. Needless to say, this quickly established a list of who’s who in New York society.

With so much money on hand for the Gilded Age’s elite, the balls were extravagant. Want 10,000 butterflies shipped in from Brazil? What about swans floating in a real pond as a centerpiece? Or party favors of gold pencil cases, jewelry, or cash? All of these actually happened.

High Society

In Regency romance, we adore our dukes. And little wonder: the British aristocracy is an exclusive club not many could join. The high society of New York, however, operated in much the same way. No matter how wealthy you were, if your roots couldn’t be traced all the way back to the Dutch settlers of Manhattan, you were too gauche for this crowd.

This was why many of the nouveau riche in America married their daughters off to English noblemen; they couldn’t buy acceptance in society, so they hoped to gain it through a British title.

There are more similarities—from stately mansions and scandals, to class struggles and social upheaval—but one major difference between the two eras are the industrial advances.

The Technology

The Gilded Age had more modern toys, including railroads, the telegraph, and telephones. Even the automobile comes in at the tail end. Thankfully, there were still carriages and horses for those quick romantic rides across town. Have you watched The Age of Innocence, when Daniel Day-Lewis seduces Michelle Pfeiffer in the carriage? Gilded Age hotness!

If you like historical romance, I hope you will give the Gilded Age a try. It’s a fascinating era, and my very favorite.

What’s your favorite historical movie? Comment below with your answer for the chance to win a signed paperback copy of MAGNATE!

******

New York City’s Gilded Age shimmers with unimaginable wealth and glittering power. The men of the Knickerbocker Club know this more than anyone else. But for one millionaire, the business of love is not what he expected…

Born in the slums of Five Points, Emmett Cavanaugh climbed his way to the top of a booming steel empire and now holds court in an opulent Fifth Avenue mansion. His rise in stations, however, has done little to elevate his taste in women. He loathes the city’s “high society” types, but a rebellious and beautiful blue-blood just might change all that.

Elizabeth Sloane’s mind is filled with more than the latest parlor room gossip. Lizzie can play the Stock Exchange as deftly as New York’s most accomplished brokers—but she needs a man to put her skills to use. Emmett reluctantly agrees when the stunning socialite asks him to back her trades and split the profits. But love and business make strange bedfellows, and as their fragile partnership begins to crack, they’ll discover a passion more frenzied than the trading room floor…

Review - - TYCOON and MAGNATE

Tycoon

By Joanna Schupe

Publisher: Zebra

Release Date: February 23, 2016

Joanna Shupe introduced her Knickerbocker Club series set in New York City during the Gilded Age with the novella Tycoon, the story of Clara Dobson, a shop girl, and Theodore Harper, president of one of the nation’s largest banks. Clara witnesses a crime and is on the run from the perpetrators. With no money and only the clothes she is wearing, she is headed home to Missouri. Ted is in Grand Central Station about to board his private car for business meetings on the train with a St. Louis brewer. When Clara spots her pursuers, she randomly attaches herself to Ted, unaware of who he is. Ted can’t decide if Clara is crazy, involved in a scam, or actually in danger, but he agrees to let her share his car. She, in turn, agrees to help distract the wife of the brewer while the men discuss business. Clara’s presence proves an unexpected boon.

Over the next few days, Clara and Ted come to know each other better. The attraction that sparked with that first kiss between strangers grows exponentially. But trust grows more slowly, and Clara remains in danger. Can love really conquer all?

If I were evaluating this as a standalone, I would award it 3.5 stars. I love the characters, and the premise, but the novella format allows for development for both that is too thin for my taste. However, as a teaser for a new series, this novella is highly effective. It certainly captured my attention and left me eager to read the first novel in the series. For this reason, I gave Tycoon five stars.

Magnate

By Joanna Schupe

Publisher: Zebra

Release date: April 26, 2016

  

Elizabeth Sloane belongs to elite New York society, old money with connections to the original Dutch settlers and low tolerance for the nouveau riche who were increasing in numbers and in personal wealth in the late nineteenth century. The queen bee of Old New York was Caroline Schermerhorn Astor, creator of the famed “Four Hundred,” a list of socially acceptable upper-class families. Known as Knickerbockers (a term sarcastically coined by author Washington Irving) by outsiders, old New York limited the power of its women to the social scene. It is this rigidly defined role that Elizabeth resists. She wants a life that consists of more than parties, opera, and gossip. An interest in stock trading fostered early in her life through time spent with her father has increased with her awareness that she is intelligent and particularly skilled in picking the right stocks. Growing concerns about the family business headed by her brother William heighten her interest in opening her own brokerage firm and adding to the family coffers. Her brother refuses to entertain the thought of his sister in business. Knowing that she needs to be publicly connected with a man powerful in the business community, Elizabeth approaches Emmett Cavanaugh, hoping that a man who belongs to the city’s new wealth will be less conservative than her brother. Elizabeth erroneously believes that her brother and Cavanaugh are friends because they, along with Theodore Harper (The Tycoon) and Calvin Cabot, owner of three large newspapers, belong to a four-member secret group who use their power and money for purposes that require their joint efforts.

Cavanaugh rose from brutal poverty and an early childhood spent in the squalor of the infamous Five Points. Ruthless and driven, from the age of twelve, he devoted himself to ensuring that he and his three siblings escaped the hunger and violence of life in America’s first urban ghetto.  He started working in a steel mill, and he ended up owning it and much more. Cavanaugh is first amused and then intrigued by Elizabeth. He consents not to her initial proposal but to a wager with her shares in her family’s company as her stake. He is conscious, as is Elizabeth, of the strong attraction that sizzles between them, but each thinks the social gulf between them cannot be bridged.

The scandal that began with their first dinner meeting intensifies with their business association. The result is a forced marriage and two unhappy partners. The conflicts between these two strong characters are real, and misunderstandings abound. But even Mother Nature appears to know that Elizabeth and Emmett belong together and helps them reach their HEA. (I do love a snowstorm in a romance.)

I have long wished for the return of the non-Western American historical romance, and I am delighted to see more in this subgenre being offered in recent months. I find the Gilded Age a fascinating period. I even briefly considered making Edith Wharton the focus of my dissertation. You can then imagine how pleased I was to learn that Schupe was setting a series in 1880s New York City. My expectations were high, and Schupe met them beautifully. She does a wonderful job of world building, from her descriptions of the opulent homes of the wealthy to the backroom meetings of the powerful who are not overly particular about using ethical means to achieve their goals. Lest some reader complain that Elizabeth’s triumph is unrealistic, Schupe provides an author’s note that briefly recounts her real life model.

Elizabeth and Emmett are complex, layered characters who held my interest from the first pages. I found her likeable and sympathetic. Although Emmett is not always likeable, he is always compelling, and, given what readers know of him, he remains true to his character. My one reservation is that I would like to have seen his character explored a bit more fully.  The secondary characters add depth to the story. I especially loved Emmett’s family, and I eagerly await Baron, the third novel in the series, which will feature William Sloane, Elizabeth’s brother, and a fake medium.

If you are a fan of cross-class romances or the forced marriage trope, if you are captivated by Gilded Age tales, or if you like historical romance that combines the tried and true with the fresh and new, I highly recommend Magnate. I liked it so well that I have pre-ordered Baron (October 25, 2016). It has a political element! I can’t wait!

~Janga