(At the end of Diane's post is a chance to win a copy of her latest book!) 
Diane Gaston's Musings (Gushings) About 300…and Innocence and Impropriety
It was so nice of Colleen to mention my March Harlequin Historical, Innocence and Impropriety. I jumped at her invitation to be her guest blogger today.
(And I jumped at the chance to have her! Diane has been one of the most supportive, mentoring of my author friends and I'm so glad to have her here!)
Innocence and Impropriety takes place in the same time period as Colleen’s wonderful The Rest Falls Away, but it is a slightly different Regency England than that of Victoria and Max and Phillip. Innocence and Impropriety tells the story of Rose, a Vauxhall Gardens singer, who is coveted by three men: a marquess, Lord Tannerton, who wants her for his mistress; Flynn, his secretary whose job it is to make that happen; and Greythorne, the greatest danger of all. Of course, Flynn falls in love with Rose…
(Hmmm…she has three men to choose from? No wonder I can't wait to read this book!)
It occurs to me that maybe Victoria and Max were in Vauxhall Gardens fighting vampires while Rose sang her songs from the two storied gazebo in the Grove. Vauxhall Gardens would have been a perfect place for vampires.
The Gardens were a “pleasure garden” akin to today’s amusement park, only without the mechanical rides. They had music, restaurants, displays of art, fountains and fireworks. Once they filled part of the Gardens with water and reenacted the Battle of Trafalgar.
Vauxhall Gardens was full of tree-lined paths. At night, the trees were illuminated by thousands of tiny gaslights, making the whole place seem magical to this pre-electricity world. People of all classes mixed together in Vauxhall. It was common for people to wear masks, like a masquerade, so no one knew if they were dancing with a duke or a duke’s footman.
The tree-lined paths of Vauxhall were perfect for lovers to stroll. Tucked along the paths there were even small structures built in classical Roman style where lovers could be very private indeed. The longest and most private of the paths was called the Dark Walk, at the end of which was an illusion of a hermit (hermits were popular several years earlier, not so much in Regency times). Going to see the hermit was a perfect excuse to take one’s lover down the Dark Walk.
Perfect for vampires to lurk as well!
No vampires appear in Innocence and Impropriety, Victoria and Max made sure of that!There is a fairly sinister villain in Lord Greythorne, though.
Innocence and Impropriety, being a Harlequin Historical, is only on the bookstore shelves for this month, but should be available longer on online sites like Amazon. It is my fourth Harlequin Historical and is connected to the previous book, A Reputable Rake, which won the 2006 RITA for Best Regency. Visit my website to learn more about my books.
And YES, I did see the movie 300! Me and enough other people to give it a 70 million dollar gross. I know the reviews are mixed, but I loved the movie.
I thought it was a masterpiece in cinematography, ground-breaking. The images on screen, even when violent, were beautiful, clearly reflecting the images created by Frank Miller in the graphic novel upon which the movie is based. It is a movie about a graphic novel, with typical, over-the-top elements familiar to readers of action comic books.
To those who proclaim the film has a political agenda–it is a movie about a comic book!!!! That's all–except for universal themes, such as honor and sacrifice.
I have been accused of going to see the movie specifically to see Gerard Butler’s abs, but I have to say that Gerard's physique as Leonidas and those of his Spartan soldiers were never depicted in a gratuitous manner. The way the film was shot, you just believed this was the way they dressed.
More credit to the filmmakers, the minor characters, though having very little dialogue, were so vividly drawn that you cared what happened to them.
I’m a card-carrying Tart, a fan of Gerard Butler (read about my initiation here) and this film only added to my admiration. His performance was so good, I forgot it was Gerard Butler on the screen and I totally believed it was Leonidas, the king who led his 300 Spartan soldiers to their deaths against a million Persians at the Battle of Thermopylae.
I don’t think any other actor alive could have done a better performance. They could not have accomplished the physical demands of the role and yet play the king with such nuance. Gerard has the most expressive face and he can switch from sarcasm to fury in an instant as he does in the scene with the messenger ("This is Sparta!").
Don't get me started on the love scene, which was really more tender than I had anticipated and beautifully filmed.
To win a copy of Innocence and Impropriety, ask me any questions you like, about my books, about being a Gerard Butler fan… Ask me how I know Colleen! Tell us what you thought of 300!
Or, if you’ve read any of my books, tell us what you thought of them! Anyone who asks a meaningful question or leaves a meaningful comment will be in the running to win a copy of Innocence and Impropriety!
(PS I also write under the name Diane Perkins, like on my Phantom blog posting above.)
And…Diane is also a RITA-award winning author! For those of you who don't know what a RITA is…well, it's the equivalent of an Oscar, but in the romance fiction genre.
