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The Dressmaker's Secret by Susanne Dunlap #Review

We are diving into the past to the nineteenth century with the Regency romance, The Dressmaker's Secret Earl by Susan Dunlap . It was published by Comfortable Prose Publishing on 25 Mar. 2025 .   A marriage of convenience to a scoundrel? Not if Augusta can help it. The impoverished daughter of a baronet, Augusta has no intention of being bartered away like a prize horse. Instead, she flees to London, determined to forge her own path as a modiste. But fate has other plans. On her very first day in the city, she crosses paths with a brooding earlā€”one burdened with a clubfoot and a reputation nearly as scandalous as the proposal she ran from. His captivating sister, Mariana, is not only Augustaā€™s employerā€™s best client but harbors a secret ambition of her own: to marry the one man society deems wholly unsuitable. Drawn into Marianaā€™s reckless schemes of masquerades, cross-dressing, and Whig intrigue, Augusta soon finds herself entangled in more than just scandalā€”sheā€™s lo...

The Land Girl by Allie Burns ** Blog Tour Guest Post**

I'm delighted to welcome Allie Burns to Books, Life and Everything today with a great Guest Post to celebrate the publication of her historical novel, The Land Girl. Before we get to Allie's guest post on 5 things we didn't know about The Land Girl, here's a little about the book itself.



War changes everythingā€¦



Emily has always lived a life of privilege. That is until the drums of World War One came beating. Her family may be dramatically affected but it also offers her the freedom that she craves. Away from the tight control of her mother she grabs every opportunity that the war is giving to women like her, including love.



Working as a land girl Emily finds a new lease of life but when the war is over, and life returns to normal, she has to learn what to give up and what she must fight for.



Will life ever be the same again?




Five things you didnā€™t know about The Land Girl by Allie Burns



The Land Girl blends historical facts with fictional characters. Many elements of the novel were inspired by my family history, my connection with the Kent countryside and its agricultural history, and some of the interesting gems I uncovered during the research stage.

Mixing fact with fiction is an interesting way to work, but from time to time I do have to go back to my research notes and check what is real and what is just a figment of my imagination!

So, here are my little-known facts about The Land Girl.

1.  I named my main character, Emily, in memory of my great-great grandmother.

2.  There are three cows in the novel and I named them after my friend and her two daughters. It made me smile during a long editing sessions and it also helped me to give the cows character traits.

3. I learnt how to winter prune apple trees at Hadlow College during my research. 

4. I went on a research trip to Belgium, but my editor later suggested cutting the scenes where the characters visited the battlefields.

5. The fictional village in The Land Girl is inspired by Ditton in Kent. I found a history book of the village in the local library and it was fascinating to see how the village went from a sleepy rural community to an industrial area in the period directly after the war.

                                                                            About the Author



Allie lives in Kent with her family and two tortoises. When she's not writing for business or penning her women's historical fiction, Allie enjoys swimming and yoga. She has an MA in Professional Writing from Falmouth University and The Lido Girls is her debut novel. She is currently working on a second interwar years novel, which is due for publication in the summer of 2018.


You can follow Allie here: Website |  Twitter  |  Facebook  

Book Links: Goodreads  |  Amazon UK

You can read my review of Allie's debut novel, The Lido Girls here.

Thanks to Allie Burns and Jenny of Neverland Blog Tours for a place on the tour and for Allie's post.  


                 


  

 


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