A Minor Inconvenience blog tour {Review, Guest Post & Giveaway}

• Title: A Minor Inconvenience
• Author: Sarah Granger
• Publisher: Samhain Publishing, Ltd.
• Release Date: 14 January, 2014
• Genre: M/M Historical Romance

Duty, honor, propriety…all fall in the face of love. 
Captain Hugh Fanshawe returned from the Peninsular War with a leg that no longer works properly, thanks to a French musket ball. Now his fight against Napoleon is reduced to quiet, lonely days compiling paperwork at Horse Guards headquarters.
His evenings are spent dutifully escorting his mother and sister to stifling social engagements, where his lameness renders him an object of pity and distaste. But his orderly, restricted life is thrown into sudden disarray with the arrival of Colonel Theo Lindsay. 
Theo is everything Hugh is not-a man of physical perfection and easy yet distinguished address. Surprisingly to Hugh, Theo appears to be interested in making his acquaintance. Lindsay turns out to be a most convivial companion, and Hugh finds great pleasure in his company. Their friendship deepens when they become lovers.
In spite of himself, Hugh falls desperately in love. But when a French spy is suspected at Horse Guards, Hugh discovers nothing is as it seems.and the paper he shuffles from day to day could be the instrument of his lover’s death.
Warning: Contains gallant English officers in love, dastardly French spies, skintight pantaloons (sometimes on the floor) and gleaming tasselled Hessians.

Excerpt

Hugh was so turned about by the time the next set of dances ended that he had lost sight entirely of Lindsay. He retreated to the edge of the room, seeking a wall to stand against, only to find a hand placed in the small of his back and Lindsay’s voice close against his ear. “Escaping already, Fanshawe? I cannot permit that. We must present a united front if we are to prevail.”
Smiling, he turned his head. Lindsay looked even more handsome than Hugh had remembered, the silver buttons on his uniform coat sparkling in the light and his grey eyes filled with warmth along with the lazy amusement they so often showed.
“Does your united front permit a strategic regrouping?” Hugh asked.
“Music to my ears, Fanshawe. What have you in mind?”
“I was thinking a glass of punch and perhaps some cool air in the hall.”
“With a tactical brain like that, I can’t think how you have not yet been gazetted as general.”
Procuring a glass of cold punch each, they escaped to the hall that ran the length of the house. It proved to be a busy thoroughfare, used by those seeking to move to the card room or the dressing room, or simply to take some cooler air. In unspoken agreement, they moved to the far end and the large window onto Grosvenor Square, where they would not be disturbed. As Hugh turned to speak to Lindsay, he spied a familiar and extremely unwelcome figure reaching the top of the stairs. Stanton was here, and although Hugh thought he cut a most peculiar character in his striped waistcoat, he was fairly sure Sophia would be less discriminating in her taste.
“Damn it,” he said, momentarily forgetting he was in company.
Lindsay followed his line of sight. “Ah,” he said. “I had the impression the other night that Stanton was dangling after your sister.”
“In a manner of speaking,” Hugh concurred grimly.
“I suspected as much. Perhaps what gave me the first clue was when he likened her eyes to the beauty of stars sparkling like bright diamonds in a sky of black velvet and her smile to the sunrise that graced the dew of Eden’s first dawn.”
Hugh turned a revolted eye upon him. “No,” he begged. “No, for God’s sake, even he would not be so—so—”
“Lost in the poetical throes of passionate romance?” Lindsay suggested.
“I was about to say making a cake of himself,” Hugh said. “But Sophia—I am sure that no matter how handsome she might think him, she would never hear such nonsense without succumbing to giggles.”
“It’s possible I exaggerated his words a little,” Lindsay confessed. “Perhaps he merely mentioned how prettily her eyes shone and that her smile could light the room.”
“Well, that’s bad enough,” Hugh said indignantly. “What sort of a fellow spouts such claptrap?”
“I take it you have never courted a lady,” Lindsay said. “At least, not successfully.”
Hugh choked on his punch. And then something, whether honesty or some inner demon, prompted him to answer. “No, I never have.”
Lindsay fastened his eyes on Hugh’s suddenly, and the look in them was such that Hugh found it difficult to breathe.

Praise for A Minor Inconvenience

“…this romance is one of the best period pieces I’ve ever read.” Rainbow Reviews
“Sense and Sensibility meets A Minor Inconvenience ~ I just loved the way this book read; like reading a gay Jane Austen.In the best tradition of a sweeping historical background, Sarah sets the scene for a great romance with all the trimmings and style of the regency era…. The story is intricate and beautifully written.” Sinfully Sexy Book Reviews  (A Minor Inconvenience was one of the site’s Hotpicks for January)
“The writing is beautiful, some of the wry, clever speeches laugh-out-loud funny, and throughout the whole there is such a sense of time and place that you forget that this mundane world of ours isn’t one of breeches and Almacks, Vauxhall gardens and opera dancers.” Anna Butler
“.the humor in this story is a treat!… I applaud the author for delivering a fresh, captivating plot and such wonderfully unique characters as Hugh and Theo. If you are fancying a highly entertaining historical story – you can’t go wrong here.” Live your life, buy the book 
“I loved this book..I think anyone who loves historical romance written in the style of its setting and who likes a plot based story will love it too.” Mrs Condit & Friends Read Books

Buy your copy now through Amazon | B&N | Kobo 

If Jane Austen were to write a gay romance novel.

Hugh Fanshawe returned from the war with an injury that ends most days in agony. The former Captain now works as a paper pusher at the Horse Guards headquarters. He takes care of his mother and sister, but he’s essentially lonely and just going through the motions. His life is mundane but comfortable, that is until he meets Theo Lindsay. Colonial Lindsay is every bit the distinguished gentleman, and soon enough Hugh discovers that they share the same interest, each other.

Secrets abound throughout, whether it be Hugh and Theo and their hidden attraction, or the traitor that has blended into their lives. A sweet, gentle and romantic relationship between the two men quickly blossoms. But Theo is hiding a secret, a secret that could tear the budding twosome apart.

What I loved most about this book was the seemingly genuine style from the time period that has been woven throughout this story. The wording, the phrasing, the clothing and the mannerisms are exactly what I think of for the time. There was the constant underlying threat as well, the possibility of Hugh and Theo being discovered. Two men being together intimately at the time was frowned upon and could suffer severe consequences if discovered. And their influential positions only added to the urgency of keeping the romance secret.

The romance aspect thought was a bit lacking for me. While I appreciated the author staying true to the period piece she was writing, I wanted more details instead of hints and innuendos when Hugh and Theo were in the bedroom. Overall the story kept me intrigued and I was anxious to see how it all came together. I think fans of historical romance will be pleased with this one. 

Sarah Granger is a sucker for a happy ending. She believes, however, that characters will only fully appreciate their happy ending if they've suffered along the way. 

Sarah lives in the Cotswolds, an idyllic part of the English countryside with gently rolling hills, dry stone walls of golden stone and fields dotted with sheep. She has shamefully broken with local tradition by not having a rose growing around her front door. When she isn't writing, Sarah enjoys walking in the countryside with her elderly black Labrador.

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Guest post with Author Sarah Granger, behind the scenes clothing of the period for A Minor Inconvenience. 

One of the joys of the Regency world for me is the clothing—exquisite ballgowns in a wonderful range of colours and fabrics, trimmed with delicate embroidery and lace, and enough frivolous accessories to keep me entertained for hours. When I was writing A Minor Inconvenience, I spent many hours happily poring over fashion plates to ensure each of the female characters was perfectly dressed for each occasion.  And then it slowly dawned on me that Hugh, the narrator, was not only uninformed when it came to ladies’ fashions, but also woefully uninterested. So the delicate apple-blossom crape ballgown worn over a white satin petticoat with a satin bodice decorated with pearls, etc etc, became, through his eyes, a “pale-coloured dress”. It was a crushing disappointment.

At least I had the gentlemen’s fashions to console me. Designed to show off the male form to its very best advantage, the tight coats over broad shoulders, cut away high at the front to show off a gentleman’s waist and other areas, was quite some consolation, I must confess. And I have to agree with Hugh’s mama that there’s nothing quite like a young gentleman in the scarlet coat of his regiment to stir one’s blood.

My research grew ever more fun when I discovered a marvellous book about military uniforms of the Peninsular wars that had whole chapters devoted to the subject of officers’ netherwear. For a start, the word netherwear. What is not to love about that?

And of course it was essential for the plot of my book that I plough through countless pictures of breeches and topboots, silk knee-breeches that cling to every curve of the body, and eye-wateringly tight pantaloons that, as Hugh noted, left precisely nothing to the imagination. While I knew courtesy of Georgette Heyer that certain daring young ladies would dampen their muslins so that they clung to their bodies, I hadn’t realised that some gentleman dampened their buckskins before putting them on, to ensure that they clung to the contours of their leg muscles once dry.

At least with thoughts of dampened buckskins and clinging pantaloons to entertain me, I ended up not missing the feminine fashions quite as much as I’d thought. 

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