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Sylvie Sinclair Samples This Marquess of Mine
[00:00:00]
Katherine Grant: Welcome to the historical romance sampler podcast. I'm your host, Katherine Grant, and each week I introduce you to another amazing historical romance author. My guest reads a little sample of their work, and then we move into a free ranging interview. If you like these episodes, don't forget to subscribe to the historical romance sampler, wherever you listen to podcasts and follow us on Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube.
Now let's get into this week's episode. I am super excited today to have Sylvie Sinclair with us. Sylvie cut her teeth on the Sweet Valley Twins, L. M. Montgomery, and Sunfire romances before inevitably graduating to the classic bodice rippers of the 80s and 90s, which she kept hidden under her bed from her disapproving mother for years.
The romance and adventure in these books inspired her to write her own love [00:01:00] stories, with strong heroines who know their own mind, and the heroes who wouldn't have it any other way. She lives in California with her own cinnamon roll hero, and their two spoiled rotten rescue cats. When she isn't writing or reading, she can usually be found watching Melrose Place with a glass of red wine in hand or puttering around in her flower garden.
Sylvie, thank you so much for being here today.
Sylvie Sinclair: Thank you so much for having me. I'm excited to be here.
Katherine Grant: Yeah, I'm really excited to hear your excerpt from this Marquis of mine and to get to know you better.
Sylvie Sinclair: Yeah, thank you. I love, don't often get a chance to talk about my books because I'm just naturally sort of a
private person, but I'm here and I'm gonna talk about this book that I really loved writing. So I yeah,
love these
characters.
Katherine Grant: That's awesome. Yeah. So what should we know about This Marquess of Mine?
Sylvie Sinclair: So it is the second book in a series following three girlfriends who kind [00:02:00] of grew up together. Olivia and Griffin, they are the two mains. Griffin is Olivia's best friend's brother. She's known him since she was a little girl. She's always kind of had a crush on him and he's of course attracted to her but doesn't want to be. So the story opens in June of 1821. The only reason I mention that is because the Christmas prior to that,
olivia had too much Christmas punch and she sort of angled for a kiss beneath the mistletoe and Griffin rejected her. So that sort of comes into play a little. Yeah. That Christmas punch is dangerous. So ever since then, of course she was humiliated. She's kind of been avoiding him. She's also sort of moved her matrimonial hopes to a duke.
But because Griffin's mom injures her ankle and is usually his sister's chaperone, she asks Griffin to chaperone her around London, and because Emmy, who is his sister, and Olivia [00:03:00] are best friends, that sort of throws them together, and this scene that I'm going to read takes place in a London boutique, and the three of them are in this London boutique, although no one is very happy about it, so that sort of leads up to this, this little scene With our two mains kind of being mean to each other, so that's the setting.
Awesome. Alright, so here we go. " That's a pretty bonnet," Emmy said, coming up behind Olivia and eyeing her reflection in the glass. "Will you buy it?" "I don't know," Olivia said. "Perhaps." She turned to face Emmy and lowered her voice. "Why didn't you warn me that your brother would be our escort today?" Emmy had the grace to look mildly ashamed of herself.
"Because I knew if I told you, you wouldn't come." "Yes, I would." Emmy raised a brow. "Probably. Maybe." "Well, I thought it best you had no choice in the matter," Emmy said, glancing at the front of the shop where her brother still stood. [00:04:00] "You'll have to get used to being around Griffin again someday. You might as well start now."
Olivia turned to face the mirror again, biting back a frown. Get used to it? Impossible. But she knew Emmy was right. She would have to try. She would have to accept the fact that he disliked her and ignore it. and refused to allow his disregard to injure her any further. She would be a duchess soon, after all, the wife of a powerful duke.
What did she care what a mere Marquess thought of her? From now on, she would simply be herself. Silly, spoiled, flirtatious, unabashedly herself. Perhaps even obnoxiously, if the mood should strike. She shoved Griffin from her mind and studied the bonnet again with a critical eye. "Do you think this bonnet suits me?"
She asked Emmy. "You don't think it's a touch too frilly?" She adored the bonnet, but even she had to acknowledge that frills could be overdone. Emmy copped her head to one side, studying Olivia's reflection. "No, I don't, but perhaps we need a third [00:05:00] opinion, a male one." Before Olivia could stop her, Emmy turned and called out Griffin's name, beckoning him over.
"Emmy, no," Olivia hissed. "That isn't necessary." But it was too late. Griffin was already walking over to them, his gaze on his sister. Olivia drew in a breath and turned, clasping her hands at her front. "What do you think of this bonnet?" Emmy asked her brother. "I think it's lovely, simply perfect for a drive through the park with a certain gentleman caller.
But Olivia isn't so sure. What do you think?" Griffin's gaze flicked from Emmy to the bonnet to Olivia's face, and she could feel her cheeks warming beneath his perusal. The seconds felt like hours as he considered her answer, and suddenly, the weight of the moment grew uncomfortable, and the thought of hearing his opinion was simply too much to bear.
She could not stand another of his veiled insults, or worse, an insincere compliment. "I have no need for your brother's opinion," she said lightly, as she removed the [00:06:00] bonnet and returned it to its perch. "He and the Duke have vastly different tastes, after all," she said about securing the ribbons on her own bonnet, avoiding Griffin's gaze.
"And besides," he said, his voice deep and laced with amusement. "If I said I liked the bonnet, she wouldn't want it. And if I said I didn't, she would." Olivia clucked her tongue and forced a serene smile. "Don't be silly. That would suggest your opinion matters to me, and I assure you, it does not." The bell on the door gave a pleasant jangle, interrupting the moment,
and two women walked into the shop. One older, the other a younger version, clearly mother and daughter. "Oh, it's Miss Stanhope and her mother," Emmy said, heading off to greet them. "Miss Stanhope, what a beautiful shawl. You must tell me where it came from." Olivia watched as Emmy joined the ladies, well aware she ought to do the same, but she was too aggravated for social niceties.
Ignoring the infuriating man at her side, she stepped around him and [00:07:00] wandered over to the display case of earrings, irritation thrumming through her veins. No one tested her patience like Griffin. No one. And no matter what she did, or how hard she tried, she seemed incapable of containing her temper with him.
Dratted man. She knew he thought very little of her. But why did he have to be so rude? Why did he derive such pleasure from mocking her and provoking her temper? Could he not simply suffer her presence in silence? She stared at a pair of earrings with unseeing eyes and blew out a frustrated breath. He'd called her a silly, spoiled flirt, and maybe he was right, but surely she wasn't the only silly, spoiled flirt in London.
So why did he dislike her so much? When she was a little girl, he'd tolerated her as his younger sister's little friend, and she'd been fine with that. He'd ignored her more often than not, but he was never mean. It wasn't until she made her debut that his behavior changed toward her, as if he sensed her budding attraction for him and sought to [00:08:00] repel it.
A peal of giggles drew her gaze to the center of the shop, where Emmy stood chatting with Miss Stanhope and her mother. Griffin had joined the group, though she knew him well enough to recognize that he didn't want to be there. His smile was tight, likely due to the fact that Miss Stanhope was flirting with him.
Her smile coy, her eyes coquettish. Griffin shifted on his feet. With a soft chortle, Olivia turned back to the display case, pleased as punch to see him suffering so. Petty, perhaps, but she didn't care. Just add it to my long list of transgressions. Shoving Griffin from her mind yet again, she studied the display bearing, searching for a pair that would complement her costume, something in deep blue or bright green.
A slash of scarlet caught her eye, a stunning pair of earrings with gems of bright red, violet, and orange intertwined like flames. She stroked one with the tip of her gloved finger, her eyes transfixed on the work of art. They were bold and daring and gorgeous. She [00:09:00] adored them. "Those are pretty." Olivia stiffened at the intrusion, Griffin's low voice invading her space.
"Yes, they are," she murmured, her tone impassive, even as awareness skittered up her spine. He was close, too close, his arms scant inches from hers, and the warmth of him, the scent of him, seemed to be everywhere. He reached out, his forearm brushing her, and though it was only their sleeves that touch, she felt it all the way to her toes.
"I like the purple pair, too," he said. "They would make your eyes shine even brighter, I think." She blinked, captivated by the sight of his gloved fingers skating over the amethyst beads like a caress. A compliment from the Marquess of Keswick? Surely she was dreaming. Bemused, she looked at him, wary of what she might find in those dark gray eyes of his.
But for once there was no mockery, no judgment. "Thank you," she said softly. "I-" Another peal of giggles erupted behind them, and Olivia turned at the sound, [00:10:00] peering over her shoulder in time to catch Miss Stanhope sneaking a glance at Griffin with covetous eyes. Her gaze snapped to Olivia's, and her lip thinned before she looked away, her nose in the air.
"Ah, there it is. The reason for the anomalous compliment. You found yourself a new admirer, I see," Olivia said crisply, turning back to gaze at the earrings again. "Is that why you're here, paying me false compliments? You're hiding from the girl?" She shot him a sidelong glance, masking the hurt behind an amused smile.
Griffin's gaze met hers, then dipped to her mouth and lingered for a beat, before falling to the display case. "Gentlemen do not hide," he corrected. "We evade." His tone was light, though his voice had deepened to gravel. "Oh, yes, of course." Olivia nodded with faux solemnity. "How silly of me." Absently, she reached out and systematically straightened the row of earrings with her forefinger until they all fell in line like good little soldiers.
Another burst of female [00:11:00] laughter trumpeted behind them, startling her, and she snorted a laugh, her shoulders shaking with suppressed mirth. "It isn't funny," Griffin grumbled. "Oh, but it is," she said through trembling lips. "I feel as though I've walked into the middle of a mating ritual." A muscle ticked in his jaw.
"This is why I avoid places like this. It isn't safe for me here, with all these women around falling at my feet." Olivia shot him a dubious look. "Falling at your feet?" He shrugged. "Practically." She huffed out a laugh. "Well, you can hardly blame the girl for trying to catch you," she said. "You are single, after all, and..." "and devastatingly charming, dangerously handsome?"
His half smile was both in spades. But Olivia ignored it and rolled her eyes. "Deliriously rich, then," Griffin offered. She smirked. "I was going to say a marquess" He cocked his head to one side, his gaze quizzical. "Meaning what? That women wouldn't want me as much if I weren't a [00:12:00] marquess?" "No," she said cheerfully, "meaning they wouldn't want you at all."
A reluctant smile tugged at the corners of Griffin's mouth, and Olivia couldn't help herself. She smiled back at him. Their gazes held for a moment, and she allowed herself the luxury of admiring his eyes, stormy gray, mischievous, arrogant. Wholly irresistible. Resist. She turned from him, her heart thudding in her chest, ridiculously affected by the man beside her, despite his opinion of her, his rejection of her.
Fool. Drawing in a slow, brain clearing breath, she moved farther down the long table of goods, past the earrings and gloves, until she came to the display of hand painted silk fans, nestled into one corner. She paused to admire the colorful assortment of butterflies and blossoms and seascapes, each design unique and expertly painted, and so beautiful people traveled from all over England to buy one.
"I'll have you know," Griffin said, coming up beside her, [00:13:00] "my company is highly sought after. I'm told I make a charming companion." His voice was low but light, his big body dwarfing the already crowded space, and self preservation had her shifting away from him as far as the little corner would allow. "Are you indeed?" She asked mildly, picking up a fan painted with purple pansies.
"I wouldn't know. You've certainly never tried to charm me." He cocked his head to one side, slipping his hands in his pockets. "Would you want me to?" Yes. The word teetered on the tip of her tongue, but she swallowed it whole. And then she lied. "Of course not," she said, studying the fan with feigned interest.
"And anyway, it would be an exercise in futility. I am immune to your charms." She could feel his eyes on her, a whisper of awareness prickling at the nape of her neck. She forced her chin up to meet his gaze. He arched one brow, and a smile toyed with the corners of his lips as his gaze dipped to her mouth.
"I think we both know [00:14:00] that isn't true, Olivia."
Katherine Grant: ooh! That was really fun, full of like fun banter, but also the feels of the angst. Like you really bridged both of those things. Oh,
Sylvie Sinclair: thank you. I do love some angst. I think I lean a little too hard into the angst sometimes, but I just love it. I eat it up.
Katherine Grant: What is romance without angst?
Sylvie Sinclair: I know! You know, can there ever be too much? I don't think so.
Katherine Grant: Well, I have a lot of questions for you, but first we're going to take a quick break for our sponsors.
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Alright, so we are back with Sylvie Sinclair, who just read an awesome excerpt from This Marquess of Mine. And one of the things that really, I loved about that was this feeling of the banter and they're, you know, like really going for this, like, kind of like, oh, we're enemies vibe, but they both clearly have full feelings for each other.
And it also was giving me a little bit of the Darcy Elizabeth Bennett, you know, there's a lot of misunderstanding going on. So can you talk to me a little bit about where this story started and how your stories typically come to you?
Sylvie Sinclair: You [00:16:00] know, I dialogue is just where I feel I come alive the most.
The other stuff is necessary, you know setting the scene and all of that, but dialogue for me is just, I love it. So if books could just be all dialogue, I would have 30 books out by now, probably. I just love it so much. So I really think that when I'm thinking about plot, that's a lot of where I come from, is I'm really thinking, what gets me excited?
What interactions between the two mains are going to really get my creative juices flowing? And that's really sort of the precipice for a lot of my plots, is starting with those little nuggets of I love banter. I know not every book can have banter, but I love it. And so I really think that's kind of where it started.
And, and you meet Olivia and Griffin in book one of this series, and you can tell [00:17:00] there's some history there. They're never cruel to each other, but they're definitely pick at each other. And so I, yeah, I kind of threaded that through the first book sort of hinting at what terrible things I will do to these two characters to get them to come together, so, in this book.
Katherine Grant: Yeah, well, one of the tricks of dialogue is to have the character saying something, but then to explore everything they're not saying, and why they're not saying it, and all that yummy goodness, and you really achieved that in this scene.
Sylvie Sinclair: Oh, I do think that's can be challenging. It really is challenging, but it's really fun to sort of thread or sort of say things, convey something
when the character is saying the exact opposite, I find subtext, I just think that is delicious. I love, I love good subtext. I love to read. I love to write it.
Katherine Grant: Yeah. And one [00:18:00] of the things that was really grounding this scene was the physical things that Olivia was interacting with, like the jewelry and the fans, which you mentioned, like, you know, in this universe, people come to that store specifically to buy those fans.
Are those grounded in research that you've done?
Sylvie Sinclair: Yes, I love Regency, or any, really any historical accessories. If I had all the money in the world, I'm sure I'd have a whole house of just antiques and fashion. Not that I'm a fashionable person, but I love to look at beautiful things, and I just think the Regency had some of the most amazing accessories.
Just, I would love an accessories room of just Regency. So yeah, a little bit of, of research went into that. I, I do love making characters touch things. I find that very helpful in conveying, again, with subtext and sort of [00:19:00] their body language conveying what they're actually feeling, even if their dialogue, their words are the exact opposite.
So I, I do like to use setting in that way, it feels very intimate and like it can convey a lot. So I like to really like doing that.
Katherine Grant: I remember in an acting class I took in middle school, they showed us a scene from high society with Grace Kelly, and they were pointing out to us how she was having this dialogue with someone, but the whole time she was moving her head. A handkerchief through her hands and they were like, pay attention to the handkerchief.
That is how she's expressing her emotion.
Sylvie Sinclair: Oh, fascinating. So that's. It's a cute movie. I'll have to look at that scene. Yeah. It's a
great
movie.
Katherine Grant: Oh
my
gosh. It's a
great movie. Yes. I love
old movies. Okay. So, so what is your general research process or approach to research for the Regency period?
Sylvie Sinclair: You know, I.
find I can get [00:20:00] too bogged down in research. So this is probably going to sound terrible. I actually have to step back from doing too much research because I find that's all I want to do. And then I just magically want the book to be there. I'm sure, I'm sure we all feel that way. So I try not to do a whole lot of research unless it's something that I'm afraid to do.
of putting in a book that didn't exist yet. Then I will do more research. But a lot of what I draw on, and this is probably not advisable, is my 30 plus years of reading romance. I kind of use that as my sort of base knowledge, even though they were written by authors who are infallible like we all are.
But for me as a reader, historical accuracy. If it's egregiously inaccurate, it pulls me out, but I'm not a huge [00:21:00] stickler for everything being perfectly historically accurate. So I guess what I'm saying is it's a fine balance for me. I do love research, but I can't let myself go down the rabbit hole too much where I'm already a slow reader.
The book would literally take me five years to write if I let myself do too much research.
Katherine Grant: Oh, I understand that impulse.
So you mentioned, you know, you've been reading romance for 30 years and in your bio, you, you mentioned a few of the very foundational, but are there any historical romance authors specifically that you kind of hold up in your head as that's the person I want to write like?
Sylvie Sinclair: Oh, you know, not, not necessarily from, from that long ago, just because we read through a different lens now. A lot of the books from the 80s and 90s were very problematic. At the time, I thought they were the pinnacle [00:22:00] of the types of relationships you should, you know, aspire to. Judith McNaught was my biggie.
I devoured all of her books. But she has a lot of dubious consent in her books. The same kind of with Julie Garwood. I love how they write these big sweeping romances that are like 500 pages long, which also wouldn't fly nowadays. So while those were kind of my foundational authors and I still hold a very special place in my heart for them, it just doesn't work as well today.
Nowadays Julianne Long and Eloisa James And Beverly Jenkins are all, I think, three authors who could not be more perfect. At least from my own personal tastes in what I look for in romance just their dialogue, their sexy scenes, everything, they're all just chef's kiss. So, I can get even halfway [00:23:00] as good as any of them any time in my life.
I will. I don't know what God I would have sacrificed something to, but anyway, I, those three are fantastic.
Katherine Grant: Yeah, I like that. Well, and you mentioned in your bio, you know, being a big fan of L. M. Montgomery, who of course wrote Anne of Green Gables, the series. So Gilbert Blythe, I consider a cinnamon roll hero.
Perhaps the ultimate and just amazing. Do you, so since you've, since you're a huge fan of Anne of Green Gables and supposedly, I assume Gilbert what's your favorite kind of hero to write? Do you gravitate towards cinnamon roll heroes or do you prefer alpha heroes?
Sylvie Sinclair: That's a great question. I've never really thought about it before.
I don't know that I write alphas. That's a very special type of hero that can either be very well done, where it's [00:24:00] like the sexiest thing you've ever read, Or you are like, why is this man not in jail right now? So I think what I like, even if my hero heroes are a little bit more alpha inside, they're always a cinnamon roll.
I guess I'll just say it, I'm, I'm a pretty big feminist. Consent is a big thing for me in my books. So I have a hard time writing a hero being toxic or predatory. Those just, that's just not my jam. I'm not here to kink shame anybody. But so I think even if my heroes sometimes come across as a bit alpha, they are always a cinnamon roll on the inside.
I can't write the gooey center. All in all, I just can't write a hero who's not maybe at his core at least a good person, if that answers your question.
Katherine Grant: Yeah, it does. Absolutely. And it makes sense. I, I do think there's this whole spectrum of, you know, [00:25:00] alpha heroes who have no sense of their own emotions.
And then the book is like, teaching them that they have emotions and then there's are they aware of their sense of responsibility for other people and emotional responsibility for other people and then there's people, you know, heroes who know they have emotions, but just are struggling with how do I communicate about this?
Yes, yes.
Sylvie Sinclair: Yeah. And that's hard sometimes to layer all of those things together successfully yeah, it can be a fine line sometimes which is why I love reading other people's books to see how they do it.
Katherine Grant: Absolutely. All right, well, one more question before we go to the love it or leave it game.
Okay. In the Sweet Valley High series, was there one of the twins that you identified more with?
Sylvie Sinclair: Absolutely, Elizabeth. Jessica was so fun to read, but it gave me anxiety sometimes. The things that she would say and do. I'm just like, why is she being so mean? [00:26:00] Why? She's so privileged. She's so lucky. And she's not treating people as good as Elizabeth.
Elizabeth was a bit of a Mary Sue. It's almost like if the two of them came together, they'd be kind of a perfect person. They're two very much like the angel on the shoulder and the little devil on the shoulder. I don't know. I loved them both. But as far as who did, who did I relate to most?
Probably Elizabeth. I was a pretty good kid.
Katherine Grant: Yeah.
All right, well, I think it's time to play Love It or Leave It. Perfect.
[Musical Interlude]
Katherine Grant: So, do you love it or leave it?
Protagonists meet in the first 10 percent of the novel.
Sylvie Sinclair: Love it. In my opinion, it's necessary. I don't have the attention span to read books where they don't meet early on. I get a little bit bored. So I think I leave it. intentionally write that way as well.
Katherine Grant: All right, love it or leave it, dual point of view narration.
Sylvie Sinclair: [00:27:00] Love it, especially with historical romance. I'm totally fine with first person in any other genre, historical for some reason. For me, I guess I'm a purist. I just love the, the dual third person. It's mine.
Katherine Grant: All right. Love it or leave it third act breakup or dark moment.
Sylvie Sinclair: Love it. Hard to write. Love to read it.
I don't think it's necessary in every book, but I do love it. I do.
Katherine Grant: Yeah. All right. Love it or leave it. Always end with an epilogue.
Sylvie Sinclair: I don't, I know that's kind of a rule I don't agree with necessarily. I love reading epilogues, and I've never written anything that did not have an epilogue, so I guess love it, but I don't feel mad when there isn't one.
Katherine Grant: Okay love it or leave it, always share your research in the author's note.
Sylvie Sinclair: Leave it I love reading that, [00:28:00] but I've never done that before. So I guess for myself personally I don't know. Is there a third option?
Katherine Grant: Fair enough. And are there any other romance rules I didn't ask that you like to break or at least play with?
Sylvie Sinclair: You know,
not really. The only rule I ever remember hearing as a kid, and I think that's, I think it's gone out the window so this probably isn't even relevant anymore, is write what you know. Which I find such a strange writing rule. I guess, I guess that's where research comes in, but when you're writing a historical romance you literally can't really know anything so that would be the only rule.
I don't like that. I don't think there's anything I really break. I'm very new still as a writer So I'm very much following the rules while I'd still become
Katherine Grant: learning them so you can break them later. Exactly. Exactly We'll do a follow up in a few years and you'll be like, this is the rule I'm breaking.
This is the rule I'm breaking.
Sylvie Sinclair: Oh my god, break all the [00:29:00] rules From out the window. Yeah, right now, no. I think I'm just trying to, you know, finish a book.
Katherine Grant: Which is hard. Very,
fair. Well, thank you so much for playing Love It or Leave It and for coming on the episode today. so much. Where can, yeah, where can listeners find you and your books?
Sylvie Sinclair: So I am, my website sylviesinclair. com and I am on Instagram at sylvie sinclair writes that's really where I do most of all of my stuff, but I am also on Facebook and we have a little author group with you as well, smut and smut, so yeah I, I'm on there some too.
Katherine Grant: All right. And your books are Kindle Unlimited.
Sylvie Sinclair: Yes.
Katherine Grant: So KU readers can go gobble up your books right now?
Sylvie Sinclair: They can. They can. Or sign up for my, you know, I do have one little novella on there that is not in ku, but it's available through my [00:30:00] website if you sign up for that. So you can get a. My little freebie that I am currently working on the second of that series.
Another novella works. So.
Katherine Grant: Well, as always, listeners, I'll put that link in the show notes so you can just go click right on through. All right. Sylvie, thank you so much. This was awesome.
Sylvie Sinclair: I had so much fun. Thank you so much for having me. It was really fun to chat with you.
That's it for this week! Don't forget to subscribe to the Historical Romance Sampler wherever you listen, and follow us on Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube. Until next week, happy reading!