JUBILEE MANOR Blog Tour: ‘On Writing the Romance’ Guest Post + Giveaway

I am absolutely thrilled to be the release day stop on the JUBILEE MANOR Blog Tour and to have an awesome guest post from Bethany Hagen on writing the romance in this amazing sequel. She did a fantastic job with Madeline and Captain David Dana’s love story. And I am so glad that she allowed her characters to retain their identity and their beliefs rather than forgoing both for the sake of the romance.

This is such an awesome read and conclusion to this series. The writing flowed beautifully, the story was incredibly entertaining, the mystery kept me guessing, the characters were ones I adored. It’s a total must read book – and series. So if you haven’t yet discovered it, now’s the perfect time because you won’t have to wait between books one and two.

And if you’d like to know a bit more about each of the books, their descriptions and places to find them online are below. If you’d like to know more about this seriously talented author, her bio and links to find her online are also below. And if you want to know what she had to say about crafting the romance, be sure to check out the guest post.

To see what some other bloggers had to say about the book, to read a couple of interviews, guest posts and an excerpt, visit the other stops on the tour – which are linked directly in the schedule at the bottom of the post. And for the chance to win the two books in this series, enter in the Rafflecopter.

About JUBILEE MANOR

Add to Goodreads

Title & Series: JUBILEE MANOR (Landry Park #2)
Author: Bethany Hagen
Release date: August 11, 2015
Publisher: Dial Books
Pages: 400
Formats: Hardcover, eBook

Description…

The thrilling conclusion to Landry Park is full of love, betrayal, and murder–perfect for fans of Divergent, The Selection, and Pride and Prejudice

In Landry Park, Madeline turned her back on her elite family, friends, and estate to help the Rootless. Now, in Jubilee Manor, she struggles to bring the Gentry and the Rootless together. But when Gentry heirs—Madeline’s old friends—are murdered, even she begins to think a Rootless is behind it, putting her at odds with the boy she loves and the very people she is trying to lead. If she can’t figure out who is killing her friends and bring them to justice, a violent war will erupt and even more will die—and Madeline’s name, her estate, and all the bonds she’s forged won’t make any difference.

The Guest Post

On Writing the Romance in Jubilee Manor

by Bethany Hagen

As an author, one of my absolute favorite things to do is write romance. Not only because I enjoy kissing (which I do) but also because I think the feelings of falling in and out of love are some of the most powerful feelings that people this age can experience. Not all certainly, but for a lot of people, seventeen and eighteen are the ages when you experience your first real romantic connections. Ages where the highs and lows of loving (or just really liking) another person are so intense, because they’re new and raw and untempered. One of the reasons I so love writing young adult fiction is because I get to play with these huge emotions, I get to have a lot of fun with the exhilaration and newness these characters get to feel.

Another reason I wanted to weave more romance into Jubilee Manor is because romance is something that is purely character-driven. Although the plot can affect how the characters are able to interact, the decisions they make about relating to one another come from the core of that person—which means that how a character acts romantically can reveal a lot about themselves.

For example, in Jubilee Manor, after a brutal murder of a gentry heiress, Madeline begins to suspect that some of the more revolutionary Rootless may have been behind the crime—much to the horror of Captain David Dana, who still unshakingly believes in their cause. If Madeline and David were different people, they may have put aside their beliefs for the sake of their relationship, but they didn’t. The way they continue to argue and stand their ground despite the impact it has on their emotions reveals how principled (and stubborn) they both can be. So, as a writer, having romance to reveal another layer of a character is really nice!

About Bethany Hagen

(Photo by Ritu Nanos)

Bethany is a a former librarian living in the Kansas City area with her husband and two children.

Her debut novel Landry Park came out from Dial/Penguin in 2014, and the sequel, Jubilee Manor, will be out August 11, 2015. She is represented by Mollie Glick of Foundry Media.

WEBSITE | TWITTER | TUMBLR | PINTEREST | GOODREADS

Other Books in the Series

Add to Goodreads

Title & Series: LANDRY PARK (Landry Park #1)
Author: Bethany Hagen
Release date: February 4, 2014
Publisher: Dial Books
Pages: 320
Formats: Hardcover, paperback, audio, eBook

Description…

Downton Abbey meets The Selection in this dystopian tale of love and betrayal

In a fragmented future United States ruled by the lavish gentry, seventeen-year-old Madeline Landry dreams of going to the university. Unfortunately, gentry decorum and her domineering father won’t allow that. Madeline must marry, like a good Landry woman, and run the family estate. But her world is turned upside down when she discovers the devastating consequences her lifestyle is having on those less fortunate. As Madeline begins to question everything she has ever learned, she finds herself increasingly drawn to handsome, beguiling David Dana. Soon, rumors of war and rebellion start to spread, and Madeline finds herself and David at the center of it all. Ultimately, she must make a choice between duty – her family and the estate she loves dearly – and desire.