Fun Facts about Wicked Little Secrets

Happy Thursday! We just have to hang in for one more day until the weekend.

Today I’m recycling a blog post that I wrote for the blog tour of my book Wicked Little Secrets. Unfortunately, it was never posted, so I’m putting it here. It’s just a listing of fun facts about Wicked Little Secrets. Enjoy!

1.The hero, Lord Dashiell, has a penchant for collecting ancient Greek and Roman goddesses.

Dashiell wasn’t concerned with Lily’s threatened throat, but the bust of his precious gray-eyed goddess Athena that Lily held over her head. “Lily, take several deep breaths and think about what you are doing. Three thousand years ago, some craftsman put his soul into creating Athena. The soil of Greece has preserved her all this time. Her history is far greater than this tiny misunderstanding.”

“How philosophical of you,” Lily said, a wicked grin spread over her mouth and she dropped Athena, letting the goddess of wisdom shatter on the floor.

2. The heroine’s name “Vivienne” appeared when MS Word auto-corrected my mistype of “Vivian.”

3. The story features many animals, including a disgruntled pug and a cockatoo that only says “I love you” and dislikes men. 

4.  I did a great deal of research on the names of Victorian medicines to come up with historically accurate names such as

“Dr. Philpot’s Wonderful Nerve Tonic for Ailing and Suffering Ladies. Soothing Menses, Hysteria, and Other Female Complaints."

 5. I researched that Zulu shields were made from cowhide.

He snatched a black and white spotted Zulu shield from the stairwell and covered himself. “I… I didn’t know you were coming.” He tried to sound casual.

Meanwhile, Lily had seized a porcelain clock from the Chinese writing desk and hurled it at his temple. He raised his shield, and the timepiece bounced off cowhide and smashed on the railing, raining tiny metal parts onto the floor.

 6. The physical description of Angelica Fontaine, a villainous madam, was inspired by old theatrical and black and white movie photographs.

Gloria Swanson

7.  My friend read aloud the lines of cockney dialogue while I transcribed them. I read aloud the Irish dialogue.

8. The lewd caricatures in the book were based on illustrations by Regency artist Thomas Rowlandson.

9. I despise gun research, so I made my husband research all the guns and ancient weaponry in the story.

“Do you think I’m afraid of your gun? Woman, I’ve had a kris, zhanmadao, blunderbuss, basilisk, scimitar, and 24-barrel Belgian mariette pointed at me.”

10.     I had a blast tracking down old slang terms to write an amusing trial record for Old Bailey. 

Maxwell Cain: So Mrs. STONEGATE comes out and tells yon prisoner to hop the twig. Yon prisoner lugs the su-pouch’s strummel real hard. I tries to tip, but the dimber–mort gives me a floorer in the twiddle-dwiddles, and when I was down she wallups me in me lobb. So I—

Judge Bertis: Enough of this low, thievish cant.

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It's Not Easy Being Good...

Vivacious Vivienne Taylor has finally won her family's approval by getting engaged to the wealthy and upright John Vandergrift. But when threatened by a vicious blackmail scheme, it is to her childhood friend that Vivienne turns; the deliciously wicked Viscount Dashiell.

When Being Wicked is so Much More Exciting...

Lord Dashiell promised himself long ago that his friendship with Vivienne would be the one relationship with a woman that he wouldn't ruin. He agrees to help her just to keep the little hothead safe, but soon finds that Vivienne has grown up to be very, very dangerous to all of Dash's best intentions.

You can learn more about Susanna Ives’ work at:

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