Exclusive Guest Post -Woo'd in Haste and Wed at Leisure by Sabrina Darby

Today I’m revisiting two Regency romances by Sabrina Darby: Woo’d in Haste and Wed at Leisure.

Originally featured on Forever Book Lover as part of a 2014 virtual book tour, these companion stories were inspired by characters and relationships from Shakespeare’s The Taming of the Shrew. Sabrina also stopped by to share the inspiration behind Woo’d in Haste and why side characters sometimes demand stories of their own.

Woo’d in Haste

Miss Bianca Mansfield is ready for her debut. If only her older sister didn’t insist on marrying first. She’s doomed to wait to find love—until she meets Lucian Dorlingsley, Viscount Asquith.

Recently returned from an extended tour abroad, Lucian is immediately captivated by Bianca. He’s determined to meet her, even if it means masquerading as a tutor to her young half-brother.

Soon Bianca is torn between love and duty and facing a desperate decision. When Lucian finally reveals that he isn’t nearly as improper a match as he seems, he must also convince Bianca to forgive the deception that brought them together.

Wed at Leisure

The follow-up to Sabrina Darby’s Woo’d in Haste.

In all of Sussex—scratch that, in all of England—there is no one prettier than Kate Mansfield, and Peter Colburn, heir to the Duke of Orland, has known that since he was fifteen.

But Kate’s vivacious nature comes with a temper to match, so Peter has always hidden his attraction behind relentless teasing. As far as Kate is concerned, there is no one quite as annoying—or as incredibly handsome—as Peter.

When he surprises her with a sudden romantic courtship, Kate assumes it must be another joke. After all, Peter is the one man who knows how flawed she believes herself to be.

Only after rejecting him does Kate begin to wonder whether he was serious. Now her determination is at war with her heart, and she may have to risk her reputation if she wants to turn their accidental tragedy into a happy ending.

Guest Post by Sabrina Darby

The Side Character

How many times have you read a book where you were much more interested in a side character than in the main character? Sometimes, you are meant to be intrigued as these characters are sequel bait, fully formed in the author’s mind and ready to get their own books.

In Shakespeare’s The Taming of the Shrew, Bianca is a side character, a plot device to show how much Kate has been tamed by Petruchio by the end of the play but as a reader, in my mind, she became a fully formed heroine.

Although The Taming of the Shrew was written as a farce, with stereotypes for characters, rather than letting Bianca be the flirtatious brat who ends up being the “real” shrew to her husband, I wanted to explore how and why a household like that of Kate and Bianca’s would become that way.

When, in Woo’d in Haste, the first half of my take on Shakespeare’s play, I gave Bianca her own story with her own dreams, I found that she had found solace and escape from a chaotic household in her books.

Her dreams are shaped by the worlds she’s read, and thus she sees everything through the lens of Fanny Burney, Jane Austen and other well-known novelists. And when her hero is one who brings even more chaos into the home, she has to deal with that as well and decide if he’s worth the chaos.

Of course, as I wrote Woo’d in Haste, there were other side characters who kept waving at me from the page saying, “What about my story?”

Who is your favorite scene-stealing side character of romance, whether or not he or she eventually got his or her own book?

About Sabrina Darby

Sabrina Darby has been reading romance since the age of seven and says she learned some of her best vocabulary from romance novels. Her debut with Avon Red, On These Silken Sheets, was a Favourite Erotic Romance finalist in the Australian Romance Readers Awards and a Best First Book finalist in the National Readers’ Choice Awards.

Her other books include the Regency novella The Short and Fascinating Tale of Angelina Whitcombe and the contemporary romance Entry-Level Mistress.

Sabrina Darby Website  •  Sabrina Darby on Goodreads

Join the Conversation

Have you ever picked up a book because a side character completely stole the show? Tell me which character made you wish for a story of their own.