Release Day Guest: Delilah Marvelle!

Hi Everyone! So today we have author Delilah Marvelle visiting with us! I put a call out to twitter to help with posts, cuz you know I’ve been so… uh… on top of timely posts, yeah? :X Anyway, she is pretty much the most adorable thing ever and basically I hate her because I will never be so tiny and adorable. Only she’s so nice you can’t really. (I’m having a good day. No I’m not lying. >.>)

So! It’s super exciting though, because Ms. Marvelle has a very shiny new book out today! Isn’t that cover gorgeous?!

Quick question: What does a handkerchief, honey, bees and a woman’s clitoris have in common? Ah…that is the beauty of history. This is why I write historical romance. Some may think that my approach to historical romance is too sexual in nature and that history was primmer in nature than what I portray. One reader even wrote to me, scolding me that dildos were not in existence back in 1830. This bothered me, because our modern way of thinking has a tendency to skew the past. Because…ehm…the oldest dildo is actually 28,000 years old.

So I started my blog, A BIT O’MUSLIN, to re-educate the population of nay-sayers. Getting back to my earlier question, of what a handkerchief, honey, bees and the clitoris have in common, one sexual art many may not know about was the Art of Hiving, which was popular for a short period of time in the Victorian era. It was specifically for virgins who wanted to remain “intact” but wanted to experience ecstasy. (Guess they hadn’t thought of masturbation…)

Curious? Instead of putting history into *my* words, let me guide you into history through an 1873 perspective. Here is the excerpt from Harper’s Bizarre issue from March of 1873 chronicles:

“A table spoon of honey is dabbed on the vagina with a silk handkerchief. The jar containing the bees is then placed under the honeyed canal attracting the insects. I observed this ritual in the back room of a playhouse in Kensington. A young woman, who shall remain nameless as to conceal her good name, prepares to receive the four insects. Sharp stings yield cries of pain and eventually tears. The practice of hiving has been advertised as originating in the Orient as a way to receive pleasure whilst maintaining chastity. Advertisements in newspapers trumpet sayings like “intense ecstasy” and “superior than virile males.” The Archbishop of Canterbury has condemned the craze calling it “Ungodly.” The Queen has made no officially comment, but rumors circulate in taverns that midnight shipments of bee hives have entered Buckingham Palace…”

I have a feeling some dude in the Orient thought it’d be funny to mess with the Brits who were all freakin uptight. It didn’t take long before these circulating advertisements were considered infomercials gone wrong. The fad was quickly deemed a farce and terminated. Imagine that. Curious about Sex Throughout History? Come on, you know you are! I post a new topic every first of the month. Check out my blog at www.DelilahMarvelle.blogspot.com

Ms. Marvelle is giving away one signed copy of Forever and a Day to one lucky commenter, so get to it! Also, I’m totally jealous – I can’t wait to get my hands on this book and read it! (And just for good measure… I’ll post the cover again with the blurb. )

Roderick Gideon Tremayne — the recently appointed Duke of Wentworth — never expected to find himself in New York City, tracking down a mysterious map important to his late mother. He certainly never expected to be injured, only to wake up with no memory of who he is. But when he sees the fiery-headed beauty who’s taken it upon herself to rescue him, suddenly his memory is the last thing on his mind.

As the head of New York’s notorious Forty Thieves, Georgia Milton feels responsible for the man who was trying to save her bag from a thief. But she’s not prepared for the fierce passion he ignites within her. When his memory begins to return, her whole world is threatened. Now Roderick must choose between the life he forgot and the life he never knew existed