These Vicious Masks: A Swoon Novel(88)
Friday, 9:00 p.m.:
Mother wants to kick Evelyn out of the house! It is dreadfully unfair as she is not really a loose lady! Mother just doesn’t know about her Sensitive and Secret Mission! This is absolutely and most positively the worst thing that has ever happened to me. I shall burn the house to the ground!
Friday, 11:00 p.m.:
Nick found me out with the matches. He was terribly stern but also seemed somewhat amused. I don’t believe he thinks me serious at all. Little does he realize I can simply use the fireplace!
From the household notes of Edmund Tuffins
Saturday
During teatime today, Mrs. Hobson barely managed to ask me, through her stifled giggles, if I had any muffins. I spent the night preparing my letter of resignation.
Sunday
An unnecessary set of calling cards arrived for Miss Kent this morning. She had ordered them to be printed with the name “Mrs. Laura Edwards.” I do hope Miss Wyndham proves to be an edifying influence on the young girl.
Monday
Miss Wyndham feigned an illness, sneaked out of the house, and walked the London streets unaccompanied for most of the night. At the very least, I’d say she’s a better influence on Miss Kent than Lady Kent is.
Tuesday
Between her excursion last night and her “cousin’s” visit this morning, Miss Wyndham has been the subject of a great deal of gossip among the housestaff. But when I joined in with a rumor about how anyone unable to hold their tongues would be unable to keep hold of their jobs, the conversation died rather quickly.
Wednesday
Miss Wyndham returned very late last night, covered in blood. I still believe she’s a better influence than my mistress.
Thursday
Everyone has gone to the theater tonight, so perhaps I will do something fun myself. I might even polish the silver.
Friday
While overseeing tonight’s dinner party, I finally found myself in the presence of Mr. Edwards’s famed wit when he asked me whether I had visited the zoo to see the puffins. Somehow Miss Wyndham was the one forced to leave the house.
Saturday
Miss Kent is still quite distraught from last night. She claims to have no desire for the matches since the last incident, but we are being cautious. Perhaps I’ll hold on to that letter of resignation.
A Coffee Date
with authors Tarun Shanker and Kelly Zekas and their editor, Holly West
“About the Authors”
Holly West (HW ): What was the first romance novel you ever read? Kelly Zekas (KZ): I was thinking about this and I realized it’s kind of crazy. You know the Berenstain Bears books? There was one about Brother Bear being in a Romeo and Juliet play with a girl bear whose family was feuding with his father. And I was obsessed with this book. I read it, like, twenty times. I have no idea. I don’t remember anything about it except that they were in Romeo and Juliet and they had to kiss and he would blush every time. So I’m pretty sure that was the first romance novel I ever read.
Tarun Shanker (TS): Is that where you started liking Shakespeare from?
KZ: I think I already liked Shakespeare, so that it was even more amazing.
TS: I don’t have as good a story as that. I can’t even remember. I just read weird-ass books as a kid. So I think the first romance was probably Jane
Eyre in high school, and I didn’t even like it, and now it’s one of my favorite books, weirdly.
HW: Do you have an OTP (One True Pairing)? Like your favorite fictional couple?
TS: Yes. I don’t know if this is going to last for a while, but this happened while we were in between edits. Have you ever read Sarah Waters? She wrote Fingersmith and Tipping the Velvet. She writes lesbian Victorian fiction. I read Fingersmith and the two girls in that, Sue and Maud . . . I had to put the book down because they’re amazing. Hopefully in a year I’ll still like them just as much. I don’t know if it’s because I just read it. The other one is probably Anne Elliot and Captain Wentworth in Persuasion. That stands the test of time.
KZ: I have both fiction in general and young adult. Fiction in general: Beatrice and Benedick from Much Ado About Nothing. They are my heart and soul. And at least for right now I’d say Eleanor and Park. I love them so much. They’re so great and they make me so happy. That book ruined me for weeks. I’m not the same person I was before I read it.
HW: This one is one of my favorite questions and is also very valid for These Vicious Masks. If you were a superhero, what would your superpower be?
TS: Telekinesis, just because I’ve thought about this way too much and I can do so many things with it. I can make myself fly or freak people out, or, if I really wanted to throw fire at people, I could just carry fire around, too. It’s all-encompassing.
KZ: I took this one a little differently. Like, not which one would I want, but which one would I have. I think my superpower would be matchmaking. Being able to see who someone’s soul mate is. I have paired so many people together. I feel like it’s my secret talent. I kind of want to be a matchmaker for a living.
TS: That sounds like a good novel idea. A superhero with that ability.
KZ: Right?! Spinoff.
HW: Do you have any hobbies other than writing? Because writing no longer counts as a hobby. Once you’re being paid for it, it doesn’t count.
KZ: Well, I act as well as write. So I work in New York in a bunch of theater companies. And no one really pays me, so I think it could still be called a hobby. Also I’m the world’s worst crocheter. Like, truly, truly bad.