This is part II of why I love historical romance (as an author of clean historical romance), and in this video I share some of the things that inspired me when I wrote A Love Once Lost. So there’s a bit about the book, and also some footage of places we visited in Belgium.
Here is the text from the video if you prefer to read it:
This is part two of my video series on why I love historical romance, and specifically about my book coming out with Haven in June of 2026 called A Love Once Lost. If you pre-order it directly from Baker — and I’ll put that link in the description — it’s 40% off with free shipping. I don’t know when that offer will end, but it’s a really good deal. Now stay tuned for part two of why I love historical romance and, more specifically, my book A Love Once Lost.
The series is called The Bridwells’ Grand Tour. In those days, if you’re not familiar with the Grand Tour in the 18th century—let’s start there, although I don’t know how much farther back it went—educated men went to the Continent for a year or two and completed their education. They learned history, arts, engineering, science, and languages. They discovered everything on tour, and that was considered a kind of polishing education. After finishing at Oxford or Cambridge, they would go on tour. Obviously, this tradition was interrupted when the war between Napoleon and England happened; there were no more Grand Tours. It picked up again and continued throughout the 19th century, although it became less of a status symbol for young gentlemen finishing their education and more of a general travel experience for anyone who wanted a pleasant tour.
My series is called The Bridwells’ Grand Tour, and the interesting thing about it is that Mr. Bridwell is a learned scholar—quite eccentric, let’s say. He has no sons, and although he did his own Grand Tour earlier in life, he’s now at the age where he thinks, “I can’t send my sons on a Grand Tour because I have three daughters, so I’m going to take them. We’re going to do our Grand Tour, and they’re going to become enlightened. It’s going to be amazing.”
We have Amy Bridwell, the eldest daughter. She is not keen on going. Two things are important to know about her: first, her mother died when she was young and charged her with looking after her sisters and her father, who is not practical at all. Amy carries a heavy mantle of responsibility, and it’s hard enough in England—she does not want to manage everything in foreign territory.
The second thing is that she once had a love, James Fletcher, and their relationship ended because of a disagreement. He was going to go on tour. He wanted her to go with him, but the circumstances were not good, and she didn’t think it was wise. They fought and split. That was six years ago, and it left a bad taste in her mouth. She wanted nothing to do with Europe. She just wanted to stay in England, be cozy in her home, and continue the life she was used to. But because she was a single, unmarried woman, she had to follow her father and her sisters on this tour—something she truly didn’t want to do.
People who went on tour often ended up on the coast of Belgium. Belgium became a country in 1830; before then there was no country called Belgium, although the people were called Belgians. It was known as the Austrian Netherlands—the southern part, which is modern-day Belgium—and then there were the Dutch Republic. The family landed on the beach at Ostend. There had been a very active port, but it was destroyed in the siege of Ostend in the 1600s and wasn’t rebuilt until the mid-1800s. I wrote them landing on the beach and having to find the town. Perhaps they would have been able to see the town from where they landed; perhaps some form of port existed. But this was my artistic license.
She finds herself in Ostend, having to search for horses for their carriage—not a good start and certainly not what she wants to be doing.
Ostend itself is beautiful. My husband and I went there for our 25th anniversary last month, and just to stand there and think, “Okay, this is where they would have landed. Wow. Look at those waves. This would have been the start of their adventure,” made me feel how hard it would have been for Amy to face that moment.
From there they traveled by carriage to Bruges. We also visited Bruges—it is such a charming town in Belgium. It still feels very old. There are quaint walks along the canals, and many of the buildings are from the Georgian era. And that brings me to something else I want to say: a lot of times we think history is so far removed that we can’t relate to it. It seems so long ago, but in places like this we can see that life looked very similar to life today—beautiful houses, rugs, decorations, chairs. They ate good food. They loved and lived just as we do. They read. They had enjoyment. They had relationships. It’s not that long ago. And that’s one reason I like writing historical romance—because it brings the past into something we can identify with today.
From there they went to Ghent and admired the cathedrals, the houses, the canals—everything there. Everything was respectably sized; she could be impressed and think, “Okay, this is not England, but it’s not bad.” Then they went to Brussels and spent almost a week there, and that was when she started to think, “Okay, I can do this. I can do this.”
Then they journeyed to Spa. I’ll tell you more about Spa in my next video. Spa is actually not in the Austrian Netherlands—it’s surrounded by them—but it was part of the Holy Roman Empire, under the bishop of Liège. It was a little watering town, and they wanted to go because Mr. Bridwell was suffering from rheumatism. When they arrive, who does Amy see on her very first day but her old flame, James Fletcher.
So that is A Love Once Lost, coming out in June of next year. You can pre-order it for June 23rd. I hope you’re as excited about this book as I was to write it. I’m excited about the series as a whole—it’s so fun to follow the sisters as they travel first to Spa, then to Paris, and eventually to Rome. That’s where their Grand Tour of the Continent will lead them.
If you love historical romance, tell me why in the comments. I would love to hear what led you to this interest. And stay tuned—I’ll be talking much more about A Love Once Lost. I hope you’ll have a chance to read it, to pre-order it, and that you’ll enjoy it. Writing it has allowed me to do what I love most: bring a bygone era back to life.