In Secrets of Truth & Beauty, Dara is a former child pageant star. So, in order to introduce you to the wonderful authors and characters of the 2009 Debutantes, I am hosting a Debs Pageant on my blog.

On Sunday, you met Megan Berry from Stacey Jay’s You Are So Undead to Me. Today we host Lady Alexandra Stafford from Sarah MacLean’s The Season. First, a little background:

About The Season

Seventeen-year-old Lady Alexandra Stafford doesn’t fit into the world of Regency London — she’s strong-willed, sharp-tongued, and she absolutely loathes dress fittings. Unfortunately, her mother has been waiting for years for Alex to be old enough to take part in the social whirlwind of a London Season so she can be married off to someone safe, respectable, wealthy, and almost certainly boring. But Alex is much more interested in adventure than romance.

Between sumptuous balls, lavish dinner parties and country weekends, Alex, along with her two best friends, Ella and Vivi, manages to get entangled in her biggest scrape yet. When the Earl of Blackmoor is killed in a puzzling accident, Alex decides to help his son, the brooding and devilishly handsome Gavin, uncover the truth. It’s a mystery brimming with espionage, murder, and suspicion. As she and Gavin grow closer, will Alex’s heart be stolen in the process?

Romance and danger fill the air, as this year’s Season begins!

Get The Season at your local bookstore or through Amazon.

About Sarah MacLean

Sarah MacLean is the author of THE SEASON, a YA novel coming in March 2009 from Scholastic. She grew up in Rhode Island, where she spent much of her free time bemoaning the fact that she was more than a century too late for own Season. Her unabashed addiction to historical fiction helped to earn her a degree in European History from Smith College before she moved to New York City to pursue a career in publishing. After receiving a Masters in Education from Harvard University, Sarah returned to New York, where she lives with her husband, their dog, and a ridiculously large collection of romance novels. She is currently working on a series of regency-set romances to be released in 2010 from Avon/HarperCollins. Visit her on her website.

And now, the pageant!

Character name: Lady Alexandra Stafford
Age: 17
Biography: Alex is a strong-willed, sharp-tongued young woman who simply doesn’t fit into the world of Regency London. The daughter of the wealthy Duke of Worthington, Alexandra has been extensively trained to have a remarkable, sure-to-result-in-marriage, first season. Much to her mother’s dismay, however, Alex has little interest in the seemingly useless trappings of a successful coming out and even less interest in the true measure of that success—a safe marriage to what her mother calls a “catch”…someone safe, dependable, and flat-out boring.

What is your talent?
I have three older brothers, all of whom are arrogant and insufferable. I’m very very good at setting them on their heels and reminding them that at least one woman in their life is able to resist them.

What will you wear for the evening dress competition?
I’m sure my mother will force me to suffer through the world’s longest dress fitting with Madame Fernaud for the pageant. It will probably be something ridiculously dramatic. I’d rather it were my favorite riding habit.

Who is your escort?
Gavin Sewell, Lord Blackmoor. My brothers’ best friend and the closest thing I’ve got to a fourth brother. He’s fairly insufferable as well, but recently…well, let’s just say that recently…he’s more unsettling than the other three combined.

And now the interview portion . . .If you could change one thing about the world, what would it be?
How about letting women into Parliament? Allowing us to have more relevance in the than as mothers and wives–perhaps as people with thoughts and minds and ideas? *sigh* It’s a silly idea, I know. How about just letting us have a few years of adventure before we have to settle down and be quiet, well-bred ladies?

Thank you Alex and Sarah!