Blog Tour: Cinders & Sapphires - Etiquette Guide

Welcome to our stop on the Cinders & Sapphires blog tour for Author Leila Rasheed. Cinders & Sapphires is the first book in the At Somerton series. Today Leila will share with us the Cinders & Sapphires Etiquette Guide. 

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Social standing is of the highest importance. Here is a guide for how to navigate the intricate and often treacherous world of Edwardian social calls.

The practice of social cards and calls was put into place to ensure societal boundaries, so that no one is invited “in” who isn’t truly “in”.

Follow the instructions detailed below and you will achieve your end goal: to be on the invitation list for all of society’s best events: dinner parties, garden teas, balls, and more.

Step one

Make sure your reputation is unmarred. There are five categories that will be closely scrutinized:

Family background

Wealth (though good family background could make up for certain shortcomings here)

Moral reputation

Confidence

Keen awareness and application of social moirés

Step two

Secure an introduction

Step three

Within three to four days, make a call to the new acquaintance’s home between the hours of three and six. To do so at any other time would be the grossest indiscretion. Leave your calling card with the footman.

Step four

If you should receive a morning return call, in person, then this is an absolute indication of a mutual interest in friendship. However if your call is met with a card in return, you can consider this a snub and sign that you have reached too far above your station.

Step five

Once you advance beyond the card-and-call stage you will be invited to an “At Home” event. This is perhaps the most important step in the process. It is where you will be judged on the five parts of your reputation mentioned above and where your hostess will likely introduce you to the key members of her social circle. Your goal in this meeting, which will only last about fifteen minutes, is to present your best self so that card and calls will result from the other members of the group.

At this point, you will either be welcomed into this circle or you won’t. Good luck.

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Cinders & Sapphires
At Somerton #1
Author: Lelia Rasheed
Publisher: Disney-Hyperion
Released: January 22nd 2013
Reading Level: YA
Available: Amazon†Barnes & Noble†Book Depository

Summary: (from goodreads) One house, two worlds...

Rose Cliffe has never met a young lady like her new mistress. Clever, rich, and beautiful, Ada Averley treats Rose as an equal. And Rose could use a friend. Especially now that she, at barely sixteen, has risen to the position of ladies’ maid. Rose knows she should be grateful to have a place at a house like Somerton. Still, she can’t help but wonder what her life might have been had she been born a lady, like Ada.

For the first time in a decade, the Averleys have returned to Somerton, their majestic ancestral estate. But terrible scandal has followed Ada’s beloved father all the way from India. Now Ada finds herself torn between her own happiness and her family’s honor. Only she has the power to restore the Averley name—but it would mean giving up her one true love . . . someone she could never persuade her father to accept.

Sumptuous and enticing, the first novel in the At Somerton series introduces two worlds, utterly different yet entangled, where ruthless ambition, forbidden attraction, and unspoken dreams are hidden behind dutiful smiles and glittering jewels. All those secrets are waiting . . . at Somerton.