D.G. Rampton

D.G. Rampton writes historical romantic comedy shaped by lively dialogue, social maneuvering, and protagonists determined to direct their own futures. Aphrodite is the second Regency Goddesses novel, following Artemisia and preceding Aurora, although the books are designed to stand alone. Set around the Christmas season of 1820, it introduces April Hartwood, who arrives from Cornwall for entry into London society. Her grandmother promotes a match with the Duke of Claredon, while April's growing attraction to Mr Royce complicates that carefully arranged plan. The opposites-attract plot lets Rampton play courtship expectations against April's impatience with being managed. Trained as an engineer and formerly employed in construction, Rampton later moved into fiction and has written both Regency romance and contemporary romantic comedy. Her related Taming of the Dukes sequence continues the blend of inherited rank, marriage strategy, and comic resistance. Aphrodite is especially representative because its house-party setting turns family interference into both an obstacle and the story's main comic engine.