The Blog Tour Continues

The Secret Life of Miss Anna Marsh

Today The Secret Life of Miss Anna Marsh is being spotlighted at Jenna Jaxon Romance.

There is a new excerpt, and I’ll be giving away a copy of The Secret Life of Miss Anna Marsh to one commenter. Please come by and visit.

Ella

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Guest Author Blythe Gifford

Historical Author Blythe Gifford

Please help me welcome award-winning, multi-published, historical author Blythe Gifford. Blythe is here to promote her latest release Taken by the Border Rebel, Book three of the Brunson Clan Trilogy.

To celebrate, Blythe is giving away a copy of your choice of her Brunson Clan Trilogy:  Return of the Border Warrior, Captive of the Border Lord, or Taken by the Border Rebel to one lucky commenter. All you have to do is leave your email address (disguised please i.e. ella at ella quinn author dot com). Winners will be announced here on Sunday.

Ella:  Blythe I’m so happy to have you visit. Tell us a little about yourself.

Blythe:  I write angsty historical romance set in unusual times and places for the Harlequin Historical line.  Typically, my stories include real historical characters and events as part of the story.

Ella:  Your webpage says “On the Borders of Historical Romance.”  I assume that the setting for The Brunson Clan trilogy.

Blythe: The trilogy is set on the Scottish Borders, yes, but that phrase means more to me than setting.  The term “borders” refers to two other characteristics of my work.  First, the time periods I chose tend to be outside the current mainstream of historical romance, which is squarely focused on Regency England.  And second, my work tends to be close to the edge where historical romance meets historical fiction, so it refers to that border as well.

Ella:  What draws you to the “unusual” time periods?

Blythe:  I think the stories that call you are part and parcel of your voice and that your best work will be in that “vein of gold.”  I’m drawn to dramatic and turbulent times of change and I love to find a moment in history that has been overlooked.  The Brunson Clan trilogy, for example, is set in Scotland in what my editor calls the “early Tudor” era.  The sixteen year old King James has just seized the throne in his own right after having been virtually held captive by his step-father.  My trilogy spotlights how all this affect one family of two sons and a daughter.

Ella:  Did you plan all three books before you started writing?

Blythe:  (She laughs.)  I barely planned one!  This was my first time tackling a trilogy and I got some good advice from Courtney Milan.  “Leave as much open as you can,” she told me.  The series is actually tightly tied together in the overall arc of the conflict with the king, but the individual love stories developed as I wrote.  The Muse did “gift” me some structure, however.  In Return of the Border Warrior, the youngest son must return home to find himself.  In Captive of the Border Lord, the daughter must leave home to find herself.  And in Taken by the Border Warrior, the oldest son must stay at home to reconcile his own conflict and that of the family.

Ella: I love Courtney. She has been a great help to me as well. When did your muse first move in with you, and how did you decide to write historical romance?

Blythe:  Oh, she doesn’t live here.  She just visits from time to time!  I did start writing very early, but it wasn’t until a corporate layoff that I started seriously pursuing a fiction writing career.  Advised to “write what you love to read,” I started a romance set in the fourteenth century, featuring a (literal) royal bastard.

Ella: That exact piece of advice is what set me free to write. Before I’d been told, “write what you know.” You’ve been published by Harlequin for a while now. Tell us about your publishing journey.

Blythe:  It took me ten years to become an “overnight success.”  Six of those years were spent in an attempt to make my first manuscript perfect.  (Rookie mistake!  Don’t do that!)  After it had been universally rejected, I wrote my next book without thinking (too much) about an editor looking over my shoulder.  That second book, which took me two years, became a Golden Heart finalist manuscript and sold to Harlequin.  I’ve now had a total of eight books with them.  The first five were set in the fourteenth century and four of them featured a character born on the wrong side of the royal blanket.

Ella: I can’t tell you how many authors I’ve met who have spent way too much time on their first book.  Taken by the Border Rebel is the third book in a trilogy.  What’s next?

Blythe: I’m back in the fourteenth century England, working on two books centering on the royal weddings of King Edward III’s children.  I also have a self-publishing project in the works that I hope to release this fall.

Ella:  Thank you so much for joining me here, Blythe.

Blythe: You’re welcome, Ella.

Ella: Ok, here is what you have all been waiting for, the blurb and excerpt of Taken by the Border Rebel.

Taken by the Border Rebel

FROM THE BACK COVER: 

TORMENTED BY HER INNOCENCE

As leader of his clan, Black Rob Brunson has earned every dark syllable of his name. But, having taken hostage his enemy’s daughter in a fierce act of rebellion, he is tormented by feelings of guilt and torn apart with the growing need to protect her—and seduce her!

Stella Storwick feels Rob’s disdain from the first. Then slowly she starts to see behind his eyes to a man in turmoil. Something he has no words for, something that can only be captured in a heart-wrenching kiss…. 

In the excerpt below, from Chapter One, Black Rob Brunson has been out inspecting his land, looking for signs that the family’s blood enemies, the Storwicks, may be planning a raid, and pauses at midday in the hills overlooking his valley.

Something shifted. The wind. A scent. A sound. He stiffened, alert, and turned his head.

Above him and to his left, sat a woman, silent and stiff, eyes fixed on him warily as if he were a Storwick.

He fashed himself for not looking carefully before leaving his horse. What if he’d been surprised by the enemy?

Neither spoke, looking.

Dark hair tumbled across her shoulders, but he would not call her beautiful. At least, not from this angle. Eyes and lips fought for control of her face. Her nose was too strong. Her chin too sharp. She looked vaguely familiar, but he had seen every far-flung Brunson at one time or another. Still, he could not summon which branch of the family was hers.

“You’re far from home,” he began, still trying to place her. The Tait cousin lived nearest, but he had no daughters.

She drew herself up into a crouch, like a wary animal ready to run. “Nay so far.”

He raised and lowered his shoulders, sorry he had frightened her. He motioned his head uphill, toward the border. “Storwicks are no more than five miles away.”

Not taking her eyes from his, she stood slowly and took a step back, as if nearness to the enemy had just occurred to her. The blush on her cheek paled. “Have I crossed the border then?”

“Nay.” He rose to his feet, uncomfortable that she stood while he stretched on the grass. What was the strangeness in her accent? “It’s just over there.”

Her eyes widened. She turned to look over her shoulder. Then ran.

That was when he recognized her.

Stella Storwick didn’t look back, praying for her feet to run faster.

But the Brunson kept coming, strong as a charging ram, trampling the grass behind her. Then he was in front of her, cutting off her escape as if she were no more than an unruly ewe.

She dodged. Left. Right. Thinking she could confuse him.

He was a broad man. She could be quicker. More steps, her skirt and the grass holding her back. If she crossed the border, she would be safe…

But next she knew, he grabbed her arm, whirled her around, and both of them tumbled to ground. She on her back, pressed to earth, he straddling her legs.

She lifted a clawed hand to scratch his eyes, but he caught her wrists and held her arms tight against the dirt without effort. Even when she shut her eyes against him, he surrounded her, warm and smelling of leather.

“You’re Storwick.” He did not ask a question.

She opened her eyes. His were brown. And murderous.

“And you’re Brunson.” Close now, she knew him, the man she had seen near half a year ago at Truce Day. Fool she was, not to have recognized him immediately.

Not just a Brunson. The Brunson.

A flash of heat crackled through her body. Hatred, no doubt.

He was one of the Black Brunsons. Broad of shoulder and brow, dark of hair and eye. Yes, he had the brown eyes that marked all his cursed clan.

“You’ll not take me.” She braced herself, stiff armed and legged, as if that would stop him. “I won’t let you.”

He froze, then turned to spit in the dirt in contempt. “Brunsons don’t treat women so.” Disgust now, in his eyes. “It’s your kind who do that.”

One villainous kin of hers who had done that.

She knew the truth of the whispers about him, though the man had never dared touch her.

No one dared that.

“That’s not what I’ve heard.” A lie, but one she hoped would keep him off guard. She tugged against his hold. An iron manacle would have given way more easily.

He released her hands with a look that warned her to keep them quiet. “You’ve heard wrong.”

She pushed herself up on her elbows. “Then let me go if you don’t mean to take me.”

He sat back on his heels and crossed his arms, his very silence ominous.

She held her breath to stop her speech. He had not guessed which Storwick she was. Or that she had come to the hills to spy on his precious tower.

“How far behind are the others?” He stood, pulling her to her feet, keeping his hand on her wrist while he gazed toward the English side of the border.

“No others.” Foolish admission. She had told no one her plan when she left this morning. Perhaps that had been unwise.

He turned back, sweeping her with a glance head to toe. One that said she might be daft, but he wasn’t. “You wander the hills alone with no horse?”

She shrugged to hide the shaking. “Sun doesn’t often come like this. I wandered too far.” And had hoped to wander farther. A horse would draw attention. “Let me go. I’m of no use to you.”

“Oh, you’re of use to me. You’re going to serve as a hostage for the good behavior of the rest of your people. If they ride to rescue Hobbes Storwick, you’ll be the one to pay.”

She blanched. Thank God. At least her father was alive.

They had not even been sure of that.

Buy links:

Amazon   B&N   Harlequin  Kobo

Blythe Gifford has been known for medieval romances featuring characters born on the wrong side of the royal blanket. Now, she’s written a Harlequin Historical trilogy set on the turbulent Scottish Borders of the early Tudor era.  The Chicago Tribune has called her work “the perfect balance between history and romance.”  Visit her at her website   Facebook   Pinterest   or on Twitter 

Author photo by Jennifer Girard.  Cover Art Copyright © 2013 by Harlequin Enterprises Limited.  Permission to reproduce text granted by Harlequin Books S.A. Cover art used by arrangement with Harlequin Enterprises Limited. All rights reserved. ® and ™ are trademarks owned by Harlequin Enterprises Limited or its affiliated companies, used under license.

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I’m Visiting Anna Small Blog Today

If you’re following me, and I do hope you are, I’m on Anna Small Blog today. I’ll be giving away another copy of The Secret Life of Miss Anna Marsh.

I look forward to seeing you there!

The Secret Life of Miss Anna Marsh

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Sunday News and Winners!

Good morning everyone. Today we start off with book winners.

Sandy Kenny won Amara Royce’s book Never too Late. <cough> this one was extremely late being announced, but…

bn100 has won Ann Cleeland’s book, Tainted Angel.

Ladies you will be contacted by the author.

I’m being plagued with technical difficulties this morning. First McAfee blocked my email program. I finally got that up. Now my computer can’t see my iPhone so I can download the  pictures I’d planned for today.

The Secret Life of Miss Anna Marsh

As many of you already know, The Secret Life of Miss Anna Marsh, Book #2 in The Marriage Game is now available for pre-order. The release date is November 7^th.

Here is the cover. What do you think?

I’ve sent the book out to three reviews, but if you are a reviewer and would like to review The Secret Life of Miss Anna Marsh, please contact me.

I will be all over the place doing a mini-blog tour and giving away copies of The Secret Life of Miss Anna Marsh. Here are this coming week’s places and dates:

Monday I’ll visit Collette Cameron on her Blue Rose Blog

Tuesday Anna Small has graciously invited me to join her at Anna Small Books.

On Wednesday I’m back over at Jackki Leatherby’s Leather Bound Reviews

Friday Lord Rutherford, the hero of The Secret Life of Miss Anna Marsh is being grilled, er, invited for tea at Susana Ellis’s Parlor

Here is my publisher’s blurb followed by a short excerpt. Check out this wonderful cover quote. I can’t thank Sally MacKenzie enough!

“Let yourself be seduced by this sexy mix of spies, smugglers, and happily ever afters.” —Sally MacKenzie

Since she was a young girl, Anna Marsh has dreamed of Sebastian, Baron Rutherford asking for her hand in marriage. But that was in another life when her brother Harry was alive, before she vowed to secretly continue the work he valiantly died for. Now as Sebastian finally courts Anna, she must thwart his advances. Were he to discover her secret, he would never deem her a suitable wife…

Sebastian has always known Anna would become his wife someday. He expects few obstacles, but when she dissuades him at every turn he soon realizes there is much more to this intriguing woman. Somehow he must prove to her that they are meant to be together. But first he must unravel the seductive mystery that is Miss Anna Marsh…

Available at:

Amazon US * Amazon Canada *Amazon UK * Barns & Nobel * Kensington * iTunes

Excerpt:

Anna met his gaze coolly. “Lord Rutherford, pray, what brings you here?”

“Oh, Anna dear,” her mother said. “Lord Rutherford has very kindly offered to help by escorting you to Charteries for Lady Phoebe’s wedding.”

Anna raised a brow and stared at Sebastian for a moment before turning to address her mother. Lady Marsh reminded Anna of a wraith. Her mother’s dark brown hair was still unmarked by silver. She always dressed in flowing gowns and draped gauzy shawls around her shoulders, giving the impression she would blow away if one breathed hard enough. Mama desperately wanted Anna married and could not understand how it was she’d reached the age of one and twenty still single.

As objecting to Sebastian’s escort would do her no good, Anna kept the smile on her face. “Yes, Mama, very kind of him.” She glanced at him and thought she saw the remnants of a smug look on his face. “How do you think of these ideas?” she asked sweetly.

His lips twitched slightly. “I really couldn’t tell you, Miss Marsh. It just popped into my head. We are both attending the wedding after all.”

It did not auger well for him that he had used her mother to get his way. “Yes, we do have that in common.”

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A Conversation with Regency Author Lecia Cornwall

Regency Author Lecia Cornwall

Please help me welcome Regency author Lecia Cornwall. Lecia is promoting her latest release The Secret Life of Lady Julia (hmm, interesting title) and giving away a copy to one lucky commenter. As usual, to be eligible post your email in the comments.

Ella: First let me say I love your cover! How did you come up with the title?  

I give each story a working title, and the publisher usually changes it to something much more intriguing, historical and marketable. Once she’s read the book, my editor gently suggests the book might do better with a new title. I submit a list of everything I can think of, and she counters with her list until we come up with a title that works perfectly, suits the characters and the plot and makes readers want it. The working title for The Secret Life of Lady Julia was The Thief of Hearts. 

In this case, Julia has a lot of secrets, starting with the scandalous events on the evening of her betrothal ball, which of course, as secrets tend to do, lead to all the other secrets, each one bigger than the last.

Lecia to Ella: I love the title of your upcoming Regency as well, Ella! It sounds like Anna Marsh has a very intriguing secret life, filled with spies and smugglers. I can’t wait to read it! I also love the idea that she and her hero, Sebastian are on opposite sides of the conflict. How did the idea for the plot come up?  

Ella:  Generally, my plots come in scenes playing in my head. Sort of like watching TV.  But in this case, the title came first. That got me to start really trying to find out what Anna was up to. As you can imagine, she was very reticent about telling me anything about her activities. When you read the book, you’ll know why.

Ella: This is your fourth book. Are they all part of a series?

Lecia: My books are ‘loosely connected’. When I decided to write historical romance, I went to the library and started reading everything available by my favorite authors. I often found that the books I wanted to start or continue with for long series (like Mary Balogh’s wonderful ‘Slightly’ series) were checked out, and the bookstores didn’t carry the whole series. Reading them out of order could be confusing and frustrating at time, with references to other stories I hadn’t read. When I started to write, I wrote each book to stand alone, so it would be a complete experience for a new reader, and yet hold a few familiar tid-bits and follow-ons for those who had read my previous books.  I am delighted to say that although it took a few years, I have the whole Slightly series, which I treasure.

Here are the connections:

My second book, The Price of Temptation, tells the story of a minor character in my debut novel, Secrets of A Proper Countess. The heroine of Temptation is married to the arch-villain/traitor from Secrets—or is she? There’s also a novella, All The Pleasures of The Season, which tells the story of the younger sister of the hero in Secrets of A Proper Countess.

My third book, How To Deceive A Duke, begins with a whole new set of characters. Julia, the heroine of The Secret Life of Lady Julia, appears in How To Deceive A Duke, and I wondered just how a ruined lady would survive with the limited opportunities of the time period available to her. Her story just had to be told. Another character from How To Deceive A Duke, Stephen Ives, offers Julia a job as his sister’s companion, and her new life begins. Stephen forms part of Lady Julia’s love triangle in The Secret Life of Lady Julia, and when he lost the girl at the end of the story, my daughter (who reads everything I write and tells me candidly, to say the least, what works and what doesn’t), was so much in love with Stephen that she insisted the next book had to be his story. Coming right up—and I promise, whether you’ve read every word I’ve written before, or you pick up Stephen’s story first, you’ll have an enjoyable experience. The working title of Stephen’s tale, by the way, is currently What A Lady Most Desires, but don’t hold me to it just yet.

Lecia to Ella: Do you find that there are characters in your books that just demand to have their own story?  

Oh, my yes. That’s what happened with the second book I wrote, The Temptation of Lady Serena that is actually 3d in my Marriage Game series. Robert Beaumont wouldn’t leave me alone, so while Anna was thinking over what to tell me, Robert’s story got written.  The only problem was that Anna appears in that book, already married.  It was a bit confusing when I started querying them. Rupert, from The Temptation of Lady Serena, also wants his story told soon. Fortunately he’s not quite a OCD as Robert and understood that there were three other gentlemen who needed to find their happily ever after before he did. He’s only 21 for God’s sake.  

Ella: Lecia, what’s next? 

Lecia: I’m working on a trilogy of stories for Avon Impulse, Avon’s e-book line, set in the Scottish Highlands. The stories take place during the same time period as the English Regency, and the first one starts with a character who originally appeared as a very minor character in The Price of Temptation. Poor Caroline has lost at love not once, but twice, and it’s beginning to feel like a curse. Only the ghosts who laid the curse on their descendants can lift it, and when Caroline runs away from a fate worse than death (an arranged marriage), she ends up in the Highlands, facing meddling ghosts, a resistant laird determined to marry another woman, and a cast of characters with their own agendas for the lovers. They all come together at midsummer, a time of magic and the fun begins.

Lecia To Ella: Do you have any projects planned that will take you (and you readers) out of the Regency world? Out of England yes. The book I’m working on now which is #5 of the Marriage Game takes place in the Danish, French and English West Indies in 1816. The research has been challenging to say the least. And book #4 Lady Caro’s Accidental Marriage,  takes place from Venice to Dijon, France in the same year. That is as far away from Regency as I’ve gotten so far. The next series, A Season for Love, is also a Regency. It’s a spin-off of the Marriage Game. 

Ella: Tell us when your muse first moved in and started to really bug, I mean assist, you.

Lecia: I have a postcard pinned to the wall next to my desk, bought at the Louvre in Paris. It’s an unfinished portrait of Madame Recamier by David. She’s reclining on a chaise longue in a white dress, her feet bare, her eyes engaging the viewer to come and share some wonderful secret. It’s unfinished because David discovered Madame was also having her portrait painted by another artist, and he refused to compete for her attention. That’s my muse—well, on a good day.

On a bad day, picture Archie Bunker in his tattered easy chair, glaring menacingly. He’s wearing the same dress, but refusing to share anything.

Madame does me wonderful favors, like gently whispering in my ear that my first story needed a little intrigue along with the romance. I took an old manuscript that just wasn’t working, and revised it with a plot including spies and traitors and secret identities and it sold, and eventually won the 2011 National Readers Choice for Best First Book.

On a bad day, Archie distracts me by running dust bunnies across my feet (some as big as tumbleweeds), or by having the chocolate in the kitchen call my name. Then, when I’m out of reach of a pen and paper, he runs story plots, dialogue or ideas through my mind—some good, some really, really bad.

Lecia To Ella: Is your muse the difficult type, or your best friend? 

 It depends on how you like you muses. My muse is hyper-active, and I do like her like that way. I started writing two years ago and she’s given me 7 books. I already have the first two of the next series written. It took her a while to realize that I needed to actually edit one book before I started another.  The first three books were written while I edited the previous one. There were some problems with that method, such as butlers being in the wrong house, eye colors changing, people being called by the wrong name. It really wasn’t very efficient.  

Ella: What was your journey to publication like?

Lecia: I was once a business writer—I wrote direct marketing copy for insurance products, and fundraising letters for one of Canada’s major political parties, and helped government departments reach the public by mail. Then I had children, and decided to stay at home to raise them, figuring I could continue my career part-time, or freelance. Three years later, it just wasn’t working. Nor was I. I decided the time had come to try writing a novel, something I’d always dreamed of doing. So in between preschool runs, volunteering, homework and leading a Cub pack, I began to write fiction. It was a long learning process of discovering what I wanted to write (history + fairy tales= historical romance), and it took a long time to get brave enough to start submitting my work to agents and publishers. I found an agent who believed in me, and she helped me prepare for that first huge submission to ten editors. We received two offers, and I had to choose—not for the most money, but the best future. My first book was published nine days after I turned 49. My oldest child was just finishing his first year of university, and my youngest was in high school. I know now that as a full-time mom, I never really could have devoted the time and energy necessary for this career before that point. It all came at just the right time.

Ella: I love my agent. She has done a wonderful job for me.

Lecia To Ella: How do you dovetail writing and family and life and still manage to create such wonderful books? 

I didn’t start to write until I was 57 and only working part-time. My son was already on his own and my wonderful husband is gone a lot for his job. So, other than three cats and a great dane, I’m left pretty much to myself.  

Ella: What advice would you give to authors just starting to try to get published or find an agent?

Lecia: Don’t give up. Recognize good advice for what it is. If ten people say your POV is like a rabbit on Quaaludes (as in my case), pay attention. Keep all doors open. Thank everyone who helps you along the way. Writing can be a very lonely business (the muses and characters living in your head aside), so find a supportive writing group, and critique partners who ‘get’ you without trying to change you.

Go to conferences, or listen to lectures on writing. Read Stephen King’s book, “On Writing”, and Steven Pressfield’s “The War of Art”. Submit your work to contests, agents and editors. And once again, never, ever give up.

I had a rule when I was submitting that when a rejection came in, I had to send something out again within a week. As long as your work is out in the world, being looked at and considered, there’s hope the next call will be THE CALL. Set goals. Remember, as long as you’re writing, you’re a writer—even if it’s just a few dozen words a day. Thinking about your story doesn’t count. Now, all this is based on my experience as a traditionally published writer. I have not yet gotten brave enough to try self-publishing, though I am in awe of the wonderful authors who make it look so easy.

Lecia To Ella: What’s the best advice you ever got? 

The best advice I received generally was from my grandfather.  “Spit in one hand and wish in the other. See which one get full faster.” 

As to specific writing advice, I had a dear friend who worked for a Netherlands publishing company tell me to write three books for publication before querying. I basically did just that.  I didn’t allow myself to think that I wouldn’t be published. Though I wanted to be traditionally published by NY, I had a plan B and a deadline, just in case. Advice I would give is to be nice to everyone.  

Ella: Without further ado, here is the blurb for the Secret life of Lady Julia. 

The Secret Life of Lady Julia

Seduction is the sweetest secret …

One kiss, then another, and before she knows it, Lady Julia Leighton succumbs to the breathtaking charms of a stranger at a ball celebrating her betrothal to a man who thinks of her as more of a sister than a wife. The steamy encounter changes her life in more ways than one, and when she meets her seducer again, Julia is no longer an earl’s daughter, or a duke’s bride-to-be, but an outcast, and a paid companion to a lady who used to be her equal. She has never forgotten Thomas Merritt…

Thomas Merritt is a thief with a secret past. He came to steal her jewels, and ended up leaving with her heart, utterly bewitched by the beautiful and innocent Lady Julia. But after their one glorious evening together, Thomas leaves, knowing he can never be part of her world again.

Now in a Vienna rife with scandal, dangerous secrets, and political intrigue, a perilous secret is about to come to light, is the only one who can save the day is Thomas, thief of jewels and hearts.

Come and read an excerpt at www.leciacornwall.com  or send me an e-mail at leciacornwall@shaw.ca

The Secret Life of Lady Julia can be found on Amazon

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Debut, Regency author Anne Cleeland

Regency Mystery Author Anne Cleeland

Please help me welcome fellow Regency author Anne Cleeland. She is here today to promote her debut novel, Tainted Angel. Anne is also giving away a copy of her book to one lucky commenter. As usual, to be eligible all you have to do it leave your email with a comment.

Ella: Anne you’re a lawyer, what made you decide to write historical romance?

Anne:  Technically, I’ve always made my living by writing— but instead of fiction I wrote dry-as-dust legal briefs (adverbs and adjectives strictly prohibited!)   I’ve read Regencies all my life, and so I decided to try my hand at writing the kind of stories I love to read.  My favorite stories are about ordinary women swept up in extraordinary events, so that’s what I like to write.

Ella: When did your muse first move in? Can you tell us a little about your writing journey?

Anne:   I was constantly writing ideas in a spiral notebook, but I was too intimidated to actually sit down and start a serious project. One day I went to listen to Stephanie Laurens speak to my local RWA chapter, and she explained that she doesn’t plot out her books, but writes scene-to-scene. This was exactly what I needed to hear, and I went home and just got started. My advice is to everyone else in the same boat is to do just that—buy a comfortable laptop and bang out a few paragraphs at a time. You’ll be surprised at how easy it really is.

Ella: Now you don’t write the usual Regency romance, yours are mysteries. Would you compare yourself to C.S. Harris?

Anne:  I always thought of myself as writing Regency adventure, until I was informed that there was really no such sub-genre. This series combines historical fiction with mystery or adventure—as though alter-egos Jean Plaidy and Victoria Holt collaborated together on a project. My favorite example of this type of story is Georgette Heyer’s The Toll Gate, where the plot arises from a scheme to disrupt England’s treasury. The villains are real and the stakes are high—not the usual romance that Heyer offers up (although I love the romances, too.) 

A continuing theme in these books is courage, and how ordinary women react when extraordinary circumstances require them to be brave, come what may.  After her terrible experiences in the war, the heroine is content to retreat into her shadowy, solitary work that requires no honesty and where trust is to be avoided at all costs.  But despite herself, she finds hidden depths of courage; the courage to face her past, her fears and to fight for a future that she once thought impossible.

Ella: What’s next?

Anne:  I have a contemporary British detective series coming out in August, and the first book is called Murder in Thrall, if any of your readers like mysteries.  In November, the second historical in this Regency series will come out; Daughter of the God-King. It is about a heroine who travels to Egypt after her famous archeologist parents disappear, only to discover that various factions from the last war are desperate to find her—for reasons that are unclear. She begins to suspect that her love interest is not what he seems, and she doesn’t know whether she can trust him, or trust no one as she uncovers one devastating secret after the other, all while the next war looms on the horizon.

In The Bengal Bridegift, the heroine has grown up in India because her father was a sea captain for the East India Company—unless he wasn’t, and was instead a traitor to the Crown.  Meanwhile, the enemy believes she knows where her father hid a cache of diamonds disguised as her bridegift, and they are in ruthless pursuit of her and of this imagined treasure.  Her love interest is a former Barbary pirate, who may or may not be after the diamonds himself.

Ella: What five things do you want your readers to know about Tainted Angel?

Anne: Tainted Angel is the first book in a new Regency series that combines romance with adventure—the heroine is swept up in a game of spies, with the fate of the world at stake.  Here are five fast facts:

1. The story is a Regency version of Mr. & Mrs. Smith, with the hero and the heroine playing a deadly game of cat and mouse.

2.   Neither the hero nor the heroine is who they appear to be.

3.   The hero is a widower, but the circumstances surrounding his first wife’s death are                 unclear.

4.   Someone is stealing gold shipments meant for the British army on the continent.

5.   The climactic scene takes place during a masquerade party on a London river barge—and both the hero and heroine must make the fateful choice between love and allegiance.

Tainted Angel

Ella: Ok, here’s what you’ve all been waiting for, an excerpt of and buy links for Tainted Angel!

The role of the tender lover was quickly abandoned—much to her relief—and he gave an elliptical answer. “There is much at stake; caution is advised.”

Eying him sidelong, she tried to gauge his thoughts, knowing all the while it was hopeless—he would only reveal what he wished, and if his aim was to arrest her he would reveal precious little. “Will you promise to give me one minute’s warning before I am clapped in irons? I would do the same for you, you know.”

“You will not be clapped in irons,” he said immediately, but she noted he didn’t meet her eye, and hid a flare of alarm.

“No,” she replied with forced lightness. “I would simply disappear, leaving you free to give my wrap to your next mark.”

“Don’t.” He made an involuntary gesture of protest, and the blue eyes finally met hers with a fierce intensity that she could swear was genuine. “But if you know anything of these matters, Vidia, best to say and to say immediately.”

“I cannot decide,” she wondered aloud as they rounded the corner of her street, “whether our interlude that first night was strictly business. If it was, you did a very poor job of pressing for information as opposed to simply pressing.”

He was not fooled by her tone. “You are angry and I cannot blame you. But I assure you it was not strictly business.”

Coming to her town house, she wondered if she was making a monumental mistake—attempting to be honest with him. But she had decided—there on the street with his subtle insincerity grating on her nerves—that she couldn’t continue as she was; not with him. Perhaps he will be my downfall, she thought. But it hardly matters anymore—I am seventeen again, and just as foolish as I was then.

I hope your readers will enjoy Tainted Angel, available on Amazon and at a Barnes & Noble near you. Thank you so much for the opportunity.

Author Bio:

Anne Cleeland holds a degree in English from UCLA as well as a degree in law from Pepperdine University, and is a member of the California State Bar.  She writes a historical fiction series set in the Regency period as well as a contemporary mystery series set in New Scotland Yard.  A member of the Historical Novel Society and Mystery Writers of America, she lives in California and has four children.

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Blurbs, Excerpts and Contest

The Secret Life of Miss Anna Marsh

Yesterday The Secret Life of Miss Anna Marsh, the 2d book in the Marriage Game went on pre-order. To celebrate, I’m asking you to post your blurbs or a short excerpt of your book or WIP. If you have them, please post your buy links as well.

Contest: The book is already on Amazon US and Kensington, but I’ll give a copy of The Secret Life of Miss Anna Marsh to anyone who is the first to post a buy link from anywhere else. Just post the link in your comment.

Here is my publisher’s blurb for The Secret Life of Miss Anna Marsh, releasing on November 7^th, 2013

“Let yourself be seduced by this sexy mix of spies, smugglers, and happily ever afters.” —Sally MacKenzie

For Ella Quinn’s bachelors, courtship is all about gamesmanship, until the right woman shows them how much they have to learn…

Since she was a young girl, Anna Marsh has dreamed of Sebastian, Baron Rutherford asking for her hand in marriage. But that was in another life when her brother Harry was alive, before she vowed to secretly continue the work he valiantly died for. Now as Sebastian finally courts Anna, she must thwart his advances. Were he to discover her secret, he would never deem her a suitable wife…

Sebastian has always known Anna would become his wife someday. He expects few obstacles, but when she dissuades him at every turn he soon realizes there is much more to this intriguing woman. Somehow he must prove to her that they are meant to be together. But first he must unravel the seductive mystery that is Miss Anna Marsh…

Buy links:

Amazon US

Kensington

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Sunday News and Winners!

First of all, congratulations to Louisa Cornell who won a copy of Collette Cameron’s Highlander’s Hope.

I just received the results from Regina Jeffer’s give away. Congratulations, ladies.

Nancy Wolfe won the autographed print copy. 

Nancy Qualls and Linda won eBook copies of A Touch of Mercy.

The winners are posted on Austen Authors today.

The week started with a bang. I received the production schedule for The Secret Life of Miss Anna Marsh, book #2 in The Marriage Game, Which releases in November, but goes on pre-order this month. As soon as I receive the cover, I’ll send it out in a newsletter as well as the details for the first contest and my blog stops to promote the pre-order. Here is the teaser that will be at the beginning of the book.

CAUGHT IN A KISS

            Anna’s heart beat faster as his lips reached her throat.  When he kissed her, she thought nothing could be better; then his tongue moved against hers, and she thought she’d swoon.  She tried to put her arms around him, but they were trapped under his body.  It was as if he were possessing her.  Thank God he didn’t know who she was.

“Anna, tell me what you’re doing here,” Rutherford whispered into her ear.

“How did you know it was me?  I thought you were just kissing . . . ”

He started at her in disbelief.  “You thought I’d just kiss any woman?  What the hell do you take me for?”

She struggled to sit up, but his body weighed her down.  “I haven’t even given you leave to kiss me, and you’re doing even more!”

“Harumph.” He bent his head to kiss her again.  “And I plan to continue.”

“Sebastian!” She wiggled to get out from under him.

“Anna. Be still.  I’ll let you up when you tell me what you’re doing here.  Until then . . . ”

Immediately after sending in my dedication and acknowledgements, I received the copy-edits. So the rest of the week was spent working on those, judging contest entries, and posting reviews for books I’ve read. Then my critique partners started to get busy and I’ve been critiquing as well, but also receiving critiques for the book #5.

Fortunately, the week wasn’t all work. I received a wonderful review on The Seduction of Lady Phoebe from Romance Reader Girl. If you missed it, you can read it here.

I won a signed copy of Tessa Dare’s latest release Any Duchess Will Do.

Found the shoes for my Regency gown. Let me know what you think.

Lace Shoes

Friday Night Races

And I got to be on race committee for the Friday night races at the St. Thomas Yacht Club. I actually got to be the timer and call the race. Which is a big deal, at least for me.

Friday Night Races

Baby Scorpion

Oh, and this morning, I found a baby scorpion in my bath room. No, I did not take this picture. The scorpion was gone before I though about it.I downloaded.

I’m off now to a picnic at a new to me beach. I post pictures next Sunday. Tell how your week went.

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Debut, Regency Author Collette Cameron

Regency Author Collette Cameron

Please help me welcome debut, Regency author, the lovely Collette Cameron. Collette is here today promoting her novel Highlander’s Hope. If you haven’t read it, I highly encourage to do so. Collette will also be giving away a copy of her book to one lucky commenter. To be eligible, you must leave your email address in with your comment.

Collette: Thank you so much for having me here today, Ella.

Ella: You’ve been hither and yon promoting your book. What does it feel like to finally have it released?

Collette: It’s surreal; a wonderful kind of terrifying. It’s one thing to write a book and have it accepted to be published; it’s another to have it ‘out there’.

Ella: What do you like best and least about being a debut author?

Collette: Everything is so new. Learning about the publishing industry, author platforms and branding, marketing and promotion. That’s my least favorite part; the marketing and promoting. On the other hand, I’ve met (in the realm of social media and otherwise) many incredibly generous and supportive people.

Ella: Tell us what the inspiration was to write Highlander’s Hope?

Collette: I had toyed with the idea of writing a book for years, but never seriously considered writing a romance novel. I didn’t think I could. All that dialogue, conflict, and point of view stuff.

A single scene, the Banbury Inn scene where Ewan finds Yvette asleep in his chamber, was the impetuous for Highlander’s Hope. The idea just came to me one day, and I played around with it in mind to see if I could develop a story line around it. I did, but boy was there a lot of back story I had to eventually cut.

Ella: What drew you to Regencies and the Highlands in particular?

Collette: A girlfriend handed me a Barbara Cartland novel when I was thirteen years-old. I read it and fell in love with Regency. Back then, that was quite daring.  I love all historicals but Georgian, Regency, and Victorian are my favorites. The Regency era was a time of such transition; clothing, culture, politics . . . even morals were in flux.

When I didn’t have my nose buried in a Regency, a good Scot’s Highlander  was usually in my hand. I decided to take two of my favorite genres and combine them into something a bit out of the ordinary. 

Ella: What comes next or have you decided once was enough?

Collette: Oh, Ella, you know how it is when the writing bug bites you. Once is never enough!

Ella: How very true!

Collette: Highlander’s Hope is the first book in my Blue Rose Trilogy. The second book, The Viscount’s Vow is due to release from Soul Mate Publishing next fall. It features Vangie and Ian from Highlander’s Hope.  I’m hard at work on the third book, The Earl’s Enticement.  That’s Adaira and Roark’s story.

Then I have a stand alone that insists on getting written.  After that, I’ve a six-book sage based on Ewan’s other siblings and cousins.  Then of course I have to tell Isaiah and Josiah’s stories. Oh, and Harcourt’s and Yancy’s too.

That’s why I love a large cast of characters; so many stories to write about secondary characters.

Ella: Is there any advice you’d give someone starting their path to publication?

Collette: Get involved in writing groups. I belong to several. Also, attend workshops and conferences on the craft of writing. Join social media groups which offer mentoring and classes.

Critique partners are a must, as are beta readers. Oh, and make sure you read, read, read . . . not only about writing but books in the genre you write.

Finally, find some small thing that makes your books just the tiniest bit unique; something that readers will be able to identify as your trademark.

Ella: Without further to do, here is the blurb and an excerpt from Highlander’s Hope. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

Highlander’s Hope

She was the heiress determined to never marry.

Shipping heiress Yvette Stapleton is wary of fortune hunting men and their false declarations of love. She’d rather become a spinster than imprisoned in the bonds of marriage. At first, she doesn’t recognize the dangerously handsome man who rescues her from assailants on London’s docks, but her reaction to Lord Sethwick’s passionate kisses soon have her reconsidering her cynical views on matrimony.

 Blurb

He was the nobleman who vowed to make her his own. 

Not a day has gone by that Ewan McTavish, Lord Sethwick and Laird of Craiglocky, hasn’t dreamed of the sensual beauty he danced with two years ago; he’s determined to win her heart. On a mission to stop a War Office traitor, he unwittingly draws Yvette into deadly international intrigue. To protect her, he exploits Scottish Canon law to declare her his lawful wife—without benefit of a ceremony. Yvette is furious upon discovering the irregular marriage is legally binding, though she never said, “I do.”

Amidst murder and betrayal, Ewan attempts to win Yvette’s forgiveness. But is it too late? Has his manipulation cost him her love?

Excerpt:

Perversely, Yvette argued, “Oh, my lord? How else will I travel to Craiglocky?” Blast it, she swore inwardly when her hoarse voice cracked.

Ewan sat beside her. “Evvy, stop calling me my lord.”

“Your lordship, unless I sprout wings and fly, my only recourse is horseback.” Feeling truly rebellious, she stretched and peeked over her shoulders. Pointing to one she said, “No wings, milord. ‘Tis plain I shall have to mount a horse.”

Clearly annoyed, Ewan raked a hand through his hair. “Those below believe us wed. A Scot’s wife doesn’t call her husband ‘my lord’.”

Arching her brow, Yvette dared, “Who gave them reason to believe we were wed, my lord?”

Ewan looked at her hard. “These people must believe us wed, else you’re in grave danger.”

Yvette reached for the cup, then took a grateful swallow of the sweet water. The icy coolness soothed her irritated throat and emboldened her. “So you say, Lord Sethwick. Perhaps it was only a ploy to publicly ruin me, so I’d have to marry you. I overheard Lord Ramsbury at the inn.”

She lowered her voice in imitation of the earl. “‘A wealthy wife is always an asset. I’d say, you’ve done quite well for yourself, old chap.’”

Ewan stiffened. The line of his mouth flattened and his eyes darkened.

Merciful God, did she truly say that? It must be her illness speaking.

He removed the cup from her shaking hand and set it on the bedside table. She could not tear her gaze off his eyes. They were bottomless pools reflecting to the depths of his soul. And he was angry, in fact livid with her. His moon-shaped scar ticked rhythmically.

She’d gone too far. “Ewan—”

“Yvette, remember what happened the last time you didn’t use my given name? I’ve counted no less than five,” he held up as many fingers, “times you’ve intentionally defied me.”

She couldn’t swallow past the constriction in her throat. She’d done it up brown now. Holding her hand before her to ward him off, she shook her head.

In a movement so swift, she didn’t even have time to gasp, he lay atop her torso, pinning her with his weight. His gaze pierced hers before he lowered his head. She felt a soft, fluttering touch and a slight sting on her sore lip as his mouth brushed hers.

Highlander’s Hope is available at Amazon

Author Bio:

In February 2011, Collette decided to sit down and write a Regency suspense romance with a few Highlander’s thrown in to spice things up a bit. She wrote Highlander’s Hope, the first book in her Blue Rose Trilogy. She has a BS in Liberal Studies and a Master’s in Teaching. She’s been married for 30 years, has 3 amazing adult children, and 5 dachshunds. Her puppy, Ayva, sits on her lap while she writes. Ayva also nibbles at and lies on the keyboard. Collette loves a good joke, flowers, the beach, trivia, birds, shabby chic, and Cadbury Chocolate. You’ll always find dogs, birds, quirky—sometimes naughty—humor, and a dash of inspiration in her novels. Her motto for life? You can’t have too much chocolate, too many hugs, or too many flowers. She’s thinking about adding shoes to that list.

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Work in Progress Excerpts

As I was trying to come up with something different for today, it occurred to me that all authors, published or not, have WIPs. So that’s what we’re going to do today. Please post an excerpt of your WIP. After your excerpt feel free to post your blog, website or both so people can find you.

Here is mine from the currently titled The Courtship of Miss Eugénie Villaret, the 5^th book in The Marriage Game.

July, 1816, England 

William, Viscount Wivenly, caught a glimpse of white muslin through a thinly leafed part of the tall hedge behind which he’d taken refuge.

“Are you sure he came this way?” a feminine voice whispered.

“Quite sure,” came the hushed answer. “You must be careful, Criseida. If I tell you what Miss Stavely told me in the strictest confidence, you must promise never to repeat what I’m about to say as I swore I’d never breathe a word.”

“Yes, yes,” Miss Criseida Hawthorne replied urgently, “I promise.”

He’d been dodging the Hawthorne chit for two days now, and unfortunately she wasn’t the only one. Will wished he knew who the other woman was.

“Well then,” the other young woman paused. “I really shouldn’t. If it got out, she’d be ruined!”

“I already promised.” Miss Hawthorne wheedled.

After a few moments, the other girl continued. “Miss Stavely said she followed Lord Wivenly to the library, so that they’d be alone, and he’d have to marry her.”

“What an excellent plan.” Miss Hawthorne’s tone fell somewhere between admiring and wishful.

“Well it wasn’t.”

Even thinking about the incident with Miss Stavely, made Will shudder. There were few worse fates than being married to her. Fortunately the lady was not as intelligent as she was crafty. The minute she’d turned the lock, she announced he’d have to marry her. However, she’d failed to take into account the French windows through which he had made his escape.

“What do you mean?” Miss Hawthorne asked.

“Have you heard anything about a betrothal being announced?”

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