Friday, August 28, 2015

BOOK COVER FRIDAY: ACROSS THE TRACKS BY XYLA TURNER (DEBUT!!)


WELCOME TO BOOK COVER FRIDAYS!
Every week we bring you an exciting hot book cover from 
one of New York's Leading Romance Authors. Enjoy!


NOTE!  This book debuts today!!


ACROSS THE TRACKS
by Xyla Turner
www.xylaturner.com

ACROSS THE TRACKS is an interracial romance novel that stars a Philadelphia school teacher/journalist and a stubborn politician. Lisa and Rich battled each other as kids, but as adults, they cannot ignore their attraction towards one another, no matter what family, society or their internal upbringing suggest. 


Friday, August 21, 2015

BOOK COVER FRIDAY: DYING FOR A HEADLINE by sisters Mary Devlin Lynch & Debbie Devlin Zook

    
WELCOME TO BOOK COVER FRIDAYS!
Every week we bring you an exciting hot book cover from 
one of New York's Leading Romance Authors. Enjoy!


DYING FOR A HEADLINE
Meredith Abbott's Adventures in England
by Mary Devlin Lynch &
Debbie Devlin Zook



Timothy Treymour is determined to restore his family manor house to its former glory and provide jobs for the villagers again. He has brought his ladylove home to help him; former Iowa farm girl and now successful author, Meredith Abbott. Meredith has taken a giant leap of faith in packing her bags and moving to England with Timothy but there is other baggage she cannot leave behind—the emotional scars of her divorce from movie star, Antonio DeLeon.  



Friday, August 14, 2015

BOOK COVER FRIDAY: A YEAR OF SUMMER SHADOWS by Alice Orr

  
WELCOME TO BOOK COVER FRIDAYS!
Every week we bring you an exciting hot book cover from 
one of New York's Leading Romance Authors. Enjoy!



A YEAR OF SUMMER SHADOWS
by Alice Orr
Book 2, Riverton Road Romantic Suspense Series



Mark Kalli has wanted Hailey in his bed for a long time but she won’t give him the time of day. Now she’s mixed up in the murder of sleazy Finley Yates. It looks like spoiled heiress Julia Hargate is the killer. Hailey insists that’s not true. Mark has no choice but to get involved with the killing and with Hailey – whether she wants him the way he wants her or not.  


Friday, August 7, 2015

BOOK COVER FRIDAY: SENSELESS ACTS OF BEAUTY by Lisa Verge Higgins


WELCOME TO BOOK COVER FRIDAYS!
Every week we bring you an exciting hot book cover from 
one of New York's Leading Romance Authors. Enjoy!



SENSELESS ACTS OF BEAUTY
by Lisa Verge Higgins
Grand Central Publishing



 Tess has a secret. For fifteen years she has been furtively following the life of the daughter she gave up as an infant for adoption.  But when Sadie runs away from home determined to find her birth mother, Tess has no choice but to hunt down the desperate girl in the one place she dreads--Pine Lake, where a terrible, buried secret threatens to destroy them both.
  

Thursday, August 6, 2015

WE LOVE HISTORY TOUR: LADY SCANDAL BY WENDY LACAPRA

 
RWA/NYC Celebrates Historical Romance.
Medieval Times. Regency. Victorian. Jazz Age, 50s, etc.
This is the last stop on our We Love History blog tour. 
Thank you for visiting and Happy Reading!


LADY SCANDAL
by Wendy LaCapra


SUMMARY:  Lady Sophia Baneham rules private gaming salons with an iron fist and a twinkle in her eye. A seductive rake places more than her virtue at risk by offering her a wager she cannot refuse and the dark secrets of her past threaten to destroy everything she's built. Lord Randolph has never before failed a mission, but his mentor's daughter is more than he is willing to gamble. When danger closes in, Randolph won't just have to protect Sophia from an intended killer. He'll have to protect her from himself...
London, 1784


Earl Baneham’s Rules for Winning
“Reveal nothing of your intent.”


 Lady Randolph, née Lady Sophia Baneham, stood silent and still in the Dowager Duchess of Wynchester’s parlor while recalling the first rule printed in her father, the Earl’s, secret and much-coveted book, Earl Baneham’s Rules for Winning. She knew every rule by rote, though she had sworn for the sake of conscience and soul never to learn them by heart.
Tonight, however, she would call forth the darkest part of her being.
The mantel was cool under her palm; cool as the poker in the fire was hot. With her eyes fixed on the flames, she spoke to her friend Thea, the current Duchess of Wynchester.
“Go to bed,” she said. “Lord Randolph will come for me. When he does, I must meet him alone.”
Thea made a sound of distress. “I cannot leave you.” Her skirts rustled as she paced. “You were there for me when I left my husband. You were there for Lavinia when she left hers. We are the Furies and we have remained united through heartache, scandal, and near-ruin.”
“This is different, Thea.” The roots of this fight stretched down deep into deadly Baneham secrets.
“The dowager,” Thea’s cadence slowed with frustration, “shared her home with us so we could remain together.”
Sophia turned, reached out, and cupped the duchess’s cheek as she would have a child’s. Her impending separation from the Furies thrust a dagger into her heart. The Furies had been her solace and her strength, but her reprieve had ended.
Associates of her father’s greatest enemy, Kasai, had been seen on English soil, fulfilling her father’s prediction that the man would not relent until he had devastated the lives of every Baneham. And, if being hunted by her father’s enemies was not bad enough, tonight she had discovered she had tied herself—for better or worse—to a deeply duplicitous man…a spy who’d trained under her blackguard father.



ABOUT THE AUTHOR:  Wendy LaCapra has been reading romance since she sneaked into the adult section at the library and discovered Victoria Holt & Jane Aiken Hodge.  From that point on, she dreamed of creating fictional worlds with as much richness, intrigue and passion as she found within those books. Her stories have placed in several contests, including the 2012 Golden Heart®. She lives in NYC with her husband and loves to hear from readers. You can read about her books on her website at wendylacapra.com/ or sign up for her newsletter at bit.ly/GetWendyNews

Social Links:
http://www.wendylacapra.com/
https://www.facebook.com/WendyLaCapraAuthor
https://www.goodreads.com/wendylacapra
https://twitter.com/wendylacapra
https://www.pinterest.com/wendylacapra


THANK YOU AGAIN FOR SUPPORTING OUR AUTHORS!
WE LOVE HISTORICAL ROMANCES!!
  


Wednesday, August 5, 2015

WE LOVE HISTORY TOUR: THE DRESSMAKER'S DUKE BY JESS RUSSELL

 
RWA/NYC Celebrates Historical Romance.
Medieval Times. Regency. Victorian. Jazz Age, 50s, etc.
Visit us daily for excerpts from our members’ historical novels. 
Happy Reading!



THE DRESSMAKER'S DUKE
by Jess Russell


SUMMARY:  Rhys Merrick, Duke of Roydan, is determined to be the antithesis of his depraved father, repressing his desires so severely he is dubbed “the Monk” by Society.  But when Olivia Weston turns up demanding payment for gowns ordered by his former mistress, Rhys is totally flummoxed and inexplicably smitten.  He pays her just to remove her from his house, and mind.  But logic be damned; he must have this fiercely independent woman.  Olivia’s greatest fear is becoming a kept woman.  She has escaped the role of mistress once and vows never to be owned by any man.  Rather than make money in the boudoir, she chooses to clothe the women who do.  But when a fire nearly kills her friend and business partner, Olivia’s world goes up in smoke and she is forced to barter with the lofty duke. As their lives weave together, Olivia unravels the man underneath the Monk, while Rhys desires to expose the lady hiding behind the dressmaker. Will his raw passion fan a long-buried ember of hope within her? Can this mismatched pair be the perfect fit?



London, England
Late March 1810 


Good God, did she not see the carriage?

Rhys Merrick’s expelled breath fogged the shop window in a silent shout. Heart pounding, he rubbed the glass. The carriage careened by and—there she was. Intact.

Silly female, she could have caused all manner of damage by her folly. She certainly had ruined her gown, her backside now liberally daubed with street filth and wet. But what was more singular, the woman seemed oblivious to her near escape, still wrestling to close an ancient-looking umbrella. Another gust of wind caught its underbelly, and Rhys was certain this time it would take flight, but the woman held on, only to have the thing turn itself inside out for her trouble. Ribs dangling, it now resembled a large, black, extremely dead bird.



ABOUT THE AUTHOR:  Jess Russell is a multi-award winning best-selling author.  THE DRESSMAKER'S DUKE was a double finalist in the National Readers Choice Awards for Best First Book and Best Historical. Jess lives in New York City with her husband and son. She is currently working on a gothic romance entitled, Mad for the Marquess. You can find her on Facebook at: jessrussellauthor@facebook.com or jessrussellromance@gmail.com Twitter @jessrussellove.
 
REMEMBER TO COME BACK TOMORROW
FOR ANOTHER HISTORICAL ROMANCE EXCERPT. 
  

Tuesday, August 4, 2015

WE LOVE HISTORY TOUR: THE WILD LORD BY CARRIE NETZER WAJDA

   
RWA/NYC Celebrates Historical Romance.
Medieval Times. Regency. Victorian. Jazz Age, 50s, etc.
Visit us daily for excerpts from our members’ historical novels.  
Happy Reading!



THE WILD LORD
by Carrie Netzer Wajda
(work in progress)


SUMMARY:  Everyone in England knows about the earl of Briarcliff’s lost heir. Ten thousand pounds was enough to make sane men do crazy things to claim it. Fourteen years after the diplomat earl’s firstborn son disappeared into the vast Amazonian forests of Brazil, a bounty hunter appears on London’s docks with the earl’s son caged like a wild beast.   Is Edward Northcote mad? Can he be restored to sanity? Only one person can reach the so-called wild lord. Harper Forsythe, apprentice to England’s foremost asylum director, will determine whether the young lord can be rehabilitated. But first she must win Edward and the earl's trust...



The creature howled in anger as his cage was lowered by creaking pulleys onto  the London dock. Crowds stopped to stare at the sight of the huge, half-naked man  restrained by the thick iron bars of a decrepit cage. A collective gasp rose from the  crowd as the bars strained and bent, threatening to free the wild man. 

"Look out!"

The cage shuddered to a halt on the docks. The rusted iron bars shuddered in  the rotting wooden frame, threatening to release the barely recognizable human inside.  The captive man screamed again, his voice ringing out in a hollow cry of pain and rage. 

"Why are you doing this?"

"That's no savage. He speaks the king's English!" shouted one bystander.

"It's a trick!" another shouted.  A collective sigh of relief swept the horde of people. 

"Who said that?" demanded a man from the ship deck. He was tall and stoutly  built, and wore a rumpled suit with such insouciance that the crowd was impressed  despite the foreignness of his accent. "This poor, deranged creature is no trick," the man  called loudly while stepping down the gangplank. "This…” He rattled the bars of the cage  with a battered walking stick. “…is none other than Lord Briarcliff's own lost son!"



ABOUT THE AUTHOR:  A librarian by day, Carrie Netzer Wajda spends her off-hours using her research superpowers to create historical backdrops for her emotionally complex characters, who live much more interesting lives than her own.  She lives in a tiny apartment in Brooklyn with her family and two obnoxious cats.  Carrie is currently seeking representation for her first novel, working title THE WILD LORD.


REMEMBER TO COME BACK TOMORROW
FOR ANOTHER HISTORICAL ROMANCE EXCERPT. 
 
  

Monday, August 3, 2015

WE LOVE HISTORY TOUR: CLAIMED BY THE ROGUE BY HOPE TARR


RWA/NYC Celebrates Historical Romance.
Medieval Times. Regency. Victorian. Jazz Age, 50s, etc.
Visit us daily for excerpts from our members’ historical novels.  
Happy Reading!



CLAIMED BY THE ROGUE
By Hope Tarr


SUMMARY:  He crossed an ocean to find her. His secret could prevent him from claiming her heart...

When Robert Bellamy signed on with the East India Company and set sail for Calcutta, Lady Phoebe Tremont took his promise to heart. Their separation would be but brief; in six months he would send for her.  Six years later, believing her love to be drowned at sea, Phoebe hides her tears behind a disguise at a masked ball to celebrate her engagement to a dashing French aristocrat. It is there she encounters a handsome guest costumed as a rogue of the sea—a pirate. When he drops his mask, she finds herself looking into a dead man's eyes. A ghost's eyes. Robert's eyes.  Through hardship and degradation, Robert never lost his resolve to return home to England a rich man. Now a successful ship's captain, there is one prize left to reclaim—Phoebe.



The East India Docks, Blackwall
London, April 1820


Home, finally I’m home.

Captain Robert Lazarus, formerly known as Robert Bellamy, stood on the ship’s bridge. A hand upon the rudder, he steered the East Indiaman through the narrow neck of waterway leading into the harbor, prompting cheers of “Land, land!” and much waving of caps and brawny arms among his men. Once they’d made Spithead, he’d dismissed his pilot and taken the tiller himself.

This was his last voyage, his swan’s song upon The Swan—or so he hoped—and he’d felt a deep need to pilot her into his home port himself. Ahead, the lock gate lifted. Beyond it, the bustling diorama of the London Docklands unfolded. Merchantmen similar to his craft crammed the berths, their cargo of sugar and spices, tea and Madeira wine offloaded under the watch of armed militiamen wearing company coats, the burly stevedores bearing their burdens toward the warehouses fronting the quay. Everything seemed busier than he remembered and vastly bigger. Was it truly so? He couldn’t for certain say. Six years away had muddied his memory, erasing all but the most vital details—the silken feel of Phoebe’s skin beneath his fingertips, the way her eyes mirrored the shifting hues of the London sky, the tangy taste of her tears when last they’d kissed, a kiss meant to convey not farewell but a brief goodbye... 



ABOUT THE AUTHOR:  Hope Tarr is the author of twenty-five historical and contemporary romance novels, including OPERATION CINDERELLA, optioned by 20th Century Fox, and IRISH EYES, an historical women’s fiction saga set in Gilded through Jazz Age New York City. Hope’s books have been translated into thirty languages including French, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, German, Korean, Japanese and, most recently, Slovene! Hope is a co-founder and current curator of Lady Jane’s Salon®, New York City's first, and still only, monthly reading series for romance. Now entering its seventh year, the Salon has five satellites nationwide, all of which donate their net proceeds to a 501c(3) charity; the NYC Salon supports Win. Prior to launching her writing career, Hope earned a Master’s Degree in Developmental Psychology and a Ph.D. in Education, both from the Catholic University of America. She lives in Manhattan with her real-life romance hero and their rescue cats. Find her online at www.HopeTarr.com, www.Facebook.com/HopeC.Tarr,http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/254454.Hope_Tarr, http://www.pinterest.com/HopeTarr, www.instagram.com/HopeCTarr and www.twitter.com/HopeTarr. 


Join Hope at Lady Jane's Salon the first Monday of each month.  
For more information, visit www.ladyjanesalonnyc.com.


REMEMBER TO COME BACK TOMORROW
FOR ANOTHER HISTORICAL ROMANCE EXCERPT. 


Sunday, August 2, 2015

WE LOVE HISTORY TOUR: WATCH FOR ME, WAIT FOR ME BY THEA DEVINE



RWA/NYC Celebrates Historical Romance.
Medieval Times. Regency. American West. Jazz Age, 50s, etc.
Visit us daily for excerpts from our members’ historical novels. 
Happy Reading!



WATCH FOR ME, 
WAIT FOR ME
By Thea Devine
(work in progress, 2015)



Summary:  The disappearance of two wagons full of gold,  the death of her father five years before, and now the reappearance of the overseer's son, and the loss of her beloved plantation after the War are all a combination of events that send Christie on a quest to discover the truth behind her father's death and the missing gold.



How futile was this, Alex wondered, crouching by the rusted stove and poking the ashes. Long dead ashes. Long dead life.

He had lived fifteen years in this hellhole: he'd worked the fields, and he'd willingly played big brother to the imperious daughter of the Big House. 

But when Christie Rayburn, the plantation princess, put up her hair and let down her dresses, Alex Cordell, the overseer's son, walked away from Redlands and never looked back.

He moved the guttering candle to the rickety table. There wasn't much else here:   stripped beds in the corners. A cupboard. An iron kettle. Moldering straw on the floor.

Not much of a life. And nothing of his father.

His father had taken everything with him on that ill-conceived save-the-gold wagon train that had ended in a long fall into a gorge.

Alex shoved at the cupboard in anguish; it tipped over, splintering to smithereens. In the debris was an envelope affixed to one of the slats.

He carefully removed it and unfolded it, stunned to see it was a map. The map, he realized suddenly. To the secret location Asa Rayburn had never revealed to him, the guide he'd hired to lead a gold-laden wagon train there.

His father had known. Cagey old bastard.

But why leave the map?

“Don't move."

He froze. His back was to the door but he knew that voice.

"Get away from the table, Alex."

He edged away slowly, cautiously, and turned to face her. God, she was so thin, so determined. She looked as work-worn as any farmer's wife.

“I should have killed you five years ago."

She meant it. Because he had killed her heart when he’d left all those years ago, and killed her spirit when he'd brought the news of her father’s death.

"I want my gold."

They had been over and over this five years earlier. "There was no gold."

“If I had the gold, I could save Redlands ." Her voice was like ice, but he heard the thin thread of desperation underneath.

"No one found any gold. No one found anything.   No one could get down into the gorge, Christie. This is not a new story."

"So you say," she said scornfully. "I never believed it. I think you were there. you took what you wanted and you left my father to die. And now you're just going to let Redlands be sold into the hands of strangers."

As if he felt the same way about Redlands as she did.  

“My father died too,” he reminded her through clenched teeth, and girded himself to deal the next blow. "I can't help you."

Her body sagged almost visibly. "You could if you wanted to."  She raised the rifle. He knew she could use it; he had taught her.

"I never believed you." She took aim. "Get off my property."

"Christie --"

Blam! The shot hit just at his feet.

"Get out!"

Blam! She blasted the table and shattered the top.

"Get out of my house!"

Damn, it was hers -- until the auctioneer arrived at dawn -- and that was the gulf between them: even if she were impoverished and in rags, she would always be the lady of the manor, and he would always be the overseer's son.

And, in her eyes, a thief.



ABOUT THE AUTHOR:  Thea Devine's books defined erotic historical romance.  She's the author of nearly thirty books of historical and contemporary erotic romance, and a dozen novellas.  She is a Romantic Times Romance Pioneer honoree, and was voted the 2015 RWA/NYC Lifetime Achievement Award.  Visit her at www.theadevine.com.



REMEMBER TO COME BACK TOMORROW
FOR ANOTHER HISTORICAL ROMANCE EXCERPT. 


Saturday, August 1, 2015

WE LOVE HISTORY TOUR: BENEATH SLEEPLESS STARS BY ELIZABETH COLE

  
RWA/NYC Celebrates Historical Romance.
Medieval Times. Regency. Victorian. WW II. Jazz Age, 50s, etc.
Visit us daily for excerpts from our members’ historical novels.  
Happy Reading!




BENEATH SLEEPLESS STARS
By Elizabeth Cole


SUMMARY:  A lady haunted by nightmares, a duke chased by death, and an answer hidden in the night sky…

Insomnia and a passion for astronomy keep Lady Violet Holloway awake all night. She’s content to remain alone with her telescopes and treatises, until an unexpected marriage proposal changes everything. Though she’s never met him, Violet is handed off to a lord whose name is only mentioned in whispers.  Alexander Kenyon is the Duke of Dunmere...better known as the Duke of Death, after losing three wives under unusual circumstances. He’s learned his lesson about the dangers of falling in love, so this marriage is purely for convenience. He has no time for a bride anyway, no matter how intriguing she is. As an agent of the Zodiac, he is tasked with solving a string of perplexing murders hinting at a political conspiracy.  As the stars spin overhead, the date of the next murder draws near. Violet and Alex must work together to stop it, or risk losing the life they’ve found together. 

BENEATH SLEEPLESS STARS is the fifth novel in the Secrets of the Zodiac, a series of full-length historical romances: Featuring sexy storylines, complex characters, and international intrigue, set against the backdrop of the Napoleonic Wars.



“What do you think of this one?” 

Alexander Kenyon, the seventh Duke of Dunmere, braced himself as his uncle pushed a small portrait toward him from across the vast desk of his study. The miniature portrayed a young woman from the waist up, sitting demurely in front of a woodland scene. The subject was pleasant enough, Alex thought. Ash brown hair framed delicate features, and brown eyes gazed placidly at him. If the artist was honest, she was a slip of a thing.

“Who is she?” Alex asked. 

Uncle Herbert checked a small notebook he was holding. “Lady Violet Holloway. Good family, though not nearly so wealthy as in previous generations. Impeccable bloodline, though. By all accounts a perfect lady. Most importantly, the Holloway women are known to be fearsomely good breeders. Twins as often as not.”  His uncle nodded significantly. 

Alex sighed. Of course. The fact that he was now thirty-four with not a single heir was clearly weighing on his family’s minds. His heirless, childless state was not for lack of trying. Now Alex needed to marry again. His uncle Herbert Kenyon took on the duty of sorting through potential brides to suggest. It was not an enviable task. 

There were few eligible ladies who actually possessed all the qualifications necessary to be considered as the next duchess of Dunmere. The obvious choices—the daughters or sisters of other dukes, and earls, and viscounts—were assessed and discarded one by one. Many were too old or too young. Even more were already promised to others. Several had scandals attached to their names. Of the small number of ladies who somehow managed to cross all those hurdles, none were willing to marry him specifically. They knew better.

Alex’s bad luck in brides was now infamous.  




ABOUT THE AUTHOR:  Elizabeth Cole is an author of historical romance. She can be found hanging around museums, coffeeshops, and graveyards…but not after dark. She is a full-time writer now, but before that she worked in bookshops, libraries, archives, or anywhere there were books to be read and cared for.  When not writing, she reads with her book club or watches extremely bad movies—the kind with more explosions than acting. Just a bit of a nerd, she also loves board games and tabletop RPGs. She will not divulge how many dice might be in her house at this moment.  Visit her at:



REMEMBER TO COME BACK TOMORROW
FOR ANOTHER HISTORICAL ROMANCE EXCERPT.