Book Blast - The Indispensible Wife - Phillipa Lodge (#Giveaway)

I'm a huge supporter of fellow historical romance writers and it is my pleasure today to introduce 'new to me' author, Phillipa Lodge who is 'on tour' with her latest release THE INDISPENSIBLE WIFE.

Philippa will be awarding a $25 Amazon or B/N GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter. You can click HERE to enter or go to the links at the end of this post. 

THE INDISPENSIBLE WIFE

Aurore was delighted when a marriage was arranged with the boy she loved, her older brother's friend Dominique, Comte de Bures. But in a few years the first rush of joy has worn off, and their promising life seems ruined by loss, betrayal, and misunderstanding.

One terrifying morning mercenaries overrun their château and usurpers take Aurore hostage. Miles away at Versailles, where he is required to dance attendance on Louis XIV, Dominique is nearly killed by a crossbow bolt.

Escaping, Aurore travels with a troupe of itinerant musicians, hiding in the open while discovering hidden resources within herself.

Dom sets out to find his wife. He needs his old life back. He needs revenge. But his lands, his title, and his honor mean nothing unless he can win back the love of his indispensable wife.

BUY LINKS:  AMAZON, Nook and Wild Rose Publishing

READ AN EXCERPT

From atop the battlements, Dom signaled to the men. A musket ball whistled past his head at the same moment he heard the report of a musket. He ducked, still exposed to the courtyard but making less of a target of himself. He yanked the monk’s robes off over his head and fit an arrow to his longbow, then let the arrow fly at the large man who had ducked behind a low wall to reload his musket. The angle was bad and the arrow glanced off the wall, but it scraped across the man’s chain mail and went through the exposed sleeve of his tunic.

Dom cursed his sore bow arm, wondering briefly if it would ever regain full strength. The man pulled back further behind the slight cover the wall gave him, his arm pumping as he jammed a new musket ball into the barrel of his gun. Dom shot another arrow, just a hair higher, and sank it into the man’s right arm. The musket flew to the side as the man spun and fell.

Dom and Henri scanned the courtyard for other traitors as horsemen thundered through the gate, shouting and brandishing sabers. Jean-Louis had arrived, followed by Le Fèvre and some others of Dom’s personal guards. Cédric and his group would be on foot right behind them. The baron led a division which would guard the gates from the outside in case any mercenaries were in the village and came to their leaders’ aid.

Pâques was with him. The man had insisted on coming, seeking vengeance for the loss of his left arm. It was probably only because of Pâques that Dom had not tried even harder to leave Aurore behind. Pâques still could not fight well, though as he was less of a target than Aurore, and he had extensive training before his injury; he would not be a liability.

Dom shook thoughts of Aurore, tiny and vulnerable, from his mind, swung his bow to his back, and left Henri and Paul-Bénédicte on the battlements as he rattled down the stairs, eager to be among the first into the château itself, eager to flush out the enemy leaders. He noted that a crowd of villagers armed with shovels, axes, and pitchforks was streaming through the gates behind Cédric’s troops and the man he had shot with an arrow was no longer in the corner. He brandished his sword and pushed past the few men who were fighting back, barely glancing at Jean-Louis as he dismounted to follow. Cédric’s friend de Ligny bashed a man in a nightshirt with the pommel of his sword and stuck close to Dom’s left side, helping shove through the confused crowd. Cries of “It’s the comte!” rose up around him.

ABOUT PHILLIPA LODGE

Philippa Lodge has been an avid reader since she asked her mother to point out where it said "Ma" in Little House in the Big Woods. She read everything she could get her hands on until grad school in French Studies, at which time she lost her reading mojo. Only through the twin discoveries of Harry Potter and romance has she gotten her groove back and gone back to the stuff she loved about seventeenth century France: kings, swords, opulence, and love. She lives in the suburbs of Sacramento, CA with her husband, three children, two cats, and a head full of courtesans (Oo la la!). She does the newsletter for her local chapter of the Romance Writers of America.

Connect with Phillipa on her website, Twitter (@plaatsch) and Facebook 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

GIVEAWAY INFORMATION and RAFFLECOPTER 

Philippa will be awarding a $25 Amazon or B/N GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour, and a $25 Amazon or B/N GC to a randomly drawn host.

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#FallReading Blog Hop - Meet my Guest Margaret Madigan #bookboost @books_n_pearls

I am very excited to be a part of a Historical Romance Blog Hop this weekend, hosted by the lovely girls at BOOKS 'N PEARLS. 

OVER THE WEEKEND THERE WILL BE DOZENS OF FABULOUS HISTORICAL ROMANCE AUTHORS TO MEET AND PRIZES TO BE WON. To hop over to the next blog click the Link at the end of this blog.

I grew up on 'Westerns' so I am delighted to be hosting MARGARET MADIGAN, whose latest book GAMBLING ON THE OUTLAW came out in June this year. 

ABOUT GAMBLING ON THE OUTLAW   

Beth Caldwell is no man's property. A gambler's widow with a willful, independent streak, she's already courting trouble after rejecting an offer of marriage from a foul-tempered and land-hungry cattle baron. But when Beth discovers a
handsome outlaw hiding in her barn, she lands in a whole new heap of trouble...

Isaac Collins survived the Civil War only to find himself scapegoated for stagecoach robbery and murder. With nothing left to lose, he gambled everything on revenge and barely escaped with his life. Now he's relying on the kindness of a fierce, strong-willed woman...and God help him if there isn't something
both sweet and forbidden simmering between them.

But Beth's rejected suitor is no gentleman. He'll do whatever it takes to get her land. And in Nevada, sometimes everything can ride on one a high-stakes game of chance.

Read an Excerpt from GAMBLING ON THE OUTLAW

I squared my shoulders and entered the room, determined to behave myself properly.

            He was sat up in bed with several pillows piled behind him for support, looking every bit as if he belonged there, enough so that last night came to mind and I was tempted to crawl in and snuggle up next to him. But I gave myself a mental shake. He was quickly turning me into a silly schoolgirl.
I am a strong, independent woman.

I had other women depending on me and I couldn’t let some male drifter, a wanted
man no less, distract me from my responsibilities.

I placed the tray on his lap and backed away as quickly as possible, taking a
seat in the rocker I’d spent so much time in the last few days.

            “It seems your presence is causing quite a stir around here. My friends don’t quite know how to react to you.

            “What about you?”

            “What about me?”

            “You said none of your lady friends knows how to react to me. What about you? Do you know how to react to me?”

The taste of his lips on mine leaped to mind unbidden, along with the feel of his hands on me, and that’s all it took for my double-crossing heart, and my equally rebellious body, to react with lusty desire. I’d assumed I’d never again be lucky enough to find a man who made me feel that way, and yet here he was, already in my bed.

Although I wanted very much to shift from the rocker to the edge of the bed and assist him with his breakfast, perhaps feeding him bits of bread with creamy butter that he’d have to lick from my fingertips, I opted for maintaining at least a modicum of decency and kept my rear end rooted to the chair. I suspected where Mr. Isaac Collins was concerned, me and my good sense were in a heap of
trouble, because my body had clearly declared war against us.

            “Just how would you expect me to react?”

            He’d been watching me, waiting for my answer, those warm brown eyes regarding me from under a fringe of dark lashes, making my belly flutter like a flock of hummingbirds had nested inside.

            “A smart woman would be on her guard. She’d be concerned and maybe even afraid, and she’d send me on my way, happy to see the back of me. And I took you for a smart woman.”

Buy GAMBLING ON THE OUTLAW from Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Entangled, Kobo and where all good Ebooks are sold.  

ABOUT MARGARET MADIGAN

Margaret is an author of romance and science fiction with Entangled Publishing and Evernight Publishing. She is a hard core Oregon Ducks fan. and a donut and pastry addict.
Best of all... she likes cats!
When she's  not writing you’ll find her  in a college classroom teaching English, or working as a literary agent for an amazing agency…and of course, wrangling her family.

Connect with Margaret:

Facebook author fan page, Twitter, Goodreads, Website

Blog,Pinterest, Amazon fan page

JUST A REMINDER ABOUT THE GIVEAWAYS ON THE OTHER BLOGS:

Dozens of Prizes. Click the links below to visit the participating blogs and comment for your contest entries.

An InLinkz Link-up

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AND ANOTHER RAFFLECOPTER CONTEST TO WIN A KINDLE EREADER

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Release Day for THE KING'S MAN: Meet Kit Lovell...

THE KING'S MAN releases today (8 September) - Book 2 in the Guardians of the Crown series.

It is now February 1654- three long years since the events that took place in Book 1 (BY THE SWORD).

In that story readers first met a friend of Jonathan Thornton’s, KIT LOVELL, in a filthy inn in Perth (Scotland).

(Jonathan) opened the door the tapster indicated. Two men sat at a rickety table playing cards; Giles Longley and another English officer, Kit Lovell. A half-dressed drab, no doubt picked out of the gutters of Perth, leaned on Lovell’s shoulder, apparently engaged in nibbling his ear. Another girl sprawled on Giles’ lap, twirling a lock of his hair in her fingers.

Giles had his back to the door so it was Kit who looked up, his eyes widening.

‘Jesus Christ!’ he swore.

Jonathan forced a wry smile. ‘Not quite.’

On the eve of the Battle of Worcester (3 September 1651), a card game takes place… in which the stakes are the lives of the men who must face battle the next day. They are joined by Kit’s young brother, Daniel…

Lovell cast his brother a glance that was at once both reproving and affectionate.

‘He followed me,’ Lovell replied. ‘His mother will hold me responsible if anything happens to him and, God knows, I fear her wrath more than Cromwell, but what could I do?’

‘This may be my last chance,’ the boy said returning his brother’s look with a furrowed brow.

‘Your last chance for what?’ Giles asked. ‘Getting yourself killed?’

‘My last chance to return the King to the throne where he belongs,’ Daniel said, his eyes shining with an idealism that had long since escaped Jonathan.

Lovell laid his cards down and fixed his brother with a hard look. ‘You don’t see do you?’ he said. ‘You’re the last of us with any hope. Look at us...’ He waved his hand at the men seated around the table. ‘If we lose this battle, what future do we have? But you...you can still make something of your life.’

The next day, battle is joined and the King’s cause is lost even before the fighting begins. In the midst of the battle we encounter Kit Lovell for the last time…

 'Daniel!’

Hearing Kit Lovell’s voice, Jonathan turned and saw his friend standing in the path of a Parliament trooper who bore down on him from behind with his sword upraised. Of Lovell’s brother there was no sign.

Summoning all his energy, Jonathan managed to reach Lovell and push him aside just as the trooper slashed down with his sword. The razor-sharp blade caught Jonathan across the back of his hand, slashing through the heavy leather of his glove.

Lovell regained his feet and clutched at Jonathan’s sleeve.

‘I can’t find Daniel.’

Before Jonathan could respond, the trooper turned, pulling his pistol from his belt. He fired and Kit crumpled to the ground

Seizing a primed pistol from a dead Scot at his feet, Jonathan fired. The trooper’s face exploded in mass of blood and the man toppled, screaming, from his horse.

Jonathan stooped down to see to Lovell, who had taken the pistol ball to the leg and now lay helpless on the trampled grass, grimacing in agony.

Giles grabbed his arm and pulled him away from the fallen man.

‘Thornton, there’s no time. We must find the King and get back to the city,’ Giles yelled above the noise.

‘Go,’ Lovell said between gritted teeth. ‘Save the King.’

So… Kit Lovell, the King's man, fell wounded at the Battle of Worcester. 

How did he survive and what brings him to London in 1654, at the height of Cromwell’s Protectorate?

The inveterate gambler, Kit is playing a dangerous game and the stakes are a life… He did not wager on falling in love...

Buy THE KING'S MAN on KOBO, NOOK, iBooks and AMAZON

To celebrate the launch of THE KING'S MAN, I will be running a RAFFLECOPTER CONTEST with the prize of a Kindle E-reader from now until the end of October. 

Enter HERE:  

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Meeting my Waterloo: A sale, a contest and a new story...

‘Are you certain he’s here?’ Isabel — Lady Somerton — asked, her voice muffled by the lavender scented kerchief she had pressed to her nose and mouth.

The pathetic piece of muslin did little to conceal the stench of unwashed bodies, blood, corrupted wounds and worse that pervaded the makeshift hospital. The price Wellington had paid for the victory lay crowded on filthy straw mattresses on the makeshift hospital floor of an old warehouse in Battersea.

Everywhere she turned the wounded had been crowded together, so many of them that only a curtain separated the officers from the other ranks. Pushing aside the curtain, the conditions for the officers was little better. At least they had cots, not straw-filled bags, but those who had survived the rapid evacuation to England were in a poor state. Most still wore the tattered remnants of the uniform they had worn in battle over ten days ago and it looked to Isabel as if the rough bandages over their wounds had not been changed in days. 

(Opening lines from LORD SOMERTON'S HEIR ... by Alison Stuart)

Waterloo June 2015:  It is hard to imagine these peaceful fields were once the scene of so much carnage... (20,000 casualties)

The battle site of Waterloo today

Ten years ago, my military husband and I made a flying visit to the battle site at Waterloo, en route to returning a rental car. (Needless to say in the days before GPS we then got hopelessly lost trying to get back into Brussels and nearly missed our train... but that's another story).  That brief visit was the inspiration behind my Waterloo story LORD SOMERTON'S HEIR which starts in the days immediately following the battle.

On our recent travels, booked in complete ignorance that June 18 2015 was in fact the bicentennial of Waterloo, we found ourselves accidentally on a Waterloo trail that began in London with a visit to the Guards Museum and ended at Waterloo - the week before the Bicentennial weekend of re-enactments. A little bit of better planning and we could have been AT the bicentennial! However as it turned out, we had the place pretty much to ourselves, apart from hordes of workmen frantically trying to finish the paving and put up signs and bleachers etc. 

Alison labours up the 200 steps of the Butte de Lion

The new Visitors' Centre had been open a week and it is a marvel of 21st century technology including animated paintings, detailed and lifelike wax mannequins and a 3D movie about the battle that has you ducking for cover while facing the charge of 8000 French Curaissiers! 

Napoleon's staff on the eve of Waterloo - Visitors' Centre

Needless to say I have returned with a Waterloo buzz and a suitcase full of Waterloo memorabilia so in conjunction with my wonderful publishers from the 4th to the 13th of July I have a very special offer... several very special offers.

A CONTEST...  The prize is a collection of Waterloo memorabilia including a full reproduction of The Times with Wellington's Waterloo despatch. To enter, you only have to participate in the RAFFLECOPTER at the end of this post or click HERE

A SALE Lord Somerton's Heir , my own 'Waterloo' story will be on sale on Amazon and iBooks for only .99c for this week only.

A NEW STORY And finally, in honour of Waterloo I have written a short story... a prequel to LORD SOMERTON'S HEIR, which I have titled SEBASTIAN'S WATERLOO, in which we share the events of the 18th June 1815 with the hero of LORD SOMERTON'S HEIR, Captain Sebastian Alder.  

This available is FREE to subscribers of my Readers' Group Newsletter... so you can subscribe here to either read the story on line or download it to your ereader.

TO SUBSCRIBE JUST CLICK HERE OR USE THE FORM TO THE RIGHT OF THIS POST

ENTER THE WATERLOO CONTEST HERE

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Aussie Writers Month! $1000 cash give away...

January in Australia and here in Melbourne, the temperatures are starting to climb with 39 deg C predicted today and 41 tomorrow. So while those of you in the northern hemisphere are tucked up in your winter woollies, downunder it is beach time (and cricket and tennis). 

Winter reading or summer reading, Australia is producing some fabulous romance writers and I am delighted to be part of a month long promotion of Aussie writers by AusRom Today - a blog site dedicated to getting the word out to the world that Australian Romance Writers Rock.

Best of all there is $1000 worth of cash prizes on offer by way of Rafflecopter entry.  All you have to do is visit the AUSROM TODAY Facebook  page to enter.  Click HERE... 

- The prizes are: 1st = $700, 2nd = $200, 3rd = $100. CASH!

- Entry is via Rafflecopter on the AusRom Today FB page. Just click on the  'GIVEAWAY' tab at the top of the page.

- Entry comprises two required tasks (completing a 10 question survey - more on this below) and a subscription plus two optional tasks which are Tweet/Share options. 

How easy is that?

And if you want to visit my contribution... you will find it HERE. Call by and leave a comment :-)  (and as a bonus you get a sneak peek at the new cover for my March release BY THE SWORD)

Lisa Fernow guides us through the tango

My husband cannot abide what he calls the "crying shows"... you know the ones?  "So You Think You Can Dance", "Dancing with the Stars"... etc. I LOVE them. Mostly because I have no sense of rhythm and cannot dance to save myself. So I watch them covertly when he's not around.

I particularly love the Latin dances - my favourites being the Pasa Doble and the Tango and it is my great pleasure today to welcome 'new to me' author Lisa Fernow to introduce her romantic suspense DEAD ON HER FEET and the research she undertook to learn all there was to know about tango... Tango and mystery... does it get any better?

Lisa will be awarding a $30 GC to winner's choice of online bookseller to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour

TO ENTER THE RAFFLECOPTER CONTEST: CLICK HERE

INTRODUCTION TO THE TANGO

Thanks for having me!

In writing my tango mystery, Dead on Her Feet, I did a lot of research on the music.  My original plan was to include lyrics and audio links so readers could directly experience tango’s heart-wrenching power. 

Ultimately it proved too difficult to identify who owned the copyrights.  But here’s an excerpt where I’ve put the lyrics and link back in for you. This translation of Discepolo’s Uno comes from maestro Alberto Paz. 

Our heroine, tango instructor Antonia Blakeley, is introducing her class to tango culture: 

“Tango can be about many things – seduction, longing, nostalgia, intimacy, tenderness – you get the picture. Whatever the music and the moment inspires. This song isn’t one we normally dance to but I happen to think it’s a beautiful piece, especially if you understand the words. It’s called Uno. One.” Uno, oh yeah, she thought.

Antonia translated the lyrics from the liner notes:

If I had the heart,

The heart I gave away…

If I could, like yesterday

Love without a premonition…

It’s possible that your eyes

That cry out to me their love,

I’d close them with my kisses…

Without thinking that, like these,

They were other wicked eyes

That ruined my life.

“He gave his heart to a woman who betrayed him, and now he can’t love the way he used to.  That’s life and death stuff.”

Tragic, yes?  Julio Sosa performs Uno here:

Doesn’t this just make you swoon? 

It’s not an accident that Antonia chooses this particular tango, Uno, which is not meant for dancing - a curious choice for the class.  But Antonia has walled herself off from love.

We eventually learn why. 

I hope you enjoy Dead on Her Feet.  Visit www.lisafernow.com and let me know!

(PS: the dancer above is Tomás Howlin, a wonderful teacher!)

DEAD ON HER FEET

What happens when a dancer violates the tango code?

Tango instructor and chronic rule-breaker Antonia “Ant” Blakeley has no respect for authority. So when a much-hated member of the Atlanta tango community is stabbed in the middle of the dance floor, leaving her troubled nephew Christian first on the list of suspects, the last thing she wants to do is use her tango expertise to help the police work out how someone could have struck the fatal blow, unseen. As someone who has experienced police incompetence first hand Antonia doesn’t trust them to find the real killer. So she lies to give Christian an alibi, and the coverup begins.



Unfortunately for Ant, former marine Detective Sam Morrow is on the case and he will do whatever it takes to solve the crime. He’s not about to let Antonia hijack his case. As both Ant and Sam investigate (or in Ant’s case, interfere), the two sleuths are about to find out the more antagonistic meaning of “it takes two to tango.”

BUY DEAD ON HER FEET

Available on Amazon and all reputable e-stores

ABOUT LISA FERNOW

Lisa Fernow grew up on the classic mysteries of Ngaio Marsh and Elizabeth Peters. Lisa has danced Argentine tango since 1996, studying with such legendary masters as Cacho Dante, Susana Miller, and Brigitta Winkler, as well as other inspiring instructors in Atlanta, Seattle, and Portland. Lisa’s short story,Death of a Tango Dancer was featured in King County Library’s Take Time to Read program. She lives in Seattle, Washington. Dead on Her Feet is the first book in a planned series set in the tango world. Read more at www.lisafernow.com.

On Tour: Jessica Jefferson - Compromising Miss Tisdale + Giveaway

"Not since the Bennett's have sisters enjoyed such romantic escapades!  Mother-hen Ambrosia, the warm and witty Lillian, hoyden Tamsin, and mild-mannered Rose try to navigate through their own respective romances while weaving in and out of each other's.   Follow each of the Tisdale sisters as they stumble through love. "

Basking in the warm glow of Regency Romance, it is my pleasure to introduce debut Regency Romance author, Jessica Jefferson.

Jessica Jefferson makes her home in northern Indiana, or as she likes to think of it – almost Chicago.  Jessica originally attended college in hopes of achieving an English degree and writing the next great American novel.  Ten years later she was working as a registered nurse and reading historical romance when she decided to give writing another go-round.   

Jessica writes likes she speaks, which has a tendency to be fast paced and humorous.  Jessica is heavily inspired by sweeping, historical romance novels, but aims to take those key emotional elements and inject a fresh blend of quick dialogue and comedy to transport the reader into a story they miss long after the last page is read.  She invites you to visit her at jessicajefferson.com and read her random romance musings. You will also find her on Facebook and Twitter. 

COMPROMISING MISS TISDALE is the first book in a series of four on the escapades of the Tisdale sisters... beginning with Ambrosia.

ABOUT COMPROMISING MISS TISDALE

Ambrosia Tisdale is the very picture of propriety and the epitome of what a respectable young lady should be. Haunted by a memory and compelled by her family, she pursues perfection to a fault.

The Earl of Bristol, Duncan Maddox, has returned to London after years of familial imposed exile. As the second son, he has led a life filled with frivolity, leisure, and a healthy dose of debauchery. Now his older brother has died, leaving the family’s flailing legacy in Duncan’s unwilling arms.

At the behest of his uncle, Duncan is advised to do the one thing that could provide instant fortune and respectability – he must marry. But there is only one prospect who meets the unique requirements to solve all the Earl’s problems – the lovely Miss Ambrosia Tisdale. But securing the prudent daughter of a Viscount’s hand proves to be more challenging than this scandal ridden second son of an Earl has bargained for.

With scandal, extortion, treachery, and even love itself threatening to keep him from his goal, will Duncan succeed in compromising Miss Tisdale?

READ AN EXCERPT

He stepped forward, a twig snapping under the force of his right boot. 

 She startled and turned.

She had been crying.  Even in the shadows he could see that her eyes were red and face blotchy from the trails of tears.  For once, Miss Tisdale did not look her best, and in that imperfection he found her to be the most enticing she had ever been.

Duncan fell into her eyes, endless pools framed with wet clumps of black lashes that drew him towards her.  And then her lips, already full, now swollen from her sobbing, parted slightly. 

He was lost.  God help him, he was no longer intoxicated by brandy alone, but rather the beauty of one woman. 

Duncan reached up and cupped her face in his hands.  Without any words or pretense, he simply swooped down and kissed her.  It wasn’t a gentle kiss, nor was it rough.  It was certain and decided.  He kissed her ardently, holding her face and savoring the salty taste of her tears still wet on her lips. 

He waited for it to stop, for her to slap him or push him away.  But then she did something totally unexpected.  She grabbed his arms and kissed him back.  The action left him disarmed and completely infatuated.  This was the woman from the library whom he had come to remember.  And her kiss was not tentative as it once was - but now firm and without trepidation.  

BUY COMPROMISING MISS TISDALE

ENTER JESSICA'S RAFFLECOPTER CONTEST TO WIN  $25 Amazon or BN.com Gift Certificate

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RELEASE DAY for LORD SOMERTON'S HEIR

I have a love/hate relationship with release days. On one hand there is the excitement of seeing your book baby go out into the big wide world. You have laboured long and hard over every sentence and every word, suffered rejection, rewrites, the anticipation of submission. Then the contract arrives and there is the long wait for edits (which you then curse) and the thrill of seeing the cover for the first time... and then the wait to that magical date:  RELEASE DAY.

The journey for this book has been particularly tortuous. This is the story that won the 2012 Romance Through the Ages Award. It then went through the a series of submissions and rejections until a big US publisher showed an interest, provided I completely rewrote it. You may recall my agonies over this process which culminated in me walking away from that particular door (The Black Moments of a Writers Soul). I took my poor, mangled story ("the Frankenbook") and I did rewrite it, with some help from some wonderful beta readers. I wrote the story I wanted to tell, not the story someone else thought I should be telling.

I have no regrets about that decision. The wonderful people at Harlequin Australia's Escape Publishing picked it up, with a few minor tweaks, and here it is, all wrapped up in a gorgeous cover and ready to face the world.

(Blame Blogger!)

To celebrate the release I will be running month long contest for a "Goody bag" worth over $50. The prize contains:

• A canvas bag
• A notebook
• Fridge magnets (including a "Mr. Darcy" fridge magnet)
• A Mesopotamian bracelet
• An autographed copy of Alison's Stuart's collected short stories TOWER OF TALES
• A voucher for the purchase of an ecopy of any one of Alison's books (excluding Lord Somerton's Heir). Winner's choice.

Entry is by Rafflecopter... and you can enter HERE, or on my website or on my Facebook author page or below...

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Over the month I will be out and about as a guest on other blogs, so there will be plenty of opportunities to enter!

In the meantime, I will love you forever if you add LORD SOMERTON'S HEIR to your bookshelf (oh dear, that sounds kind of needy!). 

Anyway here are the BUY links:
Kindle (where it has been on pre order sale for .90c! Hurry you may still catch it) 

Itunes  (where it has also been on pre-order sale for .99c)

Barnes & Noble

For the other retailers, visit the Escape Publishing site. Click HERE

If you love Regency Historicals, particularly those with a suspense element... I hope you will like LORD SOMERTON'S HEIR.

Can the love of an honourable man save her from the memory of a desolate marriage?

From the battlefield of Waterloo to the drawing rooms of Brantstone Hall, Sebastian Alder’s elevation from penniless army captain to Viscount Somerton is the stuff of dreams. But the cold reality of an inherited estate in wretched condition, and the suspicious circumstances surrounding his cousin’s death, provide Sebastian with no time for dreams, only a mystery to solve and a murderer to bring to justice.

Isabel, widow of the late Lord Somerton, is desperate to bury the memory of her unhappy marriage by founding the charity school she has always dreamed of. But, her dreams are shattered, as she is taunted from the grave, discovering not only has she been left penniless, but she is once more bound to the whims of a Somerton.

But this Somerton is unlike any man she has met. Can the love of an honourable man heal her broken heart or will suspicion tear them apart?

EXCERPT....
(Lead up:  Having installed Sebastian Alder as the new Lord Somerton, Isabel leaves him in London and departs for the country estate at Brantstone...)

...A coach stood at the front of the house, the Somerton arms emblazoned on the door. As he watched, Lady Somerton descended the front steps with a quick, firm step, a black feather in her bonnet waving jauntily, at odds with the deep mourning she affected. She handed the bandbox she carried to her maid and allowed one of the footmen to help her into the coach.

Intriguing woman, Sebastian thought, and, as if he had called out to her, she glanced up. She must have seen him at the window and, while her gaze held his for a moment, she did not in any other way acknowledge his presence.

With her departure he felt oddly cast adrift, as if she had been the one familiar person anchoring him to this strange new life; a life that was proving to be even stranger than he could have imagined, if there was truth in what the lawyer in the room behind him was saying.

The man’s nasal voice ceased and he heard the Somerton man of business, Bragge, clear his throat. Sebastian turned around in time to see a quick, nervous glance pass between the two men.

‘I blame myself,’ Bragge said. ‘His late lordship was not disposed to confide in me. I had no idea that he had...’ The man swallowed, wiping his upper lip with a large kerchief. ‘If I had known... The damage to the estate should have been more readily ascertainable.’

Sebastian regarded the man with cold eyes. Bragge had brought with him a complete accounting of the Somerton inheritance.

What inheritance? Sebastian had thought with mounting anger as Bragge and the lawyer laid the full extent of his cousin’s inept management out for him.

It had all gone, expended on clothes and horses and who knew what else besides. There were large, unexplained monthly payments, which Bragge suggested were probably gambling debts and a foolish investment some two years earlier in a gold mine in Guinea on the basis of a prospectus issued by a group calling themselves The Golden Adventurers Club. It was this last bit of idiocy that had taken every penny, including, it seemed, Isabel’s jointure. Brantstone and the London house were mortgaged.

Any man of business worth his pay should have known to the penny the extent of his master’s debts at any given time, regardless of other concerns. Sebastian regarded the man without sympathy. If he had been his quartermaster, Bragge would have been flogged. As it was, he may well find himself looking for a new employer before this day was out.

‘Does Lady Somerton know that her jointure is gone?’ he enquired.

Bragge shook his head. ‘No, my lord.’...