What Am I Reading Now?

Technically, I'm still reading/researching King John by WL Warren. But I'm currently on a trip to visit my sister in Utah, and since I didn't want to lug around a big book, I'm taking a break from King John to read a few books on my Kindle. My research reading will resume when I return to Arizona.

In the meantime, the Kindle book I've chosen to read is Mark of Royalty, by Jennifer K. Clark and Stephonie K. Williams. (Must admit, I LOVE this cover!)

Here's the back cover blurb:

At a time when royal infants are marked at birth, a royal advisor makes a terrible misstep—and an infant princess must be secreted away to save her life. Named Sarah by Miranda, the woman who agrees to raise the child as her own, the girl is unaware of her royal heritage—even though Miranda has done all she can to pair Sarah with the king’s nephew, Lord Chad. But unexpected events prevent the expected betrothal.

Determined to fulfill her devoted mother’s wishes, Sarah reserves her heart for Chad despite her growing affections for another man. But as plots against the crown unfold, someone accidentally discovers Sarah’s mark of royalty—setting the stage for discoveries that will shake the kingdom to its core.

Stop by on Tuesday to read a Tuesday Teaser from Wrong Number.

Tuesday Teaser

Tuesday Teaser is a weekly bookish meme (rhymes with “cream"), hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. (I’ve borrowed it from LDS Women’s Book Review.) Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share at least two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page

BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)

Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR lists if they like your teasers!

I'm adapting the rules slightly. I'll be quoting some random lines from the last chapter I read before I post a teaser. I'm a slow reader, so you may get multiple teasers per book. Here's my second teaser from King John:

'Do you know,' says the biographer of William Marshal, 'why King John was unable to keep the love of his people? It was because Lupescar maltreated them, and pillaged them as though he were in enemy territory.' This was no mere idle gossip. It is easy to understand how the Normans felt when the abbess of Caen can be seen offering the king 40 marks for protection against Lupescar and for having him restore what had been taken from herself and from the tenants of the abbey's estates.

From King John, by W.L. Warren, p 91

(Yes, I'm reading this book very slowly. That's because I'm stopping to make research notes in nearly all the margins!)

If you'd like to share a teaser from a book you're currently reading, I'd love you to do so in the comment section. And you don't even have to share it on a Tuesday! Be sure to include the title, author, and page number in case others would like to check out the book you're reading.

Get to Know the Author: Danielle Thorne

Welcome to Danielle Thorne! Danielle is an author of sweet romances, both historical and contemporary. (And I hear through the grapevine she might even be working on a fantasy. Talk about versatility!)

JDP: Thank you for joining us today, Danielle. Did your mother read to you as a child?

Danielle: I don’t remember my mother reading to me, but she always supplied me with the best books. Even in my teen years she made sure I was exposed to Wuthering Heights and other classics. She loved to show me old movies based on fiction.

JDP: Do you remember a favorite book from your childhood?

Danielle: My favorite childhood memory is of enjoying The Great Brain series by John Fitzgerald. I dearly loved those books.

JDP: Whoa! I thought you said The Great Britain series there for a moment. I got really excited to find out what that was! LOL! The Great Brain sounds intriguing, too. I’ll have to check that out. Name a favorite author as an adult.

Danielle: Patrick O’Brian of the Master and Commander series. He was a genius.

JDP: And clearly had no little influence on your choice of writing subgenre. J Share a book you’ve read multiple times.

Danielle: It sounds cliché, but Pride and Prejudice stays in my room. I read it a few times a year. It’s like going home to me. A sweet familiar escape when I am feeling blue.

JDP: Oh, I love those kinds of books that feel like “home” when you read them! Now, a very important question: Kindle, Nook, or good old hard copy?

Danielle: Sony eReader! But I’d love to have a Kindle.

JDP: Looks like I need to widen that question a bit to include Sony eReaders! What’s your favorite place to read?

Danielle: Curled up on the couch and on road trips. (I don’t get car sick. Freak of nature.)

JDP: My sister was a freak of nature like that. I was always jealous. What are your three favorite reading genres.

Danielle: Romance, Historical, Adventure/Espionage

JDP: What’s the last book you read?

Danielle: One Hundred Candles by Mara Purnhagan. It’s a YA Paranormal, and it was super.

JDP: What are you’re reading now?

Danielle: Echoes the Drum by Nancy Lindley-Gauthier.

JDP: What’s next on your reading list?

Danielle: I just bought these books: Sabotage by Anne Patrick; Texas Promise by Celia Yeary; No Other by Shawna Williams; Final Deception by PI Barrington. Next on my list are two books: Loyalty’s Web by Yours Truly (JDP: Uh-oh!); Lab Partners by Larry Hammersley

JDP: What you would like to read more of? (author, genre, etc)

Danielle: Honestly I love many genres. I just wish I had more time to read. I’ve yet to sit down with Georgette Heyer’s collection.

JDP: Ooo, ooo, ooo! Georgette Heyer! (Jumping up and down.) You’re in for a treat when you read her books! :-) Share a favorite book that you’ve read in the last 12 months.

Danielle: I really enjoyed Percy Jackson and the Olympians. It’s a brilliant play on YA fantasy. I want to have fun when I read. The Percy Jackson series is fun!

More about Danielle! : Danielle Thorne freelanced for online and print magazines from 1998 through 2001, adding reviewing and editing to her resume. She has published poetry, short fiction and novels. She is the author of sweet romantic adventure books, both historical and contemporary.

Danielle currently writes from south of Atlanta, Georgia. She was the 2009-2010 Co-Chair for the New Voices Competition for young writers, is active with online author groups such as Classic Romance Revival and EPIC and moderates for The Sweetest Romance Authors at the Coffee Time Romance boards. Danielle reviews for online review sites and edits for two publishing houses and Romance Junkies. She has four sons with her husband, Rob. Together they enjoy travel and the outdoors. Learn more about Danielle by visiting her website, blog, or Facebook.

Books by Danielle Thorne:

By Heart and Compass

Turtle Soup

Josette (New)

Southern Girl, Yankee Roots (New)

The Privateer (Newest)

Summary of The Privateer: The reign of piracy is over in the Caribbean, or so it’s believed until diamonds are discovered in Brazil. Despite the cover-up, Captain Julius Bertrand begins to hear whispers. The Spanish guardacostas are dumping log books, and a new French pirate is on the prowl. Distracted by an avaricious woman he could never love, and the beautiful Kate O’Connell who doesn’t need him, he tries to untangle the web of mysterious cargo someone in the New World wants kept secret. When Bertrand’s pirating past returns with the explosive force of a sweeping broadside, he finds he must sacrifice everything his respectable life has brought him, in order to save what matters most.

Win a copy of "Loyalty's Web"!

The lovely EnglishRose has posted a review of Loyalty's Web on her Clean Romance Reviews blog AND is sponsoring a giveaway for a copy of the same title. 


Enter by midnight CST May 6. 


Click here for her review. 


Click here for the giveaway.

Tuesday Teaser

Tuesday Teaser is a weekly bookish meme (rhymes with “cream"), hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. (I’ve borrowed it from LDS Women’s Book Review.) Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share at least two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page

BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)

Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR lists if they like your teasers!

I'm adapting the rules slightly. I'll be quoting some random lines from the last chapter I read before I post a teaser. I'm a slow reader, so you may get multiple teasers per book. Here's a teaser from King John:

Richard (I) made the campaigning season an anachronism of an amateurish past. Several of his vassals, when he was Count of Poitou, had defied him in the autumn, fully expecting to have the winter months to rally their kinsmen and friends, but had been shocked to find him hammering at their gates as soon as he could get there. There was no "close season" for Richard: he fought all the year round.

From King John, by W.L. Warren, p 60

If you'd like to share a teaser from a book you're currently reading, I'd love you to do so in the comment section. And you don't even have to share it on a Tuesday! Be sure to include the title, author, and page number in case others would like to check out the book you're reading.