Loyalty's Web is here!

The reprint of Loyalty's Web is now available on Kindle and Smashwords! (Coming soon to B&N) This is the original 2007 version that finaled for a Whitney Award (not significantly different from the Walnlut Springs 2008). New front and back matter include a Cast of Characters to help you keep track of everyone, a Glossary of Medieval Terms used in the story, Suggested Book Club Questions, and an Excerpt from my upcoming romantic historical, The Lady and the Minstrel.

ONLY $4.99 on Amazon and Smashwords!

Heléne de Laurant has not forgotten how the Earl of Gunthar destroyed her father’s castle during Henry II’s war with his sons. Apparently neither have her family and friends, for when someone tries to murder Gunthar, every sign points in their direction. Heléne realizes the only way to prove her loved ones’ innocence is by exposing the true assassin.

As Heléne and Gunthar spar over the identity of the traitor, fierce determination gives way to mutual attraction. Heléne must race against time, and dark secrets of the past, to unmask the would-be killer before the kingdom plunges back into war and takes the life of the man she has unexpectedly learned to love.

Summary Sunday

Things will soon be coming to a head in The Lady and the Minstrel. Thursday's new sentence was a bit of a tipping point. Hope you enjoy this week's sampler from my WIP! :-)

Monday: It must have to do with the woman. There could be no other explanation.

Tuesday: She glanced up at him, her eyes flaring wide. She has not your powers of self-possession, my lad.

Wednesday: No law in the land would object to Strode defending his own honor and that of his betrothed’s by hunting and cutting down a wild, wanton minstrel.

Thursday: Somewhere in the inklike hours of the night, while the men around him in the servant’s room lay snoring and snuffling, the numbness of his brother’s death had worn off and a low, simmering anger began to burn in Robert’s belly.

Friday: What might one need to see so clearly at this hour of the day? Robert knew what he should wish to see.

Cover reveal: Loyalty's Web (reprint)

Here it is! The new cover art for my sweet medieval romance,

 Loyalty's Web!

Heléne de Laurant has not forgotten how the Earl of Gunthar destroyed her father’s castle during the king’s war with his sons. When someone tries to murder Gunthar and suspicion falls on her family and friends, she races against time, and dark secrets of the past, to unmask the would-be killer. But can she reveal the truth before it claims the life of the man she has unexpectedly learned to love?

This cover is for the reprint of my first published sweet medieval romance. I recently received the rights back from Walnut Springs Press and am republishing it under my new Sable Tyger Books indie imprint. The e-book version should be out by the end of October. :-)

(Thank you to the amazing Jaimey Grant of An Author's Art for the cover design.)

Summary Sunday

After a very, very long separation, Rob and Marguerite had a joyous reunion this week. But the story isn't over yet, so all is not well.
Villains are plotting behind their back and a family tragedy is about to strike for Robert. Here is a fresh sampling of new sentences I typed this week for The Lady and the Minstrel.

Monday: Her eyes met his, then darted away in shame. But not before she had glimpsed the hurt in his own midnight gaze.

Tuesday: “If I let you do that, we will stand here kissing till the sun falls and the moon rises—or until your cousin finds us and plants his fist in my face.”

Wednesday: “If you failed to cover your tracks, if you had the stupidity to let him or anyone link your name and treason to me, I will crush you so fast you’ll be staring the devil in the face before you even know you are dead.”

Thursday: Robert felt the punch of recognition. “Alice?”

Friday: “He said Will’s wife had let it slip that you had seduced the betrothed of the Earl of Strode.”

Saturday: He rubbed at his eyes. No time for grief. Not yet.

Kindle Giveaway at Bookmarked Bargains!

I'm participating in my first Bookmarked Bargains event this Wednesday - Friday (Oct 16-18). My sweet medieval romance, A Candlelight Courting: A Short Christmas Romance, will be available for FREE during these days only, but only if you visit the Bookmarked Bargains website at http://www.bookmarkedbargains.blogspot.com

Other authors will also be giving away free or discounted versions of their books during this event, including Rachel Nunes, Tristi Pinkston, Stephanie Fowers, and many more. AND if you sign up for the Bookmarked Bargains newsletter, you will be entered for a chance to win a FREE KINDLE!

So mark your calendar and check out Bookmarked Bargains this Wednesday - Friday!

4th Annual Spooktacular Giveaway Hop

Welcome to the 4th Annual Spooktacular Giveaway Hop, sponsored by I Am a Reader, Not a Writer! Over 300 blogs are participating in the hop this year, so let's get right to it!

The day after Halloween, when I draw a winner for this hop, we'll be swinging right into the Thanksgiving/Christmas season, so I have decided to give away a copy of my sweet medieval Christmas novella, A Candlelight Courting (2012 RONE Award 1st Runner-Up by InD'Tale Magazine)

Since this is a short story, I am also throwing in a $10 gift card. The prize therefore will be as follows:

A Candlelight Courting: A Short Christmas Romance
~ Winner's choice: e-book (via Kindle, Nook, Smashwords, or PDF from the author) OR print copy as long as it's available on your country's Amazon.com website
AND
~ Winner's choice: $10 gift card to Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or for international, any book up to $10 on the Book Depository

Enter via the Rafflecopter form below, then keep hopping. You've got a lot of giveaways to check out between now and Halloween!

(If, for some of you, the Rafflecopter form doesn't appear but you see a link that says "a Rafflecopter giveaway", click on the link and it should take you to the form. Sorry for the inconvenience! The problem is with Rafflecopter.)

a Rafflecopter giveaway

OFFICIAL RULES: NO PURCHASE NECESSSARY. Entrants must be 18 years or older. Winners will be selected on Nov 1, 2013 and have 48 hours to respond to an email notifying them of their win. VOID WHERE PROHIBITED BY LAW. 

Now hop on to find some more great giveaways!

Summary Sunday

Robert and Marguerite have finally been reunited in England! But as you can see from Friday's entry, trouble is about to break over their heads. Here are a few new lines I typed this week from The Lady and the Minstrel.

Monday: “As well ask a fish to walk on dry land as expect a man of Marcel’s birth to comprehend such ideals as integrity and love.”

Tuesday: How could she refuse to bestir herself, merely because it was easier to wallow in her own self-pity?

Wednesday: She raised her hands to Robert’s waist, intending to push him away, but her ear had somehow found the rhythm of his heart and refused to part from its strong, reassuring cadence.

Thursday: She swiveled an impatient toe into the dirt. Why was he speaking such nonsense?

Friday: But it was too late now, for the Earl of Strode had already recognized them and was parting a path through the masses, shoving anyone out of his way who hesitated too long to move himself or tried to protest Strode’s rudeness.

LDS Authors Giveaway Hop

Welcome to the 2nd Annual LDS Authors Giveaway Hop, hosted by I Am a Reader, Not a Writer and American Night Writers Association. This hop features books written by LDS authors (i.e., members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints). That does not mean all or even any of these books have LDS themes, only that the authors who wrote them are members of the LDS Church.

I am an author who also happens to be LDS, and for my giveaway I'm offering a copy my sweet medieval romance, Illuminations of the Heart. Illuminations of the Heart is temporarily unavailable in e-format (I hope to rectify that soon), so this is a giveaway for the hard copy version. (Hence, my apologies to international entries - this giveaway is open only to USA entrants.)

Here's the back cover copy of Illuminations of the Heart:

"Clothilde." He spoke the name on a breath like a prayer. Then he lowered his head and kissed her.

Her heart is lost in that first embrace, her world is shaken to its foundations. There is just one problem; her name is not Clothilde. It is Siriol de Calendri. Trained in the art of illumination in the far-off city of Venice, Siri is directed by her late brother's will to the county of Poitou in France, where she enters the guardianship of her brother's friend Sir Triston de Brielle. Once in Poitou, Siri hopes to find employment in an illuminator's shop - until Triston unexpectedly snatches her heart away with a kiss.

Triston is a man of quiet honor and courage, but the guild he carries for the death of his late wife, Clothilde, has left him numb and hesitant to love again. Worse yet, Siri bears an uncanny resemblance to his lost love. Or does she? Her merry laughter and twinkling eyes are very different from his late wife's shy smiles and quiet ways. Yet when he gazes into Siri's face, all he sees is Clothilde.

Then Triston's past returns to threaten them both. Will his tragic life with Clothilde be repeated with Siri? Trapped between the rivalry of the king's sons on the one hand and a neighbor out for vengeance on the other, Triston realizes it would be safer to send Siri away. But how can he bear to lose her again?

Siri is determined not to be cast off and not to live in another woman's shadow. She has illuminated many a priceless book with pen and paint. But can her own vibrant spirit illuminate the darkness in Triston's soul and make his heart beat for her alone?

This giveaway runs from Tuesday, Oct 8 - Tuesday, Oct 15. The winner will be announced here on JDP NEWS on Wednesday, Oct 16. USA entries only, please.

Please enter via the Rafflecopter form below.


a Rafflecopter giveaway

OFFICIAL RULES: NO PURCHASE NECESSSARY. Entrants must be 18 years or older. Winners will be selected on Oct 16, 2013 and have 48 hours to respond to an email notifying them of their win. VOID WHERE PROHIBITED BY LAW. Questions? Contact me at jdipastena@yahoo.com.

Now check out some more great giveaways in the hops below!

Summary Sunday

King John's troops finally returned to England during Wednesday's writing session this week, but as you'll see, Marguerite received distressing news about Robert. Here is a sampling of new lines from The Lady and the Minstrel.

Monday: The scamp. Robert had spent too many evenings in London listening to Helen tease and reprove her husband, while Gunthar let her tweak him to her heart’s content.

Tuesday: The darkness muffled Robert’s voice, or perhaps it only sounded thus through the smothering tightness in Gunthar’s chest.

Wednesday: She thought for the briefest instant that Strode’s lips twitched away from his teeth in the glimmer of a snarl before the smile settled again.

Thursday: His cold eyes lifted and gazed into Marguerite’s with such malicious satisfaction that she knew. Robert had been among the fallen.

Friday: Her mind raced to Sarah with a horror for her friend’s grief that Marguerite would not have comprehended an hour ago.

Tuesday Teaser

Tuesday Teaser is a weekly bookish meme (rhymes with “cream"), hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. 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 from me. Here's my second teaser from The Eagle of the Ninth, by Rosemary Sutcliff.

"He said that I must have a little patience and called me his dear young man and waved a scented fat finger under my nose. Fah! He is like the white pulpy things one finds under stones!"

(From The Eagle of the Ninth, p 39)

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.