Tuesday, February 28, 2017

Tuesday Teaser

Here's a new Tuesday Teaser from Nick & Gia's story for your reading pleasure. Enjoy!

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“Sir,” she said quickly, “I assure you that we are but—”

“Brother and sister, cousins” —the man cut her off, a thread of laughter in his voice— “he is clearly too young to be your uncle.” He waved a hand that looked gloved in the air. “It is no concern of mine, signorina. I will leave you and your . . . ‘brother’ to resume your amusements, then. Buona notte!”

He strolled past them, his cloak rustling on the breeze as he whistled a light tune into the enveloping darkness.

Amadio muttered, “I warned you in the tavern that men would mistake you for a—”

She whirled on him. “Do not say that word with my name. If you had stayed home as I ordered you, I would not be so humiliated.”

“It was reckless of you to follow me, and unnecessary, as well. What, did you think Il Cavaliere Scarlatto had abducted me? I would like to see him try!”


Thursday, February 23, 2017

Looking for Historical Fiction?

Remember that Historical Fiction Giveaway I told you about? Well, it's up and running now on BookSweeps! Over 45 historical novels are part of a prize pack being offered through February 27th. I can't vouch for the content of all the titles, but I'm familiar with authors L.C. Lewis, Rachael Anderson, and Rachelle J. Christensen. Each of them offer good, clean historical fiction with great plots that keep you turning the pages. Some of the other titles look interesting too. I may check them out myself! And yes, that's my romantic historical, The Lady and the Minstrel, there on the second row. If you haven't read it yet, go ahead and enter. You might win a copy!


Oh, and did I mention that they're giving away a Kindle Fire as a Grand Prize?

Here's a picture of all the prizes up for grabs.


That looks like 50 novels to me! Here's the link to enter: Book Sweeps Historical Fiction Giveaway.

Check it out and good luck! I'd love it if some of my followers won! (If you do, be sure you come back and let me know in a comment.)



Tuesday, February 21, 2017

Tuesday Teaser

Today's Tuesday Teaser introduces my heroine, Giacinta, as my hero, Nick Ryder, first sees her as she enters a tavern in Venice. (Keep in mind that this is 1st draft material, so there may be some clunky sentences. They should get smoothed out in revisions. This is just to give you a taste of the story I'm working on.)

A woman stood in the open doorway. Not the sort of overly-primped wench with stained cheeks and lips that the harlots of Venice attempted to seduce men with. A natural elegance radiated from the crimped coils of her bronze-colored hair, to the delicate blush on the glow of her faintly golden skin, to the modest embellishments on the gown that draped a shapely bosom, and the slender, beringed fingers that somewhat tremblingly clutched the doorjamb. Nick’s gaze followed the flow of her skirts over the graceful curve of her hips to the tips of the red slippers peeking out from beneath their folds, before returning to her face. He judged her to be near her twentieth year.

Her brown eyes, warm and luxuriant as honey, stared into the tavern, round with dismay, as though she gazed upon some scene from purgatory. Her blush deepened, perhaps from all the stares of the men fixed upon her, more than a few of which had gone broadly lecherous. Her hand left the doorjamb to briefly touch her hair, as if belatedly aware that she had failed to don a covering veil. Dread flashed in her eyes, so stark Nick thought she might turn about and flee. To his surprise, a shout half-rose in his throat to stay her, for he sensed her departure would leave a blast of cold in his chest.

Then her gaze darted to some point behind Nick and he saw her spine stiffen. Her expression altered. He had seen just such a look in men’s eyes on the battlefield: an unflinching resolve to face the enemy blazing in defiance of the weakness of fear. Her sweetly rounded chin lifted with all the fortitude of an unflinching warrior.



Thursday, February 16, 2017

Get your February Romance Fix with more free ebooks!



February is the month for romance, and I'm taking part in another book promotion on My Book Cave this one exclusively for clean/sweet romances. 14 romances authors are giving away FREE ebook copies of their titles, and another $10 gift card is up for grabs as well. If you're a romance lover, you won't want to miss checking out these titles! (And yes, my medieval romance, Loyalty's Web, is one of the free books again. If you wanted but failed to download it last time, here's a second chance.)



Once again you'll be asked to sign up for each author's newsletter in exchange for a free book, but you can unsubscribe from any or all of them at any time. Click here if you'd like to browse through the books and see if any of them strike your romantic fancy.

And just as a head's up . . . next week, my romantic historical, The Lady and the Minstrel, will be participating in a free giveaway centered on historical (not necessarily historical romance) novels. I'll let you know when that's up and running in case you'd like to add some historical titles to your libraries, too!

Tuesday, February 14, 2017

A Valentine Tuesday Teaser

I fell a bit off the writing rails in 2016. I spent the first 5 months of the year being sick and the last 7 months trying to catch up with all the things I fell behind with the first 5 months. But 2017 is starting off better (knocking on wood, let's not jinx it, shall we?), and I'm working hard to get my writing back on track. Instead of resuming a sampling of daily sentences from my daily writing sessions to share with you, I've decided to share a weekly Tuesday Teaser from my work-in-progress instead.

If you read my 2016 romance, Courting Cassandry, my new story takes place 31 years earlier when the hero, Gerolt, was nineteen years old. He and his friend, Samson, play young secondary characters in this new story, but the romance centers around an English knight named Nick Ryder and the daughter of a Venetian silk merchant named Giacinta. And yes, the story takes place in Venice!

Here, in honor of Valentine's Day (which should always involve flowers, don't you think?), is a tidbit of a scene between Nick and Giacinta in Giacinta's garden. I hope you enjoy it!


These narrow, tiled gardens of Venice must not be conducive to inspiring romantic garlands or chaplets. Nick's fingers flew now as he entwined one flower after another into the braided ivy. He interspersed the bold colors of the violets, gladioli, periwinkle, and melograno with the delicate white of the gelsomino and an occasional honeysuckle, wrapping their stems around the ivy to secure the flowers in place.

“Oh, but how pretty!” Giacinta exclaimed when he tilted the wreath for a final inspection of his work. 

He set the wreath atop her crisscrossed braids, then smiled. “Now it is beautiful.”

Her cheeks turned a becoming pink. She reached up a hand, tentatively touching her fresh-blossomed crown. “English ladies wear these on their heads?”

“Young, unmarried maidens do.”

She sighed. “I am not young.” She lowered her hand, but to his relief, did not remove the wreath.

“How old can you be? I guess you a mere twenty.”

“I am twenty-two,” she said, though she looked slightly pleased that he had under-guessed her age. “Nunzia Rosa has been married for seven years. If Stefano does not marry me soon, I shall end up a spinster.”

“You? A spinster? The thought is absurd!” And who the devil is Stefano?




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Thursday, February 2, 2017

Warm Up Your Winter with Free Ebooks!



What goes better in the wintertime than hot chocolate and books? How about more books with lots of new authors to try, and all of them for FREE! Oh, and did I mention there are also 5 gift cards up for grabs as well?

If you’ve been wanting to try out one of my medieval romances, now is the time, because Loyalty’s Web, the first in my Poitevin Hearts series, is one of the free books being offered in the Warm Up Your Winter with Free Ebooks promotion currently going on over at My Book Cave.




There are many other genres represented there too, from suspense to fantasy to romance to mystery, and even a children’s book. The promotion runs through February 10.

There is one thing to note. You will be asked to sign up for each of the authors’ newsletters in order to download their book. But hey, if it turns out to be a book you love, learning more about the author will be a plus, right? And if it turns out the book is not for you, you are free to unsubscribe from their newsletter at any time, no hard feelings.


So why don’t you check it out and see if any of these titles strike your fancy. Because you can never have too many books to snuggle up with in the winter!

Click here to check out the Warm Up Your Winter with Free Ebooks selections!