Merry Christmas Deals!

Christmas is coming up quickly! Do you have family and friends who still prefer reading PRINT books to ebooks? If so, 6 of my sweet medieval romance titles are 20% off through December if you order your copies directly through CreateSpace! All you have to do is enter the discount code VZ7B2WGL when you check out.

The 20% discount is available for the following titles at the following links:

Loyalty's Web - CreateSpace

Illuminations of the Heart - CreateSpace

Dangerous Favor - CreateSpace

Loving Lucianna - CreateSpace

Courting Cassandry - CreateSpace

The Lady and the Minstrel - CreateSpace

Also, if you sign up for my newsletter, you will receive a FREE download of my medieval Christmas short story, A Candlelight Courting, as a thank you gift.

You can sign up for my newsletter here.

Thank you all so much for your friendship and loyalty throughout the years. I hope you each have a sweet and beautiful Christmas!

SaveSave

It's Christmas in July!

Well, sort of. For those of you who still prefer print books over e-books, my short Christmas romance, A Candlelight Courting, is now available in a "gift size" paperback!

Margaret (Literary Chanteuse) wrote the following about A Candlelight Courting:

"The author has created one of the most unique love stories I think I have ever read. Christina, a compelling young woman during medieval times . . .  is faced with marriage instead of fulfilling her dream of dedicating her life to the church. How she manages to find love and a guardian of her heart in Burthred, her betrothed is amazing. An excellent choice for Christmas or anytime of the year."

A Candlelight Courting: A Short Christmas Romance is a 2012 RONE Award Finalist. Print copies are currently on sale at Amazon for only $3.75. (Regular price $3.95.) How long this sale will last is up to the caprices of Amazon, but if you'd like to snag a copy for yourself and a few copies for stocking stuffers, now might be a good time. :-)

A Candlelight Courting is also available in Kindle, Nook, and multiple e-book formats for $1.99.

Thanks to you all, I'm a RONE Award finalist!

Thank you to all of you who took the time to vote for one or all of my 2012 stories, Dangerous Favor, A Candlelight Courting, and/or A Timeless Romance: 2012 Winter Edition (which included my medieval short story, "Caroles on the Green") for a RONE Award sponsored by InD'Tale Magazine! Thanks to you, ALL of my stories passed the "reader preference" phase of the competition and are finalists for a 2012 RONE Award! Dangerous Favor, A Candlelight Courting, and A Timeless Romance each now advance to a panel of professional judges who will determine the best overall book of 2012.

The winner and runners-up will be announced and presented at the 2012 RONE Award Ceremony on August 9th at the Romance Novel Convention in Las Vegas, Nevada. I don't know if I'll be able to attend, but I am thrilled even to be in the running, and I owe it all to you, my dear, faithful, supportive readers.

THANK YOU SO MUCH!

Sweet Saturday Samples

Welcome back to Sweet Saturday Samples, where authors share sweet, clean excerpts from their works. Yes, I know, I haven't participated in this hop for quite awhile, but I wanted to jump back in and share with you a sweet little taste of my new Christmas story, A Candlelight Courting: A Short Christmas Romance (rated G).

Here is the opening of A Candlelight Courting.

*******************

England 1168

Norgate Castle

Christina ran her thumb over the third smooth bead and repeated another Ave. Her parents had taken away her devotional table, with its carved crucifix and kneeling bench and a rest support for her arms while she repeated her rosary. They thought they had taken her rosary, too, but she had hidden a second one under her mattress.

“Hail Mary, full of grace ...”

Her chamber’s floor chafed her knees through her woolen skirts. Her parents had removed her prayer pillow, too. She should have thought to dispose of that comfort herself. The austerity her father viewed as punishment only prepared her for her chosen future. She had blessed him for the reminder and promptly blown out her candles and doused the coals in her brazier, as well. Her teeth chattered against the chill air that seeped through her gown’s coarse fabric, but she pressed doggedly on with her prayer.

“ ... blessed art thou among women ... ”

Her voice pitched higher and louder as the strains of the music swelled from the great hall of Norgate Castle below stairs, until her determination to drown out the competing noise nearly left her shouting. Why were they not singing solemn hymns on this holy night, instead of dancing like heathens? She had been compelled to attend enough of her father’s Christmas feasts through the years to recognize the driving beat that thrummed the timbers of the floor as one of the lively carole dances Lord Alun was partial to.

She imagined her father roaring in his deep bass voice, “The holly and the ivy,” as his heavy body lumbered around in an otherwise lightly skipping circle that included her mother and uncles and aunts and cousins and more meddlesome neighbors than she cared to number. “The rising of the sun, the running of the deer,” they would sing in their turn in united refrain. When her uncle the abbot reproved them, they would widen their eyes and innocently deny the words held any pagan meanings, but rather a mystical symbolism so wise a priest as he could surely discern.

He had frowned at them for eighteen years, but this was the year she would prove his strictures had fallen on one pair of listening ears.

Her thumb moved to another bead. “Hail Mary, full of grace ... ”

She wondered if God objected to being bellowed at on Christmas Eve. Or to grumbling stomachs that rumbled a low counterpoint to prayer.

Between the music, her determination to ignore her hunger, and her vociferous invocation, she did not hear the tread of footsteps outside her door. A sudden blast of pipe and drum warned her too late that someone had flung open the door. She sprang up from her knees and tucked her hands with the betraying rosary behind her back, thankful for the protective gloom that hid her motion. She wondered if she could cast herself onto her bed in pretended slumber before the intruder saw.

*******************

Thank you for stopping by! If you'd like to read more, A Candlelight Courting: A Short Christmas Romance is only $1.99 on Amazon, Smashwords, and Sony. Also available in the Apple Bookstore. (I'm still waiting for the Nook version to go live. In the meantime, you can download epub copies from Smashwords, if you'd like.)

Now click here to find some more Sweet Saturday Samples.

InD'Tale Review of "A Candlelight Courting" ~ 4.5 stars and a Crowned Heart!

I was so excited to see this review of my new medieval e-novella, A Candlelight Courting: A Short Christmas Romance in InD'Tale Magazine that I just had to share! Here's a portion of what the reviewer, Beth Chamberlain, had to say:

"What  an enlightening and enjoyably tender read! Though short in length (the only downside of this story), it is long in understanding. The morals and morays of the middle ages are brought out in this story regarding the place of women and their choice of the roles they were to live. In the telling of this tale the dialogue is written with a sensitivity and a knowledge of the history of that time period. As one reads, one comes to understand that some of the things that we have taken for granted, were once very precious to those who came before us, and their sacrifices, hopefully, were not in vain.
Beautifully done, Ms. DiPastena!"

Read the entire review at http://indtale.com/reviews/candlelight-courting

A Candlelight Courting: A Short Christmas Romance is available for only $1.99 on Kindle and Smashwords.

Not one, but TWO new releases and FOUR giveaways!

I am so excited! Both of my new, short medieval Christmas romances have been officially released, and you know what that means? I'm all revved up to celebrate, which as usual, means some giveaway goodies for you!

The anthology, Timeless Romance: Winter Collection, which includes my short story "Caroles on the Green", and my short single, A Candlelight Courting, are both available this very minute on Smashwords and before the week is out, will be available in Kindle format on Amazon and Nook format on Barnes and Noble. Watch my side margins for links as they appear. The awesome Regency romance author, Donna Hatch, also has a short story in the Timeless Romance anthology, "A Winter's Knight," so Donna and I decided to team up together for our celebration and offer the following giveaways:

An e-copy A Candlelight Courting: A Short Christmas Romance, by Joyce DiPastena - 1 winner: format of the winner's choice on Smashwords

An e-copy of Mistletoe Magic: A Christmas Regency Short Story, by Donna Hatch - 1 winner: format of the winner's choice on Smashwords

An e-copy of Timeless Romance Anthology: Winter Collection, multiple authors (including Joyce DiPastena and Donna Hatch) - 1 winner: format of the winner's choice on Smashwords

And one grand prize winner to receive one each of the above: A Candlelight Courting, Mistletoe Magic, and A Timeless Romance Anthology - 1 winner: formats of the winner's choice on Smashwords.

Yes, that is FOUR WINNERS in all!!!! (So I used four exclamation points. :-) )

Since they're all e-formats, I'll open this up to international entries. Deadline for entries will be midnight EST October 7th. The winners will be announced on Monday, October 8th. Please enter via each Rafflecopter form below! (GOODREADS FOLLOWERS, PLEASE BE SURE TO ENTER VIA RAFFLECOPTER ON MY BLOG)

Here are summaries of each giveaway prize. You'll find the Rafflecopter forms at the end of the summaries, so keep on scrolling down!

NO PURCHASE NECESSARY. Open to international entries. Entrants must be 18 years or older. Winners will be selected on October 8, 2012. Winners have 48 hours to respond to an email notifying them of their win. Prizes not claimed within 48 hours will be reawarded. Sponsor name and contact info: Joyce DiPastena, jdipastena@yahoo.com.

A Candlelight Courting: A Short Christmas Romance, by Joyce DiPastena

When Burthred comes courting on Christmas Eve, Meg rejects his advances. She has her heart set on becoming a nun and insists that he call her Christina, the spiritual name she has chosen for herself. She tries to make him swear on her box of holy relics that he will not pursue her, but he carefully words his oath to allow him to stay in her candlelit chamber and try to change her mind.

What Meg does not confess is that her reliquary box holds a secret.

Burthred needs a wife, and no one will satisfy him except Meg. He swore on his father’s deathbed that he would marry her. But Burthred has a secret, too. When they come together before the Yule fire, their shared revelations will either join their hearts together or tear them apart.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Mistletoe Magic: A Christmas Regency Short Story, by Donna Hatch

At the Christmas Eve masquerade ball, Evelyn plans to lure the charming and handsome Michael underneath the mistletoe and show him just how much she likes him. With a single, earth-shattering kiss, she's certain he'll finally realize she's the only girl for him. Little does she know, her childhood friend, Colin, has the same plans for Evelyn. Neither her crush on another man, nor her near escape from falling through the ice in a frozen pond will stand in Colin's way. They'll both need the magic of a mistletoe kiss, but only one of them will succeed in their plans.


a Rafflecopter giveaway

A Timeless Romance Anthology: Winter Collection, Sarah M. Eden, Heidi Ashworth, Annette Lyon, Joyce DiPastena, Donna Hatch, Heather B. Moore

Six Award-Winning Authors have contributed brand new stories to A Timeless Romance Anthology: Winter Collection. A collection unlike any other, readers will love this compilation of six sweet historical romance novellas, set in varying eras, yet all with one thing in common: Romance.

The Road to Cavan Town by Sarah M. Eden, set in 1864 Ireland, combines Eden’s sense of humor with her signature sweet romance. Alice Wheatley walks each weekend into town, accompanied by Isaac Dancy. And while Alice finds herself falling in love with the gentleman, unfortunately he has his eyes set on the belle of the town, Miss Sophia Kilchrest. Alice must find a way to turn Isaac’s eyes toward her.

Regency author Heidi Ashworth’s delightful story, It Happened Twelfth Night, set in England 1812, follows Luisa Darlington who discovers the man of her dreams, Percy Brooksby, isn’t in love with her as much as she thought he was. When Percy’s friend, the mysterious foreigner, Mr. Flynn, visits for the twelfth night holiday, he promptly sweeps Luisa off her feet, quite literally. Luisa is left catching her breath in more ways than one.

An Unexpected Proposal by Annette Lyon is a captivating romantic novella, set in remote Wood Camp, the snowy canyon of Logan, Utah, 1880. When Caroline Simpson is forced to thwart the aggressive advances of Mr. Butch Larson, she discovers that her long-time friend, James, has genuine affection for her. But as stubborn as Caroline is, she minimizes the feelings he’s awakened in her, and it takes almost losing James to admit her true feelings for him.

In Joyce Di Pastena’s charming medieval story, Caroles on the Green, we enter England of 1151, in which Lady Isabel has a dilemma. She promises herself that she’ll marry the man who sent a ring hidden in her pastry since the man she truly loves, Sir Lucian de Warrene, has proved to be impossible and exasperating. To forget him, Isabel sets her eyes on other eligible men, only to face another confrontation with Lucian—who isn’t about to back off and leave her to her newest plot.

Donna Hatch’s enchanting novella, A Winter’s Knight, begins when Clarissa Fairchild’s coach just happens to break down in front of the most forbidding estate in the county, that of Wyckburg Castle, a place where young brides have been murdered for generations by their husbands. Clarissa is horrified yet curious all in the same breath. When she meets widower Christopher de Champs, Earl of Wyckburg, she must decide if she should flee or uncover the greatest secret in the county about her handsome rescuer.

In Heather B. Moore’s exciting turn-of-the-century story, A Fortunate Exile, Lila Townsend finds herself the victim of a broken heart—broken by the most notorious bachelor in 1901 New York City. If that isn’t bad enough, her father sends her to Aunt Eugenia’s remote farm where Lila must wait for her father’s anger to subside and the gossip columns to find new fodder. When Lila meets her aunt’s boarder, Peter Weathers, she discovers a man who isn’t afraid to stand up to her formidable family and take a chance on a woman with a sullied reputation.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

GRAND PRIZE GIVEAWAY!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Cover Reveal: A Candlelight Courting

I just received the cover art for A Candlelight Courting from the always amazing Jaimey Grant at An Author's Art! I think it's beautiful. I hope you do, too!

When Burthred comes courting on Christmas Eve, Meg rejects his advances. She has her heart set on becoming a nun and insists that he call her Christina, the spiritual name she has chosen for herself. She tries to make him swear on her box of holy relics that he will not pursue her, but he carefully words his oath to allow him to stay in her candlelit chamber and try to change her mind.

What Meg does not confess is that her reliquary box holds a secret.

Burthred needs a wife, and no one will satisfy him except Meg. He swore on his father’s deathbed that he would marry her. But Burthred has a secret, too. When they come together before the Yule fire, their shared revelations will either join their hearts together or tear them apart.

A Candlelight Courting: A Short Christmas Romance

Coming October 2012

Short stories update

I have a few exciting bits of news to share with you! Isabel's story has finally received a shiny new title, Caroles on the Green, and will be appearing in October in a new romance anthology series called Timeless Romance. The first release will feature six sweet winter romance short stories by the following well-loved historical romance authors: Sarah M. Eden, Heidi Ashworth, Annette Lyon, Donna Hatch, and Heather B. Moore. These lovely authors were kind enough to invite me to join them. The cover has been designed and I'm excited to share it with you. Ta-dah! What do you think?

No, I didn't design it, but I admire the person who did.

Meg's story also finally has a title: A Candlelight Courting. Stay tuned. Cover coming soon!

What Am I Writing Now?

I finished my first draft of Meg's story (official title still to be determined) this week, and found a whole new cast of characters already clamoring to have their turn on the page. Since my life is a little topsy-turvy at the moment, making it difficult for me to concentrate on writing long forms (like, oh, say, another novel), I've decided to focus on a few short medieval stories over the next few months. My first two will be Christmas stories...well, more or less. Meg's a little less. My new story, which I'm currently calling Isabel's story, is a little more Christmassy. Or I hope it will be when I finish it, anyway.

I wanted to find some pictures of my two new heroines to share with you, but apparently these women only exist in my head because none of the pictures I found quite match my imagination. But here's a little tidbit for you. Meg's story revolves around a reliquary box. What is a reliquary? It's a container for holy relics, usually objects associated with the Catholic saints. Many reliquaries were quite elaborate, such as this one, currently housed in the Louvre.

Meg's reliquary is somewhat simpler, made of carved wood instead of gilded over in gold. Hers does have a cross carved on the top and some other scrolling around the sides, but instead of the figures decorating the four corners, Meg's reliquary has a jewel in each corner in this order:

Top left: jasper

Top right: a sardonyx stone

Bottom left: an emerald

Bottom right: an amethyst

My hero, Burthred, guessed the meaning of the first three, though not the fourth. Can you guess what each stone represents, too?