Are you tired of top ten lists, faithful reader? I hope not because here’s mine.

10. Rules of an Engagement by Suzanne Enoch – what could be better than sailing the South Pacific, encountering natives, fascinating wildlife and pirates? If your ship’s captain is smoking hot, of course. Read my review HERE.

9. Pleasures of a Dark Prince by Kresley Cole – an very good entry into a consistently excellent series.

8. Lessons in French by Laura Kinsale – soooo nice to see Ms. Kinsale back and full of humor.

7. Slow Heat by Jill Shalvis – I love Ms. Shalvis’ baseball series and hope for more books soon. Please? Pretty please??

6. Love in the Afternoon by Lisa Kleypas – the end of the Hathaway series. I’ve always had a soft spot for Beatrix and was very pleased with her book. Also, I’m a sucker for books with letter writing.

5. Infinity by Sherrilyn Kenyon – the first story in her Chronicles of Nick series. I’m not usually a YA reader but I was intrigued enough by hints of this one to pick it up. So good! And she seems to be correcting/re-booting some errors in the main DH series, maybe. We shall see.

4. Play of Passion by Nalini Singh – one of my favorites of the series and certainly my favorite of recent entries. Plus we get to see bits of Hawke and Sienna. Yay!

3. Exclusively Yours by Shannon Stacey – are you looking for an excellent straight-up contemporary? Look no further! And the sequel is very good, too.

2. Here There Be Monsters by Meljean Brook – so it’s a novella. And I was skeptical, even after seeing the raves. Why would I put a novella I was unsure about picking up on my “Best of” list? Because it’s awesome! It gives us our first glimpse into Ms. Brook’s Iron Seas series which leads me to…

NUMBER 1!! The Iron Duke by Meljean Brook – I don’t have words for how excellent this book is. It defies description – at least, a description that properly conveys it’s awesomeness. All I can say is READ IT.

Now for some books I’m looking forward to in 2011 (in release order, as things stand now):

Call Me Irresistible by Susan Elizabeth Phillips – yes, I know several people have already read this one but I haven’t. My copy is pre-ordered though. Why? It’s Teddy’s book! It seems like I’ve been waiting for his story forever.

ShadowFever by Karen Marie Moning – why this one? Barrons! And the wait is almost over. Yay!

A Lot Like Love by Julie James – I have enjoyed all of Ms. James’ books so far and expect this one to continue that trend.

Breaking the Rules by Suzanne Brockmann – do you need to ask why? One word: Izzy Izzy Izzy! (What? It’s one word…three times.)

Any Man of Mine by Rachel Gibson (beware the Flash!) – her last few books have been hit-or-miss for me so I’m hoping this one will be a hit. Sorry for the lack of cover. Our friends over at the Book Binge have it posted, though.

There are many more, of course, but those are the ones that are coming up soonish.

Agree? Disagree? What are you looking forward to?

Sandy M’s review of Smooth-Talking Stranger (Travis Series, Book 3) by Lisa Kleypas
Contemporary Romance published by St. Martin’s 31 Mar 09

I’ve been wanting to read this book for more than a year now and something has always gotten in the way. But I’ve been keeping it close by lately so that when the right time popped up, I had it handy. Finally all worked out and I got to read about Jack Travis. I’ve been anticipating his story ever since reading tidbits about him in the earlier books of the Travis trilogy. While I love Jack as much as I thought I would, I have a smidgen of disappointment with a couple of other things about the book, however.

Now, I didn’t technically “read” Sugar Daddy and Blue-Eyed Devil. I listened to them in audio format and enjoyed them both immensely, BED a little more than SD. I keep wondering if maybe that has a bit to do with my disappointment in spots while reading STS. I really don’t know.

Jack, of course, is the star of this book for me. He’s right up there with Hardy Cates as my favorites of the trilogy. He’s definitely a ladies’ man, playboy to the core, but when he meets Ella Varner, his whole perspective about women and relationships change. And that’s what I love about him most. Though he has no immediate or even foreseeable future plans to bite the bullet for holy matrimony, he’s the one who is tenacious and goes after Ella full bore, wearing her down with all that sexiness and steamy lovemaking.

My issues with the story is the beginning when we learn about Ella and her family. I realize it’s needed so we see Ella as she is after her childhood. I just felt that along with her sister’s current problems and getting their background interspersed with it all, the first few chapters were just ho-hum as we dredged through their very dysfunctional family, all thanks to their mother. Also, I didn’t like the storyline as well as I did with the previous two books. It’s an okay story, don’t get me wrong. It just doesn’t stand up well to Blue-Eyed Devil and Haven’s amazing life and survival.

Ella does a credible job in the beginning of sticking to her guns for her plans to returning to Austin and her very comfortable boyfriend of eight or so years after three months of looking after her infant nephew, Luke. The poor tyke’s been dropped off, literally, by his mother at his grandmother’s home because that poor excuse of a mom just can’t deal with him and motherhood at the moment. It’s Ella who always steps in and makes things works, and this time is no different. Well, it’s different for Ella. She falls head over heels for Luke and knows her heart will be broken in about ninety days when Tara comes for her son.

Both these ladies have issues due to the way they were raised by their mother. She’s such a lovely piece of work. She had no business having children, which Ella and Tara know and still feel in every fiber of their being even as adults. Ella has her act together more than Tara, thus Tara’s lack of interest in her son, but Ella still has issues when it comes to love. That emotion’s never worked for her, save for Tara and now Luke. So she can do without it, just as she’s done for years now.

But Jack is having none of it. He pours everything between them on so thick from the beginning, Ella doesn’t stand a chance against this man. I didn’t either. He had me from word one, smile one, kiss one. He can do no wrong, per me. He’s definitely smooth. Ella melts and puddles with every touch and caress no matter how it’s delivered. I love Jack’s way of dealing with Dane, Ella’s current but recently out-of-the-picture boyfriend, and every time Ella defended the jerk, I wanted to shake her. But Jack took care of it all in a very Jack-like way.

And while I see how Ella comes out of her self-imposed shell of a life that I read about in the beginning, all because of Jack, it still doesn’t work that well for me. Maybe the combination of finding out about her family and her current situation with Dane is just too much negativity at one time for me – I have this thing about that in my books. And if it’s too much for a reader, you can imagine what Ella’s gone through her entire life. That definitely comes across like nobody’s business.

Besides Jack, what I had fun with is the humor from Ms. Kleypas. She had me laughing out loud a number of times. The first Miss Independent letter we get in the book had me giggling for several minutes. And the way Ella has learned to handle her mother is priceless, especially when keeping the woman away from her and Luke when she’d only stir up trouble. Also, Ella teasing Jack about her yoga legs caused tears due to all the laughter I couldn’t stop.

We meet up with all the previous characters from the series, finding out how they’re doing and what’s going on in their lives. I’m really curious why Joe Travis didn’t get his own book. He’s as charismatic as Gage and Jack and would make a good hero, especially after what he goes through in this book.

So even though I have a disappointment in the way some info is doled out, the overall book is a terrific read, and Jack is everything I’d hoped for. Ella too. Some girls have all the luck.

Grade: A-

Summary:

Ella Varner has it all–a successful career as an advice columnist, a handsome boyfriend, and a circle of friends in Austin. When anyone has a problem, Ella knows the answers.

But one night she receives a call that changes everything. And as Ella’s world is turned upside-down, she meets a man who is the opposite of everything she ever wanted . . . a man who will offer her the most irresistible challenge she has ever known . . .

Read an excerpt.

Other books in this series:

This is the final copy and stepback of Married by Morning, which I should have posted yesterday. It is much larger below the cut.

What do you think?  I like it better than the door but am not sure about how I feel about changing the look of a series in the middle of it.

Leo Hathaway must marry and produce an heir within a year to save his family home. Catherine Marks is intriguing and infernally tempting but hides a secret that could utterly destroy her. Can two wary lovers find a way to banish the shadows and give in to their desires?

The excerpt Lisa posted @ TGTBTU  is linked here.

We normally do a ‘raw and unedited’ excerpt with Lisa but it dawned on me last week that Mz Kleypas is already editing this so while this isn’t a final copy and still subject to change… it isn’t ‘raw and unedited’ (all the more reason we should get one for the next book even sooner yes *eg*)

Lisa said to think of it as ‘medium rare‘ . I don’t have the cover yet but as soon as we do we will put it up.  REMEMBER this doesn’t come out until summer of 2010 – read at your own risk .

Everything below does not belong to us but copyrighted to Lisa Kleypas & posted at TGTBTU with permission.  Enjoy!

This scene was actually deleted from Chp.23 of Tempt Me At Twilight, and is now part of the opening of Married By Morning.

Leo, Lord Ramsay, has just uncovered a secret about Catherine Marks, the family governess and companion:

Leo stared at Catherine Marks’s downbent head, trying to absorb the information. The sense of being duped, betrayed, ignited a bonfire of rage. “There could be no good reason,” he said, “for such information to have been kept secret.”

“The situation is complicated.”

“Why have neither of you said anything before now?”

“You don’t need to know.”

“You should have told me. You were obligated.”

“By what?”

“Loyalty, damn you. What else do you know that might affect my family? What other secrets are you hiding?”

“It’s none of your business,” Catherine shot back, now twisting in his grip. “Let me go!

“Not until I find out what you’re plotting. Is Catherine Marks even your real name? Who the hell are you?” He swore as she began to struggle in earnest. “Hold still, you little she-devil. I just want to–ouch!” This last as she turned and jabbed a sharp elbow in his side.

The maneuver gained Marks the freedom she sought, but her spectacles went flying to the ground. “My spectacles!” With an aggravated sigh, she dropped to her hands and knees and began feeling for them.

Leo’s fury was instantly smothered by guilt. From the looks of it, she was practically blind without the spectacles. And the sight of her crawling on the ground made him feel like a brute. A jackass. Lowering to his knees, he began to hunt for them as well. “Did you see the direction they went in?” he asked.

“If I did,” she said, fuming, “I wouldn’t need spectacles, would I?”

A short silence. “I’ll help you find them.”

“How kind of you,” she said acidly.

For the next few minutes the two of them traversed the garden on their hands and knees, searching among the daffodils. They both chewed on the gristly silence as if it were a mutton chop.

“So you actually need spectacles,” Leo finally said.

“Of course I do,” Marks said crossly. “Why would I wear spectacles if I didn’t need them?”

“I thought they might be part of your disguise.”

“My disguise?”

“Yes, Marks, disguise. A noun describing something that serves to conceal someone’s identity. Often used by clowns and spies, and now apparently governesses. Good God, can anything be ordinary for my family?”

Marks glared and blinked in his direction, her gaze not quite focused. For a moment, she looked like an anxious child whose favorite blanket had been set out of reach. And that caused an odd, painful twinge in Leo’s heart.

“I’ll find your spectacles,” he said brusquely. “You have my word. If you like, you can go into the house while I keep searching.”

“No, thank you. If I tried to find the house on my own, I’d probably end up in the barn.”

Seeing a metallic glimmer in the grass, Leo reached out and closed his hand around the spectacles. “Here they are.” He crawled to Marks and faced her in an upright kneeling position. After polishing the lenses with the edge of his sleeve, he said, “Hold still.”

“Give them to me.”

“Let me do it, hardhead. Arguing comes to you as naturally as breathing, doesn’t it?”

“No, it doesn’t,” she said immediately, and colored as he gave a husky laugh.

“It’s no fun to bait you when you make it so easy, Marks.” He placed the spectacles on her face with great care, running his fingers along the sides of the frame, viewing the fit with an assessing glance. Gently he touched the tips of the earpieces. “They’re not fitted well.” He ran an exploring fingertip over the upper rim of one ear. She was remarkably pretty in the sunlight, her gray eyes containing glimmers of blue and green. Like opals. “Such small ears,” Leo continued, letting his hands linger gently at the sides of her fine-boned face. “No wonder your spectacles fall off so readily. There’s hardly anything to hang them on.”

Marks stared at him in bewilderment.

How fragile she was, he thought. Her will was so fierce, her temperament so prickly, that he tended to forget she was only half his size. He would have expected her to slap his hands away by now–she hated being touched, especially by him. But she didn’t move at all. He let his thumb brush the side of her throat, and felt the tiny undulation of her swallow. There was something unreal about the moment, something dreamlike. He didn’t want it to end.

“Is Catherine your real name?” he asked. “Will you at least answer that?”

She hesitated, fearful of yielding any part of herself, even that insignificant scrap of information. But as his fingertips slid along her neck, the light caress seemed to disarm her. A bloom of color rose from her throat.

“Yes,” she choked out. “It’s Catherine.”

They were still kneeling together, her skirts having billowed and settled everywhere. Folds of flower-printed muslin had been caught under one of Leo’s knees. His body reacted strongly to her nearness, heat sliding beneath his skin and gathering in inconvenient places. Muscles tightened, thickened. He would have to put an end to this, or he was going to do something they would both regret.

“I’ll help you up,” Leo said brusquely, making to rise. “We’ll go inside. I warn you, however, I’m not through with you yet. There’s more I–”

But he broke off, because as Marks had tried to struggle upward, her body had brushed against his. They went still, caught front to front, their breath mingling in uneven surges.

The dreamlike feeling intensified. The two of them were kneeling in a summer garden, the air weighted with the perfume of hot crushed grass and pungent daffodils . . . and Catherine Marks was in his arms. Her hair shimmered in the sunlight, her skin petal-smooth. Her upper lip was nearly as full as the lower, the curves as delicate and smooth as a ripe persimmon. Staring at her mouth, he felt the hairs on the back of his neck lift in reflexive excitement.

Some temptations, Leo decided hazily, should not be resisted. Because they were so persistent that they would only keep returning, time and again. Therefore such temptations absolutely had to be yielded to–it was the only way to get rid of them.

“Damn it,” he said raggedly, “I’ll do it. Even knowing I’ll be annihilated afterward.”

“You’ll do what?” Marks asked, her eyes huge.

“This.”

And his mouth descended to hers.

©2009 Lisa Kleypas

Gwen’s review of Tempt Me At Twilight (The Hathaways, Book 3) by Lisa Kleypas
Historical romance released by St. Martin’s 22 Sep 09

There are a few authors that I always enjoy.  Short story, novel, or just plain interacting with readers – they’re always pleasant and gracious.  Lisa Kleypas is one of those few sincerely nice people and her writing normally reflects that niceness.  So imagine my surprise when she created the morally ambiguous hero, Harry, in Tempt Me At Twilight.  A hero who is even worse than St.Vincent (be still my heart).

Don’t get me wrong – by the ened Harry manages to redeem himself.  Just.  But I do believe he is the most damaged of all of the Kleypas heroes and I LOVED him!  He is a bit mad, very bad, and willing to do anything to win Poppy’s hand.  This sets up some fun scenes and terrific dialogue for the morally centered and very nice Poppy when dealing with the determined and unprincipled Harry.

Twilight is a typical Kleypas romance in that the heroine is imminently likeable and the romance is sigh-worthy.  However, it departs from Kleypas’s formula in that the hero acts in a very un-herolike manner for purely selfish reasons.  In her other novels (in my experience) unworthy actions normally have heroic purposes or outcomes.  Harry has none of these.  He just wants Poppy.  Period. And does whatever he has to do, short of murder, to get her.

This creates amazing tension between the main characters.  It also presents interesting predicaments for Poppy’s oh-so-close family.  You can imagine how Cam and Merripen feel about a man who connives, cheats, and maneuvers their “little sister” into marriage, breaking her heart along the way.  It is tremendous fun to read.

I found myself moved to tears several as Poppy and Harry make discoveries about each other and themselves.  Harry’s childhood and his inability to connect normally to others is quite heartbreaking to read.  This element is a real masterstroke for Kleypas.  It’s all so wonderfully nuanced and complicated, and entertaining as hell to read.

Twilight stands alone – you needn’t read the other books in the series to enjoy it.  Though I highly recommend all of the Hathaways books.  This family has the best of late Regency, odd-ball romance entertainment.

I highly recommend Twilight for anyone who is a fan of historical romance or just romance in general.  It is a lovely, complex story about redemption, discovery, family, and love.  You shouldn’t miss it.

Grade: A

Read reviews and information for books in this series by following this tag here.

Summary:

Poppy Hathaway loves her unconventional family, though she longs for normalcy. Then fate leads to a meeting with Harry Rutledge, an enigmatic hotel owner and inventor with wealth, power, and a dangerous hidden life. When their flirtation compromises her own reputation, Poppy shocks everyone by accepting his proposal—only to find that her new husband offers his passion, but not his trust.

Harry was willing to do anything to win Poppy—except to open his heart. All his life, he has held the world at arm’s length…but the sharp, beguiling Poppy demands to be his wife in every way that matters. Still, as desire grows between them, an enemy lurks in the shadows. Now if Harry wants to keep Poppy by his side, he must forge a true union of body and soul, once and for all…

Read an excerpt here.

Other books in the series:

Former Texan, creator of Sebastian, Lord St. Vincent and one of those people you would swear is just too nice to be real – Lisa Kleypas – will be dropping by the pond today.  She is VERY close to deadline… soon to be shaking hands with her drop dead date.  The way I look at it, this should work in our favor cuz really what more does a author want at that time than distraction.

::innocent blink::

To get you started I asked her a few questions, you can ask her some more in the comments, anything that doesn’t get answered we will put together in an ‘interview’ and post after Leo is ‘Married by Morning‘ and on his way to her editor.  Until then if you haven’t already read Tempt Me at Twilight you can check out excerpts: on her site here, the ‘raw’ one here (that didn’t change much) and the new one here.

Thanks again to Lisa for taking time out of her busy schedule to answer my questions.

**the following quotes are from Tempt Me at Twilight ©2009 Lisa Kleypas

“Well, to start with—“ Poppy tried to sound pragmatic even though her eyes watered. “I’m not a virgin anymore.”

Leo gave her a mock-shamed glance. “Neither am I,” he confessed.

A reluctant giggle escaped her.

Leo rummaged in his coat for a handkerchief, without success. “Don’t cry, darling. I have no handkerchief, and in any case, virginity is nearly impossible to find once you’ve lost it.”

How do you feel Tempt Me at Twilight turned out? Are you happy with the finished novel?



I am very happy with it!—it was a great writing experience, and I think part of that was because I finally settled in comfortably with the Hathaways. Whenever there was a group scene, it was incredibly fun to write, because I knew exactly how each character would react to what was going on.

After the previous year, when I wrote a couple of darker, more angsty novels (Blue Eyed Devil and Seduce Me At Sunrise) I felt a little worn out emotionally, and ready for some fun. So the two books I wrote after that were Smooth Talking Stranger and Tempt Me At Twilight, and I think they both reflect the sheer joy I felt in writing.

Poppy wondered what was wrong with her, that she should be amused rather than frightened by his confession. “Harry. You’re not supposed to court a girl by telling her you’re the villain.”

He gave her an innocent glance that didn’t deceive her in the least. “I’m trying to be honest.”

“Perhaps. But you’re also making certain that whatever anyone says about you, you’ve already admitted it. Now you’ve made all criticism of you ineffectual.”

Harry blinked as if she’d surprised him. “You think I’m that manipulative?”

Harry has a fabulous line, well really he has many, “In the fairy tale you mentioned last night, I would probably be the villain.” I have to admit I adore that and him.  As you know I have a fondness for Sebastian (Devil in Winter), Leo (Married by Morning) and we can’t forget Kev (Seduce Me at Sunrise).  All of them have bastard like qualities, why do you think that works in a ‘hero’?

Thanks, Sybs, I love to hear that! I think as long as there are deeper, authentically motivated reasons for a hero behaving badly, readers are always generous enough to forgive him. I adore nice-guy heroes, but the bastards are always more exciting, aren’t they?

I think it’s the tension of wondering what they’re going to do, and wondering how the heroine will react. And the character arc is so emotionally satisfying when a hero goes through experiences that force him to change. It always gives me a pleasant shiver at the moment when the hero who has been so dangerous and destructive in the past, is now going to use all power to protect and satisfy the heroine.

“Before you leave,” he said softly, “I have some advice for you. It’s not safe for a young woman to wander alone through the hotel. Don’t take such a foolish risk again.”

Poppy stiffened. “It’s a reputable hotel,” she said. “I have nothing to fear.”

“Of course you do,” he murmured. “You’re looking right at it.”

What makes Harry different from your other heroes?



He’s unusual for me, in that he is a mechanical engineer, and he is so remarkably isolated. He knows how to manipulate people, but not how to have a close relationship with them. So he has an emotional innocence that seemed very sweet to me, despite his villainous qualities. When he meets Poppy, he falls for her immediately because she is so open to the kind of emotional connection that he secretly craves.

She is a very warm and talkative character, and she is a little bit nerdy in the same way he is. When Harry visits the Hathaways and sees how they relate to each other, he is thrown off-balance because he’s never been part of a family . . . there’s this magical something in the air, and he’s not sure what it is, until he finally realizes it’s love. So normal for them, so unfamiliar to him.

“As it happens,” Harry murmured, “I’m American by birth.”

I totally loved that Harry Rutledge is from America (as is Lily and Daisy from your Wallflower series) any chance we could see an American Historical from you in the future? ::coughwesterncough::

I would so love to set a historical in America! If I’m ever able to, I would probably set it in Victorian era New York—what an exciting place, and so much was happening! Self-made men with big fortunes galore.

You soooooo are not helping my western agenda… just saying ::pout::

You ever read a book called Give Me Tonight?  It is out of print and hard to find but I hear it is good ::innocent blink::

“Afraid?” he asked softly.

Poppy forced herself to meet his gaze. “No.”

“Maybe you should be. I’m much nicer to people who are afraid of me.”

“I doubt that,” she said. “I think the opposite is true.”

Poppy is a very strong female character, even when she is making choices Rutledge has manipulated her into.  I see that trait in all the Hathaway sisters and could say it is true for most of your heroines.  Is this a personal choice as an author – something that speaks against the ‘sterotypical weak female’ in romance or something you honestly see reflected in the history of the time?

I appreciate that—I’ve always thought that true strength is not displaying the hoyden/vixen/bitch type of behavior, but rather the patience and persistence and resilience that Poppy displays.

She has her moments of frustration and temper, but she is also quick to forgive and apologize. I think women did have to summon a lot of patience back then, because it was so frowned upon for a woman to be outwardly demanding or aggressive—they had so many constraints placed on them.  You wonder if all the “nervous ailments” that women suffered from were really just a reflection of the stress and frustration of having to let men be in charge all the time!

“Those who have special requests,” Mr. Lufton continued, “or don’t like their rooms cleaned at certain times, those who insist on bringing pets, things of that sort. We don’t discourage them from staying, but we do make a note of their peculiarities.”

Speaking of the history of the time, odd question but I have a background in hotels, and totally love the setting of the book.  Any books you can recommend you used for research into hotels of the time?
I wondered if you would like that!  Yes, I had some fantastic resources and it was so much fun to research. There was a great book titled Hotel: An American History by Andrew K Sandoval-Strausz that provide a ton of information about the development of American and European hotel industries, and a great biography of the great hotel developer Henry Flagler, and I researched the histories of some classic London hotels such as Brown’s and Mivart‘s (the latter turned into Claridge’s).

The Rutledge is a composite of those old hotels, with some of the innovations that were happening at the time, food lifts and en suite bathing-rooms and plumbing  . . . in fact, I spent so much time contemplating and “designing” the Rutledge that it almost seems like a real place to me now!

Jake’s face fell. God. Another scene. “Sir, I’d rather go on an errand in east London and be pummeled by street thieves.”

Rutledge smiled. “That will probably happen later in the week.”

When is Jake getting a book?



I truly hadn’t thought of that. You think he’s hero material?






I did! He sort of reminds me of a derek character… not as hardcore but we didn’t really see him at ‘work’ so to speak. I figured he got his hands plenty dirty or did before for Harry. NOT that I am asking, if I were to ‘request’ a story I want a novella on ‘where are they now’ on St. Vincent and Evie *g*. I know you soooooooooo didn’t see that coming.

“And there’s one more thing to be aware of,” Cam said, with a wintry softness that disguised all hint of feeling. “If you succeed in marrying her, we’re not losing a sister. You’re gaining an entire family–who will protect her at any cost.”

If you were a book what would your ‘summary’ be?  (totally stole that from Sandy M Duck Chats cuz it amuses me)



Oh, this is not easy. Hmm. How about “A cookie-loving daydreamer turns her love of words and fantasies into a writing career, and finds true love along the way. She is surrounded by a brilliant cast of characters, including witty and wacky friends, a great publisher, a sock-stealing cocker spaniel, and an adorable duck-loving reviewer who always makes her laugh.”

“No. I’ve found that life is far kinder to shallow people.” Turning her, Leo drew her up against his tall, well-muscled frame.

What super TOP secret info can you give us on Leo’s book, Married by Morning.



Leo has been secretly drawing naked sketches of Catherine (imagining what she might look like), and she finds out.
**highlight over the blankspace if you want to see the spoiler

“She has experience with primates?” Harry asked sardonically.

Poppy considered that. “We’ve just been through the London season. Does that count?”

What super TOP Secret info can you give us on Beatrix’s book, Love in the Afternoon?



Beauty and the Beast theme.

That’s all I can say for now!
**highlight over the blankspace if you want to see the spoiler

That is really not that much to go on but since you haven’t even started the book I will give you a pass on it.

When will we get to see the cover for Married by Morning? LOL I know, I always want something…

If you have questions or comment for Lisa Kleypas, please put it in the comments of this post. If you have read Tempt Me at Twilight, do tell us what you thought of it.

Lisa Kleypas is under a September deadline and very nicely agreed to join us on the blog this week.  Sadly I  just sent her the questions yesterday, so Lisa will be here Monday September 28.  This gives you time to read the book and come armed with questions *g*.

Hopefully she will have time to answer them.  If not, whatever remains unanswered (and can be answered) we will post later in a follow up interview after her book is turned in.

Until then here is a delightful look at Tempt Me at Twilight.  I ended up liking this book much more than I thought I would, Harry is a very interesting character and a great match for Poppy.  We will also have a ‘raw and unedited’ excerpt from Married by Morning in October – LEO’s book! My fave since St. Vincent *eg*.

The following excerpt happens quite a few scenes before the one that is posted on her at her site .

Horrified to feel the sting of desperate tears, she concentrated blindly on a section of floor in front of her. Don’t cry. Don’t cry. Don’t–

“Miss Hathaway.” Lady Norbury’s jovial voice intruded on her frantic thoughts. “This gentleman has requested an introduction, you fortunate girl! It is my honor and delight to present Mr. Harry Rutledge, the hotelier.”

A pair of highly polished black shoes came into her vision. Poppy glanced miserably up into his vivid green eyes.

Harry bowed, holding her gaze. “Miss Hathaway, how do you–”

“I’d love to waltz,” Poppy said, practically leaping from her chair and seizing his arm. Her throat was so tight, she could hardly speak. “Let’s go now.”

Lady Norbury gave a disconcerted laugh. “What charming enthusiasm.”

Poppy gripped Harry’s arm as if it were a lifeline. His gaze dropped to the clench of her fingers in the fine black wool of his sleeve. He covered her fingers with the reassuring pressure of his free hand, his thumb smoothing over the edge of her wrist. And even through two layers of white gloves, she felt the comfort in his touch.

At that moment Miss Marks returned, having just dispatched of Michael Bayning. Her brows lowered in a scowl as she looked up at Harry. “No,” she said shortly.

“No?” His lips twitched with amusement. “I haven’t asked for anything yet.”

Miss Marks gave him a cold stare. “Obviously you wish to dance with Miss Hathaway.”

“You have objections?” he asked innocently.

“Several,” Miss Marks said, her manner so curt that both Lady Norbury and Poppy gave her looks of askance.

“Miss Marks,” Lady Norbury said, “I can vouch for this gentleman’s character will all assurance.”

The companion pressed her lips into a hyphen. She surveyed Poppy’s glittering eyes and flushed face, seeming to understand how close she was to losing her composure. “When the dance is finished,” she told Poppy grimly, “you will take his left arm, insist that he conduct you directly back to me, here, and then he will take his leave. Understood?”

“Yes,” Poppy whispered, glancing over Harry’s broad shoulder.

Michael was staring at her from across the room, his face ashen.

The situation was hideous. Poppy wanted to run from the ballroom. Instead, she would have to dance.

Harry led Poppy toward the crowd of waltzing couples and settled his gloved hand at her waist. She reached for him, one palm light and trembling at his shoulder, her other hand gripped securely in his. In one astute glance, Harry took in the entire scene: Poppy’s unshed tears, Michael Bayning’s set face, and the slew of curious gazes encompassing them.

“How can I help?” he asked gently.

“Take me away,” she said. “As far as possible from here. Timbuktu.”

Harry looked sympathetic and amused. “I don’t think they’re letting in Europeans these days.” He drew Poppy into the current of dancers, swift counter-clockwise turns in a clockwise pattern, and the only way to keep from stumbling was to follow him without hesitation.

Poppy was profoundly grateful to have something to focus on besides Michael. As she might have expected, Harry Rutledge was an excellent dancer. Poppy relaxed into his smooth, strong lead. “Thank you,” she said. “You’re probably wondering why I–”

“No, I don’t wonder. It was written on your face, and Bayning’s, for everyone to see. You’re not very good at subterfuge, are you?”

“I’ve never needed to be.” To Poppy’s horror, her throat clenched and her eyes stung. She was about to burst into tears in front of everyone. As she tried to take a steadying breath, the corset squeezed her lungs, and she felt dizzy. “Mr. Rutledge,” she wheezed, “Could you take me out to the terrace for some air?”

“Certainly.” His voice was reassuringly calm. “One more circuit around the room, and we’ll slip out.”

In other circumstances, Poppy might have taken pleasure in the sureness of his lead, the music that gilded the air. She stared fixedly at the dark face of her unlikely rescuer. He was dazzling in the elegant clothes, his heavy dark hair brushed back in disciplined layers. But his eyes were underpinned by the ever-present hint of shadows. Windows to a restless soul. He didn’t sleep enough, she thought, and wondered if anyone ever dared mention it to him.

Even through the haze of numb desolation, it occurred to Poppy that by asking her to dance, Harry Rutledge had singled her out in what could have been construed by many as a declaration of interest.

But that couldn’t be true.

“Why?” she asked faintly, without thinking.

“Why what?”

“Why did you ask me to dance?”

Harry hesitated as if torn between the necessity of tact and the inclination toward honesty. He settled on the latter. “Because I wanted to hold you.”

©2009 Lisa Kleypas

You’re in for a treat today! Welcome to Duck Chat!

Ohmyohmyohmy!  Squeeeeeeeeeeeee!  Kathryn Smith is here!!!!!

As most of you know, Kathryn’s vampire series, Brotherhood of the Blood, is a favorite of fans everywhere, but the really big news lately is that she’s writing straight historicals once again, and Kathryn will be talking about that and so much more today.

So no more lollygagging! Let’s chat!

DUCK CHAT: Kathryn, of course, the big news, the happy news for your fans is that you’ve returned to writing historical romance. Was it just time? Did something specific happen to prompt you to write that next one?

KATHRYN SMITH: The simplest answer is that yes, it was just time. I’d been writing a lot of paranormal, and even though most of it was historical, it wore on me. I loved my vamps, but they couldn’t go out in the sun! Actually, the sad truth is that historical paranormal just does not sell like contemporary paranormal and while I had some success, the move didn’t really help my career. It was upsetting to say the least, but historical was always my first love and it took me back with welcome arms.

DC: If you could retire any question and never, ever have it asked again, what would it be? Feel free to answer it.

KS: Where do you get your ideas from? Only because I never know how to answer it. It’s not like I have a magic hat or anything! My ideas can come from anywhere.

DC: And fans will not get just one new historical from you, but an entire series. Lots of happy dancin’ is going on out there! Tell us about the new series, please.

KS: Thank you! I’ve dubbed the new series a ‘Victorian Soap Opera.’ I’m introducing lots of recurring characters that will appear in some or all of the books, and there will be secrets and intrigue afoot. There’s even a gathering place – a hub – where all the characters go to be social, much like Ruby’s on General Hospital. I even have a ‘love to hate’ character that I hope readers will embrace. It’s going to be difficult keeping track of everyone, but I think I’m up for the task.  The series begins with a trilogy, and after that I’m treating it as a world rather than a series. That way I don’t feel locked in to write books about specific characters. Anyone could have a book! And just like on soaps, a new character could arrive on the scene at any time.

DC: I’ve heard writers often say their stories take them in surprising directions, or dialogue flows from some unknown place. Is it the same with you? Do your characters surprise you sometimes?

KS: Yes! I’m mostly a plotter, but I like to leave room for my characters to express themselves. That sounds slightly psychotic I’m sure, but once you’re in their heads, writing from their POV, you start to understand what they’re all about. That’s when they surprise you.

DC: Do you ever argue with your characters while you’re writing? Who usually wins?

KS: No. I trust them to do the right thing. LOL. I let them do what they will and if it doesn’t work, I do it my way. There’s no arguing because either way I win.

DC: The first book of your new series is When Seducing a Duke and it will be released later this month. Would you tell our readers about Grey and Rose and how their story came about?

KS: Grey and Rose are a little bit Phantom of the Opera and a little bit Luke and Laura. He’s a little older, jaded and a little tortured. He’s had an awful past that haunts him still, and he doesn’t want the taint of that to touch her, but it’s going to just by association. He promised her father he’d look after her and to him that means NOT giving in to his feelings for her. Rose on the other hand is determined and slightly naïve. Part of her is convinced that if she can make Grey confront the attraction between them everything will magically be wonderful.

I have no idea now where the idea for them came from! I’ve always loved the kind of hero who has been ‘rode hard and put away wet.’ Grey is definitely one those. He feels awful for his past, but he also knows he’d still be the same if not for the event that changed his life. He didn’t change willingly, and he’s not sure what kind of man he is anymore. I think Rose is a little bit like me – she thinks if she wants something bad enough and works at it hard enough, she’ll get it. That doesn’t always work out for the best! It’s a ‘be careful what you wish for’ situation.

DC: What is sure to distract you from sitting down and working/writing?

KS: Email. Phone calls. iTunes. YouTube. Twitter. Cats. Shiny things.

DC: How’s work coming on the second book in your Victorian series? May we have a little sneak peek?

KS: Currently I’m working on revisions for When Marrying a Scoundrel, the second book in the series. It’s about Jack Friday and Sadie Moon. He’s a self-made man with a secret and she’s a tea leaf reader – with a secret. The secret is that they married when they were very young, but then Fate tore them apart. Now, the two of them are reunited and neither one of them is very happy about it.

DC: What has been your favorite book cover from all of your releases and why?

KS: Wow, what a difficult question. The lovely man who runs the Avon Art Dept is one of my favorite people in the entire world. He’s been so very generous with me over the last few years. I’ve always loved the cover for Into Temptation painted by Diane Sivavec. More recently I think the cover for Dark Side of Dawn, which comes out in December – but that might just be because of the gorgeous nekked man on the cover!  Of the Brotherhood covers I think Let the Night Begin is my favorite. I love the golden color of it and the fact that she’s going for his neck.

DC: How about your least favorite cover? Why?

KS: Wow. I’ve never had a cover I hated. I’ve been very lucky. Although if I had to choose it would be In Your Arms Again. I’m not a fan of the pose where the hero is behind the heroine and she has her skirt hauled up. Not sure why. And then, if you don’t look closely it looks like the hero isn’t wearing pants – just a belt and boots. His trousers are almost the same color he is. Still, I’ve seen much worse.

DC: How do you feel your male or female characters have evolved over your career? Do you think you write them differently now than you did when you started?

KS: Oh yeah! I think my heroines have gotten more realistic. They’re not entirely good little girls. Nothing interesting in that. My heroes have changed as well. I used to think I had to write Alpha guys, but I’m not good at that. I like guys who can be both tough and sweet. Real people have uncharitable thoughts, absurd thoughts, insecurities and vanities. That’s what I’m interested in writing now.

DC: Your Nightmare Chronicles is also a fairly new urban fantasy series, one book out last year and the second due out in November. Would you tell us about the series over all and and then we’ll talk about each book.

KS: Dawn Riley is the half-mortal daughter of Morpheus, God of Dreams. That’s the crux of it. Dawn is able to walk between both worlds, something no one else can do. It makes people fear her. The veil between the dream realm and our world is thinning, strange things are happening. And no one is sure if Dawn is the solution to the problem, or the cause of it.

DC: First in the series was Before I Wake, which was out last year, and next month Dark Side of Dawn is being released. Would you give a look inside each book, please?

KS: In Before I Wake, Dawn has repressed who she is. She’s working in a sleep center and crushing on one of her ‘clients,’ Noah Drake. One night Noah is attacked in his dreams and somehow Dawn gets pulled into that very dream. She becomes the target of a Night Terror and the only way to stop it is to accept what she is and use her abilities. This means reconciling with Morpheus and her mother. It also means telling Noah the truth about who and what she is.

In Dark Side of Dawn, Dawn is working on honing her abilities and dating Noah. But then someone close to Noah is attacked and Dawn has to use both her professional skills as a psychologist, and her skills as a Nightmare to help. But this puts her in the path of another monster – an earthbound one this time. She’s also in trouble with the Nightmare Council for something she did in book 1. Dawn just can’t catch a break, and if she doesn’t do something fast, she might not live to stand trial in the Dreaming!

DC: Is there a genre you haven’t tackled but would like to try?

KS: Hmm. Young Adult. Historical. Paranormal. Urban Fantasy. I think I’ve written everything I’ve wanted! Actually, I would love to write mysteries, but I don’t think I’d be very good at it. I really want to do more Young Adult. I had two historical YAs out in 2001-2002, and I’ve wanted to do more ever since. So, while there’s not a genre I would like to try, there certainly is one I’d like to do more in.

DC: What advice would you give to your younger self?

KS: Don’t date him. LOL. Actually, I think everything we’ve done has led to where we are, so I don’t think I’d encourage myself to do anything differently. I might, however, tell myself to have more confidence and not take quite so much attitude from other people.

DC: If you were a book, what would your blurb be?

KS: She’s a big girl with a big mouth and an even bigger heart, but does she have what it takes to make the big time?

LOL. That’s so corny, but it’s the best I can do without sounding totally bollocks.

DC: What would be your “voice’s” tagline?

KS: Realistic characters. Fantastic passion. I’d actually have a ‘wink’ after that too. I have a hard time talking myself up.

DC: Your vampire series, The Brotherhood of the Blood, is a favorite with readers. There’s five books in the series so far, with Night After Night being released earlier this year. First would tell those one or two people who aren’t familiar with the series what it’s about?

KS: The Brotherhood was originally six mercenaries who found what they thought was the Holy Grail, but it was actually the Blood Grail, made from the silver paid to Judas, infused with the essence of Lilith. When they drank from it they were turned vampire. 6 centuries later the group who originally had the Blood Grail wants it back – and they want the Brotherhood as well.

DC: Is the series evolving as your originally envisioned it?

KS: Yes. It played out exactly as I’d planned book-wise. I had an arc and I followed it. Success wise, I have to be honest and say that I was much higher hopes for it. Maybe someday paranormal historical will become what I’d hoped it would be and I can give fans of the series some new books.

DC: Please tell everyone about Night After Night.

KS: Night After Night was Temple’s story. He was the leader of the Brotherhood of the Blood once upon a time. In Be Mine Tonight, you discover he’s gone missing, and throughout the series the mystery of what happened to Temple runs through every story. This is also the book that reunites the Brotherhood. It is a romance, however. Temple meets Vivian, who is far more than she seems – more than she even knows. And she’s part of the group that would see the Brotherhood destroyed. That’s conflict, huh?

DC: Are there more books planned in the series? What can we expect next?

KS: As of right now, there are no more books planned for that series. That story line ended with Night After Night. If I do anything in the future, it will be with a new group of vampires or other supernatural creatures.

DC: If you had never become an author, what do you think you would be doing right now?

KS: I’d be a rock star. Actually, I once wanted to be a makeup artist. I love makeup.

DC: Who’s your favorite author(s)?

KS: I have so many. I love Julia Quinn, Laura Lee Guhrke, Connie Brockway. Sherry Thomas and Meredith Duran are two new authors that I do not feel worthy of when I read them! Lorraine Heath is another favorite, along with Jenna Petersen, Sophie Jordan, Sabrina Jeffries, Loretta Chase, and Liz Carlyle.

DC: How about a favorite book or two?

KS: Stranger in My Arms by Lisa Kleypas. Love that book. Lord of Scoundrels by Loretta Chase. Secret Desires of a Gentleman by Laura Lee Guhrke is a current fave, as well as When He Was Wicked by Julia Quinn. Those are the first that come to mind.

DC: What else is on the horizon for Kathryn Smith?

KS: More Victorian soap opera books. I’m currently outlining the third, which I’ve tentatively titled When Tempting a Rogue, but that will probably change to better suit the story. I’m hoping to perhaps continue on with the Nightmare Chronicles, and I do have a little something else I’m working on, but I’m keeping mum until I see what happens. That makes me a tease, doesn’t it? Sorry!

Lightning Round:

- dark or milk chocolate?     – milk
- smooth or chunky peanut butter?     – chunky
- heels or flats?      – heels
- coffee or tea?      – both
- summer or winter?      – Actually, autumn
- mountains or beach?      – beach
- mustard or mayonnaise?     – mayo
- flowers or candy?      – flowers
- pockets or purse?      – Purse – anyone who knows me is laughing at this, because they know I collect purses.
- Pepsi or Coke?     – Coke
- ebook or print?     – Print – but I want to try an e-reader.

And because folks still like seeing the answers:

1. What is your favorite word?    – friend
2. What is your least favorite word?     – nourishing
3. What turns you on creatively, spiritually or emotionally?     – nature
4. What turns you off creatively, spiritually or emotionally?      – willful ignorance
5. What sound or noise do you love?      – the sound of Steve’s voice
6. What sound or noise do you hate?      – a cat coughing up hair balls.
7. What is your favorite curse word?     – I don’t curse! Right. I say fuck a lot, but I’d like to use the word twat more. I can’t believe I just admitted to that.
8. What profession other than your own would you like to attempt?     – makeup artistry. Maybe teaching.
9. What profession would you not like to do?      – anything where I’d have to put my hand in another person.
10. If Heaven exists, what would you like to hear God say when you arrive at the Pearly Gates?     – “I’ve read all your books.”

DC: Kathryn, it was such a pleasure to have you here today! Thank you so much!

This just in…

MacMillan is giving away a short story in Lisa Kleypas’ Hathaway family series!

~ A Hathaway Wedding is the title of the story, featuring Merripen and Wyn

~ So hurry on over and get your copy here!

Consider yourself flashed

Liviania’s Duckies Do Series reviews of The Wallflowers Series by Lisa Kleypas
Historical romances released by Avon Oct 2004 – Jul 2006

Four girls approach the Season no longer believing they have any real chance.  It is not their first and they still have no prospects.  Annabelle Peyton has beauty, but no money.  Lillian and Daisy Bowman have scads of money, but they are uncouth Americans.  Evangeline Jenner has money, but she is also common – as well as exceedingly shy.  But these wallflowers make a pact: from oldest to youngest, they’ll help each other find a husband. 

Secrets of a Summer Night (Book 1)
Released 26 Oct 04

Together, they manage an invite to Lord Westcliff’s country estate.  Annabelle knows this is her last chance to catch a husband.  There are no end of offers for her to be a lord’s mistress, but she’d work any job before that.  Especially before becoming Lord Hodgeham’s mistress.  Her mother has been sleeping with him to pay the bills, but he wants to move onto the younger model.  Neither Annabelle nor her mother has any intention of allowing that to happen.  Of course, the husband hunting would be easier if her brother Jeremy’s former peer Simon Hunt didn’t keep getting in the way.

This was my introduction to Lisa Kleypas after hearing all the other ducks rave about her, and it’s a good place to start.  The Wallflowers are hilarious, especially Lillian Bowman.  Annabelle is a great heroine.  She’s practical and strong-willed.  She knows what men want from her and she also knows not to sell herself short.  There are some jobs she could take.  She wants to marry more to help keep her brother and mother afloat as well than to just provide for herself.  It’s nice to see a heroine with dedication to her family who knows not to martyr herself for them.

Simon Hunt is a good match for her, since he pairs sensibility with romanticism as well.  (He is unfortunately blind to the fact Annabelle intends to become no man’s mistress.)  And the men get dialogue as snappy as the women.

“Westcliff,” Simon asked conversationally, “does it ever occur to you that you might occasionally be wrong?  About anything?”

The earl looked perplexed by the question.  “Actually, no.”

It’s a nice, straightforward romance that manages to capture the historical feel quite well.  Simon and Annabelle’s relationship is cute, as are their friendly and familial relationships.   Kleypas does inject the right amount of drama with the loathsome Lord Hodgeham and some last minute fireworks.  Secrets of a Summer Night isn’t revolutionary, but it is solid.

Grade: B+

Summary:
.
Four young ladies enter London society with one common goal: they must use their feminine wit and wiles to find a husband. So a daring husband-hunting scheme is born.
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Annabelle Peyton, determined to save her family from disaster, decides to use her beauty and wit to tempt a suitable nobleman into making an offer of marriage. But Annabelle’s most intriguing–and persistent– admirer, wealthy, powerful Simon Hunt, has made it clear that while he will introduce her to irresistible pleasure he will not offer marriage. Annabelle is determined to resist his unthinkable proposition… but it is impossible in the face of such skillful seduction.
.
Her friends, looking to help, conspire to entice a more suitable gentleman to offer for Annabelle, for only then will she be safe from Simon–and her own longings. But on one summer night, Annabelle succumbs to Simon’s passionate embrace and tempting kisses… and she discovers that love is the most dangerous game of all.
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Read an excerpt here.

It Happened One Autumn (Book 2)
Released 27 Sept 05

With Annabelle happily married, it’s Lillian’s turn to find a husband.  “Marry Lillian; you’ll get a million,” the saying goes.  But her mother wants nothing less than a titled husband for her.  Lillian would prefer love. And she just received a magic perfume made from the Lady of the Night orchid, and she and the other Wallflowers are eager to test it out.

I do love Lillian.  She boldly states her opinions, though they might go over easier if she were less rude.  Her dialogue is full of zingers that play well off of the other’s conversation.  It wouldn’t be a fun story if she fell for a man without her strength of will.  So who can avoid being steamrolled by Lillian?

None other than equally steamroller-like, but more staid, Marcus Westcliff.  He hasn’t thought much of Lillian’s character since he caught her playing Rounders-in-Knickers, but he has thought of her.  It’s fun to watch the controlled man come undone over his attraction.  He could end up being a total prig, but Kleypas both lets the reader into his mind and allows him to come alive in his scenes with Lillian.  And it is fun seeing that kind of character set back on his heels, as Lillian puts it.

On the other hand, Lillian has another viable suitor – the handsome and charming Sebastian, Lord St. Vincent.  He’s a rake and after her money, but they do enjoy each other’s company.  He definitely has the turn of phrase down to match wits with her.  You can see why Lillian is tempted by his offer of marriage even as she falls in love with Westcliff.

I enjoyed the love triangle, but one of the faults of the romance genre is that it’s pretty easy to tell which man will win even without knowing which one is the hero of the next novel beforehand.  This one definitely wasn’t my favorite entry in the series.  Kleypas does a good job with him, but I just don’t like Westcliff as much as the other heroes.

Grade: B-

Summary:
.
It Happened One Autumn is the story of Lillian Bowman, a bold and headstrong American heiress, and Marcus, Lord Westcliff, the most eligible peer in England. But even though Lillian is hunting for a husband, Marcus is the last man she would ever consider marrying.
.
Read an excerpt here.

The Devil in Winter (Book 3)
Released 28 Feb 06

I had high expectations for this one since I’ve heard Sybil’s praise of it (and St. Vincent).  Unlike most stories, it opens with the marriage.  Evie can’t stand living with her abusive relatives one moment longer – especially since they’re going to marry her to a loathsome cousin so that they can control her money.  She also wants to be with her father as his final days approach.  The only way for her to escape is to marry.  She knows St. Vincent needs money enough to accept her offer, so the two head off to Gretna Green.  The only catch is that she’ll only sleep with him once.

Evie is a total sweetheart, though Kleypas puts steel under her caring exterior.  Evie needs it in order to escape her family and live in her father’s gambling hall.  She deserves someone who will watch out for her, so it’s very nice to watch St. Vincent mature into the role.

While St. Vincent has done some villainy in the past, he can be redeemed.  And it’s not a cliché, love of a good woman redemption, though Evie’s love does factor in.  St. Vincent flourishes when given responsibility, as he begins to pay attention to the gambling hall he will inherit and adapts his skills to the task of bringing in new and more respectable customers.  When given something to do other than drink and go wenching, he rises to the task.

It’s easy to see why this one ranks so high on Sybil’s list.  Evie and St. Vincent have tangible chemistry as well as being great characters in their own rights.  There’s a stronger plot running alongside the romance than in the other Wallflower books, due to Evie’s variety of family troubles.  It adds some moments of danger throughout the novel.  In addition, I like the character of Cam Rohan, the gypsy Evie grew up with.  I even bought a copy of his story, Mine Til Midnight.  (As of writing this review I haven’t read it, but I do look forward to it.)

I did notice, while reading Devil in Winter, how good Kleypas is with continuity.  She strings little details like Evie’s cold feet throughout the story, mentioning it enough that it sticks in your mind without becoming intrusive.  Those details are part of what makes her characters so attractive.

Grade: A-

Summary:
.
A devil’s bargain…
.
Easily the shyest Wallflower, Evangeline Jenner stands to become the wealthiest, once her inheritance comes due. Because she must first escape the clutches of her unscrupulous relatives, Evie has approached the rake Viscount St. Vincent with a most outrageous proposition: marriage!
.
Sebastian’s reputation is so dangerous that thirty seconds alone with him will ruin any maiden’s good name. Still, this bewitching chit appeared, unchaperoned, on his doorstep to offer her hand. Certainly an aristocrat with a fine eye for beauty could do far worse.
.
But Evie’s proposal comes with a condition: no lovemaking after their wedding night. She will never become just another of the dashing libertine’s callously discarded broken hearts — which means Sebastian will simply have to work harder at his seductions…or perhaps surrender his own heart for the very first time in the name of true love.
.
Read an excerpt here.

Scandal in Spring (Book 4)
Released 25 July 06

The youngest Wallflower finally gets her chance to marry, though it may come sooner than she wants when her father gives her an ultimatum.  If she doesn’t have a fiancé in two months she must marry his protégé Matthew Swift.  As Daisy recalls, he’s coldly ambitious, not to mention scrawny and pale.  Once more the Wallflowers set out to Westcliff’s estate to gather eligible men together for Daisy to choose from.

At this point I realized that I’m confused by the titles of the series.  Annabelle was summer, so she can have a just born baby in spring.  But Lillian was autumn, so she can’t physically have a healthy baby in spring – there’s only six months between the two.  So I’ll choose to ignore the titles since I was mostly ignoring the timeline anyway.  It’s just one of those things that bothers me if I think about it.

I empathize with Daisy, who is the Wallflower I’m probably most like.  She enjoys reading fiction and is not grounded in reality sometimes.  She’s the least practical of the Wallflowers and wants romance, rather than an arrangement with a business associate of her father.  However, she is pleasantly surprised when she becomes reacquainted with Matthew.

Matthew has grown up and filled out.  (Though he’s secretly still a total dork, since he’s been in love with Daisy for as long as he’s known her.)  Though Daisy realizes she’s not all that adverse to marrying him, he doesn’t want to marry her due to the secrets of his past.  And even if he does clear up the troubles from his past, Lillian doesn’t approve of the match.  She’s hormonal, protective, and holds a grudge.

Reading about Matthew and Daisy falling in love and then working to be able to marry is fun, though Scandal in Spring is not as dramatic as Devil in Winter.  Matthew balances Daisy well, as many of the characters note.  It’s a strong finish to the tales of the Wallflowers, as all four previously unmarriageable ladies end up with love matches.

Grade: B

Summary:
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After spending three London seasons searching for a husband, Daisy Bowman’s father has told her in no uncertain terms that she must find a husband. Now. And if Daisy can’t snare an appropriate suitor, she will marry the man he chooses—the ruthless and aloof Matthew Swift.
.
Daisy is horrified. A Bowman never admits defeat, and she decides to do whatever it takes to marry someone . . . anyone . . . other than Matthew. But she doesn’t count on Matthew’s unexpected charm . . . or the blazing sensuality that soon flares beyond both their control. And Daisy discovers that the man she has always hated just might turn out to be the man of her dreams.
.
But right at the moment of sweet surrender, a scandalous secret is uncovered . . . one that could destroy both Matthew and a love more passionate and irresistible than Daisy’s wildest fantasies.
.
Read an excerpt here.

I’m glad I gave Lisa Kleypas a chance.  The Wallflowers series is composed of four solid historical romances that showcase a nice variety of heroes and heroines.  I love the friendship the heroines form as well as the one that already exists among Simon, Westcliff, and St. Vincent.  This series also made me want to find copies of Kleypas’s contemporaries.

Overall grade: B+

Welcome once again to Duck Chat!

Today we’re talking to Sophie Renwick, who some of you may know as Charlotte Featherstone. Sophie writes fun, light, and erotic contemporaries and dark and sexy paranormals, and you are in for a treat with her debut book, Hot In Here. It’s a friends-to-lover story that takes you for an up-and-down ride through lust and romance while also sating the taste buds. Be sure to pick it up! She is also working on her first book in her paranormal series, the Annwyn Chronicles, so you will not have to wait without having a Sophie Renwick bookin hand for too long.

Sophie lives on the north shore of Lake Erie with her husband and their daughter. She loves to cook and loves Lisa Kleypas‘ Sebastian from Devil in Winter, as well as snowstorms, early mornings, high heels, and ethnic food.  Her next book is out later this year, and since she’s living her dream, she’s always writing to bring her readers more of what they love to read.

In fact, Sophie is on deadline right now, but she will be stopping by to respond to any comments or questions you have for her. She’s also giving away two copies of Hot In Here, so make that comment or question good! Now let’s chat with Sophie.

DUCK CHAT: Sophie, you have a couple of new series we have to tell readers about. Let’s start with your Annwyn series. First tell us the idea behind the series, how it came about, and where you’ll be taking it in the future.

SOPHIE RENWICK: The series came about during a phone call from my editor. I had put in a proposal and she called the next day saying they couldn’t buy it because an author at the house had a new series coming out that was similar. I was bummed. But my editor said that the publisher was really eager to get a ‘dark and sexy shifter series.’ So we chatted for a bit, and I thought, what about using my Scottish background to make a series. So I picked Scottish or Celtic type animals to use, the Hart, the Raven, the Selkie, etc., and used them in the way the ancient Celts did. I added the Druid/Gothic feel because it’s an area of interest for me. I added the element of an overarching quest, and sinister magician, and the Annwyn Chronicles were born!

My editor has been very involved along the way, and it was really fun to throw in stories and images from my childhood. Plus, I got to research something that I’ve always been interested in.

I think what makes this paranormal series different is the Fantasy elements, the quest, and the fact that the Destroyer, who is an apprentice to the villain, is actually one of the characters in the series. But like most anti-heroes, something has made him turn. The identity of the person will be revealed in the last book.

I’m really, really excited about this series and it was so much fun building the world. I hope readers enjoy it.

DC: If you could retire any question and never, ever have it asked again, what would it be? Feel free to answer it.

SR: I think it’d have to be ‘how do you come up with your sex scenes?” The honest answer is, ‘they stem from the characters and their desires and conflicts.’ When I’ve given that answer I’ve had many people try to probe deeper, or some have an expression of disappointment on their face, like they thought they were going to get to hear something really juicy about my personal life, which, for the record, is not as remotely exciting as my stories!

DC: The first story in the series, Yuletide Enchantment, will appear in the A Highlander Christmas anthology, which also features Dawn Halliday and Cindy Miles and is due out in November of this year. Would you give us a look inside this novella?

SR: I was thrilled when my editor at NAL asked me if I wanted to participate in this project. It was a historical anthology, and she knew that I wrote historicals for Harlequin Spice under the name Charlotte Featherstone. We talked about what I would write and she thought we should try to use it as a platform for the Annwyn Chronicles. I was writing the first draft of Velvet Haven at the time (book 1 of the Annwyn Chronicles) and decided to use the historical novella in Highlander Christmas as a prequel to Velvet Haven.

Yuletide Enchantment is the name of the novella and involves the uncle of the hero from Velvet Haven. Daegan is his name, and he is co-ruler of the Celtic Otherworld, Annwyn. He falls in love with a mortal woman which is taboo, and thus thrusts Annwyn into the Dark Times, which is an era of imbalance and impurity. I really had fun with that story and I hope people will read it and be intrigued by the world building and the Druid/Celtic aspect of the series. Bran, the hero from Velvet Haven is in the novella, too! He makes a sacrifice for his uncle, which then becomes the focus of his book.

DC: I’ve heard writers often say their stories take them in surprising directions, or dialogue flows from some unknown place. Is it the same with you? Do your characters surprise you sometimes?

SR: This happens to me all the time! I’m a character-driven writer and usually do follow them where they lead me. Sometimes I’m surprised, and then sometimes I’m relieved because they seem to ‘fix’ a problem or enhance a scene. I actually love it when characters do that!

DC: We’ve mentioned Velvet Haven, the first full book in the series and it’s slated to be released in March 2010. Can you give us a little sneak peek into Bran’s story?

SR: Here’s the official blurb (and I’ve added the sexy cover art for Velvet Haven! It might change a little, but not much. The guy on the cover is very much like Bran. I love it!)

Hidden from mortals for all eternity, Annwyn, the Otherworld, is home to shapeshifters, wraiths and dragons. But in a nightclub called Velvet Haven, desire brings humans and immortals together…

Built atop the mystic passageway to Annwyn, the gothic nightclub Velvet Haven has seen its share of lost souls—both mortal and immortal. It is here that Bran, the shapeshifter king of the Sidhe, searches for his brother, who is ensnared by a centuries-old curse. When a vision foretells his own death, he knows his time to find Carden is running out.

For help he must turn to Mairi, a mortal woman with an unusual aura. Bran has never liked humans, other than using their sexual pleasure to restore his magic energy. But with Mairi everything is different. Her lush curves and teasing caresses enflame him like no Sidhe has ever done. He has no idea that the woman he’s falling for holds the key to his destruction – or his salvation.

Now, here’s a bit more. The Dark Times come to Annwyn during the period that Bran is searching for his brother. The Dark Arts which are Death and Sex magick have once more appeared in Annwyn, and Sidhe are being put death in black magick rituals. So Bran, as King, is trying to find the Mage responsible while dodging his feelings for the mortal Mairi. His journey leads him to the mortal realm which is presided over by a Fallen Angel. The Mage is also performing his rituals on mortals which thus unites the ruler of Annwyn, and the ruler of the mortal realm. Bran’s journey also leads him back time and time again to Mairi.

There is an overarching quest through the series to find a flame and an amulet which together forge a key that will lead them to the Mage who is known as the Soul Stealer. But the Soul Stealer has something up his sleeve. He’s recruiting an apprentice, and it’s one of the characters of the series.

The book is dark and sexy, and while it’s for the Heat line, which is billed as erotica, it’s definitely a romance!

I hope to put up some excerpts on my website soon, and as well I’ll be putting a glossary up and some tidbits about Druid religion and the practice of Death and Sex Magick, so keep checking back!

DC: I read on your site you had a Scottish upbringing. Please tell everyone a little about that.

SR: My family is very proud to be of Scots ancestry, and, as a child, my parents and grandparents would always tell stories of faeries and midgies. In fact, when we would get out of bed when we were supposed to sleeping, my parents would yell up, ‘get back to bed before the faeries come and steal you away!’ Faeries scared us!

The idea of incorporating some of those stories into books really interested me. The Highlander is iconic in historical romance, but I wanted to bring in some of the witchcraft and Celtic mythology of Scotland.

DC: How many books do you have planned in the Annwyn series?

SR: There are a lot of characters in this series. Some are more fleshed out in my mind than others. I don’t know if all the characters will have a book. But right now, there are six characters I’d like to write about and whose story I already know, the first character being Bran.

DC: Do you ever argue with your characters while you’re writing? Who usually wins?

SR: I used to. Then I realized when I did that and bullied my way to win, the writing felt stilted and stale. So I no longer do that.

Actually, if I’m having a hard time knowing where to open a book or doing a scene, I sit down and look at the computer screen and say, “Okay, whoever comes to me first, I’ll write, and I’ll write whatever he/she says.”

I did this with Velvet Haven. I originally started the book with Mairi in the Goth club. It never felt right. So I sat down, did my exercise, and boom, Bram came, took me to Annwyn, inside his magick circle during a ritual. I loved it and knew that was the right beginning.

The advantage of doing this exercise is that it allows you deep point of view for a compelling opening.

I did the same thing with Charlotte’s Addicted. The prologue where Lindsay is discussing opium was that exercise.

DC: Next is your Ryder Brothers series. Hot in Here was released a couple of days ago. Can you tell us, first, how the series came about, and then share a little with us about Bryce and Jenna?

SR: I was at my parents and she had a Ricardo cooking magazine on her kitchen table. She’s a great cook, and Ricardo is cute! I made the comment, “Oh wouldn’t it be nice to come home to some hunk who had made you supper?” That was the moment that Bryce was born.

The characters just seemed to evolve, and I used my small, rural upbringing as a base. I grew up in Southwestern Ontario which is known as Canada’s bread basket. We have orchards, wineries, farms — you name it, we got it. We also have tons of food festivals. Cherry Fest, Apple Harvest, etc… Those were good times, and I used those ideas and that small town feel as a backdrop for Hot In Here.

I also liked the idea of three bad boy brothers, and three good girl sisters and watching what happened when they came together.

So, Bryce is, while having grown up rural, a big city guy who’s a famous chef. He gets misquoted in a magazine, and his future business empire looks very shaky. Jenna is his best friend. She’s a farm girl who now lives in the city. She runs a marketing company, but she still has those small town ideals. Bryce recruits Jenna to help him out with his reputation, and the sparks fly. It’s really just a fun, very hot romance. And I can’t tell you how much I enjoyed writing that book!

Here’s that special treat – an excerpt from Hot In Here:

Bryce couldn’t think. Hell, he couldn’t breathe. Watching Jenna saunter away in that pretty little chemise was playing havoc with his synapses. He didn’t even blink as he watched her walked away. The ecru- colored lace skimming just beneath the luscious curve of her cheeks commanded his attention, not to mention fueled his imagination.

She had the finest ass he’d ever seen. Full and round, begging to be cupped by his hand.
Shit! What was he thinking, cupping her ass? This was Jenna. Safe, little Jenna. The friend he hadn’t had any sexual thoughts about. Well, not since…Okay. He finally allowed the dirty truth to come up. There had been a few times when he’d awaken from a vivid dream, his sheets tangled and wet, his brain burning with images of him and Jenna.

But he’d always laughed it off. Always thought it absurd. He used to tell himself that the dreams were about Jenna because she was the only woman he really knew well. They were friends, had spent a lot of time together. Naturally she’d invade his dreams.

Pressing forward, he leaned over the counter and watched Jenna. Her profile was just as stunning as the back view. Her breasts were just as hot as her ass, and the way they bounced and moved as she reached for the blanket that lay across the back of the sofa had him groaning.

Man, he was hard. And completely fucking losing it.

Jenna was a friend. He wanted that friendship. Depended on it. No way was he going to toss a decade of friendship down the toilet because his subconscious all of a sudden decided to cough up a few instances of past wet dreams involving Jenna.

He couldn’t imagine his life without Jenna in it. She had always been there, to talk to and hang with. He liked just calling her up for no reason and chatting. He liked how they laughed at the same things. If he couldn’t have that anymore, if he ruined the relationship by making it all awkward and heavy with sexual shit, he didn’t know what he’d do.

But what about when she finds Mr. Right, the insistent voice in his head asked. How much do you think he’s going to tolerate your phone calls and late-night visits? Probably about as well as he tolerated the thought of Jenna wearing that skimpy nightie for another man—including Tyson.

God, he didn’t even want to go there. His emotions and thoughts were all over the map tonight and he couldn’t understand why. What was it about Jenna today? What was it about her walk, the way her ass moved, that had him wanting to risk their friendship by taking it into the bedroom? And what was it about her that suddenly had him thinking how damn nice it would be to always have this, this closeness with her?

The relationship word suddenly crept onto his radar and he panicked. Then, thank god, Jenna’s voice squelched the thought before it could become a full blown visual of a picket fence.

“Movie’s starting,” she called from the living room.

“I’m on it,” he answered back, not moving, just watching as she sat on the couch and crossed her legs. They weren’t overly long, but man, they were shapely. The kind that would feel really good and soft wrapped around him. The kind of shapely, womanly flesh he hadn’t felt in all his other girlfriends.

He heard the Psychedelic Furs singing “Pretty In Pink,” and he got his ass moving. Looking through the cupboards, he found two bowls and a couple of spoons, and tore into the still-steaming dessert.

Inhaling the aroma, he savored it, hoping to hell she liked it. This was an untested concoction he’d just created. And poor Jenna was the guinea pig.

Carrying the bowls, he hit the switch with his elbow, killing the light spilling from the kitchen. Candles glowed on the coffee table, and the light from the television screen made it bright enough for them to see.

“Mmm, what’s this?” Jenna asked as she reached out for a bowl. “Smells delicious.”

“Just something I cooked up in honor of your twenty-eighth birthday.”

Jenna wrinkled her nose. “Let’s not talk numbers tonight.”

“Deal,” he said, settling back against the leather sofa. “As long as that also includes my numbers and that plan of yours.”

“Absolutely.”

“God, it’s been forever since I’ve seen this movie. Remember how you loved Blaine?”
“Yeah,” she said, blushing.

“I never got that, why you found him so hot. His hair really looked terrible in that prom scene.”

Jenna laughed. “You always say that.”

“Well, it did.”

“I’m sure you had the hots for Molly Ringwald. All the guys did.”

“I didn’t.”

“Oh, the blonde then, the one dancing around in her underwear?”

“Definitely not her. I liked Andie, actually. Not Molly. But the character of Andie.”

Jenna shot him a sideways glance. “She was an outcast and kind of quirky, don’t you think?”

“What’s wrong with quirky?”

“Nothing.” A strange expression flickered across her face before she picked up her spoon and motioned to the bowl. “So, what do we have here?”

“Oh, just a little white chocolate and cream, and caramel filled chocolate squares, with some egg bread I had laying around. I suppose you’d call it chocolate caramel bread pudding.”

“I love bread pudding. I haven’t had a pudding like this since I left home. Although I know my mom never made anything this decadent.”

Bryce found himself grinning, filled with an absurd adolescent feeling of giddiness. He was always like this when someone waxed on about his cooking. He was even more giddy, he realized, when that someone was Jenna.

Jenna’s mom was a phenomenal cook, and Bryce knew that to wow Jenna was a difficult task. She was clearly wowed now, though. She was closing her eyes, savoring the sweet smell wafting up from the bowl.

She dug into the custard mixture with her spoon and was about to raise it to her mouth, when he wrapped his fingers around her wrist. “Wait.” She looked at him, and all of a sudden his heart did this weird flopping thing.

“What?” she asked, her voice so soft and quiet and so very feminine.

“I…” he licked his lips and pressed closer to her. “I just wanted to say Happy birthday.” He bent to kiss her cheek, something he’d done numerous times in their friendship. But he couldn’t bring himself to do it. Instead, he cupped her cheek and brought her forward, dragging his mouth against the curve of her ear and down lower to her jaw. God, she smelled good. And she felt good, so soft against his hand and mouth.

“Happy birthday,” he said once more, kissing the corner of her mouth, then he pulled away, horrified by his actions and wondering what she was going to say.

But true to Jenna form, she saved his ego by not making a big deal out of his lost control. Instead she smiled and pointed at the bowl with the tip of her spoon. “So what do you call this?”

“It needs a name. If it’s any good, that is.”

She smiled and raised a spoonful to her lips. Catching his gaze, she slid a bit of the steaming pudding into her mouth. With a groan, she closed her eyes. “Good? Bryce, this is awesome. This is…” she blushed and looked away.

He put his bowl down on the coffee table and cupped her cheek. “Tell me what you were gonna say.”

She wouldn’t meet his gaze. Bryce saw some struggle waged in her eyes before she lifted her lashes and looked fully at him.

“This is so good, it could be sex on a plate.”

His heart went into overdrive. Pressing closer, Bryce watched her take another bite. “Yeah?” he asked, his voice curiously hoarse.

“Yeah,” she replied in a rush of breath.

Her breasts pushed against the pink satin, her nipples pressing against the bodice. He watched as a lace strap slid down her shoulder. He reached out, hooking his finger beneath it, knowing he should slide it back onto her shoulder, but wanting to lower it, wanting to expose her breast—needing to feel all that soft flesh in his hand.

Her breath seemed to hitch, and so did his. What was he doing? Hell, what was she thinking, looking up at him like that?

“Do you want a bite?” she asked, her voice a little shy and tremulous.

He swallowed—hard. His fingers were still beneath the strap of her chemise, still frozen, immobilized against her soft skin. They started to move then, to brush the soft downy skin of her upper arm. His body heated as he felt the first flush of her goosebumps erupt beneath his fingertips.

“I want to watch you eat,” he said, feeling his erection harden even more.

She took another bite that was laden with chocolate and caramel. He watched, his mouth dry as she spooned the delicacy into her mouth and closed her eyes in blissful surrender.
What would it be like to experience that sweetness as it coated her lips, her tongue? What would it be like to feed her and have her feed him, to taste that warm liquid chocolate as it dribbled its way over her breasts and belly?

Like a voyeur, he watched her eat, conscious of the way his body hardened and his lips parted as if he were eating each and every bite with her.

He wanted her spread on the table like a meal for him to devour at his leisure. He saw himself seated, Jenna spread atop the table, his tongue licking away the sweet rivers of chocolate as she moaned and begged him to eat—other, more pleasurable parts of her body.

Her gaze locked with his, and she held the silver spoon which was overflowing with custard and chocolate out to him. Unblinkingly, he sat forward and wrapped his fingers around her wrist. He put the dessert in his mouth, and didn’t taste the rich chocolate, or the sweet caramel–the only taste he had was that of desire. The sweet, heady elixir was swimming in his mouth.

“Well?” she asked.

This time, he heard the breathless pant of desire in her voice, saw the flicker of awakening in her eyes. He swallowed slowly, then holding her gaze, he brought his mouth to hers until his lips brushed her lower one.

“Taste me, Jenna.”

DC: What is sure to distract you from sitting down and working/writing?

SR: Unfortunately, I’m not the most disciplined writer. I tried to make this my new year’s resolution, but, alas, it’s kind of fallen by the wayside! The truth is, if I’m not consumed by a scene or dialogue playing out in my mind or a very tight deadline looming over my head, I’m can be distracted by anything! I have to change that! Lol!

DC: Trey’s story is next in the series. Would you tell our readers about it, when it’s due out, and maybe a sneak peek to whet the appetite?

SR: Unfortunately, Trey’s book is not scheduled yet. The publisher was looking for something in his story, and it wasn’t really where I wanted to take Trey. My agent is going to be shopping his story to other publishers. I’m disappointed, but already I’ve gotten lots of reader email which say, “I’m dying for Trey’s book.” I’m keeping them all, and I’ll forward them to my editor. Never know. It might convince the publisher to put his book out! This is, unfortunately, something that happens in writing. The publishing industry is a business, and I respect that. Likewise, the publisher respected my creative vision. So that’s how the Annwyn series came about. I think it’s an amicable solution. And both sides are happy.

And, I swear, I haven’t given up on Trey. I adore him. He’s so dark and tortured. I have 75pgs written of his story, and have decided that if it never sells, I’ll post it on my website as a serial installment and free read! Trey will get his day in the limelight!

DC: How do you feel your male or female characters have evolved over your career? Do you think you write them differently now than you did when you started?

SR: I’m no longer afraid to write characters as they come to me. Whether they’re opium addicts or sexy chefs, I just write them how I want. In doing so, I’m much happier than when I first started writing and tried to fit into what was selling at the time.

I’m especially happier with my heroines. In the beginning I had such a hard time connecting with them, thinking they had to be perky and happy and stunningly beautiful. But I don’t write those women anymore. I write ‘real’ women. Skinny, plump, blonde, brunette, shy, outgoing, whatever the case might be, I think I write women who readers can relate to and can understand. Women, who are, like readers who read romance.

DC: Is there a genre you haven’t tackled but would like to try?

SR: Well, I never thought I’d write contemporary, so Hot In Here totally surprised me. I guess the answer is no, not right now. I’m writing historical, and I have AN historical paranormal novella coming out later this year with Spice. I’ve written contemporary and am now into contemporary paranormal. So I’d say I’ve got enough on my plate for now! But I never say never! Lol!

DC: I know you love to cook. Would you mind sharing your favorite recipe with us?

SR: I do love to cook! And why I don’t give you a recipe that appears in Hot In Here?

Chocolate Caramel Bread Pudding with White Chocolate Kahlua Sauce

6 cups day old French bread, cubed
4 cups heavy cream
1 cup milk
½ cup white sugar
8 oz white chocolate
1-2 Caramel filled chocolate bar, such as Cadbury’s Caramilk (depending on size of your casserole dish)
2 whole eggs
5 egg yolks

 

Preheat oven to 350. Place cubed French bread in large casserole dish and toast bread in oven for 15mins. Remove from oven. Place heavy cream, milk and sugar in medium saucepan and heat just until the boiling point. Remove from stove, ad white chocolate and stir until chocolate has melted. Whisk together egg yolks, and whole eggs. Add to cream mixture and whisk until incorporated. Pour mixture over toasted bread and allow to soak for 20 mins. Before placing in oven, break chocolate bar into squares, and press into the bread mixture, putting some deep into the pudding, and leaving some just at the surface of the pudding. Place in oven and bake 35mins covered. Uncover and bake for additional 15mins. Top each serving with Kahula sauce.

 

Kahlua Sauce

 

1cup heavy cream
4 oz white chocolate
¼ cup Kahlua

 

Bring heavy cream and Kahlua to a simmer in a small saucepan for 3-5 mins. Remove from stove and add chocolate and allow to sit until the chocolate is melted. Stir until smooth.

 

Yields 12-15 servings, and does re-heat well in the oven, or microwave.
Now, being Scottish, we love custard, and I gild the lily with this dessert by adding some warm custard with it. Any commercial, powered custard will do, but I use Byrds.

 

*This dish is best served with Bryce Ryder feeding it you*

DC: What advice would you give to your younger self?

SR: To not be afraid to explore all the things I wanted to do.

DC: Your site told me that you’re trying Lora Leigh and Joey W. Hill for the first time. How did those reads go for you?

SR: OH, I LOVED them! I haven’t gotten through all of Lora’s Breed series yet, but I plan to this summer. And I adored Joey’s mermaid series. So beautifully written. (I love angels, btw. Especially those fallen ones!) I have her third mermaid book, A Mermaid’s Ransom, on pre-order and am really looking forward to reading that.

DC: If you had never become an author, what do you think you would be doing right now?

SR: Probably nursing. It’s a safe income bet!

DC: You also write as Charlotte Featherstone. What is Charlotte up to right now?

SR: Charlotte has an historical paranormal coming out with Harlequin Spice in Nov ’09. The anthology is entitled Winter’s Desire, and my novella is Midnight Whispers. The anthology is written with Kristi Astor and Amanda McIntyre and it revolves around the Winter Solstice.

As well, I’m finishing up Sinful, which is Lord Wallingford’s book, which releases from Harlequin Spice in May 2010. Readers saw him in Addicted. He was the hero’s best friend. And let me tell you, he’s living up to his name!

DC: What’s on the horizon for Sophie Renwick?

SR: I hope to be writing more on the Ryder brothers and definitely more Annwyn Chronicles. I’m starting to think about the second book and what character will get his book next. The quest is involved, and I can take different paths, allowing me to kind of pick and choose who I want to write. So I’m definitely hoping to develop this series!

Lightning Round:

- dark or milk chocolate?   – Definitely milk!
- smooth or chunky peanut butter?   – Smooth all the way!!
- heels or flats?    – Oooh, I love heels! Not always practical, but love them.
- coffee or tea?   – Both. Coffee in the morning, tea in the afternoon and evening.
- summer or winter?   – Summer. Although I do love that first snowfall of the winter!
- mountains or beach?   – Beach. I love the water and the moon.
- mustard or mayonnaise?  -  Mayo
- flowers or candy?   – Flowers
- pockets or purse?   – Usually I like pockets, but also collect evening bags. I love them!
- Pepsi or Coke?    -  Coke!
- ebook or print?   – Print, because I’m one of those people who love to hold a book in her hands, smell the pages and keep flipping back to the front cover.

And just because:

1. What is your favorite word?   – I love words! Probably it’d something like love, passion, pleasure
2. What is your least favorite word?   – Can’t
3. What turns you on creatively, spiritually or emotionally?   – Almost anything. I’m surprised where I get inspiration, or peace
4. What turns you off creatively, spiritually or emotionally?   – Fatigue
5. What sound or noise do you love?   – Waves crashing on a beach, the sound of leaves rustling on a summer evening
6. What sound or noise do you hate?    – Dentist drill
7. What is your favorite curse word?   – OH, the F bomb for certain!
8. What profession other than your own would you like to attempt?   – Book store owner
9. What profession would you not like to do?    – Nursing. ‘That’s my current ‘paying’ job and I’m ready to be done with it!
10. If Heaven exists, what would you like to hear God say when you arrive at the Pearly Gates? – “You were a good, honest, honorable person.”

Thanks so much for having me and for the really great interview questions!

DC: Thank you, Sophie, for taking the time to chat with us!

This just in…

The old Squawk Radio gang is back in action!

~ Elizabeth Bevarly, Connie Brockway, Christina Dodd, Eloisa James, Lisa Kleypas, and Teresa
Medeiros have gotten together to choose five of their favorite blogs from the old squawking days.

~ So that’s thirty looks back at the fun these ladies had over the years. Those blogs are bound into one volume for your reading pleasure and titled The Best of Squawk Radio.

~ You can purchase your copy at Scribd.com. You’ll be able to read it online at Scribd any time you’d like or you may download a .pdf copy. The authors are asking you not share your copy if choose to download it.

~ For the low price of $3, there will be a few funny extras added in your purchase. Half of the proceeds for the sale of the ebook will be donated to the Wildlife Rehabilitation Center of Minnesota, an organization Connie Brockway has been affiliated with for more than 10 years.

~ Keep up with the Squawk Radio divas now at Twitter. They’ve formed their own twibe there and the fun has begun.

Consider yourself flashed.

Limecello’s review of Smooth Talking Stranger by Lisa Kleypas
Contemporary romance released by St. Martin’s Press on 31 Apr 09

I read this book in less than five hours. I read it instead of writing my thesis/article which was due the next day. I think this book may have moved Lisa Kleypas to the top of my favorite authors list. This is an A+ book. I really don’t like books written in first person, yet I adored this book. Smooth Talking Stranger is the third book in Ms. Kleypas’s Travis family series – her first contemporary series, and it’s my favorite of the three, and possibly one of my favorite books.

Ella Varner is a fantastic heroine. She’s smart, kind, warm, incredible, and damaged. I was continually impressed with her throughout the book. Ella is clearly the shining star in her family, yet it’s nice that she’s so real and human. You have to respect her for putting her life on hold and taking care of her sister’s abandoned baby. Then, even more for keeping her head on straight and being so pragmatic. I want to be like Ella when I grow up.

I also loved her wicked sense of humor and the fact that she can stand up to Jack and doesn’t take his crap. I also appreciated the fact that Ella was willing to be honest with herself. I felt that I really understood who she was, and why – and that really made the book incredible. Ella is also sensible, and there never was a time that I felt she was being stupid, which was a refreshing change of pace to so many novels. (Although her being vegan at the beginning of the book didn’t quite jive.)

Jack Travis may just be my favorite member of the Travis family. I like how he knows what he wants, and goes after it. Jack is also satisfyingly deep. It’s nice that he’s so perfect, and in control, able to bend and shape the world how he wants – but… vulnerable. It was also enjoyable that he’s a character that falls in love both deeply, and quickly. I think I may have found a new favorite type of hero. Jack is a lot of fun because he knows he’s being pushy, and possibly even a little chauvinistic, but does it anyway to get his way. He’s like an incredibly sexy, perfect, naughty boy who gets his way with his charm – but you don’t mind giving in to him. (Have I mentioned how excited I am to read about a hero who is willing to fall in love, and realizes that he is in love? Fantastic.) He’s also smooth, charismatic, ridiculously wealthy, and sweet.

I positively melted – and definitely squee-d when I read the “letter” Jack writes to Miss Independent near the end of the book. I really want to post it here – but don’t want to have any spoilers. You need to read it for yourself. And you’ll die a little because it’s just that perfect. Ella and Jack have a great relationship – from the moment they meet, to the very last page. They’re so different, yet similar, and fit perfectly. I like that they’re a little wary of each other, and that the relationship develops rather normally and is genuine. The banter, and their interaction, are great and flow naturally. They also have a great physical relationship – and it’s cute how Jack seduces Ella. And hot.

The only thing that might have bothered me was how toxic Tara Varner and Candy Varner can be. However, Ms. Kleypas did an excellent job there as well. Both characters are believable, and not over the top. It’s unfortunate that such people exist, but in my opinion, Tara and Candy were incredibly realistic and believable as written. In terms of characterization, I was never fed up with their actions or personalities. (Well, for complaints, maybe also that the cover flap summary has a few misstatements.)

I also loved the secondary characters and the cameo appearances they made. Living at 1800 Main, it was perfect for Ella to form friendships with Haven and Hardy. I also liked how the other Travis’s were brought in, and the fact that they all blended well. The personalities and stories work, and really make Smooth Talking Stranger come alive. The other characters and plot lines all fit together perfectly to highlight the developing relationship between Ella and Jack. I have to admit this book was different from what I was expecting – so that may have colored my view, but honestly, I loved it.

I cannot wait for Joe’s book. I know it’ll be about a year, so I plan on re-reading Smooth Talking Stranger. Possibly next week. I was inspired to write a review minutes after I put the book down, but I know my opinion won’t change. This book was fantastic and probably the best one I’ve read this year.

I recommend this book to everyone. I don’t care if you like historicals, or don’t read contemporaries, or dislike first person point of view. You should give Smooth Talking Stranger a chance. You’ll hopefully likely be pleasantly surprised.

Grade: A+

Read more reviews and info by following the book tag here.

Summary:
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He answers to no one…
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No one has ever truly touched Jack Travis’s heart or soul… until Ella Varner come along. She appears one day on his doorstep with fury in her eyes and a baby in her arms. Her troubled sister is the mother and, according to Ella, Jack Travis is the father. But when Ella demands that Jack take responsibility for the first time in his life, e ends up taking much more than that…
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She trusts no one…
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Ella Varner is responsible and controlled. Her childhood taught her that love is fleeting and best avoided. That is, until baby Luke appears on her doorstep after her reckless sister, Tara, abandons him. What Luke needs now is stability, and Ella’s determined to do what is best for him. As her bond with the helpless child grows stronger every day, Ella goes to Houston in search of the father. What she finds there will change her life forever…
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And when things heat uip between these two, the time for talking is long gone…
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Read an excerpt here.

Other books in the series:

Stacy‘s Guest Review of Smooth Talking Stranger by Lisa Kleypas
Contemporary romance hard cover released by St. Martin’s 31 Mar 09

Jack Travis leads the uncomplicated life of a millionaire Texas playboy. He makes no commitments, he loves many women, he lives for pleasure. But no one has ever truly touched his heart or soul. Until one day, a woman appears on his doorstep with fury on her face and a baby in her arms. It seems Jack is the father and this woman is the baby’s aunt. The real mother has abandoned the child to her more responsible sister. And now, Jack is being called upon to take responsibility for the first time in his life. With delicious romantic tension, characters so real they walk onto the page and into your heart, Lisa Kleypas delivers the kind of novel that makes you laugh, love; cry and cheer.

For those of you who are not familiar with her work, just so you get an idea of how amazing she is, Lisa Kleypas is one of those rare authors who could write poetry on toilet paper and I would gladly shell out good money to buy it. Smooth Talking Stranger is Lisa’s 3rd contemporary, set in Texas, that revolves around the affluent Travis family. STS is Jack Travis’ story.

As the older sister, Ella has always been the more responsible one, even more so than her erratic, selfish mother Candy. Basically taking care of herself and her sister Tara without much parental guidance has left Ella with a few hang-ups, especially when it comes to the relationships in her life. Years later, as an adult with a degree, a job, and a steady boyfriend who has his own idea of what he wants and doesn’t want in a partner, Ella has carved out a satisfactory, if not quite fulfilling, life for herself.

But one day, a bomb is dropped into her lap in the form of an innocent baby boy, and Ella is faced with all kinds of decisions that have utterly foreign and intimidating to her. Yet with resolve and determination, she realizes that the most logical step involves going back to the beginning, and that would involve finding out who the father of this baby actually is.

Ella’s search takes her from Austin to Houston, and into the path of one very impressive and larger-than-life Texas tycoon, Jack Travis. Now tracking Jack down wasn’t so difficult, but getting the opportunity to actually speak with him is quite another story. Besides being a rich playboy and heir to a dynasty, Jack is also a very powerful man in his own right, and not an easy man to get an audience with. But armed with a newborn baby and perseverance, Ella’s not one to give up easily, and manages to catch the attention of the most vital, exciting male she’s ever seen in her entire life.

Despite their dubious first encounter, Ella finds an unlikely ally in Jack, and soon they are working together for the welfare of one tiny baby, and as they grow closer, Ella begins to question some of the choices she’s made in her life, most especially the one about never having children of her own. Little Luke has managed to worm his way into her heart without even having to try, and soon Ella’s every action and consideration is based on what’s in the best interests of this litle boy, no matter how difficult the choices are going to be for her to make.

Jack is fascinated by Ella, as well as incredibly attracted. This unique, independent woman has the physical appearance of a very sexy librarian and some very open and unconventional ideas about commitment, brought on by her upbringing, which vary greatly from his own traditional values on family. A man like Jack is extremely possessive and cannot fathom the idea of sleeping with her and then letting her go back to her boyfriend. That’s just not how he’s programmed, not when he wishes to stake a claim on Ella for himself, drat the stubborn woman. Yet as much as she drives him crazy, he also sees the love she has for Luke, and admires her for taking on such a huge responsibility when she is sure to have her heart broken in the process.

Regardless of what happens between them, Jack is going to help Ella in any way she needs him, that’s one thing he’s perfectly clear on. He may not agree with some of her choices, but when he decides to do something, he follows all the through. Because Jack, being Jack, and I paraphrase his own words from page 228: “…never does anything in half measures, including falling in love.”

My thoughts:

This was a challenging review in the sense that I didn’t wish to include any spoilers about the book, and also because it’s a Kleypas, and my thoughts never seem adequate enough to express the way in which Ms. Kleypas can immediately hook me in with just a few short sentences. “Smooth Talking Stranger” is no exception.

What I love about these stories is that despite the eye-catching and deceptively simple titles, they are so much more than that. When I think of a smooth talking stranger, I’m expecting a heated one-night stand between two good-looking strangers who end up going their separate ways, without regret. But when you dive into these pages, you are getting something so much richer, more poignant and real, and it’s a story that will stay with you long after you turn the last page.

I’ve read all 3 of Ms. Kleypas’ contemporary novels, which are set in Texas and revolve around the charismatic Travis family, and have found something to love about each one. I will admit that upon my initial read, this was probably my least favorite of all three, but not by much, and it is mainly because I had difficulty warming up to Ella for quite some time. After a quick re-read, I did have to re-evaluate my opinion and give her more credit. I had no problem with Ella being smart and independent and stubborn. In fact those were what made her so compelling when it came to the dynamic in her relationship with Jack, along with her unexpected sense of humor, which I think came from her being a more confident woman in his presence. And instead of melting into his arms and letting him get his way from the get-go, Ella asserted herself and continually kept Jack unsure of where he stood with her. That attitude I could appreciate, especially since she wasn’t doing it because she wished to manipulate him to get her way, but because that’s just the way she was, the way she thought she had to be.

What made it hard for me to initially relate to her was the lack of warmth she emanated at times, except when it came to her feelings for Luke. I understand that Ella had developed a protective shell over time in order to soften the hurt and frustration she experienced at the hands of her family, yet at times she came across as cold, and I didn’t always like her. I tried very hard to rationalize her behavior because of her upbringing, but sometimes you have an affinity towards a character or you don’t, and that’s what ended up happening, at least in the beginning. It took me awhile to just accept her for how she was.

But then she’d have this wonderful conversations with Jack, and she started to open up and she was funny, sometimes vulnerable, and that’s when she became more likable, more human. Some of the things she did or said were out of self-preservation, but when faced with real, solid love from a good man, Ella blossomed. She let herself be, and she was truly a wonderful person. I wanted Ella to find her happiness.

However the real star of the show here is Jack Travis. No doubt about that. Jack is the kind of guy who says what he means, means what he says, and more importantly, follows it all up with action. In fact the main reason I fell in love with him was not because of a bunch of sweet words or sugary compliments. It was because the man “showed” his love. Through his actions, he proved how he felt about Ella beyond what any words could have said. He was her rock, the person she could unequivocally depend upon without thought, and he could say “I love you” more eloquently with a profoundly heartfelt gesture than he ever could with a thousand words. That is the wonder that is Jack Travis. If he doesn’t make your list of top 5 heroes of all-time, I will be sincerely shocked. Nobody makes ‘em like Ms. Kleypas, and I have 25+ years of reading romance to prove it.

So yes, run thee to a bookstore, and grab yourself a copy of this engaging, heartfelt, sexy romance, and let yourself escape to a place where the hero is as unforgettable as the love story. You won’t be sorry.

Grade: A

Summary: 
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Jack Travis leads the uncomplicated life of a millionaire Texas playboy. He makes no commitments, he loves many women, he lives for pleasure. But no one has ever truly touched his heart or soul. Until one day, a woman appears on his doorstep with fury on her face and a baby in her arms.
.
It seems Jack is the father and this woman is the baby’s aunt. The real mother has abandoned the child to her more responsible sister. And now, Jack is being called upon to take responsibility for the first time in his life. With delicious romantic tension, characters so real they walk onto the page and into your heart, Lisa Kleypas delivers the kind of novel that makes you laugh, love; cry and cheer.
.
Read an excerpt.

Other books in the series:

I have a new release, “Tantalizing Secrets,” a historical set in the Georgian era. In it, the reader meets people from previous Secrets books, and gets to know what Peter gets up to in his own book (I’ve put the blurb and a brief excerpt below for you, but the book is only the springboard for the Pondering).

In the Secrets books, Peter has a mistress, Elizabeth Wisheart. She’s a widow, rich enough to not worry about getting another husband, but she sets her sights on long term lover, Peter, and she throws a few hurdles in the way. She’s beautiful, seductive and a strong character. But when I asked my editor if it were plausible for me to make Elizabeth the heroine in another book, she was doubtful. Thought the reader wouldn’t want her. She’s probably right, she usually is (sigh) but after you’ve read the book, I’d love your opinion. Would Elizabeth make a historical romance heroine? And the wider question – can you turn a villain into a hero?

Several books have done it triumphantly. Think of Mary Jo Putney‘s “The Rake” previously published as “The Rake and the Reformer.” In it, Reggie, the boorish drunk of “The Diabolical Baron” is turned around into an alcoholic in an age when everyone drinks. We come to feel sorry for Reggie, and love his resolve when he moves to the country to kick his habit. It’s on many people’s keeper shelves.

Another favourite is “Devil in Winter” by Lisa Kleypas. How many people wondered how Sebastian, the kidnapper from the previous book in the series, could be turned around? Well Kleypas did it and this is often cited as the readers’ favorite of the whole series.

It seems that the villain-turned-hero has to be a strong person, with no little degree of angst. Tortured, enough that it drives them to do Bad Things. But this sometimes adds a fascinating depth of character.
And sometimes it can be done in one book.

Liz Carlyle‘s “The Devil You Know” features the feckless wastrel Bentley, who isn’t the brightest bulb in the basket, or so it seems. How can we love him, especially after what he does to poor Freddie (Frederica). But by the end of the book, we’re in love. At least, I was.

There are some borders a villain cannot cross. Rape, betrayal that doesn’t have an explanation later, or if my heroine had succeeded in separating the hero and heroine, or stormed off vowing revenge, maybe.

And that’s another thing. I want to turn my villainess around. Are there any books that do this?

So here’s the blurb for Tantalizing Secrets:

Arabella Mason is too busy investigating her brother-in-law’s “accidental” death to entertain thoughts of love. She’ll go to any lengths to ease her sister’s grief, even accept the help of the distressingly attractive Viscount Bredon, Peter Worsley. Instead of answers, the trail of clues only leads to more questions. Who was her brother-in-law, really…and why does Peter, who poses as her brother in public, make mincemeat of her resistance in private?A successful politician and confirmed bachelor, Peter has bedded the loveliest women in society. He never imagined he’d wind up in a Leicester backwater, helping a pretty widow investigate his brother’s untimely death. As his suspicions of foul play grow stronger, the danger rises-and so does his desire for Arabella. One kiss, and she snatches away all his resolve, leaving him wondering which he wants more…

To find his brother’s killer? Or keep Arabella safe-and make her his?

And a teeny snippet:
the coach lurched to a halt and they were flung forward. Peter flung out a hand to stop Arabella hurting herself, and was rewarded by a handful of fabric and a brief contact with one soft breast. He took her arm and hauled her back on to the seat as the carriage pulled to a halt.
Breathlessly she stared at him and they both heard a gruff voice. “Stand and deliver!”
“Good Lord!” The gleam of battle sparked in him. Cautiously he settled the pistol in his pocket so it came easily to hand.
The door of the carriage was wrenched open. A heavily muffled figure stood outside. “Out,” the man commanded.
Peter descended and held his hand out to help Arabella. To his surprise, she wasn’t looking in the least shocked. If he didn’t know her better, he would have thought she was angry.
Lounging against the open door of the carriage, Peter stared at the highwayman. Their assailant was so muffled up it was difficult to make out much about him, but Peter noted the man was no taller than he was, and wasn’t grossly overweight. He’d pulled a cocked hat low down on his forehead and a muffler up over the lower half of his face.
Peter thrust his hands in his pockets, touching the rounded end of the pistol. In the other pocket, he had a knife, usually carried for more mundane purposes but it might come in useful too, given the chance. He kept Arabella in view, prepared to push her to the ground. Some highwaymen wanted more than jewelry and cash; he wasn’t about to allow that.
Arabella lifted her chin and glared at the man. There was no doubt about it now-fire flashed from her dark eyes. She was angry. Peter hoped she wouldn’t do anything foolish. He wished he could see the coachman but that was impossible without turning.
Their aggressor swore, fluently and, much to Peter’s surprise dropped the hand holding the pistol to his side. “Jewelry. Money.”
Then Arabella did something that took Peter completely aback. She put her hands on her hips and thrust her face forward in the age-old position of the fishwife. It said a lot for Peter’s newfound attraction that he found her pose delightful. “And who do you think you are threatening? Get in the carriage this instant!”

You can buy Tantalizing Secrets from Samhain here:
http://samhainpublishing.com/romance/tantalizing-secrets

Or you can win a copy (download in the format of your choice) by commenting here. How about it, should I put Elizabeth down on my list of future heroines? And can you think of any turnaround books that worked for you? Or ones that didn’t? What do you think it needs?

Please remember this is RAW and Unedited which means it could change or may not make it into the book.

We will compare it to what happens when the book is done to see how it changes (if it does) and as always thanks for playing Lisa

Tempt Me at Twilight by Lisa Kleypas

From Lisa:

The eccentric Hathaway family is staying at the Rutledge Hotel during the London social season. While chasing her sister’s ferret, who has stolen an intimate love letter, Poppy Hathaway encounters a handsome and mysterious stranger. He takes her to a private room, and for a moment Poppy wonders if he’ll let her go . . .

Tap. Tap. Tap.

They both turned at the sound. The maid had arrived. “I must go,” Poppy said uneasily.

“My governess will be very distressed if she wakes to find me missing.” The dark-haired stranger contemplated her for what seemed a very long time. “I’m not finished with you yet,” he said with stunning casualness. As if no one ever refused him anything. As if he planned to keep her prisoner for as long as he wished.

Poppy took a deep breath. “Nevertheless, I am leaving,” she said calmly, and went to the door.

He reached it at the same time she did, one large hand flattening against the door panel.

Alarm jolted through her, and she turned to face him. A swift, frantic throbbing awakened in her throat and wrists and the backs of her knees. He was standing much too close, his long, hard body nearly touching hers. She shrank against the wall, away from the sheer force of his masculine presence. When she brought herself to look up into his cool green eyes, he smiled.

A dangerous smile.

“Before you leave,” he said softly, “I have some advice for you. It’s not safe for a young woman to wander alone through the hotel. Don’t take such a foolish risk again.”

Poppy stiffened a little. “It’s a reputable hotel,” she said. “I have nothing to fear.”

“Of course you do,” he murmured. “You’re looking right at it.”

And before she could think, or move, or breathe, he bent his head and took her mouth with his.

Stunned, Poppy went motionless beneath the soft, burning kiss, so subtle in its demand that she wasn’t aware of the moment her own lips parted. His hands came to her jaw, cradling, angling her face upward. She felt him taste her with a gently searching stroke, in a kiss more intimate than anything she had ever known. And with a stranger.

She lifted her hands to push him away, but he put his arms around her, bringing her body fully against his, and the feel of him was hard and richly stimulating. Her skin turned hot, oversensitive, excited nerves craving the cool glide of his fingertips along her throat.

With every breath, she drew in an enticing scent, an incense of amber and musk, starched linen and male skin. She should have struggled in his arms . . . but his mouth was so tenderly persuasive, erotic, imparting messages of peril and promise. He tasted her again, deeper this time, and then his lips slid to her throat. He hunted for her pulse, working his way downward, layering sensations like silken gauze until she shivered and arched away from him. “Don’t,” she said weakly.

The stranger gripped her chin carefully, forcing her to look at him. They both went still. As Poppy met his searching gaze, she saw a flash of baffled animosity, as if he had just made some unwelcome discovery.

He let go of her with great care and opened the door. “Bring it in,” he told the maid, who waited at the threshold with a large silver tea tray.

The servant obeyed quickly, too well-trained to evince curiosity about Poppy’s presence in the room.

The man went to retrieve Dodger, who had fallen asleep in his chair. Returning with the drowsy ferret, he gave it to Poppy. She took Dodger with an inarticulate murmur, cradling him against her midriff.

“Will there be anything else, sir?” the maid asked.

“Yes. I want you to accompany this lady to her suite. And come back to inform me when she is safely returned.”

“Yes, Mr. Rutledge.”

Mr. Rutledge?

Poppy felt her heart stop. She looked back at the stranger. Deviltry glittered in his green eyes. He seemed to relish her open astonishment.

Harry Rutledge . . . the mysterious and reclusive owner of the hotel. Who was nothing at all as she had imagined him to be.

Bewildered and mortified, Poppy turned from him. She crossed the threshold and heard the door close, the latch clicking smoothly shut. How wicked he was, to have amused himself at her expense! She consoled herself with the knowledge that she would never see him again.

And she went down the hallway with the housemaid . . . never suspecting that the course of her entire life had just changed.

© Lisa Kleypas. All rights reserved 

Sorry about that, I don’t do tables well and lime is used to doing ponderings that don’t need a ‘cut’.

To make up for the long delay, here is Lisa Kleypas new author picture.

It was taken by her husband Greg in their back yard.

It is tres cute yes?  You should be able to click on it to make it larger, if not maybe gwen will come along and do the thing gwen does best and fix it *g*.

read on for the winzors

WOOT! Smooth Talking Strangers is fabulous.  And we will post more info when we it regarding when Lisa will be here to chat about the book.  And of course I am already trying to rope a Raw look at her next historical cuz well I am like that *eg*.

Well, a number of you, anyway. Remember a long time ago when we had the contest for Lisa Kleypas’s books? One for A Wallflower Christmas and another for an Advanced Reader Copy (ARC) of Smooth Talking Stranger? . And remember how I said I’d begin a monthly contest? I also said that  for January, I’d pick it from one specific post, and I did- though that won’t normally be the case. So without further ado, here is a list of all the winners. . The one I think we all want to know most….

1) The winner of an ARC of Smooth Talking Stranger is Kate Niswander! . And as chosen by randomizer.org, the following winners are:2) The three winners of A Wallflower Christmas are Kim, CrystalGB, and Carolyn Jean! . and last but not least, the winner of . 3) Happy New Year!!! is … Sherry Thomas! . Congratulations, winners! Please use the “quack at us” link (which I also provided). And stay tuned for future contests and events! For example, Anya Bast visits with us this Friday, the 6th, for our next “Author Makes a Splash” post.

Welcome to our very first Duck Chat!

I’ve been wanting to do author interviews for a while now, but for one reason or another life never wanted to let me get started working on the idea.  I’m happy to say things have changed and you’ll be chatting with some terrific authors every now and then from here on out.  So whenever you see our new spiked-do friends over there, you know you’re going to be in for a fun surprise and lots of chatting!

Our first Duck Chat interviewee is historical romance author Monica McCarty.  Monica has been in a constant whirlwind since her first book was released back in 2007. Read on to learn more about Monica, her life, and her books.

Monica lives in California with her family. Her husband Dave is a former professional baseball player and was part of the 2004 World Series Red Sox team. She’s a former copyright litigation attorney.  After practicing law a few years, Monica decided to take her love of research and writing in a new direction, which has been a huge gain for romance readers.  The MacLeods of Skye trilogy was Monica’s supersonic entry into romance publication.  Highlander Untamed, Highlander Unmasked, and Highlander Unchained were all hits and led to her second trilogy featuring Clan Campbell, Highland Warrior, Highland Outlaw, and Highland Scoundrel.  Warrior hits the shelves today. So after reading Syb’s review and saying hello to Monica, hop on over to Amazon.com or Borders and grab your copy hot off the presses.

Let’s chat!

Duck Chat:  If you could retire any question and never, ever have it asked again, what would it be? Feel free to answer it.

Monica McCarty:  LOL, I don’t think I’ve been doing this long enough to be tired of any question. But the hardest question for me to answer is the quick “what’s your book about.” You think it would be so easy, but trying to condense a 100k word book into a couple of lines in the most intriguing way isn’t easy.

DC:  I’ve heard writers often say their stories take them in surprising directions or dialogue flows from some unknown place. Is it the same with you? Do your characters surprise you sometimes?

MM:  Definitely. I write from a pretty well-thought-through synopsis, but it’s more like a roadmap for me. I like to know the major turning points in the story and the black moment, but I always leave room for the story to unfold on its own. I also always keep a notepad with me (especially by the bed and shower) so I can write down the scenes that come to me—it’s almost always dialogue.

DC:  Do you ever argue with your characters while you’re writing?

MM: It’s no use arguing: the characters are always right.

DC:  Tell us about your new trilogy featuring the bad boys of the Highlands, Clan Campbell.

MM:  The Campbell trilogy starts off with Jamie Campbell, a secondary character from Highlander Unmasked. Book #2 belongs to his sister Lizzie (also introduced in Highlander Unmasked) and the third to their half-brother Duncan. The Campbells usually get the role of the “bad guy” in romances (and in history), so I thought it would be fun to let them play hero for once. They also had a ton of enemies, which provides great fodder for an author. One of the best-known feuds with the MacGregors takes center stage in the first two books, the third is with the Gordons. Like my first series, you’ll find plenty of strapping lads in plaid and “ripped from the headlines” history (i.e. Law and Order).

DC:  Do you have a favorite bad boy?

MM:  Bad boy in romance: Kenny from Lady Be Good by SEP. Bad boy on TV: Sawyer from Lost.

DC:  What is sure to distract you from sitting down and working/writing?

MM:  I suspect I’m like most writers, if I’m in the mood to be distracted just about anything will do it. The main culprits are email, the internet, and my kids (not necessarily in that order!). On the other hand, if I’m on a roll, only having to pick up the kids from school or get dinner on the table distracts me.

DC:  How do you feel your writing has evolved since your first book? Do you think you write your male or female differently now than you did when you started writing?

MM:  I hope it’s improved, LOL, not only at storytelling but with the craft of writing. I’ve learned so much through RWA it’s amazing. As far as the male/female characters…hmm. I’m not sure. I think there are probably subtle differences. For example, with the men, I’m always asking myself, “Would a guy really do (or say) that?” to try to create as authentic male characters as possible.

DC:  We know the historical genre is your forte, but is there another genre you’d like to try your hand at some day?

MM:  I’d love to do some kind of contemporary “history mystery” along the lines of The DaVinci Code or The Last Templar, but alas I don’t have any brilliant ideas.

DC:  What advice would you give to your younger self?

MM:  Try to relax a little—I’m a definite “type A” personality, LOL. For writing it would be to try to not take rejection so personally. As I’ve learned more about the industry, I realize there are so many business reasons that come into the decision about whether to buy a book.

DC:  Okay, these are the usual questions asked of authors in most every interview, but inquiring minds want to know:

MM:  Favorite Historical Author: I’ll narrow it down to authors currently writing historicals: either Lisa Kleypas or Liz Carlyle
Favorite Historical Book: Toughest question of all time, LOL. Probably either Judith McNaught’s Almost Heaven or Julie Garwood’s The Bride.
Favorite Contemporary Author: Susan Elizabeth Philips
Favorite Contemporary Book: Lady Be Good
Favorite Paranormal Author Does Time Travel count? Karen Marie Moning (I don’t read much Paranormal.)
Favorite Paranormal Book: Kiss of the Highlander
Can I do romantic suspense, too? I love Shannon McKenna . Extreme Danger has one of my all time favorite heroes ever.

DC:  If you had never become an author, what do you think you would be doing right now?

MM:  Probably practicing law in some fashion.

Gwen’s Lightning Round:

- dark or milk chocolate?   milk (but I’m not much of a chocolate fan…seriously)
- smooth or chunky peanut butter?   chunky
- heels or flats?    heels
- coffee or tea?    both daily (addict anyone?)
- summer or winter?   winter
- mountains or beach?   mountains
- mustard or mayonnaise?   mustard
- flowers or candy?   candy
- pockets or purse?   purse (I have a bit of a handbag “problem” as my husband calls it)
- Pepsi or Coke?   Pepsi
- print or ebook?    print (but I love my Kindle!)

Last-minute fun stuff:

What is your favorite word? Bedtime
What is your least favorite word? “Mom…!”
What turns you on creatively, spiritually or emotionally? Watching a good movie or reading a good book
What sound or noise do you love? Water (i.e. streams, brooks, waterfalls)
What sound or noise do you hate? Fingernails on the chalkboard
What is your favorite curse word? I don’t curse! (Right, probably the “f” word)
What profession other than your own would you like to attempt? Broadway singer (unfortunately I have no voice)
What profession would you not like to do? Maid, cook, nurse and psychologist (Wait! I already do those.)
If Heaven exists, what would you like to hear God say when you arrive at the Pearly Gates? “Welcome, you sure took a long time in getting here!”

Thank you, Monica!

For those of you who have any questions or comments for Monica, she’ll be stopping by throughout the day, so this is your chance!

No, that’s not a typo. I’m unique. And the rogue duckie – so instead of making my own “Best of 2008″ list… I’m going for the new year. These are the 10 books I’m most looking forward to in 2009. (You’ll notice some books don’t even have cover art yet.) 

N.B. I’d like to issue the caveat that… this is only based on books/lists that I could find. I’d also like to note that… just because I’m excited about it, doesn’t mean its a guarantee I’ll like it. (Color me picky.)

I also haven’t been reading romances that long, and it seems my tastes/author choices differ from a number of people. But that’s ok, because this is my list and I’m sticking to it.

In no particular order…

	1. What I Did For Love by Susan Elizabeth Phillips (Contemporary romance, Wm.Morrow, 27 Jan 09).  Case in point – I’m not 100% sure how I feel about Ms. Phillips’s last few novels. But I bought them – in hardcover. The premise for What I Did For Love sounds interesting, but hasn’t gripped me. (Then again – I wouldn’t have thought I’d *love* Nobody’s Baby But Mine, based on the plot summary.) So we shall see. But still. It’s Susan Elizabeth Phillips – and she’s one of my favorite authors.
	2. Smooth Talking Stranger by Lisa Kleypas (Contemporary romance, St. Martin’s, 31 Mar 09). She’s one of my favorite authors – and… don’t kill me, but Seduce Me at Sunrise and Blue-Eyed Devil were good reads, but not AMAZING. I’m already more excited about Smooth Talking Stranger based on the blurbs. Ms. Kleypas is also one of the few authors that can make me enjoy first person point of view. (Cuz FPPV and I? We are not friends.) But the Travis’s! And… even though it’s a secret baby book, which makes me chuckle, I WANTS it.
	3. Kiss of a Demon King by Kresley Cole (Contemporary paranormal romance, Pocket, nodate Jan 09). I discovered Ms. Cole relatively early in 2008, not too long before I started reviewing, and I think she has the one series I’ve reviewed in total (thus far). And, the hero, Rydstrom, has horns. Horns! I never thought I’d be into horns, but… Ms. Cole has won me over. I love her kick ass heroines who *actually* kick butt -and they’re super hot to boot. And the heroes. Yum. This is a great paranormal world. Fun, scary, violent, full of lore- but one that doesn’t take itself too seriously. My kind of books.
	4. Naked Edge by Pamela Clare (Contemporary romantic suspense, Berkley, 3 Nov 09). I heard about Ms. Clare, and first read Extreme Exposure, which is probably one of my favorite books. Extreme Exposure is extremely well written, great plot, and the hero is one of my favorite types. A good politician. More rare than… well something you’d think is outrageous but I’m sure is in a number of paranormals. Thus, Extreme Exposure (and the subsequent books by Ms. Clare I’ve read, have prompted me to put Naked Edge on my list). I have been waiting for this new I-Team book – and… I don’t know. The heroine Kat is Native American. I think that’s pretty nifty. (Major understatement.)
	5. Branded by Fire by Nalini Singh (Paranormal romance, Berkley, 7 Jul 09). I discovered Ms. Singh early on in ’08, and read all her Psy/Changeling books – in proper Psy/Changeling chronological order, even – serendipitously. Ms. Singh’s book world is intense, and amazing. It’s so well developed you believe it’s real. Scary. (But oh so cool!) Thus, this book edged out Angels’ Blood. (That and the blurb talks about lots of violence and I’m kinda squeamish about teh violences.) AND more importantly, when I read the excerpt for this book my reaction was pretty much “SQUEE SQUEE SQUEE!”
	6. True Love and Other Disasters by Rachel Gibson (Contemporary romance, Avon, 28 Apr 09). Yes, another one of my favorite authors. And a book back to/dealing with Hockey. I read See Jane Score  – and I was hooked. I was even willing to get into hockey. (SEP‘s Chicago Stars, along with college, were what got me into football. And if you click around in my posts, you’ll see I can be a football nut. Especially College.) Although… I will say I DO NOT like all the Flash stuff on Ms. Gibson’s web page. Yay for her designer and all – but it takes forever and I can’t get to the information I want. Does not like! The book, however… *happy sigh*
	7. Deeper by Megan Hart (Contemporary erotic romance, Spice, nodate Jul 09). I love the title. I love the cover. I really like Megan Hart’s writing. There’s something about it. Like crack. It also often depresses the hell out of me – which I hate – but I love her books. They’re so raw, yet well written. And this book blurb. *shivers* I’m going to smack myself if the ending isn’t relatively happy. (I know not to expect bubblegum yay.)
	8. What Happens in London by Julia Quinn (Historical romance, Avon, 30 Jun 09). Yet another author that goes on my “best of” lists – and… while others didn’t like it as much, I adored The Secret Diaries of Miss Miranda Cheever, and I hope to like the sequel just as much. (Especially if, you know, it is its own book.) So joy for another book more like The Secret Diaries!
	9. Written On Your Skin by Meredith Duran (Historical romance, Pocket, 28 Jul 09). This one looks more interesting than Bound by Your Touch – although I’m a little skeptical about some of the settings. Though I expect if anyone can win me over to parts written in Hong Kong, it is Ms. Duran. I hope not to be disappointed. This book also makes the list because had I done an ’08 list, Ms. Duran would have made it with her debut novel Duke of Shadows.
	10. Hard and Fast by Erin McCarthy (Contemporary romance, Berkley Trade, 5 May 09). First, it’s Ms. McCarthy. Second, it’s Ms. McCarthy writing a contemporary novel. Third, the heroine’s name is Imogen. I really like a number of Imogen Heap’s songs – so I have a major positive association with her. And – Ms. McCarthy may even win me over to NASCAR. At least in fiction. I read the excerpt, and I am in love. I love it. I want this book. I don’t even want to see when this book comes out (May 09) – because I don’t want to wait.

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Honorable Mentions/if I squint just right are included/still within the number 10…

	10a. Tasting Fear by Shannon McKenna (Contemporary erotic romance, Brava, 28 Jul 09). Okay, so I have to admit, I know nothing about this book. I think it’s Kevin McCloud’s book – and how exciting will it be for a McCloud book to actually star a McCloud? (See? I can good naturedly mock my favorite authors/self.) I also know that Ms. McKenna is one of my favorite authors, and she is one of the few authors I will venture into adventure/suspense for. (And once I buy Ultimate Weapon, Ms. McKenna might have the sole and honorable distinction of being the only author whose entire back list is in my possession and my property…)
	10b. Relentless by Lauren Dane (Sci-fi romance, Berkley Trade, 5 ay 09). I don’t read scifi/fantasy or futuristic novels. I haven’t read scifi/fantasy since middle school. I’ve never particularly enjoyed futuristic novels. BUT! But! I read Undercover, and I loved it. I can see why Undercover took Ms. Dane to the bestseller’s list – and if you haven’t read it – you should. I enjoyed Undercover so much I had to pace myself, and used it as a way to treat myself. And Ms. Dane’s writing (in my humble opinion) only gets better.
	10c. This Duchess of Mine (Historical romance, Avon, 26 May 09) and…10d. A Duke of Her Own by Eloisa James (Historical romance, Avon, 30 Jun 09). I, being the lowly peon I am, do not know what these books are about (other than This Duchess of Mine is Jemma’s book). I have been waiting for Villier’s book, so hopefully he’s healed at some point in the near future. And you know, I love Ms. James’s books. I read Duchess in Love and fell in love. There’s been no turning back since.

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11. The book I don’t know about by the new author (whoknows, someone, date TBD). I know a lot of people will say that’s a cop out, so that’s why I listed 10 books, then have this one. I mean, I’m sure there are books I don’t know about – and/or what about that one newbie author that writes an amazing book?

The End. Seriously.

Out of all the books coming out in 09 (that I know about – and I found some lists of hundred of books.) These – *these* I want. I will do much to get my hands on these books. What did Scarlet O’Hara say? “Lie, cheat, kill or steal” right? Well… take out the third… and you’ve pretty much got me

Shannon C.’s review of Secrets of a Summer Night (The Wallflowers, Book 1) by Lisa Kleypas
Historical romance released by Avon 26 Oct 04

This year I decided I would try and do a mini reading challenge that I like to call the “Year of the Kleypas.” The idea, of course, is to read 12 books from Lisa Kleypas’s backlist. I decided to start out with the Wallflower series and then work my way through her contemporaries. We’ll see what happens from there. As for my first entry into the Year of the Kleypas challenge, it went quite well.

The premise is quite simple, but it’s one I love. Four wallflowers need to land husbands, and so they decide to work together to see that they’re all married. We have Annabelle, the heroine of this book, who is impoverished and needs to land someone wealthy, the Bowman sisters, Lilian and Daisy, whose mother is set on them marrying peers, and Evie Jenner, an awkward, shy girl with a stammer who also needs to marry well.

The Wallflowers decide that Annabelle is the most desperate of them, and Annabelle, for her part, has a list of qualities she wants in a husband. Those qualities preclude the blunt-spoken, if wealthy, Simon Hunt, because he’s too gauche, even though every time Annabelle sees him, her heart goes pitter-pat, and he has, after all, been the first man she’s kissed. Things come to a head at a house party, when Annabelle must decide how far she’s willing to go to make sure she lands a good husband.

The best part about this book is there are four women who are friends. I absolutely love it when books actually bother showing female friendship, because, you know, it exists in real life. I really felt the Wallflowers themselves were a tight-knit group, and even though I think I would have preferred a less hasty progression of their friendship, what I got was quite satisfying. I’m not quite sure if the interactions between the girls pass the Bechtel Test (which requires that a work has at least two women in it who talk to each other about something other than men), but, for example, the rounders game was one of the best scenes of female friendship I’ve read in a while.

Then there’s Annabelle herself. She drove me absolutely insane for the first half of the book, and there was a scene that I pretty much had to read through with clenched teeth and indignant muttering to myself, because I was so irritated. I mean, her family is in dire straights financially. She really shouldn’t be insisting on marrying a titled man, and if she hadn’t removed the stick from her posterior, she probably would have actually achieved her goal a lot faster.

Simon had the patience of a saint. I don’t know if I’d have kept on pursuing Annabelle, especially after all the times she so roundly rebuffs him, but he does. I liked that Simon was an industrialist, and so there were actually scenes discussing how he’d made his money. I liked that he didn’t care much what people thought, and I found him a nice contrast to the somewhat shallow Annabelle. I loved the way he took care of her whenever she needed it, and the scene that Limecello quoted on our recent giveaway with the new boots was one of the best parts of the book for me. Once Annabelle redeems herself–which does eventually happen–I loved their romance, and the climax of the novel was heartrending.

Ms. Kleypas writes a compelling story that is not overburdened with excess characters and which is set up so that the series elements flow naturally. I’ve only ever read one book of hers, the classic Dreaming of You, but I can tell already that this Year of the Kleypas is not going to be disappointing. Indeed, if not for the heroine, this would have easily been an A book for me. But as it is, I still recommend it highly.

Grade: B+

Read other thoughts and musings on the Wallflower series by clicking on its tag.

Summary:
Four young ladies enter London society with one common goal: they must use their feminine wit and wiles to find a husband. So a daring husband-hunting scheme is born. Annabelle Peyton, determined to save her family from disaster, decides to use her beauty and wit to tempt a suitable nobleman into making an offer of marriage. But Annabelle’s most intriguing–and persistent–admirer, wealthy, powerful Simon Hunt, has made it clear that while he will introduce her to irresistible pleasure he will not offer marriage. Annabelle is determined to resist his unthinkable proposition … but it is impossible in the face of such skillful seduction. Her friends, looking to help, conspire to entice a more suitable gentleman to offer for Annabelle, for only then will she be safe from Simon–and her own longings. But on one summer night, Annabelle succumbs to Simon’s passionate embrace and tempting kisses … and she discovers that love is the most dangerous game of all.

Read an excerpt.

Other books in the series:

I liked C2′s idea of a Best of 2008 list.  Then Liv got into the action, so thought I’d give it a try too.  (Of course, mine are the best of the bunch.)  I was never one to keep track of my reads, and 2008 was the first time I’ve done that; therefore, this list, though difficult to choose just a few in the long run, was easy for me since I didn’t have to rely on a twelve-month memory.

So here’s my Best of 2008, in no particular order.

Blue-Eyed Devil by Lisa Kleypas
Contemporary Romance Audiobook released by Brilliance Audio 25 Mar 08

Actually, I drooled over Hardy Cates while listening to him with the audiobook of Blue-Eyed Devil. My first foray (including Sugar Daddy) into Kleypas books and I loved every darned minute of it!

Weddings Can Be Murder by Christie Craig
Contemporary Romance released by Love Spell 27 May 08

I never thought I would fall in love with a hero who’s a sympathy puker.  Don’t wrinkle your nose!  Read the book, it’s hilarious! Christie Craig is making a huge name for herself and her wonderful humor.
Double Enchantment by Kathryne Kennedy
Historical Paranormal Romance released by Love Spell 26 Aug 08

A breath of fresh air with a new take on the English social castes.  Fun, intriguing, and very romantic. And loads of magic along with shapeshifting, both of which give readers a different look at old favorites.

Superb and Sexy by Jill Shalvis
Contemporary Romance released by Brava 1 Jun 08

Really, you can interchange any one of the three Sexy books in here. Just love those Sky High Men! Ms. Shalvis has a way with humor, romance, mystery, and fun.

Killer Charms by Marianne Stillings
Contemporary Romance released by Avon 26 Aug 08

I enjoyed all three books about the Darling family, but it’s the hero of this one that gave it top honors for me in 2008. I’ll definitely be reading more of Ms. Stillings.

King of Sword and Sky (Tairen Soul, Book 3) by C.L. Wilson
Paranormal Fantasy Romance released by Leisure Books 30 Sep 08

With just one more book to go, this series is now my favorite of all time. Ms. Wilson has created a world that is just absolutely fantastic and she’s giving us a love story like no other.

Hostage to Pleasure by Nalini Singh
Release by Berkley 2 Sep 08

I’ve loved every book in this series.  They’re all incredible.  But Dorian has always been my favorite from the very first book and I’d anticipated his story for so long.  Ms. Singh did not disappoint!

Scandalous by Night by Barbara Pierce
Historical Romance released by St. Martin’s Paperbacks 29 Jul 08

Barbara Pierce has become an all-time favorite historical author for me.  This book she gave readers a darker side of her writing and Everod is her best hero yet.

With Every Breath by Lynn Kurland
Time Travel Romance released by Jove 27 May 08

Beautiful writing, sweeping Scottish vistas, love and romance that crosses time boundaries, and characters you’ll love forever. What’s not to love?

The Missing by Shiloh Walker
Contemporary Paranormal Romance released by Berkley Trade 4 Nov 08

As I said in my review of this book, Ms. Walker has outdone herself with this one.  Absolutely mesmerizing.  If you haven’t read it, you should.  You’re missing out, big time.

Honorable mentions:

Ask Adam by Jess Dee
Contemporary Romance released by Samhain 29 Jul 08

Ms. Dee is a first-time author for me and I enjoyed her writing and storytelling immensely.  I have a feeling she’s really going to go places!

The Hot Line by Cathryn Fox
Contemporary Romance released by NAL 4 Mar 08

Another first-time author for me. Had to love the idea of the Hot Line, firefighters just waiting to help a lady out. And those boys know what they’re doing!

Enough said. 3 Guesses as to who wrote this post (i.e., unsurprising I’m the one who wrote this.)

Here at The Good, The Bad, [and] The Unread (TGTBTU/ The Pond) we’re giving away an ARC of Smooth Talking Stranger by Lisa Kleypas. That’s a pretty special giveaway, so for once we’re making you do a bit more work.

We’re not fond of cheating, so email your answers to theduckeez@gmail.com. Do not post answers here. If you do, we will curse you and the evil duckling will find you and beat you to death. And the comment will be deleted if it has the answers. Discussion comments are fine and welcome.

A word to the wise – all the answers can be found here, on this blog, or on Ms. Kleypas’s website (or the real no brainers which if you can’t find you don’t deserve to win e.g. book release dates). Without further ado… good luck!

1. What is the release date for Smooth Talking Stranger? Who is the publisher?

2. What are the names of the hero and heroine in Smooth Talking Stranger?

3. Lisa was first published at the infant age of…?

4. How many books are listed on Lisa’s a) historical page b) contemporary page?

5. RITA award(s). Lisa. Go. [Yes? No? If so what book(s)?]

6. What was the release date for A Wallflower Christmas? The Publisher?

7. In the passage/excerpt from Blue-Eyed Devil, where a female on the radio is singing “Summertime” – when Hardy visits Haven in her office, where does he say he wants to take her?

8. Which Lisa Kleypas book/hero does Sybil MADLY LOVE? (Hint: It’s the same. Also, fyi, this site is Syb’s “brain child.”)

9. A gimme question… has Lisa Kleypas ever had a guest author day/visited at the pond? (Bonus points if you find the dates- but you really don’t have to.)

10. How many characters are on the “Book-Hopping Characters” page at Lisa’s site. Which is your favorite, and why? (Bonus points if you pick mine! … kidding… OR AM I?)

11. Bonus question!: Explain/reason the cover of “Smooth Talking Stranger.” (Obviously there’s no right/wrong answer here.)

12. Double Bonus: Why are there so many reviewers at the pond with “L” names? (This is for pure entertainment value.)

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Ah yes, and HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

p.s. – you’re allowed to ignore the “bonus” parts.

p.p.s. – bonus points for writing out, and translating all the Latin abbreviations

I really like Lisa Kleypas‘s novels. I’m sure you all know that. I don’t know Ms. Kleypas as a person, but I’m sure I’d like her in real life as well. Regardless, I can wax poetic on a number of her novels. Prince of Dreams, Dreaming of You, Suddenly You, and Because You’re Mine are some of my favorites.

But this is a post about the Wallflower Series. (I suppose I could talk about the most recent A Wallflower Christmas, but … why when you can win one and find out for yourself?)

Opinions seem to differ vastly about this series… but I really like Secrets of a Summer Night. Maybe because I’m traditional, or I just have major positive association with it because it was first. Accordingly, I’ve found a passage I liked. (Ok, I admit I basically thumbed through pages, and stopped, and voila! But it is cute. Not a sexy tension filled scene, but pretty adorable all the same.)

“Mr. Hunt,” she said carefully, “there is something I must ask you…”

“Yes?” His eyes were definitely his most attractive feature, Annabelle thought distractedly. Vibrant and full of life, they made her wonder why people generally preferred blue eyes to dark ones. No shade of blue could ever convey the simmering intelligence that lurked in the depths of Simon Hunt’s sable eyes.

Try as she might, Annabelle could think of no subtle way to ask him. After grappling silently with a variety of phrases, she finally settled for a blunt question. “Were you responsible for the boots?”

His expression gave nothing away. “Boots? I’m afraid I don’t take your meaning, Miss Peyton. Are you speaking in metaphor, or are we talking about actual footwear?”

“Ankle boots,” Annabelle said, staring at him with open suspicion. “A new pair that was left inside the door of my room yesterday.”

“Delighted as I am to discuss any part of your wardrobe, Miss Peyton, I’m afraid I know nothing about a pair of boots. However, I am relieved that you have managed to acquire some. Unless, of course, you wished to continue acting as a strolling buffet to the wildlife of Hampshire.”

Annabelle regarded him for a long moment. Despite his denial, there was something lurking behind his neutral facade…some playful spark in his eyes… “Then you deny having given the boots to me?”

“Most emphatically I deny it.”

“But I wonder…if some one wished to have a pair of boots made up for a lady without her knowledge… how would he be able to learn the precise size of her feet?”

“That would be a relatively simple task…” he mused. “I imagine that some enterprising person would simply ask a housemaid to trace the soles of the lady’s discarded slippers. Then he could take the pattern to the local cobbler. And make it worth the cobbler’s while to delay his other work in favor of crafting the new shoes immediately.”

“That is quite a lot of trouble for someone to go through,” Annabelle murmured.

Hunt’s gaze was lit with sudden mischief. “Rather less trouble than having to haul an injured woman up three flights of stairs every time she goes out walking in her slippers.”

Annabelle realized that he would never admit to giving her the boots-which would allow her to keep them, but would also ensure that she would never be able to thank him. And she knew he had-she could see it in his face.

“Mr. Hunt,” she said earnestly, “I …I wish…” She paused, unable to find words, and stared helplessly at him.

Taking pity on her, Hunt stood and went to the side of the room, picking up a small circular game table. It was only about two feet in diameter, constructed with a clever mechanism to allow a player to flip the top from a chessboard to a draughtsboard. “Do you play?” he asked casually, setting the table in front of her.

“Draughts? Yes, occasionally-”

“No, not draughts. Chess.”

Annabelle shook her head, shrinking back into the corner of the settee. “No, I’ve never played chess. And I don’t wish to sound uncooperative, but… the way I feel at present, I have no desire to try something as difficult as-”

“It’s time for you to learn, then,” Hunt said, heading to a niche of shelves to retrieve a polished burl-wood box. “It’s been said that you can never really know someone until you play chess with him.”

Annabelle watched him cautiously, feeling nervous at the prospect of being alone with him …and yet she was thoroughly beguiled by his deliberate gentleness. It seemed almost as if he were trying to coax her to trust him. There was a softness in his manner that seemed utterly at odds with the cynical rake she had always known him to be.

“Do you believe that?” she asked.

“Of course not.” Hunt brought the box to the table and opened it to reveal a set of onyx and ivory chessmen, carved in scrupulous detail. He slid her a provocative glance. “The truth is, you can never really know a man until you’ve loaned him money. And you can never know a woman until you’ve slept in her bed.”

Next, is It Happened One Autumn. I’m not sure why but Lillian and Westcliff, while great, aren’t my favorite characters. I think Lillian’s personality is way too different/foreign from mine. And Westcliff while “perfect” isn’t that personable. But there’s definitely one part that comes to mind.

“My lord.”

…”Yes, Salter,” he said brusquely, resenting the interruption.

“There is a…a situation, my lord, that I felt certain you would wish to be informed of.”

“What kind of situation?”

“It involves one of the guests, my lord.”

“Well?” Marcus demanded, annoyed by the butler’s diffidence. “Who is it? And what is he doing?”

“I am afraid the person is a ‘she,’ my lord. One of the footmen has just informed me that he saw Miss Bowman in the library, and she is…not well.”

Marcus stood so suddenly that his chair nearly toppled over. “Which Miss Bowman?”

“I do not know, my lord.”

“What do you mean, ‘not well’? Is anyone with her?”

“I do not believe so, my lord.”

“Is she hurt? Is she ill?”

Salter gave him a mildly harried stare. “Neither, my lord. Merely …not well.”

…His hands gripped into white-knuckled balls, and his pace quickened. It seemed to take forever to reach the library. By the time he crossed the threshold, his heart was driving in sharp blows inside his chest …a rhythm that owed nothing to exertion and everything to panic. What he saw caused him to stop short in the center of the large room.

Lillian stood before a row of books, with a pile of them surrounding her on the floor. She was pulling rare volumes from the shelves one by one, examining each with a puzzled frown and then tossing it heedlessly behind her. She seemed oddly languid, as if she were moving under water. And her hair was slipping from its pins. She didn’t look ill, precisely. In fact, she looked…

Becoming aware of his presence, Lillian glanced over her shoulder with a lopsided smile. “Oh. It’s you,” she said, her voice slurred. Her attention wandered back to the shelves. “I can’t find anything. All these books are so deadly dull…”

Frowning in concern, Marcus approached her while she continued to chatter and sort through the books. “Not this one…nor this one…oh no, no, no, this one’s not even in English…”

Marcus’s panic transformed rapidly into outrage, followed swiftly by amusement. Damnation. If he had required additional proof that Lillian Bowman was utterly wrong for him, this was it. The wife of a Marsden would never sneak into the library and drink until she was, as his mother would phrase it, “a trifle disguised.” Staring into her drowsy dark eyes and flushed face, Marcus amended the phrase. Lillian was not disguised. She was foxed, staggering, tap-hackled, top-heavy, shot-in-the-neck, staggering drunk.

More books sailed through the air, one of them narrowly missing his ear.

“Perhaps I could help,” Marcus suggested pleasantly, stopping beside her. “If you would tell me what you’re looking for.”

“Something romantic. Something with a happy ending. There should always be a happy ending, shouldn’ there?”

Marcus reached out to finger a trailing lock of her hair, his thumb sliding along the glowing satin filaments. He had never thought of himself as a particularly tactile man, but it seemed impossible to keep from touching her when she was near. The pleasure he derived from the simplest contact with her set all his nerves alight. “Not always,” he said in reply to her question.

Lillian let out a bubbling laugh. “How very English of you. How you all love to suffer, with your stiff… stiff…” She peered at the book in her hands, distracted by the gilt on its cover. “…upper lips,” she finished absently.

“We don’t like to suffer.”

“Yes, you do. At the very least, you go out of your way to avoid enjoying something.”

By now Marcus was becoming accustomed to the unique mixture of lust and amusement that she always managed to arouse in him. “There’s nothing wrong with keeping one’s enjoyments private.”

Dropping the book in her hands, Lillian turned to face him. The abruptness of the movement resulted in a sharp wobble, and she swayed back against the shelves even as he moved to steady her with his hands at her waist. Her tip-tilted eyes sparkled like an array of diamonds scattered over brown velvet. “It has nothing to do with privacy,” she informed him. “The truth is that you don’t want to be happy, bec-” She hiccupped gently. “Because it would undermine your dignity. Poor Wes’cliff.” She regarded him compassionately.

At the moment, preserving his dignity was the last thing on Marcus’s mind. He grasped the frame of the bookcase on either side of her, encompassing her in the half circle of his arms. As he caught a whiff of her breath, he shook his head and murmured, “Little one…what have you been drinking?”

“Oh…” She ducked beneath his arm and careened to the sideboard a few feet away. “I’ll show you… wonderful, wonderful stuff… this.” Triumphantly she plucked a nearly empty brandy bottle from the edge of the sideboard and held it by the neck. “Look what someone did…a pear, right inside! Isn’ that clever?” Bringing the bottle close to her face, she squinted at the imprisoned fruit. “It wasn’ very good at first. But it improved after a while. I suppose it’s an ac”-another delicate hiccup- “acquired taste.”

“It appears you’ve succeeded in acquiring it,” Marcus remarked, following her.

“You won’ tell anyone, will you?”

“No,” he promised gravely. “But I’m afraid they’re going to know regardless. Unless we can sober you in the next two or three hours before they return. Lillian, my angel …how much was in the bottle when you started?”

Showing him the bottle, she put her finger a third of the way from the bottom. “It was there when I started. I think. Or maybe there.” She frowned sadly at the bottle. “Now all that’s left is the pear.” She swirled the bottle, making the plump fruit slosh juicily at the bottom. “I want to eat it,” she announced.

“It’s not meant to be eaten. It’s only there to infuse the-Lillian, give the damned thing to me.”

“I am going to eat it.” Lillian tottered drunkenly away from him as she shook the bottle with increasing resolve. “If I can just get it out…”

“You can’t. It’s impossible.”

“Impossible?” she scoffed, lurching to face him. “You have servants who can pull the brains from a calf’s head, but they couldn’ get one little pear out of a bottle? I doubt that. Send for one of your under-butlers-just give a whistle, and-oh, I forgot. You can’t whistle.” She focused on him, her eyes narrowing as she stared at his mouth. “That’s the sillies’ thing I ever heard. Everyone can whistle. I’ll teach you. Right now. Pucker your lips. Like this. Pucker… see?”

Marcus caught her in his arms as she swayed before him. Staring down at her adorably pursed lips, he felt an insistent warmth invading his heart, overflowing and spilling past its fretted barriers. God in heaven, he was tired of fighting his desire for her. It was exhausting to struggle against something so overwhelming. Like trying not to breathe.

Lillian stared at him earnestly, seeming puzzled by his refusal to comply. “No, no, not like that. Like this.” The bottle dropped to the carpet. She reached up to his mouth and tried to shape his lips with her fingers. “Rest your tongue on the edge of your teeth and…it’s all about the tongue, really. If you’re agile with your tongue, you’ll be a very, very good”-she was temporarily interrupted as he covered her mouth with a brief, ravening kiss-”whistler. My lord, I can’t talk when you-” He fitted his mouth to hers again, devouring the sweet brandied taste of her.

She leaned against him helplessly, her fingers sliding into his hair, while her breath struck his cheek in rapid, delicate puffs. A tide of sensual urgency rolled through him as the kiss deepened into full-blown compulsion. The memory of their encounter in the hidden garden had haunted him for days …the delicacy of her skin beneath his hands, her small, exquisite breasts, the enticing strength of her legs. He wanted to feel her wrapped around him, her hands clutching his back, her knees clamped around his hips…the silky-wet caress of her body as he moved inside her.

Pulling her head back, Lillian stared at him with wondering eyes, her lips damp and reddened. Her hands left his hair, her fingertips coming to the hard angles of his cheekbones, delicate strokes of coolness on the blazing heat of his skin. He bent his head, nuzzling his jaw against the pale silk of her palm. “Lillian,” he whispered, “I’ve tried to leave you alone. But I can’t do it anymore. In the past two weeks I’ve had to stop myself a thousand times from coming to you. No matter how often I tell myself that you are the most inappropriate…” He paused as she squirmed suddenly, twisting and craning her neck to look down at the floor. “No matter what I-Lillian, are you listening to me? What the devil are you looking for?”

“My pear. I dropped it, and-oh, there it is.” She broke free of him and sank to her hands and knees, reaching beneath a chair. Pulling out the brandy bottle, she sat on the floor and held it in her lap.

“Lillian, forget the damned pear.”

“How did it get in there, d’you think?” She poked her finger experimentally into the neck of the bottle. “I don’ see how something so big could fit into a hole that small.”

Marcus closed his eyes against a surge of aggravated passion, and his voice cracked as he replied. “They… they put it directly on the tree. The bud grows …inside…” He slitted his eyes open and squeezed them shut again as he saw her finger intruding deeper into the bottle. “Grows…” he forced himself to continue, “until the fruit is ripe.”

Lillian seemed rather too impressed by the information. “They do? That is the cleverest, cleverest …a pear in its own little…oh no.”

“What?” Marcus asked through clenched teeth.

“My finger’s stuck.”

… and you know, the rest gets even better

Ok – I can’t resist. One more impassioned paragraph.

“It wasn’t a meaningless act for me either,” Marcus said, his raspy whisper tickling her ear. “Yesterday I finally realized that all the things I thought were wrong about you were actually the things I enjoyed most. I don’t give a damn what you do, so long as it pleases you. Run barefoot on the front lawn. Eat pudding with your fingers. Tell me to go to hell as often as you like. I want you just as you are. After all, you’re the only woman aside from my sisters who has ever dared to tell me to my face that I’m an arrogant ass. How could I resist you?” His mouth moved to the soft cushion of her cheek. “My dearest Lillian,” he whispered, easing her head back to kiss her eyelids. “If I had the gift of poetry, I would shower you with sonnets. But words have always been difficult for me when my feelings are strongest. And there is one word in particular that I can’t bring myself to say to you…‘goodbye.’ I couldn’t bear the sight of you walking away from me. If you won’t marry me for the sake of your own honor, then do it for the sake of everyone who would have to tolerate me otherwise. Marry me because I need someone who will help me to laugh at myself. Because someone has to teach me how to whistle. Marry me, Lillian…because I have the most irresistible fascination for your ears.”

Now… Devil in Winter is my favorite of the series. Evie is so likable, and St. Vincent – well, enough said there, yes? Without further ado… here is your [naughty] excerpt:

Sebastian pulled Evie inside the club, where the silence was startling after the tumult of the alley. She labored to keep pace with his ground-eating strides, her own breath coming fast by the time they reached the reading room on the main floor. The built-in mahogany shelves were filled with leather volumes. Against the walls, a multitude of papers and periodicals were draped over racks made with rows of clever movable dowels. Pushing Evie into the room, Sebastian closed them both inside with a decisive slam.

“Were you hurt?” he asked roughly.

“No.” Evie tried to hold back her next words, but they came out in a burst of resentment. “Why were you gone for so long? I needed you, and you weren’t here!”

“You had thirty employees to protect you. Why did you go downstairs in the first place? You should have stayed upstairs until you knew for certain who was outside.”

“Mr. Bullard told me that Annabelle Hunt was waiting for me. And then when I saw that it was my uncle, Bullard wouldn’t let me back inside the club. He pushed me right into my uncle’s arms.”

“My God.” Sebastian’s eyes widened. “I’m going to disembowel him, the gutter scum-”

“And while all that was happening,” Evie continued wrathfully, “you were in bed with a prostitute!” As the words left her lips, she realized that to her, this was the crux of the matter…even more important than Bullard’s betrayal, or her uncles’ assault, her emotions were roiling at the fact that Sebastian had betrayed her so soon with another woman.

Sebastian focused on her with an alert gaze. “I wasn’t.”

“Don’t lie,” Evie said, while their mutual fury seethed in the air. “I know you were.”

“Why are you so bloody certain?”

“Because you stayed at Madam Bradshaw’s for more than two hours!”

“I was talking about business. Talking, Evie! If you don’t believe that, then you can go to hell. Because if I had slept with someone, I guarantee you that I would be a lot more relaxed than I am now.”

Staring into Sebastian’s eyes, which were as hard as a frozen pond, Evie felt her outrage begin to drain away. She had no choice but to believe him-his offended anger was obvious.

“Oh,” she muttered.

“Oh? That’s all you have to say?”

“I suppose…I shouldn’t have jumped to conclusions. But knowing what I do of your past…I assumed…”

Her lame attempt at an apology seemed to erode the remnants of Sebastian’s self-control. “Well, your assumption was wrong! If you haven’t yet noticed, I’m busier than the devil in a high wind, every minute of the day. I don’t have the damned time for a tumble. And if I did-” He stopped abruptly. All semblance of the elegant viscount Evie had once watched from afar in Lord Westcliff’s drawing room had vanished. He was rumpled and bruised and furious. And he wasn’t breathing at all well. “If I did-” He broke off again, a flush crossing the crests of his cheeks and the bridge of his nose.

Evie saw the exact moment when his self-restraint snapped. Alarm jolted through her, and she lurched toward the closed door. Before she had even made a step, she found herself seized and pinned against the wall by his body and hands. The smell of sweat-dampened linen and healthy, aroused male filled her nostrils.

Once he had caught her, Sebastian pressed his parted lips against the thin skin of her temple. His breath snagged. Another moment of stillness. Evie felt the electrifying touch of his tongue at the very tip of her eyebrow. He breathed against the tiny wet spot, a waft of hellfire that sent chills through her entire body. Slowly he brought his mouth to her ear, and traced the intricate inner edges.

His whisper seemed to come from the darkest recesses of her own mind. “If I did, Evie…then by now I would have shredded your clothes with my hands and teeth until you were naked. By now I would have pushed you down to the carpet, and put my hands beneath your breasts and lifted them up to my mouth. I would be kissing them…licking them…until the tips were like hard little berries, and then I would bite them so gently…”

Evie felt herself drift into a slow half swoon as he continued in a ragged murmur. “…I would kiss my way down to your thighs…inch by inch…and when I reached those sweet red curls, I would lick through them, deeper and deeper, until I found the little pearl of your clitoris…and I would rest my tongue on it until I felt it throb. I would circle it, and stroke it…I’d lick until you started to beg. And then I would suck you. But not hard. I wouldn’t be that kind. I would do it so lightly, so tenderly, that you would start screaming with the need to come…I would put my tongue inside you…taste you…eat you. I wouldn’t stop until your entire body was wet and shaking. And when I had tortured you enough, I would open your legs and come inside you, and take you…take you…”

Sebastian stopped, anchoring her against the wall while they both remained frozen, aroused, panting.

At length, he spoke in a nearly inaudible voice. “You’re wet, aren’t you?”

(And if you head to Ms. Kleypas’s website, the excerpt is pretty much what follows this immediately.)

And… now I’m starting to creep myself out, because some of my favorite scenes are right around/the same as the excerpts posted on Ms. Kleypas’s site, so now… here’s more bang for the… well not buck because it’s free – but this is the scene right after the excerpt (sexcerpt? for Scandal in Spring)

Matthew knew it was wrong the instant their lips met. Because nothing would ever equal the perfection of Daisy in his arms. He was ruined for life. God help him, he didn’t care.

Her mouth was soft and hot, like sunshine, like the white blaze of a heartwood fire. She gasped as he touched her lower lip with the tip of his tongue. Slowly her hands came to his shoulders, and then he felt her fingers at the back of his head, sliding into his hair to keep him from pulling away. There wasn’t a chance in hell of that happening. Nothing could have made him stop.

A tremor shook his fingers as he bracketed the exquisite line of her jaw in the open framework of his hand, gently angling her face upward. The flavor of her mouth, sweet and elusive, fueled a hunger that threatened to rage out of control…he searched the damp silk beyond her lips, deeper, harder, until she began to breathe in long sighs, her body molding against his.

He let her feel how much stronger he was, how much heavier, one muscular arm clamped along her back, his feet spread to hold her between the powerful length of his thighs. Her upper half was bound in a laced and padded corset. He was almost overcome by a savage desire to tear away the stays and quilting and find the tender flesh beneath.

Instead he sank his fingers into her pinned-up hair and tugged it backward until the weight of her head was cradled in his hand, and her pale throat was exposed. He searched for the pulse he had seen earlier, his lips dragging softly along the secret pathway of nerves beneath her skin. When he reached a sensitive spot, he felt the vibration of her suppressed moan against his mouth.

This was what it would be like to make love to her, he thought dazedly…the sweet shivering of her flesh as he entered her, the delicate chaos of her breath, the helpless sounds that rustled in her throat. Her skin, warm and female, scented like tea and talcum and a trace of salt. He found her mouth again, opened it, delving into wet silk, heat, and an intimate flavor that drove him mad.

She should have struggled, but there was only yielding and more softness, driving him past all limits. He began to ravish her mouth with deep, twisting kisses, bringing her body rhythmically against his. He felt her legs part beneath her gown, his thigh fitting neatly between them. She squirmed with innocent desire, her face blooming with the color of late summer poppies. Had she understood exactly what he wanted from her, she would have done more than blush. She would have fainted on the spot.

Lifting his mouth from hers, Matthew pressed his jaw against the side of her head. “I think,” he said raggedly, “this puts to rest any question of whether I find you desirable or not.”

So there you go – some of my favorite parts from the excellent “Wallflower” series. And… for those of you who read to the end (unless you skipped to the end and then you CHEATED, YOU WHORE) … we’re having a contest! We have a few copies of A Wallflower Christmas to give away… and also an ARC of Smooth Talking Stranger. Believe me, I’m jealous. (More posts will follow about how to get the ARC, so stick around.)

Now most importantly – how do you win A Wallflower Christmas? Comment on any post at TGTBTU that is about the Wallflowers series, or (here’s the catch) my Who Will Win pondering – but on that one you must follow the rules. And obviously this post. Let’s talk some LK love. Tell me about your favorite Wallflower, a quote, scene, etc.

There! Easy peasy! Good luck everyone, and Happy New Year!

[And remember © Lisa Kleypas. All rights reserved]

So I’ve thought about this before (some of you may or may not have seen this on twitter) – but anyway, two of my favorite authors are Susan Elizabeth Phillips, and Lisa Kleypas. I go to both their books as comfort reads. Once a book becomes a “comfort read” I also don’t always read it from cover to cover. I only read my favorite parts. (This may explain my extreme love of Lover Revealed – about half the book doesn’t exist for me!) Anyway, after the 8th or so reading, my mind may wander. Or in general. So now… we’re going to do a romance novel celebrity death match type deal. I’ve never really seen the show, and I heard someone somewhere in the ether of interweb-ness has done this before. Frankly, I don’t care. I haven’t seen it, and am pretty sure I’m not violating any IP laws – in case anyone wants to make a stink about it. (And am almost willing to go read up on the statutes. Just so you know.)

But. WITHOUT further ado… I give you the backlists of the two authors. And Honestly! Which heroes would win their matches? (And to be honest, I think they’re all rather evenly matched.) I also admitto not having read every novel by these authors. Hey – some are nearly impossible to find! Like The Copeland Bride by SEP (yeah – betcha didn’t even know this existed!)

Ok – so I used some of the older covers (I do NOT like some of the new ones) – but don’t worry. The links’ll take you to the newer and available versions. It’s also sad how all of SEPs old book covers are gone.

To start… St. Vincent (Devil in Winter – LK) and Lorenzo Gage (Breathing Room – SEP). Two playboys, who have a lot more depth than expected. Who do you think would win in a throw down, brawl, match (whatever you want to call it)? And/or any of the other heroes?

Ready? Set? GO GO GO!

Devon’s review of A Historical Christmas Present by Lisa Kleypas, Lynsay Sands, and Leigh Greenwood
Historical Romance Anthology released by Love Spell 1 Sep 08

First off, everyone should know that these three novellas have all been published previously. I don’t want anyone to get their hopes up, thinking that a favorite author has a new story out. However, if you haven’t read these stories before, and you’re looking for some entertaining Christmas-themed romance, this is a good bet. While none of the stories were extraordinary, they were all nice, solid reads — a good way to wile away a few hours.

I Will by Lisa Kleypas

In this entry, my favorite of the bunch, Kleypas takes on a familiar story: the hardened rake and the bluestocking spinster who enter into a sham romance, only to find real feelings growing. In a gambit to regain his place in his father’s will, Andrew, Lord Drake asks his friend’s sister, Miss Caroline Hargreaves to feign courtship and an engagement. Although Caroline loathes Drake, she can’t refuse his offer to settle her brother’s debts, then get out of his life.

This was a great story from a dependable author. Although Andrew’s sudden attraction to Caroline seemed contrived, the relationship that developed was romantic and believable. There was a nice chemistry and banter between the two flawed, but charming characters. The love scenes were funny, sweet and hot. If you haven’t read this one, it’s definitely worth it.

Grade: B+

The Summary:
Andrew, Lord Drake, has been cut out of his father’s will because of his dissolute manner of living. To be reinstated, Andrew decides to pretend that he has changed his wicked ways. As part of his plan, he wants to convince his father that he is courting a respectable woman with the intention of marrying her. The problem is, he doesn’t know any decent women, except for his friend’s spinster sister, Miss Caroline Hargreaves. He blackmails the reluctant Caroline into helping him, and so the charade begins . . .(from the author’s site)
No excerpt available.

Three French Hens by Lynsay Sands

Another story involving a charade. In Medieval Britain, a kitchen maid is convinced by a noblewoman to take her place at Christmas festivities and with her unwanted fiancée. Against her better judgment, Brinna agrees, but when the fiancée, Royce, turns out to be very agreeable, she finds herself in a difficult position.

The medieval setting was well-drawn, and I enjoyed Brinna, and her partners in plotting Lady Joan and Lady Sabrina. There was a nice sense of humor, not too over the top. Unfortunately, (and this is a criticism I always seem to have with Sands’ books), I found the hero and the romance to be a bit bland. He was a nice guy, she was a nice gal, and hey, good for them, but it just lacked that oomph. Spark, intensity, whatever you want to call it. But still, it was fun. Totally far-fetched, but do we need stark realism at Christmas?

Grade: B-

The Summary:
In the Year of Our Lord, 1155, Menton Castle was the same as any other: It had nobles and minstrels, knights and servants. Yet from the geat hall to the scullery there were signs that the house was in an uproar. This Yuletide season was to be one of passion and merriment. The master of the keep had returned. (from the author’s site)

Read an excerpt

Father Christmas by Leigh Greenwood

We finish our tour of popular historical settings with a Western. This is the only Christmas baby story in the collection. I always assume that Christmas anthologies will be chock full of babies, so I was happy to see some different storylines. Anyhow, Joe Ryan has busted out of jail and made a beeline for Arizona and the man who stole his gold. He arrives at Pete Wilson’s ranch to find that the man is dead (and unlamented), and that he has left behind a very pregnant widow, and an odd daughter. Joe sticks around for a bit to search for the gold, and finds himself growing attached to Pete’s family.

This one was surprisingly subtle and schmaltz-free, given the set-up: the curmudgeonly fellow softening to bring the joy of Christmas to the troubled girl and her weary stepmother. I only rolled my eyes the teensiest bit when I realized that Joseph and Mary were delivering a baby in a barn. I liked all three main characters, and the story moved along at a nice pace. The romance was a bit rushed and awkward, given that Mary was in bed feeling quite unwell, and was days from giving birth. Not really sexy. But I was glad that these two people, wronged by the same man, found happiness.

Grade: B-

Arizona Territory, 1880. Delivering a young widow’s baby during the holiday season transforms the heart of a lonely drifter. (found on Amazon)
No excerpt available.

Overall Grade: B

The Summary:
Throughout the ages, Christmas has been a time of love and rejoicing. Now, from Dorchester Publishing, comes a selection of three classic tales to warm the hearts of historical romance readers everywhere…

Gwen’s review of Seduce Me At Sunrise (The Hathaways, Book 2) by Lisa Kleypas
Historical romance released by St. Martin’s 30 Sep 08

I love Kleypas’s historicals – some more than others, but they all have a place in my heart.  That’s not to say I don’t enjoy her contemps, but I really love her historicals.  In fact, I found SM@S to be one of her best historicals to date.  There is a richness and believability to her characters, dialog, and settings in SM@S that isn’t always so strong in Kleypas’s books. 

At the beginning of the book, Win Hathaway is an invalid as a result of a brush with scarlet fever.  She comes back from a health spa, besotted doctor in tow, a changed woman.  Her spirit as an invalid was strong – but her body wasn’t.  She returns with a stronger body and the same strong spirit.  She returns with her love of Merripen intact and all but consuming her.  I really enjoyed Win’s character.  The scene near the end with the armoire is classic.  I won’t spoil anything, but it says it all about Win – she’s kind and gentle, but perfectly willing to be ruthless to protect those she loves.

Kev Merripen is sure he isn’t good enough for Win, but he loves her with such a bone-deep passion and commitment that he knows there will never be another woman for him except Win.  His personal torment as he comes to terms with that love, and finally capitulates to it, is a very satisfying part of the story.  Kev is one of my favorite, if not the favorite, Kleypas Hero to date.  His torment is very personal to him – he doesn’t whine or bemoan or complain.  He just suffers quietly.  Those who love him – and all of the Hathaways love him like a brother – eventually see the torment and try to help him and Win come together.  However, it takes an earth-shaking confrontation with Win’s brother to make Kev see what a fool he has been about his feelings for Win.  THAT scene is classic – I loved how it ended with Win’s brother wanting a head start.

This is a very satisfying love story.  As is the case with many of Kleypas’s works, I didn’t find myself distracted from the romance by the setting or the time period.  It could be set in any time period and still be a terrific story.  The emotion is believable and warm.  The story is well-told and nicely paced.  The sub-arcs and character histories revealed here and there are all interesting and really lend strength to the bond between not just the hero and heroine, but all of the main characters.  It can be read easily on its own, but you’ll get more out of it if you read book 1, Mine ‘Til Midnight, first.

Brava, Lisa Kleypas, on another wonderful book.  And hurry with book 3!  I need it!

I highly recommend this to fans of historical and non-historical romance.  Fans of Lisa Kleypas should be in raptures with SM@S.  Now, if only I can find my own Kev Merripen…

Grade: A

Summary:

Kev Merripen has longed for the beautiful, well-bred Winnifred Hathaway ever since her family rescued him from the brink of death when he was just a boy. But this handsome Gypsy is a man of mysterious origins—and he fears that the darkness of his past could crush delicate, luminous Win. So Kev refuses to submit to temptation…and before long Win is torn from him by a devastating twist of fate.

Then, Win returns to England…only to find that Kev has hardened into a man who will deny love at all costs. Meantime, an attractive, seductive suitor has set his sights on Win. It’s now or never for Kev to make his move. But first, he must confront a dangerous secret about his destiny—or risk losing the only woman he has lived for…

Read an excerpt.

Other books in the series:

Lawson’s review of A Wallflower Christmas by Lisa Kleypas
Historical romance released by St. Martin’s 14 Oct 08

A warm return to the lives of the four “Wallflowers” from Secrets of a Summer Night, It Happened One Autumn, The Devil in Winter and Scandal in Spring, and there’s also a new Wallflower introduced in A Wallflower Christmas. Though the four Wallflowers are all part of this story, this story is about Rafe Bowman, Lillian and Daisy’s brother, who has come to England to marry a debutante chosen by his domineering father.

Rafe isn’t very happy about his father trying to control him, but he wants shares in Bowman’s soap operations in Europe. He may even find some form of contentment with the chosen bride and Rafe is happy to be able to stay with his sister Lillian during the proceedings. To get an idea of the prospective bride, Lillian invites her companion, Hannah Appleton, to tea to test the waters where Natalie Parr, debutante is concerned.

The Wallflowers like Hannah and Rafe is instantly attracted to her, though she dresses in drab gowns and isn’t as open as American women. Rafe and Hannah meet again at Stony Cross Park, the Westcliff estate, for the Christmas holidays where it is hoped that Rafe and Natalie will form an attachment. Though he finds Natalie charming, pretty, and amiable, Rafe is instead drawn to Hannah and finds himself opening to her caring and warmth during the holiday season.

Hannah is made into an honorary Wallflower and she does fit well with the other four. She does have a motherly tendency, but as a companion to Natalie, this isn’t very surprising. In one scene, Hannah reads parts of a Christmas Carol to a group of children that is very charming and sweet and shows all her good caring characteristics in the best light, and of course that’s when Rafe really falls hard for her.

Rafe has some of his own issues with caring about people, due mostly to his parents. He’s a rake mainly because the only happiness in his life is making money in speculation and he has a hard relationship with his father. What Rafe sees in Hannah breaks some of the shell around his heart and when he does confess his love it is very passionate and shows a side to Rafe that probably has been buried for a long time.

What was hinted at, but not really explored until this book was the domineering nature and overall controlling aspect of the Bowman patriarch. He’s not happy with himself, his wife, his children and even making money doesn’t seem to bring him any happy feeling. That Rafe, Lillian, and Daisy have been able to be the characters they are with that sort of father and family life shows the depth of each of them to a greater extent.

Unfortunately, things to get a little short. The story is rushed, and it seems more time could have been spent with Rafe and Hannah. There are token appearances from all the Wallflowers and their spouses, which is nice, but again, the whole book is short. It felt as though there was too much being crammed in 220 pages. It’s a cute Christmas story though, and Wallflower fans will enjoy the time with all four in happy endings.

Grade: B-

The Wallflowers are four young ladies in London who banded together in their wild and wickedly wonderful searches for true love. Now happily married, they join together once again to help one of the world’s most notorious rogues realize that happiness might be right under the mistletoe.…

It’s Christmastime in London and Rafe Bowman has arrived from America for his arranged meeting with Natalie Blandford, the very proper and beautiful daughter of Lady and Lord Blandford. His chiseled good looks and imposing physique are sure to impress the lady in waiting and, if it weren’t for his shocking American ways and wild reputation, her hand would already be guaranteed. Before the courtship can begin, Rafe realizes he must learn the rules of London society. But when four former Wallflowers try their hand at matchmaking, no one knows what will happen. And winning a bride turns out to be more complicated than Rafe Bowman anticipated, especially for a man accustomed to getting anything he wants. However, Christmas works in the most unexpected ways, changing a cynic to a romantic and inspiring passion in the most timid of hearts.

A Wallflower Christmas takes a trip to Victorian London, under the mistletoe, and on a journey of the heart. With her trademark charm, sensuality, and unforgettable characters, there’s no one like Lisa Kleypas to make you believe in the magic of Christmas.

Other books in this series:

Lawson’s review of Seduce Me at Sunrise (The Hathaways, Book 2) by Lisa Kleypas
Historical romance released by St. Martins 30 Sep 08

Before I start on anything, everyone reading this needs to take a moment and enjoy, probably for the millionth time, the beautiful red cover on this book. It’s so pretty, isn’t it? And now down to business: the story. Picking up where Mine Till Midnight left off, we see Win, the second Hathaway daughter, leaving England to go to a hospital to get healthy again. One of the major plot points from MtM was Leo and Win’s sufferings after having scarlet fever a couple of years before the action of the book. When Win returns, however, some things have changed.

Win returns to a different situation than when she’d left. Her sister Amelia’s marriage to Cam Rohan has benefited the family, who have some money for once. Her friend, Kev Merripen, who has been with the family for years, has become a harder person since Win left. Both Win and Merripen have been in love for years, but both haven’t done anything about it. Win has decided to move on and is considering an engagement to her doctor, Julian Harrow.

Win is shocked at the changes in Merripen, but with her feelings for Julian, she thinks that things will work out. The family leaves London to go to their country home, which is next door to Stony Cross Park, home of Lord Westcliff (of the Wallflower series). Win is happy to be healthy, in the country and being able to live her life for herself, though she chafes under some of her family’s well meaning care. What bothers Win the most are the changes in Merripen, who she had been very close to, and their arguments about what is best for Win and her life lead to some excellent scenes.

Win is a great leading lady. She’s been used to being the invalid of the family after her bout with scarlet fever left her very weak. Coming back from the hospital with Dr. Harrow helped not only her health, but her self esteem has improved enough that she stands up for herself to her family and to Merripen. She also tries to go after what she wants, which is Merripen, and though he rebuffs her due to his own fears, Win is able to convince him of his errors in judgment.

Merripen is a great foil for Win. Where she’s delicate and ladylike (but not weak) he’s strong and earthy. His life as a gypsy before coming to live with the Hathaways wasn’t easy, and he bonded with Win easily, though since he’s much taller and more muscular is always afraid that he’ll hurt Win. His realization that she is his woman and his steps to make everyone see that as well (especially Julian) shows the extremely passionate side of Merripen and makes him an excellent hero.

What makes this book so well done is the relationships of Win and Merripen, not only with each other, but with the other members of the family. Leo is definitely changed since MtM (he went to the hospital with Win and did some recovery himself). The way that Leo has matured makes me wonder when his story will come, and who will be a good match for him. The younger sisters, Poppy and Beatrice, have a new governess to help ease them into society, though of course, they are rather exuberant but they are endearing to their governess (who has some clashes with Leo and Bea’s pet ferret).

There’s also the discovery of Merripen’s gypsy family and the continuation of Cam’s search for his gypsy roots, and yes, the reason why Cam and Merripen have similar tattoos is also revealed. To tell the whys and hows, of course would be spoilers, and no, I’m not going to do that. But it’s a beautiful, passionate story with two characters that have lots of growth and get a very touching happily ever after. All with some humor, family and some satisfying endings, as well as beginnings along the way.

Grade: A

Kev Merripen has longed for the beautiful, well-bred Winnifred Hathaway ever since her family rescued him from the brink of death when he was just a boy. But this handsome Gypsy is a man of mysterious origins—and he fears that the darkness of his past could crush delicate, luminous Win. So Kev refuses to submit to temptation…and before long Win is torn from him by a devastating twist of fate.

Then, Win returns to England…only to find that Kev has hardened into a man who will deny love at all costs. Meantime, an attractive, seductive suitor has set his sights on Win. It’s now or never for Kev to make his move. But first, he must confront a dangerous secret about his destiny—or risk losing the only woman he has lived for…

Read an excerpt.

Other books in this series:

Wendy isn’t around don’t worry, tis ok *eg*

What Xmas themed books are you looking forward to? Since they seem to come out in Oct

A Wallflower excerpt here

Well, it’s taken me a week to recuperate and get back into the swing of things since I got home from San Francisco.  Was it all worth it?  Damn straight!

I was supposed to be at the RWA National Conference as a writer.  I started writing only a year or so ago, so I was really looking forward to learning more about the craft.  But who was I trying to kid?  I was 99.9% reader in San Francisco.   I couldn’t help myself.  Everywhere I looked were authors I’d been reading for years, authors who I just discovered, and even newer authors who I hadn’t yet discovered while at the conference.   And the books!  You’ve all seen my TBR mountain.  You all know how bad my addiction is.  There was no way in hell anyone could have kept me away from the books in the city by the bay, no matter how they tried.  So while I did learn a little, I had a dream of a week just schmoozing and staring in awe the majority of the week.

I had some wonderful highlights during the hustle and bustle of the conference.  The first was meeting two of my all-time favorite authors, who have also become friends.  First is Sandy Blair.  I started reading her books because of the time travel elements that appear every so often in her Scottish historicals.  But I joined her fan club because she’s one of the nicest, sweetest ladies I’ve ever met.  So it was a thrill, indeed, to meet her in person.  We had lunch together a couple of times, had drinks together, just chatted, laughed our tails off — she’s a great storyteller even outside of her books — and I enjoyed my time with her immensely.  I will remember each and every one of those moments forever.

Added to all that, I found some friends to get re-acquainted with while schmoozing with Sandy B.  It was great to meet author Tracy Garrett since getting to know her when I interviewed her online last year, and soon-to-be-published-I-just-know-it Suzy Welsh from the Romance Bandits is a hoot and a half and it was nice to chat with her outside Sandy B’s group.  I also met author Jo Davis, who just had her debut book, Trial by Fire, released last week.  You know, I started talkin’ with a southern accent after spending time with all those Texas ladies!

My next highlight came when I met author C.L. Wilson.  We’ve been chatting online for the last year or so after the release of her first two books, Lord of the Fading Lands and Lady of Light and Shadows.  Her series of Fae and magic and flying jaguars has captured not only my imagination, but the world’s.  It was so enjoyable meeting this lady who has such a lyrical voice when writing, an imagination that takes you away into fantasy so that you never want to leave.  Cheryl is a delight.  She’s so friendly, open and honest, and getting to know her was a pleasure.  She also joined Sandy B. and me for lunch on our first day in San Francisco. Let me tell you, I haven’t laughed so darned much and so darned hard in a very long time.   Author Susan Edwards also joined us at lunch, along with several other friends, and a good time was had by all and another wonderful memory was made.

If you haven’t read Cheryl’s books yet, you should.  There’s very few authors out there who can string ordinary words together and make them sing like Cheryl.  The next two books in the series, King of Sword and Sky and Queen of Song and Souls,  are being released this October and February 2009, respectively.  Start now and I guarantee you will be mesmerized and anxiously awaiting those new release dates.

Then there’s the Goody Room that’s a highlight at every conference.  My heavens, what an oasis and/or cacophony, depending on how you look at it and when you were there, of activity and goodies that was.  And everything there was free!  Books, buttons, bookmarks, candy, ink pens, CDs enticing you with book excerpts, business cards and flyers advertising anything and everything, and so much more filled table after table throughout the room.  You had to be quick in that room too.  No thinking you can come back later and pick up whatever you were looking at.  No guarantees whatsoever.  You had to make quick decisions and stick with them!

The Literacy Signing on Wednesday night was almost ovewhelming.  500 authors just waiting for you to walk up, chat for a minute, and buy a book.  What reader wouldn’t be in heaven while in that room?  I met more authors there who I’d corresponded with online or had gotten a thank you for reviewing their book:  Melissa Mayhue, Nancy Haddock, Lorraine Heath, Jill Shalvis, Lisa Kleypas, Kresley Cole, Kathryn Smith, Lynda Sandoval, just to name a few.  Then there were the authors that I’d read and loved for so long and newer authors who have given me hours of reading pleasure: Shana Galen, Jennifer Ashley, Shana Abe, Susan Crandall, Marianne Stillings, Christina Dodd, Julia Quinn, Gena Showalter, Elizabeth Hoyt, Bonnie Edwards and the list goes on and on.  And so many more than I’ll ever be able to remember!  It was a spectacular night and all topped off quite nicely when we learned the next day approximately $60,000 had been raised for literacy.  Good show!

There were other book signings the last days of the conference, and I had been warned to take large totes, rolling and handheld, and to be prepared to ship box after box of books home.  Pffft.  We were able to drive to San Francisco, who needs to ship the books back home?  I did.  Four of them.  Four big, big boxes of books.  I’m glad I took all the advice given to me. I definitely went prepared and I’m sure I was a sight lugging all those books across that big old hotel for two days!

My last huge highlight was meeting author Melissa Mayhue for dinner at Bubba Gump’s on Pier 39 our last free night of the week.  What a lovely lady!  Not only is she a wonderfully talented author, Melissa is one of the sincerest, kindest people I’ve ever met.  And there’s something about authors and humor.  Twelve women together with writing in common and we laughed and laughed.  And laughed.  For several hours.  I made a few more new friends that night and hope to keep in touch in the future.

In fact, I made new friends throughout the entire week, even some from my area.  It was a great time to share experiences and knowledge and I’m so glad I was part of it.  It was a time in my life that will never be forgotten, even when I attend another conference in the future.  The first time is special and the people I met will always have just as special a place in my heart.

Oh, the writer in me?  Yes, I did go to workshops and I did learn some.  So maybe the next time I’ll have more percentage points on the writing part of it all.  I have a feeling, though, the reader in me will emerge once again because she just has to be part of the fun.