The Wrong Girl
I’ve just added the entire first chapter of THE WRONG GIRL. This book is a YA historical paranormal romance, similar to the Emily Chambers books. It’s the first in the FREAK HOUSE TRILOGY. Read chapter 1 here.
Courting His Countess
It’s new release time again! I’m pleased as punch to announce that my historical romance novella, COURTING HIS COUNTESS, has been released. I’ve had this story ready for a while and have been waiting for the cover which finally arrived tonight. So now I get to do a cover-reveal and release all together. What do you think?
I think it’s gorgeous but of course I’m biased. Is it historically accurate? With that dress? Um, no. It’s incredibly difficult for an independent author and her cover artist to find stock images where the models are wearing Elizabethan costume. I think I can count the number of images I’ve seen on one hand. It’s unfortunate but is something we have to work with, and I think my artist and I came up with the best that we could. I hope you agree.
So what’s COURTING HIS COUNTESS About?
Here’s the blurb:
The last woman Thomas, Lord Avondale, expected to fall in love with was the wife he betrayed and abandoned six years ago. When Rose doesn’t accept his apology, however, he loses all hope of a happy future together. Yet he’s thankful she has agreed to come to his bed to beget an heir.
Known as the Ice Maiden at Queen Elizabeth I’s court, Rose has been trying to forget the man she once loved—a love she thought destroyed after he spent their wedding night with his mistress. Withstanding Thomas’s charms, however, is proving more difficult than she expected.
Can she forgive the ultimate betrayal?
Can he ever atone for what he did?
One last thing to note – COURTING HIS COUNTESSÂ is novella-length, which means it’s shorter than a book. This one comes in about 22,000 words which is approximately one-quarter the size of my other historical romances. I’ve priced it as low as I am able.
The Blurb Mentions Betrayal. Uh-oh.
So you noticed that. Um, yeah, the hero cheated on the heroine on their wedding night, several years before the opening of the story. I won’t hide from that fact (and nor do the characters). Avid romance readers understand this a huge no-no in the genre. It’s a big turn-off for many readers. So why did I write it knowing you may hate it? I just had to. It might sound mad, and perhaps we writers are a little crazy, but the characters wouldn’t stop bugging me. I had to write their story to get them out of my head.
Here’s what I’m adding to the blurb on the product page of the book where I am able:
COURTING HIS COUNTESS may be shorter than most of my other books, but it was one of the most difficult stories I’ve written. What Thomas did to his wife is despicable, and when I began, I didn’t think I could make you, the reader, believe he was hero material. Yet the characters and their tale wouldn’t leave my head, nor would the opening lines, so I wrote the story anyway.
As I progressed, and especially when I switched to Thomas’s viewpoint, I realized how very male he was being, and part of me started to feel sorry for him. Being a nobleman of his time, he just didn’t get it. Not until he finally saw how his actions had affected a wonderful, strong woman.
COURTING HIS COUNTESS breaks one of the “rules” of the romance genre, and I know some of you will find Thomas’s actions unforgiveable. I certainly don’t blame you for that! But I’ve never been very good at sticking to the rules, and I hope you don’t blame ME for listening to the voices in my head.
So there you have it. Rightly or wrongly, COURTING HIS COUNTESS is now available at all the main ebook retailers (or will be soon if you can’t find it yet). Check out the book’s page here on my website for direct links or read an excerpt.
