COUNTESS OF SCANDAL Winner!

We have a winner for Laurel McKee's COUNTESS OF SCANDAL guest blog. A free copy goes to:

PENNEY!

Contact Carrie to provide your mailing address. The book must be claimed by next Sunday or another winner will be drawn. Please stop back later to let us know what you thought! Congratulations!

Guest Author: Laurel McKee

After a slight technical glitch, I'm posting the correct interview. Yay!

This week we're welcoming the return of Amanda McCabe, writing as Laurel McKee, as she celebrates the release of COUNTESS OF SCANDAL, out now from Grand Central.

Eliza Blacknall and Will Denton were childhood sweethearts, growing up on neighboring estates in beautiful County Kildare. But adulthood finds them on opposite sides of the monumental and violent struggle of 1798, as Eliza supports the United Irish in their quest for independence, and Will is a major in the British Army, sworn to uphold the Crown. The passion for each other burns hotter than ever—but can it survive as their world crumbles around them?

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"McKee sets the stage for a romantic adventure that captures the spirit of Ireland and a pair of star-crossed lovers to perfection" -- RT Book Reviews

"COUNTESS OF SCANDAL combines a passionate romance with a nail-biting plot. The author's research shines through to make the era come alive, as well as her characters. An exciting tale out of the common mold" -- Romance Reviews Today

"This book has rarely used and well-drawn setting, good characters, and so much more working in its favor. I absolutely loved reading this one!" -- All About Romance

"McKee's intriguingly nuanced characters and deliciously subtle sense of humor provide the ideal counterpoint to the perfectly executed historical setting that gives COUNTESS OF SCANDAL its refreshingly different literary flavor" -- Booklist

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Tell us about COUNTESS OF SCANDAL!

First, I have to say thank you so much for having me back at Unusual Historicals! I'm obviously a huge fan of the "unusual" in historical romances, and this is such a fabulous source for finding out where to find them.

As for COUNTESS OF SCANDAL, it's my 'debut' as Laurel McKee (two different publishers equals two different names, though hopefully no identity crisis!) and I'm so excited about it. It's the first of the "Daughters of Erin" trilogy about the three Blacknall sisters, set in late Georgian/early Regency Ireland. Eliza Blacknall and Will Denton were childhood sweethearts, separated when Will joined the Army and Eliza married her family's choice for her. Now it's a few years later--1798, a fateful year in Ireland, and they're reunited on the eve of the Uprising. He's still a British officer, and she's an ardent supporter of the United Irishmen, but their old feelings for each other are still there, stronger than ever.

(The chaos of a rebellion might not be the number one setting people think of for a romance! But I found it had a lot of potential for danger and passion, and a chance for Eliza and Will to discover truths about themselves, their love, and the world around them. It was fun to work with a happier-ending Romeo and Juliet-ish story! Plus at the beginning I got to put in the great clothes and glamorous settings I love. Georgian Dublin was a very glamorous and party-loving place!)

Where did you get the idea for these stories?

My own family background is Irish, and I've wanted to do a book set there for a long time! It just took me a while to find the right characters and story. Ireland is such a gorgeous country, full of dramatic history people with passionate characters, and it seems ripe for romantic stories. I remembered a visit I made years ago to the beautiful Georgian estate Castletown, which was owned by Lady Louisa Conolly, one of the famous Lennox sisters, who made the house her life's work.


The guides had a trove of fascinating stories about Irish life in the late eighteenth century! I also read Stella Tillyard's fascinating book about the Lennox sisters, Aristocrats (and saw the lavish Masterpiece Theater adaptation), and that was the original inspiration--strong women in Georgian Ireland!

What kind of research did you do for the book?

I love doing research! That is one of the most fun parts of writing. I would have happily spent my whole life living in a library as the world's oldest permanent graduate student. Sometimes it's hard to stop researching and start writing. I started with some books I already had on the shelf, like Aristocrats and Tillyard's Rebel Lord, a biography of Edward Fitzgerald (son of another Lennox sister, the Duchess of Leinster, and a leader of the United Irishmen); Thomas Pakenham's The Year of Liberty; Thomas Bartlett's The 1798 Rebellion: An Illustrated History; and an old book I once found in an antique store, Mrs. Thomas Concannon's Women of '98. Then I expanded to the Internet and local university libraries and looked up maps, info on military uniforms and regiments, detailed sites in Ireland (since I sadly couldn't take a trip there right now!). It was lots of fun.

What's "unusual" about the book?

I think the setting is pretty unusual! I'm not sure I've ever read a Georgian Ireland romance (which is one reason I set out to write one), though my friend Michelle Willingham writes some fabulous Medieval Irish books. I also really enjoyed using the setting and events to create the conflict for the characters. That made my job a lot easier!

What's next for you?

DUCHESS OF SIN will be out from Grand Central Publishing in December 2010! It's Anna Blacknall's story, where she meets again with the Irish Duke of Adair amid the chaos of the Act of Union in 1800. It's also set against a Christmas background, and I had fun researching the holiday--the Irish really knew how to party at Christmas, LOL! (LADY OF SEDUCTION , Caroline Blacknall's book, will be out in 2011)

As Amanda McCabe, I have a Regency-set trilogy coming out in April, May, and June, "The Muses of Mayfair" (Book one is TO CATCH A ROGUE). I love this series, which is set around another passion of mine--archaeology and antiquities collecting! There will also be a Harlequin Undone short story to kick off the series in March, TO BED A LIBERTINE, where a real Greek Muse comes to Regency London and wreaks some havoc.

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Thanks, Amanda, for stopping by!

We're giving away COUNTESS OF SCANDAL to a lucky commenter. Maybe you'd like to let us know whether you find Ireland an unusual setting for romance? What is it about Ireland that fascinates you? I'll draw one random name next Sunday. Void where prohibited. Best of luck!

Excerpt Thursday: Laurel McKee

This week on Excerpt Thursday we're welcoming author Laurel McKee, who also writes as Amanda McCabe, as she celebrates the release of COUNTESS OF SCANDAL, the first of her "Daughters of Erin" trilogy. Stop by on Sunday when we'll be talking with Laurel about this exciting new Irish trilogy and giving away a copy.

Eliza Blacknall and Will Denton were childhood sweethearts, growing up on neighboring estates in beautiful County Kildare. But adulthood finds them on opposite sides of the monumental and violent struggle of 1798, as Eliza supports the United Irish in their quest for independence, and Will is a major in the British Army, sworn to uphold the Crown. The passion for each other burns hotter than ever—but can it survive as their world crumbles around them?

***

Dublin, early 1798

At that moment, the assembly room doors opened to admit a group of latecomers. As was becoming more frequent in Dublin, as regiments newly arrived from London and points beyond sought amusement, they were officers. Young ones, too, not old and portly colonels in too-tight red tunics. These men seemed tall and strong, their bright gazes keen as they swept over the noisy party.

"Well, now," Eliza's sister Anna Maria said. "This is more like it."

"Anna Maria, I am hardly likely to take up with some newly-arrived officer," said Eliza.

"No one said you have to 'take up' with one! A dance would make a fine start." Anna Maria tapped her fan against her chin as she examined the arrivals. "What about that one there? He is quite a beauty, I must say, and even taller than you."

Eliza couldn't help laughing. It felt as if they were at a horse fair, and Anna Maria a shrewd Arab trader evaluating fillies. "Which one?"

"That one, of course. He doesn't appear a drunkard at all, does he?"

Eliza followed the pointing line of Anna Maria's fan to a man who was half-turned away from them as Mr. Neilsen, the Master of Ceremonies, greeted him. From that angle, he did seem a beauty, she had to admit. Very tall, with broad shoulders and a tight backside, his long, dark golden hair tied back with a black ribbon. If only those fine shoulders were not encased in a red British coat!

Green would suit them so much better.

Then he turned toward her, the flickering light of dozens of candles falling over the chiseled angles of his lean face.

Eliza gasped. It couldn't be! She was imagining things. Anna Maria's romantic nonsense was infecting her senses.

She closed her eyes, gulping down the last of the champagne. When she looked again, though, nothing had changed. He was still there, bigger than life. Bigger even than the dreams that had come to her, unbidden, over the years.

Will Denton was back in Ireland, then. Major Denton, to judge by the decorations of his uniform. Time had carved his face into a hard, elegant sculpture, like a statue of a Roman god colored bronze by a harsh West Indies sun.

From across the room, his eyes, those intense blue-green eyes she had imagined so often over the years, seemed to touch her very heart. The noise and movement of the room all faded away, and she saw only him.

For an instant, she was fifteen again, so full of yearning and hope.

Her hand tightened on the glass, until it bit into her rings and dragged her back down to earth. To cold reality

THE WINTER QUEEN Winner!

We have a winner for Amanda McCabe's THE WINTER QUEEN guest blog. A free copy goes to:

ALISON!

Contact Carrie to provide your mailing address. The book must be claimed by next Sunday or another winner will be drawn. Please stop back later to let us know what you thought! Congratulations!

Weekly Announcements - 13 Nov 09

Publishing under the pseudonym Ellen Connor, Carrie Lofty and her friend Ann Aguirre have sold three books to Penguin. They're not historical but they certainly qualify as unusual. Full details here, if you're curious.

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Lisa Marie Wilkinson's debut FIRE AT MIDNIGHT was recently named winner of the Fiction and Literature/Romance category of USA Book News Best Books of 2009. Congratulations!

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Jennifer Linforth's debut, MADRIGAL, is now available from Highland Press as an ebook.

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Join us Sunday when Unusual Historicals welcomes the return of Harlequin Historicals author Kate Bridges. She'll be discussing comedy, romantic screenplays, and of course, her newest release: ALASKAN RENEGADE, set in frontier Alaska! She'll also be giving away a copy. Don't miss it!

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We'll also draw the winner of Amanda McCabe's THE WINTER QUEEN. You still have time to leave a comment or question for your chance to win.

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And stay with us through the coming weeks when we'll be featuring the best unusual historical authors! Carol Ann Didier, Margaret Mallory, Michelle Styles and Carla Capshaw will be our guests. We hope you'll join us!

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Have a good weekend! Remember, you don't have to be an Unusual Historicals contributor to submit good news to the weekend announcements. If it has to do with unusual historicals, we'd love to shout it out to the world! Send announcements to Carrie. See you next week...

Guest Author: Amanda McCabe

We're happy to welcome back Harlequin Historicals author Amanda McCabe as she celebrates the release of her Elizabeth-set Christmas romance, THE WINTER QUEEN What a gorgeous cover for such an evocative title!

Sent to Serve...
As Queen Elizabeth's lady-in-waiting, innocent Lady Rosamund is unprepared for the temptations of Court. She is swept up in the festivities of the Yuletide season and, as seduction perfumes the air, Rosamund is drawn to darkly enticing Anton Gustavson...

Seduced By A Master!
With the coming of the glittering Frost Fair, they are tangled in a web of forbidden desire and dangerous secrets. For in this time of desperate plots and intrigues, Anton is more than just a handsome suitor--he may have endangered the life of the woman he is learning to love...

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"A delightful holiday gift of romance and intrigue! McCabe mixes in historical fact with fiction to create a fascinating page-turner of a novel" -- Fresh Fiction Reviews

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When Elizabeth I became Queen of England in 1558, she inherited from her half-sister Queen Mary a war and religion-torn country on the verge of bankruptcy. It was an unpromising beginning, but Elizabeth was a brilliant politician, and she understood that what England needed was sparkle and pageantry. A majestic Court, with herself as its shining star and her ladies as her foils, would be her backdrop for a renewed and empowered England. Not all of her ladies were content to be mere background, though--and most of them didn't care to emulate Elizabeth in her famous virginity.

By 1564, the year when my story THE WINTER QUEEN takes place, the structure of the Royal Household had become very elaborate, with a definite hierarchy of service. There were the heights--the Ladies of the Bedchamber; the middle--the Ladies of the Privy Chamber; and the lowest (but still pretty good)--the Ladies of the Presence Chamber. The latter seem to have had no set duties except to attend on the Queen when she wanted to impress someone, such as a foreign ambassador.

The six unmarried Maids of Honor (the position of my heroine, Rosamund) went with the Queen on her morning walks and to church services, clad in the regulation white and silver. When the Queen took the throne, her old nursery maid Blanche Parry was named Chief Gentlewoman of the Privy Chamber, while a Mistress Eglionby had the unenviable task of shepherding the Maids of Honor.

Obtaining a place at Court was very difficult, with fierce competition whenever a position came open. It was especially tough in Elizabeth's time, as hers was the only household. (When there was a king and a queen, and presumably royal children, there were many more households with more attendants required). In return for their services, the ladies received modest stipends. Privy Chamber ladies got 34 pounds a year, while the Maids of Honor received 40 (as they were usually of very high families). In addition, the Court was responsible for their room and board while they were on duty, and they had a lively social life and a measure of influence they wouldn't have otherwise.

Not that life was all banquets and strolls in the garden! Elizabeth was a very strict employer. Ladies couldn't be absent from Court without the Queen's permission, which was hard to obtain (she was very possessive). She also liked to berate her ladies, "her sarcastic tongue and withering wit...combined to render her an object of terror to her apprehensive attendants" (Somerset). She also sometimes threw things at them in a fit of Tudor temper, which couldn't have been much fun!

The housing was also not the most luxurious. The Maids of Honor lived in one dorm-style room, and a palace could only be lived in for a short time before the stench of so many inhabitants became overwhelming. Several of the Queen's ladies defied her by indulging in love affairs with her courtiers, and some (like her cousins Katherine Gray and Arbella Stuart) paid for it with stints in the Tower.

Despite those drawbacks, the life of lady-in-waiting gave upper-class women an opportunity they could find nowhere else. They were at the very center of power in Renaissance England at a pivotal moment in history. All the intrigue and glamour also makes it a terrific backdrop for novels!

Here are a few fun sources I used to research THE WINTER QUEEN:

Ladies in Waiting by Dulcie M. Ashdown (Arthur Barker, 1976)
The Palaces and Progresses of Elizabeth I by I. Dunlop (Jonathan Cape, 1962)
Elizabeth and Leicester by Sarah Gristwood (Viking, 2007)
Tudor Women by Alison Plowden (Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1979)
Elizabethan Renaissance: The Life of a Society by A.L. Rowse (Macmillan, 1971)
Elizabeth I by Anne Somerset (Knopf, 1991)
Ladies in Waiting: From the Tudors to the Present Day (Orion, 1984)
The Life of Elizabeth I by Alison Weir (Ballantine, 1998)
Queen Elizabeth's Maids of Honor by Violet A. Wilson (Bodley Head, 1922)

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*sigh* I just love history. Thanks so much for sharing with us, Amanda. Now readers: If you leave a question or comment for Amanda, you'll be entered to win a copy of THE WINTER QUEEN of your own--just in time for holiday reading! Void where prohibited. I'll draw a winner next Sunday. Best of luck, and thank you again to Amanda for sharing with us today!

Weekly Announcements - 7 Nov 09

Blythe Gifford has a title and a date for her next Harlequin Historical. HIS BORDER BRIDE will be released in May of 2010. Set in the 14th century Scottish Lowlands, it continues her "royal bastard" series. The hero, son of an English royal and a Scotswoman, is hated on both sides of the Border. The heroine, daughter of a Scots Border lord, takes him in before she discovers his parentage, and when her father returns from the war, she faces a marriage choice she can't refuse.

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The book trailer for Jennifer Linforth's upcoming release, ABENDLIED, the second in her continuing novels of The Phantom of the Opera, is now available. Jennifer will be with us on November 22 as our featured author. Enjoy:


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Jennifer Mueller's HISTORY LESSONS is now available in print from Phaze.

Ayda Rogers can't believe her luck: she's been invited to a Scottish castle for the summer to research her doctoral thesis. When she gets there she finds with 800 years of history to contend with, where the past is always present. Steamy tales of previous castle owners meld within the modern story as she learns all she needs for her paper. Sometimes it's not the past but the present which makes you change your whole way of thinking, especially when that change comes in the form of the future duke named Hunter.

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Michelle Styles' newest Viking romance, THE VIKING'S CAPTIVE PRINCESS, won't be released in print until December, but you can download it now at E-Harlequin! Also, A CHRISTMAS WEDDING WAGER is being released in Italian as Valzer d'Amore.

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Many unusual historicals authors are featured in The Season's 2009 cover contest, including contributors and past guests Margaret Mallory, TJ Bennett, Kimberly Killion, Anthea Lawson, Lisa Marie Wilkinson, and Blythe Gifford. Be sure to vote for your favorites!

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Zoe Archer received another stunning review from Mrs. Giggles, this time for her debut LADY X'S COWBOY.

I keep smiling and laughing and even sighing a while here and there as I keep turning the pages, and by the last page, I feel as if I have struck gold or something. I love this book. I LOVE it.

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Join us Sunday when Unusual Historicals welcomes the return of Harlequin Historicals author Amanda McCabe. She'll be talking about her newest release THE WINTER QUEEN, set in Elizabethan England! She'll also be giving away a copy. Don't miss it!

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We'll also draw the winner of Anthea Lawson's ALL HE DESIRES. You still have time to leave a comment or question for your chance to win.

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And stay with us through the coming weeks when we'll be featuring the best unusual historical authors! Elizabeth Lane, Jennifer Linforth, Margaret Mallory, and Michelle Styles will be our guests. We hope you'll join us!

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Have a good weekend! Remember, you don't have to be an Unusual Historicals contributor to submit good news to the weekend announcements. If it has to do with unusual historicals, we'd love to shout it out to the world! Send announcements to Carrie. See you next week...

Excerpt Thursday: Amanda McCabe

This week on Excerpt Thursday, we're welcoming back Amanda McCabe as she celebrates the release of her newest unusual historical from Harlequin: THE WINTER QUEEN, set in Elizabethan England. Join us Sunday when Amanda will be here to talk about THE WINTER QUEEN and give away a copy!

As Queen Elizabeth's lady-in-waiting, innocent Lady Rosamund is unprepared for the temptations of Court. She is swept up in the festivities of the yuletide season and, as seduction perfumes the air, Rosamund is drawn to darkly enticing Anton Gustavson...

With the coming of the glittering Frost Fair, they are tangled in a web of forbidden desire and dangerous secrets. For in this time of desperate plots and intrigues, Anton is more than just a handsome suitor—he may have endangered the life of the woman he is learning to love...

***

Lady Rosamund Ramsay is traveling from her home to the Court of Queen Elizabeth at Whitehall, in the middle of the coldest winter in living memory. Almost there, she stops for a walk in the woods, and encounters a dangerously attractive young man...

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Rosamund emerged from the woods into a clearing, suddenly facing a scene from another world, another life. There was a frozen pond, a rough circle of shimmering, silver ice. On its banks crackled a bonfire, snapping red-gold flames that send plumes of fragrant smoke into the sky and reached enticing tendrils of heat toward Rosamund's chilled cheeks.

There were people, four of them, gathered around the fire--two men and two ladies, clad in rich velvets and furs. They laughed and chattered in the glow of the fire, sipping goblets of wine and roasting skewers of meat in the flames. And out in the very center of that frozen pond was another man, gliding in lazy, looping circles.

Rosamund stared in utter astonishment as he twirled in a graceful, powerful arc, his lean body, sheathed only in a black velvet doublet and leather breeches, spinning faster and faster. He was a dark blur on that shining ice, swifter than any human eye could follow. As she watched, mesmerized, his spin slowed until he stood perfectly still, a winter god on the ice.

The day too grew still; the cold, blowing wind and scudding clouds hung suspended around that one man.

"Anton!" one of the ladies called, clapping her gloved hands. "That was astounding."

The man on the ice gave an elaborate bow before launching himself into a backward spin, a lazy meander toward the shore.

"Aye, Anton is astounding," the other man, the one by the fire, said. His voice was heavy with some Slavic accent. "An astounding peacock who must show off his gaudy feathers for the ladies."

The skater--Anton?--laughed as he reached the snowy banks. He sat down on a fallen log to unstrap his skates, an inky-dark lock of hair falling over his brow.

"I believe I detect a note of envy, Johan," he said, his deep voice edged with the lilting music of that same strange, northern accent. He was not even out of breath after his great feats on the ice.

Johan snorted derisively. "Envy of your monkeyish antics on those skates? I should say not!"

"Oh, I am quite sure Anton is adroit at far more than skating," one of the ladies cooed. She filled a goblet with wine and took it over to Anton, her fine velvet skirts swaying. She was tall and strikingly lovely, with dark-red hair against the white of the snow. "Is that not so?"

"In Stockholm, a gentleman never contradicts a lady, Lady Essex," he said, rising from the log to take her proffered goblet, smiling at her over its gilded rim.

"What else do they do in Stockholm?" she asked, a flirtatious note in her voice.

Anton laughed, his head tipped back to drink deeply of the wine. As he turned toward her, Rosamund had a clear view of him and she had to admit he was handsome indeed. Not quite a peacock--he was too plainly dressed for that, and he wore no jewels but a single pearl drop in one ear. And not the same as Richard, who had a blond, ruddy, muscular Englishness. But undeniably, exotically handsome.

He was on the tall side, and whipcord lean, no doubt from all that spinning on the ice. His hair was black as a raven's wing, falling around his face and over the high collar of his doublet in unruly waves. He impatiently pushed it back, revealing high, sharply carved cheekbones and dark, sparkling eyes.

Eyes that widened as they spied her standing there, staring at him like some addled peasant girl. He handed the lady his empty goblet and moved toward Rosamund, graceful and intent as a cat. Rosamund longed to run, to spin around and flee back toward the woods, yet her feet seemed nailed into place. She could not dash off, could not even look away from him.

"Well, well," he said, a smile touching the corner of his sensual lips. "Who do we have here?"

Rosamund, feeling utterly flustered and foolish, was finally able to turn around and flee, Anton's startled laughter chasing her all the way back to the safety of her litter.

Excerpt Thursday: Amanda McCabe

Thursdays on Unusual Historicals mean excerpts! Here's one from Amanda McCabe, who writes historicals set in a wide variety of time periods from the Venetian Republic to the Regency period. Her recent Harlequin Historical Undone, "Shipwrecked and Seduced," is linked to her January Harlequin Historical release, HIGH SEAS STOWAWAY, which is set along the Spanish Main in 1530.

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Bianca's bedchamber was small, a whitewashed chamber tucked beneath the eaves with room only for a bed, a small table and chair, and her late husband's old sea chest. Balthazar Grattiano, despite the fact that he lay flat on his back, injured, seemed to fill the whole space with his overwhelmingly masculine presence.

Bianca felt more tense, more frightened, than she had even in the midst of a threatened tavern riot.

She drew in a deep breath, and was surrounded by the smell of the tropical night wind from the open window, the wax of candles--and of Balthazar. He smelled of clean linen, leather, salt air, sweat, blood, and that dark, mysterious scent that was his alone. She remembered that scent all too well from years ago.

But she was not that infatuated girl, hanging about hoping for one glimpse of him as he passed by, for one whiff of his cologne. And he was obviously not that young man, either. So beautiful. So angry.

She carefully removed his boots and his leather jerkin and cut away his torn shirt, conscious at every moment of his steady gaze leveled on her. Oh, the beauty was still there, undeniably. As she smoothed the damp cloth over his wound, she couldn't help but notice the lean, sculpted muscles of his torso, the smooth, gleaming skin a light golden color, as if he often worked on deck without his shirt. There were scars, too, pale, thin old ones, and one jagged pink cut along his ribs.

So, presumably the anger was still there, too. That darkness that gave an edge to his angelic beauty, and once made her flee in fear.

But he was in her home now, in her very bed. At her mercy.

She traced the cloth from the wound on his shoulder along his collarbone, lightly over one brown, flat nipple, and down his chest over the light sprinkling of pale brown hair. He drew in a sharp breath, his rippled stomach muscles tightening, but he did not pull away. Did not even say anything. His skin seemed gilded in the candlelight, a taut line arcing down to the band of his hose.

Yes, he was still handsome, the most handsome man she had ever seen. Even after all her travels, she had never found a man to compare. But there was a hard edge to his beauty, a barely leashed violence. She would be a fool to give in again to his fatal allure.

Her gaze trailed the length of his black-clad legs, sprawled across her white sheets, the bulge of his codpiece, his lean hips. Yes, he was handsome, and she knew he was good in bed. All the whores in Venice had sung his praises, and that was long ago. He had now had years to hone his carnal skills to absolute perfection. And she was a widow, who had gone many months without a man in her bed. It was only natural she would be drawn to him now.

But only a fool would give in to lust for a villain. And she hoped she was no longer a fool.

A Sinful Alliance Winner

We have a winner for Amanda McCabe's A Sinful Alliance giveaway: JANE! Contact Amanda to give her your address. The book must be claimed by next Sunday or another winner will be drawn. Please stop back later to let us know what you thought of her book! Congratulations!

Weekly Announcements - 11 April 08

The is the last few weeks have been quiet, but we do have an announcement or two:

For the 10th anniversary of AAR, Sandra Schwab has written a romance parody, which went online last week. "The Rose in the Storm" is the gripping tale of the horrible, fearsome Viking Freagar the Dark (friends call him Rafe), an unfortunate pig (well, it's not really a pig), the beautiful Rosa, and of what happened one evening on the banks of the river Pregel in East-Prussia on a really, really cold and stormy night in 1807.

Moreover, to further celebrate the release of her new novel, BEWITCHED, Sandra is doing an online reading of the prologue and parts of chapter 1 on her podcast: Enjoy!

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Carrie Lofty now has the cover for her December Zebra Debut, What a Scoundrel Wants. You can read the back cover copy here.

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Michelle Styles also has a new cover, this time for Viking Warrior, Unwilling Wife, a June release from Harlequin Mills & Boon.

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Join us Sunday when Anne Whitfield will be discussing Broken Hero, her newest release, and giving away a free copy!

We'll also draw the winner for Amanda McCabe's A Sinful Alliance. Don't miss out! Leave a comment for your chance to win.

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Have a good weekend. If you have an announcement to make for next week, email Carrie. See you next week...

Guest Blogger: Amanda McCabe

I've arrived back from my weekend in Chicago to find myself behind in almost all respects. Forgive the lateness of our Sunday promos and help me welcome author Amanda McCabe! Her newest release, A Sinful Alliance, is available now from Harlequin.

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The baseborn daughter of a courtesan and a lord, Marguerite was forced to fend for herself in the dangerous world of the French nobility--as the king's most feared spy.

Sent to the court of King Henry of England, Marguerite found polite words and flattery concealed dark passions. Her only friend was her old enemy, the sensually tempting Nicolai Ostrovsky. And their sinful alliance seemed set to turn her from old loyalties to new desires!

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"The perilous action and the elegance of the writing…allowed me to thoroughly enjoy and unusual and fascinating story of an intriguing era." –Romance Reviews Today

Tell us about A Sinful Alliance!

I am so very excited about this book! Nicolai was the hero's best friend in my previous book, A Notorious Woman, set in Renaissance Venice. As so often happens with these pesky secondary characters, I hadn't actually intended to write a whole book for him (though he was intriguing--and a hottie!). But I really fell for him, and I found a very beautiful, but also troubled and lonely, heroine who really needed him--Marguerite Dumas, a French spy.

Trouble was, she once tried to kill him. Bit of a rocky start there. They meet up again a few months after this little incident at the court of Henry VIII at Greenwich, still on opposite sides of political alliances. This event was a true historical event, a meeting in early 1527 between King Henry and a French delegation seeking a marriage between Princess Mary and King Francois's younger son. This weeks-long meeting was filled with lavish banquets, balls, jousts, plays and masques. Henry was newly infatuated with Anne Boleyn, and England's old alliance with Spain was faltering due to Queen Katherine of Aragon's loss of influence. I find the contrast of such splendor and luxury with such danger fascinating. So, it all made the perfect setting for an illicit, dangerous affair! Plus great clothes, LOL.

Did you come across anything new or unusual while researching A Sinful Alliance?

A ton! I finally had to force myself to stop researching and start writing. I've loved this period ever since I saw the old movie Anne of the Thousand Days on TV as a child. I researched Greenwich and Fontainebleau Palace, Tudor fashions and food, dances, card games. (Some of the favorite dances of the time were the pavane and galliard, and also the new trend from Italy, the passamezzo; the card games included mumchance, click-clack, and primero).

I tend to get carried away blathering about all the factoids I found! I'll be sharing more on my blog, Risky Regencies, if you're interested. And a few of the great resources I found are Alison Weir's Henry VIII: The King and His Court; PW Dixon's Excavations at Greenwich Palace, 1970-1971; FG Emmison's Tudor Food and Pastimes; Neville Williams's Henry VIII and His Court; and Alison Sim's Food and Feast in Tudor England.

Recreating this world as a backdrop where Nicolai and Marguerite had to face danger, both in the ever-shifting factions around them and within their own hearts. A place of splendor, but also danger and deceit. (Not to mention stinkiness--Henry had decreed that the only dogs allowed in the palace were ladies' lap dogs, but it still must have smelled atrocious, with all those hundreds of people and only primitive jakes for toilets!). I don't think I've ever enjoyed writing a book quite so much. And, I have to admit, I even cried a bit when I wrote the epilogue, which has never happened before!!!

What’s next for you?

I'm finishing work now on the third in my "Renaissance trilogy"! It features Balthazar Grattiano, who plays a part in the denouement of A Sinful Alliance. He's now a ship's captain the Caribbean, and encounters a woman from his past in a Santo Domingo tavern.

I'll also have a Regency series out next year, "The Muses of Mayfair," featuring the three daughters of a scholar of ancient Greece. The first book, To Catch a Rogue, is already available in the UK (or through Amazon UK!). And I just sold a series to Grand Central Publishing! "The Daughters of Ireland" is about an Anglo-Irish family and the danger and love they find around the events of the 1798 Rebellion. Now that I look at all this, I feel a little nervous about all the work!!! But I can't wait for the research, LOL.

What are some of the challenges and rewards of writing different settings? Are there any other time periods you'd like to explore?

The challenge is to keep from getting confused! I always have to ask myself "Is this really a factoid from Tudor England? Or Regency Ireland?" And I can't indulge my insane love of period slang as much as I would like! But the rewards are that I never get bored, and I don't "burn out" on story ideas.

As for other periods, I'm working in my spare time (spare time? What is this??) on a historical fiction story set in 18th century France. And I have an idea for a romance set in 17th century Holland, which I'm not sure anyone would go for...

Thank you so much for inviting me to this blog! It's wonderful for those of us who have a love of unusual settings and time periods to have a place to gather.

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