Weekly Announcements - 18 June 2010

Free short story! Michelle Willingham wants everyone to know about special download available now at eHarlequin. Enter the code MWHAREM06L by June 30 to get a free copy of Michelle's "Innocent in the Harem," set in the 16th century Ottoman Empire. Enjoy!

EDITED TO ADD: Sorry! The code could only be used one. Michelle had intended this as a random drawing, which I misunderstood. My apologies for the confusion!

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Michelle Styles' COMPROMISING MISS MILTON received a 4.5 star review from CataRomance. "COMPROMISING MILL MILTON is Michelle Styles' most exciting book yet! In her stunning new novel for Mills & Boon, award-winning author Michelle Styles deftly combines superb characterization, passionate romance, nail-biting suspense, exciting adventure and heartwarming pathos in an irresistible new story that will keep readers on the edge of their seats."

Michelle also has an interview with CataRomance, celebrating the UK release of COMPROMISING MISS MILTON and the US release of AN IMPULSIVE DEBUTANTE.

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Summer means rodeo, and rodeo means DOWN HOME EVER LOVIN' MULE BLUES. To win some cool prizes from Jacquie Rogers, visit her website and click on contest for entry details. In addition, there's always a contest running at 1st Turning Point. This month the prize an original print from artist Dar Albert, and all you have to do to enter is comment on any 1st Turning Point article in June. Check it out!

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Blythe Gifford's IN THE MASTER'S BED placed third in historical category of the Lories. (First went to Kimberly Killion for HIGHLAND DRAGON and second went to Stacey Kayne for MOUNTAIN WILD, both of whom have been previous guests on Unusual Historicals. That's a UH hat trick!) Congratulations Blythe, Kimberly and Stacey!

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If you're going to be in the Bloomington-Normal region of Illinois on Saturday, June 19, stop by to join Heart & Scroll RWA as they host Carrie Lofty as their morning seminar leader. The event is open to the public. Learn more here.

Carrie's SONG OF SEDUCTION, set in 1804 Austria, has been receiving some excellent reviews. RT Book Reviews gave it four stars, while Book Binge gave it 5/5 and wrote, "[It]...Encompasses everything I find fascinating about musicians and wraps them in a beautiful melody of angst, pain, betrayal, acceptance and love." The best, however, was from Wendy Crutcher at The Misadventures of Super Librarian who wrote a lovely, lovely review about SONG OF SEDUCTION's seductive storytelling: "...As the author peeled back the layers, challenged her characters, revealed more of them, I realized how remarkable this story is. True, unadulterated, pure passion."

And don't forget to become a Facebook fan of Blythe and Carrie as they continue their "Race to 200" contest. Click here for details.

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Join us Sunday when Carrie will be here to chat about SONG OF SEDUCTION and give away a signed copy to one lucky commenter! Be sure to join us then.

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We'll also draw the winner of Margaret Mallory's KNIGHT OF PASSION guest appearance on Sunday. You still have time to leave a comment or question for your chance to win.

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Stay with us through the coming weeks when we'll be featuring the best unusual historical authors! Laura Navarre, Jack Woodville London, Michelle Willingham, and Moira Rogers will be our guests. Join us!

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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! For example, reader Pat Brown currently has three agents looking at her manuscript set in 1929 Los Angeles. Best of luck, Pat!

Send announcements to Carrie. See you next week...

MOUNTAIN WILD Winner!

We have a winner for Stacey Kayne's MOUNTAIN WILD guest blog. A free copy goes to:

MOTH!

Contact Stacey 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! Congratulations!

Weekly Announcements - 3 July 09

Michelle Styles has received the back cover copy for her upcoming release, THE VIKING'S CAPTIVE PRINCESS, which will be released in the US in December. Here it is:

"No one touches my woman. She bears my mark. I claim her."

Dangerous warrior Ivar Gunnarson is a man of deeds, not words. With little time for the ideals of love, Ivar seizes what he wants--and Princess Thyre will not become the exception to his rule!

Mysterious and enchanting, Thyre rouses Ivar's desire the moment he lays eyes on her. With Viking factions engaged in a bloody feud, Thyre is yet another captive this hardened warrior conquers--but to be king of Thyre's heart will entail a battle he has never engaged in before...

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Carrie Lofty has received the cover for her January 2010 Kensington Zebra release, SCOUNDREL'S KISS, which is the sequel to her debut, WHAT A SCOUNDREL WANTS.

WHEN IT COMES TO TEMPTATION...
Turning his back on his old life as a rogue, Gavriel de Marqueda has joined a monastic order in Spain and taken a vow of chastity. Before he becomes a monk, he must pass one final test: help a woman who has lost her way. But when he lays eyes on Ada of Keyworth, he is tempted beyond measure by her sultry beauty and dangerous curves...

RULES ARE MEANT TO BE BROKEN...
Far from her home in England, Ada has been battling inner demons for more than a year. When she discovers that her only friend has abandoned her, she has no choice but to grudgingly accept Gavriel's help. But Ada is not fooled. Though Gavriel wears the robes of a monk, Ada sees that he is a virile man who looks at her with a hunger that matches her own--one that begs to be satisfied again and again...

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Join us Sunday when Kensington Brava author Beth Williamson will be here to talk about her latest western, THE REDEMPTION OF MICAH, set in 1875 Colorado!

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We'll also draw the winner of Stacey Kayne's MOUNTAIN WILD. There's still time to leave a comment for your shot at winning!

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

Guest Author: Stacey Kayne

This week we welcome western historical author Stacey Kayne as she celebrates the release of MOUNTAIN WILD, the final book in her Wild Trilogy. Check out the video trailer:


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Stacey, your heroines are always gutsy, independent women. How would you compare the women who settled the west, like your heroines, with the modern woman of today?

Thanks for having me! My women of the west tend to be hard, driven and focused on their goal--an attitude inherited by women today. The west was hard on men, and even harder on women. They had to be strong to survive. But they also have a tender, feminine side yearning to be set free, and to find a man they can lean on. It takes the right man to gain their trust and uncover the gentle, giving women hidden beneath. As my slogan say, "Stories of heroic women and the men strong enough to love them."

Nearly all of my heroines are inspired by my grandmothers--my true heroines who endured and overcame so much hardship. I've never known harder-working women, full of strength, courage, devotion, love and flat-out determination to do the best they can by their family and their community. They are stronger women than I, and I'm always awe-inspired when I think of how they started out, taking chances, raising their families and working hard to build a home from the dust up, providing the rest of us with a solid foundation. They are my women of the west, the ones who stood beside their men, working just as hard, if not harder, to carve out their place in the world. I believe women of today emulate of that kind of strength and courage, able to stand alone if they have to, but who can find love, appreciation and strength in the arms of their counterpart. Those are the women I feel empowered by, and the women I strive to portray in my books.

You have two books out this summer: an anthology called STETSONS, SPRING & WEDDING RINGS, which includes your story "Courted by a Cowboy," and MOUNTAIN WILD, the third in your Wild Trilogy. Let's talk first about "Courted by a Cowboy." Can you share with us the genesis for your plucky heroine, Constance Pauley, who was scarred in a fire?

The story concept for this novella is actually the only one I've done inspired by a true story of someone local. I had just begun to dabble in writing when I heard about a local woman who'd ended up in California as the result of a house fire in Montana in the early 1900s. Eighteen years old and working as a housekeeper in a boardinghouse, she'd accidentally knocked a kerosene lamp into a basket of linens. No fire-retardant fabrics back then, so the room was quickly ablaze and she suffered burns to her legs and hands. The rural Montana community didn't have a physician capable of treating such burns--not without the loss of her legs.

The town sent out a wire asking for help. The nearest hospital willing to treat her was in San Francisco, and arrangements were made to send her to California by train. Back then, a caboose was coupled at the back of each train and the only doors on the standard cars were on the ends. The passage was too narrow for a stretcher to get through. Bound to the stretcher with blankets, she was hoisted up by a number of men and slid in through a window. Her treatment was a success, and after her release from the hospital, she found a teaching job outside of San Francisco. She met and married a farmer and eventually found her way to our small agricultural town where she taught school until she retired.

I was fascinated by the imagery of this young woman being bound to a stretcher and the fear she must have felt as that window swallowed her up into the belly of the train, transporting her hundred of miles from her home. Those images started the manuscript originally titled "Morning Star," and became my "Courted by the Cowboy" novella in STETSONS, SPRING & WEDDING RINGS.

As for Constance Pauley herself, I think she gets a lot of her pluck from my husband's Grandma Kuehl--five feet of Irish charm, laughter, and sass. She began teaching in a one-room schoolhouse when she was around nineteen (her to-be suitor and hubby worked the farm across the road), and told stories of how she'd been terrified those first few days because some of the boys were a foot taller than their spunky teacher. But she stood her ground and was stern as they tested her authority, while silently shaking in her shoes because she knew she couldn't physically make them stay in school. And yet they did.

And now, tell us a bit about your latest release out this month, MOUNTAIN WILD.

MOUNTAIN WILD is the third and final book in my Wild Trilogy. Garret Daines first appeared in MUSTANG WILD at the tender age of thirteen and did his best to defend his older sister. By MAVERICK WILD, Garret had packed on some muscle and developed a serious crush on Chance's heroine, which ultimately caused him some heartache and prompted his decision to buy his own cattle ranch at the age of sixteen.

Garret's heroine, Maggie Strafford, made her first appearance in MAVERICK WILD, as the infamous Mad Mag who drops in to save Chance Morgan's hide a time or two. It wasn't until I'd reached the end of MAVERICK WILD that I knew Maggie would be coming back for her own book. She captivated me with her harsh exterior and subtle kindness, and I wanted her to find love and healing. I knew tender Garret, whom I'd watched grow up, could become just the man to reach beneath that hard exterior to the gentle women beneath.

My editors were actually against the idea of having this raving mountain woman as a heroine, especially one as harsh and reclusive as Mad Mag. But I'm stubborn (a shocker, I know) and sent them the opening chapters I'd already written...and was then asked to write the book ASAP.

As for the historical backdrop of their book, it follows the cattle wars of 1889, prompted by a natural disaster during the winter of 1886-87 when a freak winter blizzard nearly wiped out the cattle trade in Montana, freezing cowboys and cattle alike. In the years that followed, ranchers struggled to rebuild and hold onto their land as new money came into the area looking to capitalize on their tragedy, and as often happens, desperation and greed turned to violence. Garret and Maggie find themselves caught up the turmoil, as well as trouble from their own violent pasts. I do hope readers will enjoy Garret and Maggie's journey and transformation.

Reviews and more excerpts can be found on my website.

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A mad, reclusive heroine and a studly man to love her? Now that's my kind of story. Literally! Now leave a comment or question for Stacey for your chance to win a copy of MOUNTAIN WILD. I'll draw a winner next Sunday. Good luck! And thanks to Stacey for joining us today!

Weekly Announcements - 27 June 09

Lindsay Townsend received a B review from Dear Author for her Egyptian-set historical, BLUE GOLD. Jayne wrote: "It's not often that ancient Egypt is the setting for novels so I don't want to miss any of them."

In addition, Lindsay's FLAVIA'S SECRET was given four star by the Historical Romance Club. Good job, Lindsay!

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Jennifer Mueller's A RUINED SEASON was also reviewed on Dear Author. "...For readers searching out something other than the standard 'yet another Duke hero,' A Ruined Season is a nice change." The site then hosted a contest to give away a copy of Jennifer's Regency-set story, which garnered over 130 comments in 24 hours. Congratulations, Jennifer!

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Join us Sunday when Harlequin Historical author Stacey Kayne will be here to talk about her latest westerns, STETSONS, SPRING & WEDDING RINGS and MOUNTAIN WILD!

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We'll also draw the winner of Miriam Newman's SPIRIT AWAKENED. Join us then!

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If you have an announcement to make for next week, email Carrie. See you next week...

Excerpt Thursday: Stacey Kayne

On Unusual Historicals, Thursdays (and sometimes Fridays, when I'm particularly behind) mean excerpts! This week we're featuring Stacey Kayne's latest release, MOUNTAIN WILD.

In the midst of a range war, Garret Daines is dead-set on keeping his ranch from greedy local cattle barons. An attempt on his life during a winter storm lands him in the healing hands of a mountain recluse. He can hardly believe the youthful beauty he discovers hidden beneath her mountain woman attire or the passion unleashed by her tender touch.

When "Mad Mag" pulls the handsome rancher from the snow she has no idea he'll be the man to thaw her wounded heart. But Maggie is hiding a mess of secrets in her mountain sanctuary, none of which she’s willing to share. Murderous cattlemen threaten their fragile bond and Maggie has to face the fears of her past or risk losing her hope for the future. Garret will defend his wild woman at any cost, but can he convince her their love is worth the risk?

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Garret woke to the aroma of stewed meat and the telltale bubbling of something simmering on the stove. He blinked several times, and still he stared up at a high stone ceiling. His gaze swept over rock walls, a black stove to his right...none of it the slightest bit familiar.

His stomach growled, the tantalizing scent drawing his gaze back to the bubbling kettle. Licking his dry lips he glanced at the wood front of what appeared to be someone's home. A lamp to his right and another beyond the foot of the bed created soft circles of light, brightening the dank surroundings.

Where the hell am I?

He pushed up onto his elbows and had to stifle a groan. His body ached as though he hadn't moved in ages. Pain pulsed through his skull, radiating from the left side. He reached up and touched a tender spot above his forehead and discovered a small lump and what felt like a gash beneath his hair. The movement wafted him with a clean, sweet scent. He paused and sniffed his arm.

"Wildflowers?"

Sapphire eyes and black hair against delicate ivory skin surfaced in his mind.

The woman. She'd stayed nearby, stroking his skin, encouraging him to drink.

Rest, Garret. You have a fever.

The soft husky voice tantalized his memory with the alluring scent of her skin, her silky softness beneath his lips.

"A dream," he muttered. The only safe place to love a woman.

He pushed the wool blanket aside and froze, surprise prickling through him. He wasn't wearing a stitch of clothing. His gaze skated around the room, searching every shadowed corner. He was alone. In the corner beside the stove was a rumpled blanket and tooth-scrapped bone. Wherever his caretaker had gone, she'd taken his dog. Why was he here? If he was sick, why wasn't he in his own bed? And yet...he didn't recall getting sick. For all he knew some woman had knocked him from his saddle and dragged him to her bed.

Her delicate feminine features surfaced in his mind.

A man could suffer a worse fate.

Another glance around the rough rock walls snuffed that thought. He doubted the delicate creature of his dreams would live in such desolate surroundings. He'd known a couple miners who'd carved out similar dwellings--but none so close to his ranch. Had he dreamed up her pretty face to match the soothing voice and gentle hands that had been caring for him?

He shifted his feet to the floor with silent caution. His bare toes touched down on a cold smooth surface.

Polished wood? He glanced again at the tidy space, noting the canisters, boxes and stacked dishes lined up all nice-like on the wide-set shelves, the stack of blankets folded at the foot of the bed.

He'd never known any miner to be quite so tidy. Every breath drew in a clean floral scent and the mouthwatering aroma of beef stew. He had no memory of entering someone's home, cave or otherwise. How the hell had he gotten here? He closed his eyes, trying to remember. Last he could recall he'd been riding range...he'd ridden home at noon and--Duce. He'd been looking for Duce. His business partner hadn't made it in for the noontime meal. The way the countryside had been strewn with violence and mishaps lately, too many ranchers turning up dead and a storm rolling in...

Chills prickled his skin as he recalled the cold, whipping rain washing out horse tracks he'd followed into the hills--old panic clenched his chest.

He hadn't found Duce.

Garret shot to his feet, pulling the blanket around his waist as he stood. The quick movement made him light-headed and wafted him with the scent of spring flowers, reminding him that whoever lived here had done more than simply tend his fever. He'd been bathed.

He moved toward the door, each step a slow stretch of tense muscles. The way his head and body ached, he could have been struck by lightening. Maybe Duce had found him and brought him to this place.

Spotting his boots tucked beneath the small table beside the rickety door, he pulled them out and stepped into the tall leather shafts. His clothes were nowhere in sight. Surely he'd been fully dressed when he arrived. He scanned three large barrels stacked on top of the other in the far corner and a large chest at the foot of the bed. He was tempted to search their contents for his britches. A pinch in his bladder urged him to search out a privy first. After he relieved himself, he'd find whoever had taken his clothes and his dog and demand some answers.

He pulled open the door and had to shield his face from a flurry of snowflakes. Cold wind buffeted against his bare chest, sending an instant chill shivering across his skin. He stared gap-jawed at the snow piled some three-feet high on either side of the door, a path having been recently shoveled.

"What the hell?"

Through the haze of swirling flakes tall timbers reached toward a gray sky. White topped mountain peeks rose up from all sides.

He was in the high country. He wouldn't have ridden into these snow-packed mountains.

A familiar bark echoed over the rush of wind and Garret stepped into the brisk cold. "Boots!"

Snow burst from the embankment up ahead as his dog bounded onto the shoveled path. Garret grinned, relieved to see his shaggy friend.

"Hey boy," he said, reaching down to pat his furry head while keeping his gaze on movement near the end of the path. He narrowed his eyes, trying to peer through the falling snow as the stranger drew near. The small form slowly immerged through the flurry of flakes, a white hooded coat blending with the winter landscape. He couldn't make out make more than a faint outline and a shotgun clutched in the left hand.

Caution tensed his muscles as the stranger drew close.

Mad Mag was the first thought to his mind, until she looked up. The deep-blue eyes and delicate feminine features lurking beneath that hood stole his breath.

She's real. The passionate woman from his dream.

"You should be inside."

Her voice was low, husky, and flooded his mind with the sounds of breathy moans, the image of her rose-tipped breast straining toward his mouth.

"Move."

Her harsh tone and stern gaze jarred him from the tantalizing vision. He stepped back, allowing her to rush him through the doorway. She quickly shut out the wind and wisps of snow.

"Go lay down." She pointed toward the far wall, her stern tone commanding as she stared him right in the eyes.

Goddamn--maybe this bitty thing had clubbed him over the head and dragged him to her bed. Shock rippled through him...along with an undeniable stir of attraction.

Boots brushed his leg on his way to the corner, and Garret realized she was talking to his dog, not him. He scrubbed a hand over his stubble-coated jaw. He obviously wasn't working with a full deck. His brain struggled to take hold of the notion that his dream lover stood before him. He stared at her, his mind lost somewhere between reality and a really good dream.