Showing posts with label Sourcebooks. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Sourcebooks. Show all posts

A Wedding in Springtime By Amanda Forester - Enter To Win A Copy!

Sourcebooks is really excited about the new Regency trilogy coming from Amanda Forester! The first book, A Wedding in Springtime, comes out next month and has already received TWO STARRED reviews! We will be hosting Amanda next month but right now we want to offer a giveaway of a wedding themed prize pack! Included is a copy of A Wedding in Springtime by Amanda Forester along with a mix of other wedding themed books from Sourcebooks.
 
To enter, please comment below and tell us which two celebrities you've always thought would make a great couple and why. The contest will run from April 15th - 23rd and is open to US and Canada residents. All you have to do is comment to enter to win!
 
Praise for A Wedding in Springtime:
 
“Fans of Regency-era romances will be delighted with Forester’s first novel set in that milieu. This clever combination of wit, romance, and suspense strikes all the right…This entertaining novel is a diamond of the first order.” – Booklist, STARRED Review  
 
“Engaging subplots involving unforgettable supporting characters make this one a must-read.”
Publishers Weekly, STARRED Review  
 
Five minutes into Miss Eugenia Talbot’s presentation at court, notorious rogue Mr. William Grant made her laugh, ruining her debut. To hush up the scandal, Eugenia’s aunt hires a matchmaker to quickly find a suitor—anyone except the infamous William Grant—to help restore Eugenia’s reputation. But amiable Eugenia shows a disturbing tendency to follow her heart, and is again caught in the company of notorious Grant. When a traitor creeps closer, threatening to ruin more than just Eugenia’s reputation, her kindheartedness may be her ultimate undoing…

Book Review: Paris, My Sweet by Amy Thomas

Book Review: Paris, My Sweet: A Year in The City of Light (and Dark Chocolate)
By: Amy Thomas
Published By: Sourcebooks
Non-Fiction Memoir
4 Heart Review

Blurb From Goodreads: 
Part love letter to New York, part love letter to Paris, and total devotion to all things sweet. Paris, My Sweet is a personal and moveable feast that’s a treasure map for anyone who loves fresh cupcakes and fine chocolate, New York and Paris, and life in general. It’s about how the search for happiness can be as fleeting as a sliver of cheesecake and about how the life you’re meant to live doesn't always taste like the one you envisioned. Organized into a baker’s dozen of delicacies (and the adventures they inspired) that will tempt readers’ appetites, Paris, My Sweet is something to savor.

Yes, I know. This isn't really a romance but it is a love letter to Paris and New York and after my first trip to Paris last Fall I've been fantasizing about going back. I LOVED Paris and tried to soak up every second of time while I was there. So when this book came to my attention I just had to read it and I thought I would share it with you even if it isn't my typical book to review. 


Amy Thomas writes in such a way that even though I spent an idyllic week in Paris, I could so easily see the nuances of the city and the People that were both amazing and that later made her feel lonely. She picked up and conveyed so well those small little things that can throw you off in Paris. For instance, it just felt so alien to me not to smile at everyone I met and walked past on the street. I love Amy's inclusion of instances of how Parisians reacted to her smiling since I had the same experience. 

But what really drew me to this book, and I think you will love, are the amazing descriptions of the perfect desserts to be had all over Paris and their sometimes up to par counterparts in New York. You can read Amy's love of fine pastry and the work that goes into each small bite on every page. 

I mean this is the ultimate guide to eating in Paris (and New York) and you can bet I'll be using this as my sweet tooth guide the next time the hubby and I make it to Paris. A few of the places she includes in the book are ones we actually managed to find when we went and it was fun to relive the experience we had there. Others, I wish we had found! 

If you've ever wanted to go to Paris, or if you've been before, I think you'll enjoy this book that includes not only so much detail on Sweets in Paris, but also a taste of life living in the city as a foreigner and the awe that is discovering this city over and over. 

Smart Bitches Live Chat Today!

I received this awesome news from Sourcebooks, the publisher of Everything I Know About Love I Learned From Romance Novels:

This Thursday, October 6, you can chat with Sarah Wendell, author of Everything I Know About Love I Learned from Romance Novels on the Sony eReader Facebook Page: www.facebook.com/ReaderStore. The chat will begin at 3:30 pm EST and last about an hour.

Sarah will be chatting about her new book, Everything I Know About Love I Learned from Romance Novels, in stores this month! Come with your questions about romance fiction, relationships, or anything you’ve always wanted to ask Sarah. 

For more information, you can follow us on Twitter:

Danielle @SourcebooksCasa
Sarah @SmartBitches
Sony @SonyReaderStore

And check out the Sony Facebook Page www.facebook.com/ReaderStore, Sarah’s page http://www.facebook.com/TrashyBooks and the Everything I Know About Love… page http://www.facebook.com/EverythingIKnow.

Seriously Romance Peeps - I'm sure this is going to be a hilarious and fun chat with Sarah! Be sure to join in. :)

Happy Chatting!
Cheeky Girl Sabrina

Book Review: Making Waves by Tawna Fenske

Romance Book Review: Making Waves
By Tawna Fenske
Contemporary Romance
Sourcebooks Casablanca
3 Heart Review

Story Blurb:

She Always Wanted To Belong...Just Not To A Dysfunctional Pirate Crew

Juli has trouble fitting in, though she'd prefer to keep the reasons to herself. But when she mistakenly stows away on a ship of misfit corporate castoffs, her own secrets become the least of her concerns.

He Knows Plotting A Diamond Heist May Be Considered Unusual Behavior...

But Alex isn't feeling very normal when his unscrupulous boss kicks him to the curb after twenty faithful years. Meeting Juli doesn't do much to restore normalcy to Alex's life either, but it sure is exhilarating!

As Alex and Juli bare each other's secrets – and a whole lot more – they find that while normal is nice, weird can be wonderful.

This book is pure wacky fun and definitely the kind of book you should pick up if you are looking for a light-hearted book that makes you laugh and feel good.

Juli was a much more interesting character than I expected from the back of the book blurb or even from the first chapter or so. She grows on you, with her over-the-top hijinks and unbelievable family members. Really, they are unbelievable – but you want to read about them and love them for the fact that they are so zany.

The same can be said about the band of corporate pirates – the personalities are out there. Sometimes really out there. But out there can be so fun! It's a motley crew you'll enjoy, but there are also times where you come out of the story questioning how in the world  to explain something. For instance, we have out of work pirates who can afford to bring and cook gourmet meals on board? I mean yes, at one point they fish, but what about all the expensive sounding ingrediants? Really? As much as I liked hearing about the food, it always made me think it was out of place.

I liked Alex, but I didn't love him. In fact, I was bothered by his being the mastermind behind the pirate adventure and not fully buying a man that reached such a high position in a huge company not knowing more about saving money or being invested in many different areas. He was acceptable hero material and fun to see with Juli but I didn't connect with him. He's the reason I didn't give this book a 4 Heart Rating.

Which kind of leads me to say that I would have enjoyed the book with any hero, as long as Juli had stayed the same and even if she'd been the sole star of the show. I could easily see her as a women's fiction character just as easily.

The best part of reading this book was that the author Tawna has such an original voice that I can't wait to read what she puts out next because I know it won't be a run-of-the-mill generic romance.

Have you read Making Waves? If so, what did you think? What's your favorite zany, off the wall character or book you've read? Do you like funny or darker contemparary romances better?

Book Review: Demons Prefer Blondes by Sidney Ayers - Win My ARC Copy!

Book Review: Demons Prefer Blondes
By Sidney Ayers
Sourcebooks Casablanca
2.5 Heart Review

A Bad Day For A Demon

Rafe Deleon is a senior demon and he resents like hell his assignment to Earth to retrieve the Chest of the Damned before it falls into the wrong hands. But then he meets beautiful, intriguing succubus Lucy Gregory, and she's just unleashed a whole load of trouble...

Really Sucks For A Succubus

Lucy's chic suburban beauty salon has suddenly become the Underworld's center of mass chaos and destruction. The only good thing in a day going rapidly down the tubes is the arrival of a gorgeous demon who's adamant that he can help her...

But Lucy has quite a few deeply unpleasant – not to mention deadly and hateful – surprises ahead of her, and surely there's never been a worse time to try out a new boyfriend...

Cheeky Summary: This book was a slow start for me. In fact, I almost didn't stay with this story. There were too many WTF moments in which I felt the author was trying to hard to be cool and instead came off totally ridiculous. But I kept with the book mainly because of the side characters who kept my interest much more than the hero and heroine did. The world-building was much more interesting than the love story itself was and I think it’s because I had a hard time getting past those cheesy lines at the beginning of the book.

What I did really enjoy about the book was the very interesting world that Ms. Ayers built. I especially loved the character of Kalli. I will actually pick up any sequels that include Kalli’s story. She was the most interesting character of the book and I found myself wanting to skip the scenes that didn’t include her.

I will say that the book got much better as it went along and got over trying to be cool and settled into a voice that felt much more authentic. Part of me wants the author to rewrite the first few chapters to match the rest!

Again, there were great supporting characters in this book and I really liked the world that unfolded and all the different types of characters and what it might mean for a series of books. I’ll be keeping an eye on new books because really, the only thing off for me was those chapters that felt like they tried to hard to be cute. The rest of the story did enough for me that I’ll give this series another chance.

I’m also interested in what other readers think of this book! So, I’m offering up the ARC I received from Sourcebooks to a commenter for a 2nd Chance Review. To enter, you must be willing to read the book, and do a short write up for me with your own thoughts. I’ll post the review here on Cheeky Reads.

If that interests you, leave a comment telling me what you love most about paranormal romances or what type of paranormal characters are your favorite! Make sure to leave an email address so I can contact you if you are the winner. I’ll post the randomly selected winner on Wed. the 22nd!

Book Review: Backstage Pass: Sinners on Tour by Olivia Cunning

Book Review: Backstage Pass: Sinners on Tour
By: Olivia Cunning
Sourcebooks Casablanca
2 Heart Review
HEAT LEVEL: EROTIC ROMANCE
Five Stunning Guys, One Hot Woman and a Feverish Romance...

For him, life is all music and no play...

When Brian Sinclair, lead songwriter and guitarist of the hottest metal band on the scene, loses his creative spark, it will take nights of downright sinful passion to release his pent-up genius...

She's the one to call the tune...

When sexy psychologist Myrna Evans goes on tour with the Sinners, every boy tries to seduce her. But Brian is the only one she wants to get her hands on...

Then the two lovers' wildly shocking behavior sparks the whole band to new heights of glory...and sin...

Right off the bat, I want to say that I've never been a huge fan of musicians as heroes. It's not that I particularly dislike them, but I usually find that they tend to act like assholes. Knowing that, I was really hoping for a book that would present a musician I could cheer for. Backstage Pass wasn't totally it, but it was an entertaining read even if it's not something I would read again. If you are a fan of heroes who rock out, then this book might be much better for you than it was for me.

My main issues with the book were that I just couldn't get into a group of men with groupies and that I found the sexual music trance the hero goes into a little too hard to believe. I'm not an artist by any stretch of the word so I can't know for sure, but I did find it hard to believe that musicians write music while getting it on.

There were also a few sex scenes that I felt were thrown in as extras to make the book go more to the erotic side of romance and I felt the book would have been better without those.

The Sinners are an interesting group of men and since this is the first book in a series we'll see all the men find their true love. The author did do a good job of creating five very different guys that you do wonder how they will turn out and what kind of woman (or man) will be the one to make them change their ways. (Groupies, circle blow-jobs, etc. They really do act like an 80's rock band on tour)

I don't think I'll be reading any more books in the series, but not because it wasn't an interesting read, but because I don't think I would do the author justice to talk about her books when I already know I would have a hard time with the hero.

What about you...Do you enjoy a musicians as a hero? If so, what is it about them you love? If not, what is your favorite hero type or occupation?

Romance Book Review: An Earl to Enchant by Amelia Grey

AnEarlToEnchant Romance Book Review: An Earl to Enchant: The Rogues' Dynasty
By: Amelia Grey
Sourcebooks Casablanca
3 Heart Review

He's Determined Not To Be A Hero...

Lord Morgandale is as notorious as he is dashing, and he's determined no woman will tie him down. But from the moment Arianna Sweet appears on his doorstep, he cannot resist the lure of her fascinating personality, exotic wardrobe, and tempting green eyes...

She Has A Deadly Secret...

Arianna Sweet never imagined the significance of her father's research until after his untimely death. Now she is in possession of his groundbreaking discovery, one that someone would kill for. She can't tell Lord Morgandale her secret, but she knows she needs his help, desperately...

A fan of author Amelia Grey's Rogue's Dynasty series, I was very much looking forward to reading An Earl to Enchant and it proved to be a delightful read.

I found it amazing how much of this story is told with just the hero and heroine and within just a few rooms/settings. It is so focused on the couple and their being alone together, but it never fails to keep the reader engaged and entertained. It takes a very good writer to have so much of the story with just those two characters and very few appearances of others. I was highly impressed with the skill this took and the reader will not miss those extra characters or settings at all. I loved how straight forward this love story was without all the extra noise.

The storyline of the heroine Arianna having spent much of her life in India made this story come alive with something other than just your usual young lady. Arianna's missteps for what is acceptable in English society are expertly layered throughout the story, but they are not overly done or exaggerated as many authors might do. These escapades added just the right hint of exotic fun and all three Rogue brother's viewing Arianna belly dancing through a window was a scene you will chuckle out loud over. 

The part of the story that wasn't as compelling to me was that of finding Arianna's father's murderer. Yes, I know this was the driving motivation behind Arianna's character, but I really skipped right over these sections. I didn't care who had killed her father, or that they were caught, I just wanted more of Morgan fighting to not fall in love, and then fighting not to marry Arianna even though he loved her.     

It was refreshing to have a virgin heroine who was perfectly okay with never marrying and not because she was afraid of men. Instead, Arianna was just happy with life and didn't feel the need for a man to make her existence better. She loved Morgan, but would not have wanted him to marry her if he hadn't loved her. She was a very unassuming heroine and I enjoyed that.

If you haven't read any of the Rogue's Dynasty Series you should really check them out. They are very well-written and lovely books that always satisfy me.

Guest Book Review: Beautiful People by Wendy Holden - 1 Heart Review

Book Review: Beautiful People
By: Wendy Holden
Sourcebooks Landmark
1 Heart Review from Guest Reviewer Lisa
Darcy’s a struggling English rose actress when The Call comes from L.A. An Oscar-tastic director. A movie to make her famous. The hunkiest costar in Hollywood. So why doesn’t she want to go?
Belle’s a size-zero film star but she’s in big, fat trouble. Hotter than earth’s core a year ago, she’s now Tinseltown toast after her last film bombed. Can she get back to the big time?
Emma’s a down-to-earth, down-on-her-luck nanny trying to weather London’s cutthroat childcare scene and celebrity mom whirlwinds. What will it take for her to get back in control of her own life?
Jet to London, Hollywood and Italy; toss in a passionate star chef, a kind-hearted, disillusioned paparazzo, and a reluctant male supermodel and find [author] Wendy Holden at her best.

This back-cover description pretty much covers it all. The story doesn’t go much deeper than this and you can probably guess the answers to those questions.

Holden weaves a story in which each of her many characters cross-paths and get unexpectedly involved in each others lives’. The problem is there is nothing unexpected about the plot for the reader. It’s highly clichéd and full of stereotyped characters.

There is Orlando, the teenager who was once awkward and pimply, but almost overnight turns into the hottest guy at his school. The popular girls want to get at him, but so does a talent scout for a modeling agency who thinks she’s found the next big “face”. Along with Emma and Darcy, he is one of the “pure” souls who get sucked into the lives of the beautiful people.

In contrast, we meet Belle, the silicone-enhanced Hollywood starlet, and Christian, the actor trying to climb to the top one bed at a time. These two will do anything in their pursuit of fame and fortune. Predictably (to the fictional world in which she lives and to the reader), Belle even finds herself adopting an African orphan to get back in the headlines.

There are too many other characters to introduce in this review. I got the feeling that even the author had trouble managing her cast. The character we meet in the first chapter disappears almost entirely until the middle of the book. That’s about where I stopped reading. Up to that point the characters and plot were so empty I didn’t care to find out what happens to them next. Don’t waste your time with this one.

Book Review: Getting Lucky by Carolyn Brown – 5 Hearts

getting%20lucky

Book Review: Getting Lucky by Carolyn Brown
Published by: Sourcebooks Casablanca
Released: January 2010
5 Heart Review
Getting Lucky Amazon Link

I ADORED THIS BOOK!

That’s the main thing you should know about my thoughts on Getting Lucky by Carolyn Brown. You should also know that cowboy romances are some of my least favorite and somehow not only did I enjoy this one, I can say this was by far one of the best books I’ve read in a long time.

Here’s the book description:

One Stubborn Cowboy Who’s More Than Willing To Cross Horns

When single dad Griffin Luckadeau thinks his new neighbor is scheming to steal his ranch out from under him to benefit her own daughter, sparks really being to fly…

One Hotheaded Schoolteacher Who Doesn’t Take Guff From Anybody

Julie Donovan moves to town, determined to leave her troubles behind. As soon as she meets the absolutely infuriating, oh-so-sexy cowboy next door, things quickly go from bad to worse…

Until these two Texas hotheads admit that it’s fate that brought them together, running from the inevitable is only going to bring them a double dose of miserable…

Everything about this book stood out for me. The writing is first rate – it’s smooth and enticing and makes you want to read every word. Since I’ve been known to scan over a few “boring” paragraphs in books before, that’s a big statement for me.

There is so much to this story and it never seems to overwhelm. I love how Carolyn added to the story with side plots and characters instead of taking away from Griffin and Julie.

It’s been a long time since anything close to a sweet romance did it for me. Lately, they’ve all made me want to scream that no one is that naive or goody-goody all the time. That’s why this book rocks. It has the timeline of a sweet romance, a way more believable timeframe where the hero and heroine really fall in love, but with the awesome hotness still sizzling between them. It’s a hybrid I hope I see more of!

I loved how seriously Carolyn’s characters seemed to take falling in love with each other, and how they considered what it meant for their kids and families. This story rang true with every page I read. Amazing that after reading so many Paranormals and Urban Fantasies (I love both don’t get me wrong), how I could connect so much with a book that read like seeing into my next door neighbor’s diary.

An insanely fantastic book, Carolyn Brown wowed me with this book and her expertise in crafting a perfect romance. Put me down as her newest Super Fan!

Check out Carolyn’s Website here.

Read the fun interview I did with Carolyn here.

Have any of you read Carolyn’s books before? What did you think? If not, what author have you read lately that really seemed to stick out above and beyond the rest?

Book Review: Fugitive – The Cat Star Chronicles by Cheryl Brooks – 2 Hearts

FugitiveCover22 Book Review: Fugitive – The Cat Star Chronicles
By: Cheryl Brooks
Sourcebooks Casablanca
2 Heart Review

Disclosure: ARC provided by publisher for review

Hunted and in hiding, he'll risk anything to touch her...

Manx is a Zetithian warrior, with a special feline gene that gives him incredible sexual powers. Drusilla's scent drives Manx wild with desire...Coming out of hiding, he's willing to give his life to bring her joy unlike any she's ever known.

Saving his life may be the most dangerous thing she has ever done...

Famous artist Drusilla is on a painting sabbatical when she unwittingly rescues the most fascinating male she's ever seen. But staying with Manx will throw her ordered existence into chaos and mortal danger...

Right up front I want to disclose that this is the very first of the Cat Star Chronicles I've read. I had heard from readers who both loved and didn't like Mrs. Brooks Cat Star books. That's why I thought it was time that I give the series a chance and see if it was for me.

Unfortunately, it's not.

This is a popular series and in reading Fugitive, I can see how the story could find many readers that this would be exactly what they were looking for in erotic romance. The book was written to provide lots of scenes for readers who are really looking for lots of steamy sex.

For me though, I just couldn't get past the idea of Manx being an alien being that had to many cat mannerisms. I've read many books were the hero wasn't exactly human, but usually the heroine isn't totally human either. It was really hard for me to get past thinking of animal sex, which is why this really didn't work for me.

Now, I'll admit it – I love good sex scenes. I'm a fan of erotic romance and don't shy away from graphic scenes. (Though I would like to point out sometimes I just want a sweet romance behind closed doors too.) In this book though, I felt like I was reading the equivalent of a porno script. I didn't feel the romance, instead I read about all the positions and graphic body part descriptions that just weren't sexy to me.

The penis descriptions in this book also made this not a book for me. Yes, it's imaginative and unusual and I think Mrs. Brooks deserves some credit for creating this world and the um, parts of her heroes. They just aren't to my taste. The descriptions are very vivid, so if you are interested in a male member with very unusual functions and sort of powers, then you might like this book and series.

Even if I had been more into this new male species, I still felt this book was lacking in romance. I got the erotica part of the equation, but I felt that the world that was created by Mrs. Brooks makes it almost impossible to have a real romance with any of her heroes. To make my point I'll disclose more about this book than I normally would in my reviews. The hero Manx's juices basically makes females euphorically happy and his cum makes them instantly orgasm. The hero and heroine themselves reflect on how addictive this could be for women and that was my main issue. I felt that there was nothing to the story that showed Drusilla and Manx falling for one another emotionally. Instead, it came across that Drusilla was just addicted to the way that Manx made her feel.

I appreciated the idea that this was a Sci-Fi romance since I feel there are way too few of them. As a Sci-Fi lover I'm always on the lookout for a hybrid space romance. Again, I give Mrs. Brooks credit for creating some some very interesting new planets and creatures and would like to have read about them without the premise of Zetithians who are sexually addictive.

Have you read any of the Cat Star Chronicles? If so, what did you think and please feel free to disagree with me! Also, let me know of any good Sci-Fi Romances you've read lately.

Book Review: Breakfast in Bed by Robin Kaye – 3 Hearts

BreakfastinBedCVR_NEW

Book Review: Breakfast in Bed
By: Robin Kaye
Sourcebooks Casablanca
Released: January 2010
3 Heart Review
Disclosure: ARC Provided by Publisher for Review

He’d be Mr. Perfect if he wasn’t a perfect mess…

Rich Ronaldi is almost the complete package – smart, sexy, great job – but when his girlfriend dumps him, Rich swears he’ll learn to cook and clean just to win her back…

She’ll be glad to make him over, but not for another woman…

Rich is the only guy Becca Larson’s ever met who hasn’t tried to change her. She’s happy to help him master the domestic arts, but she’ll be damned if he’ll start cooking in another woman’s kitchen – or bedroom…

I loved Rich. Completely and wholeheartedly (except for one little thing I’ll talk about later). Even when he was a domestic dud, I understood why and the way he was so eager to learn and please stole my heart. And what woman doesn’t love a man who knows when he needs helps and actually asks for it! If for no other reason alone, Rich makes this book totally worth reading.

That doesn’t mean I don’t also like the heroine Becca. I liked her very much and enjoyed seeing her come to terms with falling for Rich. One of the more interesting parts of the book centered on the fact that Becca comes from money and doesn’t need Rich to help her out finically. It’s a refreshing change from reading books where the female ends up with the rich and wealthy hero and has to run to him to help her out somehow.

I liked both of these characters and really enjoyed seeing the progression of their relationship. A sucker for those couples that just seem to butt heads all the time at first, Breakfast in Bed provided exactly the right amount of verbal warfare to make me very happy. I loved the sparring and wished that it had continued throughout the book. Not to say they didn’t still butt heads, but some of the exciting tension between the two let up in the last few chapters of the book and I missed it.

A very fun and funny read, I really enjoyed Breakfast in Bed, its hero and heroine and the extended families. The only thing that kept this book from being a TOTAL winner for me was how clueless Rich stayed until the end about relationships. During the story arc, he grew so much and it really showed him understanding Becca and how her mind worked. Then, toward the end it was like all of that disappeared and the mistakes he made were those I felt he had grown past. That made the big blow-up leading to the ending feel a little bit of a cop out to me. I was still very satisfied with the book and highly enjoyed it. I just wish the misunderstanding hadn’t been because Rich went backwards in development. Still, this is a story I highly recommend for lovers of contemporary romances.

Interview & Giveaway with Carolyn Brown, Author of Getting Lucky

I'm excited to start this week off with a bang, and introduce author Carolyn Brown and her latest book Getting Lucky! Carolyn has authored over 40 books and writes some awesomely hot modern cowboys in her latest series. That coming from a me, the girl who doesn't really enjoy westerns! These modern cowboys will have you taking another look at heros in blue jeans and Stetsons.

Please welcome Carolyn to Cheeky Reads. Be sure to enter to win one of two copies of Getting Lucky, by answering Carolyn's question at the end of her interview.

Hello and thank you for having me on your site today to discuss Getting Lucky, the third and final book in the Lucky Series. Writing the whole series was so much fun that it wasn’t easy to see it end. The blog tour is like reliving all the fun and excitement of writing it.

Getting Lucky is the third book in your Lucky Series of cowboy romances. What is it about modern day cowboys that inspired you to write this series? Any particular cowboys you had in mind while writing? Cowboys make wonderful characters. There’s just something about boots, tight fittin’ jeans and a T-shirt stretched over a broad muscular chest that puts a woman’s hormones into overdrive. Throw in one that can hold his liquor and execute a good two-step to a country music song and what more could a woman ask for? I couldn’t name a particular cowboy or group of cowboys that I had in mind when I was writing this series. But cowboys in general are hardworking, hard loving, passionate and caring so it’s easy to see that any one or all of them could be a role model for Beau, Slade or Griffin.

I have to admit, I'm not the biggest fan of historical western romances but I really love your modern cowboys. For those readers who normally steer clear of westerns, would you tell them a little about your three modern cowboy heros and how utterly enticing they can be! Thank you! If the Lucky series makes you pick up western romances then I am a happy writer. Beau in Lucky in Love is lucky in everything but love until Milli Torres locks horns with him over a barbed wire fence. Who wouldn’t want to see those two find love when we all know they are meant for each other?

Slade Luckadeau, the hero in One Lucky Cowboy, would sure like to run Jane Day off his ranch. But she sets her heels and dares him to try to push her anywhere. Then the day comes when she has to trust him with her heart and her life. We have to go with them to see if they decide to kiss or kill each other on that journey.

Then Griffin, in Getting Lucky, doesn’t know why or how the new kindergarten teacher wound up with a daughter who is the spittin’ image of his child down to the white forelock but he intends to find out. Little does he realize what's in Pandora's box when he opens the lid.

But you asked what makes them enticing. It’s those same qualities I mentioned before. They love hard, work hard and fight for what they believe is right with passion. That should entice anyone to open the book and read it … after they stop hyperventilating over the covers!

Like most readers I'm all about connecting with the hero and heroine in a book. So, I always ask authors to describe their hero in three words. Three words: Strong, sexy and stubborn

What about your heroine? What three words would best describe her? Three words: Sassy, independent and smart

Now that we know more about your characters, what was it about them that had you wanting to write that HEA for them? Was there a particular scene that was the most fun for you to write? All the characters deserved a happy ending. They’d overcome obstacles and jumped through hoops to help me get their stories written. An editor once told me to put my characters in a tree and throw rocks at them. Sometimes the characters in the Lucky series must have felt like I was launching boulders rather than river stones. Sometimes I felt like they were being pretty persnickety in the way they wanted their stories told. We reached a happy medium and “drum roll please” together we told their stories. I loved the scene in Lucky in Love when Beau found out that Katy Scarlett was his daughter. And the one in One Lucky Cowboy when Jane and Slade’s former girlfriend have a catfight in the middle of a beer joint parking lot. Also the one in Getting Lucky when Julie sets Griffin’s sister on her ear for being rude. And then there was that scene where the three heroines finally made peace and started to become friends in Getting Lucky, and the one where … how much room do we have here?

I hear you have another series debuting later this year. What can you tell us about the series and the first book? The Honky Tonk series kicks off in June with I Love This Bar. It will be followed in August with Hell, Yeah; October, My Give a Damn’s Busted, and November, A Honky Tonk Christmas. Each book centers around a beer joint in Mingus, Texas called the Honky Tonk where every thirsty rancher and lusty woman in a fifty mile radius come to dance and have a cold beer. It’s the stories of four sassy lady bartenders who have no desire to ever leave the Honky Tonk and four strong cowboys who convince them otherwise.

I always find that Authors have the best book recommendations. Anyone you've read recently that you loved reading or a new author you've discovered? Reading is a passion that even supersedes cooking and I love to cook. And I’ll read almost anything. Didn’t ever get around to War and Peace but that’s probably because my high school English teacher (Hello Mrs. Williams) praised the guy who sat behind me for reading it and wasn’t so happy that I was constantly turning in book reports from the romance genre! I just read the new Sue Grafton mystery U is for Undertow. High Noon by Nora Roberts and the new James Lee Burke mystery are at the top of my TBR pile but we won’t talk about that pile. It’s like a teenage boy, growing all the time!

Where can readers find you next and is there anything else you'd like to share with us? I’ll be stopping by Love Passion Romance tomorrow and then The Good, the Bad and the Unread on Jan. 13. Check out my website at www.carolynlbrown.com for the rest of the blog schedule and for any new and wonderful news in my world.

I’m wondering which three words would readers use to describe their heroes if they were writing a book? Or how about three words to describe their heroines? Tell us your answer in the comments section and be entered to win one of two copies.
Contest open to US and Canadian residents only.


GETTING LUCKY BY CAROLYN BROWN—IN STORES JANUARY 2010
Book 3 in The Lucky Trilogy

Single mom Julie Donavan is looking for a place to start over. What she finds after buying a small house on five acres is nothing short of a nightmare.

Single dad "Lucky Griffin" Luckadeau has been crossing horns with his elderly neighbor for years. But when his daughter, Annie, decides she wants the new little girl who lives on the feuding property to be her friend, or better yet her sister, the sparks fly.

These two stubborn hotheads, who irritate each other beyond endurance, refuse to admit that it's fate that brought them together. And running from the inevitable is only going to bring a double dose of misery…


About the Author
Carolyn Brown, an award-winning author who has published 36 romance novels for the library market, credits her eclectic family for her humor and writing ideas. She was born in Texas but grew up in southern Oklahoma where she and her husband, Charles, a retired English teacher, now make their home in the town of Davis, Oklahoma. They have three grown children and enough grandchildren to keep them young. For more information, please visit http://www.carolynlbrown.com/. Be on the lookout for Carolyn’s new series, The Honky Tonk Series, in 2010!

10 Questions with Robin Kaye & Win Breakfast in Bed!

Welcome Author Robin Kaye to Cheeky Reads!

We’re pleased to have Robin here today to answer some questions about her latest romance Breakfast in Bed. She’ll be stopping in throughout the day to answer questions. Don’t forget to comment to win a copy of the book!

Your latest book had me laughing out loud. It revolves around  a hero who wants to go from a domestic dud to a domestic stud and enlists his sister's best friend to teach him how to cook and clean. Hilarity ensues...Would you tell our readers BreakfastinBedCVR_NEWmore about Breakfast in Bed? Hi, Sabrina. I’m so glad you liked Breakfast in Bed. Rich Ronaldi rented an apartment from his sister, Rosalie and unbeknownst to him, his other sister, Annabelle sublet the very same apartment to her best friend Becca. Before they could decide which of them keeps the apartment, Rich’s girlfriend dumps him because he’s not relationship material. Rich decides he needs to become a domestic god to win his girlfriend back, so he tells Becca he’d let her stay until her apartment is remodeled if she becomes his domestic god coach.

Like most readers I'm all about connecting with the hero and heroine in a book. So, I always ask authors to describe their hero in three words.  Domestic Dud turned Stud works for me. But if I had to come up with my own I’d say Rich is smart, sexy and trainable. There is no way we can make a man change, unless he wants to--and Rich wants to.

What about your heroine? What three words would best describe her? Smart, creative and independent all to the nth degree.

Now that we know more about your characters, what was it about them that had you wanting to write that HEA for them? any favorite scenes to write?  What woman wouldn’t jump at the opportunity to train a man as good-looking as Rich? Besides, she got him to do all the cooking and housework. To me, there is nothing sexier than a man doing housework, the humdinger is scrubbing the toilet and bathtub.
My favorite scenes to write were Rich’s disasters. There’s nothing like a fire in the dryer to heat up a romance.

I love your top ten reasons woman love domestic gods list on your website (readers check it out here)! All three of your books feature men who are or become domestic gods. I have to ask, do you have a personal domestic god who inspires you?  
Oh yeah. My husband is a total domestic god. He does all the laundry and cleaning, he’s a passable cook, and remodels our house in his spare time. I figure I’ve got it all--a domestic god with a tool belt. He’s also the best, most supportive husband and father I’ve ever known. Picking him up was one of the smartest things I’ve ever done.

You grew up in Brooklyn and it's the featured setting of your books. Do you love making it a character all it's own? It's not your typical romance novel setting and that's what I find so appealing!  I do love Brooklyn and New York. I chose it because I’m comfortable there and I’m in a constant state of homesickness. I know and love the people. Setting my books in Brooklyn gives me a great excuse to visit, and allows me to write off the trip as research.  
Brooklyn is very much like NYC, it has a lot of the same sounds and smells but just at a lower volume. Each of the neighborhoods are so different, they all have their own flavors and cultural accents. I adore exploring the neighborhoods and soaking in the culture.  I lived in Kensington when I was a kid, but always loved the park. The Park Slope section of Brooklyn is my absolute favorite and I would live there in a heartbeat if I could afford to.  
I need a NY fix every few months so I call my friends and go home for a long weekend to absorb the energy and the craziness. I come home refreshed and renewed with my Brooklyn accent in full force. But then I’m told that happens every time I speak to a relative.

Read any good books lately that you would recommend to our readers? Authors always seem to have the inside track on great new authors!   
I’ve been reading My Own Personal Soap Opera by Libby Malin, I’ve read Stephanie Julian’s  Kiss of Moonlight, and someone just recommended Can’t Stand the Heat by Louisa Edwards. I’m told she has a very similar writing style to mine so I’m looking forward to checking her out.

What's up next for you? Do you have another Brooklyn romance cooking?  As a matter of fact, I do. It’s called As Good as He Gets and I don’t have a release date yet, but I’m thinking either May or June. It’s a bit of a departure, it takes place in Brooklyn, Manhattan, Boise, Idaho and a little mining town in the mountains of Idaho called Three Whores Bend. As Good as He Gets is Ben and Gina’s story. We meet a whole new cast of characters as well as a few of the regulars,  and I love them all. I’m having a lot of fun writing it.

Where can readers find you next on your blog tour and is there anything else you'd like to share with us? You can go to my website www.RobinKayeWrites.com and my blog tour schedule is on my calendar. I’ll be giving out copies of Breakfast in Bed to lucky commenters.

If you could train the man in your life to do one thing, what would it be? As for me, I’d teach him to give great back rubs. What about you?

Breakfast in Bed by Robin Kaye—in stores January 2010

The third funny, sexy, contemporary romance from a fresh new voice in romance fiction…

Rich, the epitome of “anti-domestic,” can’t cook to save his life, and his idea of cleaning his apartment is to invite his mother over. But he’s ready to settle down, and he can’t stop thinking about the ex-girlfriend who got away. When he notices that his soon-to-be-married friends cooked and cleaned their way into their women’s hearts, he asks his friend Becca to help transform him into a nurturing man to win back his ex.

Rich is the only guy who’s taken the time to know Becca for herself. She decides she’ll give him the makeover he’s asking for, though she’ll be damned if she’s going to turn him into a domestic god for another woman. She wants Rich for herself, but how can she convince him that her kitchen and her bedroom are the only domestic locales he desires?

About the Author

Award-winning author Robin Kaye is a professional writer and winner of the Romance Writers of America Golden Heart award for her first novel, Romeo, Romeo. Once it was headshotpublished, Romeo, Romeo won the 2008 Best Contemporary itRom (Italian Romance) Award by Romance B(u)y the Book, the 2009 HOLT Medallion Contest First Place Winner for Best Romantic Comedy and the 2009 NJRW Golden Leaf Award Winner for Best Single Title. Her romantic comedies feature sexy, nurturing heroes and feisty, independent heroines. She lives with her husband and three children in Mt. Airy, Maryland. For more information, please visit http://www.robinkayewrites.com/

Enter to Win a Copy of Breakfast in Bed! Just leave a comment telling us what one thing would you like to train the man in your life to do! I’ll be randomly drawing a winner on January 1st, so be sure to stop by to see if you won!

Extra entries: Earn an extra entry by tweeting about this interview & contest or by posting about it on your own blog. Make sure to leave a link or your twitter name!

Sorry, this contest is open to US and Canada residents only.

Welcome Guest Author Judi Fennell!

I'm excited today to welcome author Judi Fennell to Cheeky Reads! Judi writes a super fun paranormal series with Mer Men and I'm pleased to have her with us today. Judi's even been kind enough to offer one lucky reader a set of the first two books in her series, In Over Her Head and Wild Blue Under!

Welcome Judi!

Thanks so much for inviting me on Cheeky Reads! I love to think my Mer series falls under the heading of "cheeky," but I have yet to come up with appropriate music to score the stories.

I love reading about soundtracks authors have for their stories. It's like the story collage idea - both of which I think are really cool, but both of which I don't do.

I will say that Microsoft's OneNote has changed the story collage idea somewhat for me. I now take the research that I used to mark as "Favorite" on my Internet Explorer toolbar and copy and paste it into a OneNote document, so I can go back and look at the buildings/maps/etc. when I'm working somewhere offline, but the soundtrack thing still eludes me.

I do write to music, but I use it more as white noise than any kind of inspiration. Oh, I started out with an ocean sounds CD, hoping to get inspiration from the seagull and dolphin song, but, more often than not, I'd find myself getting lulled to sleep by the wave action. I love listening to the ocean, but when you're writing action/adventure/life-and-death scenes, the last thing you want to do is fall asleep. Makes for a pretty boring action scene if it puts the author to sleep.

So I uploaded a bunch of classical and new age music. Instrumental as opposed to lyrical because I can't write new scenes with lyrics be-bopping around in my head that I start to sing to. (And if you've heard me sing, you'll know why this isn't a good thing—especially for those around me. Okay, I'm not that bad, but Simon Cowell definitely won't be calling.)

There's no rhyme or reason to the music I listen to. I like to listen to anything I won't get caught up in. Some songs are slow, some fast, some loud, some soft, some well-known, some not so. Beethoven, Yanni, Tchaikovsky, Irish Step Dance music, the soundtrack from Robin Hood… a very eclectic list that I've created on my iTunes list. I have a playlist titled "Writing Music" that goes on right after I upload the most current edition of my WIP.

I guess that is a soundtrack of sorts, but to me, a soundtrack signifies songs that fit the mood of your story. The tone and rhythm. If I wrote to the rhythm of what I listen to, I think I might make readers (and myself) seasick, as I just hit "Shuffle" and what comes out, comes out. It basically becomes something to block out sounds around me so I can focus on what's in my head. I find that I don’t even notice the music after a while, that the characters' voices become easier to hear. Although, when I do take out the earphones, it's amazing how quiet everything is.

That being said, when it comes time to editing (around the third pass through) I can listen to music that I can sing to - but I have to listen to it for a while before I can get beyond the words. Case in point, I watch the show Real Housewives on Bravo and one of the Atlanta Housewives recently released a dance song, "Tardy for the Party." It's a catchy little ditty and I've found (now that I've played it a gazillion times) it's upbeat enough to read through action scenes and I'm no longer singing along, so it's perfect background music.

But after listening to it for five hour stretches, I have to say, it's looking to be replaced. Soon.

I'd love to hear what other people listen to. How do you write/read a story if there are lyrics playing in your head at the same time? How do you choose which songs you'll write/read to?

And while you're listening to your favorite writing music, feel free to stop by my website, http://www.judifennell.com/, and register to win one of two remaining romantic beach getaway weekends (the first has already been awarded), to either the Atlantis Inn in Ocean City, NJ (http://www.atlantisinn.com/) or the Hibiscus House in West Palm Beach, FL (www.HibiscusHouse.com).

Answer Judi's question regarding what kind of music you like to listen to while reading or writing and you'll be entered to win In Over Her Head and Wild Blue Under! Check back tomorrow morning to see if you've won!

Bonus: +1 for being a follower of this blog / +1 for Tweeting about this post and giveaway

Contest is open to U.S. and Canada residents only.

Book Review: Hex in High Heels by: Linda Wisdom

Book Review: Hex in High Heels
By: Linda Wisdom
Sourcebooks
4 Heart Review
Disclosure: Book Provided by Publisher

Feisty witch Blair Fitzpatrick has had a crush on hunky carpenter Jake Harrison forever - he's one hot shape-shifter. Just when Blair thinks the relationship is really starting to sizzle, Jake pulls back - the last thing he wants to do is involve Blair in his dysfunctional family dynamics.

Jake's nasty mother and brother are after him to return to his pack, and a bunch of unruly elves start causing all kinds of chaos. Blair is trying hard not to unleash the ultimate revenge spell, but when Jake's enemies try to force him away from her, Blair is pushed over the edge. No one messes with her boyfriend-to-be, even if he does shed on the furniture!

I had a fantastic time reading Hex in High Heels! Although this was not the first book in Linda Wisdom's Hex series, it was super easy to fall right into the story of "feisty witch" Blair and Shapeshifter Jake's story. Linda weaves a wonderful world were magical creatures exist within our midst and she shows both the light and dark side within that world - all while keeping it hexy and sexy! I now have a new series to go back and enjoy from the beginning!

My love of a good witchy paranormal has been mentioned before, but I can never say it often enough - there is something be-spelling about them for me! I enjoy both light and dark witch stories, jut will say my favs are always those with humor and sass. Hex in High Heels has humor and sass to spare...along with some great sex appeal and fantastic pacing.

This book is a perfect example of how secondary characters can add to a story, without taking away from the hero and heroine. From the other witches that pop in and out, to the Elves, ghosts and gargoyle, Linda's secondary characters are hysterical fun and I hope we see them in other books. I wasn't particularly drawn to the fuzzy bunny slippers, but maybe I'm missing something from the earlier books?

The storyline about how there are thirteen witches banished from the witches academy in 1313 is very creative and I can't wait to see what clues or tidbits about that we'll get in the other books. It definitely has my interest piqued to find out more of the story and how powerful these thirteen witches really are.

My one wish for the story was to see Blair use her magic a little more and to see a better glimpse at how powerful she supposedly is. I did feel that she was saved a little too much by other powerful beings instead of using her own powers.

If you're a fan of crazy, funny witch heroines who are sassy and...dare I say it...CHEEKY, then I think you'll really love Hex in High Heels and the Hex series from Linda Wisdom. It's a perfect Halloween treat!

Book Review: The Tudor Rose by Margaret Campbell Barnes

Book Review: The Tudor Rose - A Novel of Elizabeth of York
By: Margaret Campbell Barnes
Sourcebooks Landmark
4 Heart Review
Disclosure: Book provided by publisher

One woman holds the key to England's most glorious empire.

Elizabeth of York, the only living descendant of Edward IV, possesses the most precious thing in all of England – a legitimate claim to the crown. Two princes meet to determine a country's destiny: whoever wins will take Britain's most rightful heir as his bride and her kingdom for his own. On one side is her uncle Richard, the last Plantagenet King, whom she fears to be the murderer of her two brothers, the would-be kings. On the other is Henry Tudor, the exiled king. Can he save her from a horrifying marriage to a cutthroat solider?

Thrust into the intrigue and drama of the War of the Roses, Elizabeth has a dynasty within her grasp – if she can find the strength to unite a country torn apart by a thirst for power.


I love well-written historical fiction and am addicted to those that include part of King Henry VIII's story. That made The Tudor Rose an ideal book for me to read and see what I thought of author Margaret Campbell Barnes, whom I had not read before.

I was very pleased with her writing and with the story told in The Tudor Rose. Margaret's writing style is engaging and she perfectly handled the passing of time and historical moments without bogging the story down in them. You get just the right amount of background of historical events, but the focus is kept on Elizabeth - whose story this really is.

Although this is a work of fiction, it is so believable you might be tempted to regard it as pure historical fact. You will be absorbed in every twist and turn as you follow Elizabeth's constant quest for the truth about her brother's deaths, her husband's love and her place in ruling England.

I read this book from cover to cover in one night because I didn't want to leave Elizabeth alone. I felt like I was there with her for every step of her life and wishing for her to have more. Margaret paints Elizabeth as a not just a Queen, but as a woman who longs for love and family but upholds her duty to England above all.

If you are a fan of historical fiction, I can highly recommend The Tudor Rose and Margaret Campbell Barnes for your next read. Margaret is an expert storyteller and weaves an amazing tale of English history told through the incredible life of Elizabeth of York.

Happy Reading!

Book Review: Loving Mr. Darcy by Sharon Lathan

Book Review: Loving Mr. Darcy: Journeys Beyond Pemberley
By: Sharon Lathan
Sourcebooks Casablanca
3 Heart Review
Disclosure: Book Provided By Sourcebooks

Darcy Is Head Over Heels In Love
Six months into his marriage to Elizabeth Bennet, Darcy is still awestruck by his beautiful wide and their unparalleled love and passion. For Darcy, each day offers more opportunities to surprise and delight his beloved bride.

Lizzy Is Ready For Anything
Elizabeth has quickly adapted to being the Mistress of Pemberley, charming everyone she meets and handling her duties with grace and poise. Just when it seems life can't get any better, Elizabeth gets the most wonderful news.

Together They Embark On The Journey Of A Lifetime
The lovers leave the serenity of Pemberley, traveling through the sumptuous landscape of Regency England, experiencing the lavish sights, sounds, and tastes around them. With each new day come new discoveries as they become further entwined, body and soul, and a most sacred bond grows ever deeper.

This sequel to Pride & Prejudice was fun and enjoyable read. One thing to be prepared for? The sex. This is Jane Austen sexed up and going places you might not have expected.

Personally, I liked the idea of sexing Jane Austen's world up a little. The writing is very true to Jane's style, with something extra thrown in that makes the story appeal to a more modern women while still being historically accurate.

If you've been reading light and breezy contemporaries or funny paranormals, it might take you some time to get into this book. Again, Mrs. Lathan does a great deal of justice to the language and writing style of Austen, but that does mean that Loving Mr. Darcy isn't the lightest of reads.

What I enjoyed most about the book was that takes you back to the original story by having Darcy and Elizabeth reveal their thoughts and feelings about scenes that happened in Pride & Prejudice. It's an interesting inside look at the original and I think much of what Loving Mr. Darcy presents could be accurate!

If you are a Jane Austen fan and don't mind a little more heat to the story, I think you'll really enjoy Loving Mr. Darcy. If you're more the movie version fan of Austen, meaning not overly thrilled with the writing style, then you might find Loving Mr. Darcy a little hard to get caught up in. Once you reacquaint yourself with the characters and language, the reading flow does speed up.

I would have liked the story to have included more about Georgiana as I think seeing Mr. Darcy handle Georgiana's courtship will allow for some great moments.

So, if you enjoyed the book version of Pride & Prejudice, you'll enjoy Loving Mr. Darcy as long as you don't mind a little steamy romance!

Buy At Amazon
Link provided for convenience, does not constitute an endorsement.

10 Questions with Author Amelia Grey & A Chance to Win Two Rogue's Dynasty Books

Cheeky Reads is pleased to have author Amelia Grey here with us today to answer some questions about her latest release A Marquis to Marry and her Rogue's Dynasty Trilogy. Welcome Amelia!

To start, please tell us a little about The Rogue's Dynasty Trilogy and A Marquis to Marry.

Good morning, and thank you for having me today on your fabulous site! I would love to tell you a little about The Rogues’ Dynasty Series. I started the Rogues series with this premise: Everyone in the ton knew that Lady Elder had tried many times by fair and foul means to force her grandsons to marry. After all, she had been happily married . . . four times. Decades earlier she had successfully married off each of her three daughters to titled gentlemen. And in turn, each daughter had given her a grandson all in the same year.

The Grandsons turned out to be Rogues of the highest order, notorious for many reasons including their titles, handsome faces and rumored debauchery. But nothing made them more popular than the fact that all three still remained bachelors in their thirtieth year. Not even vast fortunes had tempted any of them to propose to any of the young ladies who fancied them.

In A Marquis to Marry, the second book of the series, Alexander Raceworth, the fourth Marquis of Raceworth was not looking for love when Susannah Brookfield, the Dowager Duchess of Blooming arrived unannounced at his door. He had a card party going on at his house and serving tea to a temperamental old dowager was not in his plans. Let the servants take care of her. But when Race finally puts his cards on the table and goes to meet the duchess, he finds that she’s not old and she’s not unattractive. She’s a young, stunning beauty. And what’s more, she claims his grandmother’s pearls belong to her family. She intends to get them back, but Race doesn’t plan to be bluffed out of them.

Before the true ownerships of the pearls can be determined they are stolen from Race’s home. Race puts Susannah at the top of the thief list, but she wasn’t the only one after the pearls. There’s a sweet-talking buccaneer, a master-jeweler popinjay who secures jewels for the Crown, and a seedy, one-armed antiquities dealer, all wanting possession of the famous pearls.

The first book of The Rogues’ Dynasty series is A Duke to Die For. It came out in April 2009, but it is still available at your favorite local or online bookstore. In A Duke to Die For, the hero’s life is chaotic and undisciplined, so I gave him a young and innocent heroine who was timely and organized to get under his skin and stay there. For fun I had her believe she was cursed, and for intrigue I had him be in danger because of it.

An Earl to Enchant is the third book of the series and will be published in April 2010. In An Earl to Enchant, the hero is a planner who plays by the rules and has no idea what to do with an enchanting heroine who ignores convention and steals his heart with her impulsive ways. For merriment, I have the heroine pursuing the hero, and for intrigue I have a killer pursuing her.

I've heard A Marquis to Marry is based on true events - how did you uncover the true story and what was it like to research it?

Several years ago I read a snippet of information about the Talbot pearls. Five strands of perfectly matched pearls with each strand measuring thirty-two inches. I knew I wanted to use them in a book and A Marquis To Marry seemed the perfect story. It was easy to work out little details about the pearls. I decided they would belong to the hero, Race, left to him by his grandmother. And then to add a little spice to the story, I decided to have the heroine, Susannah, show up at his door claiming the pearls belonged to her family.

During the entire writing of this story, I kept searching for what really became of the Talbot pearls. I made e-mail contact with a couple of libraries in England, including the one in Sheffield where the Countess of Shrewsbury lived, hoping they could help me. I was sent a lot of information about jewels but nothing on the Talbot pearls. As I neared the end of the book frustration set in. I wanted to be able to tell in the author’s notes what really became of the famous pearls, so I hired a professional researcher.

She went to work right away checking books, museums’ lists, and old account records of the Countess of Shrewsbury, but to no avail. She and I finally had to give up and assume the strands of pearls were probably sold or pawned and were eventually broken up to make smaller necklaces. But it was most disheartening not to be able to say for sure what became of the pearls. The one thing I could do was make sure A Marquis to Marry had a happier ending. At the end of the book, the real thief is caught and the pearls are found.

I love the reformed rake playing the hero - something about have all that experience is appealing (in make-believe at least!) What three words would you use to describe your hero Race?

Passionate, fun-loving and sexy!

Describe your heroine Susannah in three words.

Believable, forgiving, and tempting.

I love that you begin each chapter with a note to Race from his Grandmother. What made you think of including these and can you tell us a little of how you use these notes and the ones Race sends to Susannah in the story?

Lady Elder, Race’s grandmother is the tie that binds The Rogues’ Dynasty books together and her quotes from Lord Chesterfield to her three grandsons was a constant irritant to them. In A Marquis to Marry, Susannah is a Duchess which means her rank is higher than Race’s. She’s usually treated with the highest, and most formal respect. He gets her attention by sending his informal notes that say just enough to tease her.

What scene was the most fun to write, and which was the hardest?

The most fun scene to write was the scene where Race and Susannah meet. I think the sexual tension between them sizzles from the moment they set eyes on each other. And the hardest to write was when Race thought Susannah had betrayed him and he accused her of having the pearls stolen. I wanted him to be passionately angry in that scene but yet he still had to be the hero of the book, too!

What do you love most about writing historical romances?

I love that feeling of being back in time and making it as beautiful, sensual and as fun as I hope it was.

Can you tell our readers a little about your writing and researching process?

I’m a fairly steady writer in that I usually write from about 10:00am until 4:00pm Monday through Friday. I seldom write in the evenings or weekends. I still do most of my research with books rather than the internet as I simply love to get away from the computer with a book and curl up in my favorite chair and read. But in a time crunch, I’ll stay at the computer and try to find what I need to know—for instance—if they used the term “bath salts” during the Regency, which I concluded they didn’t.

What are you currently reading and are there any books you would recommend? Authors always have the best recommendations!

I’m reading The Grand Sophy by Georgette Heyer and I have Sandra Brown’s Smash Cut sitting under it as next on my to be read list. I know Laura Kinsale has a book titled Lessons in French coming out in February of 2010 as my editor sent me a copy. I read it and loved it. It should be on anyone’s list who likes historicals.

The third book in the Rogue's Dynasty Trilogy, An Earl to Enchant, is set to release in April 2010. Can you give tell us a little about the main characters?

I’m happy to tell you a little about An Earl to Enchant. It is the third book of the Rogues’ Dynasty series and will be published in April 2010. In An Earl to Enchant, the hero is a planner who plays by the rules and has no idea what to do with an enchanting heroine who ignores convention and steals his heart with her impulsive ways. For merriment, I have the heroine pursuing the hero, and for intrigue I have a killer pursuing her.

Is there anything else you'd like to share with our readers?

I’d like for everyone to know that I’ll be writing three more books in the Rogues’ Dynasty for Sourcebooks. I can’t tell you about where the next three rogues come from as it would spoil one of the plots in An Earl to Enchant. But rest assured I have three more powerful, sexy heroes coming your way.

Thank you for having me today and I hope I’ll be invited back next April when An Earl To Enchant is published. Amelia

Thank you Amelia and we'd love to have you back! How exciting to hear there will be three more books - for six in all!

Sourcebooks has awesomely offered a set of the first two Rogue's Dynasty books to one lucky reader of Cheeky Reads! Leave a comment or question for Amelia and you'll be entered to win both A Duke to Die For and A Marquis to Marry!

Sorry, but this contest is limited to U.S. and Canada residents only.

Romance Book Review: Broken Wing By Judith James

Romance Book Review:Broken Wing
By: Judith James
Medallion Press
4 Heart Review

Abandoned as a child and raised in a brothel, Gabriel St. Croix has never known tenderness, friendship, or affection. Although fluent in sex, he knows nothing of love. Lost and alone inside a nightmare world, all he's ever wanted is companionship and a place to belong. Hiding physical and emotional scars behind an icy facade, his only relationship is with a young boy he has spent the last five years protecting from the brutal reality of their environment. But all is about to change. The boy's family has found him, and they are coming to take him home.

Sarah Munroe blames herself for her brother's disappearance. When he's located, safe and unharmed despite where he has been living, Sarah vows to help the man who rescued and protected him in any way she can. With loving patience she helps Gabriel face his demons and teaches him to trust in friendship and love. But when the past catches up with him, Gabriel must face it on his own.

Becoming a mercenary pirate and a professional gambler, Gabriel travels to London, France, and the Barbary Coast in a desperate attempt to find Sarah again and all he knows of love. On the way, however, he will discover the most dangerous journey, and the greatest gamble of all, is within the darkest reaches of his heart.
This is an EPIC story! Not for the faint of heart, don't read this book if you are looking for a lighthearted romance. This story is gritty, dark and in your face and perfect for you if you want a romance full of emotion, angst and forgiveness.

Gabriel is most definitely a broken man coming from dire circumstances and readers will need to be open minded to warm up to this dark hero. It would have been very easy for Mrs. James to make Gabriel's path to love and redemption all roses and wine, but instead she made his romance with Sarah an epic journey on the path of his self-forgiveness.

Sarah could easily have expected Gabriel to forget his past and move forward with her, but again Mrs. James demonstrates excellent story-telling ability in showing Sarah's awareness, disgust, understanding and acceptance. It's through Sarah's reactions to Gabriel and his past, that Gabriel is able to understand what love really means.

A beautiful, but heavy, love story this book was completely unlike any other book I've read in years. If you want something bold and different this is for you. Just know that the subject matter might not be for everyone but it is handled perfectly and is essential to understanding Gabriel and celebrating his happy ending.

Broken Wing is Mrs. James' first novel and I'm excited to say her second book, Highland Rebel, is now available from Sourcebooks. Happy Reading!

A Vocabulary Lesson with Guest Author Sharon Lathan

Today I'm pleased to introduce our guest blogger Sharon Lathan, author of Loving Mr. Darcy. Recently released, Loving Mr. Darcy is the second in her trilogy of Pride and Prejudice sequels called The Darcy Saga.

I love Sharon's topic today - a vocabulary lesson that will help you get even more out of the historicals you read, like Loving Mr. Darcy. Welcome Sharon!

A Vocabulary Lesson

Writing in an era some 200 years ago is a daunting task. Add to that the chore of tackling Jane Austen and it teeters on the brink of insanity! I haven’t decided yet whether I am crazy or brazen, but whatever the opinion, it is a very good thing that I am a lover of history and vocabulary. The research necessary to plausibly present a past world is tremendous. Writing in a style that is one’s own voice while also paying tribute to the original author is precarious. Using vocabulary that conveys a forgotten way of speaking while utilizing the language a modern reader will understand is rough.

Yet, as I said, I love history and I love vocabulary. I told a friend recently that I was a thesaurus addict! I absolutely love searching for new words to use and actually start to shake when I stumble across a new one. I have formed whole paragraphs around some really cool word, just because I have to use it! I try not to be overly obscure as I want my readers to enjoy the story and not falter when encountering a bizarre word. On the other hand, broadening ones vocabulary is a worthy endeavor and pausing to flip through the dusty dictionary is time well spent. Yes?

From time to time on my website I post an entry called “Vocabulary Rocks!” I share the origins and definitions of some of the cool words I unearth. I am going to share a few of my favs.

Décolletage – Often this word is used in such a way that one thinks it means the actual cleavage visible. In reality, décolletage is referring to the fabric neckline of the gown itself, but is only applied to a gown that is very low cut so that the shoulders and upper breasts are exposed.

Chatelaine -A set of useful items hung at the waist with a decorative chain. Commonly associated with the housekeeper who kept the keys to the Manor on her person at all times. A chatelaine was also worn by fashionable ladies and would secure a watch, sewing or writing implements, small coin purses, keys, scissors, etc.

Harridan - A bad-tempered, disreputable old woman. Probably from the French word haridelle meaning a worn-out horse. I used this word to describe Lady Catherine de Bourgh! Fits, don’t you think?

Inexpressibles – This one cracks me up! We would say ‘pants’ but that term was considered vulgar! So instead, this was the general, polite word for all the various types of male garments worn over the lower half of their bodies.

Accoutrements - The additional accessories, paraphernalia, and trimmings that are not a main part of the garment. For the Regency man and woman the accoutrements were as important as the suit or gown. Hats, gloves, walking sticks, pocket watches, jewelry, scarves, and so on.

Halcyon – It means calm, tranquil, happy, carefree, and prosperous. What is interesting is the origin: The fourteen days of calm weather at the winter solstice when a mythical bird, identified with the kingfisher, was said to breed in a nest floating on calm seas. Identified in mythology with Halcyone, daughter of Aeolus, the ruler of the winds, who when widowed upon her husband, Ceyx the king of Thessaly, drowning at sea, threw herself into the sea and became a kingfisher, flying to be with her husband. OK, you have to admit that is cool!

Braggadocio –Vain, swaggering, pretentious bragging attitude or person. After Braggadocchio, the boastful character in Edmund Spenser's The Faerie Queene (1590)

Insipid and Vapid – I love both of these words! They sound exactly like they mean, that is to be without any distinctive or interesting qualities, dull and bland, no liveliness of spirit or zest for life.

Urbane – I love this word because it perfectly describes Mr. Darcy to me. Having the polish, elegance, sophistication, and suave refinement that comes from wide social experience. Oh yeah, that’s my hero!

Well, I could go on indefinitely, but I shan’t! I hope you have enjoyed my mini-English lesson. I have an extensive glossary of Regency places and terms on my website if this essay piqued your interest for more. And I hope you will dash over to my website to read about my sequel to Pride & Prejudice: The Darcy Saga by Sharon Lathan at http://www.darcysaga.net/ The first two novels are already available to purchase! And I promise you will learn some new words to dazzle your friends. Share with us some of your favorite words, especially if they are unusual.

About the Author

Sharon Lathan is a native Californian currently residing amid corn, cotton, and cows in the sunny city of Hanford. She divides her time as homemaker nurturing a husband and two children, plus the cat, dog, and fish; while also working as a Registered Nurse in a Neonatal ICU. Somewhere in there she finds time to write! Sharon Lathan can be found on her website/blog at: http://www.darcysaga.net/, on Facebook as “Sharon Lathan, “ on Twitter as “@SharonLathan,” and on the Casablanca Authors’ blog at: http://casablancaauthors.blogspot.com/

We have a fantastic prize to giveaway to celebrate Sharon's latest release. One lucky reader will win one copy of the first two books in The Darcy Saga - Mr. & Mrs. Fitzwilliam Darcy and Loving Mr. Darcy! Just comment and tell us some of your favorite words of past or present and you're entered to win!

Sorry, this giveaway is open to U.S. and Canada residents only. Be sure to leave your email address so I can contact you if you win!

Happy Reading!