Winter Austin winner

Maria D

wins a digital copy of Retribution by Winter Austin

*

Congrats! To claim your prize, please email lillie80 @ gmail.com (without the spaces). You have 48 hours to email before a new name is chosen.

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Secondary Character Love by Winter Austin

Called to the homicide of a Dallas criminal lawyer, Detective Remy LeBeau stares at a scene that drags him back into his past. To another murdered lawyer in New Orleans. A case that put Remy on a collision course with death.

 

Cody Lewis struggles with the horrific memories of her kidnapping and the need to numb the pain. The battle she puts up causes her to avoid Remy and their undetermined relationship. But the flashbacks and nightmares are proving more potent than Cody thought and she’s having a harder time resisting the cravings for alcohol.

 

As the case takes a turn in revealing a professional assassin is behind the death, Remy begins to make decisions that could cost him his job and Cody. Because the deeper he sinks, the closer the enemies of his past come to finding him.

 

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While writing my second book, Retribution, two things happened. First, I discovered some astonishing secrets that were hidden deep within two of my secondary characters. Number two thing, I had beta readers screaming for me to start writing books on those characters because they fell madly in love with them. Well, I did too, and I’m the creator. For me, as with most authors, characters are like real people and they speak to me, and sometimes kind of like the way my teenage kids do, like smart aleks.

 

I love it when secondary characters take on a life of their own and add to the layers or flavor of the story. They can either irritate the main characters to no end, or enhance their personalities. For both of my main characters they have a cast of secondary characters lined up behind them that bring out a different aspect in both. But for this post I’ll focus on just two of them.

 

For my hero, Detective Remy LeBeau, it was his partner, Detective Heath Anderson. Heath showed up in my first book years after I created Remy. Eventually this good ole Texas boy began revealing bits and pieces of himself to turn him into a force to reckon with. He kept pushing and prodding into Remy’s life and past, hoping to crack that thick block of ice around Remy. I never understood why it was so important to Heath—well, I did from the aspect that most detective partners are like brothers, they rely on that protection to make it through the job. But it wasn’t until Heath finally connected with the other main character, Cody Lewis, that the flood gates opened up. I can’t give too much away, it would ruin Retribution for you, but let’s just say, what Heath was hiding I never saw it coming.

 

Then there was Cody’s longstanding best friend, Kimberly Anne Gregory. Kim has been in Cody’s life for as long as I’ve known Cody, but she didn’t step onto the story book stage until Retribution. Kim is a whirlwind, go-getter who loves life and brings out the feminine side of Cody. Yet Kim’s life is an enigma, but I knew one aspect of it for a long time—can’t tell ya, it’d blow the secret. Oddly enough, I never planned this, but the moment Kim and Heath met in Retribution, sparks flew. And well, I had a new romance starting to bud within the main arc for Cody and Remy’s story. Because of this, I got hammered with: “You better write a book for Heath and Kim.”

 

Ha ha, I actually do have a story for them, but book 3 needs to release first.

 

I’m not the first and nor will I be the last author to have readers beg to see books for their favorite secondary characters. I’ve been getting requests for books for some secondary characters from my first book, Relentless. And believe me, I do have some general ideas for books for most of my secondary characters.

 

Now the question remains: How far will this secondary cast take my book series? I hope for a while longer.

 

About the author:

Winter Austin was once asked by her husband if he could meet some of the people who took residence in her head. She warned they weren’t all characters he wanted to meet, as killers walked among them. Needless to say, that conversation ended abruptly.

 

A lifelong Mid-West gal, Winter swears she should have been born in the South, Texas or Louisiana preferably. But then she’d miss the snowy winters.

 

Dividing her day between her four children and their various activities, a growing pet population, and her Beta-with-Alpha-tendencies Hero, Winter manages to find time to write chilling thrillers between loads of laundry.

 

Don’t worry. You won’t find any of her mouthwatering culinary dishes poisoned. Unless you’re one of her fictional creations.

 

You can learn more about Winter Austin and her current and upcoming releases by visiting her website: http://www.winteraustin.com

Or her Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/w.austin.degressofdarkness

 

~~~*~~~*~~~

For the chance to win a digital copy of Retribution by Winter Austin, just leave a comment below. Good luck!

 

 

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Getting’ Your Married On by Theresa Rizzo

If you grow up in a less than a Leave-it-to Beaver home environment like Catherine and Thomas did without good role models, there are bound to be some adjustment issues. Heck even with good role models, there will be growing pains.

Living and melding your life with another person’s is hard—then when you add in the complications of old emotional baggage on either, or both sides, it can really be really challenging and one has to keep a sense of humor and perspective to survive those early years where a couple is feeling their way around, trying to create their own rhythm—hmmm no sexual puns intended.

But now that you went there . . . sex does serve to complicate things. Just sayin’.

Anyhow, sex aside, trying to live with another person and be a good, roommate, companion, confidant, support, lover, etc. takes work, as Catherine and Thomas found out.  And there are bound to be a bunch of missteps—like Catherine making Thomas enough breakfast for four men, and the eggs that could be used as hockey pucks that Thomas gamely tried to choke them down, while trying not to look at his watch ‘cause he never ate breakfast and taking the time to do so is going to get him stuck in traffic and make him late for work.

Catherine tries again and again to connect with Thomas, without actually coming out and telling him what she’s doing or why.  She reads magazines about how to please your man and follows that advice, but it doesn’t work out so well for her.

 

Even couples from functional families (is there really such a thing?) have their initial missteps and awkwardness in learning the marriage ropes. We all do silly things when first married in effort to be the perfect spouse.

 

What silly newlywed thing did you do in an effort to please your new spouse? What awkward/funny incident will you never live down?

 

Blurb:

He Belongs to Me is a love story . . . a tale of betrayal and deception and of a young mother’s determination to recover what belongs to her.

Forced to leave her baby and tricked into relinquishing her parental rights, four years later Catherine Boyd is back and she’ll do anything to regain custody of her son–even reconcile with the husband falsely accused of killing their son’s twin.

All in the name of love for a little boy, generations of pain and tragedy are exposed in a courtroom drama.

 

 

Short Bio-Theresa Rizzo is an award-winning author who writes emotional stories that explore the complexity of relationships and families through real-life trials. 

Born and raised in Grosse Pointe, Michigan, she currently lives outside of Boulder, Colorado with her husband of thirty years. She’s raised four wonderful children who are now scattered across the country.

 

Find Theresa On the Web:

•   Website

•  Facebook

•  Twitter

• Goodreads

Book Buy Links:

• Amazon 

• Amazon Ca

• Kindle

• Barnes & Noble

• iBookstore

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Winners!

Shannon Burdsall

wins a swag pack and a digital backlist title from Carrie Ann Ryan

*

Judith Laik

wins a digital copy of The Marquess of Cake by Heather Hiestand

*

Congrats! To claim your prize, please email mad @ romancereaderatheart.com (without the spaces). You have 48 hours to email before a new name is chosen.

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The Story Behind The Marquess of Cake By Heather Hiestand

While it’s true that my first sale in romance was a Victorian historical fantasy short story, I ended up writing contemporary and paranormal romance when I sold book-length fiction. You may wonder how I ended up writing a series about a bakery set in 1880s London. Here’s my story…

2010: Respiratory problems were going to be an issue for my baby, given that asthma is on both sides of his family tree. I wasn’t expecting croup to come into our lives, but it’s the baby form of bronchitis, which I’m all too familiar with. What really surprised me though, was that one of the treatments for it was plunking the young sufferer in front of the television.

I’d understood that you weren’t supposed to expose babies to TV until they were two, but here I was being told to keep my one-year-old quiet, and TV definitely worked. I didn’t want to let him watch non-family-oriented TV though. My days of watching shows like the full-of-dead-bodies Bones were over. Plus, he’d only stop crying if he was resting on my bed, rather than on his floor play area in the living room, our only room with a television. So, I downloaded the first season of Top Chef onto my laptop using Amazon credits (I didn’t have Wi Fi or Netflix back then) and curled us up on the bed. He was mesmerized and in the end came through three bouts of croup with only one trip to the Emergency Room.

Me? I came out of the croup era with a cooking show addiction, because we moved on from Top Chef to the cake decorating shows that were on every day back then. Food Network was our best friend.

I had been writing shorter fiction again, because of sleep deprivation whittling my brain power. When I thought I’d try a novel, I spoke to my friend Eilis Flynn about working together, and she suggested we give steampunk a try. (In 2013, this led to our release of Victorian vampire historical fantasy Wear Black.) I had been writing steampunk with her, then alone, but I started to envision a Victorian bakery where a young woman toiled away in the basement decorating cakes. Soon I had my heroine, Alys Redcake, a cake decorator at her father’s tea shop and emporium. She’s twenty-six and has given up on finding a husband, putting all her love and care into the cakes she decorates so beautifully.

Until one day, she bumps into a handsome man outside the bakery door, and her life changes!

My story was set during the same time period as my steampunk tales, but didn’t require an alternate history world. So in a roundabout way, I made a journey back to Victorian romance.

Here is the blurb for Marquess of Cake:

Coffee. . .tea. . .or a pastry chef sweeter than any confection. . .

Scotch trifle fit for Queen Victoria, scones with clotted cream. . .Alys Redcake knows the way to a man’s heart. Yet she is unaware that with each morsel–and flash of ankle–she is seducing the handsome marquess frequenting her father’s tea shop. Unmarried at twenty-six, Alys’s first love is the family business. But thoughts of the gentleman’s touch are driving her to distraction. . .

With his weakness for sugar, the Marquess of Hatbrook can imagine no more desirable woman than one scented with cake and spice. Mistaking Alys for a mere waitress, he has no doubt she would make a most delicious mistress. And when he finds himself in need of an heir, he plans to make her his convenient bride. Yet as they satisfy their craving for one another, business and pleasure suddenly collide. Will Hatbrook’s passion for sweets–and for Alys–be his heart’s undoing?

To read about Marquess of Cake go to http://www.kensingtonbooks.com/book.aspx/22722 You can purchase there or find all the links to your favorite etailer.

To learn more about Heather Hiestand and the stories she creates go to: http://www.heatherhiestand.com or http://blog.heatherhiestand.com or http://www.twitter.com/hahiestand

Heather is on a blog tour during the month of July. Check her blog to find out where she is. Many of the blog spots have prizes!

 

 

~~~*~~~*~~~

For a chance to win a digital copy of The Marquess of Cake by heather Hiestand, leave a comment below. Good luck!

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Jessi Gage – Guest blog and Giveaway

Thank you for hosting me today, Mad! I’m excited to dish about the romance trope I love to hate (and hate to love) and how I gave it my own unique spin.

 

We romance readers love a good trope…or twelve. Some of my favorites include the alpha who needs a mate (paranormal), the wealthy rake marries the destitute or dishonored noblewoman (historical), the modern-day heroine falls for the historical man (time-travel), the vampire who can’t help but read people’s thoughts finds sweet relief in the special human woman whose mind is a blank to him (paranormal), and the old standby, tough chick decides love is for idiots and masochists.

 

Then there’s the amnesia trope. Some love it. Some hate it. But one thing’s for sure. It sells. People gobble it up. What’s the draw of an amnesia trope? A couple of things, I think, and I’m by no means an expert since I’ve only read a handful of books with this trope.

 

First, we love a good power imbalance. In DEAD TO THE WORLD (Charlaine Harris), the dynamic between Sookie and Eric in books 1-3 gets flipped on its head for book 4. Suddenly Sookie’s the one calling the shots and making provisions for the vampire who can’t remember who he is. It’s delicious because Eric had been such a jerk to her at times, and we get to see Sookie rise above all that and extend a grudge-free helping hand to the vampire.

 

Another thing we love about the amnesia trope is the fresh perspective it lends to the character suffering the amnesia. Suddenly a bad breakup can be looked at through a lens free of emotional pain. New discoveries can be made and new chances can be had as a result. This happened in Brynn Paulin’s FORGOTTEN FAMILY, a menage novella in which the heroine (Marina) in a m/m/f triad loses her memory. Her heroes (Kyle and Marcus) bring her home from the hospital and treat her with kid gloves. As she recovers her health, she learns that she had actually left these men, but she doesn’t remember why, and they’re not telling. It’s a great foundation for a mystery. It gives her a chance to get to know them (and their bodies, because this is definitely erotica) without the emotional burden of whatever drove their happy family apart.

 

Another way amnesia can be used to drive a novel’s tension is by giving characters a chance to overlook their prejudices. In TEMPTING THE BRIDE by Sherry Thomas, the heroine (Helena) has hated the hero (David) with the fire of a thousand suns ever since their childhood. When she suffers amnesia, she has a chance to get to know the adult David without her memory of the cocky, prank-playing child-David who made her adolescence a living hell. She gets to see what a fabulous man he has turned into, and what a wonderful father he is to his daughter who has Asperger’s Syndrome (see also the add-a-kid trope).

 

In my new release ROAD RAGE, I add my own twist to the amnesia trope. My heroine, Cami, gets in a car accident, and is in a coma in the hospital. But she takes on semi-corporeal form in the bedroom of the man who caused the accident. While she’s a “ghost” she can’t remember who she is or what happened to her. I did this to give her the chance to get to know her hero, Derek, without the obvious prejudice she’d have if she knew he was the man who acted out at her on the freeway and caused her injuries. While Derek has done something unconscionable, he is a good guy at heart, and once he takes responsibility for his anger and the bad decisions he has made, he becomes a hero worthy of compassionate Cami. I needed her to give Derek a fighting chance, and memory loss helped me do that.

 

These are some of the reasons I love a good amnesia trope, emphasis on GOOD. One of the things I loathe about an amnesia trope and one reason I’ll put down a book and not read on is when the medical aspects are overlooked. If amnesia is the ONLY symptom, I don’t find that realistic. While Cami, my heroine in ROAD RAGE got off pretty easy in that she’ll recover fully from her traumatic brain injury, I made an effort to show consequences other than just memory loss and coma. She sees a speech therapist and a physical therapist. Her head is shaved, and she’s missing a piece of her skull and therefore has to wear a helmet at all times…not very sexy, unless you’re her hero, Derek. He finds just about everything about Cami sexy, and he’s determined to be a better man for her.

 

What’s your favorite book with an amnesia trope? What draws you in or turns you off in an amnesia trope?

 

Read on to learn more about ROAD RAGE. Leave a comment to enter my giveaway of one ecopy of ROAD RAGE. I’ll choose and notify a winner on Friday. Be sure to leave your email address if I don’t know  you!

 

Blurb:

Lashing out in anger, construction worker Derek causes an accident on the freeway. His truck escapes unscathed, but he can’t say the same for his conscience. Plagued by nightmares of the wreck, his only comfort comes in the form of nightly visits by a mysterious woman who interrupts his dreams with sensual caresses and words of solace.

Cami has no idea who she is, until she wakes in a hospital bed and learns she’s been comatose due to a car wreck. Her visits with Derek must have been a dream, so why can’t she shake the feeling he was a real man who truly needed her help?

When Derek learns his mystery woman is none other than the driver of the car he cut off and she is fighting for her life, he must decide: Is he man enough to face her and ask forgiveness, or will he run away and avoid the consequences of his anger, yet again?

CONTENT WARNING: Sex with a perfect, imaginary dream girl who really isn’t imaginary

A Lyrical Press Paranormal Romance

Buy Links

Amazon
Barnes & Noble
iTunes
Lyrical Press

Jessi Gage links

Website | Blog | Facebook Fan Page | Twitter | Goodreads

Thanks again for having me Mad!

 

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Carrie Ann Ryan interviews Maddox – Shattered Emotions

Maddox Jamenson is the Omega of the Redwood Pack, the one burdened by emotions stronger than his own. He’s spent his entire life shrouded in the secrets of his “gift” and the price he has to pay to keep it, yet the cost just escalated. He’s known a mate could be in the cards for him, but he can’t have what he wants. Not when the battles he has yet to fight could destroy her.

 

Ellie Reyes was the Central’s princess, the daughter of the most hated Alpha of all time, yet not prized. No, she’s spent her life as the toy of her brother’s sadistic torture and has endured a pain that no one else should have to even contemplate. Though when she’s rescued, the one person who could help her, her mate, turns his back on her for reasons unknown to her. As each day passes, the strength that everyone sees in her dwindles to a point that there may be no coming back from.

 

When the Centrals find a new way to attack, leaving Ellie’s only protection a mate that she doesn’t think wants her, they’ll both have to overcome their fears and fight for something stronger than their pain.  The war isn’t over and new players are coming that will decide the outcome. Maddox and Ellie’s connection will be tested even as their fragile bond is only newly forming.

~~~*~~~*~~~*~~~

Thanks so much for having us! I’m sitting her with my latest hero, Maddox, from SHATTERED EMOTIONS. His book is the 5^th book in my Redwood Pack series and I’m so freaking excited for you guys to read this one. Maddox is the Omega of the Redwood Pack, meaning he not only feels every single emotion from the Pack, but he also has a duty to heal what he can within the den itself. He’s been in the background for each book and has done what he could to protect his loved ones, but it hasn’t been easy.

Carrie Ann: Hi, Maddox. Thanks for taking the time to sit with me.

Maddox: You know I’ll always come to talk to you. It’s my duty.

Carrie Ann: *rolls eyes* You always say that. You never do anything for yourself, but I totally understand it. So tell me, what does it mean to you to finally have your mate?

Maddox: *swallows hard* Everything. I almost lost her more times than I can count. It wasn’t all the outside forces that did it though. I pushed her away for so long…damn, I’m surprised she even stayed.

Carrie Ann: Ellie stayed because she’s your mate and despite the fact that you two needed to talk, she also needed to heal. Something you understand quite well. Tell me what life was like before you met Ellie.

Maddox: Empty. Though after I met her and still couldn’t have her, I think it felt even emptier.

Carrie Ann: Tell me more about Ellie.

Maddox: She’s…she’s strong. She’s smart, funny, caring, and sexy as hell. She doesn’t care for her own well being and I’m working on that, but damn, I love her more than life itself.

Carrie Ann: I can’t reveal any spoilers but that one thing that happened at the end, you doing okay?

Maddox: *blinks* You’ll have to read and see.

Carrie Ann: *rolls eyes* You’re worse than I am when it comes to secrets, you know.

Maddox: *grins*

Carrie Ann: Okay, now fun ones. Chocolate or vanilla?

Maddox: Chocolate for sure. Though really, I love anything that I can lick off my mate. Ellie is funny because she hides it around the house. I know she didn’t have much of it living with the Centrals so she tries to indulge herself in secret. I add more to her stash when I can.

Carrie Ann: *sighs* I love you, Maddox. Just saying. Okay, I’m going to leave you here for a bit to go and interview Ellie for another blog, but I just want to say I’m so so so happy I got to write your story in SHATTERED EMOTIONS. Now readers, let me and Maddox know if you have any questions! You know the Maddox is secretive, but we might be able to pry a few things out of him!

Excerpt:

Ellie Reyes gripped Maddox’s hand as tight as she could. Yes, it was the first time he’d voluntary touched her since he’d picked her up out of the back of the Jeep when they’d first met, but, honestly, that wasn’t important now.

She’d think about the calloused hands of a hard worker—one who helped his Pack and brothers, not necessarily in his job—and how they would feel against her skin. She’d think about what it all meant later.

Maybe later she could even relish his touch and imagine the scents of wolf and forest washing over her.

Later.

Right now, all she wanted to do was hide in a corner so the others would stop staring at her. Or, she could raise her chin at them all and show them they couldn’t hurt her. Her wolf whimpered at the thought, not knowing if that were possible. She didn’t know if she was broken or strong anymore.

She’d been hurt far more than they could ever imagine. They had no idea what she could endure. Oh, they’d all guessed and given her their pitying looks, but they didn’t know.

They couldn’t know.

*****

Carrie Ann Ryan is a bestselling paranormal and contemporary romance author. After spending too much time behind a lab bench, she decided to dive into the romance world and find her werewolf mate – even if it’s just in her books. Happy endings are always near – even if you have to get over the challenges of falling in love first.

Carrie Ann’s Redwood Pack series is a bestselling series that has made the shifter world even more real to her and has allowed the Dante’s Circle and Holiday, Montana series to be born. She’s also an avid reader and lover of romance and fiction novels. She loves meeting new authors and new worlds. Any recommendations you have are appreciated. Carrie Ann lives in New England with her husband and two kittens.

Carrie Ann loves hearing from readers. You can find her at:

Website | Facebook  | Goodreads | Twitter: @CarrieAnnRyan |

Amazon:  http://amzn.to/17fbtSJ

ARe: http://bit.ly/14VlwHm

Kobo: http://bit.ly/13Qu5UN

***Giveaway***

Carrie Ann is giving away a special swag pack and a copy of her backlist to a lucky commenter. Be sure to leave your email to enter!

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Winners!

barbed1951

wins a digital copy of Never Too Late by Amara Royce

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Sue Peace, Nikki H, and Josie Haney Hink

wins a digital copy of Just What He Wanted by HelenKay Dimon

*

Kim

wins a digital copy of Unbuttoned by Maisey Yates

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Congrats! To claim your prize, please email mad @ romancereaderatheart.com (without the spaces). You have 48 hours to email before a new name is chosen.

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Just What He Wanted by HelenKay Dimon – Giveaway!

Travis Yardley thought he had everything he needed, but one look at Andrea Patterson shows him he was wrong. Andie is a gorgeous, curvy, blonde, who moves to town to manage a nearby campground. Seizing the chance to get close to her, Travis volunteers as tour guide and “bodyguard.”

After a bad breakup, Andie is looking to start over and determined to put her heart on hiatus. She’s working on her self-esteem, and she is not ready for the likes of Travis. He comes on strong, with all the energy of a guy almost ten years her junior, which is exactly what he is.

Even as Travis’s troubled past catches up with him, he pulls out all the stops to convince Andie he deserves a chance. And with the spring thaw hitting the Mountain View Resort, Andie discovers her own temperature rising whenever Travis looks her way…

I was lucky enough to get an early look at Just What He Wanted a few months ago and I loved it! I’m not usually a fan of younger heroes but Travis was perfect. He caught my attention in the earlier Holloway books and by the end of this one, I was in love. Unfortunately, my kindle ate my notes and I haven’t been able to write a review without them. Instead, I’ll give you all the opportunity to see for yourselves why I loved this book so much.

I’m giving away three kindle or nook copies of Just What He Wanted by HelenKay Dimon. To be entered, leave a comment saying which format you’d like. Winners will be drawn on Sunday. Good luck! 😀

And if you’d like to read an excerpt, visit www.helenkaydimon.com.

 

*Giveaway sponsored by Novel Thoughts

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Amara Royce – Guest blog and giveaway!

Romance book covers are generally very easy to spot. They might show a couple in a clinch or a damsel with her long hair streaming behind her or a burly man with his shirt unbuttoned or completely missing (you know the ones…the ”mantitty” that some people who don’t read romance most often associate with romance novels).

 

Some readers—and writers—have very strong views about the ideal romance covers. In case you didn’t know, though, most romance writers don’t get to choose their covers.  They may be welcome to suggest cover ideas and preferences, but the actual covers are not in their control. (Okay, maybe the really BIG names get cover control…but not we mere mortals. J )

So, with my debut historical romance Never Too Late, I’ll admit I was nervous. Kensington asked me for cover ideas (Yay!), but there was no guarantee they would use any of them. I trusted they knew what they were doing, but…personally, just personally, I’m not a fan of mantitty. (No judgment! I know some wonderful romances with mantitty covers that absolutely make sense, that convey the perfect tone for the character and the story!) Beyond personal preference, though, such an aggressively physical cover wouldn’t fit with the story on the page. Oh, the hero, Lord Alex Devin, is tall, dark, handsome, and fit, but he’s not the flashy kind of alpha such covers imply. He’s more quiet, more serious, more reserved. Why exert your brawn when you can dominate with your brain? Or at least that’s what he says. So I was nervous.

 

When Never Too Late’s cover finally appeared, I breathed a sigh of great relief. It fits. As one friend said, “Nice. It’s subtle, but hot.” Exactly.

 

Some of the subtleties are what I love most. At the edge of upper right corner, the hero gazes at the reader. So easy to miss. That’s the kind of alpha Alex is. The heroine is in profile, looking down and away. That’s the tension Honoria feels about Alex’s interest and their budding relationship.  And they’re in an early state of undress but not uncovered—his shirt is open, but we don’t see the mantitty. Yes!

 

And then there are the books. I had given Kensington a variety of general cover “wants”—a couple rather than a lone man or woman, their physical appearances, how they might be dressed, etc, etc.—but there was one thing I really, really, really wanted: bookshelves. They might not be the first thing someone associates with romance, but Honoria is a bookseller, a relatively rare Victorian woman who supports herself with her own business. The library at Devin house is the heart of the Devin family. These spaces feature prominently in their lives and in their increasingly intense encounters.  So the bookshelves at the bottom of the cover made me really, really, really happy.

 

In fact, I may have done a little happy dance. Just a little one.

 

About the book

 

Expect the unexpected, especially in a room filled with books…

 

Honoria Duchamp is well aware that men often consider widows easy prey for the role of mistress. What else could explain the attentions of handsome Lord Devin, and his visits to her bookshop? The much younger Viscount has even shown interest in the printing press with which she creates pamphlets on London’s basest injustices. Yet his chief interest appears to be in her…

Coerced to investigate Nora’s controversial pamphlets, Devin expected to find a bookish matron. Instead, he is taken with Nora’s womanly beauty, sharp intellect, and quick wit. Soon, what begins as an unwelcome task becomes a pleasure, and Devin’s job becomes more dangerous—for them both. For Nora has no idea of the vicious element she’s crossed. Now Devin will risk his reputation to protect her—and much more to win her love…

 

About the author

 

Amara Royce writes historical romances that combine her passion for 19th-century literature and history with her addiction to happily ever afters. She earned a PhD in English, specializing in 19th-century British literature, from Lehigh University and a Master’s degree in English from Villanova University, and she now teaches English literature and composition at a community college in Pennsylvania. When she isn’t writing, she’s either grading papers or reveling in her own happily ever after with her remarkably patient family.

 

Amara loves to hear from readers! Find her on Facebook and Twitter and GoodReads and on www.amararoyce.com!

 

About the giveaway

 

Thanks to Kensington’s generosity, I’m giving away one free e-book copy of Never Too Late! (U.S. only)  For a chance to win, leave a comment about your thoughts on romance covers!

 

Here are just a few starter questions as suggestions—you don’t actually have to answer any of them. What do you like? What don’t you like? Do you have any favorites? Does a book’s cover help you decide whether you want to read it? Or do you not even notice them? I look forward to finding out what you think!

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