Aloha to Grace Burrowes and DANIEL'S TRUE DESIRE

 

You Might Be A True Gentleman or Gentlewoman If…

by Grace Burrowes

How do you know if your Sig-O is a true gentleman/lady? Ask yourself a few questions…

First, do his or her best moves, smoothest lines, and cleverest flirtations only come out in public, or are the housework sessions equally likely to produce the verbal roses and melting glances from across the laundry pile?

The hallmark of a player is that their repertoire is best displayed when there’s an audience to play to. The true gentleman or lady isn’t playing, so the good stuff can come your way any old day or night of the week.

Second, does he or she deliver the fun and flirtation in you statements (“You look good in anything… and in nothing at all.”) Do they keep to the I-statements when the topic is difficult? (“I can come off irritated any time we talk about money because I’m afraid I’m not pulling my share of the load. I don’t mean to sound that way, and I’m sorry if I hurt your feelings.”)

The guy or gal who lapses into the you-always, and you-never accusations in the middle of a difficult conversation hasn’t learned to fight fair. Time to whip out a few remedial lessons from the relationship Code Duello, or find another waltzing partner.

Third, does he or she have the touch? Always respectful in public—even when respectfully affectionate—always cool with your respectful affections too?

The ladies and gents who treasure us the most know better than to cross that line, and we treasure them right back for their gallant attentions.

Fourth, do they listen to us? We’ve all had the experience of being on a date or in a discussion, and the person we’re with has checked out. They’re eying the door, the clock, their cool new app, or if there’s a mirror on hand (store window, shiny plate, mirror app), themselves. Um… that would be a no.

Fifth, are they honorable? Do they give you the sense that at all times, the person you’re with will be guided by kindness and honesty, even when neither is convenient for them? If that’s the consistent vibe—truth and compassion as their defining values—you are in the company of a true lady or a true gentleman.

Here’s the best part: True ladies and true gentlemen tend to be discerning people, for all they are also gracious, kind, honest, and excellent company. If you’ve found a true lady or gentleman for your very own, and they reciprocate your regard, chances are they have found a true lady or gentleman in you too!

An honorable life
Daniel Banks is a man of the cloth whose vocation is the last comfort he has left-and even his churchman's collar is beginning to feel like a noose. At the urging of family, Daniel attempts to start his life over as vicar in the sleepy Kentish town of Haddondale, family seat to the earls of Bellefonte.

Challenged by passion
Lady Kirsten Haddonfield has resigned herself to a life of spinsterhood. Then the handsome new village vicar, Reverend Daniel Banks, becomes a guest of the Haddonfield family while the vicarage is being renovated, and Kirsten finds herself rethinking her position. Lady Kirsten does not know that Daniel's past is about to cast a shadow on love's future.

Amazon
Barnes and Noble
iBooks 

New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Grace Burrowes' bestsellers include The Heir, The Soldier, Lady Maggie's Secret Scandal, Lady Sophie's Christmas Wishand Lady Eve's Indiscretion. Her Regency romances have received extensive praise, including starred reviews from Publishers Weekly and Booklist. Grace is branching out into short stories and Scotland-set Victorian romance with Sourcebooks. She is a practicing family law attorney and lives in rural Maryland.

graceburrowes.com
Facebook
twitter.com/GraceBurrowes
Goodreads

Sourcebooks is hosting a giveaway at this link.

Mahalo,

Kim in Baltimore
Aloha Spirit in Charm City

Other books in the True Gentlemen series ...

Aloha to Grace Burrowes, THE DUKE AND HIS DUCHESS, and THE COURTSHIP

A guest post from Grace Burrowes ...

My parents recently celebrated their seventieth wedding anniversary—you read that correctly, 7-0. I’m the sixth of their seven children, so I missed a lot of the opening rounds of the Burrowes family story. To make up for that great unfairness, I ask my parents and my older siblings to fill in blanks for me. What was it like for my mom, starting out with twin boys, when the nice obstetrician—who didn’t want to upset her—failed to inform her she was carrying twins?

Mom learned she was to embark on double motherhood in the delivery room, when the nurse said, “Keep pushing, Mrs. Burrowes. You’re still in labor.”

She kept pushing. My brother Dick is particularly grateful she did, too.

What was it like for my father, to be the sole support of nine people, various shirt-tail cousins, and extended family members, on just a professor’s salary?

We never did without the essentials. How did he DOOOOO that?

These stories are the stuff of family legends, and every family has them. When I’d written stories for all of the Windham siblings, I still had a sense that the family tale wasn’t complete. How did Maggie and Devlin join the family? How did Percival, occasionally more stubborn than insightful, have the great sense to marry Esther? Why has Esther remained his champion, conscience, and confidante despite all the trying moments?

To find those answers, I had to write two novellas. First, came “The Courtship”, wherein Their Graces fall madly in love, despite—what a surprise!—meddling parents. Second, came “The Duke and His Duchess”. We know Percy and Esther’s household was in some regards unconventional, but they chose love over appearances from the start of their relationship. I wanted to know how they got through the challenges created by Percy’s behavior prior to the marriage, and emerged a stronger couple and a happier family for their choices.

The Duke’s Courtship duology is the result of my curiosity about the ongoing magic of a loving family, and also a tribute to my parents, whose happily ever after continues, even as a I write this.

THE COURTSHIP
The first novella to be published by New York Times bestselling author Grace Burrowes features the foundation story for her bestselling Windham series. This is the tender story of love tested and won, and how Percy Windham, the dashing and brilliant man who was never supposed to become the Duke of Moreland, wooed Esther Himmelfarb, the amazing lady who became his beloved Duchess.

THE DUKE AND HIS DUCHESS
In this second prequel novella to the popular Windham series, Grace Burrowes continues the story of the Duke and Duchess of Moreland through the tumultuous and bittersweet first years of marriage and parenthood. Percival Windham is a second son and cavalry officer when he weds the beautiful Esther Himmelfarb. Percy and Esther must grow into the nobility they've been resisting and stand together, or face the threat of destroying their young family and the beautiful love that started out with such promise...

Amazon
Barnes and Noble 
Books A Million 

New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Grace Burrowes' bestsellers include The Heir, The Soldier, Lady Maggie's Secret Scandal, Lady Sophie's Christmas Wishand Lady Eve's Indiscretion. Her Regency romances have received extensive praise, including starred reviews from Publishers Weekly and Booklist. Grace is branching out into short stories and Scotland-set Victorian romance with Sourcebooks. She is a practicing family law attorney and lives in rural Maryland.

graceburrowes.com
Facebook link
Twitter link
Goodreads link

Sourcebooks is hosting a special giveaway at this link and offer an excerpt ....

Miss Esther Himmelfarb has been dragooned into attending a house party to make up the numbers, and to keep an eye on a cousin with a penchant for gambling. Little does Esther know Lord Percival Windham will risk all to win her heart.

“Miss Himmelfarb, I believe?” Lord Percival winged an arm and smiled at Esther graciously. “Shall I have us introduced, or in the informality of the occasion, will you allow me to join you at supper?”

A more calculating man would have offered to escort her to whoever had the honor of dining with her, but then, Lord Percival likely did not have to be calculating.

“I will happily accept your escort to the buffet, my lord.” Esther laced her gloved hand around Lord Percival’s arm, only to encounter a small surprise.

Or not so small.

Gossip had not lied. The man was muscular in the extreme, and this close, he was also of sufficient height to uphold the fiction that he’d protect Esther from any brigands or wolves wandering about Lady Morrisette’s parlor.

“Does your family hail from Kent, Miss Himmelfarb? I know most of the local families and cannot recall Himmelfarbs among them.”

The question was perfectly pleasant, and so too was his lordship’s scent. Not the scent of exertion or the standard rose-scented rice powder—he wasn’t wearing a wig—but something elusive…

“You’re twitching your nose like a thoughtful bunny, Miss Himmelfarb. Are you in anticipation of something particularly succulent among the supper offerings?”

He smiled down at her as he spoke, and for moment, Esther could not fashion a reply. Of all the times for Charlotte Pankhurst to be right about a man’s blue, blue eyes…

“I’m trying to fathom the fragrance you’re wearing, my lord. It’s pleasant.”

“If I didn’t know better, I’d think from your expression that you do not approve of men wearing pleasant scents.” His tone, amused, teasing, suggested that sometimes, all he wore was a pleasant scent—and that just-for-you smile.

Lord Percival leaned nearer, as if sharing a confidence amid the noise and bustle of the first night of a lively, extended social gathering.

“Bay rum lacks imagination, don’t you think? I shall wear it when I’m a settled fellow with children in my nursery. There’s cedar in the scent I wear, reminds me of Canada. You’re partial to spicy scents yourself.”

He was inviting a reciprocal confidence from her with that observation. The notion of trading secrets with Percival Windham made something beneath Esther’s heart twang—disagreeably, of course.

“Lavender with a few other things.”

“My dear”—his lordship had straightened only a bit—“why is My Lady Hair Bows staring daggers in this direction?”

My lady…? Then… my dear?!

“I’m not sure what you mean, my lord.”

“You know exactly what I mean, Miss Himmelfarb.” Lord Percival picked up a plate, though they were still some distance from any sustenance. “Now the Needy girl is at her elbow, pouring brandy on the flames of gossip. You and I will be engaged by this time tomorrow, I don’t doubt.”

Did one correct a duke’s spare when he made light of marriage to a woman within staring distance of professional spinsterhood?

Yes, one did.

“Her name is Needham, my lord. And I should think an engagement unlikely when you have yet to ask for my hand and I have given no indication I would accept your suit.”

The light in his eyes changed, going from friendly—yes, that was the word—to something more intent.

“You are an impertinent woman. We shall get on famously, Miss Himmelfarb. I adore impertinent women.”

Aloha to Grace Burrowes and TREMAINE'S TRUE LOVE

I posted more pictures from RWA in NYC at this link. Grace Burrowes shined bright in NYC with two Rita nominations. She continues the celebration with her new release, TREMAINE'S TRUE LOVE. From her bio,

New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Grace Burrowes' bestsellers include The Heir, The Soldier, Lady Maggie's Secret Scandal, Lady Sophie's Christmas Wish and Lady Eve's Indiscretion. Her Regency romances have received extensive praise, including starred reviews from Publishers Weekly and Booklist. Grace is branching out into short stories and Scotland-set Victorian romance with Sourcebooks. She is a practicing family law attorney and lives in rural Maryland.

graceburrowes.com
Facebook
Twitter
Goodreads

Grace penned a special guest post ....

What makes a man a gentleman?

For a romance writer, this question has to be answered in every book, because implicit in the term “hero” is something of the gentleman. Heroes need not be charming, handsome or wealthy, and they might not even be obviously heroic, at least at the start of the book, but they have to be worthy of our loyalty for the duration of an entire book.

In the True Gentlemen series, I took three men who’d wandered across my pages in previous stories—Tremaine St. Michael, Daniel Banks, and Willow Dorning—and found them each a happily ever after. Tremaine is a flinty business man, Daniel is poor and pious, Willow finds polite society an enormous trial and would far rather be with his dogs. These fellows were not obvious choices as romance heroes, but they each had something that tempted me to write stories for them.

When we met Tremaine in an earlier book (Gabriel: Lord of Regrets), Tremaine was convinced that he’d found a good candidate for the position of wife. He offered marriage, listing all the practical advantages to both parties, and he congratulated himself on how much sense his proposed union would make.

The lady turned him down flat, and as a gentleman is bound to do, he graciously ceded the field. He didn’t like it, he didn’t entirely understand how or what he’d lost, but he wished the happy couple well.

Daniel’s role in David: Lord of Honor was to charge to London with sermons at the ready in an attempt to restore his sister’s honor. The very man Daniel accused of wronging that sister had already set her back on the path to respectability.

Oops. But again, being a gentleman, Daniel wishes the couple every happiness, even if doing so costs him the future he’d envisioned for himself and his loved ones. Like Tremaine, he’s a gracious and even dignified loser.

Willow’s appearance in Worth: Lord of Reckoning is brief, but he too is determined to see a sister rescued from a possibly compromising position, and again, rescue is simply not on the heroine’s agenda.

In all three cases, the true gentleman acts in the best interests of those he loves and is responsible for, regardless of the inconvenience or cost to himself. Because Tremaine, Daniel, and Willow were honorable, I liked them. I trusted them, I wanted them to have the happiness they clearly already deserved.

In the Nicholas Haddonfield’s sisters—Nita, Kirsten, and Susannah—I found ladies willing to oblige my ambitions for these men. In each case, our hero has lessons yet to learn, and in each case, his inherent honor wins the day. He might not be handsome, wealthy, or charming in the eyes of the world, but because he’s a true gentleman in the eyes of his lady, he wins her true love.

I hope you enjoy reading these stories as much as I enjoyed writing them!

He's had everything he could ever want...until now

Wealthy wool magnate Tremaine St. Michael is half French, half Scottish, and all business. He prowls the world in search of more profits, rarely settling in one place for long. When he meets practical, reserved Lady Nita Haddonfield, he sees an opportunity to mix business with pleasure by making the lady his own.

Nita Haddonfield has a meaningful life tending to others, though nobody is dedicated to caring for Nita. She insists the limitations of marriage aren't for her, then Tremaine St. Michael arrives-protective, passionate, and very, very determined to win Nita's heart.

Amazon
Barnes and Noble
iBooks
IndieBound

Sourcebooks is offering a giveaway at this link ... and an excerpt from TREMAINE'S TRUE LOVE:

Wealthy businessman Tremaine St. Michael has concluded that marriage to Lady Nita Haddonfield would be a prudent merger of complimentary interests for the mutual benefit and enjoyment of both parties… or some such blather.

Tremaine rapped on Lady Nita’s door, quietly, despite a light shining from beneath it. Somebody murmured something which he took for permission to enter.

“Mr. St. Michael?”

Tremaine stepped into her ladyship’s room, closed the door behind him and locked it, which brought the total of his impossibly forward behaviors to several thousand.

“Your ladyship expected a sister, or a maid with a pail of coal?”

“I wasn’t expecting you.” Lady Nita sat near the hearth in a blue velvet dressing gown. The wool stockings on her feet were thick enough to make a drover covetous. “Are you unwell, Mr. St. Michael?”

“You are not pleased to see me.” Did she think illness the only reason somebody would seek her out?

She set aside some pamphlet, a medical treatise, no doubt. No vapid novels for Lady Nita.

“I was not expecting you, sir.”

"You were not expecting me to discuss marriage with you earlier. I wasn’t expecting the topic to come up in a casual fashion either. May I sit?”

She waved an elegant hand at the other chair flanking the hearth. Tremaine settled in, trying to gather his thoughts while the firelight turned Lady Nita’s braid into a rope of burnished gold.

“You are pretty.” Brilliant place to start. The words had come out, heavily burred, something of an ongoing revelation.

“I am tall and blond,” she retorted, twitching the folds her of her robe. “I have the usual assortment of parts. What did you come here to discuss?”

Lady Nita was right, in a sense. Her beauty was not of the ballroom variety, but rather, an illumination of her features by characteristics unseen. She fretted over new babies, cut up potatoes like any crofter’s wife, and worried for her sisters. These attributes interested Tremaine. Her madonna-with-a-secret smile, keen intellect, and longing for laughter attracted him.

Even her medical pre-occupation, in its place, had some utility as well.

“Will you marry me, my lady?”

More brilliance. Where had his wits gone? George Haddonfield had graciously pointed out that Nita needed repose and laughter, and Tremaine was offering her the hand of the most restless and un-silly man in the realm.

The lady somehow contained her incredulity, staring at her hands. “You want to discuss marriage?”

“I believe I did just open that topic. Allow me to elaborate on my thesis: Lady Bernita Haddonfield, will you do me the honor of becoming my wife? I think we would suit, and I can promise you would know no want in my care.”

A proper swain would have been on his damn bended knee, the lady’s hand in his. Lady Nita would probably laugh herself to tears if Tremaine attempted that nonsense. Lady Nita picked up her pamphlet, which Tremaine could now see was written in German.


“Why, Mr. St. Michael?”

“I beg your pardon?” Tremaine was about to pitch the damned pamphlet in the fire, until he recalled that Nita Haddonfield excelled at obscuring her stronger emotions.

“Why should you marry me, Tremaine St. Michael? Why should I marry you? I’ve had other offers, you’ve made other offers. You haven’t known me long enough to form an opinion of my character beyond the superficial.”

This ability to take a situation apart, into causes, effects, symptoms, and prognosis was part of the reason she was successful as a healer. Tremaine applied the same tendencies to commercial situations, so he didn’t dismiss her questions as coyness or manipulation.

She wasn’t rejecting him either. She most assuredly was not rejecting him.

Coming in November ...

Aloha to Grace Burrowes and THE DUKE'S DISASTER

We are one week away from the release of Grace Burrowes' THE DUKE'S DISASTER:

Noah Winters, Duke of Anselm, exercises the pragmatism for which he's infamous when his preferred choice of bride cries off, and her companion, Lady Thea Collins, becomes his next choice for his duchess. Lady Thea's mature, sensible and even rather attractive-what could possibly go wrong?

As a lady fallen on hard times, Thea doesn't expect tender sentiments from His Grace, but she does wish Noah had courted her trust, lest her past turn their hastily arranged marriage into a life of shared regrets. Is His Grace courting a convenient wife, or a beautiful disaster?

Goodreads link

Amazon: link

Barnes and Noble: link
iTunes: link

 

New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Grace Burrowes' bestsellers include The Heir, The Soldier, Lady Maggie's Secret Scandal, Lady Sophie's Christmas Wishand Lady Eve's Indiscretion. The Heir was a Publishers Weekly Best Book of 2010, The Soldier was a PW Best Spring Romance of 2011, Lady Sophie's Christmas Wish won Best Historical Romance of the Year in 2011 from RT Reviewers' Choice Awards, Lady Louisa's Christmas Knight was a Library Journal Best Book of 2012, and The Bridegroom Wore Plaid was a PW Best Book of 2012. Her Regency romances have received extensive praise, including starred reviews from Publishers Weekly and Booklist. Grace is branching out into short stories and Scotland-set Victorian romance with Sourcebooks. She is a practicing family law attorney and lives in rural Maryland.

graceburrowes.com
Goodreads: link

Facebook: link
twitter.com/GraceBurrowes

a Rafflecopter giveaway


Grace offers an excerpt from THE DUKE'S DISASTER:

The Duke and Duchess are having a rocky start to their marriage, also to their day…

“Your tea, Duchess.”

Noah had woken up beside his wife—again, despite all plans to the contrary—creating another first for him. Thea had risen several times during the night to tend to herself. He hadn’t realized that monthly courses caused a woman’s rest to be interrupted.

Crashingly bad planning, for a lady’s sleep to be disturbed when she most needed rest.

“You’re not about to steal my tea?” Thea held out the cup, her gaze shy as she sat propped against the headboard.

“Where’s the fun in stealing what’s freely offered?” Noah settled in beside her and filched a bite of her cinnamon toast. “Would you rather have chocolate this morning?”

“Because?”

“You’re”— Noah waved a hand in the direction of her middle—“indisposed.”

“I am not indisposed.” Thea set her teacup down with a little clink. “The discomfort has passed, as it always does. You needn’t be concerned.”

“I am not concerned, Thea.” Not greatly concerned, now that she’d stopped ordering him to go away and was ready for a proper spat. “I am attempting in my bumbling way to dote. You will allow it.”

Drat. He’d given another order.

“You couldn’t bumble if one gave you written instructions, Anselm,” Thea said, looking a little less peaked for having run up her flags. “That was my toast you appropriated.”

“Appropriation is what happens when one’s wife can’t appreciate a little doting. You’re being stingy with the tea, just as you were stingy with the covers. How long does this indisposition last?”

Her chin came up. “I am the Duchess of Anselm. I am not stingy with anything, but you are a very presuming husband.”

“Doting.” Noah took Thea’s free hand to kiss her knuckles— lest she mistake his point. “Also in need of my duchess’s guidance on this one marital matter.”

“This is so personal.” Thea’s gaze was on their joined hands— for Noah would not have her haring off in a fit of mortification. “I didn’t think you’d be a personal sort of husband. You were supposed to appear in my dressing-room doorway a few nights a month, silently take a few marital liberties, and then leave me in peace. We’d trade sections of the Times over breakfast the next morning.”

“Prosaic.” Boring and exactly what Noah himself had envisioned. “Hard to see any doting going on, though.”

“Husband?” Thea’s tone was hesitant. “Thank you, for keeping me company last night. I would not have known how to ask.”

“I suppose that’s the definition of doting.” Noah lingered at the cart to assemble a plate. “It’s the little things you can’t bring yourself to ask for, that an attentive spouse will enjoy providing to you. Bacon or ham?”

“A little of both, please.”

“Feeling carnivorous?”

“I’m a trifle indisposed. I need the sustenance.”

Noah piled both ham and bacon on Thea’s plate, and stole better than half of it, because he needed the sustenance too.

Aloha to Grace Burrowes and THE FIRST KISS

Coming next week from Grace Burrowes, THE FIRST KISS is Book 2 in her Sweetest Kisses series:

Classical pianist Vera Waltham is recovering from a bad break up by taking a hiatus with her daughter in the Damson Valley countryside. She’s content with her music, and has no interest in complicating her life with further attempts at romance.

Attorney James Knightley is a numbers guy who reads contractual fine print for lunch, and wants nothing to do with damsels, in distress or otherwise. Nobody is more surprised than James when he falls for Vera Waltham, and the only contract on James’s mind when it comes to Vera is holy matrimony.

Goodreads link

Amazon link
Barnes and Noble link
iBooks: link

New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Grace Burrowes' bestsellers include The Heir, The Soldier, Lady Maggie's Secret Scandal, Lady Sophie's Christmas Wishand Lady Eve's Indiscretion. Her Regency romances have received extensive praise, including starred reviews from Publishers Weekly and Booklist. Grace is branching out into short stories and Scotland-set Victorian romance with Sourcebooks. She is a practicing family law attorney and lives in rural Maryland.

graceburrowes.com
Facebook: link
Twitter: link
Goodreads: link

Sourcebooks is hosting a giveaway here and offers an excerpt from THE FIRST KISS ...

“May I ask you a favor?”

“Of course.”

“Play the piano for me?”

Nowhere near play with me, but this was Vera. “You want to do a lesson now?”

“This isn’t a lesson. I’m asking you to play for me, James. Get out your old favorites, the friends you turn to when you’re heartsore and soul weary, the consolation pieces that aren’t for everybody else. You play them for yourself.”

She curled up across the room in a pap-san chair and pulled an old quilt around her.

Could he do this?

If Vera had asked James to go to bed with her, he would have known he was competent to bring her pleasure, to satisfy her most intimate wishes and secret, sexual desires. But this? To play? For her?

She wanted music that had called to him, spoken to his soul and become a part of him. Pieces of his heart.

James set his hands on the keyboard, took a slow, deep breath, and began to play. He played from memory, his fingers finding the notes easily in the dim light. He could play this waltz with his eyes closed, and he had, many times. He hadn’t heard it since the night his mother had died, but she’d loved it too, and his hands would never forget how to craft the phrases and melodies.

“Oh, James, the Chopin.” Vera signed her pleasure at his choice, and James’s heart sighed with her. He could do this for her, soothe her with music the way she’d made music to soothe and delight so many others. The waltz shifted from a work he’d set aside years ago – a grieving piece – to a gift from him to Vera.

Only to Vera.

When the last rippling rise of notes died away, Vera remained curled up, eyes closed, mouth slightly parted.

James had played her to sleep. He took a moment to memorize the sight of her, safe and at peace under the quilt his mother had made for her hope chest.

Then he thought back over other pieces he’d set aside, the ones that were too sweet or too sorrowful or both, and he began to play again.

Aloha to Grace Burrowes and A SINGLE KISS

Hannah Stark has set her sights on corporate law to assure her a career of paperwork, predictability, and conservative suits. Contracts, finance, and the art of the deal sing to her, while the mess and misery of the courtroom do not. But her daughter needs to eat, so when Hannah is offered a temporary position in a small town firm's domestic relations department, she reluctantly accepts.

Trent Knightley is mightily drawn to his newest associate, though Hannah is as protective of her privacy as she is competent. When their friendship and attraction heat up, Hannah's secrets put her heart and Trent's hopes in double jeopardy.

Amazon: link
Barnes and Noble: link
iTunes: link

New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Grace Burrowes' bestsellers include The Heir, The Soldier, Lady Maggie's Secret Scandal, Lady Sophie's Christmas Wish and Lady Eve's Indiscretion. The Heir was a Publishers Weekly Best Book of 2010, The Soldier was a PW Best Spring Romance of 2011, Lady Sophie's Christmas Wish won Best Historical Romance of the Year in 2011 from RT Reviewers' Choice Awards, Lady Louisa's Christmas Knight was a Library Journal Best Book of 2012, and The Bridegroom Wore Plaid was a PW Best Book of 2012. Her Regency romances have received extensive praise, including starred reviews from Publishers Weekly and Booklist. Grace is branching out into short stories and Scotland-set Victorian romance with Sourcebooks. She is a practicing family law attorney and lives in rural Maryland.

graceburrowes.com

Goodreads link

Facebook: link
twitter.com/GraceBurrowes

Check out the Rafflecopter giveaway at this link.

And here's an excerpt for A SINGLE KISS ...

James stood beside Mac at the window in Mac’s office, watching the head of the domestic relations department escort his newest associate to her car.

“Why isn’t that idiot sneaking in a little kiss here and there?” James asked. “He’s not even touching her. Didn’t offer his arm, hasn’t got his hand on her back.”

“Some of us appreciate a more subtle approach,” Mac said. “Some of us with a little discretion and tact.”

“I about sat her in my lap at lunch earlier this week. She said I was flirting my eyelashes off, and laughed at me.”

“Laughed?” By a little blue Prius, Trent handed Hannah her briefcase. “You have my condolences, James. You must be losing your touch. We depend on you to carry the Knightley standard into the bedroom of western Maryland, but it looks as if at long last – well, one hopes it’s long last-”

“Shut up,” James smacked Mac’s shoulder for good measure. “It’s just as long and lasting as it ever was, but Hannah Stark has been inoculated against my devastating charms by the only thing that has ever protected a female from falling for me.”

“Common sense?” Mac drawled. “A functioning brain? A sense of humor? An accurately calibrated ruler?”

“She’s fallen for him,” James said, gesturing towards the parking lot. “We have reason to hope.”

Coming in Feburary and March 2015

Aloha to Grace Burrowes and WHAT A LADY NEEDS FOR CHRISTMAS

 

Grace Burrowes is celebrating the holidays early WHAT A LADY NEEDS FOR CHRISTMAS, from Sourcebooks:

Lady Joan Flynn needs a husband—any husband—if she’s not to find scandal and mischief under her Christmas tree; Scottish wool magnate Dante “Hard-hearted” Hartwell needs an aristocratic wife to gain access to the financing that will keep his wool mills secure. Can holiday magic spin an expedient match into true love, and wary differences into trust?

Amazon: link
Barnes and Noble: link
iTunes: link

New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Grace Burrowes' bestsellers include The Heir, The Soldier, Lady Maggie's Secret Scandal, Lady Sophie's Christmas Wish and Lady Eve's Indiscretion. Her Regency romances have received extensive praise, including starred reviews from Publishers Weekly and Booklist. Grace is branching out into short stories and Scotland-set Victorian romance with Sourcebooks. She is a practicing family law attorney and lives in rural Maryland.

graceburrowes.com
Facebook: link
Twitter: link

Goodreads: link

Sourcebooks is sponsoring a holiday giveaway at this link.

Grace offers an excerpt from WHAT A LADY NEEDS FOR CHRISTMAS:

Dante and Joan’s wedding night has begun with a discussion of holiday gift-giving, though neither bride nor groom can stay focused on that topic for very long…

Joan stretched out her chilly foot, and encountered Dante’s calf. His bare, warm, hairy calf, because her husband slept without the benefit—or hindrance—of clothing.

He moved onto his side, facing Joan. “What shall I get you for Christmas, Mrs. Hartwell?”

“You’ve given me your very name. That’s gift enough.” Also his trust, his respect, his kisses…so many treasures.

He rolled to his back, suggesting Joan had provided the wrong answer.

“I don’t want your gratitude, madam. Loyalty, fidelity, and a good-faith effort to make something of this marriage will be a fine bargain on both of our parts. The marriage is as much opportunity for me as it is convenient for you.”

Joan did not want a fine bargain, but she did want the warmth her husband’s body gave off. She yielded to the craving and snuggled right up to his side. His arms came around her, as if they’d spent many nights visiting their way to shared sleep.

“I kept my nightgown on.”

“I know, lass. I’ll forgive you that modesty if you kiss me.”

She kissed him, and the contour of his lips told her he was smiling. “You should kiss me too, sir. My feet are cold.”

“You need your new husband to warm them up?”

Joan needed her new husband in so many ways. “Shall I take off my nightgown?” She didn’t want to, but Dante was naked, and the intimacies she’d tried hard not to dwell on were commencing.

“You feel safer with it on,” he said, shifting to blanket her with his body. “I’ll try not to tear it.”

Gracious. “I can stitch it back together if you do.”

He nuzzled her ear, sending a shivery feeling down Joan’s spine. “Kiss me some more, Mrs. Hartwell.”

Aloha to Grace Burrowes and THE CAPTIVE - Guest Review

Grace Burrowes kicks off a new series, Captive Hearts, with THE CAPTIVE:

He'll never be free...

Captured and tortured by the French, Christian Severn, Duke of Mercia, survives by vowing to take revenge on his tormentors. Before the duke can pursue his version of justice, Gillian, Countess of Greendale, reminds him that his small daughter has suffered much in his absence, and needs her papa desperately.

Until he surrenders his heart...

Gilly endured her difficult marriage by avoiding confrontation and keeping peace at any cost. Christian's devotion to his daughter and his kindness toward Gilly give her hope that she could enjoy a future with him, for surely he of all men shares her loathing for violence in any form. Little does Gilly know, the battle for Christian's heart is only beginning.

The Captive by Grace Burrowes

Review by LSUReader

I can always count on Grace Burrowes to deliver a beautifully written book with compelling characters. In The Captive, she adds a lovely, evocative story of lost souls finding their way.

When Christian Severn left a wife and two children to join the English cavalry fighting Napoleon, he was a large, arrogant, self-possessed man--the powerful and successful Duke of Mercia. He returns broken-- an emaciated widower, a victim of French capture and torture. His body, mind, family and estate all need attention. But what drives him is the idea of vengeance against his captors.

Christian's young daughter Lucy has withdrawn in grief at losing her brother and mother to death and her father to the war. She doesn't speak. She barely eats. She fears life. Lucy chooses seclusion in her schoolroom.

Their savior is Severn's cousin by marriage Gillian, Lady Greendale. When the duke was at war, Gilly frequently visited her cousin Helene, Christian's duchess. Now, she continues to spend a lot of time with Lucy. As the book opens, she travels to London to coax Christian home, for Lucy. He agrees to go, but only if she will help with his transition.

So Gillian becomes the post they all lean on. She is devoted to Lucy. She functions as hostess at the ducal estate. She helps Christian regain his appetite and strength. She shields him from the overly inquisitive and helps him return to the normalcy of daily life. Most importantly, Gillian teaches Christian to trust again.

She is so used to seeing to the needs of others, Gillian doesn't admit that she herself is a captive, to the memories of an abusive marriage and the legal problems it left her. When she gradually allows Christian to help her, they both begin to heal. It is a lovely process.

The Captive features one of my favorite characters from the Burrowes' Windham series, oldest son Devlin St. Just. He is here first as a soldier, and later as a visitor to Christian. He becomes a valued friend to both the duke and countess. (His HEA is in 2011's The Soldier.)

I do have a couple of minor issues with The Captive. First, I wish Burrowes would include a specific timeframe in her books. My brain twists trying to figure out how previous books interact with the current one. The second objection is the cover, which features a lovely, healthy couple. Perhaps depicting a thinner, scarred and maimed Christian would have been a no-no. But it would have been accurate. I find the glossed-over treatment a tad insulting to my intelligence as a reader of historical romance. Each time I picked up the book, I thought, "That's not Christian."

Those personal complaints didn't diminish my overall appreciation of The Captive. I really enjoyed this book and rate it a 4.5. I am looking forward to reading the others in the Captive Hearts trilogy--The Traitor (Aug.) and The Laird (Sept.)

Mahalo, LSU, for your review!  I am giving away a book choice from convention stash, including several other titles from Grace Burrowes, to one randomly selected commenter.  To enter the giveaway,

1.  Leave a comment about historical romances - why do you love 'em?

2.  Comments are open through Saturday, July 12, 10 pm in Baltimore.  

3.  I'll post the winner on Sunday, July 13.

Mahalo,

Kim in Baltimore 

Aloha Spirit in Charm City 

Guest Review: THE MACGREGOR'S LADY by Grace Burrowes

The MacGregor's Lady by Grace Burrowes

by LSUReader

Scottish nobleman Asher MacGregor and American heiress Hannah Cooper make an oddly interesting couple in The MacGregor's Lady, the third novel in the MacGregor Series by Grace Burrowes.

Asher, recently returned from Canada, is learning his role as the Earl of Balfour. Technically, he has been the earl for some time; but after a long absence, he was assumed dead. His brother Ian (hero of 2012's The Bridegroom Wore Plaid) has been the acting earl. Now that he is back to his family seat and his social duties, Asher agrees to escort Bostonian Hannah Cooper and her aunt through the London season. Additionally, Asher acknowledges he should begin his search for a bride.

Hannah's greedy American step-father expects her to make a good match in England--hopefully one that will allow him to continue to control Hannah's considerable finances. Hannah has other ideas. She is convinced she must return to Boston as soon as she can to protect her grandmother, mother and brothers from her shady step-father. In London, Hannah is just going through the motions. A limp makes her feel physically awkward. Hannah's strong desire to remain single makes her emotionally aloof.

You feel for these characters. They are painfully self-contained. Overwhelmingly, Asher and Hannah want to do the right thing for their families. They deny themselves for what they believe is the greater good. They are selfless and utterly loyal to the people they care about. If ever a hero and heroine deserved an HEA, it's these two. Asher and Hannah do gradually overcome the barriers they've erected, with some help from Asher's considerable Scottish family.

I generally love Grace's books; this one, not as much. The novel features Grace's typical likeable but troubled characters. Her writing voice is lovely, as always. But gaps in this story kept me wondering if I'd missed an earlier read. (I haven't.) I read the earlier two novels and novella in this series, and I was looking forward to fully understanding Asher's story: When and why did he leave and return? How did the MacGregor siblings (three brothers and a sister) accept his return? How have the MacGregor relationships fared with his reappearance? Though each of these is slightly touched upon, I'm left wondering about the full answers to those questions. There also is a peculiar side story about a couple of characters trying to see Asher put into a compromising position and forced to marry Hannah. It seems to be unnecessary to the flow and spirit of the novel.

I do recommend The MacGregor's Lady, with a rating of three out of five stars. It is a good, solid romance story. I just think it could have been more. Actually, most Grace Burrowes books are. 

View of the city of Boston from Dorchester heights
Painted & engraved by Robt. Havell
Library of Congress - Public Domain (link)

Mahalo, LSU, for sharing your thoughts on THE MACGREGOR'S LADY.   It will be available February 4, 2014, from Sourcebooks Casablanca (link).  Check out Grace's website (link) to read an excerpt with links to order.

In honor of Asher and Hannah, I am giving away a special Anglo-American prize package to one randomly selected commenter.  To enter the giveaway,

1.  Leave a comment about Boston - what do you know about it? My first assignment in the Air Force took me to Hanscom AFB in Boston's suburbs.  I loved it for the history, for the lobsters, and for the Scorpion Bowls (drink for two) at the Hong Kong in Harvard Square (link).

2.  This giveaway is open to all readers.  

3.  Comments are open through Saturday, February 1, 10 pm in Baltimore.  I'll post the winner on Sunday, February 2.

Mahalo,

Kim in Baltimore

Aloha Spirit in Charm City

Books 1 and 2 in the series ...

Aloha to Grace Burrowes and LADY JENNY'S CHRISTMAS PORTRAIT

We received our last shipment from storage - the precious treasures that my in laws kept during our Hawaiian assignment. It was like Christmas, unwrapping a cache that I hadn't seen for four years, including a charcoal painting my mother had drawn of Cathedral Close in Exeter.  She once dreamed of being an artist, but did not have the opportunity to pursue that dream. My mother could be heroine in Grace Burrowes' latest release, LADY JENNY'S CHRISTMAS PORTRAIT:

What Lady Jenny wants for Christmas...

For Christmas, soft-spoken Lady Jenny Windham craves the freedom to pursue her artistic ambitions, though it will mean scandalizing her ducal parents and abandoning all hope of a family of her own. She confides her plans to successful artist Elijah Harrison when he's commissioned to paint a portrait of her small nephews, because assisting Elijah will bring Jenny that much closer to her heart's desire—won't it?

...Will break both their hearts.

Elijah Harrison finds in his unlikely assistant not only an inspiring muse and unappreciated talent, but also a lovely and passionate woman. If Elijah supports Jenny's career, his own professional interests will suffer, but more significantly, he will lose Jenny forever. Both Jenny and Elijah must choose between true love and a lifelong dream.

A north west view of Exeter Cathedral in England in 1830.
Engraving by W Deeble based on a drawing by R Browne.
Public Domain (link)

I posted my four star review of LADY JENNY'S CHRISTMAS PORTRAIT on Amazon (link) and Goodreads (link). I am giving away a print copy of LADY JENNY'S CHRISTMAS PORTRAIT. To enter the giveaway,

1. Leave a comment about the arts - do you have any special talent? I have none ... that's why I enjoy wandering through art museums!

2. This giveaway is open to all readers.

3. Comments are open through Saturday, October 26, 10 pm in Baltimore. I'll post the winner on Sunday, October 27.

Mahalo,

Kim in Baltimore

To learn more about Grace and her books, check out her website at graceburrowes.com.