Save a Bundle, This Week Only

Okay, so I run sales once in a while. Maybe more than once in a while. I love to see books flying off the virtual shelves! So, this week only, August 21 through 25, 2023, I am putting an entire series bundle on sale for 99 cents.

Gasp!

Shock!

If you haven’t tried the Spy Matchmaker series, this is your chance. The three-book ebook bundle generally costs $9.99, so this is 90% off cover price. What’s included in the series?

The Husband Mission (formerly published as Lord Borin’s Secret Love). Lord Borin cannot understand why he’s under surveillance, but it seems to be connected to the intriguing Katherine Collins. He’s been encouraged by England’s spymaster to marry, but what wife can compare to espionage? Unless, of course, she’s up for a little espionage too. “I highly recommend this book to all romance readers who like heart-warming, unique love stories with delightfully original characters.” Romance Fiction Forum

The June Bride Conspiracy (once a novella, now a full-length book). England’s top intelligence agent Allister Fenwick, Lord Trevithan, is shocked when a mysterious stranger attempts to stop his marriage to the sweet Joanna Lindby. Though he promised to leave espionage behind, he must take this case. Can a little espionage unmask hidden hearts in time for a June wedding? A Top Pick from RT Book Reviews.

The Heiress Objective (formerly published as The Bluestocking on His Knee). Heiress Eugennia Welch is stunned when charming Corinthian Kevin Whattling proposes marriage. Once a spy, Kevin is deep in debt. But as he tries to convince Jenny he is besotted, he falls for her. When danger threatens, can they trust each other to win a love greater than any fortune? “A very entertaining story with a fresh approach.” Rendezvous

You can get the ebook bundle

Directly from me 

Smashwords  

Amazon (affiliate link) 

Barnes and Noble 

Kobo 

Apple Books 

Enjoy!

Three Things You Might Not Be Aware Of, and Maybe a Fourth

I am very thankful my eye issue turned out to be self-healing, no need for surgery! Phew! While I couldn’t write for a while, I could do some other things on the computer, which might amuse you.

First--I collected the rest of the Fortune’s Brides main series into duets. Engaging the Earl and the Viscount: Fortune’s Brides, the Middle, includes Never Envy an Earl, in which a spy in hiding dares to fall in love with the earl protecting her. Its partner is Never Vie for a Viscount, in which a perky socialite convinces her former love to take a chance on teaching her the ins and outs of ballooning.

Marrying the Knight and the Marquess: Fortune’s Brides, the End, features Never Kneel to a Knight, in which an etiquette teacher tries to hide her secret love for the boxer-turned-knight she is helping. Its partner is Never Marry a Marquess, in which a shy young lady joins a grieving marquess in a marriage of convenience to care for his frail baby daughter. 

You can find the links to these and all the Fortune’s Brides series on my website here. 

Second—I brought out as a standalone novella a story I had published some years ago but is still one on my favorites. (Shh! Don’t tell the others!) In An Engagement of Convenience, Chaperone Kitty Chapworth isn’t about to believe a gentleman’s silken promises, until charming rake Quentin Adair returns to her life. Ten years ago, Kitty was instrumental in causing the poor fellow to be exiled. When he requests her help to prevent his father’s ruin, she cannot refuse, even to pretending an engagement at a summer house party. Quentin has spent years becoming the man his father always hoped. He will protect him at all costs. But as danger threatens, Quentin finds that his priorities have changed. Can a reformed rake convince the perfect chaperone to overlook propriety for love?

Available for only 99 cents at

My Store 

Smashwords 

Amazon 

Barnes and Noble 

Apple Books 

Kobo 

Finally—I tried something different. For this summer, the complete Grace-by-the-Sea series is enrolled in Kindle Unlimited. Those of you who are subscribed can read them for free. The stories in this six-book series are set in a little spa town on the Dorset coast during the time when Napoleon was threatening to invade. The quiet little Regency village of Grace-by-the-Sea welcomes everyone to visit its spa, partake of the waters, bathe in the cove, shop among the unique stores, and dance the night away at the assembly rooms. Just be careful to keep an eye on the horizon for adventure, and love. Find the set here. 

And now, back to work on writing something new! Look for Never Admire an Adventurer in July. You can preorder at

Smashwords 

Amazon   

Barnes and Noble 

Apple Books 

Happy reading!

Listen While You Bake

It’s the time of year around here when folks start thinking about cooking, especially baking. Pumpkin pies, spice cake, oatmeal cookies, peanut butter fudge, raspberry crisp, you name it. So, in case you’re one of those so inclined, here’s a throwback to a great historic recipe from beloved author Louise M. Gouge, as well as some reading and listening to go along with it. 

While you’re waiting for the pie to bake or the fudge to set, try It Started With a Duke: Fortune’s Brides, the Beginning, with two full novels and a novella, now available as both ebook and audiobook!

The mysterious Meredith Thorn and her cat, Fortune, opened an employment agency to help gentlewomen down on their luck. Her first assignment? Finding a governess for the young daughters of the Duke of Wey. Enjoy three warm, witty Regencies that begin the Fortune’s Brides series: Never Doubt a Duke, Never Borrow a Baronet, and Always Kiss at Christmas, Meredith’s origin story.

“I am seriously LOVING this series. Regina is hooking me from the first page, and I don’t want to set the book down until I finish the story!” – For the Love of Christian Fiction

“I highly recommend the entire series - to anyone who enjoys well written Regency romance.” – Audible listener Lil Miss Molly (used with permission)

Smashwords 

Amazon (affiliate link)

Apple Books 

Barnes and Noble  

Kobo

Audible 

Apple audio  

Scrumptious!

What’s in Your Cabinet?

We’ve talked about La Belle Assembleé, Ackermann’s Repository, and Godey’s Lady’s Book for ladies magazines of the nineteenth century, but I recently came across one I hadn’t heard of before. The Ladies Cabinet of Fashion, Music, and Romance was published monthly in England in the mid-nineteenth century. It offered stories (some rather gothic), poetry, and fashion news, featuring columns on the latest looks in Paris and London. I’ve perused through several digitized issues and haven’t located the “music” part, but it may be that the sheet music was meant to be removed and so would not be found in extant versions. 

The Ladies Cabinet had several things going for it. At a modest schilling per issue, it was favored by those in the middle class. It was also apparently small, being called by some “pocket sized.” Unlike many of the other ladies journals of the time, which were edited by men, it was purportedly edited at least for part of its life by a pair of sisters, Margaret and Beatrice de Courcy. However, some think those might have been pseudonyms, and the sisters might have been men as well.

Still, some newspapers of the time applauded it as being by women for women. Critics called it prudish, the poetry melancholy and sentimental, and the fiction harking back to an earlier era. The Dictionary of Nineteenth-Century Journalism in Great Britain and Ireland, edited by Laurel Brake and Marysa Demoor, calls it “high quality” with “beautifully engraved fashion coloured plates.” Though the National Portrait Gallery in London carries several of these fashion plates, the prestigious art gallery notes they were “badly drawn and crudely coloured.” I’m no art critic, but I must admit the print above doesn’t have the detail or elegance shown in the ones our dear Marissa shares from other sources.

Perhaps most intriguing is that, in creating the magazine, the editors claimed to be offering an antidote to cholera! 

The Ladies Cabinet ran from 1832 to 1870, but several sources noted that, from 1840, the contents were identical the new monthly Belle Assembleé. Interesting that the two audiences didn’t seem to coincide.

Now, may I offer you something that probably isn’t the antidote to cholera or any other health surge plaguing the world. I’ve collected the three novels in my Spy Matchmaker series into a boxed set.

In Regency England, one man is known as the spymaster, recruiting his daring agents from among the best and brightest of the aristocracy. From the eager, newly initiated to the world-weary campaigner, these are men used to accepting challenges, righting wrongs. Perhaps their greatest challenge awaits: finding the perfect bride.

You can find it at fine online retailers such as

Smashwords  

Amazon 

Barnes and Noble 

Kobo 

Apple Books 

Pretty Pictures, and a Boxed Set

Life happened this week, so forgive the brevity of this blog post. However, I wanted to share a few more photos from Marissa’s and my trip to New York and the lovely Beau Monde conference. As we have shared in the past, the evening of the conference the chapter hosts a soiree, with dancing. Many members come in Regency gowns.

First up, Beau Monde royalty: starting at the noon position and moving clockwise, Ella Quinn, Kelly Neville, former chapter president Louisa Cornell, Elizabeth Essex, and former president chapter Callie Hutton. If you look closely over Callie’s shoulder, you’ll see Marissa deep in conversation, shortly before she won the Reader’s Choice Award.

Next up, the cream of Beau Monde society, from left to right: Rebecca Connolly, Elena Greene, and Gail Eastwood, amazing authors all!

And here are Elena and Gail again, showing their lovely gowns and accessories.

I was not so nearly well dressed, alas. However, I am delighted to report that I have embarked upon my first boxed set (e-books). Lady Emily Southwell and her three friends, Priscilla Tate and Daphne and Ariadne Courdebas, are determined that someday the world will speak in reverent tones of the year they made their debuts in London Society. But first they have to survive a dangerous dalliance between their beloved art teacher and an unconventional earl and determine whether Emily’s longtime betrothed has something up his arm besides a nicely muscled sleeve. Along the way, Emily might form a perilous passion for a most unlikely suitor.

The set includes two full-length novels: Secrets and Sensibilities and Art and Artifice, plus the short story “Master Thief,” never before available in e-book format. You can find it at fine online retailers such as

Smashwords  

Amazon 

Barnes and Noble 

Kobo 

Sailing the Seas of Cover Creativity

Ah, the joys of book covers!  As we've discussed, authors often have very little control over what comes out when they are traditionally published.  I feel quite fortunate that my editor and publisher at Love Inspired ask for a lot of input, and they generally listen when I have concerns.  That was exactly the case for November’s The Bride Ship.

In early June, my editor’s wonderful assistant sent me an early version, cautioning me that not much could be changed but to look for any major errors that must be corrected.  The heroine’s look was spot on, and I loved the way she seemed to be gazing out toward her future.  But then I saw the ship, and gulped.  She looked a bit like the one above.

The problem?  That’s an artist's rendition of the Queen Mary from around the 1930s.  My book is set post-Civil War.  The actual bride ship, the S.S. Continental, looked like this:

So I asked, nicely, hesitantly, whether that could be fixed.  And it could!

Here is the final cover for The Bride Ship.  The hull is still a bit metal-looking, but you can see the two masts rising above her, and the forecastle is much closer to reality.  Phew!

But I would be remiss if I didn't point out another cover recently created.  The talented author and artist Aileen Fish created this cover for our upcoming boxed set, Timeless:  Historical Romance Through the Ages, which will release next Tuesday, August 12. From turn of the century Chicago to 1860’s Montana to the Civil War era and Regency times, there is something for every historical romance reader. This sweet romance boxed set features seven novels by bestselling authors, starring unforgettable characters falling in love in the most captivating settings.

This collection includes:

All the Blue of Heaven by Virginia Carmichael

Sky Tinted Water by Keta Diablo

The Incorrigible Mr. Lumley by Aileen Fish

Lasso My Heart by Linda Ford

A Mile Apart by Sarah Jae Foster

Through the Storm by Brenda B. Taylor

And my own Secrets and Sensibilities, Book One in the Lady Emily Capers.

We’ll be pricing it at just 99 cents for the first month.  I hope you’ll give it a try. 

And happy sailing!