Category: Risky Book Talk

Posts in which we talk about our own books

Secretly Bound to the Marquess – Diane’s latest!

Updated on January 24, 2023 by Diane Gaston

An emotional Regency reunion story

One passionate night
A seven-year-old secret…
Widowed Lady Eliza Varden must endure one more ball before she can politely return to the country. Only her last dance brings her face-to-face with Nathaniel, the new Marquess of Hale. It’s been years since their steamy encounter, but the spark between them is as alive as ever. Yet Eliza knows it’s not just their mutual attraction that binds them now… But is she ready to risk her independence with the truth?

From Harlequin Historical: Your romantic escape to the past.

My latest, Secretly Bound to the Marquess, was released October 25 and had received some very nice reviews. Here’s a sample:

Gaston (Lord Grantwell’s Christmas Wish, 2021) puts her own deftly crafted spin on the popular secret-baby trope in her latest cleverly conceived Regency historical, and her insightful way with characterization will win over readers who like their romances served up with a generous measure of historical realism.— John Charles, Booklist

Five Stars! In her latest historical romance, Diane Gaston lets doubts and schemes repeatedly cause heartache for a woman and man who only want to be loved….. SECRETLY BOUND TO THE MARQUESS is packed with believable situations, very interesting characters, and a noteworthy storyline filled with colorful descriptions.— Amelia Richards, Goodreads

Four Stars! Diane Gaston, much to the delight of her readers, knows scandal. Once again, this wicked author has written a tale that kept me glued to the pages, wondering how the main characters would save face. (Reputation means everything in the Ton.) The story was worth losing sleep for. A lovely tale, villains to enjoy hating, a child to lighten moods and give you an occasional smile, and an unending love. What more could you ask for in a romance? And all of it unfolds in such a way that only Diane Gaston can tell. Excellent! — Detra Fitch, Huntress Reviews

What the reviews and back cover blurb do not tell is that this completely heterosexual reunion and secret baby romance also gives the reader a glimpse into what it must have been like to be gay during the Regency (even though the crucial gay characters never actually appear in the book). Homosexuality in the Regency was considered a sin and a crime punishable by hanging. Just a rumor of being gay could ruin a man and his family.

I must give credit to Louisa Cornell. It was her 2020 workshop given to the Regency Fiction Writers that inspired and informed the history in this book. I’ve told her her workshop was worthy of a college course!

What do you think? Is touching on the topic of the Gay Regency in a Regency Romance welcome or too much of a risk?

Posted in book announcement, Diane Gaston, Risky Book Talk | Tagged Diane Gaston, gay regency, reunion romance, secret baby romance | 4 Replies

Coming up For Air

Updated on November 17, 2022 by carolyn

Yesterday I turned in my revisions for Not Proper Enough, the sequel to Not Wicked Enough, which I hope you have all rushed out to buy, because I could use another couple of sales, let me tell you.

Whenever an editor says to me something along the lines of “My revisions are really light, I don’t think they’ll take long,” I kind of die inside because that inevitably means there are 3-4 offhand comments that require massive rewriting to properly address. Likewise, I’ve had revision letters that apologize for the huge changes requested and then when you look at them, the huge changes take a couple sentences to fix. Literally.

This time was an in between case. Yes, the revisions were thought to be light but I revised A LOT on my own and to support the revisions requested. Plus the day job required a kind of dreadful amount of my time and attention, so wow. It’s been a tough 2 weeks.

The good news is, as I was working through the MS, I kept thinking, gee, this is WAY better than I remember. And way hotter.

I am brain dead mostly.

And now, as the kitty sez. We all wait for the awesomeness that is Not Proper Enough. September 2012.

Posted in Former Riskies, Risky Book Talk, Writing | Tagged Ninja Cats, Not Proper Enough, On Being Brain Dead, revisions | 4 Replies

Free Fall With Bonus Shameless Self-Promotion

Updated on November 17, 2022 by carolyn


Cover Of Free Fall. This guy is a demon.

Well. How often does the Risky Regencies have a picture of a demon? Not so often!

Free Fall, A My Immortals Series novella is available now on Kindle.

OMG REALLY????

Yes, Really. You should rush out and buy it now.

Buy Free Fall from Amazon or see below for another way to get this story.

OK, I’ll stop playing with fonts now. But it was fun. I kind of want to do that again.

About Free Fall

Attorney Lys Fensic has spent her life controlling a psychic power that kills. Her ability to lock herself down falls apart when her ex, a mage, sends enslaved demons to kill her. In a psychic free fall, she turns to tough guy Telos Khūnbish for help. But is he a mage as she’s always suspected or is he something far more dangerous?

Free Fall is set in the My Immortals series world where demons and magic-using humans called the magekind are not quite getting along. Most people have no idea they’re living in what amounts to a magical war-zone. Free Fall is based on the short story Future Tense but is considerably expanded and includes scenes that were censored from the short story. This novella is about 35,000 words (130 pages).

I should mention the censored stuff is way hot. Smoking hot. If you’re bothered by demon sex you should not read this story. Also, there are no Regency gowns. Sorry.

Review Copy Anyone?

In the meantime, anyone who agrees to post an HONEST review of Free Fall on Amazon should leave a comment on this post. I’ll send you a .MOBI version of the file.

An Excerpt

CHAPTER 1

11:40 AM. Lobby of 101 California Street, San Francisco, California

He was here. Telos Khūnbish had come. Relief nearly demolished her, it hit so powerfully. He was here, and now, improbably, she believed everything was going to be all right. Her life was irrevocably screwed, but she believed. She ignored the noise of the lobby and the man standing beside her. He was irrelevant. What a damn sad commentary it was that after nearly ten years in the city, Khūnbish was the closest thing she had to a friend. Maybe even a real friend, because he was here, and she believed she’d get through this.

Her heart kicked up a notch when she got a clear view of his black BMW turning onto Front Street. Now, of course, she wondered if she’d made a mistake involving him. She didn’t make a habit of asking for help. She wasn’t good with people. She wasn’t even sure she’d asked right. Seems she had.

The BMW was definitely looking to park. Good thing. In less than ten minutes the lunchtime rush would start, and she’d be in real trouble. Even now, there were too many people around.

“My ride’s here,” she said to Jack, the man standing beside her. She didn’t make eye contact because that would be dangerous. Instead she stared at his tie, but that turned out to be a mistake. The dark red silk looked like blood streaming down his chest. She focused on the shiny marble floor and the tips of his Oxfords. “I’m fine. Really.”

“Let me carry your things.” Jack reached for the moving box that contained the personal contents from her office. He knew Michael, and that meant she couldn’t trust him. Simple fact. She couldn’t trust anyone who knew Michael Ford.

“No.” She gripped the box tighter and looked at the street again, as if Khūnbish could help her from afar. The BMW was waiting for a van to pull away from the curb. Khūnbish had never met Michael. That was part of the reason she’d called him. That, and she didn’t know anyone else.

“Lys.” Jack was thirty-ish, good looking, and in line to make partner in the next two years. He did good suit. He was a competent lawyer and a decent litigator.

She faked a smile and looked at Jack without directly meeting his eyes. Over the years, she’d gotten good at faking contact normal people never thought twice about. She lifted the box an inch. “Hardly weighs a thing.”

Jack smoothed a hand down the river of blood that was his tie. She held her breath, half expecting his palm to come away smeared red. He reached for her moving box, and she jumped back, heart slamming against her chest. Either Jack didn’t get it, or he was in league with Michael and meant her harm. He kept moving toward her.

“Don’t.” The word came out sharp and loud. The security guard at the lobby reception area looked over. She was close to losing it. Way too close. Blocking shouldn’t be this hard for her, but the last several days had been…difficult. Not enough sleep. Not enough to eat. Too much caffeine. Far too much stress.

“Lys. Come on.” His tie vibrated at the edges of her vision. Blood red. A river of red. He reached for the box again. “I’m only trying to help out.”

She risked a look at his face. His smile was hesitant, a little irritated, but that would be normal if he really just wanted to help. Just a regular person trying to be nice. Part of her didn’t believe it. He knew Michael, and Michael had tried to kill her.

Question

If you got this far, YOU ARE AWESOME and I love YOU best of all. More than the rest of them.

If you could ask a demon any question ever, and there would be NO TRICKS, what would you ask?

Posted in Former Riskies, Risky Book Talk | Tagged Demons, Free Books, Free Fall, Fun With Fonts | 3 Replies

Passion’s Song: To The Tune of Shameless Self-Promotion

Updated on November 17, 2022 by carolyn

My Very First Novel – Passion’s Song

At last, my reversion for the first novel I wrote, Passion’s Song, came through. And now you can read it. (I’m working on the POD version). Cover art by the wonderful Patricia Schmitt.

Passion’s Song was originally published in 1987. Yes. That’s right. 19 and 87. Before the internet was anything but a really neat tool for academics and DARPA. Before the World Wide Web. “Portable” computers were the size of 3 breadboxes end to end.

I was shaking after I heard the message on my answering machine tape offering to buy my book. Shaking. I had to go walk around the block just to calm down enough to think straight.

I wrote it on an Apple IIc using a nifty program called Word Juggler. I once wrote to the developer of Word Juggler about a problem I felt was a bug and he wrote me a very long personal reply explaining how hard he worked on his program. Then he called me an idiot.

It took 9 hours to print out the manuscript. NINE hours. I had to wait for a weekend to print it out. Editorial comments were actually in red pencil and queries were on special pink tearaway flags pasted to the MS page. I had to MAIL the MS and there was no overnight delivery option.

It reflects the writer I was then. I look at it now, and well. There is is. The book I wrote in 1987. Bought two weeks after my one query made it to NY. Edited to DEATH and then given back to me with instructions to “put it back the way it was.” So, yeah.

The Neo-Blurb

American orphan Isobel Rowland learns she is the illegitimate daughter of an English aristocrat only when her father at last locates her and brings her to England. Her father intends to find her a husband, and if she can catch the interest of Alexander, Marquess of Hartforde, all the better. She hopes to continue her musical studies but finds it impossible unless she masquerades as a young gentleman. Alexander’s interest in remarriage is close to nil, though he finds Miss Rowland intriguing. He is more than happy to act as patron to a promising American musician, Ian Rowland. When Alexander discovers that Ian and Isobel are the same person, their lives collide and before long, they have no choice but to marry and attempt to make a life together.

I couldn’t really read it because then I’d want to completely re-write it. Because I am not the same writer. I’ve learned a lot about writing and the business and, of course, changed as a person and a writer.

Passion’s Song is my words in 1987, and I totally own them. It’s a fun story, with an evil step-brother, a (late) wife who wasn’t very nice, a perky younger sister, and a jaded aristocrat hero with blond hair and a queue. There’s puppies, too.

All I’ve done is had it proofread and corrected some typos that were in the original. Like, somehow the copyeditor (and me!) missed that Brooks’s is s’s. I had to scan it from paper, so there were a lot of OCR errors to correct. My proofreader did an amazing, amazing job of catching OCR errors and original typos. Of course, I did my own proofing for errors with the digital display. I’ve already re-uploaded to correct a few more errors I made.

It’s $3.99, no DRM, available worldwide.

Where you can get it now:

Amazon |BN | Smashwords | Kobo

Hopefully SW will get the book on sale at places like Sony, Diesel Books and other wonderful sellers of eBooks.

Posted in Former Riskies, Risky Book Talk, Writing | Tagged books, Passion's Song, shameless self promotion | 2 Replies

One Starlit Night: Midnight Scandals

Updated on November 17, 2022 by carolyn

Midnight Scandals officially released yesterday (Tuesday)!

You’d like to know more? Well, all right!

Carolyn Jewel, Courtney Milan, and Sherry Thomas
Midnight Scandals
NLA Digital Liaison Platform/ August 28, 2012 / $3.99 digital

90,000 words of historical romance, and it’s yours for $3.99!

Courtney, Sherry and I talked among ourselves about what price to set and we agreed that we should price it so that someone who is only a fan of one of us will have the warm and fuzzies about reading the other two.

Welcome to Doyle’s Grange, a charming house near the hills of Exmoor, where the garden is beautiful in every season, and the residents are respectable year-round.

Except when the clock strikes midnight…

One Starlit Night – Carolyn Jewel
Ten years away from Doyle’s Grange isn’t quite long enough for Viscount Northword to forget Portia Temple, or their passionate adolescent affair. Portia, however, is about to marry another man. Northword tells himself it is wrong to interfere in her life at this late hour, but interfere he cannot help, with his words, his body, and the truths of his heart.

What Happened at Midnight – Courtney Milan
Fleeing the consequences of her father’s embezzlement, Mary Chartley takes a position as a lady’s companion, only to find herself a virtual prisoner at Doyle’s Grange, her employer’s house. And then the nightmare truly begins: the man she loves, who also happens to be the man from whom her father stole, shows up at her door seeking recompense. And not merely in pound sterling…

A Dance in Moonlight – Sherry Thomas
After losing her childhood sweetheart to another woman, Isabelle Englewood is heartsick. But then something remarkable happens: Upon arriving at Doyle’s Grange, her new home, she meets Ralston Fitzwilliam, who looks almost exactly like the man she cannot have. Come late at night, she tells him, so I can make love to you pretending that you are the one I love.

Review!

These are three wonderfully complete novellas by three excellent authors. Don’t miss Midnight Scandals.
Myretta Robens, Heroes and Heartbreakers

Secret Stuff!

If your eReader does color, then I think you’ll be impressed because, again, we talked among ourselves and decided some use of color would be a good idea. Why not? Color is free on the internet and in your eReader. It’s a very limited use of color, but I swooned when we were proofreading the files on various devices. Gorgeous and elegant use of color with the title pages and chapter and scene break signifiers. It’s really, really pretty in color, but of course it looks nice in eInk, too!