I love audiobooks, so I’m thrilled that You May Kiss the Bride is being released (soon! March 28th!) in audio as well as in print and ebook editions. Want to hear a sample on SoundCloud? Click here.

Another benefit of an audio release is that the cover image can show more of that gorgeous background! Here’s the print/ebook cover so you can see what I mean:

Interested in preordering You May Kiss the Bride? Click here.

If you’d like to read Chapter 1, click here.

And finally, next week Avon Books is hosting a Goodreads giveaway of 10 print advance reader copies! I’ll let you know when the giveaway opens for entries.

Really enjoyed Madeline Hunter’s thoughtful and wide-ranging post in USA Today‘s Happy Ever After blog, “Romance Unlaced: Authors Explore Beloved Arranged-marriage Trope in Recent Historicals.” Among the authors sharing their perspective are Julia London, Elisabeth Hobbes, and Blythe Gifford.

It’s a trope I like a lot too. Obviously. I utilized it in my own You May Kiss the Bride and The Laird Takes a Bride. :)

You can read the post here.

Here’s a lovely word for a writer of historical romance. By way of example, Merriam-Webster quotes from Sir Walter Scott’s Waverly: “The very footmen sometimes grinned too broadly, the maidservants giggled mayhap too loud . . .”

Waverly was published in 1814, which would clearly make it acceptable for me to use “mayhap” in one of my Regency-era books. I haven’t so far, though now, as I’m writing the third book in the Penhallow Dynasty series, it occurs to me that there’s a character who could very well utter it. Stay tuned . . .

I’m partnering with my local indie bookseller, Auntie’s Bookstore, to not only sign and/or personalize copies of You May Kiss the Bride, but also to offer a special gift for each book purchased. Here’s a sneak peek of the giftie:

It includes this necklace – which has a special meaning you’ll understand when you read Chapter 5 – and two postcards, one of which is stamped if you’d like to tell a friend about You May Kiss the Bride. The rumpled bedsheet, however, isn’t included. ;)

Click here for more info, and to preorder. Also — Auntie’s offers free shipping with orders of $50 and up.

Thrilled to be featured in RT Book Reviews‘ VIP Salon in conversation with senior editor Emily Walton, who asked some very thoughtful and fun-to-answer questions — about my writing inspiration, characters in You May Kiss the Bride, how I approach research, and more.

Image via RT Book Reviews

“Difficult to please,” says Merriam-Webster; also “having complex nutritional requirements.” It’s a wonderfully accurate description of my hero’s grandmother in You May Kiss the Bride.

Here’s a snippet from Chapter 5, in which my heroine discovers just how fastidious her hostess is.

Livia stared dismally at her plate. On it was a mashed turnip cake, three limp mushrooms over which had been spooned a lumpy gray sauce, and half a raw artichoke bottom. Not only did Mrs. Penhallow follow a most peculiar culinary regimen, so were she and Miss Cott forced to endure it as well. It was all because of that repulsive Dr. Wendeburgen, one of Bath’s most eminent physicians and a particular favorite of Mrs. Penhallow. No meat, no fish, no poultry, no milk, no cream, no butter, no eggs, no bread, declared Dr. Wendeburgen. Above all, no desserts! What could be more injurious to the human alimentary tract?

Want to read more? Click here to read Chapter 1.

If you’d like to preorder in advance of the March 27th release, click here.

Plus, Avon Books is hosting two giveaways! Ten print advance reader’s copies are up for grabs on Goodreads. And there’s a sweepstakes*, too. Good luck!

*Link removed, no longer active.

Here’s another chance to win an advance reader’s copy of You May Kiss the Bride — as well as Tess Diamond’s debut novel of romantic suspense, Dangerous Games. Avon Books is hosting a sweepstakes! 

Click here* for more info, and to enter. Good luck!

*Link removed, no longer active.

The other day I drifted up from sleep in the wintry early-morning darkness, and the first thing that came to mind — very clearly and distinctly — was the cloak a secondary character in The Laird Takes a Bride wears in Chapter 4

My brain had just served up the realization that it was unlikely that this character would choose this particular cloak, and that I really should change it.

So I did. With satisfaction.

It’s true.

Here’s a useful word I employed in You May Kiss the Bride. 

Happy Valentine’s Day! Avon Books is hosting a giveaway for You May Kiss the Bride, which is a very romantic gesture, don’t you think? :)

Available to U.S. Goodreads members, this giveaway for 10 print advance reader copies started today, and ends on February 21, 2017. Click here to enter. Good luck!