Constance and Joan Bennett were glamorous and gorgeous movie stars of Hollywood’s Golden Age. It was said that A Star is Born was based on Constance’s film What Price Hollywood.

That was that Constance Bennett. This Constance Bennett is the bestselling author of twenty contemporary and historical romances. But, though she spent four years performing live theatre and studying film and television in Los Angeles, her biography departs from that of her movie star namesake. Nonetheless, her resume has plenty of glamor to boast about, including a passel of Romance Writers of America Rita nominations. In Morning Sky, one of three western romances published by E-Reads, a lovely widow is locked in a battle against crooked cattlemen. When a mysterious, compelling stranger shows up to take her side, she is enthralled – until she begins to suspect that his dark past places him on the wrong side of her fight for justice. Unfortunately, she’s hooked on him.

– Richard Curtis

Honestly, this really happened.

In 1987 Little, Brown published Heiress by Janet Dailey. It was Little, Brown’s first Janet Dailey book after wooing her away from her previous publisher, and Janet really nailed this story of a young woman who, after her father dies, discovers she has a sister. It went on the bestseller list and stayed there for about two months.

There was feverish interest among paperback publishers in bidding for the reprint rights, and an auction closing date was set. That date sounded disturbingly familiar to me. As well it might be. “It’s your son’s fifth birthday,” my wife reminded me, “and we’re having a party that day, remember? Don’t even think of going to your office that day. I need you to take pictures. And besides,” she added, “don’t you want to see the magician?”

And so my wife and I played host to a dozen five-year-olds and a magician on the day that paperback rights were being auctioned by Little, Brown. I gave my home number to the editor conducting the bidding and asked her to call me as the auction developed. And she did – while the magician was performing.

He had just tossed a bunch of colored handkerchiefs into his hat when the phone rang. It was my friend at Little, Brown. “Warner just opened with an $800,000 floor bid!” she announced.
Before I could say anything the children shrieked with joy. “YAYYYYY”
“What the hell is that?” the editor asked. Do you have a cheering section set up for this auction?”
“No,” I stammered. “It’s the magician. He just pulled the handkerchiefs out of his hat and they’re all somehow knotted together. Uh, it’s my kid’s birthday party.”
“I see. Well, I’ll call you if there’s more action.”
And she did. Two minutes later, she had an offer for a million dollars from another bidder.
“YAYYYYY!”
“Rabbit in the hat?” my editor friend asked dryly.
“No, a white dove. I have no idea how he did it!”
“Um, what about the million dollar offer?”
“That’s terrific too,” I said, raptly watching the dove flapping on the magician’s sleeve.
“I’ll be back to you if there’s another offer.”
She did and there was. “It’s up to a million two!”
Now it was my turn: “YAYYYY”
“This time it’s a rabbit, right?” asked my friend.
“Hell no. The magician left half an hour ago. I’m cheering for you!”

And that’s how I’ll always remember Heiress. But you’ll remember it for another reason: it’s a marvelous novel by an author at the top of her game. YAYYYY!

– Richard Curtis

Before rescuing Susanna from a fire consuming Ammonville’s Fallen Angel brothel, Aaron Court takes this intoxicating beauty, mistaking her for one of the professionals plying their trade. Now he is in a heap of trouble. How much trouble? Well, it happens that she was not only an innocent maiden, but the young sister of the establishment’s owner.

Now that he’s rescued her he has to rescue her reputation as well, which is about as easy as restoring a girl’s virginity. As if that’s not difficult enough, the memory of her yearning body fills him with an irresistible desire to be with her again. A case of out of the fire and into the frying pan.

Read Elizabeth Chadwick’s Wanton Angel to learn if the lovers will be able to squeeze through the horns of this dilemma.

Elizabeth Chadwick is a penname for romantic mystery novelist Nancy Herndon. E-Reads carries novels under both names.

- Richard Curtis

The cooler they are the hotter they get, and Hunter Adams fancies himself to be as cool as frost. But vixen Trisha Malloy is hotter than a blowtorch, and it will be a long time before his temperature returns to normal.

Read The Harder They Fall and learn by Jill Shalvis is a bestselling author.

– Richard Curtis

Recently, when we promoted Maggie Davis’s torrid genre romances, we told you that she was also a serious mainstream novelist, and in Stage Door Canteen she has reconstructed the famous World War II recreation center where a furloughed serviceman could set his cares aside for a few hours and dance with a pretty girl before returning for duty. Sometimes stars of stage and screen would offer to serve as hostesses, giving GI’s not just a dance but the memory of a lifetime.

In this E-Reads Original, Maggie Davis has created a cast of men and women unknown to each other, whose lives intermingle on a dance floor illuminated by the fires of war. When a man stepped out on that floor he didn’t know if he’d be holding in his arm the girl next door or an exquisite movie star. Or a German spy…

– Richard Curtis

In just a generation, the erotic content of romance fiction has gone from demure curtsies to Four Cold Showers, from Nothing Spoken to Anything Goes. How to explain, then, the eternal allure of the Regency Romance, which leaves all to the imagination, where everything you need to know about sex is conveyed through a glance or the flutter of a fan. The answer, I think, is that it’s all about sexual tension, communicated through the impeccable manners and exquisitely nuanced conversation of civilized ladies and gentlemen. But if you think Regencies are quaint and “so yesterday,” the fact is that readers just can’t get enough of them.

Among the most popular Regency authors I know of is the late Elizabeth Chater. E-Reads has over a dozen, and though they are all hugely popular with fans, one of their favorites is The Elsingham Portrait.

You’ll need no cold showers after reading Elizabeth Chater, yet you’ll learn as much about what goes on behind closed doors as you would from the explicit sex scenes of a contemporary novel.

– Richard Curtis

USA Today bestseller Linda Winstead Jones’s Guardian Angel is living refutation of that famous tune from Annie Get Your Gun. But there’s much more to this romance than a gal with a gun, especially when you realize that the guardian angel of the title is named Gabriel.

Paranormal twists come as no surprise to Linda’s fans. It’s hard to think of any book of hers that can be categorized in fewer than two words – fairy tale romance, romantic suspense, time travel romance, paranormal fantasy, historical ghost stories – you see what I mean. Nor should it come as a surprise that three of her books have been Rita Award finalists and one of them won it in 2004. So, don’t even think of predicting which way her stories are going to jump.

E-Reads has a lucky thirteen Linda Winstead Jones novels.

For a complete overview of Linda’s books, visit her website, www.lindawinsteadjones.com .

- Richard Curtis

“To be read with suntan lotion” is how Romantic Times described Maggie Davis’s Hustle Sweet Love. That’s because “It’s hot enough to give you sunburn in the dead of winter!” But Davis’s books are not just sexy, they’re witty, too. The fact is, she’s classically educated and trained. How many romance writers do you know who gave writing courses at Yale and were guest writer/artist at the International Cultural Center in Hammamet, Tunisia?

Nevertheless, at the end of the day you want characters you love, a story that soars, and — yes — that sunburn-inducing heat. E-Reads has nine delicious Maggie Davis novels on our website. Suntan lotion not included.

– Richard Curtis

In 2005 I accepted the Rita Award, the Romance Writers of America’s highest honor, on behalf of my agency’s client Laura Kinsale, who was unable to attend the ceremony. With tongue in cheek I presented her with an award of my own: the Damaged Men’s Lifetime Achievement Award, explaining that, “Laura Kinsale understands men! Whenever we feel our wives don’t understand us, we turn for consolation to Laura Kinsale.”

It’s hard to pick a favorite among the three novels of Kinsale that E-Reads publishes, but if hard-pressed I’d have to pick Prince of Midnight. Its dark, damaged male protagonist (a lot darker and more damaged than Fabio, the heartthrob model who posed for the cover of the original edition) called for a truly heroic woman to redeem him from bitterness and self-loathing. But in Lady Leigh Strachan, Kinsale produced a heroine every bit up to the task. Little surprise that Prince of Midnight won Romance Writers of America Golden Choice Award for Best Romance of the year in which it was published.

Laura Kinsale’s resume is replete with awards and nominations for awards, and that is only fitting, as many fans (I among them) believe her to be in the first rank of the historical romance authors of our time. If you love Prince of Midnight, try Seize the Fire and Midsummer Moon next and you’ll understand why the hearts of romance awards committee members beat a little faster when a Kinsale novel comes before them.

– Richard Curtis

Speak to Jennifer Blake and you hear the lilting voice of the antebellum south; read one of her books and you’re transported there. Small wonder: she is a seventh generation Louisianan and not only does the Old South course through her bloodstream, it flows like honey from her fingertips onto the keyboard. Indeed, it has flowed into over fifty books, many of them New York Times bestsellers, and E-Reads is reissuing at least half of them. But don’t make the mistake of equating sweet with saccharine. Her heroines are often strong, willful, and lusty, and heaven help any man who underestimates them. It should come as no surprise that their creator, proud winner of Romance Writers of America’s Lifetime Achievement Award, has been called the Steel Magnolia of Women’s Fiction.

Which novel to start with? You could throw a dart at a list and land on a winner, but you can’t go wrong with Love’s Wild Desire.

– Richard Curtis