Mother’s Choice by Elizabeth Mansfield

Cassandra Beringer would never allow her daughter Cicely to repeat her mistake and marry a man twenty years her senior–even if he is the handsome Viscount Ingelsby, considered by her sister to be the catch of the season.

The memory of her own disastrous marriage to an older man still haunts her, despite being widowed for many years. However, fate and a wet marble staircase interrupt her plans to keep Jeremy Ingelsby away from her only child. How will she stop them when she can’t even remember her own name?

Elizabeth Mansfield fan?  Check her author page for more of her delightful novels.

When you start dating someone you will naturally want to know if he or she uses drugs.  It’s less likely you’ll want to know if he or she uses semicolons – unless you believe that the answer will lead to marriage. We can’t recall if it started that way for Virginia and Leonard Woolf or Robert and Elizabeth Barrett Browning, but we know from a recent wedding announcement in New York Times that that’s how it started for Jennifer Miller and Jason Feifer.

“Both were blasting through the often less-than-literate listings of online dating sites,” writes Andrew L. Yarrow, “when Mr. Feifer’s e-mail message on OKCupid.com caught Ms. Miller’s eye for reasons less romantic than grammatical. ‘He used a semicolon correctly; that was reason enough to get a drink with him,’ the 31-year-old author of Inheriting the Holy Land recalled.”

The rest is history, as you will see if you care to read details of their wedding announcement.

So, if you’re entering into a relationship and suspect your love object is scrutinizing your emails for solecisms, you might want to refresh your understanding of this subtle point of grammar.

Melissa Donovan in WritingForward.com has this to say about it:

#The semicolon establishes a close connection between two sentences or independent clauses.
#A semicolon can replace conjunctions and or but.
Semicolons indicate a stronger separation than a comma but weaker than a period.
#A semicolon is often used in lists to separate items when some of the items in listed subsets require commas.
#The semicolon is always followed by a lower case letter with proper nouns being the only exception (proper nouns are always capitalized).
#Semicolon use can be applied to separate two clauses or sentences that are saying the same thing in different ways.
#As with other punctuation marks that denote the end of a clause or sentence, there is no space between the semicolon and the word preceding it; there should be a single space after the semicolon.

Example:
#I love music; however, I haven’t played my own guitar in several years.
#I’m fascinated by names and their meanings; Melissa means honey bee.
#There’s nothing like the gentle drum of water hitting against the window pane; I love the rain.

So, lovers, remember this: when you email your beloved, pay heed to those semicolons; they could save your relationship.

Richard Curtis

After an absence of far too long we’re delighted to reintroduce the romantic historical Novels of Elizabeth Mansfield, starting with these two delights.
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Miscalculations

In Miscalculations, Viscount Luke Kettering was a Corinthian: self-confident, elegant, with a talent for all the manly arts, and a penchant for taking risks. He was admired by his peers, yet his constant requests for funds to settle his gambling debts caused his mother deep concern. He eagerly accepted her challenge to give him control of his inheritance if he could prove to be financially responsible. All he had to do was act prudently for one month. He did not factor in one detail–that Lady Martha’s financial advisor would be overseeing his accounting for the month–and that he was–a she!

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The Girl With the Persian Shawl

“The Girl With Persian Shawl” was a strangely bewitching masterpiece that had hung in the Rendell household for generations. Kate Rendell graciously let the dashing Lord Ainsworth view the work, and was outraged when he dared to insinuate that the painting came into the family by nefarious means. She was unfazed that Lord Ainsworth left her estate believing she was little more than an arrogant spinster. But everything changed when she discovered that her beloved but flighty younger cousin was to be betrothed to–a rake!

Keep an eye out for more delicious Elizabeth Mansfields on the E-Reads website.

When Random House decided to relaunch its Loveswept romance line it sought authors whose gifts matched the company’s ambitious vision. And one of the first authors snapped up by publisher Sue Grimshaw for Loveswept’s list of original e-books was Jessica Scott. Today Jessica debuts with Because of You, an unflinching portrayal of two wounded souls struggling with self-doubt and self-loathing to find companionship, trust and, finally, love. Scott knows her military: she’s a career army officer. Read her unique bio here.

The advance raves for Because of You read like a Hall of Fame roster of romance greats.

# “Jessica Scott is an exciting new voice in romantic fiction who bursts upon the scene with an unputdownable debut novel! ”
New York Times Bestselling Author Robyn Carr

# “Edgy and current—and a truly satisfying love story. Put this book, Jessica Scott’s, BECAUSE OF YOU, on your “must read” list.”
New York Times Bestselling Author Suzanne Brockmann

# “Jessica Scott writes with a soldier’s heart. Because Of You is touching, authentic and a fantastic read.”
New York Times Bestselling Author Cindy Gerard

# “Crackling with realism, sizzling with sexual tension, and pulsing with emotion, Jessica Scott has penned an unforgettable military romance that delivers heartache and hope on every page.”
New York Times Bestselling Author Roxanne St. Claire

# “Authentic, emotional, and edgy, Jessica Scott’s sweeping military romance is a vivid snapshot of love, war, grief and–above all–hope.” –
Allison Brennan, NYT Bestselling Author of If I Should Die

# “Because of You is a powerful debut – emotional, heartbreaking and uplifting all at once, it’s a romance not to be missed!”
New York Times Bestselling Author Stephanie Tyler

# “Jessica Scott has written a beautiful love story filled with heart, tender emotion, unflinching honesty and gritty realism. Because of You is a military romance you will never forget!”
New York Times Bestselling Author Christy Reece

Jessica Scott

# “Jessica Scott writes an intense story, packed with realism and emotion. BECAUSE OF YOU will tug at your heartstrings.”
New York Times Bestselling Author
Laura Griffin

# “In BECAUSE OF YOU, Jessica Scott presents a realistic and emotionally gripping tale of life in and around the military. A wonderful debut, and I can’t wait to read the next in this compelling series.”
USA Today Bestselling Author Julie Kenner

# “Watch out Navy SEALS, there’s a new hero in town and he’s wearing Army gray! Because of You is a beautifully crafted, wonderfully emotional debut.”
New York Times Bestselling Author JoAnn Ross

# “BECAUSE OF YOU is a tough and tender romance that proves the one thing worth fighting for will always be true love. Jessica Scott is a vibrant new voice in contemporary romance!”
New York Times Bestselling author of GOODNIGHT TWEETHEART Teresa Medeiros

# “BECAUSE OF YOU is powerful, timely and wonderfully executed. Jessica Scott should be on every reader’s list.”
New York Times and USA Today Bestselling Author Brenda Novak

# Because of You is emotionally heart-wrenching and makes you smile as the characters triumph.
Mandi Schreiner, Happy Ever After – Blog Reviewer, USA Today

# “Military romance just got a whole lot better — Because of You — by Jessica Scott, who has created something sumptuous.”
Anne Woodall, Romance At Random Reviewer

# “I am eagerly awaiting the next installment in her trilogy. I give BECAUSE OF YOU an A.”
E -The BookPushers

Below, a trailer for the book, and an interview with the scintillating author.

Stuck for a good beach read?  Download some fabulous fiction from some of romance fiction’s most adored practitioners.

Laura Kinsale The award-winning and New York Times bestselling author of such classic historical romances as The Shadow and the Star, The Prince of Midnight and Flowers from the Storm. E-Reads has reissued. Seize the Fire, Midsummer Moon, The Prince of Midnight and Uncertain Magic, with the best yet to come.

Janet Dailey To launch her career, Dailey set a novel in every state of the Union. She has since gone on to write approximately 90 novels, 21 of which have appeared on the New York Times bestseller list. E-Reads offers 64 titles including all 50 of the original Americanas.

Jennifer Blake, possessor of the Golden Treasure Award for Lifetime Achievement from Romance Writers of America, has been called the Steel Magnolia of women’s fiction. A seventh generation Louisianian, she sold her first book at 27 in 1970 and gained her first New York Times bestseller with Love’s Wild Desire. She has written over 50 books, and E-Reads has 36 of them, many of which evoke the author’s beloved South.

Hannah Howell‘s first book was published in 1988, and she has since published dozens of captivating romance novels. The 15 Highland romances offered by E-Reads are perpetually at the top of our bestseller list.

Want more ideas? Visit our romance catalog and find hundreds of romance titles for every taste.

Sorry, m'dear. After removing your corset I'm exhausted

Guys who fantasize themselves heroes of steamy Victorian romances had better bone up on the protocol for removing their mistress’s garments.  By the time you strip her to the buff she will have fallen asleep and your stallion lust will have flagged to the consistency of a biscuit dipped in tepid tea. The afternoon quickie, known as a nooning in those days, must in truth have been a painful slowie, unfolding from afternoon to tea time before all was in readiness for a frolic as milord fumbled with milady’s hooks, eyes, buttons and bows.

The truth is, a Victorian lady’s clothes and underwear were more complex than the equation for the Higgs Boson and no easier to solve.  How do we know this?  Romance novelist Deanne Gist acquired a collection of Victorian couture and donned it, then considered what it would take for a lover to remove it with as much alacrity as romance writers impute to the ardent male of the time.  Her conclusion made her rethink her own sex scenes and will certainly make her colleagues re-imagine theirs.

“At the recent Romance Writers of America’s annual convention in New York,” reports Daisy Dumas of the Daily Mail, “period novelists watched Ms Gist squeeze herself, with help, into 12 layers of imitation Victorian garments. Starting in nothing but her ‘unmentionables,’ Ms Gist’s aim was to illustrate just how historically inaccurate many period novels are. Taking an hour to dress, it would have taken the same amount of time to undress – and help in the form of a ladies’ maid would have been absolutely necessary.”

Geist’s experiment in seductive couture can be seen in this video. You’ll readily see that if you imagine being thrown back to the Victorian era for the opportunity to assault milady’s virtues, you’d best bring your Blackberry with you to follow the instructions for disrobing her. The corset alone is harder to pick than a brass padlock.

Romance novelist buys full set of Victorian undergarments to understand what makes a bodice-ripper

Richard Curtis

E-Reads has rereleased two of Laura Kinsale’s most beloved historical novels, For My Lady’s Heart and its sequel Shadowheart, and as if that’s not treat enough, we have a double helping of good news for Kinsale fans. When she decided to re-edit the books for this reissue, she thought her readers might enjoy having both the original and the new version in the same e-book volume. Voila! Done!  And here they are.  (Note that our print edition contains only the new version, not both.)

For My Lady’s Heart

In medieval Europe, vows and laws are as inflexible and confining as a suit of armor. For Ruck, a noble and honest knight, those rules provide an unwavering path. Even as his wife leaves him for the Church, taking his money and his steed, Ruck’s life is one of devotion and mission.

For the beautiful widow, Princess Melanthe, those same laws and traditions conspire to consume her land and her independence. Her husband’s death has left her kingdom an inviting target for neighboring territories. Where Ruck sees a clear path, Melanthe must navigate through twisting alleyways, using shrewd deceit and devious strategy.

Can these two help each other overcome the powers conspiring against them? Will the passion in their hearts escape the constraints of their station? Is devotion enough?

In For My Lady’s Heart, Laura Kinsale has crafted a rich, sensual portrait of life during the Middle Ages.
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Shadowheart

Elegant yet violent, breathtakingly handsome yet brutal, the assassin Allegreto has returned in this long-awaited sequel to For My Lady’s Heart. Shadowheart won a Rita for best long historical romance published in 2004.

14th-century Europe is a vicious place, awash with murky alliances and political maneuvering. As the bastard son of the Navona family, Allegreto seeks to claim his rightful place in the Italian principality of his birth. When his standard tools of deception and murder prove unable to complete the task, Allegretto must take a bride–the lovely and innocent Lady Elena, the princess of Monteverde–by force. Soon it becomes clear that Fate has brought these two close–but it is a dangerous passion that binds them together.

As Allegreto and Elena journey to Italy, will they be safe from her jealous fiancé? Or from their own dangerous desires? Filled with rich, historical language and period detail, Shadowheart lays out a tale of intense passion and shifting power that will leave its readers breathless.
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Now, for the first time, readers can choose between two versions of For My Lady’s Heart and two of Shadowheart. Both are included in this same ebook. The first version is the original published novel filled with authentic Middle English language in dialogue and deep period detail. The second (included only in ebook editions, not the E-Reads print on demand) presents a condensed version for readers who prefer a tighter read and more modern dialogue.

The great big City's a wondrous toy/Just made for a girl and boy...

It happens every summer, but not always in New York. But this year it’s the Big Apple’s turn to play host to thousands of authors and publishing professionals convening for Romance Writers of America’s annual conference, the 31st since the event was initiated. It will take place at the Marriott Marquis from Tuesday June 28th through Friday July 1st and culminate in the 2011 RITA and Golden Heart Awards Ceremony emceed by Meg Cabot. Madeline Hunter will give the keynote address, and Sherrilyn Kenyon will be the Awards Luncheon speaker.

For details visit the RWA website conference page.

“They’ve taken Paris,” Laura said.
Everyone stared at her. She was interpreting for the family the excited German issuing from the radio in staccato bursts.
“Are you sure?” Alain demanded.
“He says the troops are marching down the Champs Elysees,” Laura answered.
“Oh, my God,” Brigitte moaned, turning away and putting her hands to her face.

That is the opening passage of Clash By Night, a love story by Doreen Owens Malek that throbs in counterpoint to the tramp of boots as war spreads across Europe.

The Germans have taken Paris, and those heavy bootsteps menace the small French village of Fain les Sources. Many flee, but a few brave souls stay to start up a Resistance. Their futures are unsure, but pride and desperation push them forward. For three women, one question tears at their hearts: Can love overcome the wages of war?

In this stunning work of romance, author Doreen Owens Malek paints a portrait of patriotism and passion struggling to survive as the countryside burns during WWII. From the earliest days of the Occupation to the promised freedom of liberation, Clash by Night will clutch your heart and never let go.

Clash by Night introduces E-Reads’ reissue program of Doreen Owens Malek’s romantic fiction. Keep an eye on her author page for more.

Thanks to Facebook human communications are in danger of deteriorating into grunts. Lengthy and eloquent descriptions of our emotional states have been reduced to “Like” and “Dislike”.

Nowhere is this lapse into monosyllables more distressing than romance. Had Facebook existed in Edmund Rostand’s day, wouldn’t this outpouring of Cyrano de Bergerac to his beloved Roxanne – “And what is a kiss, specifically? A pledge properly sealed, a promise seasoned to taste, a vow stamped with the immediacy of a lip, a rosy circle drawn around the verb ‘to love’ – been reduced to…

Cyrano “likes” Roxanne?

Would Juliet have clicked “Like” after viewing Romeo’s countenance? Or would she have used the long form:

Dost thou love me? I know thou wilt say ‘Ay’;
And I will take thy word. Yet, if thou swear’st,
Thou mayst prove false. At lovers’ perjuries,
They say Jove laughs. O gentle Romeo,
If thou dost love, pronounce it faithfully.

And how about this passage?

What longing!
What fearing!
To see her,
what desire!
The crash that I heard
behind me
was Death’s
door closing:
now once more it stands
wide open,
the sun’s beams
have burst it open;
with wide open eyes
I had to emerge from Night
to seek her,
to see her;
to find her,
in her alone
to expire,
to vanish
has it been granted to Tristan.

Had Tristan simply indicated he “Likes” Isolde, Wagner’s opera would have been curtailed by about five hours.

If this post appeals to you click “Like”.  Or send me a comment of 250 words or more.

Richard Curtis