Guest Authors for May 2022

Enjoying a warm May so far. I hope you still find time to read while getting out in the spring weather.

Rescued by the Rake (Miss Primm’s Secret School for Budding Bluestockings Book 4) by Annabelle Anders

Rescued by the Rake (Miss Primm's Secret School for Budding Bluestockings Book 4) coverAn independent spinster and a wounded Army Captain never expected to get caught, but nature has a way of catching up with even the most determined of single persons…

Miss Chloe Fortune understands marriage for what it is–an institution where women willingly hand over their rights to the man they marry. She is, however, open to other arrangements…

The last thing Captain Sterling Edgeworth wants or needs is a wife. Especially not one as prickly as Miss Fortune. But that doesn’t curtail the possibility of another sort of alliance with the mouthy wench… Something temporary. Something that won’t demand he participate in a binding ceremony.

But is an affair going to be enough for either of them? And even if it is, have they already gone too far?

Don’t miss out on any of these big-hearted stories featuring teachers and students from Miss Primm’s Secret School for Budding Bluestockings—an academy where English Misses go to learn how to fit into society, but instead learn how to make their place in the world. Rescued by the Rake is book 4 of this Steamy, Regency Romance Series.

Unmasking the Thief (Pleasure Garden Book 5) by Mary Lancaster

Unmasking the Thief coverThief or gentleman, he is uniquely dangerous!

Governess Matty Mather has grown to love her pupils of the Dove family. When a borrowed ring is stolen from Catherine Dove and her friend, now in their first London Season, the redoubtable Matty goes alone to Maida Pleasure Gardens to confront the thief – who turns out to be outrageous, charming and utterly mysterious.

Francisco de Salgado has been long employed by the British government to take care of insoluble problems, both home and abroad. Returning to England to resign before he loses his soul entirely, he accepts one final mission that he regards as both foolish and beneath him. Making a rare mistake, he returns to Maida to right it – only to be faced with a severe young woman demanding he return the ring he stole.

So begins an attraction that is both unwise and irresistible. Mutual suspicion dissolves eventually into an alliance to discover who is behind a plot to overthrow the British government and why. And the eventual solution will involve several old friends from the previous Pleasure Garden books.

But when the plot is foiled, will love be enough to overcome Francisco’s dubious past and allow him his longed-for happiness with Matty?

Pursuing the Governess (Love of a Governess #3) by Jane Charles

Jane Charles Pursuing the Governess coverAlec Winters, Earl of Harwich, wanted Miss Regina Rutledge for his wife, but there was one thing standing in his way—her betrothal to another man. Before he could sweep her off to Gretna Green, he lost her forever. It was then that he vowed never to love again. He’d marry only for duty and heirs.

Miss Regina Rutledge loved Alec with all her heart, but her father refused to be moved by emotion. Before she could run away with Alec, her betrothed not only destroyed her home but killed her father. In fear for her life, and Alec’s, Regina needed to disappear, even if it meant that everyone believed her dead. With painful determination, she became someone else—a governess, hiding from Society.

When Alec discovers her living in the home of his cousin, her betrayal cuts deep and Alec isn’t certain that he can ever forgive her. Will they find their way back to each other, or will the love and passion they once shared be destroyed for good?

Lady, Behave (Naughty Ladies Book 2) by Cerise DeLand

Cerise DeLand Lady Behave cover She was a Diamond with a few very tiny flaws—and the desire to be good.

He was a rogue with the sense to reform—and to help her to be bad.

Adelaide Devereaux flabbergasts most men she meets. She’s a Diamond, petite, mild-mannered—the perfect picture of a demure lady. She has one ambition—to kiss every man she likes until she finds one whose lips make her hear church bells chime.

In Brighton, she meets confirmed bachelor Gyles, Marquess of Heath, who is felled by her charm. Though he vows to kiss her until she’s felt the earth turn on its axis, he cannot claim her unless he fixes his parents’ refusal to accept her. They’re too high in the instep to accept a wayward Irish lass who’s the granddaughter of a notorious rascal.

Pride might stall their romance, and lust might motivate a scoundrel to try to carry Addy away, but when love is the only passion that matters, do not all objections fall before its power?

Willow: Medieval Romance Beauties With Blades Book 3 by Laurel O’Donnell

Laurel O'Donnell Willow coverCould she ever trust him after he broke her heart? Will he pick her over his loyalty to the Templar Knights? Can they find the love they once shared?

It is Willow Hawke’s fault her sister is in peril. Charismatic and beautiful, she has always been able to get what she wants from men. All of them but one. When he returns, she wants to punish him for leaving her and lifts a book from him. But she never imagines the consequences of her action nor the adventure she will be swept up in.

Ridiculed by his father, mocked by his brother, Christian Sterling searches for a family to belong to. He believes he found it in the Templar Knights. Tasked by the Grandmaster with delivering a book to a monk, Christian is angered when Willow steals it. With dangerous men searching for it, Christian knows he must find the book and prevent it from falling into the wrong hands.

Thrown together, they must run from bounty hunters, traitors, and mercenaries all searching for the book. The betrayal runs much deeper than they think. Can Willow and Christian trust each other enough to fall in love again?

Desperate Daughters: A Bluestocking Belles Collection With Friends by Rue Allyn and more

Desperate Daughters coverLove against the odds

The Earl of Seahaven desperately wanted a son and heir but died leaving nine daughters and a fifth wife. Cruelly turned out by the new earl, they live hand-to-mouth in a small cottage.

The young dowager Countess’s one regret is that she cannot give Seahaven’s dear girls a chance at happiness.

When a cousin offers the use of her townhouse in York during the season, the Countess rallies her stepdaughters.

They will pool their resources so that the youngest marriageable daughters might make successful matches, thereby saving them all.

So start their adventures in York, amid a whirl of balls, lectures, and al fresco picnics. Is it possible each of them might find love by the time the York horse races bring the season to a close?

Secrets, Scandals, and Seduction: A Historical Romance Boxset by Sofie Darling and more

Secrets, Scandals, & Seduction coverDesiring a Duke? Craving a Cowboy? Longing for a Laird?

This sweet and steamy collection of historical romance will transport you to a time when gentlemen were plentiful, and every scoundrel capable of seduction possessed a heart waiting to be uncovered.

Hidden identities, scandalous secrets, second chances, and happily ever afters fill this boxed set of more than 15 standalone romances, guaranteed to make you swoon.

Each unique tale in the Secrets, Scandals, and Seduction Boxed Set delivers a stand-alone story that fans of Julia Quinn, Diana Gabaldon, and Lorraine Heath are certain to love.

How do you capture a man’s heart… A lady never tells.

Authors included in this set are Lynn Donovan, Sofie Darling, Alyssa Drake, Emily E K Murdoch, Cat Cahill, Emmanuelle de Maupassant, A.S. Fenichel, Marie Higgins, Robyn DeHart, Christine Sterling, Linda Rae Sande, Adara Luann, Sophia Smith, C.K. O’Connor, Marianne Spitzer, and Rose Pearson

The Untamed Duke (The Secret Crusaders Book 3) by Melanie Rose Clarke

The Untamed Duke cover

When a Scottish duke targets her brother, Sophia will do anything to protect her family, including kidnapping the powerful lord. What happens when the duke kidnaps her instead?

Welcome to book 3 in the bestselling series The Secret Crusaders from the talented Melanie Rose Clarke!

Social justice crusader Sophia Hawkins will do anything to protect her family. When Kenneth Macleod, the new Duke of Foxworth, forges a feud against her brother, she doesn’t care how powerful he is – or that neither man wants her involvement. If he won’t abandon his revenge, she’ll take matters into her own hands.

Perhaps a little kidnapping is in order.

Kenneth would much rather be in Scotland, the gorgeous country of his mother’s ancestors, than in prim and proper England. Only the father he never knew leaves him a title, wealth, lands and the responsibility to care for it all. It’s the life he never wanted, and there’s one man to blame: the Duke of Bradenton. Now he will exact his revenge. Only something lovely, vibrant and entirely delectable stops him.

Lady Sophia is everything he wants in a woman, and the only woman he can’t have. She is beautiful, brave and brilliant, and the more she defends her brother, the more he wants her. Yet how can he forgo his revenge? He is a man accustomed to getting what he wants.

Perhaps it’s time for a little kidnapping of his own.

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