The Kydd Inheritance

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It occurred to me that I have had my lovely cover for The Kydd Inheritance for some time and haven't shared it with you all.

Created by the fabulous David Young who was responsible fro bringing Fair Deception and Fortunate Wager to life.

The book is a prequel to my Newmarket Regencies, being the story of Nell (Kit Kydd's sister) and the frankly gorgeous Hugo.

Sadly, you'll have to wait until the New Year to get your hands on it.

I might post a teaser or two in the meantime...

2010 RNA Awards Lunch

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Last week was the Romantic Novelists' Association Pure Passion Awards Lunch. Every previous year I have arrived early and scurried around putting out place names or tying balloons on books or doing anything else I was asked to in order to get the room ready.

This year was different. Yes, I arrived early - but then was ushered into the Author's Room and given tea and hugged the other shortlisted authors and had my photo taken. [Shortlisted Love Story of the Year authors shown with lovely chairman, Katie Fforde] It was all a bit surreal, really. At any moment I was expecting someone to draw me apologetically to one side and tell me there had been a mistake and I wasn't supposed to be there after all.

Once all the photos had been taken and we had caught up with one another, we were released into the wild - sorry, the anteroom - for a glass of champagne and even more catching up with masses of pals. The Royal Garden Hotel was jammed! Amazingly, my editor managed to find me (they are such a clever breed) and we moved into the gorgeously decorated main room for lunch.

Fair Deception didn't win - that accolade went to Nell Dixon's deserving Animal Instincts, published by Little Black Dress - but it was such a wonderful day the awards seemed the least of it. And one of the very best bits was this dessert: 'Pure Chocolate Passion'. created especially for the 50th Anniversary.
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Procrastinating, moi?

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I have a novel, a revision, a serial, three short stories and a raft of critiques to get on with. I have a To Do list rather longer than my arm. I desperately need to decide whether to wear sensible apricot or swirly scarlet to the Pure Passion Awards Lunch (I have mentioned Fair Deception is shortlisted for Love Story of the Year, have I?).

So I thought I'd ignore all of them and go to a nice soothing lecture on "Historical Bury St Edmunds through Paintings and Prints" instead.

These photos are of the remains of the old Precinct Wall in Bury St Edmunds. Look at the thickness of it! I just love the way all the buildings butt onto it and have grown around it.

The past in the present.
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Shortlisting present to me

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As anyone who knows me will tell you, I have a... let's call it a penchant... for amber. When I sold my first ever short story I commemorated my achievement with a pair of amber earrings that I'd been lusting over (for months) in PastTimes. They cost £20 and it was the first time I'd ever paid more than £3.99 for a pair of earrings in my life.

It, um, set a trend.

Every time I have a writing milestone, I now treat myself to something special in amber. Each of those special pieces (as opposed to all the ordinary, normal, gorgeous amber earrings I've acquired since that first pair) remind me that now and again I am a success.

And this is what I've bought to celebrate being shortlisted for the RNA Love Story of the Year 2010 with Fair Deception. Isn't it just the most beautiful thing? I think I'm in love.

SHORTLISTED!

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I am overjoyed to be able to announce that my Regency romance Fair Deception has been shortlisted for the Love Story of the Year 2010 administered by the Romantic Novelists' Association.




Fair Deception is the first of my Newmarket Regencies. It tells the story of Kit Kydd, who rescues actress Susanna Fair from evil Rafe Warwick. They then pretend to be engaged in order to keep Susanna safe and out of the way. Needless to say, things don't quite go as smoothly as either of them had hoped due to Susanna's inability to say no and Kit's inability not to be a knight errant.

It was published by Hale in October 2008 (qualifying period is July'08-June'09) and was sold out, but Hale have now reprinted it, so if you'd like a copy, click on the side panel!

Alongside me on the shortlist is one author that I am especially delighted to be ranked with. My very good friend and fellow RNACambridge chapter member Louise Allen has had her hot historical The Notorious Mr Hurst selected. Like Fair Deception, it also has a Regency-theatre setting and the love story between Maude and Eden just scorches the pages.

Louise says "Wealthy, eligible, beautiful - Lady Maude Templeton can have any man in Society. But she wants to marry for love - and the man of her dreams is sexy, talented, intelligent - and impossibly ineligible. What is more, he doesn’t believe in love. Making theatre owner Eden Hurst realise he needs love, and her, seems hopeless - but when she puts her mind to it Lady Maude can be quite as shocking as any of her Ravenhurst friends."

Full list for the RNA Love Story of the Year 2010 is:

The Notorious Mr. Hurst - Louise Allen (Harlequin Mills & Boon)

Animal Instincts - Nell Dixon (Little Black Dress)

Always the Bridesmaid - Nina Harrington (Harlequin Mills & Boon)

Fair Deception - Jan Jones (Robert Hale)

The Wedding Party - Sophie King (Hodder)

Claimed for the Italian's Revenge - Natalie Rivers (Harlequin Mills & Boon)

The Award will be presented at the Pure Passion Awards luncheon at the Royal Garden Hotel in Kensington on Tuesday 16th March 2020.

Wonderful review for Fortunate Wager!

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Thank you to Cybil from Rakehell for this wonderful review of Fortunate Wager. I loved writing this book, so I'm delighted that she enjoyed reading it and took from it all that I was trying to convey.

And if anyone is thinking of buying a copy - it's a staggering £11.69 from Amazon right now!!!

(Also, they still have Fair Deception at £14.94 - it can't last long!)
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Fortunate Wager cover!

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Hot from the very talented paintbrush of David Young comes the cover for Fortunate Wager, my newest Newmarket Regency. I am quite amazingly pleased with it!

If you have read Fair Deception, you will remember Caroline Fortune, who played a walk-on part. Being a girl of decided opinions, she made it very clear to me that she was destined for far greater things - and so Fortunate Wager was born.

As you can see from David's lovely cover, Caroline frequently sneaks out at dawn in her brother's clothes to exercise his horses. It's only when she finds injured nobles that the problems start...
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Price drop

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Hey! Amazon just reduced the price of Fair Deception! (See side panel)

Quick - buy one before they change their mind!
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"Welcome to Newmarket"

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It doesn't take much to excite me. So when I was browsing sites for old maps of Suffolk last night and came across this print of the entrance to Newmarket in 1828 I did a small jig of joy (it had to be a small one because (a) everyone else was asleep and (b) there isn't much space in the workroom).

I LOVE the entrance to Newmarket. Always have done, ever since my first view of it when we were considering moving here from London. And here it is - just as Kit describes it to Susanna in Fair Deception. Enjoy!

[Drawing by William Westall, Engraving by Edward Finden]

The weather was propitious for their journey even if the rutted and ill-maintained roads left much to be desired. Accustomed to the bumping and jolting of the Chartwell Players’ wagons, Susanna came to the amused conclusion that she felt the discomfort far less than either her maid or Kit’s valet.
. “Whoa, there!” The horses came to a halt and she heard Kit’s voice calling from alongside. “Look! Isn’t Newmarket the prettiest prospect? Think so every time I come!” He sprang down from the curricle and opened the carriage door.
. Emerging, Susanna at once saw what he meant. All around lay the wild, empty expanse of Newmarket Heath, but in front the road fell away to reveal the elegant main street of a market town nestled snugly between one rise and the next.
. “I believe you’ll like it,” said Kit. “I never knew such a town for so many things going on for its size. Why, there must be upwards of a dozen places where you can get a decent chop and a good bottle of claret.”
. John Farley snorted. “And a couple of score more where you take your life in your hands asking for a tankard of ale, Mr Kit! Miss Susanna won’t be going to any of them. Nor the mills or the cock-fighting.”
. Susanna smiled. “Mrs Belmont did say it was not a town for ladies.”
. “Not when the race meetings are on,” conceded Kit. “It is all horses, horses, horses. But I daresay it is much like any other place for the rest of the time.” He pointed. “You cannot tell it from here but the road divides the town. The right-hand side has the larger properties: Crockford, Queensbury and so on keep houses here. Further along on the left is the warren where Johnny’s doubtful taverns are situated, but there are a good many ordinary, solid villas to be found too.”
. An odd tightness constricted Susanna’s chest as she gazed down at the street with its carts, phaetons and carriages. She had been so busy keeping Kit at a distance in case some hint of her feelings for him escaped that she had managed to push this moment to the back of her mind. But now she was actually in Newmarket, about to descend into the town itself and still she hadn’t told him about her past.
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The Best Laid Plans...

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Okay, let's have a writing-related post for a change (er, no, I'm not much further on - but I do know an awful lot about a strolling player's life in the early 19th Century now.) I had to arrange a library visit this morning so afterwards, in pursuance of period detail, I trotted over to the Theatre Royal at Bury St Edmunds which was built in 1819. It was shut.

Nothing daunted, I went to the New Subscription Rooms (now the Atheneum) on Angel Hill where Susanna in Fair Deception attends her first posh ball. It also looked a bit on the shut side, but I boldly walked in and WOW! Look at this - and this is only the ante-room! (Yes, sorry about the quality - I had to use my phone because I'd left the camera in the car at the other end of town)

There was no one else around at all - but just as I was having a Lost-In-Austen moment, an official-type chap emerged from somewhere unspecified and asked if he could help. And bless him, he showed me the ballroom.

Double wow.

I was so completely blown away that the photos are all over the place. It is just the prettiest ballroom ever. This is the far end.


This is the musicians alcove (they originally sat in a scooped out balcony alcove above this one until the H&S elves got their builders onto it).

And this is a really sweet staircase down which to Make An Entrance.

Well, no wonder Susanna was all of a dither.
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Talks

I have got various events planned to go with the launch of Fair Deception, and have just realised, belatedly, that I should probably have a list on here of where I am going to be when!

Thursday 6th November - 10.30am to 11.30am - Talk to the Top Timers at Newmarket Library

Wednesday 12th November - 7pm to 8.30pm - a talk at Haverhill Library

Friday 14th November - 3.30pm to 5.30pm - book signing at the Community Association Fair at Cheveley School

Saturday 15th November - 10am to 12 noon - chat, book signing and Regency nibbles at Newmarket Library

As well as my Newmarket Regencies I'll also be talking a bit about Stage by Stage, short stories, and where my ideas come from.

If anyone is in the vicinity - you're more than welcome!
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Another nice reveiw

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I'll be getting a swelled head if I'm not careful. Elaine over at Random Jottings has read Fair Deception and loved it. She thinks I write with "great style and verve and pace" and thought that the book was "sheer delight from start to finish".

The cheque's in the post, Elaine.

It's Here!

Yippee! I'm now surrounded by lots of copies of Fair Deception.

Even better, the perfectly lovely Nicola Slade has read it and says it is sparkly and spangled and sheer, unadulterated fun!

Lori loved it too!

Thanks, girls, I couldn't be more pleased.
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Taking my mind off.....

Have just been to have troublesome upper tooth 'investigated'. This is dentist-speak for scraped out, prodded, tutted over and re-filled.

"It's much better," I said brightly when I arrived.
He looked at me. "But you told me last week that whenever you drank anything cold you felt as if your ears were being torn off."
"Well yes," I said. "But I've been limiting myself to tea. And red wine at room temperature."
He sighed. "Just sit in the chair."

Consequently am now numb from right cheekbone to right eye and having difficulty drinking my tea without dribbling.


So, I'm cheering myself up playing with the publicity-postcards that arrived today. Aren't they gorgeous? Can't decide whether I like the fan design on silver lamé or the casual block design on blue velvet.

It's going to be a real wrench to send them off to all the libraries in the Yellow Pages in the hopes of making a few sales.

But, hey, I can always order more!

TA DAAA!!!

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Here it is! The final cover of Fair Deception

Available to pre-order from the Robert Hale website, or indeed Amazon or your local independent bookshop (but at the moment, ordering from Hale is much cheaper)

Aren't you just itching to find out what happens when gorgeous Kit rescues Susanna from the dastardly Rafe Warwick? If you haven't got time to read the whole first chapter, here is a tiny taster:





. He knelt next to the tub and before Susanna could divine his intent, lifted her leg and lowered her foot into the cold water.
. Her gasp was less for the icy temperature than for the fact that his grasp on her calf had been disturbingly sensuous.
. “I beg your pardon, did I jar you?”
. “No, I - ”
. But he was frowning and gently stroking the red weal. “The ankle I saw you twist, but how did this happen?”
. “Mr Warwick has a cane,” said Susanna, twitching at his touch and thanking God that her foot was already becoming numb. “And an uncertain temper.”
. Her rescuer sat back on his heels. “As well you did not provoke it further. I have heard that cane doubles as a sword-stick.”
. Susanna stared at him in horror. “And you hit him with your bare fists? He might have drawn on both of us!”
. “That’s Mr Kit for you,” said the footman cheerfully. “Acts first and thinks later. Always has done.”

Now that's my kind of hero!

FAIR DECEPTION ready to pre-order

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Wahay! Fair Deception is available to pre-order on the Robert Hale website at £13.29 instead of £18.99. Plus free postage too!

Go to the book description to get in before stocks run out. You won't be sent it until October, mind, but by then you'll have forgotten you ordered it, so the parcel will come as a lovely surprise.

This is the rough of the cover - it's lovely, but by the time the real one comes out I'm hoping the artist will have taken on board my mentioning that Kit has flaxen hair and Susanna's red-gold curls are the source of all her troubles...

Fair Deception - taken!!!

Yippee! Yahoo! O frabjous day!

Not quite enough words to do justice to my excitement, but you get the general idea.

Here it is, then. The announcement .......................

I've sold my Regency novel Fair Deception to Robert Hale Ltd !!!

As the novel opens, Susanna Fair is employed as an actress at the Sans Pareil theatre in the Strand, London. (Print courtesy of the Arthur Lloyd website).

Susanna is being opportuned (I just love Regency-speak) by the Dishonourable Rafe Warwick. Fortunately, heroic devil-may-care Kit Kydd is at hand...

Don't know yet when the book will be out, but you can read the first chapter on my website.
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