The Bride Price is now Available!
This is Book 1 in the Misled Mail Order Brides Series.
This is the first book in the Misled Mail Order Brides Series. So far, I know I’m doing two more books, one of which I’ll mention later in this post.
The Bride Price is about a man who rescues a deceived mail-order bride from an auction, and as a result a thief demands payment for her. It’s up to him to outwit the thief if he doesn’t want to lose her. This is Sep’s story. Sep was the 14-year-old brother-in-law to Joel Larson in Shotgun Groom. It was nice to finally give him his own story!
You can find the book at these retailers:
Married In Haste is Done!
I plan to have this out at the end of December
It is Book 2 in the Marriage by Fate Series. Book 1 in this series is The Reclusive Earl. I’ll mention what I’m doing for Book 3 in a moment.
Pre-order now!
This one was so much fun to write! It wasn’t a comedy, like I was hoping, BUT I was able to get the ball rolling on a subplot I’ve been developing since I wrote The Viscount’s Runaway Bride. (Yep, sometimes it takes me that long to start resolving a side issue I introduce in an earlier book or series. This is why writing a series is so much fun for me. In this case, since all of the Regencies are in the same world, I can weave subplots between series.)
One thing I’ve been wanting to do for a long time (specifically since I wrote A Most Unsuitable Earl) was to have a hero who went to his wife’s bedchamber on his wedding night, got cold feet, and hightailed it right back to his bedchamber. I know. It’s probably mean for an author to do that to her poor character, but I kind of like it when the man isn’t 100% confident about his first time. (And as you probably know by now, I love writing virgin heroes. I don’t always have virgin heroes, but those are my favorite types to write because I love exploring how they approach sex and how they are changed because of it. I think it deepens the romance.) Don’t worry. The hero in this book does gain confidence before it ended. I didn’t leave the poor guy in that state of fear forever. 🙂
I am 1/4 of the way into The Rejected Groom
This is Book 2 in the Misled Mail Order Bride Series, and it is Anthony (aka Tony) Larson’s story. Tony Larson is one of the twin brothers of Richard and Amanda Larson. I have June 2 marked for a release date, but I expect to have it out in February.
Pre-order now!
I’m really enjoying this one! Mark (Tony’s twin brother) is a bit of a mischievous character. He sets it up so that the wrong woman marries Tony. Now, Tony wants to marry her, but she doesn’t want to marry Tony because Tony doesn’t have a lot of money. She is a bit of a snob, which I’ll work out during the course of the story. She will learn that being a farmer is hard work, and she’ll come to respect Tony for all he does.
But she grew up in a life of luxury, so she doesn’t know the first thing about cooking or sewing. She is going to have to learn to do those things, and it won’t be easy for her. (By the way, she actually does like Tony more than she likes Mark. She’s just letting the logical part of her brain prevent her from listening to her heart.)
I’ll start Make Believe Bride this week
This is Book 3 in the Marriage by Fate Series.
I really liked Lord Whitney when I introduced him in The Reclusive Earl (Book 1 in this series). He was presented as a very boring gentleman who only read books all the time. I felt that he would make a good hero, and I’m happy to be picking him for this one. In order to fit in with the other gentlemen, he makes up a betrothal. He notices that most gentlemen have wives, and he thinks if he makes up a bride, then he’ll have something in common with the other gentlemen. The truth of the matter is, he’s lonely, and he really wants to have friends. He just doesn’t know how to make himself interesting enough to attract people to him.
After serious debate, I paired him up with Lady Stacey, who is a member of Ladies of Grace. She has a compelling backstory that will make her the perfect match for Lord Whitney. When it comes to fixing up certain characters, I always look for something that will make them the best fit for each other. For example, Celia in Taming The Viscountess needed someone strong like Sebastian in order to be happy. Likewise, Candace in If It Takes A Scandal needed someone softer and proper like Corin in order to be happy. If I had fixed Celia and Corin up (as my original thought had been), then that story wouldn’t have been very good. By giving these characters to other people, I got two stories that I enjoy a lot. And I figure if I enjoy the story, then you will, too.
Speaking of enjoying stories, I should mention this now before I forget.
I put Wanted: Mail Order Husband on hold
Somewhere along the course of writing in this one, the story veered off track. I don’t know why. It began to become a chore to write. If I push through that, I’ll be writing a story that won’t be worth reading. I want to make each book the best it can be so it’s worth the price I ask for it. I don’t want to disappoint you guys because you’ve been with me for years. It’s because of you, I had the encouragement I needed to keep going when times got tough. I do plan to go back to this. I think I’m probably going to scrap about 10,000 words. But when I figure out the direction I need to go, then it’ll be a lot better than it is now.
The cover, however, turned out great, so I’ll be keeping it. 🙂
I’ll be starting The Marriage Contract this week.
This will be Book 1 in a brand new Regency series called Marriage by Fairytale.
As soon as I finished Married In Haste, I wanted to start Stephen’s book. Stephen is Brad’s younger brother. Brad is the hero in Married In Haste. Stephen is his wayward brother. If you read The Rake’s Vow, you’ll know what kind of character he was. He was basically irresponsible, selfish, and mocked others. I am giving him what’s due to him in Married In Haste and Make Believe Bride. So don’t worry. He is going to reap what he’s sown. But I saw something inside of him during Married In Haste that let me know he is redeemable. If a character has any redemptive qualities, I will give them their second chance. I think those characters are the most interesting to work with because I love seeing how they mature.
The Marriage Contract will take place five years after Married In Haste. That will give Stephen enough time to suffer, and because of the suffering, he’ll mature. The Marriage Contract is his romance where he gets a second chance. I don’t want to say too much because I don’t want to spoil Married In Haste. I can give more details after Married In Haste is out.
I hope everyone has a great November!
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