Thank you for joining us for The Lyrical Press Historical Romances Tour! Our featured titles today are:Beloved Monster (The Ravenswood Chronicles, #1) by Karyn Gerrard
If I Had You (The Grand Russe Hotel, #1) by Heather Hiestand
Tainted Bride (Forever Brides, #1) by A.S. Fenichel
Below you will find synopsis, excerpts, trailers and purchasing links for each novel, as well as author bios and stalking information.
The authors will be awarding copies of all three books on tour to a randomly drawn winner via Rafflecopter during the tour. Please do take part: comment on our post and follow the tour where you will be able to read other excerpts (☀).
Synopsis | The Books | About the Authors | Giveaway
Lyrical Press Historical Romances Books
Beloved Monster (The Ravenswood Chronicles, #1) | If I Had You (The Grand Russe Hotel, #1) | Tainted Bride (Forever Brides, #1) |
Beloved Monster by Karyn Gerrard
What makes a man? The wild and dissolute Viscount Ravenswood lives only for his own pleasure, caring not one wit for the broken hearts left trampled in his wake. But his decadent lifestyle finally catches up to him in a fatal carriage race. It’s an infamous and spectacular end to a brief, immoral life—or is it?
And who is the woman who loves him?
When Glenna Parker stumbles upon her cousin Reed Parker’s cluttered laboratory, she could never have imagined the mad experiment he is about to embark upon—to bring a man back from the dead. Not just any man, but Ravenswood, who once shattered her heart. With no memory of his former life, Glenna calls him Luke, and finds herself enchanted by his compassion—and passion. Protecting the scarred Luke has become Glenna’s sole mission, but can she protect her heart from her beloved monster?
[13 September 2016, Lyrical Press, 191 pages. This is the first book in the The Ravenswood Chronicles series.]
PREVIEW: Check out the book's synopsis and excerpt below. Read the Prologue and the first chapters with Amazon Look Inside.
Excerpt
Prologue
October, 1895
Lucas Madden, Viscount Ravenswood, only son and heir to the Earl of Whitestone, was quite dead. His untimely demise, the result of a carriage race, caused the village of Charlwood to buzz excitedly for days. Since Ravenswood reached the age of sixteen, his outrageous exploits had kept the chattering gossips in various parlors titillated.Though the hearsay consisted of salacious tales of drinking and gambling to excess, his sexual conquests sparked the villagers’ interest the most. The stories, shocking as they were in their breadth and depth of carnality, raised the handsome heir to an unprecedented level of notoriety. Dissolute and lacking all morals, it came as no surprise to all who knew of the young man that he would meet such a spectacularly violent end.
Since the accident occurred on the outskirts of London, the earl and his lady wife immediately caught the train to Town. The earl engaged the best doctors to no avail, for the young viscount’s injuries, particularly the head wound, were deemed mortal. In desperation, he even summoned Charlwood’s doctor, Samuel Twington, to assist in the case. Four days later, after lingering in a coma, the son and heir died.Lord and Lady Whitestone had escorted his remains the hour journey back to Charlwood. And today marked the burial.
Glenna Parker stood by the juniper trees that surrounded the village cemetery and pulled her shawl tighter about her shoulders as the wind held a decided chill. She stayed well back from the mourners of which there were only a few. Despite his popularity in certain circles, the viscount was neither well liked nor respected, and no doubt the people who deemed to show up did so to stay in the earl’s good graces.
As Glenna took a sweeping glance about the area, she noticed one other person standing well back from her position. An older woman, modestly dressed and leaning on a cane. The elderly lady wiped away her tears with a tattered handkerchief, her gloved hand slightly trembling. Who was she and why did she mourn Ravenswood?Most unusual. Glenna’s wild imagination began to spin all sorts of scenarios. Could the lady be a lost family member or an old nurse or nanny? Surely the woman was not one of his many past conquests.That was certainly one of her more bizarre thoughts. No matter.Shaking her head, she turned back to face the mourners.
[...]
Beloved Monster
Available for Pre-Order NOW!
If I Had You by Heather Hiestand
Inside the glittering walls of a famous hotel, an ingénue experiences first passion . . .
As she stands before the gilded doors of The Grand Russe Hotel, Alecia Loudon is poised on the threshold of a profound awakening. It is the Roaring Twenties, and London is buzzing with opportunities for adventure . . . and indiscretion. The young personal secretary knows nothing of the ways of men, but a chance meeting with the hotel’s handsome night watchman sets her imagination afire.
Ivan Salter has noticed the quiet Englishwoman and wonders what delicate beauty might be lurking behind Alecia’s plain clothes. As the handsome Russian draws Alecia further into the hotel’s luxurious world, he introduces her to fine food, cool jazz, and forbidden assignations. Their dalliance is tested, however, by a surprising link between Ivan’s family history and Alecia’s bosses. Tangled up in international intrigue, the lovers must decide if their sparkling new romance is worth the cost . . .
[27 September 2016, Lyrical Press, 267 pages. This is the first book in the The Grand Russe Hotel series.]
PREVIEW: Check out the book's synopsis and excerpt below. Read the first two chapters with Kobo Preview.
Excerpt
Chapter One
London, midnight, December 28, 1924Jazz.
The saxophone wailed and screeched over the piano. A trombone blared in, deepening the rollicking sound. Alecia Loudon’s foot tapped as a female singer sang the words to the newest tune from America. Underneath the music beat the sounds of the nightclub: cups rattling on plates, champagne glasses clinking, and matches being struck for innumerable cigarettes.
Alecia longed to see the action, but it was hidden from her on the other side of the nightclub’s rear door. Cocooned in the luxury hotel that shared the club’s wall, she couldn’t see the dancing.Styles changed so fast, and she wished she knew the current fads.Of course, the song had about as much relevance to her sex-free life as the dancing. “ ‘My baby don’t love nobody but me . . .’ ”
No, the life behind that door bore no resemblance to hers. She was a questionably modern secretary of twenty-two who’d never been kissed. Oh, but she’d thought about kissing, fantasized about kissing, daydreamed about kissing one certain handsome man here at the Grand Russe Hotel . . .
She pushed the thought away and tried the handle of the door.One inch to the right, two inches . . . it caught. Frustrated, she turned the knob again but it only rattled, metal against metal.Securely locked. She considered leaving the safety of the hotel, darting onto busy Park Lane at Hyde Park Corner, going into the alley where the main nightclub door was. But she wasn’t dressed for the nightclub.
Giggles emanating from a dark corner on the far side of the door stole her away from her thoughts. She peeled away from the wall where she’d been leaning, in what was little more than a service corridor between the nightclub and the newly reopened hotel. Even back here, the opulence of the Grand Russe Hotel continued undiminished. The tops of the walls were stenciled in a forest green and red-brown geometric pattern that reminded her of teeth.Colorful paintings of ballet scenes done by itinerant Russian artists dotted the walls every six feet, uniform in size and frame.
[...]
If I Had You
Available for Pre-Order NOW!
Tainted Bride by A.S. Fenichel
Only trust can save her…
Sailing to London, Sophia Braighton only hopes to escape certain ruin. But when she arrives, her Great Aunt Daphne has other plans for the American-born beauty. Determined to marry off her niece to a man of means, she propels Sophia into London society, not knowing that the young woman’s trust in men is shattered. In fact, Sophia never expects to ever feel anything for a man. Then again, she never expects to find herself in the company of the dashing earl of Marlton….
From the moment he sees Sophia, Daniel Fallon feels alive in a way he has not since his broken engagement. Though the vulnerable beauty shies from the passion burning bright between them, Daniel is determined to court her and make her his bride. And when he learns of the painful secret she harbors, he is equally determined to take revenge on the man responsible. But will the quest destroy him—and his future with his beloved?
[27 September 2016, Lyrical Press, 234 pages. This is the first book in the Forever Brides series.]
PREVIEW: Check out the book's synopsis and excerpt below. Read the first two chapters with Kobo Preview.
Excerpt
Chapter 1
After six weeks of seasickness, Sophia’s legs wobbled on the gangplank. She searched London’s crowded dock for her aunt and uncle. A shame her aching muscles kept her from running to dry land and finding them. She wasn’t above kissing solid ground.
Her maid, Marie, and footman, Jasper, hadn’t left her side since Sophia’s mother charged them with her care on the journey.
People from every walk of life bustled around the docks, unloading stores and loading supplies for the next journey. A woman in a serviceable dress hugged a young man as he exited the ship from steerage. The mother and son reunion stuck like a knife and she turned away as a child’s screaming pulled her attention to the baby who had also endured the long voyage.
At the bottom of the walkway, an older woman in a perfectly tailored burgundy morning dress glanced at something one of her impeccable footmen held. She took the object and pursed her lips.Brown spots marred her tapered hand as she smoothed her bun, though not a hair dared go askew from the perfect coif. She evaluated Sophia down the length of her narrow nose and her frown deepened tightening the profound lines of someone who wore the expression often.
When Sophia reached the dock, one of the woman’s footmen approached. “Miss Braighton?”
“Yes. I’m Sophia Braighton.”
A touch of sympathy in his eyes, he nodded. “Follow me, please, Miss.” He walked her to the woman.
Handing Sophia a miniature portrait of herself, she spoke with a deep, formal air of authority. “I’m Lady Daphne Collington, your great aunt on your father’s side. You will be in my charge. Your things may be loaded in the carriage.”
[...]
Tainted Bride
Available for Pre-Order NOW!
About the Authors
Karyn Gerrard | Heather Hiestand | A.S. Fenichel |
Karyn Gerrard lives in a small town in the western corner of Ontario, Canada. She whiles away her spare time writing and reading romance while drinking copious amounts of Earl Grey tea. A multi-published author with a few best sellers under her belt, Karyn loves to write historicals, particularly ones set in the Victorian era. Tortured heroes are a must. She also writes the occasional contemporary.
As long as she can avoid being hit by a runaway moose in her wilderness paradise she assumes everything is golden. Karyn’s been happily married for a long time to her own hero. His encouragement keeps her moving forward.
Follow Karyn Gerrard:
Heather Hiestand was born in Illinois but her family migrated west before she started school. Since then she has claimed Washington State as home, except for a few years in California. She wrote her first story at age seven and went on to major in creative writing at the University of Washington. Her first published fiction was a mystery short story, but since then it has been all about the many flavors of romance. Heather’s first published romance short story was set in the Victorian period and she continues to return, fascinated by the rapid changes of the nineteenth century. The author of many novels, novellas and short stories, she makes her home in a small town with her husband and son and supposedly works out of her tiny office, though she mostly writes in her easy chair in the living room.Follow Heather Hiestand:
A.S. Fenichel adores writing stories filled with love, passion, desire, magic and maybe a little mayhem tossed in for good measure. Books have always been her perfect escape and she still relishes diving into one and staying up all night to finish a good story. Originally from New York, she grew up in New Jersey. She now lives in the southwest with her real life hero, her wonderful husband. When she is not reading or writing she enjoys cooking, travel, history and puttering in her garden.Follow A.S. Fenichel:
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Sep 14: Straight from the Library
Sep 15: Books,Dreams,Life
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Oct 5: Laurie's Thoughts and Reviews
Oct 6: Reviews by Crystal
Oct 7: Queen of All She Reads
Oct 7: Long and Short Reviews
6 comments:
Thanks for hosting!
Thank you for hosting me and Tainted Bride.
Thanks for hosting us!
How do you choose a time period for a new book idea?
For me, I either write in Regency or contemporary and the story usually dictates what will work best. When I get an idea, it usually comes along with the characters and how they act and are dressed. Thanks so much for the question. :D
These look great!
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