After a whirlwind romance during the London Season, Lady Isabel Sutton finds herself quickly engaged to the handsome Lord Tresham Bleddyn, Earl of Dancy. When his father passes away suddenly, however, his period of mourning delays their marriage and ruins the season for Tresham’s younger, twin sisters, Annalise and Rosamund.
After the girls invite Isabel to their Yorkshire home, Bleddyn Hall, Tresham seems an entirely different man than the one she fell in love with in London. Not only that, but all is not well within the walls of Bleddyn Hall. The house’s dark secrets lead to murder, mystery, and a gruesome discovery.
Was Isabel’s happy future with Tresham nothing more than an illusion? What is more, will she survive her stay at Bleddyn Hall?
How far will he go to protect her? How far will she run from her fears?
Hello Everyone! Who’s in the mood for a fabulous new Regency Romance? Better still, who’s in the mood to discover a new book series? Whether you are well familiar with Caroline Warfield’s books or just discovering her, you won’t want to miss her latest release, Dangerous Weakness. I mean, just look at that cover!
Today, Caroline shares a tidbit of her latest of the Dangerous Series with us. What’s more, she is offering a giveaway. Comment below for your chance to win! (Or, if you simply can’t wait, you can BUY it HERE!)
Giveaway Alert
Caroline will give a Kindle copy of the winner’s choice of Dangerous Works or Dangerous Secrets to one randomly selected person who comments.
*** Congratulations to D.V. and deborahcordesauthor, BOTH winners of Dangerous Weakness! Caroline Warfield has generously decided to offer copies of her latest Regency to all commenters. This contest is now over, but the book is out and available to everyone! For you personal copy, click HERE.***
Carol: Thanks Amanda for letting me present my newest release. Dangerous Weakness is about a man who has always been cool and in control until he meets a woman who breaks down all his defenses. After they are thrown together overnight—and nature takes its course—he compounds his lapse with the worst proposal since Darcy insulted Elizabeth Bennett:
“We will marry of course,” he told her. “Quickly, but not so abruptly as to cause comments.” He walked toward the door, expecting her to follow.
“I beg your pardon,” she called out to him. “We will what?”
He turned on his heel. “Miss Thornton, you will be the Marchioness of Glenaire. That is far from ideal, and the difference in our state will no doubt cause talk. We will have to endure it.”
“Why?” she demanded. “Why this ‘far from ideal’ demand? Has Lady Sarah refused you?”
“Don’t be coy, Miss Thornton. You have led me into folly at every step. After last night I have no choice. I shall have to marry you. My family—”
“Your family would have kittens if I married you, which I will not.”
“You have respectable, if not the highest, breeding, you will show to advantage when properly dressed, and you will do well as a diplomatic hostess. My family, I was going to say, will have to deal with it.” He stalked away. “So will you.”
“I will not,” Lily shouted after him.
Still, he’s wealthy, powerful, and, frankly ladies, as good looking as can be. He obviously finds him attractive. He’s also the heir of the Duke of Sudbury. Is she out of her mind? He thinks so.
She isn’t a fool. She will leap at the chance to be a marchioness. Does the damned woman think she deserves poetry also?
No, she isn’t a fool, but she wouldn’t mind a man who didn’t simply order her around. Would you marry him after a proposal like that? How long do you think she can hold out?
Book Blurb
If women were as easily managed as the affairs of state—or the recalcitrant Ottoman Empire—Richard Hayden, Marquess of Glenaire, would be a happier man. As it was the creatures—one woman in particular—made hash of his well-laid plans and bedeviled him on all sides.
Lily Thornton came home from Saint Petersburg in pursuit of marriage. She wants a husband and a partner, not an overbearing, managing man. She may be “the least likely candidate to be Marchioness of Glenaire,” but her problems are her own to fix, even if those problems include both a Russian villain and an interfering Ottoman official.
Given enough facts, Richard can fix anything. But protecting that impossible woman is proving to be almost as hard as protecting his heart, especially when Lily’s problems bring her dangerously close to an Ottoman revolution. As Lily’s personal problems entangle with Richard’s professional ones, and she pits her will against his, he chases her across the pirate-infested Mediterranean. Will she discover surrender isn’t defeat? It might even have its own sweet reward.
Caroline Warwick – Author
Author bio
Caroline Warfield has at various times been an army brat, a librarian, a poet, a raiser of children, a nun, a bird watcher, an Internet and Web services manager, a conference speaker, an indexer, a tech writer, a genealogist, and, of course, a romantic. She has sailed through the English channel while it was still mined from WWII, stood on the walls of Troy, searched Scotland for the location of an entirely fictional castle (and found it), climbed the steps to the Parthenon, floated down the Thames from the Tower to Greenwich, shopped in the Ginza, lost herself in the Louvre, gone on a night safari at the Singapore zoo, walked in the Black Forest, and explored the underground cistern of Istanbul. By far the biggest adventure has been life-long marriage to a prince among men.
She sits in front of a keyboard at a desk surrounded by windows, looks out at the trees and imagines. Her greatest joy is when one of those imaginings comes to life on the page and in the imagination of her readers.
BUY Dangerous Weakness at Amazon by clicking HERE!
Stop by Buried Under Romance today and #EnterToWin a copy of my latest book, Bleddyn Hall, a Gothic romance/mystery combination set in Victorian England. Click HERE to join us!
Was Isabel’s happy future with Tresham nothing more than an illusion? What is more, will she survive her stay at Bleddyn Hall?
My stories begin with four things: a hero, a heroine, an ending, and a setting. Once I have those I can begin to construct conflict, motivation and plot. Of the four sometimes setting comes first. My new release, Dangerous Secrets began with the question, “Can I write an regency romance set in Rome?” Why not!
Setting can be an important force in any novel. It is critical however that the subtle details of place be integrated in every scene. This is as true for a traditional regency set in London ballrooms and drawing rooms as it is for more exotic settings. It isn’t enough to just plunk the story down somewhere.
In the case of Rome it helped that I have been there a few times. When I put the hero’s room in a run down neighborhood, I chose Trastevere, the place “beyond the Tiber,” the wrong side of the tracks, so to speak with its narrow lanes and open piazzas. When I put Nora and Jamie at a sidewalk café near the Tiber Island bridges, it helped that I had walked over them. The Count’s palazzo and Nora’s brother’s villa took more imagination, but familiarity with the feel of the city helped.
When personal experience fails, photography helps. Like many authors I’ve begun to storyboard my novels on Pinterest. Visual cues feed my imagination and help engage the right side of my brain and my creativity.
History and research is critical, of course. Once I settled on Rome I discovered quite a bit about pre-unification Italy, the Papal States, and the House of Savoy, all of which influenced the final work. Where there English people in Rome in 1820? Keats, most notably was dying in a house by the Spanish Steps. Artists of all kinds flocked to Rome. Did Britain have an ambassador to the Papal States? Not formally. They worked through the Hanoverian delegation. These details matter in how the characters function.
Another element in creating setting is maps. I’ve studied more maps of London than I care to count. It helps to nail down neighborhoods and even street names. In 1815 Chelsea, Bloomsbury, and Mayfair existed but would have housed very different folk. Rome is no different.
When an author can use the sights, smells, and sounds of a place to contribute to atmosphere and emotion, he or she has done well. I try for this, but I’m not always satisfied with the results. When I am not satisfied, I try again on the next one.
What next? Dangerous Weakness, my work in progress, began with the hero, the Marquess of Glenaire, the busybody brother and managing friend of both Dangerous Works and Dangerous Secrets. My second question, though, was, “Can I put him in Constantinople?”
About Dangerous Secrets
When a little brown wren of an Englishwoman bursts into Jamie Heyworth’s private hell and asks for help he mistakes her for the black crow of death. Why not? He fled to Rome and sits in despair with nothing left to sell and no reason to get up in the morning. Behind him lie disgrace, shame, and secrets he is desperate to keep even from powerful friends in London.
Nora Haley comes to Rome at the bidding of her dying brother who has an unexpected legacy. Never in her sunniest dreams did Nora expect Robert to leave her a treasure, a tiny blue-eyed niece with curly hair and warm hugs. Nora will do anything to keep her, even hire a shabby, drunken major as an interpreter.
Jamie can’t let Nora know the secrets he has hidden from everyone, even his closest friends. Nora can’t trust any man who drinks. She had enough of that in her marriage. Either one, however, will dare anything for the little imp that keeps them together, even enter a sham marriage to protect her. Will love—and the truth—bind them both together?
Caroline Warfield has at various times been an army brat, a librarian, a poet, a raiser of children, a nun, a bird watcher, a network services manager, a conference speaker, a tech writer, a genealogist, and, of course, a romantic. She is always a traveler, a would-be adventurer, and a writer of historical romance, enamored of owls, books, history, and beautiful gardens (but not the act of gardening).
This book began with the thought, what could I do with English regency-era characters if I put them in Rome?
“Gothic romance. Just those two words send a chill down my spine. Spooky, breathtakingly scary stories with a splash of romance are among my favorite genres, but they aren’t as prevalent today as they were in the past. Susan Elizabeth Phillips tried her hand at it with Heroes Are My Weakness, an homage to the greats of the genre: Mary Stewart, Anya Seton, Charlotte Bronte, Daphne du Maurier, Victoria Holt and Phyllis Whitney. With Amanda Shalaby’s latest novel, Bleddyn Hall, we have another gothic romance author to consider. Today, she shares with us how she came up with the idea.”
What did cutting the first three chapters of my first book have to do with my first sale? Find out today at Katie Teller’s blog by clicking HERE. Also, you can learn more about my latest gothic Victorian mystery, Bleddyn Hall!
Get your copy today by clicking HERE!
About Caroline Warfield
