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Donna Grant Forbidden Highlander A DANGEROUS SECRET… Fallon MacLeod has gifts any warrior would covet - fierce strength, unmatched skill, even immortality. But those gifts come at a price that puts everyone he loves at risk. Only when his brother, Quinn, is taken captive does Fallon leave the seclusion of his Highland home to seek the king's aid. And though every women at court would gladly be his for the asking, one alone causes desire to roar to life within him: beautiful, mysterious Larena Monroe. A WILD DESIRE… Rumors swirl around the castle about "The McLeod" but Larena knows the truth. Like Fallon, Larena is searching for a way to vanquish the evil Druid who wants to wreak havoc on earth. Drawn to Fallon in spite of her fear, she surren ders to a passion that shocks them both with its raw intensity. But Larena dares not hope for more - not when she holds a secret that could turn her fiery Highland love against her forever… FORBIDDEN HIGHLANDER is

Tempting A Proper Lady by Debra Mullins A MOST IMPROPER ALLIANCE Two years ago, dashing Captain Samuel Breedlove disappeared without a word. But he's resurfaced in London a wealthy man, only to discover his fiancée planning to wed another. Now Samuel needs to restore his good name and expose a villain--and tempting, temptable Cilla seems an ideal accomplice. Priscilla Burke knows the marriage of her charge, Annabelle Bailey, to the Earl of Raventhorpe must be perfect. It would be madness for her to even consider doing anything that would mar this beautiful day and destroy her fledgling career as a wedding planner. Why then is she so drawn to this irresistible stranger who insists she help him sabotage the impending affair? But a proper lady’s desire is nothing to toy with. And a man whose character has been questioned cannot allow himself to dream of happily ever after. This not-so-innocent seduction may have unforeseen consequences… TEMPTING A PROPER LADY is set in Victorian Engla

It’s my great pleasure to welcome Cara Elliott back to the History Hoydens! Some of you may already know Cara Elliott as Andrea Pickens . Under either name, she’s earned a reputation for fast-paced, meticulously researched Regency-set romance, from her Pickens “Spy” trilogy to the current Circle of Sin series under the Elliott nom de plume. Her latest in the Circle of Sin series, To Surrender to a Rogue , has already been hailed as a “dazzling book with fiery characters and a mystery to keep you guessing”. Thanks so much, Cara, for taking the time to be with us today! Q. You’ve written numerous books now, under multiple names, but always in this time period. What is it that draws you to the Regency? As a related question, do you think you might ever dip into another time period? The quick answer is Jane Austen and Georgette Heyer! I was captivated early on by the world they created—it seemed a magical blend of romance and reality. I mean, what girl can resist elegant ballgow

Nineteenth century English adventurer, linguist, and explorer Richard Burton lived and traveled in the Middle East at a time when British “blue eyes” were unwelcome. Disguised as an Afghan physician, Burton spent time in Egypt tutored by a once-rich druggist to perfect his Arabic pronunciation and then set off to see for himself the city of Medina ( Al-Madinah ). He joined a caravan and thus began to see and experience life as an Arabian traveler. He learned, for example, that the larger the turban worn, the greater the owner’s claims of religious knowledge and respectability, He experienced a great deal more. During Ramazan, for example, when the faithful [including a disguised Burton] are expected to fast for 16 hours each day (not even swallowing their spit!), his traveling companions grew increasingly bad-tempered; the daily heat took its toll so they traveled at night; and they were harassed almost daily by Bedouin tribesmen intent on raiding. After many armed skirmishes, th

Hurrah! THE DEVIL SHE KNOWS is published today! It's my last book with Kate Duffy, too, God bless her soul. I hope she's up there smiling. I tried to come up with something clever to talk about for today's post. But all I can think about is Kate thinking long and hard when I told her I wanted my heroine to swear she'd committed adultery, during a high-profile divorce trial in the Old Bailey. (So very not the thing to do, according to all the romance tropes!) Then she looked me in the eye and said, "We can handle that. Go for it." Thank you, Kate! This one's for you. Even a devil deserves the good love of a woman... After avenging the murders of his family, Gareth Lowell headed west to put his demons to rest. Though several years have passed, he still carries the weight of his sins and doesn't believe he deserves to be loved - even by the beautiful Portia Townsend. He's known Portia since she was a young girl, and though she's blossomed into a

The significant birthday I'm going to be celebrating soon has its good and its bad aspects. But when I'm feeling down about it I comfort myself that I can blog at this site about anything that interests me because I , after all, am history. For certainly the romance genre changed since I've been writing in it -- as one of the Smart Bitches might say, let me count the ways, yo. At least from the erotic side of things, which is where I, uh... sit... I'd begin counting thusly: -- Beginning with those readers who were shocked, shocked , when I suggested, in Almost a Gentleman , that a man might ever be attracted to a man (except for when he was part of that acceptable romance device of bad first husband who didn't make the heroine feel sexually desirable). -- Or when writing about certain sexual positions was enough, as romance reviewer Mrs. Giggles once said of my novella "A House East of Regent Street," to "send genteel readers into seizures." --

I spent nearly the entire day yesterday at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, catching up on all the exhibits I’ve been dying to see. The Met is one of the NYC places I tend to frequent whenever I need a creative pick-me-up, because I always see something that inspires me in one direction or another, whether it’s revisiting an old “friend” (a work of art I studied in high school or college, or just love to look at every time I head to the museum), or something new and equally compelling. I began yesterday with the Picasso blockbuster exhibit, which is an everything-but-the-kitchen sink show that covers the entire gamut of the painter’s exceptionally lengthy career. Think you’ll have to stop creating when you’re 87? Think again. Picasso did a suite of intaglio prints between March and October 1968 titled the “347 Suite” for the number of drawings he just happened to dash off at the time – nowhere near his dotage. Of this suite, Picasso mused, "I spend hour after hour while

San Francisco Opera’s season last fall opened with a fabulous production of Verdi’s Il Trovatore . I was lucky enough to see it three times (the final dress rehearsal, a simulcast at ATT ballpark, and the closing performance). The production updated the setting from medieval Spain to the Peninsular War, which of course I loved. The Goya-inspired setting fit well with a story of war, divided families, and one atrocity leading to another. At the heart of Trovatore’s tangled, over-the-top plot are two brothers, separated at birth, now unknown to each other fighting for opposite sides and rivals for the love of the same woman. Watching the opera, I found myself thinking about brothers in literature. A topic which was also on my mind watching tonight's episode of Lost . Sibling relationships are fascinating, but in historically set stories, inheritance can make the the rivalry between brothers particularly intense. Perhaps especially so in British-set historical stories because of t

Over on Smart Bitches they're discussing a couple of covers that show what I think are s upposed to be Regency-era men in breeches. Lots of people seem to think the breeches are too loose and don't fit. Well, they're right about the "don't fit" part . . . I once had a discussion with my editor about a book where the heroine spends and inordinate amount of time looking at the hero's bum and pontificating about how fine it is. There are multiple problems with this sce nario. Firstly, if the man is in a coat (and he was) the tails would obscure his bottom. Secondly, we're glad they do, cause the hinny in this period is not a pretty sight . . . Because breeches and panataloons were high-waisted and held up by braces, the seat has to be quite full so that he can sit down. And if you're thinking trousers would be a better option, think again. They're even baggier. Sadly, you heroine will have to wait for a chance to see your hero naked in order to

Sir Richard Burton was many things - explorer, linguist, cultural anthropologist, and person of interest in the mid-19th century. He also reveals himself in his “Personal Narrative of a Pilgrimage to Al-Madinah & Meccah” as arrogant, racist, a social snob, and master of disguises. Burton traveled for the Royal Geographic Society (after browbeating them into submission), and his explorations as delineated in the “Personal Narrative” were to investigate Moslem life in a Moslem country. One wonders why: was it for scientific edification? Or was it to make a name for himself doing the unthinkable: enter Meccah as an Englishman? Burton first disguised himself as a Persian wanderer, but soon discovered that a Persian is not considered an Arab by either Persians or Arabs. Nevertheless, he sailed to Alexandria and garbed himself in robes and sandals, ostensibly to investigate markets for horses between Central Arabia and India, in actuality to make geographic assessments of watersheds

The book which I just oh-so-gladly handed off to my editor involves the run-up to the infamous Enghien affair, in which Napoleon kidnapped a member of the French royal family (not personally—can you imagine Napoleon trying to toss the Duc d’Enghien over his shoulder?), had him hauled across the Rhine onto French soil, tried him on rather wobbly charges, and summarily executed him. It was not the First Consul’s most shining moment. Of this affair, it was said, “ C'est plus qu'un crime, c'est une faute ”, or, en anglais , “It is worse than a crime; it is a blunder.” But who said it? Although the famous words were, in fact, voiced by Joseph Fouche, Napoleon’s infamous Minister of Police, many people attribute them instead to another flamboyant member of the Consular regime, Napoleon’s Foreign Minister, Charles Maurice de Talleyrand-Perigord. The misattribution has its own unintentional humor to it; Fouche and Talleyrand, aside from both being savvy political operators,

Orient Express… Just saying that train’s name conjures up images of royalty and spies, arms dealers and aristocrats traveling across Europe in unimaginable luxury. Crystal goblets and embroidered tablecloths set with the finest wines and most complex liqueurs, while peasants peeked through the windows at the gilded furniture and frescoed ceiling. Liveried stewards managed to know every passenger’s language – and keep all their secrets. No wonder authors flocked to set their stories aboard it – Agatha Christie, Graham Greene, D. H. Lawrence, Eric Ambler, and even Ian Fleming. The amazing thing to me is that the reality was, in many ways, even better than the legends. It all started with the maiden voyage in 1883, for which a ticket cost the equivalent of a year’s rent on a high-class London townhouse. If passengers had any qualms about the stewards’ ability to offer suitable service, they could provide their own servant at the price of approximately one year’s wages. Obviously, th