Lizbeth's Name-dropping Birthday Weekend Part 2

Welcome to day two of my Name-dropping Birthday Weekend Indulgence. This weekend I'm sharing three short posts about my relationship with a couple of my author heroes: some "big names" I’ve been blessed to meet and, in some cases, more-or-less befriend. Each one has inspired me in my own writing and has something special that makes her a superstar not just to me but to all her readers.

Today's dropped name is the incomparable Grace Burrowes! Grace is one of those rare authors who has built herself such a niche that she can carry it from historical romance to contemporary and have fans love both equally. Her Scottish historicals are snapped up by rabid readers and her Scottish contemporaries are snapped up by, well, me!

This is because Grace is one of the smartest authors I know. The way she built her writing career after her only daughter left for college is so inspirational--and so prolific. I would definitely like to nab a little of her author's spirit and pour it straight into a vein! Here's why:  check out "Grace's Bookshelf" on her website--it's an amazing collection of work! In addition she has worked as a piano teacher, a technical writer, an editor and a lawyer!
 

I don't remember the exact moment I met Grace but what I do remember is that she wowed me with her clever humor, her straightforward answers to questions, and her no holds barred honesty. This is not to say she is ever dismissive or mean--she is

definitely the embodiment of her name. Still, I know if I want an honest look at the romance industry, the state of publishing, the advantages and disadvantages to indie versus traditional publishing, and her opinion on various sub-genres--I can ask Ms. Burrowes and her answer or opinion will be erudite and informed. 

(Check out Grace's latest book 
MY OWN TRUE DUCHESS

and her brand new 

pre-order book 

A TRULY PERFECT GENTLEMAN)

So what I've learned from Grace is that you can be a romance author, write fabulously inventive books and still be so dang smart. In fact, if you want to make it in this industry, you SHOULD be smart and you have to keep making yourself smarter--about your craft, your business, and your books. Plus you should pass all this information on to your colleagues willingly and entertainingly! 

Tell me about the smartest person you know. Is this somebody book smart, intelligent smart or street smart? And how has this person changed your life

I’ll be giving away four books on Monday August 13^th (my actual birthday!) to commenters over this weekend!Come on back tomorrow when I'll talk about one of my favorite authors ever (in truth she's almost everyone's favorite authors) Kristan Higgins.

 Check out my two most recent releases!

BETTING ON PARADISE

and

MISSING BY A HEARTBEAT

Day Two: More 2014 RITA Award Finalists

Congratulations to RITA finalists in the Erotic, Historical, and Inspirational Romance categories!  

As many of you know, it is quite an honor to be a Romance Writers of America RITA finalist. We encourage all GLIAS readers to peruse the list of nominated authors and titles. See anything below you would love to read? Leave the title and your comment, along with your email contact info for a chance to win the RITA finalist book of your choice! 

Erotic Romance

Claim Me

by J. Kenner

Random House Group, Bantam

Shauna Summers, editor

Private Practice

by Samanthe Beck

Entangled Publishing, Brazen

Heather Howland, editor

When I’m Bad I’m Better in It Stings So Sweet

by Stephanie Draven

Berkley Publishing Group, Berkley Sensation

Cindy Hwang, editor

Historical Romance

Any Duchess Will Do

by Tessa Dare

HarperCollins Publishers, Avon Books

Tessa Woodward

The Autumn Bride

by Anne Gracie

Berkley Publishing Group, Berkley Sensation

Wendy McCurdy, editor

The Chieftain’s Curse

by Frances Housden

Harlequin, MIRA

Kate Cuthbert, editor

The Countess Conspiracy

by Courtney Milan

Self-published

Robin Harders and Keira Soleore, editors

Darius

by Grace Burrowes

Sourcebooks, Casablanca

Deb Werksman, editor

Dark Angel: A Gothic Fairy Tale

by T J Bennett

Entangled Publishing, Edge

Liz Pelletier and Shannon Godwin, editors

Duke of Midnight

by Elizabeth Hoyt

Grand Central Publishing

Amy Pierpont, editor

The Lady and the Laird

by Nicola Cornick

Harlequin, HQN

Ann Leslie Tuttle, editor

Love and Other Scandals

by Caroline Linden

HarperCollins Publishers, Avon Books

Lyssa Keusch, editor

The Luckiest Lady in London

by Sherry Thomas

Berkley Publishing Group

Wendy McCurdy, editor

Never Desire a Duke

by Lily Dalton

Grand Central Publishing, Forever

Michele Bidelspach, editor

No Good Duke Goes Unpunished

by Sarah MacLean

HarperCollins Publishers, Avon Books

Carrie Feron, editor

Plaid Tidings

by Mia Marlowe

Kensington Publishing Corp., Zebra

Alicia Condon, editor

A Rake’s Midnight Kiss

by Anna Campbell

Grand Central Publishing, Forever

Amy Pierpont, editor

The Rogue’s Proposal

by Jennifer Haymore

Grand Central Publishing, Forever

Selina McLemore, editor

Sins of a Ruthless Rogue

by Anna Randol

HarperCollins Publishers, Avon Books

Tessa Woodward, editor

Sonata for a Scoundrel

by Anthea Lawson

Self-published

Inspirational Romance

Five Days in Skye

by Carla Laureano

David C. Cook

John Blase and Tonya Osterhouse, editors

Promise to Return

by Elizabeth Byler Younts

Simon & Schuster, Howard Books

Beth Adams and Amanda Demastus, editors


Commenters: See anything above you'd love to read? Leave the title, your comment, along with your email contact info for a chance to win the RITA finalist book of your choice! 


***Note: Offer void where prohibited. Prizes will be mailed to North America  addresses only. If an Advanced Reading Copy (ARC) is available, the author may utilize that option for International participants. Odds of winning vary due to the number of entrants.

Regency Historical RITA® Nominees!

STEFANIE SLOANE
Ballantine Bantam Dell; Junessa Viloria, editor

Lord William Randall, the Duke of Clairemont, is a wicked rake with little regard for society—a most unlikely suitor for the prim and proper Lady Lucinda Gray. But his latest assignment for the Young Corinthians, an elite spy organization, involves protecting her from a kidnapping plot and to do this, the notorious “Iron Will” must get close to Lucinda, and convince her that he’s a man worthy of her attention. It is a simple enough task to use his devilish charm to seduce her, but William never would have guessed that he’d become enthralled by the lovely Lady Grey—or that he’d lose his own heart in the bargain.

Beautiful and fiercely intelligent, Lucinda has managed to gracefully sidestep even the most persistent suitors. Until the Duke of Clairemont, that is. His rugged features, sinfully sensuous mouth, and piercing eyes are as alluring as the champion thoroughbred he tantalizingly offers in exchange for the honor of courting her, and she finds it hard to resist either temptation. The feelings he stirs in her both excite and arouse, urging her on despite the very real danger he represents. But when the truth is revealed, will Lucinda risk her heart and her life for a chance at everlasting love?

Excerpt from The Devil in Disguise
Website
GLIAS RITA® Best First Book Nominee July 17th
Stefanie is donating four books to the RITA® celebration drawing.

~ ~ ~
CHRISTINA BROOKE
St. Martin's Press; Monique Patterson, editor

A Convenient Marriage
Jane, Lady Roxdale, has endured one marriage of convenience decreed by the Ministry of Marriage. While she deeply regrets her late husband’s death, she is relieved to be free at last. But when a dissolute rake threatens everything Jane holds dear, she must contemplate marrying a second time…

An Inconvenient Passion
Disgraced libertine Constantine Black inherits his cousin Roxdale’s land and title–while Roxdale’s prim widow is left all the wealth. Constantine is not a marrying man, but wedding Jane is the only way to save the estate from ruin. Jane resists the smoldering heat between them, desperate not to fall in love with an unrepentant rake. But for the first time ever, Constantine wants more than seduction. He wants all of her–body, heart, and soul…

Excerpt from Heiress in Love
Website

~ ~ ~
VICKY DREILING
Grand Central Publishing Forever; Michele Bidelspach, editor

Tristan, the Duke of Shelbourne is a man with a mission: find a wife he can tolerate as long as they both shall live. No love is necessary—nor desired. But how to choose amid a dizzying array of wealthy-yet-witless candidates? Hire London’s infamously prim and proper matchmaker. Then pretend she’s not the most captivating woman he’s ever met...

Helping a devilish Duke create a contest to pick his perfect mate is the kind of challenge Tessa Mansfield relishes. Her methods may be scandalous, but she’s determined to find the notorious bachelor more than a wife—she’ll bring him true love. Yet when Tessa watches the women vie for the Duke’s affections, she longs to win his heart herself. And after a stolen kiss confirms Tristan’s desire, Tessa knows she has broken a matchmaker’s number one rule: never fall in love with the groom.

Excerpt from How to Marry a Duke

VICKY DREILING
Grand Central Publishing Forever; Michele Bidelspach, editor

Lady Julianne Gatewick is in a pickle. It started when her brother’s best friend—for whom she’s long nursed a secret tendre—agreed to act as her guardian for the Season, only to seduce her with a risqué waltz.

But when the music stopped and the expectant ton waited for the Earl of Hawkfield to claim her as his own, he made his disinterest clear. Rather than succumb to humiliation, Julianne does what any recently discarded, wickedly witty young miss would do. She secretly pens a lady’s guide to enticing unrepentant rakes . . . and it becomes the hottest scandal in London.

Every honorable rake knows that friends’ sisters are forbidden. But suddenly Julianne has a spark of mischief in her eyes that Hawk can’t resist. Try as he might to push her away, he spends his days listening for her laughter and his nights dreaming of her kisses. He’s always avoided innocents and their marriage-minded mothers, but has the man least likely to wed finally met his match?

Excerpt from How to Seduce a Scoundrel
Website
GLIAS RITA® Best First Book Nominee July 17th
GLIAS interview

~ ~ ~
GRACE BURROWES
Sourcebooks Casablanca; Deb Werksman, editor

All Sophie Windham wants is peace, quiet and the novelty of a little solitude in the Duke of Moreland's London mansion before she joins her family for Christmas at the family seat in Kent. In the middle of a very inconvenient London snowstorm, Sophie finds herself stuck with an abandoned baby, and only the assistance of handsome stranger Vim Charpentier standing between her and complete disaster...

Vim Charpentier's worst memories are of Christmases spent with family in Kent, so when he has an excuse to tarry for a few days in London, he willingly lends a hand helping Sophie and her new little charge become acquainted. The growing attraction he shares with Sophie warms both their spirits, but when Sophie's three brothers arrive (from the East) to whisk her away, Vim has to decide between facing his memories, or letting the Christmas gift of a lifetime slip through his fingers.

Excerpt from Lady Sophie's Christmas Wish
Website

~ ~ ~
TESSA DARE
Avon Books; Tessa Woodward, editor

Spindle Cove is the destination of choice for certain types of well-bred young ladies: the painfully shy, young wives disenchanted with matrimony, and young girls too enchanted with the wrong men. It is a haven for those who live there.

Victor Bramwell, the new Earl of Rycliff, knows he doesn’t belong here. So far as he can tell, there’s nothing in this place but spinsters…and sheep. But he has no choice, he has orders to gather a militia. It’s a simple mission, made complicated by the spirited, exquisite Susanna Finch—a woman who is determined to save her personal utopia from the invasion of Bram’s makeshift army.

Susanna has no use for aggravating men; Bram has sworn off interfering women. The scene is set for an epic battle…but who can be named the winner when both have so much to lose?

Excerpt from A Night to Surrender
Website
GLIAS interview

~ ~ ~
KATE MOORE
Berkley Publishing Group Sensation; Wendy McCurdy, editor

As a boy Kit Jones thought himself a bastard, not knowing that his parents were secretly married. When his powerful grandfather, the Duke of Wenlocke, discovered that Kit had a legitimate claim on his title, he arranged for Kit to disappear. Kidnapped, Kit spent two years in captivity to a strange and brutal man in London’s darkest rookery. When his captor died, he escaped. Fearing for the safety of his family, he did not return home, but made a life for himself with a band of urchins in London. Only when his brothers proved their extraordinary love for him, did he return home to discover the truth of his birth. Three years later the courts have recognized his claim to be his father’s son, and he becomes Marquess Daventry, his grandfather’s heir, but the aging duke continues to plot Kit’s destruction.

In book three Kit has become Daventry, a warrior angel trapped in a gilded cage who wants to free his family with a decisive defeat of the old duke. In a daring move that breaks all the rules of his safe life, he hires Emma Portland. Everything about Emma is a lie except her love. Alone, pursued by spies, falsely accused of a murder she didn’t commit, Emma must spy for the Duke of Wenlocke against Daventry. If she doesn’t play by Wenlocke’s rules, she dies. Emma passes herself off as a tutor to Daventry’s lost boys as she plans her next escape. What she doesn’t plan on is falling in love.

To Seduce an Angel is the story of two lovers caught between the deadly pull of their past lives and the demands of the future.

Excerpt from To Seduce an Angel
Website

~ ~ ~
ELOISA JAMES
Avon Books; Carrie Feron, editor 

Piers Yelverton, Earl of Marchant, lives in a castle in Wales where, it is rumored, his bad temper flays everyone he crosses. He's a Beast. Miss Linnet Thynne is one of the most exquisite young ladies ever to grace London's ballrooms. She's a Beauty. But wait—there's more! Piers is a doctor: brilliant, lame, and impossible to get along with. There's a version of him on Fox TV, named after a habitation. Linnet has been involved in a scandalous flirtation with a prince, and everyone in the ton thinks she's carrying a royal child: she needs a husband.

Linnet estimates it will take two weeks—at the outside—to bring the earl to his knees. Piers knows that he will never fall in love, and definitely never marry.

Excerpt from When Beauty Tamed the Beast

Website

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JOIN THE RITA® CELEBRATION by leaving a comment for each category between July 11th and 28th (multiple comments = multiple entries). GLIAS will be drawing for winners on Sunday, July 29th and posting along with all the RITA® winners announced Saturday evening in Anaheim, California.

Note: Offer void where prohibited. Prizes will be mailed to North America addresses only unless specifically mentioned in the post. If an INTERNATIONAL name is drawn, mailing the book or supplying an electronic version will be the decision of the donator. Odds of winning vary due to the number of entrants. Winners of drawings are responsible for checking this site in a timely manner. If prizes are not claimed in a timely manner, the author may not have a prize available. Get Lost In A Story cannot be responsible for an author's failure to mail the listed prize. GLIAS does not automatically pass email addresses to guest authors unless the commenter publicly posts their email address.

CONGRATULATIONS, LADIES!!! BEST OF LUCK! Join us tomorrow as RITA® week continues with the best NOVELLA category. Don’t forget to FOLLOW us on Twitter (#GetLostStories) or LIKE us on Facebook.  Heather