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.

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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