Vikings! Vikings! & more Vikings!

A DEAL WITH HER REBEL VIKING

Her terms: free her family
His terms: seduction?

Defending her home, Lady Ansithe captures outlaw Viking Moir Mimirson. The prisoner will be the ideal ransom for her father, who’s being held hostage by the Danes. Yet Moir’s flirtatious negotiations exhilarate practical Ansithe as much as they surprise her… Can she be sure that this hardened warrior will work with her and not betray her? And what of his stolen kisses—can she trust those?

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 Award winning author of more than 20 novels, Michelle Styles writes warm, witty and intimate historical romance in a wide range of time periods including Viking, Roman, Regency and early Victorian, often set in the North East of England. Born and raised near San Francisco California, Michelle currently lives a few miles south of Hadrian's Wall with her husband, and a menagerie of pets. An avid reader, she became hooked on historical romance when she discovered Georgette Heyer, Anya Seton and Victoria Holt in her school's library. 

THE HOLIDAY INTERVIEW

ANGI: What’s your favorite gift Santa ever left under the tree?

MICHELLE:  My favorite gift Santa ever left under the tree was the Nutcracker which my eldest son was given for his third birthday. He had never seen the Nutcracker ballet before and my husband I took him to see the San Francisco Ballet’s version on Christmas Eve. He was desperate for his own Nutcracker but I told him and my husband (who got a very hard stare from me) that all the Nutcrackers were sold out. My son went back to my sister’s house where we were staying and sent a special note up the chimney, begging for his very own Nutcracker. No adult left the house and in any case by that time all the stores were shut.  In the morning, the Nutcracker was under the tree, much to everyone’s astonishment. For many years, when my children doubted, I would point to the Nutcracker and ask them to explain please how that  Nutcracker could have arrived.  

The fact I as a child had longed to have such a thing and had made a vow when I was about nine that my children were not going to be similarly deprived was something I kept very quiet.

ANGI: What’s your favorite Holiday Movie?

MICHELLE: Christmas movies are my guilty pleasure. I really enjoy them. From the classic tales like A Christmas Carol to the more modern Hallmark movies (Channel 5 in the UK has started showing the Harlequin ones and I can get them on Amazon Prime as well. I would say my favorite movie has to be It’s aWonderful Life and I watch it every year.

ANGI: What’s your favorite Holiday cartoon special?

MICHELLE:  My favorite is Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer closely followed by Stanta Claus is Coming to Town. I can remember watching them on Friday nights when I was growing up in the San Francisco Bay Area. When I moved to the UK, I was surprised they weren’t a thing. So I made sure my children spent time in the US at Christmas time and were able to see these.

ANGI: Which Holiday film can you watch over and over without falling asleep?

MICHELLE:  A Christmas Carol – I love the story and re-read it every year as well. It is so wonderfully redemptive and of course, Dickens reshapes Christmas with it.

ANGI: What’s your favorite Holiday dessert you’d share with friends?

MICHELLE:  I love stollen, a German Christmas bread with marzipan running through it and make that every year. In the UK, the dessert you are most likely to encounter is the mince pie. They are bite sized and everywhere. They do not have meat in them btw and a concoction of dried fruit and liquor (and some sort of fat—normally suet but could be butter)  baked in a pie crust.

ANGI: What is your favorite Holiday tradition?

MICHELLE: My favorite Holiday tradition is decorating the house for Christmas, including trimming the tree. I love getting out all the old ornaments and decorations (including the Nutcracker!) and putting them up.

DEAR SANTA!  All I want for Christmas is…

MICHELLE:  my three children home for Christmas (my children tell me I am very boring for asking for this but until you are a mother, you don’t understand how lovely it is to have your 3 grown children home). Unfortunately I don’t have a picture of me and Santa. (Last one taken 1983 and given off to an ex-boyfriend)  Neither do I have pictures of the children with Santa – there was an unfortunate incident where my husband tried to take my daughter to get her photo taken when she was a toddler and…money ended being refunded and my husband resorted to bribery with a stuffed animal to stem her tears.

UP NEXT for MICHELLE:

CONVENIENTLY WED TO THE VIKING

Sons of Sigurd #3 

Scotland,  876 AD

A resourceful lady

To escape her stepmother’s murderous marriage plot, Ceanna of Dun Olliagh believes she must enter her aunt’s convent with a pretend vocation.

A warrior dedicated to revenge

After the raid on his family’s home in Norway, Sandulf Sigurdson  lives only to fulfil the quest his eldest brother gave him — find the assassins who killed his brother’s wife.

A dangerous liaison

When her guide goes missing, Ceanna obtains the services of the mysterious Viking warrior. Confronted with the determined Pictish lady, Sandulf’s heart is touched. While Sandulf is willing to offer Ceanna his name and a place in his bed, will he be able to keep her safe from the trained killers who now threaten them both?

Conveniently Wed to the Viking is the third book in the exciting Sons of Sigurd saga which is coming to Harlequin Historical in 2020.

PREVIOUSLY RELEASED by MICHELLE:

SENT AS THE VIKING’S BRIDE

Read A Little, Buy The Book

She’s the wife he doesn’t want…

…and the woman he needs!

Desperate to escape her murderous brother-in-law and protect her young sister, Ragnhild agrees to marry an unknown warrior, and arrives penniless on his remote island. Only, Gunnar Olafson’s belief in love died with his family—he does not want a bride! But as yuletide approaches, Ragnhild transforms his isolated existence. Can she melt her Viking warrior’s frozen heart?

A CHRISTMAS WEDDING WAGER

Read a little, Buy the book

Just one kiss under the mistletoe could change her whole life!

Lovely Miss Emma Harrison has long turned her back on the frivolities of the Marriage Mart and dedicated herself to helping her father. But this Christmas everything changes—the unforgettable Jack Stanton is back! No longer the charity boy determined to make good, he has become one of the richest men in England. Driven to succeed and used to getting anything he wants, Jack makes it clear that he wants Emma.

And as the Yuletide festivities throw Emma into his company, she can't help but wonder if she made the right choice seven years ago….

THE WARRIOR’S VIKING BRIDE

Read a little, Buy the book

SOLD TO THE VIKING WARRIOR

Read a little, Buy the book

MICHELLE is giving away a signed print copy of A Deal with Her Rebel Viking.

International Mailing

 

Your host, Angi Morgan

Get Lost on Facebook   @GetLostInAStory  #GetLostStories

AND OUR NEW Facebook Group: The Readers’ Spot

MICHELLE WANTS TO KNOW:  DO YOU OPEN AN ADVENT CALENDAR?

Jacqui Nelson’s North of the Border with guest Eleanor Webster

Who’s next on my North of the Border guest blog series? Today we have Eleanor Webster, author of A Debutante in Disguise.

Where does Eleanor get her inspiration? How is Canada part of her inspiration? Read on and see...

~  * ~

Getting Inspiration 

Sir, 
It has been stated to me that Inspector-General Dr James Barry, who died at 14 Margaret Street on 25 July 1865, was after his death found to be female. 

This was included in a letter sent by the British General Registrar to the doctor who attended Dr. James Barry at the time of death, July 25, 1865.

I learned about Dr. Barry while researching Canadian doctors for a non-fiction middle grade children’s book.  Unfortunately, that manuscript still remains hopefully on my laptop entitled ‘doctors’ . However, feisty, fascinating Dr. James Barry intrigued me and this story of disguise and subterfuge inspired aspects of my newest release, A Debutante in Disguise.

Barry came to Canada quite late in life as Inspector General of Hospitals and remained in that post until illness led to retirement. Dr. Barry was mercurial in temperament, tactless and quite brilliant. Indeed, Barry succeeded in performing the first Caesarean Section in African where both mother and child survived – no mean feat in those days. Barry also espoused radical ideas like the concept that adequate sanitation and nutrition may improve health.

However, the most fascinating aspect of Barry’s story occurs after death when it was reported that Dr. Barry, who had lived his entire life as a man was, in fact, a woman.

Most now believe that Barry was either a woman or possibly inter sex.  This remains up for debate and conjecture but it is generally agreed that Barry was Mary Anne Bulkley’s child. Mrs. Bulkley had one son (named John) and two daughters. Her older daughter, Margaret Bulkley, evaporated from history and, four years later, Barry emerged from the University of Edinburgh’s Medical School. Following graduation, Barry became a medical surgeon and was posted throughout the British Empire and eventually, Canada. I have not done sufficient research to form an opinion as to whether Barry was female or intersex. The burial was prompt and that may always remain a mystery. (Although – interesting factoid- if female, Barry would be Canada’s first female doctor).

However, I am convinced that Barry had a secret and lived a life of pretense in order to pursue a medical career.

This inspired me to create the protagonist in A Debutante in Disguise, Letty. She is a brilliant woman with a scientific mind and drive to be a doctor in a time when society did not believe that women had minds and certainly could not pursue ‘doctoring’.

Even when not in disguise, Letty is somewhat of an oddity. She lacks an interest in the occupations which most society women enjoyed and often felt different from others. It seems too often we adopt the sheep mentality. We like those who are the same and are apprehensive of those who seem different. I loved creating this character and loved that she was shaped, in part, by the medical pioneer with a Canadian twist.

Eleanor's Pictures

Canadian winters - great for uninterrupted writing...until the power goes off

Friendly Neighbors

More Friendly Neighbors

Bear Glacier, outside Stewart, British Columbia

~ * ~

Giveaway

I love to interact with my readers! Please post a comment below by June 19 and I will select someone to receive an e-copy of my latest book A Debutante in Disguise.

~ * ~ 

A Debutante in Disguise

A society lady

…with a secret!

Determined to help people, Letty Barton has a double life—she’s a trained doctor! No one must know “Dr. Hatfield” is actually a woman. Called to an emergency, she comes face-to-face with her patient’s brother, Lord Anthony Ashcroft… They’d once shared a spark-filled flirtation—now he’s a brooding, scarred war hero. But how long will it be before he recognizes her beneath her disguise and the sparks begin to fly once more?

Amazon Print | Amazon Kindle | Barnes & Noble Print | Barnes & Noble Nook | Google Play

~ * ~

Eleanor Webster loves high-heels and sun, which is ironic as she lives in northern Canada, the land of snowhills and unflattering footwear. Various crafting experiences, including a nasty glue-gun episode, have proven that her creative soul is best expressed through the written word. Eleanor is currently pursuing a doctoral degree in psychology and holds an undergraduate degree in history and creative writing. She loves to use her writing to explore her fascination with the past.

Mills & Boone: www.millsandboon.co.uk/authors/p3633/Eleanor-Webster 

Harlequin: www.harlequin.com/shop/authors/13076_eleanor-webster.html 

Facebook: www.facebook.com/eleanorwebsterauthor

Twitter: twitter.com/ewebsterauthor

Website: EleanorWebsterAuthor.com

~ All pictures (except for the 1st) are supplied by today’s guest with their assurance of usage rights. 

Vikings and More Vikings !

SENT AS THE VIKING’S BRIDE

She’s the wife he doesn’t want…
…and the woman he needs!

Desperate to escape her murderous brother-in-law and protect her young sister, Ragnhild agrees to marry an unknown warrior, and arrives penniless on his remote island. Only, Gunnar Olafson’s belief in love died with his family—he does not want a bride! But as yuletide approaches, Ragnhild transforms his isolated existence. Can she melt her Viking warrior’s frozen heart?

“Everyone loves Styles’ Vikings!” — RT Book Reviews on Sold to the Viking Warrior

“Styles pens another winning Viking historical… An exciting, engaging story” — RT Book Reviews on Taming His Viking Woman

READ A LITTLE, BUY THE BOOK

Award winning author of more than 20 novels, Michelle Styles writes warm, witty and intimate historical romance in a wide range of time periods including Viking, Roman, Regency and early Victorian, often set in the North East of England. Born and raised near San Francisco, California, Michelle currently lives a few miles south of Hadrian's Wall with her husband, and a menagerie of pets. An avid reader, she became hooked on historical romance when she discovered Georgette Heyer, Anya Seton and Victoria Holt in her school's library.

SOCIAL CONNECTIONS:

Website  Amazon     BookBub    Facebook   Twitter @MichelleLStyles  

Goodreads   Pintrest   Pink Heart Society    Previously on GLIAS

THE Q&A

ANGI: What story have you gotten lost in recently?

MICHELLE: I just finished reading The Christmas Sisters by Sarah Morgan. My car ended up having to go into the garage to get fixed and I got stuck on a freezing cold platform waiting for a train. Sarah’s Christmas inspired tale of three estranged sisters and the woman who adopted them helped to make the wait bearable.

ANGI: Favorite field trip?

MICHELLE:  At the moment, because my last three Vikings books have been based around there, my favorite field trip has been to the Scottish islands, in particular Islay and Jura. I particularly loved Jura where Sent as The Viking’s Bride is set. It is also where George Orwell wrote 1984. My husband and I stayed at the island’s one hotel and then drove until the road ended. We then hiked for several miles to see George Orwell’s house and a few miles more to see the Coryvercken (the officially unnavigable whirlpool off Jura’s coast) However that day the sun was shining and the whirlpool was deceptively calm. It is one of the more remote parts of Scotland and very much unspoilt.

ANGI: Daffy Duck or Donald Duck?

MICHELLE: Daffy Duck

ANGI: What’s your favorite thing about your book’s hero?

MICHELLE: My favorite thing about  Gunnar is that he sees the heroine’s inner beauty before she does.

ANGI: High Heels or Hiking Boots?

MICHELLE:  Hiking Boots because my feet always ache in high heels.

ANGI: What’s your favorite dessert of all time?

MICHELLE:  My favorite dessert is lemon meringue pie. I particularly like the River Café version which takes 18 eggs.

ANGI: Surf or Turf?

MICHELLE:  Turf

ANGI: Wild Flower or Roses?

MICHELLE:  Hard question as I love both. I am currently developing a wild flow meadow in what was the back lawn.

ANGI: Biography or History?

MICHELLE: History

ANGI: The most daring thing you’ve ever done… Care to share?

MICHELLE: Probably the most daring thing I have ever done is moving from the San Francisco Bay Area where I’d grown up to the UK to live permanently and where I knew no one except my husband.  Because of his job, we ended up in Newcastle Upon Tyne and all his family lived about five hours to the south. Looking back on it, it seems crazy but at the time I didn’t hesitate.

ANGI’s GOTTA ASK:  Where is your favorite writing place & why?  

MICHELLE’S GOTTA ANSWER:   At the moment, because it is cold outside, my favourite writing place is the kitchen table in front of the Aga. In the summer time, it is in the sun room overlooking the garden (the Christmas tree is currently in there) 

UP NEXT for MICHELLE:

The next Viking is currently sitting on my editor’s desk and she let me know –revisions in the new year. However as part of the Reader Favorites’ program, The Warrior’s Viking Bride is being released again in Target and Walmart stores. It comes out on the 27th as luck would have it. (2 in one month for me!)

PREVIOUSLY RELEASED by MICHELLE:

THE WARRIOR’S VIKING BRIDE

read a little, buy the book

SOLD TO THE VIKING WARRIOR

Read a little, Buy the book

A CHRISTMAS WEDDING WAGER

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MICHELLE is giving away a signed copy of Sent As the Viking’s Bride.

International Giveaway

your host, Angi Morgan

Get Lost on Facebook   @GetLostInAStory  #GetLostStories

AND OUR NEW Facebook Group: The Readers’ Spot

a Rafflecopter giveaway

MICHELLE WANTS TO KNOW:  What is your favorite Holiday tradition? 

  

Award-Winning Author Laurie Benson

ONE NIGHT UNDER THE MISTLETOE

Convenient Christmas Brides Anthology

A convenient arrangement

Three festive Regency romances…

In The Captain’s Christmas Journey by Carla Kelly, Captain Everard is escorting Verity to her governess job—and for propriety’s sake that means a convenient engagement! In Louise Allen’s The Viscount’s Yuletide Betrothal, Eleanor advertises for a “suitable” gentleman to pose as her betrothed over Christmas. And in Laurie Benson’s novella, Juliet’s One Night Under the Mistletoe leads to a marriage of convenience with handsome former love Lord Montague…

READ A LITTLE, BUY THE BOOK

  Turning to face Juliet, Monty held her wedding ring between his fingers and pushed aside his thoughts of it rolling across the drawing-room floor. Suddenly, she shoved her hand behind her back and leaned close to his ear.

  ‘We need to talk,’ she whispered to him.

  ‘Now?’

  ‘Yes, now,’ she whispered back impatiently. ‘Before you put that ring on my finger, there is something we need to discuss.’

  He stepped back and shifted his glance between her and the expectant vicar. ‘Lady Juliet and I will be but a moment,’ he said to the man. Ignoring the questioning looks from those around them, he took Juliet by the hand and led her out into the corridor, closing the door behind him.

  She wrapped her arms around her waist and began pacing in front of him. He waited for her to stop, wondering what she could possibly have to say to him now that she couldn’t have said to him in the last few days. Finally, she stopped in front of him.

  ‘I can’t do this to you. I thought I could, but I can’t.’

  ‘What are you doing exactly?’

  ‘Marrying you, of course.’

  ‘Of course.’ He rubbed his lips to prevent himself from uttering the curse that was about to come out. ‘Juliet, you were the one who said in your letter to me that aside from arranging where we would live and your financial settlement, there was nothing we could say to one another that we had not already said. I respected your wishes. And now you want to talk?’

  ‘Do you love her?’

  It took a moment for his brain to process her question. ‘Love who?’

  ‘Miss Fellsworth.’

  ‘Miss Fellsworth? Why on earth do you think I love Miss Fellsworth?’

  ‘There had been talk about the two of you at the ball.’

  ‘Do you always believe the gossip you hear?’

  ‘You were going to meet with her in the library. You were having an assignation with her.’

  ‘For a kiss. I was to meet her that night for a kiss. Just because I wanted to kiss her does not mean I am in love with her.’

  She pushed him.

  ‘What was that for?’

  ‘I am well aware you kiss women you do not love. You do not have to remind me of that!’

Would there ever be a time that Juliet would let his actions of the past remain there? Her mere presence was a constant reminder of how much he had hurt her. It wasn’t something he was proud of.  It wasn’t something he had ever wanted to do. While he had fancied himself in love with her for a few days, he had come to realise it was just heated passion for a woman he was very fond of. Nothing more. Logic told him that he barely knew her.

  ‘Juliet, what is it you are trying to say to me that couldn’t wait until after we recited our vows?’

  ‘I can’t marry you. I won’t be responsible for coming between you and Miss Fellsworth. I know Society dictates that we marry, but I won’t do it if you are in love with her.’ She put her hand on her stomach and seemed to be trying to steady her breathing.

  ‘Do you need to sit? We could find another chair for you,’ he said, glancing around the corridor.

  ‘I do not need to sit down. I need you to go in there and tell the vicar we will not be getting married while I go and lie down…in my room…if I can find it in this massive house your family calls a cottage.’

  Rubbing her brow, she turned to leave him, but he pulled her back gently by the arm. ‘I am not in love with Miss Fellsworth,’ he said in a reassuring tone.

  Her amber-coloured eyes searched his. It was evident when she realised that he was telling her the truth because her expression softened. ‘Are you certain you have no wish to marry Miss Fellsworth?’

  ‘I’m certain.’

  They stared at one another, both unsure what to do next. They were alone in the corridor, standing close enough to one another that he could smell her faint lavender scent. He had always wanted to get her into bed to find out if that scent originated from her skin or her clothes.

  Thinking of her in bed caused his gaze to drop to her lips and he remembered that time he had kissed her…the only time. No other kiss had compared to the one they shared that day. And he had made it his quest to kiss as many women as it took to find someone who could give him that same experience. Not one of those other kisses ever came close.

  Just as he considered kissing her once more, she took a step back. The rise and fall of her chest let him know she had felt that pull that had always been between them, as well. She knew he had wanted to kiss her and, for the briefest of moments, he thought she might have wanted him to.

  ‘I still do not like you or forgive you for what you did.’ She crossed her arms and narrowed her eyes.

  ‘I know.’

  ‘Oh, very well, come along, Monty, if we have to get married, we might as well do it now.’

  There was a time that he thought the beautiful creature before him, in the white-muslin gown with the blue-satin ribbon under her breasts, was the most romantic person he knew.

  He didn’t think that any more.

ONE WEEK TO WED

The Sommersby Brides #1

releases November 1st

One stolen night…
…leads to unexpected wedding vows!

Widowed Lady Charlotte Gregory believes she’ll never marry again after losing her husband. Until meeting dashing Lord Andrew Pearce brings her respectable, lonely world back to vibrant life! Left alone one night, they give in to their desires only to find their secret passion leads to shock, scandal…and a sudden marriage of convenience!

Read a little, Buy the book

LAURIE BENSON is an award-winning author who writes flirty and frisky historical romances. She began her writing career as an advertising copywriter, where she learned more than you could ever want to know about hot dogs and credit score reports. Her novel AN UNEXPECTED COUNTESS was voted Harlequin's 2017 Hero of the Year by readers.

When she isn't at her laptop avoiding laundry, Laurie can be found browsing antique shops, going on ridiculously long hikes, or sitting in her car on the school pickup line. She lives with her husband and two sons in a house filled with testosterone--even her bunny is a boy.

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THE Q&A

ANGI: How often to you get lost in a story?

LAURIE: Whenever I’m writing them.

ANGI: What’s your favorite thing about your book’s hero?

LAURIE: I find a sense of humor extremely sexy in a guy, so all my heroes have one.

ANGI: What’s your favorite movie of all time?

LAURIE: I’m a big Nancy Meyers fan and The Holiday, which she wrote and directed, is my absolute favorite movie. I’ve watched it over 25 times. There are so many clever and memorable lines in that screenplay, and the characters are wonderfully developed. And, those sets are stunning!

ANGI: What’s your perfect day?

LAURIE: My perfect day would have to include being with the people I care about, either on the beach or on a hiking trail near the top of a mountain.

ANGI: Salad or soup?

LAURIE: Hmmm. I love them both and frequently have a soup and salad combo for lunch. I suppose if I had to choose one, it would depend on how cold it was outside.

ANGI: Would you put yourself in a Fairy Tale or Action Adventure?

NAME: I don’t even have to think about this one. Put me in an Action Adventure movie. I want to be the one running across roof tops, driving the car in the car chase, and doing round kicks at the bad guys. I’d probably throw my back out at some point, but I’d have a blast doing it. I love the pacing of Action Adventure movies and tend to include a bit of adventure and action into the historical romances that I write.

ANGI: Favorite date night…fancy or at home? 

LAURIE: I generally like cozy nights at home, but for a date night there is nothing quite like going out in a gown with your guy in a tux.

ANGI: Champagne or Soda?

LAURIE: Champagne, hands down.

ANGI: Geek or Jock?

LAURIE: Can I have a geek who is also physically fit?

ANGI’s GOTTA ASK:  Where is your favorite writing place & why?

LAURIE’S GOTTA ANSWER:  There are actually two places where I write. The first place is at my desk in my writing nook. However, when I’m suffering with writer’s block, I’ll often take my laptop and go for a drive. Driving seems to stimulate the creative place in my brain and I’ve been known to write while sitting in my car in the parking lots of the parks in my area. In fact, I wrote half of my fourth book while sitting in my car.

UP NEXT for LAURIE:

HIS THREE-DAY DUCHESS

The Sommersby Brides #2

Releases February 1st

Read a little, Buy the book

PREVIOUSLY RELEASED by LAURIE:

AN UNEXPECTED COUNTESS

The Sommersby Brides #1

Read a little, Buy the book

AN UNCOMMON DUKE

Secret Lives of the Ton #2

Read a little, Buy the book

AN UNSUITABLE DUCHESS

Secret Lives of the Ton #1

Read a little, Buy the book



LAURIE is giving away a copy of ONE WEEK TO WED to one lucky winner. Autographed copy to U.S. resident. Digital copy if international.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Your host, Angi Morgan

Get Lost on Facebook   @GetLostInAStory  #GetLostStories

AND OUR NEW Facebook Group: The Readers’ Spot

LAURIE WANTS TO KNOW:  In my latest release, Juliet and Monty find themselves getting married at an English country estate during Christmas. What’s your favorite season for a wedding and why?