Cowboys. Rogues. World War II spies. This flight of Dragonflies has gone through time to find the best heroes and heroines to delight readers. It is my pleasure to introduce the 2015 Golden Heart finalists in the Historical Romance category:
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"A Convenient
Engagement" by Kimberly
Bell
A young lady makes an outrageous deal with a
very handsome devil in this sexy debut romance set in Georgian Era London and
Scotland.
An independent young woman of means, Miss Hannah Howard is as stubborn as she is beautiful. After she moves to London for her first season among the ton, she immediately finds herself in a heated dispute with her neighbor, the ill-mannered Gavan Dalreoch, Earl of Rhone. Giving the Earl a black eye is a lapse in judgment—even though the Scottish scoundrel deserved it. Now with her reputation in jeopardy, her only hope for saving face is the man whose face she bruised. Gavan is content to live up to his rakish reputation, but with family pressuring him to marry, he and Hannah agree to get engaged just long enough to appear respectable. Yet as the charade continues with stolen kisses and a trip to Gavan’s Scottish castle, Gavan and Hannah discover that their false engagement may be more real than they imagined.
Kimberly Bell is a 2015 RWA Golden Heart
Finalist and 2014 Maggie Award Winner. She writes historical romances from
her home near the beach in San Luis Obispo, California. She lives with her
shepherd-coyote mix rescue.
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"A Dangerous
Chemistry" by Marnee
Blake
Marnee Blake is a 2014 & 2015 Golden Heart® Finalist.
She writes action-packed young adult and new adult romance. She used to teach
high school students but these days she only has to wrangle her own
children. Originally from a small town in Western Pennsylvania, she
now battles traffic in southern New Jersey where she lives with her hero
husband and their happily-ever-after: two very energetic boys. When she isn’t
writing, she can be found refereeing disputes between her children, cooking
up something sweet, or hiding from encroaching dust bunnies with a book.
Marnee’s writing is represented by Helen Breitwieser at Cornerstone Literary Agency.
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"Dragon’s Lair" by Lori Sanders Foley
Set
in 1170, Morgan verch Rhodri, a marauder's daughter, finds a half-dead,
half-naked warrior wrapped up in the most recent plunder; she doesn't know
whether to ransom or run from the wounded warrior, she finds amid the most
recent coastal plunder. The English cape he's wrapped in is a
sign of the danger she faces should anyone discovers either of
them. Her grandfather is a Welsh king, which makes Morgan a
valuable pawn in the game of kingdoms.
Rann of Galbraith, a
mercenary agent, awakens to find he has survived an English massacre, only to
be held captive of a woman who orders men around as if she were the lord of
the keep. He wants revenge for the attack on his kinsmen. However, when a mysterious
organization,known as the Dragon, draws upon both their pasts, they are
cast into a deadly game with high stakes, Morgan could lose her home.
Rann could lose his freedom. They might even lose their hearts...if
they don't lose their lives, first.
For Lori Sanders Foley, there is always a story in every
adventure. If not writing, she brings stories to life on stage. When not
creating magic on stage or page, she travels, looking for her next tale to
tell.
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"Never Dare a Wicked
Earl" by Renee Ann
Miller
Never Dare a Wicked
Earl, is about Lord Hayden Westfield and Sophia Camden, a nurse who is sent
to his residence to tend to him after an ex-lover shoots him. After Westfield
fires Sophia, she dares him to give her a week to prove her mettle.
Sophia quickly
realizes the Wicked Earl is willing to resort to nearly
anything to win the dare. Hayden soon realized Sophia is a worthy opponent.
Intrigued, he’s determined to win the forfeit … a night in Sophia’s bed. But
will one night be enough?
Renee writes sensual
historical romance. She joined RWA over three years ago. At that time, she had
no idea about POV or GMC, but she shared that this wonderful community of
writers took her under their wings and got out their red pens.
Renee is represented
by Jill Marsal of The Marsal Lyon Literary Agency. You can find out more
about her at Reneeannmiller.com.
https://www.facebook.com/reneeann.miller.9 Twitter.com/Reneeannmiller |
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"A Proper Scandal" by Laurie Benson
As
the daughter of an American diplomat in early 19th century
England, Katrina Vandenberg is stuck adhering to the strict rules of English
Polite Society. She’s eager to return to America, until she has an unexpected
encounter with a mysterious nobleman. There is no denying their attraction,
but Katrina is well aware that English aristocrats do not marry American
women. She soon discovers resisting a man she is inexplicably drawn to is not
easy.
Julian
Carlisle, the jaded Duke of Lyonsdale, should be finding a bride. Instead he
finds himself captivated by a woman Society says is all wrong for him—a woman
he cannot resist pursuing, even if she wants nothing to do with him. Now the
most disciplined Duke finds himself schooled in proper behavior by an
alluring American and wondering if she’s willing to join him in going against
centuries of tradition. But for true love to survive they first have to
endure mistaken identities, an interfering countess, a matchmaking dowager,
meddling friends, an arrogant mother, and an unhinged former paramour. Wish
them luck.
Word Count: 81,000
Laurie Benson is
a 2015 Golden Heart® finalist and award-winning writer of
historical romance novels. She began her writing career as an advertising
copywriter, where she learned more than you would ever want to know about hot
dogs and credit score reports. Aside from writing novels, she also writes
about snippets of historical information from the Georgian era on her blog, LaurieBenson’s
Cozy Drawing Room. She lives with her husband and two
sons in a house filled with testosterone—even her bunny is a
boy. She is currently seeking representation.
Where You Can Find Laurie:
Blog: lauriebenson.net
Twitter:
@LaurieBwrites
Facebook: Laurie Benson
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"A Question of
Loyalty" by Ellen
Lindseth
An ambitious O.S.S.
agent questions his definition of loyalty after rescuing a mysterious woman
who steals his heart in WWII Washington D.C.
After years spent
researching Classical Greek and Roman socities, Ellen moved on to the modern
era and wrote romantic suspense set during World War II. When not writing, she is either flying
around the country with her husband in his Beech Bonanza, or relaxing at home
with her three rescued cats and a bearded dragon. Ellen is represented by Laura Bradford of the Bradford Agency.
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"Rescuing Mr.
Gracey" by Eileen K Barnes
Mary Smyth, the daughter of a Catholic rebel,
tumbles into Alec Gracey’s life from atop a ridge—underfed,
tattered, shoeless—and captures the imagination of his cynical Protestant
heart. Wrong culture, wrong economic class, wrong religion, Mary is
dangerous and forbidden to him. She lives in an overcrowded hut; he resides
in the manor down the hill. She works as a laundress; he is seeking office in
England’s Anglican parliament, the protégé of the powerful Earl of
Roden while her father leads the Ribbonmen, a Catholic organization
that causes havoc for the Earl. Each time those wide, aqua eyes
glance at him or her dimples pop with a grin, his poor heart trips as badly
as his attempt at to dance. Disguising his name, he will slip into her world,
wrapping himself within the web of lies, risking his wealth, career, perhaps
even his life.
He calls himself
Alec Jordan, but Mary knows he is not who he pretends. He is ignorant of her
culture and shockingly clumsy at the simplest native dance. Besides, she is a
skinny laundress. Why would a perfect, strikingly handsome man show interest
in her? Perhaps he is a spy wiggling his way into her life, seeking evidence
against her politically active Da. Yet, he continues to edge his way
into his life—escorting her during evening laundry deliveries, sheltering her
in the rain, plowing her father’s worthless field, rescuing her from
attackers—and when his mesmerizing gaze floats over her face or his teasing
grin makes her laugh her resolve disintegrates.
Someone waits and
watches for the moment to destroy them both, hurtling them into a deadly
collision with history. Can Mary and Alec’s love rise above the ashes
that will be left behind?
Eileen K Barnes
is a romantic. The sixth child of a large Irish Catholic family, she married
her own hero and raised four children. Of course, in between reading and a
little writing, life also happened. She worked for the town government
and became a mayor, she wrote for a local newspaper and won an award for best
news story, she published several short stories on motherhood and then went
back to college and got a degree in Early Childhood and soon started her own
preschool.
But, her romantic
soul still hungered to write. Then inspiration knocked on her door. She
ran into a cousin who had been researching their family heritage. The
cousin had unearthed a story that their great, great Irish immigrant
grandparents who had to flee Ireland because he was a Protestant Irishman and
she was an Irish Catholic girl. In 19th Century
Ireland, mix-faith marriages were illegal and so he left his wealth and
family and took his sweetheart to Canada where they raised ten
children. Soon, the tiny framework of a story became a 100,000
novel. Five years and many contests later, Eileen’s story has
earned her a trip to New York.
Eileen is
seek representation . You may find her at rescuingmrgracey.com | faceboo
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"The Reunion" by Sara Leyton
Sara is a working mom with
a big blended family. Her vices are wine, cupcakes and mindless TV. She
has too many favorite romances to pick just one, but in category romance, she
is currently working my way through Mary Balogh's Survivors Club. She is currently querying.
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"Sawyer's Rose" by Kim Turner
As if he doesn't have enough to handle between
running outlaws out of Cheyenne, keeping his brother's out of trouble and
avenging his father's death, sheriff Sawyer McCade's meddling mother just dumped a
mysterious mail-order-bride on his doorstep. One woman can be more trouble
than a band of renegades and while this one has him all stirred up, he'd
rather get to the bottom of the story she isn't telling.
Rose Parker had it all. Until she discovers a web of danger and deceit
that sends her running to Cheyenne, posing as a mail-order-bride. Escaping
the evils of New York seems sensible until she meets the unsuspecting sheriff
who didn't ask for her, has no intention of marrying her and won't rest until
he uncovers her secret and sends her back home.
Kim Turner writes western historical romance, and discovered her
passion of writing at the age of eight by writing poems, short stories and
journals. Kim graduated from Clayton State University with a Bachelor's of
Science in Nursing and holds a Master's Degree in Adult Education from
Central Michigan University. Working as a registered nurse educator for over
twenty-six years, she enjoys studying the medical treatments of the old west
as well as keeping up with the latest western movies and television series.
While she loves reading anything from highlanders to pirates, she claims to
have an unquenchable thirst for the American Cowboy when choosing her reads.
Kim lives south of Atlanta with her husband and calls her greatest
accomplishment the birth of one daughter and the adoption of another from
China-neither of which came easy. Kim is a member of Romance Writers of
American and Georgia Romance Writers and calls her critique group from
Southside Scribes the best thing that ever happened to her writing, that and
a pretty wonderful group of beta readers. Kim's Motto: It's All About A
Cowboy and the Woman He Loves.
Her story Sawyer's
Rose was a Maggie finalist in 2014, and will be coming soon to
publication from Wild Rose Press.
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Woot! These books sound so wonderful! I'm so proud of all my Dragonfly sisters! Way to represent!
ReplyDeleteWow! My to-be read list just got longer and historicals aren't even my go-to reads. Looking forward to meeting y'all and reading your books. Great to know more about y'all and find out Eileen was a mayor and love that you used family history to basis for your story.
ReplyDelete