Saturday, December 22, 2012

Harlequin Historical Authors Giveaway Winners - so far

Here's a list of our winners...so far!

November 28 (Marguerite Kaye)        Alaine from England

November 29 (Annie Burrows)          Laura from New York state

November 30 (Michelle Styles)          Frances from Preston

December 3 (Michelle Willingham)    Fedora C
 
December 4 (Diane Gaston)               Melissa from Austin; Bonnie from NC

December 5 (Lucy Ashford)              Kai from Los Angeles

December 6 (Joanna Fulford)            Carol from Leeds

December 7 (Amanda McCabe)        Kirsten K

December 10 (Sarah Mallory)           Alaine from Bolton, Lancs

December 11 (Barbara Monajem)     Claire C

December 12 (Julia Justiss)              Khristine from Los Angeles

December 13 (Terri Brisbin)            Jean M from Missouri

December 14 (Louise Allen)            Helen from Great Yarmouth

December 17 (Jeannie Linn)            Rosemary K

December 18 (Blythe Gifford)         Janie from Missouri

December 19 (Ann Lethbridge)       Amanda from Luton, UK

December 20 (Bronwyn Scott)

December 21 (Elizabeth Beacon)     Solange from London

December 24 GRAND PRIZE
Email that day's author if you have any questions

Friday, December 21, 2012

HH Advent Calendar:Elizabeth Beacon


Welcome and Happy Christmas from Elizabeth Beacon, a writer of Regency Romances!

I was delighted to be invited to host my day of the HARLEQUIN® HISTORICAL Authors’ Advent Calendar Competition on the HARLEQUIN® Historical Authors’ Blog today. I’m new here, but have just finished my twelfth novel for HARLEQUIN® HISTORICAL and have been writing Regency novels for HARLEQUIN® for five years now. My next book, The Scarred Earl, is due out in May 2013 and is the second of the Seaborne Trilogy that began with The Duchess Hunt. My own website is being developed and should be online any day now, but this was a lovely opportunity to say hello to so many HARLEQUIN® HISTORICAL readers and wish you all joy and laughter and hope for the Christmas season and for 2013. I would like to say a very big thank you to my fellow Harlequin® Historical authors for their invitation to join them and host my day of the Advent competition here.

It’s a huge privilege for me to be the last author to pose individual questions for this year before the final grand draw on December 24th, when some lucky person will be drawn from all the calendar entries to win THE MAIN PRIZE, a Kindle Fire HD.

The prize I’m offering today is a signed copy (although that’s only signed by me) of my Christmas book, Governess Under the Mistletoe, which is the second book in Candlelit Christmas Kisses duo (
yes, there are two books in this one, the second is by lovely Anne Herries, so if you don’t like mine then hers is sure to delight and entertain you); a signed copy of The Duchess Hunt, which was published by HARLEQUIN® HISTORICAL in June 2012; and a delicious Lettuce scarf printed with strawberries that I couldn’t resist, because sending out real ones could be a bit tricky! All that adds up to nearly £30 GBP, so I hope you will think it worth your while to enter and, don’t forget that every entry counts towards the main prize drawn on Christmas Eve, so the more times you enter, the more chance you have of winning that Kindle Fire HD.

So my advice is to read the extract from my latest book, Governess Under the Mistletoe, before you answer this question!

What does Sophie use to pull Peter out of the snow?

‘No, I’m sure I saw someone,’ the Sophie voice insisted and Peter almost believed she was real, and shuddered at the monstrous idea of meeting her now he was all but spent and at his most vulnerable. ‘Over there, I tell you. There really is a rider heading straight into the ha-ha, Cordage.’

Halting Hannibal, lest she was real and right, Peter wondered at himself for believing in the impossible at such a time. He hesitated between jumping down and risking floundering, or staying up here and hazarding Hannibal’s knees. Deciding on the lesser of two evils, he heaved himself out of the saddle and sank up to his hips in drifting snow as he fought to push his horse back from the ditch. All the poor animal wanted now was to take the quickest route to shelter and the stable he seemed almost able to scent on the howling wind.

Very well, Peter told himself with determined logic, since the ha-ha clearly exists, the voice that says it’s there must be real as well.

Even if that voice sounded perilously close to that of a female he never wanted to set eyes on again so long as he lived, he had to believe his senses or risk being on the edge of madness. There was nothing for it but to believe the siren voice would find a way to rescue him before he and his horse expired from sheer cold and exhaustion, and Edwina, Aunt Hes and Merryweather had to kill Cedric for being possibly the most annoying man in England – or make a bonfire out of the coach in order to keep themselves warm and try to attract attention to their plight.

‘Over here!’ he bellowed, as loudly as he could over the howling wind.

Lights flared through the murky darkness, sometimes blotted out by driving snow, sometimes clear as will-o’-the-wisps in the sudden breaks in the curtain of white as it swirled another way.

‘Rouse the grooms and stable boys, Miss Imogen,’ the man roared over his shoulder. ‘We’ll need help to carry him inside if he’s been out in this for very long.’

‘Imogen, do as Cordage says and then go inside and do me the courtesy of staying where I asked you to in the first place,’ the Sophie-like female ordered some poor soul beyond Peter’s faltering vision. He sympathised with the poor girl, whoever she might be, since she clearly lived under the cat’s paw.

‘And you should get inside in the warm as well, miss,’ the man called Cordage argued rather desperately.

‘Don’t be ridiculous,’ the shrew ordered her companion impatiently.

At the sound of her voice growing louder in his ears, Peter decided he ought to be grateful she was nigh as ungovernable as the woman he remembered so reluctantly as the most indomitable female he had ever met, since this one had evidently seen him from the window yonder and set out to rescue him.

‘Catch this!’ the woman ordered him, and he put out a hand without even thinking about it and caught the end of the leather belt she threw him more by chance than any skill on his part. ‘Now, pull yourself back onto the road with it,’ she went on, as if in charge of at least a battalion of rather stupid men lost in the snow. She prepared to lean back against his anticipated weight on the end of it.

‘With one hand?’ he demanded crossly, and thought he heard her gasp at the first sound of his suddenly hoarse voice – as if he reminded her of someone she didn’t want to recall as well.

‘Let your horse go and he will surely follow us. There seems little doubt he has more sense than you do,’ she said brusquely, and a dreadful suspicion began to dawn on him that this wasn’t a female who sounded like opinionated, sneaky, lying, felonious Sophie Bonet, but the real thing.

 

Text Copyright ©2012 by Elizabeth Beacon. Cover Art Copyright © 2012 by Harlequin Enterprises Limited.

Permission to reproduce text granted by Harlequin Books S.A. Cover art used by arrangement with Harlequin Enterprises Limited. All rights reserved.

® and ™ are trademarks owned by Harlequin Enterprises Limited or its affiliated companies, used under license.

 

So, if you have your answer at the ready folks, here’s what you need to do:
There is a problem  with Rafflecopter so  email the answer with Elizabeth Beacon giveaway in subject line  to contest@michellestyles.co.uk
 

Good luck, I will choose a winner at random from the correct answers then pass all of them to the main competition.  

Have a lovely Christmas and thank you for playing the game.

Tuesday, December 18, 2012

Harlequin HIstorical Advent Calendar: Blythe Gifford

Blythe Gifford is giving a Colonial candle in the scent which helped her write her latest trilogy plus a choice of book from the trilogy. For more details see her website.

Monday, December 17, 2012

Harlequin Historical Advent Calendar: Jeannie Lin

Today is Jeannie Lin and she is giving away a pendant because her June 2013 release The Sword Dancer has a pendant which is integral to the plot as well as a signed autograph copy of My Fair Concubine. For details on how to enter please go here.

Tuesday, December 11, 2012

Castonbury Park Christmas Party



It's Christmas and Castonbury Park is hosting a party. We do hope you will drop in and raise a glass with the Montague family  and perhaps slip along the chilly corridors to the servants' hall to say hello to Hannah Stratton, Lumsden, Smithens and the rest of the servants, who have been given leave to hold a party of their own. 

In the drawing room, Giles insisted that Adam and Amber be invited to join the Montague celebrations,and they have come, despite Adam's initial reluctance. They are now in the drawing room and they have brought presents for everyone, dress-lengths of the finest muslin for the ladies and the best superfine for the gentlemen. Even the duke is delighted with the spotted velvet that Adam has selected for him and has instructed Smithens to have it made up into a jacket as soon as maybe

.

Claire bends awkwardly and kisses the Duke on the cheek, enquiring after her brother's health and smiles when he declares he's never been better, though missing her husband's cooking. At Lily's questioning look at her tummy, she nods. The baby is due in the early spring, she explains. When the men look around for the culprit, she explains he popped in to visit with the staff. Andre strolls in at that moment and is greeted by a chorus of congratulations which he accepts with good grace and a proud smile at his wife. They link arms and he escorts her to a chair at the hearth despite her laughing assurances she is perfectly fine.

Giles calls order and holds up a paper. 'I have a letter,' he announces,  'From Ross.' He proceeds to read in his rich, deep voice -

"Greetings and good wishes to all. It is with regret that Lisette and I cannot be with you at Castonbury Park to celebrate Christmas, but we will be with you in spirit. We are both happy to be back in India. I am still on leave from my regiment so we shall be spending the festive season with friends in the Malabar Hills – not quite the way it is celebrated in England but it will be our first Christmas together so it will be a special time for us. Picture to yourselves a picnic in a grove of leafy mangos and feathery palms, bright tropical flowers and cool sea breezes. Later, the gardens will be hung with lanterns for a Christmas ball, the house gay with music and laughter and a flutter of fans and the clink of dress-swords.
        The New Year will see me resuming my regimental duties, when Lisette will have her first taste of what life will be like as the wife of a soldier..."

Hannah Stratton is in the Servants' Hall, where she enjoyed a glass of wine with Monsieur Andre before he went back upstairs, and now she is watching the younger members of staff preparing to dance. Earlier in the day, the children from Lady Kate’s village school gathered around Hannah to receive the gifts Kate and her husband Virgil had sent from their new home in Boston. Spinning tops and jumping ropes, skittles, some beautifully illustrated books of fairy tales, and best of all, a carved rocking horse. Joe Coyle, the footman, had to arbitrate when a fight for possession broke out between one of the children and Charlie, the boot boy which Miss Thomson, the school mistress, failed to spot, for she was busy reading Lady Kate’s letter.  

‘Her ladyship says that she and her husband have established a school exactly like the one in Castonbury village,’ Miss Thomson exclaimed as the Reverend Mr Seagrove came into the kitchen with his usual beaming smile.
 ‘Lady Kate asks most kindly after you,’ Mrs Stratton told the vicar as she offered him a hot mince pie.
 ‘She asked most kindly after every one of us,’ Becca the scullery maid piped up. ‘She even remembered Charlie and me.’
 ‘A toast,’ said Lumsden, earning himself a round of applause as he dispensed glasses of hot punch for the adults, fruit cup for the children. ‘To Lady Kate and Mr Jackson. A very merry Christmas across the seas.’

Bram tapped Phaedra on the arm. “It’s time.” A shiver of excitement ran through her. Phaedra put down her glass of Christmas punch. Aunt Wilhelmina cast them a disapproving glance as they discreetly moved towards the drawing room door, leaving the Castonbury Christmas party. But Bram smiled and mouthed the words, ‘The foal’ and Aunt Willy’s expression softened, proving Bram could charm anyone. He’d worked miracles winning her aunt’s favor since their marriage.
    In the stables, Tom Anderson was already with the mare, kneeling beside her. He looked up at their approach. “It’s good you’re here. Too much longer and you would have missed it. She’s having an easy time of it.”
    Phaedra and Bram knelt beside the horse, Phaedra taking up position by the mare’s head. Within moments the new foal slid into the world, another fine colt from the Weston Stud. The little foal stood up and Phaedra gasped. “Have you ever seen anything like that? He stood up so fast!”
    The mare was licking him, encouraging him to nurse. Phaedra and Bram rose from the straw and moved away, giving the mare room to adore her baby. “He’s beautiful, Bram.” Phaedra breathed, feeling Bram’s arms around her.
  “Do you have name?” Bram asked quietly.
  “Miracle.” It had been a year for miracles at Castonbury with Jamie returned to them, Giles married at last, and Claire expecting, and now a beautiful colt born on the night of the greatest miracle of them all.
  “Perfect.” Bram kissed her cheek. “I’ll go open up a keg of ale and let the stable celebrate.”  

And while all the celebrations are going on, in one of the upstairs chambers on this cold night, a lady awaits a blessed arrival for the New Year, and a bright future for Castonbury Park.





 Do drop in and leave a comment - there's mulled wine and apple bobbing to enjoy!

Monday, December 10, 2012

HH Advent Calendar: Sarah Mallory

For a chance to win a signed copy of Sarah Mallory's January release Behind the Rake's Wicked Wager  visit her website and answer a simple question about the book. Remember all entries do go into the drawing for the Grand Prize.

Thursday, December 06, 2012

HH Advent Day 6 -- Joanna Fulford

Today is Joanna Fulford who writes in a wide variety of time periods including Viking and medieval Scotland as well as Regency and Victorian. She is giving away a pendant to one lucky person. There is a very simple question to answer. You can find more here.

Wednesday, December 05, 2012

HH Advent Day 6 --Lucy Ashford

Today is Regency author Lucy Ashford's day. SHe has a pair of lovely earrings to give away plus a signed copy of one of her books. All you have to do is answer a simple question to enter.
Go here for more details

Tuesday, December 04, 2012

Harlequin Historical Advent Calendar Day 4 --DIane Gaston

Today is Diane Gaston's turn. A $25 Amazon certificate is up for grabs (will be drawn tonight) but a $10 Amazon certificate will be drawn on 21 Dec. To enter Diane's daily prize  email her the answer to the simple question on her website. More info  here.