Recent International Titles

France, Scandal Wears Satin

I always get a kick out of seeing my stories translated into other languages, and imagining my books—and eBooks—in the hands of readers all over the world.

Here are a few that recently arrived on my doorstep.

Czech Republic, Lord of Scoundrels

Slovenia, Last Night's Scandal

Vietnam, Lord of Scoundrels

Signing Books in Massachusetts

Stevens, The Letter

If you're in the New England area during the last weekend in April, you might want to think about dropping by the New England Romance Writers Book Fair for Literacy.  I'll be there, signing books—for you, maybe?

New England RomanceWriters Book Fair for Literacy

Saturday 27 April

3:30-5:30 pm

Boston Marriott Burlington

One Mall Road, Burlington, MA

Complaint Department

Rowlandson, Doctor Syntax

Along with sending those delicious emails telling me you love my books—no, I never get tired of  them, so please go on writing as the spirit moves you—some of you have approached the Complaints Window.

Here are the main ones:

How come I still  can’t get your recent books on Amazon UK?

What’s up with all the errors on the Regency eBooks?

Why can’t I find the eBook in the digital version I need, i.e., not Kindle or Nook?

OK, eBooks are fine for some people, but when are you going to make those earlier books available in print?

How much longer must I wait for the audio edition?

The majority of readers phrase their requests/unhappiness more courteously and tactfully than this.  I boiled it down to essentials to keep this short and to the point.

The main answer is that all these issues are being addressed.  Following are the details, as I have them.

Richard Dagley, Taking Thought

We’re not sure why there’s so much difficulty with Amazon UK, and we’re looking into it.  The first three Carsington books should be available now, and the others very soon.

We’ve seen differences in quality, depending on the type of digital reader.  Meanwhile, though, the team is proofreading like crazy and promises to get everything fixed ASAP.

At this point, all books that have been digitized ought to be available in all formats.
Note that Amazon & others allow readers to download the books to read on their computers or other devices without requiring the retailer's device.

We are in the process of ironing out details for Print-On-Demand editions of the eBooks.

I’m not sure what’s going on with audio books.  I know discussions have been ongoing, but I don’t have a progress report yet.

I apologize for things taking so long.  The trouble is, every version of my books involves some kind of contract negotiations.  Sometimes these don’t work out and we have to start from scratch.  At other times, it’s a long back-and-forth.  And then there’s the matter of implementing whatever technology it is, and getting everything set up with retailers (like Amazon, Barnes & Noble, etc.)  My agency has been working hard on these matters—and there are a lot of things to work on!  If only we could wave a magic wand or something.  But hey, if I had one of those, I’d write way faster.

Illustrations courtesy Ancestry Images.

Books in Slovenia

These two arrived recently—my first titles in Slovenian!

Don't Tempt Me

Your Scandalous Ways

My first two historical romances

My first two full-length historical romances started a series that continued with Lord of Scoundrels and The Last Hellion.  My French publisher refers to the series as Les Débauchés, which I think is perfect, if not so easy to pronounce.  But in English, it tends to be referred to as the Scoundrels series.  I never gave it a name because I hadn't planned a series.  It just happened.

The last two books have stayed in print.  The first two, which were out of print for quite some time, have returned this year as eBooks.

Here's the series, in chronological order as written.  The stories themselves overlap in time.

(1) The Lion's Daughter

(2) Captives of the Night

(3) Lord of Scoundrels

(4) The Last Hellion

My traditional Regencies enter the 21st century

A little while ago I reported that my out of print books are now available as eBooks.

Readers often ask about the order in which they ought to be read.   As far as I'm concerned, you can read them in any order, because I try to make each book stand alone.  Still, some books are connected.  The first four Regencies came in pairs, as a secondary character from one book got his own story in the next.  The last two are not connected. 

Next time, I'll report on the first two historical romances.

(1) Isabella

 

(2) The English Witch

(3) Viscount Vagabond

(4) The Devil's Delilah

(5) Knaves' Wager

(6) The Sandalwood Princess

At last! Out of print books return as eBooks

We've done it at last! All of my out-of-print full-length books are now available in Kindle and Nook—and are or will soon be released in other digital formats. The collection includes my very first full-length historical romance (as opposed to traditional Regency), The Lion's Daughter, which Barnes & Noble is featuring as a Nook First from 16 November to 14 December.

RT has provided some fun summaries of these older books on their daily blog.

For those of you who like to read books in order:

The Traditional Regencies are:

• Isabella, kindle | nook
• The English Witch, kindle | nook
• Viscount Vagabond, kindle | nook
• The Devil's Delilah, kindle | nook
• Knaves' Wager, kindle | nook
• The Sandalwood Princess, kindle | nook

The first two historical romances (part of the Débauchés series aka in English as The Scoundrels):

• The Lion's Daughter, kindle | nook
• Captives of the Night, kindle | nook

May yours be a wonderful holiday season, filled with good things—and many good books!

The Last Hellion, now in Italian

This arrived in today's mail, a delightful post-Thanksgiving gift:  the Italian edition of The Last Hellion, enticingly titled, L'ultimo libertino.  This is one of the few non-English languages I can read, though not well.  With the aid of a very large Italian dictionary, I can work it out at about one page per hour.

What about Lady Clara?

Readers have asked about Lady Clara, who has played a secondary role in my Dressmakers series.

Will she get her own story?
Will she get her happily ever after?

Originally, I'd imagined her story working out over the course of the series.  But the number of enquiries about her future has indicated that this might not be sufficient. Her own book or at least a novella would be sufficient.

Since it takes almost as long to write a novella as it does to write a whole book, I think she's going to get a whole book.  It's going to take some thinking.  But there's time for that.

Right now, I'm still working on Leonie's story.

2013?  I think that will be Lady Clara's year.

Your Scandalous Ways at a special price for August

This month, Avon is offering a dozen eBooks at a special price:  $1.99

One of these Sizzling Scandals books is mine:  Your Scandalous Ways.

You can find out more about the story here at Two Nerdy History Girls, and you can see many illustrations at my Pinterest board dedicated to the book.

 

Publishers Weekly 7 Smart Romances

So wonderful to find my book on this list, in such good company!

Silk is for Seduction—the French edition

Another interesting take on cover art.

Lord of Scoundrels in Croatia

I love getting the international editions of my books.  Today's mail brought the Croatian edition of Lord of Scoundrels, in both hardcover and paperback.

You can see it on the publisher's page by scrolling down here.

RT nominates Scandal Wears Satin

Over at RT Book Reviews, my second Dressmakers book, Scandal Wears Satin, has been nominated for Best Book Cover of the month.  You can add your vote by clicking here & scrolling down to the "Vote" button.

I'm delighted to report that the book was also one of the nominees for RT's July Seal of Excellence.

Talking with RT

At the RT Booklovers Convention not too long ago, I sat down with Morgan Doremus for an interview. 

It went live this afternoon, part of today's launch of Scandal Wears Satin. 

Morgan was a great interviewer, who made me feel completely at ease.  I hope you enjoy it, and that it answers some of your questions, too.

Scandal Wears Satin on sale now

Today's the big day. 


Scandal Wears Satin, the second Dressmakers book, is now available.

This time it's Sophy's story—and those of you who've already read Book One, Silk is for Seduction, will probably not swoon with astonishment when you find out that the hero is...

Right. Him.

You can read an excerpt at my website...or you can just go take a wild chance & get the book & see what happens.

And if you'll kindly bear with my bragging a little in small print, Scandal Wears Satin received starred reviews from Library Journal and Booklist as well as 4-1/2 stars and a Top Pick from Romantic Times.  And other nice reviews elsewhere, but a dose of discretion, I think, never comes amiss.

Everything I Know about Love, I Learned from Romance Novels

Sarah Wendell of Smart Bitches Trashy Books has written another funny, smart, insightful book about romance, Everything I Know about Love, I Learned from Romance Novels.

Some time ago, as she was working on the book, she asked me for my thoughts on romance novels.  I answered, at length...at great length, unsparing, as always, in my exploitation of the English language's massive vocabulary.  I assumed she'd somehow scrape a useful word or two from the flood of prose.

Well, no.  Sarah gave me a whole chapter, titled, "Loretta Chase Pretty Much Knows Everything."  This is kind of funny: When I tell family members the same exact thing, they just laugh.  Sometimes they make rude noises.

Here at her Smart Bitch Sarah page, you can learn more about the book and, since she's making a number of appearances, you may discover an opportunity to hear her fight the good fight for romance in person.

The English Witch is an Ebook, too

We're making progress with digitizing my older works.  The English Witch, my second book and a sequel to Isabella, is now available for your Kindle & Nook.  You'll notice that we're trying out a slightly different cover format, using a Regency fashion print.  I think this one conveys a bit more clearly its belonging to the traditional Regency, rather than Regency-era historical, genre.

Meanwhile, if you haven't already, please do take advantage of the special 99¢ price for Isabella.  The sweet deal ends after 10 October.

All my books in one bag at Dear Author Giveaway

You may want to stop by Dear Author and enter their giveaway this week.  Avon's offering Vera Bradley bags filled with books.  Mine includes all my in-print Avon titles as well as unused, signed copies of my out-of-print older titles,* including the traditional Regencies, which I've contributed from my rapidly-dwindling supply. 

The giveaway ends Friday...

*I've contributed a print copy of Captives of the Night, even though the post says "digital."


Illustration:  F. Boucher, Woman reading a book, courtesy Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C. 20540 USA.

But wait! There's more!

#6 on the New York Times E-Book Bestsellers

 #18 on the New York Times combined E-Book & Print Bestsellers