A Gift from the Stars, Book 1 of The Regency Star Travelers, is my latest, and adds a bit of science fiction to the mostly Regency tale. The setting is the English countryside in December, and the gift is a mysterious crystal left behind when a space ship takes off after landing beside the heroine's house. The story also contains a wolf, the two-tailed comet of 1811, meteors, a wounded hero and a daring heroine. Whew! Did I get everything?
Mistletoe Everywhere adds some fantasy to Christmas. The hero sees mistletoe over the lady who jilted him, mistletoe only he can see. The heroine never wants to see the hero again because he called off their betrothal. Who's right? There are the estranged lovers, lots of mistletoe, real or supernatural, and the hero becomes the butt of mistletoe jokes.
Buy links below. Note, Mistletoe Everywhere and all ebooks are 25% off at The Wild Rose Press website through December 25, 2013.
A Gift from the Stars
The Regency Star Travelers--where the Regency and outer space meet with romance.
BLURB:
A gift from the stars can change your life.
Miss Elizabeth Ashby loves astronomy. She especially enjoys
her once-in-a-lifetime chance to observe the Great Comet of 1811. However, her
excitement vanishes the night an odd-looking meteor proves to be a sky craft
which lands nearby. The man who emerges from the vehicle doesn’t see her, but
as he reenters his craft to fly away, he drops a small red stone.
The stone from the stars glows and sends waves of warmth and
something else through Elizabeth. Her incipient cold disappears, her
illness-prone mother shakes off her maladies, and everyone else who comes near
the stone, which Elizabeth wears as a pendant, feels in the pink of health.
Including Mr. Jonathan Markham, who also saw the strange
meteor but was too far away to determine what the object was. Gored by a bull,
Jon has been slow to mend until he meets the enchanting Elizabeth. Does his
sudden speedy recovery emanate from his fascination with the desirable lady? Or
something else?
A sweet, traditional Regency romance novel with science
fiction elements. 71,000 words. A clean romance.
EXCERPT:
Lower and lower the shooting star descended, much too slowly
to Elizabeth’s way of thinking. From the angle and rate of its motion, the
object would likely strike the earth close by. If she could distinguish some
landmarks by its glow, perhaps she could find the stone.
She craned her neck back as the meteor soared across the
firmament. The unearthly rock blazed with the colors of the rainbow from
friction with the air.
Coldness pricked her spine. A meteor that enormous should
race through the heavens, shrieking in outrage as its surface pounded through
the atmosphere. This one was silent. And the stone—or was it a stone?—sloped
down in a leisurely, graceful curve, as gently as a feather floating in a light
breeze.
With eerie stillness, the object continued its glide across
the ebony sky, looming ever immense as its bulk neared the ground.
She could even make out features. In her experience, meteors
were dark, pitted lumps of rock or metal. This one was white, its pointed nose
flaring out behind to form a stretched-out triangle, almost like a bird with
unfurled wings.
And its size! Her heart in her throat, she jumped up. The
thing was larger than a mail coach. And it would fall onto Sentinel Moor beside
her house!
Continually slowing, the peculiar entity descended. The
object slipped below the level of the high Sentinel Oak across the field, and
then behind the top of the six-foot hawthorn hedge separating her garden from
the meadow.
Elizabeth took a step to run around the tall shrub. Blinding
whiteness exploded on the moor. She threw up her hands to shield her eyes and
then tumbled to the ground.
Available at Amazon, Amazon UK, Barnes and Noble , Smashwords, Sony, Kobo, and Apple. Note, all formats are available on Smashwords.
Available at Amazon, Amazon UK, Barnes and Noble , Smashwords, Sony, Kobo, and Apple. Note, all formats are available on Smashwords.
Mistletoe Everywhere
BLURB:
A man who sees mistletoe everywhere is mad--or in love.
Charles sees mistletoe. Not surprising, since he's spending Christmas at Mistletoe Manor. But why does no one else see it? And why does it always appear above Penelope, the despised lady who jilted him after their last meeting?
Penelope wants nothing to do with the faithless Charles, the man who cried off after she accepted his marriage proposal. But he still stirs her heart--and he stares at her all the time. Or rather, he stares at the empty ceiling over her head…What does he see?
According to folklore, mistletoe is the plant of peace. Can Penelope and Charles, so full of hurt and anger, heed the mistletoe's message and make peace?
A man who sees mistletoe everywhere is mad--or in love.
Charles sees mistletoe. Not surprising, since he's spending Christmas at Mistletoe Manor. But why does no one else see it? And why does it always appear above Penelope, the despised lady who jilted him after their last meeting?
Penelope wants nothing to do with the faithless Charles, the man who cried off after she accepted his marriage proposal. But he still stirs her heart--and he stares at her all the time. Or rather, he stares at the empty ceiling over her head…What does he see?
According to folklore, mistletoe is the plant of peace. Can Penelope and Charles, so full of hurt and anger, heed the mistletoe's message and make peace?
A sweet, traditional Regency romance, clean read.
EXCERPT:
After Charles had heaped his plate with more food than he wanted, he took one of the empty chairs at the table bottom, as far from Penelope as possible.
His tensed muscles eased as he joked with his friends. Smythe made a comment and Charles turned to answer. He caught sight of Penelope…and a monstrous bunch of mistletoe above her.
"Gordon? What is it?" Smythe swiveled in the direction Charles was staring. He looked up and down, and from one side to the other. "I say, with your mouth hanging open like that, you must see something spectacular, but damned if I know what it is."
With an audible click, Charles clamped his jaw shut. "I thought I saw…" He forced his gaze back to his companion. "Nothing. I imagined I saw mistletoe."
Smythe's eyebrows rose. "Mistletoe?"
"Yes. The house is named 'Mistletoe Manor', so the place is filled with mistletoe decorations. Pictures, wall hangings, ceiling trim, whatnot."
"Indeed." Smythe's eyebrows rose higher. "That 'mistletoe' you saw is over that Miss Lawrence. Lovely little filly." His lips curved into a knowing grin. "My jaw dropped the first time I saw her, too."
Charles stiffened. "I was not looking at Miss Lawrence. I believed I saw mistletoe over her."
"'Mistletoe'." Symthe's grin widened. "Of course."
Through December 25, 2013, Mistletoe Everywhere is 25% off at The Wild Rose Press, and so are my other Wild Rose Press books, link to all my books here.
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.
Thank you all,
Linda
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