Showing posts with label romantic comedy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label romantic comedy. Show all posts

Thursday, April 5, 2018

Re-release of AN INHERITANCE FOR THE BIRDS is Here!

An Inheritance for the Birds is here!

The all-new, expanded and completely rewritten An Inheritance for the Birds is now available at Amazon, Barnes and Noble, iBooks, Kobo, Smashwords and other retailers:

Buy links: https://books2read.com/u/4Do0dg
 
Have fun as our Regency hero and heroine strive to make ducks happy in order to win an estate.



BLURB:
Make the ducks happy and win an estate!

Mr. Christopher “Kit” Winnington never expected his favorite aunt to dream up something as ridiculous as a contest to determine the heir to her sizeable property.

But there it is, in black and white, in the letter from her solicitor. In order to win the inheritance, Kit must vie with his aunt’s companion, Miss Angela Stratton. Their task: Make his aunt’s pet ducks happy. Odd, for such a sharp-witted lady, and definitely out of character.

Still, making ducks happy is better than his current, despised job. Shouldn’t be much of a problem, either. Quack at them, pet them and maybe feed them some stale bread. He should win handily.

Angela liked her employer very much, but the most she expected from the will was a little money. But now, a chance to win an entire estate! Since she cares for the ducks and knows their quirks, she should win easily.

The ducks, already happy, quack along their merry way as Kit and Angela discover that love may be a greater prize than any inheritance.

A sweet, drawing room, not bedroom, Regency romantic comedy. 40,000 words, about 145 pages. A new version of the previous book, expanded and completely rewritten.

EXCERPT:

 Yawning, Kit shut the door behind him. Enough ducks and prickly ladies for one day. He undressed and then donned a nightshirt he dug from his valise before he blew out both candles.
Simmons had already drawn back the bedclothes. The counterpane was silky under Kit’s palm, and covered a featherbed.
Mayhap they had stuffed the mattress and pillows with down from Aunt Augusta’s pets.
He grinned. That was a thought.
After tying back the bed curtains, he settled into the soft cocoon. Tomorrow, he would have it out with Miss Stratton about the steward’s residence, but that was tomorrow. He fluffed up his pillow and turned onto his side…
“QUACK!”
A bundle of flapping, squawking feathers exploded from the depths of the covers.
Kit tumbled out of bed. Throwing his hands over his head, he scrambled up and then bolted for the door.
“QUACK!” The thrashing, quacking explosion pummeled him the entire way. A serrated knife edge scraped over his upper arm.
“Ow!” Batting at the avian attacker with one hand, he groped for the latch with the other.
The door crashed open. Miss Stratton, her agitated candle flame flinging wildly careening light on the walls, darted in. “Busick, you stop that right now!”
With a squawk, the feathered windstorm fluttered to the floor in a graceful arc.
Kit jerked up his arms, ready to fend off another attack.
“Quack.”
Kit looked out from under his arms before slowly lowering them. A duck. He should have known.

Buy links: https://books2read.com/u/4Do0dg
 
Thank you all,
Linda






Sunday, June 12, 2016

The Story Behind LADY OF THE STARS

Lady of the Stars was the first story I had published.

In 2007, a new ebook publisher, The Wild Rose Press, ran a contest for time travel stories. They promised a free critique by an editor to everyone who entered. So, I wrote a time travel about a 21st century astronomer heroine who goes back to the Regency to meet the hero. The story is a science fiction romance (I like astronomy) although, at the time, I didn't know the genre existed. I also came up with a twist that I've never seen elsewhere. The twist includes the book's title, which does not refer to the heroine's profession, but explaining the title's meaning will give the story away.

I didn't win the contest, but they said they would accept the story if I made some changes. I made the changes, and after two more tries, they took the story. If you want all the gory details, you can read them here.

The Wild Rose Press published Lady of the Stars in 2009. The story was an EPIC E-Book Competition finalist in Science Fiction Romance in 2010, received 4 stars from RT Book Reviews, and was The Romance Reviews Finalist for Best in Historical Fantasy/Paranormal in 2011.

As the years went on, I thought of things I wanted to add to the story. When I pulled the book from the publisher last year, I added everything that had simmered in the back of my mind for so long. And, although the original book still read well, I rewrote the entire story--I write better now than I did then. :)

The writing took some four months. The latest version is 50% longer than the original, (now 34,000 words to the original 21,000) with some holes plugged, some Point of View (POV) errors fixed, the telling, especially at the end which was mostly telling, converted to showing and the removal of a lot of "he thought, he heard, he saw".

Lady of the Stars, Regency time travel mainstream romance

Available at

Amazon: http://getbook.at/Lady1

Barnes and Noble: http://bit.ly/1RQXiKl

iBooks: http://bit.ly/1VCZvHo

Kobo: http://bit.ly/1Pl3FVG

Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/607960
All formats are available on Smashwords.


Thank you, all,
Linda