P is for Paranormal and a PRIZE!

***UPDATE: PRIZE ANNOUNCEMENT!***

 The winner of the original version of The Trouble with Moonlight is CHRYS FEY!!!

Congratulations, Chrys! Please contact Donna via her website at www.DonnaMacMeans.com

I hope you enjoy the book (I did!)

 

Today's letter in the monthlong A-Z Challenge is "P". Our guest is Donna MacMeans, talking about Paranomal romance. And one lucky commenter will win a prize! YAY!!

I love paranormal stories. As a child, my favorite fiction book was the Dragons of Blueland - does anyone remember that book?  Unlike the dragons in Game of Thrones (aren’t they cool?), the friendly Blueland dragons had yellow stripes and polkadots. Nothing threatening about that. My older brother read his way through Edgar Rice Burrough’s Barsoom series and as soon as he laid down a book, I’d pick it up. I devoured the stories of an earth man flying across the Martian landscape with a green woman/princess in his airship. I always thought the Nancy Drew books would be improved with a witch or a dragon, or maybe a mystery full of magic. So I come by my love of paranormal naturally.

My very first publishing credit was a paranormal story in the Dream Quest anthology. Smoke and Mirrors dealt with magic and mystery. If my historical story, The Education of Mrs. Brimley, hadn’t changed the direction of my publishing career, I’d be writing paranormals still.

Which is why I’m so thrilled to be able to announce that one of my paranormal stories will be released on Amazon next week. Bound By Moonlight is actually a reissue of an earlier release that won the critic’s choice award in Historical Love and Laughter from the reviewers at Romantic Times. Here’s the blurb:

A woman of extraordinary talents...

Lusinda Havershaw turns invisible in moonlight. Just her - not her clothes. She can’t help it, it just happens. A descendent of a rare race, her ancestors have been burned as witches, persecuted and tormented as the devil’s children. She must be careful to avoid detection. However as her family has no other means of support, she must reluctantly shed her petticoats and corset during a full moon to prowl the gas lit streets of London, stark naked, as a thief.

A man with a dangerous mission...

The only tools British spy and master safecracker James Locke needs are his hands and his brains. But when a hand tremor threatens his mission to secure a list of agents for the Crown, the accidental discovery of a lady thief with an extraordinary secret may just be his salvation. However, as James and Lusinda discover, there’s more than one kind of trouble to be found in the moonlight. The kind that begins with blackmail and ends with a kiss...

Be warned, this is a sexy book in a way that only a story with a naked invisible heroine can be. The hero discovers that just knowing the woman before him is stark naked is more intoxicating than if he could actually see her. I hope you give it a try and if you do, let me know what you think. The lovely thing about releasing this book on Amazon is that I’m free to write a sequel. You’ll have to stay tuned for details.

So tell me, what’s your favorite paranormal romance? I’ll choose someone leaving a comment to receive a copy of THE TROUBLE WITH MOONLIGHT, the original version of my Bound By Moonlight story.

 

Please check back on Sunday, April 20th, to see if you're the lucky winner of one of Donna's wonderful romances!

For the first four months of the year, Donna is a mild-mannered certified public accountant with a small tax practice. But come April 16th, she rips off the green eyeshade and transform into an impassioned writer of sexy historical romance novels, paranormals and romantic suspense. 

 

 

 

The "P" Book List:

 

 

 

Louise Penny: Canadian-set police procedural series featuring Chief Inspector Gamache

 

Steven Pressfield: The War of Art. Every writer or artist should have this guide to defeating resistance and creating a plan for success.

 

J.F. Penn: Crime thrillers with a supernatural edge.

 

 

AH, TO BE IN SCOTLAND AGAIN!

My guest is historical romance author Donna MacMeans. She shares her recent trip to Scotland with us.

Last year about this time I realized that if I was to set my next book in Scotland, I needed to “walk the land” -  get a feel for the countryside so I could present it accurately in THE WHISKY LAIRD (due for release in the spring of 2014).  So I packed my bags and booked a flight for Edinburgh.  As it’s a mind-melting ninety-four degrees here in Ohio, I thought I’d revisit that trip and cool off with a little nostalgia.  Want to come with me?

We stayed in the Grassmarket area in Edinburgh.  So named because long, long ago, horses and livestock there to be sold in the markets would graze in pens just beyond the western edge.  

As you can see from the picture, it’s below Edinburgh castle...way below.  Given that the Royal Mile, the main drag in Edinburgh, runs from the castle to the sea and that all the tour groups meet on the Royal Mile, we had to do some serious climbing to get to our tour bus - every day up, every day back down.  A quick way to get in shape is to vacation in Edinburgh LOL.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            

Lots of bars and all the patrons (and barkeeps) seemed engrossed in the same book!

Imagine that!

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                               

We took a number of trips that took us into the highlands.  I like this shot of the little town of Callander

  

One a hot day like this, the low clouds make me feel cooler.  We saw a number of waterfalls.

    

Notice that the water has a slight brown tinge.  This is due to the peat in the water.  You don’t see many houses throughout Scotland.  Most of the population lives in the cities.  The rural areas belong to the sheep!

Here’s a shot of Highland landscape and heather (always wondered what heather looked like)

                                                                                                                                                                

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       

We spent a night in Inverness.  Just as Edinburgh is clearly a medieval city, Inverness has a more Viking or Norman influence.  Can you see it in this picture? 

Inverness Cafe

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  

We spent a day at St. Andrew’s and saw this familiar guy.  He was playing for a wedding in the chapel adjacent to this courtyard. 

St. Andrews 

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         

Jonathan

Of course, as THE WHISKY LAIRD pairs a Scotch distiller with a woman devoted to the Temperance movement, we visited the Blair Athol distillery.  Here’s a pic in the courtyard of the distillery - oh wait!  What’s the tour guide reading?  

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          

I went to Scotland to become familiar with the scenery.  While on a tour bus going through some woods, I found myself thinking that much of the scenery reminded me of Virginia and North Carolina.  Right about that time, the tour guide mentioned that a few years ago, he had a geologist on the bus.  The geologist collected some rocks at one of the waterfalls and said that based on the limestone he found, Scotland was once part of the Appalachian mountain system of the United States.  Of course, it split and drifted away long before Columbus came to call.  But it struck me that I could have gotten a similar sense of Scotland right here in the States, but it wouldn't have been half as fun.

 

So how about you?  Have you been on a memorable vacation?  Ever been to Scotland?  Want to go?  

Someone leaving a comment will receive a copy of The Casanova Code - the book every one is reading? (grin).

BREAKING CODES

It's my pleasure to welcome back Donna MacMeans to Over Coffee. I thought it quite interesting to find that there were personal ads for finding companions and mates as early as the 1800's. Precursor to dating sites in our day. A lesson in the more things change the more they stay the same.
One commenter has the opportunity to win an autographed copy of Donna's latest release, The Casanova Code. 

A few years back, a friend sent me an article about Victorian personal ads:  man seeks woman, woman seeks man...yes, they had those sort of things back then, only they were more eloquent in their phrasing.  Here’s an example:

B.78 Middlesex – Age 25; fair, slight, fond of music, and a lively temperament; would like to make the acquaintance of an educated, refined man not under 30; not necessarily for marriage; wishes to correspond with a gentleman who is cultured and of a sympathetic disposition, either a business or professional man, but must be at least 30, and not more than 50; not a clergyman; a man of broad views and fond of music.July 1898

The ads make perfect sense when you think about it.  The industrial revolution brought people into the cities, expanding the population and changing the methods used to find a life partner.  Personal ads came into being about fifty years after newspapers began to widely circulate, but it wasn’t until the Victorian period that the ads became common.

Which got me thinking...(always a dangerous development)...what if someone knew that a notorious rogue was behind the placement of an ad for a quiet, unassuming female, and what if that someone felt obligated to warn any respondents of the danger they faced.  Thus my group of women determined to save other women from unscrupulous men was born - The Rake Patrol.

I discovered something interesting in my research of personal ads that helped shape the first book in my Rake Patrol series.  Sometimes the personal ads were written in code because the two correspondents didn’t want others “eavesdropping” on their otherwise public conversations. I gave my heroine, Edwina Hargrove, the ability to break code and read some of those secret conversations.  That particular talent gets her in more trouble than she ever imagined possible.

 

BUY: AMAZON, B&N, BAM

THE CASANOVA CODE:

“A refined gentleman, age 25, of wealth and education, seeks the acquaintance, with a view to matrimony, of a high-minded, kind-hearted lady who prefers an evening of quiet conversation to the lively demands of society.”

Edwina Hargrove knows that this “gentleman” was, in fact, Ashton Trewelyn, a rake notorious for seducing the young and naive. In fact, five decent women have already been tricked and bundled off to the continent for scandalous purposes. There was a way to thwart his scheme though—by shadowing this devilishly handsome Casanova and warning his prey.  If only it were that simple.

Wounded and weary, Ashton Trewelyn returns home to London from the King’s Royal Rifles but soon discovers a coded message that has implications for the Crown and his family.  His only hope to unravel the mystery lies in the enigmatic Edwina’s ability to recognize patterns.  Even as he leads her on a path of secret societies and risque temptations, he discovers she arouses his jaded soul with temptations of her own.  Must they risk everything to decipher Casanova’s Code? EXCERPT

Secret Codes, secret societies, sexy heroes - what more could you want in a romance?  I had a great time writing THE CASANOVA CODE and I’m hoping your readers will enjoy it as well.  Someone leaving a comment on the blog today will win an autographed copy.

I suppose the modern equivalent of personal ads are the online dating services.  

• Have you ever tried one?  Would you ever try one?  What attributes would you advertise for in a partner?  Would you be honest about yourself or take creative license (grin)?  Let’s chat!

(BTW, the first personal ad came from a book called “Classified, The secret history of the personal column”  written by H.G. Cocks, which according to the copyright page, stands for Harry Cocks  - Yup, you read that right.  Poor man!)

Before beginning her writing career in earnest, Donna MacMeans kept books of a different nature. A certified public accountant, she recently abandoned the exciting world of debits and credits to return to her passion: writing witty and sensuous romances. Her debut novel, The Education of Mrs. Brimley, won the 2006 Golden Heart for Best Long Historical. Her second book, The Trouble with Moonlight, won the Romantic Times Reviewers Choice award for historical love and laughter. Originally from Towson, Maryland, she now resides in central Ohio with my husband, two adult children and her kitty keyboard companion, Shadow.

Visit her website 

or Facebook, Twitter

Author Stalking: The Roguish Donna MacMeans

Kat Sheridan

My guest blogger, and I hope future contributor, is Kat Sheridan. She's a good friend (and writer) who recently attended a book signing at Barnes and Noble for Donna MacMeans--another very cool writer. Kat shares her thoughts on Donna's latest book and her experience at Barnes and Noble with us.

  

Let me preface this by saying that over the past year or so, Donna MacMeans and I have become friends, first via her (fabulous!) books and an online chat group for historical romance writers (waving madly at the MR Debutantes!) and then in real life. Those intelligent heroines and deliciously roguish heroes that she writes about? They all have a (more than a little) bit of Donna in them.

In her latest work, Redeeming the Rogue, the central plot is summed up nicely by the hero’s best friend (and intriguing, mysterious, delicious sidekick) Phineas Connor: “Have you considered the absurdity of it all, Rafe? That you, a son of Ireland, are traveling to America to impersonate a British minister in order to catch a fellow Irishman?”

In Redeeming the Rogue, Michael (Rafe) Rafferty is an Irishman working as an agent for the Crown to develop a peaceful, political solution to the question of Irish Home Rule. Ranged against Rafferty are the Home Rule League and the Fenians, who killed his parents and believe violence is the only way to achieve Irish independence. Rafferty, with his network of street urchin spies, is more at home in the rough alleys and taverns of London than in its ballrooms. Unfortunately, the new role he’s been asked to play requires more polish.

It also requires someone to play his hostess. And that “someone” would best be a wife.

Lady Arianne Chambers, the daughter and sister of a duke, has lived her whole life in diplomatic circles. Polish, politics, and protocol are in her blood. But like Rafferty, there are secrets in her past and she has very good reasons for wanting to escape London and head to Washington DC with her reluctant, recalcitrant, delightfully roguish protégé. 

I loved that this sensual, sexy, and slyly funny romance included a solid mystery and interesting plot to drive the story. The historical scaffolding on which Donna builds the romance doesn’t overwhelm the central love story, but provides a solid framework for it. Rafferty and Lady Arianne feel like real people. My heart broke right along with Lady Arianne’s (yes, 2:00 in the morning, I’m flipping pages as fast I can and crying my eyes out). Just as she did, I fell in love with Rafferty. And of course, because this is romance, the ending made my heart go pitty-pat. Le sigh.

I had the great fortune of attending my first ever book signing to get my autographed copy of Redeeming the Rogue. Donna’s logo/motif/signature is a peacock feather. She stamps one in every book she signs, and gives you a real one. Since I was a book signing virgin, I’d emailed her to ask what the protocol was. Donna was the Lady Arianne to my rough and unready Rafferty.  I asked Donna: “Will there be readings? Is this a white tie affair? Should I wear my tiara? Is it BYOB? Most importantly, will there be cupcakes?”

No, there weren’t readings (although I understand she thought her fellow co-signer, the delightful Susan Gee Heino would be good at that). Casual attire was fine, but since Donna is well known for her to-die-for feather Victorian hat, we decided the tiara would be fine (have you ever worn a tiara in a crowded Barnes & Noble on a Saturday afternoon? The trick is to act with aplomb, as if it’s perfectly normal, and NOT as if one is on a day pass from a nearby “facility” for the off-kilter).

We did discuss if the final “B” in BYOB stood for books (it’s tacky to bring your own from home—support your bookstore and buy your copy there), or if it stood for bourbon (sadly, liquid refreshments are frowned on in bookstores). Also sadly, the “B” did not stand for “baked goods”, in spite of my fervent hope there would be cupcakes. Because Donna always strives to please her fans, she did add a pink cupcake stamp alongside her usual green peacock feather, just for me!

I hope you grab your copy of Redeeming the Rogue by Donna Macmeans and settle in for a read that will have you cheering and crying and smiling and falling in love (best served with an icy Manhattan. And cupcakes).

Have you ever been to a book signing, either as an author or (slightly rabid) fan? What was it like? Most importantly, were there cupcakes?

Kat Sheridan is an aspiring author, fond of shiny things and bourbon. http://katsheridan.wordpress.com/

Having Fun With Donna MacMeans

My guest is Historical Romance author, Donna MacMeans. Aside from being a lot of fun in person, she writes some fabulous books which make you laugh and sigh. I'm happy to be welcoming her back to Over Coffee. Isn't her cover gorgeous?

Thanks Sia for having me here today.


I had so much fun writing this last book, I’m hoping readers will enjoy it as well.  In particular, I had great fun with my hero, Michael Rafferty, and his sidekick Phineas Connor, a secondary character who I’m guessing will have his own book one of these days.  Michael Rafferty is the muscle of the two.  He’s an Irishman who works for British Intelligence.  He’s well-acquainted with London’s underbelly.  The bad guys that live in the sewers there are well acquainted with his fists.  His best friend and associate, Phineas Connor, is a stage magician and a master of disguise.  I patterned the relationship on James West and Artemis Gordon from the Wild Wild West - the TV show, not the movie.

When I first clicked on the men’s relationship, I thought I’d watch some reruns of that show for a little character study.  Somehow I don’t remember the series being quite as campy as it is on my dvds (grin).  Memories work that way I guess.  I remember my brother and I watching the show after school.  James West was like an American James Bond for the Victorian period.  Remember their private railroad car with all the cool gadgets?  I understand that the show is now considered one of the first examples of Steampunk.

            
I also learned that the show was cancelled at the height of its popularity because SOMEONE decided it was too violent.  (Remember when James West punched the woman with the knife in the animated segments?)  Robert Conrad was known for doing his own stunts so I imagine the insurance costs to produce the show didn’t exactly aid its longevity.  Anyway, I don’t have to worry about either of these things in my REDEEMING THE ROGUE.  I’m not sure you can say I have a lot of violence in the book, but there are an awful lot of dead bodies.  This book definitely has a high body count.  Fortunately, the insurance cost for fictional characters is eminently affordable (grin). 

Here’s an excerpt so you can get a taste for the relationship of these two:

The vaguely annoying threat of a knife pressed to the small of his back gave Michael Rafferty pause.

“Your valuables or your life,” a guttural voice hissed.  “I reckon a couple of swanks like you two have nice fat pockets.”

Michael glanced at his associate.  Receiving his slight nod, Rafferty turned abruptly, rapping the miscreant’s hand sharply with his walking stick.  The knife fell and slid along the street.  Deprived of his weapon, the thief resorted to his fists but soon discovered he was out-classed there as well.  Rafferty had the man’s face pressed to the side of a well-appointed Mayfair townhouse with his arm twisted in a painful hold.

“Well done.”  His companion applauded.  “You didn't need my assistance at all.”

Rafferty winced, feeling the sting of a cut on his lip.  The bloody bugger had landed one lucky punch.  Blast that it had been the fist with a ring.


“Some of that famous sleight of hand would have been appreciated,” Rafferty said, shaking his hair clear from his eyes.  “Or is that only for the stage?”

His friend, the renowned Phineas Connor master of illusion, laughed.  “My performance on stage is limited to cards and doves.  You’re the one, Rafferty, known for his fists.”  He glanced at Rafferty’s captive.  “At least among the Irishmen that should know better.”

The man squirmed. “Rafferty?  Is that you?”  He swore like a seaman, which —based on his filthy rags — he could have been.  “I swear I didn’t know.”

Rafferty tugged the crook’s arm higher and heard fabric rip.  “Check his pockets.”

While Phineas rummaged through the man’s clothing, Rafferty glanced around the corner of the building to a line of hansoms in front of a stylish townhouse.  Such an elite gathering might offer temptation for the kind of criminal he held captive.  “This is a dapper neighborhood for a wharf rat like you.”

“I was minding me own business until you two came along,” the thief muttered.

Silver glinted in Phineas’s hand, the contents of the thief’s pocket.  Rafferty gave the man a shake.  “A half-crown?  Who else did you rob tonight?”
 

            “I didn't rob nobody.  That was for a message.  Half now and half when I brings the reply.”

              “What sort of reply did you expect to a knife in the back?” Rafferty tugged the arm, earning a squeal from the thief.

            “The message weren’t for you.  I was to hand-deliver it to a lady, I was.  I thought you two was easy pickings while I waited for her to show.”

            Phineas retrieved an envelope from the crook’s jacket.  No name or address was noted on the front but a blob of red wax sealed the back.  He bounced the letter off his fingertips.  “Nice quality stationery.  Too nice for the likes of a gutter rat.”

            “Who’s the lady?”  Rafferty asked.  When an answer wasn’t immediately forthcoming, he tugged the twisted arm higher.  “Tell me before your arm leaves its socket.”


            “I don’t know her name,” the cutpurse bellowed, his eyes squeezed shut.  “All I know is she’s dressed in green and she’s going to that party of swells.”  He slid his face on the limestone to point the way with his chin.


            “Barnell said…” His eyes widened and his mouth clamped shut. 

You might notice that Rafferty is a little rough around the edges.  As he’s about to be assigned a mission to masquerade as a British diplomat assigned to Washington DC, he’s going to need some sprucing up.  That’s where my heroine comes in.  Lady Arianne Chambers is the  sister to a duke who agrees to transform the rogue into something more convincing for his mission.  It’s sort of a reverse Pygmalion.  All to solve a mystery and catch a killer.

Publishers Weekly neatly summed up the story this way:  Irish rebellion, smuggled guns, and the assassination of American president James Garfield form a lively backdrop for this sweet, sexy, and smartly told Victorian romance.

Romantic Times gave REDEEMING THE ROGUE a 4.5 Top Pick with the comment: [Redeeming the Rogue] is pure joy; funny, sexy and exciting.”

I hope you will give it a try.  I’m running a contest with a Kindle as a prize.  You can find the details at www.DonnaMacMeans.com.

Plus I’ll give a copy of REDEEMING THE ROGUE to someone leaving a comment that tells me their favorite character(s) from an old TV show.  (Old of course being relative - grin).


Buy: Amazon, Barnes and Noble, IndieBound, Powells 

~*~*~

Before beginning her writing career in earnest, Donna MacMeans kept books of a different nature. A certified public accountant, she recently abandoned the exciting world of debits and credits to return to her passion: writing witty and sensuous romances. Her debut novel, The Education of Mrs. Brimley, won the 2006 Golden Heart for Best Long Historical. Her second book, The Trouble with Moonlight, won the Romantic Times Reviewers Choice award for historical love and laughter. Originally from Towson, Maryland, she now resides in central Ohio with my husband, two adult children and her kitty keyboard companion, Shadow.

Visit her website at https://www.donnamacmeans.com

or Facebook

Book Winners

FEBRUARY WINNERS!

We had five authors giving away books in February.

I don't have all your email addresses. Please either leave your email addresses in the comment section or contact me at siamckye@gmail.com with your physical address.

All addresses are kept strictly confidential.

The winners are as follows:

JUDI FENNELL:

LuAnn

Tetiwe

TERRY SPEAR:

Elli Rossi

Anna Shah Hogue

AMANDA FORESTER:

Tomi
Mason Canyon

DONNA GRANT:

Chellyreads

Sue A

DONNA MACMEANS:

Vivian Archer

Congratulations!

Be sure to contact me so we can get your books to you.

First Impressions

It's my pleasure to welcome my guest, Donna MacMeans. I had the opportunity to not only meet this wonderful historical writer this past September, but I attended a workshop she handled. She made me laugh and giggle more than once. Her workshops are very informative, well there was her fascination with numbers… :-) but other than that, I learned a lot.

Her topic today is timely, because it deals with how to make an impression with our writing, especially if we’re not published.

Let’s face it. We’re all victims of first impressions. When you first meet a stranger, you’ve already made certain assumptions about that person based on their attire, their stance, their hair, their smile. Love at first sight basically means instantaneous attraction (and let me just say, I’m a believer in love at first sight. Thirty–eight years later and I still believe.)

I contend that we do the same thing with books. Maybe we first fall in love with the cover, sometimes it’s the back cover blurb (I no longer trust those blurbs – fodder for another blog), but often it’s the first line. As an author, I have no control over the cover, very limited influence over the blurb, but the first line – yeah, that’s all me.

The first line can lead to love at first read. For an unpublished author, that first line might be the difference between getting a manuscript read by an industry professional, or not. It sets the tone, and expectations, for the rest of the book. A good first line can hook a reader and, if the book holds true to the promise of the first line, a fan.

Here’s a great one: “There are eight thousand nerve endings in the clitoris and this son-of-a-bitch couldn’t find any of them.” Don’t you love it! That’s from TAN LINES by J. J. Salem. You already have expectations for that book, right?

So I’ve been looking at first lines and here’s what I’ve found. You can often tell the gendre of a book by its first line. Big whoop, you might say. You can tell the gendre by the cover. A hunky chest and a wolf most likely means a shape-shifter paranormal, not an historical. However, if you’re unpublished, you don’t have the benefit of a cover.

But if you have a first line like these, the reader/editor/agent knows immediately this is a paranormal.

“Every night, death came slowly, painfully, and every morning Maddox awoke in bed, knowing he’d have to die again later.” Gena Showalter, THE DARKEST NIGHT

“My name is Kate Connor, and I used to be a Demon Hunter.” Julie Kenner, CARPE DEMON

How about mystery/suspense? I’ve noticed that when I ask readers for their favorite first lines, the mystery/suspense ones often foreshadow a dead body will soon make an appearance. Try these:

“Death was not taking a holiday. New York may have been decked out in its glitter and glamour, madly festooned in December 2059, but Santa Claus was dead. And a couple of his elves weren’t looking so good.” J.D. Robb, MEMORY IN DEATH

“My teacher always told me that in order to save a patient you’d have to kill him first. Not the most child-friendly way of explaining his theory of book restoration to his eight-year-old apprentice, but it worked. I grew up determined to save them all.” Kate Carlisle, HOMICIDE IN HARDCOVER (This debut went to straight to the New York Times extended list.)

Here’s a couple of favorite first lines from historicals. Notice the lyrical structure and a quick reference to something from a period. Clues that say “this is an historical”.

“Dangling a man upside down by the ankles outside a London ballroom was not how Maxwell Brooke had anticipated spending his first Thursday night as the Duke of Lyle.” Christine Wells, THE DANGEROUS DUKE

“Ice hung from windowsills with a glitter that rivaled glass, and new snow turned sooty streets to rivers of milk. Looking at the city from the bell tower of Saint Germain, the Duke of Fletcher could see candles flaring in store windows, and though he couldn’t smell roasting goose, holly leaves and gleaming berries over doors signaled that all of Paris had turned its mind toward a delicious banquet of gingerbread and spice, of rich wine and sugared cakes.” Eloisa James AN AFFAIR BEFORE CHRISTMAS

And I couldn’t help including one of my own. This from my latest:

“With all the malice she could muster, Francesca Winthrop whacked the wooden croquet ball beneath her foot, sending her mother’s ball careening across the manicured lawn, over the edge of the Newport cliffs, and possibly into the blue gray waters of the Atlantic Ocean. Pity, it wasn’t her mother’s head.” Donna MacMeans, THE SEDUCTION OF A DUKE.

Now it’s your turn. What are your favorite first lines? Help me add to my list. One comment will receive a copy of THE SEDUCTION OF A DUKE.

Back Cover:

William Chambers, Duke of Bedford, ascended to the title upon his father's death, but he also inherited his father's extensive debts. Desperate to avoid scandal and ruin, he is willing to go to any lengths—including marrying, sight unseen, a reclusive American heiress known as Frosty Franny.

Not pleased to be trapped in an arranged marriage, Francesca Winthrop conspires to turn lemons into lemonade with the assistance of a courtesan's journal.

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By day, a mild-mannered accountant, I transform at night to an impassioned author of romantic historical novels, paranormals, and suspense. I live outside of Columbus, Ohio with my wonderful husband of many, many years, two adult children, and my canine shadow - a mixed breed mutt named Oreo. When I'm not knee deep in tax returns as a self-employed CPA, or typing away on another manuscript, I'm active in several writing organizations. Every now and then, I break out my paints or pastels for a different creative venue, but of the two, I find writing not quite as messy. I love to cook (but hate to clean up). I have a bit of a reputation with my desserts. They always incorporate chocolate and alcohol in some intoxicating fashion.

In addition to Romance Writers of America, I'm a member and officer (you guessed it - Treasurer) of Central Ohio Fiction Writers. I also belong to The Golden Network, a chapter of Golden Heart Finalists, and Scriptscene, a chapter for scriptwriters. Hey - you never know when Hollywood will come knocking.

Donna's Website