Guest Post + Giveaway: A Wild Night's Bride

Please join me in welcoming author Victoria Vane to Let Them Read Books! I recently had the pleasure of reading Victoria's newest release, A Wild Night's Bride, an erotic historical romance novella. You'll have to wait till tomorrow for my review, but today I've got Victoria here talking about the inspiration behind the most wickedly scandalous sex scene I've come across in quite some time:
The Feast of Venus!


THE OTAHEITIAN FEAST--FACT or FANTASY?

As a dyed-in-the-wool history geek, I am always looking to history for inspiration in the belief that using real events and people gives my stories added depth and dimension. This is even the case in my erotic romances. When I set out to write A WILD NIGHT'S BRIDE, I was intrigued by a number of salacious tidbits I had read about the bawdiness of the Georgian era. Often described  as a golden age of prostitution, there are several nonfiction books dedicated to this subject (THE COVENT GARDEN LADIES by Hallie Rubenhold and LONDON'S SINFUL SECRET by Dan Cruishanks are two examples that sit on my research shelf.) Both of these volumes dedicate a significant number of pages to a notorious Georgian era bawd named Charlotte Hayes.

Vintage Teaser Tuesday: Kilmeny of the Orchard

Once she asked him naively, "Are there many people like you out in the world?"

"Thousands of them," said Eric, laughing.

She looked gravely at him. Then she gave her head a quick decided little shake.

"I do not think so," she wrote. "I do not know much of the world, but I do not think there are many people like you in it."

I loved this sweet romance novella from the author of Anne of Green Gables, in which a wealthy young man from the mainland spends a summer on Prince Edward Island and falls in love with a beautiful local girl, perfect in every way but one: she can't speak. It's a really moving story, I loved the descriptions of life on the island, I loved the characters, and I shed a tear when it was over. And  this enhanced version features full color artwork. A lovely way to while away a spring afternoon!

Click the cover to visit The Vintage Reader and download it now for only 99-cents!

Got a teaser?

Please leave a link so I can visit :)

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

Grab your current read

Open to a random page

Share two teaser sentences from somewhere on that page

BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! Share the title & author, too, so that others can add the book to their TBR Lists!

I've Got Some Winners to Announce . . .

The winner of

The Dragon's Harp is . . .

Kayla Beck

@ Bibliophilia, Please

The winner of

The Flower Reader is . . .

Rhonda

Thanks to everyone who commented on my reviews! Stay tuned for more giveaways!

Blog Tour Review: Night Sky by Jolene Perry

From the Back Cover:

"Girl I’ve loved, girl I’m falling for. Now that they’re both in view, the problem is clear."

After losing Sarah, the friend he’s loved, to some other guy, Jameson meets Sky. Her Native American roots, fluid movements, and need for brutal honesty become addictive fast. This is good. Jameson needs distraction – his dad leaves for another woman, his mom’s walking around like a zombie, and Sarah’s new boyfriend can’t keep his hands off of her.

As he spends time with Sky and learns about her village, her totems, and her friends with drums - she's way more than distraction. Jameson's falling for her fast.

But Sky’s need for honesty somehow doesn’t extend to her life story – and Jameson just may need more than his new girl to keep him distracted from the disaster of his senior year.

My Thoughts:

If you're looking for action and adventure or paranormal activity or a dark story, you won't find it here. What you will find is a realistic tale about a compelling young man's senior year in high school, what happens when his best friend breaks his heart, and how a new friend helps him heal it. Jameson's been in love with his best friend Sarah for years, but has never told her, content to simply enjoy their inseparable friendship. That is until she sets her sights on another guy. When Jameson leaves a school dance in a tailspin, reeling from seeing Sarah in another guy's arms, he can't imagine ever loving another girl. But on the way home he meets Sky, tall, dark, and gorgeous, the new girl in the neighborhood with mile-long legs, a stunning smile, and a mysterious past, and Jameson will never be the same.

Guest Post + Giveaway: The Sister Queens

We're talking sister novels today with debut author Sophie Perinot! Join the conversation and enter to win a copy of The Sister Queens!

I absolutely loved The Sister Queens--a five star read for me and the best historical fiction debut I've read in a long time! (Click here to read my review!) I'm very excited to have Sophie on the blog today! Without further ado, please join me in welcoming Sophie Perinot!

I am a sucker for a good sister story. Always have been—way back to the March sisters in Little Women. If you are a sister, if you have a sister, how can you not be? There is something so unique, wonderful, maddening and complicated about the bond we share, woman-to-woman, with our female siblings. Our relationships with our sisters are a constant source of aggravation and amazement in real life so it is only natural we should seek to explore and understand them better through literature.

I use the pages of my debut novel, The Sister Queens, to look at the heart and soul of the relationship between two 13th century sisters – Marguerite and Eleanor of Provence – who just happened to be queens (France and England respectively). But lots of other authors have approached the bonds of sisterhood through fiction. So I decided to start a Goodreads list for “Sister Novels,” soliciting a little help from some of my equally book-addicted friends.

Review: The Sister Queens by Sophie Perinot

From the Back Cover:

A stunning debut novel of Marguerite and Eleanor of Provence--sisters, rivals, and queens of France and England in the 13th century.


Patient, perfect, and used to being first, Marguerite becomes Queen of France. But Louis IX is a religious zealot who denies himself the love and companionship his wife craves. Can she borrow enough of her sister's boldness to grasp her chance for happiness in a forbidden love?


Passionate, strong-willed, and stubborn, Eleanor becomes Queen of England. Henry III is a good man, but not a good king. Can Eleanor stop competing with her sister and value what she has, or will she let it slip away?

Vintage Teaser Tuesday: The Prince and Betty

Love comes to some gently, imperceptibly, creeping in as the tide, through unsuspected creeks and inlets, creeps on a sleeping man, until he wakes to find himself surrounded. But to others it comes as a wave, breaking on them, beating them down, whirling them away.

It was so with John.

*****

It seemed to her now that she must always have loved him, but it had been such a vague, gentle thing, this love, before that last meeting—hardly more than a pleasant accompaniment to her life, something to think about in idle moments, a help and a support when things were running crosswise. She had been so satisfied with it, so content to keep him a mere memory. It seemed so needless and wanton to destroy her illusion.

Quick Review: Ladies in Waiting by Laura L. Sullivan

From the Back Cover:

Eliza dreams of being a playwright for the king’s theater, where she will be admired for her witty turns of phrase rather than her father’s wealth.

Beth is beautiful as the day but poor as a church mouse, so she must marry well, despite her love for her childhood sweetheart.

Zabby comes to England to further her scientific studies—and ends up saving the life of King Charles II. Soon her friendship with him becomes a dangerous, impossible obsession. Though she knows she should stay away from the young, handsome king, Charles has a new bride, Queen Catherine, and a queen needs ladies in waiting.

And so Zabby, Beth, and Eliza, three Elizabeths from very different walks of life, find themselves at the center of the most scandal-filled court that England has ever seen.