NEW RELEASES
Lady Aquarius The Pleasant
So the baby is here. Yea for the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge. Yea for Harry, too. Now the pressure is off – if there ever really was any – and he can just go hog wild now. That’s good for us, too, since that’s bound to make Harry even more out of control than ever. We do love ourselves a bad boy – especially when he’s as handsome as Harry.
There’s still no name for the bouncing baby boy. It remains to be one of the biggest internet fascinations these days so we figured we’d get in on it, too.
If you want your own royal name – here’s a generator that will do just that. Mine is a bit hippy dippy as you can see.
Über sparkles
Ava’s gonna have a fit that I’m putting this picture on the internet for all the world to see – or at least the 7 people who routinely read
our blog.
We told you all about the ball gowns that Ava made for herself and Mom made for me. They turned out superb and everyone loved them. We wore them to the Beau Monde ball and to my book signing. We figured how often do we get to wear those things for God’s sake?
Anyway, they were scratchy and hot and absolutely gorgeous.
We would like you to note just how well we take to acting regal.
We specifically asked our friend Tara who took this picture to make us look taller and thinner. She was practically laying on the floor of the hotel to get this angle. I suggested she go down to the next floor and try the angle from there.
One thing that’s disappointing from this picture is that you can’t see how many sparkles are on these dresses.
SPARKLES!
Welcome to the History Lovers Grand Tour & Scavenger Hunt!
As the name implies, we’re a group of readers and authors who love both history and romance, especially when they’re combined in a delightful story. If you feel the same, you’re welcome to join us on our Facebook page and converse with us about historical romance fiction.
Below you’ll find authors of historical romances set in a wide variety of time periods. Perhaps by participating in our Grand Tour you’ll discover some new authors for your future reading pleasure. Hop around to your heart’s content, feel free to comment on the posts, hunt for answers to the authors’ questions, and perhaps you’ll be one of our 25 lucky prize winners (see contest details below)…although you’re already a winner if you find a new story to read, do you not agree?
The theme for this tour is Courting Rituals, and for my post, I’ve chosen to talk about hunting, specifically beagling.
The Beginning of a Long Career
I imagine my handsome young man knows that our lovely young lady loves animals – much like the Quill Sisters do – and has invited her to go beagling. Our heroine is delighted at the prospect of joining her latest crush and a group of friends, cavorting with a pack of beagles and flitting about in the frothy morning air. Sadly, she is disappointed to learn that beagling involves hunting for hares (gasp). Fuzzy bunnies. Sweet little rabbits. It’s not even done with the assistance of horses. Nevertheless, she has a husband to catch and she’ll be with her friends, so she dons several layers of warm outerwear and some sturdy boots, and off she and her group heads into the 
woods.
Beagling has a long history in Great Britain and was even a favorite pastime of Elizabeth 1. Eventually the trend lead more toward the excitement of fox hunting and the hobby of beagling evolved into primarily a woman’s and old man’s sport. The dogs used in beagling are not the breed we know as a beagle now. Rather they were any pack of small hounds used for hunting.
Sadly, our miss finds the whole event rather less to her liking. It’s cold in the morning and tramping around in the brush is not where she wants to be. Not even the warm tea the servants prepared to warm the ladies serves to pick up her spirits. Until a soft brown blur races by her and hides in the undergrowth. Pushing aside the twigs and leaves, the lady discovers a tiny terrified rabbit. A baby, really, who is too afraid to move even as she extends her hand and gathers the wee, shivering creature to her. His ear twitches and a small leg kicks out as he snuggles up next to her. No one notices the movement inside her pelisse and our lady secrets the animal home.
The gallant young hero escorts the lady home and asks to call on her again. A brief curtsey and a shy smile give the man hope and he clasps her gloved hand in his. Perhaps she would accompany him on a fox hunt next time since she did express a desire for a mounted hunt? The lady considers – she considers the possibility of other frightened animals, these red-hued with perky, pointed ears and sharp, little faces.
Perhaps she should take a basket with her?
“I should like that very much, sir.”
The prize I am offering is an ebook or print copy (in the United States) of my book Miss Goldsleigh’s Secret and this is how you qualify for a chance to win:
Here’s my question for the scavenger hunt: What is the color of the bunny our heroine rescues?
Click on the History Lovers Grand Tour page to fill in the answer, and you may continue on from there. Enjoy!
When Henry Cavendish, Marquess of Dalton, leapt to catch the fainting woman before she hit the cobblestone, he never thought that one chivalrous act would set his well ordered life on end. His ingrained need to protect her has every bit as much to do with her enchanting beauty as it does his desire to wipe the hunted look from her startling blue eyes. He thinks he has everything in hand, but the lady has secrets that puts everything he loves at risk.
Olivia Goldsleigh just wants to live without terror, but a gunshot in the night proves things can always get worse. The beautiful and god-like Lord Dalton swears to protect her, to make the danger go away. She wants the man, the life, the family, the bliss he promises, but her secrets are certain to destroy them all.
AMAZON
History Lovers Grand Tour Authors
Rue Allyn • Amylynn Bright • Collette Cameron • Téa Cooper • Beverley Eikli • Susana Ellis • Aileen Fish • Debra Glass • Amy Hearst • Evangeline Holland • Piper Huguley • Eliza Knight • Kristen Koster • Cora Lee • Georgie Lee • Suzi Love • Denise Lynn • Deborah Macgillivray • Barbara Monajem • Shelly Munro • Ella Quinn • Eva Scott • Shereen Vedam • Elaine Violette
Prizes
- Each author will offer a prize for a contest, the specifics of which is set up entirely by her. The contest will be open to all participants, regardless of geographic location. For logistical purposes, authors may substitute a digital prize (gift card, etc.) of equal value for another prize that might prove difficult to mail to a distant location.
- The Grand Prize for the Scavenger Hunt will be awarded to the participant with the most correct answers to the authors’ scavenger hunt questions. In case of a tie, the winner will be chosen randomly.
- The winners will be posted on the History Lovers Grand Tour page the following week.
Scavenger Hunt
- Click on the above links to each author’s blog. The blog tour entry can be identified by the graphic in the upper right corner of the post. If it is not the top post, look for the graphic in a prominent location on the sidebar, and click on it to find the blog tour entry.
- Read the blog post and the author’s short answer question at the end. Locate the answer to the question, then click on the link to the History Lovers Grand Tour page and type in the answer next to the author’s name. Be sure to fill in the your name and email address!
- You may go back to same page and read more of the author’s post (excerpt, etc.) or you may click on another author’s name on the answer sheet and repeat the process.
- When you are finished, check to make sure the spaces for your name and email address are filled in correctly, and submit your answer sheet to the tour coordinator. If you submit an incomplete answer sheet, you may come back later and make another submission with the remaining answers when you have more time.
- Any questions about the scavenger hunt should be directed to the tour coordinator .
July 17
As you all know, the Sisters are at the RWA conference this week which doesn’t end until Saturday night. So next week’s Favorite things will cover that. For now, here are some ridiculous items/thoughts we messed around with at odd moments while we’re in Atlanta. We haven’t been asked to leave the city yet and we think that’s a win. The hotel? That’s a whole different story. We may yet be asked to leave the hotel. Actually, that’s entirely possible at any minute.
1. Service Dogs. We love service dogs. We love to see them out in public because they make us
feel better when we’re not at home with our pets. We hate that we aren’t allowed to touch them. We know they’re working – we understand, but still… One of the Sisters, who shall remain nameless, went ahead and touched the service dog of a blind person at the conference. She fully admits she was wrong to do it, but the doggy was adorable and wagged its tail. Who could resist? Not the Sisters that’s for sure.
2. Redecorating hotels. The conference is in an old hotel. The walls are concrete in a very Frank Lloyd Wright-ish way. However, when it was refurbished the decorator pretended that wasn’t the case. The whole decor is a weird juxtaposition of stuff that looks out of place. Ava can complain all she wants about the state of the decor, but painting the walls and putting in new carpet are never going to solve the problem we have of getting dizzy every single time we walk out into the atrium. The hotel is open all the way to the tippy top floor and every time we look up to track the glass elevator we nearly fall down. It’s very disconcerting.
3. Infiltrate. Many of the seminars are about the craft of writing, but there are also a lot about the business end. In one of those on the topic of getting your books found on the internet, we discussed the technique of infiltrating blogs and such. We like that idea a lot. There are many places we’d like to 
infiltrate, and if some nice young author can teach us how, we’re pretty sure we can make that skill carry over into other parts of our lives. We also like the word, we used it all day – 
infiltrate this, infiltrate that, we’re surprised anyone is still talking to us.
4. “Don’t Write Shit.” Sometimes the obvious is so close you miss it. Well, why didn’t we think of that?? Why did we have to wait to hear that little gem at an Amazon class today. The speaker just rolled it out as gospel. “Don’t write shit.” Well, hell . . .
5. Amy’s New Baby. We were in a marketing seminar and the speaker mentioned she had worked at “Bank of No Forks”. She had our sympathy. Then she mentioned she had 5 months of paid medical leave when she had her baby. Ava immediately decided that Amy needed a baby. She
could get an entire manuscript done in that time while being paid. Score!!! Inexplicably, she adamantly said, “NO.” NO! Can you believe it? Ava’s too old and peri-menopausal. How could she not take one for the team?
Still alive from Atlanta
Do not be alarmed! We are alive and well in Atlanta – just totally exhausted, hopped up on sugar and overloaded. Today we had dessert 3 separate times. Of course we did. By the time 10pm rolled around and we were still hungry, we decided some fried food would tamp down the sugar. Enter mozzarella sticks and onion rings in the bar.
We’re positive we are still alive because people keep recognizing Amylynn. Well not HER but her name.
“Are you AMYLYNN BRIGHT?” more than one person has said while looking at her name badge.
“Ummmmmmm,” Amylynn responds, bewildered, and wondering if this new, seemingly lovely lady is really an undercover FBI agent who stumbled upon this blog and is concerned about any number of animals being stolen and illegally domesticated.
“I loved your books,” she’ll say.
Or, “I follow your blog,” she’ll tell us.
Then we’re totally confused because we’re pretty sure only Mom and Aunt Debby read this blog with any regularity.
One absolutely charming lady at lunch recognized her and asked for the full story of the TSA/Delta debacle.
Then she asked for Amylynn’s picture. NO ONE who knows Amylynn will ever believe that she willingly sat for a quick picture and smiled nicely – not a grimace or a snarl – but a smile, but she did. Really.
The good news – we’re not on the No Fly List. Yet.
We arrived in Atlanta for the Romance Writers of America convention. Honest to Zeus, it’s a freaking miracle.
We arrived at our local airport with lots of time, which was a good thing because we were held up in security for over an hour. AN HOUR! We were within a hairs breath of missing our plane. When the Delta woman – who was a total bitch, we’d like to add – told us she wasn’t holding the plane for us after she and the TSA people caused the whole problem, suffice it to say things went down hill from there. We arrived in Atlanta after they pulled half our luggage off the plane, and we didn’t get to come with the swag we spent hours and a small fortune and possible tendinitis assembling. It’s outrageous and the people from Delta are going to hear from us, you can be assured. Possibly from our lawyer. The whole debacle would have been almost funny if I wasn’t so near strangling someone during the actual event. Every single person in that airport who possessed a necktie was gathered around, discussing our situation, and frowning. The people who work for TSA and Delta Airlines have absolutely no sense of humor, and we weren’t being particularly funny.
You know who’s funny? John Mulaney who also hates Delta airlines. Check it out.
Then we got to Atlanta and the Marriott screwed up our reservations.
When we finally got an acceptable room, I nearly knocked myself unconscious mistaking a cabinet door for a drawer. I’m certain I’ll have a mark on my forehead in the morning.
We do think there is a time warp or a worm hole or something in the Atlanta airport. If anyone else has experienced this phenomenon please let us know. We’ve never experienced baggage arrived so quickly to a carousal. It was flat out weird.
Check your mailbox
One of my favorite things to do is send people cards for no reason. I’m constantly scouring Halmark stores, grocery stores, even car washes – anywhere where there is a rounder of cards – for funny, nonsensical cards.
What’s better than getting a card in the mail when all you’re expecting is bills and junk. It’s wonderful I’m telling you.
If I find a good one, I’ll buy them all and send one to everyone.
This is the one I sent to Ava today. There’s nothing in the inside. All the important information is on the outside.
For all the men we love – and we love several – this is funny. If you don’t understand why this is funny we can’t help you. Just trust us – it’s funny.
Thank heaven they don’t weigh US before we get on the plane
Our bags are packed. We’ve weighed them. They weigh too much. We must reevaluate. I don’t like this part of traveling.
We doubled checked the baggage weight requirements. We’re over the limit on our swag bag by 8 pounds. How freaking annoying.
So if that wasn’t bad enough, Ava texts me the following.
Just in case you were afraid we aren’t self-aware. We totally get that we’re insane. That’s what we love about being members of the RWA (Romance Writers of America). It’s like we’ve found our tribe. Need proof? There’s a contest going on called Love Ur Shoes Too!
Throughout the week, we’ll take pictures of all the cute shoes we come across and tweet them. Then you (whether you’re at the conference or not!) can vote for your favorites by retweeting them with the hashtags #LUST13 and #RWA13.
We don’t have any expectations of winning, but still – it’s nice to know other women are weighing their luggage and coming in over weight, too.
July 12
It’s hot here. Oddly, there is a bizarre group of the earth’s population who engage in Heat Traveling. They go to Death Valley so they can stand next to the sign that shows 130 degrees so they can have a picture. They call it Death Valley for a reason, people. Still, hot is hot. It’s not like we expected anything different. It is summer after all. But it’s not just hot. It’s also humid. The Southwest desert is world renown for its “dry heat”. Usually we’d say that’s a load of crap. We don’t care what you think – once it’s over 110 degrees it doesn’t matter if it’s dry or not. That was until this week. As we write this it’s 43% humidity. This seems excessive,
don’t you think? The lizards are drowning. Ava and Amylynn are going to Atlanta, GA next week. Today it’s 84 degrees and 92% humidity over there. Seriously, how do people
breathe? Do they get fungus like sloths? We would love to see some of beautiful Atlanta, but frankly we’re not that strong of swimmers. These things amused us this week.
1. A wee summer rental. This is where we want to go after the RWA National convention to decompress. It’s a 17th century lovely little pile of rocks located outside the English village of Haltwhistle. How adorable is that name? That’s gotta be one of the best things about England – the name of the villages. The castle has seven bedrooms so there’s room for us all. The piece de resistance – it’s said to be haunted by the Grey Man, a minstrel who was “savaged to death by hounds”. Whaaaat? Are you kidding? What about that makes him
“Grey”? We definitely need to spend some time over there to investigate this business. It’s available for a 1o year lease. That ought to do it.
2. HUMP DAY! Have you people seen this commercial? We defy you not to laugh. The really bad thing, of course, is now we want a camel. A camel – with a hump, hump day. Blahahahahahahahaha. It’s entirely possible that there is something very wrong with us.
3. Unicorns and Scotland. The National animal of Scotland is the UNICORN. Yup. The unicorn. We are not making that up. The Sisters immediately jumped on the internet to find out why they have unicorns and we don’t.
We searched the Scottish zoos and came up with nothing. We went on the Scottish State Department website and found nothing there as well. WTF? Where are the unicorns? We refuse to believe that its the country’s animal and they don’t have at least one. We’re going over there to investigate check it out. We’ll report back – or watch the news, you’re sure to see us in a row boat with a HORSE wearing a birthday party hat . . . wink, wink.
4. Lizard Ladies. In the winter we’d be referring to ourselves and our dry desert skin. In this particular instance, however, we’re referring to actual lizard ladies. There we were innocently making a nuisance of ourselves in the Hobby Lobby. We were probably arguing. We do that a lot. It means nothing. Mostly we’re just debating things – loudly. Anyway, we were minding our own business when Amylynn suddenly shrieked, “Oh. My. God. There are lizards!” There were two women in the Hobby Lobby wearing lizards. Not belts or shoes or even carrying gorgeous Michael Kors lizard skinned purses. No, they had big-ass lizards draped across their shoulders. Ava pretended like that wasn’t at all the weirdest thing we’d seen all week and inquired as to the breed and some other such nonsense (Ava – it was weird but they were adorable, the lizards not the ladies.) while Amylynn whipped out her phone because we need a picture of that shit. Can you believe those
crazy women actually thought we’d be willing to hold one of the lizards? Only if it’s a purse. Seriously.
5. An unconventional plan. You know how we’re always trying to figure out how to get a panda or a sloth or a prehensile porcupine or a white tiger or a bear or a semi full of puppies? Surely there are other animals we’ve mentioned – honestly we lose track. We just saw this video and we had an unusual reaction. As you can see when you follow the jump, the video shows a herd of impala racing across a highway between cars closely followed by two cheetahs. In a brilliant maneuver, one of the impalas jumps into one of the idling vehicles to evade the cheetah hot on its heels. OK – what if we just sit in that highway with our doors open and see what hops in? Now, we’d prefer the cheetah – obviously – because we’re big fans of kitties, but we seriously doubt that should an impala find its way into the back seat that we’d have a serious problem with it. We haven’t worked all the kinks out of the plan yet.
Holy Crap we’re busy.
Here – enjoy a half naked man. We’ll be back to our regularly scheduled funniness right quick.