My Favorite Book Couple with Anna Campbell

ANNA CAMPBELL has written eight multi award-winning historical romances for Grand Central Publishing and Avon HarperCollins and her work is published in sixteen languages. Anna is currently engaged in writing the "Sons of Sin" series, which started in 2012 with SEVEN NIGHTS IN A ROGUE’S BED. Look out for WHAT A DUKE DARES in August 2014. Anna lives on the beautiful east coast of Australia where she writes full-time.

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From Russia With Love! By Anna Campbell

Hi Dani! Thank you so much for inviting me to participate in this fun blog event where we get to talk about our favorite book couple. You come up with the most interesting themes! Like most writers, I’m first and foremost a reader, so I love the chance to talk about great books.

Picking a favorite couple is actually rather tough, but I’ve decided to talk about the hero and heroine of the book I unfailingly turn to for a comfort read. I must have read it twenty times! And I never fail to close it with a big smile on my face and a big sigh of satisfaction.

My favorite book couple are Countess Anna Grazinsky and Rupert, the Earl of Westerholme, from A COUNTESS BELOW STAIRS by Eva Ibbotson. ACBS was the original title when the book was published as general fiction. It’s since been re-released as a YA book (as far as I know without changes) under the title THE SECRET COUNTESS, which I don’t think is nearly as interesting.

ACBS was published in 1981. I found it completely by chance one afternoon when I was combing the old Brisbane City Council Library. I’d never heard of the author or the book, but the title, with its hints of Upstairs, Downstairs and aristocratic masquerades caught my attention. I borrowed that particular book at least five more times and then, luckily, I found my own copy at a book sale. We forget in these days of one-click book buying how tough it was to track down books in the ‘old’ days! As you can tell, I was immediately captivated and I hope you will be too.

Anna, our plucky, great-hearted heroine, leads an enchanted life with her brilliant, eccentric, aristocratic family in pre-revolutionary Russia, but her world falls apart when the Bolsheviks take over and like many upper-class Russians, she flees to London. There she has to cope with grief and poverty and homesickness.

To support her family, she finds work as a maid in the beautiful old stately home Mersham. Here she meets wounded, clever, compelling Rupert, the gallant younger son who inherited after the death of his older brother in the trenches of World War I France. Rupert, too, has been ripped away from the future he’d dreamed of, as an archaeologist and academic. Instead, family duty compels him to save his inheritance for posterity in a new world where noblemen seem like an anachronism.

So we have two lovely characters, both of whom have to meet their unwelcome fates with courage and initiative, both of whom recognize the other as a kindred spirit from the start. Both of whom are people of unflinching honor – which is a problem when Rupert is engaged to the awful Muriel Hardwicke whose fortune will save Mersham and all those who rely on the house for their livelihood and emotional wellbeing. Ouch!

This book is unashamedly romantic. Sometimes spine-tinglingly so – I dare you to read the scene where Rupert and Anna waltz at the ball without goosebumps and a lump in your throat. It’s also funny and sad and wise and unforgettable. While the secondary characters are beautifully done and are all memorable in their own right, Rupert and Anna’s deep and abiding love remains at the center of the story. I’d love them to move in next door. That’s how much I love these characters!

If you haven’t read this, I hope you’ll be Russian to your nearest book retailer to grab a copy!
Do you have a romance that gives you a lump in the throat? What’s your favorite comfort read, the book you turn to when the world just seems a little bit too full of hard edges?

A delicious historical romance perfect for fans of Downton Abbey and "Upstairs, Downstairs." After the Russian Revolution turns her world topsy-turvy, Anna, a young Russian countess, has no choice but to flee to England. penniless, Anna hides her aristocratic background and takes a job as servant in the household of the esteemed Westerholme family, armed only with an outdated housekeeping manual and sheer determination.

Desperate to keep her past a secret, Anna is nearly overwhelmed by her new duties--not to mention her instant attraction to Rupert, the handsome Earl of Westerholme. to make matters worse, Rupert appears to be falling for her as well. As their attraction grows stronger, Anna finds it more and more difficult to keep her most dearly held secrets from unraveling. And then there's the small matter of Rupert's beautiful and nasty fiancee. . . .

Purchase: | Amazon | Kindle | B&N |

It Takes a Lady…

Brilliant scholar Genevieve Barrett knows how to keep a secret. Her identity as the author of her father's academic articles has always been her greatest deception-until a charming housebreaker tries to steal the mysterious Harmsworth Jewel from her. She doesn't reveal that she recognizes her father's devastatingly handsome new student as the thief himself. For Genevieve, this will be the most seductive secret of all...

..To Catch a Thief!

Sir Richard Harmsworth has been living a lie, maintaining a rakish facade to show society that he doesn't care about his status as a bastard. Yet long haunted by his unknown father's identity, Richard believes the Harmsworth Jewel will confirm his claim as the rightful heir. But when Richard sets out to seduce the bookworm who possesses the stone, he instead falls for its beautiful owner. But even as she steals Richard's heart, Genevieve will be in greater danger than her coveted treasure...

Purchase: | Amazon | Kindle | Barnes & Noble | The Book Depository |

Check out the Sons of Sin series:

  

 Check out what's up for grabs.

Up For Grabs:

• 1 copy of A Countess Below Stairs + A Rake's Midnight Kiss

To Enter: 

• Please answer Anna's question: Do you have a romance that gives you a lump in the throat? What’s your favorite comfort read, the book you turn to when the world just seems a little bit too full of hard edges?
• Please leave your email address along with your comment to enter.
• Choice of print or eBook copies.

**Don't forget to enter the grand prize giveaway!

Good Luck! 

Special thanks to Anna Campbell for sponsoring this giveaway.