Two Dukes and a Scandal Tour with Gayle Callen, Laura Lee Guhrke and Caroline Linden

Meet Gayle Callen, author of Redemption of the Duke.

After a detour through fitness instructing and computer programming, Gayle Callen found the life she’d always dreamed of as a romance writer. This USA Today bestselling author has written more than eighteen historical romances for Avon Books, and her novels have won the Holt Medallion and the Laurel Wreath Award.

Gayle lives in Central New York with her three children, her dog, Apollo, and her husband, Jim the Romance Hero.

Places to find Gayle: 

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“Research and the Historical Romance Author”

I write historical romances; naturally, you must assume I do a lot of research. And over the years I have. Luckily, I’ve written over twenty historicals, so the basics come to me naturally now. But over the years I’ve collected some incredible research books. The hard part was trying to remember where I read something, without having to reread all my books. So I came up with a set of computer files with titles like: Clothes, Hair, Carriages, Jewelry, Death, Afghanistan (England was fighting wars there during the Victorian period). And in these files, I type the research I collect from books I don’t own (still marking down the name of the book, so I can look for more details if necessary). But when I own the book, I’ll write reminders to myself how to find things: “evening clothes fabric, book title, page number.” That way, I don’t have to rewrite the actual research, but I can get my hands on it right away.

I even do this for the Valentine Valley contemporary books I write as Emma Cane. I was surprised to find that I do just as much research for contemporaries as historicals. I had to know all about how a cowboy works, and trust me, they don’t just ride around on horses. Each character has a job that I need to research. For my most recent book, A PROMISE AT BLUEBELL HILL, the hero is a Secret Service agent. Talk about research! The one difference between researching historicals and contemporaries is that I tend to talk to actual people for contemporary help, and with historicals, I delve into old books. Interested in some of the books I’ve collected?

Here are some titles:

• The History of Underclothes (hmm, why would I need that…)
• English Inns, Past and Present
• Bogs, Baths, and Basins: The Story of Domestic Sanitation
• Marine: a Guided Tour of a Marine Expeditionary Unit (I’ve had a couple ex-Marine contemporary heroes)
• The London Underworld
• The Cowboy Way
• The Victorian Country House
• Costume: 1066 - 1966

And a whole slew of medieval/Elizabethan books for the twelve medievals I wrote as Gayle, and as Julia Latham. I own over 100 research books.

So how much research actually makes it into the book? I bet it’s less than 25 %. I do so much reading, looking for tidbits that help me plot, or just the right detail to make the hero’s life seem real to my readers. And of course, the sheer fun of learning fascinating details about how other people lived makes me OVER-research. I could spend days going through musty old books in my local university library. But I don’t, because I have to write, and make sure you feel like you’re really in the 1840s.

So tell me where you stand on historical clothes. Do you like lots of description or just a touch?

USA Today bestselling author Gayle Callen concludes her new series with a tale of generosity, passion, and the true kindness of the heart.

A duke who needs to be tamed…a lady who refuses to be rescued.

Adam Chamberlin was the third son of a duke, known for gambling binges and drunken nights. No one expected anything of him …until tragedy strikes. Now Adam is the new Duke of Rothford, determined to right the wrongs he’s done. Except a secret in his past means helping the one woman who doesn’t want his help at all…

It’s not every day that a duke introduces himself to a woman sitting by herself in Hyde Park. Faith Cooper is even more surprised when Adam offers her a position as a lady’s companion to his elderly aunt. Faith refuses to be beholden to a man again-certainly not this man, who both infuriates and attracts her. But with the simmering passion between them, will Faith surrender to forbidden desire?

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Check out the Brides of Redemption series:

 

Adam Chamberlin sat alone in his London study, preoccupied once again by the astonishing realization that he was now the Duke of Rothford—he, the youngest of three sons, who’d been called a scoundrel and a rake and worse by his own brothers. For many years he’d taken great pleasure in living up to that. He and his younger sister were the offspring of his father’s second marriage to a much younger woman who’d brought little but beauty to the family, not property or connections. Adam’s brothers had never let him forget it, although always out of earshot of their father.

He’d deserved Society’s scorn once upon a time; he’d even reveled in it—anything to prove to his brothers that their threats and their condemnation didn’t matter to him.

Before joining the army, he’d never been responsible for anything or anyone. But the Eighth Dragoon Guards had shown him that a man could be judged on his honorable deeds, not his ancestors or his money. He’d been able to start over, to support himself instead of holding his breath waiting for his father to die and his brothers to make good on their threats of cutting him off.

Meet Laura Lee Guhrke, author of How to Lose a Duke in Ten Days.

Laura Lee Guhrke spent seven years in advertising, had a successful catering business, and managed a construction company before she decided writing novels was more fun. A New York Times and USA Today bestselling author, Laura has penned over twenty historical romances. Her books have received many award nominations, and she is the recipient of romance fiction’s highest honor: the Romance Writers of America RITA Award. She lives in the Northwest with her husband (or, as she calls him, her very own romance hero), along with two diva cats and a Golden Retriever happy to be their slave. Laura loves hearing from readers, and you can contact her via her website: www.lauraleeguhrke.com.

Find Laura at:

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From USA Today bestselling author Laura Lee Guhrke comes the story of a bargain, a marriage of convenience…and the chance for love to last a lifetime

They had a deal…

From the moment she met the devil-may-care Duke of Margrave, Edie knew he could change her life. And when he agreed to her outrageous proposal of a marriage of convenience, she was transformed from ruined American heiress to English duchess. Five years later, she’s delighted with their arrangement, especially since her husband is living on another continent.

But deals are made to be broken…

By marrying an heiress, Stuart was able to pay his family’s enormous debts, and Edie’s terms that he leave England forever seemed a small price to pay. But when a brush with death impels him home, he decides it’s time for a real marriage with his luscious American bride, and he proposes a bold new bargain: ten days to win her willing kiss. But is ten days enough to win her heart?

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Check out the An American Heiress In London series:

They went to the Wash the following day as Edie had arranged, and Stuart was glad Joanna and Mrs. Simmons were with them, for he badly needed their presence to regain his equilibrium. An irony, that. Both he and Edie had assumed Joanna would be her shield against him, not the other way around. But he knew a kiss wasn’t enough to make Edie fall into his arms, not by a long way, and even if that blessed event did happen in the next five days, his desire for her might remain unsated for much longer than that. Stuart knew he would need all the control he could muster. Nothing like the added presence of a fifteen year old girl and her elderly governess for making a man remember his propers. They set out blankets and a canopy on a nice stretch of grass along the cliffs above the shore, and Stuart was gratefulfor that, too. Being out in the open like this, there was little privacy for stealing kisses. Although they could not be observed by anyone on the beach below, the grassy knolls around them offered little protection from the eyes of anyone coming down to the shore from the fields or the village. These were Margrave lands, but the locals were free to come any time for fishing, bathing or boating, and though Stuart didn’t care much if people saw him kissing his wife on his own lands, he suspected Edie would never relax enough in such a situation to give him the chance to try.

Meet Caroline Linden, author of It Takes a Scandal.

Caroline Linden was born a reader, not a writer. She earned a math degree from Harvard University and wrote computer software before turning to writing fiction. Ten years, twelve books, three Red Sox championships, and one dog later, she has never been happier with her decision. Her books have won the NEC Reader's Choice Beanpot Award, the Daphne du Maurier Award, and RWA's RITA Award. Since she never won any prizes in math, she takes this as a sign that her decision was also a smart one.

Place to find Caroline:

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The second book in a deliciously sexy new series from USA Today bestselling and RITA award winning author Caroline Linden, in which an utterly shocking book--Fifty Shades of Grey for the Regency era-- has all of London talking and gives more than one young miss a mind for scandal.

Sometimes it takes a scandal . . .

Abigail Weston has everything: beauty, wit, and one of the largest dowries in England. Her parents hope she’ll wed an earl. Abigail hopes for a man who wants her desperately and passionately. But the money seems to blind every man she meets-except one.

Sebastian Vane has nothing. He came home from war with a shattered leg to find his father mad and his inheritance gone. He’s not a fit suitor for anyone, let alone an heiress. But Abigail lights up his world like a comet, bright and beautiful and able to see him instead of his ruined reputation. And it might end happily ever after . . .

To reveal your heart’s desire

Until Benedict Lennox begins courting Abigail. Ben is everything Sebastian isn’t-wealthy, charming, heir to an earl. Sebastian won’t give up the only girl he’s ever loved without a fight, but Abigail must choose between the penniless gentleman who moves her heart, and the suitor who is everything her parents want.

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Check out the Scandals series:

A recluse. Why? He might have fallen on hard times, but his house was gracious and beautiful, a handsome brick mansion. One could easily see it, for it sat on the ridge of the hill that rose beyond Hart House. And he was handsome enough—even without counting his reserve—that most girls would overlook a limp, if they noticed it at all. When he used the cane it was almost imperceptible. Even more, Abigail didn’t sense he wanted to be a recluse. He could have held back when she was chasing Milo and avoided her entirely; she hadn’t noticed him at all until he spoke to her. He hadn’t needed to walk her back to the house. He hadn’t needed to give her that long, appraising look at the end, as though he was drinking in every facet of her appearance …

Well. If balls were good for anything, they were good for gossip. Surely a man as mysterious as Sebastian Vane would have inspired some whispers. She pinned one last sprig of loose jasmine into her hair and went down the stairs, determined to find out.

Three Gift Packs from Avon Romance including a Piece of Custom Jewelry and Copies of Release from All Three Authors)

Check out what's up for grabs.

Up For Grabs:

• 3 Gift Packs

To Enter: 

• Please answer Gayle's question: So tell me where you stand on historical clothes. Do you like lots of description or just a touch?
• US shipping ONLY.
• Please fill out the Rafflecopter form.

Good Luck! 

Special thanks to Avon, Gayle Callen, Laura Lee Guhrke & Caroline Linen for sponsoring this tour-wide giveaway.

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