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Thursday, February 28, 2013

Guest Post with Author Cheryl Holt and Giveaway


Today I am super excited to welcome to RFTC, author Cheryl Holt. When I first began reading historical Cheryl was one of the very first authors I picked up. I am so unbelievably excited to have her on today and for her to share with you info on her upcoming Lord Trent Trilogy. Please give Cheryl a warm welcome.

CHERYL HOLT is a New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of over thirty novels.

She’s also a lawyer and mom, and at age forty, with two babies at home, she started a new career as a commercial fiction writer. She’d hoped to be a suspense novelist, but couldn’t sell any of her manuscripts, so she ended up taking a detour into romance where she was stunned to discover that she has a knack for writing some of the world’s greatest love stories.

Her books have been released to wide acclaim, and she has won or been nominated for many national awards. She is particularly proud to have been named “Best Storyteller of the Year” by the trade magazine Romantic Times BOOK Reviews.

She lives and writes in Hollywood, California, and she loves to hear from fans.

Places to visit Cheryl: 
| Site | Facebook | Twitter


MY NEW ‘LORD TRENT’ TRILOGY—COMING SUMMER 2013!

About 12 years ago, erotics began to spark as a romance subgenre. I quickly jumped on that bandwagon, and for years, I was hailed as “The Queen” of erotic romance.

When you think of what we’ve been reading the past decade, it’s difficult to recall how exotic the first erotics were deemed to be. A typical publisher’s contract at the time described a historical romance as a book that had one completed sex scene between the hero and heroine. A few daring authors threw in some extra sex scenes and—voila!—a new subgenre was born: erotic romance.

I had just begun my career by writing fairly standard historical romances, and when I made the switch to erotics, it changed the trajectory of my life and career. Erotics exploded out into the market in ways that—at the outset—no one could have envisioned.

When I first moved to my erotic publisher, I was going to be “the” erotic author at the company. Three years later, they had hired a new editor just to handle all the erotics they intended to publish. Readers couldn’t get enough. I became one of many and the market was saturated.

As authors joined the erotic ranks, they pushed the boundaries so that erotic quickly came to mean full-on erotica. Many women enjoyed the more graphic content, but many more women did not.

By 2005, I began to receive letters from long-time fans who complained that, when they went into a bookstore, they could no longer find a lush, yummy love story. Every book contained either a vampire or explicit content or both. A reader who simply wanted a fun and delicious love story was out of luck. There weren’t any.

By 2007, the market had gone so far into erotica that many people felt it had become pornographic. My publisher asked me if I would begin writing this rougher type of erotic. They actually suggested that I try “the virgin trapped in the brothel.” I thought the request was an interesting and depressing comment on the arc of my career—but also on our tastes as readers.

When I sold my first erotic, LOVE LESSONS, in 2000, my editor told me that she had looked at hundreds of manuscripts, but she had bought mine because I was the only one who understood that it had to be a love story rather than a sex story. Seven short years later, she simply wanted the sex story and we could forget about the love story altogether.

But I didn’t want to do that.

I abandoned my crown of “Queen” of erotics in 2009, and I felt that I needed to go back to writing great love stories. That’s where I started my career, where I made a name for myself, and where my fans had found great joy in my stories. Some of my most popular novels were written during that period.

With this in mind, I set down and wrote LOVE’S PROMISE, my book that’s coming in May, 2013. It’s my attempt to take readers back to the sort of love stories we read before all the vampires and erotica swept into the New York publishing houses. For those of you who have followed my career for many years, it’s similar in style and tone to my old novel, MY ONLY LOVE, that many fans tell me is still their favorite book out of all the ones I’ve written.

LOVE’S PROMISE is a longer book, very dramatic, very heart-wrenching and emotional, and I think it will give readers a different kind of love story from what has been available for many years.

The good news is that it’s Book #1 of a three-book trilogy, and all three books will be released this summer back to back, so readers can enjoy the entire story without having to wait six months or a year for the next installment.

I am publishing them myself, and while many people have issues with the new self-publishing trend and the onslaught of e-books, this has allowed me to get the story out to readers. I showed LOVE’S PROMISE to several New York editors who declined to publish it. They all told me that American women won’t read a love story if there is no vampire or explicit content.

I know they’re wrong.

I hope all of you will devour the three books. I’m calling them my ‘Lord Trent’ trilogy and they will be released this summer:

  • May, 2013 LOVE’S PROMISE
  • June, 2013 LOVE’S PRICE
  • July, 2013 LOVE’S PERIL (The hero is pirate. Yum!)


I’m currently running a contest on my web page to give away ten autographed copies of LOVE’S PROMISE when it’s released in May, and I hope all of you will enter for a chance to win.

If you haven’t tried one of my books before, my newest release is SWEET SURRENDER. It’s my most critically acclaimed book in years and my first Amazon bestseller. My hostess today, Danielle, is giving away a copy of SWEET SURRENDER, and you can enter by posting a reply to my blog.

Thank you for taking the time to read my blog today. I hope you’ll enter my contest and that you’ll watch for my trilogy this summer. It’s so fun! Thank you for thinking of me. I’m always grateful.


Charles Sinclair, the Earl of Trent, is England's most notorious roué. He never sired any lawful children with his aging, bitter wife. But he has many illegitimate children scattered across the kingdom. His oldest son, Phillip, is on a quest to find his lost half-siblings, to create a family with them and to fix any damage inflicted on their lives by their father's licentious conduct. The three books, LOVE'S PROMISE, LOVE'S PRICE, and LOVE'S PERIL tell the stories of four of Lord Trents lost children.

Finally coming in 2013, Cheryl's long-buried trilogy—three fabulous novels filled with heartbreak, dashing characters, drama, passion, and love—will sweep you away!

Check out the Lord Trent Trilogy: 
Check out whats up for grabs.

Up For Grabs:

To Enter:
  • Please leave a comment/question for Cheryl
  • International Shipping Available
  • Please fill out the Rafflecopter form

**Don't forget to head over to Cheryl's site and enter to win a signed copy of Love's Promise when it releases in May. 

31 comments :

  1. Ms. Holt,
    This trilogy sounds fabulous! I love that you are going back to a love story and not just a sex story. I have varied reading habits; but I've always loved the story of a book. You are following your dream of what you want your writing to be and that will always lead you in the right direction. Congratulations on this trilogy and may it lead to more books about this family.

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  2. Never read anything by this author before, but I have added her to my list. Thanks for the great write up and intro

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  3. Never read anything by this author before, but I have added her to my list. Thanks for the great write up and intro

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  4. This is a new writer to me. BUT I love the trilogy. Sounds like a great series. Will look for it later in bookstore.

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  5. Congrats to Cheryl on the new release! I haven't read her books either and they sound awesome! Definitely adding them to my want list ;)

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  6. Hi! Thanks for this chance and for sharing this post! I didn't know about the Trent Trilogy or the other series, but those sounds really good! The cover are sexy! I'll put these on my TBR pile for sure!

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  7. I completely agree with you---they should be love stories, not sex stories. If that's all a woman wanted, we could get porn for that. I am from the school that believes less is better--less gore in a movie, less explicitness in a book. Congratulations on going back to where you feel comfortable and where your true fans are!!

    cc_clubbs [at] yahoo [dot] com

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  8. Cheryl is a new author for me. Your family series sounds very good.

    kscathyATyahooDOTcom

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  9. Hi Cheryl -

    When I read Love Lesson's back in 2001 I didn't know it was an "erotic" book! I thought it was just a great book to read so I even shared it with a few of my friends and they loved it as well! If course we were all in our early 50's at the time (and glad all the children had finally moved out on their own) that we probably were also enjoying that calgon take me away moment of pure bliss!

    I also wanted to tell you "THANK YOU"! for having all three books in the "Love's" trilogy coming out close together and just in time to give us all some great summer reading! I'm already picturing myself at the beach or in my hammock and bright sunshine instead rain and snow! You just made my day!

    jeannemiro(at)yahoo(dot)com

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  10. Agree with you on the erotic books :) I haven't read your books so look forward to adding them to my library. Thanks,
    lorih824 at yahoo dot com

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  11. I've read some of your Historicals and am looking forward to this trilogy. I read books for the love story.

    Marcy Shuler
    bmndshuler(at)hotmail(dot)com

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  12. Sounds like a really good series!!
    Thanks for the chance to win!

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  13. Those NY editors are most definitely wrong...we LOVE love stories. I have read several of your books and love them, I want love.... not just sex. Thanks for the interview and contest =)

    joylynne66@hotmail.com

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  14. I am really looking forward to this trilogy. I adore your books and have reread them when I need a familiar romance, yours are some of the best.

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  15. I love your books and I am excited to read this series.

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  16. Thanks for the giveaway! This book looks awesome!

    mestith at gmail dot com

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  17. Beautiful covers. Love! I have read most of your work, and I love everything you write.

    smurfettev AT gmail DOT com

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  18. I haven't read any of your books yet, so I am looking forward to reading this one & the new trilogy. I rarely read vampire or books with explicit content. I definitely will read books with a great love story! Good luck with everything!

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  19. I love your books Cheryl.Hope you are having an amazing week.

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  20. I love romance books and all its sub genres. I agree that it's nice to read just a normal romance historical or contemporary.
    The books look great.

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  21. wow wow I am loving the sound of this trilogy! Congrats on your new release <3 adding these to my list now

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  22. Thank you for the heads up on the new books. Good luck. Are all the covers by the same artist? lisagk@yahoo

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  23. I think I could be considered one of those complainers. Glad to see the shift back to the sweeter side!

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  24. I am excited for the new releases. Thanks for the giveaway ladies!

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  25. I am one of the readers who do not want vampires and erotica. I like an old fashioned romance. I have read your books and enjoy them. Congrats on the new release.

    Kit3247(at)aol(dot)com

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  26. Congrats to Cheryl on the new release! This series looks great and the cover book, it was gergous!! I must add on my list!!

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  27. perfect timing for my August beach vacation!

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  28. I love a LOVE story. I don't want the vampires or explicit content. Good for you.

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  29. I agree with you that the focus of romantic publishing has become slanted too much to extremely erotic content. I'm happy that there are authors who hold out against it.

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  30. I'm excited to read all of your books! Thank for the chance to win a copy of Sweet Surrender!

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