Blurb: "I can't sleep with a man who keeps secrets."

Despite the warnings that he would break her heart, Jayne Hughes fell for the bad boy. And Conrad Hughes, casino magnate, did just that with his absences and lies. Now she’s ready to move on, but her husband has other plans….

Conrad’s undercover work for Interpol destroyed his marriage. When Jayne comes to Monte Carlo seeking a divorce, he launches an all-out assault. Seducing his wife back into his bed is child’s play; earning her trust is another matter. Yet Conrad knows the odds favor the house. And he has no intentions of losing.

Why I read this book: Last year I read my first Catherine Mann book, a romantic suspense titled Cover Me, loved it, and immediately read the rest of the Elite Force series. When I saw this new title from Mann available earlier this year as an ARC (Advanced Review Copy) from NetGalley, I was excited. Even if I hadn’t already been a fan of the author, the blurb would have sold me with the idea of Monte Carlo and romance within a marriage!

I was also curious to read a category romance, which this is, because it’s not the romance format I usually go for.

The Reluctant Bride is so much more than a Regency romance; it's romance woven through a plot full of spies, traitors and adventure. Add one of the most swoon-worthy heroes – who's not even titled gentry! – and you get a truly fantastic historical. It was a joy to work with Beverley Eikli on this book and I'm happy that her long-awaited publication day has arrived. Beverley's here today with some interesting insight about her approach to editing and the many changes this book has been through.

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Beverley: Hi Rachel, Thanks so much for having me here.

Rachel: Thank you for stopping by! I remember during our first set of exchanged emails when we were introducing ourselves you told me up front that you quite enjoy the editing process and looked forward to it. Music to an editor's ears! Since a lot of authors fear edits, what's your secret? 

Liz Harris is not a cookie-cutter romance author; her unusual locales and atypical relationship dynamics bring something fresh to the genre, and her detailed descriptions of those locales truly whisk the reader away to another time and place, taking on as much importance as the characters themselves. Her latest novel, A Bargain Struck, is a romance in reverse: a marriage on page two that leads to love by the final page. The Daily Mail calls it a "sure hit", and I quite agree! Today Liz is here to share with us how she goes about plotting and revising her early drafts of a book.

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Many thanks for inviting me to join you today, Rachel.

I was handed the idea for my first published novel, The Road Back, on a plate – or, rather, in an album: the novel was inspired by the album compiled by my uncle after he’d visited Ladakh, north of the Himalayas, in the 1940s.

My inspiration for A Bargain Struck came from a very different source – it came from the radio. While driving along one day, thinking about what to write that would fall into the same genre as The Road Back, I heard someone talking about mail-order brides from Russia. I sat up. The concept of mail-order brides was a really romantic concept, I thought. But not in Russia. Before I’d reached my destination, I’d relocated my developing storyline to the wide open plains of Wyoming, where mail-order brides were a common occurrence, and set the story in 1887, a very interesting year in the history of Wyoming.

Blurb:
He's Gone Rogue

Ex-Navy SEAL Rock Babineaux’s job is to get information, and he’s one of the best in the business. Until something goes horribly wrong and he’s being hunted by his own government. Even his best friends at the covert special-ops organization Black Knights Inc. aren’t sure they can trust him. He thinks he can outrun them all, but his former partner—a curvy bombshell who knows just how to drive him wild—refuses to cut him loose.

She Won't Back Down

Vanessa Cordova hasn’t been the team’s communication specialist very long, but she knows how to read people—no way is Rock guilty of murder. And she’ll go to hell and back to help him prove it. Sure, the sexy Cajun has his secrets, but there’s no one in the world she’d rather have by her side in a tight spot. Which is good, because they’re about to get very tight …

Why I read this book: I’ve read the previous books in the series and was happy to receive a complimentary ARC (Advanced Reader Copy) of this title courtesy of Sourcebooks via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I enjoy reading YA in my spare time but had never had the pleasure of editing a YA novel until Christina Courtenay's New England Rocks landed on my desk. I'm so glad it did! Not only is the story fun, but it was a particular thrill for me since it centers on a British teen girl going to an American high school. (If you've missed it elsewhere, I'm an American who lived in England for four years, albeit as an adult, and moved back to the US just last month.) Christina and I had many good laughs about the idiosyncrasies of American vs. British English! I'm delighted to have Christina here today to talk about editing.

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EDITS – that is a word that can strike fear into most authors, I think! At least it does to me. And yet, they’re hardly ever as bad as I think they’re going to be.

I’ve had critique partners for years and although I greatly value their comments and input, I’ve learned not to take every single thing they say as gospel. Instead, I look at what they tell me and decide whether I agree that they have a valid point or not. If they do, I rewrite, if not, I don’t. Easy, right? Except, what if I’m wrong?