Maggi Andersen's Blog, page 52

A pretty Image to help with the Monday gloom

Alfred de Breanski Jnr. 1877-1957 A Garden in July

Here's a nice review of TAMING A GENTLEMAN SPY I'm sorry I haven't posted much lately, busy writing What a Rake Wants.

Amazon

5 Star Review:



“If ever beauty I did see
Which I desired, and got, ‘twas but a dream of thee.”

The Good Morrow. John Donne.

Taming A Gentleman Spy is an enthralling historical novel set in The Regency era after Napoleon has been defeated at the Battle of Waterloo and then exiled. At that time the Government feared the effect of The French Revolution and its supporters at home and abroad whose aim was to overturn law and order.

John Haldane, 4th Earl of Strathairn, a gentleman spy, returned to England after fighting the French in the Peninsula Wars and at the Battle of Waterloo. His experiences gathering information have marked him, and no one is more aware of this than Sibella, sister of the Marquess of Brandreth.

Brandreth, who has heard rumours about Strathairn’s link with the war office and the spymaster, warns Strathairn not to pay particular attention to Sibella, “…who loves home and hearth. She looks for a husband who will sit by the fire with her at night.” Brandreth doubts Strathairn could make Sibella happy.

Sibella is curious as to why Strathairn does not intend to marry in the foreseeable future. She thinks they are well-suited and his kiss thrilled her.

Strathairn will not marry Sibella because he could be killed like his partner, Nesbit, whose widow is pregnant.

On the ground, next to Nesbit’s lifeless body, lay a cravat pin in the shape of an eagle like the one favoured by Count Fornay, a dangerous revolutionary who fermented rebellion in England, and is presumed dead. “And why,” Strathairn asked himself, does Passion, a lady’s perfume linger in the air at the scene of the murder.

Urged on by her mother and brother, Sibella agrees to marry Lord Coombe in the hope that she will learn to love him. However, she is determined to discover the truth about his first wife’s death.

Maggi Andersen does not overwhelm the reader with historical facts but she does impart ‘the flavour’ of the times.


Rosemary Morris

We're celebrating the launch of Embracing Romance!

A beautiful giveaway on offer!

Book Review: Beyond Innocence by Joanna Lloyd

Beyond Innocence by Joanna LloydPurchase Now from Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Beyond-Innocence-Crimson-Romance-Joanna-ebook/dp/B009VM0L8E/ref=sr_1_1_title_0_main?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1393727277&sr=1-1&keywords=beyond+innocence+by+joanna+lloyd
Publisher's Blurb
Electra Shipley lies in a mite-infested bunk, weak from lack of food and seasickness. Imprisoned and sentenced to seven years’ transportation, she sails towards the penal colony of New South Wales, Australia. Despite the odds, she is determined to survive, to clear her name, and return to her life of wealth and ease in England.
William Radcliffe has fled the betrayals of his father and fiancée to make a new life in the colony. When a transport ship from England docks, William stumbles across much more than mere trade cargo. Haunted by the beautiful convict with wild hair and golden eyes, William decides a compliant and grateful convict wife might meet his needs without the complications of love. Electra must now decide whether a loveless marriage with a "colonial barbarian" is preferable to imprisonment.
William is unprepared for the deeply suppressed passion his new wife arouses within him. Against his conviction never to love, he begins to desire Electra and the sexual tension between them sparks into a fierce physical attraction he longs to satisfy.
But Electra has made enemies on the ship and a vicious act of revenge endangers her life and the lives of the people she has come to love. Can Electra and William’s love survive the perils of this land and its inhabitants, or will their pasts destroy their future?
Crimson Romance November 12th2012
Time and Setting: England & Australia 1819 Genre: Historical Romance/saga Heat Level: 3 Reviewer Rating: 4.5 Stars
            Although this novel begins in the English Regency period, it is not a Regency romance, it’s more a saga. Author, Joanna Lloyd’s story moves from a London townhouse to a farm in the early Colonial days of Australia. It is in Australia where most of the story unfolds.             Danger and troubles are heaped on heroine, Miss Electra Shipley, but she is no shrinking violet. While brought up as the daughter of a nobleman, she has not been cosseted. She is a practical, intelligent woman, brave and stoical, and has much to contend with after spending four months in Newgate Prison, the result of her uncle’s betrayal. He had embezzled her fortune after her father dies, and she is subsequently abandoned by her fiancé. Sentenced to seven years transportation, Electra is sent to Sydney Town, Australia, on a rat infested convict ship living in appalling conditions with the constant threat of rape. Once there, she must face further hardship working in a factory, until she is chosen for a marriage of convenience. The marriage does not begin well. She has little trust in any man and keeps her secrets close.             Headstrong and proud, Electra exhibits courage in facing the dangers of a raw new land, and opens her heart to the experiences and the people she finds there. She proves to be a great pioneer woman, embracing the Aboriginal people while holding her head up bravely against censure from the snobbish British colonists, as she fights to clear her name. She cannot shrug off her bitter past, however, and does not immediately embrace her husband.             William Radcliffe is a  handsome hardworking breeder of merino sheep with dreams of bigger ventures; a wounded hero he also suffers a deep hurt from his past in England. With doubts, secrets and fears on both sides, their relationship proves a rocky one and they have much to face before it turns to love. But when they finally come together, sparks fly!             Lloyd is a fine writer and there are many memorable moments in this book.
            “Electra felt like she was swimming through mud. Something terrible had happened but she couldn’t quite remember what it was. She knew William was trying desperately to reach out to her and she tried, how hard she tried, to let him know none of it was his fault. But each time she got close to breaking through, she was sucked back into a dark void, empty of emotion.”                         I commend Joanna Lloyd’s thorough research, she employs it well to paint a vivid pictures of those times. As an Australian, I enjoyed reading about those early years of my country and the journey of Electra and William. I look forward to reading the next novel Joanna Lloyd writes, it’s sure to be refreshingly different.

Embracing Romance Blog has gone live!

A Warm Welcome to Embracing Romance!by Violetta Rand As the winter season ends, we welcome the warmth of spring and the fellowship it inspires. Embracing Romance is a consortium of talented romance authors who share similar dreams, goals, and an unwavering love for the genres we write in. It’s our intention as writers and readers, to improve our craft, provide personal and professional support for each other, and most importantly, to sponsor a forum where readers can interact on a more personal level with the authors they admire.Our motto, Heat, Heart, and History, defines the nature of our stories. We believe in heat, the endless tension and attraction between our heroes and heroines. Whether it’s between the sheets or expressed through witty dialogue and elegant narrative, heat drives the story.We believe in heart, the soul of any book. That happily-ever-after we all dream of.We believe in history, resurrecting historical characters we admire or creating new ones. Capturing a moment in time that changes our lives forever.We believe reading inspires miracles.In keeping with this tradition, we invite our readers, family, and friends to discover something exciting and new every day and to contribute to our site.Embrace the story, never forget the romance.

Autumn is my favorite season and its the first day of Autumn here in Australia.

When I look at the beautiful trees here in the Southern Highlands of Australia, I always think of Keats and his ode To Autumn:

I

Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness,
Close bosom-friend of the maturing sun;
Conspiring with him how to load and bless
With fruit the vines that round the thatch-eves run;
To bend with apples the moss'd cottage-trees,
And fill all fruit with ripeness to the core;
To swell the gourd, and plump the hazel shells
With a sweet kernel; to set budding more,
And still more, later flowers for the bees,
Until they think warm days will never cease,
For Summer has o'er-brimm'd their clammy cells.


II

Who hath not seen thee oft amid thy store?
Sometimes whoever seeks abroad may find
Thee sitting careless on a granary floor,
Thy hair soft-lifted by the winnowing wind;
Or on a half-reap'd furrow sound asleep,
Drows'd with the fume of poppies, while thy hook
Spares the next swath and all its twined flowers:
And sometimes like a gleaner thou dost keep
Steady thy laden head across a brook;
Or by a cyder-press, with patient look,
Thou watchest the last oozings hours by hours.


III

Where are the songs of Spring? Ay, where are they?
Think not of them, thou hast thy music too, -
While barred clouds bloom the soft-dying day,
And touch the stubble plains with rosy hue;
Then in a wailful choir the small gnats mourn
Among the river sallows, borne aloft
Or sinking as the light wind lives or dies;
And full-grown lambs loud bleat from hilly bourn;
Hedge-crickets sing; and now with treble soft
The red-breast whistles from a garden-croft;

Romance Reviews Magazine: Latest Historical Review - Regency.

Romance Reviews Magazine: Latest Historical Review - Regency.: Taming a Gentleman Spy (The Spies of Mayfair Series, Book #2)    Reviewed by Katie. I loved this book!   The characters come on ...

Great review of Murder in Devon!

Amazon Review!

This book is a great mix of romance and heart stopping suspense. A beginning that hooked me from the eloquent and edgy prologue and kept me guessing throughout the entire book. American magazine journalist, Casey Rowan has just arrived at the Devon home of her two best friends, Tessa and Don. She is expecting Don to serve up a hearty English breakfast on her first morning but instead she is served up a ghastly murder and her friend, Tessa, in a pool of blood, fighting for her life.

DCI Rod Carlisle is in charge of the investigation but Casey can’t sit around waiting for him to miss vital leads. Despite Carlisle’s clear dictate that she leave the case to him, she steps into the murky waters surrounding Don’s death and places herself in danger by digging into the lives of ‘people in high places’. In his attempts to keep her safe, Carlisle’s interest in Casey takes a different turn.

I have read Maggi Andersen’s historical romances but this is my first foray into her Romantic Suspense Mysteries. She pulls off the suspense and intrigue brilliantly and had me guessing until the end. Her characters are expertly developed and come alive on the page and her vivid settings and creative descriptions take the reader into each scene together with the characters. The plot is fast paced with surprises at every turn. A wonderful book and I thoroughly recommend it.
Wordfrenzy
AMAZON
Blurb: She wants the truth, but it may cost her more than she thinks...

An ex-patriot-American living in England, magazine reporter Casey Rowan wakes to find one best friend murdered and another seriously injured. Casey is determined to find the killer, despite running afoul of the detective in charge of the case—a blue-eyed Scot named Rod Carlisle, who considers her a prime suspect. As Casey gets closer to the truth, losing her heart to the sexy cop isn’t the only thing she risks. Now her life is danger, too.

He wants her, but he may have to choose between love and duty...

Rod has no patience with civilians who interfere in police matters, even hot little numbers like Casey. Though he tries to keep things professional, Casey’s beauty and spunk are hard to resist. He warns her that what she’s doing is dangerous, but he only succeeds in alienating her. She refuses to listen and goes off on her own with disastrous results. Now Rod’s in a race to find the killer before the woman he loves becomes the next victim.

The winner of my contest is Linda!

Congratulations Linda! You have won my contest! Prizes are an e-book copy of A Baron in Her Bed and a print copy of Taming a Gentleman Spy.

A splendid animal - An elephant from Kenya's Amboseli National Park.

My image today is from IFAW. The elephant featured is from their vital project to protect elephants in Kenya's Amboseli National Park. In collaboration with the Kenya Wildlife Service and Kenya's School of Field Studies, they're tracking six of Amboseli's elephants via GPS to learn more about where families and bulls wander. And training Maasai community scouts to protect the park's elephants.