Cerise DeLand's Blog, page 18

Teatime with Cerise DeLand and her pals! Each Wednesday at 5 EASTERN! Fun, SWAG, book talk!

Yes, dahlink! TEA. We're serving it...with perhaps a spot of gin...or rum! Because it is 5 o'clock somewhere and we're drinking to it.

Come join us! Wednesday January 4 is here:  https://www.facebook.com/events/1279239205471764/

On Facebook. Where else does one go?

I have my buds with me. One or 2 each week and  they'll talk about their newest and their oldies, too. All goodies! Plus we will have contests, prizes, SWAG.

Pals, recovering from New Year's Eve. Yeah. I know, guys.
I feel your pain....Who are my friends? A few here in party hats welcome you...but honestly, the ones who write for you are the nubs.
Here's a list, for starters!

Jan. 4: Susana EllisJan. 11 Amy Rose BennettJan. 18 Cheryl BolenJan. 25 Dominique EastwickFeb. 8 Eliza Lloyd Feb. 15 Caroline WarfieldFeb. 22 Ella Quinn Many more to come! 


 I'm dressed for this event. Note gown to right. Corsets of...ooooui...stiff proportions!

One needs a shot of gin wearing that all day.

While we begin with many Regency authors, we will have contemporary too. And many of my pals write in many periods, so do stop by.

Show us your teapots, favorite teas, your corsets and...um...other unmentionables, maybe your Step-ins, too. (I have pix of men's step-ins that will elicit a giggle or an "OMG"!

$400? 40 authors join together, ask you to subscribe to their newsletters!

Sign up for 40 marvelous authors' newsletters! Do all and increase your chances of winning a whopping $400 Gift Card!
Where?
Here at this Rafflecopter url:  http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/01111d66174/
When?
Now! Contest open until 12/31/16 midnight!
Which authors offer you this big chance to start 2017 with cash in your pocket?
All of these terrific people whose books you must read!
And do please spread the word!
Merry Christmas and a very happy, safe, warm, healthy New Year!
     Best Wishes,
         Cerise


Then get ready for parties each Wednesday in 2017 at 5 EST on Facebook when I serve tea, crumpets and lots of gab about books! I've got marvelous friends joining me each day.
And there is, of course dahlink, SWAG!
Where?
Here: https://www.facebook.com/teawithcerise
Do bookmark it, put it in your calendar, then come nibble on books with me and my pals!

The #Victorian bride in her# wedding finery! Designs from #Paris, ooo la la!

   This white satin bridal gown, circa 1876, is the creation
of the French dressmaker, Madame Fladry whose shop was in rue Richer.Yes, I am nearly done with my HUGE, HUGE novel #1 in series starring American heiresses who marry European aristocrats during the Victorian period. Title? Undetermined yet.

(In fact, I will run a contest for this title and give prizes for the top 3 I like! Do you get my newsletter? Sign up here to enter that contest:  http://eepurl.com/Jm55L It runs next week!)

I say HUGE and really mean it. It is 90,000 words. Yes. Do fasten your seat-belts. These are much longer than my usual novels and encompass an entire family of buccaneer Americans, including two daughters, one son and a cousin. Even the widower (and very handsome father) has a romance of his own!

Of course, I had to investigate wedding attire, how to get the best (French), how to put it on (think layers, dahlink!), and, because this is a sexy romance, how to take it all OFF! (Carefully!)

And where do all these marvelous leafs come from? WEDDING FASHIONS 1862-1912, Designs from La Mode Illustree , edit. by JoAnne Olian.
   The dressmaker for all of these gowns is Madame DeLaunay in rue Godot-de-Maury. The bride's gown dates from Madame's collection of 1882 and is done in duchesse satin.       Here we see the bride with her well-dressed father, her attendant and that lady's escort as they enter the church for the wedding ceremony. In Great Britain, the attendant was known as simply that until approximately the late 1890s, when she becomes a "maid" or "matron of honor". A bride had an attendant to help her address invitations to the ceremony, carry out errands, plan for the ceremony and any reception afterward, plus help her dress the morning of the wedding.    The attendants, both male and female, acted as witnesses to the ceremony, a necessity to ensure its legality.    This leaf shows a fashion design from 1880.

#Veterans Day. My pix of #heroes we honor!

Panoramic view of our honored dead
in Oise-Aisne American Cemetery, Fere-en-Tardenois, France.    Over the past few years, my husband and I have gone to many American cemeteries abroad. Just recently while in Paris, we visited the Suresnes American Cemetery on Mont-Valerien. Reachable on the Metro, this lovely cemetery overlooking the city and the Eiffel Tower is a peaceful panorama where our Doughboys, nurses, YMCA, Salvation Army and others lie in repose.
   
    Of them:

1,543 lie beneath Latin crosses22 lie beneath Stars of DavidMissing in Action number 974"Those Known Only to God", our unknown soldiers, number 6 from WWI and 24 from WWII.    The following pictures of those lying in repose are not from Suresnes, but from other cemeteries holding the remains of our forces of WWI in France.  (I'll post those soon.)
    Here are a few from other cemeteries in France, all who fought and died during the war that was supposed to be "the war to end all wars." Please note the diversity of religions, gender and ethnic origin. Even in 1917-1918, we were a diverse country in which people from all walks of life lived, trained, fought and died together.
   May we continue to learn how to live together peacefully among ourselves, especially now in a period wherein vilification of The Other is rife in our nation.
Esther Amundson, Army Nurse Corps,
WWI, Base Hospital 35, Minnesota George C. Mondzecki, PVT.,
102 INF., 26 Division, Connecticut. Howard Coller, PVT.,
Ambulance Company, 2nd Division, New York. Raymond T. Reichard, PVT.,
39 INF, 4 Division, Pennsylvania.

Celebrate American #nurses in WWI #Centennial

American nurse aids soldier tear-gassed.American women saved sick and wounded Doughboys during the First World War. But what do you know about them?
Here is a novel, historically researched, that tells a story all women will be proud of. HEROIC MEASURES by Jo-Ann Power is a critically acclaimed work, thoroughly documented, that tells a story of women who left home, when to do so was extraordinary. Here is the background and the new link to Jo-Ann's site on the USA's National World War One Centennial site!

Jo-Ann and her husband in Chateau-Thierry
on one of their research trips to American World War One battle sites.When United States Congress declared war in April 1917, the United States had a standing army of only 200,00 men. To fight against a seasoned enemy in the war-torn trenches and forests of Europe, the country needed at least a million men—and a medical corps to care for their sick and wounded.
Caring for wounded, Base Hospital Johns Hopkins Unit, FranceWith only 403 nurses in the Army Nurse Corps [ANC] when the war began, the Surgeon General called for volunteers. Women in hospitals and private duty as well as many in training responded. Those already staffing hospitals could join the ANC through the Army’s newly established base hospital system and through the American Red Cross.
Beginning in 1917 through the end of the war a year and a half later, more than 22,400 American women left their homes and their families to join the Army Nurse Corps. Most had never traveled beyond their hometown. Few had ever visited a foreign land. More than 10,000 sailed from American ports amid blackouts through U-boat-infested waters. They slept in hammocks, trudged through knee-deep mud, lived in wooden barracks—and sometimes even washed their hair in their own helmets. Enduring rain and snow, disease and danger from bombardment, they nursed more than 320,000 American soldiers sick and wounded.

The cover shows a British captain and an American flyer in proper uniforms!
Both are characters, along with the heroine Gwen Spencer in the novel!
Buy Link to digital and print at AmazonThey worked in base hospital wards approximately 50 miles behind the front lines. Some worked in field hospitals closer to those in combat. Others worked in tents and bombed-out churches, their patients brought in on rickety ambulances and laid down on beds of hay. In mobile surgical units a mile or two from the advancing soldiers, they worked in teams with doctors to provide emergency treatment to critically wounded Doughboys. They treated soldiers with gunshot and shrapnel wounds, gangrene and septicemia, poison gas burns, infections like trench foot, exposure and “shell shock” that we now term PTSD.
For this service, these women held no rank. They received half what an Army private was paid. But like their male comrades in arms, they had volunteered for the duration of the conflict, however long that would last.
Operating Room, nurses and doctors. National WWI Museum photo.At the start of American involvement, they worked twelve-hour shifts. By the war’s end as the fighting grew more intense and casualties multiplied, they often labored round the clock. Many suffered from exhaustion. Some fell ill themselves. Many died of pneumonia, ear infections, dreaded Spanish influenza and more. A few died in automobile accidents and air raids. None died of combat related injuries. 
Most returned home and were discharged from the ANC. Many resumed their work in civilian posts. Twenty-seven nurses received United States service medals for their bravery and dedication. Dozens more received medals from Great Britain, France, Belgium and other allies.
American cemetery at St. Mihiel, France where many nurses
are buried. This is Jo-Ann's photo.More than 200 nurses gave the ultimate sacrifice. Many remain in repose in foreign soil next to the men they fought to save. Beneath the same white marble crosses as their male comrades in our American cemeteries, they rest at peace beneath the lovely Linden trees.
In the 1980s, author Jo-Ann Power began to research in museums and archives the lives of these heroic women. In 2013, she published her historical fiction about a group of nurses who volunteered.  HEROIC MEASURES  is for sale in digital and print.
Yesterday, she inaugurated the section of the National World War One Centennial site about the Army Nurse Corps.  World War I Army Nurse Corps  Putting all her research to work in a new way for the Centennial Commission, Power recounts the nurses’ challenges, their exploits and their triumphs.  Do marvel at their courage to travel so far and endure so much to salve the wounds of war, heal the sick and comfort the dying. Do applaud these women who, like others afterward, declared that war’s horrors must end—and that this conflict, this Great War, should be "the war to end all wars."
     Read more about HEROIC MEASURES  here .         For more information, pictures and details about the Army Nurse Corps, American experience in World War One and Jo-Ann's research trips in the States and to France, read Jo-Ann's blog,  They Also Fought .

Now, she invites anyone who has photos, letters, documents about a family member or friend or acquaintance to contact her so that she can put them up on the site for all Americans and everyone around the world to see, admire and honor.

Facts I'll watch for in #Versailles TV show next week! #cookies! #soldiers #France

Laduree shop on Champs Elysee!With a few courses in French history under my skin, I'm not only eager to see what the producers have done with Versailles the television show...but I'm also wild to note if they got many of the details right! (I have few doubts!)

First, I've noted in the commercials, that Louis and one of his mistresses eat what appear to be cookies from a "tree of cookies." The delicacies are round, composed of two cookies with a fondant or cream in the center. These are the macarons, so famous by Laduree.

Laduree has a shop (among many others elsewhere) along the Champs Elysee, where you can not only buy the delicious filled cookies, but you can dine there.

I will be on the lookout for a mention of the famous macarons!

Louis as a child! Entrance to Les Invalides which Louis built to care for
his injured, disabled soldiers. Louis engaged in so many wars that
this building stands to this day as his care for them.
It is now a military museum which spectacularly covers feudal
warfare up to modern day.The other little fact I'm tickled to look for is one that made me giggle in French history seminar. What was it? Louis was so sensitive, so demanding, that when anyone approached his chamber, he insisted they not knock on his door to disturb him.

So, you may ask, what did they do instead?

They were, said the Sun King, to scratch on the door with the nail of their little finger! And to accomplish this on a regular basis, one had to take care of that nail and grow it longer!

Louis was also very particular about the clothing of his courtiers. As in England during periods of war, some fabrics were reserved only for the highest level of the aristocracy. Other levels had restrictions of length of trains, types of garments worn and all in an elaborate system that took an inordinate amount of time for noblemen and ladies to learn!
Queen Maria Theresa, Louis's life, and their son, the Grand Dauphin.
And my last little fact for this post about Louis and Versailles: the cost. Ah, yes. Astronomical. Some  estimates are, in today's money, 2 billion Euros. Other experts say it was 5 times that. Why is there so much debate? Because Louis was careful to keep the real costs to himself. Some say, the complete records were never complete. Secret or incomplete, the taxes he imposed on his subjects to build this famous palace—and to fight the wars he declared, bankrupted the country quickly. His two successors were never able to put the country back on a sound financial footing (including the dissolute Louis XV whom we saw in #Outlander in this last season). Grandeur has its costs!

Louis as a young man.
Very handsome!
Cathedral where all French kings were crowned in Reims, France

#Veterans of #WWI included 22,000+ American #women! Read about them and #Centennial!

American women saved sick and wounded Doughboys during the First World War. But what do you know about them?
Here is a novel, historically researched, that tells a story all women will be proud of. HEROIC MEASURES by Jo-Ann Power is a critically acclaimed work, thoroughly documented, that tells a story of women who left home, when to do so was extraordinary. Here is the background and the new link to Jo-Ann's site on the USA's National World War One Centennial site!

Jo-Ann and her husband in Chateau-Thierry
on one of their research trips to American World War One battle sites.When United States Congress declared war in April 1917, the United States had a standing army of only 200,00 men. To fight against a seasoned enemy in the war-torn trenches and forests of Europe, the country needed at least a million men—and a medical corps to care for their sick and wounded.
Caring for wounded, Base Hospital Johns Hopkins Unit, FranceWith only 403 nurses in the Army Nurse Corps [ANC] when the war began, the Surgeon General called for volunteers. Women in hospitals and private duty as well as many in training responded. Those already staffing hospitals could join the ANC through the Army’s newly established base hospital system and through the American Red Cross.
Beginning in 1917 through the end of the war a year and a half later, more than 22,400 American women left their homes and their families to join the Army Nurse Corps. Most had never traveled beyond their hometown. Few had ever visited a foreign land. More than 10,000 sailed from American ports amid blackouts through U-boat-infested waters. They slept in hammocks, trudged through knee-deep mud, lived in wooden barracks—and sometimes even washed their hair in their own helmets. Enduring rain and snow, disease and danger from bombardment, they nursed more than 320,000 American soldiers sick and wounded.

The cover shows a British captain and an American flyer in proper uniforms!
Both are characters, along with the heroine Gwen Spencer in the novel!
Buy Link to digital and print at AmazonThey worked in base hospital wards approximately 50 miles behind the front lines. Some worked in field hospitals closer to those in combat. Others worked in tents and bombed-out churches, their patients brought in on rickety ambulances and laid down on beds of hay. In mobile surgical units a mile or two from the advancing soldiers, they worked in teams with doctors to provide emergency treatment to critically wounded Doughboys. They treated soldiers with gunshot and shrapnel wounds, gangrene and septicemia, poison gas burns, infections like trench foot, exposure and “shell shock” that we now term PTSD.
For this service, these women held no rank. They received half what an Army private was paid. But like their male comrades in arms, they had volunteered for the duration of the conflict, however long that would last.
Operating Room, nurses and doctors. National WWI Museum photo.At the start of American involvement, they worked twelve-hour shifts. By the war’s end as the fighting grew more intense and casualties multiplied, they often labored round the clock. Many suffered from exhaustion. Some fell ill themselves. Many died of pneumonia, ear infections, dreaded Spanish influenza and more. A few died in automobile accidents and air raids. None died of combat related injuries.
Most returned home and were discharged from the ANC. Many resumed their work in civilian posts. Twenty-seven nurses received United States service medals for their bravery and dedication. Dozens more received medals from Great Britain, France, Belgium and other allies.
American cemetery at St. Mihiel, France where many nurses
are buried. This is Jo-Ann's photo.More than 200 nurses gave the ultimate sacrifice. Many remain in repose in foreign soil next to the men they fought to save. Beneath the same white marble crosses as their male comrades in our American cemeteries, they rest at peace beneath the lovely Linden trees.
In the 1980s, author Jo-Ann Power began to research in museums and archives the lives of these heroic women. In 2013, she published her historical fiction about a group of nurses who volunteered. HEROIC MEASURES is for sale in digital and print.
Yesterday, she inaugurated the section of the National World War One Centennial site about the Army Nurse Corps. World War I Army Nurse Corps Putting all her research to work in a new way for the Centennial Commission, Power recounts the nurses’ challenges, their exploits and their triumphs.  Do marvel at their courage to travel so far and endure so much to salve the wounds of war, heal the sick and comfort the dying. Do applaud these women who, like others afterward, declared that war’s horrors must end—and that this conflict, this Great War, should be "the war to end all wars."
     Read more about HEROIC MEASURES here .          For more information, pictures and details about the Army Nurse Corps, American experience in World War One and Jo-Ann's research trips in the States and to France, read Jo-Ann's blog, They Also Fought .

Now, she invites anyone who has photos, letters, documents about a family member or friend or acquaintance to contact her so that she can put them up on the site for all Americans and everyone around the world to see, admire and honor.

Care to waltz? #Regency style? Sip Champagne with FABULOUS #Regencyromance authors?

Amazon      Do come join me Tuesday on FACEBOOK when 20 of my best friends and I celebrate the release of my box set, REGENCY ROMPS!


     This collections contains nearly 500 pages, the first 3 of my ROMPS series for a ridiculously low price of 99 Cents. But hurry, because the price is for a limited time only!


     Buy the box set and come join us for our own Assembly Room Ball beginning at 11:15 EASTERN and going on until the wee hours of the evening here:
https://www.facebook.com/events/1379820468724985


    And look who's coming to receive all of you with me! A marvelous group of some of the most talented authors you can read today! Many write Regency, but others are masters of contemporary. All write stories you will adore.




NOTE WELL: THESE TIMES begin with EASTERN Time Zone!
11:15 EST/ The Receiving Line with Cerise DeLand11:30 EST/10:30 C/9:30 M/8:30 P     Amy Rose Bennett12:00 EST/11:00 C/10:00/9:00 P        Kate Richards12:30 EST/11:30 C/10:30 M/9:30 P   Susanna Ellis1:00 EST/12:00 C/11:00 M/10:00 P   Nicole Zoltack1:30 EST/12:30 C/11:30 M/11:00 P   Patricia Walters-Fischer2:00 EST/1:30 C/ 12:30 M/11:30 P    Eliza Loyd2:00 EST/1:30 C/ 12:30 M/11:30 P    Paige Tyler3:00 EST/2:00 C/1:00 M/12:00 P      Teri Wilson 3:30 EST/2:30 C/1:30 M/12:30 P      Caroline Warfield4:00 EST/3:00 C/2:00 M/1:00 P        Layna Pimentel4:30 EST/3:30 C/2:30 M/1:30 P        Madison Sevier5:00 EST/4:00 C/3:00 M/2:00 P        Cerise DeLand5:30 EST/4:30 C/3:30 M/2:30 P       Anabelle Bryant6:00 EST/5:00 C/4:00 M/3:00 P       Elle James/Myla Jackson6:30 EST/5:30 C/4:30 M/3:30 P       Ella Quinn7:00 EST/6:00 C/5:00 M/4:00 P       Dominique Eastwick7:30 EST/6:30 C/5:30 M/4:30 P       Suzi Love8:00 EST/7:00 C/6:00 M/5 P            Sabrina York8:30 EST/7:30 C/6:30 M/5:30 P      Sherry Ewing9:00 EST/8:00 C/7:00M/6:00 P      Jolene Navarro
9:30 EST/ Last Waltz with Cerise DeLand!

#Regency Romps, box set #Cover Reveal, #99cents for limited time!

My box set of the first three Regency Romps debuts today!And (drumroll) it is only 99 cents for a limited time!

It is also on KINDLE UNLIMITED for those of you who subscribe to that.

Buy Link:  Amazon
First is Lady Varney’s Risqué Business!
     When a proper lady of the ton takes on a new client in her matchmaking business, she discovers he has one risqué demand. Spend the night with him!
     Lady Kitty Varney runs a discreet matchmaking business to support herself and pay off her late husband's gambling debts. Selective about her clientele, she finds her newest prospective client is none other than Viscount Justin Belmont, the very man she was forbidden to marry years ago. If she accepts him, can she bear to help him wed any other woman?
     Justin however is selective and lists his very exacting criteria for a wife. Kitty is shocked—and delighted to learn she is among the few candidates he’d find suitable. Especially since he demands each candidate spend one night with him.
     Can Kitty deny herself the opportunity to enjoy the charms of the man she's never forgotten? Lady Varney's risqué business might be her saving grace—but it may well become her undoing.
 Rendezvous with a Duke comes second!      Anna Fournier secludes herself, scandal staining her family name and all her prospects for anonymity, employment and even love. But one afternoon she plays her newest composition in a piano shop—and one man who cannot forget her decides to right the wrong done her years ago.
     Anna Fournier never intended to fall in love. Not with any man. Especially not a duke. But Hugh Lattimer persists in courting her despite the scandal that surrounds her—and the innuendo that could ruin him.
     Can she escape her past and embrace a future as Hugh's duchess? Or will the man who murdered her father return to ruin her future once and for all?
Finally we have Masquerade with a Marquess (and a sneak peek at #4 in the series, Interlude with a Baron, which is out now, too.)
She wanted to find her family’s stolen treasures. He wanted to avoid caring for her again. But together, they found more than treasure. They discovered love that had endured decades of despair.
     Sophia di Contini risks her life to sail to England alone and slip into the homes of those she suspects stole priceless treasures from her family during the wars. Discovered by Victor Cameron, she agrees to search for her art his way even though she’ll live in his house, yearn for his touch, pine for his kisses…          Five years ago, while spying for the Crown, Victor had spent one scintillating night with Sophia in his arms. But the next morning, she betrayed him to his enemies and he barely escaped.
     Now that she’s come to England, he fights his desire for her. When others attack her, risking her life, Victor decides the best thing to do is to help her find her precious art, even if he risks the chance she’ll steal his heart away…again.

10 Traits of a Rake! by Anabelle Bryant #Regency #romance

One of the reasons I adore reading and writing Regency romance is my fascination with rakehells. By definition, a rogue or breathtakingly handsome scoundrel who lives by his own rules in disregard of formal society.Why?Their wicked qualities, of course. The forbidden allure and sensual prowess that somehow makes them difficult to censure despite they break all the rules. The Regency rake possesses distinct qualities, all of them delightful to write about and therefore I give you the ten traits of a rake.1.     Sinful grin. Its appearance is rare and devastating, able to cause a heart-stopping gasp by way of a flash of even, white teeth.2.     Thick hair. Any color, too long to be considered fashionable, an echo of his soul’s rebellion to conform.3.     Smoldering eyes. Preferably dark, filled with erotic promise and vulnerable secrecy.4.     Potent virility. His height, broad shoulders, skill with words, and command of the room by mere presence. 5.     Disregard of propriety. A true rakehell breaks the rules and is forgiven all the while making him more attractive.6.     Double entendre. Clever word play and master of temptation, able to relate any conversation to the bedchamber.7.     Forbidden distractions. Pleasure gardens, gaming hells, mistresses, swimming and sleeping in the nude, each qualify.8.     Wealth and power. The best of everything, horseflesh, town house, tailoring…all enhanced by very deep pockets.9.     Muscular physique. Smooth, hard muscles, strong arms to keep you safe, soft heart that hides a wounded secret.10.  Sexual expertise. For a rakehell, pleasure is an art. Giving, receiving and experimenting are all part of his mastery of seduction. Very little is off limits.

So there you have it and if by chance you run across a modern day rakehell, don’t let him go. Even though I prefer to live between the pages of a book, there’s no saying you might find a rakehell in this century. A rarity, indeed. Anabelle Bryant Bio: Anabelle Bryant is the bestselling author of seven historical romances for Harlequin/HarperCollins. Her love of writing keeps her busy in front of her laptop when not in front of a classroom. His Forbidden Debutante is the latest Regency Charms release where stories are linked by a charm bracelet. Visit AnabelleBryant.com and see what she’d up to on Facebook and Twitter. Buy Links: All Books: http://amzn.to/1e2e6wb His Forbidden DebutanteAmazon: http://amzn.to/1X1Ng8bBarnes & Noble: http://bit.ly/1Pr1SJlKobo: http://bit.ly/1QMOD8r
Social Media Links: Website: www.anabellebryant.comFacebook Author Page: https://www.facebook.com/AnabelleBryantAuthor   Twitter: @AnabelleBryant
YouTube Channel: http://bit.ly/1r0TjsY