Cerise DeLand's Blog, page 5
March 27, 2024
Kissing is not permitted! A nibble of my new cherry!
A nibble!
Yes!
https://www.amazon.com/Ashleys-Beautiful-Alibi-Scarlett-Affairs-ebook/dp/B0CSTSTYNQ
Excerpt, Lord Ashley’s Beautiful Alibi, All rights reserved, Cerise Deland. Copyright 2024.
“We must stop,” Augustine murmured, though like a besotted girl, she arched her neck to give him greater access. She could not wish him gone—and oh, how she wanted him to stay and give her more of his lips and his arms and the stories of his childhood. Through those brief tales, he had become a boy, a solemn and vital person whom she could trust for the moment, for the task, for her needs. But no more. Not a bit more….
He lingered, his lips on her throat and her shoulder as he seemed to inhale every essence of her. With a small blessing of his open mouth to the hollow of her throat, he drew back.
He took his time, his enchanting ice grey eyes examining her. With deft moves, he fluffed the ruffle at her bodice and pulled down her skirts over her knees.
“Thank you,” she said with a true smile, though she breathed rapidly, in no way recovered from his thrall. “We have done a good job of displaying our interest in each other.”
“Have we?” Ashley’s bass voice was gruff, the question in his voice asking a thousand more things than the obvious.
She nodded, hiding her gulp. “Yes, just now, two have come to the doors and left.”
“Polite of them,” he said and cupped her cheek. “We cannot go in yet to the salon.”
“No?” Her mind was too full of him, her question too whimsical.
“You are flushed. And I am not fit to face anyone.” His brows rose by little degrees to reach the black shock of hair that had fallen—with her help she was sure,—over his broad brow.
She giggled.
He rolled his eyes and hands on his hips, considered the stars.
“How long do you need?” Lured, she glanced down. My, my. She flashed him a wicked pout.
“Hours, if you keep that up! You may not have had lovers, darling, but you’ve learned how to entice a man!”
BUY LINK: https://www.amazon.com/Ashleys-Beautiful-Alibi-Scarlett-Affairs-ebook/dp/B0CSTSTYNQ
March 15, 2024
Real places, good fiction! What's a good story made of? See much in my LORD ASHLEY's BEAUTIFUL ALIBI!
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What's a good story made of?
Lots of things. But one element every author of historical fiction knows is that often the place is just as important as the characters and their conflict.
Here in SCARLETT AFFAIRS, I take you to so many places that are real...or were. Each one has a special importance to the period...and the story I'm telling.
One of those places is St. Denis Basilica in north central Paris. It is on the periphery, almost to the Peripherique Wall, centuries old. Older is the church that was originally built there and is now this lovely building.
But its magnificence was not always revered. In fact, during the Revolution, the church was pillaged. Ransacked.
Why?
Inside this lovely church rest the kings and queens and families of the monarchs of France. From ancient to medieval, babies, children, siblings, kings to Louis XIV, and, yes, the remains of Louis XVI and his wife Marie Antoinette, Louis XVIII and Charles X.
I post here only a few of the marvelous statuary in this church. I urge you to go and marvel at the collection. Do go down into the crypt to see the black granite coverings to the tombs of Louis and his wife Marie. Walk around to see the alcove where their son's heart is buried. Do find Louis XIV in one wall.
Why do I put this in LORD ASHLEY'S BEAUTIFUL ALIBI? The scene is very important in the novel as our heroine get north to St. Denis and attempts to make contact with her agent who feeds her news from the south of France. The aura of death and sadness pervades the scene.
The bath house near St. Denis to which she goes is typical of Paris at the time. For both men and women in separate rooms, the bathhouse was useful to those who wanted to bathe and had no means at home.
Here is a model of one. My picture from the Carnavalet Musee in Paris.
Built in 1787, this luxury public bathhouse remained fashionable under the Empire and the Restoration. Around 1830 however, its success declined in the face of competition.
March 8, 2024
Agents of my fictitious merchant Scarlett Hawthorne attempt to topple the little general while they fall delightfully in love!
https://books2read.com/u/mdPpVd
Merchant's house, 17th CenturySome of these events were documented, like the abduction of the duc d'Enghien. Others still remain mysteries, such as the identity of the mysterious English woman who for decades sent thousands of coded secrets home to London. And the lady who stole documents from Talleyrand in Vienna during the Congress of 1814. In SCARLETT AFFAIRS, I take you to those cities that live in our history books—and palaces, churches and streets I have walked. They are places that exude their own charm—and hold for the people of that time secrets and challenges for agents of all countries.
Varennes, FranceYou will go to the tunnels beneath Compiègne and to the palace where Napoleon took his second wife and within minutes of arrival escorted her to their bedroom. You will go to Reims, where kings were crowned, and enter the caverns of St. Denis in Paris where they were buried. You will go to the church in Varennes where gendarmes captured Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette and sent them to Paris to die. You will go to Baden where a greedy German margrave sold out his subjects to Bonaparte for land and money. You will track Bonaparte and his aide Caulaincourt as they race away from Moscow and are tracked by agents all the way to Paris.
Amboise, curtain walls, on LoireI will also take you to other seemingly insignificant places that really existed. A public bath house, the smelly abattoir of Montmartre, then south to the huge fortress of Amboise and the vineyards of the Loire. To Verdun where the citadel becomes the prison for hundreds of British trapped inside France by the wily new emperor. A panoply of stories, the series will be a rich discovery of the challenges of fighting an enemy while falllng in love with one irresistible person. I hope you enjoy them all, from this first search for a missing friend, to the action-adventure of saving an entire family from death, to the rewards of stealing Bonaparte’s gold and more. Through each story, one man and woman will try to save the world from a despot—and save each other and the love they treasure above all else.I hope you have enjoyed your tour of Paris and northern France in this first novel of the series. Come with me as I take you to those times and places where kings walked, Bonaparte reigned and where espionage agents of my fictitious merchant Scarlett Hawthorne will attempt to topple the little general while they fall delightfully in love.
February 22, 2024
February 12, 2024
A nibble of new newest cherry, LORD ASHLEY'S BEAUTIFUL ALBI!
Excerpt, Lord Ashley’s Beautiful Alibi, All rights reserved, Cerise Deland. Copyright 2024.
“We must stop,” Augustine murmured, though like a besotted girl, she arched her neck to give him greater access. She could not wish him gone—and oh, how she wanted him to stay and give her more of his lips and his arms and the stories of his childhood. Through those brief tales, he had become a boy, a solemn and vital person whom she could trust for the moment, for the task, for her needs. But no more. Not a bit more….
He lingered, his lips on her throat and her shoulder as he seemed to inhale every essence of her. With a small blessing of his open mouth to the hollow of her throat, he drew back.
He took his time, his enchanting ice grey eyes examining her. With deft moves, he fluffed the ruffle at her bodice and pulled down her skirts over her knees.
“Thank you,” she said with a true smile, though she breathed rapidly, in no way recovered from his thrall. “We have done a good job of displaying our interest in each other.”
“Have we?” Ashley’s bass voice was gruff, the question in his voice asking a thousand more things than the obvious.
She nodded, hiding her gulp. “Yes, just now, two have come to the doors and left.”
“Polite of them,” he said and cupped her cheek. “We cannot go in yet to the salon.”
“No?” Her mind was too full of him, her question too whimsical.
“You are flushed. And I am not fit to face anyone.” His brows rose by little degrees to reach the black shock of hair that had fallen—with her help she was sure,—over his broad brow.
She giggled.
He rolled his eyes and hands on his hips, considered the stars.
“How long do you need?” Lured, she glanced down. My, my. She flashed him a wicked pout.
“Hours, if you keep that up! You may not have had lovers, darling, but you’ve learned how to entice a man!”
BUY LINK: https://www.amazon.com/Ashleys-Beauti...
February 7, 2024
Want to visit Malmaison? Paris? Josephine's court?
In my new series, SCARLETT AFFAIRS, I give you the excitement of falling in love during the tumultuous time when Europe was awash in revolutions and the rise of one unknown man to power shook the Continent and the foundations of every other country.
Sweeping you from London to Paris, I am tickled to take you to Malmaison and the problems of navigating Josephine and Bonaparte’s court. The intrigues of spies, ambassadors, merchants, military men and the women who loved and aided them create a canvas of actual events that shaped the fate of millions.
Over the years of Bonaparte’s rise and reign, espionage agents of all nationalities tried to stop him. Many failed. Like the attempt in LORD ASHLEY’S BEAUTIFUL ABLIBI to abduct Bonaparte in June 1800. A few succeeded easily, like the attempt of the British government to plant agents throughout the Continent during the peace of the Treaty of Amiens.
Some of these events were documented, like the abduction of the duc d’Engien. Others still remain mysteries, such as the identity of the mysterious English woman who for decades sent thousands of coded secrets home to London. And the lady who stole documents from Talleyrand in Vienna during the Congress of 1814.
In SCARLETT AFFAIRS, I take you to those cities and towns that live in our history books—and palaces and streets I have walked. They are places that exude their own charm—and hold for the people of that time secrets and challenges for agents of all countries.
You will go to the tunnels beneath Compiègne and to the palace where Napoleon met his second wife and within minutes escorted her to their bedroom. You will go to Reims, where kings were crowned, and enter the caverns of St. Denis in Paris where they were buried. You will go to the church in Varennes where gendarmes captured Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette and sent to Paris to die. You will go to Baden where a greedy German margrave sold out his subjects to Bonaparte for land and money. You will track Bonaparte and his aide Caulaincourt as they race away from Moscow and are tracked by agents all the way to Paris.
I will also take you to other seemingly insignificant places that really existed. A public bath house, the smelly abattoir of Montmartre, then south to the huge fortress of Amboise and the vineyards of the Loire. To Verdun where the citadel becomes the prison for hundreds of British trapped inside France by the wily new emperor.
A panoply of stories, the series will be a rich discovery of the challenges of fighting an enemy while falllng in love with one irresistible person. I hope you enjoy them all, from this first search for a missing friend, to the action-adventure of saving an entire family from death, to the rewards of stealing Bonaparte’s gold and more. Through each story, one man and woman will try to save the world from a despot—and save each other and the love they treasure above all else.
February 1, 2024
BON-BONS! Josephine's court ruled Society! See how in LORD ASHLEY'S BEAUTIFUL ALIBI!
Have you ever wondered how people got in in that very rare high society?
I did. And so I have read about it so much, I decided that the doings of Bonaparte and his wife merited my attention to them in my new series, SCARLETT AFFAIRS!
Society did revolve around Josephine and her friends. Most notable among them were Madame Tallien and Julie Recamier, a widow who was scandalous in all she did. She even went nearly naked at the opera!
Many however did not care for the man who took so much power to himself.
And as in the first chapter of ALIBI, we see one of the attempts at the assassination of Bonaparte. In June 1800, a group of rebels who may have had funding and advice from British agents, did attempt to abduct the First Consul on the road to Malmaison, Josephine's and his home soouth of Paris.
Today that original road is well paved. Leading to the well-preserved enclave adored by Josephine are modern sidewalks adorned with the Emperor’s emblem, bees, embedded in the cement.
January 18, 2024
Bon-bon! Cover reveal for LORD ASHLEY'S BEAUTIFUL ALIBI!
This wonderful cover, designed by talented Dar Albert, is for the first in my new series, LORD ASHLEY'S BEAUTIFUL ALIBI!
A panoply of stories, the series will be a rich discovery of the challenges of fighting an enemy while falllng in love with one irresistible person. I hope you enjoy them all, from this first search for a missing friend, to the action-adventure of saving an entire family from death, to the rewards of stealing Bonaparte’s gold and more. Through each story, one man and woman will try to save the world from a despot—and save each other and the love they treasure above all else.
This debuts March 31. BUY LINKS TO COME!
December 24, 2023
IF I LOVED YOU wins BEST HISTORICAL, WIN $45 GIFT CARD!
Giveaway –
Enter to win a $45 Amazon gift card:
https://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/92db7750244
What makes IF I LOVED YOU a must-read?
"This strangers to lovers romance includes everything you adore in a historical romance—spice, drama, a dashing hero, real historical detail and poetic prose that inspires and enchants!"
December 23, 2023
🍒IF I LOVED YOU is THE BEST HISTORICAL ROMANCE of 2023!
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🍒IF I LOVED YOU is THE BEST HISTORICAL ROMANCE of 2023! “This strangers to lovers romance includes everything you adore in a historical romance—spice, drama, a dashing hero, real historical detail and poetic prose that inspires and enchants!”https://books2read.com/u/3LN6X1
MATRIMONY! #1. IF I LOVED YOU
Love does not advertise. Love counts no wrongs.
But when a young woman needs to escape an ogre, she’ll take an ad to find a man she can adore.
Verity Carr wants a new life in a new town far from her old home—and the vile threat to her body and soul. She comes from a fine family, has a good education and a bold ambition to become a portrait artist. She’s ready to live her life with a man who will value her. A husband she can can respect—and in time, hopefully love. Yet valiant though she is, she questions if she can escape her past and the one who will not let her go.
Can a gentleman to whom great wrong was done, build a new life with a true wife and leave the past behind?
Miles St.John Armstrong never should have wed his first wife. He vows to select a new one with logic and careful investigation—via advertisement. The young lady he selects is Verity Carr who is no ordinary woman. She has charm, wit and a beauty that sears his soul. No wonder theirs is a relationship built quickly on admiration and trust. No wonder their marriage becomes one built of mutual mad passion.
But devoted as they are, their past comes to call.
And it asks of them the ultimate question: Can their love withstand the tempest and survive the terror?
Excerpt, IF I LOVED YOU. Copyright, 2023, Cerise DeLand:
Miles had not known her for more than a few hours, but he’d seen her shock over such a sizable bequest. Certainly he could revel in the good fortune of anyone. But if she had suspicions about who had given her such a large inheritance and did not wish to discuss it with him, he could understand that, too. But her new-found gain, enough to support her at current standards in meager means for her lifetime, could lead her to break their agreement to marry. The possibility of losing her created an ache in his heart. A place he’d never expected to feel anything at all ever again.
As they entered the Grosvenor Gate and passed the park wall, she strode more slowly and breathed more deeply. They took a turn on the path south and one glance at her told him she was more at ease.
“I hate to spoil your enjoyment,” he said, “but I think we should not walk here much longer. The shadows grow deeper.”
“You are right, of course.” She had her hands in her coat pockets as she stopped and spun toward him. “You have been very good to me today.”
He raised a hand, his smile wry. “No more gratitude, please. I am quite thanked.”
She stopped, faced him and tipped her head, suddenly the coquette, though to him, she did not seem to have planned the spontaneity of such an attitude. She was without guile—and he valued that unexpected characteristic more than he could ever have imagined.
“You are a darling man,” she said with an honesty that emphasized her simplicity and lack of artifice.
“You are kind to think so.” He remembered a few instances when the moniker he deserved was the opposite. Savage. Insane. Gullible. All came to mind in a rush of bile.
She put her hands to his and held tightly. “Do you still want to marry a woman you barely know?”
“I’d like to marry you, if you’ll have me.”
She shook her head as if the whole idea were impossible. “Why? Why?”
“I want a wife. A friend. I am lonely. You seem a gentle soul. I think we would do well together.”
“I cannot imagine that you have not met a thousand young ladies you know better than me who would not make you a friend and wife because they do know you better.”
But they knew his past, too. His wife. “I would never find happiness with any I’ve met. They see me as the mill owner, a cit with a new title, an upstart viscount, too rich for his title. They also see me as a widower.” Not knowing I am more aggrieved than grieving.
She stood immobile, only her large eyes searching his for what he would not reveal. “Did you love her?”
“When I married her, yes.”
“And do you miss her?”
“No.”
She nodded. “I see. Then your loneliness comes not from her lack.”
“No. It does not.”
She gulped. “Do you want children?”
He blinked and peered up at the deep blue clouds scudding across a darker moonlit sky. “I have not wished for that in many years. But now,” he said as he met her frank gaze, “I believe I would.”
She smiled as if he’d just given her the keys to the kingdom. “I would, too.”
He stepped closer to her, dropped her hands and cupped her shoulders. Her luscious curves fit into the planes of his suddenly very needy self. “Might we proceed to getting them?”
She arched her neck and let her eyes dance into his. “First we must be wed.”
“Will day after tomorrow do?”
“Quite well,” she said on a delighted laugh. “And then we must become better friends.”
He sent his fingers up into the heavy coil of hair at her nape. Her skin was as soft as charmeuse and her hair smelled of lavender. She’d been in his arms often today and her need had been great. Now, he would test to see if she might come for a new and startling reason. Might she come because she could want him? Want him as a man? As her lover?
She pulled back a little, a question on her plump lips. “Friends kiss.”
“They do,” he said with a smile that grew from a friend’s to a ravenous man’s. “Shall we?”
She studied his mouth and swallowed hard. “Oh, yes. From the moment I heard your voice on the Great North Road, I have wanted to know how you taste.”
“Well, then,” he said as he loomed over her lips, “we must not delay.”
She circled her arms around his shoulders and pushed up on her toes. “Please don’t.”
The temptation to take her with all the ardor he bore her raged through him. He could not devour her like a satyr. He was a man who had foresworn passion and love. A man of reason and temperance. But then…
She put her lips to his, a brush of warm temptation. The sensation of her desire met the one of his quest as if two stars collided in the dark of night. Blinded by it, he groaned and caught her up. Her mouth was lush, and as his tongue invaded, he knew how hot her body was. How sweet. He swept the inside of her mouth and felt her complete surrender. This was what he’d craved. A woman who might love him.
He pulled away, breathless, cupping her cheek. “Darling, we must stop.”
In the shadows of the soft spring evening, she tipped her head and smiled at him. “You’ll kiss me again?”
“As often as you wish.”
There again was that sweet woman who drew him to her with the artless look of enchantment. “Must I tell you each time?”
“No,” he said on a laugh and hugged her close, then set her from him. “Only look at me like that, my darling, and I am yours.”
“As I am forever yours,” she said and put her arm in his to turn and walk home.
Buy Links (including Goodreads and BookBub):
99 cents!
BUY LINK: https://amzn.to/3nkslpf/
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/if-i-loved-you-cerise-deland/1143350453?ean=9781960184719
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/123562165-if-i-loved-you
https://www.bookbub.com/books/if-i-loved-you-matrimony-book-1-by-cerise-deland
