Cerise DeLand's Blog, page 7
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:
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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
December 5, 2023
Today's Bon bon: What's the fun of research? Finding what's real NOW from then!
Today I bring you two pictures of two things that make me smile.
Both come from a combo of my research and my travel.
Ready?
Here is a picture of a street in London and a series of shops. I took this picture on a lark in 2017. This picture is of Berry Brothers and Rudd, Wine Merchants. This is on the same street as a hatter, or milliner, Lock and Company, which I wanted to know more about. Why? Because Lock has made hats for men and women for hundreds of years and I just wanted to see the store for myself. On a whim, I took a pix of Berry Brothers.
Then, in 2023, I wanted to create a merchant company headed by a woman and I wanted 'the feel' of a real merchant. Lo and behold, as I searched my photos one day, I spied this one—and took them as my feeling for a merchant family.
Caulaincourt's wife, Adrienne, who was also a friend of Josephine.
Then for many years, my husband and I have vacationed in Paris. Renting the same apartment every year in Montmartre, we reside on Rue Caulaincourt.
One day it occurred to me that the name was so very familiar. Did I know someone named Caulaincourt? Where was it I had heard the name? Or read it?
On the way from the apartment to the Metro one day, I happened to look up at the street sign. "General and Diplomat" said the sign.
And I knew!
This was General Caulaincourt who was Napoleon Bonaparte's aide de camp, and friend. This was the man whom Bonaparte sent to Karlsruhe in Baden, a German duchy, to secretly take into France the Duc d'Enghien. Ever after, Caulaincourt hated that Napoleon had tricked him into thinking he would do naught to the heir to the Bourbon throne.
But in fact, Napoleon had the young duc hurried to the fortress of Vincennes where he was quickly shot one bright morning in a trench. Caulaincourt never forgot nor forgave his master the terrible blight this was upon his conscience.
Napoleon also sent Caulaincourt to Moscow to negotiate treaties. This was the man who warned Bonaparte not to invade Russia. This was the man who accompanied Napoleon alone on the emperor's flight from Moscow to Paris in his desperate attempt to get back to Paris before the news of the devastating defeat of the French army in that cold land.
Tombe Caulaincourt, Pere-Lachaise
Here is that noble fellow, Armand Augustin Louis de Caulaincourt. A noble aide who was very badly treated by Napoleon and who died a few years after his emperor, in 1827. He is buried in Pere-Lachaise Cemetery in Paris.
November 16, 2023
Free and 99 cents to celebrate YOU MADE ME LOVE YOU, Book 3 in MATRIMONY!
Take advantage of this lovely promotion for all 3 books in the Matrimony series! Available today through 11/22!
November 15, 2023
Honeymoon cottages and other delights of deep research!
Writing historical romance requires often more research than you, the reader, can often imagine! More than even I can imagine, too.
One of the biggest challenges, I find, is that I have to really SEE what I'm describing. I have to have a feel for what it is and where it is so that my characters also know where they are. A room, a house, the countryside often give you a feeling, don't they?
I remember what it was like to ride on a Ferris Wheel at the school fair on Fourth of July. I recall the shivers I got as I walked World War One American cemeteries in France. The eerie feeling of the underground fortress of Verdun France. (It was so cold, so miserable that even my husband who loves the cold turned to me after a tour that lasted much too long beneath ceilings dripping with ice cold water and said, "I must leave. Coming with me, are you?"
I was.
And so here is a picture for you of the place I choose that would be Kendryck and Tynley's honeymoon cottage on the coast of Wales. Lovely, isn't it? Cozy.
I also thought they deserved this for their honeymoon because so much was so wrong with his family and the tow of them had to solve that, didn't they? What they needed was the affirmation of a good future together before they could join hands and resolve all the wrongs that lay before them.
Here is my picture of the eerie Cliffs of Glamorgan in Wales, which is what Tynley sees as she approaches Kendryck's home. And the picture of Rhoos, Wales.
Finally, the article I read in an old British newspaper that gave me the idea of a lady sadly missing.
October 18, 2023
Today's bon bon: A nibble of my new cherry, YOU MADE ME LOVE YOU! Pre-order for 99 cents!
Love advertises! In YOU MADE ME LOVE YOU, Cerise DeLand’s newest on pre-order! Excerpt YOU MADE ME LOVE YOU, All rights reserved. Copyright 2023. Cerise DeLand.
Kendryck put his two hands to her cheeks. “I told myself I would not take you like a villain.”
“Hmmm,” Tynely said as she considered that with a tip of her head this way and that. Then she pulled at the end of his beautifully tied cravat and said, “You aren’t.”
He took her by the shoulders. “Not against the stables, not in a carriage. We must be in a bed.”
“I do agree.” She sank to lick the skin of his corded neck. “But one must have a few bites of bliss before the main course.” She undid the button of his soft linen shirt and kissed the hollow of his throat. “Otherwise, one’s appetite is not prepared.”
He laughed, he groaned, then he pressed her flush to his chest. “You should have told me you were a tease.”
She rolled her eyes. “Why? Isn’t this more fun?”
He hooted. His grip on her was mighty and seductive. “What should I know, my darling?”
“About…?”
“Making love to you.”
She bent to his mouth and licked his bottom lip. “That I will be as needy as you.”
“Thank God.”
“That I will want all of you as mine.”
“I rejoice at it. And? Anything else?”
“That I am yours completely and you may have me at your will,” she whispered and took one of his fingers and nipped the end, “as long as I may have you at mine.”
BUY LINK: https://books2read.com/u/4jBX9o
October 13, 2023
Today's bon bon: A Great House in Elizabethan period becomes my setting for my story in HARVEST MOON Box set!
HARVEST MOON, the newly released box set by award-winning Bluestocking Belles, is set in Cheshire during the harvest!
In my story, my hero Stafford Barlow, 6th Earl Barlow, is just home from the wars. His home as I envisioned it is similar to the famous structure, Little Moreton Hall.
I had so much fun with this building with its Great Hall, seen here in this ground floor plan and marked as room #1. Twenty-two people are invited to dinner the night before the event and later, my heroine (who is rather upset at herself after dinner) goes to walk in this garden.
To her its seems almost like her family's parterre at home in the Loire Valley in France. But in reality it is more an English maze, called a knot garden, with flowers and herbs and chaise longue...for those special rendezvous every loving couple wishes for!
But I also use area #4!
Small, yes. What do you think it is? And how would my hero and heroine use it????
