Heather Boyd's Blog, page 3
December 31, 2023
Happy 2024
Welcome to the New Year and Happy 2024! I am ridiculously optimistic about 2024. Should be a wonderful year full of new adventures, happy milestones and lots of conversation. I’ve really kept to myself a bit too much during the pandemic.
There’s lots in store for my readers this year and I want to remind you of the books I’ve written and announced to release this year. The first is No Ordinary Lady, followed by Miss Kimble Bites Back.
March – No Ordinary LadyLord Scarsdale is finally ready to do his duty and make a match of boring respectability. Returning home to woo a neighbor’s daughter should pose no great difficulty for a man of his worldly experience. It’s a match long expected by her family and of course his mother will be delighted. But on the way home, Scarsdale encounters a fiery beauty whose passionate advances cannot be turned aside. Indulging in one last fling wasn’t his intention, but his motto has always been never say never. Besides, how much trouble could one more lover possibly cause him?
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My second announced release is Miss Kimble Bites Back. This story is a Distinguished Rogues romance but also part of a year long publishing project – The Wallflowers Revenge.
September – Miss Kimble Bites BackGabby Kimble knew just who she wanted at the start of her first season. So why is she spending so much time defending an allegedly wicked duke instead? The closer she gets to Sebastien Spence, the more she finds a complex man…who’s not at all what society would have her believe.
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Work In Progress
I’m taking a short break at the moment, but when I’m back at my desk I’ll be continuing work on the next Scandalous Brides series romance novel.
Again, Happy 2024
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December 24, 2023
Happy Christmas
Happy Christmas!!
It’s Christmas Day in Australia! Yay! Time to make some new memories to carry me through the coming years. I’ll be sharing lunch with my family, visiting my mum later in the day, and most of all…not doing any work. (Wish me luck cause that isn’t easy for me.) It’s been a long year, hasn’t it? But satisfying. We’re still here.*grins* And not going anywhere…not while I’ve got so many ideas for new stories anyway.
During this year, I published a new series – The Scandalous Brides and introduced you to Amity, Stratford and Jasper Sweet…and their true loves. You also met Nash and Algernon Sweet and their stories are coming in 2024. Release dates yet to be decided.
Anyway, enough about books etc. I want to wish you, my readers and author friends, a Happy Christmas and a wonderful holiday to come…full of yummy treats and many joyous moments to remember in the years to come!
All the best!
Heather
To learn about my upcoming releases for 2024 please visit my coming soon page
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October 28, 2023
Playing Catch Up
It’s been a while since my last post here. I’ve ben super busy writing a new book and then I did my usual collapse after sending it off. A week of rest, not working very much, is always necessary for my brain after an intense writing period. It was nice to see some more of the world, tidy up my office and a few loose ends.
But now I’m thinking again and planning ahead, too. Here’s where I’m at right now:
I released a new short story Unforgettable (Naughty and Nice, book 10) in OctoberI finished No Ordinary Lady for edit and have received revisions back. There are a few things to strengthen, a loose end to tie off, but its certain I will be able to complete this new Distinguished Rogue’s romance before Christmas arrives. The book releases in March 2024Miss Kimble Bites Back comes out next September. I haven’t started the edit for it yet, but I will after No Ordinary Lady’s edit is complete, or perhaps I’ll work on it at the same since they are connected characters.I have no certain plan for which book I write next, though. Distinguished Rogues, Scandalous Brides or Saints and Sinners. There’s about four regency bucks clamoring for my attention from each series right now, plus a giant alien dragon shifter dropped by my daydreaming the other day (and that’s so new I don’t know whether to ignore him or not)I was a guest blogger at the Australian Romance Readers Association Blog last week. Quick reminder that I will be attending the 2024 ARRA Book Signing in Sydney next March and hope to see you there. You can find details and links under the Events on this website.I want to thank everyone who’s purchased directly from me from my new Shopify store (heatherboydbooks.com) in the last few months. It is fantastic to see readers find the best book deal I can offer. There’s been a couple of hiccups and confusion (on my part) but the expansion of www.heather-boyd.com to include a store continues and it’s going as well as I hoped.
This new website will continue to grow beyond what I could every hope offer with my old website. The best prices, bulk buy offers and exclusive content will always be here. Make sure to bookmark my site and join my mailing list.
Well, that’s it from me today. Hope you drop by again so I can save you $$ on your next romance .
Heather
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April 21, 2023
Saturday Puzzle – Wally Time
A little Picture Puzzle of my dog Wally to brighten the start of your weekend…Enjoy!
If the puzzle does not appear, click this link to play instead.
The post Saturday Puzzle – Wally Time appeared first on Heather Boyd | USAT Bestselling Author.
April 18, 2023
Desperately Seeking Seduction is Live!
It’s so exciting to see Desperately Seeking Seduction live on retailer sites today! This one feels like its been a long time coming. My 55th book baby is as precious to me as all he others that came before it too. Winston was such a fun character to write and of course Stratford just had to be so difficult for her. The book is done for me but I still like to imagine the adventures this pair will have in the future. The pair will be back to play a small part in later books in the series, too. I hope you enjoy.
Born female, but living the whole of her life as a male, Dane Winston has stumbled into the employ of Lord Stratford, youngest brother of the Duke of Ravenswood. As his valet, she can barely keep the chatty lord on schedule���nor can she keep his hands off her person, once he discovers her true gender. The only thing more surprising than his attention is how much Winston enjoys it. But their dalliance must be short-lived. As she navigates a house party where certain guests are keen to cause trouble for the duke, she discovers trouble of her own in the form of jealous servants���and someone from her past she hoped never to meet again.
Lord Stratford Sweet has returned home to find his deceased father has left the duchy in dire financial straits. As he scrambles to help his eldest brother, the new duke, hide the extent of their insolvency from a houseful of guests, he certainly needs no further distractions. But he finds one in the form of his new valet, a man who looks too young, too soft���too good in a pair of breeches. When Stratford discovers her secret, keeping Win in his employ could cause a scandal the likes of which the estate can scarcely afford. But the more he learns about Win, and the uncanny connection they share, it may be a scandal he���s willing to endure���forever.
Desperately Seeking Seduction is book 2 in the Scandalous Brides series and is a steamy regency romance novel. It is available in ebook and paperback. Scroll down to find the format and retailer of your choice and an excerpt. Hope you enjoy!
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WATERSTONES (UK)�� | BOOKTOPIA (AU)
You can add your review for Desperately Seeking Seduction on the retailer sites above and at Goodreads and on Bookbub.
Begin reading now …Lord Stratford Sweet smirked. ���It���s big, isn���t it?���
His companion turned obediently to look. ���I���ve seen bigger.���
���I���d like to know where,��� Stratford muttered, and then sat back with a grunt.
���It is impressive,��� Mr. Dane Winston offered with an indifferent shrug.
Stratford pursed his lips in annoyance at the faint praise for so grand a view. ���Ravensworth Palace is one of the largest homes in all of England. You could get lost in there on the first day.���
���I���ll do my best not to,��� Winston murmured, a faint twist of condescension hovering on the fellow���s lips. ���But if I do, I will ask for directions, or perhaps a map.���
Stratford had been forced to hire a replacement for his usual valet, Cuthbert, who���d been injured at the first inn they���d stopped at on his journey home. Cuthbert couldn���t have carried out his duties with a broken wing and banged up head from his tumble down the staircase, and Stratford couldn���t function without a valet to clean up after him. That way led to chaos and tardiness his brother the duke would tease him about. Although this fellow was young, Dane Winston had been eager to escape the inn where he���d been slaving away underpaid, for a better position and wages. Even if it was only to be a temporary position.
Winston was hard to figure out and harder to impress.
Stratford had taken him on despite only having the innkeepers word he was a sensible and dedicated worker and would give him no trouble. But as a traveling companion, he left a lot to be desired.
Winston���s indifference to the things that mattered had begun to irk the longer they were trapped inside the slow-moving carriage. Stratford talked a lot, but Winston seemed to prefer their journey be conducted in near silence. It had already been an hour since their last real conversation. Stratford was about ready to toss Winston out to ride on the back of the carriage with the grooms. However, given the man���s small stature, there was an obvious risk he���d lose the valet at any rough spot along the road.
He regarded Winston with a critical eye, yet again wondering if he���d made a mistake plucking him out for the plum role.
Stratford was the younger brother of the new Duke of Ravenswood, after all. But given that Winston had performed all the duties expected of a valet exceptionally well���save for conversation���he had little choice but to keep him until Cuthbert recovered and appeared at Ravenswood Palace. If only Winston had a more outgoing personality, Stratford would be entirely satisfied with his new employee.
He sighed and set his preoccupation for getting a rise out of his new employee aside until later. Coming home would be interesting. It was the first time he���d ever looked forward to it, that he could ever remember.
The post Desperately Seeking Seduction is Live! appeared first on Heather Boyd | USAT Bestselling Author.
April 17, 2023
Monday message
May your coffee be strong and your Monday be short��The post Monday message appeared first on Heather Boyd | USAT Bestselling Author.
April 15, 2023
WeWriWa – Unpleasant news
Hey, welcome back for a new round of WeWriWa (Weekend Writing Warriors)��a weekly hop for writers who blog their work! Thanks everyone for dropping by last time and commenting. Much appreciated.
Last week I posted an excerpt from��Wicked with Him��and this will be my final installment from this book and this small scene takes place a few weeks after Amity’s ruin when he hears some unpleasant news…
Roman paced the Duke of Ravenswood���s drawing room, waiting for Stratford Sweet to join him. But as he stood in the Duke of Ravenswood���s London mansion an uneasy feeling was growing in his belly.
Amity had disappeared.
Utterly and completely.
From the night that Fairbridge had taken Amity from the ball, Roman had assumed her to be staying under the duke���s roof until the worst of the scandal had blown over. However, by all accounts, and a discreet question to the Ravenswood butler upon his arrival, Amity was never here. Not since the night Roman had ruined her had she been seen in public by anyone too.
Given her brother was prowling London with a perpetually sour face, he thought perhaps he didn���t know her whereabouts either.
He winced. He was a damn fool to be so worried about a woman he���d made love to only once. Amity had brought this scandal upon herself, and yet he couldn���t help but be concerned that he hadn���t lain eyes on her since. In frustration, Roman had come to his friend���s home in the hope of prying some gossip out of Stratford Sweet over drinks that afternoon.
Stratford had always loved to share tidbits of family gossip with him when they were out and drinking together. Amity might not need Roman���s help at all, but he felt he ought to be sure that was the case.
Thanks so much for reading my excerpts and your comments over the last weeks.��Next week I’ll be moving on to book two of this series and sharing some excerpts from: Desperately Seeking Seduction
About Wicked with Him
Scandals rarely take place in the center of the ballroom, but on the fringes anything is possible.
From the moment George Sweet stole his intended, Roman Crawford has pursued every possible manner of revenge against the nasty scrub. Though he does have his limits. Debauching Sweet���s sister, a veritable paragon of vestal goodness, is beyond the pale���yet that is exactly what the lady herself requests.
If public humiliation is the only way Amity can escape an arranged marriage to one of her vicious brother���s cronies, then it will be on her terms. She enlists the aid of her brother���s greatest enemy, who she���s certain will be happy to see her brother brought low by her corruption. But Amity is no fool. Roman’s heart will always belong to another.
***
Click the link to the Wicked with Him page to continue reading and��to find other authors taking part in WeWriWa, click the image below.
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April 14, 2023
Saturday Puzzle – Tuncurry
Some fun to start your weekend on the right note. A Saturday Puzzle of Tuncurry in the afternoon. The last place I went camping.
Hope you enjoy.
If you have trouble viewing the puzzle, please refresh the page or visit https://www.jigsawplanet.com/?rc=play...
Where was the last place you took a break to? Were you there for long?
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April 13, 2023
Friday
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April 12, 2023
Thursday Throwback The Lady Tamed
Thursday Throwback ~ The Lady Tamed
Fortune hunters and fools. Those are the gentlemen Fanny Rivers has endured since her husband���s passing. Men who believe women too feeble-brained to manage a fortune, much less help it grow. So for her sister���s upcoming wedding festivities, she���s combined her business acumen with her habit of collecting strays���hiring an actor to play her besotted beau. And it���s working marvelously. Too marvelously. Before long, her attraction to Jeremy makes it difficult to discern fact from fiction, and Fanny herself is in danger of falling for her own scheme.
Jeremy Dawes can scarcely believe his luck when Fanny Rivers agrees to be his patroness. Despite learning he���s the latest in a long line of charity cases, he willingly takes on the most complicated role of his fledgling career���that of a proper gentleman. She���ll never need know of his unsavory beginnings, though the closer they become, the more Jeremy wishes he could be what she deserves. It���s only after a thrilling moment of intimacy���and a regrettable decision by Fanny���that Jeremy finds unexpected allies in the negotiation for his savvy lady���s heart.
Read an Excerpt…Jeremy looked around, up at the high walls decorated with plaster moldings of birds and what he assumed were family portraits. A wide staircase rose to the next level, where he���d been told all guests would sleep. Jeremy���s last bed had been on the floor in a corner of the stage.
���You must be Mr. Dawes.���
Jeremy smiled pleasantly and turned around to find a tall man emerging from a nearby room. He was big, bigger than Jeremy by half a head at least, older by at least a dozen years or so, and might just be the butler. ���Indeed I am.���
���May I be of assistance?��� the fellow asked in a bored voice.
���Yes, well, if you could tell me where I am to go?���
���The servants have taken your trunk up already. I can show you the way.���
Relief filled him. ���I would appreciate that very much. Thank you.���
The man inclined his head and started up the stairs. ���This way.���
Jeremy followed, encountering no other souls on the way to a large light-filled room with a massive bed placed in the center. He stared at it in shock. At least four of his fellow actors could have shared that bed and been very comfortable still. He could hardly believe the bed, the chamber, would be his for two whole weeks. But his trunk was being unpacked, and his new possessions were already being put away.
The fellow turned to him, one brow lifting. ���Was there really just the one trunk?���
���Yes, of course. How many did you expect?���
���Several, I imagined.��� The fellow prowled about the room, observing the servants at their work and nodding. He turned to Jeremy suddenly. ���I���m surprised you���ve acquired so little, given the length of your association with Lady Rivers. She is usually much more giving to someone like you.���
Jeremy straightened to his full height, offended by the remark. ���I have everything I need.���
The man stroked his long fingers over the trunk���s lettering. J. K. D. ���What does the K stand for?���
���It is none of your business what my full name is.���
���What if I think it is?���
Jeremy was taken aback by the man���s tone. ���Look, you had better mind your own business and get on with it. Lady Rivers would not be pleased to learn I���d faced an inquisition from you.���
The fellow smiled slowly. ���Will you tattle on me?���
Jeremy looked the man up and down. ���No, but������
���Lady Rivers is easily taken advantage of,��� the fellow announced.
���You could say that of everyone.���
���And yet you have your hand out to her.��� The fellow drew close. ���Just another attention-seeking fop intent on spending a fortune on fine hats from Lock���s and frequenting the very best tailor her money can buy. Weston, I believe you���re wearing.���
Jeremy brought his face within inches of the fellow���s, his hands curling into fists. ���Hold your tongue unless you want trouble from me.���
���Oh, do you see yourself as a buck then? Do you attend Gentleman Jackson���s, too?���
The fellow didn���t even look alarmed that he was still being glared at, but the other servants had all paused to watch the confrontation. They seemed alarmed.
Jeremy quickly got his temper under control. ���No. I���m only an actor, and Lady Rivers my patroness. She is a great lady and spoken of with respect. Especially by those who���ve known her longer than I probably ever will.���
���Got you under her thumb already, has she?��� The fellow suddenly grinned. ���She���s a persistent minx, my daughter. I���ve yet to meet a man who can say no to her when she gets an idea in her head.���
Jeremy blinked several times. ���What did you say? Daughter?���
The other servants snickered but the duke shushed them. ���Enough of that now. Back to work, all of you.���
���Oh, my God. I thought you were������ Jeremy bowed deeply, his face flaming as the realization dawned that he was actually standing before the Duke of Stapleton, Lady Rivers��� esteemed father. ���Forgive me for not recognizing you, your grace.���
You can buy The Lady Tamed directly from me or from other retailers. Visit the book page for more links.
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