Harper Bliss's Blog, page 17
September 26, 2019
NEW RELEASE: Pink Bean Series: Books 7-9
[image error] We have bundled the last 3 Pink Bean books into a nicely priced box set!
There’s lesbian non-monogamy (Love Without Limits), a mix-up at an escort agency (Crazy for You) and a lesbian builder with intimacy issues (More than Words).
The range is wide and the women are complex but, ultimately, very lovable.
If you’ve been waiting for the box set, you can now get it anywhere you want and set yourself up for a nice and steamy weekend of reading.
Here are the links:
➞ Direct from me
➞ Amazon US
➞ Amazon UK
➞ Amazon CA
➞ Amazon AUS
➞ Amazon DE
➞ Other Amazon Stores
➞ Apple
➞ Kobo
➞ Google Play
➞ Barnes & Noble
(The paperback will be available soon!)
Here’s the official blurb:
THIS BOX SET INCLUDES BOOKS SEVEN, EIGHT AND NINE OF THE PINK BEAN SERIES FOR 45% OFF!
Sydney is full of coffeeshops, but none as exciting, and full of drama, as the Pink Bean.
Love without Limits catches up with Caitlin and Josephine and explores the unconventional evolution of the relationship they started in Everything between Us.
In Crazy for You, Jessica is torn between giving in to love and keeping up appearances after a mix-up at an escort agency brings Liz to her door.
The opening of a third Pink Bean branch throws together former escort Katherine and grieving builder Hera in More than Words, but emotional walls will have to be torn down in this poignant enemies-to-lovers story.
Grab an espresso (or a flat white) and settle down for nearly 700 pages of heartwarming, dramatic and steamy lesbian romance, like only best-selling author Harper Bliss can craft.
Word count: 157.000 words
Enjoy!
The post NEW RELEASE: Pink Bean Series: Books 7-9 appeared first on Harper Bliss.
September 12, 2019
ON SALE: Once Upon a Princess
Once Upon a Princess, the lesbian royal romance I co-wrote with Clare Lydon last year, is ON SALE!
Here’s the blurb:
Can true love be their crowning glory?
Olivia Charlton is a princess who believes in love—not a high priority in a royal family hung up on tradition and duty.
Meanwhile, village sweetheart Rosie Perkins has no time for affairs of the heart—she’s just struggling to keep her cafe and life afloat.
When Olivia heads to Cornwall to escape her royal duties for a few weeks, the two meet and sparks fly. But can a cafe owner and a princess truly end up with their own happily ever after when all the odds are stacked against them?
Best-selling lesbian romance authors Clare Lydon & Harper Bliss have teamed up to bring this modern-day fairy tale to life. Grab your copy of the love story everyone’s talking about!
—
If you haven’t read the dramatic, heart-warming story of the royal princess and the humble cafe owner, now’s the perfect time!
Just 99p/99c on all platforms for a limited time! (Original price: $8.99)
Here are the links:
➞ Direct from Author
➞ Amazon US
➞ Amazon UK
➞ Amazon CA
➞ Amazon AU
➞ Amazon DE
➞ Other Amazon stores
➞ Apple Books
➞ Kobo
➞ Google Play
Enjoy!
The post ON SALE: Once Upon a Princess appeared first on Harper Bliss.
August 21, 2019
ON SALE: At the Water’s Edge
I can hardly believe that At the Water’s Edge came out almost five years ago (November 2014!)
To this day, it remains my most personal and best-selling book.
I’ve always loved the cover, but when my Mrs showed me the new cover she had made, I was properly stunned (isn’t it lovely when your wife can still stun you after 19 years together?) 
August 7, 2019
Fantasy Casting ‘A Lesson in Love’
UPDATE: NO LONGER PASSWORD PROTECTED.
Fantasy casting is a big thing for me.
Perhaps because I’m such a pantser, characters are always what propel a story forward for me, and it really helps when I can see them in my head (and imagine them doing certain things… being a lesbian romance writer really is a tough profession.)
Protected: Fantasy Casting ‘A Lesson in Love’
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The post Protected: Fantasy Casting ‘A Lesson in Love’ appeared first on Harper Bliss.
August 5, 2019
NEW RELEASE: A Lesson in Love
[image error]A Lesson in Love (The Village Romance Series – Book 3) is OUT NOW!
I’m super excited because A Lesson in Love combines two of my very favourite things: a teacher crush & an age-gap romance.
In the author’s note of A Lesson in Love, I’ve written: “I experienced the pure, true joy of writing again during the first draft of this book.”
This is definitely due to finding myself on familiar age gap territory, but also because one of the main characters is an ice-queen-ish professor of English literature. All my boxes were ticked, so to speak, and I had So Much Fun while writing.
And it wasn’t just the writing that was fun… collaborating with my lesfic friends Clare Lydon and T.B. Markinson was simply wonderful. (I wouldn’t be at all surprised if we did this again some time!)
Here’s the blurb:
Can The Posh Student Win The Uptight Professor?
Helen Swift is almost fifty and tired of her day job as a professor at Oxford University. She prefers to write cozy mysteries under a well-hidden pen name in her Cotswolds cottage. She’s also far too busy to even consider romance.
Posh girl, Victoria ‘Rory’ Carlisle, is over the moon when she snags Helen as her DPhil supervisor, and not only because of Professor Swift’s academic prowess. Rory takes an instant shine to Helen, who is far from charmed by her advances.
Can Rory make a dent in the wall that Helen has built around herself? And does Helen even have the time for such an inappropriate dalliance?
Best-selling lesbian fiction author Harper Bliss is back with one of her trademark age-gap romances! It’s part of The Village Romance series which features books by lesfic favourites T.B. Markinson (A Shot at Love), and Clare Lydon (A Taste of Love).
One English village, three charming romances. Read the lesfic trilogy that’s the talk of the summer today!
A Lesson in Love is available on Amazon (and it’s in Kindle Unlimited):
– Amazon US
– Amazon UK
– Amazon CA
– Amazon AU
– Amazon DE
– Other Amazon Stores
What readers are saying about A Lesson in Love:
“Excellent ending to an excellent trilogy.”
“Ice queen, age-gap romance at its best.”
“OMG, this book was so good! I absolutely love an age gap from Harper and this one did not disappoint!”
Enjoy!
P.S. Did I mention that A Lesson in Love features one of the longest sex scenes I’ve written to date?
July 29, 2019
ON SALE: Seasons of Love
My ultimate summer age gap romance Seasons of Love is ON SALE!
($0.99 instead of $6.99 – for a limited time only!)
Here’s the blurb:
A successful solicitor, her business partner’s daughter, and their unexpected chance at love.
Alice McAllister is successful, quiet and disciplined. When her law partner Miranda forces her to take a vacation at her holiday home in Portugal, the unexpected presence of Miranda’s daughter Joy turns Alice’s world up-side down.
Despite their differences–the age gap between them only being one of many–Alice and Joy embark on a passionate holiday romance… until they have to return home.
Can their steamy summer fling turn into a love that lasts? Or will the real world impose too many obstacles to Alice and Joy’s young and fragile love?
Find out in this sultry lesbian age-gap novel by chart-topping lesbian romance author Harper Bliss!
★★★★★ “Harper Bliss is the queen of age gap romances. Be sure to pick this one up right away.” – The Lesbian Review
Word count: 67.000 words
Available from:
Direct from author
Amazon US
Amazon UK
Amazon CA
Amazon AUS
Amazon DE
Apple
Kobo
Google Play
Here’s your chance to snap it up for $0.99 instead of the regular price of $6.99!
Enjoy!
The post ON SALE: Seasons of Love appeared first on Harper Bliss.
July 18, 2019
PREVIEW: A Lesson in Love
[image error]
A Lesson in Love will be out in less than 3 weeks! Here’s a preview. Enjoy!
A Lesson in Love
(A Village Romance Novel)
© Harper Bliss
Chapter 1
HELEN
I have ten minutes before my next appointment and I instinctively reach for my phone. My finger hovers over my trusty dictation app, but I catch myself. Not here.
With a sigh, I put my phone back. When I arrived this morning, I was in the middle of dictating a climactic scene. But it would have seemed too odd to sit talking to myself in my car in the car park so I stopped—although, these days, so many of us look like we’re talking to ourselves all the time.
These are my university hours and I can’t allow my two schedules to get confused, even though my office door is closed and no one would see me.
Instead, I grab the sheet of paper I printed out earlier from my desk. Victoria Carlisle. Sounds posh. But I’ve taught myself not to judge—if that’s even possible. This is Oxford. There’s no shortage of posh people here. I’ve seen many students come and go over the years, from all backgrounds, but the majority have always been more posh than not.
I glance at Victoria Carlisle’s picture. The department makes it compulsory to have your picture on its website. Could she be the very last student I supervise?
“You very well might be, Victoria Carlisle,” I say to her printed image. Dark hair. Brown eyes. Wide, full lips. She must have been in one of my first-year lectures, but if she was, I don’t remember—despite her distinctive mouth.
Someone knocks on the door.
“Yes.” I drop the sheet of paper.
The door opens and in walks the woman whose picture I was just studying.
“Hello, Professor Swift.” She walks straight towards me, hand outstretched. “I’m Victoria.”
I briefly take her hand in mine, then invite her to sit.
She’s wearing jeans and a turtleneck sweater. Her hair is pulled into a ponytail.
“Right,” she says and looks me straight in the eye, flashing a very wide smile. “I have to admit”—her voice is clear—“I’m a little nervous.”
Her attitude and facial expression contradict her statement. Since her arrival, the energy in my office has shifted. She’s one of those people who draw the eye—who light up a room. I wouldn’t be caught dead using that cliché in one of my novels.
“No need for that.” She’s making me nervous now. One day, if she does get her doctorate, she’ll make an outstanding lecturer—unlike me, perhaps. With some people, one glance is all it takes to know they’ll excel.
“The way I see it”—she cocks her head—“you’re my only chance at doing this particular kind of in-depth research.”
I arch up my eyebrows. I know what Victoria Carlisle wants to research. She emailed me about it in astonishing detail.
“I wouldn’t put it in such black and white terms, Miss Carlisle.”
“Well, no doubt you know what I mean.” That wide grin again, accompanied by a wink this time. Goodness, this woman is forward. Like most young people these days, who carry themselves with a familiarity towards faculty that I’ve never quite got used to.
Of course I know what she means. “Professor Monohan has an interest in the subject you suggest.”
Victoria shakes her head. “She doesn’t really.”
“Did you inquire with her?”
“I did and she wouldn’t even meet with me to discuss it.”
That figures. “So I’m your second choice?”
“Most definitely not, Professor,” she’s quick to say. “You were always my first choice, but I felt like I needed to hedge my bets.”
“You didn’t try Professor Fleming?” I ask, more to amuse myself than anything else.
She cocks her head again. “No, of course not.” Now she’s making me sound silly for even suggesting it.
“All right.” It’s time to move things along. “So, the evolution of lesbian characters in English literature in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries.”
Victoria nods.
“I take it you have considered this subject carefully?” Another silly question, but one I find myself asking every time nonetheless.
“My master’s thesis was about lesbian pulp fiction of the fifties and sixties, so a doctoral dissertation would really be an expansion of that. I feel like there’s much more to be said on the subject and a DPhil dissertation carries more weight.”
“You seem very passionate about the subject.” I take my time to examine her face more carefully this time.
“I am, indeed.” She sits up a little straighter. “In almost every aspect of life, lesbians are the most invisible group. Regardless of the reasons for that, it’s my mission to unearth as many lesbian characters as I can in the last hundred years of English literature. It is very much my passion.”
“Good.” I give her an encouraging nod. The goal of this first meeting is always to gauge and predict—insofar as that’s possible—the stamina of the DPhil candidates. The dropout rate is so high, and so many promising dissertations never get finished. I, for one, would like to read the final version of this particular project. At the moment, Victoria Carlisle surely comes across as very enthusiastic. I see a determination in her glance I rarely encounter. This could be one that works out. “I’d be very happy to be your supervisor.”
“Yes!” Victoria bumps her fist into the air.
I can’t help but smile a little. It bolsters my enthusiasm for my own job just a bit. The fondness for it that I seem to have lost along the way. It’s been a while since someone like Victoria has come along. One more year full-time, I tell myself. By the end of this year, my other supervisees will have completed their dissertations and working part-time will give me more than enough hours to supervise Victoria. To help this woman get started with her research. I can actually see myself do it now.
Victoria regroups and puts her hands in her lap.
“The first few months, I’ll see you once a week.” I’m already looking forward to discussing Victoria’s quest for lesbian characters in literature. When I was a student, it wouldn’t have been entirely unthinkable to devote a dissertation to this type of subject, but it would have taken a lot more convincing to get the whole thing off the ground. I also didn’t have any out-and-proud professors to turn to. Today, in the Faculty of English Language and Literature alone, there are three of us—with a lot of suspicion surrounding a fourth.
“I look forward to it, Professor Swift,” Victoria says.
Chapter 2
RORY
Professor Swift has no idea how much I look forward to working with her. I had kind of hoped she’d want to see me twice a week to discuss my progress—or take me out to lunch to celebrate. But I’ll take once a week. I’ll take whatever I can get.
I glance at her, wondering if she’ll have anything else to say or ask. Maybe she’ll want to inquire about my research methods or perhaps she’d like a copy of my master’s thesis. I have one just for her in my bag.
She moves her mouse and looks at her screen.
“Shall we say Mondays at three?”
“Okay.” I don’t even consult my calendar. I’ll make time regardless.
“Was there anything else?” Professor Swift’s light blue gaze goes a little steely all of a sudden.
“Um, no.” I came to this meeting prepared. I have all the answers to her possible questions at the ready in my head, but she doesn’t appear to have any. Perhaps she had already decided to take me on before seeing me. She doesn’t appear to be the most talkative type. There’s a lot of inquisition in that icy gaze of hers, however.
“I take it you know what to do next?” There’s a hint of doubt in her voice.
“I do.” Resolutely, I jump out of my seat. “I’ll report back next week.” I offer my hand.
She eyes it for a split second, then stands and takes it in hers. She gives me a curt nod before releasing my hand.
I exit Professor Swift’s office and once I’ve closed the door behind me, bump my fist into the air again.
When I decided to go for my DPhil I only ever wanted to do it on this subject and with Professor Swift as my supervisor. I might have gone to Professor Fleming if Swift had refused to supervise me, but it wouldn’t have been the same, what with Fleming being a man.
I walk out of the building’s stuffy hallway feeling like I’ve won the lottery. In a way, I have. This should also keep Mother and Father happy with me for a few more years.
* * *
“Swift’s on board,” I shout as soon as I walk into our apartment. I don’t even know if Jessica’s home.
She leaps from the kitchen into the lounge. “You wooed the ice maiden.” She puts her hands on her hips. “Go you.”
I chuckle. “I hardly wooed her.”
“You know what Sarah told me.” Jess walks to the drinks cabinet. “G&T to celebrate?”
“Is that what Sarah told you?” I beam a smile over to her.
She rolls her eyes at me. “You want one or not?”
“Do you even have to ask?” Jess and I are both DPhil students, both of us lingering in limbo between student and ‘real’ life. We can have a gin and tonic before lunch any day of the week.
“On it, darling,” Jess says.
“What did Professor Monohan tell you?”
She turns around to roll her eyes at me again. “I take it Swift will never let you call her by her first name, but Sarah and I are very much on a first-name basis. Have been from day one.”
“Yes, yes, I know. You’ve told me often.” I let myself fall onto the sofa.
“Sarah told me she’d be very surprised if Swift took on any new DPhil students to supervise this year.” Jess arches her eyebrows.
“I must have some really serious powers of persuasion then.” I wink at her.
She turns towards the drinks cabinet again. I hear the sizzle of a can of tonic being opened.
“You really must, Rory,” Jess says with her back to me. “I should know, after all.”
I ignore Jess’s comment and think about the brief amount of time I spent in Professor Swift’s office. I didn’t have to persuade her at all. Professor Sarah Monohan must have assumed wrongly.
“There you go, darling.” Jess hands me a glass filled to the absolute brim. “Cheers.” When she clinks hers against mine, some liquid sloshes over the top. Sometimes, I feel like we still live a bit too much like students.
“Now that it’s official,” she says, “you should come to lunch with Sarah and Alistair tomorrow. We’ll have a gay old time.” She grins at me.
“Christ, Jess.” I take a large sip and inwardly admonish myself for not picking a more subtle kind of person as a roommate.
“Sarah’s much more forthcoming than Swift and she’s rather fond of a boozy lunch. Think of all the background information you can get out of her.”
“I’ll see.” I glance at my friend. We’ve been living together for three years and I know what she’s like—a loud busy-body who likes to throw a party every other week.
“Fuck that, Rory. You’re coming,” Jessica says. “I know you better than you know yourself. You want to come.”
“Don’t you have a Tinder date to get all dolled up for?”
“Not today,” Jess says on a sigh. “In fact, not this week or this month or this year.”
“Has the well of eligible Oxford bachelors run dry?”
She expels another sigh. “I should have stuck with you, Rory.” She paints on another grin. “We had a good time together.”
“For about a week or two, maybe.” We’ve had this conversation so many times before, usually over a couple of drinks.
“I could have been married to Victoria Carlisle by now,” Jess muses. “Acquired myself a piece of your family’s fortune along the way.”
“I hate to break it to you—again,” I catch her gaze. “But it’s hardly a fortune and, besides, my mother would not have welcomed you into the family with open arms. She’s not really a very open-armed kind of person.”
“What are you talking about? Lady Carlisle adores me.” Jessica bats her lashes.
“Sure, as long as you’re nothing more than my friend.”
Jessica shrugs and takes a large gulp of gin and tonic. Even she doesn’t have a comeback for that one.
<>
A Lesson in Love will be available on Tuesday 6 August 2019.
The post PREVIEW: A Lesson in Love appeared first on Harper Bliss.
July 11, 2019
A Lesson in Love: Cover & Blurb Reveal!
Above the cover of my upcoming book, A Lesson in Love, due out on August 6th!
The book is part of a trilogy I’ve written with fellow lesfic authors T.B. Markinson and Clare Lydon. All three books will be published two weeks apart, and T.B. Markinson’s A Shot At Love is already on sale.
Here’s the blurb:
Can the posh student win the uptight professor?
Helen Swift is almost fifty and tired of her day job as a professor at Oxford University. She prefers to write cozy mysteries under a well-hidden pen name in her Cotswolds cottage. She’s also far too busy to even consider romance.
Posh girl, Victoria ‘Rory’ Carlisle, is over the moon when she snags Helen as her DPhil supervisor, and not only because of Professor Swift’s academic prowess. Rory takes an instant shine to Helen, who is far from charmed by her advances.
Can Rory make a dent in the wall that Helen has built around herself? And does Helen even have the time for such an inappropriate dalliance?
One English village, three charming romances. Read the lesfic trilogy that’s the talk of the summer today!
A Lesson in Love is part of The Village Romance Series which features books by lesfic favourites T.B. Markinson (A Shot at Love), and Clare Lydon (A Taste of Love).
TB Markinson’s A Shot at Love is out now!
Book two, A Taste of Love, is out on July 24th.
Book three, A Lesson in Love, is out on August 6th.
P.S. Life in Bits, the book I co-wrote with T.B. Markinson last year, is currently on sale!
The post A Lesson in Love: Cover & Blurb Reveal! appeared first on Harper Bliss.
June 18, 2019
NEW RELEASE: French Kissing: Season Five
[image error] French Kissing: Season Five is now available on all retailers and in all formats!
Since I published my first book (way back ‘in the day’), six months is by far the longest I’ve gone without releasing a new title (Life in Bits, my co-write with TB Markinson was the last book I released in December 2018.)
To say I’m looking forward to French Kissing: Season Five finally coming out would, therefore, be a grave understatement!
