Erica Monroe's Blog, page 4
January 24, 2017
A DANGEROUS INVITATION is on sale!
For a limited time, the e-book of A Dangerous Invitation is on sale for $0.99! This is book one of the Rookery Rogues series, so it’s a great place to start if you haven’t checked out my dark, gritty series set in London’s underworld.
You can purchase your copy here:
Amz: http://hyperurl.co/adiamaz
Kobo: http://hyperurl.co/adikobo
iBooks: http://hyperurl.co/adiib
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Scoundrels, thieves and rebels inhabit the rookeries–where the women are fierce and the men are dangerous. Are you willing to take the risk?
SHE’S GIVEN UP ON LOVE, AND WANTS ONLY INDEPENDENCE…
Torn from her life of privilege by her father’s death, Kate Morgan survives in London’s dark and depraved rookeries as a fence for stolen goods. The last man she ever expects, or wants, to be reunited with is her first love, who promised to cherish, honor and protect her, and instead fled amidst accusations of murder.
HE’S THE REFORMED RAKE DETERMINED TO WIN HER BACK.
One drunken night cost Daniel O’Reilly the woman he loved. If he ever wants to reclaim Kate–and his old life–he’ll not only have to prove he’s innocent of murder, but convince the pistol-wielding hellion that he’s no longer the scoundrel he once was.
Together, they’ll have to face a killer. Time is running out…
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And A Dangerous Invitation intersects nicely with my new release, Stealing the Rogue’s Heart, so you’ll want to check that out too 
Release day for STEALING THE ROGUE’S HEART!
It’s release day for STEALING THE ROGUE’S HEART!!! I really loved writing this little book. It brought me back the joy of writing, and though it was a breakneck pace to get to the deadline, I was very happy to be immersed in the wild world of creating. Mina and Charlie remain one of my absolute favorite couples, and I’m so excited to share their story with you!
You can pick up your copy here:
Amazon: http://hyperurl.co/strhamz
Nook: http://hyperurl.co/strhnk
iBooks: http://hyperurl.co/strhib
Kobo: http://hyperurl.co/strhkobo
Google Play: http://hyperurl.co/strhgp
Paperback coming soon!
A Note on How I Use Social Media
Hi y’all,
Just as a note, I sometimes post articles about politics, human rights issues, animal rights issues, feminism, and issues affecting sexual assault and human trafficking survivors on my Facebook profile and on Twitter. I am also chronically ill, so I talk about healthcare and disability rights too.
If you’d like to only see my public posts of my Instagram, history facts, etc, feel free to just follow my Facebook profile instead of friending. You can also turn off retweets from me on Twitter, so you’ll see significantly less of my politics.
I won’t get into the debate about whether or not authors should express their opinions publicly – every author has very unique, valid reasons for deciding what is and what isn’t on brand for them, and never would I want to judge anyone (as I wouldn’t want anyone to judge me!) As for me, I tend to write very feminist social-issue-focused historical romance, using history to reflect today’s current climate. Because of this, and because I am both very passionate about tolerance and inclusiveness *and* happen to be horrible at compartmentalization, I long ago made the decision that my brand would reflect my beliefs.
But I 100% understand that this is not for every reader. Some of you just want to know about my books, and not listen to me blather on about pit bulls or women’s rights. 
You can still interact with me, though! On my Facebook page and fan group, I keep things much lighter, and my newsletter is pretty much only about new releases or sales.
So you can follow me here:
Facebook page – http://facebook.com/ericamonroewrites
Facebook group for readers and fans – http://facebook.com/groups/DaringDames
Newsletter – http://bit.ly/mlem4
Website – http://ericamonroe.com
January 9, 2017
Historical Romance Retreat!
I’m very pleased to announce that I will be one of the guest authors at the 2017 Historical Romance Retreat in Spokane, WA from September 27-October 1st. It’s going to be an amazing time!! Hope you can come out!
It’s a limited attendance event, so register soon–the cap is at 175 readers. This is to make sure you get LOTS of time with your favorite authors!!
Register here: http://www.historicalromanceretreat.com/
November 4, 2016
Why I Write Working Class Romance
“I write dark, gritty romances set in the London slums,” I say to a woman who owns a trinket shop in town. “So send me your prostitutes, thieves, and general malcontents.”
Okay, so perhaps that’s the simplistic version of that story. I’ve yet to figure out a socially acceptable tagline for my series The Rookery Rogues, which centers on a group of people who live in the poorest neighborhoods of 1830’s London. But I think of that conversation now—pursuing the allure of the past. What allure, really, is there in a rookery? These neighborhoods were not beautiful, not clean, and certainly not safe.
But somehow, that life still appeals to me viscerally. It is not that I wish to go back in time and live that life, as one might with your more typical historical romance fare dealing with the bon ton (as who wouldn’t want to marry a Duke and live in a gorgeous palatial estate?). Instead, I want to examine behaviors back then to connect in today’s world. When I began plotting out the Rookery Rogues, I was especially drawn to character archetypes in the old London underworld that we could see in 21st century crooks as well. Thieves, be it pickpockets, house breakers, or those that pull off grand heists like in the movie Ocean’s Eleven, were very much a part of London’s rookeries. Prostitutes and human trafficking is still as relevant today as it was in the 19th century, whether or not we want to dignify that. People live in poverty every day, with a portion of our American population facing starvation.
Through telling these stories of the past, I believe we are better able to understand today’s world. We figure out where we come from when we look back into history, and it is those cornerstones that shaped our society. From an American standpoint, as a writer who spends all day stuck in British history, I see a far different side to my nation’s history than I would have been taught in school. (It’s generally not encouraged to root for the redcoats when you are in fourth grade learning about the American Revolution, but here I am with my little flag). I have found myself researching topics for my novels that I never would have otherwise—the state of the London prison system, the forming of London’s first real organized police force, and the trade in human corpses for dissection. Every one of those topics has enriched my knowledge of the world around me because now I understand what stemmed certain laws and trends.
These stories may not be easy to read, as our heroines and heroes face very real problems: murder, death, starvation, illness, poverty, sexual or physical assault, and loss of livelihood or property, to name a few. You may be thinking, where’s the romance in that? Perhaps the appeal is harder to find, when the ending of the story does not have the heroine transformed into a Cinderella princess. Instead, the heroine may come to grips with her own life, and relish in the freedom her nontraditional role provides, or realize that with the love of the hero she can face difficult circumstances head-on. The happily ever after in these darker stories of the poor can take on a socially interesting role: what changes do we really see in the hero and heroine when they reach the end of the novel? Their financial status might not have changed—they could still be faced with deep poverty. But they have most likely reached a place of emotional stability and happiness within.
It is that emotional happiness that draws me most. I have always loved stories of the underdog. The ability of the human mind to triumph over the most horrible obstacles astonishes me. I hope to show in the Rookery Rogues that one set of experiences does not define a person: because a man is raised in the Ratcliffe rookeries he is not necessarily a crook; if a man is forced into stealing to support his family he may not be an entirely wicked person. There are so many facets to these so-called underworld characters that even in scratching the surface you would be amazed. I chose to make the hero of A Dangerous Invitation an alcohol abuser in recovery, so that I could show his struggles with addiction and his eventual triumph and realization of his own strength. I gave him a heroine afraid to love again, who must face her personal demons before she can truly understand the impact he has on her life.
I love stories of seemingly broken people—people cast out by society because of some unforgivable sin—who find their perfect matches in equally broken people. To me, the most romantic stories are ones where two people are everything to each other. My husband and I lead relatively normal lives, and to an outside audience, we probably don’t appear all that important in the grand scheme of things. He’s into computers, and I spend my days picking apart weird bits of history. But to each other, we occupy the most pivotal spheres in our lives. He is my everything, and I his. That is what makes me write romance: I believe that every person out there deserves to be the center of someone’s universe.
No matter what your circumstances happen to be, you’ve got a story and it matters to at least one person out there. Maybe you’re not from a wealthy family. Maybe you don’t live in the best of conditions and maybe you’ve done some unscrupulous things in the past. But that doesn’t change the fact that you are as worthy as anyone else to have your story told. All stories have a place in literature, from the wealthy soon-to-be-Countess who marries an even wealthier Earl in an arranged marriage but then they fall madly in love, to the divorced woman who scandalized society by refusing to submit to her husband’s lascivious desires.
So I write historical romance because in the end, I believe in the power of the human soul. Because I believe we need a little darkness to show the light, and I believe that magic can happen with every day people.
This post is originally from 2013, prior to the publication of A Dangerous Invitation
November 2, 2016
Up for Preorder!
STEALING THE ROGUE’S HEART, book 4 in the Rookery Rogues, is up for preorder! Amazon, Kobo, Barnes and Noble, and ARE already have it -iBooks will be coming soon. It is $0.99 for preorder for a limited time! Comes out 1-24-17.
Amz: http://hyperurl.co/strhamz
BN: http://hyperurl.co/strhnk
ARE: http://hyperurl.co/strhare
Kobo: http://hyperurl.co/strhkobo
Scoundrels, thieves and rebels inhabit the rookeries–where the women are fierce and the men are dangerous. Are you willing to take the risk?
WHEN AN UNDERWORLD PRINCESS…
Beautiful, innocent Mina Mason has led a sheltered life as the sister to the most notorious crime lord in England. Her family’s wealth and expectations keep her in a gilded cage, never able to act on her true desires. Like kissing — and engaging in far more scandalous behavior with–Charlie Thatcher, her childhood best friend. As a member of a rival gang, Charlie is distinctly off-limits.
FALLS FOR THE WRONG MAN…
Charlie Thatcher has known since he was a boy where his loyalties should lie: with the Chapman Street Thieves, who saved him from a brutal death in the dark alleys of the Ratcliffe rookery. As a bartender for the Three Boars public house, he deals in information and secrets, protecting his fellow brothers with his mind and his fists. But when one of those members threatens Mina’s safety, Charlie’s primal, protective instincts are triggered–and his defense of her puts them both in danger.
PASSION MAY BE THEIR DOWNFALL.
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Stealing the Rogue’s Heart is a dark, gritty, and sexy romantic suspense set in pre-Victorian working class London. While it is book four in the Rookery Rogues series, it can be read as a stand-alone historical romance novella.
Reader Question!
I got an e-mail from Carol, a reader, today but her e-mail address returns an error message.
So I’m posting said e-mail response here, in hopes she’ll see it! I figure others may have a similar question too. The question was if there would be further Covert Heiresses books, and if they’d be available on Barnes and Noble.
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There will definitely be more books in the Covert Heiresses series–I plan to write books about Korianna, Arden, and Elinor. Originally, these books were supposed to be released this year, but health issues and taking on a new day job sadly pushed that my release schedule behind. Now, I expect to release the second Covert Heiresses book in the fall of 2017 or winter of 2018. You can sign up for my newsletter to know precisely when this book comes out! When it is released, it will also be on Barnes and Noble. (The remaining Covert Heiresses books take place around the same few weeks/months time period, so they have to be plotted together – hence their later release date.)
In the meantime, I have another series, the Rookery Rogues, which features thieves, scoundrels, and rebellious women in the heart of London’s underworld (called the rookeries). I’ve written three books in this series and there will be at least two Rookery Rogues releases in 2017 (slated for January and July). I also have a novella in the Haunting of Castle Keyvnor series, in Mystified, which just came out in September of this year.
I’m so very glad you enjoyed I Spy a Duke!
October 30, 2016
Deadline Time!
It may take me longer to reply as I am heading into deadline mode for the next two months with writing STEALING THE ROGUE’S HEART, Rookery Rogues book 4.
Please know that I read all notes from readers and am grateful for your questions and comments! I appreciate your patience as I work heartily on my next book for you 
October 25, 2016
Meet Teddy and Claire from THE MAD COUNTESS!
Teddy is probably my nerdiest hero to date, with his love for logic, law, and routine. He’s afraid of heights, black pudding, spiders, the outdoors, and being refused by his lady love, but he’ll face all his fears to keep Claire safe and break her family’s curse. (If you love nerdy heroes, check out my novel, Secrets in Scarlet too!)
Claire has been dubbed the Mad Daughter by the ton, and still mourns for the mother she lost to the fringes of lunacy. Her deepest fear is that she will be locked away in her own mind, a danger to Teddy. She should stay away, yet she just can’t.
Check out my Pinterest board to see what inspired this novella!
And for more information on the Ticehurst asylum where Lady Brauning was imprisoned, check out this blog post I did here.
Get your copy of Mystified today!
Amz: http://hyperurl.co/mysamz
Kobo: http://hyperurl.co/myskobo
iBooks: http://hyperurl.co/mysib
Mystified is live!
The Haunting at Castle Keyvnor series is here! Four books with three novellas each, all interconnected. Characters, settings, and even supernatural elements will reappear in different books. For instance, in my novella The Mad Countessin Mystified, you’ll find mention of Ava Stone’s Jack and Cassy (Vexed), Renee Bernard’s Elethea Fairfax and her coven (Mystified too!), Michelle Willingham’s Jane and Devon (Bedeviled), Claudia Dain’s Hal Mort (Spellbound) and Kate Pearce’s Violet and Letty (Bedeviled). So to get the full experience, you’ll want to read all four books! You can start anywhere in the series and still be able to follow along.
Purchase your copy of Mystified:
Amz: http://hyperurl.co/mysamz
Kobo: http://hyperurl.co/myskobo
iBooks: http://hyperurl.co/mysib
Greetings,
In regards to the Matter of the un-entailed Estate of the late-Jonathan Hambly, 10th Earl of Banfield, be advised that your attendance is urgently required at the reading of his lordship’s Last Will & Testament, to take place on November 1st of this year at Castle Keyvnor in Bocka Morrow, Cornwall.
Regards,
Mr. Timothy Hunt, Esq.
When the late-Earl of Banfield’s distant relations descend upon Bocka Morrow, they’ll find gypsies, witches, pixies, smugglers, and one very haunted castle. And if they’re lucky, they might just fall in love while they’re there.
MYSTIFIED, The Haunting of Castle Keyvnor includes:
Renee Bernard’s The Sweetest Curse
Jerrica Knight-Catania’s Possessed by a Stranger
Erica Monroe’s The Mad Countess
Theodore Lockwood, Earl of Ashbrooke, has been in love with his best friend, Lady Claire Deering, for as long as he can remember. Claire too harbors a secret desire for him—but a witch cursed her family with madness, and she’s terrified she’ll only hurt him if they act on their feelings. When a will reading at a mysterious castle in Cornwall brings them both together, they’ll work to break her family’s curse…and find true love.
What are early readers saying about The Mad Countess?
“I was transfixed – reading from beginning to end. I didn’t put it down until the end. Erica Monroe does an excellent job transporting the reader from Cornwall to the very haunted walls of one very dark, dank castle. This is a slight departure from Ms. Monroe’s other stories. But she does a phenomenal job with all of the paranormal facets of the story – as with everything else. She is an excellent writer.”
“The hero and heroine are brave, very much in love, and tug at your heartstrings. Each of the strong secondary characters fits a niche in the story and fills the role beautifully. There are twists and surprises in this well-written story. Read and enjoy this one. You’d have to be mad not to (couldn’t resist).”
“Monroe shines...[she] is a wizard at creating convincing characters, I love her heroes, and Teddy might be my favourite so far…THE MAD COUNTESS is full of unexpected plot twits, and the romance is almost too gorgeous for words.”
