November News
I've moved up to the Regency! Not for all my books, but certainly for the current series, and probably the next one, too.
Although the Regency is still part of the Georgian period (George IV died in 1830) it has a different feeling and character to the earlier ones. Most obvious is the fashion, where gentlemen abandoned the wigs and turned to plainer garb. Beautifully tailored, but the frills and extravagance of the earlier period went out the window.
And of course it was a time of war. Most of the period, up to 1815, was spent at war. Even after the war there were years of uncertainty and finagling as treaties were signed and borders on the Continent rearranged. A really interesting time, and a lot of research to be done!
You know me, I love a bit of research, so I've been working hard, reading some really good books and making scads of notes. I don't want my stories to be superficial. While I love a good romp, I like it to have an authentic background.
Like the writer who started it all, Georgette Heyer. She created the Regency genre, although she didn't set out to do that. She discovered her passion for the Regency and that was that.
But I don't take my history from any fiction, even the Divine Georgette. So if you have any great non-fiction accounts of the period, do get in touch!
Book News
I'm currently in edits with the second book in the Brazen Burrells series. My editor at Dragonblade left, and I have a new, shiny editor, who is lovely, and thorough! But the delay in changing editors has made the gap between books a bit longer. It won't be long now! And I'm mostly done with the third and last book in the main series. I've loved writing these stories, and I've found a way to continue, a new series, a new family with different problems, but with links to the Burrells. I've put a new extract from the first book below for you. At the theatre, Gerald takes things a little too far...
The Only Honest Man In London - Extract
When the adventuress and the earl meet – sparks fly!
Welcome to book 1 in the new series The Brazen Burrells by USA Today Bestselling author Lynne Connolly.
When the Burrell sisters take the ton by storm, nobody is more surprised than Viola. The whirlwind of their elevation to the highest in the land pushes her into the arms of the Earl of Knowsley. Viola is lost, all her careful plans abandoned. She has nothing to offer but her beauty. A hidden disability has taken away her confidence and her grace. If she gives him her heart, will he give her a ring, or a carte blanche?
Gerald wants to marry, but not to the ravishing beauty who entrances him from the first time he sets eyes on her. He wants a rational marriage with moderate affection, not the tempest of passion Viola leads him into.
From an encounter in the sordid London docks, to a presentation at court, to riding lessons in the park, Viola and Gerald grow closer, until the actions of her sister and his best friend threaten to force them apart.
If they survive this, they can survive anything. If they don’t, they’ll part forever.
The Brazen Burrells
Book 1 - The Only Honest Man in London
Book 2 - An Unusual Courtship
Book 3 - The Talk of the Town
Buy The Book Here
Excerpt
“Where do you come from?” he asked.
“I was born in Dublin, and we had a Season in Edinburgh.”
“ You’re Irish?”
“Partly. Is that a crime, sir?”
He smiled. “Not when they resemble you. My dear, if Ireland has any more like you, let them all come.”
“Irish ladies are much like the ones here.”
Lifting his hand, he slowly touched the back of one finger to her cheek. “Beautiful.”
She jerked back, heat rushing to her face. “Sir!”
“I could not resist. Your skin invites touch, Ma’am.”
She turned, ready to flounce. “If you will excuse me, sir …”
She made to walk past, but in a move she could not predict or expect, he took her arm and whisked her behind a curtain into a small space. Where was her footman? Good Lord, there was a daybed here! “What is this place?”
“Not many people know of these convenient little nooks, but the management understands the needs of their customers.”
Well good Lord, were these society men all priapic? Did they need convenient nooks to satisfy their whims?
Viola was confused, flustered, angry, aroused, all at the same time.
He did not release her this time, but drew her closer. Unaccountably, her breath shortened, and the flush that had risen to her cheeks flooded over her whole body and turned into the heat of desire. She wanted, and she didn’t want. This was wrong, she knew it, but in the second before his mouth came down on hers, she could do nothing but turn her face up, and wait.
His lips cushioned hers, firm and masculine, and they tasted so good. She savored the tang of brandy, but the rest was all him. His arm came around her, holding her while he plundered. The kiss turned passionate, transmitting everything he had said only with his eyes before.
It confirmed everything she’d suspected. She would give him anything, just for the asking. And she didn’t care. Sin had never tempted her so much as it did now. She longed for him, wanted what he would give her.
Still in the kiss, he drew her further into the room until the backs of her knees touched the edge of something. When he urged her down, she went, finding the soft resistance of the daybed behind her.
And still he kissed her, leaving her to draw breath, and enter into the fray again. Viola had lost all her words, only soft moans coming from her lips as he kissed her cheek, her throat, and then moved her gown aside to kiss the exposed part of her bosom. She gasped as thrills coursed through her, turning her blood to champagne. Nobody had touched her there, nobody had ever stroked her skin so gently with such extreme results.
“Sir!”
“Gerald,” he murmured between kisses. He returned to her mouth, gazing down at her as he cupped her cheek and kissed her again. Willingly, she gave him what he wanted because it was what she wanted, too.
“You are like no one else I’ve met before."
See you soon!
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