For readers in the UK, Australia, and New Zealand: We won't be late!

In this day and age, you would think that with a push of a button a book could be released simultaneously all over the world, in all formats. Annoyingly enough, we are not at that day and age. We’re still dealing with contracts and subsidiary rights, licenses, and a bunch of other things that would bore you witless, were I to attempt explaining—presuming I could explain in any remotely intelligible fashion.

However, in this day and age, it is possible—if one has the right team, working diligently—for the eBook to come out in the UK, Australia, and New Zealand on the same exact day (well, allowing for time zones), as it does in the US and Canada. I’m very happy to report that my absolutely right team has managed the feat. In short, my UK/AU/NZ readers will be able to read My Inconvenient Duke on their e-readers as soon as my US readers do.

It will not have the exact same cover (please see contract, etc note above), as you can see if you compare the cover here with the one on the Books page. But I think the non-US/Canadian version is quite as nicely done, and like the U.S. version, it includes the house, which I’ll talk about in a future blog post.

As to other formats, like audio: Again, please see the note about contracts & rights, etc. When/if we have an audio release for you, I’ll let you know promptly. I’m sorry we don’t have it now, but oh, it’s complicated… Let’s keep our fingers crossed.

At Long Last, She Wrote "The End"

A woman wearing books for clothing.

G. Spratt, The Circulating Library, c. 1830. Rijkmuseum

Actually, I never write “The End” at the end of my manuscripts. When the words stop, that seems to be a big enough clue.

So I didn’t write it this time, either, but all who have been wondering when in blazes I’d ever finish the Blackwoods’ story now have the answer. Thursday 11 January. About 10:30pm. It’s now in my editor’s hands. After she reads it, she will return it to me with questions and notes and such, and I will make the necessary revisions. That is to say, if she doesn’t decide it’s beyond hope and gently suggests I find another profession.

If, however, she is able to work with it, and I can make it better for her (actually, for you), it will then be turned over to the copy editor, who’ll go through it, looking for inconsistencies and grammatical insanities and oddities. Meanwhile he/she will be putting in the hieroglyphs that the printers understand for formatting. Then it’s my turn again, to review what the copy editor hath wrought, and add or subtract my own things. It’s my last chance to make any significant changes.

Then it goes to the printer and gets made to look like a book, but not the final book, because I get to go over it once more, looking for errors that somehow the ten thousand people who’ve gone over this thing have missed. And of course, no matter what, no matter how many people check and re-check, it will go out into the world with a mistake or two. There are always sneaky little devils that manage to hide from all those probing eyes. Ask any author. There’s even an Internet meme about it.

All of which is to say, it’ll be a while before the book is in fact a book you can buy in a shop or online. However, when I have a publication date, I’ll let you know. Or you’ll be able to tell by the screaming and laughing and crying, which you will hear over great distances. My neighbors will see me dancing in the street, champagne glass aloft.

It’s been a long journey. Thank you for waiting so patiently.




"Ten Things I Hate About the Duke" is here!

At last, at last! Ten Things I Hate About the Duke, Difficult Dukes Book # 2, has been released into the world. (Well, the North American part of it, anyway.*)

When last we saw the Duke of Ashmont, in A Duke in Shining Armor, he was doing a great job of making a hopeless case of himself. I’m not sure I’ve ever created a hero quite so out of control. But I write romance, and so I have to give the guy a way to pull himself out of the self-destructive spiral. Also, I write comedy, which means there ought to be laughs on the way to his Happily Ever After.

Enter Cassandra Pomfret, inspired by Katharina in Shakespeare’s The Taming of the Shrew. And then, lucky me, another work inspired by the play, the teen film Ten Things I Hate About You, provided a title I could adapt.

Shakespeare’s treatment of Katharina always bothered me. And so, as has happened in some of my other books, I’ve done a rewrite. Yes, it takes a lot of nerve to rewrite Shakespeare—which may account for my book’s taking three years!—and I changed it so much that I can hear him saying, “Prithee, beldam, what hast thou done to mine genius work?” Or something to that effect, with amusing Elizabethan curses.

Robert Cruikshank, Chelsea Stadium Shield 1834, courtesy Lewis Walpole Library

You will find that only a few elements of Ten Things I Hate About the Duke echo elements in the Shakespeare play. The rest is turned upside down and inside out or discarded altogether. Most important, in my Fractured Fairy Tale version, the correct person is reformed.

Usually, my blog posts are sporadic. Months of silence pass. Not so this month. You can expect several, mainly on the various bits of history that turn up in the story. Also, there are illustrations of just about every element of the story on the Ten Things I Hate About the Duke board of my Pinterest page. And you can listen to an audio excerpt here. And just in case this isn’t enough, you can expect Facebook and Instagram posts. I promise that this barrage will go on for only a short time, because, after all, I need to write the Duke of Blackwood’s story.

Mainly I hope you enjoy Ashmont and Cassandra’s story—and I thank you for your patience, support, and encouragement throughout its long development. How lucky I am to have readers like you!

George Cruikshank, “The Headache” 12 February 1819, courtesy Lewis Walpole Library.

*As usually happens, unfortunately, my readers in the UK, Australia, and New Zealand will not be able to access certain editions on quite the same schedule. Due to licensing and other technicalities, there tends to be a lag time in availability. We’re doing better with this, and I hope the delay will be short this time around. Meanwhile, I apologize for the added wait.