Four Enchanting Love Stories, One Little Season to Remember

A Season to Remember

Ava Stone

Catherine Gayle

Jerrica Knight-Catania

Jane Charles

Thank you for having us today at Get Lost in a Story!

In the fall of 1813, the Bartlett siblings take to London to experience the Little Season. Devlin has hopes to find suitable gents to whom he might marry at least some of his younger sisters off. None of them have any idea, however, that before the end of the Parliamentary sessions, all four of them will have found their happily ever after.

As a primer to A SEASON TO REMEMBER, in which you can find all four of their stories, the authors present to you a primer of each of our heroes and heroines, presented in trading card fashion.


DEVIL IN MY DREAMS – JANE CHARLES

Devlin Bartlett, Viscount Marston & Miss Louisa Whitton

Just the facts –

Devlin, Lord Marston
Age: 27
Birth order: 2 of 5, 2nd son
Hair: deep auburn
Eyes: brown
Favorite Pastimes: Spying on and then thwarting the French; fencing; being anywhere his sisters are not, unless it is the Season, or Little Season, where potential husbands lurk in every ballroom.
Quote:  “I am not at all sure how I feel about ladies with loaded pistols.”
Miss Louisa says: Devil is a much more appropriate name for Lord Marston because I seriously doubt he has ever experienced an angelic moment in his life. He has spellbound me somehow. Otherwise, why would I find myself dreaming about him every night when there is nothing special about him? Well, except his wide shoulders, warm brown eyes, and that wicked grin that makes my toes curl.  But we can’t tell him, and I must swear you to secrecy, or I will never bring him up to scratch before Christmas.


Louisa Whitton
Age: 20
Birth order: 2nd of two daughters
Hair: blonde hair
Eyes: blue eyes
Favorite Pastimes: target practice; eavesdropping and reading lips of those too far away to be heard; embroidery; and planning how to find a groom of her choice before her grandfather, the Duke of Danby, picks one for her, who will undoubtedly be a vicar.
Quote: “Your skill with the sword was very impressive, Lord Marston.”
Lord Marston says: I was drawn to Louisa Whitton the moment I spied her in the garden at Bentley Manor.  Unfortunately, I recently inherited guardianship of my three sisters, all of an age to be married, who I must to see to before I can consider a future for myself.  I just need to convince Miss Whitton to wait a year or two to marry, when I will be able to properly court her.

TO ENCHANT AN ICY EARL – CATHERINE GAYLE

Miss Calista Bartlett and Tristan Cavendish, Earl of Fordingham

Just the facts –

Calista Bartlett
Age: 22
Birth order: 3 of 5, 1st daughter
Hair: dark brown, almost black
Eyes: clear blue, like the Greek sea
Favorite Pastimes: scouring the gentlemen of London in search of a potential match who is as unlike her former beau as possible; evading Miranda and Penny at every turn, but especially Miranda, because…well, because she’s Miranda; consistently being surprised, both by herself and others.
Quote: “I deserve a man in my life who will do what I ask of him when he can, even if he goes about it in a way I never would have expected. I deserve to be kissed senseless on occasion, and continually surprised—and you give me all of those things and more.”
Lord Fordingham says: I’ll never be deserving of having someone so good and true in my life as Calista Bartlett, but it would take more than a thousand soldiers to convince me to let her go now. A man needs something good in his life.

Tristan, Lord Fordingham
Age: 30
Birth order: 1 of 2, eldest son and heir
Hair: sandy
Eyes: no specific color
Favorite Pastimes: removing annoyances from his life; issuing commands, before remembering that he should instead deliver requests; discovering how he ought to live his life, as opposed to living life in the manner his father thought he ought to do
Quote: “I’ll be asking for her hand within the week. Draw up the marriage contract.”
Miss Bartlett says: Lord Fordingham is at once everything he seems on the surface and nothing one would expect him to be. And while it is true he can be a bit demanding, he is so very caring and protective. A little more teasing will do him a world of good.

MY LORD HERCULES – AVA STONE

Miss Miranda Bartlett & Lord Harrison Casemore

Just the facts –

Miranda Bartlett
Age: 19
Birth order: 4 of 5, 2nd daughter
Hair: dark brown
Eyes: hazel
Favorite Pastimes: eavesdropping; sneaking into dangerous places she shouldn’t be; and putting arrogant men firmly in their place.
Quote: “You said you were keeping my secret so Marston wouldn’t put a ball in your chest. I don’t see that I owe you my name in exchange for your cowardice.”
Lord Harrison says: Miranda Bartlett caught my attention the moment she entered my favorite gaming hell, dressed like a dandy. She’s held my attention every moment since.

Lord Harrison Casemore
Age: 27
Birth order: 2 of 3, 2nd son
Hair: brown
Eyes: green
Favorite Pastimes: assaulting punch bags at Gentleman Jackson’s, trying his luck at one gaming hell or another, making certain his little sister is as happy as she can be.
Quote: “Whatever excitement you’re searching for, I’m certain I can provide it for you, whether it’s driving my phaeton or… something else. There’s no need to put yourself in a dangerous spot again.”
Miss Miranda says: Don’t tell Lord Harrison, but he’s reminded me of Hercules ever since I first met him. If he ever finds out, I’ll die of embarrassment. Can you imagine his ego should he ever discover I think of him as a demigod?

A PENNY FOR YOUR THOUGHTS – JERRICA KNIGHT-CATANIA

Miss Penelope Bartlett & Drake Lockwell, Viscount Flitwick

Just the facts –

Penelope Bartlett
Age: 18
Birth order: 5 of 5, 3rd daughter
Hair: light brown
Eyes: hazely-brown
Favorite Pastimes: talking to her cat Wilhelmina who is very wise and always has sage advice; pestering her siblings; and alternately avoiding her siblings
Quote: “Even if he was [still in the garden], he wouldn’t appear now for your amusement.”
Lord Drake says: There’s no one quite like Penny, so young and impulsive and trying desperately to break from the mold that her elder siblings have cast for her. In the end, what she really wants is to be loved for exactly who she is.

Drake Lockwell, Viscount Flitwick
Age: 31
Birth order: 1 of 3, 1st son
Hair: blond
Eyes: blue
Favorite Pastimes: avoiding his parents at all costs, spending time in the country with loved ones, stealing away from crowded ballrooms for a cheroot in the garden
Quote: “You are…like no one I’ve ever known. You are both Heaven and Hell wrapped up in one sweet, tempting package. But by God, I will not take you on the floor of a hired hack.”
Miss Penelope says: I never expected for such a handsome and refined gentleman, who is heir to an earldom, to be so very kind…and sentimental…and romantic. *sigh* He is the stuff of my dreams.


A SEASON TO REMEMBER

In Jane Charles’s DEVIL IN MY DREAMS, Devlin Bartlett was never meant to be Viscount Marston, yet he has inherited not only the title but three younger sisters, all of marriageable ages. He soon learns that thwarting the French was much easier than playing guardian to three young ladies, and decides the simplest solution is to marry them off.

Louisa Whitton needs to find a husband of her own choosing before Christmas.  At her sister’s house party, she meets the perfect gentleman—thus foiling her grandfather’s plans.  However, Marston refuses to even think about courting her until his sisters are wed, and he has the audacity to ask her to wait.  Louisa’s grandfather will never agree, so she sets out to find the perfect substitute for Marston, forcing him to choose between his sisters’ future and his own.

In Catherine Gayle’s TO ENCHANT AND ICY EARL, as the Earl of Fordingham, Tristan Cavendish has lived by the code his father beat into him for so long he’s driven everyone in his life away, including his brother. Now he is alone. Loneliness dictates he must change, so he sets out to make amends with his only sibling. Alas, his brother seems none too inclined to hear him out, and a woman who must be a vision from Fordingham’s dreams walks into his path. Now, more than ever before, he knows he must change his ways or risk driving her away as well…but how?

Calista Bartlett is on the hunt for a husband—but one who is nothing at all like the betrayer who was her former beau. When she sees the Earl of Fordingham across the room at a soiree, she knows she’s found the very man who is everything her one-time beau was not. Fordingham presents an icy façade to the world, but Calista discovers a passionate man who kisses her feverishly and warms her through to the bones. Can she ever convince him to let down his guard permanently?


In Ava Stone’s MY LORD HERCULES, Miss Miranda Bartlett is on a mission to locate her missing friend. Determined hoyden that she is, she’ll do whatever it takes to get the answers she seeks too, even if that means dressing like a dandy, sneaking into a gaming hell, and surrounding herself with London’s worst reprobates. However, she didn’t plan on bumping into a Herculean gentleman along the way. The handsome and honorable Lord Harrison Casemore immediately thwarts her plans and seems determined to save her at every turn, making it more than difficult to accomplish her task.

Ever since Harry Casemore spotted the exotic temptress trying to pass herself off as a fop, he’s been drawn to her. He hasn’t figured out what she’s after, but he’s fairly certain he’d sell his soul if she’d just let him help her with whatever it is.


In Jerrica Knight-Catania’s A PENNY FOR YOUR THOUGHTS, Penelope Bartlett has had a rough year, to say the least. She lost her eldest brother and her father in one fell swoop, and to make matters worse she had to miss out on her very first London Season. Now she's in the thick of the Little Season and all she wants to do is run away. It's torture to watch her siblings fall in love and she's simply not in the mood to make merry with all of them. Especially when they treat her as if she's still a little girl in leading strings. 

Enter Drake Lockwell, Viscount Flitwick. He, too, is typically eager to escape crowded ballrooms and matchmaking mamas in favor of his own company in a deserted garden or library. But a chance meeting in his brother’s garden one night changes everything. Miss Bartlett is young and impetuous, yet he can't help but fall prey to her charms. Perhaps she will be the one to finally mend the hole in his heart...

Or will his secrets be more than Penelope is able to handle?


We, the authors, are delighted about the very near release of A SEASON TO REMEMBER, and in celebration we will offer an e-book copy of its predecessor, THE BETTING SEASON, to one commenter. Thank you again to the ladies of Get Lost in a Story for inviting us to join you!

Catherine Gayle's Old Maids' Club is Brimming with Romance

PARIAH
Catherine Gayle
Second Wind Publishing


After selling his major’s commission in the Dragoons, Lord Roman Sullivan wants nothing more than a calm, sedate life in the country where he’s agreed to act as steward over his father’s estate. Society is no place for a man who can’t sleep without fear of attacking an innocent in the night, after all. But upon his arrival, madness lands in his path in the form of a secret-keeping pixie of a lady, a precocious boy, a lady in the throes of dementia, and a band of rabidly loyal servants, who combine to capture both his attention and what’s left of his heart in one fell swoop.

Bethanne Shelton keeps a great many secrets, most of which are not hers to reveal. Keeping them close to her chest is the one sure way to make certain her life remains as normal as possible. Even her family can’t discover the truth, lest Finn be taken away from her. In order to protect him, she ignores the whispers of pariah and worse. But her Aunt Rosaline’s health is rapidly declining, and Roman is the only one able to calm her. He’s getting too close, and if he unveils Bethanne’s mysteries, she’ll lose her family. One thing is certain: no matter what happens, she is bound to lose her heart.

Getting to know Catherine Gayle 

Catherine Gayle has been an avid reader of romance novels (and almost anything else she can legally get her hands on) for as long as she can remember. Her mother might say it started in the womb. When she is not writing or reading, she can often be found buried beneath one of her sleeping cats or chasing the Nephew Monster.

Jillian: The Old Maid series is inspired by an unusual supporting character, Lady Rosaline Shelton. Can you tell us more about her ?
Catherine: Lady Rosaline Shelton was a bluestocking who chose to be an old maid. She believes women are the equals of men. She smoked cheroots, she rode astride, and she carried on illicit affairs with any man she chose, regardless of what the ton thought about it. She loves fiercely and doesn’t care who knows it. And, it just so happens, she is adored by three of her nieces to the point they seek to emulate her. By the time the series begins, however, Lady Rosaline is suffering from dementia. While she doesn’t always remember who her nieces are, they can never forget the woman she has always been.

Jillian: I found Lord Roman Shelton to be a very intriguing character. A troubled soldier and misunderstood gentleman, what a great combination! I'd love to know more about how you came to invent your hero.
Catherine: When I started working on my plans for this series, everything revolved around my heroines. I knew that Bethanne would be struggling with the care of her aunt. Her hero had to be a man who could not only assist in that care, but who could really relate to Lady Rosaline in a way that no one else could. I couldn’t give him dementia—that wouldn’t work for a hero!—but I felt it was important for him to have some similarities to the lady. After a good deal of research into mental disorders, I settled upon what would in modern terms be considered PTSD: post-traumatic stress disorder. From there, his history fell into place, having served in the Napoleonic wars and not feeling like he could live a normal society life upon his return because of the horrors he’d seen, which continued to haunt him. I was actually a little surprised, as I wrote, by the bond that grew between Roman and Lady Rosaline. I knew it would be there, but it had far more facets than I expected.

Jillian: Your approach to historical romance is an interesting melange, especially some of the hardship and real life issues. For instance, your heroine is an unmarried woman with a child. Dickens and Catherine Cookson come to mind in the Victorian period. Tell us more about why this kind of love story inspires you.
Catherine: Life happens, and there’s not much we can do to stop it. I can’t stand a perfect story with perfect characters where everything perfectly falls into place—it doesn’t feel real to me, because it has not been my reality. While I love the backdrop afforded by the Regency era, where the heroes and heroines are wealthy and seem to have all the best life has to offer at all times, I think it is too easy at times for authors to ignore the darker side of life.

At every point in history, people have been subjected to hardships, violence, disease, addictions, sexual abuse, and so much more. Life isn’t pretty and perfect all the time, but that doesn’t mean something beautiful can’t come from the ugliness. In my own life, I’ve seen far more of the darker side of things than I’d care to see, but it hasn’t diminished my belief that life is what you make of it. You can always take the hardships you’ve experienced and turn them into a source of strength. That’s what I try to find within myself, and it is something I try to extend to my characters.

Jillian: What is more difficult to write: an intense sexual scene or a heart-wrenching emotional scene? Why?
Catherine: Far and away, the heart-wrenching emotional scenes are harder for me to write. When I really get them right, it comes from a place that is deep within me, and it is like pulling a piece of my soul out and slapping it on the page. Even if I haven’t been through the exact situation the characters are experiencing, I still pull the emotions from my own life. In a way, writing those scenes is like reliving some of the best and worst moments I’ve been through. Intense sexual scenes tend to fly from my fingers, on the other hand. (But both leave me drained afterwards!)

Jillian: Is SHELVED released yet? If so, please share a brief blurb and cover art please!

Catherine: SHELVED will be released in late fall, 2012 or early winter, 2013. At this point, I don’t have an exact release date.

Blurb: Miss Josephine Faulkner refuses to come in second to anyone—not even to a husband. Oh, sure, Duncan Ramsey, the Earl of Leith, has been owner of her heart since she was a girl, chasing after him and her older brother when they tried to leave her behind. And while it is true she once gave herself to Duncan completely, when she was only offered marriage in return (and therefore, second class status within the relationship), she told him in no uncertain terms where he could put his blasted chivalry. Now he needs an heir to prevent his ne’er-do-well cousin from one day inheriting his father’s marquessate, but having sulked over the mistakes he’s made with Jo for over a decade, he can’t imagine anyone else being suited for the job. Somehow he must convince her that a life at his side will be more worthwhile than a life of stubborn independence.

Jillian: Are there more books in The Old Maid Series or are you moving on to something new? What's next from Catherine Gayle?
Catherine: SHELVED will be the final installment of the Old Maids’ Club series. I’m also working on another novella for an anthology releasing this fall, A SEASON TO REMEMBER, with Ava Stone, Jerrica Knight-Catania, and Jane Charles. These novellas are connected to the ones we wrote for the SUMMONS anthologies, and for THE BETTING SEASON. I’m also working on a new series set in the Regency in which I’ll take a bit of a darker path than I’ve traveled before, dealing with suicide, murder, kidnapping…all sorts of good things. LOL. I can’t reveal any more about that series at this point in time, but I hope I’ll be able to do so someday in the not too distant future. Also, I’ve got other additions to my Lord Rotheby’s Influence series in the works.

Quick Questions, Quick Answers:

Jillian: What’s the first thing you do when you finish writing a book?
Catherine: Tweet about it. I’m addicted to Twitter. It’s a sickness.

Jillian: Coffee or Tea? And how do you take it?
Catherine: Coffee. Every day. I can’t get through the day without at least two cups, with creamer and sweetener. I drink iced tea most days, too, but the coffee is a necessity.

Jillian: What's your favorite fairy tale?
Catherine: You can’t go wrong with Cinderella.

Jillian: What's the first book you remember reading?
Catherine: Green Eggs and Ham, and it is still one of my favorite books to read.

Jillian: What reality TV show are you watching right now?
Catherine: I’m watching the new seasons of both So You Think You Can Dance and Food Network Star. Believe it or not, I took the spring off from reality TV. I’m still shocked that I survived it.

Commenters: Have you ever loved someone suffering from mental illness? I’ll send an autographed copy of Wallflower, the first book in the Old Maids’ Club series, to each of two commenters. Sorry, but I can only send to U.S. mailing addresses. (I would offer copies of Pariah, but my publisher hasn’t finished putting it in print yet!)

Catherine Gayle's Contact and Purchase links:

Website: catherinegayle,com

Blog: timelessquills.com

Facebook: Catherine-Gayle

Twitter: Catherine_Gayle

Amazon

Barnes & Noble

 

***Note: Offer void where prohibited. Prizes will be mailed to North America  addresses only. If an Advanced Reading Copy (ARC) is available, the author may utilize that option for International participants. Odds of winning vary due to the number of entrants.