The festivities for The Artist's Masquerade continue today at Renee Stevens's blog where I'm being interviewed. Read the interview here, and don't forget to enter the blog tour giveaway!
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As the first-born son of the Duke of Tournai and cousin to the prince, Cathal has always tried to fulfill his duty to family and country, including following through with an arranged marriage to Velia, cousin to the emperor of Ardunn. But it’s Velia’s companion, Flavia, who fascinates Cathal. Cathal doesn’t know that Flavia is really Flavian, a man masquerading as a woman to escape Ardunn, a restrictive place in which Flavian’s preference for men is forbidden.

Even when Cathal discovers Flavian’s true gender, he cannot fight his attraction to him. Flavian is intrigued by Cathal, but Cathal is still betrothed to Velia, and Flavian worries Cathal is more taken with his feminine illusion than the man beneath it. While both men battle their longings for each other, spies from Ardunn infiltrate the capital, attempting to uncover Tournai’s weaknesses. They are also searching for Flavian, who possesses a magical Talent that allows him to see the truth of a person just by painting their portrait—a skill invaluable to Ardunn’s emperor.

Preorder The Artist's Masquerade:
Dreamspinner Press ebook
Dreamspinner Press paperback
Amazon
AllRomance
Kobo

The Artist's Masquerade will be out in the world one week from today! I'm excited - and a bit nervous already. 

Today I'm talking about The Artist's Masquerade and Cathal at Garrett Leigh's blog. Stop by and read the post. And don't forget to enter the giveaway below.

As the first-born son of the Duke of Tournai and cousin to the prince, Cathal has always tried to fulfill his duty to family and country, including following through with an arranged marriage to Velia, cousin to the emperor of Ardunn. But it’s Velia’s companion, Flavia, who fascinates Cathal. Cathal doesn’t know that Flavia is really Flavian, a man masquerading as a woman to escape Ardunn, a restrictive place in which Flavian’s preference for men is forbidden.
Even when Cathal discovers Flavian’s true gender, he cannot fight his attraction to him. Flavian is intrigued by Cathal, but Cathal is still betrothed to Velia, and Flavian worries Cathal is more taken with his feminine illusion than the man beneath it. While both men battle their longings for each other, spies from Ardunn infiltrate the capital, attempting to uncover Tournai’s weaknesses. They are also searching for Flavian, who possesses a magical Talent that allows him to see the truth of a person just by painting their portrait—a skill invaluable to Ardunn’s emperor.

Preorder The Artist's Masquerade:

Dreamspinner Press ebook
Dreamspinner Press paperback
Amazon
AllRomance
Kobo

And don't forget The Prince's Consort giveaway on Goodreads! Today is the last day to enter. You don't want to miss out!

The Artist's Masquerade will be out on the 21st, eight days from now, and today begins the blog tour celebrating its release. I'll be at various blogs over the next ten days with posts about the book, excerpts, and even an interview. And there's a giveaway! I'm giving away a signed paperback copy of The Prince's Consort, the first book in the Chronicles of Tournai series. (The paperback is for US winners only. If the winner is international, they'll receive an ebook). There will also be a separate giveaway on the Dreamspinner Press blog on release day, so watch out for that too.

The tour kicks off today with a stop at Thianna Durston's blog for her Coming Soon Sunday feature where I'm sharing an excerpt. Check it out here.

As the first-born son of the Duke of Tournai and cousin to the prince, Cathal has always tried to fulfill his duty to family and country, including following through with an arranged marriage to Velia, cousin to the emperor of Ardunn. But it’s Velia’s companion, Flavia, who fascinates Cathal. Cathal doesn’t know that Flavia is really Flavian, a man masquerading as a woman to escape Ardunn, a restrictive place in which Flavian’s preference for men is forbidden.

Even when Cathal discovers Flavian’s true gender, he cannot fight his attraction to him. Flavian is intrigued by Cathal, but Cathal is still betrothed to Velia, and Flavian worries Cathal is more taken with his feminine illusion than the man beneath it. While both men battle their longings for each other, spies from Ardunn infiltrate the capital, attempting to uncover Tournai’s weaknesses. They are also searching for Flavian, who possesses a magical Talent that allows him to see the truth of a person just by painting their portrait—a skill invaluable to Ardunn’s emperor.

Preorder The Artist's Masquerade:
Dreamspinner Press ebook
Dreamspinner Press paperback
Amazon
AllRomance
Kobo

December 13th: Thianna Durston
December 14th: Garrett Leigh
December 15th: Renee Stevens
December 16th: Nicki J. Markus/Asta Idonea
December 17th: CoP
December 18th: Anna Butler, Anne Barwell
December 19th: Aisling Mancy
December 20th: Thianna Durston
December 21st: Dreamspinner Press blog, Shae Connor, Queer SciFi
December 22nd: Cate Ashwood, Charlie Cochet's Purple Rose Teahouse
December 23rd: House Millar, Lex Chase

Christmas is two weeks from today! I'm not entirely sure how that happened - I feel as if I blinked and missed weeks, and I had promised myself I would take the time to enjoy the season too. *Sigh* And if Christmas is two weeks away, The Artist's Masquerade will be out in the world in less than two weeks! I'm very excited for you to get to know Cathal and Flavian. If you'd like to preorder from Dreamspinner (or buy The Prince's Consort), they're having a 25% off sale, but it ends today, so hurry! You can find my books at Dreamspinner here. Also I'll be doing a blog tour for The Artist's Masquerade which will begin on Sunday the 13th. I'll post soon to give you the schedule of where I'll be when and information about the giveaway, so stay tuned for that.

And for even more exciting news, I've signed a contract with Dreamspinner for the third book of the Chronicles of Tournai, The Scholar's Heart, which is Etan and Tristan's story. If you read The Prince's Consort, you probably knew this story was coming, Some of you assumed it would be coming sooner, but Etan and Tristan had to wait a while, and Cathal and Flavian demanded their story first. I hope you'll find it worth the wait.

​So since over the next couple of weeks I'll be bombarding you with promo for The Artist's Masquerade, how about something unrelated first? You know by now that I enjoy baking very much, and the holidays are a great time for baking sweet treats to share. Even Santa gets into the act, or at least my Santa baker tree ornament does. (He's not the only food-related ornament on my tree either. I have a little copper colander and a bundt pan and a toaster, among others. They are also not the strangest ornaments on my tree!) So I thought I would share a favorite holiday cookie recipe with you. I shared another one for struffoli on the Dreamspinner blog in early November, when no one was thinking of the holidays, but you can find it here if you'd like to check it out now. Struffoli are a traditional Southern Italian dessert at the holidays, and they're delicious and easy to make. 

Today I'm going to share another Italian cookie recipe for cranberry chocolate biscotti, though this one isn't a family recipe. I'm actually not sure where I got the recipe originally, but I've been making it for years. I always make them at the holidays because the cranberry/chocolate combination seems holiday festive to me, but you can make them other times of the year too.

Here's the recipe:

2 3/4 cups all purpose flour
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup dried cranberries
1/3 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 teaspoon almond extract
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 large eggs

Preheat oven to 350.

Combine flour and the next five ingredients in a large bowl.  Combine oil, extracts and eggs.  Add to the four mixture, stirring until well-blended (dough will be dry and crumbly).  Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface; knead lightly 7 to 8 times.  Divide the dough in half.  Shape each portion into an 8 inch long roll.  Place rolls 6 inches apart on a baking sheet coated with cooking spray; flatten each roll to 1 inch thickness.

Bake at 350 for 35 minutes.  Remove rolls from baking sheet, cool 10 minutes on a wire rack.  Cut each roll diagonally into 15 (1/2 inch) slices.  Place the slices cut sides down on a baking sheet.  Reduce oven temperature to 325 and bake for 10 minutes.  Turn the cookies over, bake for an additional 10 minutes (cookies will be slightly soft in the center but will harden as they cool).  Remove from baking sheet and cool completely on a wire rack.

The recipe makes about 36 cookies. It's a bit of a process, but the results are delicious, and they make great dessert or snacks or something to dunk in your hot beverage of choice.

Now that you have a cookie and a hot beverage, how about a few more holiday reads? Just so you have something to curl up with while you eat your cookies. Because what's better than hot chocolate, Christmas cookies, and a holiday romance while you sit by the tree?

What Happens at Christmas by Jay Northcote - A sweet, fun friends to lovers romance with snowed in trope and fake boyfriends. Her novella Cold Feet is a good holiday read too.

When Love Flue In by Lillian Francis - A sweet, sexy holiday romance between a newly divorced man and the chimney sweep he's had a crush on for years. Definitely has the warm fuzzy holiday feel.

A Fortunate Blizzard by LC Chase - Another snowed in story (such a great trope!). I really enjoyed this, though it made me cry before it got to the wonderful HEA.

Do you bake around the holidays? Even if you don't, what are your favorite holiday treats?

I just received the cover for The Artist's Masquerade, the second book in the Chronicles of Tournai series, and I'm so excited to share it with you. Once again, Anne Cain did an amazing job with the cover. Isn't it beautiful?

As the first-born son of the Duke of Tournai and cousin to the prince, Cathal has always tried to fulfill his duty to family and country, including following through with an arranged marriage to Velia, cousin to the emperor of Ardunn. But it’s Velia’s companion, Flavia, who fascinates Cathal. Cathal doesn’t know that Flavia is really Flavian, a man masquerading as a woman to escape Ardunn, a restrictive place in which Flavian’s preference for men is forbidden.
​
Even when Cathal discovers Flavian’s true gender, he cannot fight his attraction to him. Flavian is intrigued by Cathal, but Cathal is still betrothed to Velia, and Flavian worries Cathal is more taken with his feminine illusion than the man beneath it. While both men battle their longings for each other, spies from Ardunn infiltrate the capital, attempting to uncover Tournai’s weaknesses. They are also searching for Flavian, who possesses a magical Talent that allows him to see the truth of a person just by painting their portrait—a skill invaluable to Ardunn’s emperor.


The Artist's Masquerade will be out in December. As soon as I have the definite release date and pre-order links, I'll share those with you. There's still plenty of time to read the first book in the series. Look here for where to buy The Prince's Consort (the books do stand alone, so you don't have to read The Prince's Consort first, but if you're so inclined...).

I can't believe The Prince's Consort has been out in the world for a week already! Thank you to everyone who has bought it! I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I did writing it. And if you haven't bought it yet and you'd like to, Dreamspinner is having a storewide sale this weekend so you can get The Prince's Consort 25% off here.

In other writing news, The Artist's Masquerade, book 2 in the Chronicles of Tournai series, is in the proofing stages and will likely be out in December. I've seen a rough sketch of the cover design, and it's gorgeous. I love how Anne Cain has drawn Cathal and Flavian. I'm eagerly anticipating the finished cover. Hopefully I'll have more updates and a cover reveal for you soon. I've also submitted book 3 of the series, Etan and Tristan's book, to Dreamspinner. It's tentatively titled The Scholar's Heart. 

I took a couple of days off writing after I submitted book 3. I needed a little break (when did it get to be late October?), and my house was in dire need of a cleaning! I attended the NJ Romance Writers conference, which was great as usual, last weekend. Interesting workshops and time spent with writer friends. I posted some updates and photos from the conference on Facebook and twitter while I was there. Now, with a cleaner house and a clearer head, I'm getting started on book 4 in the Tournai series. No title yet because I'm horrible at coming up with titles!

What have you been up to?

The Prince's Consort is out today from Dreamspinner Press!

Legends tell of large cats defending the principality of Tournai, but such creatures have been lost to time.

Or have they?

Prince Philip inherited the throne at a young age, and since then, his life has centered around ruling his country and resisting those pressuring him to take a wife and conceive an heir—forcing him to hide his attraction to men. When kind-hearted Amory is offered to the prince in exchange for more time for Amory’s father to complete a commission, both Philip and Amory are horrified. But Philip agrees to keep Amory at the palace, where they gradually become friends, then lovers. For the first time in his life, Philip is free to share not only his heart, but the magical shape-shifting ability that runs in the royal bloodline.

Neither Amory nor Philip imagined falling in love, and they certainly don’t expect the lengths those who oppose their relationship will go to keep them apart—maybe even resorting to murder.


Buy it here in ebook or paperback:
Dreamspinner Press
Amazon
Barnes & Noble
ARe
Kobo
Google Play

I'm also at Cate Ashwood's blog today doing an interview. Take a look here.

And two more places for you to learn more about the book!

I'm at the Dreamspinner Press blog today talking about how I created the characters in The Prince's Consort. And there's a giveaway! You can enter for a chance to win an ecopy of the book. Find the post here.

I'm also at Anna Butler's blog today sharing an excerpt from the book. You can read the excerpt here. I hope you enjoy it!

I can't believe it's almost here! The Prince's Consort is out this Friday. I'm very excited (and a little anxious, but we won't mention that part). I had a great time today chatting on Dreamspinner Press's Facebook page about the book. Thank you so much to anyone who joined me! I'm also over at Brynn Stein's blog today talking about writing and The Prince's Consort. You can find the post here.

I'm over at Charlie Cochet's Purple Rose Teahouse today sharing an excerpt of The Prince's Consort, so head over there to check it out.

Also The Prince's Consort is available for preorder on Amazon now!