If you’re like me, you’re busy busy busy. I love to visit blogs, but it seems I never have time to get by in a timely fashion…and never in time to win anything! Well, no worries about that here. The Historical Reader Salon will be open all month long and you can come by anytime during the month to join the conversation and enter to win! No rush, no hurry…just a nice relaxing visit (or three) at your leisure. Each month, I’ll throw out a topic for discussion as well as ways for you to win. We’ll keep the conversation going in the comments section and just see how our Reader Salon grows. Hopefully it will develop into a thriving community centered around what we all love—historical romance!

Monday, March 18, 2013

Day 18: A Lady Never Lies by Juliana Gray


 
 
Welcome to day eighteen of March SWEET Madness—a month long party to celebrate the upcoming release of my novel, SWEET MADNESS, available April 2, 2013.

 

Happy Monday! Nothing will brighten up your day better than an introduction to my next featured author, Juliana Gray! On her website, she calls herself a “Clandestine Author of Elegant Period Romance.” Well, just in case she’s succeeded in being so clandestine that you’ve yet to try out her novels, I’m going to feature her fabulous debut, A Lady Never Lies.

 

A Lady Never Lies is nominated for 3 RT Reviewer’s Choice awards and was named one of the Top 10 in Romance Fiction by Booklist.  Her writing is addictive, and luckily for you, the other two in the series are already out so you can read them all!

 

Here is what the book is about:

 

Alexandra, Lady Morley, an alluring widow, is on holiday to escape her creditors and devise a plan to reverse her fortunes. Distracted by the arrival of Phineas “Finn” Burke, a brilliant inventor with a shocking past, she despairs of ever getting what she needs…until they kiss.

Finn, naïve to the female species and intent only on perfecting his “horseless carriage” engine for an exhibition in Rome, never dreamed he’d meet a woman like Alexandra, who is as maddening as she is comely. Finn longs to make Alexandra his wife, but his own vows stand in the way…unless Alexandra can sacrifice everything she knows to realize her deepest desires.

 

An excerpt:

 

A Proposition He Can’t Refuse

 

“Mr. Burke,” she said, “I have an immense curiosity for machines such as yours. I thought perhaps I might stop by, from time to time, and help you in your work.”

 

His brow descended. “Help me?”

 

“Or perhaps”—she raised a challenging eyebrow—“perhaps you’re concerned about our wager. I promise you I won’t consider it a breach. You can think of me as a fellow scholar. As a kind of female eunuch.”

 

He smiled, though not the same smile as before. “Oh, quite. A female eunuch. I don’t foresee any difficulties at all.”

 

“You needn’t be sarcastic.

 

“It doesn’t matter if you call yourself a fellow scholar, or a female eunuch. Our friends will be convinced otherwise, and I’ll be forced to pay the forfeit.”

 

Alexandra found herself beginning to smile back. “I’ll be discreet. And if anyone discovers me, I’ll tell them that I was drawn irresistibly to you, and you were too much a gentleman to refuse me….”

 

 

 

And now for the fun part—your chance to win! Just fill out the rafflecopter form below. Contest will be open for 2 weeks (US and CANADA only, please).
a Rafflecopter giveaway
 

If you don’t win (or just can’t wait to start reading!), here’s where you can get the book!


 

And to find out more about the clandestine Juliana, you can visit her website at:


 

I am also giving away a copy of either my debut, SWEET ENEMY or SWEET DECEPTION (winner’s choice) EVERY DAY of March SWEET Madness! (you will need to enter this contest separately every day for a new chance to win! OPEN INTERNATIONALLY)

Sweet Enemy

Beakers and ball gowns don't mix, so when lady chemist, Miss Liliana Claremont, goes undercover as a husband-hunter to investigate Lord Geoffrey Wentworth, the earl whose family she suspects murdered her father, romance isn't part of her formula. But it only takes one kiss to start a reaction she can't control...

Read the Prologue and First Chapter HERE...

Sweet Deception

Lady criminologist, Miss Emma Wallingford, unknowingly finds herself tangled up in the dangerous final mission of Lord Derick Aveline, a spy who also happens to be her long-lost first love. But when deception, however sweet, is the name of the game, no one can be trusted. And every love--and every life--is at risk.

Read the First Chapter HERE.
a Rafflecopter giveaway
And don’t forget SWEET MADNESS, coming April 2, 2013!

 
There’s a fine line between love and insanity…

Ever since her husband’s sudden and tragic death, Lady Penelope Bridgeman has committed herself to studying the maladies of the mind, particularly treating traumatized soldiers of the Napoleonic Wars. It is this expertise that brings the Marquess of Bromwich’s family to her door.

Gabriel Devereaux’s unexpected and unpredictable episodes are unlike any Penelope has studied. The once proud soldier has been left shaken and withdrawn, but she manages to build a fragile trust between them. Strangely, Gabriel seems completely lucid when not in the grips of his mania, and in the calm between bouts, she is surprised by how much she is drawn to him.

Despite his own growing feelings, Gabriel knows that he is fit for no one, and is determined to keep Penelope away from his descent into madness. But even though she knows firsthand the folly of loving a broken man, Penelope cannot stop herself from trying to save him, no matter the cost.

Read the Prologue and First Chapter
HERE...

"In this emotional, compassionate romance...the powerful love story will sweep readers away."
~RT BookReviews, 4 1/2 stars

“The brilliance of Sweet Madness shines strongly and completely. Heather Snow is cutting edge…a master storyteller. Sweet Madness is a magnificent story.”
~Book Obsessed Chicks 5 stars

 

See you tomorrow, where our featured author is Elizabeth Hoyt!!!

 

And don’t forget, giveaways are open for TWO weeks, so if you’ve missed any of the fabulous authors featured, visit the archives section and enter!

 

 

 

 

43 comments:

  1. I am not above telling a little white lie to get out of something or to not hurt anyones feelings. I don't try to cause more harm with them.

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  2. I really don't lie, but it will show on my face, I'm like an open book!

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  3. i told my friend that i like her bf even though i dont like him!

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  4. I can't really lie either. I start to blush and can't look anyone in the eyes when I try.

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  5. Hi my friend! I want to say that this article is
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  6. I guess it's a little white lie that I have hidden a big stash of TBR books under the bed so my husband doesn't know how many books I have. LOL!!!

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  7. i have a saving account that i have had since before i meet my hubby i started working at 14 and have been saving since... when we got engaged i forgot to mention it and after we got married i just never did we've been married almost 13 and he still don't know... :-) i hope this counts and please don't tell my hubby...

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    Replies
    1. We'll hope your hubby is not a closet romance reader and clandestine member of my reader salon... ;)

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  8. A little white is usually limited to screening my calls. If I don't feel like talking, I'll let the call go to voice mail.

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  9. I told someone that I was younger than they were. They bought it0

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  10. I seem to always give a little white lie when someone asks me to do something and I tell them I'm busy because I don't want to do it....

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  11. I hate it when someone lies to me, so I don't lie to other people either.

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  12. I can't really think of anything, but I may say I'm busy when I want to get out of something.

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  13. Hmmm...let me think... I tell my nieces all the time that my Kindle Fire or iPhone are charging when I don't want them to play games on them (I know! I'm such a meanie!!!!)

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    Replies
    1. I use that one on the Heir & Spare! I know. Bad Mommy!

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  14. I've lied about breaking things and then pretending not knowing how it happened. This mostly occurred when I was a kid.

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  15. I'm really bad at face to face.. people can tell when I'm lying just by looking at my face(My secret dream to be a spy will never come to fruition) .. so when I'm on the phone, I always rush people off the phone by telling them somethings happened or I'm arriving somewhere (Hate talking on the phone!!lol)

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  16. I guess I've been guilty of leading a guy into liking me rather than someone else. Someone that also liked him. OOps! *girl problems* I promise I am a respectable lady now. Mmhmm!

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  17. I can't really think of anything.

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  18. Well...I already had a nook, but I recently got a kindle (though it was free using my Discover card points on Amazon) and haven't bothered to tell my hubby. That's not exactly a lie, is it?

    I generally lie when the people at the doctor's office ask me for my weight. If I'm convincing they don't bother to weigh me to confirm it either. LOL

    Marcy Shuler
    bmndshuler(at)hotmail(dot)com

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  19. Hmmm, I said I loved a gift even though I have no idea what I'm going to do with it. I usually do lie about gifts, I don't want to hurt anyone's feelings. :D

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  20. white lie - mmm. well, as a secretary, i may tell a little white lie to the telephone caller that my boss isn't available when it is just that he doesn't want to talk right then.

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  21. Hello Heather and Juliana: My mother was the "Queen of White Lies," as she believed there was nothing wrong with a lie that didn't hurt anyone (hence, a "white" lie instead of a black lie). But I've gotten bit from telling white lies about things...what goes around comes around. I told a lie to a guy I was dating "once upon a time," and when he found out otherwise, he quit dating me. So I don't tell lies anymore...white or otherwise. If I can't or don't want to tell the truth, I just don't say anything! jdh2690@gmail.com

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  22. sometimes it's best to tell a little white lie to spare someones feelings, like if someone wants you to do something or go someplace with them and you just don't want to so you tell them you have other plans.

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  23. Oh, I hope you love Sweet Madness :)

    My hubby tries the ice cream fib all of the time...

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  24. can't think of anything

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  25. What a lovely group of ladies we are :)

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  26. My sister and I are only 11 months apart so when we were little we were pretty close and we always played with each other. That also leads to always fighting with each other. One day I was sitting on the windowsill (we weren't supposed to) and she said, "I'm going to tell mom." So I hurried up and jumped down and yelled, "MOM, Sarah's on the windowsill!" And she got in trouble instead of me.

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  27. I tell my husband that I got great deals than what I actually get when I hit local book sales..... =) it makes accepting all my books easier for him I think, and it's great for my TBR list "grin"

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  28. Well, as you said... A lady never tells-- I mean, lies. Wink, wink.

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  29. Hi Heather and Juliana!

    I guess enough time has passed to tell you my "little lie" since it it happened almost 50 years ago!

    When I was a teenager when I used to go skiing with my friends I used to get in as under 15. I'd put my hair up in a ponytail and since I was not only under-tall but also under developed I got in at the "child's" price for the ticket! The amazing thing is that I got away with it until I was 18! The bad part is that now whenever we go somewhere they offer a "senior" discount I always have to show my driver's license to prove how old I am to get the discount! I guess it's the old case of what goes around comes around!

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  30. I'm the worst procrastinator, so I always end up telling people OF COURSE I've started whatever paper/homeork/etc is due soon, and it's almost always a lie, unless it's the day or two before it's due.

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  31. A lady never reveals her age or her secrets. ;)

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  32. I don't like to lie but probably do say I'm busy if I don't want to do something else....

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  33. I try to be as honest as I can. And if you ask my opinion than be ready for the truth. However I'm not perfect and I have lied but I'm a bad liar and I've always been caught.
    Thanks,
    Lori

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  34. Can't really remember any specifics, but I will tell a small white lie to spare someone's feelings. Usually, I can avoid it, though, by giving a non-answer or changing the subject.

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  35. I am so looking forward to reading Sweet Madness, Heather ~ thank you for all the lovely giveaways! A lady never reveals her secrets ~ wink, wink ~
    No really, I believe one should always be honest and I strive to be so in everything I do ~ Happy Reading and Writing ~ Cheers ~ Elizabeth

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  36. When I was 15, I lied and said I was 16 so I could become a lifeguard at the local swimming pool.

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  37. I probably just say I'm busy sometimes to get out of doing something I don't want to do.

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  38. My white lies now would be that there is someone at the door, if I have been in a conversation on internet or phone and I wanted or needed to go. I do hate lies, but some people just can't take a hint, so saying a knock, they understand I must actually hang up, or maybe possibly put on hold a very long time.

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  39. I try to be honest with everyone but I've definitely stretch the truth a few times so I don't have to hurt anyone's feelings.

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  40. My white lie is probably telling people I'm doing something else so I don't have to go out with them. I try not to do that but sometimes I just can't help it.

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