A Lady of Notoriety

Tomorrow, June 17, the paperback version of A Lady of Notoriety will be available in bookstores and from online vendors.

A Lady of Notoriety is the third book in my two-book Masquerade Club series. You read that right. The series was planned for only two books, but, then, in book 2, A Marriage of Notoriety, there was this character who simply begged for a book of her own.

Daphne, Lady Faville, was sorta the villain in A Marriage of Notoriety. She was the cause of most of the bad things happening in the book and deserved, like all villains, to receive her just deserts and she did. She fled to the Continent. But she was much too interesting a character to leave there.

Daphne was incredibly beautiful, immensely wealthy, and was that most independent of Regency women–a widow. Her whole life she’d gotten whatever she wanted because of her beauty. She was self-centered, lacked insight, and had little emotional depth.

Perfect for a heroine, eh?

I thought so.

Because I thought she could be redeemed.

I sent her to a nunnery where she had a year to reflect on her actions and her character. When she is ready to return to England, she wants to become a better person, but it is hard.

Her first challenge is the care of a man who saved her from a fire, injuring his eyes in the effort. The man just happens to be Hugh Westleigh, brother of Phillipa Westleigh, the woman she so wronged in the previous book. His eyes are bandaged so he cannot see her and she pretends to be someone else as she cares for him.

What they both do not count on is falling in love. For Daphne, it is the first time a man has liked her for herself, not how she looks, but when Hugh’s bandages come off, he will see who she is–the despised Lady Faville.

I loved writing this book! Not all books are easy to write, but this one seemed so clear to me from start to finish. Daphne also became one of my favorite heroines. Her journey to redemption seemed to flow from my pen….er flow from my fingers on a keyboard.

So today, in celebration of the mass market paperback release of A Lady of Notoriety, I’m giving away a signed copy of the book to one lucky commenter chosen at random. I’ll pick the winner by the end of the day tomorrow June 17, the release day.

The Goodreads Giveaway is ending tomorrow, another chance to win the book:

Do you like stories of redemption? Do you like incredibly beautiful heroines, or do you prefer your heroines to be normal, like the rest of us?

Did you notice we have a Risky Sampler? Read some excerpts from the Riskies. Mine is from A Marriage of Notoriety.