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:

Goodreads Book Giveaway

A Lady of Notoriety

by Diane Gaston

Giveaway ends June 17, 2014.

See the giveaway details
at Goodreads.

Enter to win

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.

Happy Saturday! I am currently writing a novella about a woman who is quite, quite literal. I thought I’d share the opening bit here (keep in mind this is the first draft!)

I will be finishing the first draft this weekend–fingers crossed–then moving on to outlining the second book in the Dukes Behaving Badly series. Hope everyone’s weekend is glorious!

“While it’s not precisely true that nobody is here, because I am, in fact, here, the truth is that there is no-one here who can accommodate the request.”

The man standing in the main area of the Quality Employment Agency didn’t leave. She’d have to keep on, then.

“If I weren’t here, then it would be even more in question, since you wouldn’t know the answer to the question one way or the other, would you? So I am here, but I am not the proper person for what you need.”

The man fidgeted with the hat he held in his hand. But still did not take her hint. She would have to persevere. 

“I suggest you leave the information and we will endeavor to fill the position when there is someone here who is not me.” Annabelle gave a short nod of her head as she finished speaking, knowing she had been absolutely clear in what she’d said. If repetitive. So it was a surprise that the man to whom she was speaking was staring back at her, his mouth slightly opened, his eyes blinking behind his owlish spectacles. His hat now held very tightly in his hand.

Perhaps she should speak more slowly. “We do not have a housekeeper for hire,” she said, pausing between each word.

Now the man’s mouth had closed, but it still seemed as though he did not understand. “I do not understand,” he said, confirming her very suspicion. “This is an employment agency, and I have an employer who wishes to find an employee. And if I do not find a suitable person within,”–and at this he withdrew a pocket watch from his waistcoat and frowned at it, as though it was its fault it was already past tea time, and goodness wasn’t she hungry and had Caroline left any milk in the jug, because if not, well,–“twenty-four hours, my employer, the Earl of Selkirk, will be most displeased, and we will ensure your agency will no longer receive our patronage.”

That last part drew her attention away from the issue of the milk, and whether or not there was any. “The Earl of…?” she said, feeling that flutter in her stomach that signaled there was nobility present, or being mentioned, or she wished there were, at least. Rather like the milk, actually.

“Selkirk,” the man replied in a firm tone. He had no comment on the milk. And why would he, he didn’t even know that it was a possibility that they didn’t have any, and if she did have to serve him tea, what would she say? Besides which, she had no clue of the man’s name, even, he had just come in and been all brusque and demanded a housekeeper when there were none.

“Selkirk,” Annabelle repeated, her mind rifling through all the nobles she’d ever heard mentioned.

“A Scottish earl,” the man said. 

Annabelle beamed and clapped her hands. “Oh, Scottish! Small wonder I did not recognize the title, I’ve only ever been in London and once to the seaside when I was five years old, but I wouldn’t have known if that was Scotland, but I am fairly certain it was not because it would have been cold and it was quite warm in the water. Unless the weather was unseasonable, I can safely say I have never been to Scotland, nor do I know of any Scottish earls.”

Megan