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Author Archives: Amanda McCabe/Laurel McKee

About Amanda McCabe/Laurel McKee

Writer (as Amanda McCabe, Laurel McKee, Amanda Carmack), history geek, yoga enthusiast, pet owner!

New Book Time!

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I hope everyone had a great holiday weekend!!  I confess–I ate too much junk food, and laid around reading too much when I have a lot of work to do.  Oops.  But this is a new week, and the WIP is moving forward!  In the meantime, I forgot last week was release week for my new book, The Runaway Countess (Book One of The Bancrofts of Barton Park!).  I am sooooo excited to talk about it here today, and also to give away a signed copy to one commenter….

runaway0813Wed to Wickedness….

In Society’s eyes, Hayden Fitzwalter, Earl of Ramsey, and Jane Bancroft have the perfect marriage.  But what can’t be seen are the secrets hidden behind closed doors.  Believing Hayden will never renounce his dissolute ways, Jane flees to her family’s dilapidated estate in the country.

Years later, Hayden longs to win back the only woman who has ever touched his heart.  But first he has to convince her that this rogue is ready to be tamed….

Bancrofts of Barton Park

Two Sisters, Two Scandals, Two Sizzling Love Affairs….

“I really loved this story, the gentle pace of the story along with a couple making it a go at it to heal their broken hearts proving that Happy Ever After does take work but it well worth it when she share it with the ones you love.
I’m looking to reading about Jane’s sister and the trouble no doubt she’ll get into!”–Goodreads review

We love to talk here about “risky” books (both reading and writing!), and this book felt very risky to me when I was in the middle of it.  It was really the first time I tried an Austen-esque setting.  Not an Austen-esque style, because that would be way too scary, but a setting much like Emma or Sense and Sensibility, a small country village and a few estates, with neighbors and families who knew each other well.  Jane and her sister Emma have taken refuge at her father’s old estate, Barton Park, and it’s like many people going home as grown-ups–comforting and awkward at the same time!  It was a challenge to get to know all these people and the dynamics of their lives together.

It was also the first time I have ever tried a “marriage in trouble” story.  The hero and heroine are married for the whole story, but are sadly estranged.  They married too young, too quickly, with no realistic idea of how a marriage partnership between them could work.  They needed time and patience to realize what went wrong–and how to win each other’s hearts all over again.  I admit I really ached for Hayden and Jane!  I wanted so much for those two crazy kids to make things work, and once or twice I was sure they never could….

I loved spending time in this Regency world, getting to know these characters!  I hope readers enjoy it too.

I’ll be giving away a signed copy to a commenter on this post today.  Do you like marriage in trouble stories?  Austen-esque stories of country settings and families?  Speaking of families–what are you plans for the fall and all the holidays coming up???

Runaway Countess at Amazon

At eHarlequin

Info at my own website (covers, excerpts, etc)

Posted in Former Riskies, Giveaways | 10 Replies

The Runaway Countess

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runaway0813I’ve been so busy the last few weeks (trying to get ahead on the WIP, packing my 50 boxes of books for a move, taking care of a sick cat who has suddenly become very, very picky about his food….) that the beginning of September completely passed me by!  And with the beginning of September I had a new book release.  So I am talking about it today!  Better late than never, right???

 

Wed to wickedness 

In Society’s eyes, Hayden Fitzwalter, Earl of Ramsay and Jane Bancroft have the perfect marriage. But what can’t be seen are the secrets hidden behind closed doors. Believing Hayden will never renounce his dissolute ways, Jane flees to her family’s dilapidated estate in the country. 

Years later, Hayden now longs to win back the only woman who has ever touched his heart. But first he has to convince her that this rogue is ready to be tamed…. 

BANCROFTS OF BARTON PARK …Two sisters, two scandals, two sizzling love affairs

This story felt very risky to me when I was writing it.  I had never tried a “marriage in trouble” story before.  My stories have always followed the general romance outline–meeting (or re-meeting), liking or hating, getting to know each other, falling in love, marrying.  Maybe a villain or evil plot or two along the way!  This time there was no meeting/falling (though I show glimpses in flashbacks, another risky thing for me, but I really wanted to show how happy they were at first, and what went wrong).  This was a couple married in a time when marriage was nearly impossible to get out of, but who couldn’t bear to be together any longer.  They felt broken.  It almost broke MY heart, because I always want the best for my characters!!!  It’s hard for me to be mean to them, even when it’s for their own good….

Unlike many historical romances, the bulk of the book is not centered on the couple winning each other into matrimony but on the healing of a struggling marriage, the revelation of their pasts (particularly Hayden’s) and how difficult it is to change even when that change is fervently desired. Add the mystery and danger of a hidden treasure and a truly distasteful man and McCabe has created an enjoyable romance with a different focus than most…I am eagerly awaiting book two. –Fresh Fiction

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERABut honestly, Jane and Hayden needed to learn their lessons.  It’s a story that’s common even now–they married young, in the first flush of new passion, naive and impulsive.  Jane didn’t know how to be a countess; she had grown up in a ramshackle country house with an unconventional, scholarly family, taking care of her little sister Emma.  Hayden saw no need to give up his wild life just because he had a wife.  A few miscarriages drove them even further apart, until they had to separate.  But a few years later, they’ve both grown up a lot, and can see the enormity of what they’ve lost.

I admit it–I cried a bit when they started to get back together.  They were meant to be together, darn it!!  They just needed to figure that out…

Hayden and Jane were truly a couple who belonged together. They simply did not know how to handle a marriage. Jane tried to explain what she needed, but Hayden had only his parent’s example and could not understand. As a result, thw two must face the question is love enough? Find out in The Runaway Countess by Amanda McCabe. A little maturity and a lot of love can make a difference. Amanda McCabe has penned an amazing historical romance with just the right touch of suspense, some surprise revelations and a highly romantic ending. –Cataromance

It was also a risky story for me in that I wanted to try an Austen-esque setting.  Not in the style of Austen; I would never, ever be brave enough for that!!  But a small village, where everyone knows each other and small-seeming concerns become large, where family relationships are important, and the house is a character in itself.  (I wanted to go live at Barton Park, spend my days puttering in the garden and sewing by the fire…)  I ended up having lots of fun with it, though I missed my Gothic storms and poison plots.

RunningFromScandalCoverThe life of Barton Park continues in December, with Emma’s story, Running From Scandal.  She has to learn to grow up a bit, too–and might end up with a man she would never have dreamed of ever thinking about before, LOL.

The book is available on Amazon

And at eHarlequin

And my own website has excerpts and more info…

 

 

 

I apologize in advance, you are going to be hearing a lot from me in the next few months!  I have releases every month until the end of the year.  October brings the debut of my Elizabethan mystery series, written as Amanda Carmack, Murder at Hatfield House!  I am sooooo excited about these books.  November will bring a Christmas novella, A Very Tudor Christmas.  And December Emma’s book.  Whew!

In the meantime–do you like “marriage in trouble” stories?? What kind of dream house would you want, if you could choose any? (I am torn between a beach bungalow and an English country house.  Or a Paris apartment with a view of the Eiffel Tower…)  Comment for a chance to win a signed copy of  Countess!!!

 

Posted in Former Riskies, Giveaways, Risky Book Talk | Tagged | 16 Replies

Fun With Pinterest!

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As I know I’ve talked about here before, I love-love-love Pinterest!  I have to be very careful whenever I get onto the site, because it can easily be hours later by the time I’ve finished following trails of pretty dresses, rooms furnished with many bookshelves, yummy cocktails, and funny “Hey Girl” memes.  But the one most useful thing about it, I’ve found, is that it helps me keep all my book inspiration images in one easily accessed spot.  Here are a few pins for my Murder at Hatfield House book (out in 2 weeks!):

Gallery4Hatfield2Hatfield4

Hatfield3Images of Hatfield House itself…

ElizabethanInstruments2LuteMetMusical instruments of the period (my heroine/sleuth, Kate Haywood, is a court musician to Elizabeth I!)

Gallery5ElizSignetRingElizabethan jewelry…

ElizabethFitzgeraldLady Elizabeth Fitzgerald (“the fair Geraldine,” a kinswoman to Elizabeth, who appears in one scene…)

LilyCollins1The actress Lily Collins, who looks a bit like Kate in my mind!

AnneClevesTudor humor (this one is Anne of Cleves, but hey, it’s funny, even if it’s not quite period-correct for my story!!)

So I am not always wasting time on Pinterest!  Sometimes it is Very Important Research.  Are you on Pinterest?  What do you like about it?

(and I am extending my Hatfield House contest at my Amanda Carmack site for a few more days!  Sign up for my newsletter for the chance to win an ARC of the book and an Elizabethan Queen Barbie!!)

Posted in Former Riskies, Risky Regencies | 3 Replies

Characters We Hate To Love?

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First of all, get better soon to Diane!!!  Cat bites are nothing to mess around with.  Hopefully we will hear from her later today and find out she is resting at home….

Around here (luckily) there are no animal bites or illnesses of any kind!  But I am NOT looking forward to moving my two homebody cats.  They don’t even like to get up off their couch most of the time, and getting them into carriers for trips to the vet is always an ordeal.  They are only moving about 45 minutes away, but still.  And I am about to sit down in the middle of the floor and give up on this moving idea anyway.  I have most of my books packed (65 boxes!  And I just realized I packed a couple of research books I now need), but I have lots more stuff that needs to be consolidated and packed somewhere.  Seriously, if anyone has any moving tips, let me know.  (no wonder most people in the Regency stayed put in their houses for most of their lives.  Except for people like Jane Austen.  I wonder what she did about packing…)

In the meantime, I am about 1/4 of the way through the new WIP, an Italian Renaissance romance.  as part of my Important Research Process, I spent the weekend laying around eating potato chips and re-watching DVDs of The Borgias.  I love this show.  I think it’s what The Tudors wanted to be, and just couldn’t quite hit the mark.  Scandal!  Murder!  Intrigue!  Sex!  Gorgeous clothes!  More sex!  More gorgeous clothes!  And a soupcon of historical accuracy.   But I realized something rather disturbing.  I absolutely adore the pairing of Lucrezia and Cesare, and, well….they are sorta brother and sister.

Cesare2I know!  I think I came to romance reading too late to really appreciate the “old skool” stylings of books like those of Kathleen Woodiwiss and Rosemary Rogers.  I had already been reading stuff like lighter Regencies and historicals where the heroines were pretty much the equal (at least emotionally) of the heroes when I finally picked up a copy of The Flame and the Flower (because people kept telling me I HAD to read it).  Well–I hated it.  And to this day I can’t stand jackass heroes and half-their-age doormat/simper-y heroines.  I hate “forced seductions” (I grew up with college campus campaigns against just that sort of thing, after all).  Everyone has their fantasies, which is great, that’s just not really mine, so I found other stories I preferred.   Why, then, do I love Lucrezia and Cesare so very, very much?

Hmmm, maybe it’s because I have a deep love of something not often found in romance novels–dark, tragic, desperate, doomed love, a la “Romeo and Juliet.”  (Though certainly there are a few–maybe that’s why my all-time fave romance novel is For My Lady’s Heart).   And you can’t get more desperate and doomed than C&L.  In a crowded ensemble drama chock full of intriguing characters, I always found myself looking forward to their scenes together.  Let’s face it, they are just so beeeeauuutifuuul, separate and together, and charismatic.  It’s like the two of them against the world, true soulmates.

THE BORGIASIn Sarah Bradford’s excellent biography Lucrezia Borgia, she says of the real-life figures, “Incestuous or not, there is no doubt that Cesare and Lucrezia loved each other above anyone else and remained loyal to each other to the end.”  (note here: I am thinking only of the fictional TV characters, not the real life ones, who were probably considerably more reprehensible, at least Cesare.  I think Lucrezia is the victim of a historical hack job)

What are some couples (fictional or historical) you hate to love???

Posted in Former Riskies, Risky Regencies | 5 Replies