The winner of the One Candlelit Christmas anthology is Gwynlyn Mackenzie! Please send your address to riskies@yahoo.com

The Riskies are very “merry” today, to welcome Harlequin Historical authors Julia Justiss, Terri Brisbin, and Annie Burrows as they talk about their new anthology One Candlelit Christmas! It would make a perfect holiday gift, for yourself or any other readers on your list…

Julia Justiss: Christmas is my favorite holiday! And for me, the heart of it is family. Having all my children home to share meals, fun, and laughter is the season’s highlight. So when I thought about writing a Christmas story, Christmas Wedding Wish, I looked to the Wellingfords, a family who have appeared in my work on and off since my first book.

Since her older sister’s marriage and her fiance’s death, Meredyth has watched over the Wellingford estate and family, resigned to being competent manager, devoted sister, and doting aunt. Then her brother returns for Christmas with his best friend–and that friend’s brother.

Handsome Allen Mansfell begins to make Meredyth doubt that her heart and her senses have been buried forever. But could this younger man truly be interested in a spinster like Meredyth?

Terri Brisbin: Although I’ve always loved the holiday time of year and all the parties, presents, decorations, and festivities, I think the real reason that Christmas is my favorite holiday is the feeling of hope that surrounds us then. Hope that we’ll see family members and friends we haven’t seen lately. Hope that we’ll find just the perfect gift for that special person in our lives. Hope that the coming year will be filled with health, happiness, and everything important to us.

So, it is with that hope in mind that I invite you to read my novella, Blame It On The Mistletoe. It has all the elements I think are so important during this time–family, friends, presents, hope, and most important, love.

Julia Fairchild has loved Iain MacLerie since she was just a young girl. When, years later, Iain attends their Christmas festivities, she is shocked to see a bitter, cold man where a vibrant, happy youth once was. Meanwhile, the love she felt as a child for a young man five years her senior has grown into something much more adult.

After facing death and sustaining injuries beyond repair, seeing the exquisite young woman who chased his steps as a girl just reminds Iain of all he lost, and everything he cannot have. Despite this bitter realization, his heart cannot help but hope when events and Christmas mistletoe conspire to bring them back together. But can the innocent love Julia offers conquer the fear he faces?

Annie Burrows: When I was asked if I would like to write a story for this anthology, I decided I wanted to celebrate the very essence of Christmas, which for me is not about presents and feasting and putting up decorations.

But about a baby, born to a poor family as a symbol of hope for the whole world. So my story is about forgiveness, and second chances, and the miraculous transforming power of love. I hope it touches your heart!

Before Carleton Tillotson left Nell, the rebellious rake broke her heart. Now he is back, just in time for Christmas, and Nell can’t hide her secret any longer–Carleton is the father of her son!

For readers: what is the “essence” of Christmas for you? How do you prefer to celebrate the holidays?

Happy start to the holiday season, everyone! One lucky commenter will win a copy…

While looking for post topics for today, I found out that today is the anniversary of the opening of the Louvre as a public museum in 1793. Since I visited there on my recent trip (and got hopelessly lost in their majorly twisty corridors, but that’s another story…), I thought it would be fun to find out more about its development from palace to vast museum! (FYI, the Louvre contains more than 380,000 objects, ranging from the 6th century BC to the 19th century, with 35,000 on display in more than 650,000 square feet. It averages 15,000 visitors a day, and employs more than 2000. In 1986, with the completion of the Musee d’Orsay, objects from after 1848 were moved there and the collection was split)

The Louvre started in the 12th century, as a fortress built by Phillipe II. Remnants of the fortress are still visible in below-ground galleries. The building was then extended several times, until in 1674 Louis XIV moved his court to the Palace of Versailles, leaving the Louvre mainly as a place to display some of the royal collections. During the Revolution, the National Assembly decreed the former palace a museum of the people (“a place for bringing together monuments of the arts and sciences”). It opened with an exhibit of 537 paintings, most of them seized from royal and Church property.

The public was given free access three days a week, but the building was closed in 1796 due to “structural deficiencies,” and not re-opened until 1801, with displays now arranged chronologically and organized with new columns and lighting.

Under Napoleon, the collections expanded greatly, thanks to works sent back from Egypt, Spain, Austria, Holland, and Italy. After his defeat at Waterloo, many former owners sought their return, which the Louvre’s administrators were, er, reluctant to comply with. In response, many of the restored foreign powers sent diplomats to seek out these works and secure their return. (An echo of this was seen just before World War II, when, on August 27, 1939, a long truck convoy left Paris taking countless objects and paintings to new hiding spots. By December, the museum was entirely cleared except for items too heavy or “insignificant” to be moved. In 1945, the art came back).

The Louvre is best known for objects such as the Venus de Milo, Nike of Samothrace, the Apollo Belvedere, Michelangelo’s “Slaves” sculptures, David’s Coronation of Napoleon (I stood in front of this for a long time studying the gowns!), Delacroix’s Liberty Leading the People, Vermeer’s The Lacemaker, and of course Mona Lisa.

Some good sources to read more about the Louvre are Andrew McClellan’s Inventing the Louvre; Bette Wynn Oliver’s From Royal to National: The Louvre Museum and the Bibliotheque National; and Alain Nave’s Treasures of the Louvre.

What are some of your favorite museums, or works of art? What would you do if you were lost in the Louvre???

And be sure and join us tomorrow, as we discuss the Harlequin Historicals anthology One Candlelit Christmas, just as the holiday season gets started!

(And also don’t forget that the Harlequin Historical Undone stories are only .89 at eharlequin for November!! Check The Good The Bad The Unread for reviews of all 4 stories…)

And the winner of the “Undone” dowloads is–Sue! Send your email to us at riskies@yahoo.com

Hello everyone! Welcome to the start of the blog tour for the launch of Harlequin Historical’s new line of ebooks, “Undone”! These stories are only available at eharlequin–though one lucky commenter here will win a free download of all 4 stories. And here to introduce them are the Undone authors! (Oh, and eharlequin is having a special, .89 downloads for November!)

Nicola Cornick: My Harlequin Historicals Undone e-book is a sexy, scandalous Regency tale, The Unmasking of Lady Loveless!

Erotic author Lady Loveless is scandalizing the Ton with her shocking tales that are based on rel-life hijinks of society. Engagements are being broken, inheritances lost as a result of her wicked pen and the gentlemen decide that enough is enough–she may spin the most naughtily seductive tales, but Lady Loveless must be stopped!

Lord Alexander Beaumont is convinced that the outrageous Lady L. is none other than his estranegd wife Melicent, for the manuscripts are coming from the Yorkshire village where she took refuge after the end of their brief, bitter marriage. Alex travels to Yorkshire determined to unmask his errant wife and put a stop to her wicked ways. But when he reaches the beautiful village of Peacock Oak, Alex finds that Melicent–and Lady Loveless–are not what they seem. Will Christmas in the countryside reunite Alex and the bride he lost years before?

The Unmasking of Lady Loveless is set in the same fictional village of Peacock Oak that I used for the background for my July HQN release Unmasked, and also features some of the same characters. I wanted to write a Christmas story, and the idea of the beautiful Yorkshire countryside under the snow seemed the perfect setting!

Amanda McCabe: When I was asked to write an “Undone” short story as a spin-off from my January ’09 book High Seas Stowaway, I knew right away who the hero would be–Carlos de Alameda. Carlos is a Spanish nobleman, an official of the Crown at the island town of Santo Domingo in 1535. He is also a dangerous spy, with secrets of his own to protect. He appeared briefly in the action of High Seas Stowaway, but I was intrigued by his intelligence and mystery. What was he really up to?

In Shipwrecked and Seduced, I got to find out! Maria Gonzales is the one who is shipwrecked, but in the end they are both seduced. Maria is a maidservant, headed to Santo Domingo with a Spanish contessa, Isabella, who is journeying to her wedding. A terrible shipwreck kills all aboard except Maria, and she is soon mistaken for the contessa herself–and taken to Carlos’s island fortress! She knows very well that an affair with the sexy, mysterious man will threaten her masquerade, but she’s drawn to him irresistibly. What will happen when he discovers the truth?

Bronwyn Scott: In Libertine Lord, Pickpocket Miss Sophie DuPlessy has everything to gain–and Julian Burke has nothing to lose.

Vienna of the 1820s is Europe’s new glittering capital both in culture and politics. No one knows the potential of such a setting better than Sophie DuPlessy. Europe has been ravaged by Napoleon’s wars and re-structured by the Vienna conferences and Europe’s statesmen. Kingdoms have been absorbed, national boundaries redrawn. In the wake of upheaval, heirlooms have been ost. In certain circles of dubious repute, Sophie has earned a reputation for discreetly recovering such objects. Now, she’s been hired by an Italian count to retrieve a set of jewels, a supposed heirloom of his family. This will be her last job. The reward promised guarantees her the financial resources to re-make her life as a horse breeder. But she is not the only one looking for them.

Julian Burke, second son of an earl, has been sent on crown business to Vienna to ferret out the truth to the rumors that an heirloom, once part of the royal treasury during the time of Charless II, has surfaced in Vienna. When the crown wants something badly, Julian is the man for the job. He is the most dangerous of men; a man with nothing to lose. No wife to protect, no estate to risk, a fortune so large he cannot be bribed, no care for his reputation and no heart to break.

But Sophie is about to change that!

Hope you enjoy their cat-and-mouse game! The most challenging part of writing in a condensed version is making the characters’ attraction to each other real in a short time frame. Not only does it need to be physical, but it needs to be based on something more without having the normal amount of time to discover what that ‘more’ is…

Michelle Willingham: On a trip to Dublin two years ago, I visited an archaelogical museum in order to research medieval artifacts. To my surprise, I saw an amazing display of Viking lore, including preserved bodies that had been found in a bog! I’ve always been intrigued by Viking raiders, and though most of the true Viking era took place in the 9th and 10th centuries, I found evidence that a Norse king, Magnus the Barefoot, attempted to take over Dublin in 1101. Such a daring move made him a fascinating historical figure, and as I plotted my Viking story, I imagined that such a king might a ruthless foe for a Viking warrior.

The Viking’s Forbidden Love Slave tells the story of Tharand Hardrata, a memer of the Norse warrior class who steals an Irish noblewoman from her clan. He intends to trade Aisling O Brannon for his sister’s life, after she was taken by King Magnus. If Aisling succeeds in pleasing the king with her body, Tharand believes Magnus will let his sister go. But the Irish captive enslaves him with a pleasure he’s never known before. If you’ve ever wondered what it was like to be carried off by an amazingly hot Viking, then I hope you’ll enjoy this fantasy story!

When the tale ends, Aisling asks Tharand to help her discover what happened to her brothers during the Norse raid. Their tale continues in Her Warrior Slave, the story fo Kieran O Brannon, on sale now at Harlequin Historicals.

I hope you’ve enjoyed this taste of 4 very different tales! Do you enjoy revisting characters and places from books you’ve read? What kinds of stories would you like to see in this form?

This isn’t the last stop on our Undone blog tour! Join us at the following sites for more fun and more chances to win:
November 3–Romance Bandits (The Battle of the Heroes)
November 7–UK Regency Readers Blog
November 10–Writeminded
November 11–Romance Vagabonds (The Heroines’ Tea Party)
The Good, The Bad, The Unread (The week of Nov. 3)