Biography:

Deeanne Gist—known to her family, friends, and fans as Dee—has rocketed up the bestseller lists and captured readers everywhere with her four very original, very fun historical romances. Add to this two consecutive Christy Awards, rave reviews, and a growing loyal fan base, and you’ve got one recipe for success.

Prior to her novels, Gist wrote for national publications such as People, Parents, Parenting, Family Fun, Houston Chronicle and Orlando Sentinel. She also has a parenting line of products called I Did It!® Productions that is available nationwide. She has four kids in college and lives in Texas with her husband of twenty-five years.

She has a very active online community on her website, her blog and her chat room. For more information, visit www.IWantHerBook.com .

Letter to Readers:

Dear Readers,

Last year, I broke the cardinal rule. The one that says the girl gets her guy by the last page (thus supplying the Happily Ever After). Well, my girl--Essie Spreckelmeyer--turned 30 in 1894 and thought she wasn’t a whole person without a guy. So, she writes the names of all the eligible men in her small Texas town, closes her eyes, twirls her finger and picks one.

When I called my editor and told him how I was going to end my book, there was this really long silence. Then, “You’re joking. Right?”

But I wasn’t. We’ve got lots of single women out there who will try to change themselves or compromise their beliefs or chase after a guy to the point of embarrassment. When, really, they’re perfectly wonderful individuals all on their own.

Finally my editor said, “You can only end it that way if you write a sequel where she gets her man.”

“Done,” I said.

And that’s what we did. We called the first book Courting Trouble (because she was not only courting trouble, but she was also having trouble courting). It came out last June and I will admit to holding my breath as I waited to see what the reaction would be.

Well, there was a reaction all right, but it wasn’t from angry readers (at being cheated out of their expectations). It was from single women all over the world who wrote me email after email saying, “I’m Essie!”

The response was so tremendous, we set up a virtual Chat Room where everyone could share their thoughts. The general consensus was: Give Essie a man! J The controversial topic was--who would be right for her? One of the men she had a relationship with in Courting Trouble? Or should it be someone brand new?

They discussed this at length--even took a poll. Well, the sequel--Deep in the Heart of Trouble--is out. But our girl, Essie Spreckelmeyer, has embraced singleness. She’s independent and outspoken. She owns a Bicycle Club and is part owner of an oil company. The last thing she has time for is a man.

Tony Morgan--the disinherited son of an oil baron--lands a job with Essie’s oil company. They lock horns from the get-go. But Tony’s feelings for Essie turn from combative to affectionate. It’ll take more than flowers to win her heart, though. For they both harbor secrets that could squash any burgeoning feelings. Can their love survive or are they Deep in the Heart of Trouble?

Both books stand alone, so you don’t have to read Courting Trouble first--or at all--to enjoy Deep in the Heart of Trouble. If you’d like to read an excerpt or stop by our Chat Room, visit us at my website: www.IWantHerBook.com  .

Hope to see you there!

Tamera AlexanderTamera Alexander is a bestselling novelist whose deeply drawn characters, thought-provoking plots, and poignant prose resonate with readers. Having lived in Colorado for seventeen years, she and her husband now make their home in Tennessee, where they enjoy life with their two college-age children and a Silky named Jack.
 
Tamera invites you visit her Web site at www.tameraalexander.com.

Susan CrandallWith the exception of seven years at the beginning of her marriage (when she lived in Chicago), Susan Crandall has always lived in the same Indiana town.  She inherited her addiction to books from her father; a man who hated school but loved learning and reading, who collected books like other men did fishing lures.  Lucky for her parents, unlike her father, Susan was a devoted student so they were spared the issues of school skipping and bad grades.

In her first career, she was a dental hygienist – guess that might account for the switch to suspense. She obviously loves to frighten people.

Her first book, BACK ROADS, was a double RITA nominee and winner of the RITA for Best First Book in 2004. Her fifth, ON BLUE FALLS POND, was a RITA nominee in 2007.

Stop by Susan’s website www.susancrandall.net  for video interviews (click the media button), news, and a peek at her next romantic suspense, SEEING RED.

Susan looks forward to hearing from her readers: susan@susancrandall.net , or PO Box 1092, Noblesville, IN 46060.

Letter to Readers:

Dear Readers,

I’m so happy to be here at the Romance Book Club. For those of you who have read my previous books, you’ll notice a new look for PITCH BLACK. This story is in my new genre, romantic suspense; it’s a little edgier and little faster paced. However, it’s not such a fantastic leap from my previous books. I’ve always laced my women’s fiction with suspense and mystery. PITCH BLACK still delivers great characters dealing with real life it-can-happen-to-anyone problems – in this case, let’s just hope it doesn’t!

Philadelphia journalist Madison Wade becomes a single mother when she adopts a thirteen-year-old street kid, Ethan. In order to give him a completely fresh start, she relocates them to a rural eastern Tennessee town, where she’s the new editor of the local daily paper. Just as they’re settling in – Madison adjusting the slower-pace of her new job and indulging in a flirtation with the local sheriff, Gabe Wyatt and Ethan finding a friend in a socially awkward boy, Jordan – things go horribly awry. Ethan, Jordan, Jordan’s step-dad and two other teens go on a wilderness camping trip. The boys return without their chaperone.    Gabe quickly discovers things are not what they seem and when foul play is suspected, all eyes fall on Ethan. Gabe doesn’t want to believe Maddie’s son could be responsible, but all of the evidence is pointing that way.

Madison knows Ethan isn’t telling all, but can’t decipher who he’s protecting, or why. When it becomes apparent that the four boys are also in danger, Madison uses her investigative skills to save her son from both the law and the killer. But when she does, she walks into a web she never could have seen ahead in the darkness.

You might want to read this one with all of the lights on.

I’m really looking forward to discussing this book with you!

Regards,

Susan

Elizabeth HoytBiography:

Elizabeth Hoyt was born in New Orleans, where her mother’s family has lived for generations, but she was raised in the frigid winters of St. Paul, Minnesota. Growing up, her family traveled extensively in Britain, spending a summer in St. Andrews, Scotland, and a year in Oxford. She earned a bachelor of arts degree in anthropology at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. Wisconsin was also where she met her archaeologist husband--on a dig in a cornfield. Continuing the cornfield theme, Elizabeth and her husband live in central Illinois with their two children and three dogs. She is an avid gardener with over 26 varieties of daylilies in her multiple gardens and more hostas than any one person can count. The Hoyt family enjoys taking family vacations that invariably end up at an archaeological site.

Elizabeth loves to hear from her readers. You may e-mail her at: elizabeth@elizabethhoyt.com  or mail her at: PO Box 17134, Urbana, Illinois 61803. Please visit her website at www.elizabethhoyt.com  for contests, book excerpts, and author updates.

Letter To Readers:

Gentle Reader,

To Taste Temptation is the first book in my new four-book series, The Legend of the Four Soldiers. The books will be linked by four friends, survivors of a regimental massacre in the American Colonies during the French and Indian War. Now, six years after the massacre, these men have evidence that a traitor gave away their position to the French and their Indian allies. The Legend of the Four Soldiers is about these former soldiers search for the traitor, their search for justice, and their search for peace with the past.

The hero of To Taste Temptation is Samuel Hartley, a self-made man from the American Colonies. He’s come to London to secretly hunt the traitor, but to do so he must enlist the help of the elegant widow, Lady Emeline Gordon—who has a few secrets of her own.

As with my previous work I’ve included an original fairy tale in each book of this new series. The fairy tales in To Taste Temptation is about a soldier returning home from war. His name is Iron Heart and he makes a dangerous pact with an evil wizard that nearly costs him his life—and his true love. I hope you enjoy To Taste Temptation!

Yours Very Sincerely,

Elizabeth Hoyt

Allison ChaseBiography:

Allison Chase enjoys a busy life in the South Florida sunshine with her husband of more than twenty-five years and their two wonderful and mega-talented daughters. Allison is a member of the RWA and the Florida Romance Writers, and in large part credits both organizations for her success as a romance author. Originally from New England, she grew up with a deep appreciation for the rich history of her surroundings, and admits that, “If living in the past is a bad thing, then I’ve been bad all my life!” She and her family love to travel, especially throughout the British Isles and Ireland, and she’s never happier than when exploring historic sites such as castle ruins, ancient abbeys, or the rambling gardens of old country manors. Readers can visit Allison at www.allisonchase.com.
 

Letter To Readers:

Dear Readers, With the release of my debut paranormal historical, DARK OBSESSION: A Novel of Blackheath Moor, I invite you to join me in a misty world of windswept moors and wild ocean storms, where passions often run dark but love is the greatest power imaginable!

I’ve always been attracted to the paranormal, from my earliest days of sneaking to my friend’s house to watch Dark Shadows (my mother thought it would give me nightmares!); to falling in love with the city on Newport, RI, where I met my husband and where mist rolls in off the harbor and every original saltbox house is reputed to have a ghost in the basement; to more recent trips to England, Scotland and Ireland, where I’ve felt the spirits of the past hovering at my shoulder as I walked the ruins of castles and abbeys.

Have I ever seen a ghost? No, in all honesty I can’t say I have. But I do believe the spirits of those who came before us never truly leave a place, and if you walk where they walked and touch what they touched, you can come to know them, just a little…

In DARK OBSESSION, two such spirits inhabit the shadowy halls of Blackheath Grange and its surrounding moors and sea cliffs, unable to rest until my hero, Grayson Lowell, and my heroine, Nora Thorngoode, uncover the truth about one awful night. Of course, ghosts aren’t able to come right out and simply say what must be done. Gray and Nora’s must follow murky clues through the estate’s secret passages and along the untamed landscape, but in order to work together they must first come to grips with their troubled – and darkly impassioned – marriage of convenience.

To celebrate the May release of DARK OBSESSION, I’ll be blogging here at the Romance Book Club and running a contest where a lucky winner will receive an autographed copy of the book and a gift card to Borders or Barnes and Noble – winner’s choice!

You can also find me at my newly launched website, www.allisonchase.com and myspace.com/allisonchaseauthor. And watch for the November release of the sequel, DARK TEMPTATION!

May the spirits smile kindly upon you,

Allison Chase

Bettye GriffinBiography:

Bettye Griffin, a native of Yonkers, New York, now makes her home in the Far North suburbs of Chicago with her husband.  Once Upon A Project is her 14th novel and her fourth work of women’s fiction.  For more about Bettye, visit her web site, www.bettyegriffin.com . 

Letter To Readers:

My name is Bettye Griffin, and do I have a story for you!
 
My latest novel of women’s fiction, Once Upon A Project (Dafina Books, trade paper) hits bookstore shelves everywhere on April 29th.  This riveting novel is about four lifelong friends who, like many friends of longstanding, have fallen out of touch as their lives veer off in different directions.  But when one of them organizes a reunion luncheon of former tenants of the Chicago housing project where they grew up, they all attend.  All of them are about to turn 50, and all of them are at a crossroads in their personal lives, coping with serious matters like breast cancer, infidelity, loneliness, troubled marriages, and broken dreams.  The seemingly innocent occasion sparks a chain of events that forces them to face their troubles, release long-held secrets, and make life-altering decisions.
 
For more about Once Upon A Project and to read an excerpt and view the book preview trailer, please visit the Books page of my Web site:  http://www.bettyegriffin.com/BooksandWIPS.html
 
To read character sketches (not included in the book), please visit my blog: 

http://chew-the-fat-with-bettye.blogspot.com/search/label/Character%20Sketches

As always, I wish you good reading!

Julianne MacLeanBiography:

Julianne MacLean is a USA Today bestselling author who came to the romance genre after completing two degrees – one in English Literature and another in Business Administration.

She sold her first book to Harlequin Historicals in 1999, and later moved to Avon/HarperCollins with her popular American Heiress Series.  She is currently at work on her new Pembroke Palace Series, which began with IN MY WILDEST FANTASIES in November 2007.

She is a three time Rita finalist, and has won numerous awards, including the Booksellers Best Award, The Bookbuyers Best Award, and a Reviewer’s Choice Award from Romantic Times Bookclub, for Best Regency Historical of 2005.  She lives in Nova Scotia with her husband and daughter, and she is a dedicated member of Romance Writers of Atlantic Canada.

Letter To Readers:

Greetings everyone!  I'm delighted to have In My Wildest Fantasies featured in Tara's book club this month, as it's the first instalment in my new Pembroke Palace series.  It's set in the late-Victorian period and revolves around four sons of an aging duke who is losing his mind and believes the palace is under a curse, which can only be broken by the sons marrying before Christmas.

I had great fun writing this first book - especially  when it came to the heroine, Rebecca.  She's lived a reclusive life, but has kept herself entertained with delicious fantasies about a handsome gentleman she'd met years before, who came to her rescue in the forest like a knight in shining armor and saved her life.  When she finally meets him again, she is still infatuated, and sets out to turn her fantasies into reality.  And her fantasies aren't exactly chaste and innocent.

Let's face it, we've all dreamed of a night with someone who stirs our passions, whether it's Gerard Butler or Colin Firth (or insert man of your choice).  Just imagine if you actually met him at a ball, you caught his eye, and he was intrigued by you...

I hope you'll check out Rebecca's story and fall in love with Devon Sinclair, heir to the Duke of Pembroke, just like she did.  Have fun discussing it, and I'll try to pop over to chat in May!

Julianne