Me in my wedding dress and why I want a corset

Yesterday I posted in a blog at lovermaoncepassion about the fabulous competition to win a Couture Corset my publisher Total-E-Bound is sponsoring.

All you have to do to be in the draw is buy one of the four novellas from the Bodices and Boudoirs collection, of which my novella, The Cavalier, is one. (See details here.)


The Cavalier is a poignant tale of blighted love - and renewed hope - set during the English Civil War in 1648. Normally I write Regencies but I couldn't resist the opportunity to write about a time in history when the conflict was so raw. Brother could be fighting brother or, in this case, a Puritan woman is faced with her lost love - who turns out to be second-in-command of the King's Men currently besieging her castle.

Eight years before, Elizabeth had married the brutal Puritan, Silas Drummond, against her will. Nevertheless, she's been a dutiful and obedient wife.

Then Charles Trethveyan marches into her life offering her a bargain that will save her hated husband's life.

A bargain she can't resist until she learns it's based on a lie.

Not knowing that Charles is acting to save her life, Elizabeth succumbs to her husband's demands that she make the ultimate sacrifice - for the sake of honour.

Death is imminent unless the truth can be revealed in time.

Fortunately I married under a lot less duress than poor Elizabeth and got my Happy Ever After without the angst she suffered. I've posted a picture at of me at www.loveromancepassion.com running through fields of purple Salvation Jane in the middle of the Clare Valley wearing the 1961 French-designed wedding gown my mum wore, and which I was able to squeeze into 30 years later. However, since I'm thinking of wearing the dress to a Fancy Dress you can see why I'd be contemplating a corset.

Read a Steamy Historical and Win a Couture Corset

Read a steamy historical and be in the draw to win US$155 towards a Couture Corset.

More competition details at  Love, Romance, Passion where I’m blogging on corset envy.

Win a Couture Corset

I've always wanted to own a beautifully-made lace-up corset. There are some fantastic ones at www.whatkatiedid.com in the UK.

For a limited time my publisher, Total-E-Bound is sponsoring a competition in which those who buy a copy of one of the four novellas in the Bodices & Boudoirs collection - which includes my sensual and dramatic story of lost love returning, The Cavalier - goes in the draw to win 100 pounds towards a beautiful corset.

So what are you waiting for? Click on the link and check out the four stories - all very different, very heartfelt, sensual and dramatic.

The Cavalier Release Day!!

I’ve always adored historicals in all time periods. For a long time I’d been wanting to write this story: that of a virtuous, loyal wife confronted with the greatest conflict she could ever face – the return the one man she truly loved. I then thought, what would be the *only* way she might be disloyal to her husband? That’s when the setting came into play – a civil war and a scenario where she’s blackmailed into it in order to save her husband’s life.

It was a challenge to get the balance right and not tarnish the integrity of my hero or heroine. I tried to make the story as much about honour as it was about desire.

I also think this story might only have worked in the midst of war. Death was hanging over all my characters and I tried to juxtapose the brutality and revenge elements with a real and passionate love that the reader truly had to believe in if the story was to work.

This short novella begins on the eve of battle and ends twenty-four hours later with the occupation of Drummond Castle. In the interim a lot of lives are lost or irrevocably altered but at least someone gets their happy ending. Writing it made me feel that the pen really is mightier than the sword.

Here is the blurb:

Drummond Castle, home of staunch Puritan Silas Drummond and his beautiful wife, Elizabeth, has been besieged by Royalist forces. In a bargain to spare her husband’s life, Lady Elizabeth has agreed to spend the night with the commander of the hated King’s Men.

Second-in-command, Charles Trethveyan, has other ideas. He’s planned this moment since Elizabeth chose to marry Silas eight years before.

When Elizabeth discovers that her former Cavalier lover has taken the place of his superior, she must decide whether Charles is motivated by love or revenge.

Either way, her response will have devastating consequences.

*Note: The Cavalier is one of a collection of four historical novellas in Total-E-Bound’s Bodices and Boudoirs anthology.

You can read more by visiting my website or you can buy the book at Total-E-Bound.