Hallo, Hallo dear hearts,
I recently discovered a new publisher (Entangled) whilst featuring a guest for my Romance and Women’s Fiction book chat @SatBookChat Vivian Conroy (writing as Viv Royce for Entangled) as well as another author I highlighted via HFVBTs which was Lynn Winchester. When I saw this novel going on a blog tour, I thought it might be a rather interesting read and a more traditional Regency Romance series in which to seek out – as typically the past several years I’ve been reading lighter Regencies and/or the cosy comforting Regencies either mainstream and/or INSPY publishing houses.
This one of course felt to be a bit more traditional in the sense of what most people are expecting out of a Regency Rom and that made me smile a bit as its been half an age (at least!) since I’ve read the more traditional Regencies which are a bit more colourfully written and descriptively sensual in how they elude towards or outright describe the romantic bits of the story. They’re a fun read to have in your reading queue and this one was a bit more interesting due to the tongue-in-cheek bantering that seems to be going on between the lead characters! I love when lead characters aren’t quite an exact match in the opening of a novel – they might be opposites, they could be enemies or they could simply be people who are more oil and vinegar than a combination of personalities which lend well to romance!
Either way – sometimes those kinds of romances are interesting to read because of the tension and the quick-witted dialogue sequences which follow suit. This is my first time finding the writings of Ms LaCapra and I am hoping I can eventually read this series through my local library as the print edition was not available for the tour itself.
I happily had the chance to host an extract for this Regency Romance and although I made a few edits due to how I felt the context of the extract might not be in-line with what I regularly feature on Jorie Loves A Story – the overall message within the extract remains intact and you can gather quite a bit of what is happening between the two characters who are featured. If anything, it will either entice you to pick this up to read or it will confirm if its outside your readerly wanderings. I, for one, felt it sounded like a light read with a heap of humour and dashingly brilliant cheek!
Diamond in the Rogue (Book Spotlight w/ Extract)
Subtitle: Lords of Chance series | What a lady wants...
by Wendy LaCapra
In an act of revenge, Lord Rayne kissed Lady Julia and was sent packing to America. But now he’s back to settle his affairs and give away his sister in marriage, until he meets up with the alluring yet innocent Lady Julia again. He doesn’t regret their first kiss, but he was never good enough for her.
Lady Julia had two years to forget the moody and mercurial Earl of Rayne. But one look, and she knows they’re meant to be together. Be damned with his and her brother’s objections, she’ll just jump on the back of Rayne’s departing carriage and compromise them both thoroughly.
Only, Julia never expected her forbidding Lord to be so good at resisting temptation...
Places to find the book:
ISBN: 978-1-70592-289-7
Published by Entangled : Scandalous, Entangled Publishing
on 5th November, 2019
Format: Trade Paperback
Published by: Scandalous
an imprint of Entangled Publishing (@entangledpub)
Converse via: #HistoricalRomance and #Regency
+ #HistRom and #HFVBTBlogTours
Available Formats: Trade paperback and Ebook
Read an Extract from the novel:
as provided by Historical Fiction Book Tours and is used with permission – there is a slight modification in the extract itself where you see “…” those are passages where I amended what is seen within this extract and tour stop as I felt those might be a bit more telling of the story and/or are a bit outside the scope of what I normally would feature as this is a more traditional Romance. Wherein it goes into a bit more detail of the romantic side of the ledger than I normally feature. These amendments do not distract from the extract nor the context of the extract.
She tilted her head, listening. “Then why do I hear voices?”
“Oh, there’s plenty of people left in there. But Clarissa went upstairs, and Markham followed soon after. Moments later, Katherine and Bromton left as well.” He lifted a brow. “What is it about this place?”
She shrugged. “Weddings make some people amorous, I suppose.”
And you? He strolled into the room. Do weddings make you amorous? He wanted to know.
And he definitely did not want to know.
She hefted the bowl and made a show of ignoring him in favor of closely examining silver-rendered insects.
“Dragonflies are an interesting choice for a soup tureen, don’t you think?” he asked.
“You are mistaken.” She set down the bowl. “They’re clearly damselflies.”
“Are they?” He leaned over her shoulder to get a closer look. “But a damselfly’s wings are closed when at rest.”
“Who says they’re at rest? They could be fluttering about, as flies are wont to do.” She shifted, slowly lifting her gaze. “Besides, if they were dragonflies, their front and back wings would have different shapes.”
“I see, now.” He reached from behind her and ran a finger over a veined wing. “Damselflies, indeed. They have more delicate bodies.”
“Deceptively delicate. Remember…damsels can be predators”—her short, puffed P puckered her lips—“too.”
Such a mouth she had. And such a face. Even a gifted artist would despair, trying to capture her changeling spirit in pigment. “Do you have an interest in entomology?”
“I’ve always been drawn to insects.” She folded her arms. “As you should know.”
….
“You’ve been avoiding me,” he said.
“I’ve been avoiding you?” Her lids narrowed to slits. “You put oceans between us.”
“One,” he replied softly. “One ocean.” One soot-watered, lightning-capped ocean, churning, at this moment, beneath his ribs.
“One ocean”—she swallowed—“was more than enough.”
Had it been?
In an instant, time and distance withered to nothing. The fruits of his sweat, pain, and self-recrimination? Gone.
…
“I sought you out to apologize,” he said.
She paled, even as the bright spots in her cheeks darkened. The contrast made her less intimidating, more doll-like. Now, he wanted to take her into his care.
As if she needed care.
As if he knew how to care for anything.
“Markham”—she turned her face away—“already delivered your apology.”
“As asked. I didn’t want to address you directly.” Then, after he’d seen her, he realized he had no choice.
She snorted. “Not surprising.”
There. Right there. Sarcasm.
Instinctively, he searched for the pain. “What, exactly, did Markham tell you?”
“He said you acknowledged the wrong of”—her breath skipped—“toying with an innocent.”
Toying. He’d set out to use her, yes, but she’d been anything but a toy. She’d been a danger to him then. She was a danger to him now.
…
She may not have guessed the exact nature of his thoughts, but she’d sure as hell recognized his desire. Her certainty had infused her with power and sensuality beyond her experience.
Yet now, she doubted.
If he could heal nothing else, at least he could return her pride.
“Julia, whatever you believe, understand I was…” He searched for the right word. “Taken with you.”
Taken. Stolen. Thieved. Stripped of all protective illusions. Left wanting things he didn’t understand.
Kissing her, teasing her, tempting her with decadent dissolution had been wrong, but his desire had been real. Destructively real.
This blog tour is courtesy of:
Follow the Virtual Road Map
as revealled via @HFVBT on Twitter!
{SOURCES: Book cover for “Diamond in the Rogue”, book synopsis, author biography, author photograph of Wendy LaCapra, the tour host badge and HFVBTs badge were all provided by Historical Fiction Virtual Book Tours and used with permission. Post dividers badge by Fun Stuff for Your Blog via Pure Imagination. Tweets were embedded due to codes provided by Twitter. Blog graphics created by Jorie via Canva: Stories in the Spotlight banner and the Comment Box Banner.}
Copyright © Jorie Loves A Story, 2019.
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