Please save the date: In January, we're going to celebrate!

We’re going to have a tea party! It’s happening in January. It’s happening live, in Massachusetts, where it will be cold and possibly snowy. Have your boots ready.

Meena Jain, Director of the Ashland Public Library, is throwing the party to celebrate the release of My Inconvenient Duke. I’ll be there, of course, chatting with my good friend, author Caroline Linden, and those of you readers who can make it. There will be treats. And attendees are welcome to dress in Regency/Romantic era costume, if they so choose.

January 2025 also marks Lord of Scoundrels’ 30th anniversary (may I say Yikes). We’ll also celebrate this miracle of longevity.

Details, details

  • This is an actual, in-person event.

  • 1-3PM ET

  • 25 January 2025

  • Ashland Public Library / 66 Front St / Ashland Massachusetts 01721

  • More info here.

  • Ph 508 881 0134 / Email: ashlandprograms@minlib.net

  • Kindly register here.

The photo: The teacup and saucer belonged to my mother, and was probably a wedding gift. She gave it to me when I turned into a serious tea drinker. Of course I’m afraid to use it, but I keep it where I can see it every day… and wonder if she ever drank tea from it. She was a coffee drinker (black, always) all the time I knew her.

Difficult Dukes #3 News—or, What's Happening With the Blackwoods? Also, Other News

As reported elsewhere, the third Difficult Dukes book, the Blackwoods’ story, is in production.

It doesn’t yet have a cover, but that is in process. It does have a title and a release date, which I feel pretty safe in reporting, now that it appears on major online bookseller pages:

My Inconvenient Duke 21 January 2025

Meanwhile, because the writing happens ages before the publishing (in my case, something resembling eternity occurs between these two phases), I am working on the next book, which currently seems to be a spinoff. But things change. It may turn out to be something completely different.

Previous Occurrences

In May, the Ashland Public Library, in Ashland Massachusetts, was the site of yet another great RomCon last month. In fact, my assistant Jessica and I were so busy that we never got to take photos, so I had to steal them from the library. Thank you, readers, for enduring yet another wet New England day, and for making us feel so welcome and loved.

Top Row: The authors; Historical Romance Panel-Carla Kelly, Caroline Linden, Loretta Chase, Evelyn Richardson; Moi with crocheted Jane Austen figure. Bottom Row: Meena Jain & her Minions aka Meenions—an incredible team, who kept everything running smoothly.

Coming Attractions:

July will see a return of the Two Nerdy History Girls, courtesy our most excellent host, Meena Jain, and the Ashland Public Library. You can register for the event if you follow this link. I will report in more detail as we get nearer the date.

Historical Romance Panel Now on YouTube

Recently, historical romance author Elizabeth Everett and Liz Donatelli of the Reader Seeks Romance Channel invited me to join a panel for an episode of Unchaperoned, "The Evolution & Future of Historical Romance." Author Eloisa James, Sarah Ficke—romance fiction historian and English professor at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill— and I had a lively discussion with our hosts.

We debated “Old School" & "New School" styles of historical romance storytelling, changes in covers, strange occurrences and/or ideas in historical romance marketing, writing historical romance for modern audiences, and the tremendous popularity of Bridgerton. We discussed our influences and aims and the evolution of the genre.

Heady stuff, yes—and our panel was Part One, with Part Deux coming soon.

The program lasts about an hour, but that hour went quickly for us, as I hope it will do for you, and offer some food for thought. The link is below.

The Evolution & Future of Historical Romance PART 1

In other news: A quick reminder that I’ll be at the Ashland Public Library in Ashland, Massachusetts for a RomCon on 18 May. You can find details here.

And the third Difficult Dukes book is in production. As soon I learn the release date, I’ll post it here.