Máire Claremont winner!

The winner of a copy of The Dark Lady by Máire Claremont is:

 

Sharlene

 

Congratulations, Sharlene! Please send your full name and address to theromancedish (at) gmail (dot) com with "The Dark Lady winner" as the subject and I'll forward your info to Máire. Thanks to everyone who stopped by to welcome Máire during her debut blog tour!

Today's Special -- Máire Claremont

I am thrilled to welcome debut historical author Máire Claremont to the blog today! Máire is a 2011 Golden Heart winner who, according to her bio, first fell in love with Mr. Rochester, not Mr. Darcy. Drawn to his dark snark, she longed to find a tortured hero of her own...until she realized the ramifications of Mr. Rochester locking his first wife up in his attic. Discovering the error of her ways, Máire now looks for a real-life Darcy and creates deliciously dark heroes on the page. Oh, and she wants everyone to know her name is pronounced Moira. Her parents just had to give her an Irish Gaelic name. I have read Máire's debut, The Dark Lady, and loved it! Read my review here. Welcome Máire as she tells us about the day she received that important call!

~Andrea

 

 

On Getting the Call or my Big Moments: 

I’ve dreamed of being published for almost a decade. I would sit, writing in Starbucks, madly plunking away at my keyboard, learning my craft, hoping that “this” was the book. It took me a few tries, but I loved writing romance. So much. My first experience with the Historical was Johanna Lindsay and then Julia Quinn. I was so swept away by the characters, the houses, the horses, and of course the drama. So, I finally decided that was what I had to do too.

Ha. Who knew it was going to be so hard? Not me. Its a miracle I didn’t give up, but what can you do when you have all these people in your head? Keep writing, that’s what.

Now, getting published was my big dream and I will never forget when my agent called me to offer me representation. I sat holding my cell phone, waiting for her call, at the appointed time. I was almost shaking. I had more than one offer from an agent, but this agent was my dream agent. When the phone finally rang, I was SO nervous. We talked for a while about the book, how she loved it, how she thought it could be improved. She had yet to read the whole thing. And then we got to the end of the conversation. She hadn’t yet said she was offering representation. Terrified, I got my courage up and asked, does this mean. . .  She started laughing and told me of course she was offering. I hung up and just stared into space for a few moments and then started happy dancing. It was incredible, unbelievable and a triumphant moment. It took about a year to sell The Dark Lady and when we finally did and my editor called me to squee over the book, I nearly died with disbelief. Here I was talking about my book with an editor who LOVED it. I think my mother and I screamed aloud for quite some time.  I was so happy that I sold when I did. My mother was terminally ill and had always been my biggest cheer leader, always believing in me. I got to share that call with her and I will always be grateful.

The Dark Lady is such an important book for me. It's when things clicked. I was writing something different. Dark and passionate, the book opens with the heroine in an insane asylum. When I was writing it, I was so nervous that it would be too “outside the box”. But I had to write it. That book just had me in its thrall. I adore Eva, my heroine, and am so glad that everyone now gets to read the HEA which she SO deserves.

Do you enjoy romances that are "outside the box"? What are some of your favorites? Tell us and one lucky commenter will win a copy of The Dark Lady. (U.S. addresses only, please.)

 

The Dark Lady

The Victorian era was full of majestic beauty and scandalous secrets—a time when corsets were the least of a woman’s restrictions, and men could kill or be killed in the name of honor....

Lord Ian Blake has returned from India a broken man. Years ago, he pledged to Lady Eva Carin—his childhood companion and " first love—that he would bring her husband back alive. His failure haunts him. But even his jade soul can’t anticipate the shocking sight of beautiful, independent Eva confined in a madhouse....


Locked in an asylum, forgotten by society, Eva is adrift in both body and mind. For Ian to break her free, they must cross a powerful enemy—and prove her sanity to England’s unforgiving aristocracy. But the biggest danger of all may come when the secrets of Eva’s tragic past are finally unlocked....

 

You can read an excerpt of The Dark Lady here!

 

Máire can be found online at the following places:

Website: http://www.maireclaremont.com

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/MaireClaremont

Twitter: http://twitter.com/MaireClaremont

Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/maireclaremont/

Blog: http://maireclaremont.blogspot.com/ 

 

You can order The Dark Lady here: 

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/The-Dark-Lady-Novel-Passions/dp/0451417992

Kindle: http://www.amazon.com/The-Dark-Lady-Passions-ebook/dp/B008BM4N0W

B&N: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-dark-lady-maire-claremont/1111518783?ean=9780451417992

Nook: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-dark-lady-maire-claremont/1111518783?ean=9781101609323

 

 

 

 

Review -- The Dark Lady

The Dark Lady
Mad Passions—Book 1
By Máire Claremont
Publisher: Signet Eclipse
Release Date: February 5, 2013

Lord Ian Blake made a promise to Lady Eva Carin, his childhood friend, years ago and he failed her. He promised that he would keep Hamilton—her husband and Ian’s best friend—safe while they served in India together. Because Eva has not responded to any of his letters, he knows she must hate him. As an honorable man, Ian feels it is his duty to return to England to face Eva and apologize. He also hopes that in doing so, she might find it in her heart to forgive him even if he can’t forgive himself. When he arrives at Carridan Hall, he is stunned to learn that Eva went mad and is residing in an asylum. That doesn’t sound like the woman who Ian has always loved, so he makes it his duty to uncover the truth and set her free. 

Lady Eva Carin has been confined and drugged for so long that she doesn’t recognize Ian when he first approaches her. When she does realize who he is, she believes him to be a dream. After all, no one ever visits the “patients” at Palmer’s. Ian convinces her he is no dream and that he is there to take her away. He tells her that she should never have been brought there in the first place, but Eva knows differently. She believes she is there to pay for her sins. Ian hands over the amount required by Mrs. Palmer to get Eva out, but their departure isn’t complete without a great deal of drama and deceit. Now Ian must do everything within his power to prove that Eva is sane before their new-found enemies catch up to them. 

The Dark Lady is a gripping historical romance debut by Máire Claremont. In it, she brings together two tortured souls who are each haunted by their own past actions and, naturally, blame themselves. Not only is Ian dealing with what happened to Hamilton, but he also feels that if he had put his pride aside and come home sooner, Eva wouldn’t have had to suffer for as long as she did while at the asylum. Of course, Eva doesn’t hold that against him. She is grateful that Ian rescued her, but notices a significant change in the man who has always held her heart.

 

This was not the wild and carefree youth she remembered. The boy she’d wish she could marry though duty forbade it. But it was still Ian. She could see it lingering in his eyes. He really did believe he hadn’t done enough. 

This was the new Ian. A man never content. A man driven to the edge—not unlike herself. Except he had kept his demons imprisoned.

 

I was immediately intrigued when I read the blurb for this book. The hero rescues the heroine from an asylum? I am there! It’s not your typical plot, for sure. Ms. Claremont’s descriptions of the abysmal asylum were so vivid and true...and yes, a bit creepy. She certainly didn’t hold back with the imagery, and I’m glad she didn’t because it felt very real. It was like I was there in the dank, dark halls and cells right along with Eva and Ian.  

The Dark Lady is filled with action, drama, heartbreak, elation, and of course, romance. It grabbed me right from page one. I would recommend that you not start it unless you have time to read for a little while as my heart raced while reading the first five chapters and I did not want to put it down! Their escape from Palmer’s was thrilling and intense. Over the course of the book, Ms. Claremont does a wonderful job of slowly revealing the past leading up to Hamilton’s death in India. She gives readers enough to make you keep turning those pages!  

I see a very bright future for Máire Claremont, the 2011 Golden Heart Award winner. Her next Mad Passions book, The Lady in Red, comes out in October and I can’t wait to find out what happened to Eva’s roommate at Palmer’s Asylum. Until then, I highly recommend The Dark Lady!

 

~Andrea


***Don't forget to stop by Monday when Máire will be our special guest!