Blond-Haired Devil!

Good Morning, readers!  PJ here.  It's my pleasure to welcome one of my favorite people today.  A visit from Anna Campbell is always a special treat and this month we're blessed with her presence not once, but twice!  Today, Anna joins us to talk about two of my favorite topics:  heroes (we do love them, don't we?) and a new Anna Campbell story (always cause for celebration in my house!)  Anna's new historical novella, "Days of Rakes and Roses"  will be released tomorrow.

You can find more information about Anna and her books at her website and read an excerpt from "Days of Rakes and Roses" here.   Anna can also be found regularly blogging at Romance Bandits and, of course, is here at the Romance Dish the 24th of every month with her Second Helping reviews.  



BLOND-HAIRED DEVIL
By Anna Campbell 

(I use that title with apologies to Lisa Kleypas - but I read her BLUE-EYED DEVIL this week and wow, what a great book!)

Hi Dishes! Thank you for having me as your guest today. It's great to be here with my non-reviewer hat on. As many of you know, I'm a regular on this blog on the 24th of every month with a column called Second Helping, all about books I've enjoyed, often older publications, that you may have missed. Last month, I did Jennifer Crusie's wonderful MAYBE THIS TIME. 

But today I want to talk about a subject dear to my heart - heroes!

When I started out writing historical romance, I was tall, dark and handsome all the way. I liked them saturnine and devilish and black-haired! The Duke of Kylemore, the Marquess of Sheene, the Earl of Erith, Sir Gideon Trevithick, the Earl of Ashcroft, dusky to a man!

And then with my sixth book, MIDNIGHT'S WILD PASSION, something changed.

I went over to the...light side!

The wicked Marquess of Ranelaw in that book had golden hair. Then I went back true to form with Jonas SEVEN NIGHTS IN A ROGUE'S BED. He was dark both inside and out, at least at the start!
Merrick from

Since then, I've done two blond heroes! Shock! Sir Richard Harmsworth, the hero of A RAKE'S MIDNIGHT KISS (out from Grand Central Forever on 27th August) is blond. So is Simon Metcalf, the rakish hero of my e-novella DAYS OF RAKES AND ROSES which is out tomorrow. That makes three of my last four heroes blondies! What is the world coming to?

I don't think it's coincidental (although this theory doesn't hold water for Ranelaw) that both Simon and Richard are slightly lighter heroes in all senses than my usual beastly fare. One of the things I really enjoyed about writing this novella is it gave me a chance to tell a story that, while it hopefully had plenty of emotional depth, explored characters and conflicts that I'd have had to stretch past tolerance for a full-length novel.

Both Simon and his heroine, the Duke of Sedgemoor's sister, have baggage to deal with and problems to solve, not to mention that Simon returns from the Continent to find his childhood sweetheart Lydia about to marry someone else! But I don't think either Simon or Lydia counts as tortured - at least tortured in terms of the Anna Campbell universe!





It was also fun giving readers another glimpse of some of the other characters in the Sons of Sin world. Because this story is set before the events in SEVEN NIGHTS IN A ROGUE'S BED, Jonas gets a mere mention and Sidonie doesn't make an appearance - after all, she's not part of the glamorous world of Regency London when she meets her true love. But I had a lovely time with Sir Richard being nonchalant and witty and the Duke of Sedgemoor being Mr. Perfect. I hope readers will be champing at the bit to see both those guys get their comeuppance when they fall in love with completely unsuitable women!

Oh, and let me mention one other way this story is light - it's light on the pocket too! 99 cents strikes me as a bargain! I'd pay 99 cents just to see that beautiful pink cover!







So let's talk that really profound subject - hero hair color! Do you like your romance guys to be tall, dark and handsome like Cary Grant? Or blond and beautiful like Brad Pitt or Robert Redford? Do you have a favorite blond heart throb in a book or a movie or a TV show? Do you think hair color matters?

When you comment, please identify where you're from - for a very good reason, PRIZES! 

I've got a download of DAYS OF RAKES AND ROSES for someone from North America who comments today. For various complicated reasons, this new e-novella isn't available in other regions, but I've got a download of my e-novella THE WINTER WIFE for one international commenter. Good luck!

"Days of Rakes and Roses"
Grand Central Forever Yours
July 2, 2013

Lady Lydia Rothermere has spent the past decade trying to make up for a single, youthful moment of passion. Now the image of propriety, Lydia knows her future rests on never straying outside society's rigid rules; but hiding away the desire that runs through her is harder than she could have ever dreamed. Now as Lydia prepares for a marriage that will suit her family, but not her heart, Lydia must decide what's more important: propriety or passion?

Simon Metcalf is a rake and adventurer. But for all his experience, nothing can compare to the kiss he stole from the captivating Lydia Rothermere ten years ago. Simon can scarcely believe he's about to lose the one woman he's never forgotten. The attraction between them is irresistible, yet Lydia refuses to forsake her engagement. With his heart on the line, will Simon prove that love is a risk worth taking?

Download "Days of Rakes and Roses" from Amazon here and from Barnes & Noble here.  

A Rake's Midnight Kiss
Grand Central
August 27, 2013

It Takes a Lady

Brilliant scholar Genevieve Barrett knows how to keep a secret. Her identity as the author of her father's academic articles has always been her greatest deception-until a charming housebreaker tries to steal the mysterious Harmsworth Jewel from her. She doesn't reveal that she recognizes her father's devastatingly handsome new student as the thief himself. For Genevieve, this will be the most seductive secret of all...

To Catch a Thief

Sir Richard Harmsworth has been living a lie, maintaining a rakish facade to show society that he doesn't care about his status as a bastard. Yet long haunted by his unknown father's identity, Richard believes the Harmsworth Jewel will confirm his claim as the rightful heir. But when Richard sets out to seduce the bookworm who possesses the stone, he instead falls for its beautiful owner. But even as she steals Richard's heart, Genevieve will be in greater danger than her coveted treasure...

Pre-order A Rake's Midnight Kiss from Amazon here and from Barnes & Noble here.  

Anna Campbell Winner

The randomly chosen winner of a signed copy of SEVEN NIGHTS IN A ROGUE'S BED from Anna Campbell is:

Kandy Shepherd

Congratulations, Kandy!  Send us your name and mailing address and we'll forward it to Anna.

theromancedish (at) gmail (dot) com

Today's Special - - Anna Campbell

It's always a fun time when Anna Campbell stops by the Romance Dish! Usually, she's blogging about someone else's book in her Second Helping column but today she's here to talk about her new book, Seven Nights in a Rogue's Bed.  Don't you just love that title?   If you haven't bought a copy yet, what are you waiting for?  (Read PJ's review and see what Eloisa James has to say about this historical gem in her Barnes & Noble column.)  For more information about Anna, be sure to visit her website, follow her at Twitter and like her Facebook page.  

Welcome, Anna!

There’s Beauty in that there Beast

by Anna Campbell

Oh, I do love the Romance Dish! And the Romance Dish gals! And now I’m not just a regular commenter (for those who don’t know, I do book reviews on great romances you may have missed under the label Second Helping on the 24^th of each month), but a guest! Bring out the best china and the lace tablecloth! Dust off the butler!

OK, enough of the mushy stuff.

Mwah… Mwah…

Oh, no, some mushy stuff got out of its cage. Excuse me for a moment while I squeeze it back into its container! Phew! Done!

I’m here to talk about my latest release SEVEN NIGHTS IN A ROGUE’S BED which is the first book in the “Sons of Sin” series (out 25^th September). It’s a gothic take on the Beauty and the Beast story so I thought that’s what we’d have a natter about today.

Beauty and the Beast stories never seem to lose their allure. SEVEN NIGHTS is so obviously a BATB story that even the characters comment on the fact! I think all my stories in their own way have been Beauty and the Beast – I love coming back to its themes of redemption and transformation through love, and the fact that true beauty comes from inside a person, not from what they look like.

When Sidonie Forsyth meets Jonas Merrick in chapter one of SEVEN NIGHTS, she’s convinced that he’s awful on the inside as well as the on outside. He’s scarred and cranky and reclusive, and he’s got wicked intentions toward her and her family. So all round, pretty darn beastly!

But when she makes a bargain to stay with him for seven days (and seven nights), she embarks on a journey of discovery that leaves her a significantly different person from the terrified girl who turns up on Jonas’s doorstep in the middle of a thunderstorm. Over the course of a week, she discovers a whole new world of sensual pleasure, and also learns that her beastly lover isn’t nearly as beastly as she first thought. He’s a tormented man with secrets and a more honorable heart than she ever imagined when they first met. As Jonas falls in love with Sidonie, she helps him to heal and to find purpose and heart, so that a man who never believed he had a chance at redemption gradually turns into a genuine hero.

It’s only when these two face the world outside the walls of Castle Craven that their union undergoes its most powerful tests. Will a passion forged over seven nights turn into a lifelong love? Well, you’ll have to read the book to find out, won’t you? Bwahahahahaha!

So let’s talk Beauty and the Beast. Is it a theme that appeals to you? Do you have a favorite take on it? Why do you think writers and readers keep coming back to this classic tale? I’ve got a signed copy of SEVEN NIGHTS IN A ROGUE’S BED for one commenter today. Good luck!

Review - - Seven Nights in a Rogue's Bed

Seven Nights in a Rogue's Bed
Sons of Sin - Book One
By Anna Campbell
Publisher:  Grand Central
Release Date:  September 25, 2012


 

Unfairly robbed of his birthright, Jonas Merrick has turned into a bitter, ruthless man focused solely on increasing his wealth and wreaking vengeance on his enemy.  When he discovers that his enemy's wife has a weakness for gambling, he uses it to put her in his debt then offers to erase the debt in exchange for seven nights in his bed.  His plans go awry when the woman who appears on his doorstep one dark and stormy night is not the shallow beauty married to his enemy but her lovely, innocent younger sister.  When that woman turns out to be smart, feisty, courageous and lit from within with an innate goodness, Jonas goes from annoyed to intrigued and a new plan is born.  He offers her a wager:  spend seven days and nights as his guest.  During that time he'll do his best to seduce her but sleeping with him will be her choice and, at the end of the seven days, Sidonie will be free to leave his home with her sister's debt paid in full, whether his seduction attempts are successful or not.

The last place Sidonie wants to be is standing on the doorstep of Jonas Merrick's castle but she'll do anything to help the sister who took care of her when they were children.  If sleeping with Merrick will keep her sister and nephews safe from harm then so be it; she'll go willingly to the man's bed no matter how hideous he may be.  It doesn't take long for Sidonie to realize that there's much more to Jonas Merrick than what he presents to the world.  Though his face is scarred and he continues to insist he's a bastard through and through, the more time Sidonie spends with him, the more convinced she becomes that a good man lurks beneath the hard shell life's experiences have built around his wounded heart.  Desire flares and, as walls begin to crumble, the first flickering embers of a deep and abiding love spring to life...if Sidonie and Jonas have the courage to reach for it.

I loved this book so much.  I think it's Anna Campbell's best writing to date and that's saying a lot considering the quality of the books she's already published.  She immediately grabbed my attention with the riveting first sentence:

Storms split the heavens on the night Sidonie Forsythe went to her ruin.

As someone who grew up devouring Gothic romances from Victoria Holt and Mary Stewart, all it took was that one sentence for me to know I was in for a treat.  Campbell then gave me a hero, damaged both physically and emotionally, and made me care deeply for him.  Jonas tries so hard to be a villain, and he has his harsh moments to be sure, but there's just too much goodness at his vulnerable core, waiting for the right woman to heal his heart and set it free, for him to truly be a bad guy.  He believes his scars make him repulsive; his actions, unlovable.  His response - the parts he shares and those he doesn't - when Sidonie finally gives herself to him made my heart ache.

     He propped himself on one elbow, keeping a careful eye on the edge of the bed, and took her hand.  "Are you all right?"
     After a hesitation, she nodded.  "Yes."
     He waited for more but she remained silent.  For a woman, she was deucedly closemouthed.  How he wished she'd confide in him, trust him.
     Why should she?
     Except she'd trusted him with her body.  He didn't underestimate what that meant.  He wanted to thank her.  He wanted to beg her to stay.  He wanted to tell her she was the most marvelous being in creation.  Emotion silenced him, made it impossible to express what lay in his heart.  He raised her hand to his lips and kissed her palm with a veneration that sprang from his soul.
     He wasn't good enough for her.  But by God, he meant to make her happy while he had her.  

Sidonie is a heroine worthy of our damaged hero.  She's strong, loyal and has so much love to give but she's only seen the bad side of marriage and has no desire to be under a man's control.  And her loyalty, one of her best qualities, causes her to make a decision that could ultimately cost her the love of the man who has captured her heart.  Ms. Campbell had me flipping pages as fast as I could to find out what happens to these two people who so deserve a happy ending.

Adding to the suspense of whether or not our couple finds happiness is a villain I could have easily sent to his just reward and Sidonie's sister, a woman who at times elicited my sympathy while other times I simply wanted to whack her upside the head for being shallow and selfish at Sidonie's expense.

Seven Nights in a Rogue's Bed is the first book in Campbell's Sons of Sin series.  I read it in one day then read it a second time more leisurely.  I'll most likely read it again before book two comes out. Yes, I enjoyed it that much. I highly recommend this book and am already counting the months until I can get my hands on the next two in the series.  We meet the heroes of those books, Richard and Cam in this book, along with Sirius, a mutt of undetermined origin with whom I tumbled immediately into puppy love and who Ms. Campbell has assured me has a significant role in the next book, A Rake's Midnight Kiss.  

~PJ