8 1/2 Stars: The best gentlemen are improper ones!

Improper Gentlemen seduces and rakes its way into your mind with three tales of men who work against the grain of society standards, but love fiercely.

Whiteside offers up the tale of gunman, Justin Talbot and his fierce determination to protect wrongly accused Ace Moreland. Ace is a female on the run from rumors that have destroyed her reputation and put her in the position of gambling for her freedom. Love is the last thing Ace Moreland believes she will find in an ex-confederate gunman with no worries about killing.

Robinson provides a tale of a woman scorned by the Scottish love of her life, Simon Grant. Simon ran from Lucy Dalhousie to escape persecution for his youthful thievery. Now he’s a gentleman, knighted by the King. He finds his Lucy set up as a mistress, and strives to regain her love. He wants to make her proper through marriage, but to do that he’ll have to conduct himself in the most improper ways.

The final tale by Marlowe, which was a favorite of mine, is a tale of love between Irish convict Aidan, the recently hailed Lord of Stonemere, and Roselinde Burke. Aidan stole her innocence years ago on the island of Bermuda, and Rose stole his heart. Now, years later after his crimes have been cleared in the eyes of the aristocracy, can she forgive him for what he was wrongly accused and accept this rakish lord’s love or move on to a worse villain?

All three stories were engaging and lively; extremely sensual and filled with enough improper to make a lady swoon. I thoroughly enjoyed reading about these assumed dark heroes, who in all actuality have more honor and love for their women then proper gentlemen. Each author gives you a different brand of improper from the notorious gunman, to the pardoned convict. With excellent story lines and secondary characters that give a good chuckle. No spoilers, but let’s just say Robinson weaves a merry faux gentleman. If you’re looking for a book that has a little bit of everything you love about historical stories, Improper Gentlemen is a sure win.

For readers who like Elaine Levine.

~ Landra

Thanks to Carrie from Seductive Musings for alerting me on this amazing deal! You can download THREE books—my Mistress by Mistake, Mia Marlowe’s Touch of a Thief and our Improper Gentlemen for only $16.49! Link.

It’s release day for the Brava anthology Improper Gentlemen! There’s a little bit of background on how I came to write “To Match a Thief” for it on Vauxhall Vixens, and I’m also giving away a copy at fellow author Mia Marlowe’s blog today.

Improper Gentlemen has snagged 4 1/2 blue ribbons from Romance Junkies: “A titillating and humorous read, TO MATCH A THIEF is a story that I hated to see end. During their years apart, Simon has come up in the world while Lucy has lowered herself to becoming a man’s mistress…or so it seems. I am an avid fan of gifted author Maggie Robinson’s works, which is why I placed her on my auto-read list. The fact that she still remains on that list is proof of her phenomenal talent.

As the title suggests, the common thread running through all three stories in the anthology IMPROPER GENTLEMAN is that the hero in all of the stories is a gentleman who is considered not quite proper by society standards. Their stations in life are rather low in the beginning; a gunman, a pickpocket and an Irish convict. However, each one works, or inherits, his way up in life, becoming respectable enough…Brimming with humor, steamy love scenes, interesting plots, clever repartee, charismatic characters, romance and lots of love, IMPROPER GENTLEMEN, with contributions from three amazing authors, is a delightful way to escape your daily cares. Do not miss it!”

The upcoming blog tour schedule is here. It’s incomplete as yet, but keep checking back. I’m going to be giving away a lot of copies of both Improper Gentlemen and Mistress by Marriage in the next couple of months. And to help celebrate the second anniversary of Beverley Kendall’s wonderful romance e-zine The Season, I’m donating multiple copies all three Courtesan Court books, too.

There’s one more day to buy my debut book Mistress by Mistake on Amazon Kindle for $2.99. The Kobo link is in the post below.:)

Go do something slightly improper to help me celebrate!

To get you in the mood for Mistress by Marriage and Improper Gentlemen, you have through July 27 to buy my debut book, Mistress by Mistake for your Kindle for only $2.99! Here’s the link. Amazon is running their Big Deal bonanza with a lot of great books. Here’s the main link to the sale. I won’t tell you how many books I’ve bought. (Lord of Scoundrels, 99 cents! How can one resist even if one owns a paper copy? One never knows when one will want to read it to cheer oneself up waiting for the dentist.)

AND MbMistake is also available on Kobo for $2.99! Click here.

There’s still time for a chance to win a free copy of Improper Gentlemen by entering my website contest.

My lovely editor Megan Records sent me a box of gorgeous Mistress by Marriage books yesterday. I feel a Mistress Monday Twitter giveaway coming on in the near future. I love to give away books!

One more week until Lucy and Simon make their debut in “To Match a Thief” in Improper Gentlemen! Here’s an introduction to the hero Sir Simon Keith (but the image is how I imagined Lucy to look):

No one who would see him now could ever guess precisely how primitive Sir Simon Keith’s beginnings were. Thanks to Providence, his teeth were mercifully straight, his black hair clipped a la Brutus, his shirt points starched high, his cravat snow white, his jacket tailored to perfection—the list could go on and on with a plethora of commas. He was a veritable nonpareil, tall, dark and almost too handsome.

Ah. Poor Lucy. His lost love. Dead and gone for years. Whilst he was out and about fighting and inventing for King and Country, she toiled like a slave for her wretched aunt. He’d come back for her too late. The aunt had chased him out of her hat shop with a fistful of hatpins and he’d lost himself in a pint or two for longer than he cared to remember.

Don’t forget to enter the contest this month to win a copy to see how it all ends!

“Robinson follows Mistress by Mistake and Mistress by Midnight with another Regency set on London’s Jane Street, refuge of mistresses and courtesans. Prim and proper Baron Edward Christie punished his wife of one year, Caroline, by banishing her from society after catching her apparently betraying him. Unable to resist his lust for Caroline, Edward shows up each year on their anniversary to make passionate love to her. After five years of this absurd arrangement, their ultimate reconciliation is never in much doubt. Their on-again-off-again divorce, a revenge scheme by a vicious lord pilloried in one of Caroline’s gothic romances, and a faux kidnapping merely serve to bridge the steamy love scenes. Robinson provides some playful dialogue and warm moments, but the most fun derives from the way Caroline skewers society in her novels, with quotes from the books presented at the top of each chapter like bonbons. (Sept.)”

From the delightful Nikki Brandyberry, whose romance blog is Ramblings from a Chaotic Mind (Hey! I want that title! I bet my mind is even more chaotic than Nikki’s, LOL.):

“I don’t read a lot of historical romance. The author has to be really engaging for me to enjoy a true historical romance without any paranormal elements. Maggie Robinson gives me exactly what I love. A story that pulls me in, keeps me reading and has some naughty bits to keep me panting.

Mistress By Marriage is different because the hero and heroine are already married. Though Edward believes his quick marriage years earlier was a huge mistake and he had banished his wife to Courtesan Court, a neighborhood for mistresses. There she has lived a seemingly full life, if not a lonely one. Caroline has filled her weeks by writing her “smut” books with characters that are not unlike some of the courts male visitors. She also hosts a weekly tea for the other mistresses of the court. Once a year her husband shows his face in her home.

Edward has made up his mind to get a divorce. Yes, it’s disgraceful but really, he has no other choice. Caroline isn’t a “lady”. She sets his blood on fire though and he isn’t above having her perform her wifely duties until the papers are drawn up. What he isn’t prepared for is his response in her arms or the love that has slowly started growing in his heart.

I enjoyed this book immensely. The interactions between Edward and Caroline seemed honest and true with a ton of spark. Being Caroline must have been dreadfully lonely. Stuck in a house in a part of town only men visited for their mistresses. Reliving her past with every new books she wrote. Telling herself she didn’t pine for Edward but writing him into her books a thousand ways. Still blaming herself for actions in her childhood. She views herself as damaged and unworthy. Of course her husband would feel the same way. Treat her as such. Caroline is a strong woman. She doesn’t bow down to any man. I loved her quick wit and sarcastic attitude.

Edward is living in his own past. One where he had a wife that was dependable, a proper lady…then she died. He can’t handle Caroline no matter what fire she erupts inside of him. Appearances are everything to him. He is an important guy. He can’t afford to have his children turn out wrong, unruly..and in his eyes, that is exactly what Caroline is. Edward is definitely a domineering man. He wants things his way and no variance from that will do. I loved his passion. He felt everything so deeply no matter what his outward appearance showed.
Together though, when Caroline finally opens up and Edward is finally willing to listen….really listen…it’s magic.

Maggie Robinson has also promised to continue on with this series with an unlikely hero the next time around. Andrew. When you read the book, you will know why this is going to be a hard sell. I can’t wait to find out how she redeems him. Andrew needs a ton of redeeming to, let me assure you.

I give Mistress By Marriage 4 stars!”

The 7 book collection is up here. Please visit the entire store here.

I stole these RWA pix from Sarah Wendell and Beth Williamson on their websites, proof that I did not stay holed up in my room the whole time of the conference. If you squint, you can see me signing a book next to Michelle Rowan at the Berkley signing (she’s to the left of Susan Sey)…or at least you can see my brown glasses. And yes, that is the back of my head in a bicycle rickshaw as we raced from the Kensington party to the Berkley party. I myself did not take one picture. Not one. So if you’ve got any, send them my way!

Here’s your chance to win the complete Maggie Robinson/Margaret Rowe collection, including an ARC of September’s Mistress by Marriage. That’s 7 books! The romance community has banded together to raise funds for author L.A. Banks, and I’m honored to be a part of it. The auction begins July 6 and runs for a week, and there’s lots of great stuff to bid on. Here is the link.