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.

Improper Gentlemen

Diane Whiteside, Maggie Robinson, and Mia Marlowe. Kensington/Brava, $14 trade paper (352p) ISBN 978-0-7582-5109-1

Whiteside (The Shadow Guard), Robinson (Mistress by Mistake), and Marlowe (Touch of a Thief) collaborate on this uneven trio of tales featuring very bad boys. In the Old West of Whiteside’s “Talbot’s Ace,” gambler Charlotte “Ace” Moreland is rescued from a perilous situation by commitment-shy gunslinger Justin Talbot. As they come to terms with their tumultuous pasts, their sizzling passion evolves into a tangible love. Robinson’s witty multidimensional characters are vividly entertaining in “To Match a Thief,” in which Lucy Dellamar pretends to be the mistress of broke Lord Ferguson until he sells her home to Sir Simon Keith, her first love. Suspense abounds in Marlowe’s late Victorian “A Knack for Trouble” as Rosalinde Burke reunites with Aidan Danaher, Lord Stonemere, years after they shared a night of passion in a Bermuda prison. Though the stories have little in common, all will appeal to fans of antiheroes and historical romance. (Aug.)
Reviewed on: 06/20/2011

I’ll take”witty,” “multi-dimensional,” and “vividly entertaining” any day! Thanks, Publishers Weekly!

In a little more than a month, the Brava anthology Improper Gentlemen will hit the shelves! I just got copies of the finished product, and I giggled when I e-mailed friends and said I got a box of Improper Gentlemen. Who would not love some bad boys deliverd by FedEx?

For the next few weeks, I’ll be posting snippets of my novella “To Match a Thief” right here. Let the impropriety begin!

Jane Street, London, October 1820
Chapter 1

Lucy Dellamar looked down with dismay at the diamond brooch in her hand.

Lucy’s new job was remarkably easy. Lord Ferguson had asked her to pretend to be his mistress…

Check out these gorgeous romance trading cards Mia Marlowe had made for August’s Improper Gentlemen!

I’ve updated both contests this month. For a chance to win an ARC of Maggie Robinson’s Mistress by Marriage, go here. For a signed copy of Margaret Rowe’s Any Wicked Thing, go here.

So happy that the books and critique I donated to Brenda Novak’s auction raised $227 toward diabetes research! Since I made a few succesful bids myself, I’ll be writing some checks too.

I’m about half-way done with the current WIP, and am trying to get as much written as I can before I’m lured out to the lake by my family. I’ve already tried typing on the deck on my laptop but the glare makes it impossible. Any suggestions?

I’ve started to plan for RWA in NYC, which of course means a new wardrobe and shoes that won’t cripple me. I’m so lucky that I’ll have some of my favorite people with me again: two of my daughters, one of my granddaughters, and my friend Claudia. I’ve already ordered two books on what to do with kids in the city (Sadie is 3 1/2 going on 30). I hope to combine business with pleasure and pray it won’t be as hot as it was in Orlando.

Enjoy the start of the summer!