Spotlight Tour: Daniel's True Desire by Grace Burrowes + Giveaway!

Hello! Today I am happy to have the ever-talented Grace Burrowes visiting. I hope that you will enjoy her guest post on what constitutes a true gentleman, as well as the following excerpt from her latest novel, Daniel's True Desire.

The Joys of True Gentlemanliness… by Grace Burrowes

About twenty books ago, I lamented (whined) to one of my brothers that coming up with ways to challenge a romance hero into facing his worst fears and risking all to win the heroine’s heart was taxing my imagination. My brother, without a heartbeat’s pause said, “Make him choose between the competing demands of honor.”

THAT was great advice. Make the hero choose between the woman who needs him, and the military unit depending on him. Make him choose between avenging injustices from his past, or respecting the wishes of the pacifist woman he loves. Make him decide whether to be publicly vindicated or privately forgiving… Delightful stuff, for an author!

And yet, to travel along these brilliant character arcs, our hero must have one characteristic: He must have a well-developed sense of honor. To me, that means this fellow must be honest and kind. He can be poor, grouchy, lacking in charm, without prospects, unlucky in love—Daniel Banks is nodding his head—but ideally, he will still be a true gentleman at heart.

The true gentleman, alas for him, can be tormented from page one by the author and by the story, but from the start, the true gentleman will play by the rules of decency.

Rules are tough. The true gentleman will never misrepresent himself, which means Daniel Banks must inform Lady Kirsten that a) he’s married, and b) he won’t disrespect his vows. Too bad for Daniel, this honesty only raises him in the lady’s esteem, when he’s trying to emphasize his unsuitability.

The true gentleman will lend a hand—or an ear—to those in need. When Daniel Banks realizes that Lady Kirsten has been overlooked by her entire family, and is as lonely as an earl’s daughter can be, the least he can do is listen when she explains the misery in her past. Again, his respect for, and understanding of her increases, but what else could a gentleman have done?

The true gentleman is kind. He does not ignore the suffering of others, even if that means, he’s left with a bigger helping of suffering on his own plate. When Lady Kirsten needs a champion to fight her battles with an overbearing brother, Daniel steps up, though it might cost him his position. Once again, Daniel’s decency only gets him in hotter water, because now Kirsten’s brother is also viewing the impecunious, reserved, sometimes grouchy, vicar with renewed respect.

This business of being a true gentleman is darned hard, and darned heroic. What Daniel has to learn, though, is that true gentlemanliness begins at home. When he’s honest with himself, and shows himself the compassion we all deserve, all the inconvenient rules, tough choices, and honorable standards turn out to have been his second-best friends.

Lady Kirsten is, of course, his very best friend, being a true lady. But that’s another story…  

Excerpt from Daniel’s True Desire

Daniel Banks is the new vicar in Haddondale, temporarily a guest of Lady Kirsten’s family. They’ve dragooned him into tutoring some of the local boys, and Kirsten is managing the staff who’ll turn the dower house into a place of learning. What Daniel doesn’t know is how a married man, even one estranged from his unworthy spouse, can resist the allure of friendship with Lady Kirsten…

“I dread crossing the garden,” Lady Kirsten said. “Susannah has taken up reading old issues of La Belle Assembleé, Della is memorizing DeBrett’s, and the countess talks only of fashion. Nobody does anything.”

“Most would envy them their idleness,” Daniel said, though he did not. The earl gave a good account of himself, tending to significant acreage and mercantile interests, but the women were bored.

One of the women was mortally bored, though never boring.

“I want to take the vicarage in hand,” Lady Kirsten said, marching from the pantry. “I doubt I’ll have time before we leave for Town the week after next. Lemon and beeswax won’t cure rising damp any way.”

Nothing cured rising damp save for replacing every scrap of affected wood. “You’re leaving soon, then?”

The prospect of distance from Lady Kirsten should have been a relief. She was unconventional, discontent, and unpredictable. Worse yet, she was patient with small boys, had a strong streak of domestic competence, and could not dissemble even to appease appearances.

Most troublesome of all, Daniel liked her. A lot.

“I smell fresh bread.” Lady Kirsten’s pace increased, then she halted to twist a sachet from behind a curtain. “Nicholas told George that in addition to Digby and the Blumenthal brats, you’re to take on both of Squire Webber’s sons. He aspires to send them to public school, but they lack a foundation.”

And years of dedicated tutors had been unable to remedy that lack? “I think you had better join me for lunch,” Daniel said resuming their progress toward a hot meal.

“I believe I shall. I adore a hearty beef stew with bread and butter on a cold, rainy day. Cook uses Mama’s recipe, and I’m partial to it.”

Peasant fare, for an earl’s daughter. Daniel liked her entirely too well.

A scullery maid set places for them at a wooden table heavy enough to double as a threshing floor, while Lady Kirsten served up bowls of steaming stew and Daniel sliced the bread. Daniel held the lady’s chair, and then, without even a nod in the direction of further small talk, took shameless advantage of his companion.

“I want to know every detail you can share about my scholars, Lady Kirsten. They’re shaping up to be a pack of ne’er-do-wells, scamps and scapegraces. One wonders if the parish isn’t attempting to run me off rather than welcome me.”

She snapped her serviette across her lap. “They’re out and out rotters, every one save for Digby, but George says he’s showing dubious potential. Don’t steal all the butter.”

Daniel passed her ladyship the plate of butter, small golden molds in the shape of roses.

“Your butter, and Lord-we-thank-Thee-for-this-food, amen. Now tell me about these scoundrels.”

Lady Kirsten sat back, her smile indulgent. “I’ve known them since they were babies, Mr. Banks. They’re full of energy and mischief, and there’s not a Latin scholar among them. They are truly, truly awful.”

She loved these rotten boys, and—greatest possible inconvenience—Daniel regarded this her most attractive quality of all.

***

About the Book:

An honorable life

Daniel Banks is a man of the cloth whose vocation is the last comfort he has left-and even his churchman's collar is beginning to feel like a noose. At the urging of family, Daniel attempts to start his life over as vicar in the sleepy Kentish town of Haddondale, family seat to the earls of Bellefonte.

Challenged by passion

Lady Kirsten Haddonfield has resigned herself to a life of spinsterhood. Then the handsome new village vicar, Reverend Daniel Banks, becomes a guest of the Haddonfield family while the vicarage is being renovated, and Kirsten finds herself rethinking her position. Lady Kirsten does not know that Daniel's past is about to cast a shadow on love's future.

Buy Links

Amazon - Barnes and Noble - iBooks

 

Author Biography

New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Grace Burrowes' bestsellers include The Heir, The Soldier, Lady Maggie's Secret Scandal, Lady Sophie's Christmas Wish and Lady Eve's Indiscretion. Her Regency romances have received extensive praise, including starred reviews from Publishers Weekly and Booklist. Grace is branching out into short stories and Scotland-set Victorian romance with Sourcebooks. She is a practicing family law attorney and lives in rural Maryland.

Social Media Links

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Book Review: Tremaine's True Love by Grace Burrowes

Tremaine's True Love
by Grace Burrowes

Genre: Romance / Historical

Ages: 17 and up

I received an e-copy of this book through NetGalley in exchange for a fair and honest review.

Description:

Wealthy wool magnate Tremaine St. Michael is half French, half Scottish, and all business. He prowls the world in search of more profits, rarely settling in one place for long. When he meets practical, reserved Lady Nita Haddonfield, he sees an opportunity to mix business with pleasure by making the lady his own.

Nita Haddonfield has a meaningful life tending to others, though nobody is dedicated to caring for Nita. She insists the limitations of marriage aren't for her, then Tremaine St. Michael arrives-protective, passionate, and very, very determined to win Nita's heart.

My Thoughts:

I am sad to say this book was a disappointment. I love Grace Burrowes, but this book was just...a little off. It was still an entertaining read, but not up to her usual standards. The story wandered a little, the path littered with conversations largely concerning either sheep or medicine or both, leaving me with several questions and the realization that I would rather have been reading a book about the much more interesting side plot. Now that I've finished complaining, I'll tell you what I actually liked about it.

Nita is a great heroine. Her passion for healing and her empathy for the unfortunate made her instantly likable, and her strength against the disapprobation of her won me over completely. Tremaine was likable as well, if a little bland in comparison to Grace Burrowes' other heroes. He has a tender heart that he doesn't want anyone else to know about and shows a huge amount of respect for Nita throughout their courtship.

The side characters stole the stage more than once, particularly George Haddonfield, Nita's wayward younger brother, and Elsie Nash, their widowed neighbor. I would have liked to see more of them and less sheep.

Overall, this book was okay so long as you don't get your hopes up too high.

Content Ratings: Profanity, Sexuality and Violence
1 (mild) through 10 (extreme).

Profanity:
I give it a 4.10 for some mild to mid-level profanity.

Sexuality:
I rate it 7.10 for a couple of scenes of varying explicitness as well as several references and some innuendo.

Violence:
I give it 4.10 for attempted murder (sort of), illnesses and injury.

                                   Lieder Madchen

Book Review: The Duke's Disaster by Grace Burrowes

The Duke's Disaster
by Grace Burrowes

Genre: Romance / Historical

Ages: 17 and up

Note: I received an e-copy of this book through NetGalley in exchange for a fair and honest review.

Description:

Noah Winters, Earl of Anselm, spent months sorting and courting the year's crop of debutantes in search of an ideal bride. When the sweet, biddable young thing he selected accepts another's proposal, Noah decides to court her companion instead.

Thea Collins, though, is anything but biddable. She has learned the hard way that men are not to be trusted, especially the handsome ones. When she reluctantly accepts, Noah rushes Thea to the altar before she can reveal her deepest secret. Can she finally move on from her past, or will it come back to haunt her?

My Thoughts:

I really, really liked this book. Don't let the cover fool you; Grace Burrowes books aren't really bodice rippers, even if they sometimes look like it. Which is not to say that they don't have plenty of steamy romance - because they do. It is just that the term 'bodice ripper' implies a certain amount of shallowness that her books do not possess. While I have loved all of her books that I have read so far, The Duke's Disaster is one of my favorites.

Noah is adorable. He's a grouchy bear of a man who is honest to a fault, slow to anger, and eminently cuddle-able. Thea is very nearly as good a character with her practical attitude and mysterious past. Each one of their conversations was wonderfully realistic and made me want to hug them both as they struggled to learn to trust each other and slowly fell in love.

What I really loved the most about this book, though, was the beautiful writing. Every single word was perfectly chosen, painting a luxuriously detailed picture of characters and setting alike. I don't think I've ever seen an author convey emotion so well.

Overall, this book was great. Thea's 'dark secret' could have been resolved faster, but I understand why it wasn't so that is a very small complaint, easily washed away by the spectacular writing and characters. I highly recommend this book to lovers of Gaelen Foley, sweet romance, and emotional angst.

Content Ratings: Profanity, Sexuality and Violence
1 (mild) through 10 (extreme).


Profanity:
I rate it a 4.10 for some mid-level swearing and name-calling.


Sexuality:
I give it 7.10 for a few scenes of varying explicitness.


Violence:
I rate it 5.10 for references to rape, attempted rape, kidnapping, and fighting.


                    Lieder Madchen

Series Review: Outlaw Hearts + Do Not Forsake Me by Rosanne Bittner

Outlaw Hearts and Do Not Forsake Me
by Rosanne Bittner

Genre: Western / Romance / Adventure / Historical

Ages: 16 and up

I received advance e-copies of these books through NetGalley in exchange for fair and honest reviews.

Outlaw Hearts:

Miranda Hayes has lost everything-her family, her husband, her home. Orphaned and then widowed, desperate to find a safe haven, she sets out to cross a savage land alone...until chance brings her face-to-face with notorious gunslinger Jake Harkner.

Hunted by the law and haunted by a brutal past, Jake has spent a lifetime fighting for everything he has. He's never known a moment's kindness...until fate brings him to the one woman willing to reach past his harsh exterior to the man inside. He would die for her. He would kill for her. He will do whatever it takes to keep her his.

Spanning the dazzling West with its blazing deserts and booming gold towns, Jake and Miranda must struggle to endure every hardship that threatens to tear them apart. But the love of an outlaw comes with a price...and even their passion may not burn bright enough to conquer the coming darkness.

My Thoughts:

Western romance is not my usual cup of tea; while I read a few every once in a while, it is rare that I have enough to say about one to fill a review. Outlaw Hearts, however, caught my attention. It took almost half of the book to do so, though. Miranda Hayes, Randy to her friends, is a sweet, likable, almost too-perfect heroine. Jake Harkner is her opposite with a plenty of flaws and a dark enough past for three romance heroes. I liked them well enough at first, and the story was entertaining, but there was no pop.

The 'pop' I was looking for never really showed, but the story and characters gradually grew in intensity and depth until I was engrossed. I confess I came close to tears at a couple of points in the second half. It caught me by surprise, which was nice. I always love a story that manages to exceed expectations.

The story has several very dark elements such as rape and murder, but despite that there was a peculiar sense of innocence to it, even during the sex scenes. The villains and heroes were always very easy to tell apart; the only morally ambiguous character was Jake, and even he took to the high road with relative ease. There are gently placed Christian themes throughout, no heavy-handed preachiness.

Overall, I enjoyed this book. It turned out to be unexpected and refreshing, both sweeter and more dramatic than anticipated.


Do Not Forsake Me:

Miranda Hayes' life was changed the day she faced down infamous gunslinger Jake Harkner...and walked away with his heart. Their fates have been intertwined ever since. Hunted by the law, fleeing across a savage land, their desperate love flourished despite countless sorrows. Now, twenty-six years later, their family has finally found some measure of peace...balanced on the knife's edge of danger.

Jake has spent his years as a U.S. Marshal atoning for sins, bringing law to the land he once terrorized. But no matter how hard he fights the demons of his brutal past, the old darkness still threatens to consume him. Only Miranda keeps the shadows at bay. But when outlaws looking for revenge strike a fatal blow, Jake risks losing the one woman who saw past his hard exterior and to the man inside.

He always knew there'd be the devil to pay. He just never realized he might not be the one to bear the ultimate price.

My Thoughts:

While the first part of Jake and Randy's tale just got better and better, part two, Do Not Forsake Me, did the opposite. It started well enough, though there was the minor annoyance of a certain character dying off-page for no good reason...Anyway, I liked the new side character, Jeff, a writer who wished to pen the true story of notorious outlaw turned lawman Jake Harkner, but other than him this book had very few redeeming qualities.

The core story was okay. Not great, but okay, maybe even good. However, it could have been told with maybe 150 fewer pages. It was the sheer repetitiveness that really got me. Every time something happened, the author showed every single character's reaction to it. Separately. This might have been okay once or twice, or maybe if the characters' reactions had varied, but it happened over and over again and their reactions were nearly identical. Yes, Randy is sick and it may be serious, let's show Jake's reaction, their son's reaction, their daughter's, a neighbor's, another neighbor's, etc. The repetitiveness was not limited to that, though; there is a guy who is in love with Randy but who will never do anything about it because he's so noble and knows she loves Jake, exactly like in the first book. *facepalm* I could go on, but then I would just be ranting.

My other biggest complaints are the moral plot holes. The male characters make a big deal over trying to be less violent and not kill people, yet at the end they basically just shrug off shooting an unarmed man in the back and promise each other not to tell the women! He may have deserved to be shot, but still, it was painful.

For the redeeming factors, there was Jeff (mentioned above), and Randy. Her storyline was the only one that kept me reading; I had to know how sick she was, but that curiosity was mostly leftover from enjoying her story in the first book.

Overall, this book was pretty bad. It tried copying Outlaw Hearts too much rather than trying new things, the characters quickly dulled as they repeated the same conversations over and over again and even though it was not an unusually large book, it felt way too long. My advice would be to read Outlaw Hearts and just skip this disappointing sequel.

Content Ratings: Profanity, Sexuality and Violence
1 (mild) through 10 (extreme).

Profanity:
I rate it 7.10 for several uses of the f-word as well as quite a bit of mild to mid-level swearing.

Sexuality:
I give it 7.10 for multiple scenes of varying explicitness.

Violence:
I rate it 7.10 for rape (not graphically described), murder, violence against children, fights, torture, etc. Little was described with gruesome detail.

                         Lieder Madchen

Book Blast Review + Excerpt + Giveaway! A Matter of Grave Concern by Brenda Novak

A Matter of Grave Concern
by Brenda Novak

Genre: Historical / Suspense / Romance / Mystery

Ages: 18 and up

I received an advance e-copy of this book through NetGalley in exchange for a fair and honest review.

Description:

When Maximillian Wilder joins the notorious body snatchers known as the London Supply Company, the last thing on his mind is love. He’s worried about Madeline, his vanished half sister, who was last seen in the company of Jack Hurtsill, the gang’s conscienceless leader. Raiding graveyards, stealing corpses, and selling them to medical colleges as dissection material is dirty work, but he has to gain Jack’s trust. He’s determined to find out what happened to Madeline—and to bring Jack to justice if she was murdered for the coin her body could bring.

Beautiful, spirited Abigail Hale, daughter of the surgeon at Aldersgate School of Medicine, detests the challenging, hard-bargaining Max. But she must procure the necessary specimens if she is to save the college and her father’s career. She believes she is going to be successful—until Jack double-crosses her. Then she’s swept into a plot of danger and intrigue, one where Max must intervene and protect her, no matter the risk to his plan . . . or his heart.

Excerpt:

“Make that fifteen.” A deep voice interrupted, and for the first time, Abigail looked directly at the man standing to the side and slightly behind Big Jack. His clothes bore as much dirt and his face as much beard growth as the rest of the group, but he was different. Not only was he significantly taller, he carried himself with a certain…authority.

How had she not noticed him before?

She’d been doing her best to block him and the others from her consciousness, she reminded herself.

Her gaze locked with an intense pair of sea-green eyes. “Why, that’s highway robbery! My father has never paid a resurrectionist more than nine guineas, six shillings. I’ve got it all in a book, right here.” She tapped the top of the desk to convince him.

When he smiled, his teeth looked clean and mostly straight, another detail that set him apart from his companions. “Evidently, you’re not a pupil of economics, or not a very good one, Miss Hale. Short supply, high demand, prices go up. Sometimes significantly. Fifteen guineas. No less.”

Those short, clipped sentences bore no Cockney accent and revealed a definite culture to his voice, causing Abigail to wonder if she had been dealing with the wrong man all along. She couldn’t imagine this stranger taking orders from anyone, much less the likes of Jack Hurtsill.  

“Blimey, Max,” one of the other men muttered.

Drawing herself up to her fullest height, which was at least ten inches shy of this Max’s six feet something, Abigail clung tenaciously to her composure. “At this point, I would rather you take your ‘large’ and go.” Surely, there had to be other resurrection men she could contact; she hadn’t gone through all the names she heard muttered about the halls of the college and St. Bart’s Hospital next door. “I have seen naught but the head, and that small sample revealed a nasty wound.”

“There’s not a mark on the rest of him,” Max responded coolly. “We offered to show you, but you refused.”

Abigail had no intention of letting this body-snatcher tempt her into dumping the body out onto the rug as she had almost let them do before. “Mr. Hurtsill—I mean, Big Jack, here, was about to say ten guineas. I will go that high.”

“I’m afraid it’s not high enough,” Max countered.

“You’re a fast study, mate.” Jack slapped him on the back but didn’t interfere. Instead, he turned a challenging smile on Abigail and waited for her response.

“Then go,” she said, shooing them away. “Take Mr. Whoever He Is and leave. I will not let you rob me. Not if I can help it.”

“And what if you can’t?” Insolence lit the eyes of the man identified as Max. “Perhaps we should wait here for your father. No doubt he will have better sense of what a corpse is worth at the present time, although I doubt he would want us loitering about the place. What’s it been…eighteen months or so since those two surgeons were prosecuted for receiving and dissecting stolen bodies? With a possible knighthood on the horizon, and such a close tie to Sir Astley Cooper—the sergeant surgeon of the late king himself, no less—it would be quite unfortunate if your father were to be found dealing with the likes of us, wouldn’t you say?”

Abigail’s jaw dropped at the not-so-subtle threat. Perhaps she had underestimated these sack ’em up men. This man, anyway. “If what you have brought is worth so much Mr.…Max, is it?”

He gave her a mocking bow and added his last name, as if to prove he feared nothing from her. “Wilder. Maximillian Wilder at your service, Miss.”

My Thoughts:

I loved this book. It was the perfect blend of intriguing romantic suspense and fascinating historical details. The heroine is bold, intellectual, do-what-needs-to-be-done Abigail. I liked her immediately and grew to like her even more as the story progressed. Max, on the other hand, took some getting to know, and even then I wanted to smack him upside the head sometimes. I always forgave him, though...eventually.

I've read a lot of books set in the time period (early to mid-1800s), but none about the resurrectionists, so it was interesting to learn some new things. The author stayed away from the gorier details of body snatching, instead touching more on the controversy surrounding it.

Interesting historical setting and moral issues aside, this book had a good story. The action scenes and romantic scenes were well-balanced and the heroine - did I mention I loved the heroine? - was strong and occasionally surprising. The ending was just a trifle rushed and neatly tied up, but only a little bit.

I recommend this book to anyone who enjoys a good adventure with plenty of kissing and a little more substance than your typical romance novel.

Rating System: Profanity, Sexuality and Violence
1 (mild) through 10 (extreme). Ratings may contain spoilers.

Profanity:

I rate it 5.10 for some mild to mid-level swearing.

Sexuality:

I give it an 8.10 for multiple scenes of varying explicitness.

Violence:

I rate it a 7.10 for murder, intended rape, references to sexual abuse and injuries, none of which are graphically described.

About the Author:

New York Times & USA Today Bestselling Author Brenda Novak is the author of more than fifty books. A four-time Rita nominee, she has won many awards, including the National Reader’s Choice, the Bookseller’s Best, the Book Buyer’s Best, the Daphne, and the Holt Medallion. She also runs an annual on-line auction for diabetes research every May at www.brendanovak.com (her youngest son has this disease). To date, she’s raised over $2 million. For more about Brenda, please visit www.brendanovak.com.

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And here's the giveaway! Ms. Novak is giving away a $100 Amazon gift-card to one random winner during the tour! Best of luck to you all; please feel free to leave a comment and check out the rest of the tour. Dates and blog links can be found here.

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