Author Spotlight & Giveaway: Grace Burrowes @SourcebooksCasa @GraceBurrowes

Title: The Captive
Author: Grace Burrowes
Release Date: July 1, 2014
Publisher: Sourcebooks Casablanca
Genre: Historical Romance
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Synopsis

Captured and tortured by the French, Christian Severn, Duke of Mercia, survives by vowing to take revenge on his tormentors. Before the duke can pursue his version of justice, Gillian, Countess of Greendale, reminds him that his small daughter has suffered much in his absence, and needs her papa desperately.

Gilly endured her difficult marriage by avoiding confrontation and keeping peace at any cost. Christian's devotion to his daughter and his kindness toward Gilly give her hope that she could enjoy a future with him, for surely he of all men shares her loathing for violence in any form. Little does Gilly know, the battle for Christian's heart is only beginning.

Excerpt

The countess brought Christian’s hand up, holding the back of it against the extraordinary softness of her cheek. Until he’d taken liberties with her in the library, he’d forgotten how wonderfully, startlingly soft a woman’s cheek could be. As soft as sunshine and summer rain, as soft as the quiet of the English countryside.

“Shall we sit?” he asked, though she’d likely release his hand if they sat. He was a widower, though, and she ought not to begrudge him simple human contact when he’d been so recently bereaved.

She let him lead her to a shaded bench near the roses, the morning air faintly redolent of their perfume. When Christian seated her, the countess kept his damaged hand in hers.

“I was not allowed to garden at Greendale,” she said, fingers drifting over his knuckles. “The estate had gardens, because his lordship would not be seen to neglect his acres, but I was forbidden to walk them, or to dig about in the good English soil, or to consult with the gardeners regarding the designs and plantings.”

Based on the studied casualness of her tone, this prohibition had been irksome.

“You are free to garden here all you like,” Christian said. “I ask only that you not disturb my mother’s roses.”

“They are lovely.”

“She was lovely.”

Another silence, while Christian became aware of his surroundings beyond the small hand holding his. The roses were in their early summer glory, and why Polite Society insisted on staying in Town through most of June was incomprehensible, when the alternative was the English countryside. The sunshine was a perfectly weighted beneficence on his cheek, the scent of the gardens heavenly, and the entire morning aurally gilded with the fluting chorus of songbirds.

He wanted to kiss the lady beside him again, not in thanks, not as a good-night benediction, but for the sheer pleasure of the undertaking.

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.

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I'm actually in the middle of reading this and loving it so far!! I can't wait until the books is done and I'll share wtih you my full thoughts. I hope you get a chance to read it and enjoy!!

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BEA (Book Expo America) Day 1: & Haul

It's BEA (Book Expo America) 2014 and once again my sister and I are off to NYC to romp all over and revel in the books!!.

We've been invited to several book events and I'm planning on going to the Youtube Blogger Meet Up on Saturday at 1230 and again at the Strand at 5pm.  I was supposed to goto a event last night but as always life intervened and I can't role into the city until way later. ( I hate real life man, why when I was sooo close to accomplishing one of my yearly book goals, so darn close. Le Sigh)

Well here's what happened, we waltzed into the Javitis Center at 620 am thinking we ruled and we were there early. Ha, Ha I tell you.

This is what we found when we walked in.

It appears we all have the same idea.Get here early and get the best tickets.  We jumped on line, I went downstairs got my press pass and then dropped off my bags at the coat check ($3.00 per bag, best $6 ever!!). 

 Making those lists and checking them more than twice. (lol we were book elves) Switched with my sister for her to get her badge, then grabbed our choices of ticketed authors then off we went to waste time until doors opened for breakfast at the Harlequin Teen event.

Harlequin's Teen Event featured, Julie Kagawa, Jennifer L Armentrout, Robin Talley, Alexandra Ardenetto and Adi Alsaid, along with all the editors for each book and several publicists.   

We sat at tables and ate breakfasts while they came around and talked to us in a Round Robin style which allowed us to meet them all and hear more about each book and why they choose to write it and help get it published.  Then when it was all done we got pictures with the authors and autographs if we wanted them. I got a chance to meet the newest hot new adult author of the moment and take pictures with her:

Yes y'all I met the awesome Jenn L Armentorut.

From them we hauled the following:

Ghost House by Alexandra Ardenetto

Talon by Julie Kagawa (One of the books I really came to BEA for)

Lies We Tell Ourselves by Robin Talley

Let's Get Lost Chapter Sample Adi Alsaid

Invisible by Dawn Metcalf

Stone Cold Touch by Jennifer L Armentrout

Yes y'all I had breakfast with some awesomely inspiring authors!! And an awesome Harlequin notebook and pen set, along with the amazing Harlequin bag!! (I'm a little excited so excuse the exclamation points)

By 9 my sister left to hit the showroom floor for the Neil Patrick Harris signing, and I joined her after my photos with the breakfast authors.  After that I was lost in the awesomeness of BEA and I snagged books from all over. Here are a few I got and can't wait to read:

For whatever reason the Harlequin booth was the most popular booth this year, every time I went over the lines were long as hell.  For the 10 am signing they ran out of books. Boo!! I was so disappointed then I went and got a few books at the autographing section and that helped to make me feel a little better.

I got:

That old black magic Mary Clack 

Strong Darkness by Jon Land who I completely fawned over,. I loved talking to him especially because I was the last in line this year.

Deep Blue by Jennifer Donelly

I Am Pilgrim (which my sister snagged for me while I was on the Deep Blue line.  I got more but just watch the video to see all the awesome books from day 1.

I will say that this year BEA went all in and had well versed and knowledgeable staff on hand to help out when we had questions, This year they also had a charging station for us to sit and use. There was one to pay for and it cost a bit of money ( I forgot to write down the price). Luckily I could head into the press office and so I did. I used it as a safe place to unwind a few times throughout the day and I met several wonderful people who I talked to a while before heading back out onto the showroom floor.

I noticed that this year the entire building was being used for the event with events booked for downstairs that I wasn't aware of before. The food court was busy as ever and there were more chairs than they have had in a while.  

This year as well there were more buses that went to Penn Station as well as being more frequent. I loved that we didn't have to worry about how we were getting to the station and i loved that each bus was marked.

This was one of the most organized years I have seen, in my three years of attending.  From the beginning to the end of the day, the Expo staff were doing their best and were well prepared unlike the other years.  I found that the bag checks were all open and fully staffed that the staff was courteous and were very good at maintaining a great flow for the bags.  

I'm hoping the rest of the week goes just as smoothly.  *crosses fingers*

BEA 2014: Day 2: Just Keep Walking...

Welcome to Day Two's Recap.

 I got a lot accomplished today including meeting several of my favorite book vloggers from YouTube.

I filmed this video a few times before I finally got it all together.  Today there weren't any breakfast to go to but we needed to be there early so that we could check our bags in and join the line.

Move aside ladies and gents, Donna Hill and Brenda Jackson are signing at the Harlequin Booth. I'm not afraid to mow anyone down.

I got to swing by the Harlequin Booth first thing and picked up the following:
Terry Brisbans'e Yield to a Highlander
Jannice Maynard's A not so innocent seduction,
My Secret Fantasues
Tall Dark and Vampires
Loretta CHase's
Tiffany Reisz The Saint

Then I jumped on some lines and re0united with my co blogger, and her friends, we jumped from line to line and made some serious progress on our book lists. My favorite moment came while I was on the Sublime Christan Lauren line which was right next to the Mark of Athena Rick Riordan line since the Riordan line was long I jumped on Lauren's lime figuring I would make it back to my sister's spot before I needed to be there. Boy did I plan wrong, Riordan's people made that line move swiftly and my sister ended up right next to me, so I jumped in front of her, got my books signed then jumped back in line in time to get my book signed. It was awesome!! Rick's face was hilarious; his rep was like "you can't do that" and I was like yes I can, I've got a ticket and she's my sister so boom!!  We happen to be right in front of the young woman dressed like a character from the book, She totally rocked I probably should have taken a picture,

Damsel Distressed Kelsey Macke she's also a booktuber on Youtube, Make sure to check her out,   This cover is gorgeous.  This year Spencer Hill was the place to be and they were even better with their giveaways, because you had to have tickets and be online otherwise you lost out,  They were strict and I loved them for it.

The lines today were so long and so tiring. I didn't even try to join the line for Heir of Fire. I just kept walking because already people were online for at least an hour and the line kept snaking around. NOPE. I'll wait. It's not that serious. I do want to commend the BEA Staff again because today they really earned their pay.  They kept those lines orderly and knew when to cut them off and made some ballsy calls when they got confronted by upset people; but I really felt like today went well because of them, they coordinated with the reps and made sure everyone was accounted for and it totally worked.

Since you've been gone, which was the booksplosion book of the month.( I learnt that when I opened up the book after Morgan signed it). This one I almost got into a little tussle with a woman over, I NEED people to understand how the buddy system works and stop getting all grouchy when I get there. I was there and went off to get other books my bags are here. I was so close to snapping at her then I just calmly pointed out that my friends had been online already and I was rejoining them. Calm own honey we're all getting books. Jesus Christos people.

I hung out with the women over at Cleiss press, and learnt all about the amazing new line up. I even managed to snag a few books and I can't wait to share them all with you, Make sure to be on the look out for some sweet erotica reviews and giveaways coming up.

In the Press room I picked up Ben Tripp's The Accidental Highwayman. The cover of this books is gorgeous. It sounds amazing an I can't wait to dive right in.  I got the book because I had it on my list and someone left it in the press room, I gave it to the monitor and she hung on to it for me and when no one claimed it by the end of the day, she gave it to me. Sweet!!

I got to meet Sylvia Day, if I'd been thinking I would have brought my Crossfire Series and gotten her to sign them . However the line was too long we didn't have any time to stop and really talk to her. She signed and while she signed you got a few seconds to gush, then it was time to move one.

I was stuck on a few lines this year. However my fellow blogger had made some serious friends on line and they kept switching out, and getting each other so many books. It was awesome because we kept in contact all of BEA and of course afterwards as well so that we can meet up again next year,

My sister asked me to join the Scott Westerfeld line for her, that line was a clustereff of foolishness, it went on forever and I was like Girl I love you but no. So I joined it anyway because.. well. books. She and her new bloggie friends came over 20 mins later and I went over to Hatchette where they were serving beer. It was perfect, my feet ached, I was tired and I wanted 10 mins of silence, but that corona certainly helped.  I got Elin Hildenbrand's newest Christmas book and I was outta there. I switched places again with my co blogger so she could grab a drink as well and then i stayed on line because well ..books.  It ended up working out in my favor. I was the last person in line and they still had books so I went over and asked if he could sign one and the rep was like "whatevs" probably because Scott said yes before she could answer.  I got five whole minutes to talk to him about his body of work and the rumors about movies being in the works for the Uglies series, which I had just begun to read. He was pretty freaking awesome. I see why people love him. He totally sold me on the new book as well.

Grand Total of 57 books, 7 bags, and two kickbutt stamps.

I'm both looking forward to and terrified of tomorrow. It being the thrid day and the first day of Book Con.  The rumors I'm hearing of the numbers of people can't be right and I hope to the gods people are exagerating because NO. Just. No.

Top 14 Things to Know About Me Before BEA 2014

I don't know who started these little memes, but I have seen them on Lexie's blog over at the Poisoned Rationality and on the Irish Banana's Review as well. I'm going to share the top 14 things you should know about me for BEA

1) I'm pretty freaking nice, please talk to me!! I'm one of those idiots who gets around books and forget all social norms like how to talk.  Help me out!! I'm always scared that if I strike up the conversation people will just look at me like a rambling fool.

2) This is my third year going and I'm still pretty clueless. My first year I had no plan and just took whatever they shoved into my hands, my second year I had a plan but hey, still took books like crazy this year I have a plan and I'm sticking pretty close to it.

3) Every year I bring my cards (well last year I forgot them at my aunt's house when we made it to the showroom floor (oops, but for just one day though) and I almost always go home with tons of them. Ask me for a card please,

4) I'm a huge fan of Ellorascave, the first stop I make every year is over at that booth, so I can meet up with the reps, and of course take tons of pictures with those really cute guys. So if you see dreads flying by you on the first day, don't stop me I'm on a mission to kick this party off right.

5) I read mostly romance books, all the subgenres of course,but mostly romance,  I'm a huge erotica, romantic suspense, paranormal romance, and new adult fan. If you know of books in those genres let me know now so I can stalk them at BEA, or just add them to the wishlist . Please.

6) Currently in my living space I have 1300 books, Over 650 of them read the rest unread, I should probably stay away from BEA but I'm not going to.

7) I'm a creature comfort kind of gal, I like being able to sit down and relax after stalking the BEA floors all day, it only took one year to learn that suitcases were necessary, that the Center provides shuttles to the train station and that cute shoes don't count for much if they aren't also comfortable.

8) No matter how prepared I think I am, I always forget something, lose something, or forget to charge something. Last year I thought I lost my camera (left it at my aunt's house), left my cards at my parent's house, and of course if they hadn't created charging stations last year, my phone would have been a lost cause.

9) I'm the snack lady, I will forget my cards which are necessary, but I never forget the snacks, like ever, ever. I love my sweets way too much to ever leave them behind.  So if you run out of snacks and need some I'll probably have an extra granola bar, or a chocolate bar or some peanuts. Ask me I'll share.

10) No matter how well I plan, my co blogger always gets cooler books than me. She just goes with the flow and joins a line, goes to a panel, walks by a booth, and I'm always running all over the place. and freaking about sticking to my schedule.

11) I'm a native New Yorker, so I can tell you about some cool cheap places to eat and some fun places to bookshop, as I'll share.

12) Along with being a native NYer, I can be a bit of a sarcastic bitch, and I'm always trying to rein it in because not everyone gets my sense of humor, but I will not hesitate to put you in your place should you act a fool. I'm nice, not a fool so don't push me around or cut me in line. I'm only but so nice ok?? Okay good!!

13) I rehearse what I'm going to say to my favorite authors before I open my mouth, yet every time I meet them I turn into a ninny, so I'm apologizing in advance to all the authors who are going to have me on line in front of you. I'm intelligent I swear!!

14)I'm a chocoholic, and I will be running on little sleep, because New York is way too much for things like sleep, so I'll be caffeinated out to the max, when this happens I turn into Syx from Blossom, if you hear me talking a mile a minute, just tell me to shut up and I will I promise.

So what should we know about you for BEA?? Share down in the comment box and make sure to show some love to the ladies that inspired the post.

See you in a few days at Book Expo!!