Sorry I’m late with a blog this week. Something kicked my stomach around all day Friday and Saturday morning. My daughter drove up on Saturday to help me cook for our annual Oscar party. And everything cleared up in the afternoon. Good riddance. We made all the desserts Saturday night, then hit the cooking hard on Sunday. We took the beef tenderloin, pork tenderloin, and chicken kebabs out of the oven when the first guest arrived. The party was awesome, but I fizzled on Monday. Not worth anything. So I’m behind. And off schedule.
That would usually make me a little crazy, but I turned in my manuscript already, and I’m just playing with ideas for the third book right now, so I have some breathing space. I don’t want to rush planning this book. I want to play with lots of what-ifs. Since it’s a mystery, I’m tempted to make a list of possible suspects and witnesses.
I’m still trying to catch up with things, but I have one piece of good news to report from my fellow writer Julia Donner. So I’ll end this week’s blog with that. She’s put her Regency romance, THE RAKE AND THE BISHOP’S DAUGHTER, on a book tour with a giveaway. You might want to check it out: And happy writing!
The Rake and the Bishop’s Daughter
by Julia Donner
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GENRE: Regency Romance
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BLURB:
Society’s beloved wastrel, Sir Harry Collyns, pushes his popularity past the point of acceptability when he poses for a statue that creates a social uproar. People line up for blocks to see Handsome Harry in the nude, sculpted by a female artist! Bored with the fuss and scandal, Harry hitches up his fastest team, heads for the country, and a near fatal curricle accident. When the bandages are removed from his head days later, he discovers the angel-voiced widow who’d cared for him is neither elderly nor as mild as her tone, but a straight-laced do-gooder unimpressed with his flamboyant past and dashing good looks. Head-battered and heading for a broken heart, he falls into love with Widow Olivia St. Clair, who might be the one woman in England that Harry can’t charm into loving him back.
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EXCERPT:
After the horses had lost some of their quarrelsome energy with a gallop down a narrow lane, Harry directed them back to the main road and held them to a collected trot that allowed faster moving conveyances to pass. The team showed him they didn’t like it by tossing their heads and leaning into the bits when they couldn’t give chase.
In retaliation for being held in check, the horses tried to shy at a sedate couple walking their mounts. He couldn’t be sure, because his eyes were strained and blurring, but he thought he’d passed them earlier, riding from the other direction. Harry acknowledged them with a nod as he passed and resolved to do what could be done with his deteriorating eyesight—yet another sign of how quickly time passed. Hard to believe he was on the downhill slide to forty, eyes going and patience shredding. Next, he’d be in a bath chair. Still, he couldn’t imagine giving up driving. He’d have a team hitched to the blasted chair when he reached that point.
Lowering the reins a bit, he allowed the horses into what he hoped would be a sedate canter, but at the same moment, a gust of wind bounced an object across the road. Both horses tried to bolt from the fluttering ribbons of a lady’s hat, which unexpectedly sprang up and struck the most fractious of the pair directly in the face. The gelding reared while the other lunged in the opposite direction.
A loud snap sounded the break of something vital the instant before he went airborne, sailing through the air. He landed in a hedgerow, tumbling down to land on his side and crack his head on a stone. The last thing he heard was a woman’s voice calming the horses. Fear for her rushed through him at the thought of the physical damage a slashing hoof could do. A dense blanket of black smothered the thought and the world went dark.
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AUTHOR Bio and Links:
Julia Donner (aka M.L.Rigdon) grew up in historic Galena, IL, USA, and spent most of her time in the museum of her aunt, who encouraged her interest in history and understood the need to cherish a dream. She started writing in secret in her teens and never stopped, merging it with her mother’s encouragement to study theater and music, which led to performing in the Midwest, California and as far away as Austria.
Donner never forgot what it was like to write alone as a girl and is a happy member of Summit City Scribes. Concern for the failing educational system led her to develop Your Futures in Ink, a panel of local and regional authors, who go into to schools to encourage students and answer questions about writing.
THE TIGRESSE AND THE RAVEN, first book in the regency Friendship Series, is an RWA contest finalist. The ninth book in the series, A ROGUE FOR MISS PRIM and the tenth, AN AMERICAN FOR AGNES, are available now. A LAIRD’S PROMISE will be released by Spring 2018.
M.L Rigdon (aka Julia Donner)
Follow on Twitter @RigdonML
Blog: https://historyfanforever.wordpress.com/
Website: http://www.MLRigdon.com
Bookbub: https://www.bookbub.com/authors/julia-donner
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Julia-Donner-697165363688218/timeline
THE BOOK WILL BE $0.99 DURING THE TOUR at Amazon.
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GIVEAWAY:
Julia will be awarding a $30 Amazon or B/N GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour.
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Judi Lynn 
Thanks for this, Judy/Judi, and the party was fabulous!
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Hope you’re feeling better now. Congrats on getting your manuscript turned in, and best wishes to Julia with her giveaway!
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