SPRING 2008

The Spice Trilogy
Exotic adventures with dangerous men, daring ladies, and spicy-hot passion . . .
Her Only Desire	Her Secret Fantasy	Her Every Pleasure
Available Now!	Available Now!	On Sale March 25, 2008

In this issue: * HER EVERY PLEASURE ON SALE TUESDAY, MARCH 25! * OUTCOME OF THE DARK/LIGHT STORY TONE POLL * 2 UPCOMING APPEARANCES – YOU’RE INVITED

If you love historical romance that’s pure fairytale, don’t miss my new book, Her Every Pleasure, on sale March 25! This is a princess-and-bodyguard romance, which is one of my favorite story scenarios because it can be so incredibly romantic . . .

Wounded warrior Gabriel Knight, a veteran of savage battles in India, has retreated into rural seclusion in England to regain his strength and figure out what to do with the rest of his life, following his recent, much-too-close brush with death.

Princess Sophia is on a quest to take back the kingdom that her father lost to Napoleon, but en route to a secret meeting with the British Foreign Office, her carriage is attacked by deadly enemies. When her bodyguards are overwhelmed, her head of security orders her to flee.

Though the exiled princess has become by necessity the sort of “kick-ass heroine” who would rather stay and fight alongside her men, (numerous royal family members have been murdered over the years, so she’s made a point of learning to defend herself!) Sophia knows her people are counting on her. She can’t save her beleaguered homeland if her enemies get her, so she flees into the night . . . and winds up taking shelter in Gabriel’s hayloft, where he finds her the next morning.

For her security’s sake, it is necessary for the princess to conceal her true identity from anyone who might find her. An efficient survivor, Sophia has already changed into a plain peasant costume and knows, per their often-drilled security protocols, that she must wait at these particular coordinates for her men to locate her again before she can continue on with her mission.

But her simple clothes and dark, exotic beauty lead Gabriel to the cynical conclusion that she is a Gypsy harlot sent to him by his roguish brother Derek to “cheer him up.” His younger brother, worried about him, had laughingly threatened to send him “some gorgeous wench with no morals” to “take care of him” in his injury. Leave it to Derek to follow through on such a stunt, Gabriel thinks.

Sophia is shocked by the handsome stranger’s blunt conclusion about her, but needing to keep her identity a secret, she does not correct his mistake. Instead, she goes along with it, wryly, especially after the austere commander informs her he has no need for her “services” at this time. Determined to purify his warrior soul, Gabriel hardly needs this kind of temptation.

Alas, his good intentions can only last so long before they both give in to the unexpected passion they discover. But when the truth of Sophia’s royal identity is revealed--along with the grave danger she faces--Gabriel knows he must take up his sword again to defend her from her enemies, even if the price may cost him his soul . . .

I’m pleased to say that Romantic Times has named Her Every Pleasure a Top Pick for April, with a K.I.S.S. Award for Gabriel, and Romance Reviews Today has proclaimed it a Perfect 10. I sincerely hope you will read and enjoy this story as much as I enjoyed writing it.

Now that the release date is right around the corner, I can hardly believe that the final installment of the Knight family saga is now complete, eight years and well over a million words in the making. I’ve been living with these characters for so long that leaving them is like saying goodbye to old friends.

But I’m very excited about new horizons! Some time ago, as many of you know, I began polling my readers about the kind of tone they would like to see in future novels by me--dark and suspenseful, or light-hearted and witty. Hundreds of readers wrote in with their opinions, and it was amazing to see how the votes were split nearly equally between the two styles. The comedic style had a slight numerical edge over the dark-and-dramatic style, about 55-45, but readers who favored the darker tone were definitely more adamant in their efforts to persuade me to their choice.

With the contest so close, it was a small number of readers of great perspicuity who pointed out to me that what sets my books apart in the first place is that they have both--dark and light are both already in there, “and that’s what we love about them!” as one reader put it. These readers explained that my way of combining both dark and light elements in a unique and interesting design creates a more textured and unpredictable read than if it were only one style or the other. Well! This explained why the vote was split so evenly between the dark and light styles. You guys helped me to understand that, in general, my books apparently already contain enough suspense and intensity for those who like the darker style, and enough wry humor to amuse those who are looking for laughter. How nice to be told that what I’m doing is actually working! So if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. LOL. Makes sense to me.

Actually, it reminded me of a forgotten art term that I had tucked away years ago in the back of mind to describe my work, just for myself--to clarify my own understanding of the effects I most wanted to go for as an artist. That term is chiaroscuro, [Italian, from chiaro, clear, light + oscuro, obscure, dark] (1686) defined as the arrangement or treatment and interplay of light and shadow in a pictorial work of art. Since words are my medium rather than visual images, I use dark or light elements in the emotional sense, but this term best describes the kind of story ideas that always most inspired me and stirred up my passion to write. Some of my books may lean more toward the light, some more toward the dark, but both elements are always in there, the contrast between them heightening the dramatic impact of each.

So, there’s my answer at last. I came full-circle back to where I started from, oddly enough, and to all my readers who wrote in to share their thoughts, I thank you dearly. I am very glad I asked for your opinions, and I hope no one will be disappointed in the answer! Again, I am indebted to all who took the time to answer my query. You helped me to understand better what I do and how I can better serve my audience.

With the poll concluded, many have been asking what’s next for me, but I haven’t started anything new just yet. I’m taking a little downtime to refill my creative well as I continue brewing up a new Regency Historical series--with both light/humorous and dark/suspenseful elements, of course! I’ll share more about it when I’m able to, but it needs more percolating time for now.

Going back to Her Every Pleasure, I definitely wanted to mention that the research for this book was amazing and deserves an article all its own. I’ll try to add that soon, probably after the release date, because I don’t want to give any spoilers. For now, I’ll just say that Sophia’s homeland of Kavros is fictional, but is closely based on the gorgeous Ionian Islands of Greece and their true, turbulent history throughout the Napoleonic Wars. All I did was change the name and give it a royal family; pretty much everything else you’ll read about “Kavros” in my novel is based on actual facts pertaining to the Ionians in this period. I think you’ll find it fascinating. I certainly did. The other research topics I’ll want to share details about deal with the Greeks’ fight for freedom from the rule of the Ottoman Empire--that noble cause that lured Regency rock-star Lord Byron himself to go and fight on the Greek side (which led to his death).

We’ll also touch upon the fratricidal in-fighting taking place during this period within the House of Osman, the ruling family of the Ottoman Empire. Basically, the Ottoman Empire was alternating between factions who wanted reform, modernization, and good relations with the West, versus those who wanted to cut off all ties with the West and have a crackdown of medieval-style Sharia law throughout the empire. (Rather timely, no?)

Finally, I have a couple of public appearances coming up in April that I wanted to invite everyone to before I close:
1) SUNDAY, APRIL 13 - AUTHOR TEA LIBRARY FUNDRAISER
If you live in the Greater Pittsburgh area and would like to come and meet me, have a cuppa tea and scones, and hear what it’s really like being a best-selling novelist, I will be doing an Author Tea Fundraiser for the Greater Canonsburg Township Library on Sunday on April 13 from 1:00–3:00. It promises to be a lot of fun! Tickets are $16 and proceeds will go to our local library, which needs a new building to house all those wonderful books. Refreshments will be provided by Uniquely Yours Tea House, with door prizes in the form of autographed books from me. There will also be copies of my books available for sale. The location for the Author Tea will be the Generations Community Center at the Cecil Township Municipal Building (by the playground & Montour Trail) at 3599 Millers Run Road, Cecil, PA, 15321. Please call the library at (724) 745-1308 and make your reservations in advance. Remember, it’s all for a good cause! (If you want to bring your copies of my novels to be signed, I will be happy to autograph them for you, as well.)

With fondest wishes,
Gaelen