ARC-itectural Treasures

by Anna Campbell

Yes, it's that time again!

My next Avon historical romance MY RECKLESS SURRENDER is out on 25th May! Less than two months away.

By the way, you can pre-order the book just by clicking on the cover. Same goes for the other books I've mentioned in this blog. We're all into user friendly here in the lair (especially when it comes to the cabana boys!).

Don't you just love that cover? I think it's absolutely luscious! And that come-hither look in my heroine's eyes is just right for the rather naughty Diana Carrick! Especially when she's come-hithering the rakish Earl of Ashcroft.

STOP PRESS!

THE NEWS TODAY IS THAT I HAVE AN ARC OF MY RECKLESS SURRENDER TO GIVE AWAY TO ONE OF OUR BANDITA BUDDIES!

I'm hoping someone here will surrender recklessly to the desire to comment and win it! Good luck!

Here's the gorgeous Aussie cover for MRS! Doesn't that just take your breath away?

I'm sure you've seen the American back cover blurb for MY RECKLESS SURRENDER. If not, you can read it here: http://www.annacampbell.info/recklesssurrender.html And please check out the excerpt while you're there!

The Aussies are doing things differently (that's just part of our independent, pioneering spirit, yanno?) and I really like their blurb tooI've never had a dual-continent simultaneous release before. It's pretty exciting.

June is gonna be a big month chez Campbell:

A passionate tale brimming with lust, tenderness and betrayal from Anna Campbell, the queen of Regency noir.

Diana Carrick has very good reasons to seduce Tarquin Vale, Earl of Ashcroft. None of which she intends to share with the notorious rake. But instead of the selfish, jaded debaucher she expects, Diana discovers a man unlike any other, and even the dangerous secret she must protect cannot shield her from his dark allure.

The scandalous earl wearies of easy conquests and empty pleasures. When the mysterious Diana suggests an affair to while away a few summer weeks, he’s intrigued and becomes increasingly and powerfully drawn to Diana’s mix of innocence and passion..

Unwittingly yet most willingly, they are playing with fire. Now the fuse has been lit and there’s no escape … except surrender.

I thought to get conversation going, we'd play a little game. It's one we've played before and it's a regular on the Australian Romance Readers Association loop. But it's always fun and we're all such readers, it's pretty easy!

OK, just tell me three things:

The book you finished most recently.

The book you are currently reading.

The book you'll pick up next.

To get the ball rolling, here are my answers:


LAST: WHAT REMAINS OF HEAVEN by C.S. Harris (fabulous, I am in love with Sebastian St. Cyr, Viscount Devlin. He's a delicious mixture of the man of action and brain box, and he's so adorably tortured).

CURRENTLY: FORBIDDEN by Christina Phillips (OK, this is a bit of a gloat. It's an ARC of Aussie writer Christina's wonderful debut, an erotic historical set in Roman Britain. Those men in skirts sure could do the hula! Keep an eye out for FORBIDDEN from Berkley on 7th September! )

NEXT: KISMET by Monica Burns (I've been manfully keeping my hands off this one for a couple of weeks because I know when I start it, I won't stop. A courtesan and a sheikh? Sounds like my idea of heaven!)

So let's play! And one lucky person will get an advance reader copy of my next release MY RECKLESS SURRENDER! Best of Aussie luck to you all!

Hey, Good Bookin'! What Ya Got Cookin'?

by Anna Campbell

Among my favorite bits of bulletin boards are the "What are you reading now?" threads.

People list the last book they read, the book they're reading and the next one off the TBR pile.

It's fun from a whole heap of viewpoints. It shows what people are actually reading rather than talking about. It introduces me to writers I've never heard of but often end up enjoying. It reveals individual reader tastes in a way I find fascinating. Even HarperCollins have put their money where their mouth is in agreeing that people find what other people read endlessly interesting. On their newly revamped website, there's a place for authors to list books on their bedside table. You can find mine here. Just keep clicking refresh and you'll see a list of my current reading.

Anyway, I thought we'd play that today! I also thought I'd talk about a couple of books I've read recently that I really liked. In case any of you are coming to the bottom of the TBR pile and need some additions. (Laughs hollowly!)

The first is THE LAST RAKE IN LONDON by Nicola Cornick, who is extremely talented and, curses, up against me in the Regency RITA category with her wonderful LORD OF SCANDAL. LAST RAKE was written as part of Mills & Boon's 100th anniversary celebrations this year. For anyone who doesn't know, M&B in London started the category romance juggernaut and are part of the Harlequin empire.

LAST RAKE is set in the Edwardian era which is great fun. You get cars and Suffragettes and telephones. The heroine is an independent, emotionally scarred woman called Sally Bowes who runs the Blue Parrot nightclub (perhaps it's because I'm an Aussie, but I kept reading that as P*ssed Parrot nightclub - clearly I have no class!). Enter our hero, the dashing, extremely sexy Jack Kestrel, heir to a dukedom, rake and alpha male, who sees Sally and immediately decides he must have her. Do I need to say more to get you interested?

The next on my whirlwind list of recommendations is what I can only describe as a Regency noir! It's WHAT ANGELS FEAR by C.S. Harris. This is the first book in a mystery series, featuring the seriously tortured but extremely sexy Sebastian St. Cyr, Viscount Devlin. I honestly couldn't put this down - it's dark, it's desperate, it's terrifically romantic. C.S. Harris used to write fantastic historical romances as Candice Proctor and you can see that background here in the emotional depths and the strong characterization. I've got the next two books on the TBR pile and I'm having trouble keeping my hands off them. I've got a manuscript to finish before I allow myself a reading binge. I already know Sebastian St. Cyr isn't the man who will let me put him aside after a couple of pages so I can get a good night's sleep and front up to work all bright-eyed and bushy-tailed the next day.

The last book I'm recommending is a Blaze by Kathleen O'Reilly and again, it's the first in a series. SHAKEN AND STIRRED is about one of the sexy (OK, I'm overusing this adjective, but sometimes the right word is the right word and nothing else will do!) O'Sullivan Brothers and the stories center around a bar in New York. What I loved about this story aside from the emotion, the fantastic characters and the beautiful writing (hmm, perhaps that's ENOUGH to love!), is how real it all felt. The world was so rich, compelling and tangible. When you read this story, you know these people, you know their environment, and you live through every moment. Great stuff!

So here's my list for the game:

The last book I read: DARK AND DANGEROUS by Jeanne Adams. Fantastic!

The book I'm currently reading: SEX STRAIGHT UP by Kathleen O'Reilly. Need I say more?

The next book off the TBR pile: NOT WITHOUT HER FAMILY by Beth Andrews.

So over to you. What are you reading? Do you have any recommendations for must-reads? Inquiring minds want to know!

I got such a lovely response to my last blog where I offered a copy of CLAIMING THE COURTESAN to someone who hadn't read it, this month, I'm offering a signed copy of UNTOUCHED. Same deal. Please just mention in your comment if you want to be in the draw for the book. Good luck! And may the Games begin! I look forward to building a TBR pile that blocks out the sun.