The Crusader’s Bride Goes Wide

Posted on April 11, 2018 by Deborah Cooke

My medieval romance, The Crusader’s Bride, has finished its run in Kindle Unlimited and is now available at all online portals again. This is book #1 of the Champions of St. Euphemia series.

Gaston battled for duty and honor—until his new wife tempted him to fight for her love.

When the Templar knight Gaston learns that he has inherited his father’s estate in France, he accepts one last quest for the order and agrees to deliver a package to Paris on his way home. A practical man, Gaston knows he has need of a wife and an heir, so when a lovely widowed noblewoman on pilgrimage snares his gaze, he believes he can see matters solved to their mutual convenience.

But Ysmaine is more than a pilgrim enduring bad luck. She has buried two husbands in rapid succession, both of whom died on her nuptial night, and believes herself cursed. Accepting this gruff knight seems doomed to result in his demise, but Gaston is dismissive of her warnings, and Ysmaine finds herself quickly wed again—this time to a man who is not only vital, but determined to survive.

Neither of them realize that Gaston’s errand is one of peril, for the package contains the treasure of the Templars—and some soul, either in their party or pursuing it, is intent upon claiming the prize at any cost. In a company of strangers with secrets, do they dare to trust each other and the love that dawns between them?

Buy eBook
• Amazon
• Nook
• iBooks
• KOBO
• GooglePlay
• buy directly from Claire

Buy Print Book
• Amazon
• Barnes & Noble
• Indigo
• buy directly from Claire and get the ebook free

Buy Audio Book
• Audible
• iBooks
• Amazon
• Blackstone Library
• Downpour
• KOBO
• Barnes & Noble
• Indigo

One Knight Enchanted and KU

Posted on April 10, 2018 by Deborah Cooke

One Knight Enchanted, #1 of the Rogues & Angels series of medieval romances by Claire Delacroix One Knight Enchanted, which is book #1 of the Rogues & Angels series of medieval romances, will be finishing its run in Kindle Unlimited on April 15. After that, it will be available at all portals.

If you are a KU subscriber, don’t miss your chance to read this book free!

Cursed to take the form of the wolf by day, Rolfe de Viandin is skeptical that love can save him. All he wants is to return home from crusade by the Yule and even the pleasures of a magical palace cannot console him…until a beautiful and bold maiden arrives at his gates, seeking sanctuary, and Rolfe’s hope is restored.

Hunted in the forest, Annelise de Sayerne has to surrender her desire to wed for love, as the price of entering the only refuge is marriage to its enigmatic lord. She fears he must be a monster, but once she experiences his kindness, Annelise resolves to find love with her new husband—if she can just claim his heart.

Even as Rolfe is beguiled by his bride and Annelise unravels his secrets, a spurned suitor pursues Annelise, determined to claim her legacy at any price. If Rolfe’s curse is not broken, how can he defend his beloved wife from the villain? Will their future be lost before it is truly won—or will Rolfe be convinced of the power of love in time?

Buy at
• Amazon
• Order a signed Print Edition from Claire.

Me and KU

Posted on April 9, 2018 by Deborah Cooke

As you might recall, I decided to enroll a lot of my books in Kindle Unlimited last August as an experiment. It’s gone reasonably well, but the time has come for this experiment to end. One of the things that feeds success in KU is the regular addition of new content into the program. I’m not publishing a new title every month, which is what seems to work best, and my new titles are being released in wide distribution when they are published instead of into KU. Given this, it turns out the program isn’t an ideal fit for me. I’m glad I tried it and I hope I found some new readers, but it’s time to go back to wide distribution. (Do I hear a cheer from the Nook readers? I think I do! LOL!)

KU requires a 90 day enrollment period, so it will take a few months for everything to come out of the program and be made available again elsewhere. I’ll update the interiors and upload the books again at each portal. It’ll be under the same ISBN, so if you bought any book before, you’ll be able to download the updated version free. I’ll post when each series is updated at the other portals and the links are here on the site. Here’s a rough schedule, although in each series I have one book that will be early or late.

One Knight Enchanted – goes wide in April

The Jewels of Kinfairlie – goes wide in early May

The True Love Brides – goes wide in late May

The Champions of St. Euphemia – goes wide in late May
(The Crusader’s Bride is already out of KU and will go wide this week.)

The Rogues of Ravensmuir – goes wide in June

The Bride Quest II – goes wide in late June

The Bride Quest I – goes wide in July

Medieval Cooking

Posted on April 7, 2018 by Deborah Cooke

One of the things that fascinates me about the Middle Ages is the food. I have several cookbooks that are compiled from medieval texts and this recipe is from my favorite one: it’s called The Medieval Kitchen: Recipes from France and Italy by Odile Redon, Francoise Sabban and Silvano Serventi. I like that each recipe includes the translated medieval text first (they wrote recipes like my MIL did: “Take enough butter and mix flour into it until it looks right…”) followed by the authors’ notes and then a modern version of the recipe which they’ve tested.

Last night, I made the Torta Bolognese, which I’ve made a number of times before. The translation is Herbed Swiss Chard and Cheese Pie, and it’s an awesome way to cook swiss chard. It’s also vegetarian.

Here’s a picture of my tart, fresh from the oven:

Swiss Chard Tart, baked by Deborah Cooke

And here’s a picture of the interior:
Chard Tart baked by Deborah Cooke The recipe instructs you to puree the ingredients for the filling until you have a smooth green paste, but I don’t do that. I use the chard with red stems and dice them up as well, then just chop it all fine. I’d rather see the green chard with red flicks in the egg filling than have it be all green. (The tomatoes have a red onion relish on them, btw.)

Next up, I want to try the Civet of Hare, probably the one from the Ménagier de Paris.

You can buy this book at Amazon – here’s the link.

Have you ever cooked historical recipes? What did you make and what did you think of the result?

Swag for Readers

Posted on April 6, 2018 by Deborah Cooke

I realized that this site didn’t have a swag page, so I’ve added one. It’s under About Claire.

I send out bookmarks, postcards and bookplates free to readers who request them. If there’s anything you’d like, just comment on the Swag for Readers page.

I need to have more covers done in each series before I do bookmarks or postcards for The Brides of Inverfyre, Rogues & Angels and The Brides of North Barrows. I’ll let you know when that happens. 🙂