This year is going to be a busy one! Here’s what I can tell you now about upcoming releases.
I have two new books on the schedule for this year: The Wolf & the Witch, which is the first book in a new trilogy called Blood Brothers, will be published in the spring. One Knight’s Desire, which is the third book in the Rogues & Angels series of medieval romances will be published in the fall.
I’ll also have two audiobooks published this year, both of which will be narrated by Tim Campbell: The Wolf & the Witch will be available in audio in the spring (in my attempt to move closer to simultaneous audio release). The Runaway Bride will be released in audio in the fall (in my attempt to catch up on audio editions for books that are already available). I’m excited to be moving back into audio again, and I love Tim’s recording of The Mercenary’s Bride. He has such a wonderful voice and a talent for bringing the story to life.
There will also be two new boxed sets. Stolen Brides will be published in February at a discounted price of 99cents for release. There will be another new bundle in the summer, but that’s all I’ll tell you about that right now. 😉
I’ve had a lot of translations in the works, and they’ll start popping up this month. In German, you’ll see more of the Jewels of Kinfairlie this year, as well as the launch of the Champions of St. Euphemia. In Portuguese, we’ll complete the Jewels of Kinfairlie. In Italian, we’ll start the True Love Brides. In Spanish, we’ll see the Champions of St. Euphemia series completed and maybe even more.
Will there be even more? It’s possible. I’ll keep you posted.
One of my favorite tropes (maybe my VERY favorite one!) is Second Chance Romance. There’s little more appealing than being given a chance to do better, or to fix what went wrong in the past. When true love goes wrong, I love watching characters seize that second chance and work to make it right. These characters really earn their happily-ever-after. Plus, I like that they often have shared history or different memories (or interpretations) of the same event in the past. I enjoy watching them air their grievances, often while struggling against an attraction that won’t be denied. Here are a few of my own Second Chance Romances.
The Damsel, book two of my Bride Quest series, is a Cinderella story with a twist. Burke fell in love with Alys years before, and has regretted that he left her behind when her parents insisted on it. Haunted by his regrets, he returns to Alys, determined to win her heart for his own. Alys, however, believes she has a duty to her family and to follow their instructions—plus she’s not sure whether to trust Burke. His touch makes her forget everything she knows to be true, and it’s only sensible to fight against that kind of influence. Unfortunately for Alys’ plan, Burke’s passion and persistence is the very essence of temptation…
The Rogue is book one of my Rogues of Ravensmuir series. Sparks flew on the day that Ysabella and Merlyn first met and their mutual attraction was both powerful and immediate. How could she resist this handsome laird’s insistence that they wed? Ysabella was beguiled by Merlyn, until his secret was revealed and she fled their marriage. The book opens when he returns, five years later, to ask for her help. Someone is trying to kill him, a situation Ysabella can readily understand, and Merlyn is determined to convince his estranged wife to name the villain. “The fire still burns, chère,” he murmurs when he draws near, and it certainly does. If you haven’t been beguiled by Merlyn yet, the time has come. The Rogue is discounted to just 99cents for the month of January.
Something Wicked This Way Comes is one of my few Regency romances. It’s a novella and the first book in the Brides of North Barrows series. Lucien de Roye broke Sophia’s heart, yet when their paths cross again, she can’t help but respond to his presence. Her former life is a memory since her father’s passing, and fortunately, she’s in disguise, working as a governess—but Lucien isn’t fooled. He recognizes Sophia and is determined to make one thing right before the curse laid upon him claims his life. This is a bit of a ghost story, influenced by Lucien’s family holding, a sugar plantation in the West Indies, and Baron Samedi has a cameo.
The Warrior is book three of my Rogues of Ravensmuir series of medieval romances and has more of a fantasy element than the other books. The Hawk of Inverfyre is driven to reclaim his family estate from the rebels who stole it and means to secure the succession when he does. He needs a bride because he needs a son, and he doesn’t question his choice of Aileen, the overlooked daughter of an ally. He’s not a warrior inclined to negotiate and hasn’t much time: he abducts Aileen and weds her, never guessing that his touch awakens her dreams of their shared past, or that the bride that he seemingly chose by chance is his destined partner and true love. This is a reincarnation story, as well as a Beauty and the Beast story, and a favorite book of mine.
As you know by now, part of this feature is that at least one of the showcased books will be offered to newsletter subscribers at a discount. If you haven’t signed up for my monthly Knights & Rogues newsletter, this might be a good chance to do so.
Nook has a recommended reads list on their blog of historical romance novels and series that are perfect for binge-reading – while you await season two of the Bridgertons! I’m delighted that they’ve included my medieval romance, The Princess, which is book one of the six-book Bride Quest series.
There have been a lot of graphics in my feed on Facebook of authors sharing the books they published in 2020. It’s inspiring to see everyone’s accomplishments, so I did a graphic of my own.
Pearl Beyond Price is a teensy bit of a cheat, as it was published in the last week of 2019. (I felt badly that “Claire” had no new releases in 2020.) I published the All’s Fairboxed set, but it was composed of previously published content, which doesn’t count for this graphic.
Claire also had new translations published in 2020, including The Beauty Bride in Portuguese and German, The Rose Red Bride and The Snow White Bride in Italian, and The Ballad of Rosamunde in Portuguese. I have the Spanish translation of The Crusader’s Bride but it won’t appear in stores until 2021. Claire also had a new audiobook, The Mercenary’s Bride, recorded by Tim Campbell.
The first two books shown here, Pearl Beyond Price and Just One Fake Date, were revisions and rewrites. I’ve learned that these take me longer than just writing a new book, so won’t be rushing to do any more of them. (Even though I have more Claire Delacroix books from Harlequin Historicals, they all need that kind of revision. I’m going to leave them alone for the time being.)
When I was traditionally published, the schedule was made a year in advance of publication and books were delivered, formatted, etc., about six months before publication. I’m trying to get back to that place without leaving too many gaps in my schedule. It’ll take me a couple of years, but I’m making progress. The big challenge with publishing is that I like to alternate between sub-genres and worlds. I think it’s necessary to my creative process, so that means that the publication of series will stretch out over time.
So far in 2021, I have two historical romances scheduled for publication, The Wolf & the Witch and One Knight’s Desire. I have two books scheduled for audiobook production: The Wolf & the Witch and The Runaway Bride. Both will be recorded by Tim Campbell. I already have a number of translations scheduled for delivery and publication in 2021: The Rose Red Bride in German, The Rose Red Bride and The Snow White Bride in Portuguese, The Ballad of Rosamunde and The Renegade’s Heart in Italian, and The Crusader’s Bride in German, too. The rest of the Champions of St. Euphemia series will be translated into Spanish, too. (As mentioned above, The Crusader’s Bride in Spanish is being published now.) Many of these translation teams will continue the series with the next book after they deliver the one currently in the works. Claire has a new boxed set coming in February, Stolen Brides, and will have a second boxed set published some time during the summer.
For my contemporary romances, Just One Silver Fox is scheduled already for 2021. I plan to publish Annika and Thom’s story—which is becoming longer than I’d initially expected, no surprise to any of you in that!—but won’t set a publication date for that until it’s done. I have another secret Flatiron Five project in the works, but it’s too soon to talk about that. 🙂 Of course, there’s the F5F spin-off series in Harte’s Harbor, too, but I’d like to be able to schedule the first three on a fairly rapid release, with the books being done. Ha. I’m thinking that series will likely be a 2022 launch.
For my paranormal romances, there’s nothing officially booked at this time. I’m hoping to publish the next DragonFate novel, possibly next summer, and am working on the next Incendium story, Wyvern’s Wizard. (The issue with Wyvern’s Wizard is that I suspect four princesses are going to weigh in and entangle their storylines with Peri’s, so it’s not a case of getting one book written—it’s a case of getting four books written.) I’m still having various characters weigh in about their story needing to be told next. Once The Wolf & the Witch is done, I’ll make a decision and dive in.
In the meantime, there are promotions to schedule and all the rest of the jobs that come with indie-publishing. I’m hoping to have a very productive 2021, and this is my plan at the moment. I have the spreadsheets to show for it!
One of the things going on behind the scenes here is the translation of many of my books into other languages. This is a really interesting exercise: I love seeing the covers translated and also the discussions with my translation teams. One team in particular sends me questions to make sure they get the details right. This can require a bit of detective work on my end, since we’re starting translations with the Jewels of Kinfairlie series, which I wrote in 2005. Sometimes I just don’t remember! I thought I would share one of my recent investigations with you, when I went looking for a 15th century dress.
The translators are working on The Rose Red Bride, and wanted more explanation about Vivienne’s dress. Here’s what it says in the book:
“Her finest chemise of sheer linen was an obvious choice, as she wished to impress her fairy lover with her finery. It was cut full and gathered at the neck on a drawstring, as was typical, but was distinguished by sleeves fitted from elbow to wrist and secured with dozens of tiny buttons made of shell.
It was no small feat to don the chemise without the aid of one of her sisters or their maid, but Vivienne managed the deed.
She then donned her favorite kirtle, also a gift from Rosamunde, which was wrought of silk woven in two shades of emerald. The sleeves were slit from the shoulders to reveal the chemise and trailed to the ground, while the hem pooled upon the floor. The hem and neckline and sleeve edges were all graced with intricate golden embroidery. The men in her family had called it a most impractical garment, while her sisters openly coveted it.”
It sounded to me as if I’d been inspired by a specific dress, so I went looking in my library for the source. I found it in The Chronicle of Western Fashion, by John Peacock, a book of illustrations I’ve had for a long time.
It’s labelled as being the outfit of an Italian lady from 1410. If you look closely, you can see the buttons along the sleeve of the ochre chemise, from elbow to wrist.
I did wonder whether I could find more detail, though, and kept looking.
In Medieval Costume in England and France by Mary G. Houston, I found the image below. It looks like the same dress but the woman is illustrated with three other people.
One of the interesting things about medieval costume is that there aren’t that many sources, and the sources are a bit different than you might expect. Queens and kings carved onto cathedrals, for example, or depicted in marginalia of manuscripts or woven into tapestries will usually be dressed in the style of the times of the artist and not of their actual era. An illustration of Noah at the flood could show 13th century court dress very well.
This line drawing was inspired by an image in the Très Riches Heures of the Duc de Berry, a 15th century book of hours filled with miniature paintings. Books of prayer are also a great source of social history details, including clothing styles.
This is the painting for April from the Très Riches Heures, which shows fruit trees in bloom in a walled garden, maidens picking flowers, men fishing and a couple pledging their troth. It’s just what you might expect to happen in April in the northern hemisphere. You’ll recognize the woman in blue as the inspiration for the drawings, and for Vivienne’s dress.
This image is from a website called Digital Medievalist. You can see it in more detail, here.
Here’s the Wikion the Très Riches Heures, too, which is a comparatively large book of hours. It measures about 8″ by 12″ but many books of hours are tiny, only four inches or so in each dimension. The detail in them is incredible! If you’re ever at the Cloisters in New York, they have a collection of books of hours and there are always a few on display. You can also see selected pages from the books of hours in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum (which owns the Cloisters) on this page of search results.
So, I found Vivienne’s 15th century dress, and now the translators know what the sleeves look like.
The German edition of The Rose Red Bride – which will be called die rosenrote Braut – should be available in January.
Claire Delacroix 