This month, my medieval Scottish romance, The Runaway Bride, is discounted for the first time ever. Ross and Aiofe’s story is just 99 cents through the end of December. Remember that there’s a third book in this series, The Stolen Bride, and that you can read about Ross’s seven siblings in The Jewels of Kinfairlie series and The True Love Brides series.
Aoife MacNeill is a beauty and a prize, a former heiress who wants to marry for love, but her father has arranged her marriage to Nigel Armstrong, the oldest son and heir of the Hawk of Inverfyre. One look confirms that Nigel will never possess her heart—although his cousin, Ross of Kinfairlie, is another matter. Aoife knows she cannot escape her fate, but yearns for one last adventure: she will flee Inverfyre and hope that Ross will be sent in pursuit. She tells herself that one kiss will be sufficient…
Ross of Kinfairlie is a mercenary with a blade for hire; a knight without the coin to claim a bride. When his cousin’s betrothed flees, he lends chase, for the Hawk of Inverfyre trained him. Ross suspects that Aiofe plays a game, but her ploy is dangerous—the treacherous MacLaren clan, always seeking to undermine Inverfyre, take her captive. In the course of rescuing Aoife and ensuring her safety, Ross finds himself captivated by the fierce and beautiful maiden. How much will Ross surrender to guarantee Aoife’s safety? And how much will Aoife offer to protect the man who has captured her heart?
Recently, I created a trade paperback edition of Der Wolf und die Hexe, which is the German translation of The Wolf & the Witch. I was curious about options and possibilities.
As a result, there are two versions of the trade paperback edition of Der Wolf und die Hexe. The Amazon-exclusive version has Maximilian on the cover (shown at right). The version available everywhere else has the sword on the cover and Maximilian inside (shown at left).
See? The left one is a duplexed cover, with Maximilian inside.
I kind of like this option of combining the discrete cover with the mancandy on the print edition. What do you think? Should I do this for English titles in future?
You may be able to order either version at Amazon – look under Other Formats & Editions to find the link for the burgundy one. The Amazon links below will take you to the Amazon-exclusive edition, with Maximilian on the front.
This weekend, there’s a flash sale in my online store.
Save 50% on select ebook bundles, including the Jewels of Kinfairlie Boxed Set.
This digital bundle includes The Beauty Bride, The Rose Red Bride, The Snow White Bride and the Ballad of Rosamunde. That’s a lot of medieval romance for your holiday weekend!
Just use the code AugFlash1 at checkout to save. Your ebook will be delivered by BookFunnel as soon as the transaction is completed in the store.
Today’s the day for the YOLO with KOBO Plus romance binge multi-author promotion!
KOBO Plus is a subscription program, much like Kindle Unlimited – you pay a flat monthly fee when you subscribe and can read as much as you want. The big difference on my end is that books don’t have to be exclusive to KOBO to be enrolled in the program, which makes it win-win.
This promotion features a lot (over 625) romances that are enrolled in KOBO Plus right now. Although the promotion is inspired by the BookWorms promo, in this case, the books are enrolled in KOBO Plus for more than one day. That said, it’s a great way for you to discover new authors, new series and new reads, and KOBO has their own landing page in support of that.
You’ll find The Brides of North Barrows bundle on the historical romance landing page, as well as the audiobook for The Frost Maiden’s Kiss and the Spanish edition of The Jewels of Kinfairlie.
As you probably have guessed, I’ve been working on a new medieval romance series and now I have a tentative schedule and release plan. It’ll be a trilogy of medieval Scottish fantasy romances, which will launch next year.
Each book will be available first via a Kickstarter campaign, in ebook and trade paperback. I plan for the KS campaign for book one to be next winter, maybe March or April, because I want to have the book written first. There will also be some campaign goodies, and you’ll be able to order the print editions from previous KS campaigns (for Blood Brothers and the Bride Quest), as well. The first book will be on pre-order at the retailers at that time, to deliver at least six months after the KS campaign ends. I’m thinking it will be a December release.
So, at KS, you’ll be able to get the book early, get your print copy signed and get campaign goodies exclusive to the campaign.
I’ll plan for the second book’s Kickstarter campaign to be later next year, possibly not with delivery of print books available for the holidays. (Things get very slow at the printers due to volume from October onward.) In that campaign, you’ll be able to get an early copy of book two in ebook or trade paperback, and also add book one if you missed it, and snag some campaign goodies for your hoard.
The Kickstarter campaign for the third book will be in 2026. I haven’t decided yet whether the hardcover editions of all three books will be part of that campaign or a separate campaign. I always want to read and love a book before I commit to having it in a collectible hardcover on my shelf, but your view may be different. We have time to work that out!
The Crusader’s Bride
In between, there may be a Kickstarter campaign for new print editions of The Champions of St. Euphemia series in trade paperback with duplex covers and in hard cover with a dust jacket. Like the Blood Brothers‘ Kickstarter editions, these will have the illustration of the couple on the inside of the trade paperback cover and on the case laminate of the hardcover. The outside of the trade paperback and the dust jacket on the hardcover will have the type.
These illustrations are already done as they’re on the current editions. I love them to pieces and want to celebrate them with the new editions. I’m also still on the hunt for someone to draw a map. The timing of that campaign depends upon my workload and how things go.
So, my tentative 2024 schedule looks like this:
October – The Bluestocking’s Bargain (Pre-order available now) March – Kickstarter for book one of the new series April – The Duke’s Desire June – Kickstarter for The Champions of St. Euphemia October – Kickstarter for book two of the new series December – publication date at the portals for book one of the new series
In 2026, book two of the new series will release at the portals, and there will be a Kickstarter for book three of the new series.
Clearly, there should be some additional hist-rom releases next summer and fall, but we’ll keep things a little loose as yet. Those Kickstarters can chew up a lot of time, but I’m hoping they get easier. I worked out my writing schedule and things were tight at the end of 2024. To keep The Duke’s Desire from sliding to May, I made it book #6 of that series and put the planned book 6 (which had been slated for January) on the back burner. I think we’re all more interested in the duke and Esmeralda’s story, so that one has to be finished up.
On the other side of my office, I have a new contemporary romance series launching in February. My current plan is for The Carpe Diem Café to have three releases next year: Just Trouble in February, book two probably in June and book three probably in October. I have a lot of writing on my schedule and I’m excited about all of these stories.
I’ll tell you more about the new medieval fantasy romance trilogy when the Kickstarter campaign is in preview and can be followed.
Claire Delacroix 