Happy New Year Giveaway! Celebrating the Release of Reckless Wager

a Rafflecopter giveaway

I'm having a giveaway! Be sure to enter to win a $20 Amazon gift card, ebooks, or a print copy of my new release, Reckless Wager.

Here's wishing you and yours at 2015 filled with blessings, fun adventures, and lots and lots of good books to read. :)

I hope reading lots of books is among your 2015 goals. I've just entered the Goodreads challenge and declared that I hope to read 60 books in a year. How many do you think you'll read in 2015?

You can join the Goodreads challenge here.

My big news for the start of the year is that I've just released the third book in my Whitechapel Wagers series, Reckless Wager. For those of you who read Wanton Wager, you might recall Will's younger sister who nursed him back to health after his return from the Second Afghan War. Well, Reckless Wager is Kate's story. But don't worry if you haven't read the others. As with each of the books, this one can be read all on its own.

Here's a bit about Reckless Wager.

Unlucky in love and estranged from his family, Detective Sergeant Benjamin Quinn is obsessed with solving the Ripper crimes. When he’s suspended from the Metropolitan Police, it’s another failure in a long line of disappointments. But a new mystery arises when a beautiful widow shows up at the most infamous pub in Whitechapel seeking his help. He’s determined to assist Kate Guthrie, and equally determined to quell his growing attraction to her.

Kate Guthrie hides painful secrets from her first marriage and has avoided matrimony for nearly ten years. Now she’s finally decided it’s time to remarry and move on with her life, even if it means giving up the charity clinic work in Whitechapel that makes her days worthwhile. But when a battered young woman turns up at the clinic claiming to have been attacked by Jack the Ripper, Kate seeks out Detective Sergeant Benjamin Quinn, a man who sparks feelings in her too potent to deny.

I'm a compulsive list maker, so of course I have a New Year's Resolutions list as long as my arm. Here are a few highlights:

1. Write! More often and more books than I ever have before. My goal is to release 8 titles in 2015.

2. Get Fit! As a writer and cover designer, I spend more time sitting down than I did when I was teaching (and never sat down!), but I'm determined to get in better shape and be more active this year.

3. Travel! My husband moved from Scotland to the US four years ago to marry me and he hasn't been back to the UK since. We hope to rectify that in 2015 and make a visit to Scotland. I'm hoping we can slip in a few days in London too. :)

Do you make resolutions for a new year? What are some of your goals for 2015?

Historical Romance Guest Author: Gina Danna

I'm so thrilled to have Gina Danna at Romancing the Victorians today! Thank you for visiting, Gina! 

A USAToday Bestselling author, Gina Danna was born in St. Louis, Missouri, and has spent the better part of her life reading. History has always been her love and she spent numerous hours devouring historical romance stories, always dreaming of writing one of her own. After years of writing historical academic papers to achieve her undergraduate and graduate degrees in History, and then for museum programs and exhibits, she has found the time to write her own historical romantic fiction novels.

Now, under the supervision of her three dogs and two cats, she writes amid a library of research books, with her only true break away is to spend time with her other life long dream —her Arabian horse—With him, her muse can play

Web: www.ginadanna.com
FB: www.facebook.com/GinaDannaAuthor
Twitter: @GinaDanna1

Gina's new book, Great and Unfortunate Desires, is set during the Victorian era. I'll move over and let her explain what drew her to the period.

Writing a Victorian-era story....

A couple of years ago, I had finished my novel on the American Civil War – Victorian America. It is an era I’m very familiar with, being a historian and a Civil War reenactor. I’ve done a ton of research in the lifestyles of the era, social mores, societal events and of course, the War itself, especially on the impact it had on the American people. I was pleased with my manuscript and sent it to the agent I had at that time, who promptly told me I should return to writing about lords and ladies.... My first manuscript, which got her attention to represent me, was on Regency England, and with the Civil War not a topic she was thrilled about, she hoped I’d return to the popular era of Jane Austen.

Problem was, I didn’t want to go back there. So I mulled it over and since I was comfortable with America’s Victorian era, I went to England at the same timeframe. The recent movies on Sherlock Holmes had my attention and with a comment made about Dr. Watson and his military service during the Afghanistan. So with doing research, discovered about the Great War with Russia and the beginning of my story took hold.

Writing about the Victorian era is fascinating. A time when the bustle was in, corsets still worn, manners improving, and technology picking up speed. It was the industrial revolution with factories and machines, gas lighting, the beginning of electricity, trains the fastest means of transportation plus many more inventions, modernizations that open the doors to new plots, twists in people’s lives and events, and so much more!

Welcome to the Victorians and Great & Unfortunate Desires!

~ Here's a little more about Gina's delicious novel ~

Great & Unfortunate Desires

Victorian England c. 18701

Operating as a British spy, Tristan St.James, the new Marquis of Wrenworth, barely escapes Afghanistan with his life in the spring of 1869. He plans to seek vengeance against the traitor who exposed him and for the agent he’s forced to kill. Returning to England, as a lord, he must marry. Haunted by guilt from the horrors of war, he avoids love at all costs, but finds himself drawn to the only woman who is disinterested in him.

Lady Evelyn Hurstine has waited over two years for the return of her love, a man who left for war in the East. But during that time, she suffered a brutal assault, resulting in a child and fear of any man touching her except for the man she once knew. The pursuit by the marquis scares her but her excuses against his proposal dwindle.

Their marriage strengthens into love until she discovers her husband isn’t the safety she believed but the one who killed the man she once loved. Caught in a world of intrigue and mayhem, Tristan must prove his love to her before the traitor destroys them both.

Grab your copy at any online ebook retailer!

Amazon:  http://amzn.to/1ERFHZb 
Nook:  http://bit.ly/1xpB0lQ 
iBook:  http://bit.ly/1sAsmg9 
Kobo:  http://bit.ly/1wf9Kn0 

Comment on this post and let Gina know what you like best about Victorian romance. If you haven't read historical romance set during the era, tell us why. 

Include your email address for a chance to win a $5 Amazon gift card.