My publisher, Berkley, is running two separate promotions for two different books.

The first is  a “Spice Up Your Summer” sweepstakes promotion featuring my upcoming book, THE RAKE’S DAUGHTER in the giveaway — in which you can win all eight books.

PLEASE NOTE – this is for US people only, BUT later on, after I’ve settled into my new house, I will run a giveaway only for NON-US people. Balancing things up a bit.

This will run May 1 – May 10 and you can enter here. 

THE RAKE’S DAUGHTER introduces a handsome, unmarried earl, his eccentric aunt who lives in the other side of Bellaire Gardens, two new young ladies and a bossy young sticky-beak (a bossy nosy-parker) to the Bellaire Gardens community.  And of course, you’ll see some of the characters from the previous book in the series, The Scoundrel’s Daughter.

In The Rake’s Daughter, Leo, Lord Salcott is furious when he discovers he’s been left the guardianship of the two daughters of a notorious rake, one of whom is illegitimate — and penniless. She’s also beautiful, outspoken and rebellious, and he has his hands full — in more ways than one. THE RAKE’S DAUGHTER will be published on July 26th. I had such fun writing it, and I’ll be telling you more about the story and characters in the lead-up to publication.

US BookBub promotion for MARRY IN SECRET

Secondly, there is a US BookBub low-price promotion for MARRY IN SECRET, the e-book of which will be selling for $1.99 for a limited time.

The Book Bub special goes from May 2 – May 16, but please check the price before you buy as some online bookstores take a while to catch up on the special.  

MARRY IN SECRET is part of the “Marriage of Convenience” series, and starts when Rose, a beautiful and rebellious heiress, is about to make a marriage of convenience with the prize of the Marriage Mart, a cold-eyed duke. The marriage ceremony is shattered by the arrival of a ragged, angry stranger who claims she’s married to him. . .

And by the way, if you’re wondering about that lovely Julia Quinn quote, she gave it to me, unsolicited, quite a few years ago. I’ve asked her a couple of times if it’s still okay to use it — I wanted to put it on the cover of my self-published book, and she said, “Of course, Anne.”
Julia Quinn is a very generous person.

So it’s not one of the many new promo quotes that are cropping up now in response to the success of Bridgerton. 

And here’s the full paperback cover.

You lovely people who subscribe to my blog are the first to see this — the cover for my new book that the Berkley Art Department designed for me. Isn’t it lovely? I’m thrilled. Covers are hugely important in an author’s career. I know we were all brought up with the saying “Don’t judge a book by its cover.” but alas, it’s not true. People buy books all the time because the cover or the title appeal to them, and reject books if the cover puts them off. I’ve had experience of  that — to my cost. My career was almost ruined by a dreary cover — one I hated, but could not get changed. So wherever I get a lovely cover, I’m endlessly grateful.

This book follows on from The Scoundrel’s Daughter, and is also set in one of the houses surrounding the beautiful Bellaire Gardens. It’s about two sisters who have just come to London. In fact, they’re half-sisters, but very close. The heroine of this book is Isobel (Izzy), who is illegitimate. (Her sister’s book comes next.)

Izzy’s father and maternal uncle wanted nothing to do with an illegitimate child orphaned before she was nine, and Izzy was destined for the nearest orphan asylum. But Clarissa, her lonely little half-sister was having none of that. Next week  I’ll post a snippet from the start of the book, showing how, almost ten years before,  the two little girls met. 

In the meantime, feast your eyes on this gorrrrgeous cover. What do you think of it? The summerhouse in the background isn’t exactly how I described it, but it plays quite a big role in this story and I’m delighted it made it onto the cover. And I know you can’t really see Izzy’s face, but I like that. Whenever I read (or write) a book, I get images in my mind of what the main characters look like, and the people on the front cover almost never look how I have imagined them.