Fall into Romance!

Autumn in here and love is in the air! Don't miss Lady Jane's Salon Raleigh-Durham this September as we welcome local authors Claudia Dain, Beth Caudill, Jennifer Lohmann and JD Allen!

Once again, we'll be at Spirit's Pub and Grub in Cary http://www.spiritscary.com

CLAUDIA DAIN reading from SPELLBOUND...

Greetings,
In regards to the Matter of the un-entailed Estate of the late-Jonathan Hambly, 10th Earl of Banfield, be advised that your attendance is urgently required at the reading of his lordship’s Last Will & Testament, to take place on November 1st of this year at Castle Keyvnor in Bocka Morrow, Cornwall.
Regards,
Mr. Timothy Hunt, Esq. 

When the late-Earl of Banfield’s distant relations descend upon Bocka Morrow, they’ll find gypsies, witches, pixies, smugglers, and one very haunted castle. And if they’re lucky, they might just fall in love while they’re there. 

LADY GHOST AND LORD DEATH: A LOVE STORY
Hal Mort, Viscount Blackwater, visits Keyvnor Castle in the company of friends and atop his new stallion. How was he to know that ghosts awaited him? Hal does not believe in ghosts. Unfortunately for Hal, the ghosts take an interest in him. One ghost wants to see him married to the lovely Lady Morgan. Another ghost is just as determined to see him slip the noose. As the ghosts work their supernatural magic, Hal can't determine if the intense attraction he feels for Morgan is coming from him or from them. And after a few magical kisses, he's not sure he cares.

BETH CAUDILL will read from ENCHANTRESS' DESTINY...

In a land ruled by magic, can two elves break a dark curse and forge a new destiny together?

She’s a lonely elven princess whose betrothed shunned her to avoid a dark fate. But now, honor demands he return to save his family, even in the face of fatal temptation and the culmination of an arcane prophecy.

Clairessa Bellehaven may be a princess, but she’s also the loneliest elf in Wildeloch. She spends her days analyzing spell books, and her nights dreaming of someone to share her life. This seems unlikely, after her betrothed, Prince Rowe deserted her and her latest beau betrayed her trust. Surely just one night of passion with a handsome elf will do no harm … that is, unless the Goddess finds out.

Rowe Calder, elf clan prince, can no longer delay returning home if he is to save his family’s livelihood. But once there, he finds himself under the spell of his lovely bondmate, Princess Clairessa—the woman destined to cause his death. He’s a powerful elvish prince, surely he dares risk one tryst with her. 

But there is no hiding from the vindictive curse cast long ago. Rowe will have to fight for the safety of everyone he loves, including Clairessa. And Clairessa must use the most powerful spell of all to save her prince—love. Will it be enough when the dark elf comes to claim a soul?

JENNIFER LOHMANN will read from YOU HAD ME AT CHRISTMAS... 

What’s better than a little romance at Christmas? 

Five romances at Christmas! 

Snowbound friends become lovers. Enemies discover they mean far more to each other than they ever dreamed. A marriage in trouble is saved, and strangers find connection in delicious encounters... It’s Christmas, and everything is possible. 

TWELVE KISSES UNTIL CHRISTMAS 
Escaping her abusive father and small hometown to follow her dreams takes money Selina Lumina doesn't have. After a millionaire software developer offers her a ride out of town, she has to decide whether to follow her aspirations or take a chance at love. Could a snowbound night on the road turn into a Christmas miracle?

JD ALLEN will read from GRASSHOPPERS found in MURDER UNDER THE OAKS ...

Winner of the 2016 Anthony Award for Best Anthology or Collection!

MWA Grand Master Margaret Maron, Edgar Award-winner Tom Franklin, and New York Times bestselling novelist Ron Rash headline a new anthology of 21 tales spanning from traditional detective stories to comic capers to darkest noir and more — something for all tastes. 

MURDER UNDER THE OAKS is published in conjunction with Bouchercon, the World Mystery Convention, held in 2015 in Raleigh, North Carolina — the City of Oaks. As with the convention itself, the anthology spreads a broad canopy across a wide range of crime writers from across the country and around the world — including both veteran writers and the brightest up-and-coming talents in the field. Several of the stories in MURDER UNDER THE OAKS draw on the region’s history and culture — including the birth of a secret society at the University of Virginia, a mystery from Edgar Allan Poe’s childhood days, and a series of less-than-welcome visits by everyone’s favorite hometown sheriff. 

All participants contributed their efforts to support our charity — the Wake County Public Libraries — and by extension readers and writers everywhere. ALL PROFITS GO TO THE LIBRARY SYSTEM. 

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This August...

Join us for another lively Lady Jane's Salon Raleigh-Durham at Cafe Carolina at the Arboretum this month to hear...

Lady Jane's Salon RDU's own CLAUDIA DAIN will read from her latest Regency - TAMING MISS GREY from her More Courtesan Chronicles series...

Elizabeth Grey came to England under loud protest. Elizabeth's aunt, Sophia Dalby turned a deaf ear to it. Elizabeth's twin brother, George Grey, allowed her to come to England under (nearly) silent protest. What kind of girl doesn't want a London Season? An Iroquois girl from the deep woods of New York, a girl with an abiding distrust of all things English. 

Lord Raithby is a very English gentleman with an excessive love of horses and only horses. Only child to a widowed earl, it is his duty to marry, and he will, someday, to someone suitable. Miss Grey is most unsuitable. Miss Grey is a wild, ill-behaved, untamed Indian from the wilds of America. Miss Grey is a girl who has no use for him, even after he kisses her. Especially after he kisses her. 

Miss Grey wants taming. Lord Raithby is determined to be the Englishman who tames the savage Miss Grey. What could go wrong?

NANCY YOUNG joins us to read from her debut suspense SEEING THINGS...

When Mary Catherine finds herself trapped teaching students who'd rather text than compose, placating a husband who'd prefer to surf porn than indulge in real sex, and nurturing a teen that wants to be left alone with his earbuds, she bails―not to gobble pasta in Italy or to embark on a road trip with a cadre of kooky females. She divorces, moves to a haunted mansion in Philadelphia’s blue-blooded Main Line, and unwittingly takes up ghost hunting.

Snarky, overeducated Mary Catherine confronts her buried past and Tony, the sexy and persistent tech support for a reality show dedicated to debunking hauntings.  Humor, passion, and terror mix in a spine-chilling, life-affirming tale of a woman's twisted path to self-discovery.

And finally, HILDIE McQUEEN will share her Western Historical THE WIDOW'S CHOICE: THE BRIDES OF COLTER VALLEY...

Comely widow Charlotte (Charlie) Kennedy is in over her head. Between running a huge ranch and keeping a cruel rancher at arms length, she doesn't need the added distraction of romance.

Colter Valley calls to Rafe Preston, who decides to purchase land and settle there. When he accepts a temporary job at a beautiful widow's ranch, he has no idea how much it will impact his plans.

Passion, deception and treachery, blend into a beautiful love story, set in 1860s Montana Territory.

Fall in Love at this Month's Salon...

New York Times bestselling author CATHY MAXWELL will read from THE BRIDE SAYS MAYBE from her Brides of Wishmore series...

Lady Tara Davidson had once been the toast of London, but now scandal has brought her down.  Still, pretty, petted Tara can't believe her new fate  She had wanted to marry for love, but her father has promised her hand to none other than Breccan Campbell, the "Beast of Aberfeldy" and laird of the valley's most despised clan.  

Breccan Campbell is nobody's fool.  He knows that Tara is trouble.  Yet he is determined to reform the Campbell name even if it means forging an alliance with the arrogant beauty.  Still, since the first moment he laid eyes on her, he has wanted her, and not just in name only.   But can any woman truly fall in love with a man they call the Beast?

* * *

CATHERINE GAYLE will read from TAKING A SHOT, the latest novella in her Portland Storm series...

Katie Weber has lost her health due to leukemia, and now her chemotherapy treatments have taken her hair. She’s not about to show up to her senior prom bald and let her classmates steal her dignity, too. Prom is no place for a girl who looks more like an alien than a high school student, especially when her so-called friends all dropped her like she had the plague at the first mention of the word cancer. Katie could never get up the courage to ask Jamie—her crush for almost two years, ever since he joined her dad’s pro hockey team—to take her. Not with the way she looks now. Besides, her dad would absolutely murder him.

Jamie Babcock knows its bad news to fall for his Portland Storm teammate’s daughter, but he’s had a thing for Katie since the first time he met her when he was just a wide-eyed, eighteen-year-old rookie. Now cancer might take her away before he ever grows the balls to do anything about it, though. Her father won’t be happy about it, but Jamie has to take a shot and ask to take her to her prom. It seems like Katie has just about given up, and he can’t let her go without giving her some good memories…something to hold on to. She’s still got her whole life ahead of her—she just has to keep living it. If he can convince her of that, nothing her father might do to him will matter.

* * *

And Lady Jane's Salon Raleigh-Durham's own USAToday bestselling author CLAUDIA DAIN will read from TAMING MISS GREY, her new More Courtesan Chronicles release...

Miss Elizabeth Grey is an Iroquois maiden, though there are rumors in London regarding her maiden status. What is not at all in doubt is her relationship to Lady Dalby (her aunt), her feelings about England (she hates it) and her fascination with Lord Raithby. Of course, being a savage from the wilds of upstate New York (to quote Raithby's father), she reveals her fascination by first kissing Raithby and then snarling at him, and then kissing him again, and then coldly rejecting him. 

Raithby, for his part, is equally fascinated by Miss Grey, much to his father's alarm. Miss Grey is not countess material. Everyone agrees about that, especially Elizabeth Grey. Even Raithby has to concede the point. When he thinks about it. Which is seldom. He can't seem to remember anything of importance when staring into Miss Grey's shining black eyes. Whether her eyes are shining with humor or loathing, whether she will kiss him or pull a knife on him, he can never quite determine. But he means to find out. 

February 2013 Salon

Many thanks to our readers and guests for a fun night!

Erin Knightley reading from A Taste for Scandal

















Marquita Valentine (and her Mom) had everyone in stitches reading from Drive Me Crazy

Claudia Dain reading from A Chance Encounter from the anthology An Encounter at the Museum

We laughed all night, ladies!   Thank you for a great evening!

It's February at the Salon...

Happy Valentine's Month...

And speaking of Valentine's, this month at Lady Jane's Salon Raleigh-Durham, we're happy to have MARQUITA VALENTINE reading from her latest release DRIVE ME CRAZY, from her new Going the Distance series.

NASCAR racer, Carter Ambrose, has finally decided to take his doctor’s advice and find a new occupation before another wreck on the track kills him. Only his doctor hadn’t counted on his little sister’s best friend, Melanie Ann Smith, crashing his weeks of solitude with her short skirts and platform heels. And that’s not the least of his problems. His mother has decided that she wants grandchildren and the only woman that's good enough for the job-his ex-fiance.

Twenty-four year old Troublemaker Extraordinaire, Melanie Ann Smith, isn’t asking for much out of life: a house without wheels, to travel further than her home state and her best friend’s older brother, Carter Ambrose. Only three things stand in her way: juggling all of her odd jobs, keeping her daddy from gambling away all of their money and getting Carter to see her as a woman.

Soon Melanie and Carter agree to a temporary relationship. One with benefits that is mutually satisfying in every way, or so each believes. And just when they are ready admit their feelings, family secrets are exposed, threatening Melanie and Carter's fragile relationship.

Will Carter risk it all for love, or will Melanie be left holding the trophy for second place?

~ * ~

Up next will be ERIN KNIGHTLEY, reading from A TASTE FOR SCANDAL, her latest Sealed With a Kiss release...

A TEMPTING DIVERSION
Things have always fallen into place for Richard Moore, Earl of Raleigh. His good looks, abundance of charm, and the small matter of being heir to a marquisate make him quite the catch. So when a delectable young woman wants nothing to do with him, he can't help but seize the irresistible challenge.

AN UNLIKELY COURTSHIP
Jane Bunting knows all about responsibility—she has managed to support herself and her brother with their bakery—but she knows nothing of excitement or passion. When dashing Lord Raleigh crosses the threshold of her shop, she has no idea of the potential danger to her reputation . . . or to her heart.

AN IMPOSSIBLE MATCH
Neither imagined things would go so far—until the night their worlds collide, irrevocably changing both their lives. But when duty calls for Richard, and with everything Jane has worked for suddenly at stake, will their taste for scandal be their downfall?

~ * ~

And finally, Lady Jane's Salon Raleigh-Durham's own CLAUDIA DAIN will read from her latest Regency novella  A CHANCE ENCOUNTER which can be found in the anthology An Encounter at the Museum. (And for those of you out there who have been waiting - patiently, or otherwise - for the next installment in Claudia's Courtesan Chronicles, your wait is over!) 

Jamie Caversham is a bastard, quite literally. He is bound for Canada and a new life after one last visit to the British Museum . . .  where he meets Elizbeth Ardenzy. 

Elizabeth is betrothed (nearly), her life planned to perfection by her father. Unless a bastard convinces her her to run away to Canada first. 

Coming Soon at the May Salon...

Here is a sneak peek at what you'll hear at this month's Lady Jane's Salon Raleigh-Durham...

In DEADLY DESCENDANT, an ancient evil is unleashed in the modern world— unless one fearless P.I. can hunt it down. . . . Nikki Glass, Immortal Huntress, returns in this new novel in the acclaimed series by Jenna Black.

As a living descendant of Artemis the Huntress, private investigator Nikki Glass knows how to track someone down. But when an Oracle shows up, warning the Descendants about wild dog attacks in Washington, D.C., Nikki is afraid it might be a trap. The Olympians believe the “dogs” are really jackals, controlled by a blood-crazed descendant of the Egyptian death-god Anubis. Whatever. . . . If Nikki hopes to muzzle Dogboy, she’s got to catch him in the act. But when she stakes out a local cemetery, she ends up face-to-snout with a snarling pack of shadow-jackals whose bite is worse than their bark. These hellhounds are deadly—even for an immortal like Nikki. “Dog” spelled backward may be “god,” but that won’t stop Nikki from teaching these old gods some new tricks. Like playing dead.

~ * ~

In the mountains of Colorado, a small town called ANGEL'S END welcomes everyone with open arms—even a man fleeing his past…in Cindy Holby's new Western Inspirational. 

 Wounded and on the run, Cade Gentry stumbles into a kind man who’s on his way to become the new pastor of Angel’s End. But not long after Timothy Key takes him in, Cade’s enemies catch up with him, and the young pastor is killed in the crossfire. Cade survives, stealing Timothy’s identity to escape, and arrives in Angel’s End on the brink of death. 

 Leah Findley is the sheriff’s widow, trying to make ends meet for herself and her son. Having the new minister as a boarder will help, but she isn’t expecting him to be wounded when he arrives. And she definitely isn’t expecting the feelings that the new preacher stirs deep inside her. 

 The more time Cade spends with Leah, the deeper he falls in love. To Cade, she’s an angel who’s saved his life and given him the sense of hope he’s never known. But he’s not the man she thinks he is, and before he can find permanent shelter in Leah’s arms, he must learn to have faith and put his former sins to rest

~ * ~

When life doesn't give you sisters, make your own. Lady Jane's RDU's own Claudia Welch will read from her new Women's Fiction SORORITY SISTERS.

In 1975, trying to find a place to belong, four young women found each other in the same sorority pledge class. Through parties and pranks; finals and skipped classes; boyfriends and break-ups, they forge a bond that takes them by surprise. No one expected it to last beyond college graduation. But some bonds are too strong to break. Now they’re sisters.

And with sisters, it’s not about what happens. It’s about no matter what happens.