**** ****** Choose A Book --- THE CYNSTERS Devil's Bride A Rake's Vow Scandal's Bride A Rogue's Proposal A Secret Love All About Love All About Passion The Promise in a Kiss On A Wild Night On A Wicked Dawn The Perfect Lover The Ideal Bride The Truth About Love What Price Love? The Taste of Innocence --- THE BASTION CLUB Captain Jack's Woman The Lady Chosen A Gentleman's Honor A Lady of His Own A Fine Passion To Distraction Beyond Seduction The Edge of Desire --- ADAIR'S CASEBOOK Where The Heart Leads --- THE REGENCIES Tangled Reins Four in Hand Impetuous Innocent Fair Juno The Reasons For Marriage A Lady Of Expectations An Unwilling Conquest A Comfortable Wife --- NOVELLAS Melting Ice Rose In Bloom Scandalous Lord Dere Lost & Found The Fall of Rogue Gerrard ...

FROM THE WRITER'S DESK STEPHANIE'S MONTHLY NEWSLETTER

1st July, 2009.

Hello! It's freezing here! And over in North America you're basking in summer. We're bracing for snow, hail, sleet - the lot - so you can understand that I'm looking forward to jumping on a plane shortly and winging my way over to the US for my annual trek to publishing's heartland (New York) and then to the Romance Writers' of America national conference, this year in Washington DC.

I'll also be spending some time in Boonsboro, MD, signing at Turn The Page Bookstore with Nora Roberts and Linda Howard (see the bookstore's website for more details), as well as a short trip up to Ann Arbor, which will end with an evening event at Nicola's Bookstore. See the Engagement section (Index Page and scroll down) for details of these two signings, as well as the huge booksigning in Washington itself - the Romance Writers of America Literacy Booksigning, where more than 500 romance authors will be gathered in one room - and all proceeds go to literacy.

If you can join me at any of the above events, please do. I can guarantee you won't be disapppointed! Bar unforeseeable and unprecendented disasters, there will be something very special available for fans at the signings above. And no, it's not just a booklet on the Black Cobra Quartet, although I will have those available, too. And no, I can't say anything more - come join me and you'll be smiling.

For my North American readers, from July 3rd you can hear how I accidentally fell into romance writing in a short radio interview on Accidental Radio on author Wendy Wax's website (www.authorwendywax.com/radio.cfm). Readers in other countries may or may not be able to access it, too.

But now on to the books, and what's coming up. First cab off the rank is the novel you've all been waiting for - Dalziel's story!

COMING ON 28TH JULY - MASTERED BY LOVE - is the book in which Royce Varisey, aka Dalziel, meets his match - and finally comes face to face with the Last Traitor. The is the last, final, capping volume of the Bastion Club novels. The reviews are rolling in (shown with the cover on the Home Page) and the verdict seems to be pretty unanimous, summed up by Gloria Gehres on The Romance Connection: "MASTERED BY LOVE is what historical romance is all about!" I love reading comments like that - makes me feel I did my job, which is always nice.

The excerpt is now up on this site, along with the blurb, numerous reviews, and the cover (link is on the MASTERED BY LOVE bookpage - to reach that click on the cover onthe Home page or anywhere else you see it). The cover is actually a magenta foil - the metallic foil makes it scan much darker than it actually is. This book will be on the shelves at the end of July, 2009. Yes, it will be a month early!

Now a WARNING as per the note on the Home Page. This book is liable to be in short supply in many outlets. Please read the note on the Home Page for further information.

ON 29TH SEPTEMBER - the paperback edition of TEMPTATION AND SURRENDER - will go out on the shelves, 4 whole months earlier than usual! The paperback cover is a gorgeous gold - it'll be up on site next month. It's quite unlike the hardcover cover currently on the Home Page. This latest Cynster novel is Lucifer Cynster's brother-in-law, Jonas Tallent's story, #15 of the Cynster novels, and it takes us back to Colyton, to that sleepy little village where Lucifer and Phyllida are bringing up their little boys. At the beginning of the story, Jonas has a problem - the village inn, which his family owns, has no innkeeper, and is in dire need of one. Then Miss Emily Beauregard turns up at his door, applying for the position, and in no mood to be refused. Yet from that moment on, nothing goes quite as either of them plan, for Emily has a secret, and Jonas is bound and determined to uncover it...along with the alluring Miss Beauregard herself. Toss in a little mystery, and a dark and dangerous villain, a treasure buried somewhere in the village with only a cryptic family rhyme to lead them to it, and there's soon plenty of action, passion and drama stirring up sleepy little Colyton - much to the villagers' delight. You can use the hardcover cover to click through to the bookpage and from there to the Excerpt to get a little taste of what's coming in the book.

AND THEN....(DRUM ROLL)

ON 27TH OCTOBER - the first volume of THE BLACK COBRA QUARTET - THE UNTAMED BRIDE. Like the Bastion Club novels, these novels will be paperback originals. In the first volume, the action takes us back to Somersham Place, where the six Cynster cousins and Chillingworth, along with their wives and families, are gathered to celebrate the Christmas of 1822 - and to assist an old colleague to get a critically important piece of evidence to Royce, Duke of Wolverstone, aka Dalziel.

Much more information on THE BLACK COBRA QUARTET will be up on this site in August. In this special project, the first six Cynster couples, and Chillingworth and his Francesca, combine with the couples of the Bastion Club led by Royce and Minerva, to assist four honorable men to avenge a late colleague and rid the world and their country of a villain of the blackest kind.

AND AS A VERY SPECIAL CHRISTMAS GIFT for all my readers, a fully updated version of "The World of Stephanie Laurens Booklet" will be bound in the back of the first book of the quartet, THE UNTAMED BRIDE, so that everyone who buys the book will get the booklet, too.

For those readers who like to know, the other 3 volumes of THE BLACK COBRA QUARTET will all be released in 2010. The final volume will be a very special Christmas release next year, as the story ends with combined Cynster and Bastion Club Christmas celebrations. Lots of fun and excitement to look forward to.

The downloadable version of "The World of Stephanie Laurens" has currently vanished into cyberspace. It will be replaced by the updated version soon.

A SPECIAL NOTE FOR E-BOOK READERS: My original 8 Regency historical novels published by Harlequin are now all available from Fictionwise. I understand that two are in a 2-in-1 titled Season for Scandal, but the others are all listed under their original titles.

Do remember that each new, not-previously-published paperback (like MASTERED BY LOVE) keeps its original cover, which includes the stepback, for only a limited time before being given a "World" cover to fit into the "World" look, so if you want the full art to add to your collection you need to make sure you get each book when it first comes out in paperback.

For my audio "readers" - the first five Bastion Club novels are now available, unabridged, from Recorded Books. They are narrated by Jill Tanner. The rest of the unabridged Bastion Club novels are definitely in the works, although as usual I have no idea of exactly when they will be released. Recorded Books are also continuing to work their way through the unabridged Cynster novels, and are currently finishing What Price Love? which for some reason they'd missed. And I recently received their unabridged version of WHERE THE HEART LEADS with the delicious Simon Prebble as narrator. Please note: I have been advised that TEMPTATION AND SURRENDER will be released (sometime) as an unabridged audio from Recorded Books, narrated by Simon Prebble! Huge relief all around, I'm sure.

Now a few quick Q&As:

In addition to the the Cynster connections and elders, the following gentlemen have stories coming - sometime - Timothy Danvers, Viscount Breckenridge, from The Ideal Bride, James Glossup from The Perfect Lover, Neville Roscoe from The Edge of Desire, Heathcote Montague from more stories than I can count, Lord Justin Vaux from The Edge of Desire, Jeremy Carling from A Lady Chosen, Fabien Morduant from The Promise in a Kiss, and a few others whose names are suppressed the better to surprise you. Their stories will come!

Regarding Augusta (nee Cynster) she makes numerous appearances in both Cynster and Bastion Club novels as the Marchioness of Huntly, a major hostess, occasionally further identified as Helena's sister-in-law. Edward, Augusta's son, is not a Cynster in any way - he takes after his father, who is relatively dull and boring, and Edward naturally spends his time more with his paternal relatives than his maternal cousins. As he is not a Cynster, he doesn't appear in the Family Tree (he was added for The Promise in a Kiss because he was mentioned in it, and we forgot to remove him for a few more books, but as he's not a Cynster he has no claim to just be dangling there). His sister - the child Augusta was expecting in The Promise in a Kiss - is Marjorie.

For those who haven't realized, the Cynsters and their associates appear in the background of the Bastion Club novels, and in some cases vice versa - the two groups of novels are not separate but rather are two perspectives on the same group within society, the same "world" - "The World of Stephanie Laurens."

Please note: Various 2-in-1 editions of some of my books will continue to appear in various outlets - these are reissues. You will never find new, first time in print books of mine in a 2-in-1 format. Yet for some, a 2-in-1 may be the first time you've seen some of these stories, so if you come across them and don't have them, the 2-in-1 is a cost-effective way of picking them up.

And yes, there are still 5 Cynster girls' stories to come, plus numerous connections, and there'll be more tales from the Casebook of Barnaby Adair coming along to entertain you as well, so you have lots, lots more to look forward to.

My release schedule for 2009/2010 reads:

JANUARY 27TH , 08 - WHERE THE HEART LEADS (paperback) - the story of Barnaby Adair, and the lady who captures his attention, his imagination, and finally his heart. First volume in the Casebook of Barnaby Adair.

FEBRUARY 24TH, 09 - TEMPTATION AND SURRENDER (hardcover) - the story of Jonas Tallent, Lucifer Cynster's brother-in-law, his innkeeper-manager and a treasure hunt that turns deadly.

JULY 28TH, 09 - MASTERED BY LOVE (paperback) -#8 and the very last of the Bastion Club novels, Dalziel's - Royce Varisey's -story.

SEPTEMBER 29TH, 09 - TEMPTATION AND SURRENDER (paperback) - the story of Jonas Tallent, Lucifer Cynster's brother-in-law, his innkeeper-manager and a treasure hunt that turns deadly.

OCTOBER 27TH, 09 - THE BLACK COBRA QUARTET #1: THE UNTAMED BRIDE (paperback) - first volume in the quartet, including the fully updated booklet, "The World of Stephanie Laurens."

JANUARY 26TH, 2010 - THE BLACK COBRA QUARTET #2: THE ELUSIVE BRIDE (paperback) - second volume in the quartet

Volumes #3 and #4 in THE BLACK COBRA QUARTET will also be released during 2010.

We will always keep this website and this letter up-to-date with all my latest news.

For those who have emailed, thank you for taking the time to drop me a note.

I hope you all enjoy reading my works as much as I enjoy writing them.

Best wishes and happy holidays!

Stephanie

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