Authorpreneur Dashboard – Laura Parker
Caprice (The Masqueraders Series - Book 1)
Romance
In both love and war, engaging the enemy is a dangerous game. Hadrian Blackburne returns to London from the war. Thought to have been killed at Waterloo, he soon wishes he were, instead bored to tears by his unruly family and his role as Lord. He misses the spy games of Persia, where he was a master of intrigue. His attention is snared by a ravishing, veiled beauty who has swept into London’s Regency society on a cloud of exotic mystery. Who is this Princess Sultana el Djemal? Hadrian must know, even if playing the game of love could cost him body and soul. Clarissa Willoughby’s harmless deception was designed to open doors for a widow ready to shed her weeds. Once Hadrian begins his pursuit of “Sultana,” his passionate seduction makes Clarissa jealous of the exotic temptress she herself created. The game of love becomes more perilous than way when Clarissa sets out to win Hadrian’s heart, battling again his suspicions and her alter ego. "A most inventive storyteller." — RT Book Reviews
Book Bubbles from Caprice (The Masqueraders Series - Book 1)
CAPRICE -- A Masquerade for lovers
I've always been fascinated by Masquerades, which were very popular in England during the 18th and early 19th centuries. Vauxhall Pleasure Gardens was a favorite place for masqueraders, drawing aristocrat and commoner alike. That was the lure. For an evening, a pauper might dance with a duchess, each hidden behind a mask. CAPRICE is about a young widow who discovers that by donning a veil, she can release her alter ego, a sensual alluring woman who is adventurous in both love and battle, even if those skirmishes take place in the midst of a London Season. She also learns the price of such freedom when she finds herself vying for the love of lifetime against her own creation. Adventurer, warrior and ex-spy, Hadrian Blackburne proves himself to be her very worthy goal in this sexy regency romp. FOR MORE: www.lauraparkerauthor.com and www.facebook.com/lauraparkerauthor
Emerald and Sapphire (The Masqueraders Series - Book Four)
Romance
A man who lives two lives risks dying twice. "A most inventive storyteller." — RT Book Reviews He’s known as Merlyn Ross, an actor and petty thief. He’s a handsome commoner who wears a leather eyepatch, his other eye a piercing emerald green. He’s also known as the Comte de Valure, a dashing French nobleman who wears a grey wig and a silk eye patch, his other eye an chanting sapphire blue. Admired by men, adored by women, no one suspects that Merlyn and the Comte are one and the same, or that both men steal more than kisses when setting out to seduce London’s wealthiest women. But one night changes everything. Cassandra, a highborn lady, is the target of a robbery, and the victim of amnesia. Locked away as a vagrant, she is sold for one night’s pleasures to a prisoner who has been condemned to death, a man with an emerald eye. One year later, as Cassandra’s memory has been partially restored, her child, conceived on that fateful night, is being held hostage by her father-in-law. It is only here that she meets the Comte and realizes who he really is. Determined to keep the woman he fell in love with on their night together in that dark prison, Merlyn must pull off the heist of his lifetime against a formidable foe, and he must become the one singular man worthy of his one true love.
Book Bubbles from Emerald and Sapphire (The Masqueraders Series - Book Four)
It was the cat.
Where to characters come from? Merlyn Ross came to life after I met a neighbor’s new kitten. It had one brown eye and one green one. Unusual. What a great description for a character. But once seen, how to make it an essential part of a story? That would only work if the trait of the two-color eyes was a secret. An eye patch would do the trick. With a brown leather eye patch, one sees a green-eyed man. Switch eyes and a patch of black silk, the man’s gaze becomes sapphire blue. But why hide? Who hides one's identity? An actor. A thief. A man who wishes to move between the worlds of aristocrats and commoners undetected. Thus was born Merlyn Ross, an 18th century Georgian England actor, jewel thief, and master of disguise.
The Gamble (The Masqueraders Series - Book 5)
Romance
She’s ready to risk everything for a man with nothing left to lose — except his heart. "You won't be taking a gamble when you pick up Laura Parker's latest titillating romance...a sure bet to satisfy readers." — RT Book Reviews Jack Laughton was a viscount who one night traded his life of leisure in order to masquerade as a notorious highwayman: “Black Jack” Law. Nothing could touch this conniving rogue’s soul...until his eye fell upon the beauty whose stagecoach he attempted to rob. Now he is willing to do anything to make this alluring woman his — even abandon his wicked ways. Sabrina Lindsay has a knack for defying social conventions. Her endless escapades in London society have enraged her guardian who wants nothing more than to marry her off to a prominent nobleman. But it will take much more than threats to bend Sabrina’s stubborn will. Sabrina vows to do whatever it takes to save her brother Kit, imprisoned by their guardian to insure her obedience...even if that means making a pact with the devil himself, “Black Jack” Law. It’s a gamble when the dazzling and daring Sabrina and the handsome rogue Jack join together, but the true risk comes when it’s her heart he’s trying to steal.
Book Bubbles from The Gamble (The Masqueraders Series - Book 5)
Highwaymen and Rogues
17th and 18th century England was plagued with highwaymen who roamed the empty countryside, needing only to wait for a lonely rider or an unaccompanied carriage to appear on a dark stretch of road. Most often the highwaymen were only after money and jewels. They seldom harmed the passengers, for that would bring the full force of the military to bear among them. Many were former soldiers who had returned from one of England's many wars to find no work. But some were bored gentlemen, or the rare aristocrat, out for an adventure more dangerous and thrilling than a night at a gaming den or a bordello. One's life was on the line, for many victims did fight back. Yet the thrill of the hunt, and the revealing of a coin bag from a smug gentleman, perhaps someone known to the thief, had it's joys. And women, mercy, many of them thought it wonderfully reckless and adventurous for a man to emerge from darkness and in all gallantry, relieve my lady of her jewels, if not her virtue.
Mischief (The Masqueraders Series - Book 2)
Romance
One night of passion can build a world. One memory can tear it down. "A captivating Cinderella story from the pen of a marvelous writer." — RT Book Reviews As Napoleon invades Persia, clever but shy Japonica Fortmon is chosen by the ailing English Viscount Shrewsbury to arrange his escape from Baghdad. To get him out, Japonica must enlist the aid of the infamous Hind Div, a man as mysterious as he is ruthless. Whispered to be a spy, an assassin, and even a sorcerer, Hind Div agrees to help Fortmon, and all it will cost her is a night of passion. A year later and the war is over. Freshly widowed Japonica arrives in England, wishing only to settle her unruly step-daughters with Devlyn Sinclair, the new Viscount, and to return to France, and the son conceived on that one night of surrender. She is stunned to recognize the new Viscount, for he is none other than Hind Div, only scarred by war and missing any memory of the merciless man he once was. If his memory returns, he could claim back his son and destroy Japonica. She must live with this man who once ignited her passions, and has started to once more, and to restore to him a sense of pride, of honor, of identity, even if it costs her everything.
Book Bubbles from Mischief (The Masqueraders Series - Book 2)
MISCHIEF
"Say what you will, 'tis better to be left than never to have been loved." William Congreve One thing my heroines share is the desire to live fully. Most often they aren't looking for love. They are seeking a place in the world where they can breathe and be themselves. Sometimes, they are surprised to learn, as Japonica does in MISCHIEF, that they are freebooters at heart, adventurous and determined, and willing to put themselves in harms way in order to do the right thing. When it comes to love, they are often as perplexed by it as the men they attract. But once they embrace it, watch out! I find that kind of love story more entertaining than those of virgins or vixens.
Rose of the Mists
Literature & Fiction
A curse becomes a legend! A child of mysterious birth, Meghan O’Neill is, her Irish kinsmen say, is a changeling left by the fairies who marked her with a rose-red birthmark. Shunned by her own people, Meghan’s destiny is to live under a cloud of suspicion and fear. The morning she saves the life of handsome Revelin Butler her life irrevocably changes. Set against backdrop of the ferocious struggle between Elizabethan England and the Irelands’ feudal lords, Meghan and Revelin risk all for a love that will change a curse into a legend to be remembered down through the ages.
Book Bubbles from Rose of the Mists
Galloglasses, the Pale,
Nearly one hundred years after the Norman Invasion of England, the Normans crossed the Irish Sea. To counter this invasion, Irish Chieftains imported and settled on their lands families from the far north of Scotland and the Isles. These were families of professional soldiers who were highly skilled and heavily armed. They were called galloglasses: foreign fighters These skilled soldiers, along with the heartless Black Death, helped the Irish to drive the Normans back to a narrow strip on the eastern shore of Ireland around Dublin that came to be known as the Pale. "Beyond the Pale," coined by the English in the 14th century, came to mean crossing into Gaelic Ireland; tantamount to leaving behind all rules and institutions of society, which the English considered synonymous with civilization itself. The Irish, while not perfectly happy with this arrangement that left any invaders on their soil, thrived. Within a few generations, the remaining Hiberno-Norman lords had intermarried and become so fond of their adopted homeland that the horrified English referred to them as 'more Irish than the Irish themselves.' Revelin Butler, my hero, is the product of such a family: the earldom of Ormand or Butlers.
Rose of the Mists
Literature & Fiction
A curse becomes a legend! A child of mysterious birth, Meghan O’Neill is, her Irish kinsmen say, a changeling left by the fairies who marked her with a rose-red birthmark. Shunned by her own people, Meghan’s destiny is to live under a cloud of suspicion and fear. The morning she saves the life of handsome Revelin Butler her life irrevocably changes. Set against the backdrop of the ferocious struggle between Elizabethan England and Ireland’s feudal lords, Meghan and Revelin risk all for a love that will change a curse into a legend to be remembered down through the ages.
Book Bubbles from Rose of the Mists
The Twilight Lords
The Idea for THE ROSE TRILOGY, a series of historical romances set in Ireland, came to me in the stacks of a library. I love to stand in the aisles, surrounded by books, and let my eyes roam over titles, covers and subjects I wouldn't ordinarily know about. The book that caught my eye and made me lift it from the shelf was called THE TWILIGHT LORDS by Richard Berleth. The title intrigued me. If that wasn't enough, the subtitle clinched it for me: The fierce, doomed struggle of the last great feudal Lords of Ireland against the England of Elizabeth I. I had to know more. 16th Ireland was a vastly different place than the Ireland most of us know about. It was wild, covered with dense forests, and the Irish Clans ruled in ways that were in direct conflict with the English way of thinking about everything from ownership to society to superstitious beliefs. It was a long struggle and valiant Irish won many battles. I set my story at a point in history when they were winning. I had my conflict and a colorful background for a great story.
A Rose in Splendor
Romance
Once in Many Generations Does a Woman of the Fitzgerald Clan Bear the Mark -- and the Gift--of the Rose. Years before in Ireland, seven-year-old, Deirdre dreamed about a handsome young man with hair as dark as a raven's wing and eyes as blue as the summer sky. Not long after, she discovered a wounded young man hiding in her father’s stables and helped hide him from the English troops. Though her family scoffed at her declaration, Deirdre knew this stranger was destined to be her one true love. Now Deirdre is a beautiful headstrong young woman who lives in exile in France with her father, Lord Fitzgerald. Men desire her and women envy her, yet Deirdre remains true to her youthful dream of love. She will wait, forever, if need be. Finally, a fierce Irishman by the name of MacShane rides into her life, bringing danger, thrilling adventure, and the promise of ecstasy. ’Tis a pity he’s scarred and hunted and despised. She cannot have him…so they say. However, Deirdre is touched by fairy luck…the mark of the rose on her shoulder. When Destiny sends them back to Ireland, she will fight for her man, in pursuit of a glorious love the world would deny.
Book Bubbles from A Rose in Splendor
The Flight
Ochon and Ochon! when the tidings traveled forth That our chiefs had sailed in sorrow from the glens of the North; Ochon and Ochon! how our souls grew sore afraid, And our love followed after in the track your keel has made! -from "The Four Winds of Eirinn"
The Secret Rose
Romance
Aisleen Fitzgerald flees a troubled past in Ireland when she sets sail for Australia. Her life has always been clouded by the legend of a rose-shaped birthmark on her hip, which marked her for a destiny as brilliant as those of her distant ancestors. Yet her “gift” failed when her heartless father commanded her to use it to save their beloved home, Liscarrol Castle. Now she is daring to dream of adventure, of excitement, and glory. What she dare not believe is that love awaits her in the blaze of a stranger’s deep blue eyes. Joined in marriage with an Irish sheep rancher as untamed as the Outback, Aisleen must find a way back to being the wild-haired lass of her youth. Only then will she learn in his tempestuous embraces the secret of the legacy of the Rose.
Book Bubbles from The Secret Rose
Australia!
The saying goes that reading about a place is the next best thing to being there. With the help of friends, I was able to “visit” Australia. Thanks to Laurie Smart, a delightful Australian native living in the U.S., who lent me books and shared her perception of her country with me. A very special “I couldn't have done it without you!” salute to Pat Bradford, an American living in Melbourne, who provided me with wonderfully informative letters, maps, and books that made all the difference Thanks to Joe Strickland, who cared enough about the project to find an Australian link for me. Sing of old Eire and the ancient ways: Red Rose, proud Rose, sad Rose of all my days. —To the Rose upon the Rood of Time W. B. Yeats
Beguiled (The Masqueraders Series - Book Three)
Romance
In the darkest hours of her life, disgraced heiress Philadelphia Hunt is approached by a handsome stranger, a Brazilian jewel-miner named Eduardo Tavares. He makes an outrageous proposition—disguise herself and join him in a devious con to swindle America’s upper crust out of their riches. Philadelphia is desperate, and intrigued, by both this enchanting stranger and his promises of her return to high society. But a deeper masquerade is afoot. Little does Philadelphia know that the man responsible for her father’s disgrace and suicide is Eduardo himself, the very man in whose arms she is discovering the scorching heat of desire. And little does Eduardo know that Philadelphia’s thirst for vengeance cannot be quenched. Nor can their passion, as secrets and betrayals set this pair of lovers on a path that will lead to a new life—or to their destruction…
Book Bubbles from Beguiled (The Masqueraders Series - Book Three)
Tall, dark and -oh-so-handsome!
They say that confession is good for the soul,. Well... I often fall a little in love with my heroes while I'm telling their stories. It's like a girlhood crush: intense, sweet, and brief. Yet I must confess, Eduardo Tavares completely stole my heart! Classically tall, dark and -oh-so-handsome; Eduardo is one of my most romantic and sexy creations. And because the best deserves the best, I offer him to you for your pleasure and entertainment.
