Cerise DeLand's Bon Bons! Nibbles about history, travels and research!

Titles of romances are getting goofy! What do you think of....

2026-06-05T14:26:33.147-05:00

Duchess, Countess, Butler, Duke which is sort of a take off of Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy?

Or should that read (because the hero is a duke): Grandma, Auntie, the Duke and I???

Or since my hero, the duke, looked differently than he does now when young, could the title be: The Frog and I?

Yes, I am writing romcoms these days for shorter works. And the title should fit, yes?

Tell me what you think of these!

No more statements please about HistRom "dead" and no good authors writing it these days!

2026-05-11T17:37:00.003-05:00

Get over yourself and do not ask me that. In fact, do not ask any reader who loves historical romance.

Yes, I can see that the person who asked this has a fave author. Maybe a few.

So do I. Each one, for different reasons too. One is eloquent and has nifty plots. One writes crisp, clean prose. All observe good rules of historical fiction.

But to ask the general readership if all HistRom is dead because you, the writer of that post or blog, have not discovered an author lately whose work you love? Because you proclaim only those authors who are traditionally published have the goods you desire?

Really? You need to get out more. Read more widely. Take a chance. Get out of your rut. You have not delved into the wealth of goodies among the indie self-published crowd. You are reading the same plots among certain 'Popular authors' who write with elementary vocabulary or the same plot of 'tropes' which are really 'cliches'.

There is a gold mine of beautiful, elegantly written and accurately posed historical romance everywhere. It is not expensive. It is available for your tablet. It can take you to Rome or Paris, Civil War America or China in the Regency era. And so much more! Yes, there is a lot of it. Yes, at first you may not like it all because you have trained your brain to like only (pick one) a virgin and a rogue, a pirate and another virgin, a debutante who wishes to ruin herself, a broad who loses it hourly and acts like she lives in the 21st century and a man whose virtues begin with the ability to spread her thighs over his dinner table.

But do get out there and discover new writers. New periods. New books. You will no longer assume HistRom is dead, after it brings variety, color, drama and romance into your life.

Because...well, to be honest....

We desperately need a citizenry who loves to read. Everything. Often.

Who is your neighbor, sir? The Bourbon heir to the throne? The devil, you say! (He was!)

2026-04-29T14:21:00.000-05:00

The things you learn writing Regency romance?

Here is the house in London at 72 S. Audley Street where the immigrant and refugee from the TERROR, Bourbon Comte d'Artois, lived just houses away 1805-1814 from my hero and heroine in Lord Halsey's Tempestuous Minx, who reside at 16 S. Audley!

They should visit, shouldn't they? But only if our hero and heroine like this man.

Truly, most didn't.

Not even the French who had him as their king for 6 years, then revolted again and forced him out. Known as Charles X, this fellow was charming to his friends, but politically he was a reactionary, reversing so many of the changes wrought by the revolutions of 1789, and the various dictates of those rulers who succeeded the monarchy.

Lord Halsey's Tempestuous Minx is coming soon to your tablet!

Have you heard the one about the butler who saves his very ditsy employer? He and she have a new look!

2026-02-21T17:23:00.005-06:00

Many years on the shelf often mean a new look for a book is a great idea! Here for my romcom series, DELIGHTFUL DOINGS IN DUDLEY CRESCENT, are the first 3 new covers in an expanded 6-book event!

Always a bit of fun, an employer and her servant can get down to it...and here they do.

Book 1: She's a liar...but he doesn't care!

Book 2: She had him at "hello!"

Book 3: She could run...but from him she could not hide!

Killing historical romance? Who? and why?

2026-02-08T12:56:00.002-06:00

The announcement that Harlequin Historical Romance is ending this line is another blow to the romance industry. Just as mass market books are dying, so too is this line that was a mainstay of the romance market.

True, much of that readership is disappearing. Moving on, statistics tell us, to romantsy and/or video games, young readers want drama and action, a diversion from reality.

But is the value of historical romance, historical mystery and historical fiction in general debatable?

I say no. In an age where historical fact and precedent are attacked, any representation of the past that edifies in the most minor way is vital. And here I add a few photos of mine from research trips, the minutia of which have in one way or another found their way into my novels!

The beer barrel approximately

30 feet high in Heidelberg Schloss!

Napoleon's bedroom, Palais Rohan, Strasbourg

Me at the Pont Alexandre, Paris, with my Pink Bag full of reader goodies!

Dining Room of Syon House,

Richmond

A new housekeeper for Christmas? This man has a problem! Video! Excerpt!

2025-12-30T13:19:00.001-06:00

Excerpt, HIS MERRY HOUSEKEEPER, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Copyright Cerise DeLand, 2025.

Tio’s bedroom was very warm when Winn stirred. Realizing she could not sit up and that she was in Bettington’s embrace, she sank back down. From this cozy cocoon, she could see that Tio still slept, his little mouth open, his arms wide. She did not move as the fragrance of lemon and sandalwood permeated her being. Bettington had always smelled of springtime and solidity. She ached to belong to him. Never wished to part from him.
She burrowed into his strong essence. Suddenly, his fingers were in her hair, pushing back her long tendrils from her cheek and her throat.
“My dearest Winn,” he breathed against her lips, “this is how I have wanted you near me, so close one to the other, united in all we do.”
Her head cradled in the crook of his arm, she did not move but, as once she had last summer, she crossed the distance that separated them and put her lips to his. Once again, she was met, not with his surprise this time, but with his fire and his fierce claim of countless kisses.
She did not stop but went, careless to the consequences, her nails clutching at the heavy silk of his banyan. He sent kisses down her throat, across the exposed expanse of her simple muslin gown. Ignited by his flames, she wanted only his possession.
He cupped her cheek. His sky blue eyes devoured her in a look of love. “Winn, my darling. I want to marry you.”
This could make her life divine. To be his in word and deed would be all she ever asked for in this world. “Sweet man. That cannot be. You are an earl.”
“That is a title granted to a distant man. Who knows if he ever wanted it or was even happy of it.”
She pulled herself to sanity. “Whoever he was, whatever he wanted, you have it as your own. Rules come with that. Rules long standing among your peers.”
His fingers in her hair, he did not look into her eyes. “My days are not consumed with the duties of my title. I live here in London, but the work I have done over the years to manage the land and the tenants is very good. I have ensured the prosperity of my estate. I now have time for politics for bills I know are important to Britain’s integrity.”
She shook her head. Confused.
“What’s more, I have lived here in London but each time I go to the Grange, I have learned to enjoy my days more than I ever have before. I value you and each moment with you more.”
“Impossible. You do not know me.”
He seized her hand. “But I do. I know you like to read and dance. I know you carry a tune very well. You play the piano with a modicum of accomplishment.”
“Don’t be too kind.” She grimaced at him.
He gave a laugh. “My darling Winn, I know you love your friends, like our Bridgette. I know you love my boys. I know you love children.” A fond light appeared in his large blue eyes. “I want to give you many children.”
Burning with a blush, she tried to rise.
But he would not let her go.
“That…that is risqué,” she blurted, but a chuckle escaped.
He grinned. “You see? You want my babies. I know you do. I love you, Winn,” he whispered. “I love your humor and your wit. I love your joy of living. I love your—”
She pushed up and away from him.
BUY LINK: https://books2read.com/MerryBelles

LURE was a delight to write because it had a real historical fluke to work with!

2025-12-27T13:14:00.001-06:00

Napoleon ordered an invasion of England’s southern coast in the summer of 1805. Preparing for air, land and sea assault, he had all kinds of weaponry made. Hot air balloons, tunnnel digging machinery and a flotilla of amphibious landing gear similar to what you see in film of D-Day soldiers on flat-bottom boats evacuating into the open waves.

The French emperor had wanted such an invasion for many years. He encouraged his admirals to strike British shipping, naval and commercial. But he was met with defeat many times.
Bemoaning his admirals’ “whining and delays”, he pushed them into conflicts they could not win. For a show of strength, he assembled 200,000 soldiers of his Grand Army in Boulogne along the Normandy coast and held maneuvers with soldiers shouting and chanting, taunting their enemy across the waves.
The noise carried across the Channel and sent thousands of English residents fleeing with their possessions.

Against this reality, my latest, LORD CARLISLE’S ENTICING LURE in my SCARLETT AFFAIRS series highlights this threatened invasion—amidst a romance that will thrill you with its charm and torment.

Widow Madame Giselle Laurant has fled France and the police who would throw her in La Force for her arrogance. She has a talent, a rare one. She draws landscapes to scale—and she draws them in such a way that a trained naval expert can make calculations from them.

Giselle is about to finish her set of drawings of English coastal seascapes when she meets a man she cannot resist. Clive Davenport, Marquess of Carlisle, is an advisor to the Foreign Office for naval affairs—and his desire for the lady who draws so well enflames him with a need to make her his. When he discovers that her drawings bear a certain odd characteristic, he questions if Giselle is friend or foe.

Her drawings tell him she lies. Her kisses declare she truly loves him. Can he find proof she is a French agent? If he has Giselle arrested, can he live with himself? Worse, can he live without her?

I hope you are reading my series, all of which feature hot-to the-touch romantic suspense action-adventure love stories with guaranteed happily-ever-afters.
FIND THEM HERE: https://amzn.to/4clTGvi

BEST HISTORICAL ROMANCE OF 2025! Lord Carlisle's Enticing Lure wins!

2025-12-22T17:14:00.000-06:00

I am so thrilled to win this coveted award!

I hope you read this book, enjoy the romance and the real drama.

Here is an excerpt!

LORD CARLISLE’S ENTICING LURE, Book 5, Scarlett Affairs
Spicy Historical Romantic Suspense

She’s much too carefree, too lovely, too enchanting to be a spy.
His job is to catch spies. She cannot possibly be one—and he cannot possibly love her!
****
Clive Davenport, the Marquess of Carlisle, does not fall for beautiful women. But when the dark-haired sylph he glimpsed not far from his home last winter reappears on the beach at Brighton, he cannot escape her lure. Swaying in the June breeze, she is the picture of freedom and delight in the summer sun. Then she saves his little girl from the crashing waves of the Channel waters—and constructs kites that dance in his daughter’s hands—and in his heart.

Secretive, she tells him her name is Giselle Laurant, and that she is a French émigré with a work commission she must urgently finish. Employing her special talents as an illustrator, she does not reveal that her renderings of coastal English towns have a special destination.

So falling in love with dashing Carlisle creates problems. He will not disappear. Nor does she want him to. Her past experience with an abusive husband and French police are bitter. Yet she marvels at Clive’s kisses that are so sweet, and his tender regard so alluring that she allows herself one night of surrender.

But when her foes track her, Clive is determined to save her, no matter her sympathies. No matter that he loves her to distraction.

Because Clive knows love can cure so many heartaches…if those who love have the courage to endure.

Excerpt, All rights reserved, Copyright, 2025, Cerise DeLand.

Giselle and Carlisle have attended a ball given by friends in the ballroom of the Old Ship Hotel on the Brighton Beach. She has invited him to come to her in her rooms.

Giselle flew into her rooms, flinging wide the door, anticipation thumping in her heart. She wanted this man. Silly, girlish, daring to want a man she barely knew. But he was kind and honorable. She knew that in her bones.
And he is infatuated with me.
She stood, stark still, her gaze on the square patch of hall carpet and willed him to appear. She closed her eyes and in her enchantment, saw him before her. Tall and sturdy, a bulwark against the winds and misfortunes of life, a magnificent man who appealed to every one of her senses. Silver and gold, indelibly etched on her mind as a jewel of a man.
Yes, she wanted him. He was gentleman enough to care for her reputation. He was enchanted enough to accept her invitation.
And if he doesn’t come?
Sorrow pierced her like an arrow to her chest. Well, then, if he did not come, he was kind enough to ignore her impulsiveness and save her face. They could be friends, if not lovers.
Certainly, there was that.
But in a second, there he was, standing at her door, not crossing unless she would still take him.
Joy flashed through her as she strode forward, her fists clenched on his formal black frockcoat to lead him inside.
He walked toward her, his handsome face that of a boy who asks for nothing in this world but kindness. “If you have changed your mind—”
“Non.” She pulled him toward her.
He came…like a sleepwalker, but shut the door behind him with a foot to the wood. In the next moment, she was in his arms once more. He had her up against him, her height no issue as he had her up off her feet.
His lips on hers, she clasped him tightly to her. His shoulders, his strength, the silk of his hair through her fingers, all she cared to have.
He carried her to the settee near the fireplace and sat her in his lap. She melted into him, kissing his jaw, undoing his cravat.
He cupped her cheek. “Look at me.”
She shook her head. He’d tell her to stop. Give her some reason to deny what they should be doing here.
“Sweetheart, we—”
She gulped back her sorrow that he’d leave. “You know how to kiss.”
“What?” He laughed.
She brushed her lips on his. “You are so good at kissing.”
He lifted her chin. “Darling, this art takes two. And you know how to kiss.”
“Do I ?” That shocked her.
His eyes faceted in shades of curiosity and desire. “You know how to thrill me with your lips.”
She sank closer to him. “I am so very glad.”
“And you deserve to be kissed.”
“Well,” she added with a wide-eyed glance.
“And often,” he added.
“By you.” She nuzzled his cheek.
“Only by me.”
“Oh, yes. No other. Let me,” she begged him, using his two words that sent shivers through her body, “let me have more of you.”
BUY LINK for LURE: LORD CARLISLE’S ENTICING LURE, Book 5, Scarlett Affairs
Spicy Historical Romantic Suspense

She’s much too carefree, too lovely, too enchanting to be a spy.
His job is to catch spies. She cannot possibly be one—and he cannot possibly love her!
****
Clive Davenport, the Marquess of Carlisle, does not fall for beautiful women. But when the dark-haired sylph he glimpsed not far from his home last winter reappears on the beach at Brighton, he cannot escape her lure. Swaying in the June breeze, she is the picture of freedom and delight in the summer sun. Then she saves his little girl from the crashing waves of the Channel waters—and constructs kites that dance in his daughter’s hands—and in his heart.

Secretive, she tells him her name is Giselle Laurant, and that she is a French émigré with a work commission she must urgently finish. Employing her special talents as an illustrator, she does not reveal that her renderings of coastal English towns have a special destination.

So falling in love with dashing Carlisle creates problems. He will not disappear. Nor does she want him to. Her past experience with an abusive husband and French police are bitter. Yet she marvels at Clive’s kisses that are so sweet, and his tender regard so alluring that she allows herself one night of surrender.

But when her foes track her, Clive is determined to save her, no matter her sympathies. No matter that he loves her to distraction.

Because Clive knows love can cure so many heartaches…if those who love have the courage to endure.

Excerpt, All rights reserved, Copyright, 2025, Cerise DeLand.

Giselle and Carlisle have attended a ball given by friends in the ballroom of the Old Ship Hotel on the Brighton Beach. She has invited him to come to her in her rooms.

Giselle flew into her rooms, flinging wide the door, anticipation thumping in her heart. She wanted this man. Silly, girlish, daring to want a man she barely knew. But he was kind and honorable. She knew that in her bones.
And he is infatuated with me.
She stood, stark still, her gaze on the square patch of hall carpet and willed him to appear. She closed her eyes and in her enchantment, saw him before her. Tall and sturdy, a bulwark against the winds and misfortunes of life, a magnificent man who appealed to every one of her senses. Silver and gold, indelibly etched on her mind as a jewel of a man.
Yes, she wanted him. He was gentleman enough to care for her reputation. He was enchanted enough to accept her invitation.
And if he doesn’t come?
Sorrow pierced her like an arrow to her chest. Well, then, if he did not come, he was kind enough to ignore her impulsiveness and save her face. They could be friends, if not lovers.
Certainly, there was that.
But in a second, there he was, standing at her door, not crossing unless she would still take him.
Joy flashed through her as she strode forward, her fists clenched on his formal black frockcoat to lead him inside.
He walked toward her, his handsome face that of a boy who asks for nothing in this world but kindness. “If you have changed your mind—”
“Non.” She pulled him toward her.
He came…like a sleepwalker, but shut the door behind him with a foot to the wood. In the next moment, she was in his arms once more. He had her up against him, her height no issue as he had her up off her feet.
His lips on hers, she clasped him tightly to her. His shoulders, his strength, the silk of his hair through her fingers, all she cared to have.
He carried her to the settee near the fireplace and sat her in his lap. She melted into him, kissing his jaw, undoing his cravat.
He cupped her cheek. “Look at me.”
She shook her head. He’d tell her to stop. Give her some reason to deny what they should be doing here.
“Sweetheart, we—”
She gulped back her sorrow that he’d leave. “You know how to kiss.”
“What?” He laughed.
She brushed her lips on his. “You are so good at kissing.”
He lifted her chin. “Darling, this art takes two. And you know how to kiss.”
“Do I ?” That shocked her.
His eyes faceted in shades of curiosity and desire. “You know how to thrill me with your lips.”
She sank closer to him. “I am so very glad.”
“And you deserve to be kissed.”
“Well,” she added with a wide-eyed glance.
“And often,” he added.
“By you.” She nuzzled his cheek.
“Only by me.”
“Oh, yes. No other. Let me,” she begged him, using his two words that sent shivers through her body, “Let me have more of you.”
BUY LINK for LURE:
https://books2read.com/LordCarlisesEnticingLure

A man with a plan to acquire a merry housekeeper for Christmas! Romcom romp in MERRY BELLES!

2025-11-25T11:38:00.001-06:00

His Merry Housekeeper

A novelette in Delightful Doings in Dudley Crescent series

By Cerise DeLand

Word among the fashionable is that in that marvelous London crescent, Dudley to be exact, a new storm brews over the romantic interests of the lords and ladies who live there.

Lord Bettington in Number 42 is in need of a new housekeeper. It being Christmas and his house full of his three raucous motherless sons, he is in need of someone bold who can tamp down the chaos of his household—and his boys.

But the earl wants so much more. He has ordered his young chatelaine, Miss Winifred Mathers, up from his country estate to serve as his housekeeper. Could it be true that that particular servant who is the only daughter of a termagant barrister has pierced dashing Lord Bettington’s lonely heart?

He tells himself he wants his new servant to provide order and emotional succor for his poor (savage) little boys.

But can he control his yearning for his new employee?

And can Winn suppress her desire for the only man she's ever loved?

BUY LINK for MERRY BELLES, a box set by the Bluestocking Belles: https://www.amazon.com/Merry-Belles-Bluestocking-Collection-Friends-ebook/dp/B0FTQVYSKG

Be sure to read the current three novels about those who live in Dudley Crescent:

Her Beguiling Butler: https://books2read.com/u/bpjNZ6

His Tempting Governess: https://books2read.com/u/4jenz2

His Naughty Maid: https://books2read.com/u/3npn9B

"A roller coaster through love affairs to strap you in for wild romantic rides!"

2025-11-19T11:45:00.005-06:00

Do you need one hot man, risky adventure, a darn mystery to solve and a villain who wants you in a dungeon or in his bed?
So who opposed you? Ah. Your mother? Your dad? No? Your ex?
What did you do?
Marry him anyway?
In SCARLETT AFFAIRS, each lady has a choice. She can accept the help her new protector wishes to give her…or go through her challenges alone.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CNL3RTP2

Little stories. Loads of fun. Christmas dangly bits!

2025-11-14T13:47:00.001-06:00

❤️Merry Belles, a Bluestocking Belles Collection with Friends  

Just in time for the holidays, seven charming stories of romance from award-winning and best-selling authors:  

· A murder brings a lady and her lost love together, just close enough to heal old wounds.

  · A young lady must foil a friend’s betrayal to have her Yuletide wish for love come true.  

· A widowed lord’s new housekeeper tames his rowdy boys and pierces his lonely heart.

  · A lady determined to find her wayward young son finds herself stranded with the persistent earl determined to woo her out of widowhood.  

· Will restoring a family manor together help two people acknowledge a secret attraction and claim a future together?  

· A soldier’s wife is determined to find her missing husband, even if she must walk the length and breadth of England with her children in a wheelbarrow

  · Home from the wars, a soldier is shocked to learn that his fiancée plans to wed someone else. Can he reach her in time to prevent the nuptials?
https://www.amazon.com/stores/Cerise-DeLand/author/B0089DS2N2

How heroic are you? American women traveled thousands of miles from their garden gates to save wounded soldiers during WWI! 99 cents for Veterans Day!

2025-11-09T12:15:00.004-06:00

How heroic are you?
Would you volunteer to travel thousands of miles from home with others you don’t know to live in tents, wash your hair in your helmet and work 12-24 hours each day?
In the Great War, thousands of women did.
For nurse Gwen Spencer, fighting battles is nothing new. An orphan sent to live with a vengeful aunt, Gwen picked coal and scrubbed floors to earn a living. But when she decides to become a nurse, she steps outside the boundaries of her aunt’s demands…and into a world of her own making.
Leaving her hometown for France, she helps doctors mend thousands of brutally injured Doughboys under primitive conditions. Amid the chaos, she volunteers to go ever forward to the front lines. Braving bombings and the madness of men crazed by the hell of war, she is stunned to discover one man she can love. A man she can share her life with.
But in the insanity and bloodshed she learns the measures of her own desires. Dare she attempt to become a woman of accomplishment? Or has looking into the face of war and death given her the courage to live her life to the fullest?

The story of their courage is 99 cents on sale for Veterans day!

*****

Excerpt: Copyright, Jo-Ann Power, 2013. All rights reserved.
When she did return to the tent, she had Colonel Scott in tow. She’d told him nothing except their German was now awake, aware and spoke English. She thought it best to let the officer discern the veracity of the man.
“Nurse Spencer tells me you speak our language. Might I ask you where you learned it?”
“At my mother’s knee, Colonel. I am Captain Adam Fairleigh, His Majesty’s Forces. Forgive me, sir, I would greet you appropriately but our erstwhile nurse has strapped me to the bed.”
“Then you must need restraining,” Scott replied. “What the hell is this that you say you’re with the Brits?”
“I am, sir. I am attached to General Pershing’s staff, Chaumont.”
“As what? How do you speak Hun so well and why in God’s name are you in one of their uniforms?”
Fairleigh arched both brows, looking at the short American down his very elegant straight nose. “Liaison to the American Commander, sir. Since December. I speak excellent German because my maternal grandmother came from Saxe-Coburg, the same principality as our late Prince Albert. I speak German, sir, as well as I do English. Before the war, that was no crime, but an asset.”
“I see. And how do you come by this uniform?”
Their patient was no longer so quick or cocky. “I took it off a dead man.”
Gwen swallowed hard at the savage image of this man removing clothing from a corpse.
“I had managed to crawl across a zone where they were not shelling. I thought if I could reach one of their forward trench lines, then I—”
“Preposterous. How did you get that far in your own uniform?”
“I went in peasants’ rags. Our lines abut an old village where only a few huts still stand.”
“Why discard your rags for a German captain’s uniform?”
“Well, sir, he was not only dead but conveniently my size.”
That shut the man up.
Gwen could only marvel at this creature in the bed.
“When I came upon their trench, I could hear their conversation below. Luck was with me. That bunker was a communications center. If I could get in there, I might learn quite enough to make my mission worthwhile. Of course, I couldn’t do that, couldn’t speak German to them and have them believe I was one of them if I wore French farmer’s culottes, could I? So I crept around…among their dead whose bodies they had not retrieved.” He stared at the American with blank eyes. “I happened upon the captain who seemed my height. Then I waited until night fell and—”
He halted, regarding Gwen once more. “I buried my rags and crawled into their trench. They accepted my story. I was privy to their orders that were to move their gun emplacements. Then, as you can expect, I was stuck with them, considered one of them. I had to run with them. I had no opportunity to escape until two nights later when the French opened a barrage in our sector.”
He lifted a hand, let it drop to the sheets. “I managed to hang back when they retreated with their line. I set out to No Man’s Land and prayed to Christ I’d find my way across to French lines. This took me…I’m not clear. A night. Two?” He shrugged. “Here I am.”
“Who is your American liaison in Pershing’s staff?”
“Colonel Samuel Rustings.”
Scott nodded, a hint of a smile curling his lips. “I see.”
“I gather you know him.”
“Same class at West Point.”
“Well, then. If you telegraph him, he will verify who I am and my mission. He knew I went out, you see.”
“A man from headquarters is already on his way here.”
“Splendid.”
“We thought we had ourselves a Heinie.”
The man’s mouth quirked in bitterness. “Sorry to disappoint you.”
“Oh, you’ll do, sir. What did you say your name was?”
Gwen noticed that Scott had not addressed him by his rank.
“Fairleigh.”
“We’ll see what our man from Chaumont has to say about you. In the meantime, my private is outside the tent.”
Fairleigh inclined his head in acknowledgement of his warder.
“Nurse. Finish up here. Untie him. ”
“Thank you, Sir.”
“Good day, then.”
When Scott had departed, Fairleigh regarded her with appraising eyes. “What is your name?”
“Spencer.”
“Nice name. Spencer.”
“Thank you.” She pulled her cart closer to his bed. No matter who he was, he was to be made whole as efficiently as she could.
“I am sorry, Spencer, for being an ass.”
She saw on his face honest contrition. Unaccustomed to apologies from those who insulted her, she had no reason to trust the value of his. Yet she gave him credit for the courtesy of it. He had done such a brave act. What kind of man would do as he had done? A fool. An opportunist. A man who saw this was work which he and he alone was best suited for? Was that hubris? Cunning? Or duty? If indeed, he had done it. If he hadn’t lied.
“Spencer, I am grateful for your help. Please do patch me up. I’d hate to lose my hands because I lacked good manners.”
He was making conversation to heal their rift. She picked through her gauze looking for the needle she had misplaced when she had left him. Brusqueness served her where experience did not. “Lie back then and be good.”
“Chilly. Do you they teach you to be frosty like that in America?”
“Yes.”
He feigned a shiver.
She fought a smile. “Put that spoon between your teeth. This needle will hurt.”
“I wager it will hurt less than your German. You should have warned me that it was so bad.”
“Careful.” Fingering her needle, she began to thread the eye. “You need me to be gentle as I sew. Besides,”—she could taunt him now that he was rational and at her mercy—“I doubt I’ll ever sing with you again.”
“I will endeavor to ensure you do.”
His attempt to charm her flattered her. She would do well to ignore it. “This is war, sir. Neither of us has the time.”
“Then sing to me instead.”
“When I put my needle in your skin, I will hear you sing and off key, too.” She threatened him, hiding all the humor his compliment inspired. “The spoon, sir. Now!”

HEROIC MEASURES BUY links: https://books2read.com/u/bzgaKn

Real history is not for the faint of heart

2025-11-07T14:59:00.000-06:00

I am soon to begin a series of short videos on a subject dear to my heart. History. The real stuff. The unhappy bits. The necessary turn of events that no one saw coming which make a mark in the human story.

Knowing many wish to see, for example,
the issue of slavery in this country as a more positive series of events and choices than many can agree upon, I will take a look at various points in American and western hemisphere thinking in which a look on the bright side occurred and many disputed its value.

Understanding too that history contains so many movable parts (human impressions, popularity, resources old and new, and more, I will discuss what serves as sound historical factual background now as opposed to fifty years ago or even twenty.

Times have changed. Resources are constantly being 'unearthed' or made more accessible. People change, too. So does education. So even do the reading levels of general populations.

What do people read if they find they enjoy a simpler sentence structure rather than one composed of compound sentences? What do they choose to read if they crave quick action, bold plotting and mysteries or fantastical worlds?

This and more in short videos soon to come!

A highwayman to steal your heart! 5 STARS for new box set!

2025-11-06T14:06:00.001-06:00

🍒A highwayman to steal your heart! One box set, one plot, one highwayman stealing all sorts of things...money, hearts, time...and leaving ladies in the dust! The Bluestocking Belles have done it again and created a fun romp through the English countryside!

Many 5 STAR reviews for this adventure
in Regency romance!

https://www.theromancestudio.com/loves-perilous-road-featuring-rue-allyn-and-cerise-deland/

Do you abdicate after trying to poison yourself?

2025-10-27T12:45:00.046-05:00

Front entrance to Fontainebleau

Travel is a wonderful way to do historical research for novels. Time-consuming, it is an intriguing way to put drama into your day...as you eat and drink you way around your chosen paths!

My biggest kicks come from standing in the very spots that others infinitely more interesting than I have stood. Reflecting on how they must have felt at certain points in their lives—or seeing what has become of those places long after they have passed sends ripples of ennui down my spine.

Napoleon abdicating in Fontainebleau

The room where he took poison the night before he abdicated!

The Golden Courtyard where Napoleon's troops would have heard his farewell in April 1814
before he departed for Elba. Here you have the view Napoleon had as he addressed his troops.

My picture.

Greeting many of his generals and troops who were gathered in the courtyard below, he bid them farewell from the main steps. He boarded a coach, escorted by a small French retinue and a few Englishmen to assure his departure, and left for Elba. He arrived there May 30, 1814.

To read a fast-paced romance about two lovers who must escape Napoleon’s return, do read BECAUSE OF YOU and my SCARLETT AFFAIRS series!

BECAUSE OF YOU, Book 2, Matrimony!

BUY LINK: https://books2read.com/BecauseofYou

SCARLETT AFFAIRS series.

BUY LINK: https://amzn.to/4clTGvi

Spying can be dangerous when you are also falling in love! Who would do it?

2025-10-20T12:56:00.000-05:00

Book 4 Releases 10.24.25

Spies!

THIS ENTIRE SERIES STARS SPIES! Women. Men. Disappearing. Returning.

And falling in love.

PLUS, each story is rich in historical accuracy.

How?

1802: British go to Paris because of the truce. A great time to establish a spy network!

1803: Tensions between French and British rise! Bonaparte is getting ambitious and argues with the British envoy!

1804: Bony abducts the heir to the Bourbon throne. Yeah. The Last heir.

1805: Bony puts 200,000 soldiers on coast to invade southern England.

How do you get romances about of those headlines????

1802: You send a team of spies to Paris. One must help a lady whose friend has fled because…yeah, Bony thinks she’s a spy!

1803: One agent’s job is to find that lady who went missing in Book #1. Guess what? They fall in love and she cannot stay with him. Why?

Ah.

Book 6 Coming soon!

1803-4: An agent is dumbfounded when he sees a lady he loved impersonating another. Go away, she says. She has a mystery to solve!

1804: Bony absorbs other countries! A Crown Princess must save her family and flee!

BUY LINK: https://amzn.to/4clTGvi

Napoleon, food, REST, ideas in the shower and love! A collection of ideas on ideas!

2025-10-13T12:10:00.000-05:00

Do you truly rest on Sundays?

I do give it a go. I cook. I sit and stare into space, usually on my patio when the sun is shining. But often, I get my best rest in the shower!

My life is driven by research and writing with deadlines ever present in my thinking. So my shower is an intriguing break from it all.

But my characters follow me in there.

You see, I have my next novel to plan so love is on my mind.

Who are these people? What is the heroine's challenge? His? How do they intersect to become a functioning unit for ever and ever? (And there they are—in my shower! I am naked. They are not yet fully formed so it is rather okay.)

My current series, SCARLETT AFFAIRS, addresses the conflict between France from the peace of Amiens in 1802 when Napoleon was one of three Consuls to the Second Restoration in 1816, after he had lost, gone to St. Helena, and the Allies occupied France.

I do take one issue, one tidbit of history and build around it the attempts of France to rule the world—and British and Allied attempts to defeat that.

But ideas come slowly...and when light bulbs go off, the result is a Happy Camper. Me!

Rest ensures I come up with good stuff. But REST is tough to find when you are driven to have that plot right now, please!

REST is a wonderful book which has been my friend for years after hubbie gave it to me for Christmas. Full of stories of writers, inventors and government officials and more who took time to allow their brains to think of nothing. And yet, what they discovered were the answers to their challenges!

A man who steals kisses is a poor girl's ruin and rich one's prize! LOVE'S PERILOUS ROAD, box set in continuity by Bluestocking Belles!

2025-10-10T11:41:00.041-05:00

A highwayman is attacking travelers on a dark deserted road!

Who is he? Does he really want what he steals? If so, why does he seem to give it away...or take things he can never return?

And what happens when one robber waylays one special carriage and insists that one woman step down...only to steal a kiss?

What dastardly, delicious creature would do that, eh?

Love's road is surely perilous this autumn in LOVE'S PERILOUS ROAD, a box set by the incomparable Bluestocking Belles!

BUY LINK: https://www.amazon.com/Merry-Belles-Bluestocking-Collection-Friends-ebook/dp/B0FTQVYSKG

***

And what of that fellow who steals only kisses?

In Cerise DeLand's STOLEN KISSES, he is a charmer.

***

When Lance Winters first kissed Emma Tomkins pretending to be a highwayman years ago, she was ruined. Retiring to the country for succumbing to one delightful embrace, she endured society’s sting.

But things have changed. Now she has money—a fortune of 8,000 pounds a year, and she’s determined to live a rich and full life. Alone.

But men know of her new status, and seek her out like lemmings to the sea.

As a lowly cousin of a viscount and a captain in the Army Engineers, Lancelot Winters never had anything to his name. No right to claim a lady. Only a future fighting in Spain and France—and sent abroad to Canada soon after. Yet now Lance has a inherited an noble title and an estate to make his life comfortable. But he can’t and won’t do it alone. One woman is his answer.

When he appears in London to begin to court her, she refuses him. But he is not one to be put off. Not by society’s rules and not by her. So he disguises himself as the same highwayman of years ago and tracks Emma in her carriage one day on her way to Brighton. He grabs her off the coach—and in front of amused passengers and her niece, he kisses her.

Oh, yes. She remembers his lips. His voice. His rakish charm. But he ruined her once and she’s determined it won’t happen again. After all, she has rehabilitated herself…plus she intends to be a respectable wealthy grumpy spinster.

But the man is persistent. He shows up at the Old Ship Hotel on the Marine Parade in Brighton and makes a point to be everywhere! In The Lanes, in Aria Rocatti’s modiste shop, at the sea bathing rental post along the coast, and finally at the ball hosted by Lord Peter Summerville at his home at the conclusion of his house party.

Each time they meet, they befall a few…um…mishaps. Lance thinks Emma’s his angel. She thinks he’s a delightful, star-struck fool. If only Emma’s niece weren’t trying to become his lady love too!

Lancelot might be his first name, but chivalry is his middle. He can’t live without her. And she can’t imagine marrying anyone else.

Their biggest problem?

A Bow Street Runner shows up at the Summerville Ball to arrest Lance as the highwayman who’s plagued the south shore of England.

What’s a woman to do if she now is in love with a highwayman?

D-Day Invasion, Bonaparte's style! He tried to invade Britain...and here's what happened!

2025-10-02T11:22:00.000-05:00

Society for Nautical Research, Napoleon's armada

The D-Day invasion of Normandy was a valiant endeavor by a combined force of allies to defeat an enemy.

But that event—made up of convoys of ships, submarines, air defense and airmen, soliders and marines—was not the first such invasion concieved by one country.

The French emperor had wanted such an invasion for many years. He encouraged his admirals to strike British shipping, naval and commercial. But he was met with defeat many times.

Bemoaning his admirals’ “whining and delays”, he pushed them into conflicts they could not win. For a show of strength, he assembled 200,000 soldiers of his Grand Army in Boulogne along the Normandy coast and held maneuvers with soldiers shouting and chanting, taunting their enemy across the waves.

The noise carried across the Channel and sent thousands of English residents fleeing with their possessions.

Against this reality, my next release (coming in September), LORD CARLISLE’S ENTICING LURE in my SCARLETT AFFAIRS series highlights this threatened invasion—amidst a romance that will thrill you with its charm and torment.

Widow Madame Giselle Laurant has fled France and the police who would throw her in La Force for her arrogance. She has a talent, a rare one. She draws landscapes to scale—and she draws them in such a way that a trained naval expert can make calculations from them.

Giselle is about to finish her set of drawings of English coastal seascapes when she meets a man she cannot resist. Clive Davenport, Marquess of Carlisle, is an advisor to the Foreign Office for naval affairs—and his desire for the lady who draws so well enflames him with a need to make her his. When he discovers that her drawings bear a certain odd characteristic, he questions if Giselle is friend or foe.

Her drawings tell him she lies. Her kisses declare she truly

loves him. Can he find proof she is a French agent? If he has Giselle arrested, can he live with himself? Worse, can he live without her?

I hope you are reading my series, all of which feature hot-to the-touch romantic suspense action-adventure love stories with guaranteed happily-ever-afters.

FIND THEM HERE: https://amzn.to/4clTGvi

The truth behind the scenes in LORD CARLISLE'S ENTICING LURE!

2025-10-01T00:30:00.005-05:00

When writing historical romance, the key to success lies in giving the reader a hearty slice of yesterday.

I do that every time.

Here in LURE, you will see the reasons the British feared the invasion of Napoleon's Grand Army!

You will meet that very famous artist, Elizabeth Le Brun who painted, among others, Marie Antoinette.

You will stroll on the beach in Brighton...and realize what problems you may have!

You will fall in love with a man who catches spies and who has every reason to suspect that the lady he is falling in love with is one!

Pre-order is up now. Remember it is 99 cents for only 2 weeks!

BUY LINK: https://amzn.to/3KkQCa7

Lord Carlisle's Enticing Lure, Book 5, stars a heroine who is on a mission...and a hero who suspects she may be one of the spies he searches for!

2025-09-28T00:30:00.001-05:00

I hope you are reading my series, all of which feature hot-to the-touch romantic suspense action-adventure love stories with guaranteed happily-ever-afters.

FIND THEM HERE: https://amzn.to/4clTGvi

Spicy romance and real history! Eloquence, too, say my readers! Book 5 on pre-order!

2025-09-27T00:00:00.005-05:00

In the summer of 1805, Napoleon's Grand Army of 200,000 stood on the coast of France, ready to invade Britain.

The French had the largest, most well equipped army in the world...and their leader was willing to use it to conquer his long-term foe.

He sent agents into England, especially along the southern coast to spy on English defenses, their militias, their leaders and their people.

They wanted a glimpse of what they would need to land on the beaches and take the British within hours.

The British knew all of this. But they had their own plans. Many of them as devious as their enemy. They had to be creative to win against such a well-armed foe.

In ENTICING LURE, you will read of a few such British plans...and one in particular that sounds ever-so-familiar, rather like the D-Day Invasion of Normandy!

I hope you are reading my series, all of which feature hot-to the-touch romantic suspense action-adventure love stories with guaranteed happily-ever-afters.

FIND THEM HERE: https://amzn.to/4clTGvi

Why Read Historical Fiction? Fun? Reality? Understanding of how and why we are where we are.

2025-09-08T14:57:00.000-05:00

Roman Baths in Bath, England
WHY READ HISTORICAL FICTION? So much is being said about the demise of the popularity of historical fiction. Authors notice the sales numbers! Readers may not feel it, other than totaling up their current purchases and noticing what they tend to buy lately.

While all genres are subject to flux and change within, so too do readers respond to their own current psychological and cultural currents.

The one we currently live in the USA has brought us a recognition of the extraordinary. Romantsy in all its new forms seems to be the new new kid on the block that is driving out romance in all its forms. I recently went to my local Barnes & Noble where fully 1/3 of the first floor was nothing but this new new thang! The romance section that was for years 1/2 of the floor? Now 3 stacks.

Shocking to one who has seen the rise of historical romance in the late 80s and 90s, its top of market ascendance and now, many who call it ailing.

I don't.

Ostia Public Toilets, Rome

I know that this is exactly the time when we need to read good solidly fact-based historical fiction. Not just the gay, light-hearted ones. But all of them that bring us the real goods about a past that was not necessarily glorious.

Would you like to live in a world without (pardon me here for the real life question) a vaccine for smallpox?

Would you like to live in a world where you feared drinking the water?

Would you live in a town ransacked by the nearby king's guard?

How about no toilets. No tv. No printed books at all.

I will have more to say later on this subject.

Please tell me your point of view!

Pictures: both in Public Domain!

#1: Roman Bath in Bath, England

#2: Ostia latrinae: public toilets in Ostia

Gilded Age Fun Facts! The truth behind the scenes!

2025-08-14T14:00:00.002-05:00

GILDED AGE Fun fact: If you wanted to go dancing at the Moulin de la Galette after visiting House of Worth for your gowns (of course!), you went in plain clothing without jewels or a lot of money. You took a public fiacre and stayed to enjoy the small band that played for the guests!

GILDED AGE Fun fact: If your papa or mama wanted to purchase paintings for their new Fifth Avenue or Newport homes, they went to Paris to a certain art dealer. He sold them art for inexpensive sums by Parisian painters whom few knew. They included those whose work was not accepted by the Paris Salon, like Monet, Renoir and a few ladies, too, like Berthe Morisot and American Mary Cassatt.

GILDED AGE Fun fact: Traveling to Brighton for a summer holiday could be done via private carriage or after 1865, by the new railroad line. Numerous trips per day were the schedule and one could go in the morning and return to London late at night. The upper classes could rent houses or rooms in hotels. There they could dine in their rooms or in the dining rooms. But they could also rent the ballrooms and host parties as lavish as they wished. While there, the middle and lower classes could swim, without or without a bathing machine. But you could inhale the sea salt air, eat ice cream and fresh seafood. Walk the pier. All for an affordable price.

Cerise DeLand's richly acclaimed THOSE NOTORIOUS AMERICANS series, each 99 cents. https://amzn.to/3yOzLll

Oh, to be Mrs. Astor or Mrs. Vanderbilt...and barter away your daughter!

2025-08-04T15:09:00.003-05:00

The Gilded Age on HBO has charmed us with its vibrancy, color, fashions and trauma!

Worth of Paris did create the gowns for these mighty matrons and debutantes. These heiresses took Europe by storm with their ambition and their daddy's wealth. Not all were happy with their lots. Nor were all fathers pleased with their sons-in-law nor with their business success.

To celebrate the richness of the era and the stories we authors love to tell, I have each of my novels in THOSE NOTORIOUS AMERICANS selling for 99 cents this month.

We will meet dukes and princess. Dine with the newly rich in Europe. Meet artists. Dance at the top of the Butte in raucous Montmartre at the Moulin de la Galette. Fall in love and fight to keep the one person worth it all.

Find them all here for sale and on Kindle Unlimited:

Cerise DeLand's Bon Bons! Nibbles about history, travels and research!

Titles of romances are getting goofy! What do you think of....

No more statements please about HistRom "dead" and no good authors writing it these days!

Who is your neighbor, sir? The Bourbon heir to the throne? The devil, you say! (He was!)

Have you heard the one about the butler who saves his very ditsy employer? He and she have a new look!

Killing historical romance? Who? and why?

A new housekeeper for Christmas? This man has a problem! Video! Excerpt!

LURE was a delight to write because it had a real historical fluke to work with!

BEST HISTORICAL ROMANCE OF 2025! Lord Carlisle's Enticing Lure wins!

A man with a plan to acquire a merry housekeeper for Christmas! Romcom romp in MERRY BELLES!

"A roller coaster through love affairs to strap you in for wild romantic rides!"

Little stories. Loads of fun. Christmas dangly bits!

How heroic are you? American women traveled thousands of miles from their garden gates to save wounded soldiers during WWI! 99 cents for Veterans Day!

Real history is not for the faint of heart

A highwayman to steal your heart! 5 STARS for new box set!

🍒A highwayman to steal your heart! One box set, one plot, one highwayman stealing all sorts of things...money, hearts, time...and leaving ladies in the dust! The Bluestocking Belles have done it again and created a fun romp through the English countryside!

Many 5 STAR reviews for this adventure in Regency romance!

Do you abdicate after trying to poison yourself?

Spying can be dangerous when you are also falling in love! Who would do it?

Napoleon, food, REST, ideas in the shower and love! A collection of ideas on ideas!

A man who steals kisses is a poor girl's ruin and rich one's prize! LOVE'S PERILOUS ROAD, box set in continuity by Bluestocking Belles!

D-Day Invasion, Bonaparte's style! He tried to invade Britain...and here's what happened!

The truth behind the scenes in LORD CARLISLE'S ENTICING LURE!

Lord Carlisle's Enticing Lure, Book 5, stars a heroine who is on a mission...and a hero who suspects she may be one of the spies he searches for!

Spicy romance and real history! Eloquence, too, say my readers! Book 5 on pre-order!

Why Read Historical Fiction? Fun? Reality? Understanding of how and why we are where we are.

Roman Baths in Bath, EnglandWHY READ HISTORICAL FICTION? So much is being said about the demise of the popularity of historical fiction. Authors notice the sales numbers! Readers may not feel it, other than totaling up their current purchases and noticing what they tend to buy lately.

Gilded Age Fun Facts! The truth behind the scenes!

Oh, to be Mrs. Astor or Mrs. Vanderbilt...and barter away your daughter!

https://amzn.to/3yOzLll

Many 5 STAR reviews for this adventure
in Regency romance!

Roman Baths in Bath, England
WHY READ HISTORICAL FICTION? So much is being said about the demise of the popularity of historical fiction. Authors notice the sales numbers! Readers may not feel it, other than totaling up their current purchases and noticing what they tend to buy lately.