Evangeline Collins and Her Ladyship's Companion in the Manor!

Hi everyone! I'm so pleased to bring you debut author, Evangeline Collins! Her hot historical, Her Ladyship's Companion has just released from Berkley, and I think you'll find it a great read. Hot, angsty, with a hero to die for it's everything I look for in a romance!

Months ago I came across this book and knew it would be a must read for me. So, I asked Evangeline if she would like to come blog with us because I knew that this book would be of interest to our LIT readers!

I read this book over the weekend, and let me tell you, it was totally worth shoving aside looming deadlines for! What a fabulous, sexy read!

So, without further ado, I give you Evangeline Collins and her super yummy hero Gideon!



Hitting a Man Where it HurtsHi everyone!! :)

My thanks to the lovely ladies of Lust in Time, and to Lord Craven-Moore (mustn’t ever forget him) for having me as a guest on their fabulous blog. Charlotte graciously gave me leave to chat about whatever I wanted, so I decided to talk about my favorite part of a romance novel. Some love the sex scenes, others the happily ever after moment, some prefer the first meeting of the hero and heroine. Me, I’m an angst junkie. I love the Big Black Moment - where everything goes to hell in a hand basket. All right, I love the sex scenes, too (who doesn’t?), but I just adore running my characters through the wringer, and especially the hero. Things can’t be easy for the heroine either, but I really love to make the hero work for his HEA. To me, a hero’s ability to pull himself from the deep, dark depths of hell confirms just how much he loves the heroine. So in a way, you could say I torment my poor heroes for my heroines’ sake. After all, how else is she to know the hero loves her and only her? Men don’t tend to be very open about such finer sentiments, and sometimes, well, they prefer to hide their heads in the sand for a bit, and deny the truth.

The hero in my debut release from Berkley, Her Ladyship’s Companion, is one those fellows. So I saw it as my…responsibility, you could say….to find a way to make him recognize what was in his heart, and then get him back to his heroine so he could eventually have his HEA. And he did deserve to find happiness. He’s a man whose career involved bringing happiness to women, and he was very good at his job. So it was prime time he had a spot of happiness in his own life. But first, I needed to make him work for it. *g*

The question, though, is how do you make a man work for it? You hit him where it hurts the most, of course! But where it hurts the most depends on the man. For some, it’s money, or take away their friends or their social standing. Others value their integrity above all else, so call their word of honor into question and you deliver a mean blow. You could rip the heroine from him, or have a rival try to steal her away. That can sometimes snap a man to his senses rather effectively. Men are such wonderfully protective creatures – they have this innate need to provide for their own. So if he’s employed, why not take that away from him?

I will confess, I really ran Gideon, HLC’s hero, through the wringer. He’s a working man, a male prostitute (albeit a very high-end one), so he was particularly fun to torment. *g* And I’ll leave it at that and not give away too many spoilers for those who haven’t read the book.

So what’s your favorite part of a romance novel? And when you get a new book, will you flip through it and read your favorite scene, before you’ve started chapter one? I will confess, I’ve been known to do that sometimes. ;)

To celebrate the release of Her Ladyship’s Companion, I’m giving away a copy of the book to one lucky commenter. Just leave a comment and a winner will be chosen at random.

And now the official blurb ---

His job was to please her. Not to steal her heart.

In the Scottish countryside of Selkirk, Isabella, Lady Stirling resides at Bowhill Park, serving penance for a sin that nearly ruined her family. For five years she has been condemned to a loveless marriage and confined to the estate where she does little more than tend her rose garden. With her husband absent for months at a time and few visitors, Bella lives a lonely existence, denying the passions that burn within her very soul.

Then her cousin comes for a visit and makes an outrageous suggestion: what Bella needs is a lover. A hired lover. Despite her need, Bella says no. But soon Mr. Gideon Rosedale arrives – and he is at her service for two weeks. Indulging in what she intends to be a harmless flirtation, Bella is overcome by Gideon’s intoxicating presence. And when she at last permits him to satisfy her desires, she discovers she’s done the unthinkable – she’s fallen in love.

Interested in an excerpt? If so, hop on over to my website - http://www.evangelinecollins.com/her_ladyships_companion.html

Available now in bookstores near you, or through Amazon - http://www.amazon.com/Her-Ladyships-Companion-Evangeline-Collins/dp/0425228207

Thanks again!!!
-Evangeline
Her Ladyship’s Companion/Berkley Sensation
www.EvangelineCollins.com
Lush. Elegant. Sensual Historical Romance.