THE LEGEND OF LYON REDMOND
Pennyroyal Green #11
Julie Anne Long
Releasing Sept 29th, 2015
Avon Books
An enduring legend
Rumor
has it she broke Lyon Redmond’s heart. But while many a man has since wooed the
dazzling Olivia Eversea, none has ever won her—which is why jaws drop when she
suddenly accepts a viscount’s proposal. Now London waits with bated breath for
the wedding of a decade…and wagers on the return of an heir.
An eternal love
It
was instant and irresistible, forbidden...and unforgettable. And Lyon—now a
driven, dangerous, infinitely devastating man—decides it’s time for a
reckoning. As the day of her wedding races toward them, Lyon and Olivia will
decide whether their love is a curse destined to tear their families part...or
the stuff of which legends are made.
Excerpt # 5
She was the last of
the Eversea children to be married, and she was going to be the wife of a
viscount. Her brothers had all married unusual women, not one of whom possessed
a title. Genevieve had married a duke—to the quietly gleeful satisfaction of
her father, for they had trumped the Redmonds, who acquired a mere earl by
marriage—but she and Falconbridge had wed by special license. Olivia was the
family’s last chance for pomp.
And she knew
everyone who loved her would exhale only when she was waving merrily good-bye
from Landsdowne’s carriage as they went off on their wedding journey.
No one had said as
much, of course.
And this was the
unspoken source of all the tension.
They had nothing to
worry about. Olivia was definitely going to marry him.
The betting books
at White’s, of course, had it otherwise.
God, but she was
infinitely weary of being a sport for the wager-happy wastrels at
White’s. She did not want to be an event.
But if she’d
learned anything over the years, wanting something and getting it were not
always sequential events. Even for Everseas.
She pressed her
head back against the plump seat, which smelled vaguely and soothingly of her
father’s tobacco, then gave a start and fished about in her reticule.
“Blast!” Only two
shillings were in there, along with her hussif, her tortoiseshell card case,
and, of course, a square of linen folded in sixteenths that she always
pretended not to see but that traveled with her everywhere.
It had become a
personal ritual, her way of tithing, to say a few kind words and drop a few
coins into the cups of the beggars who had appeared weeks ago and lingered near
Madame Marceau’s shop, and who reappeared no matter how often Madame Marceau
tried to shoo them away. They were as intrepid as ants. They knew where to find
sustenance, and that was from the affluent women who frequented the modiste.
But Olivia, as
usual, always wished she had more to give.
At last “Madame Marceau, Modiste,” a gaudy
sign gilded swinging on chains, came into view, Olivia sat up alertly. The Strand was even livelier than usual today, apparently:
she could hear a choir, of all things.
She didn’t know the
tune, but it was certainly infectious, lilting and lively. Her foot was already
tapping before the footman pulled open the door of the carriage, and she was
smiling when he handed her down.
A half-dozen men
were arrayed before Madame Marceau’s, arms slung about each other, swaying
rhythmically, their heads tipped back in full-throated song. Another man seemed
to be presiding as a conductor, strutting to and fro before them and holding a
sheaf of papers in one hand.
He waved one in the
air. “Get yer flash ballad here! Two pence! Be the first to teach your friends
the song all of London
This was quite a
claim, given that one of London
Years of
distributing and accepting pamphlets for the causes nearest her heart—the
eradication of slavery and the protection of the poor—had Olivia reflexively
stretching out her hand for it.
The man hesitated,
then saw the outstretched hand was encased in an expensive blue kid glove and
decided to let her hold it.
“Two pence, madame,
if ye’d like to take it with you.” He beamed persuasively at her.
She didn’t hear
him.
She was transfixed
in horror by the first words on the page.
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Julie Anne Long originally
set out to be a rock star when she grew up, and she has the guitars and the
questionable wardrobe stuffed in the back of her closet t prove it. When
playing to indifferent crowds at midnight in dank clubs lost its, ahem, charm,
she realized she could incorporate all of the best things about being in a
band—namely, drama, passion and men with unruly hair—into novels, while at the
same time indulging her love of history and research. So she made the move from
guitar to keyboard (the computer variety) and embarked on a considerably more
civilized, if not much more peaceful, career as a novelist.
Julie
lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with a fat orange cat. (Little known fact:
they issue you a cat the minute you become a romance novelist.)
This looks so good!
ReplyDeleteI know. She has great covers and I like the blurbs on her books.
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