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Meet Lady Anne Addison!



Hi, all. First, let me introduce myself: I am a new author to Sourcebooks. My name is Donna Lea Simpson (aka Donna Simpson in my previous life as a Regency author with Zebra), and I write (mostly) historical romance. Lady Anne and the Howl in the Dark, set in the Georgian era in England, will be released April First, no fooling!

I thought for my first blog entry with the Casa Babes I would introduce the two main characters of the Lady Anne series, Lady Anne Addison and Lord Anthony Darkefell.

A few weeks ago I was looking for something on Amazon.com… a review clip from one of my Regencies, maybe? And I came across a newer reader review of one of my older novelettes in an anthology called ‘Untameable’, one of the Zebra Regency themed anthologies. My story was entitled ‘A Rogue’s Rescue’. The heroine was Miss Ariadne Lambert, a spinster of humble appearance, but determination and grit. Jaimey Grant, the Amazon reviewer, said she gave my story five out of five for the heroine, and when I thought back, I realized something.

Lady Anne Addison, the heroine of the Lady Anne stories, had her origins in Ariadne, a lady I have never forgotten, really, because I, like Jaimey, just love the heroine who is smart, not a pushover, gutsy, determined and who possesses all the attributes of a woman you would want to be friends with; she’s loyal, caring and relentlessly honest. Even though she’s plain, she knows she is a woman of worth and sterling quality.

There are lots of differences, of course. Anne is titled and wealthy, while Ariadne was in possession of a modest fortune inherited from an employer. But both, importantly, value themselves too much, despite a complete awareness of their plainness, to ever settle for a marriage of convenience.

Lady Anne Addison is the only daughter of the Earl and Countess of Harecross, Kent. She was engaged once when she was young and has never forgotten her narrow escape from a marriage that would have been a disaster for her. She’s a little gun shy for that very reason, knowing that as that rare bird, a woman of independent means and a lot of freedom (as long as she plays within the rules of a proper Georgian lady) she stands to lose it all in an unwise marriage.

Marrying the wrong kind of man—domineering, commanding, difficult—would be lethal to her happiness and freedom.

Lord Anthony, the Marquess of Darkefell, (Yorkshire) is domineering, commanding and difficult, strong both physically and in spirit. He is committed to his position and his family (which consists of his mother, the dowager Marchioness, and his brother John and John’s new wife) so when a series of deaths happen on his land and rumors of a werewolf seen, sheep slaughtered, all that kind of nonsense happen, he is beside himself with fury. When his brother’s silly wife, Lydia, invites her friend, Lady Anne Addison, to investigate, he sets himself to the task of distracting her from snooping into his family’s affairs. No outsider is going to poke around his family business.

He has one secret weapon that he discovers early on; Lady Anne Addison is powerfully attracted to him. He can befuddle her senses by using that passionate attraction, and does so every chance he gets, using kisses and caresses to confuse and divert her focus away from the murder. It becomes a tug of war between two intelligent, rational and stubborn people.

But Anne is really not a pushover, even faced with her indubitable sensual attraction toward the extremely dark and handsome Lord Darkefell. She has matured since she let herself be pushed into an engagement when she was eighteen. The knowledge that she would be miserable that very moment if her marriage had occurred makes her cautious. Men rule the world, maybe, so why would she put herself in a man’s power, especially one with a mercurial temper accustomed to making people do whatever he wants?

In other words, someone like Darkefell.

I was given a gift with Lady Anne and Darkefell, in that I was allowed the opportunity to have their passionate and tumultuous relationship develop over the course of the first three books, Lady Anne and the Howl in the Dark – April 2009, Lady Anne and the Ghost’s RevengeAugust 2009, and Lady Anne and the Gypsy CurseNovember 2009. I hope readers are as entertained by these two unlikely lovers as I am!

I have a brand new website to celebrate this wonderful new series. My website is: http://www.donnaleasimpson.com/

Comments

  1. Welcome to the Casababes, Donna!

    You said you were given a gift with Lady Anne and Darkefell. It sounds to me as if you've given us a gift with these wonderful sounding books. They're on my TBB list.

    I adore historicals, especially with yummy, dark brooding heros!

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  2. Hi all,

    Just found out there has been a small technical glitch with my new website, so it's not quite up and running yet, but should be by the end of the workday!

    Robin, Lord Darkefell is definitely the brooding type, but Anne is no-nonsense and knows how to puncture his ego!

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  3. Welcome to the blog, Donna, and best of luck with your series!

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  4. Welcome aboard, Donna! (and, yes, you get to have nautical puns when I'm around!)

    Dark and brooding? Yes, please!

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  5. Welcome Donna! We're so excited to have you hear.

    I've read your book already, and it is a lot of fun. I'm looking forward to getting reviews which should start pouring in soon!

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  6. Congratulations, Donna! Your heroine sounds super fab! Can't wait to hear more about the hero too.

    Renee

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  7. Donna, I love your Regencies, I love your werewolf stories (will we ever get the fourth book?) even though I don't particularly care for werewolves, and I know I will love Lady Anne. She sounds like exactly the kind of heroine I like.

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  8. Hi Donna!
    Your characters sound intriguing and I'm looking forward to reading more about them.
    Welcome to the Casa Babes!

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  9. You Lady Anna sounds like the kind of heroine I love, and Regency werewolves would have to be a treat! :-)

    Welcome to our merry little band.

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  11. Hi Linda Banche,

    Yes, I am writing a fourth in my Awaiting series... I am about halfway done, and hope to finish after the current work at hand... Lady Anne #3... is done!!

    Thanks, all for the warm words. They're talking about Lady Anne over at All About Romance's blog today, too!

    http://www.likesbooks.com/blog/?p=1115#more-1115

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  12. Welcome Donna! So glad to have a new Casa Sister aboard. AND one who write Regency/Georgian like me!! Yippee!

    The cover is fabulous and the story sounds wonderful. I can't wait. I am sure it will be another hit to add to the long list of Sourcebooks Casablanca successes.

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  13. Welcome to the blog, Donna!

    Your book sounds great! Historical with a little paranormal, some suspense, and a dark brooding hero! YUMMY! Couldn't ask for better than that.

    AC

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  14. Welcome to the Casababes, Donna and what a great book! I can't wait to pick it up.

    Linda

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  15. Hi Donna, and welcome! Ooh, stubborn, intelligent heroines and heroes who butt heads amidst simmering sexual tension...love it! Good luck with the new series:-)

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