Monthly Archives: June 2019

Besotted: #Free June 19th – June 21st Only

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Besotted
The Beguiling Bachelors, Book 4
By Madison Michael
♥♥♥ ~ Free June 19th – June 21st Only ~ ♥♥♥

About Besotted:

He Promised Forever, then Walked Away. Now he wants her back.

Tyler Winthrop, rich, handsome, elusive sees his moment to win Regan Howe slipping through his fingers. He has remained on the outskirts of Regan’s life since high school, reluctant to reveal his true past and expose her to danger. Despite their obvious attraction, Tyler has remained her friend and protector, keeping Regan at arm’s length for her own safety,

Regan Howe, won her coveted CEO position through hard work and a willingness to buck family tradition. Now, Brandon Hockney, a handsome US Senator with his eye on the White House, wants her to give it up, along with her home, friends and family for a move to DC and marriage to him.

Regan wants a family but is she prepared to leave all she loves, including the alluring Tyler Winthrop. Regan has waited twenty years for Tyler to commit. He once promised her forever, then he destroyed her trust and her hopes for a future together. Still, she cannot break the ties between them.

When Regan tests the waters with Brandon, Tyler is tapped as acting CEO, throwing the pair together, and forcing both to make a choice. Is this the end or their one last chance at love? Battling overwhelming odds and a racing clock, will Tyler be forced to release his one true love to find happiness with another man? How can he when he’s besotted?

As the danger mounts for Tyler,, can he wrestle free of his past and lure Regan away from her Senator? Join our handsome hero as he attempts to win back his love in this exciting and steamy page turner, the fourth of the sexy, contemporary Beguiling Bachelor romance series.


 Excerpt from Besotted:

Regan was just too damn alluring in that dress for him to accept that he couldn’t have her if he wanted her.

He was an idiot. He should have told her years ago. He should have told everyone. Despite the tongue- lashing he was silently giving himself, Tyler was certainly no fool. “The professor” to his friends, he was generally serious and professional. He had the smarts necessary to obtain both an MBA and a law degree, and he was now CEO of LHRE and on hiatus from one of the fastest growing tech companies in the country. He kept his cool in general, but again and again he behaved like an idiot around Regan.

Since that damn frog almost thirty years ago, he had loved no one but Regan. Sometimes they made it work together, like in high school, but most times not. His feelings were unchanged, but something always stopped him from declaring his love and asking her to do the same. This time it was something insurmountable.

And yet Tyler couldn’t stay away. He was the proverbial moth to the flame, flirting with disaster every time he flirted with her. He had promised to stay away, to keep her safe, but the attraction was undeniable. Yep, prize idiot.

Returning to the ballroom after the latest threats, Tyler briefly considered sharing the conversation, coming clean with Regan and perhaps moving their relationship forward. He was at a fork in the road but remained silent, Tyler knew he was on the wrong path but couldn’t summon the will to fix it. Not only were his problems unsolvable, but she was involved with Brandon. Tyler felt hopeless.

He was preoccupied just as Regan accused, but Tyler tried to give Regan the attention she deserved. He failed miserably until Regan suggested they just leave. That got his attention. Who knew when he would hold her in his arms again.
“Come dance with me again. It would be a crime to waste that dress.”
Encircling Regan in his arms, his body responded to her nearness, even as his mind worried over the earlier texts. He was unaware of his hand stroking her back, fingers lightly skimming over her bare skin. He wasn’t thinking clearly when he pulled her close or when he dropped kisses on her hair. He wasn’t paying attention, just acting on instinct, Regan was responding, her breath growing uneven, her hands clinging to his shoulders.

About the Author:

Madison Michael is an indie publisher, blogger and the author of the Beguiling Bachelor Series as well as the novella Desire & Dessert, from her sizzling B&B Billionaire Bachelor series.

 A Chicago native and hopeless romantic, Maddy was raised on Chicago culture, fairy tales, great literature and swashbuckling movies. Maddy employs that history, writing steamy contemporary romance novels set against the sumptuous backdrop of Chicago’s elite society.

 After receiving a BA in Journalism from the University of Illinois and an MBA from Loyola University of Chicago, Madison abandoned her writing to find her way in the corporate business world. Daughter of a librarian, it was inevitable that she would return to the world of books.

 Maddy writes from high above Chicago where she can stare at its gorgeous skyline or the shores of Lake Michigan surrounded by feline assistants. When she is not writing,, Maddy can be found lost in a book, fighting for the rights of the mentally iil or dining on Chicago’s famous cuisine. Hot dogs and pizza, anyone?

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Book Review Club: Carnegie’s Maid by Marie Benedict #review

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Today I’m reviewing the audio book of Carnegie’s Maid by Marie Benedict, Historical Fiction, narrated by Alana Kerr Collins. I chose this book because the topic for my monthly readers group was birthplace fiction, and most of this book takes place in my home town of Pittsburgh, PA. The author, Marie Benedict, calls Pittsburgh home, too.

Here’s the premise of the book, from the Amazon description:

Clara Kelley is not who they think she is. She’s not the experienced Irish maid who was hired to work in one of Pittsburgh’s grandest households. She’s a poor farmer’s daughter with nowhere to go and nothing in her pockets. But the other woman with the same name has vanished, and pretending to be her just might get Clara some money to send back home.

If she can keep up the ruse, that is.

Now, Clara Kelly isn’t just any farmer’s daughter. She’s highly intelligent, clever and well-educated. Her father had political leanings and educated his daughters not just in the basics, but also in history and literature. Clara quickly adapts by aping the Anglo-Irish accents of the Martin girls, daughter of the local lord, her father’s nemesis. Clara was chosen to go to America because she’s so smart, she was seen as unmarriagable.

Because this is fiction, Clara finds herself working for Andrew Carnegie’s mother as a lady’s maid and making it up as she goes. She only gets away with it because Mrs. Carnegie came from a hard scrabble beginning as the wife of a weaver. She’s new to having a lady’s maid, not to mention the lavish life style the family can now afford, thanks to her brilliant son Andrew.

And because this is fiction, the attraction between Andrew and Clara becomes inevitable. The two mesh intellectually at first, then later emotionally, but Clara’s family is in dire straits back in Ireland and she knows her first duty is to them. Her relationship with Andrew threatens her job, and that she cannot lose.

Benedict posits Clara’s influence as the reason why Carnegie became such a philanthropist, starting early in life. In fact, no one knows why he became so determined to give away so much of his hard earned money, but he set an example that millionaires and billionaires after him have followed.

Andrew comes off as a fascinating character. A man both ruthless in business and generous in private. Apparently he had a dual nature in real life.

A less gifted author might not have pulled off this premise, but both Clara and Andrew and their relationship seemed believable. I quite enjoyed the book, including Collins’s narration. She does a great job with the various accents: Irish, Scottish and American. I also enjoyed the descriptions of Pittsburgh in the 1860’s.

I found the review printed in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette to be informative, esp. about the author’s inspiration for the story. As the review points out, Carnegie is a towering figure in Pittsburgh’s history. I remember going to the imposing Carnegie Library downtown when I was a child. He also endowed a university, now known as Carnegie-Mellon.

Recommended for fans of Upstairs, Downstairs and Downton Abbey.

Linda

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