Publication date: April 2024

Genres: Adult, Contemporary, Romance

Synopsis:

Hannah Ballard’s most successful relationship: her career.

Her superpower is an uncanny ability to discover perfect movie settings while avoiding the limelight herself. Promoted from location scout to location manager, she’s involved in pre-production for a film based on a bestselling historical novel. A chance meeting with an aristocratic landowner leads her to Somerset and his estate in picturesque Milver Vale—the ideal backdrop for a period drama.

Martin Latimer, Marquess of Milverston, believes the release of a high-profile motion picture can increase tourism and bolster the local economy. And he hopes to spend more time with its intriguing location manager.

After Hannah suffers a professional setback, she accepts Martin’s invitation to attend the annual village festival before flying home to hunt for her next job. Proximity and mutual passion propel the couple into an exhilarating affair. But Hannah’s discovery that Martin is a magnet for the scandal-hungry press forces her into a painful and damaging decision.

Powering through heartbreak is hard. Especially when coping with unemployment—and dealing with members of her fractured family. For their protection, she must part from the nobleman asking her to stay with him. Who makes her believe that, at long last, she actually could be falling in love.

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About the Author

Margaret Porter is the bestselling author of The Myrtle Wand (October 2022), The Limits of Limelight, the award-winning Beautiful Invention: A Novel of Hedy Lamarr, and a dozen more highly acclaimed historical novels. Her lifelong study of history inspires her fiction and her travels. A former stage actress, she has also worked in film, television, and radio. When not writing, she tends her extensive rose gardens, sits by the lakeside letting her imagination roam, exercises her dog, or plays her mandolin. Author website: www.margaretporter.com

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Publication Date: October 11, 2022
Gallica Press

Genre: Historical Fiction

The Myrtle Wand, a retelling and a continuation of the classic ballet Giselle, restores original story elements to transform a tale of blighted romances and betrayals into a quest for redemption and restorative love.

Princess Bathilde de Sevreau, her school friend Myrte, and the peasant girl Giselle have heard the legend of the vilis, ghostly maidens who rise from their graves by night to roam the forest, seeking revenge on faithless lovers. Each will fear being ensnared by that spectral sisterhood…

Bathilde, destined for a marriage of convenience with Albin, Duc de Rozel, leaves her ancestral château for the Sun King’s sophisticated and scandalous court. As participants in royal ceremonies and entertainments, the princess and the soldier gradually recognize their deep feelings for each other, as well as mutual hopes for a happy and satisfying union. But the tragic consequences of Albin’s brief masquerade as a commoner and the amorous Louis XIV’s quest for a mistress divide the betrothed couple. Together and separately, they must overcome conflicting duties and unexpected dangers to determine their fate.

Excerpt

Françoise’s question tumbled out the instant Bathilde and her cousin entered the crowded yellow sitting room. “What did you think of him?” she whispered and leaned in to hear the a

“I’ve not decided.”

“I don’t believe you.”

“We spoke but briefly before I departed.”

“I’m astonished you bothered to come at all,” her friend declared. “How could you tear yourself away from a reputed paragon?”

Ever sensitive to her discomfort, Sophie interceded, saying, “Not only is the duke personable, he showed a proper sense of the occasion. Not overly reticent or restrained. Nor excessively familiar.”

“How soon will you become Duchesse de Rozel?” Françoise inquired.

“It’s probably being decided at this very moment. Papa prefers to have the ceremony in the cathedral in Poitiers, where he married my mother and where she’s buried. With the archbishop presiding.”

“Your duke is unlikely to object to that. Describe him.”

Bathilde conjured her revised vision of her future husband. “His hair and eyes are brown.” And much darker than his portrait had suggested. “He has quite a noble profile. He dresses well, though less luxuriously than other courtiers.”

“His manners are excellent,” Sophie added. “I wonder whether he’s got a mistress.”

Bathilde stiffened. “If he does, he’s not likely to inform me.”

“I can ask certain ladies who might know. Very discreetly, of course. Ninon de l’Enclos discovers all the intrigues in town, almost before they begin.”

Sophie put a finger to her lips. “Pray do not stir up gossip about Bathilde and the duke. It’s in poor taste and can be terribly destructive. They’re barely acquainted.”

Françoise, not at all abashed, replied, “I shall guard my tongue, Madame. I forget that after her months in Paris she hasn’t yet adopted our sophisticated ways.” She leveled her bright blue eyes at Bathilde. “When do you see him again?”

“Tomorrow, at the Louvre, where His Majesty and I are performing duets on guitar and harpsichord.”

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About the Author

MARGARET PORTER is award-winning, bestselling author of The Myrtle Wand (October 2022), The Limits of Limelight (September 2021), Beautiful Invention: A Novel of Hedy Lamarr, and twelve other historical novels. After studying British history in the U.K., she worked professionally in theatre, film, and television. A historian and avid traveler, Margaret returns to Great Britain and Europe for research. She lives in New England with husband and dog, dividing her time between an architecturally unique book-filled house in a small city and a waterfront cottage on one of the region’s largest lakes.

More information is available on her website and blog. You can also connect with her on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Goodreads.