Dear Reader;

Welcome back to Ravensmuir!

I was very excited to have the chance to finally return to that fictional estate myself, as there was plenty of work to be done there. The ravens were gone, the keep itself had collapsed, the black horses bred at Ravensmuir had been moved to Kinfairlie because the new laird, Malcolm, had decided to go abroad and seek his fortune as a mercenary—and this despite his brother’s disapproval. Malcolm’s homecoming would be a renaissance for Ravensmuir, in my mind, and he required special woman to help him recover from all he had experienced. I was sure I knew the perfect one. My favorite characters are the ones who have their own opinions about how their story should be told. Catriona proved to be one of those characters—while I believed that I’d known her story and the balance she would bring to Malcolm’s life, Catriona showed me that I had it all wrong. As is so often the case—and is the reason I love opinionated characters so much—her version of events is much more interesting than the one I had planned. In fact, I think this pragmatic and wounded woman is a much better partner for Malcolm than the Catriona I had originally envisioned. I hope you enjoy reading their story as much as I enjoyed writing it.

The next and final medieval romance in the True Love Brides series will be Elizabeth’s book, which is called The Warrior’s Prize. You’ll catch a glimpse of Elizabeth’s story at the end of this book, and there’s an excerpt from The Warrior’s Prize as well. That book will be a December 2014 release and is available for pre-order at some portals now. You can find the links on my website, http://www.delacroix.net.

The family trees for Kinfairlie and my other linked historical romances have also been updated on my website, up to the end of The Warrior’s Prize, and made more pretty by Kim Killion. You’ll find them under the Claire Delacroix tab, all on a page called Family Trees. There’s also a bookmark designed by Kim, which lists all of my books. You’ll find that under About Deborah on the Complete Book List page. These are all PDF files that you can download and print on an 8.5” by 11” sheet of paper.

There is one more exciting piece of news about Kinfairlie and Ravensmuir as I write this: there are audio editions in production for both The Rogue and The Beauty Bride. The Rogue is the first book in the Rogues of Ravensmuir trilogy of medieval romances and was my first visit to Ravensmuir. The Beauty Bride is the first book in my Jewels of Kinfairlie trilogy, which is the beginning of the linked stories about these eight siblings seeking their happily-ever-afters. These are the first of my books to have audio editions, so I’m looking forward to having them available to you all.

Finally, some of you have probably noticed that of the eight siblings at Kinfairlie, Ross will be the only one whose story won’t be told by the completion of the True Love Brides series. In The Beauty Bride, Ross went to Inverfyre, as you might recall, to train under the Hawk of Inverfyre, along with his cousins and that man’s sons. (The Hawk’s story is told in The Warrior.) My plan is for Ross’s story to be part of another series, yet to come—we’ll move up into the Highlands and Inverfyre for that linked series and see some of those cousins married off, as well. First though, we’re going to take a little break from Kinfairlie in 2015 and follow a band of knights as they journey home from crusade. Look for more news about that series coming soon to my website and blog.

Until next time, I hope you are well and have plenty of good books to read.

All my best,
Claire