ETA: This contest is closed. Mary D. is the winner of the basket. The e-book winers are S2, Anita H., Lozza, Nancy Gilliland, and Taffygrrl. Congratulations, everyone!
True Pretenses comes out in just a few weeks! To celebrate, I’m giving away 5 e-books and a lovely gift basket of items, and this time, the basket is included. Only it’s not a literal basket…
Yes, the True Pretenses gift basket operates in a long con artist–fiction tradition of briefcases full of cash!
Never steal a heart unless you can afford to lose your own.
Through sheer force of will, Ash Cohen raised himself and his younger brother from the London slums to become the best of confidence men. He’s heartbroken to learn Rafe wants out of the life, but determined to grant his brother his wish.
It seems simple: find a lonely, wealthy woman. If he can get her to fall in love with Rafe, his brother will be set. There’s just one problem—Ash can’t take his eyes off her.
Heiress Lydia Reeve is immediately drawn to the kind, unassuming stranger who asks to tour her family’s portrait gallery. And if she married, she could use the money from her dowry for her philanthropic schemes. The attraction seems mutual and oh so serendipitous—until she realizes Ash is determined to matchmake for his younger brother.
When Lydia’s passionate kiss puts Rafe’s future at risk, Ash is forced to reveal a terrible family secret. Rafe disappears, and Lydia asks Ash to marry her instead. Leaving Ash to wonder—did he choose the perfect woman for his brother, or for himself?
Warning: Contains secrets and pies.
You can read the first chapter and pre-order the book here.
The basket includes:
1. An e-book of True Pretenses in the format of your choice.
2. A signed promotional postcard.
3. Two True Pretenses bookmarks.
4. Four votive candles from Kittredge Candles, in themed scents: figgy pudding, Christmas pine, ginger, and clean linen! (Yes, this book is set during Advent.)
5. A malachite necklace similar to one given to Lydia by Ash in the book. The fantabulous Olivia Waite made this for y’all, and it’s BEAUTIFUL.
6. The Big Con, by David Maurer. The definitive text on conning and especially the long con in America, written by a linguistics professor who became very familiar with the criminal underworld through his work. This highly entertaining book provides the patterns for every long-con movie out there—in fact, Maurer sued the screenwriter of The Sting for a share of the profits and got a hefty settlement.
7. Jennifer Crusie’s wonderful romances about the grifting Dempsey family, Faking It and Welcome to Temptation.
8. A DVD of “The Brothers Bloom,” about two con artist brothers played by Mark Ruffalo and Adrian Brody. This movie was the direct inspiration for True Pretenses.
9. Season 1 of my new obsession Leverage. This show RULES.
Speaking of which, the rules:
1. Comment on this post to enter.
2. The winners will be chosen at random using random.org.
3. The 5 e-books are open internationally. The gift basket is US and Canada only.
4. Open for entries through January 22nd.
5. Void where prohibited.
And a few links:
1. If you’d like to be alerted when new contests go up (I usually give away romances signed by the author), you can sign up for my newsletter.
2. Today I also posted a free Sweet Disorder short story! “Poor child of Doubt and Death,” in which Nick is a vampire and Phoebe is a dragon.
3. Have you been meaning to check out Sweet Disorder? It’s on sale for 99¢ everywhere through January 20th! Read the first chapter and buy it here.
4. True Pretenses DVD extras (including deleted scenes) are here.
What a thoughtful and clever gift “basket”! I’m looking forward to reading True Pretenses!
Thank you! I love putting these together. 🙂
Love this idea!
Thank you! Briefcases full of cash are one of my favorite movie tropes so I’m excited to have a chance to put on together in real life. o/
What a lovely gift basket! Thanks for hosting this contest.
Thank you! I love putting them together.
Ooh, yes, please!
😀 Good luck in the drawing!
Oh, I love Sweet Disorder, can’t wait for the new book, preordered it the day it was announced! The giveaway sounds yummy, especially the Long Con nonfiction, which warms my INTP soul. Thanks for writing such amazing books about, you know, regular people in the Regency. Reminds me of reading Trollop’s Barchester novels, no lie!
Aw, thank you so much! And the Big Con book is INCREDIBLE. I highly recommend buying it if you don’t win.
You had me at the hero’s name, Ash Cohen! I just heard your interview at SBTB & was so impressed (& loved your comments about the hero’s chest hair on the cover– did my research & agree he does resemble David Duchovny) I immediately went to amazon & bought Sweet Disorder. I’m excited about the premise of True Pretenses– it sounds wonderful! And the gift basket is so original & thoughtful. I look forward to reading your books!
lol! Thank you! I’ve wanted to write Jewish characters for a while and it was exciting to finally get to do it. I hope you enjoy Sweet Disorder!
I love the connections between the various items in this “basket”! A wonderful way to run your contest.
Thank you! Give me a theme and I will run with it. I love throwing themed parties as well. My most recent concept: throw a Sherlock Holmes party and decorate by trashing the house. 😉
Oh, that’s so cool!
Congrats, you have won an e-book! I’ll be emailing you. 🙂
EEEEEEEE!!! This is so exciting. I loved Sweet Disorder to pieces and I can’t wait to read the sequel.
Yay!! I hope it lives up to expectations. 🙂
You won an ebook! I’ll be emailing you. 😀
I love Leverage so much, and I have been so looking forward to True Pretenses!! These giveaways are so thoughtful and fun. I love the dinosaur monster protecting the box.
Leverage is the BEST. Thank you! I would love to see a con artist T-Rex movie. “Jurassic Park 5: An Offer You Can’t Refuse”
OMG Leverage is amazing and this book sounds awesome! Saw this on tumblr and can’t wait to read it once it comes out.
o/ Yay, thank you!
I am at the stage of Leverage obsession where EVERY SONG I hear I’m like “ooh this is a great Leverage song”
This is so thoughtful and fun! I’ll check out True Pretenses for sure!
Thank you for the chance. This would be so much fun to win.
What a cool gift basket!
I watched all of Leverage and loved it so much! Thought it was funny and sweet.
I’m intrigued. Count me in!
What an awesome contest!!
Great contest, very different and fun
You won an e-book! I’ll be emailing you. 😀
Love to win this Happy New Year
Thanks for the chance. Awesome giveaway!
I loved your interview with Sarah Wendell on her podcast, and am really looking forward to True Pretenses!
I didn’t know what malachite was before and had to look it up, it’s lovely 🙂
Thank you! 😀
I’m very fond of malachite, and it was popular in the eighteenth century not just for jewelry but for furniture and stuff. I can’t even imagine how much this stuff must have cost! When I was in New York a few months ago I saw this incredible enormous vase at the Metropolitan: http://www.metmuseum.org/collection/the-collection-online/search/199500
You won an ebook! I’ll be emailing you. 😀
Looks interesting
Oh, this is so clever and creative! Hoping for a chance to win, happy for new books to buy and read.
This looks like a great selection of goodies. Thanks for the chance to win!
Mary–congratulations, you are the lucky winner! I’ll email you to get your information.
I love your themed gift basket, it’s a very original idea and full of fun stuff. I especially loved that Leverage was included, that show does rock!! Thanks for the chance to win! 🙂
You won an e-book! I’ll be emailing you. 😀
Wow, what an awesome giveaway!Love the Jennifer Crusie books and Season 1 of Leverage in the gift basket, I’ll be keeping my fingers crossed! Thank you and congrats on the release of True Pretenses!
Sounds great. I just got my copy of True Pretenses on Kindle today. Can’t wait to read it.
Huzzah! I’m excited to hear what you think. o/
I can count on you to write an unusual and far from a “run-of-the-mill” story. Your giveaway looks terrific.
Aw, thank you! I try. 🙂
I just discovered your books and I’m so excited to be able to dive in 🙂 Congrats on the new release and thanks for the awesome giveaway!
Yay for new readers! Come on in, the water’s fine. 😉 Good luck in the drawing!
Love the concept for the story. Matchmaking brother likes the match he has picked for himself. I see trouble and fun a brewing. Looking forward to reading the entire book.
The themed prize is inspired. I also loved the Leverage TV show. I am glad to see the guy from Leverage on The Librarians now.
Thanks! I always love a story about matchmaking gone wrong. I hope you like it!
I am also loving Christian Kane on the Librarians. It’s funny, I feel like his character gets crankier every week, and as he gets crankier, he reminds me more and more of Eliot. Which is not a bad thing at all! I ADORE Eliot. I love everyone on Leverage, really. What a wonderful ensemble.
I would love to read your book! I would love to pet your very cute, very buiness-like crocodile.
I remember seeing The Brothers Bloom a few years ago and enjoying it. I like all the actors in there, and the female explosives expert was pretty awesome. I’m excited to see you take this premise and give it a happier ending!
Bang Bang! She was incredible. I loved her in Pacific Rim and 47 Ronan, too! I hope they start putting her in everything. 🙂
I’ve already bought True Pretenses, but the basket sounds awesome! No one does movies about the long con like David Mamet. The two I am thinking of are House of Games and The Spanish Prisoner. The great Ricky Jay is in both of them, and now I’m very excited to realize that he’s in The Brothers Bloom too!
I haven’t seen either of those! The Spanish Prisoner has definitely been on my list, because you see it referenced everywhere, but I’ll have to look up House of Cards. Thanks for the recs! I hope you enjoy True Pretenses.
That’s “House of Games” the 1987 movie with Joe Mantegna, not to be confused with the current Netflix series, which is “House of Cards”.
Oops! Thanks. 🙂
I’ve bought it already, too, and can’t wait to read it once I finish a big project at work. I love the idea of the gift briefcase.
Yay! Hope the project goes well. 🙂
Thank you for your generosity in crafting such a unique prize! Such a great assortment of books and other goodies and I agree about being obsessed with Leverage! Christian Kane (Eliott) is so sexy!!!!! I’m crossing my fingers that I win as the closing date is only a few days before my birthday…..
Eliot is SO hot. Everyone on the team is hot! It’s, like, a preternaturally good-looking group of people. A++++++ to that casting director.
Good luck in the drawing! I don’t know if random.org is swayed by crossed fingers but I like to think it is. 🙂 I’m very superstitious.
Congratulations on the new book! It looks intriguing with some different types of characters than you usually see which I do enjoy.
Thank you! Good luck in the drawing. 🙂
WOW! Thank you for the AWESOME giveaway! And yes, Leverage is epic! 🙂
Congratulations on your new release!
Leverage is the best! When the BFF and I finished watching it through, we went back and started again at the beginning. And I was just talking to a friend who is doing exactly the same thing!
Thank you!
Mark Ruffalo YES!
I haven’t watched LEVERAGE.
Rose,
I haven’t been introduced to your work yet but this gift basket package sounds like a wonderful way to get to know you!
candles, necklace, e–book and bookmark
A fantastic treat package!
Thanks for the chance to win all of these goodies!
Mark Ruffalo is AMAZING. I’m glad you like the basket! I had so much fun putting it together. Good luck in the drawing!
Congrats on the release of TP, Rose. I read the first chapter and it appeals to me greatly. Man, I would love to win that basket. Clever! Have a fantastic weekend. xo
Thank you! I’m glad you liked the chapter. 🙂 Good luck in the drawing! I had a lot of fun putting the basket together.
Thanks SO much, what a great giveaway! I’m so glad to be introduced to your work. Yay
Thanks! I love planning my giveaways. 🙂
Congratulations! True Pretenses has been getting great reviews. You must be thrilled.
Thank you!! Believe me, I AM. 😀