Rose Lerner

RWA 2019 Giveaway!

ETA [8/6/19]: This contest is now closed. Tresgrumpy, Zarah, Elise, Jessica, and Nikki won books. Georgia and Lenora won the ebook downloads. Rebecca and Ar won swag packets. Congratulations!!

Hi everyone! I got back from RWA last night and I brought a HUGE haul of goodies for you.

All books are signed.

A signed paperback copy of Courtney Milan’s f/f novella, “Mrs. Martin’s Incomparable Adventure“!

Mrs. Bertrice Martin—a widow, some seventy-three years young—has kept her youthful-ish appearance with the most powerful of home remedies: daily doses of spite, regular baths in man-tears, and refusing to give so much as a single damn about her Terrible Nephew.

Then proper, correct Miss Violetta Beauchamps, a sprightly young thing of nine and sixty, crashes into her life…

A signed copy of Eva Leigh’s Dare to Love a Duke!

For a dashing duke and the proprietress of a secret, sensual club in the London Underground, passion could lead to love…if they dare…

+PLUS+

Two download cards for Eva’s Temptations of a Wallflower!

Beneath Lady Sarah Frampton’s demure façade hides the mind of The Lady of Dubious Quality, author of the most titillating erotic fiction the ton has ever seen. Sarah knows discovery would lead to her ruin, but marriage—to a vicar, no less—could help protect her from slander.

Tasked with unmasking London’s most scandalous author by his powerful family, Jeremy Cleland has no idea that his beautiful, innocent bride is the very woman he seeks to destroy...

A signed paperback of Jackie Lau’s Ice Cream Lover!

I absolutely adored this romance…it felt like it was written just for me. I honestly feel vulnerable even reccing it, but also YOU SHOULD READ IT IT’S SO GOOD. [Content warning: the heroine lost a parent as a young adult.]

I hate ice cream. Ever since my fiancée left me at the altar and skewered me in her bestseller “Embrace Your Inner Ice Cream Sandwich: Finding the Positive You in a World of Negativity,” I haven’t been able to stomach the stuff.

Unfortunately, my five-year-old niece is a budding foodie and her favorite place in the world is Ginger Scoops, a cutesy Asian ice cream shop. I’ve spent too much time there, sipping black coffee, refusing to eat ice cream, and trying not to look at the owner, Chloe Jenkins…

Signed copy of L. Penelope’s Song of Blood and Stone. I couldn’t resist this stunning cover!

The kingdoms of Elsira and Lagrimar have been separated for centuries by the Mantle, a magical veil that has enforced a tremulous peace between the two lands. But now, the Mantle is cracking…

All Jasminda ever wanted was to live quietly on her farm, away from the prying eyes of those in the nearby town. Branded an outcast by the color of her skin and her gift of Earthsong, she’s been shunned all her life…until a group of Lagrimari soldiers wander into her valley with an Elsiran spy, believing they are still in Lagrimar.

A signed copy of Olivia Waite’s The Lady’s Guide to Celestial Mechanics, Avon’s first full-length f/f historical!

As Lucy Muchelney watches her ex-lover’s sham of a wedding, she wishes herself anywhere else. But it isn’t until she finds a letter from the Countess of Moth, looking for someone to translate a groundbreaking French astronomy text, that she knows where to go.

Showing up at the countess’s London home, she hoped to find a challenge, not a woman who takes her breath away…

I also collected a TON of swag!!

(Click image to enlarge)

Selection of postcards, stickers, bookmarks, buttons, and more. Authors include Courtney Milan, Alyssa Cole, Jackie Lau, Suleikha Snyder, Alexis Daria, Alisha Rai, Olivia Waite, L. Penelope, and K.C. Bateman.

Seven winners will receive a signed book OR download card, along with a selection of swag. Two more will receive swag packets without a book.

If you really want a particular book or piece of swag, you’re welcome to ask in your entry comment, but I can’t promise anything!

Contest rules:

1. Comment on this post to enter. If you’d like, tell me your favorite book you’ve read this month!
2. Winners will be chosen at random using random.org.
3. Due to postage costs, the physical prizes (including swag) are US only. International readers, put “international” in your comment and I’ll include you in the giveaway for the digital downloads.
4. Open for entries through Monday, August 5, 2019.

If you’d like to be alerted when new contests go up, you can sign up for my mailing list.

Good luck!

Reading/Meet & Greet, June 9 in Philly!

Long time no post! Thanks for your understanding with my erratic updates here. Honestly, if you don’t want to miss anything, I’d recommend joining my mailing list.

I also recently launched a Patreon! For just $3 a month, you can stay in the loop about what I’m working on every week (usually, that means nifty historical research or a small spoiler or snippet from my WIP, although on occasion I’ve also been known to share sneak peeks at a new cover, ask for help choosing a title, or talk about my personal life).

Here’s what Sarah Wendell of Smart Bitches, Trashy Books said when I recorded a podcast with her a few weeks ago (you can hear me talk about Aaron Burr, professional wrestling, and the f/f Gothic I’m writing):

“[I]t is a freaking joy to receive her weekly Patreon newsletter. It’s adorable, it’s fun, it’s informative, and I look forward to it every week. If you like obscure deep dives into history on such topics as what kinds of play tea sets did young girls have during the Regency, this is for you.”

!!!

Become a Patron!

And now, here are the deets on that reading:

Sunday, 9 June 2019
2PM – 4PM
Parkway Central branch, Free Library of Philadelphia
First Floor Heim Center (Room 131)
1901 Vine St, Philadelphia PA

(Full event details)

I’ll be reading aloud from Sweet Disorder! Lydia Michaels (who writes dark, sexy romantic suspense) will be reading as well.

I’ll have some books for sale, but not my whole catalog, so if you know you want to buy a particular book, give me a heads-up so I can bring it!

I hope to see you there.

If you want to know more about what I’m up to this summer, including my freelance editing/research assistance business (I’m scheduling in-person brainstorming sessions for RWA weekend!), workshops, podcast appearances, book recs, and Netflix selections, here’s a link to my June update!

Upcoming workshops!

I’ve got 3 workshops scheduled so far for 2019 and I’d love to see you there!

(I’m also open to scheduling more workshops! If you’re interested in booking me, please email rose@roselerner.com or use the contact form on this site.)

EEEE I’m so excited about this one! I will be spilling every trade secret I know at the Ripped Bodice romance bookstore in Culver City, CA on Sunday February 17, 1-4PM.

Historical Romance 101:

Want to put more “historical” in your historical romance? This lively and engaging in-depth workshop offers practical, nuts-and-bolts craft guidance to help you create a historical voice, write believable dialogue, seamlessly integrate research into your story, and decide what historical accuracy means to you. Then Rose will throw open her research tool-chest to share her hard-won techniques and tricks of the trade. She’ll walk you through how to get the most out of search engines and local libraries, build your own research collection, fact-check, and lots more, all with an emphasis on free resources. (Who doesn’t love free?)

Every historical setting and every level of experience is welcome!

You can sign up (or buy a ticket for a loved one!) at the Ripped Bodice events page. Registration is just $50 and I am going to pack as much useful information into three hours as I possibly can! Plus, spending time in the Ripped Bodice is nourishment for the soul, that place is magic.

(If you want to make a long weekend of it and soak in some sun, they’ve got a wonderful Galentine’s Day event on February 13!)

If you can’t make it to LA, I’ve got a couple of online workshops coming up as well with From The Heart Romance Writers.

(Oh, and if you can’t make it to LA but you would like me to sign a book for you while I’m at the Ripped Bodice, you can order one here! Link goes to the full list of available authors in case you want to do some additional shopping…)

January 27 – February 2, 2019 – “Making Your Protagonists’ Job Work For You.” ($15) I’ve given this one live before for writers’ groups and conferences and participants always have a ton of fun! I’ll take you through a series of exercises, using your protagonist’s job as a lens to deepen characterization, create tension, and build conflict. My own heroes and heroines count confectioners, innkeepers, chemists, soldiers, servants, con artists, politicians, and accountants among their number, just to name a few, so I know whereof I speak!

And then in December 2019, my “Regency Electoral Politics with a Focus on Women’s Participation” workshop is back by popular demand! ($25)

The Regency British political system was complex, evolving, and unique–and even if women couldn’t sit in Parliament, they were involved in it everywhere, as patronesses, hostesses, possessers of pocket boroughs, information brokers, canvassers, and more. I’ll give you a detailed overview of Parliament, political parties, elections, and the patronage system, and then explore the many ways that contemporary women (particularly elite women) participated.

This is a four-week course with LOTS of information! I know December is a busy holiday month, but you can always save the materials and read them at your convenience, and you’re welcome to email me with follow-up questions at any time.

Let me know if you have any questions!

Rose Doctors the Book: “Mary Poppins Returns”

WARNING: HERE BE SPOILERS. Also, lots of swearing, as it turns out. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Full disclosure: Mary Poppins was one of my favorite movies as a kid and I still adore it. It is absolutely a problematic fave but here we are.

On balance, I did really have a good time at Mary Poppins Returns. But to say I liked it might be an overstatement, or just an oversimplification. I left feeling extremely, intensely ambivalent, and I’ve been wrestling with trying to nail down my response ever since.

Visually, it was stunning (although I thought the visual interplay between fantasy and reality was much less deft than the original). I also loved the performances. Lin-Manuel Miranda was a snack, I tell you what. And JANE. Ugh. Jane was everything. The little girl broke my heart. I cried several times.

I wasn’t crazy about the songs, but they weren’t bad.

My primary problems, as they so often are, were with the script. I liked the story set-up, but in the end, the writers simply didn’t seem to have control over what things meant. As a result, the movie felt unfocused and a satisfying resolution was essentially impossible.

Here are five simple changes I would have made to improve things, ordered from smallest to largest:

Continue reading “Rose Doctors the Book: “Mary Poppins Returns””

Hanukkah giveaway, 8th night

ETA (12/16/18): This giveaway is closed. Sara is the winner!

A gift is going up every night of Hanukkah! (Each gift is a book plus swag—some mine, some I collected for you at RWA.) Leave a comment on this post, and I’ll enter you in the drawing. You can find all the gifts here:

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This final gift is a signed copy of my novella “All or Nothing”, a Listen to the Moon button reading “The butler did her!”, and a magnet saying “HE BROUGHT HER A HAM!” (if you’ve read Sweet Disorder, you get it.)

If you’d like to receive an exclusive scene of your favorite couple from my books celebrating their winter holiday, sign up for my holiday mailing here!

If you’d like to be notified of future contests in your inbox, sign up for my newsletter.

All winners will be randomly selected on December 15th. Entries are open on all gifts until then.

Happy holidays!

Hanukkah giveaway, 7th night

ETA (12/16/18): This giveaway is closed. Lynn is the winner!

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NOTE: Each link will become live on the corresponding night of Hanukkah! Just check back later this week.

Tonight’s gift is a copy of Joanna Shupe’s A Daring Arrangement and an “I’m in Hamilton’s Battalion” button.

If you’d like to receive an exclusive scene of your favorite couple from my books celebrating their winter holiday, sign up for my holiday mailing here!

If you’d like to be notified of future contests in your inbox, sign up for my newsletter.

All winners will be randomly selected on December 15th. Entries are open on all gifts until then.

Happy holidays!

Hanukkah giveaway, 6th night

ETA (12/16/18): This giveaway is closed. Karin is the winner!

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NOTE: Each link will become live on the corresponding night of Hanukkah! Just check back later this week.

Tonight’s gift is a copy of Courtney Milan’s The Governess Affair, plus 2 pieces of Courtney swag: a Pele button, and washi tape reading “women: doing things since forever”.

If you’d like to receive an exclusive scene of your favorite couple from my books celebrating their winter holiday, sign up for my holiday mailing here!

If you’d like to be notified of future contests in your inbox, sign up for my newsletter.

Happy holidays!

All winners will be randomly selected on December 15th. Entries are open on all gifts until then.

Hanukkah giveaway, 5th night

ETA (12/16/18): This giveaway is closed. Allison is the winner!

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NOTE: Each link will become live on the corresponding night of Hanukkah! Just check back later this week.

Tonight’s gift is my RWA2018 tote bag (unused) and enamel pin. If you win this one you can pick which one of my books you want to go in it.

If you’d like to receive an exclusive scene of your favorite couple from my books celebrating their winter holiday, sign up for my holiday mailing here!

If you’d like to be notified of future contests in your inbox, sign up for my newsletter.

All winners will be randomly selected on December 15th. Entries are open on all gifts until then.

Happy holidays!

Hanukkah giveaway, 4th night

ETA (12/16/18): This giveaway is closed. Timitra is the winner!

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NOTE: Each link will become live on the corresponding night of Hanukkah! Just check back later this week.

Tonight’s gift is a signed copy of Theresa Romain’s Scandalous Ever After, and a Tessa Dare button reading simply, “I Dare.”

If you’d like to receive an exclusive scene of your favorite couple from my books celebrating their winter holiday, sign up for my holiday mailing here!

If you’d like to be notified of future contests in your inbox, sign up for my newsletter.

All winners will be randomly selected on December 15th. Entries are open on all gifts until then.

Happy holidays!

Hanukkah giveaway, 3rd night

ETA (12/16/18): This giveaway is closed. Kerry is the winner!

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

NOTE: Each link will become live on the corresponding night of Hanukkah! Just check back later this week.

Tonight’s gift is a signed copy of my Sweet Disorder, a magnet from me saying “HE BROUGHT HER A HAM!” (if you’ve read the book, you’ll get it), and a rosette like ones Lively St. Lemeston Whigs wear.

If you’d like to receive an exclusive scene of your favorite couple from my books celebrating their winter holiday, sign up for my holiday mailing here!

If you’d like to be notified of future contests in your inbox, sign up for my newsletter.

All winners will be randomly selected on December 15th. Entries are open on all gifts until then.

Happy holidays!