Interview & Giveaway: Stephanie Doyle

Image credit: Florin Gorgan

I’m so happy to welcome author Stephanie Doyle to the blog today. I’ve been a fan ever since earlier this year when I read The Way Back. Her new book, One Final Step, releases this week and I can’t wait for you to read it. It’s a lovely Contemporary with a very special hero. In the meantime let’s give her a warm welcome! 

Hi, Stephanie! Welcome to Romance Around the Corner. I’m having a love affair with your books, so I’m very pleased you could join us today.

Q. First, for all of our readers who are not familiar with your work, tell us a bit about yourself and your books.

SD: Well I’ve been writing for about sixteen years now. All my published books are with Harlequin, but every now and then I take time out to do something off the beaten path. I’ve written a contemporary about a woman golfer who competes with the men which I recently self-published and some crazy mystery/romance historicals. One I’m actually shopping to publishers now. 

I wish I could talk about really cool hobbies and other things like that, but mostly I’m either working at my day job, writing or watching re-runs of Lois and Clark The Adventures of Superman with my cats.  Thank you cable for bringing back all my favorites!

Winner! Fault Lines Rebecca Rogers Maher

Thanks so much to everyone for taking the time to enter the giveaway and for the great comments.

The winner is: Jade.

Congratulations! I've already sent you an email.

The Not-So-Secret Baby on the Cover

This is a random post because I didn’t have a review ready for today. But, have you noticed all the books with babies on the cover? It’s insane! Yesterday I bought one, and Amazon started recommending them to me. 

Some come with adults:

Review: A Fool's Gold Christmas by Susan Mallery

Source: we received an e-ARC of the book through NetGalley for review purposes.

Two books ago I broke up with this series. Obviously I have no willpower because the minute I saw this one on NetGalley I requested it. The reason I wanted to read it was because the heroine was actually the one redeeming part of what I call the book with the goats of doom. I’m happy to say that this one wasn’t awful.

Evie Stryker is the estranged half-sister of the brothers that were the leads of the past three books in the series. The reason she’s estranged is because their mother had an affair just after the boys’ father died and she was the result. The mother never loved her and she was mostly cast aside and ignored. She grew up alone and with a lot of resentment and when she left home, she never came back.

Review: Hunter’s Season by Thea Harrison

Dragon Bound was one of my favorite books of 2011, but after some disappointments with the series I started to think that it was one-hit wonder. I did enjoy Oracle’s Moon, though, so I keep reading the books. I’m happy to say that Hunter’s Season makes me feel hopeful that the magic is still there.

If you have read the previous books and novellas in the series, you know that Xanthe is an undercover guard for the Dark Fae court, and Aubrey Riordan is a chancellor whose wife betrayed him, and everyone else, when she tried to murder the queen, who happened to be the second book’s heroine. In Hunter’s Season, someone tries to kill Aubrey and Xanthe is the one in charge to protect and take care of him while he recovers. Then they fall in love and live happily ever after.

Review: How to Mend a Broken Heart by Amy Andrews

Source: we received an e-ARC of the book through NetGalley for review purposes.

I haven’t read a Harlequin Medical Romance in months, maybe even years, so when I saw this one on NetGalley I decided to renew my former love for the line. 

Almost ten years ago Fletcher and Tessa’s toddler died in a tragic accident. Their inability to cope with their grief ended their marriage. Tessa moved to London and they never saw each other again. But every year she visits their son’s grave and he watches her. Now, after all these years, he’s ready to confront her. His mother has Alzheimer’s and he asks Tessa to stay with them for a while because his mother needs her. So she agrees, even though she’s still actively grieving and can’t even stand the sight of him. The situation forces her to come to terms with what happened and decide if she wants to give their marriage a second chance.

Review: Second Hand by Heidi Cullinan and Marie Sexton

Source: we received an e-ARC of the book through NetGalley for review purposes.

As you probably know, I love Marie Sexton. She’s one of those authors who never disappoints. I’m also a fan of Heidi Cullinan, although I haven’t read all of her novels. And now that they are teaming up to write a series of books set in the fictional town of Tucker Springs, I’m very excited to see what they do together. 

Paul’s life was all about his girlfriend. He moved to a different town for her, and did everything she wanted. So when she dumps him he is devastated. Months later, he still hopes to win her back. But when she tells him that she’s living with someone else, a guy she was already sleeping with before ending their relationship, Paul decides that the best way to move on is to sell all her stuff. So he goes to the local pawn shop owned by El Rozal. They become friends, and soon lovers.