Book Lovers Inc.
Romance Novel Reviews, Author Interviews, Commentary
Guest post by Heather Snow + Giveaway
I am very happy to welcome back to BLI one of my favourite new historical romance authors, the wonderful Heather Snow, author of the Veiled Seduction series, a very exciting historical romance and mystery series! As Book #2 Sweet Deception hit the shelves this week Heather stops by to tell us more about the characters, the story and writing them. Please give her a warm welcome and you could even win a copy of Sweet Enemy, the 1st book in the series (which I LOVED)!
Where our Hero learns his mission won’t be as easy as he’d hoped…
Lady criminologist, Miss Emma Wallingford, unknowingly finds herself tangled in the dangerous final mission of Lord Derick Aveline, a spy who also happens to be her long lost first love. But when deception, however sweet, is the name of the game, no one can be trusted. And every love—and every life—is at risk.
Hello! Heather Snow here and I am thrilled to be continuing my blog tour for Sweet Deception here at Book Lovers, Inc. Thank you for having me back again! What I am doing for this tour is pulling back the curtain of Sweet Deception a bit, sharing a few of my favorite passages from the book each day while letting you in on the thoughts behind them. You can keep up with the stops (or go back and read ones you missed) either on my website or my Facebook page.
Today, I’m sharing the moment when our poor hero realizes his tidy little mission is going to get rather complicated. After arriving at his ancestral home to find nothing ready for him, he discovers a woman in his dining room issuing orders to his staff and other assembled villagers, as well as…
She was scribbling all over an irreplaceable Burnett map of the countryside, commissioned by his grandfather over half a century ago.
He should be appalled. But Derick had long ago shed any care for the trappings of the viscountcy. Instead, he eyed the scene with detached curiosity, angling for the best way to use it to his purposes. Hmmm. Outrage would be precisely what people would expect of the “pampered aristocrat” persona he typically used for these missions. And Little Miss Map Despoiler had given him the perfect opening. All he had to do was take the stage she’d inadvertently set for him.
“What the devil are you doing?” he barked as he pushed off from the wall. His exclamation had the desired effect. A chorus of gasps registered, but Derick ignored them as he reached the head of the table in three long strides and snatched the priceless map from atop it.
He rolled the map with deceptive casualness, the dry paper making a hissing sound against his palms in the now otherwise silent room. He raised a brow and injected a supercilious tone into his voice as he turned to the woman standing frozen before him.
“Do you mind telling me just who you are”—his gaze traveled up her slim body in an intentionally arrogant perusal—“and why you are vandalizing my property?”
The last word caught in his throat as his eyes finally reached hers.
A flash of memory came, of a scrawny blond pest who’d trailed behind him every summer like an unwanted hound, a little hoyden with unforgettably wide amber eyes.
No longer a blonde, he noted.
And no longer a girl, his baser side chimed in. Derick pressed his lips together, hard. Damnation. The neighbor girl, Miss Wallingford.
Anna? Ella? No, Emma. Derick was surprised he recalled her Christian name. He’d always just called her Pygmy. She’d hated the nickname, thinking he was poking fun at her tiny stature. There was that, but he’d really given her the moniker because her golden eyes and tenacious nature had reminded him of the pygmy owlets that hunted these hills at twilight.
She was apparently still a pest—and one already interfering with his plans, even if she couldn’t possibly know it.
In these few lines, I hope I set up for you just what kind of relationship these two are going to have. Obviously, Emma is going to detest his continued use of this childhood nickname…which, of course, he will use to nettle her—and in his mind, keep his distance from her. Well, at least until it becomes an endearment, fraught with meaning only the two of them (and the reader!) can appreciate.
It also speaks of a deep childhood connection that will be vital to helping a war-weary spy remember who he used to be, something necessary to healing his soul. When I first started this story, I’d thought Emma was going to be a stranger to Derick but I quickly realized that for her to be able to reach into his carefully guarded heart, she would have to have already been a part of him—even if neither of them ever recognized it. I hope you enjoy Derick and Emma’s journey as much as I enjoyed writing it!
I’ll be happy to give away a copy of my debut, SWEET ENEMY, the first book in this series. Please look out for SWEET DECEPTION, available now, wherever books are sold. To enter, simply leave me a comment and answer the question: Did you have a childhood nickname?
Heather Snow is a historical romance author with a degree in Chemistry who discovered she much preferred creating chemistry on the page, rather than in the lab. She lives in the Midwest with her husband, two rambunctious boys and one very put upon cat.
Find out more or connect with Heather at her website / Facebook / Twitter / Goodreads
Book #2 in the Veiled Seduction series
In the dark, the greatest lover can become the most dangerous conspirator…
Lady criminologist, Miss Emma Wallingford, unknowingly finds herself tangled up in the dangerous final mission of Lord Derick Aveline, a spy who also happens to be her long-lost first love. But when deception, however sweet, is the name of the game, no one can be trusted. And every love–and every life–is at risk.
Buy at Amazon – Book Depository – Kindle – B&N – Books-a-Million
~*~*Giveaway*~*~
Heather has generously offered a copy of Sweet Enemy, the 1st book in her Veiled Seduction series (to get a first glimpse and see how much I loved it you can read my review) to one lucky commenter!
Share This Post
Related Posts
Subscribe and stay up-to-date
65 Comments
« Review: Demon Hunting in the Deep South by Lexi George Next Post
Review: Sweet Deception by Heather Snow »
Unfortunately Google Friend Connect will stop working for non Blogger blogs at the start of March.
To stay up-to-date use one of the other options above to subscribe to the newest Book Lovers Inc. action.Thank you!
| |||||||||
| 5 Stars: Perfect! I Love It! | |||||||||
| 4 Stars: Awesome Book! | |||||||||
| 3 Stars: I Liked It! | |||||||||
| 2 Stars: Not bad, but maybe not for me. | |||||||||
| 1 Star: Didn't like it! Did Not Finish it. | |||||||||
 | | | | | |||||
Blog RSS Feed
Follow Me on Twitter
My Facebook
I would be very ahppy to discover your series.Thank you a lot for the international giveaway
i didn’t have any nickname
I can’t remember any one nickname, either…though I can for my brother! And I still tease him pretty mercilessly 🙂
Thanks for stopping by!
Yay, great post. I always love historical romance. Looking forward to read it.
Yup, I had childhood nickname. My friends called me Rambo (I seriously hate it at first) because my hair was kind of similar with him (geez, way to go for nickname inspiration). I was a fierce, grumpy, and hot-blooded little girl back then (more apt I guess with the nickname). Luckily, in junior high school they stopped calling me that.
That is an original one, Adis! Glad they stopped calling you that, too 🙂 It is amazing what kids come up with to taunt one another
This series sounds great. I love that she is giving away book 1 since I this is the first I have heard of this series and am a total series junky and have to start at the begining.
Thanks so much!
Thanks for coming by, Maria! As Stella alluded to in her review, Sweet Enemy is a lighter tale and Sweet Deception a little darker, but both have elements of mystery and great science-savvy heroines. I hope you love them!
Congratulations on the series. I didn’t have a childhood nickname.
Me either, Kim. At least, not one that I didn’t block out… 🙂 Thanks for stopping by!
I love Heather’s Veiled Seduction series and am so excited that Sweet Deception has been released! If Heather checks in let her know I’ll gladly babysit the Heir and the Spare so she can have more time to finishing the next book in the series!
Talking about “little ones” my childhood nickname was Peanut! I really hated that name – you see I am under tall and unfortunately even as I got older was always one of the shortest in my class! The only advantage was if I sat in the back of the room the teacher could never see me so I didn’t get called o which was always an advantage if I didn’t know the answer!
Oh, Jeanne…then you should really be able to relate to Emma, the heroine of SWEET DECEPTION. Derick calls her Pygmy. You can imagine how she feels about that!
Great to see you again 🙂
I was called Sister. I have 5 brothers and sisters.
Congrats on the series.
Estella, big family! I have trouble keeping my nieces nicknames straight sometimes, because one is Sis and one is Sug, but when you’re talking to them both, they easily slip out wrong 🙂
Congrats on the new release, Heather. I did not have a childhood nickname. The nicknames came later when I was in high school and college.
Hi Jane, you make a good point! I guess I did have a nickname or two in highschool, plays off of my maiden name (which was always terribly mispronounced anyway!)
Thanks for stopping by.
Sadly no :/ I have never been called anything at all. Well except fr my real name
That’s not always a bad thing 😉 My brother hated his nickname! Thanks for stopping by
I had a few nicknames, one that people still tend to call me today “June Bug”. My oldest niece now calls me Aunt Jam (my initials) and Book Nerd (cause I am always reading, lol)
I LOVE Aunt Jam 🙂
I wish I can say I had a childhood nickname, especially one with a funny history but I don’t. When I do hear of someone with an odd or unique nickname I’m always curious to know the story behind it.
I didn’t have one, either, Na. You’re right, though…the stories are usually great!
I don’t have a childhood nickname, but I was called pumpkin (often shortened to punky) all through high school. I had my hair cut short, with my roundish head & the color of a pumpkin. It was meant as a joke, but not an unkind one. I never minded.
Pumpkin is adorable 🙂 (so is Punky!)
No nickname for me 🙁
Thanks a lot for the giveaway! Those books sound great! Love the covers.
Evie is such a beautiful name, who needs a nickname? Do you pronounce with a short or long “e”?
Yes, the covers are divine. Can’t wait to see what they come up with for Sweet Madness.
Well, I have several nickname I was called ” corn hair” in bahasa rambut jagung because my hair is a mixture of red and brown. Then, an owner of food shop that I used to buy his “kitten cake” called me ” anak londo”, in English Dutch. Then, when in High school they called me ” sesame face” because I have freckles.
All interesting names. Did you mind sesame face? On another note, my 4 year old mistakes the word ‘nipple’ for ‘freckle’. He walked up to a girl with lots of freckles on her face the other day and told her he liked her nipples. It was one of those embarassingly hillarious moments in life…
No nickname for me, unless I missed it while my nose was buried in a book.
Ah…that’s a good point! Maybe that’s why I didn’t have a nickname either 🙂
I don’t remember any nickname I might have had, thanks for the giveaway!
yes that i do. It’s reckless! lol
I was always running into things when i was little and now it is just stick with me. 27 and people still call me it.
At least it’s not a really childish nickname they’re still calling you at 27! 🙂
My nickname was actually “Bookworm” because I was always reading a book and had to be called 10 times before I took notice! Thanks for making the giveaway international!
You’re welcome! I LOVE my international readers!
You’re welcome, and thanks for stopping by!
evening-green, this comment was meant for you 🙂
Congrats Heather for your debut, and the second now! 😀 wish I could take time to read this series. 😉
I don’t have any unique nickname, usually it’s a short part of my name, such as Dy (from Lady, pronounce Dee), and Dido (pronounce Dee-Dow)^^
Hi Ladymilano 🙂 Believe me, I understand time crunches! Between the Heir (4) and the Spare (1) it seems I have no time at all anymore! That’s the great thing about books, though….they’re there when you have time for them!
I had no nickname. I would love to read this series though. It sounds good.
With a beautiful name like Victoria, who needs one 🙂 I do hope you love my lady scientists!
I have a childhood nickname and it is still in use to this day by my 7 siblings… it really makes no sense to my real name, but I guess that was kinda the point:)… they call me DeeDee.
7 siblings! Wow! Growing up with just my brother and I, it’s hard to imagine (by the time my sister came along, I was gone to college). My husband and I were feeding the boys lunch today when the topic of “should we have another?” came up and we both shuddered! It’s all we can do to keep up with 2!
Thanks for coming by
I never had a nickname other than shortening my name to Jen or Jenny, and that doesn’t really count does it? I’m glad, because I love my name and I’d hate to be called something different.
I’m glad you like your name! Shortening Heather doesn’t really work well…then people rhyme it, instead. I guess I was called Feather some, though not enough to be considered a true nickname 🙂
My early years in elementary school, I was called “twin” (I have a twin sister). The kids could not tell us apart and in those days, twins were in the same class. When we got to junior high, we were in different rooms and we were more easiiy recognized as individuals.
Wow, Joye! An identical twin. I’ve never known any in real life, but I’d love to sit down and just chat about what growing up a twin was like…it’s fascinating. I love watching the research done about it.
Hi Heather, congratulations for your books.
yes, I had a nickname when I was a child, my brother and sisters usually called me “Tungi” ( I’m from one big family :D). They called me that because I was always unsocialized and preoccupied with my own world. At first I was annoyed when they called me with it because my nickname sounds weird but after a long time it’s kinda grew on me. Right now they have stop calling me that but I have a new nickname now 😉
The idea of large families and nicknames always make me smile. It sounds like you have a lovely family.
Thank you for commenting!
i had nickname, called kitty mom, because i love cat 🙂
Hi Filia! Cats are easy to love, aren’t they? No matter what dog people say 😉
Thanks for coming by
I got saddle with JJ (as in “Hey, JJ. What’s Happening?”) and Jonesie (because there were so many girls with my first name that the teachers actually convenience nicknamed us! Ugh! Neither was a great nickname!
Dynomite! (sorry, couldn’t help it!) 🙂 Yes, Jennifer was very popular. I was a hairs breadth from being named that myself. When we named our children, I tried to pick names that weren’t trendy. Unfortunately, our eldest came along 7 years later than we’d planned, and by then his name had become VERY popular again. But he was already that in my heart, so now there are boys with his name everywhere… (sigh). Oh well, there’s only one him!
My Dad called me Sweetpea. I may be dating myself here, but he called me that because of the little yellow and blue sleepers that were like little dresses and I would crawl around in those dragging my blanket with me. He said that I reminded him of Sweetpea on Popeye and he called me that well into my later teens. Writing this brought a smile to my face for the memories roaming through my mind right now. 🙂
Thank you for the chance in the giveaway!
leahweller(at)bellsouth(dot)net
What a sweet memory 🙂 And I remember Popeye very well, so I won’t tell your age if you don’t tell mine 😉
hi heather! i do have a nickname, and it’s one i would love to lose ~__~
The book sounds good. No, I didn’t.
Hi Heather, congrats on the release of SWEET DECEPTION!
My childhood nickname was “Kutilang”! That’s an Indonesian word for a certain kind of bird, maybe because I blabber all the time LOL
But then, to make matters worse, my uncle sort of made an abbreviation from the word which stands for “Skinny and Tall” in English. That’s kinda annoying at first because I AM skinny and tall and I used to hate that LOL
I always be the tallest girl in my class and that’s kinda embarrassing, you know 😀
Anyway, everybody in my family start using that nickname and after a while, I kinda get used to it. Doesn’t really bother me anymore now 🙂
This serious sounds really good, and I absolutely love the covers, and being a lady criminologist just sounds really fun. I didn’t really have any nicknames, excpet the obvious Jess and Jessie, and sometimes because my friends thought it the height of hilariousness they would call me Jessus. Thanks!
jessicamariesutton(at)msn(dot)Com
My childhood nickname was Shelly. In junior high it became Shell, which my friends still use today. I know if someone calls me Shelly that they were a family friend when I was growing up! I love the blurbs I’ve read about the Veiled Seduction series so far and can’t wait to dig in!!
You sure hookced me with this excerpt! I like it. I did not have a nickname, but my youngest sister was called “Kruimeltje”, for the little hamster in Niels Holgersson, a cartoon we watched. She still hates that name.
I love that Snow’s heroines are all sciencifitically inclined ladies.
As for her question, I didn’t really have a childhood nickname, mine was simply Mel which is short for my real name.
Oh, yes. Yes, I did. And it has carried over 😉 Missy Prissy– or Miss Priss– would be the name. Apparently, I was a very flirty child, haha, and so goes the name 😉
No sorry no nickname.
Of course I had childhood nickname, which still used until now, lol! My real name is so like boy name and so do my childhood nickname ^^. Once, friend call me using the feminine way of calling my name, and I fell weird
Hi, Heather. Congratulations for the book release. So can’t wait to read about Emma and Derrick.
I used to have ‘cliah’ as my nickname when I was young since I wrote ‘d’ separately between the half circle and the line and my family thought I wrote ‘c’ and ‘l’ instead of ‘d’. Thank God they stopped calling me that when I was in elementary school.
I used to be called “owl”.