How pretty is this cover? Faith has certainly gone up in the world since she turned up at the home of the Duke of Buckingham, looking like a drowned rat! When we left her, though, she had bolted at the end of her trial week as the duke’s paid submissive. However, Faith has a change of heart and decides to return to the duke’s demanding embrace. She’s falling in love and she knows it, although she also knows that no good will come of it. The duke has been very firm on the matter – he wants a slave, not a wife. Yet as the Ruttingdon Club house party approaches the duke realises that Faith must be entered in The Hunt, the hedonistic chase that ends every Ruttingdon party, and he is not a man who likes to share his toys. Will the duke turn his back on the rules he lives his life by, and protect Faith from the depravities of his invited guests? Or will Faith be forced to run to escape the wicked clutches of one man intent on making her dance at the end of his whip?
Find out on September 3rd 2016! Available from Blushing Books, Amazon, Barnes&Noble, Kobo and iBook.
If you asked me if I wanted to sit down and write out a list of numbers from one to one hundred and ninety, the answer would be no. I mean, of course it would be no. What sane person wants to sit down and write out a list of numbers?
If, however, you asked me if I wanted to sit down with a brand new extra-large Orchid Purple Moleskine journal with dotted paper and an internal storage pocket and number the pages ready to start a proper bullet journal, then the answer would be oh my God, yes, give me my fineliners and get out of the way!
I hadn’t come across the idea of a bullet journal before, but a work colleague started one and shared a Buzzfeed article about it on Facebook. Once I did a bit of research I decided to start a practice one, just to see if I could do it. A week in and I’m hooked!
Bullet journaling is all about keeping track of your life in a simple format.It keeps a record of the past, tracks the present and helps organise the future. I have tried to use apps to help me do this, but I haven’t found one that does everything I want. Plus, there’s the added bonus that a journal will never run out of battery, unlike my iPad or iPhone.
It’s easy to customise and make your own. A simple Google search will show you examples of insanely beautiful journals, created by true artistic talents. Lots of amazing calligraphy, pretty doodles and washi tape all over the place! Mine…well, let’s just say that mine won’t look like that! I’m no artist, to put it mildly, and I’m not a particularly visual person. I have ordered a stencil from Etsy to help pretty mine up, but that will be the extent of it, I think.
This video, from the creator of the bullet journal, explains it better than I can.
I’m making a conscious effort not to include my day job in the journal. This is to plan my writing, my personal goals and my outside work life. I’m trying to claw back some work/life balance, and I hope that the bullet journal will help me do that.
So far, I’ve got the weekly planner set up although I’m trialing a few different layouts to see which ones I like. I have a future log for events I know will be happening – birthdays, the car MOT, etc – and a monthly tracking list for events that need to get done at some point – perhaps this month, perhaps not, depending on circumstances. I’m tracking some of my habits, both bad and good, and I’m making lists of things I want to remember. I have a list of books that aren’t out yet that I want to read, because I’m tired of missing release dates. I used to really be into music, but since I’ve stopped listening to fanmixes I’ve stopped discovering new artists that I like. I’m going to keep track of songs that I come across that I like, so I can find albums by the artist. I have a list of recipes I want to try, and I’m going to try and work my Slimming World planning into it as well, as losing weight is a constant (unreached!) goal of mine. I’m trying to make one bullet every day about something I’m grateful for, although I’m not sure if I should do that in a separate log or include it in my daily one.
At some point, I’ll use the journal to plan books too, although I’m going to have to think about how to do that so it’s practical and useful.
I’m pinning whatever I can find about bullet journals on Pintrest and printing out helpful free things that other journalers are kind enough to produce. If anybody has any ideas or tips, send them my way!
It’s up! A little later than promised, but the first chapter of the third book in the Ruttingdon Series, Having Faith, is now here!
Never trust the wrong man, especially with your heart. But how does one know ahead of time he is the wrong man?
In the case of innocent vicar’s daughter Faith Halstead, governess to a middle class family with a marriageable son, one only finds out he is a cad after it is too late. Now she is alone in the world, a fallen woman, facing a bleak and uncertain future.
While leaving London in disgrace, a chance encounter on the train lands Faith in front of the darkly dominant Duke of Buckingham. He is in search of a woman to serve as his slave at an upcoming Ruttingdon Club house party, and the shy, modest young woman has unaccountably captured his attention.
Desperate for any excuse not to return home to her harshly judgmental father, Faith rashly promises to serve as the duke’s absolute slave for a week, alone with him at secluded Ruttingdon Hall.
Will his dark and brutal desires and the oftentimes sweet pain he inflicts upon her ripe body drive her away, or will the awakening desires in her heart seduce her into staying longer with him – perhaps forever?
Publisher’s Note – This book contains adult, consensual spanking and discipline, and graphic descriptions of sexual activity. If such material bothers or offends you, please do not read it.
Available from Blushing Books and Amazon on August 2nd 2016!
Well, in 73 days. But I have a release date for not one but two – that’s right, two brand new books!
August 13th 2016 will see the release of the third novel in The Ruttingdon Club series. It was so large – over 150000 words – that I made the decision to split it into two halves. Me and George R R Martin, folks. Too wordy for our own good.
Having Faith, the first half, tells the story of how the very good and respectable Miss Faith Halstead found her normal life ripped away from her because of one dreadful mistake. Alone, vulnerable and now a fallen woman, a mix-up at a railway station lands her in front of the Duke of Buckingham, premiere member of the Ruttingdon Club and a man who demands his own way – and gets it. In need of female companionship for an upcoming Ruttingdon Club house party, he offers the role to Faith; in return for her submission, she would earn enough money to start her life afresh.
One week of sin with the most handsome duke in England – dare she refuse?
Well no, she doesn’t, otherwise I wouldn’t have had to write Keeping Faith, the concluding half!
Faith Halstead has done it again – she’s fallen in love with the wrong man. The Duke of Buckingham may have bought her body, but she’s given her heart away for nothing. Her week with the duke has been extended to a month, and she’s never been happier, but it’s bittersweet; soon she will have to leave him and start a new life somewhere far away from the blissful depravity of the duke’s country home. Meanwhile, the duke has been wrestling with his own feelings towards the beautiful, naive woman who has blossomed into the perfect submissive before him. The Ruttingdon Club’s house party at his country home opens his eyes to the darker side of the private club’s traditions and members, and the house party turns into a desperate race to save Faith from the evil clutches of the villainous Sir Leslie. It’s a good thing for the Duke of Buckingham that he can rely on his friend the Duke of Rothmuir and his new wife for help bring Faith back where she belongs – in his arms.
Yes, despite this being a book about a completely different couple, Annabelle and her husband have made an appearance in Keeping Faith. I couldn’t help it; Annabelle was so excited to go to a Club meeting at the end of Annabelle Awakens, I couldn’t keep her out of it! Then when everything takes a turn for the dramatic, she acts as how I imagine a spirited woman of the age would have acted, especially when supported by her besotted husband. Let’s just say that Annabelle makes her mark on the villain, and we’ll leave it as that!
The books will be released simultaneously, to make sure that nobody has to deal with any annoying cliffhangers. I’m waiting for a revised contract and for my poor editor to get to grips with the enormity of the task ahead of him, but when I get the go-ahead I’ll post the first chapter for free here, as I usually do.
Ah, CJ Cregg. That West Wing quote in the header (from the second season episode The Leadership Breakfast, for any fellow West Wing fans out there) has helped me out several times when describing a task that took far longer than anyone thought possible. The quote in the picture is just a general life motto for myself.
In related news, I finished my new book!
The Ruttingdon Series, Book 3 is a whopping 150000 words in total, so I decided to split in into two sections. Part one is called Having Faith. Part two is called Keeping Faith.
(Go on, guess what my heroine’s name is. Guess!)
I’ve been working on this for what feels like years. In reality, I must have started it somewhere around October of last year, and now it’s May. By the time they’re edited and ready for release it’ll be July, probably, or longer. That’s like having a baby!
The damn thing just kept getting bigger and bigger. I have such a huge problem cutting things out. Thank goodness for a good editor!
Both parts have been accepted by the lovely people at Blushing Books, and will take the number of novels I’ve had published up to lucky number seven. I’ve also had a few stories in a Halloween anthology and I wrote a novella for last Christmas’ collection of themed short stories.
Of course, I’ve already started having stress dreams about them! I dreamed that I got a very nice email from Blushing telling me that they weren’t suitable for them, and that I was free to take them elsewhere. I woke up very relieved that it wasn’t true, let me tell you!
I need to do a few Real Life job things this weekend, but I want to get started on a Christmas novella that will fit into the Ruttingdon series and I’ve already plotted out and written 20000 words of a fourth Victorian Vices book.
Annabelle’s Awakening, the second in my Ruttingdon series, is due out on the 17th of January! It’s the follow up to The Incorrigible Annabelle Spencer, and follows Annabelle as she negotiates both marriage to a powerful nobleman and entrance into the Ruttingdon Club, a select and secretive BDSM club known by only a few.
You can read the first chapter of the book for free here! It will be available on Amazon.com, Amazon.co.uk, Barnes and Noble and the Blushing Books website.
Look out for the beautiful cover made by the lovely people at Blushing Books –
The Honourable Annabelle Spencer will soon become the Duchess of Rothmuir, and she can’t wait to get married! It’s not the beautiful dress or the opulent wedding ball that she’s looking forward to the most, however. All she wants is to be naked in the arms of her love Daniel, the Duke of Rothmuir, once more.
But it has now become clear that there is more to marrying Daniel than simply becoming his duchess. In addition to being a powerful peer of the realm in Victoria’s England, he is a proud member of the Ruttingdon Club, an exclusive group of titled noblemen who enjoy inflicting pain while taking their pleasure. Annabelle is determined to accompany Daniel to meetings of the Club when they are married, but he is unsure whether she can cope with the physical and psychological demands that appearance at club meetings place on females who attend these exotic functions.
Can Annabelle endure the strict training the Club requires? Will she master her fear of bodily exposure in front of strangers? Can she and Daniel build a life together that balances duty to their roles in society with their desire for dark sexual pleasure?
Read Annabelle’s Awakening, the second in the Ruttingdon Club series, to find out!
First of all, hi. Once upon a time this was a real blog, not something I dropped into once or twice to plug a book release. Then real life took over and between keeping on top of the day job and trying to write I let this slide. New resolution: at least two blog posts a week, not including book release posts.
Today, I got an email regarding royalties. I need to say that a clause in my contract says that I am not allowed to discuss this matter in any detail, so I’m going to be deliberately vague. Not that I would have mentioned figures anyway; Mum always insists that talking about money is vulgar, which is a bizarrely middle class notion from a solidly working class woman but we all have our little idiosyncrasies, don’t we?
Anyway, I got my first ever royalty statement. I’ve been thinking about this for a little while as a matter of curiosity rather than anything else. I had convinced myself that I would never sell enough copies of my books to earn any royalties; I was satisfied with the advance payment (again, no details) from my publishers. I have been able to buy a few new things that I needed, with money left to tuck away in a little savings account. To be completely honest, I rather felt a little sorry for my publishers. The fools! They paid me advances that they would never make back! Ha! I get to see my name in eBook print, and they pay me for the privilege!
I think this only goes to show just how naive I am about the whole way this publishing thing works.
Today I got my royalties statement and even though it doesn’t tell me how many copies I sold, it did tell me that my publishers owed me royalty money. It’s not J K Rowling money, not by a long chalk, but it was a genuine surprise to discover that my very first book, the one that I think is my weakest, earned me so much. Well, so much to me. As I think we’ve established, I have no idea about things like this work. At all.
With some fairly simple maths, I think I can work out roughly how many copies of the book I sold and again, I’m amazed. This, from what I think is my weakest book? My word!
Best of all, my publisher said that the next time I’m due royalties, the amount will be more!
I think flabbergasted is probably the best word to describe me right now. It’s not huge sums of money at all but to me, who never expected to earn anything from them at all, it’s an absolute fortune.
The first book in my new, racier series, The Ruttingdon Series, has had a name change!
Thanks to the popularity of another book from the same publishers, The Duke’s Proposition has been re-named The Incorrigible Annabelle Spencer.
Here’s the fantastic cover!
Isn’t it pretty? I’m so excited for this release! The Ruttingdon Series is different from the Victorian Vices series – there’s still the same mix of strong heroines, sexy heroes and very sore bottoms, but these books will be a lot naughtier than before!
It’s due to be released in one week’s time, on the 20th December 2015. Treat yourself with something naughty this Christmas, and meet The Incorrigible Annabelle Spencer!
All three of my Victorian Vices series are now sitting in the top three on Amazon.co.uk! Being British, this means a lot, probably more than getting to the top of the Amazon.com list if I’m honest.
Spanking The Heiress did make it to the number one spot this morning, but then I beat myself with the very first book I ever wrote!
I’m feeling incredibly happy with myself right about now, and I would like to say thank you very much to everybody who has bought any of my books. The only reason I’m feeling so happy now is because of your generosity. Thank you!
Spanking Miss Sophia is still number one on Amazon.com and number two on Amazon.co.uk, and I check the pages daily to see if I get any new reviews. This morning I got the best one I ever had! I’m reposting it here so I can come back and look at it whenever I get depressed!
Ms Taylor has, with this book, set a standard for the genre that few other writers will be able to match. It is even better than her first book and that was a gem. The plot is simple enough: Griffin, Duke of Dorset, has inherited his uncle’s title and estates to go alongside his already vast fortune. With it comes guardianship of his uncle’s two young daughters (Lady Charlotte and Lady Amelia) and their dowries. The girls have been cared for by their half sister Miss Sophia and she too has a dowry that he must manage until she gets married. He plans to carry out his duties very well and brings all three to London to share his home. That seems best to him but naturally this brings him far more problems than he could ever envisage. It is in the characters that this apparently simple situation comes to life. There is Dorset himself; honourable, strong, reluctantly thinking he’d best marry to have an heir and just a little bit wary about crossing his formidable mother the Dowager Duchess. The Dowager Duchess is a wonderful creation; tough, awkward, irascible and hiding two things…a kindly side and a nasty secret. Lady Sophia is great; effectively the only mother her half sisters have known and determined both to protect them and continue as their mother figure. She is intelligent, passionate, strong willed, short tempered and absolutely has no intention of getting married. Lady Charlotte is a lovely little girl. Quiet, intelligent and hiding a determined nature and a fiercely protective nature. Lady Amelia is a daughter everyone should have. She is a delightful pain in the rear end. A girl so interested in animals in all their messy detail Griffin enquires, “Are you sure you’re a girl?” Then there is Veronica, Griffin’s beautiful and highly dangerous mistress. Ms Taylor stirs this mixture and takes the reader on a wonderful ride which is highly erotic, has a few mainly deserved sore bottoms and at time shad this reader howling with laughter. If you don’t crack up at the scene when Miss Sophia and the Dowager Duchess retell Sophia’s presentation to Queen Victoria then you simply don’t have a sense of humour. Of course there are no prizes for guessing the ending but it is the journey to it that is worth the read. Highly recommended for lovers of this genre. Oh, and just in case you think I have some connection to Ms Taylor….I don’t.
Thank you Amazon reviewer Tomsreads! You have made a stressed and unhappy writer really cheerful!
louisetaylorlove 