Fabulous Start to an Exciting Year Ahead...

By Beverley Oakley

Hi everyone,

We're enjoying beautiful summer weather  here in Victoria, Australia, now that the summer heat - 44C - has dropped to the mid twenties.

I write historicals with lashings of romance and intrigue under two names - Beverley Eikli for my historical romantic intrigues and Beverley Oakley for my erotic historical intrigues.

These past few weeks have been amazing ones for me, under both my names.

As I mentioned in an earlier post, I was announced the winner of Choc-Lit's Search for an Australian Star competition for The Reluctant Bride, a romantic historical intrigue about a war hero returning from the Napoleonic Wars to deliver the news to the woman he's always loved that her fiance has been killed. When he discovers she's pregnant to her now-dead fiance he impulsively offers her marriage which she accepts in order to salvage the reputation of herself and her family - and so she can keep her unborn child.

Choc-Lit will be publishing The Reluctant Bride, and two other novels of mine this year and next.

Meanwhile, this year started off in high style with the release, on January 1, of my erotic Victorian historical romance, Saving Grace. It's about a proud and beautiful prostitute who's confronted with the man she once loved and whom she believes betrayed her, condemning her to this hated life.

Saving Grace is also about early photography and how a rich man's hobby was a poor girl's road to ruin.

Below is the premise, followed by some reviews.

Saving Grace is one of 14 short erotic stories by the Aussie Erotic Hot Down Under Authors, published by Pan Macmillan Momentum.

It’s 1878 and London’s most beautiful and hard-hearted prostitute, Grace Fortune, is preparing for her next job. She’s the special initiation ‘gift’ procured by a mother in fashionable Mayfair for her son’s twenty-first birthday.

When Grace discovers she is to be servicing the man whose secret she’d guarded at the cost of her once-secure position as a housemaid and whose betrayal has plunged her into this hated life, she wants revenge.

That is, until the re-emergence of malevolent forces that destroyed the couple’s young love. Now David and Grace must reconcile the past and fight for a different kind of justice to salvage their dignity and find happiness.

This story is rated "Medium Hot" (3 out of 5 flames) and contains F/M pairings.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars A surprising little story 4 1/2 stars January 3, 2013

By Fiona

Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase

I am working my way through the Hot Down Under short story series and this was a lovely little historical amidst the more contemporary works. The story of a tragic romance between a high born young man and the maid that is his soul mate is beautifully told. Grace suffered a fall from grace when her beloved David's mother and cousin conspired to tear them apart. Three years later, on his 21st birthday the innocent young man is confronted by a fallen woman who reminds him of his lost love.

This is quite a sweet story, despite the fairly high level of explicitness required for an encounter between a courtesan and the young man she is to instruct. The stories of the two young lovers in the years they are apart are heartbreaking. The ending is satisfying in spite of the limited nature of the story length.

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5.0 out of 5 stars Historical and hot January 3, 2013

By Rhyll Biest

Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase

A well-written and sensual read and I enjoyed the novelty of reading about a male virgin hero. Those into historical romance will appreciate the attention to historical detail.

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5.0 out of 5 stars Beautifully sensual January 1, 2013

By Miss Catherine Evans

Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase

This is a gorgeous story, told in a most sensual style. Grace is strong, dignified and a truly worthy heroine. David is is unexpectedly strong, and an honest man - in a time when many of the richest men were not. Two people worthy of love, have a chance to find it... but they're taken to the depths of despair first.

Beverley Oakley is a beautiful writer and story teller. I'll be looking for more of her work.

END OF REVIEWS

Thank you, everyone, for dropping by. I hope you like the sound of Saving Grace. The story just flowed for me and I loved writing Grace and David's tragedy followed by its redemptive ending.

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