Regrets and Responsibilities #MarchMadnessSale

Regrets and Responsibilities
#MarchMadnessSale
$2.99 thru March 31

After nearly forty years in the Army, Henry Wade, the Marquess of Dunbury, finally returns to London to officially claim his father’s title, hopefully to reunite with his long lost love, and to exact revenge on the man who ruined his life. Add six orphaned nieces into the mix, and suddenly, Henry’s life is upside down. Marrying them off seems like a fine plan, but finding suitable husbands for them is an impossible task. 

They all wish to marry for love.

Regrets and Responsibilities is the first book in the Ladies of Dunbury series. I found Henry Wade when I was beginning to write LADY OLIVIA'S UNDOING. I needed another love interest and lo and behold, Henry Wade popped into my head.

Lt. Col. Henry Wade,
Marquess of Dunbury

I knew Olivia needed someone like him to shake up her life. (Little did she know how badly the earthquake would hit.)

When Henry returns home from the wars, he is saddled with the responisibility of marrying off six nieces and has no idea what to do. 

Lady Catherine Gantry

Upon his arrival to his old home, he is greeted by a shrew of a woman who just so happens to be the girls' governess. He's thrown completely off guard because the woman looks exactly like the woman he left behind thirty-five years ago. That Catherine Gantry happens to be Olivia's cousin is another blow. Henry doesn't know what to do about his feelings for any of them, and to top it all off, he suffers from PTSD. (Only they didn't call it that then, but they did call it Soldier's Nerves.)

Lady Mercy Wade

I knew when I started writing the Ladies of Dunbury series, it was going to be a long road. Research, research, research. Thankfully, I had a slew of folders on my dashboard. And when I decided to add in characters from The Reluctant Grooms series, and give more backstory to questions about such things as Davingdale's past and Stephen Carlton's death, I had to dig back into my own stories, which has been a delightful surprise. They say write what you want to read. And well, I'm liking what I'm reading.

Lady Faith Curtiss

I also knew that "wrapping in" other characters from a previous series would be somewhat difficult. I had to get timelines right, and characters' names, not to mention horses (sometimes--yes, I named all the animals too.) But I wanted to write another layer, another dimension of family stories that made all these people who they were when I wrote them. Does that make sense? I figured I had to create a world, past-present-future, to give both of the series dimensionality. Especially if the readers had already read The Reluctant Grooms. They would be able to click with characters they already knew, and discover the new ones as well. 

Lady Charity Curtiss

Anyway, Henry is a complex man. He's been a soldier for all of his adult life, used to giving orders, bossing people around. Catherine is appalled at his manner and sets about softening him up. Unfortunately, she falls head over heels in love with a man, who is only looking at her because she looks like his lost love. Catherine is stoic, Catherine is serene, Catherine is screaming inside. She wants to love Henry, and he won't accept it. Not until the girls are married. It's killing her.

Lady Hope Curtiss

Henry, on the other hand, is fighting within himself as he falls in love with Catherine. She nurses him, gives him comfort, puts up with his fits and moods. The woman is perfect in almost every way--save the fact she looks exactly like the Olivia he thought he remembered. His mind understands Catherine is not Olivia. However, his heart cannot undo the memories of the past. 

They both have to learn a hard lesson before they can move forward.

Lady Patience Shaffer

Henry and Catherine are fun characters. They're easy to write because they bicker a lot. Writing this series has also given me the idea to write side-stories with only Catherine and Henry as characters, vignettes perhaps, of how they feel, what they're doing in their relationship as each of the girls find beaus, as their lives move forward. And how Henry must deal with his feelings about Olivia. (However, as much as I would love to tackle that project, I can't do it  now. Time is not on my side as I'm struggling with other writing-publishing goals, as well as spring projects in the house. But someday. And don't worry, I've been taking notes.)

Lady Prudence Shaffer

Confession: As I continued writing the girls' stories, when I came to Prudence, I became stuck. Life had thrown three fastballs I didn't see coming, and I had to put down the computer and step away. For a long time. Eighteen months. I'm back to it now, finally, but I had to make some tough decisions about my writing. One of them was that I couldn't write a full-lenth novel about a character I hated. Uranus entered Taurus on March 6 this year and believe it or not, I came up with a great idea of how to write the story without losing my mind. Took awhile, but I'm back on track.

Anyway, Regrets and Responsibilities is the first book in the Ladies of Dunbury series. 

On Sale Now 

thru March 31 

$2.99

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Anne Gallagher (c) 2019

Working on the Next Book

I've come to the conclusion that summer is way too short. Either that, or I need a permanent vacation to accomplish all the writing I need to do in a year.

Three summers ago, I was on vacation in Narragansett, Rhode Island with my daughter and mother. I completed the first draft of three novellas and started on the next to last novel of the Reluctant Grooms.

Two summers ago, I wrote and published the final book in the Reluctant Grooms series.





Last summer, I completed the first draft of four novellas and three short stories to go along with the beginning of a detective series I just couldn't get out of my head and if I didn't write it down I would regret it for the rest of my life. (I'm still working on this.)





This summer, I completed a novel I started four years ago--the first in the new Regency romance series--Ladies of Dunbury. I began on July 5th and wrote The End on August 6th. I published early because my editor didn't really have any comments about the manuscript other than my usage of the wrong apostrophe nearly drove her to madness.



I have now begun the process of writing the next book in the Ladies of Dunbury Series.

Lady Faith Curtiss, daughter of the late Duke of Trowbridge, understands the responsibility of a title. However, it doesn’t seem to matter much anymore. Impoverished since her mother’s death, she and her sisters have come to live with their other cousins, all of them orphans and dependent upon their uncle, Henry Wade, the Marquess of Dunbury whose only aim is to marry them off as quickly as possible.

When Faith meets the new curate of the parish, her heart is seized. Peter Williams is all that is good and kind in a man. He is also brilliant, handsome, and has made it known he is waiting until her eighteenth birthday to ask for her hand.

However, her uncle is looking in another direction for Faith—the Earl-next-door—who is amenable to the idea of marrying into the Marquisate. Faith rejects the idea of taking her rightful place in Society, just for propriety’s sake, but the Earl is nearly perfect.

While Faith vacillates on the Earl’s proposal, it seems the new housekeeper at the parsonage also has her eye on the new curate and with her title the only thing standing in the way of true love, Faith is torn between marrying for the money, or fighting for her heart’s desire. 

Unfortunately,  my writing schedule is in flux. Not good, but I'm working on my time management skills. I hope to have the book finished by Thanksgiving and published by Christmas.

I'll try and keep up with this blog as it warrants, but honestly, I'd rather write than blog. If you don't want to miss a post, you can always sign up to receive them in your inbox. Look on the right hand column to where it says "Subscribe to my posts via email".>>>>>>>>

I tend to post my word counts on Twitter (once I start writing) @gallagher_anne
So if you'd like to keep up with where I am on the book, you can check in there.

Thanks for stopping by. I'll see you when I do.

Anne Gallagher (c) 2016

Regrets and Responsibilities is Published

Quick post today. Just wanted to let you know REGRETS AND RESPONSIBILITIES is out early. You can find it at your preferred e-tailer. (I hope. itunes is notoriously slow.)

School starts this week. I've already finished the first three chapters of the second book in the series and hope to have that out by Thanksgiving.

Happy Reading.

Anne Gallagher (c) 2016

My New Characters Are On Pinterest

Quick post today. If you'd like to see the cast of characters I've chosen for the first book in my new series The Ladies of Dunbury can hop through on the link to Pinterest.

REGRETS and RESPONSIBILITIES.

Thanks,
Anne


Anne Gallagher (c) 2016

The New Book is Almost Finished

It has been almost four months since I've last posted. To make a long story short, my ex-husband fell off my roof cleaning the gutters and broke both of his feet March 9. He's been sleeping in my kitchen in a hospital bed for the last three months. ( Thankfully, my kitchen is huge.) Naturally, being the made-for-tv nurse that I am, I had to take care of him. But now, he's walking around, and I've been back to writing since July 4th weekend.

And guess what? The first book in the Ladies of Dunbury series is almost finished. 87,213 words so far. The end is almost in sight.

I know I've been talking about this for almost four years, but for those of you who are new to the blog or have simply forgotten what this is all about, here's a general recap.

Henry Wade, if you remember, made his appearance in LADY OLIVIA'S UNDOING in the Reluctant Grooms series. He and Olivia were in love when they were younger and not permitted to marry. Henry lost a duel to Reginald Leighton and his punishment was to leave the country so he joined the Army. Thirty-five years later he returns.

And that's where the story begins. The Ladies of Dunbury series starts in 1807 when Henry returns from the wars. Right from the get-go, Henry's life is not what he expects. 

The governess bears a striking resemblance to Olivia. And Olivia is not who expected her to be. His nieces are charming, impeccable creatures who only wish to buy new clothes and fall in love. But the men they love are commoners. Not acceptable for someone in Henry's position.

Henry is indefatigable and nothing gets him down. Even when suffering from bouts of Solder's Nerves and relapsing malaria. Even when he's falling in love with the governess and doesn't realize it. Even when people try to kill him. Henry Wade realizes there is nothing more important than his family and he will do anything to protect them.

So there you have it. The new book. 

In this story, (as well as the others) you'll see where I've woven in characters from the other series, most notably Robert Carlton (THE DUKE'S DIVORCE) and Richard Gaines (THE CAPTAIN'S COINCIDENCE). And as I move forward with the new series, you'll read more of the old character's backstory and what leads them into the Reluctant Grooms.

Anyway, that's where I am and what I have been doing. I'm planning to release the new book on September 1. 

Here's the cover.

After nearly forty years in the Army, Henry Wade, the Marquess of Dunbury, finally returns to London to officially claim his father’s title, hopefully to reunite with his long lost love, and to exact revenge on the man who ruined his life. Add six orphaned nieces into the mix, and suddenly, Henry’s life is upside down. Marrying them off seems like a fine plan, but finding suitable husbands for them is an impossible task.

They all wish to marry for love.

Anne Gallagher (c) 2016