Fifty Shades of YA Boys continues today with the dashing and delicious Jonathon Whitby, Lord Denbury, hero of Leanna Renee Hieber’s Magic Most Foul saga, beginning with Darker Still and continuing with The Twisted Tragedy of Miss Natalie Stewart, set in a hauntingly Gothic, gas-lit, enigmatic New York City of the 1880s. Want to know what we thought of Darker Still? You can read Macie’s lovely review here.
One lucky winner will win a copy of Darker Still and an ARC of The Twisted Tragedy of Miss Natalie Stewart, thanks to Sourcebooks Fire!
About Leanna:
An author, actress and playwright, Leanna grew up in rural Ohio, graduated with a BFA in Theatre, a focus in the Victorian Era and a scholarship to study in London. She adapted 19th Century literature for the stage and her one-act plays have been produced around the country. Her novella “Dark Nest” won the 2009 Prism Award for excellence in Futuristic, Fantasy, or Paranormal Romance. The Strangely Beautiful Tale of Miss Percy Parker, first in the “Strangely Beautiful” saga of Gothic Victorian Fantasy novels (Barnes & Noble Bestseller) won two 2010 Prism Awards (Best Fantasy, Best First Book) and was optioned for musical theatre adaptation currently in development. DARKER STILL: A Novel of Magic Most Foul, begins a Gothic paranormal saga set in 1880 New York City, named an INDIE NEXT title; a recommended buy by the American Book Association, a Scholastic book fairs “Highly Recommended” title and is a finalist in the 2012 Daphne du Maurier awards for excellence in Mystery/Romantic Suspense.
Leanna is a proud member of member of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, Romance Writers of America, and the International Thriller Writers. She is a proud co-founder of Lady Jane’s Salon Reading Series in New York City. A member of Actors Equity Association and SAG-AFTRA, Leanna works often in television and film. She is playing the role of Deputy Kellion in Auror’s Tale web-series. When not writing or on set, she loves a good Goth club, adventuring about her adopted hometown of New York City, where she resides with her real-life hero and their beloved rescued lab rabbit.
You can visit Leanna around the web here: Website | Blog | Twitter | Facebook
Want to read more from Leanna Renee Hieber?
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*Also visit Once Upon a Twilight for today’s other set of Hot YA Boys. You can follow along at Once Upon a Twilight and Dark Faerie Tales via Twitter and our blogs. You can also follow the hashtag #FiftyShadesYABoys.*
Greetings, readers, I am told your year is far ahead of mine, in 1880. I am eighteen years old and grew up between London and our estate in Greenwich, England. And my soul has been split from my body and imprisoned. In a painting. It’s not been pretty, though I’m assured the canvass of me is quite pretty, so handsome, in fact, that ladies quite swoon upon sight of me. *chuckle*. If the painter weren’t so bloody evil, I’d have commended him for his fine work. I suppose I’ll take the compliments.
I’ve been in training to become a doctor and so if I were to be trapped in a painted prison, rather than in my grand study in my Greenwich estate, I’d have preferred to be painted in the rooms of the clinic I opened with my student friends in London. I think of myself as a student of medicine more than I think of myself as a Lord. In our London clinic, I thought women swooned around me because they were ill, not for any looks. Perhaps I’m not as good as diagnosing their correct symptoms as I thought…
I’ve met a wonderful, beautiful girl, someone who has pledged to help my terrible situation. You can’t imagine how unbearable it’s been not to be able to be as brave for Miss Natalie Stewart as she’s been for me. The peculiarity of our situation meant we met soul-first. We met seeing the best, the most intimate parts, of ourselves first. I’d do anything for the girl and I hope she’ll let me prove that to her. I help her fight against the demons of her own nightmares, and for that, I’m grateful. To do something is my only solace. I’m a man of action, so being imprisoned while a girl I’ve grown to adore puts herself in danger has been my own particular version of hell. But at least, in this hell, I can be well-read. At least, in this purgatory, there’s books.
My favorite childhood memory is the day mother gave me my key to the estate library. I was seven. She told me any book was mine for the taking and gave me a weekly allowance for any new book of my choice. We understood something about one another then; that books were the answer to our restless minds and souls. She was always fussing about, active and fastidious, but a book never far from her reach. I miss her so much, taken from me too soon. Here inside the painting, the first thing I picked up was the works of Edgar Allan Poe, to see how his characters dealt with situations of inexplicable horror. Situations like mine. Can’t say that was a comfort really. Depressing sot, Poe. “The Oval Portrait” had me feeling rather hopeless about my situation. So instead from now on I’ll read adventure novels to put my mind off my dread fate. Nothing like The Three Musketeers to take one’s mind off evil curses and demons. It also inspires me to practice my fencing with a letter opener. I maintain, I’m rather good with a blade, so I’d be wary of challenging me to a duel… Those are a few words about me. For more, please read my darling Miss Natalie Stewart’s account of me in DARKER STILL and our sequel, releasing this November.
Fill in the blank:
NOBODY KNOWS I AM: A very good dancer. Quadrille and waltz, to be specific.
I WISH I COULD STOP: Plotting ways to kill a demon who is already dead.
I’M A SUCKER FOR: Miss Natalie Stewart.
A GOOD TIME FOR ME IS: Taking Miss Stewart to the theatre to see my best friend, the Gothic actor Nathaniel Veil, and defending her from his artless advances. Afterwards, a stroll arm in arm down a gas-lit New York City street.
NOBODY WOULD BELIEVE ME IF THEY SAW ME: Whip up a chemical compound, like chloroform, in a split second. I don’t flatter myself to say I’m a young medical genius.
I’D REALLY RATHER: Tour the world. There’s nothing more exciting than an adventure in a new place. Preferably with a pretty girl by my side.
THE FIRST THING I DO IN THE MORNING IS: Plot how I’m going to steal Natalie away from her chaperones for a swift but thorough kiss.
KILL / FRAK / MARRY:
I don’t know the meaning of this word “Frak” in your American idioms nor do I know of these females. I do not make uninformed decisions, so I’ll have to defer these answers to a modern gentleman. But truly, a GENTLEMAN would not answer such questions so bluntly. A GENTLEMAN has his charm, class and wit still he wins the girl he prizes.
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This giveaway is provided by Sourcebooks Fire
One lucky winner will receive a copy of Darker Still and an ARC of The Twisted Tragedy of Miss Natalie Stewart by Leanna Renee Hieber
Available November 1, 2012 from Sourcebooks Fire
About this Book:
For Natalie Stewart, a normal life has never seemed so far away. Her only solace, Lord Jonathan Denbury, is wanted for murder. To clear his name, Denbury must return to England and assume the role of his demon doppelganger. But Natalie begins to doubt his true motives, especially as a new gentleman begins whispering in her ear. Natalie and Denbury may be able to visit each other in their dreams, but they can’t escape the darkening shadows. Amid spontaneous explosions, friends turned enemies and dangerous secrets revealed, there’s still a demon who has Natalie’s scent, and someone is trying to resurrect the ultimate evil.
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Thanks for the amazing giveaway!
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