Moonstone Conspiracy by Elizabeth Ellen Carter - Guest Blog and Giveaway

This post is part of a virtual book tour organized by Goddess Fish Promotions. Elizabeth Ellen Carter will be awarding a $20 Amazon/BN GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour. Click on the tour banner to see the other stops on the tour.

Five Things You Might Not Know About Elizabeth Ellen Carter

1. Elizabeth is not really my name. I chose the pen name Elizabeth Ellen Carter to honour two very special women who are no longer with us. My mother, Elizabeth had such a passion for books. She raised my sister and I on her own and taught us a love of books. She went back to college and became the first in our family to get a tertiary education and became a school librarian. Ellen is named for my mother-in-law who died when my husband was in his early 20s and sadly I never got to meet her.

2. I love mid-20th century furniture design, architecture, fashion and film and television shows – particularly things from the 1950s and 60s. Not ‘rock and roll’ but sophisticated style known as ‘mid-century modern’ – sleek Danish teak furniture, the ‘splitting the atom’ style accessories, in timber, steel and plastics. I have a couple of original pieces, including a dining table I inherited from my mother, but other pieces I pick up from second hand stores and car boot sales.

3. Speaking of history, I love collecting bits and pieces of history from my home city, the Gold Coast in Queensland, which is a sub-tropical resort city which has been a popular holiday destination since the 1880s. Like with most modern cities, a lot of original buildings get torn down and new ones built to cater for more visitors and more residents. My earliest piece of souvenirware is a post card from 1914, but most of the collection is from the 1960s.

4. Hmmm, what else can I tell you about me… I had to get a pop star (if you have Australian or English readers they might remember Peter Andre) and his brothers to help me break into my car when I was a young newspaper reporter. I had locked my keys in the car (again) and hadn’t realized until after the interview. Peter and his brothers were such gents and didn’t leave me stranded.

5. Okay, one last thing! When I was younger, I wanted to become a detective just like Nancy Drew, but as I got older I realized it was more fun to write the adventures than live them.

Revolution in France, rebels in England, and one woman caught in the crossfire...

For her unwitting participation in a plot to embezzle the Exchequer, Lady Abigail Houghall has spent the last two years exiled to the city of Bath. A card sharp, sometime mistress, and target of scandalous gossip by the London Beau Monde, Lady Abigail plots to escape her gilded cage as well as the prudish society that condemns her. But the times are not easy. France is in chaos. The king has been executed, and whispers of a similar revolution are stirring in England. And because of her participation in the robbery plot, the Spymaster of England is blackmailing her into passing him information about the members of London’s upper crust.

When the dashing English spy Daniel Ridgeway takes a seat at her card table and threatens to expose her for cheating, she has no choice but to do as he demands: seduce the leader of the revolutionaries and learn what she can about their plot. As she’s drawn deeper into Daniel’s dangerous world, from the seedy backstreets of London to the claustrophobic catacombs of a war-torn Paris, she realizes an even more dangerous fact. She’s falling in love with her seductive partner. And the stakes of this game might just be too high, even for her.

Enjoy an excerpt:

Daniel picked his moment carefully. He watched Sir Percy’s wife leave with another group soon after the announcement was made. And although he made no especial effort to hide, he nonetheless remained in the shadows. He pulled out a cigar and lit it on a nearby taper.

As soon as he heard the footman call for Sir Percy’s carriage, he stepped forward into the carriage and waited for Blakeney to join him.

“Send me to France, Percy,” he said as soon as the carriage jolted into motion.

“I’m not going to do that,” Blakeney replied.

“You can’t just leave Jonathan there!”

“He signed on knowing the same risks as you.”

“He has a wife and children!”

“And you seem inordinately fond of them,” Sir Percy snapped back. “You saw the list you gave me tonight. A dozen good men and women dead because of the Jacobins. I’m not prepared to risk more. Not until we know what we’re up against.”

“It could be too late!”

“You took an oath when you joined the League, Ridgeway. One to command, all to obey. Bear that in mind.”

Daniel leaned forward and rested his arms on his knees and exhaled long and sharp.

He felt Percy slap him on the back.

“Just wait a week until we know the lay of the land. I haven’t studied the documents you gave me and Parliament hasn’t even prepared a response to the National Committee’s declaration of war.”

“A week is a long time, Percy,” Daniel warned.

“So is eternity, dear chap. Don’t lose your head. As you well know, those Frenchies have a devilish way of parting you from it.”

About the Author:

Elizabeth Ellen Carter’s debut novel, Moonstone Obsession, was published in 2013 by Etopia Press. Earlier that year, the Regency adventure romance had been shortlisted in the Romance Writers of Australia Emerald Awards for Best Unpublished Manuscript. Set in England and France during the French Revolution, it was heralded as ‘edge-of-seat adventure and intrigue’ and ‘a rollercoaster of love, blackmail, ill-gotten gains, treason and trickery’ with Carter described as ‘a writer worth keeping an eye on’ with ‘a hint of classic suspense novelist Daphne du Maurier’.

Her second novel, Warrior’s Surrender, was published by Etopia the following year. Set in Northumbria in 1077, it sets the relationship between a displaced Saxon noblewoman and a Norman baron against the turbulent backdrop of England in the years following the Norman invasion of 1066. Reviewers found the novel ‘a fast moving and passionate read’ with ‘strong characters, an intriguing plot, and plenty of action… a sexy romance to be savoured’. Readers agreed, voting Warrior’s Surrender Favourite Historical Fiction in the 2015 Readers & Writers Down Under Readers Choice Awards.

Also in 2014, the short story Moonstone Promise, spinning off from Moonstone Obsession as part of Etopia’s Valentines Heat anthology, followed the fortunes of one of the supporting characters back home to 18th century Pittsburgh in a tale of ‘second chance romance’.

Warrior’s Surrender (now in print as well as eBook) was named Favourite Historical Fiction at the 2015 Readers & Writers Down Under Readers Choice Awards in March this year.

Carter moved up to 1802 for the light-hearted romantic short story Three Ships, part of the Christmas 2014 anthology A Season To Remember, and ventures briefly into contemporary romance for the first time with her Romance Writers of Australia annual Little Gems competition placegetter, The Tin Bear, publishing in August 2015.

And another Moonstone Obsession character, the sinful Lady Abigail Houghall, features in the full length novel Moonstone Conspiracy, coming from Etopia Press in 2015.

Carter is currently working on her fourth novel, set in ancient Rome and tentatively titled Dark Heart, which will bring together the elements for which she has become known in just a few years – in-depth historical detail woven through gripping adventure and captivating romance.

The author lives in Australia with her husband and two cats. A former newspaper journalist, she ran an award-winning PR agency for 12 years.

Web: http://eecarter.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ElizabethEllenCarter
Twitter: https://twitter.com/EECarterAuthor
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/eecarterauthor/

Buy the book at Etopia Press Bookstore, Amazon, Barnes and Noble, iBookstore, Kobo, Google Play, All Romance eBooks, or Scribd.

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