Two novellas about love and family during the holiday season

A Holiday Season at Clifton Hall - Romancy #2.5

It's not easy to remain independent when your brother's the Romany king, yet equine expert, Chal Brishen, knows he must stand on his own to win his bride.

Stari Besnick is tired of waiting. All the dowry back and forth between her father and the Brishen house has lasted too long.

People are beginning to talk.

When Chal is offered a way to give Stari the wedding she wants in exchange for aiding an old friend, everything seems set for a happy ending. Until Stari's arrested.

A Romany girl in trouble with the English law doesn't have many options. But Chal will find a way to free her and make all her dreams come true.

Seduction of Tokyo - Tokyo Whispers #2.5

For years, Pierce Roth and Kiyo Iwai have been avoiding the pull between them, and Pierce's inevitable engagement to his partner's sister-in-law, Euphemia Lyons, will put an end to any possibility of Kiyo and Pierce connecting.

But Pierce doesn't want to marry Euphemia, and Kiyo doesn't want to leave the bank. Her bookkeeping job pays well, and she needs the money to support her family.

If they give into their desires, too many people will be beyond disappointed in both of them, but the thought of losing Kiyo has Pierce making plans that might give way to the life he wishes to lead.

Now all he has to do is convince Kiyo he's playing for keeps.

Toast of Tokyo

Japan, 1900: As the owner of La France Boutique, Marcelle fights to be one of the finest French dressmakers in Tokyo, yet when Nobuyuki Koide opens his stylish new department store, Marcelle’s sure that behind all his traditional Japanese charm and entrepreneurial skill lurks a design thief who’s playing dirty and intends to unravel everything she’s worked for.

Torn Apart at the Seams

With all her skill at her fingertips, and funded by a secret benefactor, Marcelle Renaud puts everything she owns into a modest French dressmaking boutique in Tokyo. She works hard blending Japanese traditional style with the exotic taste of France, and it's getting her noticed. She needs little by way of support. She enjoys being self-sufficient, and with her shop as her focus, a love interest stands no chance of getting close to her heart.

Nobuyuki Koide returns from London and uses running his stylish new Ginza Boulevard department store to keep his parents from forcing him to marry and become the latest toast of Tokyo’s elite. Having tasted London and beyond, he wants to move with the times, especially when it comes to choosing a wife.

When Marcelle calls him out for attempting to bankrupt her boutique, he thinks he’s met his match in all ways that matter. But first he needs to convince her he’s not a design thief out to threaten her livelihood or her independence.

Except, there's the matter of the brick that was thrown through her boutique window.

Marcelle believes her troubles concern only her and Nobuyuki. But in 1900 Japan, a French woman who's embroiled in both love and business with a Japanese man has far more complications than she can imagine.

Tokyo Whispers Series

Scandals of Tokyo (Prequel Book 1)

In the Foreign Quarter of Tsukiji, Tokyo, Japan, Victorian England is alive and well. Manners and etiquette are as valuable as gossip and deceit. Men are more rakish than ever - so far from home, societal rules seem to be relaxed. But courting young women still requires a deft hand, a smart wit, and a man with something to offer.

International Scandal

Intent on being an international journalist of repute, Evelyn Prescott will do what it takes to make her mark. It doesn’t hurt that her father has built a newspaper empire, but finding a scandal in Japan is no easy task. As much as she hates to admit it, she is forced to meet with the owner of the Tokyo Daily News, Ned Taylor, also an Englishman. Ned holds a deep-rooted dislike of Evelyn’s father’s approach to journalism, and Ned, a notorious rake, pushes her to see just how far Evelyn is prepared to go to get her story.

Talk of Tokyo (Book 2)

Careful with your words

1897 Tokyo is no different than anywhere else in the world: men are exploiting women. Specifically, Western men are exploiting Japanese women, and Suki Malveaux holds no punches in her condemnation of their behavior in her weekly column in the Tokyo Daily News. 

Suki knows firsthand when Western men arrive at Tokyo Bay there’s only one outcome for Japanese women: a child and new mother left behind as nothing more than discarded shrapnel from the heartless war on love. 

Griffith Spenser is her latest target. He’s been seen with Natsu Watanabe, one of Tokyo’s esteemed war widows. Under full anonymity of the moniker “The Tokyo Tattler,” Suki makes sure Griffith knows exactly why his behavior with Natsu won’t be tolerated.

Away from her Japanese mask as a columnist, Suki never intended to meet the cad. When he seeks her out to hire as a tutor for his niece and nephew, she’s faced with seeing him day in and day out without him ever knowing who she really is.

Caught in her struggle for anonymity so she can keep battling for women’s rights, Suki’s about to learn the full impact of her words on the people behind the story, especially on Griff.

Buy Scandals of Tokyo here: Amazon, Barnes&Noble, Kobo, Apple Books, and Boroughs Publishing Group

A short story

Sweets and Spirits Ball
from
The Eve of Love anthology

American Civil War veteran Oliver Collingsworth has spent 1872 performing engineering feats in Tokyo’s foreign quarter and biding his time to tell witty, captivating Lydia Wright of his longstanding affection.

Lydia has tasted blissful freedom since her missionary parents left Tokyo, and she has no intention of giving it up. The foreign quarter’s matchmaker has found Lydia the perfect candidate for a practical union that will ensure her continued independence.

But he’s no Oliver.

She ought to be prudent and welcome in the new year alongside her betrothed. But Lydia’s freedom has gone to her head, and in Tokyo’s foreign quarter, a heady sense of freedom can wreak havoc on even the best-laid plans.

Talk of Tokyo, published by Boroughs Publishing Group. Click on the image above to check out their expansive selection of romances.

Talk of Tokyo, first place in the 2021 Rudy Contest!

Talk of Tokyo, finalist for the 2021 Maggie Award

Talk of Tokyo has been selected as a finalist in the 2021 Put Your Heart in a Book contest sponsored by the New Jersey Romance Writers.