My next title is a J.A. Ferguson paranormal from ImaJinn Books  — www.imajinnbooks.com  It is set in Victorian England and brings together two very different people who never expected to fall in love with each other.

SHE BELIEVES IN MAGIC…
Madeleine Nightingale is the magician’s assistant for her brother. They perform as The Magic Nightingales, but her brother is eager to leave the uncertainty of traveling town-to-town. He dreams of being on the stage in a fine London theater. Madeleine wants him to be happy, so when she hears of a Faire to be held at Sheffield Priory, she thinks it is their chance. A famous theater owner will be there, and she will make sure it goes perfectly…even if she has to use a bit of true magic that has been her secret gift since childhood.

HE BELIEVES IN PLEASURE…
Christopher Sheffield has arranged a Faire to celebrate Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee. But he has an ulterior motive. He wants to arrange for his mother to receive his mistress Allegra, so he can connect his life in London with his life in the country.  Everything is going according to plan until he chances upon Madeleine Nightingale and her brother performing in a nearby village. Thoughts of Allegra fade when he draws Madeleine into his arms. But Madeleine isn’t the easy conquest he’d hoped. He’d like to forget her, but there is something unquestionably magical about the magician’s assistant.

CAN THEY BELIEVE IN LOVE?
Both Madeleine and Christopher have been hurt deeply in the past–losing those they loved–but are they willing now to set their pasts aside and dare to love again. Or will they settle for something that is a pale imitation of the real magic that comes when two hearts truly believe in each other?

Look for it soon at ImaJinn Books!

ImaJinn Books is offering a 40% discount off the retail price of all books at their site.  www.imajinnbooks.com  Here’s your chance to get Sea Wraith or one of my J.A. Ferguson paranormals or Jo Ann Ferguson Regencies at a great discount.  The sale goes through January 3, 2010.  Check out the titles over at www.joannferguson.com or at the ImaJinn site.

Also ImaJinn is giving away three (3) $50.00 Gift Certificates on December 12th.  All a reader has to do is fill out a reader Questionnaire that tells us what types of books they like to read and they’ll qualify for the drawing. 

Sea Wraith is out today.  It’s available at ImaJinn Books.

http://www.imajinnbooks.com/mm5/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=IB&Product_Code=SEA&Category_Code=NR7

It’s Sian Nethercott’s story, and the long awaited conclusion to the Nethercott Tales trilogy.

And here’s what it’s about:

ONE SPIRITED MISS . . .
Sian Nethercott wants to put her mistakes behind her. First, a man she agreed to marry, even though he did not touch her heart; then Lord Lastingham, the only man she has ever loved, even though he seems to have forgotten her. She travels to her sister’s house in Cornwall in order to paint a mural, but her trip is interrupted when she encounters a masked man named Wraith, a criminal whose brazen kiss thrills her. But she can’t forget the warning she received before she left Nethercott Castle: Beware of ghosts in Cornwall!

THREE DANGEROUS MEN . . .
Shocked to find Lord Lastingham in Cornwall where he intends to put a stop to Wraith and the other wreckers, Sian also meets Arthyn Trembeth, the curate in the tiny village of St. Gundred. All three men charm her in their unique ways, but it is Wraith who seems to be near whenever she finds herself in need of rescuing . . . or a soul-sapping kiss. Is he the ghost she was warned about? Even if he is, can she deny herself what she thought she would never find?

TOO MANY GHOSTS . . .
Sian and Wraith must come to trust each other—and their own hearts—as they battle a common enemy to protect all they hold dear . . . and have a ghost of a chance at love.

I love days when I click off things on my to-do file.  Today I sent back the copy edited ms for Sea Wraith, the third book in the Nethercott Tales series.  It’s always a bittersweet experience.  I’ll have a chance to read it one final time in galleys, but soon the book will be published and I won’t be spending time with these characters any longer.  Of course, the nice thing is that my characters will be out there for readers to enjoy (hopefully!).

Don’t you just love this cover?  Mystery and danger and romance in Regency Cornwall!

I’m so excited to announce that I’ve been offered the opportunity to write the second book in the Patchwork Mysteries series from Guideposts Books.  The book is titled Time To Share, and I’ll be writing it as Jo Ann Brown.  It’s a cozy mystery series, and it’s set in the Berkshires.   The chance to write about small town New England  is so delightful!  I’ll post more info as I have it.

I’ve been interviewed at Linda M. Faulkner’s Author Exchange Blog.  Check it out at:

http://lindamfaulknertips.blogspot.com/2009/05/author-interview-with-jo-ann-ferguson.html

Then check out Linda’s web site at:  http://www.lindamfaulkner.com/  — and read about her mystery set in Montana where she now lives.  We first met more years ago than we wish to admit when we both lived in Massachusetts.

Here’s the cover for the third Ladies of St. Jude’s Abbey book as it was published in Italy.  The fourth book is scheduled to be published in November 2008.

Here is the same book’s cover from when it was published in Germany a few months ago:

And, just to remind everyone, here’s the original Signet Eclipse cover — my favorite among the Ladies of St. Jude’s Abbey.

I’ve been missing in action from this blog because I’ve been caught up in so many other things. Not just writing things, but life things. I used to say that the most important thing for a writer to possess (other than a storywriting skill) was a spouse with a job with medical benefits. Now I’m wondering if that most important thing would be an assistant to take care of all the life details that always get in the way.

But I’ve vowed to spend more time on this blog…starting later this week. I’m going to be spending tomorrow (May 13) and the next day visiting a readers’ blog in Italy. My Ladies of St. Jude’s Abbey books are being published by Mondadori to be followed by the Nethercott Tales. So I’m excited to spend some time with Italian readers. If you want to drop in go to:
http://romancebooks.splinder.com/post/17081717

Scroll to the bottom of the page, and you’ll find the blog in both English and Italian.

Oh, as far as the books here are the covers of the first two. A Knight Like No Other (the first cover shown) becomes “The Pride of the Knight”, and it is followed by One Knight Stands which becomes “The Night of the Knight”.

What do you think of these covers?

I’m honored that My Lady Knight, the fourth Ladies of St. Jude’s Abbey book, will be the Fresh Pick from Fresh Fiction tomorrow April 2, 2008. It’ll be at http://freshfiction.com/

As the announcement stated:

“The Fresh Pick is chosen by a group of readers and is never a purchased advertisement or promotion. We’ve chosen your book because it appeals to us and we like to share our diverse tastes in reading and hope other readers will give it a try.”

This is special for me, because this is the book where I had to learn to create gunpowder with a 12th century formula…which got me all kinds of strange looks when I asked questions. A couple of times I thought Homeland Security might be called in when I was asking about blowing up things with such primitive, easily found materials. As soon as I could figure out the formula. Fortunately, handing out bookmarks from the previous books in the series convinced people that I was really interested in the theory of such an explosive.

Check out the book for yourself if you haven’t had a chance to read it yet. If you have, please pass the word along to others who will enjoy it, too.

Kindred Spirits will be released next week by Signet Eclipse. The first reviews are in, and they’re great ones.

From Romance Reader at Heart.com

KINDRED SPIRITS by Jocelyn Kelley is one of those books that once read, will never be forgotten. I fell instantly in love with this story.The ghost of a Roman soldier, an achingly handsome member of the peerage who is the latest victim of a nearly two-thousand-year-old curse and a pair of feisty sisters who live alone in an enormous castle, all make for a tale that goes far beyond interesting.
China, who is still mourning the death of a beloved father who was a firm believer in the spirit world, meets Quintus, the ghost who beseeches—nee, orders!—her to safeguard the latest of his descendants to come under the spell of the wretched curse. China rescues Alexander, takes him back to her castle and does all she can to keep him safe. The task turns out to be more difficult than she could ever have imagined—had she ever imagined she’d be safeguarding the handsomest man she’s ever met while all sorts of evil do their best to take him from her.
I loved everything about KINDRED SPIRITS. The characters were so fully developed they seemed real. Even the scary giants were realistic enough that they terrified me. The love between Alexander and China was both searingly hot and sublimely tender. The plot is intricate, fast-paced, and gripping to the point that I realized I was holding my breath while I read certain passages!
The drama, mystery and romance in Jocelyn Kelley’s KINDRED SPIRITS is sure to satisfy any reader. It certainly satisfied this one! I look forward to reading more from this very talented storyteller. — Kay James

From Genre Go Round.com:

In the North Yorkshire Moors of England, sisters China, Jade, and Sian Nethercott mourn the loss of their father, who recently passed away. However, the middle sibling Jade has moved on since meeting the ghost of murdered Sir Mitchell Renshaw and her soulmate Lord Gideon Bannatyne (see LOST IN SHADOW). China affectionately remembers how he believed in ghosts although she has never seen an apparition. That is until China meets Roman era spirit Quintus Valerius.
The centurion explains to China that he is cursed to wander the earth until he rescues one of his descendents from being killed; since almost two millennia have past since he died, Quintus knows failure. However, his plan this time differs than in the past when he tried to intercede directly. Quintus plans to injure Major Alexander, Lord Braddock, who was admitted into the Order of the Bath for his courage during the Napoleonic Wars. That will mean he is forced to stay home to heal and ergo prevent his murderer from succeeding. China tries to help Alex heal, but the war hero cannot sit still even as they fall in love while Quintus omitted the rest of the story that China’s future is tied Alexander in life or death.
KINDRED SPIRITS is a terrific, lighthearted, paranormal Regency romance that will have everyone believing in ghosts. China is a courageous heroine who rescues Alexander and brings him back to her isolated home Nethercott Castle to heal. Fast-paced, fans will wonder whether the love between them will end the curse with a happily ever after in this life or eternity together in the afterlife (it is a romance). Jocelyn Kelley provides a delightful charmer filled with subtly like setting the time frame ten years after Napoleon claims emperorship.

I’m excited about such great early reviews. Hope you check it out, too!