Hurray! It's finally here!

Betina here, celebrating the arrival of my latest book! It's a Harlequin BLAZE. . . historical and sexy and full of fun. Today is the official release date, although I've already had e-mails from readers saying they'd found it in stores earlier and have already read it! I am soooo excited. . . partly because this is my first book out in a while and partly because. . . I just LOVE this book.

It combines my favorite elements in a romance: humor, women's power, a battle of wits, and a playful sensuality. Heroine Mariah Eller is not a woman to trifle with. She is bright and determined and knows the ways of the world. So imagine her dismay when she finds her newly remodeled inn invaded by drunken noblemen out for a raunchy bit of fun. While keeping them from destroying her property, she catches the eye of the group's leader. . . none other than the Prince of Wales himself.

The prince decides to take the feisty and fetching widow for a mistress and dispatches his trusted friend and hunting companion, Jack St.Lawrence, to marry her off so he can bed her. [Bertie-- for his own twisty reasons-- dallied only with married women. ] Jack St. Lawrence, would rather have teeth pulled than be stuck marrying off the bold, opinionated, and far-too-delectable widow. But he's nothing, if not loyal.

This is NOT Tristan and Isolde. Trust me.

Mariah makes life as difficult as possible for "Iron Jack." His efforts to marry her off perversely bring them closer together. For true love to prevail, Jack will have to betray his friend and benefactor and Mariah will have to defy the will of one of the richest and most powerful men in the world. Pretty formidable odds.

And yet. . . there is hope. Want to see how this one turns out?

One aspect of this book is a glimpse of the attitudes toward women that made it possible for men of means to take advantage of them. Society did not not allow women self-determination, and refused to credit them with ambition or purpose. But there were many women in the late Victorian era who chafed at the double standard and stood up for themselves, their families, and daughters. The drawing rooms of Victorian England are where the whole women's rights movement began.

I loved writing this book and working with Brenda Chin at Harlequin. If you know anything about my work, you'll know that I've specialized in big, thick historicals for most of my career. I confess that I worried at first that I'd find myself having to cut things I'd usually include. I was delighted to find that in writing a shorter book, I was freed to concentrate solely on the main romance. No complicating secondary plots or pesky secondary characters threatening to take over the book. From the Prince to the aged butler to the plain-spoken lady's maid, everybody served the romance.

And I discovered a more disciplined approach to word use in the book. I reined in my tendency to "double" everything and made myself be more focused and succinct. Yeah, it surprised me, too.

So, have I titillated your tastebuds? Whetted your appetite for some historical hijinx?

I hope you have a chance to read Make Me Yours and that you'll stop by my web site (BetinaKrahn.com) and let me know how you liked it. (Okay, if you must, you can tell me here.) (cough)

Oh, and I'm giving away three copies of Make Me Yours to commenters today. So let's hear from you. Questions? Comments? I'll give you a few topics. . . talk amongst yerselves. . .

*Short historicals. . . boon or boondoggle?
*Is $4.99 too much to pay for a book you won't read more than six or eight times?
*How many sex scenes are too many in a 200 page book?
*The Kama Sutra is greatly overrated.
*Historical covers are more "romantic" than contemporary covers.
*Historical covers are cheesier than contemporary covers.
*Betina's new icon picture. . . rocks or sucks?

WOO HOO! My book's out! Champagne all around!