Latest News from Michelle Willingham

It’s 2021, and I don’t know about you, but I am eager for life to return to normal. Who would have thought that in one year we would be wearing masks in public, staying six feet apart, and not being able to travel or see family members? It has been such a difficult year for all of us. My heart goes out to those of you who lost loved ones.

This year, I have a blend of different releases. In February, I released a new contemporary book, Switched at Marriage, under my Avery Chandler pseudonym. In June, you can also look for my novella, “A Rake of Her Own,” which was previously published in the Breathless at the Wedding anthology and will now be released separately. I’m also planning a boxed set of all three stories together: A Dance with the Devil, The Sweetest Christmas, and of course the aforementioned A Rake of Her Own.

I am working on a TON of new historical romances right now. In addition to Kiss the Earl, I’m also working on a new medieval series for Harlequin Historical, and a Regency matchmaking series (more details to come). Stay tuned to the main page for release dates and cover art.

In the meantime, I hope you all enjoy a much better 2021 with friends, family, and great books to read!

With all best wishes,

Michelle Willingham

2017 Releases

I’ve been sadly delinquent at updating my news, so pardon me for the delay! My excuses is that I’ve written three new books, so I hope you’ll understand. 🙂

In March, “A Dance with the Devil” released. This was a fun project I completed with Kate Pearce and Deb Marlowe. We all set our Regency stories at Castle Keyvnor, and our characters were attending the will reading of the late Lord Banfield. Add in a mischievous ghost, and I think you’ll enjoy the Gothic love story between a poor vicar’s daughter and a handsome rake.

This July, I am launching a brand new medieval series with Harlequin stories, Warriors of the Night. So far, there are three books planned, but I may add a fourth! The first book, Forbidden Night with the Warrior is about a dying lord who desperately needs an heir…and offers one wicked night with his wife to the man she loved and lost. It was inspired by “Indecent Proposal,” and I hope you’ll enjoy this second chance love story. It will be followed by Forbidden Night with the Highlander, which is written but will likely come out in late 2017. The third book, Forbidden Night with the Prince will be a 2018 release.

I’ve also written the sequel to Good Earls Don’t Lie, What the Earl Needs Now. It was originally meant to be out in early summer, but it will likely be late summer now. It needed some heavy revisions, and I’m in the midst of finishing those now.

So far, 2017 should have lots of new stories for you! If you haven’t yet received your FREE copy of “A Wish to Build a Dream On,” just sign up for my newsletter below!

2016 Releases

This year, I’ve been working on several projects. The first is a spin-off series to Secrets in Silk, titled the Earls Next Door. Several characters (Cain Sinclair and Amelia Hartford) will make an appearance in this new series. It’s a trilogy about three earls who find love in Victorian-era England. The first book was inspired by The Secret Garden and is titled Good Earls Don’t Lie. It’s tentatively set to release in September of this year.

The second project I’ve been finishing up is the sequel to A Viking for the Viscountess. A Maiden for the Marquess was originally intended for release in fall of 2016, but it had to be set aside temporarily. It should hopefully go out to my editor in March and be released in early summer. My apologies for the delay!

If you’d like me to e-mail you when one of these books releases or when there’s a special sale, you can sign up for my newsletter.

Happy reading!

Michelle Willingham

Forthcoming Books in 2015

This year, I’ve written a new series of books set in medieval Ireland. Warriors of Ireland was inspired by Game of Thrones and the fairytale “Beauty and the Beast.” Book one of this duet, Warrior of Ice, will release June 20, 2015, in stores and July 1st in e-book form. The second book, Warrior of Fire, will release in late November/early December.

I have plans to write a sequel to A Viking for the Viscountess, and I hope to release it in August or September of this year.

If you’d like me to e-mail you when one of these books releases or when there’s a special sale, you can sign up for my newsletter here.

Wishing you all a wonderful spring!

Michelle Willingham

Fall and Winter News

The year is winding to a close, and I have two more books forthcoming. The first, Unlaced by the Outlaw is the final story in the Secrets in Silk series. It tells the story of prim and proper Margaret Andrews who is stranded in the wilderness with a wicked outlaw, Cain Sinclair.

The second book, A Viking for the Viscountess will be out on November 18. It’s a “unique” book, born from my love of time travel stories. I wanted to explore what it would be like for a Viking to time travel forward to the Regency era. Arik Thorgrim isn’t at all the sort of hero Juliana Arthur, the Viscountess Hawthorne, was expecting. But the two of them make one of the most interesting couples I’ve ever written. It was terrific fun to bring a Viking into the ballroom, so I hope you’ll enjoy the book. This is a draft of the cover, and it is one of the books in the series: A Most Peculiar Season. It’s part of an author collaboration with Deborah Hale, Ann Lethbridge, Barbara Monajem, Gail Ranstrom, and others. The books will feature unusual events in the Regency era, and our characters will interact in the different books.

As we move toward the holiday season, I wish you and your families all the very best!

Goodreads Giveaway

Harlequin is giving away fifty copies of To Tempt a Viking and the giveaway ends January 17. Check out the details below:

Goodreads Book Giveaway

To Tempt a Viking

by Michelle Willingham

Giveaway ends January 17, 2014.

See the giveaway details
at Goodreads.

Enter to win

Good luck to all!

Harlequin Historical Advent Calendar

Congratulations to Heidi Howard, winner of my cookie giveaway yesterday and Charlotte McFall, winner of the international giveaway of a free book!

For those of you visiting for the first time, the Harlequin Historical Authors Holiday Giveaway is back! In the spirit of an Advent calendar, authors are giving away daily prizes and a Grand Prize of a Kindle Fire HDX Wi-Fi (or equivalent tablet depending on your location). Play every day for more chances to win.

The Rules:

Each participating author will have an activity planned on their website for their special day. You may be asked to comment on a blog, find an ornament, or visit a Facebook page. For each day you participate, your name will be entered into the Grand Prize drawing. For the official rules, click here.

At the end of the month on December 23, one day from the calendar will be randomly selected. One of the entrants from that day will then be randomly selected to win the Kindle. The more days you visit, the better your chances!

Although my individual contest has ended, you may still enter for a chance toward the grand prize. Here’s what you have to do:

To enter my giveaway, please do BOTH of the following:
1. Sign up for my newsletter below by typing your e-mail address in the Newsletter box at the bottom of this page. Your e-mail address will never be shared and you may unsubscribe at any time. If you are already a subscriber, you can skip this step.

2. Send an e-mail to me by clicking this link (contest AT michellewillingham.com). Then in the body of the e-mail, tell me your full name and address. Entrants who do not provide their address will be ineligible, so don’t forget!

Happy Holidays and click on the calendar to visit each author!

Participating Authors

Black Friday Giveaway

Happy Black Friday!

Today is my giveaway for the Harlequin Historical Advent Calendar. To celebrate a day of great bargains, I’m offering several prizes, and of course, when you enter my giveaway, your name will automatically be entered for a chance to win an Kindle Fire HDX!

First, for folks in every country around the world, enjoy a free download of my novella “A Wish to Build a Dream On” with an extended excerpt of my August title To Sin with a Viking. Just click here to choose your e-book format (Nook readers can get the epub format for free from the Smashwords link on that page or from All Romance E-books–Barnes & Noble has not yet price-matched the title).

Now for my raffle giveaway. One of the holiday traditions in my household is baking cookies. We LOVE gourmet cookies (especially those with frosting), and so I’m going to give you a chance to win gourmet frosted cookies from Cheryl’s. (This one is for U.S. residents only). See details below on how to enter.

Don’t worry–I also have a giveaway for my international readers, too! For you, I’m offering up a chance to win a copy of my latest book, Unraveled by the Rebel.

To enter my giveaway, please do BOTH of the following:
1. Sign up for my newsletter below by typing your e-mail address in the Newsletter box at the bottom of this page. Your e-mail address will never be shared and you may unsubscribe at any time. If you are already a subscriber, you can skip this step.

2. Send an e-mail to me by clicking this link (contest AT michellewillingham.com). Then in the body of the e-mail, tell me your full name and address. Entrants who do not provide their address will be ineligible, so don’t forget!

I’ll choose one U.S. winner and one international winner at the end of the day. Winners will be posted on this website on November 30. Even if you miss the deadline for this giveaway, you can still sign up for my newsletter and send me a note to be eligible toward the grand prize.

Good luck! Please read the official rules here and check out my upcoming book from Harlequin Historical, To Tempt a Viking, available February 1, 2014.

Diary of a Photoshoot – Part 5

This is part 5 of my Diary of a Photoshoot, where I’ll take you behind the scenes of making the cover for To Tempt a Viking, book 2 in the Forbidden Vikings series. You can read part 1, part 2, part 3, and part 4 first, if you like. (photos courtesy of Jon Wayne Brown)

After more than six hundred photographs were taken, the art director, Krista Oliver, begins flagging the best photos to potentially be used for the cover image.

I’ll admit that there were so many good ones, it was difficult to choose! I had several that I liked, but Krista chose one that was more evocative of a Viking warrior after a shipwreck.

After the final photograph is selected for the cover, it’s sent to an illustrator who will fill in the background details of setting and so on. Robert Papp created the background (He was also the illustrator for Tempted by the Highland Warrior and Taylor David was the model on that cover as well). Robert chose to create a shipwreck scene, after the hero is on shore. Here is the final illustration before the cover details are laid over it. Notice that Taylor’s left arm band was adjusted to fully encircle the bicep, whereas in the first photograph, the arm band was tied on.

To me, this is gorgeous art. Honestly, I would be happy with this as my cover and nothing else! But after the illustration is approved, the publisher’s branding and imprint are overlaid on top of that (e.g. the purple band across the top that says Harlequin Historical), as well as the title and author name. Harlequin chose a Viking-style font to be used for my name.

The back cover copy is also placed on the art file, and the cover goes through more rounds of proofing and image-checking to be sure it fits the correct specifications for both digital and print publication. Colors are checked, measurements are checked-everything goes through several levels of approval before the final cover is ready to go.

Would you like to see the final cover? Here it is! To Tempt a Viking (Available now!). (You can buy it here)

I hope you’ve enjoyed the behind-the-scenes process of how cover art is made!

Enjoy book 1 in the Forbidden Viking series – To Sin with a Viking (Get it in e-book form for $1.99, right now for a limited time!) Want to ask questions or comment? Join me on Facebook or Twitter and ask whatever you’d like!

Diary of a Photoshoot Part 4

This is part 4 of my Diary of a Photoshoot, where I’ll take you behind the scenes of making the cover for To Tempt a Viking, book 2 in the Forbidden Vikings series. You can read part 1, part 2, and part 3 first, if you like. (photos courtesy of Jon Wayne Brown)

Midway through the shoot, I was invited to play dress-up. I went with the stylist, Marie-Eve, back to the costume rack. While earlier we had talked about whether I would try on a Regency gown, I’m well aware that most of the gowns are fitted to size two models! After having three children, let’s just say that a size two was NOT going to happen for me. Instead, we picked out a rough-textured beige tunic that resembled a potato sack with arm and head openings.

Over that came a brown leather tunic and a broad belt to hold it together. Then she put on brown leggings over my knees and calves. Since I had worn heels, I had to borrow a pair of flip flops to wear on set.

She also gave me two rings to wear. I have very small fingers (my rings are a size 5) but some of these rings would hardly fit at all, which told me how thin a model’s hands are.

Here I am, ready for my modeling photo shoot!

We had some fun and I posed a bit with Taylor.

I was asked to look up and not to smile. Easier said than done!

After modeling a little, I now have a tremendous respect for models. It’s about being able to convey emotion in your eyes and in your face while keeping your body in an awkward position. The way you stand and the way you bend your back can make all the difference in proportion to the camera. I had to bend back a little, since Taylor was much taller than me, but looking back on the photos, it might have been better to bend my knees, since I looked a bit like I was caught in a trap and trying to get away! It was also quite an experience to have a cover model staring at you with such intensity.

After the mini-photoshoot with Taylor, I changed out of my costume and Marie-Eve used the same leather tunic on Taylor, but this time showing a little more of his chest and abs in the shoot. More of the shots were taken, some with him holding a sword and a helmet.

The photo shoot lasted about three hours or so. After an exhausting day of posing, here’s Taylor David kicking back with some brownies–Viking style!

Next week, I’ll talk about how the cover is put together, after the final photograph is chosen. Then you’ll get to see my final book cover!

Read part 5 of my Diary of a Photo shoot here. Enjoy book 1 in the Forbidden Viking series – To Sin with a Viking (Get it in e-book form on Kindle or Nook.) Want to ask questions or comment? Join me on Facebook or Twitter and ask whatever you’d like!

Last, click on the link at the bottom of this post to enjoy a video of the photo shoot!