LATEST ON-DITS:

A YEARNING FOR SPRING overwhelms us as we enter March and hope for April.  But while winter chill continues, there's still the first forsythia flowers--little bursts of sunshine amid the gloom, the nodding waxy-velvet blooms of hellebore and the first bulbs peeping through (at least here in North Texas, where we're not buried in snow!)  And just to prove, even to those mired in it, that snow isn't always a bad thing, check out the Yearning-For-Spring prize in my newest contest below!

COVER WATCH!  I've had my first glimpse of the cover for the July 2008 release of Hal's story, A MOST UNCONVENTIONAL MATCH.  Rather a fitting title for a gently-born lady who aspires to be an artist and a Society gentleman who prefers finance to ton fashion.  The preliminary view has our hero gazing over the heroine's shoulder, behind them a wall displaying some of the Royal Academy's art collection.  As soon as the final version is available, I'll post it here!  Meanwhile, see more on Hal's story below.

YEARNING FOR SPRING CONTEST!  Light, airy and nary a shovel needed!  Just in time for those to whom "snow" has become a 4-letter word, I'm offering a contest prize that will dramatically improve your opinion of the substance.  Euphorbia "Diamond Frost," though bred as an annual bedding plant, also flourishes indoors, where it will wreathe itself for months in a blizzard of ethereal white blossoms.  Another product of the wonderful White Flower Farms nursery (see all their offerings at www.whiteflowerfarms.com), "Diamond Frost" is a bit of snow to admire on your tabletop while you cozy up with a hot cup of tea and, of course, a good book.  (Please note:  Diamond Frost is a relative of the Poinsettia, and like it, has milky sap that can irritate the skin of especially sensitive individuals.)  Click on the link to enter and enjoy!

IN THE MEANTIME, ROGUE’S LADY STILL AVAILABLE!  My November 2007 Regency historical is still available at your local bookstore.  Daughter of a misalliance between a viscount’s daughter and an itinerant Italian musician, Allegra Antinori knows she should marry a paragon of unimpeachable virtue—like handsome returned soldier Rob Lynton, the family acquaintance she’s always adored.  If only out-and-out rogue Will Tavener weren’t so impossibly appealing…  Click here to read excerpts of Chapters 1 and 2 or to see the video trailer. 

 “With characters you care about, clever banter, a roguish hero and a captivating heroine, Justiss has written a charming and sensual love story.”  — Joan Hammond, Romantic Times BOOKreviews Magazine

MORE ON HAL!  Growing up with a demanding society Diamond of a mother has given Hal Waterman a strong aversion to beautiful women.  So he's always carefully avoided the one beauty to whom he had an instantaneous, mesmerizing attraction: Elizabeth Wellingford, sister-in-law of his best friend Nicholas Stanhope (hero of my first book, THE WEDDING GAMBLE).  But when, seven years after that unforgettable first meeting, the now-married Elizabeth's husband dies suddenly while all her family are abroad, Hal knows Nicky would expect him to call on the bereaved widow and, in Nicky's stead, offer her any assistance she may need.  He expects to perform this duty quickly and resume his tranquil bachelor's existence.  Until he finds the mature Elizabeth even more alluring than the young beauty...and is struck by her little boy's desperate need for a man's comforting presence, something Hal vividly remembers missing when as a young child he lost his own father.

MORE WELLINGFORDS TO COME!  I've just completed the draft of "Merry's Christmas Miracle," another Wellingford family story to be included in the November 2008 Harlequin Historical Christmas anthology.  The "responsible" sister who stayed to manage the family's country estate and tend her young siblings when Sarah and Elizabeth married, after the death of her soldier fiancé, Meredyth resigned herself to spinsterhood.  Until the yearly Christmas gathering at Wellingford brings home not just her family, but Allen Mansfell, the fascinating older brother of Colton Wellingford's Oxford friend...

BOOKMARKS AVAILABLE!  To receive a bookmark of ROGUE’S LADY or THE UNTAMED HEIRESS, send an SASE to Julia at 179 County Rd 4112, Daingerfield, TX  75638.