I don’t know about you, but I am absolutely FIENDING for MORE Bridgerton. I can’t wait until part 2 of Season 3 drops!!!
But in the meantime, allow me to suggest my Scandals With Bite series to tide you over. It’s like Bridgerton, but with Vampires!
Why vampires? They’re totally suited to the Regency nobility and here’s why!
They're night owls.
Most of the balls and operas and festivities in the regency went from dusk till dawn. A vampire's nocturnal behavior would be unnoticed in this environment.
The Window Tax
Seriously, there was a tax on how many windows one had on their home. People often boarded up their windows to avoid the tax. This was beneficial to vampires in that no one thought it amiss if they did so to protect themselves from the sun. I point this out in book 1, BITE ME, YOUR GRACE!
Scandals with Bite #1
Like Bridgerton, but with Vampires
Angelica Winthrop wants nothing more than to ruin her reputation to avoid marriage and be a gothic authoress like her idol, Mary Shelley. Unfortunately, all her schemes keep backfiring and the wedding noose is tightening. To find inspiration for her next story, she breaks into the reputably haunted home of Ian Ashton, Duke of Burnrath. But when she tumbles down the stairs, Angelica finds something far more dangerous than ghosts.
Ian is the Lord vampire of London and is currently at his wit’s end. Thanks to a vampire craze spawned by the publication of John Polidori’s The Vampyre, tongues are wagging and wagers are being made about his nocturnal proclivities. The solution to his problem tumbles into his lap in the form of the vivacious heiress.
The duke destroys Angelica’s plans by publicly proposing marriage to save his reputation. Sparks fly as the authoress attempts every impropriety to dissuade the vampire and he retaliates with his skills of seduction.
After a quirky courtship and a tender wedding night, their rocky marriage of convenience is played out before the scandalized eyes of the ton. If that weren’t enough, a vampire hunter and John Polidori himself are also watching…and plotting.
Subgenres: paranormal regency romance, historical paranormal romance, vampire romance, gothic paranormal romance, regency vampire romance
Tropes: arranged marriage romance, grumpy romance, grumpy sunshine romance, enemies to lovers romance, angsty romance, age gap romance, medium heat level
Romance Paranormal | Romance Historical [Broken Angels, On Sale: February 2, 2024, Paperback / e-Book, / ]
A popular novel, a determined debutante, and a vampire hunter threaten London's lord of the undead.
An Age of Enlightenment
In an age of reason, vampires are regarded as mere folklore. This disbelief is advantageous. However in the face of scientific advances, discovery is all too possible. Which is why drinking a mortal's blood to the point where they die has been forbidden since the mid Eighteen century.
Disappearance of people would still be unaccounted for.
Thousands of potential meals languish in alleys and gutters all over London’s East End. A vampire would never starve in this populous city. Also, they have a house full of servants in case of emergency, though normally it is considered a faux pas to feed from one's servants.
People drank a LOT at Balls and Musicales.
It's easy to steal a drink from an unsuspecting mortal when the majority of one’s peers are deep in their cups. Sometimes it's hardly even necessary to mesmerize them and banish their memory of a feeding after the claret really flows. There were also many secluded alcoves inside a British Manor and on the grounds.
All the better to secure a meal.
Respect and authority for rank.
One rarely dares question the behavior of a nobleman. If he has odd behavior, he is merely written off as "Eccentric."
But what about the fun Bridgerton tropes? I got you covered there too! Want more scenes like Colin and Pen practicing lessons on dealing with suitors?
Here’s a snippet of a scene from ONE BITE PER NIGHT, in which the Lord Vampire of Cornwall is assigned a ward and is trying to prepare her for the marriage mart. It’s on sale too!
Scandals with Bite #2
He wanted her off his hands... Now he'll do anything to hold on to her ...Forever. Vincent Tremayne, the reclusive "Devil Earl," has been manipulated into taking rambunctious Lydia Price as his ward. As Lord Vampire of Cornwall, Vincent has better things to do than bring out an unruly debutante. American-born Lydia Price doesn't care for the stuffy strictures of the ton, and is unimpressed with her foppish suitors. She dreams of studying with the talented but scandalous British portrait painter, Sir Thomas Lawrence. But just when it seems her dreams will come true, Lydia is plunged into Vincent's dark world and finds herself caught between the life she's known and a future she never could have imagined.
Romance Paranormal | Paranormal Historical [Broken Angels, On Sale: February 9, 2024, e-Book (reprint), ISBN: 9781492604914 / eISBN: 9781402274480]
Great chemistry between heroine and her sexy vampire guardian!
Excerpt:
Miss Hobson looked down her nose at him and refused to participate in the humor. “We shall start off simply. You may be an earl who wishes an introduction to Miss Price. I shall pretend to be you, her guardian.”
Despite the chaperone’s attempt to maintain a formal air of instruction with the playacting, it was all Lydia could do to hold in her laughter as she and Vincent competed with each other on who could fabricate the most ridiculous names for her imaginary suitors. For now, it was as if they were playing another game.
“You must also know how to respond when a suitor behaves in an ungentlemanly manner. Now, Baron…er…Stuffedshirt, say something improper to Miss Price,” Miss Hobson instructed.
Vincent lifted an imaginary quizzing glass and looked down insolently, as if perusing her bosom. “I say, Miss Price, do your garters match your gown?”
Lydia felt herself blush at his heated gaze and intimate allusion to her undergarments. She nearly answered in the affirmative before Miss Hobson told her to rap his arm with her fan.
“Now turn away and never acknowledge him again.” The chaperone had them act out various scenarios until the novelty had long since worn thin.
“Would you care to stroll through the garden, Miss Price?” Vincent asked with exaggerated formality.
Lydia nodded with relief. This farcical play was becoming tedious. She donned her cloak and took his arm. The night air was chilly yet tranquil, redolent with the scent of the newly bloomed spring.
“You look very lovely this evening.” Vincent swept her with a glance that warmed her from her toes up. His hair fell about his shoulders, making him look deliciously rakish.
Slowly, his hand crept down to take hers. Shivers broke out on her flesh as his thumb caressed her wrist and the back of her hand. He had such long fingers, she mused.
“I read a poem today that reminded me of you.” He gave her another sideways glance, as if confessing something naughty. “Would you like to hear it?”
Her knees quivered beneath her skirts. Perhaps he did feel something for her. Perhaps he is now going to declare himself! “Yes, I would.”
“Your chaperone is watching us from the parapets. It would be better for me to recite it more privately.” With gentle force, he guided her behind a tall hedge.
Lydia’s belly fluttered as Deveril took both her hands. His hair gleamed like an angel’s wing. Would he tell her he couldn’t let her go, that they didn’t have to go to London? That instead they could remain here…together?
“She walks in beauty, like the night,” he whispered.
“Of cloudless climes and starry skies;
And all that’s best of dark and bright
Meet in her aspect and her eyes;
Thus mellowed to that tender light
Which heaven to gaudy day denies.”
Vincent’s eyes were like a turbulent sea in a moonlit storm. He gazed at her as though she was something precious. Lydia sighed as his long fingers removed a pin from her hair.
“One shade the more, one ray the less,
Had half impaired the nameless grace
Which waves in every raven tress,”
Her breath caught as he twirled a lock of her hair.
“Or softly lightens o’er her face;
Where thoughts serenely sweet express,
How pure, how dear their dwelling-place.”
His hand crept up to caress her cheek, his intent gaze never wavering.
“And on that cheek, and o’er that brow,
So soft, so calm, yet eloquent,
The smiles that win, the tints that glow,”
His lips curved in a sensual smile as he concluded,
“But tell of days in goodness spent,
A mind at peace with all below,
A heart whose love is innocent!”
For an eternity, they stared as if peering into each other’s souls. His fingers slid past her cheek and threaded once more through her hair, sending the remaining pins scattering into the grass.
“Lydia,” he whispered.
Then his lips were on hers, warm, silken, teasing. Her limbs melted. Intoxicating heat unfurled low in her body. Lydia reached up to pull him closer, to demand more.
Vincent pulled back before she could grasp him. He took a deep, shuddering breath. “And that is your most important lesson in courtship, Lydia. Never allow a man to get you off alone, especially if he desires to recite poetry, and particularly Lord Byron’s verses.”
A strangled gasp caught in her throat at his duplicity. It had all been part of the game! “You…you…”
He held up a hand. “Now slap me with your fan in retaliation for taking such liberties.”
Reeling in outrage, she fumbled in the pockets of her cloak for the ineffectual weapon.
Vincent shrugged, undaunted at her ire. “That is why you should keep your fan at the ready.”
Seizing the bundle of cloth-covered sticks, she smacked him soundly on the arm, much harder than Miss Hobson had instructed.
“You are lucky I did not have my gun,” she hissed. How could he?
To her vexation, he chuckled. “No, a kiss such as that, indiscreet as it was, is hardly a dueling offense.” His eyes narrowed, and he stalked closer. Lydia thought of the time he’d told her the story of the wolf. Vincent looked just as ferocious as he had that night. “However, if a man kisses you like this…”
With lightning speed, he seized her, pulling her against his body as his lips came down on hers with brutal force. One hand ruthlessly gripped the nape of her neck, while the other grasped her bottom, urging her hips against his. Though it was still part of the game, Lydia was unable to prevent herself from responding. Molten desire flooded her body, flaring brightest within her core. His mouth ravaged hers, his tongue darted in, sliding across hers, coaxing it to tangle with his in a primal dance.
A low moan escaped her throat as she ground her body against him. His hardness pressed, insistent upon her most secret place, making her ache for something only he could give.
With a low growl, he broke away and thrust her from him. His breath came in harsh gasps. “If a man kisses you…like that,” he said roughly, “then I shall see him dead.”
Panting with need, Lydia met his savage gaze in challenge. “What if I want him to?”
Copyright © 2024 by Brooklyn Ann
Formerly an auto-mechanic, Brooklyn Ann thrives on writing romance, urban fantasy, and horror novels featuring unconventional heroines and heroes who adore them. Author of historical paranormal romance in her critically acclaimed Scandals with Bite series, urban fantasy in the cult favorite, Brides of Prophecy novels, rockstar romance in the award-winning, Hearts of Metal series, and horror in the B Mine series, horror romances riffing on the 1970s and 1980s B horror movies that feature a Final Couple instead of a Final Girl. She lives in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho with her gamer son, rockstar/IT Guy boyfriend, three cats, a few project cars, an extensive book collection, and miscellaneous horror memorabilia. She can be found online at her website as well as on Twitter, Facebook, Mastodon, and Instagram. For exclusive updates, sneak peeks, and giveaways, sign up for Brooklyn Ann’s Newsletter on her website.
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