An Anthology of Sweet Romances--Nine Ladies Dancing--Read About it and Meet the Authors

As I planned a blog exchange with author Patricia Kiyono, she told me about the Dingbat Publishing anthology...so in this exchange I got more than I bargained for!

For the past several years, Dingbat Publishing has compiled a collection of sweet holiday romances set during England’s Regency period. For 2024, seven authors contributed to the anthology, called Nine Ladies Dancing. Here are the authors (their names are linked to their websites) and their stories:

 

Elizabeth Hanbury presents "A Knight to the Rescue" — Jessica and Richard start off their acquaintance on entirely the wrong note. How can they learn to sing in tune?

Vivian Roycroft and "His Christmas Proposal" — Helena Whittle used to adore riding. Then she was thrown from a strange horse, and her life, her confidence, and even her engagement fell apart. Can she find room in her broken heart for a second chance at love?

Kay Springsteen and "The Maid's Christmas Miracle" — Servants were seldom able to marry. Can a miracle in a stable change their lives forever?

Jenna Jaxon and "A Match Made at Christmas" — Sophia promised to let her grandmother select her husband. Then she met the man of her dreams.

Patricia Kiyono and "Bugs, Bluestockings, and Beginnings" — If only there was a way for Elizabeth to support herself with her scientific knowledge — and of course love was the furthest thought from her mind.

Ruth J. Hartman and "Romancing the Dustman's Daughter" — Augustus Sinclair makes Anne believe in love and romance, even if he is wealthy and she is just the dustman’s daughter. A delightful retelling of the Cinderella story.

Felicia Rogers and "Rented One Christmas" — The ruse Mira's employer is asking of her is so crazy, it could ruin her life forever. Does she dare? And if she does, can she stop herself from falling in love?

Where did the ideas for their stories come from? Here are some of their responses:

ELIZABETH HANBURY: The inspiration for “A Knight to the Rescue” came from the popularity of the waltz in Regency times, despite it being seen as scandalous among some high society people. I thought it would be fun to have a heroine living in Bath who composed waltzes, and a wealthy hero who disguised himself as an artist to avoid fortune hunters - as well as help the woman of his dreams!  

FELICIA ROGERS: One day my daughter mentioned how many children my sister has and that she could rent them out.  It got to me to thinking... what if someone needed a family but didn't have one.  They could rent one!  And the story (“Rented One Christmas” was born.

PATRICIA KIYONO: A few years ago, Dingbat Publishing planned a multi-author series about a winter garden in the Highgate area of London. Ruth J. Hartman wrote a story in which the main characters create a home for bluestocking ladies, and I decided to continue the story, because of course the home would need someone to coordinate educational activities at this home! I had fun with Elizabeth, an out-of-work governess, and Benjamin, an entomologist. 

Nine Ladies Dancing is available only at Amazon

 

 

 

 

Meet Sadira Stone and Read About RUNAWAY LOVE STORY, Released Today!

 My guest Sadira Stone's new title just came out today! Meet Sadira and read 

all about it!

About Sadira

Award-winning contemporary romance author Sadira Stone spins steamy, smoochy tales set in small businesses—a quirky bookstore, a neighborhood bar, a vintage boutique. Set in the U.S. Pacific Northwest, her stories highlight found family, friendship, and the sizzling chemistry that pulls unlikely partners together. When she emerges from her writing cave in Las Vegas, Nevada (which she seldom does), she can be found shaking her hips in dance class, playing her guitar (badly, but getting better), exploring the Western U.S. with her charming husband, cooking up a storm, and gobbling all the romance books. For a guaranteed HEA (and no cliffhangers!) visit Sadira on her website.

About the Book Nirvana Series

Welcome to Book Nirvana, an indie bookstore in Eugene, Oregon, where you’ll find every flavor of bookish delight, a quirky staff who are as close as family, Lulu the all-wise shop cat, Coffee Dreams next door, and a dazzling collection of naughty books kept behind the red door in back. If you ask shop owner Clara nicely, she just might let you peek inside!  

About RUNAWAY LOVE STORY

Wrong time, wrong place, perfect guy.

A heartbreaking distress cry interrupts my search for a new art gallery job. Darling Maxie needs my help, so now I’m stuck in Eugene, Oregon, rescuing the auntie who rescued me.

Running into adorable Coach Dalton ignites a sweet flirtation that quickly turns spicy. He’s wise, funny, and he’s going through the same heartbreak: losing a loved one to dementia.   

But he wants lasting love, and I’m only passing through. No matter how much I crave him, I can’t let him derail my dreams. 

Come to Book Nirvana for a spicy, funny, heart-wrenching tale of true love and second chances.

Runaway Love Story was previously published and has been revised and updated with new chapters.

PG Rated Excerpt

“Come back, Blondie. I just want a little taste.”

Footsteps sound behind me—only one set but closing fast.

I gulp air and lengthen my stride. My quads burn and my sides ache, my reserves nearly spent.

I’ll never run without pepper spray again.

The guy is right on my tail, puffing like a bellows.

“Babe, there you are. Hold up.” This voice is deeper and lacks the mocking tone of the others.

Without slowing, I risk a backward glance. Tall bald guy. Serious runner, judging by his gear. His face drips from exertion, but his broad smile holds no threat. He tilts his shaved head toward the bushes and rolls his eyes.

I slow, and he pulls up alongside me, exclaiming with unnecessary volume, “I stopped to tie my shoelaces, and you disappeared.”

Hard of hearing? Near-sighted?

He throws a glance over his shoulder and lowers his voice. “You okay?”

Understanding dawns. He’s rescuing me!

“I’m good, thanks.” I jog to a stop and bend over, hands on my knees, gulping air. He waits beside me and scans the bushes, his breathing hard but steady. Expensive running shoes. Above his enormous feet rise long, well-muscled legs encased in snug shorts and the finest ass I’ve seen in a long, long time—high and firm and muscular. My fingertips itch to trace its contours.

Holy heck, what’s wrong with me?

His back to me, he surveys the trail. And what a back it is, outlined by his sweat-soaked T-shirt, narrow at the waist and broad at the shoulders. He runs his long fingers over his shiny shaved head and turns to face me.

Late thirties, I’m guessing. Aquiline nose, straight, pale brows, and deep-set eyes, blue as the summer twilight. A short golden beard covers his jaw. His lips spread in a slow smile, transforming his bony face into something dazzling.

Our eyes meet, and a spark jolts through me, strong and sharp and aimed straight at my core.

Uh-oh.

           

Purchase RUNAWAY LOVE STORY

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Meet My Dear Friend, Romance Author Angela Rosati, and Read About Her Extraordinary Stories, Straight From the Heart--With Her Own Brand of Humor

Angela has been a very dear friend of mine for 30 years, and she is a gifted writer. She is 96 years YOUNG and still writing heartfelt historical romances.

I highly recommend every one of her historical novels. She writes straight from the heart, and her stories are 100% genuine and authentic–because she was THERE!

About Angela

I was born on August 22, 1929 in Long Island City, NY. I grew up in Astoria, NY. I wanted to be a teacher, but got drafted into the family business. Then at age 29 (which was very old as per Italians) got married. Then in my late 70s, I bought a computer and started writing hysterical/historical family tales my family was tired of hearing. I love music and I sing opera arias by Giacomo Puccini. My grandson, at a very young age, asked me why I sing in the shower. I responded, "The door is locked and nobody can tell me to shut up!"

Visit Angela on Amazon

An article in The Italic Institute of America, "The Italian Heritage on a Classical Foundation" :

In Those Days by Bill Dal Cerro | Mar 1, 2025

A 96 year old “new author” focuses on early Italian immigrants 

In Those Days is a short essay written by Angela M. Rosati, the daughter of Italian immigrants from Basilicata (father) and Puglia (mother). Raised in Astoria, Queens, the same neighborhood as the great Tony Bennett (born Anthony Benedetto), Rosati has made it her mission to document the Great Migration (1880-1924), specifically via the experiences of her family. What’s interesting about Rosati is that she first began writing in the 70s—no, not the decade, but her age. A self-described “Nanny Granny,” she was in her late 70s, bought a computer and began writing personal stories and mini-novels “when my grandchildren were busy outside playing after school. I didn’t know I could do it.” 

She did, and she hasn’t stopped. Over the past 18 years—she turns 96 this August—Rosati has turned out 11 books centered on the idea of teaching the latest generation that life for early Italians “back in the day” wasn’t all pasta and roses. As she puts it, “They need to know how offended and ill-treated we were. Yet we didn’t sit on the curb and cry. We prevailed because we knew who we were, we knew our strength.” 

That strength was something called Italian culture: “Cuisine! Music! Art! Movies! Food! Operas! Who writes them better? When a soprano enters a singing contest, she sings, ‘O Mio Babbino Caro’ by Giacomo Puccini. A guaranteed win!”

Ms. Rosati came to my attention a month ago after she emailed to compliment me on a recent blog. It was very fortuitous, as I had been having discussions with colleagues over the appalling (and depressing) lack of representation of Italians in American history. Peruse any current social studies book in our nation’s schools and you will see none of our heroes and heroines—our role models—ever mentioned.

Instead, you will see what I call the “Three C’s”: Columbus, Capone and Cascades of Unwashed Immigrants. Even the story of Sacco & Vanzetti, whose 1927 execution in Boston remains a template of anti-immigrant prejudice, is hardly ever mentioned anymore. 

The first two C’s are now radioactive. Capone always has been, but Columbus has become (unfairly and unjustly) a lightning rod of scorn by angry activists. And the Cascade of Unwashed Immigrants is more like one big, gigantic, amorphous blob—an uninspiring pile of nothing. 

Rosati’s writings are invaluable in that they turn that blob into individual cells. She puts human faces on those follicles. If our nation still refuses to publicly proclaim any pride in, say, inspiring role models like A.P. Giannini or Ella Grasso, they can’t keep suggesting that Italian immigrants themselves were of no value. By documenting their suffering, by personalizing it, Rosati’s books say to academia, “Oh, yeah?”

She does it with humor: “I was the third, and only girl, of four kids. When some people heard this, they would say, ‘Oh, you must be the queen.’ Yes, I’m queen of the mop and the ironing board. My parents were careful not to spoil me and my three brothers.”

She does it with drama: “My father, Angelo Russo, rarely spoke of his wartime experiences. He fought for Italy during WWI in the Austrian campaign. But, he had nightmares. We would hear him vocalize sounds at night. And Papa did tell us once, when he was in the trenches, one of his buddies from Bari said, ‘Russo, I’m afraid to die.’ Immediately, he received a bullet in his skull. Papa said there was blood, brains and flesh everywhere. He never recounted any other similar stories after that.”

And she does it with a childlike candor, whether relating unkind comments from Irish or German neighbors or relating how teachers in the schools routinely slapped Italian boys “because they (the teachers) knew the Italian boys would never squeal on them. Parents always thought the teacher was right. The Italian boys endured the embarrassment of those slaps rather than get a beating from offended parents.” 

As a witness to both the good and the bad, Rosati is in an excellent position to see how Italian Americans triumphed over their often-difficult circumstances. So it has some gravitas when she compares the reality of real Italians to images perpetuated in the media: “The way Hollywood depicts Italians is all wrong. The men are depicted as thieves, gangsters, and murderers. The women are all depicted as whores and liars. Unfortunately, most Italian Americans today, and others, believed the baloney. But the damage is done and we must correct it.”

Rosati is heroically doing so by documenting our true stories. 

Visit the Italic Institute of America