*** Please feel free to forward this newsletter to friends and/or post at romance-friendly places such as bookstores and on the Internet. Thank you for your support! If you wish to subscribe or unsubscribe, visit http://www.laurenroyal.com/3.0/contact/ml ***

Dear friends and family~

Is the end of January too late to wish people Happy New Year? Hmm, I think not...so a very Happy New Year to all! I hope 2009 is treating you well so far.

Since my last newsletter, four people have won my contest. September's winner was Ann Marie Bates of Elmhurst, Illinois; October's winner was Joan O'Toole of Palmyra, New Jersey; November's winner was Patricia Mangum of Plain City, Utah; and the final winner of the year was Beth Reimer of Taneytown, Maryland.

And the contest goes on! I've managed to get hold of a few more necklaces that I'll be giving away throughout 2009, so if you want to win the sterling silver claddagh pendant that Sean gives Corinna in THE ART OF TEMPTATION, visit http://www.LaurenRoyal.com. Click where it says "Contest" on the menu, read the excerpt, and then answer the current question: "How old is Dierdre when she comes to live with Sean in Hampstead?" Judging by the entries so far, this one seems to be stumping a lot of people, so I am going to give my loyal newsletter readers a hint...(are you ready?)...the correct answer is not the age Deirdre is in the Prologue. You have to keep reading -- you'll find the answer in Chapter One.

Fun news: My ART OF TEMPTATION book trailer has been nominated for a New Covey Trailer Award! The winner in the "Most Intriguing Trailer" category is decided by a vote of the public at http://thenewcoveytrailerawards.blogspot.com. If you're interested in voting, you can watch all the trailers right on that page and then vote for your favorite using the poll in the upper left-hand corner. Or if you'd prefer to go straight to *my* trailer, you can find it at http://thenewcoveytrailerawards.blogspot.com/2009/01/entry-07-art-of-temptation.html. :-)

Once again, I send my very best to you and all your loved ones. The world seems to be in a precarious place right now, but it's in difficult times like these that friendships and family mean the most. Thank you so much for your support and interest in my books. Until next time, I wish each and every one of you a year full of health, love, and dreams come true.

Hugs,
~Lauren
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Fall in love with a historical romance by Lauren Royal
THE ART OF TEMPTATION ~ In stores now!
Win a claddagh necklace at www.LaurenRoyal.com
Friend me at www.myspace.com/laurenroyal and on Facebook

*** Please feel free to forward this newsletter to friends and/or post at romance-friendly places such as bookstores and on the Internet. Thank you for your support! If you wish to subscribe or unsubscribe, visit http://www.laurenroyal.com/3.0/contact/ml ***

Dear friends and family~

Have you missed me?  Just kidding! :-)   As we're all busy people, you may not have noticed that I've sent no newsletter since May.  This was due to an unfortunate combination of Internet problems and server problems that kept me from updating my site and sending any newsletters for the past four months.  In addition, my access to e-mail was sporadic at best and completely impossible for weeks on end.  At one point, I had no Web access or e-mail for a solid month (oh, poor, poor pitiful me...).

If you've been with me for a while, you will probably recall that this is not the first time -- by a long shot! -- that I've had e-mail and computer problems.  I have decided that I must be allergic to computers, or perhaps computers are allergic to me, or maybe I radiate lethal rays or something.  Whatever the reason, computers seem to self-destruct in my vicinity.  My webmaster/son (Brent) has told me that hackers (computer people) have a term for this: bogon, as in "particle of bogusness."  A bogon is a particle that causes computers to malfunction and people to act stupid, and by all indications I am surrounded by them. :-P

Anyway, the good news is that except for the computer problems we had a really nice summer -- I hope you did, too! -- and we are all set up now with new Internet service and a new server.  My mail service was finally restored reliably a few days ago, and I've spent the time since then answering all the mail we were able to recover.  But there's a good chance some of it was lost forever, so if you e-mailed me and haven't heard back, please try again.

Also, Brent has told me that because of our problems, requests to subscribe or unsubscribe from the newsletter could very well have been ignored.  If you tried to unsubscribe and got this newletter anyway, please accept our apologies and try again at http://www.laurenroyal.com/3.0/contact/ml.  The process should work now.

Since we all survived without a monthly Lauren Royal Newsletter for a while -- and because we all get too much e-mail these days -- I've decided to spare everyone's inbox and make my newsletter quarterly for now.  I don't really have enough news to justify a monthly newsletter anyway, at the moment. :-)   When my next book comes out, I may or may not decide to increase the newsletter frequency again.

And since I've now mentioned my next book -- or rather, the lack of one -- I imagine your next questions might be: So where *IS* your next book, Lauren?  You usually have a new book out this time of year...what's up?

What's up is that I am writing three new books at once, and in consequence, it is taking me much longer than writing one new book.  The trilogy I'm writing now is so complicated, and the books have such intertwined plotlines, that I decided I needed to do it this way.

With my past trilogies, while writing Book 2 or Book 3 I have often found myself wishing I'd done things differently in Book 1 or Book 2 -- but I was stuck and had to deal with the "past history" I'd already created.  A recent example of this was in my Sweet Temptations trilogy, where I had envisioned spreading Griffin and Rachael's story equally over the three books, but I couldn't make that work while writing the books one at at time. The trilogy I'm writing now is something I've wanted to write for a long time, and I really want to get it right.  The books are set in the 17th century like my first six books, but they feature a whole new set of characters. Although it's a big project, I'm working hard to finish it as fast as I can.  I'm very excited about it, and I hope you will all think it's worth the wait.

In the meantime, I will continue running my contest and sending quarterly newsletters to remind you all that I am still alive and writing. :-)   Speaking of the contest, we've had four winners since my last newsletter.  May's winner was Cynthia Anderson of Fairhaven, New Jersey; June's winner was Auriette Lindsey of Pensacola, Florida; July's winner was Elaine Carlini-Davis of Ormond Beach, Florida; and August's winner was Kathleen Gereg of Bradenton, Florida...hey, look at all those winners from Florida!  If I didn't know any better, I'd think the computer that chooses them has a thing for the Sunshine State, but -- honest! -- the program picks a totally random entry each month.

There are four more opportunities to win the sterling silver claddagh necklace pictured on the back of THE ART OF TEMPTATION, so if you haven't entered the giveaway for September yet, visit http://www.LaurenRoyal.com and click where it says "Contest" on the menu. This month's question is "How old is Corinna?" and a few answers that have made me laugh so far are: "I don't care," "You never ask a female her age," "99," and "How would I know?"...but although they are amusing, none of those answers will win.  The winning entry must have the correct answer, which can easily be found in the excerpt if people would just read it. ;-)

I won't be sending another newsletter until December, so don't forget to visit the site and enter in October and November, too.  I'll be curious to see if there are any more winners from Florida!

Since Brent did a whole lot of work getting my Internet connection and mail up and running, as well as repairing my site and newsletter software -- not to mention recovering all the subscriber addresses and other data we've collected over the last decade -- I owe him big time.  So I promised him a shameless plug.  Between attending university and working on his mom's computer stuff, Brent has also managed to find the time to write a nifty iPhone application.  It's called Converter, and he describes it like this:

"Converter helps you with the mess of units you encounter in your everyday life. Convert from feet to yards to meters to miles with only a few taps. Converter handles 72 measurement units of eight common types, including length, weight, temperature, speed, data, volume (including common cooking units like teaspoons), area, and time. It also includes 34 currencies, with exchange rates updated every day over the Internet. Converter is designed for easy, casual use, with big, beautiful displays that are usable in all light conditions and at arm's length. And it includes a four-function calculator for those times when you have twelve three-pound widgets and you need the kilogram equivalent."

If you have an iPhone and that sounds useful to you, please check it out at http://architechies.com/apps/converter/.  He's selling it for (literally) the price of a song (99 cents in the U.S. on the iTunes Store -- price varies in other countries).

Well, that's it for now.  I wish everyone a lovely autumn (with no more hurricanes!).  Happy reading, beware of bogons, and thanks for your patience while waiting for my next book!

Hugs,
~Lauren
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Fall in love with a historical romance by Lauren Royal
THE ART OF TEMPTATION ~ In stores now!
Win a claddagh necklace at www.LaurenRoyal.com
Friend me at www.myspace.com/laurenroyal and Facebook

*** Please feel free to forward this newsletter to friends and/or post at romance-friendly places such as bookstores and on the Internet. Thank you for your support! If you wish to subscribe or unsubscribe, visit http://www.laurenroyal.com/3.0/contact/ml ***

Dear friends and family~

April's contest winner is...(drumroll, please)...Carrie Malone of Yorba Linda, California.  Congratulations, Carrie!

There are eight more opportunities to win the sterling silver claddagh necklace pictured on the back of THE ART OF TEMPTATION, so if you haven't entered the giveaway for May yet, visit http://www.LaurenRoyal.com and click where it says "Contest" on the menu. This month's question is "Who is Dierdre going to marry?" and the answer can easily be found in the excerpt.  If you read the excerpt, that is.  If you answer "no idea" or "???" like some of the entries I've seen, you are not going to win! ;)

This Saturday, May 24th, I'll be signing books at the Highland Games at the Orange County Fairgrounds in Costa Mesa, California.  I'll be there all day in the Tea & Sympathy booth (which, happily, will be inside an air-conditioned building), so if you visit the Games, please stop by and say hi!  For more information, including a link to the official Games website, visit my Calendar page at http://www.laurenroyal.com/3.0/lauren/calendar.

Author Brenda Novak sponsors an annual online auction to raise funds for diabetes research, and this year's auction runs now through the end of the month at http://brendanovak.auctionanything.com. There are well over a thousand items to bid on, including trips, pieces of art, jewelry, autographed sports items, and lots and lots of books--one of which is an autographed, personalized copy of THE ART OF TEMPTATION along with one of the necklaces pictured on the back.  So if you want that necklace, here's your chance to bid on it instead of hoping you'll win one in my contest. :) You'll find it in the "For Readers" section of the auction, under "Historical Romance."  Also, if you happen to be an aspiring novelist wanting some feedback from a published author, you can visit the "For Writers" section, where I'm offering a critique of your unpublished book. There are many more wonderful things up for auction from dozens of authors and others, and all the money will go to an important cause--so please visit the site and consider placing a few (or many!) bids.

It's *hot* here in California (did I mention the lovely air-conditioned building where I'll be signing this weekend?).  Keep cool and enjoy your summer reading!

Hugs,
~Lauren
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Fall in love with a historical romance by Lauren Royal
THE ART OF TEMPTATION ~ In stores now!
Win a claddagh necklace at www.LaurenRoyal.com
Friend me at www.myspace.com/laurenroyal

*** Please feel free to forward this newsletter to friends and/or post at romance-friendly places such as bookstores and on the Internet. Thank you for your support! If you wish to subscribe or unsubscribe, visit http://www.laurenroyal.com/3.0/contact/ml ***

Dear friends and family~

My final ART OF TEMPTATION Sweepstakes winner is Kimberly Anderson of Mountlake Terrace, Washington.  Congratulations to you, Kimberly!  Your sterling silver claddah necklace is on the way.

So that was great news for Kimberly...but how about the rest of you, now that the official sweepstakes is over?  Well, those of you who didn't win should not despair: I've managed to get my hands on some more claddagh necklaces, and I'm going to give one away each month through the end of the year, which means nine more opportunities to win!

Unlike the official sweepstakes, where one entry lasted the entire length of the giveaway period, this will be a monthly contest--so you'll need to enter each month for a chance to win. To get your name in the drawing, visit http://www.LaurenRoyal.com, click where it says "Contest" on the menu, answer the current question, and fill out the simple entry form. This month's question is "What is Sean's sister's name?"

I received many gratifying e-mails regarding last month's link to the Great Quotes site--I'm glad so many of you enjoyed it!  (Although I'm still still red-faced over forgetting to include the link...I hope you all got my extra mail with the correction.)  This month I'd like to share a YouTube video with you.  I grew up listening to Don McLean's song "American Pie," and it's been a must-play at our neighborhood's block parties for years and years, so my kids grew up hearing it, too.  "American Pie" is one of those classic rock songs that everyone knows...but how many people know what it means?  Find out at http://youtube.com/watch?v=VsZFiMo8TIc -- I hope you enjoy this video as much as I did!

Hey, I didn't forget to include the link this month! :)

Hugs,
~Lauren
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Fall in love with a historical romance by Lauren Royal
THE ART OF TEMPTATION ~ In stores now!
Win a claddagh necklace at www.LaurenRoyal.com
Friend me at www.myspace.com/laurenroyal

*** Please feel free to forward this newsletter to friends and/or post at romance-friendly places such as bookstores and on the Internet. Thank you for your support! If you wish to subscribe or unsubscribe, visit http://www.laurenroyal.com/3.0/contact/ml ***

Dear friends and family...

...and welcome to all of my new newsletter subscribers, whether you joined online or signed up at the Queen Mary Highland Games or the Irish Festival in Los Angeles.  I’m tickled to have you here!

Congratulations to Tammy Russotto of Margate, Florida, my fifth ART OF TEMPTATION sweepstakes winner.  If *you’d* like to win the sterling silver claddagh necklace pictured on the back of THE ART OF TEMPTATION and you haven’t already entered the sweepstakes, be sure to do it soon, because there’s only ONE more chance to win!  You’ll find the entry form on my site at http://www.LaurenRoyal.com -- visit before March 31, and click where it says "Sweepstakes" on the menu.

I’ll be announcing a new contest in next month’s newsletter.  I’m not quite certain what it will be yet...I know what I *want* it to be, and I’m crossing my fingers it will work out.  But you can count on there being a contest of some sort (I’ve had a contest running every month since the year 2000!), so you can drop by the site on April 1 to to check it out or wait for the announcement here.

Do you collect quotes?  Whenever I run across a quote that I find inspirational--about writing, life, liberty, anything--I type it up in a file that I keep on my computer.  Okay, maybe I’m weird. :)   But I’d love to share a site with you that has a 3-minute video compilation of "Great Quotes from Great Leaders."  You’ll find it at http://www.greatquotesmovie.com, and I hope you’ll enjoy it as much as I did.  (Thanks for sending me the link, Mom!)

Happy Spring, everyone!

Hugs,
~Lauren
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Fall in love with a historical romance by Lauren Royal
THE ART OF TEMPTATION ~ In stores now!
Win a claddagh necklace at www.LaurenRoyal.com
Friend me at www.myspace.com/laurenroyal

*** Please feel free to forward this newsletter to friends and/or post at romance-friendly places such as bookstores and on the Internet. Thank you for your support! If you wish to subscribe or unsubscribe, visit http://www.laurenroyal.com/3.0/contact/ml ***

Dear friends and family~

Happy Valentine's Day to everyone, and congratulations to Janice Black of East Meadow, NY, my fourth ART OF TEMPTATION sweepstakes winner!  Janice's sterling silver claddagh necklace is on its way to her, and now there are just two more chances to win.

If *you'd* like to win the necklace pictured on the back of THE ART OF TEMPTATION, I hope you've already entered the sweepstakes.  If you haven't, you'll find the entry form on my site at http://www.LaurenRoyal.com -- click where it says "Sweepstakes" on the menu.  Do it soon, because the sooner you enter, the more chances you'll have to win.

This Sunday (February 17) I'll be signing books at the Queen Mary Scottish Festival on the Queen Mary ship in Long Beach, California.  You'll find me in the Tea & Sympathy booth along with medieval romance author Sarah McKerrigan.  For more information, including a link to the festival's website, visit my Calendar page at http://www.laurenroyal.com/3.0/lauren/calendar.

I wish each and every one of you all the love you deserve on Valentine's Day and every other day of the year!

Love,
~Lauren
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Fall in love with a historical romance by Lauren Royal
THE ART OF TEMPTATION ~ In stores now!
Win a claddagh necklace at www.LaurenRoyal.com
Friend me at www.myspace.com/laurenroyal

*** Please feel free to forward this newsletter to friends and/or post at romance-friendly places such as bookstores and on the Internet. Thank you for your support! If you wish to subscribe or unsubscribe, visit http://www.laurenroyal.com/3.0/contact/ml ***

A very Happy New Year to all my friends and family!

Hard to believe another year has passed already, isn't it?  Since I figure you're all busy celebrating -- or resting up after last night's celebrations -- let me get to the nitty-gritty...

Congratulations to Gina Marie Cadorette of Simsbury, Connecticut, my third ART OF TEMPTATION sweepstakes winner!  Gina's sterling silver claddagh necklace will be on its way to her tomorrow (since there is no mail today :)).

There are just three more chances to win the necklace pictured on the back of THE ART OF TEMPTATION.  If you haven't entered yet, do so soon--one entry is good for all the monthly drawings, and the earlier you enter, the more chances you'll have to win.  You'll find the entry form on my site at http://www.LaurenRoyal.com -- click where it says "Sweepstakes" on the menu.

A note on a sticky subject...
I've been receiving e-mails asking if it's true that I've publicly endorsed Ron Paul for president of the United States.  I don't really like to mix politics with my professional life, which is why I have never before expressed my political beliefs in this newsletter (although I suspect those beliefs can probably be seen over and over in my characters).  But yes, I am a lifelong libertarian, and yes, I have endorsed Ron Paul.  His campaign asked me to do so, and I could not, in all good conscience, refuse.  In fact, I am quite honored to have the opportunity, and I invite anyone who is interested to visit Ron Paul's campaign website at www.ronpaul2008.com and see my endorsement video (on the endorsement page at http://www.ronpaul2008.com/endorsements, look for my name under "Authors & Media").  If you're *not* interested, please understand that I respect your own beliefs and will defend till my dying day your right to have those beliefs and state them publicly.  After all, free speech and tolerance are what liberty is all about!

I wish each and every one of you a 2008 full of health, love, and dreams come true.

Hugs,
~Lauren
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Fall in love with a historical romance by Lauren Royal
THE ART OF TEMPTATION ~ In stores now!
Win a claddagh necklace at www.LaurenRoyal.com
Friend me at www.myspace.com/laurenroyal

*** Please feel free to forward this newsletter to friends and/or post at romance-friendly places such as bookstores and on the Internet. Thank you for your support! If you wish to subscribe or unsubscribe, visit http://www.laurenroyal.com/3.0/contact/ml ***

Dear friends and family~

Welcome to all my new subscribers, including those of you I had the pleasure of meeting at this month's Celtic Christmas Faire!  I know it's the middle of the busy, busy holiday season, so I'm going to make this newsletter short and sweet...

First off, congratulations to Glena Spurgeon, my second ART OF TEMPTATION sweepstakes winner!  I usually say where the winner lives, but in Glena's case I'm not sure, because I haven't heard back from her with confirmation of her address yet.  (Glena: if you're reading this, please send me an e-mail at Lauren@LaurenRoyal.com, so I can get your sterling silver claddagh necklace into the mail to you.)

There are still four more chances to win the necklace pictured on the back of THE ART OF TEMPTATION, so if you haven't entered yet, do it soon!  One entry is good for all the monthly drawings, and the earlier you enter, the more chances you'll have to win.  You'll find the entry form on my site at http://www.LaurenRoyal.com -- just click where it says "Sweepstakes" on the menu.

In other news, my local chapter of Romance Writers of America is auctioning off a beautiful, handmade quilt.  What's the big deal, you say?  Well, this quilt was autographed by 100 authors, including New York Times bestsellers, romance favorites, crime and thriller novelists...and me!  You can see a picture and bid on the quilt on eBay at http://...com/ytkeb2.  The auction runs until Sunday, December 23.

There's a new website at http://www.WritersAreReaders.com, where published authors review other writers' current books.  Authors get to choose any book they'd like, and for my first review I picked a new favorite, WORLD WITHOUT END by Ken Follett.  You can read my review at http://www.writersarereaders.com/royalfollettworldwithoutend.html ...it's actually the first review I've ever written!  It felt strange (but fun) to be on the other side of the review equation, for a change.

Before I let you get back to your shopping and wrapping and baking and all-around-celebrating, I want to wish you the happiest of holidays and a joyful 2008.  See you next year!

Hugs,
~Lauren
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Fall in love with a historical romance by Lauren Royal
THE ART OF TEMPTATION ~ In stores now!
Win a claddagh necklace at www.LaurenRoyal.com
Friend me at www.myspace.com/laurenroyal