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NEW RELEASE: Next in Line For Love

December 17, 2019 by Harper Bliss Leave a Comment


Next in Line for Love is now available on all Amazon stores:

➞ Amazon US
➞ Amazon UK
➞ Amazon CA
➞ Amazon AU
➞ Amazon DE
➞ Amazon FR
➞ Other Amazon Stores

“A 5 stars+ book!” – Amazon Reviewer

This is my second age-gap romance this year. I honestly can’t help myself. 😉

I had such a great time writing this book. It wasn’t planned, but the idea popped into my head and I decided to just drop everything else and write it—and I’m so glad I did.

You can expect some serious family drama, a lot of emotions, and the usual steamy heat!

Next in Line For Love By Harper Bliss

Here’s the blurb:

Can the road to the top take you on a path to love?

After ten years abroad, Alexandra ‘Ali’ Lennox’s father asks her to move back to Los Angeles to head the family company, Lennox Breweries.

The company’s COO, Jill Gold, has dedicated twenty years of her life to Lennox Breweries and is not amused when she’s asked to mentor Ali, who she considers to be nothing more than a privileged trust-fund brat.

Even though they don’t see eye to eye, Ali and Jill will have to learn to trust each other for the sake of the company—and each other.

Can Jill change her mind about Ali’s smug entitlement? And will Ali be able to come to terms with the past hurt that drove her away from L.A. in the first place?

Find out in this brand-new lesbian age-gap romance from best-selling author Harper Bliss.

Next in Line For Love is available on Amazon (and it’s in Kindle Unlimited).

ONE CLICK YOUR COPY RIGHT NOW:
Amazon US /  Amazon UK / Amazon CA / Amazon AU
Amazon DE / Amazon FR /  Other Amazon Stores

 

“Another jewel from Harper Bliss. Absolutely wonderful. I couldn’t stop reading it.”

“No one can do an age-gap romance like Harper Bliss.”

“Harper Bliss has a unique ability to draw the reader in and make them care what happens, making her characters come alive on the page and Next in Line For Love is no exception.”

Enjoy!

P.S. I’ll reveal the fantasy casting for Jill & Ali next week!

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Filed Under: New release, News Tagged With: Next in Line For Love, Novel, Standalone

PREVIEW (+ PRE-SALE!): Next in Line For Love

December 12, 2019 by Harper Bliss Leave a Comment

Next in Line For Love

Next in Line For Love will be out on 17 December 2019, but you can now get it in pre-sale, exclusively from my web shop here >>

As of 17 December it will only be available on Amazon.

Here’s a preview. Enjoy!

Next in Line For Love
© Harper Bliss

Chapter 1
ALI

I always get a faint whiff of stale beer when I enter the Lennox Breweries offices, even though the actual brewing doesn’t happen in this building. I shake off the imagined scent and head toward the elevator bank. The lobby feels empty—too empty. What was I expecting? A welcoming committee? That would have been nice, actually.

I make my way to the top floor unescorted, briefly wondering if I got the date wrong. But how could I possibly have gotten it wrong? This is the day I start my journey to becoming Chief Executive Officer of one of the country’s oldest breweries.

When the elevator opens to the executive floor, I’m greeted by my brother Sebastian—the last person I want to see.

“Hey, Sis,” he says. The smile on his face is already annoying me. “Ready for the big league?” I know the question isn’t one born from genuine concern. Sebastian’s just here to taunt me. We’re both in our thirties, yet insulting each other is still what we do most of when we are together.

“What are you doing here?” I ask, taking his bait.

“I’m here for you, of course.” He brings a hand to my shoulder, making me believe, just for a split second, that he can be a nice guy if he really wants to be. “On your big day.” He flashes me a smile again—it’s only a fraction less annoying this time. “Someone has to make sure you don’t fuck up straight away.”

“I’m touched.” My voice drips with sarcasm. As we progress toward my father’s office suite, a few people look up; some even give me a nod or quick wave.

“You’d think the old man would be in an extraordinary mood today, what with his favorite daughter reporting for duty, but he’s just as cranky as ever,” Sebastian says. “Trust me. It’s good that I’m here.”

Our father, Jeffrey Lennox, is the kind of man who can strike the fear of God into you with a single, withering look. A man who has gotten used to taking exactly what he wants. And now I’m here to take over his biggest prize.

“If you say so.” We approach the glass box that makes up my father’s office. He’s standing by the window, gazing out over the Los Angeles skyline.

Sebastian looks at his watch. “I do have a meeting that can’t be pushed back—not even for your arrival, Ali.” He gives a curt, ridiculous bow. “You’re on your own.” So much for my brother being there for me on my big day.

You’d think it wasn’t my own father I’m about to greet, what with the way my heart is stomping in my chest. This is ridiculous. And all Sebastian has done is make me more nervous, which was probably his intention.

“Hey, Ali. Right on time.” A voice comes from behind me. “Shall we go in?”

“Jill.” I nod at the woman who has been Lennox Breweries’ Chief Operating Officer for as long as I can remember, although there must have been a time when it wasn’t her. My father makes the decisions, Jill Gold implements them.

Unlike the rest of the SoCal population, Jill’s not the sort of woman to greet you with a hug. She raps her knuckles against the glass door, opens it, and ushers me into my father’s office.

“Alexandra.” My father turns to me and opens his arms wide—as though I’ve just flown in from somewhere far away, instead of seeing him at the house two days ago. Maybe’s he’s putting on a show for Jill, but why would he? If not for Jill, then for me, perhaps? Where’s the crankiness Sebastian was talking about?

“Hi, Dad.” I walk toward him but not too close.

He keeps his arms spread, but it’s more a showy gesture than any actual desire to give me a proper hug.

“The day has finally come. You’ve come to take the crown,” he says.

“Hardly.” I can just about keep from rolling my eyes. “I still need to get my training wheels on.”

“Yes, well.” He heads behind his large desk. “You know what I mean.” He waves for Jill to come closer.

“It makes sense to take you under my wing, Ali,” Jill says. “I know everything that happens at this company. Stick with me for a while, and you’ll be ready in no time.”

“She’ll be your boss in no time,” my father says, his voice gruff.

Jill shrugs off his comment as though she won’t mind working for someone much younger than herself—as though she never considered herself for the part of CEO. But she’s not a Lennox. It was always going to be either me or Sebastian.

“The first thing we need to do,” Jill says, “is make you a viable proposition for the board.” She gives a quick shake of the head. “They’ll be expecting Sebastian.”

“That’s what you get when the board’s mostly made up of old men,” I say. If I’m going to be CEO, I shouldn’t mince my words.

“Very true,” Jill says before my father can make a comment.

“I haven’t exactly been sitting on my ass the past ten years,” I say. “You can order Lennox beer in more than a hundred countries around the world these days.”

While this is true—I’ve been working in the family business for a decade now—even I expected Sebastian to be the one to follow in Dad’s footsteps, despite him being an entitled, obnoxious douchebag.

But times have changed and suddenly share prices can plummet, even when the most logical successor is announced. When they present me as the next CEO instead of my brother, the share price should stay pretty steady. At least, that’s what my father told me when he gauged my interest in the position. It was a heart-warming way to sell me on the whole premise.

“Once we’ve got the board… on board,” Jill says, not a hint of a smile on her face, “we’ll take it from there. But that’s the first objective. We need to create the idea of stable leadership. Someone who won’t rock the boat, but is fresh at the same time.”

“No pressure.” I glance at Jill. Even though we’re in Southern California, she’s wearing a black turtleneck sweater.

“Don’t worry, Ali. I’ve got your back.” There’s something sincere—and therefore very unusual—about her, so I believe her when she says it, although I can’t completely shake off the skepticism I was raised with.

The least I can do is give her a warm smile in response.

A knock comes on the door. It’s Evelyn, my father’s personal assistant. “Dr. Barnes is here,” she says.

My father rolls his eyes and sinks into his leather chair.

“Just follow Jill around.” He as good as waves us out of the door.

Jill holds the door open for me. I’m at least five inches taller than her.

“I managed to convince him to have his blood pressure monitored twice a day. He doesn’t like it, as you can imagine,” she whispers, “but needs must.”

I follow her to her office. She points to the wall behind her desk. “We’ve set you up next door, close to all the action.”

“Thanks.” I glance around. Jill’s office is a smaller replica of my father’s. Perhaps mine will be exactly the same as well, but a little smaller still, to represent the current pecking order.

“How is he really doing? In the day-to-day?”

“He’s an old man.” Jill says it very matter-of-factly. It’s good to know she doesn’t mince her words either. “He should have stepped down years ago, but he’s more stubborn than he’s old, so…”

“Tell me about it,” I say as though I know all about it. I’ve only been back in L.A. a few weeks.

“I have some calls to make.” Jill looks at her watch. “But how about lunch together?”

“Oh, uh.” I slant my head. “I already have plans for lunch.”

“With Sebastian?” she inquires. “He can tag along.” She grins at me. “If he must.”

“Um, no. With my friend Madison. I didn’t think today was going to be, like, a whole thing.”

“A whole thing?” Jill creases her features into an expression I can only interpret as extreme disapproval. “Why do I get the impression you’re not taking this very seriously? You’re going to be CEO of Lennox Breweries, Ali. This ‘whole thing’ is going to take up a lot of your time, if not all of it. I hope you’re aware of that.”

“I’m well aware. It’s just that today’s the first day. I have the rest of my life to be serious about it.” I reach for my cellphone in the side pocket of my blazer. “But if it’s so important, I’ll have lunch with you instead.”

Jill’s phone starts ringing. She shoots me one last glance—is that some mild disdain I detect?—and turns to pick it up.

I slink out of her office, in search of my own. Maybe it’s good that we’ll have lunch, so I can manage Jill’s expectations of me. We already seem to have different ideas of what it means to become the big boss.

 

Chapter 2
JILL

“I hope we didn’t get off on the wrong foot earlier.” I’m not sure why I’m being so nice to Ali—probably because she’s the boss’s daughter. And it’s my job to train her to become my next boss.

The sushi I ordered sits untouched between us on the conference table in my office.

“I’m the one who should apologize.” Ali doesn’t really sound as though she means it. For someone who has been out of the state—and out of the country—for so long, she sounds like a quintessential spoiled brat from Beverly Hills, irritating inflections in her voice included. “Tell me honestly, Jill. Am I nothing more than a figurehead here? Because that’s what I’ve been led to believe. Both by my brother and my father. They need me for the optics and that’s about it.” She glares at the food on the table, making no move to actually eat any of it. Maybe it’s not up to her standards.

I’ve been dealing with Jeffrey Lennox’s children since I started my career at Lennox Breweries—although I haven’t seen Ali in a very long time. I’ve often lamented that if Jeffrey wanted his children to succeed him, he should have raised them a little differently, but he was always too busy building his business to put much thought into his offspring.

“Lennox needs you. All of you,” I say, with feeling. “Not just your pretty face, Ali.” I want her to have a chance. She might have spent the past decade living the high life in various European and Asian cities, pretending to be export manager for the company, but if I have my way, Alexandra Lennox will become the next CEO of this company. I’d much rather have her at the helm than her brother, whose privilege has only been increased by the fact he was born male.

“That’s the first I’ve heard of that.”

“Look.” I open a bottle of overpriced Fiji water. “We have a chance here to usher this company into a new era. The only reason we even have this opportunity is because your brother screwed up one time too many. Because he thinks he can get away with anything. Well, he can’t anymore. This is a golden opportunity for us, for you and me, Ali. We can run this company together, if we want.”

I hope I’ve read Ali correctly and that she dislikes her brother as much as I do. I’ve never seen any evidence to the contrary, but years abroad can change a person.

“And let Sebastian know he cannot run things behind the scenes?” Her face lights up.

“Exactly.”

“Maybe we can even push him out in the process,” Ali says. “Shouldn’t he be in jail or something, anyway?”

“He went to rehab.” Lennoxes don’t go to jail, I add in my head.

“Fat load of good that did him.” She wrinkles up her nose. “Pity there are no rehabilitation centers for first-class douchebags…”

“I take it there have been no grand reconciliations since you’ve returned?”

Ali’s very different from her brother. I can actually have a conversation with her where things are articulated instead of insinuated. I can get to know a few things through her.

“Sebastian wants to drink my blood.” Ali leans back in her chair and crosses her arms over her chest. “He won’t come out and say it, but he absolutely loathes that Dad has chosen me over him. Even though it’s his own stupid fault.”

“It’s not something he’ll get over any time soon. You’ll need to watch your back.”

“I thought you had my back.” Ali draws her lips into a smile.

“I do.” I pluck a piece of salmon sashimi from the plate in front of me. “Do you have mine?” The slice of salmon hovers in front of my mouth as I wait for Ali to reply.

“Are we forging some kind of sisterly pact over sushi?”

“We can.” I chuckle to make light of it, but it’s exactly what I want. If I can get Ali accepted by the board, I can have virtual control of this company once Jeffrey steps down. Our first move, after Senior is out of the door, will be to get rid of Sebastian. All I need is Ali Lennox on my side.

“Okay.” Ali doesn’t dismiss the idea. “I’ve always liked you, Jill. You’ve obviously steered this company through some rough patches, but… I’m not as young and naive as I used to be. And I don’t really know you. So I guess your other very important and urgent job is to make me trust you.”

“Of course.” Perhaps I underestimated Ali a little. I had my guy do some research on her, because I haven’t seen much of her while she was gallivanting around the globe. From what I’ve heard, she likes to party just as much as her brother does, but the substances she uses are always legal, which already makes her a fair bit smarter than Sebastian. “Challenge accepted.” I have quite a few years on Ali, and a whole lot more experience in business in general, and this company specifically. Getting her to trust me shouldn’t be too hard—as long as I don’t make the mistake of underestimating her. She’s still a Lennox. After their mother died, Jeffrey might have allowed Alexandra and Sebastian to do anything they wanted while he escaped into work, but they were both born with Lennox smarts. It runs in their blood.

Ali nods at me sternly, as if I’m her subordinate already.

“Now tell me, how have you been, Ali?” It’s time to lighten the mood, and to get to know her all over again. The last time I saw Jeffrey’s daughter was at her twin sister’s funeral ten years ago.

“Singapore was a hoot,” she says. “I wouldn’t have minded staying longer. They just really get extravagance there. Having a shit ton of money is, like, so normal in some countries.”

She sounds a lot like Sebastian right now. They are siblings, after all. But I decide to focus on the other parts of her—and to unearth at least one positive trait I can work with.

“How are you?” she asks, much against my expectations. Sebastian never deigns to ask me how I am. No one on this floor does. “Are you married with a couple of brats?” She squints. “Don’t tell me you’re a grandma already. I won’t believe you.”

I chuckle. She couldn’t be further from the truth. There’s a reason why nobody here asks me how I’m doing. I’ve taught everyone that it’s a pointless question. I don’t discuss my private life at work, mostly because I don’t have one.

“None of that. I’ve always been married to the job, which I know is a terrible cliché.”

Ali examines my face, then nods as though she has suddenly understood something about me. I’m not sure why my palms suddenly feel moist.

“Your dedication to my family’s brews is touching,” Ali says with a grin on her face. Then she finally picks up a pair of chopsticks and starts to eat.

<< End of preview >>

Next in Line For Love will be available from Amazon on 17 December 2019.
You can now get it on pre-sale from my web shop >>

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Filed Under: Preview Tagged With: Next in Line For Love, Novel, Preview, Standalone

NEW RELEASE: A Lesson in Love

August 5, 2019 by Harper Bliss 2 Comments

A Lesson in LoveA Lesson in Love (The Village Romance Series – Book 3) is OUT NOW!

I’m super excited because A Lesson in Love combines two of my very favourite things: a teacher crush & an age-gap romance.

In the author’s note of A Lesson in Love, I’ve written: “I experienced the pure, true joy of writing again during the first draft of this book.”

This is definitely due to finding myself on familiar age gap territory, but also because one of the main characters is an ice-queen-ish professor of English literature. All my boxes were ticked, so to speak, and I had So Much Fun while writing.

And it wasn’t just the writing that was fun… collaborating with my lesfic friends Clare Lydon and T.B. Markinson was simply wonderful. (I wouldn’t be at all surprised if we did this again some time!)

Here’s the blurb:

Can The Posh Student Win The Uptight Professor?

Helen Swift is almost fifty and tired of her day job as a professor at Oxford University. She prefers to write cozy mysteries under a well-hidden pen name in her Cotswolds cottage. She’s also far too busy to even consider romance.

Posh girl, Victoria ‘Rory’ Carlisle, is over the moon when she snags Helen as her DPhil supervisor, and not only because of Professor Swift’s academic prowess. Rory takes an instant shine to Helen, who is far from charmed by her advances.

Can Rory make a dent in the wall that Helen has built around herself? And does Helen even have the time for such an inappropriate dalliance?

Best-selling lesbian fiction author Harper Bliss is back with one of her trademark age-gap romances! It’s part of The Village Romance series which features books by lesfic favourites T.B. Markinson (A Shot at Love), and Clare Lydon (A Taste of Love).

One English village, three charming romances. Read the lesfic trilogy that’s the talk of the summer today!

A Lesson in Love is available on Amazon (and it’s in Kindle Unlimited):
– Amazon US
– Amazon UK
– Amazon CA
– Amazon AU
– Amazon DE
– Other Amazon Stores

What readers are saying about A Lesson in Love:

“Excellent ending to an excellent trilogy.”

“Ice queen, age-gap romance at its best.”

“OMG, this book was so good! I absolutely love an age gap from Harper and this one did not disappoint!”

Enjoy!

P.S. Did I mention that A Lesson in Love features one of the longest sex scenes I’ve written to date? 😉

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Filed Under: New release, News Tagged With: A Lesson in Love, Clare Lydon, Lesbian fiction, Novel, T.B. Markinson, The Village Romance Series

PREVIEW: A Lesson in Love

July 18, 2019 by Harper Bliss 8 Comments

A Lesson in Love

A Lesson in Love will be out in less than 3 weeks! Here’s a preview. Enjoy!

A Lesson in Love
(A Village Romance Novel)
© Harper Bliss

 

Chapter 1
HELEN

I have ten minutes before my next appointment and I instinctively reach for my phone. My finger hovers over my trusty dictation app, but I catch myself. Not here.

With a sigh, I put my phone back. When I arrived this morning, I was in the middle of dictating a climactic scene. But it would have seemed too odd to sit talking to myself in my car in the car park so I stopped—although, these days, so many of us look like we’re talking to ourselves all the time.

These are my university hours and I can’t allow my two schedules to get confused, even though my office door is closed and no one would see me.

Instead, I grab the sheet of paper I printed out earlier from my desk. Victoria Carlisle. Sounds posh. But I’ve taught myself not to judge—if that’s even possible. This is Oxford. There’s no shortage of posh people here. I’ve seen many students come and go over the years, from all backgrounds, but the majority have always been more posh than not.

I glance at Victoria Carlisle’s picture. The department makes it compulsory to have your picture on its website. Could she be the very last student I supervise?

“You very well might be, Victoria Carlisle,” I say to her printed image. Dark hair. Brown eyes. Wide, full lips. She must have been in one of my first-year lectures, but if she was, I don’t remember—despite her distinctive mouth.

Someone knocks on the door.

“Yes.” I drop the sheet of paper.

The door opens and in walks the woman whose picture I was just studying.

“Hello, Professor Swift.” She walks straight towards me, hand outstretched. “I’m Victoria.”

I briefly take her hand in mine, then invite her to sit.

She’s wearing jeans and a turtleneck sweater. Her hair is pulled into a ponytail.

“Right,” she says and looks me straight in the eye, flashing a very wide smile. “I have to admit”—her voice is clear—“I’m a little nervous.”

Her attitude and facial expression contradict her statement. Since her arrival, the energy in my office has shifted. She’s one of those people who draw the eye—who light up a room. I wouldn’t be caught dead using that cliché in one of my novels.

“No need for that.” She’s making me nervous now. One day, if she does get her doctorate, she’ll make an outstanding lecturer—unlike me, perhaps. With some people, one glance is all it takes to know they’ll excel.

“The way I see it”—she cocks her head—“you’re my only chance at doing this particular kind of in-depth research.”

I arch up my eyebrows. I know what Victoria Carlisle wants to research. She emailed me about it in astonishing detail.

“I wouldn’t put it in such black and white terms, Miss Carlisle.”

“Well, no doubt you know what I mean.” That wide grin again, accompanied by a wink this time. Goodness, this woman is forward. Like most young people these days, who carry themselves with a familiarity towards faculty that I’ve never quite got used to.

Of course I know what she means. “Professor Monohan has an interest in the subject you suggest.”

Victoria shakes her head. “She doesn’t really.”

“Did you inquire with her?”

“I did and she wouldn’t even meet with me to discuss it.”

That figures. “So I’m your second choice?”

“Most definitely not, Professor,” she’s quick to say. “You were always my first choice, but I felt like I needed to hedge my bets.”

“You didn’t try Professor Fleming?” I ask, more to amuse myself than anything else.

She cocks her head again. “No, of course not.” Now she’s making me sound silly for even suggesting it.

“All right.” It’s time to move things along. “So, the evolution of lesbian characters in English literature in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries.”

Victoria nods.

“I take it you have considered this subject carefully?” Another silly question, but one I find myself asking every time nonetheless.

“My master’s thesis was about lesbian pulp fiction of the fifties and sixties, so a doctoral dissertation would really be an expansion of that. I feel like there’s much more to be said on the subject and a DPhil dissertation carries more weight.”

“You seem very passionate about the subject.” I take my time to examine her face more carefully this time.

“I am, indeed.” She sits up a little straighter. “In almost every aspect of life, lesbians are the most invisible group. Regardless of the reasons for that, it’s my mission to unearth as many lesbian characters as I can in the last hundred years of English literature. It is very much my passion.”

“Good.” I give her an encouraging nod. The goal of this first meeting is always to gauge and predict—insofar as that’s possible—the stamina of the DPhil candidates. The dropout rate is so high, and so many promising dissertations never get finished. I, for one, would like to read the final version of this particular project. At the moment, Victoria Carlisle surely comes across as very enthusiastic. I see a determination in her glance I rarely encounter. This could be one that works out. “I’d be very happy to be your supervisor.”

“Yes!” Victoria bumps her fist into the air.

I can’t help but smile a little. It bolsters my enthusiasm for my own job just a bit. The fondness for it that I seem to have lost along the way. It’s been a while since someone like Victoria has come along. One more year full-time, I tell myself. By the end of this year, my other supervisees will have completed their dissertations and working part-time will give me more than enough hours to supervise Victoria. To help this woman get started with her research. I can actually see myself do it now.

Victoria regroups and puts her hands in her lap.

“The first few months, I’ll see you once a week.” I’m already looking forward to discussing Victoria’s quest for lesbian characters in literature. When I was a student, it wouldn’t have been entirely unthinkable to devote a dissertation to this type of subject, but it would have taken a lot more convincing to get the whole thing off the ground. I also didn’t have any out-and-proud professors to turn to. Today, in the Faculty of English Language and Literature alone, there are three of us—with a lot of suspicion surrounding a fourth.

“I look forward to it, Professor Swift,” Victoria says.

 

Chapter 2
RORY

Professor Swift has no idea how much I look forward to working with her. I had kind of hoped she’d want to see me twice a week to discuss my progress—or take me out to lunch to celebrate. But I’ll take once a week. I’ll take whatever I can get.

I glance at her, wondering if she’ll have anything else to say or ask. Maybe she’ll want to inquire about my research methods or perhaps she’d like a copy of my master’s thesis. I have one just for her in my bag.

She moves her mouse and looks at her screen.

“Shall we say Mondays at three?”

“Okay.” I don’t even consult my calendar. I’ll make time regardless.

“Was there anything else?” Professor Swift’s light blue gaze goes a little steely all of a sudden.

“Um, no.” I came to this meeting prepared. I have all the answers to her possible questions at the ready in my head, but she doesn’t appear to have any. Perhaps she had already decided to take me on before seeing me. She doesn’t appear to be the most talkative type. There’s a lot of inquisition in that icy gaze of hers, however.

“I take it you know what to do next?” There’s a hint of doubt in her voice.

“I do.” Resolutely, I jump out of my seat. “I’ll report back next week.” I offer my hand.

She eyes it for a split second, then stands and takes it in hers. She gives me a curt nod before releasing my hand.

I exit Professor Swift’s office and once I’ve closed the door behind me, bump my fist into the air again.

When I decided to go for my DPhil I only ever wanted to do it on this subject and with Professor Swift as my supervisor. I might have gone to Professor Fleming if Swift had refused to supervise me, but it wouldn’t have been the same, what with Fleming being a man.

I walk out of the building’s stuffy hallway feeling like I’ve won the lottery. In a way, I have. This should also keep Mother and Father happy with me for a few more years.

* * *

“Swift’s on board,” I shout as soon as I walk into our apartment. I don’t even know if Jessica’s home.

She leaps from the kitchen into the lounge. “You wooed the ice maiden.” She puts her hands on her hips. “Go you.”

I chuckle. “I hardly wooed her.”

“You know what Sarah told me.” Jess walks to the drinks cabinet. “G&T to celebrate?”

“Is that what Sarah told you?” I beam a smile over to her.

She rolls her eyes at me. “You want one or not?”

“Do you even have to ask?” Jess and I are both DPhil students, both of us lingering in limbo between student and ‘real’ life. We can have a gin and tonic before lunch any day of the week.

“On it, darling,” Jess says.

“What did Professor Monohan tell you?”

She turns around to roll her eyes at me again. “I take it Swift will never let you call her by her first name, but Sarah and I are very much on a first-name basis. Have been from day one.”

“Yes, yes, I know. You’ve told me often.” I let myself fall onto the sofa.

“Sarah told me she’d be very surprised if Swift took on any new DPhil students to supervise this year.” Jess arches her eyebrows.

“I must have some really serious powers of persuasion then.” I wink at her.

She turns towards the drinks cabinet again. I hear the sizzle of a can of tonic being opened.

“You really must, Rory,” Jess says with her back to me. “I should know, after all.”

I ignore Jess’s comment and think about the brief amount of time I spent in Professor Swift’s office. I didn’t have to persuade her at all. Professor Sarah Monohan must have assumed wrongly.

“There you go, darling.” Jess hands me a glass filled to the absolute brim. “Cheers.” When she clinks hers against mine, some liquid sloshes over the top. Sometimes, I feel like we still live a bit too much like students.

“Now that it’s official,” she says, “you should come to lunch with Sarah and Alistair tomorrow. We’ll have a gay old time.” She grins at me.

“Christ, Jess.” I take a large sip and inwardly admonish myself for not picking a more subtle kind of person as a roommate.

“Sarah’s much more forthcoming than Swift and she’s rather fond of a boozy lunch. Think of all the background information you can get out of her.”

“I’ll see.” I glance at my friend. We’ve been living together for three years and I know what she’s like—a loud busy-body who likes to throw a party every other week.

“Fuck that, Rory. You’re coming,” Jessica says. “I know you better than you know yourself. You want to come.”

“Don’t you have a Tinder date to get all dolled up for?”

“Not today,” Jess says on a sigh. “In fact, not this week or this month or this year.”

“Has the well of eligible Oxford bachelors run dry?”

She expels another sigh. “I should have stuck with you, Rory.” She paints on another grin. “We had a good time together.”

“For about a week or two, maybe.” We’ve had this conversation so many times before, usually over a couple of drinks.

“I could have been married to Victoria Carlisle by now,” Jess muses. “Acquired myself a piece of your family’s fortune along the way.”

“I hate to break it to you—again,” I catch her gaze. “But it’s hardly a fortune and, besides, my mother would not have welcomed you into the family with open arms. She’s not really a very open-armed kind of person.”

“What are you talking about? Lady Carlisle adores me.” Jessica bats her lashes.

“Sure, as long as you’re nothing more than my friend.”

Jessica shrugs and takes a large gulp of gin and tonic. Even she doesn’t have a comeback for that one.

<<End of preview>>

A Lesson in Love will be available on Tuesday 6 August 2019.

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Filed Under: Preview Tagged With: A Lesson in Love, Novel, Preview, The Village Romance Series

NEW RELEASE: Life in Bits (A Lesbian Christmas Romance)

December 13, 2018 by Harper Bliss Leave a Comment

Life in Bits

Life in Bits: A Lesbian Christmas Romance is OUT NOW!

Here’s the blurb:

Can a Christmas romance mend a life that’s broken to pieces?

Eileen Makenna is a Pulitzer Prize winning photographer who has traveled the world for over two decades, chasing the next big story. She returns home for the holidays shattered by a life-altering event and facing the terrifying prospect she’ll never be able to work again.

When Eileen meets Naomi Weaver, a small-town girl who dedicates her free time to helping those in need, Eileen is entranced by Naomi’s zest for life. Can Eileen overcome her inner demons and troubled family relationships to let Naomi in?

Best-selling lesbian romance authors Harper Bliss & T.B. Markinson have teamed up to bring this touching age-gap love story to life.
—

Life in Bits has everything you’d want in a lesbian Christmas romance (if I may say so myself ;-0): an age gap, tons of emotions, snow, plenty of hot scenes, rather tense family dinners… and a happy ending, of course!

You can buy the book here:
– Amazon US
– Amazon UK
– Amazon CA
– Amazon AUS
– Amazon DE
– Other Amazon Stores

Enjoy!

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Filed Under: New release Tagged With: Christmas romance, collaborations, harper bliss, Life in Bits, New release, Novel, TB Markinson

NEW RELEASE: A Swing at Love (A Sweet Lesbian Romance)

August 2, 2018 by Harper Bliss 1 Comment

A Swing at Love (A Sweet Lesbian Romance) is OUT NOW!

Here’s the blurb:

On the fairway of life, love comes when you least expect it

Diane Thompson is happy enough. Her successful accounting firm allows her plenty of time to play all the golf she wants and enjoy her life in small Sussex village Tynebury. She’s finally over the divorce from her husband, but potential suitors are few and far between for a fifty-something woman in the English countryside.

Tamsin Foxley is determined to keep matters of the heart separated from her new teaching job at the Royal Tynebury Golf Club after a disastrous romantic experience put an end to her previous employment. She has also vowed to no longer fall for women almost half her age.

When the new season starts at the golf club, Diane and Tamsin become fast friends. Their feelings for each other quickly go in an unexpected direction and they both have to reevaluate what it is they want from life.

Can Diane overcome her fear of falling for a woman? And can Tamsin accept her taste in women may have changed?

Find out in this sweet romance by best-selling lesbian romance author Harper Bliss and her wife Caroline in her debut effort.
—
I do have a few things to say about this book as it’s unusual in 2 very distinct ways!

1. Hands up if you’d never thought you’d see the words ‘sweet romance’ on a Harper Bliss book?

I’m rather, um, known for my spicy scenes and… this book has ZERO.

I know, not selling things very well quite yet. 😉 For the first time in my life, I’ve had to write a ‘preface’ for a book in which I manage expectations. Gasp!

But, it’s true.

This is a ‘Harper & Caroline Bliss book’, not just one of mine, and after very looooong(-winded) deliberations we decided not to include any sex scenes and make it a true ‘sweet’ romance.

If you read my books solely for ‘those scenes’, you may want to skip this one and wait until regular naughty programming resumes…

BUT, this book has plenty of other things to offer, such as:
– loads of chemistry between the main characters
– a cozy English village setting
– an adorable dog (ha, not a long-haired tortie cat, for once!)
– a mild sprinkling of golf-related terms
– a sunny trip to Portugal
– and plenty of juicy golf club gossip…

I think it makes for a great beach read which, for once, won’t make you squirm in the sand uncomfortably! 😉

2. This is the first book my Mrs and I co-wrote and… most likely the last

It’s quite exclusive in that way… 😉

I love my Mrs to bits and we collaborate on books All The Time, but writing a first draft together was one step of lesbian merging too far for us.

We all know I’m a delicate little flower and sharing my inner-most writing thoughts in such great detail was one too many boundary crushed for me.

(Sometimes, we even argued over who was most long-winded of the two… which was quite disconcerting to me because she’s usually the one to cut half of my long-windedness from a first draft!)

That being said, I think Caroline did a WONDERFUL job. It’s not easy managing a fragile writer ego as part of your day job AND having to co-write a first draft yourself.

Anyway, we’ve both survived this test of our marriage and I hope you enjoy the fruits of our joint spousal labour.

You can buy the book here:
– Amazon US
– Amazon UK
– Amazon CA
– Amazon AUS
– Amazon DE
– Other Amazon Stores

Enjoy!

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Filed Under: New release Tagged With: A Swing at Love, Caroline Bliss, Collaboration, Golf romance, lesbian romance, My Mrs, New release, Novel

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