Colorimetry: #Excerpt V of WEB OF DECEIT by @CathLanigan #HistoricalRomance 50GC #Giveaway on tour with @PrismBook Tours

Web of Deceit

by Catherine Lanigan

Adult Historical Romance

ebook, 462 pages

June 4th 2016 by Cat Nolan Publishing

A Passion she could not deny—A lie she could never escape—

From the depths of a London slum, Amanda Granger created an illusion of wealth and breeding that became her passport into New York society. With her dazzling beauty and the ease with which she lived her lie, Amanda captivated an adoring public and drove men to bold and dangerous passions.

But for all her fierce ambition, all her daring dreams, Amanda Granger knew that her heart’s desires were held together by the fragile threads of deception and secrets. Triumph would always be elusive until she escaped from her web of deceit.

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CHAPTER ONE, PART V (see the tour below to catch excerpt parts 1-4)

Just then there was a solid, purposeful knock at the door. Amanda knew instantly it was Lady Kent. She glanced disapprovingly at the untouched breakfast tray, walked over to Eloise, fingered the blue ribbon, and turned to Amanda. “I ordered palest pink, Amanda. Have you gone against my orders again?”

I thought that...’’

“This is a debutante ball, Amanda. I know you have no knowledge of these things, being from the . . . with your background. But all the girls must wear white. Only pale pink bordering on white is acceptable. And these gloves. They are vulgar and crass.”

“They’re effective,” Amanda mumbled to herself, knowing Lady Kent would hear her.

“Amanda, your impertinence lately has been intolerable, but I have been patient. Don’t press me again.”

Amanda curtsied. “Yes, ma’am.”

“Take the gloves back and bring the pink.”

“Yes, ma’am,” Amanda replied, looking to Eloise for salvation.

Eloise dropped her head and removed the gloves. Lady Kent picked up her skirt and left the room.

“Why didn’t you tell her you wanted the blue, Eloise? She would give in to you.”

“She was right. The rules are very specific about these things. I can’t breach etiquette,” Eloise said, firmly reciting the credo that had always been her life.

“What good are rules if they don’t help you?” Amanda asked as Eloise went into the adjoining bathroom and quietly shut the door on Amanda and her probing words.

Amanda ironed Eloise’s white silk and lace ball gown, taking great care not to crease the four rows of wide ruffles at the bodice. She could hear the carpenters banging upstairs on the main floor and Sally, the head housekeeper, yelling at them about the sawdust, their grimy shoes, and their overall lack of concern for her and her “schedule.”

Schedules—--Amanda remembered when everything at Kent Manor had run like a precisely tuned Swiss clock. That was when her mother, Harriet Granger, had been head housekeeper. From nearly the day she was born, Amanda had accompanied her mother to Kent Manor. She had learned to walk in the back gardens and spoke her first words in this very kitchen. Amanda had grown up with Eloise, Emily, and Jonathon Kent. She‘d felt like they were her brother and sisters. Though she lived on Shelton Street in two cubicles with her own brother, Andrew, Kent Manor was more a home to her.

Catherine Lanigan is the international bestselling and award-winning author of forty published titles in both fiction and non-fiction, including the novelizations of Romancing the Stone and The Jewel of the Nile, as well as over half a dozen anthologies, including “Chicken Soup for the Soul: Living your Dream”, “Chicken Soup for the Writer’s Soul”, and more. Ms. Lanigan’s novels have been translated into dozens of languages including German, French, Italian, Spanish, Russian, Portuguese, Chinese, and Japanese. Ms. Lanigan’s novels are also available in E-books on Amazon.com and Barnes and Noble.com, Apple Store, Mobi and Kobo. Several of her titles have been chosen for The Literary Guild and Doubleday Book Clubs. Her Vietnam war-based novel, The Christmas Star, won the Gold Medal Award Top Pick from Romantic Times Magazine and has also won Book of the Year Romance Gold Award from ForeWord Magazine as well as Book of the Year Romance from Reader’s Preference.

Lanigan is the author of a trilogy of non- fiction books regarding angelic intervention in human life: Angel Watch, Divine Nudges and Angel Tales published by HCI and Cedar Fort.

Skyhorse published Lanigan’s “how-to” book on writing: Writing the Great American Romance Novel.

Lanigan was tasked by the NotMYkid Foundation to write a non-fiction book addressing teen addictions. Ms. Lanigan’s first Young Adult adventure novel, The Adventures of Lillie and Zane: The Golden Flute, was published by Cedar Fort.

Currently, she has published six novels in the Shores of Indian Lake series for Harlequin Heartwarming: Love Shadows, Heart’s Desire, A Fine Year for Love, Katia’s Promise and Fear of Falling. Sophie’s Path pubs July, 2016. She has recently contracted for three more in the series: Danger Zone, Wedding for Isabelle and A Bride for Mica.

As a cancer survivor, Ms. Lanigan is a frequent speaker at literary functions and book conventions as well as inspiring audiences with her real stories of angelic intervention from her Angel Tales series of books. She is an outspoken advocate for domestic violence and abuse and was honored by The National Domestic Violence Hotline in Washington, D.C. (THE EVOLVING WOMAN). She has been a guest on numerous radio programs including “Coast to Coast” and on television interview and talk show programs as well as blogs, podcasts and online radio interview programs.

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