Maria Yrsa Rönneus's Blog

…who downloaded House of Rose in this weekend’s giveaway. I hope you’ll enjoy it, and if you do, please consider leaving a review. Such support is invaluable to an author.

The giveaway is over for this time, but despair not, Dear Reader, there will be other goodies in future. Have a great start of your week, where ever you are!

Just a gentle reminder, Dear Reader, that House of Rose is still free on Kindle.

Have a lovely Sunday, all, and please, please, leave a review!

Dear Reader, to celebrate the new cover, House of Rose – A Scouse Romance 1, will be free on Kindle this Saturday and Sunday.

Make sure to snag a copy and please, please, leave a review!
Happy weekend, wherever you are!

Dear Reader, fear not! I’m not about to start dabbling at marriage counselling. This is about an unloved love story in desperate need of some TLC.

Two years have passed since I published House of Rose – A Scouse Romance. But as I was busy writing my Regency Tales series, I didn’t do much marketing, well, hardly any. Unsurprisingly, sales have not been great.

A while ago a friend’s comment made me look at the cover with fresh eyes. Two years is enough for trends and tastes to change, and the cover I had been so pleased with now felt dated. But what was worse, my friend was right in pointing out that the book could be mistaken for historical fiction. A quite natural assumption at that, as it’s what I normally write.

I had made the basic rookie mistake of focussing on illustrating the contents of the story rather than marketing it.

Illustration and marketing are two very different beasts. Take a shampoo ad. Illustration of the contents shampoo would amount to pictures of molecules or something similar, but marketing shows what the product can do for you – an incitament to wanting the product. Applying that principle to a book would mean conveying something of the experience you’ll have whilst reading.

My fresh eyes told me in no uncertain terms that my old cover spectacularly failed.

The female lead, Rose, is a gardener by day and a jazz singer by night, whose best friend has a vintage clothes store, selling 1930’s original gowns. However, the vintage drawing front and centre on the cover, gives the impression of historical fiction. There is a chopper on the cover too, but it’s tiny and hardly visible at thumbnail size. The blurb isn’t great either.

Hollywood Golden Era film and music is a theme running through this book, and despite doing a complete overhaul of the cover, I wanted to retain at least a nod to that. I think the font I chose and the halftone overlay achieves this whilst the photos says suspense and action.

Well, I hope they do. Still working on the blurb. It’s so much harder to design for yourself than for clients. Let me know what you think in the comments!

Tom is a tactical police officer, and in the beginnning Rose feels as if she’s dating Batman, but soon the worry for his safety begins to wear on her. Check out the new trailer for House of Rose.

Will Tom manage to save the love of his life, and will their love recover?

Happy reading, Dear Readers, and have a lovely Thursday wherever you are!

The Carnivore Catastrophe by Meika Mcrae

Bridget Jones Diary meets Steel Magnolias in this quirky and fast-paced second-time-around romance.

With two kids off to college, it’s been a minute since widowed romance writer Baez Quincey experienced any actual romance. A long simmering attraction to dishy diner-owner Bobby seems to offer a remedy, but when Baez inherits a steakhouse, she’s suddenly the competition.

That’s not the only complication with this inheritance; someone is trying to blow the restaurant up and – worse still – Baez doesn’t eat meat. Who’s ever heard of a vegetarian running a Texas steakhouse?

The Carnivore Catastrophe is Meika Mcrae’s debut novel, and the first in a planned series – The Pecan Bay Predicament Series. It revolves around the neighbours on the fictional Soncy Street in Dallas; a colourful cast bound together more by friendship than their shared address.

It opens in a chatty and energetic style that draws you in and enamours you to this book, that’s rife with Southern charm and hospitality, and it’s hardly a surprise that food (and the eating of it) is central, not only to the characters’ lives, but to the story itself.

This is well-crafted a story of second chances and new beginnings; of getting unstuck and stuck in; of trust and friendship; of dealing with change whilst preserving what’s good.

Follow Meika on X and listen to readings on her Youtube channel.

A very nice debut indeed, and a very enjoyable read. Get your copy on Amazon!

Happy reading, and Happy November, Dear Reader!

Romance and drama in late Georgian London.



Some time ago, I was the lucky raffle winner of this excellent historical drama: Lord of the Eyrie by Katerina Dunne.

Katerina Dunne presents an epic historical drama in plain and straightforward language. This throroughly researched book, gives us rare and fascinating insights into Hungarian history and culture through well fleshed-out characters that you’ll love or love to hate.

Though it’s not a story for those that crave happy endings, it’s nevertheless a very good read, and one that I would recommend to anyone partial to realistic historical dramas.

Find your copy here and have a lovely Thursday, Dear Reader!

… well, partially at least. Not to worry, Dear Reader, I’m not about to chuck away all the lovely Earl Grey now that fall is here; this is a post about a novel and its cover.

Some while ago, talented historical fiction author Samantha Wilcoxson commissioned a new cover for her biographical novel about the American revolutionary Nathan Hale. Never having heard of him before, it was an exciting project to be brought aboard on.

Samantha had worked with a digital artist, who reconstructed Nathan Hale’s face from the 1893 statue by Frederick William MacMonnies that now stands in City Hall Park, NYC. Now that illustration needed to be fitted with text into a book cover design, and that’s where I came in.

Nathan Hale was a young philosophy student at Yale when the rebellion in the American colonies developed into full scale revolutionary war. He joined Washington’s army but after only a year or so, he was captured by the British and executed as a spy. He was only twentyone.

Two things struck me from the beginning: the evanescence of life in general, but of such a short one in particular. A young man who had such an impact was here one minute and then, the next, he was not.

The other thing was that nobody actually knows what Nathan Hale looked like; there are no contemporary images of him. The illustration the Cheryl Daniel at Digital Yarbs created, brought him from bronze to flesh and bone. And Samantha Wilcoxson’s novel does much the same thing. Written in 1st person POV, it almost takes on the guise of a diary, reviving his voice and thoughts.

So I wanted to empasise that fleeting moment, the brief time that we get to hold Nathan Hale in our hands, and our fragmentary grasp we have of this man, echoing Samantha’s portrait with brush strokes, creating a face emerging from a dark canvas. The rip design reflects the tear of revolution and also reinforces the impression of a canvas.

Purple is a colour that sometimes represents anxiety, loss, and dreams. Orange is a youthful, passionate, and energetic colour. And baby-blue for the boy he wasn’t allowed to be. It’s said that Nathan Hale’s last words were that his one regret was that he had “but one life” to give for his country.

‘But One Life’ is free on Kindle Unlimited and will be on sale for $0.99 on Kindle this weekend. Make sure to grab your copy of this fascinating story!

Dear Reader, I am proud to present – Offers of Atonement, Regency Tales 5.

In 1820, Cpt Hartcourt has left the army and is making his living by the card tables. When he wins Baron Talleyn’s country seat, the man is ruined and is found floating in the Thames shortly after. The baron leaves a single child, a daughter, who inherits his title but who is now in effect homeless. Desperate, she travels to London to propose marriage to the man who she thinks cheated her father.

Meanwhile, Hartcourt’s best friend, Major Hastings, asks him to assist in faking his brother’s death. The brother is the earl of Fernecombe and gay. As homosexuality is a capital offense in England, he wants to “die” to be able to start anew with his partner in France.

Sounds intriguing?

To celebrate, the first in the series, Oaths of Affection, is free on Kindle today only. Enjoy! And have a marvellous Friday!

…is the day! Dear Reader it’s finally September 1st and Offers of Atonement will hit the stores!

As always, I’m chuffed, terrified, and frantic all at once. It’s been so long and yet I’m feeling unprepared. I’m not, I’ve done everything I should but it never feels quite enough.

Anyway, Dear Reader, tomorrow will bring a few goodies so stay tuned. Here’s the full jacket meanwhile.

Have a lovely Thursday, where ever you are!