A career historian, Annie R McEwen has lived in six countries and under every roof from a canvas tent to a Georgian Era manor house. She writes historical romantic suspense, paranormal romance, and historical fiction. Annie is published by Harbor Lane Books (US), Bloodhound Books (UK), The Wild Rose Press, and Rowan Prose Publishing. When she’s not in her 1920s bungalow in Florida, Annie lives, writes, and explores castles in Wales. Learn more at AnnieRMcEwen.com!
Annie’s Book Series
Annie has authored numerous historical and paranormal romances—almost too many to name! But here’s a nice curated selection below for readers to check out.
Start with Annie’s Bound series, with her book Bound Across Time! Perfect for fans of paranormal ghost romances.
“CeCe Gowdie. Historian, rational, scorns the paranormal. When her boss orders her to convert her Welsh castle tours to ghost walks, she thinks that’s the worst that can happen. It is, until one midnight in the castle tower she meets Patrick-handsome, passionate, dead since 1761.
Patrick O’Loinsigh. Bastard son of an earl, brought from Ireland only to be murdered by his half-brother. The moment Patrick sees CeCe he claims her as his own, a claim neither of them understands but can’t resist.
CeCe’s body won’t survive loving a ghost, but losing him will tear her heart to pieces. Patrick can’t bear watching CeCe die by inches, but releasing her will hurl him back to a hellish half-life without her. Is there hope in the prophecy of an ancient Irish seer? The spells of Welsh witches? Or is the alchemy of love enough to bridge time and defeat death?”
Looking for historical romance? Consider the Corset Girls books, The Corset Girls: Unbound and The Corset Girls: Unlaced!
What are these dark historical romance books about? Enjoy this teaser for The Corset Girls: Unlaced…
“In Victorian London, passion burns bright—but darkness awaits underground.
After a desperate act leaves Jillian Morehouse a fugitive, she flees to Whitechapel. The escapee finds work in a Mayfair corset workshop, but the walls are closing in.
Jillian catches the eye of the handsome Michael Kelly, a reformed criminal with a dangerous history he's anxious to keep hidden. The pair are drawn together by a powerful attraction—but their love is tested when she's kidnapped and abandoned in the catacombs beneath London.
With enemies circling and secrets threatening to destroy them both, Jillian and Michael must confront their darkest fears… or lose everything to the shadows of their pasts.
In a world where love is the most dangerous game of all, will they find redemption, or will the darkness claim them both?”
At Tender and Tempting Tales
Annie is a regular around here, perhaps an institution. She appeared in our first anthology, Moonlight and Margaritas, with her historical romance “Daisy by Any Other Name.”
“London, 1936. ‘It’s a long way to Tipperary,’ the song says, and Thorn agrees. It feels even longer when Daisy, the sweetheart he left behind in Ireland, begins turning up at his bar in the Cafe Royal. Hair bobbed, wearing fur, diamonds, and a skimpy dress, she arrives with a succession of famous and titled men. Thorn is shocked to his core.
And that’s before he discovers the espionage.”
Annie is a historian, so she put us through our paces making sure to produce a historically accurate early margarita from the 1930s. We’re pretty proud of this one. Mix up this cocktail, try some historical dress, and settle back to read Annie’s story!
Enjoy this sneak peek!
London, 1936
“Daisy!” It was out of his mouth before he had a chance to think about what shouting at a patron might do to his job at the bar of the Café Royal. But he couldn’t stop himself. “Daisy!” A half dozen people in evening dress heard him that time; they swiveled their heads to stare. If his job survived, it wouldn’t be because of anything he’d done to keep it. But it was Daisy. And she was so, so… Beautiful. As she’d always been. Skin that made pearls weep for their inadequacy. Hair that stole the color of every precious metal: gold, copper, bronze. Those eyes— Still green as Eire, but looking very irritated, as she leveled them at him from five yards away. It might as well have been fifty, since she was on the patrons’ side of the bar, and he was on the staff’s.
Find out what happens next in your copy of Moonlight and Margaritas, available here!
Midnight, Mischief, and Mistletoe
Annie went on to join us in Midnight, Mischief, and Mistletoe with her story, “Love Me, Love My Dog,” a late-Victorian enemies-to-lovers romance with not a little comedy and a lot of heart.
“It’s New Year’s Eve, 1891. Through a mistake in the judging, Alec and Meg just won the same Grand Silent Auction Prize at the RSPCA’s Charity Ball: a purebred Cavalier King Charles Spaniel pup. The pup can’t be split in two, but neither Meg nor Alec will surrender their claim. Enter the custody battle of the century, in which a marquess with a tarnished reputation squares off with a militant Suffragette. Tempers flare, fur flies, and it all gets more complicated when desire joins the fight.”
Enjoy this sneak peek!
London, 31 December 1891. The Duchess of Cardigan’s town house in Belgravia.
“In just a few seconds, our fifth annual Charity Ball Masqué will end, and we will doff our masks. But before we do…”
The duchess droned on, and Meg lifted the small watch pinned to her bodice, checking the time. If the hundred people in the ballroom followed the order to unmask in a few seconds, Her Grace would be giving herself the privilege of welcoming the New Year twenty minutes ahead of the rest of Britain. Standing at the Winner’s Table on a dais at the front of the room, Meg was trapped. In full view of the assembly, she could hardly disrupt the hostess’ speech by fleeing.
“It is a great pity that my dearest Ruff cannot see the good his pup is doing for the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. That such goodness lives beyond Ruff’s span is a testament to the…”
Clearly, her hostess planned to blather right into the New Year about her beloved Cavalier King Charles Spaniel stud and his final litter. Everyone present loved dogs, but Meg’s shoes pinched and she was tired. If she had to hear one more time about Golden Marlborough Parsifal Ruff’s untimely demise a month after siring said litter, she’d scream.
Find out what happens next in our holiday anthology, Midnight, Mischief, and Mistletoe, available here!
While you’re reading, get cozy Annie’s way, with this treat right from her to you! Enjoy!
Fireworks and Flirtation
For our second summer anthology, Annie graced us with another wonderful historical romance: “A Scarlet Woman Blows Up the Village”!
“In the aftermath of World War One, Captain Simon Arundel has returned to his peaceful Northamptonshire village. All he wants is to forget the horrors of war and take up the quiet, scholarly pursuit of writing a book.
The village won’t let Simon do either. First, he has to quash the local, gone-wild Guy Fawkes Day celebration. Then, SHE turns up. Kitty Keane, London’s brightest and most beautiful stage star, driven away by a scandal of her own making.
They’re the unlikeliest next-door neighbors in England, about to make a huge scandal of their own.”
Enjoy this sneak peek…
A half hour after leaving the train and for the first time in years, Kitty was completely alone.
Her brain took that as an offstage prompt and launched a soliloquy of self-blame. On and on it rambled about Katherine Keane, the one-time jewel of the London stage, and how she’d fled as far from the capital as she could, to a cottage in a remote hamlet in the Midlands, hiding from the world.
“Spend some time away. It’ll blow over.” That was Tom Granthill, her agent, trying to make light of the horror of her last performance, in which she was literally booed off the stage. Her stricken look made him add an arm around her shoulders. “You’ve been through the wars, old thing.”
Kitty was suffering from shell shock. She’d lost most of her audience and all the friendly press when details of her disastrous affair with the Prime Minister came out.
She was the Scarlet Woman of the play bearing the same name. No matter that her affair with Baldwin had been over for a year. Truthfully, she couldn’t even remember why she’d let herself be seduced in the first place. Yes, you can.
All right, she could. She’d been tired and so, so lonely, even though she seemed always to be surrounded by people. The tryst hadn’t lasted long and Stan hadn’t promised anything, nor had she expected it. Gentleman that he was, he’d let her break it off. She suspected they were both relieved. That was the end of it, as far as she was concerned.
But then, the play opened. The secret she’d thought buried was suddenly very much alive. The fault was all hers, according to the press. Stanley Baldwin was a man, popular, and the Prime Minister. Kitty was a woman, an actress, and fair game for any reporter who wanted to take a shot at her. Could any coincidence have been worse for her and better for journalists? The scarlet woman of The Scarlet Woman!
The papers were quickly hushed up, but for a brief and damning interval they harped on the title of the play until Nathaniel Hawthorne, author of the book that inspired it, was surely spinning in his grave. The gossip…
Tears caught on her eyelashes and blurred her sight. None of that, Kit. On the train, she’d vowed not to weep anymore.
Want to learn more? You can read Annie’s full story in Fireworks and Flirtation here!
Win Annie’s Gift Box!
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Watch our socials during Annie’s takeover today to learn more! In the meantime, you can follow Annie R McEwen here on Substack or on Instagram!
Prepared for Tender and Tempting Tales by T.A. Leederman.
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