Title: The Black Sheep and The Rotten Apple:
Author: K.A. Merikan
Publisher: Acerbi&Villani ltd.
Release Date: 7th of February 2017
Heat Level: 4 – Lots of Sex
Pairing: Male/Male
Length: 140,000 words
Genre: Romance, Thriller/Suspense, Historical – 18th Century Cornwall, Highwayman, Kidnapping, Forbidden love, Violence
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The Black Sheep and the Rotten Apple is the kind of book that just needed to be written, despite our already tight schedule. The idea first came to us when we watched a documentary about highwaymen, but we promised ourselves to wait. And then we went to Cornwall for a month, and initial plans collapsed. As we walked through the woods, watching the lush nature and the old stone cottages peppered on both sides of a valley where we were staying, the characters and story steadily came to us. Our aim was to write a historical book that provides as much excitement as readers learned to expect from our contemporary romance.
RELEASE DATE: 7th February 2017
If you want to see our inspiration photos for this book, check out the ‘Black Sheep and the Rotten Apple’ Pinterest board:
The Black Sheep and the Rotten Apple is our baby. It’s been a year since we started working on this book, and to celebrate its release, we’re organizing a quiz for readers who follow The Black Sheep and the Rotten Apple blog tour. Answers to all questions will be provided in the blog posts, and we will then randomly pick the lucky winners. You can win:
- a signed paperback of The Black Sheep and the Rotten Apple + a selection of Cornish treats (main prize – for one person)
- 3 ebooks of choice from our backlist + a surprise treat from Cornwall (will go to 3 more people)
For a chance to win, follow the instructions in blog posts and solve the quiz, which will be published on our website on 1st February 2017. Please, send answers to kamerikan@gmail.com with ‘Black Sheep Quiz’ in the subject line of the email.
Winners will be randomly chosen from readers who sent us correct answers by 17th February 2017.
LINKS TO ALL POSTS:
02/01 THE QUIZ
02/03 Scattered Thoughts and Rogue Words
02/06 We Three Queens
02/07 Boy Meets Boy Reviews
02/08 Prism Book Alliance
02/09 The Novel Approach
02/09 Joyfully Jay
02/10 The Zipper Rippers
02/10 The Book Bella
02/11 Divine Magazine
02/12 Bayou Book Junkie
***
Highwaymen were the bad boys of their times, and people both feared and loved them, oftentimes even campaigning for the captured robbers to be saved from the hangman’s noose. But to stay legendary, they needed to go in style.
Jerry Abershaw, a highwayman active in the 1770s, famously parodied the judge while the lawman was announcing Abershaw’s death sentence, but he kept his good humor even after those unfortunate news. He painted the walls of his cell with images of his crimes (using cherry juice as paint), and even on the day of his execution, he kept up a merry conversation with the crowd. Just before he was hanged, he took off his boots to disprove his mother, who, as he explained, always said he’d die with his shoes on (because decent people died in their bed, of old age or sickness).
Claude Duval was another highwayman who earned the sympathy of the crowd during his execution. Many well-dressed ladies came to witness his death in masks, lamenting his fate, while he waved at them and reportedly kissed babies that have been handed to him.
Synopsis
“How does one start a relationship with another man when it is forbidden?”
“One needs to decide that the other man is worth dying for.”
Cornwall, 1785
Sir Evan Penhart. Baronet. Highwayman. Scoundrel.
Julian Reece. Writer. Wastrel. Penniless.
No one forces Julian Reece to marry. Not his father, not his brother. No one.
When he is thrust into a carriage heading for London to meet his future bride, his way out comes in the form of an imposing highwayman, riding a horse as black as night. Julian makes a deal with the criminal, but what he doesn’t expect is that despite the title of baronet, the robber turns out to be no gentleman.
Sir Evan Penhart is pushed into crime out of desperation, but the pact with a pretty, young merchant’s son turns out to have disastrous consequences. Not only is Evan left broke, but worse yet, Julian opens up a Pandora’s box of passions that are dark, needy, and too wild to tame. With no way to lock them back in, rash decisions and greedy desire lead to a tide that wrecks everything in its way.
But Julian might actually like all the sinful, carnal passion unleashed on him. How can he admit this though, even to himself, when a taste of the forbidden fruit could have him end up with a noose around his neck? And with highway robbery being a hanging offense and the local constable on their back, Julian could lose Evan before he can decide anything about the nature of his desires.
POSSIBLE SPOILERS:
Themes: highwayman, abduction, ransom, forbidden love, self-discovery, danger, crime,
Genre: Dark romance, historical
Erotic content: Explicit scenes
Length: ~140,000 words (standalone novel)
WARNING: Adult content. Contains violence, distressing scenes, abuse, offensive language, and morally ambiguous protagonists.
Meet the Author
K. A. Merikan is the pen name for Kat and Agnes Merikan, a team of writers, who are mistaken for sisters with surprising regularity. Kat’s the mean sergeant and survival specialist of the duo, never hesitating to kick Agnes’s ass when she’s slacking off. Her memory works like an easy-access catalogue, which allows her to keep up with both book details and social media. Also works as the emergency GPS. Agnes is the Merikan nitpicker, usually found busy with formatting and research. Her attention tends to be scattered, and despite being over thirty, she needs to apply makeup to buy alcohol. Self-proclaimed queen of the roads.
They love the weird and wonderful, stepping out of the box, and bending stereotypes both in life and books. When you pick up a Merikan book, there’s one thing you can be sure of – it will be full of surprises.
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