You know what would look good on your wall? A smug bull, that’s what.
To celebrate the release of Lessons in French, Laura Kinsale is giving away a very limited edition print of an original artwork by Charles Rutledge. Inspired by the illustrated editions of classic Jane Austen novels, this sketch features the scene of Callie and Hubert in the kitchen, on the lam from the constable. To quote Kinsale, “It’s very much in the spirit of an illustration from a 19th century book. As well-known comic book curator and art critic Cliff of Dr. No’s commented; “That is one smug bull.”
Have a look:
There were only 5 prints made, with 2 artist’s proofs, and Laura gave away one on her site in January. This is one smack of a collector’s item to someone who is a Kinsale fan, especially if you enjoyed Lessons in French – and if you didn’t win that one, here’s another chance. I have one limited edition copy on archival paper, signed by the artist and by Laura Kinsale, and an autographed copy of Lessons in French by Laura Kinsale to one random commenter. (Note: All copyright in the artwork remains with the artist, and his permission is required for any copy or digital display.) The print will be unframed print number 5/5 and an autographed copy of Lessons in French.
What do you have to do to win? Simple: leave a comment and tell me which scene or line in a romance novel you’d love to see in an illustrated drawing such as this one. Comments close in 24 hours, so start pondering and making your artistic wishes! (Me? A tie between Merlin flying, and that scene in the beginning of The Duke and I where Daphne punches out that annoying guy, Nigel.)
Standard disclaimer: I’m not being compensated for this giveaway. Use only in a well-ventilated area. For a limited time only. No postage necessary if mailed in the United States. Parental advisory: explicit lyrics. Falling rock.
I’d like to see the wedding of Eve Dallas and Roarke from J.D.Robb’s In Death series. I love that series. I just finished Fantasy In Death this weekend.
Love can’t resist the problem. I love read too the series are real serious and full of emotion.
I really enjoyed Lessons in French – I would love a scene depicting how they managed to dye the bull a different colour. I kept picturing it as I read the story…
Other scene would be from Mary Balogh’s Slightly Dangerous – when the Duke of Bewcastle climbs the tree to dive into the water. The Duke’s sister hugs the heroine saying something like ’ If you are responsible for this – I will love you forever’.
Love that scene.
Definitely the game of Pall Mall in Julia Quinn’s The Viscount Who Loved Me.
I would definitely have to say the scene in Laura Kinsale’s The Shadow and the Star where Samuel returns to find Leda finishing up bottling the cherry brandy. That would make a marvelous illustration! Absolutely perfect with her leaning back against him.
Many of my choices were already mentioned! So many good scenes. This one is from The Christmas Wedding by Laurie Brown.
Matty rushes into the sitting room of the hotel suite and there is her son Nathan in a giggling fit on the sofa while Preston, Lord Bathers is sitting cross legged on the floor entertaining two year old Bess by adorning himself with Bess’ doll’s clothing. A doll’s straw hat is on his head, a little purple lace dress on his cravat and one tiny white glove on each tip of his index fingers. As Bess giggles with delight, she and Preston switch out the hats and dresses.
I found this scene charming and think it would make a great illustration.
I’d love to see an illustration of the scene towards the end of Bet Me, with Min tied to the ugly sofa and Cal eating Krispy Kremes right next to her. Or actually any of the scenes with Min and Cal and his nephew and her shoes.
Any Sherrilyn Kenyon’s DarkHunter series or JR Ward’s BDB. All those guys, I’m picturing, would be hunk-a-licious in whatever scene they happened to be in…and I want to see what someone else would see them as compared to what’s inside my head.
I would pick the scene in Midsummer Moon when the hedgehog gives away Merlin’s location. I’d love to see the look on Mr. Duke’s face when the hedgehog goes trundling by the temple.
I’d love to see the scene from Prince of Midnight where he’s training the horse to do tricks so it won’t be put down when they have to leave it behind in France.
I didn’t read all the comments so I don’t know if its been said but the scene from Devil’s Cub (Heyer) when Mary shoots Dominic. I’d love to see it illustrated right after she’s shot him, when he is surprised and she is so upset and concerned for him. I bet it would be hysterical!
Another two scenes from Lord of Scoundrels stand out to me: the one where Jessica and Dain first meet in the antique shop and are squaring off for the first time, or the scene in which they are at a cafe and he is unbuttoning her glove while murmuring things to her in Italian… I would just love to see the expressions on thier faces.
And I also would love to see the What Happens in London dramatic reading scene; I nearly fell out of my chair when I read it the first time!
I forget the name of the novel, but it was a historical and the scene in question entailed the hero attempting to teach the heroine how to ride horseback. She completely shocked him when she showed how much she already knew about it, her father having taught her from a young age. I’d love to see a sketch of the hero’s shocked face as well as the smug look on the heroine’s. P:
Gabaldon’s Jamie says to Claire in one way or another in each book words to the effect of. “I want to take ye into the woods and split ye like a ripe peach.”
illustrate that one! Lol. Enter me I’d hang it above my 4’ talk bookshelf in my bedroom. Lovely!
Scene for illustration: In Karen Robard’s Dark of the Moon when Connor sees Caitlyn for the first time after believing her dead for over a year….
Scene from chapter twenty-one of Jo Beverley’s ‘St Raven’ where Cressida is snooping around in the mews behind Mirranda Coop’s home and she’s discovered by the grooms in the stables and is awed by their maleness – it’s one of those scenes where you don’t know whether to giggle or drool!:
I’d love to see Jo Beverly’s opening scene in “Emily and the Dark Angel,” where Piers Verderan runs into Emily while the Violet Tart is hurling powder from above. I love the idea that one of the characters in the book creates a caricature of the scene that is described, but obviously not seen.
I was scrolling through these smiling and nodding, as you do, until I got to Liza Lester’s mention of the punt scene Gaudy Night.
I cannot second that scene strongly enough (excuse me, I must flit away and find the book again. It is demanding to be read).
Laura Kinsale’s The Prince of Midnight, when S.T. and Nemo barged in and saved the girl. It was really too bad, you recall him thinking, that Leigh wasn’t there to see it.
Am I still in time?
Something from Heyer, please. Either the Talisman Ring, with Ludovic as the maid with the broken perfume bottle, or from Faro’s Daughter, with Deb in the “gambling house”.
I want to see the scene in Kinsale’s “The Shadow & the Star” where the heroine Leda is in her dreary garret room admiring her hair after just brushing it before noticing the hero/shadow watching from the rafters ….sounds creepy as I type but Kinsale conveys emotions that make it dreamy!
Yes, that’s another great image. Also from the same book, Ravenscar and Deb sniping at each other while he is incarcerated and tied up in the cellar. Or Deb at Vauxhall Gardens in her deliberately vulgar mode, with a huge headdress and vividly striped dress. Really, Heyer is just FULL of great visual moments.
I’m not sure which scene from Sayers’ Gaudy Night was meant, but if it’s the major high-sexual-tension one, the moment when Harriet finally admits to herself that she fancies Peter something rotten, I think it is on the bank rather than in the punt, isn’t it? In any case, I don’t think one could easily convey the impact visually.
🙂
I’m going to have to go with Jenifer Cruise and the opening scene in “Welcome to Temptation”. The girls driving up to the town and getting the first glimpse of the phallic water tower and deciding to film it for the opening credits. I knew I was going to love the book right then.
Runner up would have to be from “Faking It” toward the end of the book when Matilda decides she has to paint the walls of her all white room.
In Larissa Ione’s latest – Ecstasy Unveiled….Tayla compares Sin to Smurfette and as she attempts to describe who and what Smurfette is to her non-cartoon/pop-culturally-ignorant husband, Eidolon. His brother Wraith is listening in on the conversation and Eidolon’s asks something along the lines of “Does she have sex with all the male smurfs?” And Wraith says, “Dude, it’s a cartoon.”
You have to picture the three – all super-sexy demons in human form – the guys are all gorgeous and alpha talking the Smurfs.
I laughed out loud.
The scene would have to be from Bet Me, when they are all sitting around the dinner table at Cal’s parents’ place. That scene was… memorable, to put it lightly.
passed57… passed over 57 times…??
When, in Elizabeth Hoyt’s The Serpent Prince, the hero and heroine’s eyes meet over the dead body of the man the hero killed in a duel.
I have been rereading a lot of Suzanne Brockman, especially troubleshooters, and have two scenes from those books.
First the serious one: The scene in Over the Edge where Teri realizes that Stan isn’t just telling her to wear her flack jacket to boss her around, but because he cares for her. The illustration would have Stan and the rest of the troubleshooters in the helo and Teri waving good-bye
Oh, another one from Over the Edge, the one when Alyssa comes back into Sam’s room and sees him crying
On to the funny scene: One of my favorite scenes in All Through the Night is when Robin and Jules come into their house dripping wet and Jules mentions to Robin that he is going commando and everyone who is there for the surprise bachelor party hears him.
I want to second the Pall Mall Scene from the Bridgerton books. The illustration would definitely have to have Kate with the Mallet of Death and Anthony with the pink one, perhaps when Kate sinks his ball. Also, the scene where Lillian gets her finger stuck in the bottle and when Westcliff finds them playing rounders in their knickers. Lisa Kleypas is like crack. Finally, I want to second the scene in What Happens in London when Sebastian is standing on the table reading Miss Butterworth. If Julia Quinn were to write the entire saga of Miss Butterworth, I would be the first in line to buy it.
To go along with the scene with Teri and Stan I would put the caption:
And it occured to her that in a flash of realization that when he said that, maybe it wasn’t because he wanted to boss her around, to keep the distancing effects og age and experience prominant in their relationship. When he said that, maybe it was his way of telling her just how desperately he cared
Oooh, ooh! I’d love to see the scene from These Old Shades by Georgette Heyer right at the end, with Leonie, Duchess of Avon standing on the table, “Bah,” said the Duchess of Avon. It’d be full of wonderfully-dressed 18th-century characters drinking a toast, especially the wonderful, red-haired Leonie and her beloved Duke!
Unfortunately, I’m not super well-read in romance, but I’ve always liked Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte. The lines I would like to see drawn are this—“What a consternation of soul was mine that dreary afternoon! How all my brain was in tumult, and all my heart in insurrection! Yet in what darkness, what dense ignorance, was the mental battle fought! I could not answer the ceaseless inward question—why I thus suffered; now at the distance of—I will not say how many years, I see it clearly.” (approx. Chapter 2, pg. 12)
Thanks for the chance—enjoyed reading others’ ideas for a drawn-up scene. I’ll def. have to check out some of these books.
Leigh S.
I have to go with Payton Kendall baring her cheeks in the courtroom as a thrilled/horrified JD Jameson looks on, courtesy of Practice Makes Perfect by Julie James.
Too many to choose from! And I second (third, fourth, fifth, etc.) many of the previous postings.
I would love any scene from Crusie’s “Bet Me” – love, love, love that book! How about the scene where Cal is helping Min pick out a dress and making her feel beautiful?
I just finished Lessons in French! It was my very first regency romance (I’m usually a paranormal girl).
If I had to pick another scene from Lessons in French, I would love to see an illustration of Trev hiding under his mother’s bed while his mother’s nurse stomped around demanding bloodletting and bedrest.
As for an illustration from another book, I’m going to go with the scene in JR Ward’s “Lover Awakened” directly following Bella’s needing time, when Butch, Phury and Vishous all wake up naked in bed together. The thought of these three HUGE alpha males, waking up in a tangle of limbs in the same bed and all the awkward conversation that follows? Hilarious.