So: It is the end of November. That means two things.

First, tonight–in fact, in a scant few hours–there will be a book club chat at Smart Bitches, Trashy Books, where people will be talking about Unclaimed. The book clubs are usually pretty awesomely lively. If you’ve never done one, you’ll really enjoy it. Link here. I’ll be joining in at 10 PM EST, but the chat starts at 9 PM EST. I can’t wait to talk to everyone about it yet!

Second, it is the end of November…and there is no Unraveled yet.

I’m sorry.

There’s no good answer for this, except that I’m obviously not very good at determining when things get done. These last few months have also had me busier with non-writing things than usual for a variety of reasons, none of which are interesting, not even to me.

But it’s close. It’s really close. It’s so close that I could upload a copy right now, and the difference between this version and the final version would be small–maybe 1%. But that 1% would include typos and some rough edges that needed to be smoothed, and a handful of extraneous sentences that I really don’t need–that kind of thing.

It will be soon. It will be as fast as I can possibly manage. And I promise that as soon as it’s available, I will let everyone know. Thanks so much for your patience and understanding!

So, here are the winners of a copy of The Lady’s Secret: Sara Anne, azteclady, and Clavis.

E-mail me at courtney@courtneymilan.com and tell me how you’d like your copy. As far as I can tell, I can give gifts on Amazon, All Romance eBooks, and … maybe others, still to be explored. Let me know how you prefer to get your e-copy, and I’ll see how best to get it to you.

Also, I promised an update on Unraveled in the comments section. I have had a lot of e-mails and the like asking me the following questions:

• Q. When is it going to be out?
  A. When it is done.
• Q. No, really, when is it going to be out?
  A. There is one thing I can fairly well promise you: It won’t be out before Thanksgiving. I am working very, very hard to try to make it land in the “late November” date rather than, say, early December. “Late November” almost certainly means November 30th. If it doesn’t, I’ll let you know. At this point, the book requires essentially nothing more than the application of work to book. (This is not always true. There are points in the writing of the book when it requires the pulling of hair and the gnashing of teeth. I am past that point.) I am not sure how much work will be needed. Here is the other thing I will promise you: If my choice is between releasing it late and releasing it unready, I will release it late. Hopefully I will do neither.
• Q. So does this mean the book sucks?
  A. No. I actually love it. I love it a lot. That is why I’m working hard on it, because I don’t want to mess it up.
• Q. Why can’t I preorder it?
  A. Because it’s self-published, and the major accounts do not make it possible to preorder a book. It will be available, promise.
• Q. Will it be available in print?
  A. Yes. I’m arguing with myself over various aspects of print pricing.
• Q. Is there an excerpt?
  A. Why, yes. Yes there is. I’ve delayed putting it up because I’m still fussing with bits and pieces. I will be fussing with bits and pieces up until the day that I post this sucker, so expect changes. But from this point onward, changes will be largely cosmetic. And so I’ve forced myself to put up the first chapter. It’s here.

So, a while back, I got sent a copy of Joanna Chamber’s debut novel The Lady’s Secrets.

I admit that I didn’t read it right away. Actually, I picked it up, started reading, and realized that the heroine and her brother were part of an actor’s troupe. I stopped reading instantly, because I was writing a book where the heroine had grown up in a traveling actor’s troupe. (Ahem.) Sometimes, you just don’t want to bias what you’re writing.

But a few months later, someone tweeted about that book, and I remembered how awesome the premise sounded–truly, utterly awesome! This is a book about a young woman who dresses up as another man’s valet. I love books about cross-dressing, in part because it allows members of the opposite sex to go places that were forbidden–gaming clubs and duels and Whites and Tattersalls. But having the heroine masquerade as a valet? That takes forbidden to a whole new level. Valets, after all, don’t just go places that are forbidden. They help their master dress, shave, and bathe. It’s like forbidden times two.

So I picked up the book again, and I’m so glad I did. The execution was even better than the promise. Not only did Joanna Chambers do the “forbidden” things that I looked forward to (and if you want to convince yourself how awesome she is, read this amazing scene on her website), but she managed to capture the intimate, asymmetric relationship that arises between servants and their master. Georgy (the heroine) takes her job very seriously. In learning to anticipate her master’s needs and desires, she actually learns quite a bit about who her master is. He’s a staid, responsible gentleman, who sees his attire as armor that he wears against the rest of the world. He readies himself for the day by putting on clothing with exacting taste.

But because Georgy is the one who is responsible for helping him put on and take off his armor, she gets to see behind the mask that he wears. She sees who he is when he’s not playing the Lord. And what develops between the two is something special. Not friendship at first; Nathan isn’t the sort of person who would make friends with his servants on a whim. It’s something deeper and more intimate, because Nathan casually trusts Georgy with the essence of him, and Georgy learns to treasure it.

I would say more, but I don’t want to spoil the discovery for you. Suffice to say that I utterly adored this book, and I hope you will too!

It’s available only in electronic copy right now. I’ve actually never given away e-copies, but this is definitely the time for me to figure out how that works. I’m going to give away three copies of this book to various commenters. Comment by tomorrow, and I’ll pick the winners and we’ll figure out the giveaways!

In the meantime, you can buy it at Amazon or Barnes & Noble.