Giveaway: Meet the Author Behind The Rival Courts Series
This month’s historical fiction giveaway features a royal tale of love, war, and secrets buried in the palaces of Victorian Europe.
Meet Luv Lubker, indie author of The Rival Courts saga, a meticulously researched series that follows Queen Victoria’s daughter and her marriage to the future German Emperor. From forbidden love to political betrayal, her books bring the 19th century to life with heart-pounding drama and emotional depth.
Want a chance to win a signed set of Under His Spell, Under A Cloud and Under The Sword? Sign up for my newsletter by 7/31/25 and reply with “giveaway” when the July newsletter comes out next week—and keep reading for an exclusive author interview that dives into royal secrets, unusual research discoveries, and what it’s like to write about anti-trafficking in historical fiction.

Tell us a little about yourself…
What’s a quick summary of each book you are giving away to our lucky winner?
Under His Spell:
A lonely young man attends the first World’s Fair – the Great Exhibition of 1851 – and meets a family who changes his life forever.
Follow the young Prince Fritz – later Friedrich III – of Prussia and his wife, Queen Victoria’s eldest daughter, Vicky, (parents of Kaiser Wilhelm II) through their courtship and the joys and struggles of their first four years of marriage.
Fritz and Vicky dream of a peaceful united Germany, but Fritz’s uncle Karl has his own dreams of power…
Discover often hinted at but unrevealed secrets of the Prussian Royal court…
Under A Cloud:
Vicky’s father, Albert, the Prince Consort, has just died, leaving her and her family under a heavy cloud of grief, without their dearest friend and advisor, at a most critical time: The political horizon grows dark with storm clouds at the entry of Bismarck to Germany’s political stage in 1862.
Will Fritz’s courage stand the test as he confronts the spider in its web? Is Prussia really fighting for the rights of the Schleswig people, or is so much blood being shed for the sake of Prussia’s aggrandizement?
Join Vicky and Fritz on their journeys under the blue cloudless skies of the Mediterranean to the peaceful heather-clad hills of the Highlands of Scotland; to the burning heat of the North African desert to the raging blizzards of a winter war in Denmark.
When Vicky’s closest friend disappears, will she be able to keep the secret? Will old enemies prove to be friends, and old friends prove to be enemies?
Under The Sword: (New Book! Release date: July 14!)
Join Queen Victoria’s eldest daughter and her husband, future German Emperor Frederick III in this third installment of The Rival Courts family saga, as they climb the treacherous path to their dream of German unification in the Franco-Prussian war of 1870.
In the calm after the storm, Vicky and Fritz have it all: a devoted marriage, a growing family, and the promise of a bright future. But Fritz’s Uncle Karl lies in wait behind the scenes, hatching his newest plot. A shocking outcome of Vicky’s Royal duties will bring fresh doubts to Fritz’s heart, and his fatherhood.
As personal tragedy strikes and shakes them to their core, Fritz is forced to lead the largest battle history has ever seen. One which could change the face of Europe forever.
Vicky’s best friend struggles to shield her daughters from the sinister force that seeks to control them. The youngest shares her grandfather’s uncanny ability to know the truth behind others’ motives. But can she see the truth in him? In such a dangerous world, what heroic role will this small child play?
Can they escape the danger and betrayal that lurks in every corner as they travel to the icy expanse of Russia, the peaceful Mediterranean shores, and the vast Eastern deserts?
Will Vicky and Fritz’s love and marriage survive a mysterious illness, or will Uncle Karl’s conspiracies tear them apart for good?
Fans of Clare McHugh’s A Most English Princess, Mary Hart Perry’s The Shadow Princess, and Daisy Goodwin’s Victoria will be swept away by this gripping tale of love, war, and intrigue. With rich historical detail and deeply human struggles, Under the Sword, the third installment of The Rival Courts saga, brings to life the triumphs and tragedies in a fight against a nefarious trade which flourished in the shadows of the Royal court. A must-read for lovers of Victorian-era royal fiction.
Where did your love of reading come from?
What was the hardest part of writing this series?
Has Texas influenced your writing in any way? (We’re both Texas writers).
In researching this book, did you learn anything unexpected, unusual or fascinating?
What’s something interesting, fun or funny that most people don’t know about you?
What projects are you working on at present?
The Sailor Prince, Book 1 (An off-shoot of The Rival Courts, the first in a trilogy on Vicky’s younger brother.)
The Sea-King’s Daughter: Playing with Fire. An Alternate-Biographical Nautical Psychological Drama This is the coming-of-age story of “Affie”, Queen Victoria’s second son, Prince Alfred, whose love of nature, art, and adventure leads him from the sheltered life at Windsor to the unforgiving decks of the Royal Navy.
Born a Prince, he was raised as an Englishman, and destined for a German throne. Affie begins his journey as a wide-eyed child collecting shells and sketches but soon finds himself navigating the deeper currents: those of court politics, psychological manipulation, and forbidden desires that culminate into a passionate affair which history denies. Affie wrestles with power, passion, obsession, and the seductions of those who shape his world. The novel blends literary metaphor – including haunting echoes of The Little Mermaid and Jane Eyre – with historical realism: A richly detailed 19th-century world and a Navy caught between eras, as sail yields to steam and wood to iron.
This first installment of the sweeping trilogy, The Sailor Prince, charts the transformation of an innocent heart into a Byronic hero.
Not yet published in the Rival Courts series: Under His Heel, Under His Thumb, Under The Purple
Wow! You’re a busy writer. Where can people follow you?

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Copyright (c) Lisa Traugott 2025. All rights reserved.
And here’s my new release – Coming August 11th!