Tuesday, November 13, 2007

FREE BOOK MONDAY ON DANICA'S BLOG

Danica, or Dream as some of us know her, is giving away a copy of Reunited: Marriage in Million on her blog this week, bless her. She also has some interesting stuff to say about the writer's journey. Worth checking out.

SCARY TUESDAY

As for me, having woken up a cold sweat after a really nasty nightmare, only to discover that the stairs light had gone out so that it was totally dark, I now have to go and visit Bill, my lovely dental surgeon. He hails from New York, but has lived here in Wales for a v. long time.

One of my wisdom teeth is showing its age and needs a little attention. With a drill. Whimper...

Meanwhile the wip is still creeping along. Manda is now on terra firma -- I left that poor woman hanging around by her fingertips for far too long but she really needs to stop giving Jago such a hard time.

FINALLY

Copies of my new sheikh book arrived while I was in London. Breakfast at the Churchill in Portman Square with my editorial team from Richmond was instructive. We talked a lot about popular themes and discussed future books, but I thought it would be fun to throw this one open to my blog visitors. I'm looking for comments on what kind of stories you really love. Is it the sultry sheikh riding out of the desert? The nine-to-five office romance, with love blossoming around the water cooler? Does the word baby in the title make you reach for a book, or bride? Are you a died in the wool Cinderella fan? Will a handsome prince float your boat?

Share your reading desires with me this week and on Sunday I'll put all the comments in a hat and draw one at random to receive a copy of THE SHEIKH'S UNSUITABLE BRIDE, which won't be available anywhere (unless you're a Reader Service subscriber) until next month.

19 comments:

Unknown said...

I have to say that I am not keen on sheiks or babys, so I am more the nine-to-five or Cinderella romance type.

Snookie said...

Hey Liz, I'm not enamoured with sheiks. Babies don't bother me, but I think I'm more the strong heroine type! I think what matters to me more though is the author's voice. I will read sheiks or just about anything if I like the author's voice. Yours is one of the voices I really like :)

Anonymous said...

I love all sorts of stories: sheikhs, babies, Cinderella, nine-to-five, but I think one of my favorite themes is friends to lovers. Maybe because my hubby and I were friends for years before we started dating. Although to be honest, I thought he was perfectly gorgeous from that first meeting in seventh grade study hall. Something about his eyes...

Tren

Nell Dixon said...

I love Cinderella and office romances, I also love fake engagement stories. I'm not keen on Sheikhs or secret babies.

Anne McAllister said...

I don't suppose now is the time to say I'd love a "dentist" romance, Liz!

Actually, I wouldn't. But I'm not keen on sheiks either, though I will read yours and Sophie Weston's and Kate Walker's because I know I'll be able to stand them. In fact I'm very much looking forward to your sheik and the taxi lady, but not because he's a sheik! Otherwise, I like stories with likable people in them, and I don't care what they do for a living.

The thing is, I don't like just one thing. I'd hate to be limited to just office books or just babies or just cowboys or just jugglers or just Italian billionaires. Those are trappings. It's the author's voice and her emotional landscape that I love to visit.

Great cover, by the way!

Anonymous said...

I don't really like sheik stories but I will read some. I like the 5 to 9 romances or friends surprise at falling in love. I also like the rescue type stories where one person is in trouble and the other rescues them from a danger.

Liz Fielding said...

Sheikhs seem to be the most devisive of characters. There's a natural alpha quality to them that you just can't batter down into the gamma mold but my editor fell in love with the latest -- a novella coming out next July -- he was just so "honourable".

But Ellen should enjoy the book I'm working on now. My heroine may not be instantly enamoured of the only man on earth who can help her (it's mutual!) but she's getting there!

Ah, the "voice", Snookie... If that works for you it doesn't matter what the story is about. I'm really glad that you like mine!

Liz Fielding said...

Anne, Zahir isn't a very sheiky sheikh, if you see what I mean. He could just as easily have been an Italian tycoon playboy, or a Greek tycoon playboy...

It's a Cinderella story ... the only difference is that the prince is a sheikh.

Anne McAllister said...

Liz, when you said, "Zahir isn't a very sheiky sheikh, if you see what I mean," I knew he was a guy for me!

Totally looking forward to reading his story!

Lily said...

I love Sheikh romances... hot love in the desert... always romantic :)

Though I don't really enjoy a pregnant heroine.

My first romance was the Sheik by Edith M. Hull... maybe I am a bit biaised!

Nathalie said...

I also am waiting anxiously to your next book...

I usually like to read alpha males as heroes...handsome, rich, arrogant, but still have a sensitive side when it comes to that special woman :)

So, you must have guessed I don't like the typical american cowboy or the divorcé.

Danica Favorite said...

You are such a sweetie!

Well, sad to say, I'm a sucker for it all. But to add to the sheik/baby debate, I'll throw in that I enjoy both very much. :)

Liz Fielding said...

Whew ... it seems blogger comments are back on line today!

It's interesting to hear exactly what you all enjoy in hero/heroine.

I don't think I can deliverr a "dentist" hero, Anne -- especially since Bill said the next he has to deal with "that tooth" he's going in through the ear -- it's nearer. No, honestly, painless...he is totally a hero in my book.

Lily, I have my own well-thumbed copy of The Sheik :)

Keep it coming, guys, I'm realy enjoying all the input, especially since I'll shortly be planning my 09/10 schedule. How scary is that!

Kate Hardy said...

Big hugs on the tooth, Liz - hope all goes well.

Umm. For me, it's voice. I like warmth. I like books which have a 'real world' feel and well-drawn secondary characters to give the book a little extra richness.

(In other words - I'm outed as a real Liz Fielding fan *g* - you've written two of my all-time top three M&Bs.)

Anonymous said...

I have to say I like the Cinderella stories with a twist... for example, for once the girl is not desperate but an independent career girl.

I also like Sheik stories, but the hero should not be totally obnoxious. I remember reading one Violet Winspear novel with a very human Sheik :)

juliemt said...

I'm like Kate H. I like voice and that's what keeps me coming back time after time. If I like an author's voice, I'll read anything she writes whether it's Sheikhs, Greek tycoons, Italian gentlemen or British hunks (which in my opinion we don't see enough of in M&Bs these days.)

Having said that, I do have a fondness for rural settings. Maybe because I am a city girl who has always yearned for the country life.

Julie

Liz Fielding said...

No one has mentioned "marriage of convenience" stories. Donna Alward's pulled off that particularly difficult sub-genre in her first book. Or the royals. And okay, let's really get down to business. What do you all hate?

EllenToo said...

What do I hate?
I hate books in which the heroine is a wimp and doesn't stand up for herself. Or a hero is so forceful and vendictive. Of course I don't like these things in real life either and they do exist.

Anonymous said...

I love marriage of convenience stories... I read my first with Georgia Bockoven and fell in love with them!!

I hate gold-digger stories or a single dad story!