Monday, November 26, 2012

Christmas Books

There is something very special about a romance that revolves around the holiday season.

There’s something special about a Christmas romance that makes the heart ready to celebrate the holiday season.

I haven’t got a new one to offer you this year – moving house, etc, etc, etc… you’ve heard it all before, put a bit of a spanner in my productivity. But thanks to the wonders of the digital age, those I’ve written in the past few years are still available.

The first Christmas romance I wrote – All She Wants for Christmas - wasn’t meant to be a Christmas romance at all. Maddy, my heroine, after a very hard year building up a successful business, was calling time on anything to do with the holiday and chilling out in the West Indies with her father; the best laid plans…

It was originally given the title Trouble in Paradise, but there was a gap in the publishing schedule that December, the book was renamed and with a few fairy lights added to the beach scene cover it was a Christmas title.

Harlequin haven’t released it as an ebook yet, but it has recently been re-released in a large print library edition, so you can make a librarian’s day by asking her for it. It won’t cost you a penny.

Mistletoe and the Lost Stiletto is a true Cinderella story, with the heroine hiding out from the nasty tycoon with the elves. She is, of course, rescued by her own Prince Charming and the bad guy gets his just deserts. It has Santa (with flu), Rudolph (with a passion for cashew nuts) and snow angels.

The heroine of A Surprise Christmas Proposal is Sophie Harrington, who’d done her duty as a secondary character in both City Girl in Training and The Billionaire Takes a Bride. Out of work and homeless, she was overdue for her own happy ending and if her Prince Charming wasn’t exactly charming, he made Sophie’s Christmas very special. This book is only available in paperback at the moment.



The final selection is a duet of books in which the heroines change places. The “princess” becomes the pauper in Christmas Angel for the Billionaire and the supermarket checkout girl becomes a "princess" for a week in Her Desert Dream

I have copies of the Changing Places duet for one lucky commenter (paper or ebook, whichever you prefer). For a chance to win, tell me about something that happened to you at Christmas. Something wonderful, something ghastly, something magic...

I’ll post the winner on Friday (so make sure you tick the box to get follow up comments so that you don’t miss it).











Saturday, November 24, 2012

Sunday Six with Emmy

I just love Sunday Six!


- picking out a little snippet of a book that shows the spark between hero and heroine - unstoppable, no matter how hard they fight it!

Emmy, after making her second escape bid of the evening, has been run to earth by Tom Brodie - the man who's sole purpose is to prevent her marriage to a penniless artist - and this time there's no escape.
Her palm collided with the hard muscle of his chest but it did nothing to impede his progress and, as the warmth of his body seeped into her through her hand, along her arm until her entire body seemed to be heating up from within, her fingers closed over his t-shirt, bunching it in her fist, holding it tight.

‘Joking?’ he enquired, softly.

For a moment she thought she had a chance and opened her mouth to reinforce her contention. But he stroked the back of his long slender fingers slowly and gently along her throat, mesmerising her with his touch and a delicious languor stole through her body as he captured her chin. Then he began to trace a slow, sensuous line across her bottom lip with the tip of his thumb. It was like that moment in the car when he had so nearly kissed her. When she had, for one crazy moment, wanted him to kiss her more than anything else in the world.

If you want to know how that turned out, download Eloping With Emmy from Amazon, iTunes, Kobo, Barnes and Noble, Sony or Smashwords. There are links on the sidebar.

And don't forget to go to Sunday Six and check out loads of other great books.

Have a great Sunday!




Monday, November 19, 2012

The Bride, the Baby and the Best Man

One of my older books is about to be released in a Linford large print library edition. It's always a joy to see a new incarnation of one of my books, especially when it's back in print and in the library where everyone can enjoy it for free.

I've had quite a few of the beautiful quality Linford editions now and there's that lovely moment when you open the packet and see the glossy new cover for the first time.

This one made me gulp a bit, especially when the best beloved said the "bride" looked a bit like Miss Haversham. Sadly, he's right.

I wasn't wild about the original cover for this book - that is so not the bridesmaid dress in my book! - but I have to admit that it's a whole lot more appealing than the new one.

This is one of my favourite early books, but sadly Harlequin haven't released it as an eBook and won't let me have it back at the moment so that I can do it. This library edition is quite expensive, but you can still find the book "used" on Amazon or eBay.

I love the title, by the way!






Sunday, November 18, 2012

Six Sentence Sunday

Welcome!  It's been a while since I've played Six Sentence Sunday, but the reissue of A Stranger's Kiss as an ebook seems like the perfect moment!

Tara Lambert is being followed and to escape her pursuer she takes refuge in a nearby wine bar - sliding into a seat beside a well-dressed businessman. Her appeal for him to pretend she's with him does not go unanswered -



His fingers grazed her cheek and slowly he began to wind a long jet strand of hair that had escaped from restraining pins around his fingers. For a moment she sat too stunned to move or do anything to stop him. Then, he tucked it behind her ear and while she was still trying to gather her scattered wits he moved swiftly to capture her chin, tilting it upwards, leaving her mouth at his mercy.
       ‘You’re late, my darling,’ he murmured, his voice a velvet caress. Shaken by this dashing, if unexpected response to her appeal for help, she began to protest. Then he smiled and the words died in her throat. ‘But I forgive you.’ 

A Stranger's Kiss in on sale at the special launch price of 99c/77p at Amazon US and UK, at iTunes, Sony and Smashwords. (Nook and Kobo always take a little longer to get books online, but you can download for those devices at Smashwords). There are links on the sidebar.

And if you ennjoyed this, check out all the other great authors who are playing this week at Six Sentence Sunday  

Friday, November 16, 2012

Make Mine a Movie...

The internet (in author circles, anyway) has been abuzz this week with the news that Mills and Boon have signed a deal with Bollywood film maker, Siddharth Jain, CEO, iRock Films to make films and television content using their vast library of books.

Since there are thousands of books to choose from, I won't be holding my breath, but since it's fun to dream, which of my books would you like to see made into a movie?

Tuesday, November 13, 2012

Dreaming...

Just a quickie to let you know that I'm guesting on Sue Moorcroft's The Joy of Dreaming blog today - and yes, we're talking about dreaming. There's an chance to win a copy of one of my books, too.

And you have until the end of the week to download A Stranger's Kiss at the special launch price!

Monday, November 12, 2012

Arthritis

I have arthritis in my thumbs. The legacy of a lifetime of hitting the spacebar and being the only one in the house with hands strong enough to twist off stubborn jar tops (also I suspect from a lifetime of exercise on a keyboard - and learning to type on an old fashioned sit up and beg Underwood).

Who remembers carbon paper, flimsies in a range of colours for different departments, those flat round typewriter erasers? Good grief, it feels like museum piece now. Well, obviously it is. Like me - another reason for the arthritis!

I've tried glucosamine - the doc's only suggestion. It's not working. Any ideas? 

Friday, November 09, 2012

Slippers...

I finally chose my new slippers - wore a hole in the sole of the pink embroidered ones that I loved to bits. Literally.

These are little purple velvety ones. Perfect.

I think I might have to buy the pink ones, too.

Thursday, November 08, 2012

100K

I've been watch my Blogger stats lately and they've been creeping up to the 100K visits and I thought that was something to celebrate. I imagined it would happen late this month and I'd planned to make a fuss and say what a great journey it's been and how many great people I've built up a cyber friendship over that time.

Then this morning I looked for the first time in a week (I'm still trying to figure out why there was a huge spike in visits on the 2nd November when I hadn't posted for several days) and bam - the number passed unnoticed plus 500 or so.

It's like missing your birthday or something. I didn't have fireworks, or cake, or champagne or even a bar of chocolate.

What I have had is a lot of fun. Dozens and dozens of fabulous guests. Connections across the globe with readers, writers, a lot of people who - like me - mistyped Chritmas and ended up on my blog by mistake. I do hope some of them stayed for a minute or two.

A blog is a bit like a diary. Here are 800+ posts about my life as a writer over - well, I can't actually remember when I actually started blogging but I was an early adopter so it must have been quite some time ago. The stats page doesn't tell me (unless I go back to the first post and really life is too short).  It was a slow build up and I haven't always been great at keeping the blog fresh. I think my very earliest version - set up for me by Sunday Times bestselling author Portia da Costa on a previous version of my website, was updated about once a month.

Things have changed. These days a writer without a blog is like...

You fill in the blank and I'll dish out copies of one of my new eBooks - Eloping With Emmy or A Stranger's Kiss or Liz Fielding's Little Book of Writing Romance or, if you can wait a week or two, Old Desires and Dangerous Flirtation.

Because that's another thing I couldn't have imagined when I started writing this blog - that I'd regain control of some of my earlier books and be able to republish them myself.

Thanks for all the fun, all the laughs, all the stories, all the support. Here's to the next 100K!



Wednesday, November 07, 2012

Drum roll...

I'm just coming up to the twentieth anniversary of the publication of my first book. Those early books are now out of print and there aren't that many copies still around to buy second hand so it's with a very special pleasure that I can announce the reissue of A Stranger's Kiss - my fourth book, published in 1994 - in ebook format.

It's available from today - for a short period - at a special introductory price of 77p/99c - links opposite. It's also on sale for the equivalent price in Germany, Italy, Spain, France and Japan. (What I would have given to be able to download English books when I was living overseas!)

Here's a little taster to whet your appetite: -



‘I DON’T believe it! Where on earth did he spring from?’
Tara Lambert moved quickly to the door but the tail lights of her partner’s car were already disappearing into the blackness of the evening, taking with them any possibility of help from that direction.
       She glanced back to where the man was waiting across the street. He too was staring after Beth’s car, obviously wondering if she'd gone home with her partner. Well it was too late to regret refusing the proffered lift, but if she moved quickly it might not be too late to escape.
       Shrugging her raincoat collar up high around her ears she snapped open her umbrella, stepped out into the wet evening and took off swiftly down the street.
       She had gone only a couple of hundred yards when she heard her name being called from the other side of the street. Her escape bid had not, after all, gone unnoticed. With a sinking heart she glanced around her; the shops were already closed and there was nowhere to seek refuge in the shuttered street. Even the taxi rank was deserted, although no cabbie would have thanked her for wasting his time on the short ride to her flat.
       She hurried on, urging the traffic lights to stay green and keep the traffic moving, but even as the thought entered her head they flicked to amber.
       She stopped, cursing herself for every kind of an idiot. She could have stayed in the office and phoned for a taxi. Maybe it was not too late to beat a strategic retreat.
       ‘Tara!’ Her name, much closer, startled her and she glanced back before she could stop herself. He was weaving through the slowing cars and cutting off all possibility of escape in that direction.
       A burst of light shone briefly on the pavement just ahead of her and a couple emerged and ran, laughing, their arms about each other, along the road. They had come from the wine bar on the ground floor of a glossy new office development and shopping arcade. She had watched it come to life during the past few weeks but a quick glance at the menu outside had convinced her that it was far too pricey to be included on her list of lunch venues. Everything about Victoria House was expensive, but right now that was the last thing on her mind.
       The urgent sound of closing footsteps propelled her through the door before she had time to consider what she would do once inside.
       It wasn’t quite seven o’clock and it was still busy with people from the surrounding offices and shops, but there was no one she recognised. She dumped her umbrella in a stand and hung up her coat. At least there were plenty of people about, and now she was inside she would have something to eat. It had been a long, hard day and as the aroma of good food assaulted her senses she realised just how hungry she was. She would just have to choose whatever was cheapest on the menu.
       As she looked around for a vacant table the door opened behind her. ‘Tara!’
       Galvanised into movement by the sound of his voice she threw herself into a bench seat hidden from the door by a small grove of potted palms where a man whose deep concentration on a business document and navy pin-striped suit suggested a certain safety.
       ‘Please pretend that I’m with you!’ she whispered, urgently. He looked up, a frown momentarily creasing his wide tanned forehead and in that instant she knew, without any doubt, that the impression of safety was all illusion.

This is the first of three books I'll be republishing during the next few weeks. Look out for Old Desires and Dangerous Flirtation.