Thursday, January 31, 2013

Harlequin KISS

I've been a bit slow to write about the new KISS series that has just been launched by Harlequin in the US - and where ANYTHING BUT VANILLA will make it's first appearance in May. There is an upside to this - I can now include the fact that it's been an incredible success with the books riding high in the charts at Amazon and taking turns to be best selling books of the day at the Harlequin site. In case you haven't seen the bright, snazzy covers - here are the first four.

  • The One That Got Away Browse Inside
    The man who's always left her wanting more!

    Good job? Tick. Newly purchased apartment? Tick. Evie's life is on a pretty even keel at the moment. The only thing missing? A man with an edge to keep things interesting.

    Enter Logan Black. Tortured, distant and sexy, Logan has edge written all over him. He's also the man who tipped Evie over the edge a few years back—she gave him everything, but he didn't know when to stop taking.

    Leaving Logan was the hardest thing Evie's ever done. Until now. Because Logan's back, the chemistry is as blistering as ever and this time he's not going anywhere….


  • The Downfall of a Good Girl 
    "Why would you decide to seduce me? And why now after all these years?"

    Southern debutante Vivienne LaBlanc can't believe bad-boy rock star Connor Mansfield is back in town for the New Orleans annual Saints and Sinners pageant. He has a reputation as wicked as his devilish smile, and Vivi has no intention of becoming one of his latest groupies!

    He once crushed her high school heart, so playing the saint to Connor's sinner should be easy. But how can Vivi get those less than angelic thoughts out of her head—especially when Connor's so good at tempting her to be bad?

    Next month, watch out for the second book in Kimberly Lang's duet: The Taming of a Wild Child.

    See More
  • How to Get Over Your Ex
    Being rejected is one thing. Being rejected live on radio takes it to a whole new level!

    After her on-air proposal is turned down by her commitment-phobe boyfriend, Georgia Stone must learn to survive singledom. Unfortunately, thanks to a clause in her contract, she has to do it under the watchful gaze of brooding radio producer Zander Rush.

    And so begins the Year of Georgia! Lurching from salsa classes to spy school, Georgia discovers a taste for adventure. Her biggest thrill so far? Flirting with danger—aka the enigmatic Zander. But admitting she's ready for more than just a fling…? Definitely Georgia's scariest challenge yet!

    Next month, look for the second book in this duet: The Guy to Be Seen With by Fiona Harper.
  • Hitched! 
    Planning the most talked about wedding of the year is enough to make engineer Frith Taylor break out in a cold sweat. She's used to construction sites, not wedding fairs! But estate manager George Challoner's offer of help is one that's too good to resist.

    George may be the rebel of the prestigious Challoner family, but his insanely good looks are giving Frith wedding fever! Charm personified, he's making her feel things she hasn't dared feel before. Maybe her little sister's wedding won't be the only one Frith's planning…?

    To find out more and buy the books at Harlequin - here's the link - KISS at Harlequin The books are available online everywhere and will be retail in February.

Friday, January 25, 2013

First Page Friday...

Welcome to a new feature of the blog. Each Friday I'll be posting the first page of a book by me or by a writer friend. To get the ball rolling, I'm posting the first page of my bargain basement "vintage", A Stranger's Kiss.

If you want to read on, just click the link at the bottom of the page...

Here's the blurb: -



Desperate to escape the unwanted attentions of a man following her home from work, Tara Lambert throws herself into the arms of a stranger. It’s an “out of the frying pan” moment which only gets worse when, the following morning, she encounters Adam Blackmore for the second time.

Here's the first page: - 

‘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 Tara had 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.

   
It'll cost you just 99c (74p) to read on -  

Amazon US Amazon UK (also available in Amazon stores worldwide)
Nook
KOBO UK (It's also available in the US, but I can't access the link from the UK)
SONY US SONY UK

Thursday, January 24, 2013

Finalists!


The Romantic Novelists’ Association has announced its shortlist for their annual RoNA awards. Congratulations to  Fiona Harper for finalling in the RoNA Rose Award (for Short/Series/Category Romance) with her title ALWAYS THE BEST MAN, a 2012 RIVA release and to Pam Hartshorne, aka Jessica Hart, for her final in the Historical Romance category with her wonderful single title timeslip set in York, TIME’S ECHO.


The Australian Romance Readers Association also have announced their finalists for the annual ARRA awards. Double congrats to Barbara Hannay who shortlisted with THE CATTLEMAN’S SPECIAL DELIVERY in the Short Category Romance category and also in the Favourite Contemporary Romance category with her single title, ZOE’S MUSTERNicola Marsh, also got a shout out with her indie title CRAZY LOVE being nominated in the Favourite Meeting Between A Hero and Heroine category!

For a full list of RoNA nominees click here

Monday, January 21, 2013

Harlequin Junkies

It's Monday, it's freezing and I'm going to the dentist this morning, but it's not all bad news.

I'm guesting over at Harlequin Junkies today and giving away a copy of OLD DESIRES. Pop by and leave a comment for the chance to win.




Tuesday, January 15, 2013

Who's Who?

There's a terrific competition over on the Harlequin Romance Authors blog this week. There are ten pictures of romance authors now and as little kids - match them and there's a $20 Amazon voucher for one lucky winner!

Here's the link No guessing out loud on here! There's an extra prize for my newsletter members. (If you've missed it this time, sign up - the link is on the sidebar - so that you don't miss any more!)

Saturday, January 12, 2013

Melting Ice...

I first met Rosalie Ash many years ago when we were both writing for the same publisher. Some of her early Presents/Modern books are a available in vintage Harlequin editions at Amazon but some she has rewritten to bring them totally up to date and it's a great delight to rediscover her books and introduce her to a new audience via the wonderful world of ebooks.

I've prompted her to tell you a little about her writing, her book, herself.

Who or what was the inspiration for your story?

The theme of a cold, embittered, emotionally damaged man meeting a warm, impulsive, naive girl, and their subsequent relationship. The idea that being with the right person can effectively change someone’s whole life and outlook.  I like the idea that both main characters grow and change over the course of the story, and finish up much nicer people by the end. (As well as passionately in love with each other, of course!)

What made you want to re-write MELTING ICE?

This was my first book, originally published in 1989. I felt so much affection for the characters. And then odd small things happened, like coming across an old 2001 5-star USA review of MELTING ICE on the internet. This reader had bought my book in a ‘thrift shop’, and wrote things like ‘an emotional trip’, ‘a refreshing break from the average cheesy romance’. She went on to say she’d tried to find other Rosalie Ash books but discovered most were out of print
When I got the copyright back from Harlequin Mills and Boon, I could have just re-published MELTING ICE digitally as a Rosalie Ash Classic, but when I re-read it I felt the urge to give my characters a bigger story. Their love story, the location of rural Warwickshire, all felt very personal to me. I decided the book just needed a few more characters, a couple more plot twists, and it would turn very well into a longer book, and into part one of a trilogy.

Tell us about the setting:

Rural Warwickshire is where I’ve lived all my life. The village and farmhouse setting create aneffective ‘crucible’ where the characters all live and work in a close-knit environment. Harbridge is fictional, but is typical of many small South Warwickshire villages, not too far from the border with the Cotswolds, where the farms and cottages are built of mellow stone.  Warwickshire is known as the leafy heart of England. The scenery is not dramatic, but timeless rolling English countryside.

What is it about your hero that will make the reader fall in love with him?

Matt‘s tough, cool exterior hides his vulnerability. He seems cold and uncaring, but inside he is honourable, kind, caring, all traits that Victoria eventually discovers. He’s part Danish, with icy grey eyes, blond hair and olive skin - what’s not to love?! :)

Who would play your hero and heroine in a movie?

Daniel Craig as the hero, MATT.  Liv Tyler as VICTORIA.(Or possibly Julia Roberts?) I was visualising these actors as I was re-writing the book.

Where do you write?

In my study. It’s on the ground floor of our 3-storey townhouse, with desks all along one wall, and wooden blinds over the French doors to stop me from getting distracted by what’s going on in the square outside.

What’s the most romantic thing that’s ever happened to you?

Eloping. When I got married second time round, we sneaked off to the Registry Office at 9:00 am one morning, then immediately flew to Florence for our honeymoon. We rang our families to tell them the news, on our way to airport. We felt like two naughty children playing truant from school.

If you could live anywhere, where would you choose?

I’d always have to own somewhere in England to come back to. I’d be too homesick to become a proper ex-pat. But although we own a house in South West France, and spend happy holidays there, I wouldn’t want to live there. I’d choose to spend part of each year in Devon or Cornwall, and the rest of the time in Italy. We’ve recently discovered the Cilento region, south of Naples. We stay in a stone-built cottage high on a hill, overlooking the Bay of Cilento and the Amalfi Coast.  It makes you feel almost literally ‘on top of the world’. You can see the sun set over Capri. The weather, the scenery, the food, the people, are all wonderful. The only downside is the death-defying Italian driving!

Which author would you love to meet? 

Nora Roberts. I am in awe of her prolific output, and her brilliant characters. I read somewhere that she has several sons, so maybe that’s why her heroes in particular are so ‘real’.

If you weren’t a writer, what would you be?

I’d like to have been a doctor, or a judge. Or any profession where people are forced to take you seriously. Being a writer is a very serious profession, but tell people that you write romantic fiction and there is sometimes a degree of eye-rolling at supper parties...

Thanks for sharing, Rosie. Daniel Craig - is there any other man on the hero list at the moment? :)

Here's the book!

‘Men with those half-hooded eyes always look as if they’re inviting you to bed with them,’ Jessica gave an enjoyably exaggerated shiver, ‘But Matt is so deliciously detached. All steely reserve and suppressed passion. I think he’s gorgeous!’

Victoria hunched her shoulders in a casual shrug. ‘I’d hardly describe him as gorgeous.’

‘Decided that while you were gazing at him longingly on the terrace, did you?’

When Victoria meets Matt she is instantly infatuated with him. But he makes it clear that she’s not his type, and in any case she is far too young for him. But everything changes one night, forcing them both on a journey of self-discovery that transforms their lives forever.

And here's an excerpt -

'Will you please go?' she said, ‘I don't want you to come here again.'
Matt rose to his feet in a fluid, powerful movement, and the pale, lidded gaze was so scathing she longed to drop her eyes under the onslaught. Only pride and fury kept them level.
'Don’t be so fucking ridiculous, Victoria.' he said tautly, 'I'll go, but not before I've proved that you're lying to me and to yourself.'
Before she could duck him, he had pulled her into his arms. He controlled her furious struggles with easy strength. His fingers were hard as he twisted her chin up until her mouth was beneath his, and then he kissed her.
In the midst of her anger, Victoria felt a wave of despair. She knew that her body was going to betray her. She wanted to fight and struggle and scream, but instead she circled his neck with her arms and ran her fingers into his hair, pulling his mouth down harder on her own and returning the kiss with a shudder of passion she had forgotten she was capable of feeling.
When their lips parted for a moment she drew in a breath that sounded like a sob, but her whole body was on fire, as if all her anger and resentment were transformed into heightened sexual desire.
In response he swung her into his arms and took her to the sofa in front of the fire, trapping her on his lap as he kissed her more deeply. Victoria couldn't think any more. All she wanted was to be closer, closer, to surrender to this glorious melting feeling in her bones, and this fiery ache in her stomach. Her struggles to escape had changed to struggles to be as close to Matt as possible, and with a groan he pushed her full length on the sofa and responded to her urgent movements by flicking open the buttons on her jeans and pushing up the soft fabric of her jumper. 
Then at last she felt his lips on her skin, her throat, and his hand could flick open the clasp of her silky lace bra and expose her breasts to receive the caresses they ached for.
felt his tongue on her hardened nipples, and he drew back for a moment, his face shadowy and almost unrecognisable above her, the pupils dilated with desire.
'Victoria,' he breathed unevenly, stroking the softness of her with an almost reverent gentleness, his eyes narrowed as he gazed down at her, ‘Did I ever tell you that you have the most perfect breasts I’ve ever seen?’
‘No,’ her voice was muffled with emotion, everything melting into surrender, ‘You didn’t…’ Not even when she’d flashed them at him on their first meeting, she thought dazedly, almost finding the strength to giggle but dissolving instead into quivering desire.
‘And you’ve gained some curves,’ he said, ‘In all the right places. God, Victoria…’
He was peeling down her tight jeans and sending another convulsion of desire through her. Lost in sensation, she hungrily moved one hand up inside his T-shirt, felt the warm hardness of his abdomen and chest, trembled over the flat hard nipples and the coarseness of his chest hair, all her long years of needing and wanting pooling into one hot, liquid tug of desire low down in her stomach. 
'Matt, oh God…,' she heard herself whispering against his mouth, as her body strained towards him. He slid the jeans down further, tugged them so that he could pull them right off her. He slipped his hand inside her lacy briefs and cupped her already damp sex with his hand. He groaned, sliding two fingers inside her until she whimpered with need.
‘You smell and taste gorgeous, I’ve never forgotten the scent and flavour of you,’ he said, running that same hand up the length of her body, putting his fingers into his own mouth and then into hers.
That was all it took. Something raw and elemental in Matt’s sexuality ignited a desire in her so powerful, so overwhelming she couldn’t stop herself, couldn’t fight it. She needed him, hungered and thirsted for him, in a mindless, blind way that had her fingers ripping at his white T-shirt, wrenching it over his head, allowing her hands the luxury of stroking and exploring the irresistible lines of his body.
In front of the fire, on the warmth of the sofa, he lifted her to straddle him, stroked the soft fullness of her breasts, moulded her small waist and the flare of her hips, his eyes dark as smoke as they hungrily scanned her body.
‘You’re stunning, but completely crazy,’ he murmured huskily, ‘I don’t have a clue what goes on in your head!’
‘Right now, nor do I,’ she whispered breathlessly, ‘I don’t have a clue how you do this to me, if I did I’d know how to stop you.’
  
‘Don’t. Don’t stop me.' His voice was thick with desire and laughter. ‘If you knew how much I’ve been wanting to do this to you again, you wouldn’t be so cruel.’
She slid a trembling hand to the fastening of his Levis, moved her fingers over the long hard bulge under the button-fly with a rush of heat all over her. Slowly, she eased open the top two buttons, her eyes caught and held in his narrowed gaze.
The only sound was dull tick of the grandfather clock in the shadows, the hissing of the logs in the hearth, and their combined ragged breathing.
Download in the UK HERE

Download in the US HERE

Monday, January 07, 2013

Eating the elephant...

How are the resolutions going? I didn't actually make any, but a couple of days into the New Year I knew there was one thing I had to do. Lose some weight. My knees were begging me.

In the new house I have to walk up two flights of stairs to the office and about half way up the second flight my knees were complaining. Loudly. Actually, just lately they've been complaining when I put my feet to the floor in the morning and pain is the one thing that will make me pass on cake.

I was going to drag out the scales and make it a big deal. Since I have absolutely no faith that they'll have survived the move with any degree of accuracy, I decided not to worry about poundage, but about my knees. They'll keep me in line. And that jacket that won't quite button around the middle.

I'm not doing anything fancy. I've cut out bread, upped the level of protein to carbs and while I couldn't say I leapt out of bed this morning after just three days the knees took the move without complaint. And the stairs are already easier. And I've switched from Radio 4 (talk radio) to Radio 2 (pop music radio) and I'm jogging around the kitchen while I work to those oldies but goodies that were the soundtrack of my youth.

I've lost maybe two pounds (the first few days it always falls off) but the difference is already noticeable to me if no one else.

Exercise is the next step. I keep threatening to dig out the swimsuit and get to the pool. It's attached to the high school so they get first dibs on times and I have to figure out when I can fit it in.

I've made a start. That's the main thing. It feels a bit daunting at the moment, but it's like eating an elephant. You have to take it one bite at a time.



Wednesday, January 02, 2013

Time to focus...

That's it. The fun and festivities are all over for another year. My "vintage" books have been launched with a big fanfare of freebies (I hope you managed to grab them while they were going - A Stranger's Kiss is still at 99c)  and it's time to get back to work and focus on the job in hand.

The big news is the launch of the brand new KISS series in the US next month. My first book will be ANYTHING BUT VANILLA, the second of my "ice cream" books. More about that when I have a cover to show you.

Right now, I'm giving my all to Natasha, my sassy, sparky heroine of my new book. When an error at work leaves her out of a job (and unemployable) she has to prove herself all over again, and convince the reclusive Darius Hadley to give her a chance to put the damage right.

Meanwhile, it's time for resolutions and mine is to get more pages written, which may mean a little less time spend messing about on social media - lovely though that is. If I don't get the pages written, there will be nothing for me to chat about. :( What about you? What are your writing ambitions this year? Tell me about your project - I have an ebook download of Liz Fielding's Little Book of Writing Romance and I'll put all your names in a hat and draw a winner next Saturday (5th January).

Tuesday, January 01, 2013