Saturday, September 28, 2013

A day out with Colin Firth and Harry Potter...


Well nearly. :)

Once I'd written The End on the last book (For His Eyes Only - Kiss/Modern Tempted) the dh and I did what we'd been promising ourselves for ages and drove a few miles up to the road to Lacock Abbey and Lacock village.

Lacock Abbey is most famous for being the home of William Henry Fox Talbot, a pioneer in the film of photography but it's a lot older than that. It was built on the foundations of a former nunnery and has amazing cloisters, and medieval rooms on the the lower floor - where three of the Harry Potter movies were filmed - and more recent, Tudor stuff upstairs.

After touring the Abbey, we walked around the medieval Ifstreets of Lacock village, which is like taking a tour through British costume drama heaven. The Red Lion pub was used as the exterior of the Assembly Rooms in the Colin Firth version of Pride & Prejudice and the Bennett girls were seen chatting in the High Street - it's where Lydia met Wickham!

Cranford is another series filmed here - the National Trust shop became the cobblers and furniture repair shop. It rained just after the crew covered the High Street with "snow" and it all turned to mush. Art copying reality!


The list of movie and television credits for the village is long, including The Other Boleyn Girl, The Wolfman, The Secret of My Success, Moll Flanders.





If you're planning on coming to the area (and it's close to Bath), try and take a few hours to visit. There are lots of great places to eat - our local Romantic Novelists' Association Chapter meets every couple of months at The Sign of the Angel.






Thursday, September 26, 2013

New Adult, Young Adult - Popping the Cherry!

I'm delighted to welcome back Aurelia B Rowl to my blog today to tell us about her latest book, Popping the Cherry, and the New Adult/Young Adult genres.

Hi Liz, and thank you for inviting me back onto your blog.

Today I'm here to talk about my latest book, Popping the Cherry, but I'd also like to talk a little bit about its genre.

Popping the Cherry is a Young Adult / New Adult - YA/NA for short - but what exactly does that mean? I think the majority of us have heard of the term 'Young Adult' and associate it with books targeted at a teenage audience. Rather than being a genre, per se, it's easier to think of 'young adult' as a category much the same as 'romance' with it's sub-categories of historical, paranormal, contemporary, erotica, dystopian, steam-punk, etc. The 'young adult' category covers a vast array of genres, from contemporary issues to romance to fantasy to horror and everything in-between. It is HUGE when you actually pause to think about.

So what is 'New Adult' then? There is a common misconception that 'New Adult' is basically 'Young Adult' romance but with sex thrown in; an easy mistake to make when there are virtual bookshelves full to overflowing with New Adult romances with a high heat rating bordering on erotic. For many authors, it may be true but for me, it's a case of going back to those categories. Let me explain my reasoning... Young Adult stories are often a coming of age tale, and they tend to have a teenage main character, usually aged 16-17 and still at school. New Adult is that next step, the awkward first steps into the big and sometimes scary adult world, where the main characters tend to be between 18-23; a time of firsts from leaving home, going off to University, getting that first job, or embarking on that first mature relationship. It's more about trying to find your place and then make your mark in the world, having already gone through the whole coming of age thing. There are just as many sub-categories for New Adult as there are for Young Adult, more in fact, since you can now include erotic romance.

Do we need actually need a New Adult category? The jury tends to be split on this, but I am one of those that is all for it. As a reader aged 18 and over, you have the entire library at your disposal but that range is so huge, and so diverse, that finding a book you can connect with is so much harder. By the age of 18 I had left home and was in my first full-time job, and by the age of 21 I was married albeit briefly. I was an adult, for sure, but I wasn't a fully mature adult. That period between the ages of 18-23 was still a time of massive personal growth and development. Wouldn't it have been nice to have a category, a resource, that I could reach for which touched upon the situations that I myself was facing at that time? I'm sure that the books dealing with all those 'firsts' and 'issues' have long existed, but without the 'New Adult' label, they weren't so easy to find. On the flipside, a fully mature adult reader may not want to read a book about somebody only just embarking on adulthood in the same way that some mature readers aren't so keen on reading young adult. And that's why I can see a place for the 'New Adult' category in the marketplace.

So what is YA/NA crossover then? I have no idea how common this combination is; it's just something I came up with when querying my publisher, Harlequin UK's new digital imprint Carina, as a way to describe Popping the Cherry.

Book one is actually the first in a planned series of standalone books, falling somewhere between the women's fiction/chick-lit style and romance. Popping the Cherry is very much a fun and flirty 'coming of age' tale. We see the main character, sixth-form college student Lena, turn 18 during the course of the story, so very much in the YA range, yet some of the other major characters already fall into the New Adult category. They have their own issues to face, and Lena herself treads that fine line between Young Adult and New Adult with some of the situations and decisions she must overcome.

Each book planned in the series will follow in chronological order, and will revolve around a character that we have already met, so it's only natural that a character who is 17/18 in the first book, will come of age and mature, and therefore move into 'New Adult' by the time their story is told. Hence it being classed as more of a crossover series, a bridge between the two different categories, but packed with 'British' humour and a dash of drama that will hopefully appeal to everyone regardless of age


You only get one first time . . .
From driving tests to relationships, Valentina Bell thinks she’s a failure, with a big fat capital F. At this rate, she’s certain she’ll be a virgin for ever. So Lena’s friends plan Operation: Popping the Cherry to help her find the perfect man first time.
Yet somehow disastrous dates with bad-boy musicians and fabulous evenings with secretly in-the-closet guys aren’t quite working out how Lena planned.
Soon Lena’s avoiding Operation: Popping the Cherry to spend time with comforting, aloof Jake, her best friend’s older brother, who doesn’t make her feel self-conscious about still clinging to her V card. But could Jake show Lena that sometimes what you’re looking for most is right by your side?
A Forever for the twenty-first century
Carina ¦ Amazon UK ¦ Amazon ¦ iTunes ¦ Google ¦ Sainsburys ¦ Nook ¦ Kobo Popping the Cherry

Giveaway...

There are two contests underway as part of the Popping the Cherry blog tour, with an assortment of prizes up for grabs. Enter via Rafflecopter below:

UK

a Rafflecopter giveaway

International

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Aurelia B. Rowl lives on the edge of the Peak District with her very understanding husband, their two fantastic children, and their mad rescue mutt who doesn’t mind being used as a sounding post and source of inspiration. She regularly wows them all with her curious, hastily thrown together meals when she gets too caught up with her latest writing project... or five!... and she has developed the fine art of ignoring the housework.
Aurelia writes Young Adult/New Adult crossover fiction and contemporary romance. She is currently busy writing the standalone companion novels to both Popping the Cherry and Christmas is Cancelled.

To find out more about Aurelia, you can visit her website: www.aureliabrowl.com or you can find her hanging out online, far too often, at the following:

Saturday, September 21, 2013

Backlist bonanza

One of the great things about the ebook revolution is that titles long out of print become available for a whole new group of readers who might only recently have discovered you. 

I was one of a group of authors whose work was released in the first wave of digital backlist for Harlequin - they put out a couple of dozen in 2010 - and I'm going to be featuring some of them over the next few weeks, starting with two that won awards.

First up is the book that won my second RITA,


The Marriage Miracle from Harlequin 

Winner - RITA 2006 Best Short Contemporary Romance Romance Writers of America
Winner - Best Harlequin Romance 2006 Romantic Times BOOKclub

Winner of Cata-romance Reviewers' Choice Award

Here's a brief clip -


And with that, he leaned down, slid his hands under her arms, then, when startled, she just sat there looking up at him, he said, ‘This would be much so easier if you would put your arms around my neck.’

‘What... I don’t need you –’

‘Trust me, Matty,’ he said, but perhaps deciding that was one appeal too far, he didn’t hang around for an argument. ‘I know what I’m doing.’ And he lifted her clear of the chair.

Her arms — not taking one bit of notice of her “whats” and “don’ts” — took the sensible course and flung themselves around his neck and before she knew it, she was vertical, upright, Sebastian’s arms holding her safe against his chest. And for a heartbeat, she was any girl in any man’s arms.

Then reality intruded. ‘This isn’t...’ she began. ‘You can’t... I shouldn’t...’

The words to tell him what it was, exactly, that he couldn’t, she shouldn’t do, failed her and, very softly, he said, ‘We can do anything we want, Matty.’ Then, ‘It’s not so bad, is it?’

Bad?

His breath was warm on her cheek, his face just inches from her own.

Oh, this was bad. About as bad as it could be.

His hand at her waist was pressing her close to him so that there was nothing but thin silk and soft cotton between her skin and his. Her imagination instantly filled the gap, her breasts engorging, her nipples tightening as feminine instincts as old as time urged her to go for broke and kiss him, caress him, draw him to her and never let him go.

So much for all her good intentions.


The second book I'm featuring, is A Family of His Own again from Harlequin
This was also nominated for a RITA, but here's the list of the prizes it did take.

Winner of the RNA Romance Prize 2005 
Romantic Novelists' Association, UK
Winner of the Best Harlequin Romance 2004 
Romantic Times BOOKclub
Shortlisted for RITA 2005 Best Short Contemporary Romance
Romance Writers of America

Winner Cata-romance Reviewers' Choice Award



Here's a brief clip -

This time the silence seemed endless and she had no words to fill it. Dominic Ravenscar did it for her. ‘What happened to Polly’s father?’

The abrupt change of subject threw her and she responded to this unexpected jab at a raw nerve in much the same way as he had. Instinctively. Defensively.

‘Polly never had a father.’

Her only excuse was that it had been a long time since anyone had asked her that question. Maybe, like him, she had erected some kind of warning signal over her own emotional no-go area. Or perhaps she’d blotted it out so thoroughly that she’d stopped noticing the way people tiptoed around the subject.  Whatever it was, she just wasn’t prepared.

Ashamed of her instinctive reaction, her need to protect her own feelings, she tried again. ‘I … That is, he…’

It wasn’t usually this much of a problem. But then her standard answer – “He was young – he needed to find himself. He’s still looking …” -- was calculated to make people laugh, give her an opportunity to change the subject. What was that she’d said about there being more than one way to run? 

Links to both of them at the Harlequin site are in the intros, but they are both available to download from Barnes & Noble, iTunes and of course, Amazon

I've added the direct Amazon links, because my own attempt to find them on the site was a #fail 
 

Thursday, September 19, 2013

His to Command: The Nanny...

The title of this anthology His to Command: The Nanny, does not exactly match my contribution to this anthology, which is Nanny For Keeps (original published in the Tender series in the UK and Harlequin Romance in the US), in which "nanny" and her little charge runs rings around Harry Talbot, a man who wants neither Maisie, nor the woman who delivered her to his door.

The poor man didn't stand a chance!

I have to admit that I prefer the new cover, though! I know that finding cover models is tough - had this discussion with the lovely Diane Moggy just last week - and this guy was very tall (I was inspired by Jack and the Beanstalk - my heroine being "Jack") But what is it with that haircut!

But covers never tell the true story. Harry is gorgeous, Jackie is determined and Maisie - well, Maisie just stole my heart.

Here's a clip -



EASING carefully over another deep rut as the wipers swatted away the moisture clinging to the windscreen, Jacqui gritted her teeth and continued to inch her way up the lane in low gear.

‘Nearly there,’ she said, reassuringly, although more to herself than Maisie, who was ignoring the jolting with the composure of a duchess. Considerably more composure than she felt, as the bottom of the car ground on the edge of a deep, water-filled pothole that stretched most of the way across the lane. A broken exhaust was the last thing she needed.

The torture continued for another half a mile, ratcheting up the tension and tightening her shoulders. Finally, when she was beginning to think that she must have missed the house in the mist or that she’d taken the wrong lane altogether, an old, lichen-encrusted gate that looked as if it hadn’t been opened in years loomed out of nowhere, blocking the way. On it were two signs. One might have once said “High Tops” but was so old that only the odd letter was still clear enough to read. The other was new. It said: KEEP OUT.

She climbed out and doing her best to avoid the mud and puddles, lifted the heavy metal closure and put her weight behind it, anticipating resistance ... and very nearly fell flat on her face as it swung back on well-oiled hinges.

Maisie didn’t say a word as she scraped the mud off her shoes and climbed back behind the wheel, apparently still totally enrapt by the CD she was listening to. But she was wearing a thoroughly self-satisfied little smile that betrayed exactly what she was thinking:

Little Princess, 1 – Dumb Adult, Nil

Jacqui put the car into gear and a hundred yards or so further on the shadowy outline of a massive, ivy-clad stone house, towers at each corner, the crenulated roof suggesting a fortified stronghold rather than the home of someone’s grandma, appeared out of the swirling mist.

Despite the fact that she’d never been anywhere near High Tops before it looked vaguely familiar and Jacqui felt an odd sense of foreboding. It was, doubtless, caused by the combination of mist and mud.

She might not be totally in the mood for sun, sand and sangria, but given the choice she knew which option she’d choose. She almost felt sorry for Maisie.

Totally ridiculous of course, she told herself. At any moment the vast door would be flung open and the child enfolded in a loving welcome from her grandma, who must surely be looking out for them.

The door remained closed, however and rather than expose Maisie’s satin shoes to the elements unnecessarily, she said, ‘You’d better wait here while I ring the door bell.’

Maisie looked as if she was about to say something, but instead she just sighed.

Jacqui was enfolded in the cold damp air as she ran up the steps to a pair of iron-studded front doors that offered no concessions to the twenty-first century. There was nothing as remotely modern as an electric bell. Just an old-fashioned bell pull.

As she lifted her arm the silver bracelet slid down and the heart caught the light and flashed brightly. For a moment she froze, then she tugged hard on the bell and a long way off she heard the jangle of an old-fashioned bell.

From somewhere a dog raised its voice in a mournful howl.

Jacqui looked around nervously, half expecting a near relation of the Hound of the Baskervilles to come bounding out of the mist. Ridiculous. This was not Dartmoor... But nevertheless she shivered and, grasping the bell rather more firmly, she tugged it again.

Twice.

Almost before she let go there was a thud as a stiff bolt shot back. Then, as one half of the door opened, she realised why the house seemed familiar. She’d seen it – or at least something very like it – in a book of fairy stories she’d been given as a child; the one with all those terrifying tales about witches and trolls and giants.

This was the house where the big bad giant lived.

He still did.

Half an inch short of six foot — without her socks — Jacqui was tall for a woman but the man who opened the door loomed threateningly above her. Okay, she was a step lower than him but it wasn’t just his height; he was broad, too, his shoulders filling the opening and even his hair, a thick, dark, shaggy lion mane that clearly hadn’t been near a pair of scissors in months was, well, big. Gold eyes — which might have been attractive in any other setting — and three days growth of beard only added to the leonine effect.

The book is available in paper or as a digital download and you can read a little more here ...



Or here at Amazon - wherever you are.

Saturday, September 07, 2013

My K is out to lunch, but the boo is free!

I'm particularly remember a  id's TV programme that was "brought to you by the number ... and the letter ...) Well today I could do with the K. My  laptop  eyboard  eeps stic ing on the letter and it's driving me nuts!

However, not to be distracted, I'm just leaving a note to let you all  now that A Stranger's  iss is free at the moment everywhere - so whether you've got a Noo , or a  indle, or a Sony, or a  obo, or download to your iPad or phone - it's there for you.

Go fill your boots, while I turn the laptop upside down a give it a good sha e.





Amazon (wherever you are)
Sony
Nook
Kobo
iTunes
Smashwords