First Page Friday - The Secret Wedding Dress #KISS

It's time for another First Page Friday - this time from the fabulous Ally Blake and her new Harlequin KISS title, The Secret Wedding Dress. I've already read this and I can tell you that it's brilliantly sexy, funny, and totally engaging. But don't just take my word for it...

Here's the blurb - 

On maid of honour duty with her best friend, Mae, fiercely independent Paige Danforth finds herself surrounded by hundreds of bridezillas at a factory outlet wedding dress sale when something catches her eye...  Suddenly, there's a tightening of her throat, a lightness in her head…. A glimpse of chiffon in dark champagne. And before she knows it, self-confessed cynic, Paige, the girl who swears blind that happy ever after is an evil myth perpetuated by florists and bakers, has just bought herself a wedding dress! One problem… no groom… or wedding!

Determined to put this wedding dress debacle down to a deliriousness caused by her 'dating drought', Paige decides she needs a man and fast. Enter dark, brooding adventurer Gabe Hamilton... the very next man to step into the lift in their apartment block. So against her type, Gabe is dark and diabolically hot... and only in town for a few weeks! She doesn’t have to have a relationship with the guy. She needs a date. A kiss. A night. A good and proper tumble. A way to find her dating legs again. No promises made, no promises broken. And after witnessing her parents messy divorce and her cricket star dad's notoriously philandering ways, Paige is determined to never let herself be hurt in the same way and this fun-only fling with Gabe is perfect... for now.

Until Paige begins to realise that by purposefully keeping Gabe - the guy who inspires all these new, exciting feelings in her - from getting close, she's creating her own unhappy ever after.

And here's the first page -

Paige Danforth didn’t believe in happily ever afters.

     So it was a testament to how awesome a friend she was that she stood freezing her tush off outside a dodgy-looking Collingwood warehouse in the grey half-light of a misty Melbourne winter’s morning with her best friend Mae who was there to buy a wedding dress.

     Wedding Dress Fire Sale! Over 1000 new and used dresses, up to 90% off! read the massive hot pink banner flapping dejectedly against the cracked brown bricks of the old building.  Paige wondered if any of the other women in the line, which by that stage snaked all the way around the corner of the block, saw the irony of the hype masking the depressing reality.  By the manic gleams in their eyes they all bought into the fantasy, for sure.  Each and every one of them convinced they were the ones for whom the love songs and sonnets rang true.

And here's a link for iTunes, Australia

Sexy Duo/The Secret Wedding Dress/Driving Her Crazy - Ally Blake

"Fast paced, funny, warm and deliciously hot, this is the kind of can't-put-down story Ms. Blake is famous for writing. What's more, she has a magical way of making it feel like the heroine is a best friend who is telling her story over cocktails instead of within the pages of a book. I HIGHLY RECOMMEND THIS ONE!"

 

...Trish Wylie, Goodreads

 

 

"If you enjoy fun, flirty, contemporary romances, you'll love The Secret Wedding Dress.  Paige is ballsy and quirky, Gabe is flawed and incredibly sexy. Thoroughly enjoyed!"

 

...Nicola Marsh, USA Today Bestselling author

 

It all started with a Kiss

Have you see the new Kiss titles that were launched in February and have been hitting the top sales spot at Harlequin regularly ever since?

This is a new, fun, flirty, sensual and sexy series launched in the US.


What Publishers Weekly said about Kelly Hunter's launch title, The One That Got Away...

"Hunter launches Harlequin's Kiss contemporary romance imprint with an emotionally powerful and beautifully rendered love story... Readers who thrive on empowered woman and dangerous men will relish this carfefully craft, intense romance with a modern, relevant voice, which sets a very high bar for the Kiss line."

And readers agree...

"It has been twenty years since I read a Harlequin romance. But something about the cover, the description and the fact that Mira Lyn Kelly is a USA TODAY bestselling author intrigued me. And I am so glad it did. My reintroduction to Harlequin could not have been better. I read all 224 pages in oen day and am happily looking forward to reading mynext KISS collection book.!

"Waksing Up Married isthe perfect combination of new romance, angst, flirtiness and sex (not so much it makes me blush but not so little it left me wondering.)"

"If you love romance with just a little bit of sex and love and ... then, this is for you."

"I really like this book. The characters were likeable with a great sense of humor. I was definitely drawn in from the first page. It was a refreshing, light read. My only regret is that it ended so soon and I would have liked more."

Want to try the series for free? Download a copy of of Mira Lyn Kelly's Waking Up Married at  

TryHarlequinKISS

The Rules of Engagement...

 My next guest helping me to celebrate my 20th anniversary is Ally Blake. Ally is more than a friend and colleague, she is also my webmistress, helping me keep in touch with readers around the world. She picks up the things I miss, finds links for me and goes the extra mile every month when she updates my site. It's a real joy to welcome her to tell you about her latest book, The Rules of Engagement.  Over to you, Ally...

Thanks so much for having me over to celebrate your 20th anniversary, Liz!  It reminds me my ten years comes up next December.  You've been such a support, a wonderful ear, and a lovely writing friend these past years, I am blessed to know you.  You'll be first on the invite list for my party, I assure you.

And it's extra kind of you to have me since I don't even have a Christmas story on the shelves!  In fact, I've never written a Christmas book, and THE RULES OF ENGAGEMENT  - out now from Harlequin Presents Extra - is no different.  But if you're after  something to warm up your holidays if you're in the snowy north, or to add some sizzle to your sweltering summer if you, like me, live down south, then this could be your luck day ;).

I was meant to be writing another story, one of those tricky ones where every word on the page was written in blood, when I heard Robert Palmer's Addicted to Love on the radio.  And that was that.  Caitlyn March was born - a woman so addicted to love, when we first meet her she's just getting over her fourth failed engagement.  And from that moment this fun, frothy book near wrote itself.  It was such a joy I dedicated it to fairy dust.

Here's a taste

The house lights slowly lifted, encouraging the dregs to stumble on home.  Panic set in.  Caitlyn's hair would be a mess, her lipstick bitten away, her mascara ever so delightfully smudged.  Yet Dax's expression didn’t change.  The glint in his eyes if anything grew.  Quickened.  Scorched.

Oh God.  Oh God!  OH GOD!

And for a girl who in the past had lived for the adrenalin brought on by the mere possibility of a new relationship, she felt like she was free falling into those hot hazel eyes.

In the past, being the most important part.  She wasn’t looking for that brand of blistering intensity that could sweep a girl off her feet before she knew what was happening.  She wanted fun and frivolity.  She needed...

Sorbet.

All of a sudden parts of herself began to click and slide, like the tumbling open of a combination lock.

What she needed most was emotional catharsis.

What she wanted was to clear the bad taste in her mouth that her most recent failed engagement had left behind.

Sorbet sex.

What kind of sorbet sex she couldn’t be certain, since it was her first time going down that route.  Sorbet came in a million different flavours, and if hers came in the guise of a tall dark handsome stranger she had no doubt could wipe away the memory of every man she’d ever met, well then who was she to argue?

‘Closing time,’ Ivan called out, dragging Caitlyn to the present.

Her breath shook as she wondered how exactly one went about picking up a sexy stranger in a bar by asking for no strings sorbet sex.

‘Hungry?’ she asked, before she even felt the word coming.

‘Ravenous,’ Dax said without missing a single beat.

Well, she thought, as he slid his hand around her waist, resting it possessively on her hip as he led her towards the door, even that gentle touch making her feel like lava was sliding through her veins, that’s how.

Ally Blake is the bestselling author of twenty-three fun, fresh, flirty romances for Harlequin Mills and Boon.  Her latest Harlequin Presents Extra THE RULES OF ENGAGEMENT has been purported to have “So much sizzle you could toast marshmallows on it!” 

Grab the paperback from The Book Depository (free delivery worldwide!) or the ebook from eHarlequin.

For a free online romance, given to you in daily bite sized pieces, "like" Arabella Rose’s journey on www.facebook.com/50dayswithrose.

BLOG PARTY DAY 3!

Are you keeping up? Maybe a little camomile tea to settle the nerves after all this stimulation.  A cucumber sandwich to keep your strength up. A little strawberry tart? A big fat prawn or two?

What's your favourite party food?  Just say the word and one of our lovely butlers will be at your elbow with a tray. :)

We've still got lots of partying to do, so call over one of the butlers to give you a little massage - Hugh anyone? - to ease out the wrinkles, and then we can party on because I have a very special guest today.

Leah Ashton, our newest author, signed after being mentored by Jessica Hart in the New Voices competition held by Mills and Boon last year. Her first book, Secrets and Speed Dating, will be published in a special pack in September this year in the UK.

Here's Leah to tell you a little bit about her extraordinary year.

Meet the very delicious Tom Harley, a man who looks remarkably like my hero in Secrets & Speed Dating, Dan Halliday :) Dan is just like Tom - tall, strong, a fabulous smile and incredible sky blue eyes that you could just fall into. Tom is an ex-Australian Football League premiership player (and captain), who is now a football commentator, which means I can show a photo of him looking very dapper in a suit, also.

Dan isn't a footballer, he gets his lovely muscles from swimming every morning at Cottesloe Beach in Perth, Western Australia. During the day he manages his two super successful - and super trendy - bars, and he thinks his life is trundling along absolutely perfectly - until he meets Sophie Morgan. Sophie's world is full of to-do lists and plans while Dan has learnt that life can't be micro managed. But then Dan finds himself part of Sophie's latest project.

You may have already met Dan last September, during the Mills & Boon New Voices competition, which I was fortunate enough to win. Dan has grown and changed just a bit since then, but he's still the hero I fell in love with when I first typed up my entry. New Voices was such an incredible experience, everything about it was just so new and so huge - from the number of entrants (over 800!) to the prize on offer (publication!). I ummed and ahhed over entering, but I am just so glad I took that deep breath and dived in - because now by the time that New Voices 2011 begins this September, Dan's story will be a real life, published book! I am just over the moon excited :)

It's been a whirlwind since I submitted my entry last year - from the shock of finding out I made the Top 10, to the next nerve-wracking month of the competition, the euphoria of winning - and then the really difficult bit - writing the rest of the book! While some of it was a lot of hard work, I wouldn't change a thing. My writing has improved a hundred-fold through the experience of working with my mentors, but also I had the amazing experience of having readers read my work and provide their feedback - and that support just blew me away.

Thanks to New Voices I now have my first book about to come out, and my deadline for my second book rapidly approaching. I'm just starting out on my writing career with Mills & Boon, but I sincerely hope that I will get to write lots and lots of books for them in the future. I am in awe of Liz and her achievement - 20 years and 60 books - WOW! Congratulations Liz, I loved your books well before I was published. Your books, and your career, are such an inspiration to me.

Thanks, Leah.  Many congratulations on your new career. May Dan be the first of many heroes in your life!


So, here's the question - who would you cast as the hero in your first romantic novel?

Next up is the lovely Sophie Page - better known to some of you as Sophie Weston.  She's written a basketful of books for Harlequin in the past, but this year she caught the zeitgeist with her latest book, To Marry a Prince, published just before the royal wedding.  This is a truly delightful book with a genuine Prince Charming who wins the kind of heroine we all hope a man in such a difficult position will find to share his life.

Here's what Sophie has to say about her inspiration and her book -

The Ordinary Girl and the Prince is the first fairytale I read. 

When the Royal Engagement was announced in 2010, it brought it all back - the anxiety, the excitement, the big happy (and yes, okay, slightly tearful) smile when Everygirl married her One True Love. Only this time, just for a moment, it felt sort of personal - a happy ending in our time, as it were.

To Marry a Prince is a story for every girl, of any age, who has ever dreamed of finding her Prince.  It’s set today (with a few variations, as you would expect). It’s Britain, Jim, but not quite as we know it. The wondrous Terry Pratchett would say we have gone down the other trouser leg of Time and taken a slightly different turn in history.

A long time fan, I pre-ordered this book for my Kindle and devoured it in great big romantic chunks. My favourite bit is probably the nightmarish New Year's Eve party - wild Scottish country dancing, knocking HM's tiara off; lots of fun and very romantic.

Okay - you're at the New Year's Eve party at Balmoral and you've just knocked the tiara off the monarch's head. What would you say!

Okay, time topause for a little refreshment, I think! (I hope you spotted the Thai Coconut Prawns back there!

And onto our next guest, the truly lovely Ally Blake, who has supplied so many gorgeous pictures for us to drool over.

I'm particularly fond of this one, an oldie but totally gorgeous hottie who is an example to all those foolish men who think they need a face lift when they reach the age of the bus pass.  Guys, we love that lived in look. Truly. Think Cary Grant, think ... well, think Paul Newman!

Ally's latest book confusing, has two titles, depending where in the world you are.  This is the UK cover - THE WEDDING DATE, which is part of the new RIVA series.  In the US it's released as a Presents Extra with the title THE ROGUE WEDDING GUEST, but wherever in the world you are it has Ally's witty, emotional voice.

And has this gorgeous guy as its hero.

All work and no play means that Hannah’s crush on her gorgeous boss - blockbuster adventure TV show producer Bradley Knight – has no chance of fading gracefully away.   So the opportunity to go home to Tasmania for her sister’s wedding for a long weekend is just the break from work - and Bradley – she so badly needs.

One problem - Bradley has a gut feeling that if his most able assistant goes back to her beautiful island home, she might find more reasons to stay than to come back.  Thankfully, the stunning, raw, rugged scenery of Tasmania is just the kind of place he could set his next TV show.  It only makes sense that he tag along!

This book is set in the wilds of Tasmania.  Where in the world would you go to go for a romantic escape!

Three great guests, three fabulous books up for grabs. And tomorrow there'll be three more friends dropping by.  See you then!

PARTY TIME!

Welcome! Choose the cocktail of your choice from the barman, draw up a lap and sit down, we're about to party!

It's been twenty years since the day I signed my first contract with Mills and Boon for a book called AN IMAGE OF YOU - and two other titles.  An awful lot has happened in that time.

We've built a house. The kids grew up, went to university, flew the nest. My daughter got married and made me a grandmother and my son had a book of his own published.

And of course I've written sixty books for Mills and Boon - #60 is FLIRTING WITH ITALIAN out in December - and another three for someone else.  That's a lot to celebrate.

Writer friends will be dropping by to help me celebrate this week.  They're bringing along some good looking men to help the party go with a swing, and have books to give away as door prizes, so when you can stop ogling the pecs, leave a comment so that you name can go into the draw.

Meanwhile, my fellow author and webmistress, Ally Blake, has raided her own stash of fit blokes to serve our every whim.

Olive, anyone?

Don't all rush, now. There are plenty more where that came from!

But now to the guests.  Ally will be back later in the week with her latest book, but first to drop by is -

- the lovely Anna Campbell and she's brought a wicked English rake to the party.

He's London’s most notorious seducer, Nicholas Challoner, who lives solely for revenge…

The dashing, licentious Marquess of Ranelaw can never forgive Godfrey Demarest for ruining his sister—now the time has come to repay the villain in the same coin. But one formidably intriguing impediment stands in the way of Nicholas’s vengeance: Miss Antonia Smith, companion to his foe’s unsuspecting daughter.

Having herself been deceived and disgraced by a rogue—banished by her privileged family as a result and forced to live a lie—Antonia vows to protect her charge from the same cruel fate. She recognizes Ranelaw for the shameless blackguard he is, and will devote every ounce of her intelligence and resolve to thwarting him.

Yet Antonia has always had a fatal weakness for rakes…


I have read this book and believe me, she has a fight on her hands!

Anna has three copies of Midnight's Wild Passion to give away.  

So here we have a game of truth, dare, kiss, promise... To win a copy of this book, I dare you tell me your secret passion. 

And while you're thinking about that, here's another of Ally's butlers in the buff with a jug of delicious fruit punch - livened with a touch of something naughty, to cool you down.

 Okay? Glass in hand, a little blini to stave off the hunger pangs.  Here's Nicola Marsh joining the party with her man of the moment, the utterly delicious Rob Lowe.

I asked Nicola about her new book GIRL IN A VINTAGE DRESS and she told me that the idea was originally sparked by an article in a Sunday newspaper magazine on retro charm schools. 

"Lola Lombard strutted onto the blank pages fully formed and I didn't look back.  Of course, I had to pit her against a hero her opposite in every way to ensure guaranteed sparks and a pic of Rob Lowe in a business suit fitted the bill.  Mind you, having to research loads and loads of Rob Lowe pics once I’d cast him was no hardship either!

I can't argue with that, and if you aren't lucky enough to win a copy of Nicola's Girl in a Vintage Dress here, you can win it as part of her 7 book giveaway at
http://nicolamarsh.blogspot.com/2011/07/prize-pack-giveaway.html

Meanwhile, tell me about a dress that you once owned that still makes your heart beat faster. That you wish was still in your wardrobe. And why it holds such special memories. Only the truth now!

I'm also delighted to welcome my RIVA/Harlequin Romance colleague, the witty, wonderfully emotional author, Jessica Hart   Jessica is not only a fabulous writer, but she's a great teacher, too. She regularly teaches hopeful authors in the lovely Tuscan countryside, and last year mentored writers in Mills and Boon's New Voices competition.

She has volunteered Kevin Costner as a butler, so order yourself up a Martini or two!

And she's offering a copy of her latest Harlequin Romance, The Secret Princess, as a door prize today.  It's bang up to the minute with its royal wedding theme and you won't want to miss it, I promise you.


For a chance to win, all you have to do is tell her who you'd choose as your Prince Charming!  Be honest, now. And husbands and partners do not count!


 And come back tomorrow when I'll have more guests, more books, more gorgeous men.

NEW YEAR, NEW LOOK!

Thanks to the lovely Ally Blake, who's been looking after my web design for a while now, I have a fresh new look for the New Year.

I'm still fiddling with the sidebar -- getting the balance right between clutter and information -- but that's all down to me now.

One of my new year resolutions is to spent a little less time on the web and a little more concentrating on a pile of deadlines I've got coming up so the plan is to post no more than once a week on Sunday.

Meanwhile, do look out for the annual HERE COME THE GROOMS competition that I'll be running with Kate Walker and Anne McAllister this month (which will probably mean breaking that resolution!).

QUICK UPDATE...

Thanks for all the cyber hugs -- nothing broken, but a very blue thumb, a mottled thumbnail and a perfect excuse not to peel potatoes. There's always a silver lining!

Ally has emailed me to let me know that she found it super hard to pick a winner, but Veronica is the lucky lady. If you'll send me your snail mail, Veronica, I'll pass it along to Ally.

Thanks everyone for taking part. I'm now retreating to my cave until Trish Morey makes a visit at the end of the month.

CATCHING UP

First, a huge thank you to Jessica Hart for her blog last week. And to those of you who emailed her in droves in the hope of winning a copy of LAST MINUTE PROPOSAL.

Generously, Jessica is sending a copy of the book and a tote bag to everyone who took part so well done all of you!

Next, I'm directing you to Romance Junkies Halloween competition -- loads of prizes to be won. Dive in and have some fun with recipes, spookie stuff and everything you'd expect of the season.

Now it's time to welcome as my guest this week the fabulous Ally Blake who has not just one, but two books to give away.

Ally, who is not just a wonderful writer, but a web sign designer par excellence as well and a busy mother, is having a stellar year and I know you're going to enjoy the excerpts she's posted.

Jump in and then respond to Ally's question with a comment on the blog. Enquiring minds want to know...

LIVING WITH A SPLIT PERSONALITY

September, October and November sees the release of three books of mine in a row in North America. Phew! I feel exhausted just thinking about it! Especially when they are coming out in two very different lines.

THE MAGNATE’S INDECENT PROPOSAL finished it’s worldwide jaunt last month as a Harlequin Presents. Next, (out now in the UK as well!) is a Harlequin Romance, HIRED: THE BOSS’S BRIDE.

And last but not least is my bad boy book, A Night with the Society Playboy, a Modern Heat, out in the UK right now and next a Harlequin Presents.

Are your eyes crossed? Think how crossed mine are writing one kind of book, then another, and back again! Heck even my fingers are feeling a little twisted.

Writing for two different lines could well lead some down the path to having a split personality. Especially someone like me who actually prefers writing two books at the same time.

Head-hopping from one character’s point of view to another is hard enough, how about hopping from one line, one tone, one voice to a very different one? Okay, the very thought is giving me a headache.

So how is it that with all the finger twisting, and head hopping, and voice morphing I find writing for two lines soooo much fun? Here’s why…

I’ve given you two excerpts, both examples of how my heroines Veronica and Ava view their respective heroes, Mitch and Caleb for the first time.

Here's Veronica...

Veronica glanced back over her shoulder. Whatever predicament she had landed herself in, the answer came down to Mitch Hanover; the man who had her future firmly in his long-fingered hands.

Kristin had called him a slave driving stuffed shirt on more than one occasion. Veronica had thus pictured a balding, overfed, pompous, pasty, married guy on daily blood pressure medication. Compared with her last boss, personable, clean-cut, and ultimately indiscreet Geoffrey, that combination of traits had sounded like her salvation.

Salvation, as it turned out, had been offered to her in the form of a man whose dark grey suit, dark tie and crisp pinstriped shirt were pressed to the point of agony. But it was the stuff stuffed inside the shirt that made the bigger impact.

Mitch Hanover was beautiful. Like Ken from Ken and Barbie fame beautiful. The kind of beautiful a young girl with dreams of princes and fairy wings and all that jazz would go weak at the knees for.

A shade over thirty, a bit more over six feet tall, with matinee idol looks, an assemblage of dark preppy hair, sharp jaw, and persuasively curved mouth. Stuck in a room with a young Cary Grant and Paul Newman he would have held his own.

But the things that had hit her first, last and every moment in between were his eyes. He had the kind of deep grey eyes that gave her the feeling it wouldn’t take all that much to make them sparkle.

Unfortunately she hadn’t managed it. Yet. But since he hadn’t turned her on her heels and sent her packing she had time. All for the sake of getting the job, of course. That was why she’d come home. Not to ogle, or allow herself to be consistently ogled by, a colleague. Supremely ogle worthy though he might well be.

Downstairs Kristin began whispering to her boss animatedly, arms flailing, going pink in the face, no doubt talking her up, while Mitch remained cool, aloof, unflappable. It didn’t ease Veronica’s mind any.

In fact watching him standing there surrounded by all that gilded finery, his fine mouth pressed into a straight line, his eyes unreadable, his whole mien making him seem like he took life far too seriously, he made her feel distinctly nervous. Little butterflies came to life in her stomach and she slid a hand beneath her t-shirt and tried her best to silently talk them down.

As though he knew he was being watched Mitch chose that exact moment to glance up at her, his intense grey eyes sending the tummy butterflies into hysterics.

Car payments, car payments, car payments, she repeated inside her head.

She slid her hand from her tummy and casually waved it at a random picture on the wall, some great hulking green monstrosity that looked like it had been painted by a blindfolded monkey. She poked out her bottom lip and nodded, feigning great appreciation.

Mitch’s gaze trailed away, lingered for a moment on the painting, then shifted back to her. From that distance she could have sworn his eyebrows raised a very little, and that his already enticing mouth turned upwards into the lightest of wry smiles, as though he wasn’t of the mind to take the thing home and stick it on his wall either.

But then he blinked and once again became a wall of poised professionalism. Shame, she thought.

And here's Ava...


A pair of hazel eyes snagged Ava’s. Caleb again.

Guests’ heads bobbed between them cutting off her view, but every few seconds that hot hazel gaze sliced through the air, unreadable at that distance, yet aimed directly at her.

She hadn’t needed his earlier warning to take heed where he was concerned. It had taken no more than a second in his company to see that just as she’d changed over the years, the boy she’d known, in all his varied incarnations, was no more.

There was apathy in his overly relaxed stance, arrogance in the angle of his chin, and the glimmer of barely restrained sensuality radiating from those disarming hazel eyes.

And despite the distance, despite the string quartet playing the perfectly respectable Claire de Lune, and despite the two hundred odd elegant party guests chatting up a storm between them, under his watch she began to feel warm and restless all at once.

She ought to have looked away. To have let her eyes slide past his as though she hadn’t even noticed.

But after the month she’d had, having a man who looked like Caleb Gilchrist looking at like she was some kind of exotic dish he’d once tasted and now was deciding if he wanted to go back for seconds was like an elixir. Like a balm to the great gaping wound in her own self-worth she was trying her best to conquer.

She cocked her head in question. A leisurely smile lit his eyes. The heat of it leapt across the marquee and burned her cheeks.

She hadn’t heard from him in ten years. Yet she’d often wondered if he thought of that night fondly or with regret, or if he thought of it at all. Right then her question was answered; her old friend was not reminiscing about pulling her plaits.

Her heart responded, thumping hard and steady against her ribs, making her feel soft and breathless and interesting, not the great big loser with bad judgement in her past and big trouble in her future who’d jumped on the plane in Boston because spending time with her unhinged family had felt like the lesser of two evils compared with the situation awaiting her back at Harvard.

He made her feel like her blood was so much lemonade. Always had. And it was the exact kind of feeling she needed right now.

She licked her suddenly dry lips and Caleb’s smile grew until she could see a pair of pointy incisors. It was the slow easy sure smile of a predator who knew exactly what his prey was thinking. Ava was almost glad somebody did as right then she had no idea.

The hand holding the champagne glass shook ever so slightly. Enough so she sought out a table and placed the half-empty flute out of reach.

Okay so did you pick up the difference? To my mind my Harlequin Romances are sweeter, brighter, sunnier. They remind me of wrapping myself in a dressing gown and wrapping my hands about a hot chocolate on a cool winter’s morning. Or like the scent of summer shooting off Sorrento beach at the beginning of summer. Of possibility, and hope, and vulnerability and beating a path to happiness for happiness’ sake. They are all about warmth.

And my Modern Heat’s which are now coming out in North America as Harlequin Presents are a little darker, moodier, and definitely sexier. To me they are about that moment when you lock eyes with the hottest guy you’ve ever seen across the dance floor of a hot, noisy club. About walking through the city and seeing only a sea of great-looking, super-successful men in suits coming the other way. About fantasy and secret thrills and daring your imagination to go one step further than you ever would in real life. They are all about heat!

So how do I feel about having to split my personality and my writing voice in two? I feel darned lucky!

I have signed copies of both books to giveaway. So for the chance to win ‘em, tell me which kind of romance novels you most love reading - warm ones or hot ones - and why.

THE MAGNATE'S INDECENT PROPOSAL out now! Sexy Sensation Aus/NZ ~ Harlequin Presents, North America Sept 08

HIRED: THE BOSS'S BRIDE, Harlequin Romance, North America & UK Oct 08

And if you want to learn more about Ally and how she writes, you'll find her here, under the SPOTLIGHT.

FROM ALLY

There's too many good choices!!!!! Seriously about ten I would happily choose. I had to cross out those I have already used, those I might one day use for a heroine, and those too close to the hero and heroine's names in this book. Soooo I had to go back to the source, looking into that sweet face, imagining where she has come from and how her name would have come about and the final winner is...Poppy.

A big thanks to everyone who helped out and congrats to Jill who'll be getting the signed copy of my FALLING FOR THE REBEL HEIR which is out now in the UK and in the next few days in North America!

Phew!!!

GUESTS, CHOCOLATE AND # 50…

Wow, didn’t we all have fun naming Ally Blake’s moppet? Thanks so much to you for joining in and telling us all your favourite names. As soon as I hear from Ally (we're on opposite sides of the world so the time difference is a factor) I’ll post the name of her winner.

Okay, you all know I have a serious chocolate weakness so it will come as no surprise to any of you that I’ve been watching Willie’s Wonky Chocolate Factory on the box.

Willie is a touch manic, totally infuriating – occasionally we get a glimpse of his wife’s expression that says it all – and gorgeously sexy. I tried to talk the dh into making Willie's cloud forest chocolate cake with his shirt off yesterday, like Willie, but he thought he’d rather not.

Probably very wise (the cake, not the shirt); it looked fabulous, and not only impressed the buyer at Selfridges but had the punters at Cullompton Farmers’ Market drooling. High sugar/high calorie nosh is, however, out of the question at the moment. Diabetes in the dh’s case – avoirdupois in mine! And I’m not quite sure what the local food hygiene officers would have made of the kids joining in the cooking, or the dog in the kitchen. It's your own concern if you’re eating it yourself but when you’re selling to the public I believe the regulations are a little stricter than that! Great telly, though. And I’m definitely up for the “choc-shock” diet. One hundred per cent chocolate drunk like espresso. Oh, yes…

I’m beginning to get really excited about the publication of my 50th Harlequin/Mills & Boon Romance, THE BRIDE’S BABY.

The other “A Bride for All Seasons” authors (Fiona Harper, Trish Wylie and Shirley Jump have Summer, Autumn and Winter) and I are in the middle of setting up a special blog for this four-book series – I’ll set up a link as soon as it’s live. In the meantime, to counteract that dress on the cover (which I’m sorry, just doesn’t compute), here’s a glimpse of the dress that was my inspiration. It evolved, as these things do. The jacket got longer, the appliqué more important. I don’t often get caught up with clothes, but I could really see Sylvie’s dress. Well, here is Sylvie, looking at it for the first time: --

“The dress, a simple A-line shift in rich cream silk, had been appliquéd to the knees in swirling blocks of lavender, purple, and green. And instead of a veil, Geena had created a stunningly beautiful loose thigh-length jacket on which the appliqué was repeated around the edge and on wide fold-back cuffs. Embroidery trailed over the silk and tiny beads caught the light as she moved, beads that matched the small, Russian style tiara that had been made to go with the gown.”

And of course, you all remember the shoes!

The book is already available online at eHarlequin (with the eBook option for immediate satisfaction!) and Mills & Boon, and to order at Amazon. As for reviews, well it’s already received a TOP PICK from Romantic Times and a new review is online at the Pink Heart Society.

Don't forget that Donna Alward will be here later this week to tell us all about her book and offer a prize, so do drop by to join in the fun.

And this week I heard a really thrilling piece of news – but I can’t share it just at the moment. Such a tease!