Wild Justice at Wattpad!

Beaumont Brides Special Offer

I've been neglecting the blog lately because I'm really pushing towards the end of the book, but the Beaumont Brides trilogy is really cheap at Amazon this week (.99c in the US and the equivalent everywhere else). It's only going to be available at this price for the weekend, so go grab it!

Yes - that's all three books!

Go, go, go...


This link will take you to Amazon where ever you are.

Back to Front

There was a time when a romance author’s backlist was something that gathered dust in the publishers attic. Occasionally, a favourite would be dusted off and reissued in an anthology, but after the first round of publication in the US, UK, Australia and around the world, most of the books only saw the light of day in three-in-one reissues in places like Lithuania unless an author moved into mainstream and hit the New York Times bestseller list.

Authors like Tess Gerritsen, Nora Roberts and Jennifer Crusie then found their romances dusted off and published in fancy new covers, annoying the heck out of their new readers who thought they were buying a mainstream Tess, or Nora, or Jennifer, but making everyone a lot of money. Including the authors.

Suddenly, however, the backlist is no longer in the back room.

With the wild success of the eBook — something everyone said would never happen — they are hot property. Many of my earlier books were digitised a couple of years ago by Harlequin when eBooks were just beginning to take off and they were testing the waters. And then the Kindle and Nook arrived and my reading life changed forever. A book at the press of a button, any size print I want. It’s an obsessive reader’s (one with dodgy eyesight) dream. But… but… While it’s great that those books are out there for the readers who missed them the first time around, how I would have loved to give them a make-over, bring them up to date, freshen the writing to reflect twenty years of experience.

Then Amazon gave us KDP and the world changed again. Now I’m not just an author, but a publisher, too.

Last year I dug out the Beaumont Brides trilogy, longer romances written for a British publisher in 1996/7 and gave them a new lease of life. It was a steep learning experience and earlier this year, after re-editing them and giving them to a new “clever clogs” to format them for me, I republished them all, along with a three-in-one volume containing all three books. The first of the individual volumes, Wild Justice, is free, so it will cost you about the same whether you prefer individual downloads or the big one — 300,000 words for $4.99.

Out of the sixty books I have written for Harlequin, just four titles have reverted to me and those are getting that lovely makeover. New covers — oh, the joys and frustration of hunting for the perfect image! — an update, if appropriate, to take note of modern technology, changes in currency in Europe, the fact that the Eurostar no longer leaves London from Waterloo, but St Pancras (I’ve been on it, and it’s fabulous!)

The first of these, Eloping With Emmy, was published this month and will cost you less to download now, at $2.99, than it would have done to buy it as a paperback in 1998 ($3.50). That is a serious bargain.

I’ll be following it with Old Desires in a month or two. The cover is done (here’s a peek), but I can’t get stuck into the serious editing until I have the book I’m writing off my desk. And moved house.

And of course, the icing on the cake, was the chance to put together everything I’ve learned in my twenty year career and pass it on to a new generation of authors in Liz Fielding’s Little Book of Writing Romance.

It’s a new world out there and I am embracing it with both arms.

Six Sentence Sunday

It's been a few weeks since I've played Six Sentence Sunday so this week I thought I'd share a few lines from my eBook, WILD FIRE. This is the third of the Beaumont Brides trilogy - you can download the first book, WILD JUSTICE, for free.

It's Melanie Brett Beaumont's story and, having been caught up in the dramas of her new family for the last few months, she is desperate to reclaim her sense of identity. More, to re-invent herself. She is being blocked at every turn: -

Swept along on a tide of blistering rage, her angry momentum carried her through the heavy glass door of the travel agent's office with such speed that the man approaching it from the other side was forced to step back sharply to escape the abrupt and painful rearrangement of his profile. And still she was oblivious to her surroundings until, on a reflex honed by an acute sense of self-preservation, the man grabbed her shoulders to prevent her from cannoning into him.


'Hey, there! Slow down.' The abrupt jolt almost stunned her, so deep had she been in her fury, so intent in her purpose. Melanie had never been so angry, had no idea that it was possible to feel that way and she raised her hand to her forehead, dazed by the suddenness with which she had been wrenched out of her temper.

Enjoy your Sunday!

BLACK FRIDAY BOOK FUN!

Being British I was unfamiliar with the term Black Friday, but this year it's been everywhere and suddenly the meaning clicked.

Never one to miss out on a fun idea, I'm pitching in with a giveaway to celebrate the day.

WILD JUSTICE is already a free download on Kindle, but I'm offering a free download of WILD LADY and WILD FIRE - the second and third books in the trilogy as a prize.

To be included in the draw, follow my blog or, if you've already done that, then leave a comment (or both!) telling me what you'll be hunting down in the sale today. Or the best bargain you ever found.

Here's a snippet from Wild Fire to keep you warm -

His touch was like summer lightning, wild fire that ran between them and as he continued to hold onto her hand, his eyes too seemed to heat from within.

They were not, as she had first thought, a steely grey, but were flecked with warm gold lights that seemed to bore into her very soul and for a moment she was certain that he felt the same charge of excitement. Then steeply hooded lids came down, cloaking his feelings.

'Guard it with your life, Melanie.'

        

The key was warm from his body, but his hands were cool. Long, slender fingers wrapped around her warm hand and the warmer key. Hidden layers of heat, like the hidden layers of meaning she sensed behind everything he said. 

I'll draw the winner on Monday morning, UK time.

Oh, and if you're in the UK, Mills and Boon are having a Pink Friday sale today and you can buy TEMPTED BY TROUBLE for a really skinny £1.99 here

Six Sentence Sunday

For this week's SSS - for more details about that see here - I've taken this little snip from the second book of my BEAUMONT BRIDES trilogy, WILD LADY.

When I wrote WILD JUSTICE, I had no notion of writing a trilogy but when my editor read it she said, "Three girls, three books and can I have the first chapter of the second one this week so that I can use it as a teaser in the back of the first book."

Of course. No problem...

Gulp.

I have to tell you, that if I'd known I'd be writing Claudia's story, I'd have made her nicer, which really would have been a shame!

This one has a "heroine in peril" plot, and a self-appointed bodyguard.

Claudia, who could usually reduce a man to stuttering incoherence in less time than it took to say it, was seriously shaken to discover that this man was quite immune to her particular brand of magic. 
     Insurance? 
     That was all that bothered him? He wasn't in the least concerned about her health, the fact that she might have broken her neck? Apparently not. As their eyes met across the wreck of her car she received the very strong impression that he was quite prepared to break it himself. Well, the day was still young and if her anonymous correspondent was right, he might yet get his wish; the thought was enough to drive the smile right off her face.


Actually there are seven sentences, but one of them is only one word and that's allowed.

DOUBLE THE FUN...

This month, in the UK, Mills and Boon have republished a three-in-one called AN ORDINARY GIRL AND A SHEIKH, featuring books by myself, Barbara McMahon and Nicola Marsha.

If you're not in the UK, The Book Depository - link on the sidebar - will send it anywhere in the world post free (which is fabulous), although it will also be available as an eBook.




By sheer coincidence, all three of us have recently released eBooks.

BLUEBELLS ON THE HILL by Barbara McMahon tells the story of country singing star Amanda Smith who's seeking a refuge from the busy concert schedule when she finds the perfect hide-away in the Sierra Nevada mountains. The only problem is neighbor Mac Mackenzie who's had his eye on that patch of land for years. When he can't bribe her to leave, he changes tactics. The only problem is it becomes hard to tell if he's trying to drive her away, or convince her to stay.


It available now as a FREE download.

From Nicola Marsh, there's this hot new novella, TAG TEAM, in which a  Police Special Ops team leader joins forces with an Australian Defence Force Tactical Assault Group expert who specializes in biological warfare to stop an imminent chemical threat.

When the threat becomes personal and the body count mounts, they find themselves locked in a safe room, where they discover their sizzling history takes little to ignite. 


This is available to download from Amazon or Smashwords for 99c.

And, finally, you can still download the first of my Beaumont Brides trilogy, WILD JUSTICE (the one with the cover that produced more reaction than my last 60 put together!) for free at Amazon in the UK and on Smashwords, Barnes and Noble and iTunes in the US.

(Amazon US - a law unto themselves - are still charging 99c. I've written to them twice but they're not taking any notice of me. They might listen to readers!)

THE GREAT ADVENT CALENDAR GIVEAWAY

DAY TEN

10th December

I am Zahir al Khalid and Liz has asked me to reassure you that Diana is safe. She is! I swear it!

Look, I know what you're all thinking. That I'm some kind of unresconstructed nineteenth century throwback who's kidnapped Diana and carried her off and installed her as part of my hareem.

Oh, please. That word. Peel your eyebrows off the ceiling...


I'd stay and give you a language lesson, but I don't have time. I'm in London to launch my new airline. Diana and I... Well, I have to go home and choose a suitable bride. As for Diana, she's made it clear that she has her own life. Which is good. I'm happy for her. Really... And she'll be home as soon as all the fuss has died down. On my honour.

Since she's busy Liz has also asked me to draw the winner of the Day Eight question. The answer was The Temp & the Tycoon -- it's right there on the sidebar of the blog, except apparently the picture has disappeared for some unaccountable reason -- and it was Christy, in Utah, whose name I drew from the hat. Congratulations, Christy. Liz will post the book first thing on Monday morning.

Behind Day Ten in this Advent Calendar I have found this book.


WILD JUSTICE, Liz tells me was the first book of three longer books about the Beaumont sisters. There was supposed to be only one, but her publisher liked Fizz's story so much she asked her to write stories about her sisters, too (WILD LADY and WILD FIRE). This, apparently is Liz's last spare copy of all three volumes and she's offering it to you.

She's asked me to set the question and so I'll ask you this. Liz tells me that she has written two previous novels with a sheikh as the hero. I would like you to tell me what they are called.

Please send your answer to liz @lizfielding.com with Day Ten in the subject line and your name and address in the body. And if you'd like to receive the first chapter of my own story, tell Liz and she'll email it to you.

Now, if you will forgive me, I have a press conference to attend.