Plagiarism, copyright, tropes

I had planned to write a blog on the subject of copyright theft - which as some of you will know is something that I've experienced in the past. I'm not going into the details - they're here if you want to read about it.

On this occasion, it's the other way around. Kate Walker, who has been writing best-selling romances for more than twenty years, was accused of stealing the work of a woman who had been submitting the same first chapter and synopsis to endless competitions for several years. There are a whole raft of reasons why this was nonsense. Kate had never seen the work and her editor is in the Mills and Boon office at Richmond, not Harlequin in Toronto. The judge, having read both The Proud Wife and the other work dismissed the case with prejudice.

A happy result? A relief certainly, but a dear friend had suffered a a year of stress and misery and has left the deluded complainant considerably poorer (that "with prejudice" meant that she had to pay everyone's expenses, which were considerable.) What made her believe she had a case? Drove her to court? She's not the first failed author to take this course, or the last. The latest victim to be accused in this way is Stephanie Meyers. The problem appears to lie in the misunderstanding of the use of tropes in genre fiction.

Fellow author, Michelle Styles, explains it all with with breathtaking clarity on her post "A Troupe of Tropes" at the Pink Heart Society -

"As some of you may know, an unpublished author recently brought a case against PHS columnist Kate Walker and Harlequin claiming that they had used her contest entry to craft The Proud Wife. The unpublished author had submitted her 20 pages and synopsis into many RWA sponsored contests and cited one where  she thought Kate Walker had been one of the judges. In fact Kate Walker had never heard of the contest and had never judged it. The unpublished author felt so strongly that the works were similar, citing 40 different points of commonality that she took the case to court.   What followed was many months of agony for Kate Walker who knew she was innocent.  Harlequin’s legal team asked her not to speak about the case to anyone.  Earlier this month the federal judge dismissed the plaintiff’s  claim with prejudice..."  read on - A Troupe of Tropes , read the judgement for yourself. And then read the book. It's terrific!

Here's the blurb -

Her husband wants her back!
Marina thought her dreams had come true when her husband placed a wedding band on her finger. But their marriage was not the fairytale she'd hoped for, and eventually Marina walked away, her heart broken.
But two years on Pietro DInzeo no longer haunts Marina's dreams. She knows the time has come to move on, and even a summons to join him in Sicily won't deter her However, with his wife standing before him, about to sign on the dotted line of their divorce papers, Pietro wonders why he ever let her go?

To read on click here for Amazon US
or here for Amazon UK

First Page Friday - The Proud Wife

My First Page Friday guest today is not only a colleague, but a dear friend who has been writing wonderful books for Harlequin for more than twenty years. The Proud Wife isn't her latest, but has that special, original, Kate Walker touch so I wanted to share it with you.

Here's the blurb -

Her husband wants her back!
Marina thought her dreams had come true when her husband placed a wedding band on her finger. But their marriage was not the fairytale she'd hoped for, and eventually Marina walked away, her heart broken.
But two years on Pietro DInzeo no longer haunts Marina's dreams. She knows the time has come to move on, and even a summons to join him in Sicily won't deter her However, with his wife standing before him, about to sign on the dotted line of their divorce papers, Pietro wonders why he ever let her go?

And here's the first page -

THE letter lay exactly where he had left it last night, right in the centre of his desk. The single sheet of paper was aligned carefully square, in the centre of the polished oak, straight in front of his chair where it could not possibly be missed. All it needed was his signature and it would be folded neatly, placed the already addressed envelope and sent on its way. 

            And after that there would be no turning back.

            But until he made the final move, added the swift, determined scrawl of his signature – the work of just a couple of seconds – nothing at all would happen. It would just lie there,  untouched, until he was ready.

Of course it would, Pietro told himself, his mouth twisting slightly wryly at the corners. He hadn’t spent almost half his lifetime building up the sort of  retinue of employees that any man would envy. The staff who would not only obey his every command but anticipate it perfectly, knowing exactly what he wanted and when. They would remain poised, waiting, until he would give the word to act. Then  - and only then – would they carry out his instructions to the peak of perfection he had come to expect so much that he no longer even noticed it was there – only coming up against the system that created it when something went wrong. Which happened so rarely that he couldn’t actually recall the last time it had ever ruffled the controlled surface of his world.

He would never allow it to happen.  Lack of control, the wildness of emotion, brought confusion and chaos with it. Confusion and chaos of the sort that he never ever wanted to experience again.

‘Dannazione!’

The curse was torn from him, the flat of his hand slamming  down on the polished surface of his desk so that the letter lifted slightly in the air current it created, fluttered,  shifted, landing back down again an inch or two further left before lying still again.

He had known the sort of chaos that could be created by lack of control. Once, just once, he had been fool enough to let that sort of wildness invade his life and take with it the organisation and the rule of rational thought he valued so deeply. He had loosened his grip on the reins and lost control. And he had hated the results.

Just once had been enough.

Just once. Never again. And it had all been this woman’s fault.

To read on click here for Amazon US or here for Amazon UK

WINNERS!

WE HAVE WINNERS! 

Kate, Anne and I have drawn the winners of the Here Come the Grooms contest and they are: -

Colleen Conklin

Natalija Shkomare

Carol Woodruff

They will all be receiving copies of the following three books -

The Devil and Miss Jones by Kate Walker
Savas's Wildcat - By Anne McAllister
Flirting with Italian - By  Liz Fielding


Flirting With Italian has just received a terrific review from the fabulous Romance Junkies -


FLIRTING WITH ITALIAN is a beautifully rendered tale of love and deception. Ms. Fielding does a fantastic job of accurately portraying a scorned woman named Sarah Gratton who escapes her old life and seeks out a new one in Italy with a slight hope of finding love along the way. Enter a hot, sexy Italian named Matteo di Serrone who just happens to live in the same house as the lady from Sarah’s great-grandpa’s war story. Ms. Fielding deftly weaves many unexpected surprises to the plot of the story, which left me wondering what would happen next. Plus, the author’s wonderful depictions of the lush countryside makes me long to take a trip into Italy. FLIRTING WITH ITALIAN is a smart, sexy, smoldering love story that oozes with seduction. Maybe a little frisky but, oh, so refreshing!

SIX SENTENCE SUNDAY MEETS HERE COME THE GROOMS!

It's Sunday and, since we're getting close to the end of this year's Here Come the Grooms competition, I thought I'd choose my Six Sentence Sunday snippet from myown  hero's book, FLIRTING WITH ITALIAN.

Matteo di Serrone is many things. A botanist, wine maker, adviser to the United Nations, conte. His complex personality has been influenced by a childhood marred by the death of his father and the betrayal of two women who were important to him. He has two passions; the quality of his wine and the protection of his dysfunctional family. Sarah Gratton's arrival appears to threaten the latter and there meeting is fraught with tension that culminates in a kiss...

The world seemed to have slowed down and it took forever for his lips to reach hers.  Somewhere, deep inside her brain she knew the word “…no…” was teetering on the brink, ready to fall to her lips.  All she had to do was move them, say it, but her butter-soft mouth seemed to belong to someone else. 

When it parted, it was not to protest and as his mouth found hers a tingle of something like recognition raced like wildfire through her blood, blotting out reason.  Her  and her body, with nothing to guide it, softened, melted against him, murmured, “Yes…”

It wasn’t enough and she clutched at his shoulders, fingers digging into hard flesh as she began to fall back, leaving gravity to take them down into the soft thick grass on the shady side of the wall.

If you'd like the chance to win a copy, along with books by Kate Walker and Anne McAllister, click HERE - we'll be drawing the winners on the Sadie Hawkins Day - 29th February!

HERE COME THE GROOMS!

Since it's the weekend and, hopefully, you'll have a little time to enjoy your favourite book blogs, I'm introducing the three books featured in this year's HERE COME THE GROOMS contest.

First, Kate Walker's -

"

THE DEVIL AND MISS JONES

Kate's groom is Carlos Diablo Ortega -  who, as he tells Martha - made his  fortune in 'horses and wine' - is a championship polo player and owns a hugely successful vineyard. He's also just discovered that he's not actually the son of the man he thought was his father - or the grandson of Javier Ortega.  And that has turned his life upside down.

Martha's rather different -  but her life has just been turned upside down too.

Martha Jones has never taken a risk in her whole life. Until the day she runs out on her wedding and succumbs to the magnetism of a man she has only just met! A man she knows only as Diablo.

Lone wolf Carlos Ortega won't promise Miss Jones more than one searing-hot night. Yet Carlos is shocked by Martha's sweet innocence. This runaway bride is a virgin, and it seems the repercussions of their sizzling encounter could last forever . . .

Finally there is Anne McAllister's brand new novel - out at the same time as  The Devil and MIss Jones - that's March (UK) and April (USA  - Presents Extra)

SAVAS’S WILDCAT

Anne's Groom is Yiannis, the youngest of the Savas brothers and his heroine, Catriona MacLean. Yiannis and Cat have a bit of a history – or a lot of history, depending on which of them you ask.

According to the back cover:

Yiannis Savas, the irresistible playboy of the Savas dynasty, was every girl’s dream. But he quickly turned into Cat’s nightmare when his idea of a relationship was no more than a fiery affair.

Now Cat MacLean has grown up and out of her girlish fantasies. Determined not to fall prey to smooth talk and fast charm again, she’d engaged to someone sensible.

Then she’s forced to spend a week with the one man she’s never been able to forget . . .

 Finally my own -

FLIRTING WITH ITALIAN

My Groom is Conte Matteo di Serrone, the owner of a great vineyard, a plant breeder who is working with the UN’s Food and Agriculture Office.

The lady in Matteo’s life is Sarah Gratton, a history teacher, who is picking up her life after her fiance falls for someone new and she finds herself working in an international school in Rome.

The blurb for Liz’s book says:

Bag: packed. Flight: booked. Soon I’ll be in Rome and experiencing life in a foreign language! Watch this space…
Newly single Sarah Gratton is about to jump start her life and a just-for-fun romance with dark-eyed Matteo di Serrone could be just what the doctor ordered! 

This Italian count is ideal flirting material—if Sarah’s brave enough to make a move!

Well, she might not be—but luckily Matteo is! Matteo decides to keep this mysterious woman close—no hardship at all, given their spine-tingling awareness of each other and for a while it’s like something out of a fairy tale—until Sarah realizes she’s made the most rookie mistake of all: falling in love with her holiday fling….

Now for the competition - each of the Grooms has asked one question; your task, should you wish to win a copy of each of these books, is to answer all three of them.

Here is Carlos' question - What is Martha wearing – and holding when he first sees her?

Yiannis's question is quite simple -  he wants to know - Who’s Harry?

Matteo’s question is -  I asked Sarah if she’d found someone. Who was it?

Yiannis, Carlos and Matteo would like you to check out their books. You can access them by clicking on the books tab at the top of each of our web pages and then find the individual book pages.

If you’d like to enter this year’s Here Come the Grooms! contest, read the blurbs/ the extracts and/or our blogs and find the answers to the questions the grooms have asked  and send them to each of us . You send all 3 answers to each of us to complete your entry - that way you have three chances of be on of the three winners  of  three great books. (Let's hope your lucky number is  3!)

Send all three of us an email with Here Come The Grooms in the subject line so that it will go into the right folder.

The contest is now open and it closes on Sadie Hawkins Day - or Leap Year Day - February 29th.

Good Luck!

Hi, I’m Matteo di Serrone and apparently I’m one of the Grooms in a competition that Liz and her friends, Kate and Anne run each year.

Liz asked me to drop by and introduce myself. Roman - we've had a palazzo in the city for more than seven generations - Italian, a botanist, wine maker, the head of the Serrone family, with all that entails.

That's it - I hate talking about myself and anyway the Italian gossip magazines have been having a field day with the revelations about our family in the last few weeks. It’s all there so maybe I should tell you about my home instead.

I live - when I can get away from the Rome, from my work - in the small town of Isola del Serrone, in the Lazio region of Italy.

My family have been there for centuries, we one with the soil. The Volci were here before the upstart Romans got going and we still speak a dialect that predates Latin.

Italian is a very modern language – created to unite a country that was a series of city states, each with their own language. Dante’s writing was used as a template, which is why Italian is so beautiful but at home we still speak the old language.

I first met Sarah on a path high above Isola del Serrone, in a place that overlooks my home and my family vineyard. She was trespassing. My idiot younger brother warned me that she was there – after he’d held open the gate for her.

I really couldn’t blame him.

I’d only been with her a few moments and I was kissing her. Her reaction, the tears, left me as shaken as she clearly was. What could I do but offer her lunch? How better to get to know her? To find out why she was so interested in my house. What she was doing so far off the tourist trail.

Good food, my best wine, will lower the guard, reveal secrets.

‘So,’ he said, as they dug into the creamy pasta, ‘you didn’t tell me how long you have been in Rome?’

‘A month, give or take a few days.’

‘And you are enjoying it?’

‘Great job. Great apartment. What’s not to like?’

‘You have a job?’ he asked, clearly astonished.

‘Of course.’

‘I’m sorry. I didn’t mean so sound so surprised, but since you don’t speak Italian…’

‘I’m teaching at an English language school in Rome. Maternity cover.’

It was clearly not what he’d been expecting if the barely perceptible pause, an instinctive lift to his brows was anything to go by. But he was swift to recover.

‘History,’ he said. ‘I recall that you have a degree in history.’

‘It feels a bit like taking coal to Newcastle to be honest,’ she said. Then, because he clearly hadn’t a clue what she was talking about, ‘They used to mine vast quantities of the stuff in Newcastle. It’s a saying.’

‘Of course. I understand. But your degree is in Modern History.’

‘I’ve become pretty familiar with the Tudors, since they’re part of the curriculum. But not a Roman in sight,’ she admitted.

‘Are you enjoying it?’

‘Yes, I am.’ Which was true. The job. Rome.

‘But you must miss your family. Friends.’

‘They are a telephone call away. We exchange emails, photographs.’ As if to make the point, she picked up her phone and dropped it in her bag. ‘Chat on Skype.’

‘It’s not the same,’ he pointed out. ‘A computer can’t give you a hug.’

She laughed. ‘No, that’s true.’ And you had to like a man who understood the need for a hug now and then. ‘But I always wanted to travel.’ She lifted her shoulders. ‘I talked about doing a gap year, before university, but in the end I decided to be sensible, get the degree and the PGCE over and done with first, then travel.’ Sensible Sarah. ‘I had all the brochures, was deciding where I’d go, what I’d do, when the dream job came up. Too good to miss and when I met Tom on my first day it seemed like fate…’

‘Everything set fair until he ran into the boulder.’

And she smiled again, not because she didn’t still have the bruises, but what was the point in poking at them to see how much they hurt? It was over. It had been over from the moment Louise had walked into the staff room. Forget the teeth and claws. Why would she fight for a man who had never looked at her the way he’d looked at Louise? As if he’d been felled.

Being mean was pointless. Louise had the kind of voluptuous figure that any man would swoon over. But Matteo had made her laugh about it. Who would have guessed that was ever going to happen?

‘This seemed like a good moment to go back to the beginning,’ she said. ‘I signed up with an agency which recruits teachers for overseas jobs, got a reference so good from my Headmaster that I suspect he couldn’t wait to be rid of me.’ She pulled a face. ‘It’s tricky when you all work together.’

‘A decent man would have left.’

‘He did, but he’s head of sports. The kids love him. And I’m the one who always wanted to travel.’

‘You left so that he could return to his job?’ He grinned. ‘I take it all back. You are not nice, Sarah Gratton.’

‘Excuse me?’

How much “nicer” could a woman get?

‘Every day this man goes to work he will know he has you to thank for his job. And so will Louise. She won’t be able to stand it. Sooner or later she’ll insist he changes his job and he’ll blame her. It’s positively Machiavellian.’

‘No!’

The chicken, golden-skinned and scented with rosemary, arrived at that moment, giving her a moment to gather herself.

It wasn’t true. It couldn’t be.

Could it?

Did that warm glow come from knowing she’d done the right thing?  Or was that no more than self-righteous cant?

How many times had she imagined him walking down the corridors, seeing her everywhere the way she’d seen him? Missing her? Realising what a mistake he’d made?

Matteo dressed a green salad. Topped up her glass.

‘No need to look so distraught, Sarah. You didn’t twist his arm. The choice was his.’

‘He loved his job.’

‘So did you.’

‘Yes, I did. But right now I’m picking up my life plan, taking the first step on my journey around the world.’

‘You are happy?’

Right now? At this minute? With the sun slanting through the heavily laden vines overhead. The soft murmur of insects, the scent of warm earth and Matteo di Serrone teasing her, making her laugh.

‘Yes,’ she said. ‘I’m happy.’

He glanced across the table, holding her fixed in the power of his dark eyes as he said, ‘Then let me say that I’m very glad you started your journey in Rome, Sarah.’

And she found herself saying, ‘So am I.’

The chicken was amazing, a melting of dollop of dolcelatte could not be denied, but she finally begged for mercy when he offered her a peach.

‘Enough.  No more.’

‘You must have something. A pear? A plum?’ Then, in apparent desperation, ‘A grape?’

She laughed. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d laughed as much.

‘No,’ she declared. ‘Not even a grape.’ But refusing to take no for an answer, Matteo reached up and plucked a huge dark grape from a bunch growing above his head. Held it close enough to her lips for her to smell the sweetness.

‘Resistance is futile,’ he said and she felt herself sliding into temptation.

Everything today had been about the senses.

Vivid colour, the scent of herbs and the sun-baked earth. The touch of a man’s lips for the first time in months.

Languorous in the still heat of the early afternoon, lulled by the faint hum of drowsy insects, mesmerised by Matteo’s dark eyes gleaming softly in the shade, urging her to this one last pleasure, she leaned forward the inch required to take the grape, closing her lips around it.  Around the tips of his fingers.

The grape exploded on her tongue, the juice dribbling over her lips, over his fingers.  And it seemed the most natural thing in the world to lick it up…

All the details of the competition are in the previous post - you have three questions to answer, and for three chances to win send all your answers to Anne, Kate and Liz.

Meanwhile, I have a fountain to fill with wine and a statue to organise before the wedding.

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!.

I hope you’ll be spending the day with your loved one, quietly, madly, doing whatever floats your boat.

It doesn’t have to be about expensive, out of season roses, or chocolate or champagne. “I love you” written in lipstick on the bathroom mirror, or in the steamed up windows of the bus, or a heart drawn in the snow says it all.

It’s about taking the time to remember all the good things you share and saving a moment to say the words.

Meanwhile, since it's Valentine's Day it's time to welcome the Grooms!

First up, Yiannis Savas from Anne McAllister's Savas's Wildcat!

 

Yiannis Savas, the irresistible playboy of the Savas dynasty, was every girl's dream.  But he quickly turned into Cat's nightmare when his idea of a relationship was no more than a fiery affair.

Now Cat MacLean has grown up and out of her girlish fantasies.  Determined not to fall prey to smooth talk and fast charm again, she's engaged to someone sensible.

Then she's forced to spend a week with the one man she's never been able to forget...

Yiannis' question is "Who's Harry?"

Next it's Carlos Diablo Ortega from Kate Walker's The Devil and Miss Jones

Martha Jones has never taken a risk in her whole life. Until the day she runs out on her wedding and succumbs to the magnetism of a man she has only just met! A man she knows only as Diablo.
Lone wolf Carlos Ortega won't promise Miss Jones more than one searing-hot night. Yet Carlos is shocked by Martha's sweet innocence. This runaway bride is a virgin, and it seems the repercussions of their sizzling encounter could last forever . . .
 
Carlos' question is What is Martha wearing – and holding when he first sees her?

Finally it's Matteo di Serrone from my own, Flirting With Italian

Sarah Gratton is a history teacher, picking up her life after her fiance falls for someone new. She has taken a job in an international school in Rome and has her heart set on finding out what happened to the woman who saved her great-grandfather's life in 1944. Instead she finds Matteo.

 

Matteo's question is, I asked Sarah if she'd found someone. Who was it?
 

Here's the competition - email Anne, Kate and myself (all three of us!) - subject line Here Come the Grooms - with the answers to all three of the questions posed by our grooms. You'll find the answers in the excerpts on our web pages. Three lucky winners will each win a copy of all three books.

We'll be drawing the prize winners on Sadie Hawkins Days, which, if you've been paying attention you'll know is 29 February.

Good luck!

HERE COME THE GROOMS!

It’s Leap Year, in case you hadn’t noticed and that means that Sadie Hawkins day is coming around. Have you heard of it?

It’s the day that the women get to take things into their own hands and grab the man of their choice – if they can catch him.

It began – well, it probably all began in the dark reaches of history – but for our intents and purposes, it began on November 15, 1937 when American cartoonist Al Capp began to write a story arc in his comic strip, Lil Abner, about Sadie Hawkins, the daughter of Hekzabiah Hawkins, Dogpatch resident. 

Sadie, reputedly “the homeliest gal in all them hills,” was growing increasingly panicky about her chances of matrimony as the years went on. And finally, when Sadie reached 35 with nary a suitor in sight, her father (also frantic at the thought of being stuck with her for the rest of his – or her – days) took matters into his own hands.

He declared it Sadie Hawkins Day, and decreed that there would be a foot race: the holler’s bachelors would run and Sadie would take off after them.  And whoever she caught would find himself at the altar with Sadie as his bride.

He took out his gun and said, “"When ah fires, all o' yo' kin start a-runnin! When ah fires agin—after givin' yo' a fair start—Sadie starts a runnin'. Th' one she ketches'll be her husband."

Well, it worked a treat.

And you’d better believe that all the other unattached women in the vicinity took note.  They thought it was a fine idea and declared that there would be a “Sadie Hawkins Day” every year.

Because he got so much fan mail in favor of the idea, Capp did a variation on his Sadie Hawkins Day story every November for the next 40 or so years. 

Sadie Hawkins Day got translated into once every four years when it became associated with old folk customs which claimed that on leap years women were allowed to take the initiative and propose.  Combining the two seemed perfectly reasonable.

And celebrating it seems like something romance readers and writers ought to do.

In honor of Sadie – and to celebrate our 5th annual Here Come The Grooms! Contest, Kate Walker, Anne McAllister  and I -- and our respective heroes (who are currently on the run with some determined heroines after them) --  are opening this year’s contest on Valentine’s Day this year and ending it on February 29th – Sadie’s day.

So please drop by each of our websites during those two weeks and answer all three of our heroes’ questions, then send all three of us those answers and three lucky winners will each get a copy of all three featured books.

Come and join in the fun!

SADIE HAWKINS DAY IS COMING"

Have you heard of Sadie Hawkins?

Check out Anne McAllister's post at Tote Bags and Blogs today! And then come back next week  to join in the fun!

PARTY DAY 2!

I can't have a celebration without a little cake. Just a mouthful.

Can someone tip Reynaldo out of that hammock and get him to pass them round?

Kate Walker ... just the woman for the job. I'll leave you to handle that while I introduce today's guests.



So, today I have great pleasure in welcoming one of Harlequin's newest authors to the party.  Soraya Lane is a woman made of the right stuff. She delivered a book and then, scarcely pausing for breath, she delivered a baby! As if that isn't enough, she's also being shaken to bits by earthquakes on a daily basis back home in New Zealand.  Romance authors are not made of pink and fluffy; we're Steel Magnolias!

Her book The Army Ranger's Return is about a soldier's second chance…

As nervous as a teenager about to go on her first date, Jessica Mitchell waits for Special Forces Ranger Ryan McAdams—her best friend for the past year— whom she's never met! They've been pen pals while Ryan was away fighting for their country and Jessica was secretly fighting her own demons back home.

She knows widower Ryan's fears of returning to civilian life and his hopes of reconnecting with his son. Now she can't wait to meet him face–to–face—to hear his voice and see his smile…

The returning soldier is so much part of our experience these days and I can't wait to read this story.  And if you'd like the chance to win a copy all you have to do is leave a comment.

Truth, dare, kiss or promise, remember?

Tell us about a kiss from someone special you haven't seen in a long time. A parent, a child, your grandmother, the love of your life.

And meanwhile, back to Kate, if she's finished with Reynaldo! Oh, right, she's brought Jake Gyllenhaal with her, so Reynaldo is going to have to make his own amusement.

I've known Kate almost as long as I've been writing for Mills and Boon and she's the warmest, kindest person you can imagine. Every year we indulge in a "Here Come the Grooms" contest, along with Anne MAllister, definitely one to look out for.  Today she's brought a copy of her most recent book, The Proud Wife, to the party.

Marina thought her dreams had come true when her husband placed a wedding band on her finger. But their marriage was not the fairy tale she'd hoped for, and eventually Marina walked away, her heart broken.  Two years on Pietro D’Inzeo no longer haunts Marina's dreams. She knows the time has come to move on, and even a summons to join him in Sicily won't deter her.

However, with his wife standing before him, about to sign on the dotted line of their divorce papers, Pietro wonders why he ever let her go?

Kate writes the most amazing Mediterranean heroes and you won't want to miss this one.

For a chance to win a copy, tell me which of the great exotic hero types you dream of being swept away by?  A Greek tycoon? A Sicilian Conte? A hot Italian or fiery Spaniard?  Nothing but the truth now!

I've just spotted another guest arriving.

I met Lesley Cookman when she was studying for her Creative Writing MA here in Wales. It started as a cyber-connection but we're now on hugging terms!

A glass of Chianti, Lesley? (Snaps fingers for Reynaldo to deliver!)

While she's distracted by Reynaldo, I'll mention that Lesley writes the "Libby Serjeant" crime series - cosies set in the Kent countryside and I think it's about time they kicked Misummer Murders into touch and moved east! She's the go-to girl if you want to write a pantomime, too, but the multi-talented Lesley is also a long standing member of the Romantic Novelists' Association, writing as Rosina Lesley for Accent Press and she has two of those eBooks to give away, Running Away and A Will to Love.

Catherine Long, in RUNNING AWAY, has a habit of running away from her problems - and one of the biggest problems she's ever had to face goes by the name of James Grant. He was a great support to her and her younger sister Felicity when their father passed away, but when Catherine started developing feelings for this older, married benefactor, she fled to take up residence in her grandmother's country cottage. Except now James has arrived in the village to redevelop his uncle's grand house into a hotel and their lives suddenly seem so intertwined, there's no place left to run for Catherine.

 

It's time for another dare!  For a chance to win one of Lesley's books tell me what you have dared for love. Have you defied your family? Gone to a new country? Run away?  Or do you think that love itself, the risk of your heart, is the greatest dare of all?


Oh, and if you want to see me talking about TEMPTED BY TROUBLE, click on the link at the top of the sidebar!

A Salaam a'Laykum.  Good morning.  I am Fayad al Kuwani, one of the "grooms" in the contest that Liz is running with her good friends, Kate and Anne.

When I say "groom", you will be imagining a wedding, a celebration, a happy bride.  This is very far from the case.

It all began when Violet found the stolen "Blood of Tariq", the legendary, ruby studded khanjar, on which my family's power was founded nearly a hundred years ago.  My enemies wasted no time in attempting to take it from her.  I simply wanted to keep her safe, but things are never that simple.  Marriage was the only way to keep her in my care.  I should have explained what was happening first, but truly, there was no time. 

Now she believes that I married her only to become Emir.  She is not pleased with me.  In fact she was quite forceful in expressing her displeasure.  There is something about a woman flinging herself at you in a rage that engages the senses ... completely...   

I have assured her that divorce will be as simple as the marriage ceremony.  That until the dowry is gathered, a house prepared, the maksar arranged, she will be my wife in name only.  I am delaying things for as long as possible (difficult with my mother on the case), giving Violet time to fall in love with my country, my people, as they have come to love her.  As I have come to love her.  But time is running out...

*  *  *

To win this and the other books in the competition, all you have to do is answer three simple questions, which you’ll find in the excerpts on our websites. And here they are -

Anne's Question: What is George's occupation and where does he live?

Kate's Question: What has Marina received from Pietro at the opening of the story?

Liz's Question: Who was Violet's great-great-grandmother

The competition runs from 1st February – 14 February and you’ll need to send an email to each of us with our answers.

Email links on our websites -Kate Walker, Anne McAllister Liz Fielding

HERE COME THE GROOMS!

When I was asked to write a novella for 100 Arabian Nights, to be published as part of the Mills and Boon Centenary Celebrations, I brain-stormed ideas with the best beloved, who has not only lived and worked in the Middle East, but speaks Arabic.  He is hopeless at plots, but he does know about "stuff" and it was the bb who suggested the khanjar.

It's what Alfred Hitchcock would call a "McGuffin".  A catalyst.  An object about which a story will spin.

I introduce my "McGuffin" - 

"That it was old was not in doubt. The handle had the patina of hard-use and, inset in the top was a large, smoothly polished red stone the size of a pigeon’s egg. The sheath wasn’t straight, but sharply curved and adorned with fancy silver and gold-coloured filigree work into which were set three similar, tear-shaped red stones, decreasing in size as they reached the curved point and looking for all the world as if the stone on the handle was bleeding along its length."

That it had been touched by the fabled Lawrence and controlled the fate of nation, was just an added bonus.  Hidden for three generations and found by chance, it unleashes a series of events that Violet Hamilton could never have envisaged when her foot went through a dodgy floorboard.  Here's how Sheikh Fayad received the news: -

‘I’m sorry to disturb you, Fayad,’ the Ambassador said, but the press attaché has just received a call from the news desk of the London Chronicle about a story they’re running tomorrow. It’s something I thought you might want to know about.’

Sheikh Fayad al Kuwani, grandson to the ruler of Ras al Kawi, looked up from his laptop. His cousin would not have disturbed him unless it had been something important.

‘What scandal has my father visited upon us now?’ he asked, sitting back, prepared for the worse.

‘No… No, it’s nothing like that, in sh’Allah,’ Hamad, was quick to reassure him. ‘It seems that a young woman took a spectacular khanjar for expert valuation to some television programme that was being recorded this afternoon.’
 

'That makes the national news in this country?’

‘There were rubies,’ he replied. ‘Very large rubies. And a story about a runaway Arabian princess and stolen jewels, which apparently makes it…’ He hesitated, then with distaste, said, ‘Sexy.’

Fayad stilled. ‘Go on.’

‘The local paper picked up the story and passed it along and having done some research the Chronicle has, inevitably, come up with the mystery of the long-lost “Blood of Tariq”. They’re running the story, using the photograph of your great-great-grandfather with Lawrence , along with the original 1917 despatch from the front line in tomorrow’s first edition.  They were hoping for a comment from the Embassy.’

Here are the back cover blurbs for all three books

Hired by her Husband —

Back in her husband’s bed!
Once Sophy and George Savas were happily married . . . Then Sophy woke up and realized that her blissful marriage was a sham. She’s never looked back — until the day she learns her husband has been critically injured and her world is shaken.

Now though he’s stubborn and proud, George wants Sophy’s help. He knows she won’t come willingly, so he hires her to be his wife for as long as he needs her! But playing happy families is dangerous, and soon George realizes that his need for Sophy runs deep and strong . . .

The Proud Wife —

Her husband wants her back!

Marina thought her dreams had come true when her husband placed a wedding band on her finger. But their marriage was not the fairytale she’d hoped for, and eventually Marina walked away, her heart broken.

Two years on Pietro DInzeo no longer haunts Marinas dreams. She knows the time has come to move on, and even a summons to join him in Sicily won’t deter her. However, with his wife standing before him, about to sign on the dotted line of their divorce papers, Pietro wonders why he ever let her go?

Chosen as the Sheikh’s Wife —

Becoming the Tycoon's Bride After a beautiful stranger discovers his long-lost heirloom under a floorboard, Sheikh Fayad al Kuwani swoops in to protect innocent Violet Hamilton. Now, with greedy enemiesgathering, the only way he can keep her safe is to put her on his private jet, take her to his desert kingdom and … marry her!

To win this and the other books in the competition, all you have to do is answer three simple questions, which you’ll find in the excerpts on our websites. And here they are -

Anne's Question: What is George's occupation and where does he live?

Kate's Question: What has Marina received from Pietro at the opening of the story?

Liz's Question: Who was Violet's great-great-grandmother

The competition runs from 1st February – 14 February and you’ll need to send an email to each of us with our answers.

Email links on our websites -Kate Walker, Anne McAllister Liz Fielding