Three special, sexy romances

If you're in the UK this month, It Happened In Paradise will be sitting on the shelves W H Smith or a supermarket near you, or waiting to be downloaded to your favourite reading device.

It contains three books, Wedded in a Whirlwind by me, Deserted Island, Dreamy Ex by Nicola Marsh and His Bride in Paradise by Joanna Neil.

One heroine needs to escape for a while - things do not go according to plan; one heroine has been shipwrecked for a reality TV show;  one is hoping a holiday fling will help mend her broken heart. Three very different stories but all set on gorgeous tropical islands - just the thing as the nights draw in and we're reaching for our woolies!

It's £5.99 in paper and a bargain £3.99 to download from iTunes or Amazon

Nicola Marsh Cover Reveal

Good girls finish last? Screw that.

Being a small town girl isn’t so bad. Unless Mom’s the town joke and I’ve spent my entire life shying away from her flamboyance. College in Las Vegas should be so much cooler. But it’s not. Bad things happen there. Real bad.

So when my big brother Reid offers me an all-expenses paid vacation to Australia for a month, I am so there. Discounting the deadly snakes on the outback cattle station, I should be safe. Until I meet Jack.

Jack defines bad boy and then some. And the guy can cook. He’s big, buffed, bronzed, and hotter than any guy I’ve ever met. And his sexy Aussie accent makes me melt.

But he’s my brother’s new bestie and he lives on the other side of the world. There’s no future for us.
Is there?

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18686338-before

Nicola Marsh's Brash

Writing buddy Nicola Marsh has just launched her steamingly hot new novella, BRASH and I'm thrilled to give you a sneak peak of the cover and blurb -


Jess Harper is so tired of being good…

Thrust into the dazzle of Burlesque Bombshells, Vegas’s premier dance venue, the small town librarian has no option but to embrace her inner vixen. Especially when blast from her past, sexy Aussie celebrity chef Jack McVeigh is still determined to keep their relationship strictly hands-off.

This time Jess isn’t surrendering without a fight and armed with her hot props and Bombshell moves, Jack doesn’t stand a chance.

When Jess and Jack are sequestered on an island to orchestrate the burlesque wedding of the year, sun, surf and sizzling sex are on the menu! But will the fiery couple come back for seconds?


To read on click…

Nicola Marsh returns to Love - and it's free!

Here's a treat for the Nicola Marsh fans who downloaded CRAZY LOVE in their thousands - another trip to the town called Love - where falling in love is an industry.

LUCKY LOVE will be free to download from 26th - 28th December, so fill your boots and tell all your friends. A not to be missed, hot read from a USA Today Bestselling Author.

Here's the blurb:

For perpetually single Jazmyn Harding, what's worse than being desperate and dateless?

Receiving advice from her brash, sixty-year-old aunt via Skype from Love, a kooky town in California.

Jazmyn has no intention to visit Love, but after one too many disastrous dates she agrees to Aunt Flo's challenge: if she's single in a month, she'll swap Sydney for Love.

Determined to find Mr. Right, Jazmyn plays the dating game with renewed vigour. But as the clock ticks down and her man drought continues, how far will she go to avoid Love?

And here's an excerpt from Chapter 1 -  

Aunt Flo’s tips to be lucky in love.

Google naked pics of the Magic Mike cast daily and aspire to these kinds of men.

I turn a page and there it is. The answer to my problem. MANHUNT. GO OUT AND GRAB THE MAN OF YOUR DREAMS. MAKE IT HAPPEN TODAY. It’s a tiny black box squeezed between the ads for vibrators and psychics and has one of those 1800 numbers that charge a small fortune. I was tempted for a second, before I remembered my maxed out credit cards. And that little thing called pride.

I flip through the remainder of the magazine, forgetting the coffee. By the time I take a sip it’s lukewarm and I spit it out in the sink. Very ladylike. Not only am I drunk, single and self-pitying, I’m turning into a slob.

My laptop pings and I jump. I’m not in the mood to chat with Flo but she’s always good for a laugh and I could definitely do with one of those.

I fire up Skype and Flo’s wrinkled face framed by frizzy gray hair fills the screen.

“How’s my favorite niece?”

“Your only niece is fine.” Drunk, but fine, and I can’t help but chuckle as she leans closer to her PC, as if she can see me better that way. “What about you?”

“Can’t complain.” Flo taps a cigarette out of a pack, puts it to her mouth and lights up. “Booked your flight yet?”

Flo asks me this almost on a daily basis. With my stomach roiling and One Direction rehearsing in my head, I couldn’t couch my response in vague terms.

“Hell no.”

Flo frowned. “By your bleary eyes, mascara remnants and the fact you’re answering me at three a.m. OZ time, you’re alone and sozzled. Again. Why don’t you visit Love? Can’t hurt—”

“We’ve had this conversation a hundred times before. I don’t want a holiday fling.”

Who was I kidding? With the man-drought I’d been going through lately I wouldn’t knock back a no-holds-barred, steamy dalliance with a hot Yank.

Flo shook her head. “A change of scenery will do you good. And maybe you need to surround yourself by Love to find love—”

“It’s too early for puns.” I pressed fingertips to my temples. It did little for the pounding. “Don’t you have customers at the diner to go terrorize?”

“My shift doesn’t start for another hour.” Flo glanced at her watch. “Plenty of time to hassle you and squeeze in a Castle re-run.”

“How about you go drool over Nathan Fillion and I’ll get some sleep—”

“How about this? If you aren’t in a steady relationship by the end of the month, you agree to visit?”

“Not interested in Love.”

The moment the reflex rebuttal fell from my lips, I knew it wasn’t true.

I wanted to fall in love.

I wanted to have a real relationship for once in my life, not one that involved casual sex or minimal communication or batteries.

I wanted to prove I could tie down a guy, beyond my book boyfriend Christian Grey.

“Everyone deserves a little loving.” Flo winked. “And I reckon you’ll find it in Love. Guaranteed.”

I didn’t know whether it was the late hour, the usual Friday night party circuit with lack of a date, or the fact I was staring twenty-nine in the eye, but I found myself reluctantly nodding.

“Fine. If I’m single in a month, I’ll come visit.”

“Good girl.” Flo grinned, an action that accentuated the laugh-lines fanning from the corners of her faded blue eyes. “Now you go get some shut-eye, because I have a date with the fine Mr. Fillion.”

“Maybe you should get a real guy too?”

She always chastised me for being cheeky when I said this. To my amazement, this time she blushed.

She waved away a cloud of cigarette smoke. “Gotta go, you’re breaking up.”

The screen went dead, leaving me to ponder the unlikely scenario my sixty-year-old aunt, who’d been widowed for countless years, might be on the prowl for love too.

And if she hooked up with a guy before me, how pathetic was I? 

Here's the link to LUCKY LOVE

And if you missed it when it was released, here's CRAZY LOVE

And come back on Friday when there'll be another freebie for you to download!

 

Christmas is coming...

WINNER! Janet has won Michelle Douglas's The Nanny Who Saved Christmas. Get in touch, Janet and we'll get the book to you! 

Christmas is getting out of hand. My grocery order is now going to need a supermarket truck of its own. There is a pile of pressies on the dining room table for the grandbabies waiting to wrapped. The sun has taken the week off so my solar lights are not doing very much at all and I forgot to order to wholegrain mustard. Again.

But the decs are up, the tree is twinkling festively, the carol singers are on their rounds tonight and tomorrow - I hope the rain lets up for them - and I've finally found my electric can opener. (Moving home takes longer than you would think!)

Now if I can think of some exciting little extra to pop under the tree for the s-i-l (one of the world's least acquisitive souls) my work here will be done.

Meanwhile, here are some announcements.

First, thank you all so much for making the launch of Old Desires such a success. Thanks to all your blogging, reviews, tweets and FB support, it went zinging into the top ten on both sides of the Atlantic and even made a bit of an impression in Europe, where eBooks are still rarer than hen's teeth.

I hope you all managed to download it free, but it's still a steal.

At the moment there's a daily Under the Christmas Tree feature on the Harlequin Romance Author's blog, which is worth a look, if only to wonder at Shirley Jump's 12 ft tree. Of course there are books to be won!

There's Lucky Love a new "Love" book from Nicola Marsh for those of you who fell in love with Crazy Love earlier this year.


Sadly, the Riva series hit a bump in the road  and The Last Woman He'd Ever Date never got it's scheduled paper release in the UK, but the New Year will bring the launch of KISS in the US, which is where you'll find Anything But Vanilla in May. Have you downloaded Mira Lyn Kelly's Waking Up Married? It's free, but only available in the US, sadly. PW raved about it.

I don't have any more guests before Christmas, but there will be one last not-to-be-missed gift for you all as the year ends and 2013 rings in. It'll be here for you to pick up on 28 December so make a note in your diary. You won't want to miss it.

Oh, and if writing romance is on your list of New Year resolutions, don't forget to put a copy of Liz Fielding Little Book of Writing Romance on your Christmas list.

BUSTED IN BOLLYWOOD

I’ve had the most fun following the run-up to the publication of Nicola Marsh’s single title BUSTED IN BOLLYWOOD and, as a member of her street team, I had the pleasure of receiving an ARC.

BUSTED begins with a big fat lie – always a great place for a romcom to begin. Shari Jones — in a very dark place and jobless after splitting with her cheating ex — goes to Mumbai in place of her best friend who wants nothing to do with the man her parents have arranged for her to marry.

Her mission - and she's already regretting accepting it - is to make the man back off. Say "no thanks". Be the one to pull out of the arrangement.

This is clearly not a great plan and, as you’d expect, doesn’t go well. On the up side Shari falls in love with the food and culture of India. And she meets a very sexy Englishman.

Back in New York and beginning to get her life together, Shari gets a bit part in a Bollywood extravaganza, meets up with Mr Sexy and things should be great. Falling in love with a guy who lives on the other side of the world is never going to end well, though, especially when his mother is a witch.

Fabulous food, exotic scenery, hot sex and a heap of emotion makes this a fun read.

MASHUP

A few brilliant links for you to check out...

Pitch and win a critique of the first 5 pages of your manuscript by LIZ PELLETIER, senior editor ENTANGLED PUBLISHING at NICOLA MARSH'S BLOG

KRISTEN LAMB on Structure - Plot Problems: Falcor & the Luck Dragon and The Purple Tornado


SARAH DUNCAN on the eternal question - how much money will I make if I get published.

ROMANTIC NOVELISTS' ASSOCIATION Regency Day

BUSTED IN BOLLYWOOD

Today is the day of the big cover reveal for BUSTED IN BOLLYWOOD a fabulous new book by my colleague, USA Today bestselling author, Nicola Marsh

Shari Jones needs to get a life. Preferably someone else’s.

Single, homeless and jobless, Indo-American Shari agrees to her best friend’s whacky scheme: travel to Mumbai, pose as Amrita, and ditch the fiancé her traditional Indian parents have chosen. Simple. Until she’s mistaken for a famous Bollywood actress, stalked by a Lone Ranger wannabe, courted by an English lord, and busted by the blackmailing fiancé.

Life is less complicated in New York.

Or so she thinks, until the entourage of crazies follows her to the Big Apple and that’s when the fun really begins. Shari deals with a blossoming romance, an addiction to Indian food and her first movie role, while secretly craving another trip to the mystical land responsible for sparking her new lease on life. Returning to her Indian birthplace, she has an epiphany. Maybe the happily-ever-after of her dreams isn’t so far away?

RELEASE DATE - 6TH DECEMBER 2011!

An Ordinary Girl and a Sheikh

It's always a pleasure to see a book getting a second outing, especially when it's in such good company - a treble treat with Barbara McMahon and Nicola Marsh

THE SHEIKH'S UNSUITABLE BRIDE was my 50th Mills and Boon romance and we had an enormous amount of fun when it was published. I left its heroine, Diana, in charge of the year-long party and to introduce the guests who dropped by to make it so special. She was convinced that the only reason most of them came was to ogle the photograph of Zahir, her sheikh and I've had to prise it out of her "treasure" box for this blog because, this September it's being reissued as a 3-in-1 By Request (there will be a eBook version, too).

Here's a taster.

A precious Venetian snow globe has been smashed and Diana takes the sheikh shopping for a replacement. He anticipated Harrods but time is short and she opts for ToysRUs:

‘The Princess and the Frog, Metcalfe?’ he asked, holding out the globe for an explanation.


He had beautiful hands. Not pampered or soft. There was an old scar running across his knuckles and although his fingers were long, thin even, it was the slenderness of tensile steel.


‘I am not familiar with this fairytale,’ he said.


‘I’m surprised you know any of them,’ she said, forcing herself to focus on the globe. It contained a scene in which a girl, wearing a small crown, and a frog were sitting on the edge of a well.


‘Disney has reached Ramal Hamrah.’


‘Has it?’ Of course it had. ‘Oh, right. Well, I suppose this must be one he decided to give a miss.’ She thought about it. ‘Actually, he was probably right. I’d stick with one of the others,’ she advised.


‘But this girl is a princess. Ameerah will like that.’


Just like the assistant, who’d faded away with no more than an envious glance in her direction, Diana recognised the imperative. He didn’t need words to issue an order. He could do it with a look from those dark eyes.


‘It’s not good,’ she warned him. ‘Cinderella is, admittedly, a bit wet, but at least she’s kind. And while Snow White is not exactly a female role model...’


‘I don’t have all day,’ he warned.


‘No, sir.’ She took the globe, gave it a little shake to start the snow storm. ‘Okay, this is how it goes. Spoilt princess drops her precious golden ball in the well. The frog offers her a deal. If she takes him home with her, lets him eat from her plate, sleep on her pillow, kisses him goodnight...’ She hesitated as, distracted by the sensuous curve of his lower lip, she lost the thread of the story.


‘He’s a talking frog?’


She shrugged. ‘It’s a fairy tale. If you want reality you’re in the wrong place.’


He acknowledged the point with the slightest movement of his head. Then, ‘Kisses him goodnight,’ he prompted,



‘Mmmm. If she promises all that,’ she said, ‘he’ll fetch her golden ball from the bottom of the well.’


‘A gentleman frog would have done it without strings attached.’


‘A girl with any gumption would have got it herself.’


‘You would have climbed down the well, Metcalfe?’


‘I wouldn’t have kissed the damn frog!’


'You disapprove?’


‘There’s no such thing as a free golden ball,’ she said.


‘No, indeed.’ He did something with his eyes and without warning, beneath the dark red uniform Diana suddenly felt very warm.


‘Anyway,’ she said, quickly, running a finger under her collar to let in some cool air. ‘She, um, agrees. Actually, she’d have promised him the moon -- she loved that ball – and the ungentlemanly frog dives into the well, gets the ball and hands it over at which point the princess shows her gratitude by legging it.’


‘Legging it?’


‘Has it away on her toes. Scarpers. Runs back to the palace without him.’


He laid one of those beautiful hands against his heart. ‘I’m shocked.’


She’d been quite wrong about the irony. He “got” it, all right. He might not be laughing on the outside, but his eyes gleamed with amusement.


‘I imagine the frog doesn’t take that lying down?’


‘As you said. The frog is no gentleman. He hops all the way to the palace, rats on the princess to the King who tells her that a princess must always keep her word.’


‘A princess shouldn’t have to be told.’


‘It might surprise you to know that holds good for common folk, too.’ Then, ‘She isn’t happy about it, but she doesn’t have much choice, so she lets him eat off her plate, but then she flounces off to bed without him.’


‘She learns her lesson hard, this princess. Does the frog quit?’


‘What do you think?’


‘I think she’s going to be sharing her pillow with the frog.’


‘Right. It takes him hours to hop all the way up the stairs, find her room, but he gets there in the end and once more reminds her of her promise. Finally, accepting that she’s beaten, the princess puts him on her pillow and even forces herself to kiss him goodnight.’


‘I can relate to this frog, but can this story have a happy ending?’


‘That rather depends on your point of view. When the princess wakes up next morning the frog has turned into a handsome prince.’


His brows rose a fraction. ‘That might take a bit of explaining.’

Diana, whose view of the scene had been fixed in childhood by a picture book image of said handsome prince, fully clothed in princely trappings, standing beside the princess’s bed as she woke, suddenly saw a very different reality and, quite stupidly, blushed.


‘Yes, well,’ she said, quickly, ‘it’s that whole wicked-witch-cursing-the-handsome-prince thing. The princess had to have her arm twisted to breaking point, but she did what was needed to break the spell. Da-da-de-da,’ she sang to the wedding march. ‘And they all lived happily ever after.’


‘You mean that now he’s not a warty frog, but her equal, she marries him?’


‘I did warn you. The girl is as shallow as an August puddle. It’s why the prince married her that beats me.’


‘Maybe the King didn’t buy the “spell” story and produced a shot-gun?’ he offered.


‘It’s a nice theory, but the fact is that in fairy stories the girl always gets the prince. It’s that love-at-first-sight, happy-ever-after thing.’

Here's what a few people said about it when it was first published.

...oodles of sizzle...Pure magic from beginning to end." 4.5 stars from Romantic Times


"Sublimely entertaining." Romance Readers at Heart


"Fielding writes characters that matter." Coffee Time Romance


"Sparkling, enchanting, feel-good and wonderfully romantic, The Sheikh's Unsuitable Bride is sheer perfection!" at Cataromance

Oh, and on the subject of eBooks - did you know that you can have your Kindle editions signed? It's taking me a while to get all my books on Kindlegraph - for some reason it won't let me do the American editions - but there are a few titles I can sign for you. Just click on Kindlegraph

And if you're in the UK, I'll be BBC Radio Wales on Monday morning - Jamie and Louise - at about 11 o'clock, talking about NEW VOICES.

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.

AND TODAY'S GUEST IS...

This week, I'm absolutely delighted to welcome Nicola Marsh author of both "Romance" and "Modern Heat/Presents" books to help me celebrate 50 books.

Nic is another Melbourne author and she particularly loves writing about the hip, vibrant, cosmopolitan vibe of her home city. The call from Harlequin Mills & Boon came in May 2003 and she hasn't looked back and has recently sold her fifteenth book.

Here's Nicola to tell you a little about herself and her books.

I have a thing about heroes.

No great surprise, really, considering I write romance for a living!

Now don’t get me wrong, I adore writing strong, modern heroines, women who know what they want and aren’t afraid to go out there and grab it with both hands but the real fun stuff comes when I cast my heroes.

This month, I have 2 releases, different in many ways but similar in the fact I fell in love just a little-okay, a lot-with both heroes.

Nathan Boyd, the entrepreneur in Executive Mother-To-Be (Harlequin Romance), is a man with a past. Emotionally wounded, reserved but oh-so-gallant, he’s the type of guy you’d notice for his steely resolve, the type of guy you’d want to be there when the going gets tough and that’s just what the heroine, Kristen Lewis discovers when she’s pregnant…with Nate’s baby.

He’s appealing in a ‘strong, silent and sexy’ way.

And can the guy dance!



Tyler James, on the other hand, is a hero you sit up and take notice of the second he struts onto the pages of Purchased for Pleasure (Harlequin Presents).

A Navy SEAL, he’s used to taking charge and can handle anything, anywhere, anytime. He’s gorgeous, impressive and larger than life, the type of hero you’d love to get swept off your feet by…and that’s exactly what happens to Kate Hayden.

With 6 ft 4 of prime Navy SEAL at her beck and call for a week, can you blame her?


Here’s a little taste of Nate and Ty:


Nate stared at her, his dark, intense gaze trying to send her a message she couldn’t fathom. Once again his sad mask had slipped into place and for a split second she wondered if their impending goodbye had anything to do with it.

Yeah, like he’d be heartbroken over a woman he barely knew.

“I wish things were different.”

For one, heart-stopping moment she felt the same zing, the same spark she had back in the bar when they’d first met, the same tenuous connection that this was right, was meant to be, and she almost ran back to the bed and flung herself into his arms.

But that wasn’t the sensible thing to do and right now logic was about all she had left.

I do too,” she finally said, opting for honesty yet knowing it wouldn’t make a difference as she slipped into the bathroom to get dressed and head back to her well-organised life and out of his.

(from EXECUTIVE MOTHER-TO-BE, Harlequin Romance, Feb 2008)


She’d been staring at him, her luscious mouth a perfect little pout and he’d had difficulty breathing. In fact, his first glimpse of Kate after six long years had been worse than a case of the bends, though no amount of hyperbaric chamber treatment would fix what he had for her.

Uh-uh. Lust, pure and simple, had slammed through his body, making him want to leap over tables, grab her and lock his mouth to hers, tasting her, possessing her, reminding her of how damn good they’d been together in the bedroom.

He stumbled and she cast a pitying glance over her shoulder while he sent her a cocky grin.

Staring at his sassy ex strutting in front of him had him remembering exactly how great they’d been together and perhaps spending seven days trying to resurrect old times before facing the life-changing appointment next week wouldn’t be such a bad thing?

Yeah, that sounded like a plan.

And like any good SEAL, he always stuck to the plan.

(from PURCHASED FOR PLEASURE, Harlequin Presents, Feb 2008)

I couldn’t decide which book to give away so I’m giving away a signed copy of both!

To win Executive Mother-To-Be, answer this question:
What type of show has Kristen been producing in Singapore?
(answer here)

To win Purchased for Pleasure, answer this question:
How much is Kate’s winning bid for Tyler?
(answer here)

Thanks for having me, Liz.

Now, I’m off to surf the Net for more hot heroes…

Happy hero hunting!
Nicola

Thanks, Nic! Okay, you know the form – send your answers to liz @ lizfielding.com with “Nicola Marsh” in the subject line and your answers with your name and street address in the body of the email.

And if you haven't already taken at look at the HERE COME THE GROOMS competition, scroll down past the party stuff to see all the details.

SIZZLE, SEDUCE, SIMMER


Some Australian authors - familiarly known as the "the Melbourne Mob" -have got together and produced this gallimaufrey of delights as a way to celebrate the joys of eating, writing and the fact that these activities have brought them all together. And Mira, Australia have published it.

It was multi-award winning author Marion Lennox's baby, so you know you're onto a winner from the start. The fabulous Anne Gracie is in the line up, as is Trish Morey and Stephanie Laurens. You'll find more details of the line up, photographs of the launch party (I so-o-o wish I could have been at that one!) and how to buy at Ally Blake's blog.

My copy is already winging it's way from HMB Australia as we speak.

BIRD BY BIRD -- OR WORD BY WORD

I recently read Anne Lamott's wonderfully inspiration book, Bird by Bird. I need it at the moment since Manda and Jago's story is progressing word by word. And all Twyla Tharp's good stuff in The Creative Life about "turning up" for the job, too. Because I'm not. Turning up.

I'm sitting at the keyboard at seven o'clock. I'm here in body, but the mind is playing hookey.

The cold I picked up on the plane home from Italy is just refusing to quit. The doctor says it'll take six weeks and that all you can do is tough it out. But I can't focus and I'm getting mightily sick of waking up with a headache every day, and cough, cough, coughing. The fact that the story is dark and angsty isn't helping, either. I think Manda needs to give Jago another kick. Or maybe he needs to kiss her again (well, he can't kick her back, can he?)

And the guilt at not getting the words done is stopping me from going out and enjoying is spectacular weather we're having. Glorious sun in November. A bright red hot air balloon waltzed down the field at the bottom of the garden yesterday evening, very low -- honestly, you'd think it was August.

I really, really wanted to be up there, skimming the rooftops and forgetting all about the book.

Never mind. The postman brought Nicola Marsh's Purchased for Pleasure, Ally Blake's Steamy Surrender, and Diana Palmer's Winter Roses this week. I'm going to take the day off and, break open the chocolate (it's good for throats, yes?) and recharge the batteries.