Who's Who?

There's a terrific competition over on the Harlequin Romance Authors blog this week. There are ten pictures of romance authors now and as little kids - match them and there's a $20 Amazon voucher for one lucky winner!

Here's the link No guessing out loud on here! There's an extra prize for my newsletter members. (If you've missed it this time, sign up - the link is on the sidebar - so that you don't miss any more!)

The never-ending book...

The never ending book, the one that I started before I moved house and began to think I'd never finish, is finally done. It is the second in my ice cream trilogy - the first was Tempted By Trouble.

This is Sorrel's story - the middle sister - the one who loves vintage clothes and plans to be a millionaire by the time she's twenty-five.

The title, which I absolutely love, is ANYTHING BUT VANILLA, and it will be published as a Riva title in the UK and in the new KISS imprint in the United States next year.

Before that, however, I will be republishing three of my "vintage" books, A Stranger's Kiss, Dangerous Flirting and Old Desires in eBook format. Here's a taste of the covers to come!


STOP PRESS!

In case you've missed it, I'm running a "special" on Eloping With Emmy on Amazon - that's worldwide - during October. You can pick it upfor 99c in the United States, 77p in the UK and .89€ in Germany and the rest of the EU.

She's So Over Him...

I'm absolutely thrilled to introduce new Riva author, Joss Wood. Her fabulous debut book, She's So Over Him, is part of the relaunch package for the series and has been attracting a lot of attention. Joss herself, is from South Africa, adding to the international chutpah of a series that has authors from four of the five continents.

Welcome, Joss!


For a newbie author such as myself, it’s such an honour to be on your blog, Liz. Thank you so much for inviting me

My name is Joss Wood and writing has always been an escape, a compulsion, something I’ve dallied with all my life. It’s essentially to my mental well being so I’m absolutely thrilled to be contracted to write books for the Mill’s and Boon’s Riva line. My debut book, She’s So Over Him, was released in September this year and my second book, Wild About the Man, will be released in January 2013

I was a finalist in the Voice of Africa/Essentials magazine Short Story writing competition in 2010 and was placed third in 2011. It was through this competition that my first book was brought to the notice of the Mills and Boon Editors.

About Me…

I live in a rural town in the province of Kwa-Zulu Natal, South Africa in an area surrounded by wild game farms and stunning mountains. Totally spoilt, it’s not unusual for me to see rhinoceros and giraffe, antelope and zebra while driving to visit my family in a neighbouring town.

I run on coffee and drink far too much of it! When I’m not writing or being a hands-on Mom to two very busy kids, I work for a non-profit organization to promote the local economic development and the collective business interests of our town and area, where my background in business, local government and marketing comes in handy. My hobbies include coaching my daughter’s field hockey team, meeting my friends for a before-work cappuccino or an after-work cup of tea and reading, reading, reading. I read everything; from romance to romantic suspense to real life crime to sci-fi…

Travel is hugely important to both my husband and I and I’m happiest with a rucksack on my back and an airplane ticket in my hand and have been so fortunate to indulge my passion for travel by visiting many countries within Southern Africa, Europe and America.  

About writing…

While I’m working on a manuscript, I always have ideas bubbling away in the background. As an idea comes to me for a new book− or a heroine/hero with a problem−  I jot them down and carry on writing. When I’m waiting for revisions to come back from my editor, I go through those ideas again to see if any of the premises/ ideas jump up and shout ‘write me, write me!’ If they do, I start fleshing the story out, if not I pace the floor, eat cookies and worry whether I’ll ever write another book again.  

About She’s So Over Him….

Cale and Maddie. Complicated. Stubborn. So completely right for each other but so determined to keep each other at an emotional distance while ripping each other’s clothes off…

I absolutely adore them and loved writing every moment of this, my debut novel for Mills and Boon Riva. She’s So Over Him is set in beautiful Cape Town and tells the story of Maddie, a very successful event co-ordinator and Cale, a sports psychologist and triathlon maniac.

So as Maddie helps Cale organise a charity triathlon race in memory of his twin Oliver, Maddie and Cale jump into a physical relationship that they both want but neither realise lead to them inviting these pesky little feelings like tenderness and friendship and protectiveness into their lives. They’re both smart, successful individuals but neither of them knows how to deal with love… She’s So Over Him is available at: Amazon UK and Mills and Boon

With a big thanks to Liz and my very best wishes!

Joss

xxx

PS: I love to connect with readers on Twitter @josswoodbooks; on Facebook – Joss Wood9 and at my blog so pop along and say hello.

A cracking day out...

This blog is mostly pictures, because that's all you really need. On Saturday, our local chapter of the Romantic Novelists' Association went to Ashdown House.

It was a stunningly beautiful day. Clear blue sky, warm with a light breeze. We had one of our own, historical author, Nicola Cornick, as a guide and she gave us all the gossip, all the romance, all the history. (This house was built for love of a queen - sadly she died before it was completed.)

We climbed the fabulous staircase to the roof as had the ladies in the 17th century (they went to watch Rupert of the Rhine and Charles II hunting across the amazing landscape - we enjoyed the view, and a glimpse of a deer).

Then Nicola took us home to tea in on of those English villages you see on chocolate box lids. Thatched cottages, roses around the door. We sat in the garden, ate fabulous cake (made by her lovely husband) and were made a fuss of by Rochester, the puppy she is walking for the Guide Dog Association.

A cracking day out.

Riva has a new App!

Riva launched today on Facebook with this brilliant new App giving details of books - including a competition to win a bundle of the new Riva titles - and introducing the authors.

There is also link to YouTube "Bites" with one the editorial team introducing each of the books.

They will be available from Mills and Boon Riva from today, and from all ebook stores from 1st October.

Riva paperbacks will also be available in WHSmith from 5th October. It's going to be a stunning display so do look out for them!

You can also pre-order at Amazon UK

Riva is back...

This was all over Facebook this morning!

Here's a closer look at the new cover on Flirting With Italian.

 So? What do you think? Love it? Hate it? Don't be shy. Enquiring minds want to know.

And if you haven't already read it, this new look edition will be available on the Mills and Boon website from 1st September. I won't let you forget!

Oh, and before I forget - a save the day note: I'll be giving a mini workshop in Melksham Libraryat 7pm on 18 September as part of the SYTYCW writing challenge.

I Heart Mash Ups

It's been a while since I did a mash-up but here are a few blogs I've visited lately that deserve sharing.

First up, the fabulous Sarah Duncan, whose blogs on writing craft and the writing life are always full of wisdom. This one, on Networking is a class piece.

Northern Mum can make you laugh, or make you cry, sometimes cry with laughing. This will be familiar to any panicking working Mum who is always two-steps behind Dancing...


Good news is for sharing and I've already blogged about new RIVA author, Charlotte Phillips. Here is her take on getting the the call!

I've just read Barbara O'Neal's amazing new book, The Garden of Happy Endings. She is an autobuy for me, with a lusciousness to her writing that has won her a hatful of RITAs. She's releasing a bunch of her older books now as eBooks, and there are excerpts on her blog. But here's a classic blog post to give you a taste

And then there's the amazingly creative Jennifer Crusie talking about creating a story world on her blog.

Finally, the truly lovely Lilian Darcy will be my guest here on Friday  to talk about the launch of her latest mainstream title, SAVING GERDA. This is a beautifully written, involving story of two families at opposite ends of the social scale in pre-war Germany.

It just dragged me in and wouldn't let me go so my final link is to Lilian's website. I do hope you'll go and read an excerpt and then come back to talk to her here about her inspiration, the research she did and how it feels as a writer to step so far out of your comfort zone that it's like stepping off a cliff.

PS I will be guesting on Romance Book Paradise today - and giving away some books.  

NEW VOICES FINALIST GETS A HARLEQUIN CONTRACT!

Last year I was asked to mentor one of the finalists in the Mills and Boon New Voices competition. A huge honour, an enormous responsibility, a lot of fun.

When Charlotte Phillips made it through the first round, I was the very lucky author who was tasked with the job of guiding her through her second chapter. It wasn’t my job to write it for her, but to show her where her own writing could be strengthened, offer a little advice on what could usefully be left out, give her pointers on what weakened a scene, made it work.

Charlotte, let me tell you, was a joy to work with. Full of enthusiasm, excitement, passion, eager to learn, ready to listen, but with a deep down faith in her characters, their story. We discussed technique. The moment to leave one scene with the reader wanting more. How to add drama. How to bring dialogue to life.

When she made it through to the final four I was as excited as if I’d personally made that huge leap, a seriously champagne popping moment. She didn’t win the competition, the standard was phenomenal, but I never doubted that she would make it through to publication.

Since reaching the final four of the competition, she has been working on a new story with the same editor who does for me, what I did for Charlotte. Flo is a red hot editor who — standing back from the intense involvement that writing entails — brings a fresh eye to the work, picking up on any weakness in conflict, or characterisation.

The ability to accept that your book isn’t perfect, is capable of stepping up another gear, is one of requirements of every published author. We all dread “revisions”, but I’ve never had editorial notes that haven’t made my story stronger.

Meanwhile, if you want to share the advice that I gave to Charlotte, you can download Liz Fielding’s Little Book of Writing Romance from Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Kobo or Sony - links on the sidebar.

Follow Charlotte’s journey to publication on Twitter @charlieflips and on her blog Her book, as yet untitled (watch this space!)will be available in Riva in the UK in December (coincidentally, alongside the UK Riva release of The Last Woman He’d Ever Date).

The Four Dimensional World - Writing Craft

You touch and see in three dimensions. The fourth dimension is the ephemeral. The stuff you hear, smell, taste. Use all the senses.
— Mollie Blake’s Writing Workshop Notes by Liz Fielding

I want you to imagine your heroine arriving at an airport in a strange country. Somewhere she’s never been before. There’s no one to meet her.

Even for those of us who live in Europe, where we usually acquire a passport at birth (and yes, babies have to have their own documentation – a photographer’s nightmare) and will have been waved off on a school trip to France or Germany or Italy or Spain by nervous parents (I know I was that parent!) by the time we’re fourteen, it can be a daunting experience.

How do you describe that? What will bring the scene to life for the reader?

Not a long description of what everything looks like. All modern airports look the same – even if she’s only seen one on television the reader will provide the picture. It’s only in the details that they differ, so focus on those and the emotions they arouse in your heroine.

I travelled widely when I was younger and I once landed at Entebbe in Uganda in the middle of the night. The heat, as I stepped off the plane, wrapped me in a suffocatingly warm, damp blanket. And there was no air-conditioning in the lounge.

My first reaction to Africa was panic – I was never going to survive.

One image that still sticks in my mind is of passing through the airport at Johannesburg many years ago on my way from Botswana to Kenya. I can still conjure up the wide stairway leading up out of the arrivals hall. It was divided into sections and the sign, in Afrikaans, did not need the English translation. One section was for whites only.

Chilling.

Stranded in Cairo when our plane lost an engine, after hours of confusion we were finally found seats on a flight travelling to Frankfurt. Frankfurt was the cleanest, quietest airport I have ever experienced. When our flight to London was called there was no straining to hear the words – there was just a gentle ding-dong of a bell and then the announcement, softly spoken and in crystal clear English.

Reassuring, relaxing. Nearly home.

I remember needing a trolley for my bags when I arrived in Washington a few years back. (a) I couldn’t believe I had to pay to use one (I hadn’t in London) and (b) had to do without and carry my bags as I didn’t have a dollar bill.

Shocked, jetlagged (how the heck could you get a dollar bill into a trolley, anyway – sorry but I come from coin carrying culture!), annoyed. Who knew?

My memories are not of strange signs, different accents or languages, but are all about vivid emotional reactions to the moment. And that’s the key. It’s all about emotion.

So, I’ll ask you again - what is your heroine feeling when she arrives at a strange airport?

I’ve got a very special copy of my next book, The Last Woman He’d Ever Date, for a comment that grabs me – maybe two... It’s special because you’ll only get this edition if you’re signed up to the Mills and Boon Reader Service programme in the UK. If you’re not, you’re going to have to wait until July in the US, or the autumn in the UK, when it will be released in a new-style Riva cover.

Oh, and anyone who says: “Oh my goodness the signs are in Italian/Danish/Japanese…” will be disqualified!

Here’s an introduction to my heroine, to tempt you –

Claire Thackeray swung her bike off the road and onto the footpath that crossed Cranbrook Park estate.
     The “No Cycling” sign had been knocked down by the quad bikers before Christmas and late for work, again, she didn’t bother to dismount.
     She wasn’t a rule breaker by inclination but no one was taking their job for granted at the moment, besides, hardly anyone used the path. The Hall was unoccupied but for a caretaker and any fisherman taking advantage of the hiatus in occupancy to tempt Sir Robert’s trout from the Cran wouldn’t give two hoots. Which left only Archie and he’d look the other way for a bribe.
     As she approached a bend in the path Archie, who objected to anyone travelling faster than walking pace past his meadow, charged the hedge. It was terrifying if you weren’t expecting it — hence the avoidance by joggers — and pretty unnerving if you were. The trick was to have a treat ready and she reached in her basket for the apple she carried to keep him sweet.
      Her hand met fresh air and as she looked down she had a mental image of the apple sitting on the kitchen table, before Archie — not a donkey to be denied an anticipated treat — brayed his disapproval.
     Her first mistake was not to stop and dismount the minute she realised she had no means of distracting him, but while his first charge had been a challenge, his second was the real deal. While she was still on the what, where, how, he leapt through one of the many gaps in the long neglected hedge, easily clearing the sagging wire and she was too busy pumping the pedals in an attempt to outrun him to be thinking clearly.
     Her second mistake was to glance back, see how far away he was and the next thing she knew she’d come to an abrupt and painful halt in a tangle of bike and limbs — not all of them her own — and was face down in a patch of bluebells growing beneath the hedge.

RIVA COVER SURVEY

Mills and Boon are redesigning the covers for the RIVA series this summer and they want your input.  They have produced three new designs for three books published in the series and they want to know which cover you'd be most likely to pick up. They are new, refreshing, different.

I'm not telling you which I prefer; it's really important to get the views of the readers this series is aimed at. I would, though, be very interested to hear what you love, what you hate, and what about any cover makes you pick it up in the bookstore or supermarket.

What book did you buy recently just because the cover leapt out at you?

To see the covers and add your voice, click on SURVEY

Liz Fielding's Little Book of Writing Romance

Some of you may have noticed the "Coming Soon" title on the sidebar of my blog. Not quite as "soon" as I'd hoped, alas.

I was planning to launch Liz Fielding's Little Book of Writing Romance as the New Year dawned - to go with all those New Year resolutions - but I'm beginning to discover the frustrations of being a publisher.
It's not all done once the author has written The End.

It is, however, getting closer.
Tomorrow I should have the production proofs and, hopefully, if all is well, it won't be long after that before the book will be downloaded onto eBook platforms and available for download to your eBook, phone, iPad or PC.

So, what it is?

My Little Book of Writing Romance is, basically, a primer. A beginner's book of writing romance. The book I wish I'd had when I was a new, know-nothing writer hoping to be published by Mills and Boon.

There were very few books about how-to write back then. There was no internet where you could go for advice, no opportunity to chat to authors, take a class. (Now I'm sounding like the Ancient Novelist, but honestly, it wasn't that long ago!)

When I first put pen to paper (and it was a real pen and real paper) and wrote the first books that were rejected, I was on my own.

I wrote three whole books — every word of 55,000 words — before I picked up on the fact that I only had to send three chapters for them to know it was tosh. I don’t regret that. Finishing a book is a huge step forward and each one was a huge learning experience.

The only feedback I had was from the editor who read my efforts. I still have the letters – they are very precious to me, even the one that said my efforts were a little “wooden”. Kindly editors pointed me in the direction of writers I should read — Sara Craven, Elizabeth Oldfield — and said they would read my next effort, but there was no solid advice (it wasn't their job to teach me how to write).

I learned by reading, by practice (you learn a lot writing three books). I taught myself to be a writer. I also learned that I wanted it badly enough to keep doing it. There is a word for that. Bloodymindedness?

It’s more than twenty years since I received “the call” on a sunny summer afternoon.
Since then, I’ve published more than sixty books, won awards and had a wonderful career and it's time to pay it forward to a new generation.
I started this year with my involvement in Mills and Boon's New Voices competition and that inspired me to put together some of the stuff I've learned over the years.
Liz Fielding’s Little Book of Writing Romance is a straightforward, no-nonsense book that helps the new writer to translate the story in her head into the written word.

How to start. How to grab your reader on the first page, tackle conflict, dig deep for emotion. How to give your reader a hero and heroine who had a life before your book begins, who are meant to be together — who don’t just fall in love because you put them together in a book — and who your reader can imagine having a life after they read the last page.

Real people, taking the journey of their lives.

It's nearly there.  Another week. (Fingers firmly crossed!)

Leave a comment telling me why you'd like a copy - I've copies for five lucky readers. The dipping hat will come out next Sunday evening.

MONDAY MASH-UP

Time for another round up of great links I've visited in the past week.

Are There Really Rules for Writing from Sarah Duncan's blog.

Special Christmas Releases from Harlequin.

Jody Hedlund on marketing your own book.

Social Media Snuggle from Kristen Lamb.

Brigid Coady at the Pink Heart Society on the joys of owning a Kindle.

FLIRTING WITH ITALIAN

A four star review from Romantic Times BOOKclub for FLIRTING WITH ITALIAN!

After a difficult breakup, teacher Sarah Gratton takes a sabbatical in Rome and travels to a rural village to find the woman who sheltered her grandfather during World War II and with whom he had fallen in love, though he returned to his English wife.

While searching for this mystery woman, Sarah meets businessman and vineyard owner Matteo Di Serrone. 

This is a heartwarming story with memorable characters. Fielding’s beautiful descriptions of the setting and the use of Sarah’s blog to her students as a way to communicate her thoughts bring the reader deep into the story.

That's my good news story, but it's a huge week for, Charlotte Phillips, who made the Top 21 in Mills & Boon's NEW VOICES competition.

Chapter Two of HONEYMOON WITH A STRANGER went up on the website yesterday and you can comments from 9 am (GMT) Friday. Do go and read her entry here and cheer her on there and follow her on Twitter at @charlieflips.

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

SIX SENTENCE SUNDAY

Welcome to my very first SSS - and if you don't know what that is, click here.

Here are six sentences from my upcoming Riva/Romance, FLIRTING WITH ITALIAN...

Her brain was apparently engaged, busy dealing with a bombardment of signals.  The sun hot on her arms, her throat, her breasts.  The sensuous sweep of the mouth hovering above her own, the scent of warm skin, leather…

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

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

Coming soon!

NEW VOICES IS LIVE!

NEW VOICES went live today - you can register here and upload your entry. Or read what the early birds have posted and leave comments, too. And here's the lovely Flo Nicholl introducing four of the NV mentors.

It's been agony keeping the secret that I'll be working with one of the twenty writers who get through the first round, but the list went up today. I'm so thrilled and excited!


 

NEW VOICES UPDATE

Many thanks to Bethan for supplying this photograph of my New Voices workshop at Pontardawe Library this week.  It was a lovely afternoon and over-subscribed sadly, so some people missed out.  If you'd like a copy of the handouts I prepared, please do email me at liz at lizfielding dot com - it doesn't matter where in the world you are!

New Voices is getting closer! Have you registered here yet?

I hope you’ve started writing, but it’s not too late. You have until the 10 October to post your chapter, although the earlier you get it online the more reader feedback you’ll have, which can be hugely useful. It isn’t votes from readers that count, however; the editors will choose the best twenty first chapters to move onto the next round.

Getting the first chapter right is vital.

• The opening tells the reader who the story is about. Who. Not where, or why or what the weather is doing. Romance is character led.

Have you got all the ingredients in place? Here are some questions to help get you started:

• Who are your characters?
• What do they want?
• Why do they want it?

A great opening to a romance raises questions in the reader’s mind; questions that what make her read on. To achieve this you must:

• Start with something happening
• Get the hero and the heroine on the page
• Grab the readers attention

Stories begin with an inciting incident.

• Cinderella meets the disguised prince in the woods.
• A rich bachelor moves into the neighbourhood.
• Bassanio asks his best mate, Antonio, for a loan.

A Lee Childs I read recently started with a drunk picked a fight with Jack Reacher for no reason other than he was feeling belligerent. He gets a broken finger (he poked Jack – how dumb can you get?) and nose for his trouble. Unfortunately he’s the local cop and when he sobers up he comes after him with handcuffs. Reacher knows the best result is going to a beating in police cell and he hitches a lift out of town.

In Tempted By Trouble, Elle answers a ring at the doorbell prepared to fend off a nosy neighbour and instead finds herself fending off not just the bone-meltingly gorgeous Sean McElroy, but the ice cream van he insists is hers.

Everything that happens in these stories stems from that moment.

In all instances the stories begin with action, movement, dialogue.

That first meeting isn’t the end of chapter one, however. In the space of four thousand words the reader will find out a great deal about them.

They will have an idea what they look like – have seen them through the eyes of the other character. Not a descriptive shopping list, please. Leave room for the reader to fill in her own fantasy. Just small details. The shape of a nose. A tiny scar spotted when the characters moves and it’s emphasized by shadow.

They will, from their reaction to this meeting, know a little of their hopes, their fears and the reason why they won’t simply enjoy this unexpected meeting and move off into the happy ever after that is waiting for them.

These characters have to earn their HEA. Discover things about themselves, grow, become stronger – strong enough to deal with whatever is keeping them apart. At the end of a book should – heaven forbid – the romance fade into no more than a sweet memory, your hero and heroine should have taken control of their lives, faced their demons, be looking forward rather than back. They should be winners. That they have a partner to match them in every way is the icing and the cherry on top of that cake.

But first they have to meet. And bless Amazon for allowing you to download the first chapter of eBooks to your reading device – your PC if you don’t have anything else. You can study first chapters by your favourite authors, by authors you’ve heard of but never read, without spending a penny. (I cannot be held responsible if you feel you have to buy the book to read on, but if you do, ask yourself why.)

NEW VOICES WORKSHOP

Just a reminder that I'll be holding a New Voices Workshop this week.

Here are the deets -

Pontardawe Library
Holly Street
PONTARDAWE

Wednesday 31 August
2 - 3.30 pm
Tel: 01792 862261 to book a place

And I was on the radio this morning - Jamie and Louise on BBC Radio Wales - here's a link to the  - listen again

I was on just after the 11 o'clock news, which is about two hours into the programme.

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.

cafe du jour

Today I'm celebrating the Kindle publication of CAFE DU JOUR, a book that I featured on my blog a couple of years ago. It was originally published by Mira's Australian office and the paper version didn't make it to the US or UK, which considering Lillian hasn't written more than 100 books and has a world-wide fan base, seems a little short-sighted. (I had my copy sent from Australia!)

Now, however, thanks to the wonders of the digital age, Cafe Du Jour is an eBook and you can read wherever you are.

The is from my original blog...




I can't actually remember the first time I met Lilian Darcy.

It was certainly in America. Washington or Denver, at one of those terrific Mills & Boon pizza parties that have become a legendary part of the Wednesday night of the RWA conferences when, after the literacy book signing, colleagues from all over the world gather, usually in Sandra Marton's room, for pizza and gossip.

I do remember her in Denver, though. Harlequin threw a rock n' party with an "Elvis" singer and Lilian grabbed me and said "let's dance" and golly, did we dance!

Today, in Australia, Lilian is launching her "book of the heart", a single title called CAFE DU JOUR, published by MIRA, and I wish, more than anything, that I could be there with her to celebrate its publication, but since that isn't possible, I'm doing the next best thing and having my own personal launch here on my blog.

Here's Lilian herself to tell you about her book: -

There's a lot of good writing in popular women's fiction, actually, which is why it frustrates me that we get so little positive attention in the media. If you're just a regular reader who reads whatever she wants to and browses a whole variety of racks in the bookstore you may not realise this, but there's a huge gulf between literary fiction writers and popular fiction writers, and I really wish it wasn't there. I think there's a fertile middle ground where the two groups could connect and learn from each other and in the process produce books that give the warm, powerful and pacy stories that romance readers love as well as the richness of some deeper themes and observations that we sometimes don't have space for in romance.

In celebration of this middle ground, and of bridging the gap between literary and popular fiction, I'm thrilled that my upcoming novel "Café du Jour" is going to be launched by one of Australia's best-known literary fiction writers, Roger McDonald. He won the Miles Franklin Award in 2006 for his novel "The Ballad of Desmond Kale" which is full of his usual rich, tumbling language and cavalcade of characters that somehow manage to be exotic yet quintessenetially Australian at the same time. (Hm. I suppose Australian *is* exotic to many people!)

"Café du Jour" itself falls into the middle ground between popular and literary fiction, I think, with its mix of sadness and quirkiness, happy endings and unfinished journeys. It was originally slated for publication by another publisher and was given to Roger for editing. His valuable insights provided the basis for the next draft, but then the publisher closed up the imprint and the book went homeless for years. Several more major drafts later, it is finally coming out, and because of its long incubation it is a book that remains particularly close to my heart, and is different in many ways from anything I've published before.

On that note - being different - I'd like to challenge all of Liz's blog readers to try something different in your reading this month. Yes, we all love to turn to our favourite authors for time out or stress relief or guilty pleasure or inspiration, but there are so many writers out there whom we don't take the time to discover. If you're up for a reading adventure, go into a bookstore and try something new. Choose a book on the strength of a cover that grabs you by the collar as soon as you look at it, or on the strength of the author's unusual name. Choose a book because you've never bought one from that rack before, or pick a random colour and buy the first book of that colour that you see. Close your eyes and just reach out to the shelf. Okay, I'll let you have a few trial runs at this. You're allowed to read the back cover blurb or the first page and put it back if it sounds really awful!

Yes, there are some really awful books out there. They're scattered all over the bookstore, masquerading behind great covers, famous names, rave reviews. And the books that I might think are awful, you might think are great. Ultimately, the thing I most want to celebrate is that, whether we're writers or readers, there is room for all of us.

...

Amen to that, Lillian!