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.

WRITING BOOKS CAN MAKE YOU FAT...

It's a fact and one that all writers quickly learn.

In my case it probably had more to do with giving up the day job -- brisk walk there and back -- and the teens growing up and moving on so that I wasn't constantly on my feet chasing around after them. And getting to that age where weight seems to creep up in a stealth attack that you don't notice until you're suddenly wondering who's standing on the scales with you.

But there is apparently a scientific reason -- something to do with the brain getting hungry. You can check out the full story on Tess Gerritsen's blog, here.

I'll be pounding the wii...


AUSTRALIA

You may have heard of the horrendous temperatures and bush fires raging in south-east Australia. Several Harlequin Romance authors live in this area, so please spare a thought for them and their families.

FINALLY



On a more cheerful note, I've just received this review and a very thrilling 4.5 stars, for SECRET BABY, SURPRISE PARENTS from ROMANTIC TIMES.

"Multi-layered characterizations, a potent conflict and some very special twists on reader favorite plot elements make this story a joy from beginning to end."

So all the blood, sweat and tears -- this was not, not, not an easy book -- was, apparently, worth it.

It'll be retail in April, but will be available online in March, in both paper and eBook formats, from millsandboon.co.uk and eHarlequin.com




And finally, finally --

Harlequin Romance is spotlighted at eharlequin.com in February with six Diamond Bride miniseries books and the chance to have your dream proposal appear in an upcoming Harlequin Romance book! Click on the events tabs at Harlequin Celebrates

A REVIEW I HAD TO SHARE...

I have a real problem with the packaging of my November book, Wedded in a Whirlwind. The cover is light, air, movement -- a joyful moment. (And the fact that the hero is dressed in white tie and tails like a competitor in Strictly Come Dancing rather than the morning coat more usually worn at a formal wedding leaves me frankly bemused.)

I was concerned that readers would look at that cover and then, when they read the book think, "What?"

Well so far Catherine Witner at Romantic Times has given it 4.5 stars and the accolade "...exceptional emotional honesty."

And now Merrimon Books has described it as as a "Double delight!" with "...a unique inner and outer landscape."

"WEDDED IN A WHIRLWIND captures the reader's attention immediately with a combination of emotion and dramatic fast-paced action that will keep readers up late at night wanting to discover how these two can possibly escape. Forced to work together in darkness and close physical proximity, Miranda and Nick..."

Read on...

And if you want to discuss the book with people who've already read it, click here

TIME FOR A NEW BOOK

Remember me? Miranda Grenville. I was a bit-player in my brother's book Reunited: Marriage in a Million. The bratty sister who made Belle's life a misery.

Anyone but Liz would have shut me up in a cupboard and never let me out again, but she has a lot more imagination that that. It wasn't chance that she called Wedded in a Whirlwind her "Eurydice" book.

She sent me to hell and then, as if that wasn't bad enough, she gave me Nick Jago as my Orpheus. The woman has a sense of humour because Nick, when my screaming disturbed his hangover, wasn't in any mood to offer comfort and sympathy to a damsel in distress. I had to get quite assertive before he finally grasped the seriousness of the situation. Not that I've ever found assertiveness a problem. But I have to admit that with Jago, I pretty much met my match.

So, there we were, trapped underground. Somewhere in the dark I had a bag with half a bottle of water, a cell phone (with no signal) and a packet of mints. All Nick brought to the party was a a bottle of Cordilleran brandy and an itty-bitty archaeologist's trowel. We weren't going to dig our way out with that so we climbed.


In the dark, without sight to fill in the gaps, the other senses become heightened. You hear things in a voice that in sunlight you would overlook. The lightest touch has an intensity. And as you hang between life and death, climbing towards the light, towards life, you share everything, bare your soul and become, for a while, almost one.

* * *

There's an excerpt on my website and the book will be available online at Mills & Boon and Harlequin as both print and ebook in October. It will be on sale retail in November.

Here's what Romantic Times had to say about it: --

"Liz Fieldingʼs Wedded in a Whirlwind (4.5) is fast-paced and fun, and the relationship between Miranda and Nick has a remarkable emotional honesty. Truly a keeper."

For chapter one, click here...