Bank Holiday Game Time

Here's a new one for you - how many words can you make out of the

THE BEAUMONT BRIDES

There's a paper or edownload copy of one of my new Modern Tempted's -  Anything But Vanilla or The Last Woman He'd Ever Date for the winner.

Email your answers to liz at lizfielding dot com - with "competition" in the subject line.

Happy Sunday!

Sunday Six...

It's been a while since I've joined in with Six Sentence Sunday fun, but it's a holiday this weekend in the UK and apparently it's going to rain and blow - no change there, there - so I thought we'd probably all be indoors putting out feet up with a book.

This is from WILD LADY the second book in the Beaumont Brides trilogy. The first, WILD JUSTICE can be downloaded free (there are links on the sidebar). Or the entire trilogy is available in one collection

Startled by the sudden switch she froze. But as his body moulded itself to her, his arms about her waist lifting her from the floor, taking her weight, all the anger at being set up like this seeped away from her and she bunched his sweater beneath her fingers, clinging to him.

Somewhere in the back of her mind she could hear the audience clapping, counting out the seconds as the kiss went on and on. But this final humiliation didn't seem to matter. Nothing seemed to matter, except the heat of Gabriel MacIntyre's mouth and the slow, deliberate way in which he was taking possession of her.

Then, suddenly it was over and as she leaned back against his arm, her hair falling back from her face, his eyes were shuttered, giving her no clue to the way he was feeling. 

Don't forget to check out other Six Sentence Sunday blogs and hether you have a holiday this weekend or not, I hope it's a good one.

Calling all eBook lovers..

I've finally got The Beaumont Brides loaded onto Smashwords and to celebrate I'm giving my fans a chance to download WILD JUSTICE for free using the following code - WX82P - which you simply apply at the checkout.

It's only available for a short time, so grab it while it's going!

A LAZY WEEKEND

So, here I am, ordered to keep my foot "up".  This is strange territory for me.  I'm not given to lying on the sofa (give or take the odd "nana" nap at the end of the day).

I watched the Grand Prix - great result! - and I read.  A lot.

First up, I finished Michael Dibden's Aurelio Zen - And Then You Die.  The books are nothing like the television series, but I love them.

Then I read Marrying a Prince by Sophie Page.  Lovely, lovely romance with a deliciously gruesome New Year's party involving Scottish country dancing.  It's years since I've danced an eightsome reel, which is the best fun, but then I didn't knock off the Queen's tiara.  Blissful.  Hated when it ended.

After that, I caught up on Sue Grafton's alphabet murders, with U is for Undertow.  Not quite as scary as some of her earlier books, but it was high standard.  Hope for a new one soon.

Then I read the latest Kate Hardy medical, The Fireman and Nurse Loveday.  A delightfully warm and emotional romance with a scrumptious hero, exactly what you'd expect from Kate - and with the lovely St Piran, Cornish setting.

Then I downloaded an excerpt from Major Pettigrew's Last Stand.  I love that about Kindle.  You can try a chunk before you buy.   And of course I bought.  (You can download a big excerpt of my Beaumont Brides books and give them a go, too.  They'll be available on Smashwords for all eBook platforms soon.  I'll tell you when.)

I just wish I hadn't had to stick a garden fork in my foot to get all that wonderful reading time!

GETTING TO GRIPS WITH KINDLE

I have been thinking about publishing my Beaumont Brides trilogy on Kindle ever since I realized it was possible.

The books were published in the UK and had a limited retail presence in the US and Australia.  They were, I think, translated into Russian and one or two other languages, but have been out of print for a fair while.

I did publish them as a free reads serial on The Beaumont Brides blog a couple of years ago.  

Finally, when I finished the first draft of my Italian book, I took the bull by the horns, so to speak, re-edited (I was working off my finished mss rather than what eventually made it to print) and was ready to go.

No.  Not ready to go.  I needed cover art.

Actually, that was the fun bit - finding the artwork.  The best beloved then did his magic adding titles and author name, at which point I hit a brick wall. 

The instructions for uploading the mss to Amazon suggested it was simple but my version looked a mess. 

Enter the lovely Jenni, who did the technical stuff for me and voila - a week later all three books are now available to download via Kindle (or your PC if you don't have an eReader).

When I have recovered from the trauma, I will attack the other eBook platforms.  Meanwhile, if you like to try before you buy, the first chapters of all three books are available here

WINNERS...

Last week we all got very excited about BAGS. Thanks to everyone who stopped by to offer an opinion, share a story. As to which bag I finally decided on, well, my favourite was the small feathery one, but I think the swirly one goes best with Josie's hair and personality. And since she'll be carrying it at the pre-wedding dinner where she'll need to have her emergency kit to hand, she'll need a little extra room, too.

You were all so great that I'm giving all of you a book from my back list. If you posted, then email me with your full name and snail mail addy and a shortlist of the books you'd most like at liz @ lizfielding. com I haven't got spares of everything, but I'll do my best.

The books I don't have a single spare copy of are an early trilogy, The Beaumont Brides -- Wild Justice, Wild Lady and Wild Fire.

These were pub'd in the late 90s by Robinson Publishing and are 100,000 word novels about three sisters; a revenge story, a bodyguard story and a Cinderella story.

They've been out of print for a long time and although I plan to tidy them up and publish them as Kindle editions on Amazon, I've decided that in the meantime, fans should be able to read them. So from this week, you'll find them serialized -- a chapter a week -- at a special blog -- The Beaumont Brides. It's there just for you, so when you have a moment help yourself.

Meanwhile --

MORE BAG NEWS!

I've finally put together my first Clippy Book Bag.

In case you haven't encountered this phenomenon, these bags (in all shapes and sizes) were invented by the lovely Calypso.

Each contains pockets into which you can slip your favourite photographs or any items which define you. On this side I've used aircraft boarding passes, a promo postcard for the Japanese Manga version of The Sheikh's Guarded Heart. There are daffodils and a dragon (for Wales), a postcard I bought in the National Portrait Gallery of T E Lawrence, the little icon that represents my upcoming book, Christmas Angel for the Billionaire, and a birthday card the dh sent me. Oh, and the little gardening bits and pieces that came with a Clippy kit!




On this side, I've put my hero, with one of the grand-dogs. There's a picture of my son's book (Unauthorised Access, out next month), both the grand-cats (Nigel is the ginger guy, Bernard is the black and white chap). There's me as the "stepping queen", one of my pocket calendars (I've got a supply to give away in another pocket!) and the centre pocket represents my trip to RWA New York a few years back. Two silver Rita pins and the covers of the books short-listed that year, with my RWA Conference pin and a Big Apple.



I've also got a big shopping bag with 24 pockets and that's my next project.

So tell me, if you had a Clippy Bag what would you put in the pockets to express your life and loves?