VOTE NOW!

If you haven't read the excerpt from my trilogy book, until now known as The Journey Home, check it out -- two blogs ago -- and vote on the titles that have been suggested.

I apologise for the lack of apostrophes -- apparently polls don't do them. And for any other weird things that appear. This is my first attempt at a poll and I may have bungled it!

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<a href="http://micropoll.questionpro.com/akira/MicroPoll?mode=html&amp;id=18345">View MicroPoll</a><a href="http://www.questionpro.com/">Web Survey</a>

BLOCKED?


What exactly is writer’s block? There’s a quote in my Pocket Muse by Monica Wood from someone called Ray Blount, Jr in which he says that “...writer’s block is simply the dread that you are going to write something horrible.”

Mmmm... Not horrible, exactly, but just not good enough. It’s the fear that I’m going to fail the reader, especially after a book that has magically gone the extra mile (crazy when I’ve written six books since the “special” one that raised expectations ridiculously high). Whatever the problem, I can’t disguise the fact that since I delivered the ms for my latest book – another of those tough ones with a heroine who was all wrong, but just wouldn’t quit -- I’ve been grabbing any excuse to avoid getting down to writing that opening scene, committing myself to one of three story ideas I’ve fleshed out.

The days slip by and the excuses not to write the opening scenes begin to sound like, well, excuses. I really have to post something on my blog. I need to make purse calendars for some events. Then there’s the new website that needs a heap of stuff. And when I’ve done all that, there’s still the sack of bulbs that need planting.

Not one of these things is as important as starting the book – now, if I’m to finish before everything shuts down for the holidays: already I find myself thinking that maybe mid-January would be more realistic.


I’ve got three ideas, each one (well two of them, anyway) ready to take flight. Some interesting characters. That’s too many. If I had only one idea, two characters, I’d be pushing myself to make it work. Instead I’m cleaning my office, ordering stationery, making calendars, thinking about Christmas (actually you can blame that on the Oxfam Unwrapped catalogue which has just arrived in the post). Putting off the decision, afraid that I’ll get three chapters into the book and realise I’ve chosen the wrong one.

Here’s another quote from the Muse (dipping into this is just another way of avoiding the book)...

A college student asked visiting writer, Ron Carlson how one knows if one is really a writer. “... Carlson delivered an entertaining riff about the distractions that writers put in their own way, all the day, all the time: leaving the room to get coffee, check the mail, get coffee, walk the dogs, go to the bathroom, get coffee, look something up, get coffee. Then, dead serious, he summed up the whole enterprise in one line: ‘The writer is the one who stays in the room.’”

Actually, no. The writer is the one who stays in the room and refuses to get distracted by the Muse, the stationery catalogue, PR stuff and whether to buy an Alpaca kit (that’s for taking care of the alpaca, not an assemble yourself job) or a practical Condom Kit as a gift to the world for her best-beloved.




So will it be Princess Katerina, Sheikh Zahir or Count Giorgio whose story I tell? I already know whichever story I decide to write, three chapters in I’ll wish I was writing something else, I always do, and that’s paralysing, too.

I guess there’s nothing for it but to toss a coin, write, “Once upon a time...” And stay in the room until I get to “... and they lived happily ever after.”

THE JOURNEY HOME

I’m still referring to my newly finished, revised and tweaked manuscript by that name. It’s the first book of a trilogy -- stories of three women who are each making the mental journey back to a place where she made the wrong choice, took the wrong fork in life’s road – and I’m hoping that I’ve sold editorial on the idea of using it as the linking cover flash for the three books. (But I may be fooling myself...)

It would make a good title for a mainstream book, but it isn’t really hooky enough to be the title of a “Romance” – one that will sell the book to a harassed woman doing the weekly shop, kids in tow, with all of thirty seconds to make her choice. Hence all the “buy me” bride, baby, bachelor titles that give an instant plot summary. The Journey Home doesn’t give you any real clues as to what the book is about.

Understanding what makes a title a winner (The Best Man & the Bridesmaid was perfect!), doesn’t make it any easier to find the right one for this book. In my experience they either leap in to the mind unbidden (see TBM&TBM above – it does what it says in the title), or they don’t and the more emotional the book, it seems, the tougher it is to find a title that works.

One of my personal favourites is “Sophie’s Bakery for the Broken Hearted”. It was the title that sold me the book. In the US it was called “Good Grief”, which one colleague preferred, but which I loathed and would never have bought. (Broken-Hearted works so much better than Grief, for me.) So titles are really important.

I imagine “Marketing” are already working on it. They have been doing a fantastic job with artwork and advertising lately, so I know they’ll do their best to get it right.

Barb had the working title FOR HER EYES ONLY, which I think is absolutely brilliant, for her book. Short, memorable, it ties in with her story so well and says so much about the truly, madly, deeply love that we write about. Jackie is, I suspect, struggling, as I am, to find the perfect title that can sum up a story in six words or fewer.

Belle and Ivo’s story is about the past, hidden lives, secrets. About the fear of telling someone stuff that places your entire life is in their hands. About keeping your distance so that you can’t be hurt. And discovering, too late, that there is no distance far enough. And it’s about loving someone so much that you’ll sacrifice anything for them. All suggestions welcome :)

Email me your ideas (link to my website on the sidebar) and I’ll put them on my blog and take a vote on the best – there’ll be a signed copy of The Valentine Bride for the best. Sadly I can’t guarantee that it’ll be used, that’s not my decision, but it’ll be fun to hear what you’d like to see on the cover.

Here’s a taster to give you a feel for the character, with a picture of Hugh Jackman (are we all fixated on HJ?), in the role of the uber cool and detached Ivo Grenville,


‘You’re usually home long before this,’ Ivo said.

‘Today wasn’t usual. I’ve been away and there was a lot to catch up with. And I had a couple of meetings that ran on.’

A bit of an understatement that, Belle thought wryly. Having done the hard one -- telling Ivo that she was leaving him – her calm announcement that she wouldn’t be renewing her contract to anchor the breakfast television show had been a piece of cake.

And yet here she was making excuses like some kid justifying herself for being late home from school. Not that she ever had been. School had been a dangerous luxury, something she’d had to steal…

It was time to remind Ivo, as well as herself, that she had to make excuses to no one.

‘And then I bought a car,’ she added, as casually as if she’d was telling him she’d bought a new pair of shoes.

Which was when her very cool and detached husband became distinctly heated.
‘You did what!’

Not so much a question, as a man displaying outrage that a woman – his wife, no less – had the audacity to believe herself capable of making that kind of decision for herself.

It had, actually, been quite a week for decisions:

Left her husband.
Had her hair cut.
Bought a car.

So far, it was the car that had got the biggest reaction so she stayed with that.
‘It’s a BMW convertible,’ she told him. ‘Silver. Only 22,000 miles on the clock. It’s being delivered tomorrow.’

‘It’s not new?’ First outrage, now concern. ‘Has it been checked? Please tell me it’s not a private sale.’

Extraordinary. If she’d realized it would get this kind of response she’d have bought a car before. Several of them. Maybe gone into the used car business…
‘Would that be bad?’

‘I’ll need the registration number so that I can run a check. It could be stolen. Or a couple of stitched together wrecks. And the mileage is undoubtedly fake. Have you any idea --’

‘Oh, no,’ she assured him. If he was going to treat her like a dumb blonde, well – new hair colour notwithstanding – she’d had plenty of practise playing the role. ‘I’m sure it’s fine. I bought it from the brother-in-law of a taxi driver I met yesterday.’

He didn’t actually groan, but he didn’t look impressed. He wasn’t meant to.

‘Give me his name and address.’

‘The taxi driver?’

‘His brother-in-law,’ Ivo said, not quite through gritted teeth, but she could see that it was a close call.

It served him right for acting as if she was too stupid to live, she thought. If he’d watched her show once in a while he would have known that they had, on more than one occasion, run features on all aspects of buying used cars.

‘Oh, Mike!’ she said, determined to rub it in. ‘Such a sweet man. Hold on, I’ve got his card somewhere.’ Her bag was lying on the hall table and she opened it, produced a business card, offered it to him.

Ivo took it, looked at it, then at her. ‘Mike Wade is the taxi driver’s brother-in-law?’

‘Yes.’ Then, ‘Is there something wrong?’ Beyond the fact that, too late, he’d caught on to the fact that she’d been winding him up since Mike Wade was a senior representative at one of London’s premier BMW dealerships rather than some dodgy character selling used cars off the street. ‘He asked to be remembered to you,’ she added. ‘Said you’d been in to talk about exchanging your car for one of the smaller models. Very green...’

Then, exhilarating as it should have been to discover that Ivo was not made of stone, that it was possible to wind him up, she found herself regretting it.

He was just looking out for her. Making sure that she was okay.

DOG DAYS...

I’ve been playing hooky this week.

Having dealt with the first round of revisions for Book 1 of The Journey Home trilogy (Books 2 and 3 are by Barbara Hannay and Jackie Braun), and waiting for feedback on ideas for my next book (editors are human, they have days off too!), I took advantage of some seriously gorgeous weather to spend a day at the coast with my family.

We’re not very far from the sea and we’re spoilt for choice for beauty spots so it was tough choosing between The Worm’s Head on the Gower, or the endless beaches at Pembrey, but finally we plumped for the pretty old walled town of Tenby on the Pembrokeshire coast(where not only is there a fantastic beach, but a different set of shops to explore *g*)

It’s October, but the day was warm, the still sea reflecting back the bright blue of the sky, the sand firm and perfect. Here’s a picture to prove it.

(pictures by N J Allsopp)

...AND ANOTHER CHEF

But just to prove I have been paying attention, I have noted that Julie Cohen has seen my Giorgio Locatelli and raised me with Jean-Christophe Novelli. Okay, Julie, I'm prepared to match you with Tom Aitkens who has been lurking in my pictures file just waiting for this moment.

MEET GIORGIO...

In line with my earlier promise to provide pictures of good looking men to keep you amused, I have spent hours scouring the internet for a photograph of Giorgio Locatelli, that I think does justice to the man.

It's not a pretty face. It's lived in, but full of humour, Italian warmth, that wonderful touch of the fallen angel that women just can't resist. This woman, anyway *g*!

AUTHORS ARE SUNRISE PEOPLE?

Drawn to test what kind of day person I am by Kate Hardy and Natasha Oakley, I discover that, like them, I am a sunrise person. I'm normally pretty sceptical about this kind of thing, but waking up to the sun -- something I learned in Africa -- is the perfect start to my day.

You Are Sunrise

You enjoy living a slow, fulfilling life. You enjoy living every moment, no matter how ordinary. You are a person of reflection and meditation. You start and end every day by looking inward. Caring and giving, you enjoy making people happy. You're often cooking for friends or buying them gifts. All in all, you know how to love life for what it is - not for how it should be.

What Time Of Day Are You?

SO WHAT AM I READING?

I have a pile of books on my bedside table. A Medical Romance, THE ITALIAN DOCTOR’S BRIDE, from brand new author Margaret McDonagh, a luscious sheikh, AT THE SHEIKH’S COMMAND, from Kate Walker, THEIR CHRISTMAS DREAM COME TRUE by the lovely Kate Hardy. The November Bella Brides story (a Romantic Times TOP PICK), MARRIED UNDER THE MISTLETOE, by Linda Goodnight (just the thing to get me in the mood to start planning for the holiday) and How I Write, by Janet Evanovitch.

The last is irritating me. I’d anticipated an exuberant book that shared the experience of writing the Stephanie Plum stories; too late, I’ve discovered that this is no more than a rehash of answers to questions from readers and writers on her website and that I could have read it all for free. Entertaining, and I’m sure it will be hugely useful to new writers; it just wasn’t what I expected.

What I did read yesterday – I’d finished the revisions on The Journey Home and I owed myself a treat – was ACCEPTING THE BOSS’S PROPOSAL by Natasha Oakley. And treat is the word.

The cover, I have to say, doesn’t do this book justice. Those skyscrapers, that “city slicker” look suggest something chick-litty that, to be honest, put me off buying it. I should have known better – I’ve had some clunkers of covers of my own -- and when, on another blog I read this snippet from the moment when Miles, the hero, wished the ground would open and swallow him whole ...

“It was up there in number one slot along with the time his mother had given a television interview explaining that he’d been conceived in a moment of ‘peace and meditation’...”

... I knew he was a hero I had to know and clicked the “Romance”link at Mills & Boon link and pressed the “buy now” button.

I am so glad I did.

This book is engaging, warm-hearted, in turns funny and touching as it shares the journey of two brittle people discovering that, despite all evidence to the contrary, till-death-us-do-part love is a possibility. This isn’t a book that turns on a sixpence. Incredulity was not stretched. There’s real growth here. A real “Romance”. Definitely a keeper.

I’m sorry I judged your book by its cover, Natasha. Next time I’ll just look at the name and know I’m in for a good time.

LONDON, FOOD, RITA

London, I have to say, was fun.

Despite having taking a tumble over a step a couple of days before I was due to put on my highest heels, leaving me with only one pair of (very flat) shoes that I could actually get over my poor swollen foot, I had the best time.

My first engagement was lunch with Karin Stoecker, Editorial Director of HMB, and editors Kimberley Young , Bryony Green and Jo Carr, seen in the picture below on the steps of Locanda Locatelli, the hottest place to eat in London right now. (Yes, there is one of me, but I’m squinting, and besides, you all know what I look like.)



One editor, I shall not embarrass her by naming names, totally lost it and winked at one of the luscious Italian waiters and everyone went home drooling after the seriously alpha Giorgio Locatelli passed within touching distance; you can trust me when I say that the cover headline on the Observer food magazine this week “Local Boy Makes God”, did not exaggerate. *g* And that was before the food about which I shall say only this -- “White Chocolate Soup with Pistachio Ice Cream”...

(I know I promised pictures of good looking men, but I haven’t yet found one that does Giorgio justice, but be assured that I have found my Italian hero!)

The following day I met up with thirty or so fellow authors, including Harlequin Romance Authors Jessica Hart, Natasha Oakley, Trish Wiley, Lucy Gordon, Sophie Weston, Fiona Harper and Caroline Anderson, as well as all the usual suspects, for our annual lunch at the RAF club, followed later by a champagne reception at Brookes’ in St James’s Street (where I met Biddy on the doorstep as she dropped her keys off for Julie Cohen, who is blooming, beautifully, btw.

This was the moment that I took possession of Rita II. Sorry, no photo -- my grin is too wide to get on the blog!

COULD YOU BE THE NEXT BIG NAME IN ROMANTIC FICTION?

In the UK this week, Woman's Weekly and Mills & Boon have teamed up to launch a short story competition.

How to Enter

Write a short romance story of 1,500 words, suitable for the new Mills & Boon "Romance" series and Woman's Weekly and send it with the coupon in the magazine by 30 November 2006.

First Prize

* Dell laptop
* Winning story published in Woman's Weekly and on-line on the Mills & Boon website
* 12 months subscription to the Romance series
* Consultation with a Mills & Boon editor (and travel allowance up to £50)

Three runners-up will receive

* 12 months subcriptions to Romance series
* Your story online at Mills & Boon website
* Consultation with a Mills & Boon editor (including travel allowance up to £50)

There's also a special 5 M&B "Romance" books for the price of 4 at W H Smith (including The Sheikh's Guarded Heart!).

Go to it!

MORE ITALY...

Okay, you've had the pretty pictures, now it's time for the food! You can't go to Italy and not eat pizza, right? This was a Quatre Staggione... and I'm (almost) ashamed to say that I ate most of it.



And here are the little "mignon", made by yet another Anna. I had a fruit tart, a rum baba and one of those little almond triangles...



And here we are in Sora market buying cheese, proscuitto and sausage. Yes, that is my hand taking the sample!



Now back to the diet!

ITALY IS BELLISSIMA...

First I have to say that this trip was all work. Honestly. Every bit of my stay involved research for my next book. Serious note taking was involved. Hundreds of photographs were taken. An enormous amount of wandering through markets, haggling for bargains (a heroine needs to do stuff like that), trying on shoes, checking out handbags. Serious shopping. This was important, serious Work.

But then again, working in Italy is not like working at home. The warmth, the colour, the elegance, the relaxed attitude to life, the sheer joy of the dolce vita. The fact that given the slightest excuse Italians will let off the kind of firework display that makes November 5th look very sad. While I was there they had a firework competition. Imagine firework display teams trying to outdo each other in the brilliance of their shows. Italian firework display teams. And no rain!

Well, actually we did have some rain. Not the grey, dreary stuff that goes on for days, but exciting, macho rain accompanied by thunder and lightning, with, of course, a rainbow when the sun broke through.

We stayed with friends in Isola del Liri in the Comino Valley -- north of Naples, south of Rome – and here’s the view that was all mine for ten days.

The mountains are spectacular, the hill top towns ancient.


This -- and the narrow lane above -- is in Arpino, where Cicero and Agrippa were born and in the piazza (perfect for people watching over an expresso), a Roman pavement -- along which they undoubted walked -- is being excavated. Of course, when I saw a Ducati (serious hero transport) parked by the side of the road, I couldn’t resist taking a picture of that, too.

We spent a day visiting Monte Cassino, reduced to rubble in WWII, but now completely rebuilt and stunningly beautiful.

And at the monastery of Casa Mari, where the church windows are made of golden alabaster. We were lucky enough to witness the arrival of a bride, joining in the applause as she walked up the steps of the church to meet her groom.

Afterwards we drove to a nearby lake and I want you to imagine me sitting here, a glass of wine in one hand, nibbling an olive while the cicadas serenaded me and the sun beat down. All in the name of research, naturally.


Since at least part of my book will be set in Bella Maria, I had to get fully into the spirit of the thing with the food. There was the fabulous pasta made by Anna di Vito (cousin of the more famous Danny) who, incidentally, is a huge Liz Fielding fan. And I wanted to show you a picture of the “mignon”, the most elegant end to a wonderful Sunday lunch; miniature versions of the full size cakes, each one a mouthful of heaven. And unlike the big versions, you can try, um, quite a lot! Blogger, however, is being unco-operative! This has rescued you from seeing me shell-shocked by both pizza and ice cream!

Shopping in Sora market was fun. This is Marco, whose Papa sold the most beautiful tablecloths.

I could go on indefinitely about what a wonderful time I had, but now I have to go and put all that exhaustive research into a book. I just hope I did enough ... it would be tragic if I had to go back and check out some detail I’d missed, wouldn’t it?

Chat among yourselves for a while, or better yet, pop over to the pink heart blog to meet up with like minded poeple.

I'll be back with a notebook full of ideas very soon.

Ciao!

NOW THIS IS A REVIEW!

I've just received this review from Cataromance of my September Harlequin "Romance" and Mills & Boon "Romance", THE SHEIKH'S GUARDED HEART.

To say I'm thrilled might just be British understatement at it's most understated!

"In her latest romance, multi award-winning author Liz Fielding sweeps her readers off to the desert of Ramal Hamrah where Lucy Forrester is trying to find the man who has cheated her out of her money and broken her heart in the process. Lucy, unused to the desert roads, is driving a 4X4 vehicle when she suddenly has an accident and is saved by Sheikh Hanif, who takes Lucy into his home to recover from her accident.

"Having been abandoned by her mother and raised by her grandmother who has done nothing but instill fear in her, Lucy is unused to the tender care which Hanif lavishes onto her and for the first time in her life she feels wanted and welcome. Before she knows it, Lucy finds herself falling in love with the gorgeous Sheikh, but Hanif is a tortured soul whose past demons prevent him from moving forward.

"Is Lucy the woman who can show Hanif the way forward and heal his wounds? And will she let her past fears get in the way of her future?

"In THE SHEIKH'S GUARDED HEART, Liz Fielding will captivate her readers with a spellbinding romance which will tug at their heartstrings, move them to tears, make them smile and make them fall in love all over again! Engrossing, poignant and impossible to put down, in The Sheikh’s Guarded Heart Liz Fielding takes her readers on an emotional rollercoaster ride where they shall see her two characters grow from being two vulnerable people into stronger human beings.

"The Sheikh’s Guarded Heart’s irresistible blend of master storytelling, emotional drama, tender passion and moving romance makes this another winner for the supremely talented Liz Fielding!"

It's sold out at the Mills & Boon website, so if you live in the UK, click here if you want to buy the book.

If you're in Australia, click here

I'm under the grill -- um, spotlight -- today at The Pink Heart Society Blog. If you want to come over and baste me, click the link.

And we have the new Harlequin Romance covers for October online at the Harlequin Romance Authors Blog now. We think they're gorgeous!

COMPETITION RESULT!

I had a lot of fun making little pieces of paper with the names of all the draw entries and putting them in the dh's Panama hat for him to draw out the lucky winner.

Serena, my darling, your name was on the paper so if you'll email me, I'll organise your prize. Unless you do it this weekend, you'll have to wait until I return from my research trip.

IT'S A PARTY!

Tomorrow, 1st September, is launch day at the Pink Heart Society. Trish and co are at this moment stringing bunting, blowing up balloons, icing little cakes with pink hearts so this is a place where romance readers should drop by. Lining up the Bellinis and Pink Champagne to toast a lot of fabulous authors and a lot of wonderful readers.

See you there!

IT'S A REVIEW...

Sort of.

Romantic Times have got in a bit of muddle with their "Romance" reviews and they've put the August reviews in their September magazine. Those with October books are going to have to wait another month. :(

Catherine Witner, lovely lady, did send me this quote for THE SHEIKH'S GUARDED HEART.

"Liz Fielding's The Sheikh's GuardedHeart (4) is a skillful blending of modern and traditional elements, highlighted by multi-layered characters and sensual tension."

It doesn't actually tell you much, but it's always lovely to have a 4!

ROMANCE

From September, Harlequin Romance will become just plain ROMANCE with new covers and some fabulous new names joining the list of favourite authors. Not just new authors but writers familiar from lines such as Silhouette Romance, Special Edition, Steeple Hill.

I imagine one of the most pressing questions that readers will have is whether the books have changed in any way. The answer is both yes, and then again, no.

This line is the foundation on which the series romance publishing business was founded. While, in a difficult publishing world, other lines have come and gone, Harlequin Romance has always been a best-seller worldwide.

It started a long time ago. Early books explored the plight of women trapped in loveless marriages, raising awareness of the need for divorce law reform. They told stories about women who cared for the damaged men returning from war. Authors acknowledged the changes the sexual revolution of the sixties brought to women’s lives. Within its pages, the single mother evolved from a girl that “good” women shunned, to a liberated, self-supporting, responsible young woman. The feisty heroine became a woman who could stand toe-to-toe with her hero in business as well as the bedroom. His equal, partner in all things. Jay Dixon has written a fascinating account of the history of the genre in her book The Romance Fiction of Mills & Boon 1909 to 1990s, something of an eye-opener for me as I suspect it will be for many people.

More recently, the authors have taken on Bridget Jones and offered the reader first-person, chick-lit heroines – ones who didn’t whine anywhere near as much as their mainstream rivals.

So here’s what I’m saying. The series is not static. It’s not, never was, set in 1950s aspic. It has constantly evolved, moving with the times to meet the new expectations and lives of the women who read romance. Our heroines are modern women, the kind of women you know, the kind of women you are and they have a place on your keeper shelf alongside the heroines of such Jennifer Crusie greats as Anyone But You, Alison Kent’s Temptations and Blazes, the fabulous Presents titles of Sara Craven, Robyn Donald, Kate Walker, Sandra Marton. The friendship books of Debbie Macomber. (You wouldn’t only eat one kind of ice cream or pizza or chicken dish, would you? Some days you want sexy, some days you want to laugh, some days you want a warm, emotionally satisfying read that leaves you with a warm glow.)

So, to return to the question. Is ROMANCE, different to Harlequin Romance? Has it changed?

Referring to the answer I gave earlier, yes and yes and yes. It remains a publishing success because it has never stopped changing. And then again, no. It will still deliver the kind of story that those of you who never left us, but pick and mix their favourite authors from across the lines to meet their mood, have come to expect, demand, cherish.

And maybe that’s the secret. Story.

As one of my colleagues – the amazing, award-winning Marion Lennox -- put it, we don’t do as much sex as other Harlequin series, so our characters have to talk more. To sustain conversation, great conversation, requires real depth of conflict and emotion, great characters.

Story, emotion, characters who live and breath, are the ingredients that bring readers back again and again to Harlequin Romance, but while we hope to move you to tears, we want to make you laugh, too. All the ingredients you know and love are there; witty urban stories, Outback heroes, women and men struggling through to find not some clichéd happy ever after, a story that ends when you close the book, but a life that continues into the future, a partner to share the burdens and the joys.

In relaunching this series, the editors have squeezed us all until the pips squeaked to write the best books we know how, to give the reader deeply-felt emotion, heroines who sparkle, heroes who can make the knees go weak with a smile and above all, sexual tension to make the air crackle. Stories, in other words, that will grip from beginning to end and make this a must-read series for anyone who loves the charge of romance as women find it in the twenty-first century.

Alongside my own book, The Sheikh’s Guarded Heart, the September line up includes,
Raye Morgan, with the third book in The Brides of Bella Lucia series – the first two books by Rebecca Winters and Linda Goodnight are available now – and titles from Lucy Gordon and Natasha Oakley.

You can check out brief excerpts at the Harlequin Authors Blog where you’re welcome to ask questions, leave comments and chat amongst yourselves!

Finally, for budding authors, to help launch the series in the UK, look out for a Mill and Boon short story competition being run in conjunction with WOMAN'S WEEKLY magazine during the first two weeks in September. If you haven’t already checked it out, this might be a good time to read my own short story, THE CINDERELLA VALENTINE, which is online at eHarlequin.

CONGRATULATIONS TO SOME OF MY BEST MATES...

A bunch of my favourite authors were lauded last night by Cataromance, a site dedicated to romantic fiction.

Take a bow Kate Walker, Kate Hardy, Lucy Gordon, Lucy Monroe, Michelle Styles and Julie Cohen. You'll find a full list of winners here.

I was pretty chuffed to take a walk along the cyber carpet to pick up my own award for THE FIVE YEAR BABY SECRET.



The book is still available at eHarlequin so if you missed it in April just click here.

And don't forget, the competition on my previous post is running until the end of the month so leave a comment there for a chance to win an Amazon voucher!

THE SHEIKH’S GUARDED HEART

September is going to be a very special month. Both Harlequin “Romance” and Mills & Boon “Romance” have a new look and I’m thrilled to have a book in the launch month.

I’ll blog about the new line next week. Right now, because as regulars will know September books are available online in the US and UK at the eHarlequin and Mills & Boon websites a month in advance (that’s NOW! -- there are links on the sidebar), I want to tell you about THE SHEIKH'S GUARDED HEART. (Read, mark and inwardly digest. I will be asking questions!)

Some authors specialize in “sheikh” books, my friends Alexandra Sellers and Penny Jordan among them. Despite the fact that I spent more than five years living in the deserts of Arabia, this is only my second. But what a story! Danger, betrayal, tragedy with, as always, a touch of laughter to leaven the mix.

There’s the traditional horseback snatch of the heroine. A palace surrounded by a hidden garden. There’s a grieving man, a lonely child, a betrayed woman who has never felt the tenderness of a loving heart. Stock up on the tissues. You are going to cry.

This is what my editor put on the back on the book:


Saved from certain death in the unforgiving desert of Ramal Hamrah, Lucy Forrester is transported to a world of luxury by her rescuer, Sheikh Hanif. The tender care he offers her is more than Lucy has ever experienced in her loveless life, and she finds herself drawn to the proud Arabian Prince, despite his tortured soul. And, as he helps Lucy recover from her injuries, she wonders if she can help heal his own wounds, break down the barriers that guard his heart...”

Mmmm… Cover blurbs never truly satisfy the author, but here’s a taste of the real thing.


Ignoring Lucy’s protestations Hanif laid her on the sofa, propping her up with pillows at her back before kneeling beside her to unfasten and discard the ankle splint and its soggy lining. Then, having eased off her ruined sandals, he unwound his keffiyeh and carefully wiped the worst of the mud from her feet, her ankles, before tossing that, too, aside.

Only then did he sit back on his haunches, look at her and on the point of scolding him for ruining the cushions, she held her tongue. Without the sun at his back, she could see how gaunt and hollow-eyed he looked, as if he hadn’t slept or eaten in days.

Her fault, she knew and, without thinking, she reached out, wanting to comfort him, tell him how sorry she was, as he would have comforted her. For everything.

He caught her wrist before she could touch his face, held it in a grip of steel.

“For what seemed like a year he held her there, an inch away from him. It was not enough. Heat fried the air between them, sucked Lucy’s breath from her body, licked along her limbs, reducing to ash all the hellfire lectures she’d been read about what happened to girls who succumbed to their wanton desires.

There was no defence against the power of such feelings, no barrier made that was strong enough to withstand this yearning to be held, kissed, possessed.
She felt her mouth soften, her lips part as his hand loosened its grip on her wrist, slid down the length of her arm until his fingers reached her hair, pulled loose the pin that held it back from her face, slid his hand beneath her neck to hold her, his willing prisoner.

The moment stretched endlessly as he lowered his mouth to hers then, as he brushed his lips against hers, she felt something deep inside her dissolve, melt.

All pain was forgotten as he leaned into the kiss, deepening it as a thirsty man might drink at a well and Lucy, blown away, matched his need with a passion that was a revelation to her, a desperate need beyond her wildest imaginings and she rose to meet him, wanting to feel the heat, the strength of his body against hers.

As if he knew, felt it too, he caught her at the waist, lifting her, holding her to him as if she were the last woman on earth, while his mouth, hard, almost desperate, obliterated everything but the sensory seduction of his body; the silky sweep of his hair against her cheek, the touch of his fingers at her nape, the salty, dusty taste of his skin.

And, finally, she understood the force that drove men and women to cross continents, conquer nations, give up their lives.

So here’s the competition.


I’m not offering signed books, because I want you to rush out and buy a copy (in the UK they’re at a special offer price of £1.99) and make me look good with my publishers! What I’m going to do is put the name of everyone who leaves a comment on this post in a draw – you have until the end of August -- and the winner will have an Amazon token ($US25 or equivalent) to spend just as she likes. (What? Oh, you expected a question? Gotcha!

RWA, EDITORS AND MY RITA

This is where I should have been a week ago. Standing next to Diane Gaston (with her Rita) holding the Rita on the right. But my editor, Jo Carr, is prettier -- and heck of a lot taller -- and she's doing a very fine job. And she was the one who had to put on the pantyhose and make the speech while I was tucked up having my eight hours! Good result.


Sheila Hodgson, Karin Stoecker, Jenny Hutton, Diane Gaston, and Jo Carr.

THE BRIDES OF BELLA LUCIA

I’ve been talking about this series for a long time. Writing about the writing. Writing about working with other authors spread across the world. Talking about the first books last month because they were, for those in a hurry, available on the eHarlequin (and since Rebecca Winters’ book is now sold out there, a lot of you obviously were!) and Mills & Boon websites.

Now the first books are on the street in the UK and US.

The series tells the story of a fractured family who are spread across the world. The fabulous Bella Lucia restaurants are in London, Knightsbridge, Mayfair and Chelsea, but the Valentine family will take you all over the world. To the US, Australia, Europe. To beautiful Meridia for the coronation of Prince Sebastian, and to the desert kingdom of Q’Arim before bringing you back to London for the final drama. Each book stands alone as a wonderful story, but I know you’re going to want to read them all.

Eight fabulous stories, eight wonderful authors.



This is the logo to look out for on the covers – two books, this month (Rebecca and Rachel are twins!); one a month after that until next February. We’ve put together a special blog/website where you can read what inspired the authors, see the faces behind the characters, read excerpts, view the covers and tell us what you think.

Here are the titles and the authors (don’t forget that they will be available a month in advance of publication on the eHarlequin and Mills & Boon websites):

August: Having the Frenchman’s Baby by Rebecca Winters
Home to the Cowboy by Patricia Thayer
September: The Rebel Prince, Raye Morgan
October: Wanted: Outback Wife, Ally Blake
November: Married Under the Mistletoe, Linda Goodnight
December: Crazy About the Boss, Teresa Southwick
January: The Nanny and the Sheikh, Barbara McMahon
February: The Valentine Bride, Liz Fielding

And to launch the series, my own short story, set in the Chelsea Bella Lucia restaurant, I've written a short story, THE CINDERELLA VALENTINE, which you can read online at eHarlequin. There's a link in sidebar to take you straight to it.