PIN UPS, HEROES AND ITALY

One of my loops is attempting to compile a list of the fifty most fanciable men. I am ashamed to admit that I didn't recognise a lot of the names, but the serious drooling that was going on over Richard Armitage sent me to his web page hoping that he might just might prove a lookalike for the hero-in-progress.

He's not a match but I thought I'd post a photograph anyway. Just for you. :)



MORE ITALY

This gate is four thousand years old. It was on the dh's "most want to see" list but he wasn't sure where it was, then on a trip to Castell del Cyclope he turned around and there it was. Magic.

That's him looking v. small beneath it. And the walls, glimpsed behind, were all constructed of blocks of stone that size. Four thousand years ago. On the top of a mountain. Amazing.


This is the view from the castle. That's Arpino on the hilltop below -- we went there last year and thought that was pretty high up. It's where Marius and Cicero were born (and Cicero was murdered for those of you who watched "Rome").









And these are some olives in situ on the tree.


Travelling on the train from Rome to Bari we saw millions of olive trees. And thousands of buffalo, too. And both the Mediterranean and the Adriatic. It took five hours but I really enjoyed it. I'd have enjoyed it a lot more if I'd had a decent book.

This one offers a master-class in how not to write dialogue -- even Victorian dialogue.





AND THANK YOU

Finally a huge thank you to everyone who commented on the branding issue. I was overwhelmed by the wonderful things that you all said -- to be compared to chocolate, words fail me. Or maybe not.

"Liz Fielding -- surprisingly better than chocolate..."

It's not exactly snappy is it? I begin to see why they pay experts six figure sums to come up with this kind of slogan.

SUNRISE, BACCHUS AND BRANDING...

I’ll post a few more pictures of Italy in a day or two (although here is the picture of Bacchus that somehow got left out of an earlier post).

Occasionally, however, something closer to home catches my eye and this morning – in dressing gown and slippers -- I snapped this amazing sunrise from my front doorstep and thought it was worth sharing.

There’s something about an all-guns-blazing sunrise that is just such a joy – although I have to tell you that the morning has not lived up to such a stellar billing.

It’s turned grey and a bit claggy, with that nasty little chill that gets into your bones, not that my bones need chilling. I’ve spent the last week laid up with a cold that the dh picked up on the aircraft coming home and very generously shared with me.

No work has been done since last Tuesday.

I left my poor heroine dangling over the edge of a precipice in true Pearl White fashion. An end of the chapter cliff-hanger in more ways than one. Could this be the way my writing is heading?

While I’ve been hors d’combat, with my feet up on the sofa, I’ve been dwelling on the “branding” issue. We all need a “brand” these days, apparently, so that our readers know exactly what to expect.

The best I could come up with was “Be surprised by Liz Fielding….”

I quite like it, but it kind of misses the whole branding/marketing issue. The whole point of branding is that you should know exactly what you’re getting so that you’ll reach for it without thinking – whether it’s chocolate, cheese or a book. I understand the concept. I can choose which kind of chocolate I want to fulfil my taste needs at the time. Milk or plain. Bitter or sweet. Bubbly or smooth.

With romance reading I can choose a Lucy Gordon Italian to sigh over, get nostalgic with a Betty Neels heroine, have my heartstrings rung by Natasha Oakley or get hot and bothered with a Penny Jordan sheikh.

You can see where I’m going with this, can’t you? Being “surprised” tells you nothing. Except that you don’t know what you’re going to get. It’s a feeling my editor is familiar with. I rarely share my ideas with her since she gets a touch nervous when I go off the radar.

I have to admit I was very nervous about the novella I delivered back in mid-August. That’s the one with the discovery of a jewelled khanjar called “The Blood of Tariq”, the heroine who finds herself married to a man she’s only just met – he didn’t bother to ask first -- and the kidnapping.

Bless her, she said it was “exciting”; that she was “gripped until the very last page” and she "loved it", which was a bit of a relief, to be honest, especially since “exciting” and “gripping” are words singularly missing from the “Romance” guidelines, but then this novella is going to be in an anthology with a Medical author and a Presents author (I’ll tell you more when I have full details) so maybe it doesn’t matter.

No title as yet, but it doesn’t have to be in copy-editing until November so no one’s panicking about that just yet. Surprised by the Sheikh, anyone? :)

BRIDES FOR CHRISTMAS

Early notice that I have one spare copy of BRIDES FOR CHRISTMAS, with stories by Carole Mortimer, Jessica Hart and my own A Surprise Christmas Proposal (clearly M&B are ahead of me with the branding thing).

This is one for members of my Yahoo Newsletter Group.

If you’re not already a member just click on the icon at the top of the sidebar.

THE WOMEN’S FICTION FESTIVAL, MATERA



The Women’s Fiction Festival in Matera has been running now for four years and offers a combination of every delight. Wonderful weather, great food and wine, and good company. Small wonder that it attracts a growing numbers of writers, publishers and agents from the US and Europe.

Matera is in the south, a few miles from the coast in Italy’s “instep”. Once one of the poorest and most deprived areas in the country, as described in Carlo Levi’s book, “Christ Stopped at Eboli”, it is now protected by UNESCO as a place of “collective memories … layers of history”.

Here the people once lived in caves in the Sassi, which means, literally, “rock”. The Sassi, one of the oldest inhabited places in the world and clinging to the side of a hill overlooking a deep gorge, has barely changed in centuries and has been used as the site of several movies including, most recently, Mel Gibson’s “The Passion of Christ”. The caves themselves, once each the home for families of up to twelve people and livestock – even the horse -- have now been turned into first class hotels and desirable homes, but the rock churches with their thirteenth century frescoes are still there and the Sassi now brings in visitors from all over the world.

Our hotel, the Sant’Angelo, had been put together from a group of converted cave dwellings which was certainly different, but very comfortable with a modern en suite bathroom. We arrived too late for the Festival welcome reception and so walked (make a note of that word walk) to a nearby restaurant and, having eaten a hearty meal, we collapsed into bed. We were going to need the rest.

After breakfast the following morning the receptionist directed us to Le Monocelle, beside the duomo, where the Festival workshops were taking place. I’ll draw a veil over the next half an hour, which consisted mainly of walking up steps. And more steps. And yet more steps. The good news is that you can eat all that wonderful Italian food because every morning and evening you’re going to get a cardiac workout whether you want one or not. To be fair, this was not the easiest route and we discovered that the hotel had a car available (no charge) to drive us up there whenever we wanted. Walking down was no trouble – although comfortable walking shoes are a must – as even the narrowest steps are well lit at night. There are also hotels situated much nearer the centre of things.

The first morning session consisted of a welcome from Amy Bliss, the American Consul in Naples, and then a fascinating talk on the subject of “Love in the Time of Tarantell” by Dorothy Zinn, an American cultural anthropologist who lives in Matera and whose thesis on the area was a best-seller in Italy. She told us of a passionate 15th century female poet who lived in the area, and about Philomena, a local beauty who, in the 19th century, murdered her jealous husband by stabbing him in the throat before running off to the join the brigands who lived in the caves. Lots of great stuff for the historical writers. She also told us touching stories recently collected from grandparents by local schoolchildren about their courting days – arranged marriages were still taking place here as recently as the middle of the twentieth century.

After that, Phil Doran, a Hollywood scriptwriter and author of “The Reluctant Italian”, had us in stitches as he read from his book and talked about how his life had changed following the phone call from his wife which began, “I’ve bought a house…”

The coffee breaks deserve a mention if only for the cakes – I refer you to the cardiac workout I mentioned earlier – and the espresso. And the opportunity to talk with agents, publishers and other writers, both published and unpublished, on a terrace high above the town in glorious sunshine. Here Barbara Samuel, Cat Cobain from Headline, Kayla Perrin and Karin Stoecker, Editorial Director of Harlequin Mills & Boon are comparing "cake" notes. Barbara gave a stellar workshop on Using the Five Senses in your writing. Layering in the lusciousness -- and I can't wait to read her wip, which has a working title of Cooking for the Dead. Her notes can be downloaded from her website.

The Festival programme was packed with workshops, including talks on the international drug trade and spyware by special agents from NCIS, and crime and cybercrime from experts in the field . There were also agent and publisher panels and some great author workshops. “Getting to Know Your Characters” from Ann Roth; “Writing for a Small Press” – the pros and cons -- with Rosemary Laurey; “Writing With the Five Senses” and “Writing Erotic Novels” with Rachelle Chase, Madeline Oh and Kayla Perrin.

Each evening opened with a “happy hour” in a piazza in the centre of town, followed by events – open to the public – as varied as a workshop on Writing Erotic Novels, Books Into Films and author signings. Here I'm getting acquainted with Stephano and Alessandra Bazardi from the Harlequin Mondadori office.

One of the most impressive, and valuable, features of the Festival was the opportunity for appointments with high powered agents – Carole Blake, UK; Kylee Doust, Italy; Katherine Sands and Christine Witthohn, US -- and publishers such as Karin Stoecker from Harlequin Mills & Boon, Catherine Cobain from Headline and Raelene Gorlinksy from Ellora’s Cave. These were not five minute affairs with the chance to do little more than use your “elevator pitch” but in-depth meetings that gave authors the chance to talk through their publishing experience with excellent advice on progressing their careers. Conference goer Margaret Moore reported having spent three-quarters of an hour with Karin Stoecker and thought her conference fee well spent.

The climax of the Festival was the award of the Baccante Prize to author, Federico Moccia before, finally, the reason for my invitation to the Festival which was the presentation of a translation contract by Harlequin Mondadori to Christina who won the annual translation competition for which my short story, “The Cinderella Valentine”, had been used as the set text.

The Matera Fiction Festival has everything. Great speakers and workshops, a fabulous setting, and dawn to dusk sunshine and I look forward to returning very soon.

THE PANTHEON

Day Three of the Great Italian Adventure

It was, in fact, a half day. Early closing in Rome for the two of us. It started with the hideous job of packing, booking out of out hotel and then we had a couple of hours before we had to leave for the Terminal and the rail journey south. What to do? There was no contest. We weren't leaving Rome without seeing the Pantheon, with it's great dome, that masterpiece in Roman concrete.

The bronze roof was robbed -- the story goes that it was used to make canons by an early pope to defend the Castel San'Angelo -- the marble has gone, apart from a few fragments that cling here and there. When it was new it must have looked liked a huge and glorious wedding cake.



It is still a stunning sight. The thing is, that on the television, you see these great momuments and the camera angles always suggest that they are in vast areas of space. On the contrary. They are all tucked away, hidden, so that you come upon them without warning, an architectural, historical kick in the guts. We passed Trajan's column on the way to the Pantheon, standing in the tiniest little square, surrounded by tall buildings. We didn't stop, there wasn't time and in fact a mould was taken of the column donkeys years ago and a copy -- in rather better condition than the original -- resides in the V&A. So we can take a really close look any time.

The Pantheon is fronted by a charming square. A street cafe where you can sit and just look. There's an obelisk in the centre for the photo opportunity, charming houses, a sign at the side indicating that something important involving a wedding happened in the 14th Century. By then the Pantheon had been standing there for fifteen hundred years.

The reason for its preservation is simple. It was converted from the Pantheon of the gods to a Christian church in the 5th century. It's still in use today, it's niches filled with saints rather than statues of Roman gods.

But forget all that marble. This is it's true glory. The roof.

The dome is half of a perfect sphere. A masterpiece of engineering design that still looks as crisp and new and the day it was finished.

Concrete as art.

Okay, I've been married to an civil engineer for thirty-five years, watched concrete being poured in more countries than I can remember and the enthusiasm tends to be catching. But there were tears in the engineer's eyes as he looked up in wonder.

Honestly.

There was just time for one more visit to our favourite spot in the Piazza del Popolo, time to take this photograph of Bacchus, then it was time to take the train and go south to Matera and the Women's Fiction Festival. The journey took around five hours, speeding through Italy on one of those fabulous tilting trains, with long tantalising view of both the Mediterranean and Adriatic before we arrived at Bari to be met by Matteo.

We arrived after dark at our hotel, deep in the Sassi caves, then stepped out to walk to a nearby restaurant. This was the view. And yes, that pale disk on the left is a great big full moon.

THE GLORY THAT WAS ROME

Day Two of the Great Italian Adventure

We made an early start on day two and since we didn't want to wear ourselves out before we reached the forum, we walked around the corner to the Piazza del Popolo and picked up a cab. The driver dropped us in the perfect spot.

Watching all those programmes about the Romans on the television hadn't been wasted. I immediately spotted Trajan's market -- on the other side of a four lane highway, Augustus's forum was to the left of it. But below us lay the big deal. The glory that was Rome.

Everyone had told me that the forum was "small" and, admittedly, on the television you only see that little bit with stubs of columns. Listen. I've walked around it. It is not small! There's enough there to keep a body captivated for days.

The Curia Julia, the tomb of Romulus, the temple Augustus built in honour of his uncle, the deified Julius Caesar which, following his defeat of Anthony at Acteum, he adorned with the rostra of Anthony's ships.

My photographs don't do it justice but the dh is hors d'combat with a cold picked up on the plane home so his will have to wait until he's feeling better.

This is the arch of Titus. Those of you who enjoy Lindsey Davis's Marcus Didio Falco books will remember him as the irritating son of Vespasian.

We met a charming American couple whilst admiring the Arch. Seeing we had a guide book, they stopped to ask if we spoke English.

A bit, we admitted and paused for a chat; these unexpected meetings of mind are one of the joys of travelling.

We didn't make it up to the Palatine. When they talk about the seven hills of Rome, believe me they aren't joking. That was one hill too many and we'd already worn our legs down to the knees.

We paused to take a look at Vespasian's greatest monument, the Coloseum, which is right next door to the forum. We'd already driven around it twice. There were about a milion visitors swarming around it and despite the fact that the dh's engineering soul longed to look at the gubbins, neither of us was capable of walking another step.

We didn't get to visit the Domus Aurea, either. That's another place that requires an advance appointment to see.

Never mind. Next time.

When Augustus defeated Anthony and Cleopatra, he took possession of the Egyptian treasury (he paid his army for three decades on the spoils and there was so much money in Rome -- all those returning soldiers with ten years pay in their pockets -- that the moneylenders had to reduce their rates from 12 to 4 per cent). He also brought home a few souvenirs. Obelisks seem to have been a favourite. They are everywhere.

After a pause for breath we did make it to an art gallery. It was the wrong art gallery. Worse, once we'd got in there, we couldn't find out way out. I didn't like anything I saw hanging on the walls, but I did like a notice informing visitors "What To Do in an Earthquake". The first instruction was "Do Not Panic".

Fans of "Dad's Army" will understand why I'm still grinning.

Dinner was at a pavement cafe. There is a photograph, taken by a kindly German gent, but it's out of focus. A pity. It's probably the only photograph taken of me in the last two weeks in which I'm not flushed with exertion!

THE GREAT ITALIAN ADVENTURE

Day One...

The trip to Rome was brilliant. The drive to the airport, the flight, the arrival were all without incident, which is exactly the way it should be.

On arrival in Rome we took a taxi into the city. The driver was fabulous. He gave us a running commentary as we drove Italian-style – ie fast. Here was Antico Rome, and the catacombs, there was an aquaduct, here was Valentino’s villa (I can’t tell you a thing about the villa, but he has a very impressive hedge). Then we reached the walls of the city, huge, impressive and then, wow, ohmigod, he turned sharply through an arch and took us right through the Roman wall and into the city.

On the left was the Domus Aurea -- Nero’s house -- and then, like a thump in the chest, there was the dome of St Peter’s in the distance, on the far side of the river and the Colosseum. Amazing.

By the time we’d checked into our hotel – a Roman Palazzo with genuine mosaics behind the glass wall of the lift – it was dark. Time for a g&t and then dinner in the open air roof restaurant. Utterly romantic. We were bowed and scraped over like a count and his contessa – something I could truly get used to.

Day Two

We walked through narrow streets boasting the names of the great designers and arrived at the mausoleum of Augustus – had to pay our respects. It was sadly closed -- you have to make an appointment to go inside apparently -- but having done our duty by the old boy we walked on to the Spanish Steps. It was early, they had just been washed and there were very few people about.

We took photographs of Keats house, the polizei, a gorgeous penthouse apartment that would certainly be the perfect home for a hero.

We had tea at Babingtons (very English, dark panelling, with a cat motif), then we walked right up the steps. The view across Rome from the top is stunning. Again that view of St Peter’s. We wandered along to the Parco Bhorgese, then down to the Piazza del Popolo.

Hot, leg weary, we sat in the piazza and had iced coffee with ice cream and because when you’re in Rome, etc, we did what the Romans do and had a siesta!

In the evening we wandered streets lined with shops with names straight out of Vogue. This was strictly window shopping – I’m the wrong shape for that kind of fashion, so it doesn’t matter that I can’t afford it.

We ate outside at a street café in that evening -- further scrummyness and no guilt because of all that walking -- then fell into bed.

Having fun is so exhausting!

.

SECRETS WE KEEP

October sees the publication of Jackie Braun's final story in the SECRETS WE KEEP trilogy, FOUND: HER LONG-LONG HUSBAND.

This is a classic Jackie Braun story, full of warmth and emotion. Claire, her heroine has been dominated by her family all her life and finally she's fighting back.

She's already making a stand even before she meets Belle and Simone on her tough charity cycle ride. Her father does that patronising stuff -- the metaphorical patting on the head -- and suggests she send a cheque. But her friendship with Belle and Claire makes her face up to the fact that there's something more she has to do before she can break away from the past, stand on her own two feet. She has to find the man she used, hurt, and tell him that she's sorry. She's hoping he'll forgive her. But what she needs most is to forgive herself.

If the journey through the Himalayas was a roller-coaster ride, then her return is an even tougher one. Meeting Ethan again makes her realise that she threw away something very special. But maybe, if she can convince him of that, they might still have a future together.

I love Jackie's writing. Her heroine's seem to have that little bit extra, a tiny core of steel that makes them special and Romantic Times seem to agree with me, giving FOUND: HER LONG-LONG HUSBAND, a very special 4 1/2 stars.

WOMEN'S FICTION FESTIVAL, MATERA

I'm off to Italy so I won't be around for a while. I've been invited to present the prize to the winner of the translation prize at the Women's Fiction Festival in Matera -- they used The Cinderella Valentine as the text.

It'll be a wonderful chance to mix with authors -- so far I have Ann Roth, Kayla Perrin and Rosemary Laurey in my diary -- as well as talking to editors, publishers, agents.

The Festival is concentrating on crime writing this year so, maybe, I'll be inspired to get out all the notes for my own crime novel and get on with it. Or maybe I'll just stick to sight-seeing. If possible, I'll blog from the conference, but if not, I'll be posting photographs and telling you all about it when I get back

HUGH IN A TOWEL DAY

It's Hugh-in-a-Towel day at The Pink Heart Society

The fabulous Anne McAllister has written an essay on what his image means to the romance author. His iconic status as a hero figure. His all round scrummyness.

Here he is as Ivo Grenville, hero of Reunited: Marriage in a Million.

To check on all his other roles, click on the link and enjoy!

IT'S TIME TO VOTE!



It's time to vote for your favourite book from the following list at the North-West Libraries TIME TO READ -- PURE PASSION website. This is a wonderful initiative from a very supportive library region with romances from every genre and for every taste on the list. Just click on the link at the bottom of the list, then on the VOTE HERE button at the top right hand corner.

A Step In The Dark by Judith Lennox

Brokeback Mountain by Annie Proulx

Brown Owl’s Guide To Life by Kate Harrison

Deceived by Nicola Cornick

Decent Exposure by Phillipa Ashley

Emotional Geology by Linda Gillard

Gardens of Delight by Erica James

Going Dutch by Katie Fforde

His ’n’ Hers by Mike Gayle

Home Truths by Freya North

Love Potions by Christina Jones

Mounting Desire by Nina Killham

PS, I Love You by Cecelia Ahern

Rainbow’s End by Eileen Ramsay

Reunited:Marriage in a Million by Liz Fielding

Stardust by Neil Gaiman

Tall, Dark and Handsome by Nisha Minhas

The Scarlet Lion by Elizabeth Chadwick

The Time Traveler’s Wife by Audrey Niffenegger

Undead and Unwed by Mary Janice Davidson

Okay, that's the list. Now click here and VOTE!

WHAT KEEPS ME WRITING?

Asked to write about this for eHarlequin recently, I have to say that my first, slightly cynical response, was that it’s the same thing that drives everyone to the office each morning. The need to eat. And that’s true, of course, but only up to a point.

It can’t be the need the eat that makes Stephen King sit at his desk each morning. Or John Grisham. Or Nora Roberts. For the writer, the artist, the actor – anyone who produces a “performance” out of their head, their heart, there has to be something more that drives them on when, by most standards, they have the kind of financial security that would have most of us switching off and heading for some luscious beach.

When I was a newly published author, a journalist asked me if I’d ever give up writing. It’s a pretty weird question now I think about it. Would she have asked a banker if he’d ever give up banking? Anyway, on a bit of a high I replied that even if I won the lottery (not likely since I don’t play!) I would still write.

Fifteen years and fifty-plus books later I sat down and asked myself if that was still true. I have to be honest and tell you that there are days when I never want to see a computer again. Writing is tough. It’s tough on your back, on your eyes. It makes your brain ache (it makes my brain ache, anyway). And unlike other jobs it doesn’t get easier with practise. On the contrary. The more you write, the harder it gets to find a brilliant new way to tell what is, basically, the same story. I actually read somewhere yesterday that there are only two stories – Romeo and Juliet and … I forget.

So, if I was asked the same question today, would the answer be the same? I guess it would, because writing isn’t just a job, writing is who you are.

I’ve always written. Always seen writing a book, being published as my personal goal in life. But if it was simply that, surely I would have been happy, content, once AN IMAGE OF YOU was published back in 1992? Picture in paper. “Mum, 40, Writes Book” headline. (Did Stephen King’s first headline read “Dad, XX, Writes Book”? No, I didn’t think so.) A book with my name on it in the local branch of W H Smith. Mission accomplished.

But one of the things that drives me, drives every writer I suspect, is the impossibility of a book, any book, ever matching the soaring vision in your head, in your heart. I once said to an editor, after A STRANGER'S KISS (my fourth, I think) had been accepted for publication, that I wished I done something more with a particular scene.

“Next time,” she said. “Do it in the next book.”

We both knew she wasn’t talking about that particular scene. She was telling me that next time I’d get closer. And that’s what keeps me writing. The goal of the perfect book. A book that, when I it take out of the box and read it through to check that all my corrections have made it through the final copy edit stage, doesn’t leave me thinking that I could have done something more in any one of a dozen places. That nagging little feeling that I could have done better.

It’s never going to happen of course. No writer is ever completely satisfied with the finished result and, since I get more critical with experience, not less so, I’ll always have to keep writing, always seeking an illusive perfection.

And as if that isn’t enough to keep me going, there are the characters I left behind. A handful of difficult teenagers who are clamouring for their own stories. Men and women who play a role above and beyond the call of a “minor character”, who have stories of their own that demand to be told, some more urgent than others.

At the moment I’m writing a follow up to my August, Harlequin Romance, REUNITED: MARRIAGE IN A MILLION. The hero’s sister was not, as first glance, heroine material and yet she came through when the pressure was on and I wanted her to break free of her past and find happiness. And how would that happen if I didn’t write her story? Being an author is a lot like being a mother. You never stop feeling responsible for your offspring.

But on the days when the writing is going so badly that I’m tempted to buy a lottery ticket, or just cut down on food and head for a quiet beach, what keeps me turning up at my computer at seven o’clock each morning are the letters from readers, the encouragement and camaraderie of colleagues, the faith of my editor – and a publisher who has paid me in advance to deliver this book, on time. And the memory of how it feels when the postman brings a box containing my latest book. The sheer pleasure of the moment when you open it, take one out and hold it for the first time. The new book smell. Checking the cover. The blurb.

It’s those moments that make this the best job in the world. Bankers are welcome to retire to whatever dream takes their fancy. Romance writers write out their dreams, their fantasies. Lying on a beach, just watching the world go by would be a kind of agony. About two weeks would be all it took before I had to go and write about the couple who are clearly having a very bad time. The lonely guy sitting throwing pebbles into the sea. The scarred woman… Fixing in my head the world that I see because that’s what I do. That’s who I am.

A writer.

WHAT HAVE I BEEN READING?

When the writing is going badly you’d think that the obvious answer is to dive into a good book and forget all about it. It doesn’t work like that, unfortunately. When the writing is going badly only a familiar book, something that I know will deliver a great comfort read will do. This Heart of Mine by Susan Elizabeth Phillips. Georgette Heyer’s Venetia. Pretty much anything by Kate Hardy.

But during the last couple of weeks I’ve delivered my sheikh novella and I’m 75 pages into my latest Romance and I’ve been feeding my soul, filling the well with some terrific new books.

First up, comes NEEDED: HER MR RIGHT by Barbara Hannay. This is the second book in the SECRETS WE KEEP trilogy that was a collaboration between me, Barbara and Jackie Braun Obviously I knew the set up of this story. Knew Simone Gray, the heroine, who appeared in REUNITED: MARRIAGE IN A MILLION, and I knew her terrible secret, but that was all. I didn’t know much about Ryan, her Mr Right, or how the story was resolved. I did know that it would be an emotional roller-coaster, though, because that’s what Barbara always delivers.

Just imagine a girl with a terrible family secret, a girl who loses the diary in which that secret is laid bare and then discovers it has been picked up by a hot shot journalist. That would be the same hot shot journalist, son of one of Australia’s richest men, who’s about to be featured as pin-up of the month, wearing nothing but a towel, in the magazine on which she’s a senior editor.

Great set up, but then the emotion kicks in. I’m not going to spoil it by telling you Simone’s secret, or how Ryan proves himself to be a true hero. You’ll want to find that out for yourself and you buy the book here

My second great read is CAFÉ DU JOUR by Lilian Darcy. Lilian guest blogged here last month, talking about this book of the heart and its long road to publication. Lilian is a fabulous writer, with many books to her name, but this is her first mainstream women’s fiction, published by MIRA in Australia. I sent for my copy as soon as it was published and was immediately caught up in this story.

The heroine is a chef who, since her sister’s catastrophic motor cycle accident, has been struggling with food, both cooking and eating it. Her boyfriend wants to involve her in his dodgy “new age” workshops and her boss’s son had decided to make-over the restaurant where she works. Life gets increasingly complicated but through it all she grows towards something that promises a happy ever after.

This is a wonderful, involving story with some truly stellar writing. Lilian has a gift for character. You may not like everyone in this book, but they are all completely real, whole, fully formed people. And her turn-on-a-sixpence descriptions make me want to weep with envy.

Café du Jour is, infuriatingly, only on sale in Australia but it’s a piece of cake to buy it online from the Harlequin Mills & Boon website here. You’ll need to register, but you have to do that with any website you want to buy from these days, and after that it’s a piece of cake. My copy took about ten days to reach the UK.


And finally, PLAY IT AGAIN? by Julie Highsmith. This is one for fans of Jill Mansell, Katie Fforde, Carole Matthews.

A joyous muddle of relationships, with an aging rocker Dad, his gorgeous son, the girl next door, an ex wife, a dog, old school friends and that boy who, in the sixth form, reduced the mother of the girl next door to an incoherent, blushing idiot. Oh, and possibly the most incompetent gang of kidnappers in the entire world. Lots of fun and available here from Amazon, UK

MORE COVER ART...

It's arrived. That gorgeous box of books containing the first edition (the UK hard back library edition) of THE SHEIKH'S UNSUITABLE BRIDE.

Opening the box, getting that first sight of the cover art is always a fraught moment.

Will it be fulfil the image that you have you in your head of your characters?

Will it feel like the story you wrote?

Or will it be a nightmare, so wrong that you want to weep?

Well, this is a bit of a mixed bag. This was my vision of my heroine, Diana Metcalfe.

Not that close, to be honest.

She's a larky girl with curly hair, but it's a lot better than some of my cover images.

Does anyone remember the hideous UK version of the The Bridemaid's Reward. The one where the heroine has a moustache and we're looking straight up her nose?


And this is Sheikh Zahir al Khalid. Okay, all my heroes look pretty much the same on the cover and I wasn't going to get Antonio Banderas as a cover model.

But it is pretty. And it looks like a "sheikh" book. I was a bit concerned I was going to get him in a dinner jacket and her in uniform dancing around Berkeley Square. (You'll have to read the book!)

My real surprise is that, to me, that cover clinch looks more like a Modern/Presents cover than the kind of artwork you usually see on a "Romance". Is this a trend? Or is it simply an attempt to attract "sheikh" lovers from other series to pick it up? I already have a solid following of readers who also love Modern/Presents but if this encourages more to pick a "Romance" and realise what they've been missing, well hooray!

Oh, and I'm blogging over at eHarlequin on What Keeps Me Writing. Debbie Macomber is there, too. Right next to me. How cool is that?

COVER ART

I'm waiting for cover art. Waiting to see how my lovely Sheikh Zahir and Diana have been portrayed on the cover of The Sheikh's Unsuitable Bride. I'm just being impatient. It won't be on sale retail until January, but an author worries about these things.

I did check on the art sheet details filled in by my editor and it seems likely that Diana will be in her chauffeur uniform. This could be fun, or it could be disastrous. Chewing my nails to the quick here, especially as while checking out the sheikh I looked over the cover "vision" for The Bride's Baby, my "spring bride" book.

Do you remember the purple shoes? Satin, embroidered, beaded, sparkly purple shoes that the lovely Anne McAllister spent valuable distraction time hunting down on the 'net for me?

Well, maybe my sweet ed was in a hurry because in the cover art form she wrote that the "bride is wearing purple...." Not the exquisitely described heavy cream silk dress and coat, appliqued and beaded and embroided to match to the shoes.

Gulp.

That would be The Bride of Dracula's Baby, then...

CAFE DU JOUR COMPETITION RESULT

Lilian Darcy has drawn the winner of her competition for a signed copy of CAFE DU JOUR and a CdJ t-shirt. I'll leave her to tell you all about it.

“I’ve chosen Jenilee Chua as the winner of a copy of “Café du Jour” and one of my “Café du Jour T-shirts. Of all the entrants, Jenilee, you were the only one who pick up that Dylan is a bit of a bad egg.

"Admittedly, it wasn’t easy to work it out from the excerpt! There’s no larger-than-life hero in “Café du Jour” – the book is much more about Susie dealing with turning points in her life – but by the end we can see that she’s going to be happy with the right man.

"On a more disappointing note, the UK editorial team for Mira Books has decided not to publish “Café du Jour” in the UK, despite all the positive feedback I’ve had, including that lovely review in the Melbourne Age. So UK and US readers, if you’re curious about the book, you’ll have to buy it via here at Harlequin Australia. The link is also on my website, with an excerpt and more details of the book.

"Liz, thanks so much for having me on your blog. As you know, “Café du Jour” is a real book-of-the-heart for me, and I’m really happy that your regular readers have had a chance to hear about it.”

Back to Liz...

Having read Cafe du Jour in the last week -- and I'll be blogging about it within the next few days -- I have to tell you that I'm deeply disappointed that it won't be issued in the UK, but I bought my copy here from Harlequin Australia as easily as I could have bought it from M&B here in the Britain, so don't let the distance put you off buying a really great book. They only list the books for a couple of months though, so don't put it off.

BRINGING UP BABY

The entries are all in, the dh has been delegated to draw the winner and a copy of BRINGING UP BABY will, this morning, be winging its way to Natalie N in Canada.

The question was in which years did Marion, Jessica and I win RITAs. I only wanted one date for each of us and you could have picked from any of the below. The fact that both Marion and I won in the same year seems to have confused some of you, but in 2006 Marion won in the Traditional category and I won in the Short Contemporary category with The Marriage Miracle.

Marion Lennox: 2004, 2006
Jessica Hart: 2005
Liz Fielding: 2001, 2006

Many, many thanks to all of you for taking part. The book is now on sale direct from Mills & Boon and at Amazon, UK As soon as The Book Depository (who despatch worldwide without charging for postage) have it listed I'll put a link on my blog.

Meanwhile I have to go and write 1200 words on "What Keeps Me Writing " for eHarlequin. Hmmm....

REVIEW

I wrote that headline in gold for a special reason :)

I thought all the reviews for Reunited: Marriage in a Million were in and then today, this was posted at We Write Romance

"...a unique and very memorable read."

Belle Davenport has deep, dark secrets that she's hidden from not only her television viewers but her husband—billionaire, workaholic, Ivo Grenville. But she's not the only one with secrets and as this story unfolds we find out that both have kept things hidden that could ultimately tear their marriage apart.

As the story opens, we find Belle asserting a bit of independence by defying Ivo. She refuses to drop out of a charity cycle event in the Himilayas—an event to support homeless children, a cause dear to her heart— to simply play host for him. Ultimately, she's risking the security she married him for...but in the end, the ride was a life changing eye opener for her. She returns home determined to make some changes. The first, but certainly not the last, being to look for her lost sister whom she feels she abandoned after the death of their mother. And so the story begins...

Liz Fielding's Reunited: Marriage in a Million is a unique and very memorable read. In a time when romance novels are full of the same old story lines I was relieved to read one with a fresh and exciting twist to the marriage of convenience plot. This is definitely a must read for anyone who likes stories that keep them guessing and wondering whether or not the couple really should be together until the end.

What a really lovely end to the day!

GOSH DARN IT...

Comments aren't appearing for some reason so just for Snookie ...

To enter the competition to win a copy of BRINGING UP BABY all you have to do is email me the three years in which Jessica, Marion and I have each won a Rita. Email the answer to me with your name and address and BRINGING UP BABY in the subject line and I'll draw one lucky winner on 31 August.

CONGRATULATIONS, NELL!

A few months ago I posted about the delightful Nell Dixon winning the RNA's Romance Prize for her novella Marrying Max.

Last week, Nell sold Blue Remembered Heels to Headline's Little Black Dress imprint and I'm so delighted I might just go pop. I can't wait to read it!

READING...

I haven't been blogging much lately. I had a tight deadline for my sheikh novella, which is presently sitting on my editor's desk while I wait on tenterhooks for it to come boomeranging back with revisions. That story seemed to consume all my writing energy so that when I surrendered for the night I just allowed myself to sink into the pleasures of reading someone else's hard work.

One of my favourite books was Ally Blake's, Billionaire on Her Doorstep. When you've written (and read) as many Romances as I have, you think there's nothing new. It's not true of course, but maybe one gets a little jaded. And then you pick up a book like Billionaire, with a quirky heroine who's searching for herself, a group of terrific, off the wall friends that you'd love to have yourself, and a hero to die for. Oh and the gorgeous setting along the Australian coast just made me long to be there...

Treat yourself.

I've just ordered the latest Anne McAllister for my holiday reading. And another Ally Blake. This time one of her Modern Extras. And Lilian Darcy's Cafe du Jour is on its way from Australia. You've got until the end of the month to win yourself a copy and a t-shirt. Check out Lilian's website, read the excerpt, and email her at lilian@liliandarcy.com with CAFE DU JOUR COMPETITION in the subject line. Just tell her the name of Julie’s son, and whether you think he’s going to be good or bad for Susie.

...AND WRITING

So what am I doing now? Apart from decorating a couple of bedrooms? Well, the next deadline is even tighter and I have to go to Italy for two weeks right in the middle of writing this book -- really, I mean, how bad can it get? -- so I didn't have a second to waste worrying about who or what I was going to write about.

Actually you all made it really easy for me. I've lost count of the number of emails from readers who've read Reunited: Marriage in a Million and want Manda's story. So there she is on this tropical island that isn't quite paradise when an earthquake hits. His name is Jago and he's just fallen out of love with the entire female sex. And Manda? Well, Manda has just done all the smiley Godmother stuff for her sister-in-law, Belle, and her assistant, Daisy, and she needs a break. Anywhere. The trouble is, she's so busy running from her demons that she just doesn't see the brick wall until she's run into it...

COMPETITIONS

Have you entered the two competitions running on this blog yet? You've got until the end of the month for the chance to snaffle a copy of Lilian Darcy's stellar single title CAFE DU JOUR. Scroll down for full details of how to win, but first feast your eyes on Diana Dempsey's review from THE MELBOURNE AGE, a journal not normally known for kindness to romance authors.

Saturday, August 18, 2007

"Susie is a 28-year-old chef whose sister has been injured in a motorbike accident and she’s in love with a schmuck who starts up a series of shonky New Age workshops. Now that’s a good set-up. Lilian Darcy does an incisive job demolishing the dilettante boyfriend, as well as some of the self-centred participants, who, in the name of personal development, just want more and more and more.

"With regard to Susie’s career, we have the pleasure of eating vicariously as well as being able to participate in the backstage argy-bargy of the restaurant. Despite the culinary setting, Susie doesn’t eat much herself and instead fixates on coffee. The stress of seeing her sister suffering has put Susie off her tucker, which means, in fact, she loses weight and becomes more and more gorgeous without realising it.

"Darcy is the writer of about 70 romances for Harlequin and Silhouette and she says on her website that editors didn’t quite know where to place Café du Jour. I can understand why.

"While a new boyfriend looms on the horizon, the romance in this case is secondary to the book’s theme: Susie’s personal crisis as she deals with the changes in her life. Written as a journal through Susie’s eyes, the voice is warm and witty. Susie’s insights into her relationship with her sister, workmates and her lover are handled in a subtle and totally credible way, making for an excellent read."

You can tell this a "serious" publication by the way it refers to the author by her last name!

And you still have a few days left to enter my own competition to win a copy of the 3-in-1 UK reissue BRINGING UP BABY, which includes my THE BABY PLAN, as well as books by Marion Lennox and Jessica Hart.

MEETING LILIAN DARCY

After my last post, Lilian emailed me to remind me that we first met at Jane Porter's tea party at Brown's Hotel in Denver and I knew I had a photograph of that brilliant afternoon, so I looked it out. So here we have Jane Porter, C J Carmichael, me and Barbara Dunlop. Guess who's holding the camera!





But when I was looking for the first photograph, I found this. A year later, here we are all having tea with Jane at the Plaza in New York where, cleverly, Jane had the waiter take photographs. So here you have Jane, me, CJ, Barbara, Lilian and Susan Stephens.

Champagne, really good tea, food to die for and good friends. Absolutely perfect.

So, now we've got that sorted, carry on down and read all about CAFE DU JOUR, Lilian's fabulous new MIRA single title -- mine is in the post and I can't wait! -- and maybe win yourself a signed copy and Cafe du Jour t-shirt.