My Second Presents by Caitlin Crews

My second book for Harlequin Presents is due out October 1, but is already out in a lot of bookstores--and is already shipping from Amazon.



Sheikh Tariq bin Khalid Al-Nur is as treacherous and formidable as the desert land he wants to rule. But he cannot take the throne of his country until he marries. Why, then, has he not wed? Tariq cannot rid his dreams of ordinary but bewitching Jessa Heath!

Jessa knows she and Tariq have unfinished business. What if she were to take control and allow herself the one night he's offering to put their passion to rest? But Jessa is treading dangerous ground! It would only take that night to reveal the secret she has so desperately kept hidden….

There are a lot of reasons this book is special to me. First, it's my second Presents, my second romance novel. The truth is, I kind of thought my first book was some kind of glorious fluke. I didn't know why they bought it. I was over the moon! But this second one--this proved it wasn't a fluke after all.

I also set the book partly in and around York, England, where I lived for about five years. I had a complicated relationship with the place, as you do, but in this book I got to simply revel in its beauty. And it really is beautiful:



I imagined the letting agency where Jessa works, where she first sees Tariq again, to be on a little street like this:


It was a lot of fun to go back--if only via my computer.

But the biggest reason this book is special to me is because of a choice Jessa makes five years before the book opens, a choice that has far-reaching consequences. I'll be talking more about that choice over at I Heart Presents next week. I'll tell you that it's very close to my heart. Can Jessa live with her decision--and more to the point, can Tariq live with the decision she made? Can they overcome it--together?

You'll have to read the book to find out. I hope you do--and that you love it as much as I do.