Presents

One of the questions I’m most often asked  about the American editions of my books  is –

In  Harlequin Presents (Or Harlequin Presents Extra)  does that ‘Presents’ mean  presents as in a gift – a birthday  present – or Ta dah! Harlequin  Presents – as in ‘ we present to you . .

Well, the answer is that the real way to pronounce it is as in that second version – the ‘we present to you . . .’ but today  I’ve been thinking about the word  in its other sort of meaning – the presents that come gift-wrapped and we give to people for their special days.   There is a reason for this -  May is a month when several people I love have their birthday . My dear friend and wonderful writer Michelle Reid just had her special day and  in a couple of weeks my eldest sister has her birthday,  Oh, and tomorrow is my own birthday. No, you can’t ask which one – I was a child when I started writing -  honest!

So of course I have been dealing with the gift sort of presents for  a few weeks now. (My sister lives in Tasmania so I had to buy/wrap and send her gift a while back.) I like choosing presents for people I care about – I like thinking of what they enjoy, what interests them, what sort of things they might like to treat themselves too but perhaps couldn’t afford or  might think was a bit too extravagant to indulge in.  But I’m  pretty hopeless about  thinking about gifts for myself.

I just had a  conversation with my husband and my son and a couple of friends – could I . . .l well, no really, I couldn’t come up with any suggestions of what I’d like for a birthday present.  I’m lucky, you see – I  have the perfume  I want, the  bath and body luxuries that I was given for Christmas and  I haven’t been able to use up because of the renovations we had in the house for the last three months  – it’s hard to use up bath essences or oils when you don’t have a bathroom that’s working for some time, let alone a bath!  And  jewellery?   Well, really I don’t want a lot of jewellery – I mean how much can you wear at one time?  And I recently treated  myself to the one really special piece that I wanted  because my latest novel – The Devil and  Miss Jones – is my 60^th published title.  So I bought myself this necklace to celebrate.

But after a rather difficult year just behind me – with family ill health, bereavement   . .. and then all those renovations – messy, dirty, noisy, but worth it in the end – I  come to this birthday knowing deep down that really I have all I need or want.  My husband is now  well after a health scare, my son and his partner are happy and settled, my family  - there are more sisters than the one in Tasmania -  are all fine.  Even the  cats, two crazy Maine Coons are happy and healthy and revelling in the fact that  Spring is back and they can roam in the garden and climb the trees.

And  thinking about this reminds me why I write romance. It brings me back the that opening and the ‘Harlequin Presents ‘.   Because the truth is that if we have someone to  love and care for us then we have everything we need. That’s why I write romance and, I think, why people love to read it. We love to think that there will be someone special, a real true hero (or heroine) for each of us. Someone who really is a lover in all senses of the word. And that’s why I write the lovely life and love-affirming books I do. To show how important  love is in the world and in our lives.

So in a way the Harlequin Presents   books are those very special gifts too.

My DH has just gone into the living room with some wrapping paper and a bag containing . . . well, I don’t know what, but I have strict instructions not to go in there for a while! So  it looks like he found something that needs wrapping for  tomorrow.  As I said, I really am very lucky.

And because I’d like to share my special day and the celebrations with the wonderful readers who have helped me enjoy this special career  - because without my readers  buying my books I  wouldn’t be able to keep writing – I’m offering a giveaway with this post to someone who comments.

I’d love to know which of my backlist of books you’d really like to read.  If I was sending  you a Present  from Harlequin Presents (or Presents Extra) then which one would it be?  Have a look at my web site  if you need inspiration but just let me know which title you’re missing from your collection – or that you really fancy reading – and I’ll  get Charlie the Maine Coon to pick a winner who’ll receive a book from the backlist I have in stock. (I don’t have any of the really older books -  the ones that date back to 1986 when my writing career really began but I’ll offer you a choice of the ones I do have!)

Thank you all for sharing in my celebration.

The Devil and Miss Jones is out in  Presents Extra - and still available iN Mills & Boon Modern too. In Australia it's the lead book in the special Motehr's Day Pack so that means it's helping with anoyther sort of celebration too. 

 You can keep up with all my news on my web site, and the latest happenings are over on my personal blog.

It took some time to find Charlie and get him to pick the winners, but now that the rain has started he's back inside!  And he was hungry so he has picked more than one winner!
The winners are -
Lory Lee
Squiressj
and
JenB
Suqiressj  and Jen - I have copies of the books you have chosen (Lept for Her Baby and The Return of The Stranger)   and Lory Lee- I don't have any copies of One Night in Madrid because that is a 3 book  anthology - but I will send you a copyu of the book Spanish Billionaire,Inocent Wife which is my book in that collection
Please all winners send  me your postal addresses to kate AT kate-walker.com
And thank you all again for the birthday wishes!