40 for 40 with Kate Walker

If you've visited my blog lately you'll see that I'm  running a special celebration.   If you haven't visited in a while, then you might like to get over there and join in the fun - there's a cyber party  going on, a lot of guests, and a lot of giveaways.

So what am I celebrating? Well the clue is in the title of this blog - I have 40 guests helping me  and my DH Steve (aka the Babe Magnet) celebrate a very special wedding anniversary.  Our 40th.

 (Yes, I really was a child bride – I can’t possibly be old enough to have a wedding anniversary with a Ruby in it! ) Well, yes, I admit it, we will have been married for 40 years on July 14th (and all the jokes about the storming of the Bastille were done at our wedding back then.)

Anyway  - I thought it was  something worth celebrating and I’m running a  cyber party on my blog.  So I'm asking friends – hopefully 40 of them! -  if they'll contribute a small blog post – maybe a giveaway if they want.

So that's the public celebration - but people keep asking me if we are going to have special anniversary presents. And of course, because this is our 'Ruby Wedding'  - they want to know if I'm going to be showered in rubies!

Er - well, the problem is that I'm not very fond of rubies.  We've looked at jewellery  but I haven't seen anything (rubies or not) that I like specially.  And the Babe Magnet isn't a jewellery wearing  sort of man.  So finding a special gift is really quite a task.

And a party? Apart from the one on my blog – are we going to hold a big party to celebrate? Well, we thought about it but  getting everyone together in the summer – in July when we are both really busy with the RNA conference and Writers’  Holiday at Caerleon  as going to be tricky. Besides, one big celebration and it would all be over.  So instead we’ve made a list – 40 lovely things that we both want to do , some big, some small, m– and we’ve spread that out over some months so that we have something to look forward to and enjoy through this special year.  Last week we had a weekend away in a lovely Yorkshire town. We have two  great theatre trips booked  . . . . I’m really looking forward to it.

But this made me think about writing   romance – and about my heroes and heroines. If they got to their wedding anniversary, what would they give each other as gifts? I know red roses, jewellery, gold . .. that sort of thing is traditional, but are they really special, really personal to the one they love?  What would make a gift really special? 

I had a look at some of the sites about wedding anniversary gifts and found these  sorts of ideas -

Anniversary   Traditional   Modern

    1st  Paper  Clocks, Plastic, Gold Jewellery

  2nd  Cotton  China, Cotton, Calico, Garnet

  3rd  Leather  Crystal, Glass, Pearls

  4th  Fruit, Flowers  Appliances, Linen, Silk, Nylon, Blue Topaz

 5th  Wood  Silverware, Sapphire

 6th  Sugar, Iron  Wood, Candy, Amethyst

  7th  Wool, Copper  Brass, Desk Sets, Onyx

 8th  Bronze, Pottery     Appliances, Linens, Lace, Tourmaline Jewellery

 9th  Pottery, Willow  Leather, Lapis Jewellery

 10th  Tin, Aluminum  Diamond Jewelry   

  11th  Steel  Fashion, Turquoise Jewellery

 12th  Silk, Linen  Pearls, Jade

 13th  Lace  Textiles, Furs, Citrine

 14th  Ivory  Gold Jewellery, Opal

 15th  Crystal  Glass, Watches, Ruby

 16th     Silver hollowware, Peridot

 17th     Furniture, Watch

18th     Porcelain, Cat's Eye Jewelry

  19th     Bronze, Aquamarine

20th  China  Platinum, Emerald

  21st     Brass, Nickel

  22nd     Copper

23rd     Silver plate

24th     Musical instruments

  25th  Silver  Sterling silver

There are more – right up to the 75^th wedding anniversary. 
So what do you think? What sort of really special gift could a hero give to a heroine – or vice versa? Would you like to see him /her stick to tradition or come up with something totally new?

I have a giveaway today  - a signed copy of my latest book A Throne for The Taking (or some other book from my backlist if you’ve already read that one) for the commenter who gives me a the most romantic idea. And you never know I might use it in a book sometime.

 

 

Kate’s latest hero is Alexei Sarova, that black sheep prince who has to face up to a new and unexpected destiny with his heroine Honoria Escalona (Ria) as the woman he wants as his queen.

A kingdom's safety...
Betrayed by those she loves, Honoria Escalona must now face the only man capable of bringing stability to the Mediterranean kingdom of Mecjoria. A cold, hard man who once called her his friend... Alexei Sarova-the true King of Mecjoria.
In exchange for her happiness

 

But Alexei's tortuous past has changed him into someone she hardly knows. He blames Ria's family
A Throne For the Taking will be published in the Royal and Ruthless miniseries in both Harlequin Presents and Mills & Boon Modern in June.

Other up to date news and details of all Kate’s books can be found on her web site and in her blog.

And my winner is DI  - Di please email me kate AT kate-walker dot com (or through the link on my web pages  giving me your postal address so that I can get the book  in the mail to you.