My New Romance Home

by Joanne Rock

Readers who have been following my books for more than a handful of years know that I like to write all kinds of books. I love all kinds of romance—from sexy and fun to emotional and complex, from historical settings to the Young Adult world. Falling in love is a wonderful and intriguingly complicated business no matter that age, no matter the era, and I’m completely fascinated with it.

That’s why I’ve been very lucky that Harlequin—and my readers!—have been so patient with me over the years as I dream up new ways to tell the Boy Meets Girl story. Before I ever sold a book, I wrote medieval historical romances. Those were the stories that first drove me to a computer, the stories that wouldn’t let me go and demanded I figure out how to be a writer. They are a core part of my inner storyteller, and I will always have another historical inside me even if I’m not actively writing them at this time. One day, there will be more of them.

But the readership for historicals was tricky to reach. Editors are mindful of trends in this smaller segment of the romance readership, buying more medieval books some years, and very few medieval

Available April 19

stories others. While struggling to make a first sale with historicals, I thought I’d take a closer peek at contemporaries to see why so many more people read them. Soon, I found a whole new world of books to enjoy.

Pinpointing Harlequin’s “red cover” books as something I quite liked, I tried to pen something in the style of then-Temptation authors Lori Foster and Stephanie Bond. I had so much fun I couldn’t stop writing them, certain I was closer to the mark. I sold two Temptations and got a request from my editor to try writing something even newer—a Harlequin Blaze.

At the time, Blaze was a miniseries within the Temptation series. But I thought I understood what the editor wanted for the new line. I quickly sold three Blazes and found myself busy writing for two lines. It was a dream come true for me since I was getting to tell lots of stories and could bend my voice in different directions for each series. Too soon, however, Temptation stopped publishing, leaving me with extra time and creativity to spare.

I promptly turned back to those medieval historical manuscripts. Didn’t I love them? With my new writing confidence, I revised them, editing and polishing. Soon, I sold two of them to Harlequin Historicals and happily went back to work for a second series, moving back and forth between Blaze and Historicals.

Harlequin welcomed the occasional other project, too. A Special Edition for a continuity. A few Special Releases and a Signature Select, other Harlequin programs that gave my Muse fun opportunities to tell still more kinds of stories. Things were rocking along just fine until book sales of all kinds started to fall.

I kept writing because I enjoyed it so much, but I had to work harder and write more to maintain the same level of income I’d made in prior years. Harlequin felt the squeeze, trimming some of their series from six books down the four books, streamlining their offerings. They worked to find better distribution for the books, moving some of the series to digital only. Publishers and writers alike wondered how to stay viable while the industry experienced massive growing pains.

I tried different things too. I did something totally new for me and wrote a series of Young Adult books under the J.K. Rock pseudonym with my sister in law, Karen. I tried writing for Harlequin Superromance and dug deep into longer, more complex stories. Maybe I was hoping by the time I finished one of those long books, the industry would be done with its growing pains and we could all return to business as usual.

As always, the writing sustained me, as did the readers. I started writing sexy books again, this time for Harlequin Desire, and I’m balancing this with the Superromances, keeping my Muse happily engaged and busy. My first one, His Secretary’s Surprise Fiancé was a March release and my second, Secret Baby Scandal will be available May 1 for download. By the time September rolls around, you can read the fourth book in my Heartache, TN series for Superromance, Whispers Under a Southern Sky. I’m having a great time. One day, I just know a medieval warrior will ride into my life and sweep me off my feet, demanding I tell his story. And I will. But for now, I’m lost in a world of rich and powerful billionaire heroes, and I couldn’t be happier to linger…

**What kind of hero is captivating you lately? Billionaires, cowboys or Vikings? Athlete heroes or sexy sheriffs? Share with me today and I’ll send one random commenter a copy of my first Desire, His Secretary’s Surprise Fiancé!

Traits of a Romance Heroine

When I hear someone describe a romance heroine, the most commonly used terms are "smart", "clever" and "intelligent". A heroine isn't required to be pretty or the belle of the ball, but she must win the respect of the hero (and the reader) with her wit.

But what if a heroine was not considered smart? I'm not talking about a learning disability or a lack of education or someone who has no common sense. What if she had a low IQ? Would she still win the respect of the hero and the reader? And how would her insecurity about her intelligence level affect her and her relationships? 

Those are the questions I had when I wrote Outrageously Yours. In this Harlequin Blaze, Claire does not bring attention to herself. Years ago she was tested with a low IQ. She was taught to hide her intelligence level so people wouldn't take advantage of her or treat her as an unequal. As I wrote the story I discovered that she had many qualities that I want to see in a heroine. She was hard-working and resourceful. Her perseverance was a quality the hero wishes he could emulate.

I have to admit, I was still worried when I sent this manuscript to my editor. What if my experiment wasn't successful? I was relieved that my editor found the heroine sympathetic. And I was glad RT BookReviews found the main characters "two root-worthy romantic heroes."

Outrageously Yours will be in stores throughout North America on April 21 and as an eBook on May 1. However, you can buy the print or digital version now on Harlequin.com.

Susanna Carr is an award-winning author known for her contemporary romances. Readers throughout the world find Susanna's stories a delightful escape that has often helped them through difficult times. Reviewers frequently describe her work as "fun", "sexy", and "a must read". Find her of Facebook, Twitter and Goodreads.

New Year, New Books!

Happy New Year!

I'm so thrilled to be blogging here monthly.  I hope you all will enjoy it too.  I'm one of those people who loves writing down resolutions each year.  And--please, don't hate me--I'm also one of those people who usually has checked them all off by the end of the year.  It's just my nature to make lists and check things off.

This month the last book in my Holiday Heat series from Harlequin Blaze is out.  It's my New Year's Eve themed book and I couldn't resist adding a resolutions list to the beginning of the book.

Here's a snippet of the scene:

“What food do you want to try next year?” she asked, reading from the list and hoping that she could keep her courage until midnight. Only another fifteen minutes. She wanted him. She wanted this New Year’s Eve to be different from all the rest.

“Food, eh?” He wrinkled his forehead. “Not sure. I’m going with one of my cousins on a trip in Iceland to see a reindeer farm. So maybe reindeer?”

“I bet it doesn’t taste like chicken,” she said with a half smile. “When is that trip?”

“In the fall. It’s a Northern Lights trip. We spend three weeks up close to the Arctic Circle living with the locals and watching each night for the aurora borealis.”

That sounded...cold, but intriguing. “Have you done anything like that before?”

“Nah. This is the first year that I’m not competing anymore.”

She looked at him in surprise. “What? Why not?” If not for her reconstructed knee, she’d still be training and focusing on four years from now. The next winter games.”

“I have gold medals and more titles that one man could ask for. It’s time to set my sights on something else.”

“Such as...?” she asked, leaning closer. This is what she was searching for. What came after competing the way they had for most of their life? It was different for Carter because he’d been born with a silver spoon in his mouth. A little rich kid who got whatever he wanted. But that had only carried him so far. She knew that he’d worked as hard as she had to get to the winter games.

“Not sure. But this is my year of adventure. My year to find out. I’m working on that charity you’re involved with to help kids get started in winter sports, because that’s new for me. The old man is glad to see me giving back. Can you believe he said that to me?” Carter scowled. “I’ve given back a lot over the years.”

For a moment she caught a glimpse of the real Carter. “You have. I’ve heard about the board you developed. It changed snowboarding.”

“Yeah, that was nothing,” he said, flashing a grin at her. And the real man disappeared behind that flirty facade. “So what new food are you going to try?”

“Nothing exotic like you. I have a thing about dairy and have usually not eaten cheese. I know that sounds silly but this year I think I’ll give it a try.”

He lifted a brow. “Cheese?”

“Yes.”

“You seriously don’t eat cheese?” he asked.

She had friends who acted the same way when she mentioned it. “I don’t like dairy stuff usually.”

“Cheeseburgers?”

“Nope.”

“Pizza?” he prodded.

“Pesto-based pizza with fresh tomatoes. No cheese.”

“Weirdo,” he said.

“Like you’re normal!”

“Who wants to be normal?” he scoffed. “Okay...all kidding aside, what new thing are you really going to try?”

She looked at him for a long minute before the two lemon-drop martinis and her courage finally caught up with her mouth. “You.”

Click here to read more.

What about you?  What's something new you want to try this year?

Leave me a comment to be entered to win all three books in the Holiday Heat series. 

Kathy :)

Isabel Sharpe: Romancing the Scone

My husband and I just returned from an idyllic trip to Ireland.  I expected the green fields and sheep, but was totally unprepared for the remarkable drama of the western coast and the welcoming charm of the people.  We fell utterly in love with the place—and with having a pint in a pub before dinner every night.

So many favorite moments, but one of the best was on a mid-morning drive (on the left!) on a twisty narrow road around the tip of the Dingle Peninsula, roaring ocean on one side, mountains on the other.  We passed an ancient stone house with a sign, "Home Baking."  The day was damp and cold and we were hungry, so we stopped.  Inside, a low-ceilinged room with two tables and a couple of easy chairs in front of a lovely fire.  The owners, an elderly couple, served us excellent tea and just-baked scones.  We sat there, warm and cozy, feeling part of something foreign and very, very old.  And then, blaring from the kitchen, Neil Young's Southern Man.  A small world after all.

The sad truth is, after such an enchanting time . . . we had to come home.  Thirty-three degrees here in Wisconsin the day we landed, April 15.  We wanted nothing more than to climb back on the plane and return to the bed and breakfast that served scones, brown bread with butter and jam, fresh orange juice, assorted fruits, yoghurt, muesli, amazing cheeses and then an enormous hot breakfast.

Back home, in a somewhat crazed effort to keep the magic going, I scoured the Internet for brown bread recipes and made a worthy version.  I baked scones.  I made muesli, beef and Guinness stew and a dessert called Eton Mess (here I’d like to point out that as of this writing, we have been back for only four days.  I was obsessed).

However, by last night, inevitably, the trip’s magic had faded into all we had to do and catch up on and be responsible for here in our real lives.  Ewww!  So this morning I put down placemats, China and silver, and arranged the leftover scones, muesli, yoghurt and fruit onto and into elegant serving pieces.  I offered our orange juice from a small crystal pitcher and milk from a china one.  My tea and my husband’s coffee I poured out into proper tea cups.  With saucers.

And you know what?  In spite of seven thousand extra dishes to wash afterward (where was that B&B staff?), it was a really lovely escape back into fantasy.  We made a pact to remind ourselves that it only takes a little extra effort to transform the ordinary routine into something more special.  A good lesson learned.  Think how many more there must be!  Clearly we need to visit several more countries to search them out.

If anyone would like the recipe for scones and/or brown bread, please let me know!  And I would love to hear how you keep your lives from sinking too far into the ordinary.  My favorite response gets a copy of my April Harlequin Blaze, Nothing to Hide.

Cheers and happy travels, armchair or otherwise,

Isabel
www.IsabelSharpe.com

*** Isabel's winner is Renee! Please email totebag@authorsoundrelations.com with your mailing info.***

The Gardening Bug by Samantha Hunter

I love gardening. Sometimes, like now, when the yard is a mess, the grass is all matted and the garden needs to be seriously cleaned out from last year’s overgrowth, and one hour outside yesterday just turning and feeding the compost pile was exhausting, I wonder why. . .but I do. I don’t know if gardening can be in your DNA, but I think it’s in mine! Both of my grandparents, though I never knew them, were farmers. My father once told me I was like his father, Jack, because I’ve had the urge to garden since I was a kid. My father also had a wicked green thumb, as did my mom, so I guess it’s in my blood.

The craving usually starts sometime around the New Year, when I normally will put in a seed order for things I want to plant. Then I drag out the gardening magazines, and start taking notes, making changes based on the previous year’s successes or failures. Then when March and April roll around, the bug really bites and I pace in front of the windows, waiting for the snow to go so I can get outside and start in.

Then, when I get out there, I realize what hard work it is, and wonder why again. LOL But I know why – partly, it is because I like the hard work. There is no exercise on the planet like gardening – there is no workout like what you will get turning a compost pile or digging sod. Even planting and pulling weeds is a good bit of exercise as well, as well as being outside for hours. Many days in the summer, I need no other exercise.

Then there is the reward of the flowers, vegetables and fruits. . .watching them grow is a sense of accomplishment, and I enjoy all of those goodies in the kitchen and long into the bare winter – we preserve jams, jellies, fruits and salsas, and I will freeze fresh and roasted tomatoes for sauce and other dishes.

Some of my favorite things to grow are sunflowers (the beauty of them for us, the seeds for the birds), and heirloom tomatoes. Other annual favorites are beets (I really love growing beets, it’s weird), Swiss Chard, and lettuce. We have a large rhubarb patch as well as berry patches and fruit trees, and love it all. Newcomers this year will be asparagus, given to me by a neighbor, and I’m going to try my hand at growing potatoes. It’s supposed to be easy – we’ll see.

What occurred to me today is that for all of my love of gardening, I’ve never written a book with a gardening character – clearly, that will have to change at some point. Maybe in the winter, when I am pining for my garden and hating the blank slate of the snow, I’ll write some gardens for my romances.

Do you get bitten by the gardening bug? Do you have favorite books, magazines or tips for gardening? Share, and I’ll give away a signed copy of my January Blaze, Unforgettable, and a print copy of my Samhain anthology, Strangers on a Train, with a story by me and four other great authors. 

*** Samantha's winner is Di! Please email totebag@authorsoundrelations.com with your mailing info.***

Tawny's Top Ten… and a Hot SEAL Deal

Years before I started writing romance, I was a voracious romance reader.  It was that love of reading romances that eventually sparked the dream to write one of my own.  To this day, my favorite way to relax is to curl up with a romance novel and get lost in the wonder of a fabulous story.

This got me thinking about all the reasons romance rocks (and hopefully reasons that people might be reading my books *g*) so I pulled together a fun top ten list…

Tawny’s Top Ten Reasons to Read Romance

·      Happy Every After’s Rock

·      Hellooooooo...  Hunky Heroes

·      We can see the world without leaving our reading-spot

·      We can travel through time in the pages of a romance

·      Did I mention hunky heroes? 

·      Living out a love story as we empathize with the heroine lets us explore the wonder of falling in love

·      Romances have a message of hope, and they make us better people

·      Strong heroines teach us to be strong ourselves

·      We get to explore a plethora of job options, without having to be qualified for any of them

·      And once again, the hunky heroes!  Because it’s those sexy heroes, their enticing personalities and their many... um, shall we say talents that we love to read about in great detail

And speaking of talented heroes, here’s a peek into my latest release, A SEAL’s Salvation: 

Oh, my.
     The years had been kind, indeed, to Brody Lane.     Even as his expression folded into a scowl when he realized she wasn’t who he’d expected to see at his door, she couldn’t stop staring.        It was as if Mother Nature had looked at the perfection that had been him at nineteen and decided to add a few layers of oh, baby gorgeousness to her work of art.
     Arresting before with its sharp planes and brooding features, his face was more intense now.  Even sharper, despite being unshaven and shadowed.  His eyes were just as striking, like molten gold.  They’d always been distant, except when he’d smiled.  But now there was a chasm there, like he was watching from miles away.  Assessing.  Her, the situation, their past, present and future, all without blinking.        It was kinda scary.  Not sure what he was seeing, or more important, what he thought about what he was seeing, Genna bit her lip.
     It was nerves as much as curiosity that made her peel her gaze from his to check out his body.  And what a body it was.     Broad and muscular, his chest and shoulders looked like they were sculpted from marble under his black tee.  He still had that lean build, his waist tapering to slender hips.
     Her eyes dropped lower and she gulped.    The blue cotton sweatpants did nothing to hide the muscle between his legs, either.
     Little dots danced in front of her eyes.  She realized she’d forgotten to breath.
     A gulp of air cleared the dizziness, but the tingling didn’t go away.
     He was... Wow.
     The things he could do with that body, she’d bet they were nothing short of amazing.  And she wasn’t just talking military things.  Her mouth was dry and she was starting to feel a little dizzy again.
So she forced her gaze to climb back up to his face.  His unwelcoming scowl had turned into a ferocious frown.
     She wrinkled her nose.  She should have kept checking out the bod.  He obviously wasn’t thrilled to have company.
     So what else was new?
     “Hi Brody.  I brought you some cookies.”  As greetings went, it was lame. But she added her best smile.  When that had no reaction, she held up the plate as proof.  And, yes, as a bribe.
     He didn’t even look at the plate.  Her lips threatened to drop into a pout.
     “Um, it’s me.  Genna.”  She paused, brows arched.  She tried a friendly smile that was only a little shaky with nerves.  When he didn’t even blink, she swallowed hard, then added, “Joe’s sister.”
     Your favorite pen pal, she wanted to say.  But given his reaction so far, she was a little afraid to bring that up.
     Genna waited.  After five seconds, her smile dimmed.  At thirty, she was straight-up frowning.  Knowing a glare was imminent at sixty, she crossed her arms over her chest, the cookie plate hitting her in the shoulder, and lifted her chin.     “Well?  Aren’t you even going to say hello?”     Now her scowl matched his.
     So much for dating.  She couldn’t even get the guy to talk to her.   

Ahh, the many reasons to love a good romance, right?  

How about you? Why do you read romance?  Besides the hunky heroes, of course :-)

A SEAL's Salvation:    Amazon | B&N | iTunes | Harlequin
A SEAL's Surrender:  Amazon | B&N | iTunes | Harlequin

New York Times and USA TODAY Bestselling author of over twenty-five hot books, Tawny Weber has been writing sassy, sexy romances since her first one hit the shelves in 2007.  A fan of Johnny Depp, cupcakes and color coordination, she spends a lot of her time shopping for cute shoes, scrapbooking and hanging out on Facebook. 

Readers can check out Tawny’s books at her website, www.tawnyweber.com, or join her Red Hot Readers Club for goodies like free reads, complete first chapter excerpts, recipes, insider story info and much more.

You can also find her on Facebook, Twitter or Pinterest