Don't be a Turkey! Have a Happy Thanksgiving! by Jenny Gardiner

Hi everyone!

I'm so swamped with a book due tomorrow and SOOOO much more to write! So I'm going to share my favorite pumpkin bread recipe--it is the best, so I hope you get a chance to try your hand at it. I wish I could say where I got this recipe from but I've had it for at least twenty years so I haven't a clue!

Enjoy and Happy Thanksgiving!

PUMPKIN BREAD

Makes 3 large loaves                    prep time: 20 mins

4 c. flour

2/3 tsp baking powder

2-1/4 tsp baking soda

1-1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp cloves

1/2 tsp ginger

1/2 tsp allspice

3/4 c. cold water

5 eggs

3-1/2 c. sugar

3 c. pumpkin

1-1/3 c. canola oil

Grease and line bottom of 3 loaf pans w/ brown paper overlapping ends so loaf can be lifted out when done  (I don't do that! I just grease it!)

Sift dry ingredients; beat eggs very well, add sugar and beat well. Add pumpkin, oil and water and beat well. Add dry ingredients slowly (&on slow speed on mixer or it'll splash) and mix well.

Fill pans about 2/3 full. Bake at 325° for 1 hour, until nicely browned and toothpick comes out clean.

Great news! Red Hot Romeo is free! A hot Italian, a gorgeous supermodel, and fabulous wines…what’s not to love?!

You can check out the first book in the Royal Romeo series for free here:

Kindle: bit.ly/RedHotRomeo
iBooks: http://bit.ly/RHRom
Nook: http://bit.ly/RHRNook
Kobo: http://bit.ly/KoboRHR
Google Play: http://bit.ly/RHRgoogle

And on Tuesday, the final book in the series, Big O Romeo, will be released! You can get it here. 

But wait, there's more! ;-) I just started a new series! It's called Falling for Mr. Wrong. And book one, Falling for Mr. Wrong, just came out November 14. And Falling for Mr. Maybe is now available for pre-order.

Lastly, don't forget, book one of the It's Reigning Men series, Something in the Heir, is free here!

I hope you'll have a chance to check out my Royal Romeos series, which is a spin-off of my wildly popular It's Reigning Men series--please do check them out!

Happy reading!

    

  

  

     

His Majesty's Temporary Bride - Annie West

Have you ever dreamed of another life, different from your own? Have you imagined what it would be to act as someone else, someone free of the complications of your own world and history? Would it be exciting to take on another persona, at least temporarily? Or would it be terrifying?

Today marks the official release of HIS MAJESTY'S TEMPORARY BRIDE. My first ever masquerade story and hands down one of the most engaging, exciting and passionate stories I've written.

Cat (Catherine) Dubois doesn't want to play stand in for her royal half sister, Princess Amelie. Shunned by their father, her parentage is a secret that's haunted her all her life, especially because of her physical similarity to her royal sister. Cat turned her back on her homeland years ago but finds herself drawn back when Amelie goes missing under mysterious circumstances and Cat agrees to a royal masquerade for her sister's sake.

The complication is sexy Alex, a stranger who turns out to be King Alexander of Bengaria, visiting the palace as a possible suitor for Cat's sister. And despite everything Cat tells herself about resisting the allure of this compelling man, she finds herself hovering on the brink of surrender. Here's a taste:

‘Tell me you understand.’ His breath warmed her lips. His thumb stroked back and forth across her cheek.

Cat nodded. ‘You don’t want to marry.’

‘I’ve got too much to do. There’s still so much work to get Bengaria back on track. I haven’t got time for a wife. I’m not ready to be a father.’

Yet Alex didn’t draw back. If anything he seemed closer.

‘If I wanted a bride it would be different.’ His voice was husky.

Cat didn’t trust herself to speak. His expression held her spellbound, though logic screamed that she needed to put distance between them.

‘If I wanted a bride I couldn’t go past those big green eyes. Or those lips. I’d be suggesting we got to know each other much better.’ His thumb dipped from her cheek to her mouth, pressing her lower lip and dragging it down. Cat exhaled, lungs tight, nipples budding against the constraint of her bra as his thumb stroked her lip, once, twice, till she couldn’t resist and tasted him with the tip of her tongue. He was salt and spice and frighteningly addictive.

His eyes dilated, his breath warm on her face, he crowded closer, long legs bracketing hers. His other arm stretched out to the tree trunk behind her as if Alex too felt the sudden need for safe anchor as the ground seemed to ripple and swell.

‘And as for this body…’ To her dismay his hand dropped but before she could frame a protest she felt his touch, tantalising and soft, brush her collarbone, then trace the wide neckline of her T shirt, before sliding down.

Cat’s breath stalled as his knuckles brushed the outer swell of her breast, slowing then tracing down her ribs then splaying at her waist. Those long, hard fingers made her aware of how small she was compared with him. Of how much strength resided in those large, capable hands and that taut, athletic body.

Her mouth was parched but she had to find words to make him back off. This was too dangerous. To her masquerade but also to her. She teetered on the brink of feelings that made a mockery of all her training, her strength and control. She swallowed and moistened her lips with her tongue then opened her mouth to speak.

But the words didn’t come because Alex’s mouth settled on hers and the world exploded.

To buy:
Amazon
Barnes and Noble
Kobo
IBooks

Carnival masks and cloaks in Venice

I so enjoyed writing the story of hidden identity and intrigue, I can't wait to write another! So much drama and passion! Just my sort of story.

Hiding your identity, often with a real mask, is popular around the world and there are multiple festivals where people dress up and pretend to be a total stranger. Halloween is an obvious example in North America. And I know in Germany one of the Carnival traditions is to dress in costume to celebrate. On a recent trip to Venice I saw plenty of masks and cloaks, which I have to say looked terrific and just a little scary - especially when you turned a corner into a narrow alley and discovered a couple of people in full costume, watching you from behind anonymous masks.

Do you like masquerades? What is your favorite dress up experience?

If you want to keep up to date with Annie's latest releases, behind the scenes information and exclusive giveaways, sign up for her reader newsletter. 

It's Time for your Big O! By Jenny Gardiner

Ack!
I forgot I needed to post something and now I'm in a place with really lousy wifi so here's hoping this actually posts!

I just finished writing the last book in my Royal Romeo series and am awaiting edits from my editor. I laughed at myself with this book--The Royal Romeo series is a spin-off from my royal contemporary romance series, It's Reigning Men. Back when I started writing the It's Reigning Men series, I was sort of more a writer of women's fiction and chick lit, and with those genres you didn't need to write much in the way of sex scenes.

But when I started writing rom/com series, I knew I was going do need to step it up a notch (or two or three). But it was a very gradual process. Back when I started the IRM series, I kept thinking "ugh, what it my mother reads this?!" Which I know is stupid but still. My mom passed away a couple of years ago so that is no longer a concern. But then my mother-in-law kept telling me she wanted to read all of my books in my series and I kept assuring her she wouldn't enjoy them. I no longer worried about my mother reading my stuff and then my mother-in-law is going to make me anxious about it?

I know, I know, it's ridiculously juvenile of me to even worry about this but hey, what can I say?! I finally just had to let go of that and not sweat it. Which brings me to my last book in the Royal Romeo series, Big O Romeo. The title alone, well, sort of needed legit sex scenes in it based on the title alone. And I did not disappoint. Not only that, but I realized that finally I was actually comfortable writing sex scenes and frankly don't care who reads them (well, um, I'd be fine if my kids don't read them, but, whatever!).

I've really enjoyed writing these two series and now have to figure out what my next series is going to be. Whatever it is, I'm sure that there are going to be ample sex scenes at this point, now that I've hit my stride haha!

I hope you'll have a chance to check out my Royal Romeos series, which is a spin-off of my wildly popular It's Reigning Men series--please do check them out!

Happy reading!

    

  

 

Jenny Gardiner: Royal Romeos, Heat wave and Paris!

Hi there!
Hope you are all well and not too miserably hot from this ridiculous premature heat wave we're having! It's 100 degrees here in Virginia in May--unheard of! Ugh!

We're staying cool inside with my girls' new puppies! They're moving next week so it's a temporary thing but it's been a bit of mayhem with these two---our house is puppy-proofed as if we had a bunch of toddlers under our roof. We've had some sleepless nights watching one of the pups as my daughter is studying for MCATs, which she takes tomorrow. Her pup had a UTI which meant she was waking constantly to pee. Hoping her antibiotic is fixing that now!

We just returned a few weeks ago from a lovely 30^th anniversary trip with my husband to Paris. It was such fun—what a fabulous city. And amazingly amazing food. Alas, I am carrying about 15 food babies around still. We ate soufflés out the wazoo! I didn’t think it could ever be possible, but there is the chance that I might officially be souffléd out… Although it’s unlikely, because my one daughter and I love to make chocolate soufflés so I have a sneaking suspicion I still might not turn that down if push came to shove…The good news is we walked so much while in Paris that maybe I didn’t gain a pound on the trip (probably more like I gained 15, womp). Not that I’d know because the scale has been banished from my life… Perhaps not a good thing, but oh well!

I’ve now got to really get cracking on Blue-Blooded Romeo, which I have to have to my editor in early June. Gulp. And get ready for the release of SilverSpoon Romeo , which comes out June 13! I had a lot of fun writing that one.

I hope you'll have a chance to check out my Royal Romeos series, which is a spin-off of my wildly popular It's Reigning Men series--I hope you'll be able to check them out!

Happy reading!

    

  

 

Summer at the Villa Rosa

When I’d delivered the finished ms for The Sheikh’s Convenient Princess — wonderful feeling! — my editor and I had a long discussion about what I might do next. She had a few suggestions but then asked if I’d like to write an author generated mini series with two or three other authors.

Oh, yes!

With Kate Hardy, Scarlet Wilson and Jessica Gilmore on board brainstorming ideas was a blast. These sessions started off quite sensibly with “themes”, graduated to outrageous with cyber space glowing red hot as our instincts to create mayhem for our characters took over and finally, once we’ve stopped giggling, stories began to emerge and we had the Marlowe sisters. Four young women whose lives were about to face a crisis.

Summer at the Villa Rosa was born.

But it’s not just about the stories. It’s about the place where they take place. For our mini series we created a beautiful Mediterranean island, not too far in the imagination from Ischia. So, you might well ask, why didn’t we just use Ischia?

Well, a real place confines you and unless you know it well you are going to make mistakes and, because we needed a royal family for the backstory, it had to be “independent”. Also, when you create your own world, you can play with the rules. If you want to get married in Italy, for instance, there are very sensible constraints. There’s a lot of paperwork and quite a bit of time involved. On a small, independent island that hasn’t become a “wedding destination”, things are much simpler. 😊

With our island and our heroines sorted, we created a crumbling pink villa overlooking the sea that had once been the love next of the island’s king. Pinterest is great for this stuff. You can see the images that inspired me here 

I lead off the miniseries with Her Pregnancy Bombshell. Pilot Miranda Marlowe, responds to her grieving boss's plea — "Help me, Andie..." and now she's expecting his baby. Afraid that the news will break him and, for the time being unable to do the job she loves, she goes to the Villa Rosa, needing time to think.

When Cleve follows her, offers to marry her for their baby's sake, there can be only one answer. Or will she have to save Cleve all over again? You can read the first chapter here

How Horribly Lovely by Jenny Gardiner

Hey all!

Happy three days after Valentine’s Day ;-). This winter I’ve tried to make time for a little bit of TV series binge-watching—the latest being The Crown. I thought it started out slow but I quickly became quite engrossed in it—a bit of insight into what is really a strangely rarified world that the rest of us peons could never properly relate to. I did find it quite fascinating to learn about I guess you’d call it the moral underpinnings of Queen Elizabeth—what has motivated her over the years, perhaps why she’s often seemed cold and detached, even why she’s not yet yielded the throne to her son (who sure comes across as neglected in that series!). But it turns out, it’s complicated! Evidently it’s not easy being the Queen…

One of the fun things about writing about royals is the research involved. For Red Carpet Romeo, which comes out today and is centered around a royal wedding in Monaforte with the It’s Reigning Men gang, I started digging around to learn what happens in a palace in preparation for things like State Dinners and other premier royal events, and wow, it’s nuts! The manpower and the elbow grease are staggering. It takes days to prepare, and there is no detail unattended to, right down to measuring the distance between the dinner plate and the edge of the table.  You can learn more here http://bit.ly/2l0Lus0

I suspect I’d make a horrible guest at a royal dinner: guaranteed I’d say the wrong thing, use the wrong utensil, request my dressing on the side, make an inappropriate joke that would render those within earshot dead silent. I feel fairly certain I’d not be invited back.

Once I saw a documentary about Queen Elizabeth in which two girls presented her with a sweater they’d knit for her. The Queen, in her own inimitable way, thanked them. “How horribly lovely,” she said with what looked like a grimace but was probably actually a smile. Not many people can properly use the word “horribly” in a compliment. I thought it was endearing.

We’ve also caught up on movies in advance of the Oscars—so many good ones out right now but a lot of pretty depressing ones. Loved Manchester by the Sea but ugh, it was, to borrow the Queen’s phrasing, horribly sad. La La Land—they had me till the ending, which I hated. Jackie—again, so grim but so well-acted. Lion—amazing. But so sad. Hmmm…there’s a theme here. Hidden Figures was uplifting! Oh but I adored 20^th Century Women—it was quirky yet so much fun and terrifically acted. The other night because of a movie ticket snafu, we ended up watching The Nice Guys at home—loved that film! Lots of laughs and slapstick, which I love. Oh and go watch A Royal Night Out if you’re looking for a fun escapist movie.

I also wait anxiously each week for a new episode of This is Us (the best!) and I can’t resist that evil Corinne on the Bachelor, which has me tuning in for all their mindless nonsense ;-). Oh and now I can’t help but watch Riverdale—it’s totally not my thing, but the girl who plays Veronica used to live across the street from us and was my daughter’s best friend when they were little girls, so it’s fun to watch her all grown up and all girl-powery while being slightly villainous.

On a sad note, we lost our beloved Labrador Sassy a couple of weeks ago after nearly 14-1/2 wonderful years. It’s been really hard; I miss her like mad. I set her picture as my phone wallpaper, but it made me cry every time I looked at her so had to switch it out. I’ve now taken to stalking the most gorgeous Labrador retriever on Instagram here—his name is Camden and he belongs to a friend of a friend of a friend. He’s so a handsome boy! Oh, and if you love him, check out these insanely adorable white Lab puppies here—makes my heart jump for joy to watch them! I really need a puppy…

Here’s to royal weddings and puppies and good guys and villains, and while we’re at it, springtime being just around the corner.

 Check out my Royal Romeos series, which is a spin-off of my wildly successful It's Reigning Men series--I hope you'll be able to check them out!

  

Oh Christmas Tree, Oh Christmas Wee by Jenny Gardiner

    I’m a sucker for the Christmas season. Always have been. Don’t know if it’s the deluded optimism the holiday thrusts upon us, or just a strange affinity for otherwise maudlin songs dressed up as cheerful seasonal chestnuts. I mean, let’s be honest, at any other time of year, who would actually listen wistfully to a yawner like “The Little Drummer Boy”?

    Whatever it is, I have always ensured that my family gets into the holiday spirit, starting with finding the perfect Christmas tree.

    When I was a kid, the search for the ultimate yuletide tree took us to the nearest gas station: hardly a romantic venue from which to choose the centerpiece of our holiday decor. We’d pile into the station wagon for the three-block drive to Buck’s Esso station, spill out onto the oil-slicked parking lot, mull over three or four already-netted spruce trees, and then dad would haggle down the price. End of story.

Ah, so I was determined to rewrite that tradition with my own family. Early in my marriage, we decided the most festive tree-acquisition could only be achieved by cutting down our own (plus you get the added benefit of the needles actually staying on the tree all month rather than littering the floor). Because we lived in citified Northern Virginia, the cachet of escaping to the “country”--i.e. the closest remaining patch of farmland untainted by greedy developers--only added to the allure.

    But one year, I found myself almost wishing for the chance to just pop down to the local gas station to buy a tree…

    That year, my husband and our three children, all under the age of four, trekked to the Clifton Christmas Tree Farm, where awaiting us were candy canes, hot chocolate, homemade wreaths and the typical abundance of forced holiday cheer that we craved.

    I had whipped my kids into a tree-chopping frenzy, and so they took their task quite seriously. For forty minutes, we foraged throughout the whopping half-acre “farm” until we found the perfect tree: seven feet of holiday splendor, as wide as it was tall, perfect to fill our cathedral-ceiling’ed living room and flood us with the Christmas spirit.

    The kids took turns on the ground with the saw while my husband supervised the chopping honors. Their excitement was palpable. We dragged the tree back to the cashier stand where the farmer’s son coiled the netting around our white pine. The kids stood by, sucking on candy canes, sipping hot cider and petting the farmer’s dog, who’d recently wandered over. I was just about to retrieve the car to load on the tree, when Fido lifted his leg.

    “Noooooo!” I shouted in what seemed like a frame-by-frame slow motion, as a steady stream was released onto our perfect tree.

    For a moment we stood stupefied, not knowing what to do. But we weren’t about to keep a tree covered in dog wee, so we grabbed the kids’ hands to head back into the wilds to hunt for a replacement one.

    Until our kids let us know in no uncertain terms, that this tree was the one, the only. They threw themselves on the ground, flailing and crying, thrashing and moaning, like something from a Greek tragedy. They wanted their special tree, and nothing else would suffice.

    Their wails did not subside until we relented, and agreed to load up the tainted tree.

    The farmer found a makeshift bucket, filled it from a nearby stream and doused the offending urine from the tree. We loaded it onto the roof of the car, and went home.

    I have admit, I sort of detached emotionally from the tree that year. Couldn’t quite get over the psychological hurdle of having a tree the dog peed on in my living room. Somehow it clashed with the whole festive notion.

    But for my kids, the tree was just about perfect, despite its incumbent flaws. And maybe that’s exactly why I like the holidays so much: because at this time of year, we’re all a little more likely to forgive the small things in order to see the bigger picture.

Here's this year's tree--note the nativity scene underneath it is Mary and Joseph (and Rudolph) made from toilet paper rolls, baby Jesus is a clothespin. My son made them in pre-school ;-).

By the way! Today is my birthday! What better way to celebrate than starting a new book series! My Royal Romeos series is a spin-off of my wildly successful It's Reigning Men series--I hope you'll be able to check them out!