Susan Stephens: July & the Yorkshire Moors

July, and we have blazing sunshine on the Yorkshire moors...

The UK generally gets a bad press for weather, and the Yorkshire moors are most commonly thought of as being bleak, but we are enjoying the most beautiful summer here on the backbone of England, as the Pennine hills are known. 

You can just catch a glimpse of my faithful friend Betty in the second picture. It’s almost too hot for dogs, and Betty prefers to shelter in my office underneath my desk. By coincidence, I’m sure, ho-hum, my office is also where I keep Betty’s treat tin!

It may not seem credible to set a sultry romance on the Yorkshire moors where Wuthering Heights was conceived, but my August 11th release, Seducing the Princess is set in a small city not too dissimilar to York.

I love a bodyguard romance, and hope you do too J

I’m thrilled to share the news that I am about to sign a new, multi-book contract with my publisher Harlequin Mills & Boon, and I can promise lots of high octane stories coming your way from SS, starting with a brand new series. Look out for more news coming soon. 

It does seem that things will be ROYAL all the way for me for the rest of the year. This exciting ebook collection is a September release. These are all re-issues of previous stories, but anthologies are the best way to catch up with those books you might have missed.

And how about this for a cover?? Do you think it’s the red dress that makes this cover so compelling? I’d love to know what you think. The heroine looks so wistful to me. My story, His Forbidden Diamond, is from my Ice and Fire Skavanga series. 

I’m aching to see the cover for my ‘Royal’ Christmas release, ‘A Night of Royal Consequences’.  The art department deserves huge thanks for creating such stunning images.

Here are another couple of stunning images of Yorkshire, just because...  

The weather has been so outstanding that we have even had rare Lapwings breeding close by our home, and I saw not one, but two breeding pairs, which is beyond thrilling!

I hope the month of July is full of joy and wonderful surprises for you.

And if you are feeling chilly in spite of the weather, I have the answer ;) 

Red-hot polo players just for you. Enjoy!

With my love to everyone,

Susan xx

SUSAN STEPHENS

Website  www.susanstephens.net

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Susan Stephens: I love May!

What a wonderful month is May.  The countryside here on the Yorkshire moors is in its finest survival mode, by which I mean that no sooner have the Spring shoots shown their heads in a burst of sunshine, than icy winds come blasting down from the Arctic to knock them off!

Thank goodness the Bluebells survive...

Aren’t they beautiful? You can just see my faithful companion, Betty, in the background of this shot.

May is an exciting book month for me too, with my new red-hot polo series, Blood and Thunder focusing on ruthless billionaires and the type of stand-up heroines they need.

One reader commented aptly, “Cinch up your saddles, these books are HOT!”

Yep. I think that more or less sums it up. I would just add: with the addition of romance, ROMANCE, ROMANCE!!!

For Harlequin, I have 2 book releases. The Sicilian’s Defiant Virgin available right now, and The Secret Kept from the Greek, which is a July release.

Later in May, I have the wedding of my youngest child in Italy. I can’t wait to share it with you in June, but for now, here is my current favourite naughtiness, AKA The Dress and Shoes. I don’t know about you, but weddings are all excuse I need to go shoe shopping. Come to think about it, I don’t need an excuse to go shoe shopping! I hope you approve my choice. I just love them- and the dress, of course.

Wishing all of you the most wonderful month of May filled with love, friendship and romance.

Love

Susan xx

Susan Stephens: February in a sub-tropical climate.

Hello again, and thank you so much for inviting me to be here again, Lee!

As the roof is, quite literally, being taken off my house back home in the UK, I thought it would be a great excuse to get away, so here I am, in one of the places I love best, a tiny Spanish island called La Gomera in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Africa.

I thought this month, instead of talking exclusively about books, I'd share some of the fabulous scenery with you. 

You can see the volcano Teide on the neighbouring island of Tenerife in the shot above

Basically, La Gomera is volcanic rock. Early morning walks are fabulous, if strenuous. Those ravines you can see are called barrancas, and they really are as steep and tricky to navigate as they look. But the weather is usually fabulous, apart from today, when we had a tropical rain storm attempting to take the roof off this house too!

Because the ravines are so steep, the people who live here have developed a whistling language over the centuries in order to communicate with each other without the necessity to climb for miles to stand face to face. The whistling language of La Gomera is now a protected language, and is taught to children in all the local schools.

And yes, I'm finding time to write - firstly,  a new Harlequin Presents set in Italy, due for a Christmas release, which features a prince plucked from the gutter as a child, and a poor girl who has just had the most enormous stroke of luck. I absolutely ❤️ Christmas stories, so this one is really flying.

After that I'll be writing the fourth book in my polo series, Blood and Thunder.

 If you haven't tried this series yet, the first three books have been bestsellers. Maybe because the guys are smoking hot 😉

Anyway, wherever you are, I hope the sun shines on you and those you love, and that you enjoy plenty of good reading in the month ahead.

I look forward to chatting with you again really soon,

With my warmest hugs and good wishes,

Love

Susan xx

Susan Stephens: Happy New Year!

May the year of the rooster bring you everything you wish for, and much more.

It’s good to be back, and thank you so much for inviting me, Lee. :)

Because February, the month of love is almost here, I have something special just for you. Valentine’s Night at the Ladies Club is part of my popular Ladies Club series, and I’m offering it free to all subscribers to my Newsletter for the entire month of February. http://eepurl.com/8aEJj

When you receive the Newsletter you will find a User Name and Password that gives you access to the Members Only pages on my web site www.susanstephens.net where you can pick up your free book.

(Novels can and will be swapped in and out, so there is always something free to read)

It has been bitterly cold and misty up here on the Yorkshire moors, but thankfully no serious snow as yet this winter.  I can never walk my dog Betty without imagining the Bronte sisters walking along these same frozen pathways. It’s quite something to walk past the church they attended, and where their father used to preach.

But I’m not complaining, because it’s very good writing weather! I’d much rather be indoors with Betty lying across my feet to keep them warm, than tramping across the wild and windy moors!

I’m having the best time writing my new red-hot polo series, Blood and Thunder, and I’m absolutely thrilled by the reader reception. Featuring a fierce pack of polo players, who lead a double life as Vigilantes, it’s been creating quite a stir.  I should warn you right away that the Blood and Thunder series is super-hot and includes language some of you may object to.

But if you like the idea of a series of inter-related, stand-alone romantic suspense novels, this could be for you. The second story, Argentinian Billionaire, featuring Dante Formosa, aka the Romani Chieftain, is a January 27^th release. Isn’t he hot? I could stare at him all night!

Here are the links for you :)

Amazon US              http://amzn.to/2hfFHAb 

Amazon UK             http://amzn.to/2hKmmWT 

Barnes and Noble http://bit.ly/2jEcMnt

ITunes                    http://apple.co/2k3gq9V

KOBO                            http://bit.ly/2kg3tNy

Smashwords           http://bit.ly/2j0s6sl

In this next image you can see the novels to date...

Pre-order for the 3^rd story, Spaniard Untamed is available now, and I’m guessing you’ll be pleased to hear that my Spanish duke is another hot, dangerous man!  

I only hope you enjoy these stories half as much as I enjoyed writing them.

Please don’t be shy. Join those I chat with on a regular basis on my Facebook page and on Twitter. The romance world is such a happy community, that whatever else is going on in our lives we can all escape for a while, either by reading a new book, or by chatting about our latest reads with other fans of this fabulous genre.

Keep warm!

With my love to you,

Susan xx

SUSAN STEPHENS

Website  www.susanstephens.net

Facebook https://www.facebook.com/SusanStephensAuthor

Twitter  www.twitter.com/Susan_Stephens

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Susan Stephens: Warming up the winter...

 

Hello! How good it is to be back here, chatting with you again :)

Thank you for inviting me, Lee!

November is my birthday month, so I love this time of year, though not so much the harsh winds and the icy cold up here on the Yorkshire moors. What I do love is to hunker down with a good book in front of a roaring fire, or have people round to share a meal, so we can all be cosy. Here’s me, wrapped up against the freezing winds high up on the moors where the Bronte sister’s trudged back and forth. I’m guessing once they were safely back in the Parsonage, they must have worn those fingerless mitts when they wrote their marvellous, atmospheric books set in this very area.

I have some exciting news for my Newsletter subscribers. There is now a Members Only section on my web site www.susanstephens.net where you can access this free bestselling feel-good Christmas novella as a Mobi file, as well as deleted scenes from works in progress, and other snippets, including excerpts from those same works in progress, as well as the bio’s and photos that have inspired me to write about the characters. Here’s the link for you.  http://eepurl.com/8aEJj

I am also thrilled to announce that both my recent books in my new Blood And Thunder series have become Amazon Kindle Bestsellers here in the UK. And that’s thanks to you, my fabulous readers – and to one reader in particular, who asked me when I visited the USA this year: “When are you going to write some more bad-boy polo books?” I can’t thank Karin for putting the idea in my head, and for setting me back on the trail of these billionaire cowboys. I just LOVE writing about them!!! And I hope you love reading about them too J

Here are the first two books in the series, with more to come...

http://amzn.to/2dFf57k  http://amzn.to/2d7d5C5

Hope November is a brilliant month for you!

Let’s chat really soon,

Love

Susan xx

SUSAN STEPHENS

Website  www.susanstephens.net

Facebook https://www.facebook.com/SusanStephensAuthor

                   https://www.facebook.com/susan.stephens.98499

Twitter  www.twitter.com/Susan_Stephens

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Susan Stephens: Excitement in Sheffield

And a wonderful event to celebrate all things romance...

I was honoured to speak at this event. Part of Sheffield’s Festival of The Mind, I sat on a panel alongside editors, academics, and another romance author. It’s only when we talked about what romance means to us and heard readers expressing their thoughts that I truly realised what a wonderful life-enhancing experience we’re all engaged in. Love is a unifying force that brings people together from all across the world, and long may the world of romance prosper.

The general opinion of the academics was that love stories reflect the fashions, manners and politics of their time, and as such are extremely valuable records. Readers talked of how they escaped into the stories, and how those stories helped them, cheered them, warmed them, and left them with an optimistic feeling. It was humbling for me to hear this, though I recognised at the time, that I feel the same. There’s nothing better than a good love story to lift the spirits and put a smile on my face, and I know they do the same for you.

Here are some pictures from that memorable day. The event was held in an antique Spiegal tent, and you can see that the setting for our talk was quite spectacular.

Here’s the interior of the ‘tent’, (which was actually quite a solid structure), before our talk began.

Originally used for burlesque shows, the images depicted on the outside of the Spiegal tent were quite bizarre, but striking and beautiful in their way.

This image is particularly disturbing – note the claws on the little cherub, and those blood-red lips, are actually red with blood.

My next love story tackles a real dilemma for both the hero and heroine. A marriage of convenience—with a difference—as it’s my heroine Rosie Clifton who proposes marriage to proud Spanish grandee, Don Xavier Del Rio.

Rosie will do anything to protect her share of the island she loves and the people who live there. She will even marry this arrogant, heartless man, if she must.

http://amzn.to/2eqAJP4  http://amzn.to/2dPULkq

I’m also very excited about my Christmas book, which heralds the start of a brand new red-hot polo series...

 With a hard Russian hero just for you...

This is book 1 of 4 in my new romantic suspense series, Blood and Thunder.

1. Christmas Tsar

2. Argentinian Billionaire

3. Spanish Gold

4. Cold Cache

Release date for Christmas Tsar is November 8^th but it is available for pre-order now!

http://amzn.to/2d7d5C5

 http://amzn.to/2dFf57k

Are you signed up to my Newsletter for regular giveaways and scoops?

http://eepurl.com/8aEJj

I look forward so much to seeing you there!

Speak soon,

Love Susan x

Susan Stephens: Celebrating 50 Books!

Don’t make my mistake! I had submitted several manuscripts to Mills & Boon long before I got ‘The Call’, but received such lengthy revisions I was certain I would never get it right. I didn’t submit anything after those first rejections for around 10 years. When I tried again the same thing happened, and I almost gave up.

But...

One last try, I thought. The result was my first book, A Spanish Inheritance. And, yes, I received lengthy revisions, as this printed out e-mail shows – but the difference this time, was that I stuck at it. 

What was I doing wrong? Not reading enough current books in the line, and being too tentative with my story lines. It’s all very well having old favourites that have been on your bookshelves for years that you still love reading, but the market moves quickly, and you need to move with it.

Research what the editors are looking for. Mills & Boon Modern/Presents/Sexy is big and bold. Don’t think delicate watercolours—use oil paints big and bold. These stories are in the style of a Grand opera, rather than musical theatre, and it’s glamour, passion and unimaginable luxury all the way.

Conflict doesn’t mean a couple bickering their way through the book. Internal conflict and emotional conflict plays a larger part than external conflict.

What’s keeping your characters from each other? If they want each other, why can’t they be together?

Why? The most important word for any author... Ask yourself ‘why’ all the way through your story. Why is the hero behaving like this? What made him this way? And the same goes for your heroine.

Remember that every statement you make in a book will have consequences – be sure those consequences fit your master plan.

Don’t muddy the water with too many secondary characters. Keep the focus on your main protagonists, and how they react to situations and each other. How they react to situations tells the reader who they are.

My last piece of advice? Don’t take as long as I did to have the confidence to submit your work!

Okay, a PS. Love your readers, because the romance community is the best group of people in the world. I owe everything to my readers—so, if you’re a reader, thank you. And if you’re an aspiring author—discipline, determination, love what you do, and the very best of good luck to you from me!

Susan

SUSAN STEPHENS

Website  www.susanstephens.net

Facebook www.facebook.com/SusanStephensAuthor

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Susan Stephens: Writing Tips

I’ve had a considerable amount of mail over the past few weeks, asking me to share my writing tips. I hope you enjoy them!

Why do I write?
Because I have to, or my head would burst! But even with ideas pouring in on top of each other, I have to sit down at some point and work out the best way to tell each new story efficiently, because writing professionally is a business, not an indulgence; readers have expectations, and editors have deadlines too.

Discipline is always numero uno. And yes, I really do get up at five o’ clock in the morning, because that’s when I work best. If you’re a writer, your method may be different. There is no right or wrong way to write, there is only your way.

Take care of your health, and be sure stay hydrated. I take breaks, to walk/think, and/or eat. And I’m finished by 4pm. (unless I’m on deadline, when there are no hours in a day—or night)
I write every day, seven days a week, otherwise I lose my train of thought. (but not all day every day)
And I write at least 4 drafts of every book. There’s always a better way of saying something, or enriching a character.
There also comes a point when you have to stop doing that—if one of you knows how, please let me know!

I start with character. Unless I know my main protagonists inside out, I won’t know how they’re going to react to the situations they encounter—and sometimes they still surprise me.
I need to know what makes them tick, what makes them hurt, what they’re hunting for, and what the reader wants to see change and grow in my H and h as they move through the story.

When I write romance I want to feel the emotion, rather than ride a complicated plot. I want to cry and laugh and fret as I write, and above all, I want to care about what happens next.

Is there an easy way? No. Every idea comes with a whole host of problems once you start setting it down on paper, most of which you haven’t seen coming, but which hit you in the face at some point. That’s when forward planning really comes into its own, but it you’re a committed pantser and you hit that hole, sit back and take a deep breath. Driving on will only make you more tense than before. Thinking time now will save you a whole lot of angst further into the book, when you have to start unpicking an improbable storyline.
And yes, of course there are days when I read what I wrote the day before, and think WTH?

Think of your story as a road map. Know roughly where you’re going, and then allow the protagonists to find their own unique way of getting there.

And a tip that works best for me. If a scene isn’t working, have you tried changing point of view? I can’t tell you the number of times a flat scene has come to life for me when I’ve done that.

Did I mention that you don’t have to be a little crazy to write, but it helps?
Above all, love your writing and, respect and love your readers. Write with passion and sincerity, but be sure to have a life in the real world too, because that’s what informs and enriches your fiction.

Go to it! And all my very best to you!

Here’s my next story, available in July this year. Yes. I know. You either love or hate a sheikh story! Personally, I love the high fantasy of a desert adventure, and a powerful man who can be brought to his knees for love of a strong and determined woman.

Your friend and author, Susan—who loves hearing from her readers across the world, because, quite simply, you’re the best! 

Susan Stephens: A Tuscany Setting

Hello again! I hope you had a really great start to February!

I’m so excited to see the book I wrote set in Tuscany on the shelves.

It wouldn’t have happened without these amazing people…

Authors Alannah Harte, and Linda Gask, together with the irrepressible and quite amazing, Sharon Kendrick, course leader sans pareil!

Having a critique partner is usual in many parts of the world, but in the UK, not so much. In Tuscany I discovered the fun and stimulation of working in a group. It was just wonderful, fabulous, and I can thoroughly recommend it.  I certainly can’t praise Sharon Kendrick highly enough – Sharon’s books are fabulous, and she’s fabulous, and I just love her to bits!

And who wouldn’t be inspired by this type of scenery…

Coming soon…

My next Harlequin Presents/Mills & Boon Modern will be in August this year, and is entitled, In The Sheikh’s Service.

November sees another passionate story, this time set on a small island off the coast of Spain. A Diamond for Del Rio’s Housekeeper features a young orphan and an older, aristocratic Spanish Grandee, but age doesn’t matter when love is involved.

I also have a Susan Stephens story coming up in an exciting box set with some fabulous author friends. This anthology is called Royal & Rogues, and my hot, stand-alone BlackHeart novella is called, Seducing the Princess.

Warning: this story features a princess who should know better, and a bodyguard who knows everything he needs to…

So get your earplugs out if you don’t like to hear a hero swearing, and put your blindfold on if you don’t want to see things you shouldn’t!

Here’s the skinny…

Princess Angelika needs an heir...

Angel

The first time I met Gideon Black, I was a teenager. I hated him with a passion that kept me awake at night—as it has done every night since. Gideon is everything a queen in waiting should avoid: pure, unadulterated sex on two hard-muscled legs, and an attitude that can only be described as ruthless. I never dreamed our paths would cross again, or that Gideon would need my body as much as I needed his.

Gideon

When Angel’s father begged me to protect his only child before he died, I knew this was a deal I could work with. Getting Angel pregnant would secure the throne for her, and give me an excuse to reconnect with the woman I’d often fantasied about. I wasn’t prepared for seeing Angel again. A tease at sixteen, she had grown into an irresistible, kick-ass woman, and I knew exactly what I wanted to do to her—how thoroughly, and for how long.

And… as if all that wasn’t enough! Xandra King rides again!!!

I recently received reversion rights to my Tale from Lachmuirghan- that tiny Scottish village that has been known to disappear in the mist, and where something strange is always going on at the Lachmuirghan Guest House.

I can’t wait to develop these 2 stories, so I can reintroduce that very naughty Teacher of All Things to you!

Well, that’s it for this month – wishing you everything wonderful, and in abundance,

Your friend and author,

Susan