Celebrating with the Queen by Kate Walker

 As  you probably know, here in the UK there have been extended celebrations for   the 90th birthday of Queen Elizabeth II.

 Because she has both an actual, personal birthday ( 21 April 1926)  and an 'official birthday' this weekend, these celebrations have  gone on for rather a long time. But after the  special service  of thanksgiviing, the Trooping of the Colour and the official 'street parties' this weekend I think that most of the official celebrations are  now complete. But these celebrations and  all the programmes looking back at the past 90 years  made me wonder just how many Harlequin/Mills and Boon  romances had been published in that time - which set me looking at the  past covers and the way they've changed. If you've seen either The Art Of Romance or the brand-new Mills and Boon Colouring book, you'll  be able to find lots more of these  - and as I'm short  of space here I thought I'd just  select one cover from each decade to  illustrate that period - so  here  you are - Ninety years - nine decades   of romance novels so I thought I'd share with you a  cover from a best selling author of each decade:
1920s   The Fortune Hunters by C.N. & A.M. Williamson



1930s - Nobody Asked Me by the great Mary Burchell
Ida Cook (24 August 1904 – 22 December 1986) was a British campaigner for Jewish refugees and a romance novelist as Mary Burchell.
Ida Cook and her sister Mary Louise Cook (1901–1991) rescued Jews from the Nazis during the 1930s. The sisters helped 29 people escape, funded mainly by Ida's writing.   Ida Cook's story  was  written in  Safe Passage in 2008.

I actually have a copy of Nobody Asked Me in my 'antique' Mills & Boon Collection - found in a junk shop long ago.

1940s - The Reluctant Orphan  Sara Seale




1950s    - Romance Goes Tenting by  Phyllis Matthewman



1960s Mystery at Butlins - another one I have an old copy of  - and it's a gift to someone who worked as a 'Redcoat' at Butlins, signed by all her friends!

1970s -  The Devil at Archangel  this one has a very special importance for me as it's a favourite book by a favorite author. I read this before I was ever published and know this was the sort of  romance I just wanted to write. Thankfully, Sara Craven is still  writing!






1980s - I hope you'll indulge me if I now pick some of my own covers. It's amazing to see the way that covers have changed even in the time I've been writing.  

So I start with my very first title ever - The Chalk Line - published in 1984

I can still remember how,m in the week before Christmas 1984, I  opened the very first ever box of my books  in published form. It was such an excitement -  and not even the fact that my hero (Leo Dane Vincent) had jet black hair  and this cover image  was of a very blond hero could spoil it!

In the 1990s  the covers went through  quite a few changes so that there were different designs -  perhaps the most interesting ones were the 'half a heart' design where  one book would have an image in the right hand side of a heart shape and another would have the left hand side - so that when put together they made a complete heart!

 So here we have two  covers to  show that - No Holding Back  1995 and Flirting with Danger 1996.

In 2000   there was one of my favourite covers ever - for Constantine's Revenge. I  think this must have been a very popular cover for everyone else as this book  has sold one of the most copies in all of my career - and it's still selling as  a 'Vintage Modern' in ebook form.

Another really successful title was The Konstantos Marriage  Demand - published in  2010. This book was  the title that won me a Romantic Times Reviewers' Choice Award for that year.


So  that brings  me right up to date. As I said, if you'd like to see some more classic vintage  cover artwork, check out   The Art of Romance 

or if you fancy a little relaxing 'art therapy'  there is the   other 'Art of
Romance '  - the Mills & Boon Colouring book.

Oh -  no - that's not quite 'right up to date.'  There is one more cover I want to share with you adn that's the brand-new cover for my  next book, coming  at the end of September.

I don't have the UK cover yet  - but I can share the USA Harlequin Presents cover with you for the first time now.

What do you think?

Here's to the next  decade  of covers and great books.

PS If you were wondering why the Queen has an 'official birthday' in June, it's supposed to be to ensure that there will be better weather for the celebrations - er . . . I think the hundreds of rain-soaked picnickers on the Mall will   think that that's not worked out too well!

But all the same - Happy 90th birthday to the Queen

If you want to see any more of my colovers, old and new - check out my web site   and for all the really new ones and up to date info  there's my blog  or my Facebook page

Book Overload - Kate Walker

One of the greatest delights  for a writer is the arrival of the publication dare of a brand new book. 

 Like Anne McAllister (waving hello to Anne and wishing her a happy anniversary) I may be celebrating 30 years of publication – and the friends I’ve met along the way. (If you missed that post it was last month’s blog!) but even after 30 years and  63 titles, it’s still exciting to see the newest title.

  The design of the cover, the images of the hero and heroine are so important. Sometimes they’re a disappointment. Sometimes (OK – occasionally ) the design team have got the characters just rights. But it’s always intriguing to see  what the book actually looks like.

And to hold it in your hand. To know it’s a real book – those words on a page on a computer screen or in a manuscript just don’t look the same as when they’re printed and bound into a proper book. Sometimes I’ve looked at a newly-published book  and not really recognised the words! I almost wonder who’s written them! Specially if it’s a book that I wrote some years ago, like the ones that get reprinted in the Mils & Boon 3 in 1 By Request collections.  That’s happened recently with two books – Kept for Her Baby and The Konstantos Marriage Demand which were both published in 2009, and have just been reprinted  in this format this year.  That’s like getting  new books all over again.

The only problem with the arrival of these books  is that boxes of books are heavy. So I have to feel sorry for the postman as he trudges up the path with yet another box of books. I’m thrilled to see them – he’s thrilled to get rid of them!

This last month has been even worse (if you’re the postie) or even better (for me) with even more book box deliveries  that are not just the copies of my novels.    I’ve just reworked and revised the 12 Point Guide to Writing Romance- with a brand new cover and a slightly lower price. The ebook came out on Kindle last year (with special thanks to Lee who helped me organise that), and this time I decided I should publish a new paperback edition for all those people who asked for a print copy so that they could highlight parts of it,  make notes on the pages, and flick through easily to find them. I completely understand that – books I’m studying have to actual pages for me to underline, highlight, scribble in the margins. So there’s a new edition of the 12 Point Guide to Writing Romance  – and  a box of that new edition arriving at the house  to burden down the postman yet again!

Finally, as some of you know, my DH is a writer too, and this month, by a lovely coincidence two of our books shared the same publication date.  There was my   Olivero’s Outrageous Proposal and his brand new book Uncle Albert – a collection of humorous short stories with ‘a Yorkshire voice’ (DH was born and grew up in  Leeds West Yorkshire)   Hello again, Mr Postman!

I think that the rush of new titles, new books has eased now. I’m sure the postman hopes so!  I don’t have the heart to tell him that the next thing that happens is that sets of foreign editions will start to arrive.    But at least he’ll have a chance to have a rest before that happens!

Meanwhile, I’ve been busy with the revisions for the latest novel,  which is planned for publication in December – just in time for those boxes of books to arrive along with all the Christmas parcels! Oh dear, perhaps I’d better warn the postman now!

  My latest title with Harlequin Presents  - Olivero's Outrageous Proposal is out now in the April releases.

The new paperback edition of the 12 Point Guide is   published this month too and should be around on
Amazon, Barnes and Noble  etc. Or you can order from the Book Depository where it's  at a discounted price with free delivery.    The Kindle edition is also available.

You can keep up with all my news over on my blog   or visit my web site   and my Facebook page

Happy Valentine's Day - when it comes!

I hope you all have a lovely day, with or without romantic cards, red roses, or chocolate.

So how does a romance writer celebrate Valentine's Day - well, actually, with none of the above!

No - you don't need to be shocked because, as I've said - quite often I believe - I'm not a fan of the commercialised 'romance' that comes into the shops on Valentine's Day. I don't actually like red roses - much prefer the golden ones I had in my wedding bouquet. And, besides, we're heading for Wales this week - in fact just as soon as I finish typing this!  - so any expensive flowers would be wasted as I wouldn't be here to see them.I'm not a huge fan of chocolate either and as I struggle with my weight it's the last thing I need.

But I do have a beautiful pair of rose quartz heart-shaped earrings. And,as I said, when we head for Wales and the Fishguard Writing Weekend, the Babe Magnet will do all of the driving so that I can arrive there rested and ready to teach (and talk . . .and drink a little wine . . .Did I mention that we rarely sleep on these weekends?)   No  - we talk about writing  - and life - and writing . . . And when the weekend is over I crash - until the next course of course!  (Which will be  in Leeds next month - should I worry about the fact that both my spring courses begin on Friday 13th?)  So  the fact that my husband does the driving to get me there is something I appreciate and value hugely.

Anyway,the point is that  for Valentine's Day the Babe Magnet and I will in fact be separated most of the time. I'll be teaching - and giving one-to-one help to my students and he'll be walking on the Welsh hill, lingering in coffee shops  and doing some talking and writing of his own.

And that will be just fine with me.  We'll  be giving each other what we want and need and enjoy on this day for lovers.  Which is really what Valentine's day is all about. Isn't it?   It's about Romance in the best sense of the word.


 Because the one thing I do believe is that true romance means thinking about he person and finding what they would like. Not just handing over cash for some mass-produced gift like the ones I saw piled up in the shops yesterday.  I've  no doubt that as we travel across the country we'll see even more of them.  But no, I don 't want a teddy bear holding a heart. I son;'t want cushions with love embroidered on them.  What I do want is a true love that has been there by my side for  years - but who still makes that extra effort for me (and me for him) when it's needed.

After all, Saint Valentine himself didn't send chocolates or even mass grown red roses - if I remember rightly - he was martyred  -- beheaded for his beliefs!

So as I say I'm wishing you a truly happy Valentine's Day with all the love and happiness you could wish for - chocolates if you want them -  red roses if you like them. But most of all the joy of knowing that the one you love cares about you too - however you decide to show it.

 My next Presents title  - Olivero's Outrageous Proposal will be out at the end of March /early April.

My latest releases are two reissues -  first there's Kept For Her Baby which is out in the 3 in 1 By Request called Secret Love -Child.  

And coming up next, there's the reissue of The Konstantos Marriage Demand  again in a 3 in 1 collection - His Revenge Seduction.

And the 12 Point Guide To Writing Romance is now available on Kindle.

You can catch up with all of Kate's news on her website  or on her blog.  You can also find her on her author page on Facebook.

New Year life lessons from a cat

OK – so will someone tell me how it got to be January 12^th?  I’m sure it was only – what – a couple of days ago that I was  shopping frantically for food  for my family to enjoy over Christmas.  I must have blinked and then I find myself with all of  that food eaten (well – not quite all – I always think my son and his  fiancée will eat more than they do!)  and here it  is, 12^th January and time to write my blog.

Is the 12^th of the month, -  the 12^th day of this New Year of 2015 -   too late to write about New Year Resolutions?  My  friend  thinks it is, my DH   believes  any time is time to make  ‘resolutions’  - he’s been assessing and rethinking his approach to life for a few months now.

I’m inclined to agree with him.  I’ve never been a great believer in the fact that a small change in the date  - from 2014 to 2015  - can make such a great difference.  If that change in numbers was all it took, you could have a ‘new’ period each time the date changed – a new month, a new week . .  .  hmm,  I could go with that. I believe that any time is a time when you can pick yourself up, dust yourself off –and start all over again.  The dark, cold (I’ll say that again COLD) wet days of January  like the one we have here in Lincolnshire UK are perhaps not the best times to try that sort of  New Year New You type of programme.

So I’ve never been one to make ‘resolutions’.  Besides, 2014 was a difficult sort of year for me and some of mine.  Health problems, family problems, the loss of one of my dearest friends, all contributed to making it the sort of year to get through so that I wasn’t overly sad to see the back of it. And I have to admit that I feel like being rather gentle with myself and those I love rather than putting myself through a strenuous improvement boot camp.  Besides, I’m not the sort of person who like new for New’s sake.  Looking back at my time as a writer, for example – as I celebrate 30 years of being published as a romance writer, I think  there’s a lot to be happy about, rather than want to pull up my socks and try to push out more.  More. That’s another word I’m not too fussed about right now either.

So, if I don’t do resolutions, people wonder what I put in their place. I put one word. That’s right, just one.    One year the word was resolute – almost the same as resolution but not at all the same thing.

This year’s word?

BALANCE.

It’s a word I learned from my kitten Ruby. Well, she’s not quite a kitten any more – she just had her first birthday - but her approach to life is the same. Every morning she wakes up  in the same sort of  mood. She looks at the dawn, at the world around her and her whiskers quiver, her tail goes up.  ‘It’s a DAY!’ she seems to be saying.  And she uses her day well. She finds time for the things that matter, eating food she enjoys, running around the garden, climbing trees, grooming, pouncing on her brother Charlie the Maine Coon, snuggling on to my lap when she can, and sleeping through the night curled up next to my feet.  So that she’s ready to start tomorrow with that same attitude – It’s a DAY! She does the things that matter to her.

Sometimes when I look back at past years I see and feel that there

hasn’t been enough balance. Too much work/not enough work/not enough time with friends and family/not enough relaxation /not enough filling up the well of my imagination with reading etc.  And if there’s one thing the past year has taught me it’s that you can’t rely on things to stay the same and, sadly, people to stay around.   You need to find the balance that makes you happy to curl up and sleep at night and wake up bright-eyed and  crisp-whiskered  (well, perhaps not the whiskers) the next day.

So I made a list of things I want to keep – and  enjoy – in my life – friends, family, books, theatre, teaching the courses I enjoy  (if there are any I don‘t  then they’ll have to go. Writing – but not in the ‘must do more’ must meet this deadline – and this way  - it can sometimes become. Because then I don’t enjoy writing either. (Ruby doesn’t bother much with writing. She thinks the keyboard is a very boring thing – and the new books, when they arrive are only fun because they  come in a big cardboard box that she can hide   and jump out onto Charlie when he walks unsuspectingly by.)

So Ruby doesn’t think she needs to become New Ruby, or that she should do more. And I think she’s right.  So I’m taking my New Year life lesson from my very wise and  intelligent little cat – I’m looking at each morning and thinking ‘It’s a day!’ and trying to make sure I have the best sort of balance in the way I spend it.

What about you? What word would you use to describe your approach to 2015?  Or are you making lots of resolutions – how are you doing with keeping them?

I don't yet know what the UK cover of my next book - Olivero's Outrageous Proposal -  will look like - but I can share the Harlequin Presents cover with you today

My latest releases are two reissues -  first there's Kept For Her Baby which is out in the 3 in 1 By Request  called Secret Love -Child.  

And coming up next, there's the reissue of The Konstantos Marriage Demand  again in a 3 in 1 collection - His Revenge Seduction.

And the 12 Point Guide To Writing Romance is now available on Kindle

You can catch up with all of Kate's news on her website  or on her blog.  You can also find her on her author page on Facebook.

A New Beginning and A Special Anniversary

My family has an usual approach to their careers, the jobs they do in life.   I have four sisters and

not one of them is in the job they first started out in – five of us if you include me in that number, as you need to do.

The thing is, we all seem to get to a certain age -  around early thirties is the common number – and  then we launch into a new career and  it’s not the one we  originally planned.  My eld est sister trained as a radiographer.  That was the job she qualified in, the one that took her from the UK to work in Canada – where after some years she changed her career path completely.  She went to university, studied archaeology and anthropology and ended up teaching in the u8niversity where she had her degree. (She later changed again when she went to live in Australia – and went back to being a radiographer so came back to where she’d started).

The next sister never really settled to anything early on so she was a stay at home mother to her  two boys  - until they grew up more, and she got to that  just after thirty age  when she trained to be a librarian -  which was the job I’d had . . . but then I changed mine!

My younger sister (I’m right in the middle) was a medical secretary but she left that job (quite early for one of our family!) and joined the army in the army.  After she married she went back to being a secretary  - another one who went full circle.  And then the youngest of us  started out, like my eldest sister, as a radiographer.   Some years later she went to work in Africa on voluntary service  - and when she came back she completely changed her career and became a social worker.

And me? Well, you should be able to guess this one – you have a few clues!  As I said, I started out as a librarian. I went to university, got a ;librarianship qualification,  got a job as  the local Children’s Librarian – and I loved it -  but then when my son  was  born,  I decided to try for the dream job I had always wanted – that of being a writer.  I didn’t actually know what sort of books I wanted to write then, but when I picked up a romance after years of not reading them, I knew I’d come home. And you know the rest . . .

As I was writing this post, I began to wonder if perhaps it might not be better to plan this one for January – new  year, new beginnings and all that  - but then the thing that got me thinking about this special new beginning of mine is that fact that this month marks a special anniversary -   December 2014 marks a special anniversary for me. It’s 30 years since my very first book – The Chalk Line – was published   way back then.

And I’ve never looked back since. I found what I really most wanted to do  - and the  copies of my first book was my  best ever Christmas present back in 1984.    I’ve never wanted to go back to being a librarian and I’m so happy to look back and see the 62 books that have been published in those 30 years.

So to share the celebrations of my special anniversary of my brand new start I’m  wondering what you’ve always dreamed of doing -  perhaps there’s some dream that you might want to consider  starting afresh to try for as that stroke of midnight sounds out at the end of this month.  If you had a mid-life change, where would you head next?   Or perhaps  you’ve already got your best dream – I’d love to know that too.
Let me know in the comments and I’ll get my cats Charlie the Maine Coon and his apprentice Ruby the black and white rescue kitten to pick a winner each – and I’ll send each winner one of my backlist  titles so you can share in my special 30^th celebrations

So now, this week, I’m celebrating the 30^th anniversary of my very first published  book – and I’m looking forward to the publication of my  62^nd  (Olivero’s Outrageous Proposal) coming in April and working on the next one with a handsome sheikh hero who first appeared as a difficult 19 year old in A Question of Honor (or Honour if you're in the UK.)

I don't yet know what the UK cover of my next book will look like - but I can share the Harlequin Presents cover with you for the first time today. 

My latest releases are two reissues -  first there's Kept For Her Baby which is out in the 3 in 1 By Request  called Secret Love -Child.  

And coming up next, there's the reissue of The Konstantos Marriage Demand  again in a 3 in 1 collection - His Revenge Seduction.

And the 12 Point Guide To Writing Romance is now available on Kindle

You can catch up with all of Kate's news on her website  or on her blog.  You can also find her on her author page on Facebook.

Looking back - Kate Walker gets nostalgic

Today I made a trip into town where – amongst other things  - I made a visit to our local library.   I don ‘t visit there very often these days, but today I had a special reason for going.
(I’ll come to that later).

It’s always rather strange walking through the main door of the library. You see, years ago, I used to work there. I was the children’s librarian, first of all for the small branches in the local villages and then after a  couple of years I was in charge of the main central library in the town. I loved that job – I got to  select and buy  lots of wonderful books and get them on the shelves,  meet   with children of all ages and help them find books they would enjoy. I used to love  running the library clubs and special book quizzes – and it was always  such a pleasure to know that I was helping children with their reading and encouraging them to read more.

Since I left, the library has changed a lot. The children’s library has been moved  several times, once  going from the ground floor  to the second floor, and  becoming smaller  after cutbacks. But now it’s back where it was when I ran it, on the ground floor, with lots of shelves filled with wonderful books – even a couple of comfortable easy chairs and settees – those weren’t there when I ran the place (unfortunately!)

So I had a nostalgic moment thinking about the job I used to have and how the library was the place I came to every day of the week. Then I remembered why I was in the library at all, and that reminded me of just how my life has changed and how very different my job is now.

I was in the library to donate some of my books – the library takes many of my international editions, so I was there with a box full of Japanese, French,  Italian, Brazilian,  Dutch and Czech editions, together with some large print editions that the library can really use.  This reminded me of how, 30 years ago this month, I was waiting for another parcel of books – the very first parcel of many – the very first set of my author’s copies of my first book. That book, The Chalk Line, was first published in the UK, in hardback only, in December 1984.

30 years ago! It doesn’t seem possible – and yet there are all those foreign editions to prove how different things are now from then. The Chalk Line  didn’t appear in foreign editions for some time. The German edition  was the very first translation I ever saw. And now I have 63 titles published, and I’m hard at work on my 64^th.  So many of the children I helped to find the books to enjoy have gro

wn up in that time, they have their own children – I sometimes see them with their kids in the Children’s library now,.

So next month I’ll be celebrating the 30^th anniversary of my very first book being published. It’s been a complete change in the way I thought my life would go, I have a totally different  job to work at, shelves of published editions of my books – and so many friends all over the world,. Both writers and readers, to show as a result.   It’s all been so much more exciting and rewarding than I could ever imagined.

So what about you? Where were you and what were you doing  30 years ago ? Were you even

alive then – eek! That’s a question that scares me!

Has your life changed as much in the past 30 years? Did you expect to be where you are today, back then?

I know I didn’t.

You can look for Kate's 12 Point Guide To Writing Romance which is now selling busily on Kindle.

In fiction, she has the reprint of Kept for Her Baby out in the current By Request 3 in 1. Coming soon is a reprint of The Konstantos Marriage Demand  in His Revenge Seduction another 3 in 1.

You can find all her news on her website, and  all the must up to date events on her blog.

Connected Characters - with Kate Walker

I wrote the first pages of my newest book this month. It’s just over a month since the revisions for

the previous story were accepted and the book scheduled, under the title of Oliver’s Outrageous Proposal, for next April 2015.  I was so busy through the month of September, travelling to Wales where my husband was speaking at a book festival about his latest book, then visiting London for the Association of Mills & Boon Authors annual lunch and a get together with all the editors from the Richmond office.  Back home, I had just time to unpack and do the laundry before I set out again for Weetwood Hall  in Leeds  where I was  running a Writing Retreat on Romantic Fiction for the weekend.

It was just the pause I needed, the chance to take the time to draw breath after a hectic summer and take the time to think and plan ahead. While everyone else was working on the writing tasks I’d set them, I was able to follow my own advice on planning and starting a book and make lots of notes and write several pages of the new story.

Another thing that helped was that I’d ‘met’ this hero before. When I wrote A Question of Honor which came out in the summer this year, my editor loved the book, but she was also intrigued by one character in it – Nabil, the bridegroom Clemmie should have married if her arranged marriage had gone ahead. What happened to him after A Question of Honor ended, she wanted to know – what was his life like after that? And how did he end up with his happy ever after?

The answer, then, was that I really didn’t know. The only thing I was sure of was that he had a lot of growing up to do. He was only young, little more than a boy really – just 19  - so he needed to mature if he was to become the hero of his own book. And a lot of things had to change.  I didn’t know what had happened in the time after one book had ended and a new one (Nabil’s story) began – so I waited, wrote Olivero’s  Outrageous Proposal, and waited to see what would develop.

It turned out that lots did! Nabil waited  until  Dario Olivero’s story was finished – just – before he began to start dropping hints about his own romance.  Then, all the way through that journey to Wales, and in the lovely quiet, sunny days when we were staying in a beautiful Welsh manor house, and again in London,  he started putting ideas into my head so that I knew I just had to go ahead and write his story.  So this book, one that is loosely connected to A Question of Honor had been burning inside my head and is  pushing to be written – now!

I don’t often write books that are connected. Some authors set out to plan and write series in which characters who had appeared  in the first story have their own romance told in a later book, but I have only deliberately planned to do that one – in The Alcolar Family series  where the stories of two  brothers and a younger sister followed on from the story of Alexander Alcolar in the novella Wife For Real.  A couple of other times, the hero of one book has had a brother and I’ve told both their stories (Sicilian Husband, Blackmailed Bride and A Sicilian Husband are an example) but these  second stories usually grow out of the story and I don’t know it’s going to happen until I realise that I just have to write them.

But there’s a special pleasure in writing these connected stories. It means I get to develop the personality and story of someone who only briefly appeared in the original book, and then I get a chance to go back and revisit the hero and heroine whose story was in the earlier novel. It’s fun to see them again and to get to know what’s been happening to them as well as the hero and heroine of the new story.  This new book starts on a very special day for Karim and Clemmie from A Question of Honor and it was lovely to be able to celebrate with them, and see what’s been happening to them too in the time that has passed since their happy ending. I’m enjoying writing this connected book, and building on the original story I wrote before.

What about you? Do you like connected stories? Do you like it when a character who has a ‘bit part’ in one story then becomes the hero and heroine of their own romance? And do you like catching up with past characters, so that you can see what’s been happening with them and how they’re getting on?

 

My next title out  is - as I said Olivero's Outrageous Proposal which is published in  Harlequin Presents and Mills and Boon  Modern in April 2015. But before then there are 2 reprints coming out - Kept for Her Baby will be in a 3 in 1 collection  His Secret Baby and The Konstantos Marriage Demand will be in His Revenge Seduction in  November 2014.

Meanwhile, the 12 Point Guide to Writing Romance is available on Kindle
Details of these books and all the latest news are available on my web site and on my blog.

 

Brighter Days - with Kate Walker

There’s a strange thing happening today – the sky which has been grey and cloudy and miserable  for – well, for ages it seems,  is suddenly blue with just  tiny bits of wispy clouds here and there. And there is a strange golden thing shining high up there in the blue   . . . and it’s warm! I’m told it’s called the sun!  I haven’t been outside when there was any warmth  -or any sun  shining in I don’t know how long.  Last week, the clocks changed here in the UK and it seems like at last spring is finally  on its way.

After a cold, difficult few weeks,  suddenly things look so much brighter.  And there has been  a good week on the books front that have added to the brightness too.  Sometimes I can go for weeks and weeks with no  sign of any books being delivered –then suddenly there’s a whole rush of them.   Believe me, even when the days are bleak and cold that can brighten things up instantly.

And it’s even more fun  when the deliver brings a collection of foreign editions, translations into different languages,  all with different cover designs. It always intrigues me how  differently the same books can be presented all over the world.

Here’s a few of the books I’ve had this week.
There was the Norwegian edition of The Twelve Month Mistress.  The USA edition was  sexy and sensual -  the Norwegian copy (in a 3 in 1 collection)  has this pretty, spring like edition.

One of my favourite  things about the Czech editions is the way my name change – I become Kate Walkerova!  Not quite as much fun as my fellow author (Historical) who becomes Elizabeth Rollsova  but it’s still fun. And the cover of this edition of  The Konstantos Marriage  Demand has just the right atmosphere (and the suggestion of sun and heat to make me sigh even on this milder spring day.)

There was a great delivery from Japan -  the new Japanese edition of The Devil and Miss Jones     and a fabulous Manga reprint of a book that came out  12 years ago – The Hostage Bride  - that now has a great new lease of life in this specialised art form.  Don’t you think the illustrations are just great  - and the cover is wonderful.

But perhaps the best delivery was the box full of my brand new title – A Throne For The Taking,   There’s nothing to beat that  moment when you open the parcel and first hold your  printed and bound book in your hands. If I open it and read the pages, I can remember writing those words – the  moments of inspiration and the places where an editor  gave her input! But it all seems so different now  a real book rather than a work in progress.  I only have the  Presents editions right now, but the M&B Modern  one will arrive soon.  And then in a few weeks it will be publication day.  Now there’s something  to brighten the days – no mater what the sun is doing!

I hope you have some brighter  days to make  you smile now.  And  I hope to brighten someone’s days today too.  I have to apologise that life  rather exploded which meant I never managed to pick the winners of my giveaway last month. I originally had one book to give away but because of the delay, I got Charlie to pick two winners – and they are Linda Henderson and Mary Kirkland.  Mary and Linda will you please email me ( kate AT kate-walker dot com) and I’ll sort out the books for you.

Kate’s latest hero is Alexei Sarova, a black sheep prince who has to face up to a new and unexpected destiny. A Throne For the Taking will be published in the Royal and Ruthless miniseries on May 21st in Presents and in June in UK

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

 

 

 

 

 

Kate Walker: Happy Mother's Day

Today is Mother’s Day in the UK. I know it’s not the same date as it’s celebrated in America – I’ve never been quite sure why there is this difference – but in the UK we’ll be celebrating ‘Mothering Sunday’ on April 3rd. In the Roman religion the Hilaria festival was held in honour of the mother goddess Cybele and it took place during mid-March. As the Roman Empire and Europe converted to Christianity, this celebration became part of the liturgical calendar as Laetare Sunday, the fourth Sunday in Lent to honour the Virgin Mary and the "mother church".


During the sixteenth century, people returned to their mother church for a service to be held on Laetare Sunday. This was either a large local church, or more often the nearest Cathedral. Anyone who did this was commonly said to have gone "a-mothering". In later times, Mothering Sunday became a day when domestic servants were given a day off to visit their mothers and other family members. It was often the only time that whole families could gather together, since in other days they were prevented by conflicting working hours. This Mother’s Day is going to be sad as well as a celebration for us. I’ll be so happy to see my son and to celebrate with him, but sadly my dear Mother in Law died a couple of weeks ago and so, like my own mother, she will be missed today.

So even more than usual, I’ve thinking about Mothers and their influences on us, and because I’m a writer I’ve been thinking about the books that my mother brought into my life. I don’t know if I would ever have started writing romance if it hadn’t been for the fact that my mother had a great friend who used to write for Mills & Boon in the years I was growing up. Marguerite Lees was a writer of romance back in the 1960s and 70s and she was the first person I ever knew who wrote and was published for a living. My mother had a collection of her friend’s books and I used to sneak a read of them when she wasn’t looking. They weren’t very sexy or even racy, but she still didn’t think they were suitable for me when I was young!

It’s funny though - because she thought that reading the classics like Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights was fine. And these books have such strong emotions, such powerful themes of love and passion that they are far more intense and high-voltage than anything I ever read in the early Mills & Boon romances I read. But perhaps the fact that I read these books meant that when I wanted to write then I wanted to create stories that contained such intense emotions and strong feelings as the books I’d grown up with. So perhaps that’s why I now write for the Presents line where this emotional intensity is part of the atmosphere of the stories.

It certainly is there in my newest release – The Proud Wife - which is out in Presents Extra on April 12th. In The Proud Wife, Marina and Pietro married in a rush, early in their relationship, because she was pregnant. They were still in that wildly passionate first stage of love, when you’re blind to everything else. And the baby just seemed like the icing on the cake. But when Marina miscarried, their relationship was tested cruelly. Grief does terrible things to people. Some couples can be drawn together by it, others are torn apart. And because Marina and Pietro didn’t know each other well enough to understand what each of them was going through, it opened up the cracks in their marriage and split them up.

When someone has once loved so very passionately, the loss of that love leaves a hole that is very hard to fill. Marina and Pietro believe that they would be better apart, that their marriage is dead. But when they have to come back together to discuss the divorce, they are forced to think again. I love to write about themes like this - reunion stories are some of my favourites to write. And luckily they seems to be very popular with the readers – and reviewers. Romantic Times has given The Proud Wife 4.5 stars and describes it as ‘an emotionally charged page-turner with plenty of tension and passion. ‘

Which brings me to my really good news – I’m thrilled to be able to announce that another reunion story – The Konstantos Marriage Demand has been awarded the Best Presents Extra (2010) title in the Romantic Times Reviewers’ Choice Awards. It’s a real honour for me and one I know my mother would have been delighted by. Sadly she never saw my books published - though she knew that the first one had been accepted. My Mother in law read and enjoyed every one of the novels I gave her and she knew about this award when I still had to keep it a secret. I’m so glad I was able to let her know before the official announcement and I’m so sad that I won’t be able to share my books with her in the future.

What about you? Did you get any of your love of books from your mother – or mother in law? – Did she share her favourite authors with you? Or if you are a mother what books have you been able to pass on to your daughter - or your son? I’ve been able to share all sorts of reading with my son but the romances are the books I share with his lovely girlfriend.

I have a signed copy of the award winning Konstantos Marriage Demand to give away to one poster – I’ll get Sid the cat on the job of picking the winner

You can read more about The Proud Wife over on my web site and you can learn all about my news and get all the really up to date stuff on my blog.

And the winner is . . . .LENI!


Leni please email me kate AT kate-walker.com and I'll send your prize book on to you