Is that a factoid? by Michelle Styles

I was born in the US and even though I have lived over in the UK for more than 30 years, I still mainly think in American. I do like to think that I am reasonably fluent in British now as well.  I knew that a cot in the UK is a crib in the US for example. Or the differences between sandshoes and sneakers. However, I recently discovered that one word –factoid has two different and completely opposite meanings on either side of the Atlantic.

A factoid is in North America, a small piece of trivia, a tiny fact but crucially true.

A factoid in the UK is a statement which has been repeated so often that people believe it is true when it is in fact false.

So on one side of the Atlantic, a factoid is true and on the other, it is false. One word, completely opposite meanings depending on where you are or I suppose who you are talking to.

Ivy growing up a damson plum tree
 which is just coming into bloom.

Being American by birth, I had always assumed a factoid was true. Then I was reading Oliver Rackham’s Trees & Woodland in the British Landscape, the Complete History of Britain’s Trees, Woods & Hedgerows and he made this big point that factoids are false, and this had me scrambling for my Oxford English dictionary where I discovered the discrepancy with the two different meanings for one word.  And I have no idea how this discrepancy happened.

Ivy growing up a conifer tree
 on the border of Michelle
Styles' garden.Despite all her hopes,
the wind has not knocked it down yet!

  In case you were wondering Rackham used the statement Ivy kills the trees it grows up as a factoid or a false statement. In this case, the belief has been around since the 4^th century and apparently often repeated by people who should know better but it is clearly not true. Ivy doesn’t kill its host tree.  The tree might not grow as well but it puts on growth and its leaves peek out from the ivy.  The tree might die from other causes or topple over in high wind due to the weight of the ivy but the ivy doesn’t kill it. I do live in how for that conifer at the end of my garden though...

The easiest way to solve this problem is just to avoid using the word. However, there have been times when discussing various aspects to  writing historical romance, I have had cause to use it – and mean the American understanding. Is it any wonder that people gave me puzzled looks? And here I was feeling so smug about being completely fluent in British English as well as American. It goes to show that the unknown unknowns that can trip you up.

It is why I double-check my facts when I am writing and now I am also going to have to check my factoids!

Michelle Styles writes warm, witty and intimate historical romance for Harlequin Historical in a wide range of time periods. Her most recent Sent as the Viking’s Bride was published in December 2018.  She is currently working on her next Viking set romance and double checking all her facts and factoids to make sure they are true! You can find out more about Michelle and her books at www.michellestyles.co.uk

Christina Hollis—Beginnings and Endings

Goodbye, summer...

September and the beginning of the new school term is always bittersweet. The peace after a summer of comings and goings is tinged with sadness at another milestone passed in the children's lives, and our own. 

This year is more poignant than most, as our son enters his last year at secondary school. It'll be final exams for him in summer 2018. A few weeks after that he'll be off into the big wide world. This is the last time I'll be doing the school run beneath dancing flocks of gathering swallows and house martins. This time next year, he'll be getting ready to fly the nest himself. 

In the meantime he's fine-tuning his skills in the kitchen, learning how to budget, and sitting at the top of the best local driving instructor's waiting list. I'm trying to step back, but it's difficult. He's got numerous health problems, but you can't keep them wrapped in cotton wool all their lives, can you? Not that it stops me worrying. 

Maybe leaving home will be the making of him. Maybe. You hear such worrying things about Generation I—the ones who live life at one remove, behind screens or via their telephones. How they're in danger of becoming Special Snowflakes because they lack the social skills we all learned in the days BC—Before Computer.  They're not so well-equipped to deal with the rough and tumble of daily working life, it seems.

...hello, autumn...

 

I'll look on the bright side. I worried about DD when she went off to university. Now she's back home and has a new career as an archaeologist. We could be toasting Son Number One's similar success in a few years' time, with wine made from our new grapevines!

When she isn't cooking, gardening or beekeeping, Christina Hollis writes contemporary fiction starring complex men and independent women.  Her books have been translated into more than a dozen languages, and she’s sold nearly three million books worldwide. Catch up with her at http://www.christinahollis.blogspot.com, on Twitter, Facebook, and see a full list of her published books at christinahollis.com

Her current release, Heart Of A Hostage, is published by The Wild Rose Press and available at myBook.to/HeartOfAHostage  worldwide.

Hired by the Brooding Billionaire - Kandy Shepherd

I love gothic-inspired romances. There’s something about a gloomy mansion and a mystery surrounding the handsome, damaged man who lives there that appeals to me. I’ve always wanted to write a story with those elements.

Hired by the Brooding Billionaire, my August release for Harlequin Romance is that story. It’s a beauty-and-the-beast tale with a brilliant wounded hero, Declan Grant, who has cut himself off from the world after a tragedy in his past. He lives in a splendid old mansion that is slowly being covered by a wild, out-of-control garden.

Strong, spirited horticulturalist Shelley Fairhill has to work hard to not only tame the garden but also to cut down the barriers Declan has put up around his emotions. At the same time she has to overcome past heartbreak of her own before she can love again.

I loved writing Shelley and Declan’s emotional journey towards each other and finding the  love they both so deserve.

But I also enjoyed writing about the overgrown garden that brings them together.

Camellias

The story starts in winter and I’m sharing some snaps of my Down Under winter garden with you. All these flowers appear in the story.

Sweet-scented jonquils

My part of Australia doesn’t get the severe winters that other parts of the world can get. Everything slows down but for most of the year we have something blooming. (The disadvantage is that the weeds still grow, too!) 

Fragrant daphne

Do you like a beauty-and-and-the-beast story? What’s your garden like in winter? Please share your thoughts with a comment!

I’m giving away one signed paperback copy (or an e-book if you’d prefer) of Hired by the Brooding Billionaire. Make a comment to be in the draw. Please include your email address if you want to be included in the draw.

Hired by the Brooding Billionaire is my August 2015 release for Harlequin Romance and is available now for pre-order in print and e-book.

Kandy Shepherd is an award-winning author of contemporary romance and women’s fiction. She lives on a small farm in the Blue Mountains near Sydney, Australia, with her family and a menagerie of four-legged friends.

Visit Kandy at her website

www.kandyshepherd.com

Connect with Kandy on Facebook and Twitter

Rebel's Bargain - Sizzling Romance and...Gardens!

It's release month for my latest Harlequin Presents: REBEL'S BARGAIN. It's a sizzling reunion story full of passion and emotion and, yes sensuality.

Five years ago, Poppy Graham married Orsino Chatsfield beneath a confetti of paparazzi flashbulbs. But Orsino spent more time chasing the rush of adrenaline than with his wife and, in her darkest hour, he let her down. Their split was bitter and Poppy’s striven for independence ever since. But now her arrogant husband is back…

Injured in a climbing accident, there’s only one person Orsino can turn to…his deceitful wife! They have unfinished business and he’ll face it before he walks away for ever. But the blazing passion between them reignites in an instant, leaving Orsino to wonder whether it will kill or cure!

Debbie from Romantic Times gave REBEL'S BARGAIN a 4 1/2 star review, concluding: “…West’s second-chance romance is an imaginative and intensely thrilling brainteaser, ripe with shrouded misconceptions. Her silver-spoon hero and wounded heroine are passionate and convincing.” You can find it at Harlequin, Amazon, Barnes and Noble and the Book Depository.

Annie researching at Chateau Chenonceau

What you might not know is that this book was in part inspired by an amazing place I visited a couple of years ago. Chateau Chenonceau in France's Loire Valley is famous as that picturesque chateau built across arches that span the river. Most of REBEL'S BARGAIN is set in a gorgeously romantic tower that sits just in front of the entrance to the main chateau. That's where Poppy and Orsino play out the drama and passion of their reunion, discovering long-hidden truths about each other and falling in love all over again.

For me, having a particular place in mind as I write is a real bonus, as I can picture my couple there, making the scenes even more real in my mind. One of the things I enjoyed about this book was the raw passion of it, the characters' deep feelings, hurt and lust and hope and love. Those are played out mainly within the confines of the round tower where they're staying but also on the riverbank, and the chateau itself.

One of the secret things that particularly appealed to me is the fact that this story, which is one of the most tempestuous and sizzling I've written, is set in a place surrounded by picture perfect formal French gardens. I enjoyed the counterpoint between the delightful precision of the surroundings and all the turmoil and drama going on within. For there's nothing quite as calmly composed and carefully beautiful as a formal garden. Here's a taste:

Lots of symmetrical paths and plantings.

Even the geraniums seem to grow more neatly than mine at home, but then perhaps they receive far more attention!

No rambling rose bushes here.

Of course there was a maze too. What would a formal garden be without a little topiary?

 

Even the vegetable gardens in the old chateau farm were incredibly neat. Neater than any garden I've ever owned. On the other hand, there is a little wilderness surrounding the formal gardens. There's a wood, complete with wild, soft pink cyclamen, so maybe some of that wildness helped inspire me as I wrote.

 

Are you a gardener - with green thumbs or just enough to enjoy someone else's gardening efforts? Do you like formal gardens or are you more a rambling garden sort of person?

 

I'll give a copy of one of my titles  to someone who leaves a comment today (drawn at random and open internationally).

 

 



Spring Is Sprung! - Anna Campbell

by Anna Campbell

I'd hoped to put this up last month but my scanner died so I couldn't share the pictures which really are the whole point of this blog!

As my Northern Hemisphere friends edge towards winter, spring broke out in a big way here in late August. Since then, we've had a few cold days, but basically the Aussie year is on its way to its hotter part.

Summer where I live (on Queensland's Sunshine Coast about an hour north of Brisbane) is awful. Hot, sticky, humid, exhausting. But spring is lovely. Clear days and crisp nights.

Because we've had a wet winter, my garden burst into flower in a big way with arrival of the warmer weather. And it all seemed to happen overnight. I thought you might like to see some of the photos I took!



Look at these two spectacular azaleas! They definitely appreciated both the arrival of spring and the recent wet weather. I love the massing of color. They spend most of their time looking really scraggy so it was lovely to get a good showing this year.

The native shrubs have gone wild too. Where I live, grevilleas do really well. It's something about the sandy soil, I think.

I'm sure a lot of people overseas wouldn't be familiar with these beautiful plants but I just love them. The flowers are delicate and spidery and come in a huge variety of shapes and sizes. They scent the air with a sweet honey fragrance and the birds go crazy for the nectar.

I love to sit in my office and watch the parrots and the wattle birds fight over the blossoms which come in an extravagant array of colors from creamy white through to brilliant red.

It's extremely colorful to watch the red, green and yellow lorikeets or the more subtly colored rosellas fluttering around these lovely flowers. And with the hotter weather, the nectar ferments - so you can see where the phrase "p*ssed as a parrot" comes from in vivid detail!

Oh, and parrots drinking the hard stuff are amazingly noisy!!!

By the way, check out the lovely blue skies in these shots! Wouldn't you love to come to Australia right now? It really is lovely!

It's also wattle season so the air is heavy with the sweet scent of yellow flowers. They're our national flower and they grow pretty much everywhere. Well, not in my garden, but on road verges and in the bush, they're omnipresent.

A shrub of mine that has never been particularly spectacular has decided to show off this year. This beautiful red calistemon is usually cut back so harshly, it doesn't get the chance to flower. But this year, because I've been away so much and neglecting my pruning, it's finally shown me how beautiful it is.

The red is so strong, it almost burns your eyes! This is a plant where I often find my friends the bearded dragons.

It's not quite warm enough yet for them to appear but it won't be long. They always make me smile, these lovely little miniature dinosaurs. We have generations of them living in the yard. They're quite shy and you don't always see them but they're definitely around. I've got photos of the hearded dragons on my Facebook page if you want to check them out: http://www.facebook.com/annacampbell.writer#%21/album.php?aid=2006785&id=1574454103

If you go to the Facebook page, you'll also see some shots of my backyard. All these flowering bushes are in the front yard.

By the way, if you're on Facebook, why not join my Fan Page? http://www.facebook.com/pages/Anna-Campbell-Fan-Page/464724380503?ref=ts

So what's happening in your neck of the woods right now?