The appeal of the single dad

There’s something very appealing, isn’t there, about a loving dad and his sweet baby?

I had a friend who was a single dad with a dear little girl. He went on a walking vacation with her in a backpack and said he couldn’t get over how much female attention he attracted. I told him I didn’t know why he was so surprised!

I like to challenge myself in my writing. My February release for Harlequin Romance, Second Chance with the Single Dad, is my first “single dad” story. It’s also my first “friends to lovers” story.

Girl-next-door schoolteacher Georgia Lang and handsome self-made millionaire Wil Hudson go way back as “just friends.” They know each other so well they claim to read each other’s thoughts. But not everyone wishes the platonic friends well and the friendship ends abruptly and painfully. What happens when Wil becomes a single dad to adorable baby Nina and asks Georgia for help? Can they salvage the friendship—and perhaps acknowledge the tiny flickering flames that just might have been there all along?

Here's the blurb for the story:

From long-lost friends...

To newfound family?

“Georgia and Wil were best friends until he married and disappeared from her life. Now he’s back, asking Georgia to forget the past and help him secure his future—the daughter he never knew he had! Georgia’s heart goes out to new dad Wil, but there’s an uncharted chemistry fizzing between them and she must protect her heart. Can they confront their unspoken attraction and finally become a family?”

I’m always seeing on social media happily married couples saying they married their best friend. Do you think friends-to-lovers is a good basis for a happy relationship? Or do you prefer the quick flare of instant attraction?

I’d love to see your comments! Post a comment to be in the draw for a signed copy of my new release Second Chance with the Single Dad. Please include your email contact if you’d like to be in the draw.

Second Chance with the Single Dad is a February 2019 release from Harlequin Romance in North America; Mills & Boon True Love in the UK; and Mills & Boon Forever Romance in Australia and New Zealand.

Kandy Shepherd is a multi-published, 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, Twitter,Pinterestand Instagram

A Venetian Love Story - Annie West

One of the special bonuses of being a writer is immersing myself every day in the location of my current story. For weeks or months I'll be spending my days in Greece, maybe at a private villa, or living in a modern executive apartment in a bustling, exciting city. Maybe I'll take up residence in a cute country cottage with roses around the door and with a brooding, enigmatic but terribly sexy neighbour... Every story, every location is incredibly real to me and it's such a treat if the action happens in a place I want to be, since I spend so much time (in my mind) there. One place I'd told myself for years that I'd write about was Venice. But still it's taken me an awfully long time to set a story there. Not because I was wary of it but because I didn't have the right story - till now. Right now I'm part way through a series of e-novellas - my HOT ITALIAN NIGHTS series, and for my current story, THE ITALIAN'S BOLD RECKONING, Venice was just the perfect setting.

What is it about Venice that appeals so much? It's a mix of things. Some of which you'd see if you opened a travel magazine or watched a documentary on the city. Other things come from the experience of the city itself. I've only been there in the cooler months so I associate Venice with mists and warm coats, with snow (yes, really!) with the glamour of Carnival and the glimpses into the shimmering, luxurious spaces frequented by the rich and famous. Here are just a couple of the things I enjoy about the city:

The fact there are quaint surprises everywhere, like this gorgeous ship I'd have missed if I weren't looking up at the lights.

The gondolas. I know, a bit of a cliche, but it really is tremendous fun sliding silently through the canals this way. You get such a different perspective from the water, and the quiet, away from the main thoroughfare, is so atmospheric.

Speaking of boats, I loved the luxury motorboats too. And the painted poles at the piers!

There's a hint of the sinister and of mystery in this old city. This is a slot used in days gone by for people to slip notes to the powers that be, denouncing citizens for plotting against the city. Brr.

Venice in party mode is lavish and fun and unlike anything else. I particularly like the handmade masks that are part of the Carnival tradition. A lot are shipped in cheaply from elsewhere now but there are still some places, like this, that make them by hand.

There's so much else to attract in this old city too. The art works. The food. The tiny little bars crammed into corners. The way the sun sparkles on the lagoon on a still, sunny day. The feeling of discovering new things at every turn.

Is there a place you find particularly fascinating? Somewhere beautiful or maybe intriguing or downright sinister? Somewhere that stands out as different from the rest?

I hope I've whetted your appetite for Venice and maybe even for a Venetian Love Story. Here's a taste of what THE ITALIAN'S BOLD RECKONING is about.

He’s lured her back. Will she take the bait?

He believed their passion could never fade. Yet it’s a year since Matteo De Laurentis lived with his gorgeous, talented, obstinate wife. Angela insists they’re mismatched, but Matteo refuses to give up the only woman he’ll ever love. Italy’s sexiest leading man is determined to get his wife back. By whatever means necessary.

Angela is desperate to avoid working on this film with the handsome, charismatic actor-turned-director who happens to be her estranged husband. It was a mistake ever to think she could hold her own in his glamorous world. But now she’s trapped in Venice, unable to escape the one man who turns her brain to mush and her body to a blaze of passion.

Is Matteo taking revenge to a whole new level, taunting her with everything she’s given up? Or is this seductive torture as difficult for him as it is for her? She can only pray he never discovers her secret weakness – that she’s still desperately in love with him.

Amazon

Barnes and Noble

iBooks

Kobo

Dani Collins: New Year, New Books!

I'm delighted start the year with a new book! Not In Her Wildest Dreams, released yesterday, Jan 15th!

I'm equally delighted to tell you that the wonderful Lee of Author Sound Relations, who runs this blog, was my cover artist. Didn't she knock it out of the park?

These books are very much a project of passion for me. I wrote them before I sold, back when I was struggling and facing repeated rejections and growing quite sure no one would ever read my books.

When you take twenty-five years to sell, you get pretty disheartened. But after much soul searching and fist shaking and crying in the shower, I accepted that I am a romance writer, whether my books find eyes beyond my own or not. I kept submitting because I hoped to sell, but I wrote because I had to.

I actually had an agent when I wrote these books, but they weren't picked up and we parted ways. I set the stories aside when I placed in Harlequin Presents Instant Seduction contest. By that time, I had realized that one of the reasons I hadn't sold was that I kept writing something different every time I sat down. Glamor? Check. Small town? Got it. Erotic Romance. Shh. Medieval Fantasy? Why not? I didn't know where I wanted to be.

Actually, I had always, always wanted to be with Harlequin Presents, so I focused on that and six or eight manuscripts later, this happened-->
(It should be noted that Harlequin Presents are published as Mills & Boon Modern in the UK.) The career I had been waiting for had arrived!

But I had all these manuscripts on the hard drive. Some were out on submission (The Healer) and some I'd started to look at indie publishing (Hustled To The Altar.) I no sooner had those published and I found Montana Born. Those six books filled my time between Presents for the next three years!

Paige and Sterling and L.C. and Mercedes waited quietly in the wings. Well, Paige was miffed, but she's used to being taken for granted so she just rolled her eyes. Sterling is perfection personified so he was like, "I know you're waiting for the right moment. I can wait, too." Mercedes was so busy running after her niece and nephew, she didn't have time to notice, and L.C. couldn't give a f--- about anything. Although, now that he and Mercedes have found their HEA, he's more pussycat than badass. Getting laid has a way of settling him down.

If you're a fan of my Montana Born books, you'll love these. They take place in fictional Liebe Falls. Actually, L.C. leaves after book one and winds up in Arizona, at a senior's complex, of all places, but certain things are calling him back.

They're longer books, full of quirky secondary characters, angst and drama and laughs. They're different from my Presents, but I hope you try them and enjoy the heck of them anyway!

Not In Her Wildest Dreams is available now on all platforms:

Amazon Universal | Nook | Kobo | iBooks | GooglePlay | Smashwords

Only In His Sweetest Dreams releases Feb 1:

Amazon Universal | Nook | Kobo | iBooks | GooglePlay | Smashwords

Dani Collins is the USA Today Bestselling author of thirty romances for Harlequin Mills and Boon, Tule's Montana Born, and herself. She lives in rural BC, Canada with her high school sweetheart. 

Some things never change - Kandy Shepherd

“Give me the child until he is seven and I'll give you the man” is a famous quote about how childhood experiences affect the adults we become.*

As a romance writer, I like to delve into my characters’ fictional lives to see what happened in their early years to influence the way they behave as adults.

What aspects of my hero’s and heroine’s childhoods; their ingrained likes and dislikes; their buried hurts and memories might have some bearing on their relationships? In particular what might cause my fictional heroes and heroines not to commit to the perfect partner I have created for them? Well, not to commit until near the end of the novel, that is! By that time, there can be no more barriers to stop them getting their wonderful happy-ever-after ending together…

My recent release from Harlequin The Summer They Never Forgot is a story of first love and second chances and features a hero and heroine who first met as teenagers. Twelve years later they meet again—are the aspects of their character that made them fall in love still the same?

Recently, while celebrating a significant birthday, I trawled through family photos to find images that represented milestone times in my life for a party slide-show. Here’s a few that made me smile—those early interests certainly lived on!

Copying my mother or an early obsession?

 I think I was about eighteen months when the photo above was taken. It was the start of a life-long obsession with my weight. Hopping on the scales is still a regular occurrence. (Not that there's anything wrong with wanting to stay a healthy weight! ) Sadly, these days the numbers on the now digital scales are less than edifying...

Cats have been a life-long love

 In this next photo I'm about seven years old. These two kittens, Lucky (left) and Big Boy were born under my bed, their mother a stray who had wandered into our suburban garden. Big Boy went to a home nearby where we could visit him, but Lucky stayed with us until I was eighteen. I was heartbroken to leave him when I left home to go to university and I think he must have been too as he died not long after. That precious feline was the first of a number of beloved cats in my life.

Ivy (left) and Alfie, the most recent additions to my kitty family

What about you? How different are you now to when you were a child? Any particular incidents you might remember? Have any of your interests carried through to adulthood?

Please leave a comment—I’d love to hear about it!

I have one signed copy of The Summer They Never Forgot to give away. Please include your email address in your comment if you want to be included in the draw.

The Summer They Never Forgot is Kandy’s first release from Harlequin Romance in the US, the UK and Australia. Watch out for The Tycoon and the Wedding Planner in July 14.

Visit Kandy at her website

www.kandyshepherd.com

*Attributed by the Jesuits to St Francis Xavier

New cover excitement - Kandy Shepherd

Great excitement this month when I saw the cover of my first book for Harlequin Romance, The Summer They Never Forgot , to be published on February 4, 2014.

That first view of a cover can be a tense moment for an author. How did the cover designer interpret my characters? Did they get my setting right? How does the title look on the page?

I’m pleased to report the Harlequin designers got everything right! The water setting, the dock where some pivotal scenes are played out, the carefree summer atmosphere. Most important, the heroine and hero, Sandy and Ben, fit my mental image of them. “He’s hot!” was my daughter’s reaction to Ben—you can’t get much better than that.

Oh, and I’m a big sucker for pink on covers and I love the pink on the Harlequin Romance covers.

The Summer They Never Forgot is a reunion story set in my made-up town of Dolphin Bay on the beautiful south coast of New South Wales in Australia. It’s a place where I’ve spent many happy vacations and is dear to my heart. 

I love the unspoiled beaches on the New South Wales south coast where The Summer They Never Forgot is set

The book is a deeply romantic, emotional story of second-chance love—I so enjoyed writing Sandy and Ben’s story. I hope you do, too, when you get a chance to read it.

Here’s the cover blurb:

It started with a summer kiss… 

Sandy Adams is on her way to an interview, but when she sees a signpost for Dolphin Bay she decides to take a detour down memory lane…. 

Ben Morgan has had his share of heartache. But when a ghost from his youth catches his eye memories of their last summer together come flooding back. 

Everything has changed in the past twelve years, and still they're right back where they started, facing a second chance they deserve…together.

Now I'm looking forward to the excitement of actually having the book in my hands!

Do you enjoy a reunion romance? Is there someone in your past you’d love the chance to reconnect with? Has social media brought an old flame back into your life?

Please leave a comment—I’d love to hear about it!

Kandy Shepherd writes fun, feel-good fiction.

Watch out for her The Summer They Never Forgot, her first release from Harlequin Romance in on February 04, 2014 in both the US and the UK.

Her new contemporary women's fiction e-book, Reinventing Rose, is available now at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Apple, Kobo, Smashwords, and other e-book retailers. 

Kandy’s romances include the Amazon bestseller The Castaway Bride, Something About Joe, and the award-winners Love is a Four-Legged Word and Home Is Where the Bark Is.

Visit Kandy at her website

www.kandyshepherd.com