My Page in Woman's World

by Joanne Rock

I'm excited to have a story in Woman's World magazine this week! If you're out grocery shopping, look for my short Super Bowl-themed piece called "A Tailgate Romance" in the February 3rd issue.

The story is set in Mesa Falls, the fictional town in western Montana where my current Harlequin Desire miniseries is set. I gave the heroine, Lexi Grayson, a reunion romance with a cowboy who left the ranch.

It was fun for me to write a football-themed story. Readers who've been with me for awhile might remember that my first miniseries for Harlequin Desire, Bayou Billionaires with my friend Catherine Mann, was set in the world of pro football. My titles were His Secretary's Surprise Fiance and Secret Baby Scandal. The hero of the former was a coach. The hero of the latter, a quarterback.

But then, I love sports romances. I've done hockey heroes and baseball players too. My current miniseries for Tule, Texas Playmakers, features baseball-playing brothers. Perfect Catch and Game On will be followed up by Scoring Position, due out in May 2020.

But one of the most interesting facts about this month's story in Woman's World? You may be interested to know it's not my first time in the magazine. Long ago, I appeared in the pages of the publication modeling back-to-school fashions! My guess is it ran sometime in August of 1985 or 1986. That'll tell you how long it's been since I looked like someone getting ready to go back to school. I wish I had the picture to share with you, but like so much of my life right now, it's packed in boxes as I'm between houses. One of these days, when I'm reunited with all my things, I'll post a pic.

For now, however, I'm far more proud of having my words on the magazine pages! Please do keep an eye out for the story, and for my February 2020 Harlequin Desire release, Rule Breaker.

***So if you're at the grocery store you can look for the magazine... I'm curious what are you most likely to forget to buy at the grocery store? Or what shopping oversight is most apt to send you right back out to get it? For me, it's coffee creamer. I can't cope without the kind I like! I'll give one random commenter an advance copy of my March Mesa Falls book, Heartbreaker!

More Ice Cream

While I'm awaiting my editor's thoughts on the manuscript I've just submitted, I'm writing a short story spin off from my "ice cream" trilogy (Tempted By Trouble, Anything But Vanilla and Vettori's Damsel in Distress).

There are always minor characters who beg for a story of their own. Some become books but some are smaller than that. Ria (Knickerbocker Gloria) and Graeme Laing, who appeared in Anything But Vasnilla fall into that category.

The scatty ice cream genius Ria is enormous fun and I've been having a great time on Pinterest finding the kind of clothes and jewellery she would wear.

And who would be the stiff, formal, beautifully dressed millionaire who needs the "creases shaking out of his trousers" - her complete opposite - Graeme Laing?

That was surprisingly easy. :)

All that's left is stand back and watch the fireworks as these two overcome their prejudices and discover that they are made for each other!

Short and Sweet

I love February for its shortness.

And yes, I realize it has that extra day this year, which doesn't make it any more or less sweet. It's still shorter than a thirty or thirty-one day month.

About four years ago, we here in Canada finally got a long weekend in February. (Family Day) Before that, there was always the desert wasteland of unbroken weeks from New Year's day until Easter. Yes, Easter! Which sometimes waits until April to show up with chocolates and a day off from work.

So February was my friend, usually arriving with a hint of weather just mild enough to tease of spring, and finishing fast so I was suddenly looking at March and daffodils and a day off.

Now, of course, I'm a stay-at-home-writer which means I never get a day off. You think I'm joking. I'm totally not, but I'm also not complaining.

And I still love February for its shortness.

Which makes if perfectly fitting that my bad boy short story, Taken By The Raider, released this month. Griffen Woodlock, corporate raider, 'acquires' Aubrey Hargrave in a hostile takeover. He quickly seizes more than her assets. That's the short version, anyway. Here's the full blurb:

The first time Aubrey Hargrave was “acquired” by corporate raider Griffen Woodlock, she was unable to resist his potent sexuality. She made the fatal mistake of mixing business with pleasure, but had to end their passionate affair to save her father’s reputation—and her heart. 

At 20, Griffen pushed his abusive father out of his CEO position to take the chair himself. Aside from indulging his passion for beautiful women, Griffen hasn’t made an emotional decision since. When Aubrey cuts short their white-hot affair, he tells himself she can easily be replaced. Except she can’t. 

Discovering Aubrey’s family secret gives Griffen the power to force a second take-over, but he intends to seize more than her business. He wants her. 

Want a short sexy read to keep you warm while you wait for the spring thaw? Here are the quick links:

Amazon US | CA | UK | Aus | Kobo | iBooks | GooglePlay

What's your favourite month? 

Cruel Summer - Free Download!

I'm excited to tell you about this free short story I'm offering!

Cruel Summer is a reunion romance around a wedding in California and reads a lot like all my other books: sexy, emotional, even funny at times. I wrote it to encourage sign ups to my newsletter list and for some reason, that made it feel like a huge gamble.

For starters, it's only my second self-publishing effort. I paid people to help the first time, so a lot of tasks were new to me. (I successfully formatted it for Kindle and ePub, but forgot about PDF until after all the pieces were in place. If you want PDF, email me.)

Also, even though everyone loves to get something for free, I still went through the 'What if they hate it?' phase. (We authors spend half our life there, I sometimes think!)

Setting things up with my website helpers and my newsletter helpers was also a small challenge. I did a lot of hand-wringing. They said a lot of, "There, there," but it's finally available and so far the response has been amazing!

I sent it out to my fans and this was one of my favourite reviews:

Normally, short stories or novellas do not work for me. There is just not enough time to fully develop the story or characters and I am left frustrated by that lack. Not so "Cruel Summer". It was perfect and I felt as if I were reading a full novel. I felt I really knew Chelsea and Gavin and loved all the pain and pleasure of their story.

Here's the blurb:

“Is there anything I could say or do to earn your forgiveness?”

Website designer Chelsea Parks grew up believing she would marry her best friend’s brother. In college, she gave him her virginity and he broke her heart. She knows she’ll have to face him, now that she’s maid of honor at his sister’s wedding, but she doesn’t expect to sit next to him on the plane to California. Good thing she’s so completely over him.

Architect Gavin Fairfield knows he screwed up, but he’s matured since then. Standing in as Father Of The Bride because his dad recently passed, he’s reassessing his future, realizing how short life is and how much he misses Chelsea. He can see now that they’re meant for each other. Too bad she’s so completely over him.

Staying at his family’s summer home, revisiting their old stomping grounds, burns Chelsea alive in old flames. Gavin is as easy to love as ever. She’d like to be friends again, might even succumb to a fling for old time’s sake, but real relationship aren’t built on a weekend of nostalgia. Are they?

If you'd like to read the opening pages, they're posted here: #SampleSunday - Cruel Summer.

Would you like your own copy? You can Get Cruel Summer Here. This will also sign you up for my newsletter. You can unsubscribe anytime, but I'd love to hear what you think of Cruel Summer so please drop me a line or leave a comment here!

Meanwhile, I hope you're have a fantastic summer. I'll admit, at times this year our summer has been cruel. Forty-plus Celsius (One ten Fahrenheit.) Fortunately we have this:

I took this shot on my evening walk/swim, around eight pm a few nights ago. Bliss!

I'm leaving for New York and the Romance Writers of American conference in a couple of days. I may not answer your comments right away, but I'll be taking lots of photos, planning to post them for you next month! Take care!

Dani

A Valentine's Present...free short story

Book 1

Book 3

  I didn't plan on writing for Avalon Books, but I met their editor at a conference and she asked if I had any unsold books stuffed under my bed.  Well, it just so happened that I had a story about a couple who got involved with a radio station's contest and were living in a truck.  Whoever managed to stay in it the longest, won it.  I know, you're shocked that a book that's set almost entirely in the front seat of a truck was a hard sell.  LOL  Well, she bought it, and three others afterwards.

Book 2

Book 4

It was fun writing about the radio station whose motto was, Where Love is More than Just a Song.  A friend is a local DJ and Craig Warvel (Star 104 Erie, PA) let me come out and hang out with him in the studio one morning.  I went on to write the second book in the series about two disc jockeys.  Then another disc jockey with an Old English Mastiff (we had one at the time, and other than a slime problem, he was a marvelous dog).  The only edits my editor asked me to do on that book was to deslime it.  I told her that I'd already toned down the slime...my dog slimed a lot more than I'd portrayed in the book.  She told me slime wasn't romantic.  Who knew?  So, I deslimed it and went on to do one last book.  A book that featured a bit of stand up comedy.  And I said goodbye to WLVH.

Book 1

Book 2

  I'd started writing more serious books for Harlequin.  I loved pushing my writing to something other than humor, but I didn't want to stray too far from my comedy roots.  So when I finished the WLVH Radio series, I pitched another series that had been languishing under the bed.  This one had a Hungarian grandmother who accidentally cursed her family to bad weddings.  I'd planned it as a trilogy.

Book 3

When I finished the trilogy (she'd broken the curse), readers told me they missed Nana Vancy, my Hungarian grandmother.  And frankly, so did I.  So, I called and pitched another book.  After breaking the curse, Nana Vancy was bored and wanted to try her hand at matchmaking....to the tune of The 12 Days of Christmas.  It sold.  So did the fifth book, and once you had two, it was easy to come up with one more story and make it a trilogy.

Book 4

Book 5 

This last book, Everything But a Dog, was especially fun because I put my two dogs, Ethel Merman and Ella Fitzgerald, in it. Of course, I renamed them because...wait for it...wait for it...they didn't want the puparazzi to hound them! Yeah, go ahead and roll your eyes.  My kids do every time I say it!

I'd finished writing the book when I heard that Avalon was sold to Montlake Book.  They told me they'd not only be releasing Everything But a Dog, but they'd be rereleasing the backlist of both series as eBooks and paperbacks.

Book 6 

Short story, Book 1

Well, I wanted to do something special for my readers. I also wanted introduce new readers to the two series that had originally been available mainly in libraries (Avalon's market).  And I thought I'd give away...a short story.  A story that merged the two series.  So, for Christmas, I put up Nothing But Love on Amazon.  I started my career writing shorts and it was fun to go back to it.

That's the story of ten books that came out from under my bed, went to a bunch of libraries, and then got a second life as eBooks and paperbacks.

And so for Valentine's, I'm offering the second short story, Everything But Heart. It's free for Valentine's on 2/13, 2/14 and 2/15.  The first book, Nothing But Love is still available as well.

Nothing But Heart...free at Amazon 2/13, 2/14 and 2/15

So, happy Valentine's!!  I hope you enjoy my 'gift' and the story of how it comes to be.  And keep an eye out on St. Patrick's Day.  This Irish girl might have a bit of a gift for you then, too!

Holly

Ghosts are Live!

by Anna Campbell

I've got a new release this month! Huzzah!

My mini novella "The Chinese Bed" is included in THE MAMMOTH BOOK OF GHOST ROMANCE which came out on 7th June. Ebook only in North America at the moment. Amazon link: http://www.amazon.com/Mammoth-Ghost-Romance-Books-ebook/dp/B005RYLUP8/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1338579951&sr=1-1 Print to follow on 7th August, print and e-book in the U.K. Here's the Book Depository link to the print edition: http://www.bookdepository.co.uk/Mammoth-Ghost-Romance-Trisha-Telep/9781849014687

You can read an excerpt here: http://annacampbell.info/chinesebed.html

This is the story of two couples, one living and one dead, who fall foul of a cursed Chinese bed on the day of their wedding. The ghostly couple are Josiah Aston, Lord Stansfield, and his beloved Lady Isabella Verney who both died in 1749. The current couple (well, current in 1818) are Miles Hartley, Viscount Kendall, and Lady Calista Aston, Josiah's great-niece. So you get two love stories for the price of one with this tale. Bargain!

The Chinese Bed of the title is based on a real bed, the 'Great Bed' of Calke Abbey in Derbyshire. That's a picture of the bed on the right. Isn't it magnificent? Bizarrely, it seems the family never unpacked it from the crates it arrived in, although the upside of that is that the colors on the embroidery are still as bright as a new day. Like the bed in my story, it was a gift from the British royal family to some long ago bride of the Harpur family who lived in Calke Abbey.

I've also included a close-up picture of the exquisite embroidery on the bedcover. Isn't that breathtaking? The detail is mindboggling. Imagine owning something so gorgeous and never even taking it out to look at it.

As far as I know, this particular bed isn't cursed, but ever since I saw it in 2007, it's preyed on my mind as something crying out to be part of a story. "The Chinese Bed" is the result.

The last photo is of Calke Abbey itself. It's one of the most interesting National Trust properties in Britain. The Trust keep it as an example of a country house in decline, so you get a picture of the decay that these magnificent houses had fallen into before they were rescued in the 20th century.

The story of the Harpur-Crewe family who lived there is almost biblical in its powerful depiction of great wealth declining to shabby poverty. Mind you, shabby poverty in a house crowded with treasures - this is a family who never threw anything out. Well worth visiting if you're in England. Here's the link: http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/calke-abbey/

I had such fun writing "The Chinese Bed," partly because it gave me a chance to play with woo-woo stuff that my usual historical romances don't. And I'd never included a secondary romance in a story before either, so it was interesting to play compare and contrast with each couple.

These MAMMOTH anthologies are fabulous value and a great way to discover new authors. I can't wait to read the other stories in the anthology.

So do you like ghost stories? Do you have a favorite? I must say one of my favorites is the classic THE GHOST AND MRS. MUIR, the movie from 1947, with Rex Harrison and Gene Tierney. Rex makes a rather gorgeous ghost!

Mammoth Excitement - Anna Campbell

by Anna Campbell

I'm really excited that THE MAMMOTH BOOK OF REGENCY ROMANCE is out (in the U.K. 24th June and in the U.S. 27th July). You can order it now from the Book Depository and have it sent post free anywhere in the world: http://www.bookdepository.co.uk/book/9781849010153/The-Mammoth-Book-of-Regency-Romance?b=-3&t=-26#Bibliographicdata-26

Some really big names in historical romance have contributed to the anthology. Lorraine Heath. Loretta Chase. Eloisa James. Mary Balogh.

I had a great time writing my story for the collection. It's called Upon a Midnight Clear and it's my first reunion story. Alicia married Sebastian, Earl of Kinvarra, at the behest of her family but fell immediately and passionately in love with her husband. But they were both too young to find happiness and separated. For the last ten years, Alicia has lived a chaste half-life in London. Finally, she's decided to take a lover, if only to prove her independence from her husband.

On the journey to her prospective lover's hunting lodge, her carriage crashes on the snowy Yorkshire moors. To her mortification, the only person who can help her is her estranged husband.

Here's an excerpt:

Alicia Sinclair, Countess of Kinvarra, was bruised and angry and uncomfortable and horribly embarrassed. And not long past the fear her choking terror when the carriage toppled.

Even so, her heart launched into the wayward dance it always performed at the merest sight of Sebastian.

She’d been married for eleven long years. She disliked her husband more than any other man in the world. But nothing prevented her gaze from clinging helplessly to every line of that narrow, intense face with its high cheekbones, long, arrogant nose and sharply angled jaw.

Curse him to Hades, he was still the most magnificent creature she’d ever beheld.

Such a pity his soul was as black as his glittering eyes.

“After all this time, I’m flattered you still recognize me, my lord,” she said silkily.

“Lord Kinvarra, this is a surprise,” Harold stammered. “You must wonder what I’m doing here with the lady…”

Oh, Harold, act the man, even if the hero is beyond your reach. Kinvarra doesn’t care enough about me to kill you, however threatening he seems now.

Although even the most indifferent husband took it ill when his wife chose a lover. Kinvarra wouldn’t mistake what Alicia was doing out here. She stifled a rogue pang of guilt. Curse Kinvarra, she had absolutely nothing to feel guilty about.

“I’ve recalled your existence every quarter these past ten years, my love,” her husband said equally smoothly, ignoring Harold’s appalled interjection. The faint trace of Scottish brogue in his deep voice indicated his temper. His breath formed white clouds on the frigid air. “I’m perforce reminded when I pay your allowance, only to receive sinfully little return.”

“That warms the cockles of my heart,” she sniped, not backing down.

She refused to cower like a wet hen before his banked anger. He sounded reasonable, calm, controlled, but she had no trouble reading fury in the tension across his broad shoulders or in the way his powerful hands opened and closed at his sides.

“Creatures of ice have no use for a heart. Does this paltry fellow know he risks frostbite in your company?”

She steeled herself against the taunting remark. Kinvarra couldn’t hurt her now. He hadn’t been able to hurt her since she’d left him. Any twinge she experienced was just because she was vulnerable after the accident. That was all. It wasn’t because this man could still needle her emotions.

“My lord, I protest,” Harold said, shocked, and fortunately sounding less like a frightened sheep. “The lady is your wife. Surely she merits your chivalry.”

Harold had never seen her with her husband, and some reluctant and completely misplaced loyalty to Kinvarra meant she’d never explained why she and the earl lived apart. The fiction was that the earl and his countess were polite strangers who by design rarely met.

Poor Harold, he was about to discover the truth was that the earl and his countess loathed each other.

“Like hell she does,” Kinvarra muttered, casting her an incendiary glance from under long dark eyelashes.

Alicia was human enough to wish the bright moonlight didn’t reveal quite so much of her husband’s seething rage. But the fate that proved cruel enough to fling them together tonight of all nights wasn’t likely to heed her pleas.

“Do you intend to introduce me to your cicisbeo?” Kinvarra’s voice remained quiet. She’d learned that was when he was at his most dangerous.
Short stories are a recent interest of mine but I've come to really enjoy writing them. I've got three up on my website as free reading. The first is Lady Sarah and the Guardian. The second is The Return. The third is Lady Kate's Scoundrel. Check them out!

So do you like short stories and novellas? What was the last good one you read? By the way, I'm traveling today so I'm not sure how much I'll be around but I'll do my best to get back and answer comments.

Size Matters. . . .

....or does it? LOL -- did that get your attention? Sorry, I just couldn't help myself...

Well, it does matter and I discovered how important it is when writing the short story that became A NIGHT FOR HER PLEASURE, my upcoming short online story from Harlequin Historical Undone. I've written very long 105,000 word romance novels and shorter 75,000 word ones, too. I've written several 20-25,000 word romance novellas. I thought it would be difficult in trying to go from writing a full-length story to a shorter one -- about 1/3 the size and I was right. It WAS tough to do.

I mean -- if I have about 300-350 pages to tell a whole story, I can add lots of details, lots of backstory, lots buildup and lots of love. In writing a novella, there's only about 100-120 pages so many details and backstory has to go. The love has to be there, because it's a romance, but it must happen faster and be more intense in many ways -- so it's a different pacing and different level of tension. But, I still enjoyed writing those novellas.

This HH Undone was something even more different for me. Instead of a whole story, happening over weeks or months, or a novella, happening over days or weeks, I decided this short story would happen in one day! Yes, one day. Did you hear the pressure as I wrote that? Actually, an experienced writing friend told me to think about a novel being the story of a lifetime, a novella being the story of an incident, and a short story, well, less than that. She suggested that to make the romance work the couple in a novella had to have met before and that for a short story, there has to be a good level of conflict and interest already at work between the characters.

Hmmmmm....sounds like a plan, doesn't it? Well, it worked! Instead of planning out a plot that covered weeks or months I chose one that happened on one day - a special day - a wedding day. Instead of choosing characters who were strangers to each other, I chose a man and a woman who'd just married each other. Instead of looking at the big picture, I zoomed in on a particular situation - this one was loosely-based on the classic story- A Gift of The Magi by O.Henry. And the result? IMHO - a fast-paced, sexy short romance story that tells of the efforts of a newly couple to be the perfect spouse their partner needs or wants.

So, does size matter to you? Do short stories have enough time to build the romance? Are novellas enough or not? Are novel-length romances just perfect? (I'm feeling like Goldilocks and the 3 Bears now! LOL!) What do you think?

I'll send a small prize to one lucky person who tells me about their favorite length and why it works for them. Let me know!

Terri


Terri is awaiting the online release of her first Harlequin Historical Undone short story on June 1st -- it will introduce her new Harlequin Historical trilogy - The Knights of Brittany - Born to conquer and seduce! Oh my! Visit my website for more info - www.terribrisbin.com