5 things about me...

1.      I’m in love with Flynn Rider from the film Tangled. Yes- I do know he’s a cartoon and that being in love with something drawn with a pencil and then coloured in is weird, but in my head Flynn is a completely gorgeous hero. Cheeky, dashing, just a teensy bit tortured, devilishly handsome and spouts witty one-liners even when they in inappropriate. I also love his voice, especially when he sings, it makes melt.

     2.      I’m a complete tourist. I adore travelling to far-flung places and soaking up the culture. I could have bought a significantly bigger house with all the money I’ve spent exploring the world yet if I could have my time again I wouldn’t do it differently. I mean, riding through the jungle in Thailand on the back of an elephant tops another spare room which would only get used once in a blue moon anyway. Who needs another bathroom when they can snorkel between the Pitons in St Lucia and feed bananas to the Sergeant Major fish? And why would I want all that extra housework when I could get in a car and just drive through Death Valley? My favourite place- Disneyland of course!

3.      I’m a spice fiend. My favourite food is curry- and not those tame sorts of curries wusses eat. Proper hot curries from India, Pakistan and Bangladesh. Thai food is another favourite, along with Japanese and Mexican. In fact, if I was ever marooned on a desert island, so long as chillies grew there I’d be happy. However, my favourite drink in the whole world is a proper cup of British tea.

4.      I like spiders. I wouldn’t want to pick out curtains with them or keep them as pets, but picking one up doesn’t bother me. When other people are cringing, and screaming, I’m the brave saviour who marches in and puts the wriggly, hairy little arachnid outside. I don’t even need a glass to carry them in.

5.      I usually get all my story ideas in the middle of the night when I should be sleeping by my brain won’t let me. It’s been the same since I was a little kid. When I couldn’t sleep, I let my imagination wander and often used to enjoy going to bed early so that I could revisit the wonderful worlds I created sooner. A lifetime of casual insomnia has turned me into a storyteller. So every cloud…

Virginia Heath’s latest book, His MistletoeWager, is out now!

Virginia Heath: What to Buy that Difficult Person?

My husband and I have reached THAT point in our lives. The point where you have a house filled with stuff. Stuff we have meticulously chosen to last for ages because our kids are older and we don't have to worry about finger-paints on the furniture any more. We both have wardrobes filled with clothes, a kitchen stocked with every labour-saving appliance known to man and a loft and garage crammed with more stuff we have no place for and should probably get rid of.

Which means buying Christmas and birthday presents for each other is a nightmare, especially as we managed to be born in the two worst months of the year- January and February. Birthdays so close to Christmas that it is practically impossible to buy a gift that is unique, wonderful and produces the eyes-wide awe you want to witness when somebody opens one of your gifts.

A few years ago, we started to gift each other memories instead. Experiences and moments which last far longer than that expensive bottle of perfume or yet another sweater. Some of our 'memories' have been expensive, but not everything has to coast and arm and a leg. So below is some ideas to inspire you to make a memory with that Difficult Person in your life...

Sunset on top of The Shard

Champagne on the top of things:
The world is crammed full of tall buildings and a great many of them offer packages with a glass of something fizzy. We like to book times as the sun is going down. I've seen sunset on top of No. 1 World Trade, the Empire State, the Eiffel Tower and my local skyscraper- the Shard in London. Each one has been amazing.

Sunset in The Hamptons

And on the topic of sunsets:
Just sitting somewhere and watching the sun go down with someone special is awesome and completely FREE!

The whole family and Hadrian at the British Museum

Making Memories at Museums:
Usually either free or very cheap, you can spend a fabulous family day at a museum and learn something in the process.






Special tours:

My kids on the usually fenced-off exercise yard at Alcatraz

I suppose it helps that we are complete history nerds, but we adore a special tour of a place. For historic sites or parks, these tours are usually inexpensive but give your a unique guided insight into  a place. The night tour of Alcatraz, for example, gave us access to areas of the prison which are closed off most of the time, but on special tours where numbers are limited they make concessions. The added bonus of this tour is you also get to watch the mist roll down the hills and cover San Francisco Bay from the deck of the boat out, and the twinkling lights of the cityscape on the way back.

chillin' in Central Perk, Warner Bros Studios LA

For a few measly pounds in London (so long as you book WAY in advance!) you can watch the Ceremony of the Keys at the Tower of London. A ceremony which has been performed every night for about 700 years. You also get shown around the Tower in the dark, which is eerie and spooky and beyond atmospheric. I also highly recommend the Houses of parliament tour and the Kennedy Space Centre Fly with an Astronaut tour (but that one isn't cheap!). The Warner Brothers Studio tour in Los Angeles is far and away the best of the studio tours and if you book it early enough, you can finish it with a live recording of a hit show like The Big Bang Theory.



The gift that keeps on giving:

Last year, Mr H bought me an English Heritage card for my birthday. There are similar schemes all over the world and this one gives me (for a small yearly fee under £90) free access to over 400 historic sites in the UK. Whenever we have a long car journey, instead of stopping off at municipal motorway services, we go and have a cup of tea at a castle or a stately home or Stonehenge!

And in case you are wondering what we did this year for our birthdays and Christmas, we went to Iceland to see the Northern Lights and swim in the Blue Lagoon. The Northern Lights proved to be elusive but it's a trip I will remember forever.

Virginia Heath writes witty, raunchy regency romantic comedies for Harlequin Mills & Boon. Her latest novel, Miss Bradshaw's Bought Betrothal is out now.

Food and Travel and 'The Sinner's Marriage Redemption' - Annie West

If you know me you'll also know that some of my favourite things are food, travel and romances. What's not to like? So it's with great pleasure that I share the news my latest romance, THE SINNER'S MARRIAGE REDEMPTION, is on sale now. It's one of a collection called the Seven Sexy Sins! Yes a book for each sin. I'm thrilled by this story. Writing it was fun and challenging too as it's different from any romance I've written. it definitely had a different vibe when I wrote it and redeeming a hero with Flynn's particular hangups was a fun challenge. But I fell for him along the way, which made it far easier. One of the great things about this story was the fact that I got to do some wonderful research for the book which included travel to a place I've always wanted to visit, and of course the chance to taste some local treats. What could be better? So strap on your seatbelts ready for a little armchair travelling and tasting.

First up though, here's a taste of what the story is about. 

A merciless mission  

There are three goals self-made magnate Flynn Marshall set out to achieve:

1. A multimillion-dollar business empire

2. Acceptance in the highest echelons of society

3. A wife to make him the envy of all men!

Flynn’s ruthlessly accomplished his first goal and he’s on his way to the second. As for the third, he will rush stunning, well-connected Ava Cavendish to the altar at the first opportunity. A trophy bride should complete his plans, but passionate Ava and the desire she inflames in this untouchable CEO threaten to turn his carefully ordered strategy on its head…

 

And now to the travel. I've posted the Australian cover here as it includes a location shot. It's a bit hard to make out but do you recognise this gorgeous European city?

 

Okay, that was a tough one. The city is Prague in the Czech Republic - filled to the brim with quaint buildings and bridges, spectacular views and a river that turns the red roofed city into something quite special. The first part of THE SINNER'S MARRIAGE REDEMPTION is set in Prague. In fact every scene is based on somewhere I visited! Here's a quick peek of the town hall square from the top of the clock tower.

 

And here's proof that I was there. This is on the long, hot walk up to the citadel. No, that's not red wine I'm drinking, but cherry juice.

 



 

One of the local treats on offer was this spiral of deep fried potato. If only the weather had been cold I'd have been tempted. But I visited in a heatwave. I'll have to go back in winter when I hear the city is just gorgeous too.

 

That didn't stop me from trying the hot dishes on offer at night. Here's my first evening meal in Prague - pork with sauerkraut, two sorts of dumpling and a local beer. The Czechs really love their dumplings!

 



 And of course I needed to try the local version of a kebab in a cellar restaurant! I must admit though that the size of the serve surprised me.

But one of the best things about Prague in warm weather is the ice cream, often with fruit. Sigh. This was at a pavement café in Wenceslas Square and it tasted as good as it looks.

 

Do you have a favourite food or drink treat for summer? I'd love to hear.

It's winter in Australia now but I'll store up suggestions for the warmer months.

 

If you want to see more photos of Prague, drop by my website and you'll find some of the places that inspired the book on the page for THE SINNER'S MARRIAGE REDEMPTION. There's also a contest running till 10th August with chances to win signed books.

 

And if you want to snaffle a copy of my Sinner, here are a couple of links to buy:

Amazon

Barnes and Noble

Book Depository

Kobo

Harlequin





La Bella Vita by Jenny Gardiner

We were blogging on a group blog recently about locations: writing locations, settings in books, etc. As luck would have it I'd just returned from an amazing month away on a working vacation in Italy and Morocco. 

Below is my post about working vacations. Keep scrolling for some fun pictures of my work venues for that month, and even further down, squeee!!!, you get a first peek at my latest book cover for book 4 in my IT'S REIGNING MEN series, LOVE IS IN THE HEIR, available for pre-order and set to release in late September.

Oh! And book three, BAD TO THE THRONE, releases on June 29. It is my favorite so far in this series, complete with a Harry-esque bad boy prince who I think you'll fall for...

 And lastly, don't forget to sign up for my newsletter--which will be going out next week. There'll be a little special something in there for your efforts ;-) .

I recently returned from a lovely working vacation in Italy and Morocco. And the hard part of a working vacation is the work part.

I departed for our trip with a deadline pending for the third book in my It's Reigning Men series. I had a lot of fun writing this book--the hero in it is a rakish Prince Harry-esque black sheep, and I just loved his attitude. So I didn't want to rush to end the book, plus I was scrambling to get ready to leave, so I left the final third of the book dangling...

Which meant I had a few days during my trip in which I had to just hunker down, abandon the idea of being a tourist, and focus on writing. Of course this was a bit of a bummer, because I would have far rather wandered the streets of ancient Italian cities and settled in for a leisurely lunch of pappardelle al sugo di anatra (fat strips of homemade pasta with amazingly delicious duck confit cooked in a red sauce) and a glass of Chianti. Which would have led to the need for a nap which would have meant no writing.

So instead, I savored my "rooms" with a view, and hunkered down to finish my novel with some of the most spectacular scenery going.

We writers are so blessed that we can do our work pretty much anywhere. And over the years I have, by default, done that: in pick-up line at the kids' schools, on the sidelines at soccer practices, with ear plugs in while the kids watched the television that is mere feet from my "desk" which is in the kitchen and basically means hardly a quiet zone.

So my designated work stations while away this time were pretty much unbeatable: at our B&B with a spectacular view of the Duomo di Siena, which is a breathtaking work of architecture; while sitting on the ponte di Santa Trinita in Florence, with a view of the famed Ponte Vecchio in front of me and the world's most amazing gelato just steps away (Gelateria Santa Trinita---if you're in Florence, go there and try the sesamo nero, which sounds weird, black sesame seed gelato, but is incredible).

I wrote at an outdoor bar in the delightfully colorful Piazza Santo Spirito (full of great people-watching, which sort of causes problems when trying to focus on writing!), in the Oltrarno, the section of Florence across the Arno River that is more residential and relatively less touristy.

Not for the first time I enjoyed writing in the Giardino di Boboli, the spectacular gardens that are part of the imposing Palazzo Pitti (hoarding headquarters for the Medici family), with a splendid view of all of Florence.

I regretted missing a fascinating tour of the city of Matera in the Basilicata region of Italy, down by the boot heel. My husband got to take that tour while I hunkered down on the deadline-iest of deadline days: I absolutely had to get my book to my editor on that day or it would screw up my publication date, which would make me an enemy of Amazon ;-) . Far be it from me to get on the bad side of Amazon...

Anyhow, the "Sassi" in Matera are a United Nations World Heritage site---originally a prehistoric troglodyte settlement, considered to be among the first human settlements in what is now Italy. The Sassi are caves dug into the rocks, from which an ancient town sprung, one cave atop the other, until a warren of many thousands of caves piled atop and next to one another existed. Until the mid-20th century these caves were inhabited by the poorest of the poor, who were ultimately relocated to housing with plumbing and other modern comforts. Since then the area has been rebuilt to house apartments, hotels, restaurants and shops. It's an amazing place, extraordinarily beautiful at night when lit up, too.

I feel incredibly fortunate to have had such an phenomenal opportunity to travel and experience the world and various cultures and incorporate it into my writing (and am grateful that my husband has afforded me these opportunities because trust me, writing isn't paying these bills). On this trip also, we visited Morocco, and immersed ourselves in an entirely different culture there (and, um, learned the hard way that the closest place to the Sahara desert in which to find a tampon would be a rugged 10-hour drive through the High Atlas Mountains to Marrakech...)

Along the way I also worked on my book while waiting for a grocery store to open in Siena as I needed to buy laundry detergent and was in a hurry to get it done before we traveled to Florence.

I love to incorporate things I experience while traveling into my books, and have used quite a bit of my extensive Italian travels in my current series, the It's Reigning Men series, especially with the third book of the series, Bad to the Throne, which is available for pre-order now here and will be released June 29.

I hope you can enjoy a little bit of my journeys as you read my books! And please, do enjoy the view!

working on deadline with Duomo di Siena as my view

I had a solid 30 minutes to write while at the entrance to a grocery store. Catch as catch can!

I was waiting for my husband and daughter so parked it on the Duomo steps and wrote for 20 minutes

enjoyed writing in the serenity of the Boboli Gardens (until I fell asleep...)

and this is the view from the Boboli Gardens--not too shabby...

Yes, I did sit on the edge of a bridge and write with another famous bridge as my view

while enjoying an Aperol spritz I wrote outdoors in the Piazza Santo Spirito while a very drunk man screamed at strangers in the background...local color

my final "deadline" deadline, where I gave up a great tour to write a really fun character and finish my book, in the Sassi in Matera, Italy

And I'm sure this fellow is going to somehow find his way into one of my books ;-). In the Sahara desert with my camel, who we named Ralph, and our nomad guide who offered up six camels for my daughter's hand in marriage ;-)

  

  

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The Zone Authors Crave....

As I begin to compose this post, I realized -- and really for the first time since I started posting here -- that my scheduled day IS the beginning day of all four seasons. I never noticed that before! Uh-DUH!!  Worse, I just checked my last post and it was on the Spring Equinox - in MARCH! 

So -- apologies for once again falling off the face of the earth! Since March, I've written another book -- my next Harlequin Historical - Scotland, Highlanders, brave and brawny men and the women who bring them to their knees! All good!  Since March, I suffered the first and second-worst asthma attack of my life -- spring allergies killed me. And since March, I spent 17 days in. . . this place. . . 

Standing Stones at Drombeg

Cliffs of Moher

Poulnabrone Passage tomb

Waterford Castle

Kilmalkedar Church

View from Slea Head

 I spent 17 wonderful days in Ireland -- mostly to see places I need to use in an upcoming book, but also to see Ireland. I spent the first 5 days on my own - driving my little Irish car on LITTLE Irish roads, visiting standing stones, burial cairns and any megalithic site I could find in the north-west coast. Poulnabroune, Knocknarea, Carrowmore and more -- all magical! 

Then I joined up with writer friends to see the south-eastern and central areas - and then we headed for a writers' week on the Dingle peninsula. It was simply incredible - the views were unmatched and I watched some of the most beautiful sunsets ever. We visited neolithic and medieval sites and ruins AND, in a serendipitous twist, spent several hours interviewing the leading archeologist of the area! My thanks to Eileen Dreyer, author and tourguide extraordinaire!, for arranging the "50 Shades of Green" trip....it was everything I could have wanted on my first trip to Ireland. 

But the zone authors crave is not really visiting the location of the next book - though that IS wonderful. It is finding that place in our creative brain where and when the story magic happens. It's the place where the voices stop screaming and begin to tell the story and reveal their secrets. It's the place, for me, where the book writes itself. 

And whether brought on by the magical trip to Ireland and/or the deadline pressure, I came back from my trip and wrote half the book in 2 weeks! The characters spoke to me. The scenes unfolded before my eyes. And best, I reached a place in the story when I had to stuff tissues in the neckline of my pjs because I was crying so much while writing the scenes! I love that place! Writing friends have asked me to take a selfie of it, but that won't happen...! LOL! 

So, my question to you as Summer 2015 begins is - do you have a 'zone'? It could be while doing something you enjoy - reading, a craft, your work? It could be a place you go to 'zone-out' - the beach, the mountains, vacation. It could be any place or space when you lose yourself and just live in that zone.  Post a comment and tell me about it and I'll pick a couple of people who will receive a book and a souvenir from Ireland....! 

 Terri is home now and writing her next book - Blazing Earth - the third in her Stone Circle series for NAL. BTW - the 4th and final book will end at Drombeg Stone Circle in a cataclysmic battle between good and evil for the future of humanity! Visit her website or her FB page or profile for lots more info! 

Happy Summer Solstice to you all! 

It Must Be Spring - I'm on the Road Again!

Most people look at the calendar and think about Spring flowers, Spring showers and Spring allergies. Okay most people don't think of the allergies, but I do! And right now we're in the throes of an epic allergy season in southern NJ....

But I look at the calendar and see. . . traveling!

In my other, other life, I usually get to travel because I'm a licensing board examiner in the NorthEast region of the US. I visit dental and dental hygiene schools in places like NYC or Detroit or Chicago or Pittsburgh or Harrisburg PA. Those trips are usually just short ones - - in, over and out.

And then there are some of my favorite trips -- to writers and readers events!

I usually get to one or two regional writers' conferences -- last year I went to the Washington DC retreat and the New England Conference in Boston. Lots of great speakers and inspiration for writing.

 The other very fun event I attended last year and head to this year is Barbara Vey's Readers Appreciation Luncheon -- a misnomer because it's really a weekend of fun. I'll be sponsoring a table again and am looking forward to meeting readers there. I've even got some lovely table gifties planned like these:

 

And some other surprises at my Scottish-themed table.  Should be fun! 

But the big excitement of my Spring is that I will be going to IRELAND!! Part research, part history, part visiting the lands of my ancestors, it will include visits to stone circles and cairns and burial mounds and end with a week of writing in Dingle - in a stone cottage overlooking the Atlantic Ocean! I'm going with 3 other writers and yes, driving the other side of the road will be involved!

So, what does your Spring look like? Are your kids in sports? Any special school events coming up? Trips of your own? Post a comment and I'll pick a couple of commentors out to get some books I get at the luncheon this weekend!

Terri is working on her next books - RAGING SEA is an October release from NAL and continues the Novels of the Stone Circles series. And she's writing her next Harlequin Historical in her new A HIGHLAND FEUDING series.... Visit her website for more info.

Food Travel! Annie West

I've recently returned from a short overseas trip. It was an absolute treat even if it was work-related. Because, of course, even when you're meeting editors and authors or researching locations for stories, you have to eat, right? And after all, travel is meant to broaden the mind (and the waistline if I'm not too careful) and you learn a lot about other cultures from their food, don't you? So of course you have to try some of the local specialities along the way, don't you? That's my excuse and I'm sticking to it. 

Actually this is one of the joys of travel for me - exploring new tastes in a place as well as sights and sounds and talking to the people. Flavour is often a shortcut for me to remembering a place I've been and so useful when I'm writing about a far away location. If I think about the food, I can place myself there instantly!

So here are just a few of my recent food adventures from my flying visit to London and Venice a couple of months ago. At the top of the page is the top tier (of three) from high tea at a very nice London hotel. The cake on the left is beetroot and orange (and surprisingly yummy). The citrus macaron was fantastic and yes, that is a coffee bean covered in gold leaf on top of the coffee slice! Who'd have thought afternoon tea could be so decadent? Next time I want to have a hero seduce a heroine in full public view I'll have him take her to high tea!



 Of course with food, it's not just the tasting, is it? I came across so many ornate displays that must have taken hours to perfect. The one above is in a room full of sweets in Harrods in London.

And then there was Venice. Fantastic food, especially the seafood. But here are some sweet treats that caught my eye. You probably can't tell from this photo but these were enormous! Too much, in fact for one person. A great excuse to share with a friend.

And the food doesn't even have to be ready prepared for eating. I love wandering around markets and seeing what the fresh produce is like, even if I'm staying somewhere without a kitchen. Naturally I gravitated to the markets in Venice to see what was on offer.

And just to prove that simple foods can be scrumptious, I ended my Italian stay with a tomato, basil and mozzarella pizza at Marco Polo Airport, expecting airport food to be less than appealing. Instead it was packed with flavour and had me eager to return.

How about you? Do you find yourself trying new foods when you're away from home? Or do you always order the same foods? What's the nicest new food you've tried lately?

Right now I'm celebrating the release of THE SHEIKH'S PRINCESS BRIDE, the second of my Desert Vows stories. Though the book starts in Paris, much of it is set in the Middle East and I spent a lot of time drooling over thoughts of delicious skewered meats, pilaf rice, gorgeous vegetable dishes, syrupy desserts and Turkish delight. Sigh. It's a wonder I didn't put on lots of weight as I wrote.

Here's a taste:

Wanted: royal bride and mother 
For Sheikh Tariq of Al-Sarath, one miserable marriage was enough. With a kingdom to rule, he has no time—or wish—to find a bride, but his children need a mother.  
Could Princess Samira of Jazeer be the answer? Samira has sampled passion, and it left a bad taste. With the knowledge she can't have the children she's always wanted, Samira steps into Tariq's ready-made family. Her only condition? No sex! 
Samira thought royal duties and her love for Tariq's children would fill the hole in her heart, but a craving is building that only the sheikh's touch can cure…

You can buy THE SHEIKH'S PRINCESS BRIDE wherever romances are sold. Here are links to it at Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Harlequin and the Book Depository.