Playing Tourist At Home!

by Anna Campbell

April was visitor month chez Campbell - not counting the Easter Bunny!

It was fun to break out into social outings and it was special fun to host an English couple I've been friends with for many years who have never been to my corner of the world before. Which meant we got to play tourist - and I got to play tour guide in places I hadn't visited for ages.

Great fun!

Anyway, I thought you might appreciate some of the photos we took. I live on the Sunshine Coast in Queensland. It's on the east coast, about an hour north of Brisbane the state capital and about 600 miles north of Sydney. It's a resort area and we get lots of retirees because the climate is so benign (except for this year when it's generally done a good impression of a rainy bog). The coastal plain is a little like Florida - tropical vegetation and beautiful beaches and a lot of housing estates reclaimed from swamp.

It's the kind of landscape and lifestyle you don't get in England. So my friends used to love to come home in the evenings and drink gin and tonics watching the day fade over the lake at the bottom of my back garden and listening to the sea pounding in the distance. We also have an amazing selection of birdlife here and that was another thrill for my visitors.

Only about half an hour away, it's a completely different universe. Lush, rugged mountains with areas of remnant rainforest mixed in with beautiful green valleys and breathtaking views east across the coast or west across yet more mountains.

The first two photographs are of the Glasshouse Mountains, named by Captain Cook when he sailed past this coast in 1770. They're so primeval, I find them a bit creepy. But they're certainly spectacular.

The first photo of Mount Coonowrin (Crook Neck - you can read the Aboriginal legend behind these names here) was taken from a really cool cafe on the winding road up to a wonderful lookout where you can see all the mountains spread out before you like a magnificent canvas. The second photo is of Mount Beerwah and was taken on the road away from the lookout.

The Lookout Cafe has wonderful home-made desserts and great coffee and a view to die for across a field of mango trees to this volcanic plug like something from Jurassic Park. Perhaps even cooler, it had KANGAROOS! Yup, if you look carefully in the centre of this photo just above, you'll see some wallabies popping out to check on the visitors from far away!

And while we were there watching the wallabies, this cheeky butcher bird swung by to inspect us at even closer quarters. Butcher birds have the most beautiful song and are afraid of no man! I've had one sitting on my rubbish bin when I've been cutting back the garden a couple of feet away. He quite calmly watched me throw the cuttings into the bin without ruffling a feather!

Another wonderful place we visited was Mary Cairncross Park. This magnificent remnant of the original rainforest was donated to the public by two visionary sisters and named in honor of their mother, who was an early conservationist and suffragette when neither cause was fashionable in Australia.

This is a photo of the lush palm grove on the rainforest walk. It's a wonderful, hauntingly beautiful place to visit, full of breathtakingly tall trees and home to wildlife like small kangaroos called pademelons and many species of birds and reptiles.

For someone from England, this kind of subtropical rainforest is completely exotic and my friends were awed by the wonderful greenery and the sense of timelessness. Not only that, but you get a wonderful view of our old friends the Glasshouse Mountains from the entrance to the park!

So do you ever play tourist in your own home area and what do you show visitors when you do? If I was coming to see you, what would you take me to see to showcase the best of where you live?

To peek or not to peek--Kandy Shepherd

Do you flip to the last pages of a book and read the ending first?

My answer is a resounding “never”. I start at page one and keep turning the pages in orderly fashion one by one until I reach THE END. The need to know what happens at the end is what propels me through the story. It’s all about the anticipation and suspense. I want to enjoy the journey all the way through those pages--particularly in a thriller or mystery; even in a romance when the genre promises a guaranteed happy-ever-after conclusion.

By staying ignorant of the ending, I want to give the author the opportunity to surprise me. That’s what keeps me up way too late at night promising myself I’ll just read to the end of the chapter. And then the next. That’s what has me saying, “Yes, I know you all want dinner but I really have to know what happens here…”

It doesn’t matter whether it’s a good ending or a bad ending—I don’t want to know about it until I’m meant to. I don’t like spoilers. I don’t like back cover blurb that gives away too much of the plot. I’m not much or a “re-reader”, rarely revisiting books unless it’s been so long I’ve forgotten how it ends.

But not everyone feels the same. On a quick, random survey of my avid reader friends, I was stunned to find how many of them often read the end of a book long before they finished the story. “First page, last page then the rest,” said one. “I just don’t want to wait to see what happens,” said another.

That’s not to say I haven’t flicked through a book I’ve found really boring just to see what happened before I threw it at the wall. And it’s not that sometimes I don’t nibble at dessert before the entrée...

As long as we enjoy the book it doesn't matter how we get there.

How about you? Do you read the ending first? Or not? Please leave a comment for a chance to win a signed copy of my contemporary romance trade paperback HOME IS WHERE THE BARK IS (which has a fun ending that can be enjoyed at any time!) and include your email address if you want to be in the draw.

http://www.kandyshepherd.com

Charlene Sands: Going for Broke… Have you ever? And a giveaway!

Recently on The Biggest Loser, the contestants were flown to Auckland, New Zealand (the City of Sails) and aside from having to continue with their weight loss program, they were asked to so some amazing challenges, such as “base-jumping” from atop the Sky Tower, the tallest tower in the Southern Hemisphere and bungee jumping off Kawarau Bridge in Queenstown.

Now, I’ve never done either of those daring activities and if asked, or if paid a whole lot of money I would decline, shaking in fear and running for my life. I have no desire to scare myself to death. Yet, even the host of The Biggest Loser, Alison Sweeney, (and star of Days of Our Lives) decided to take the plunge and bungee jump. She’d never done it in her life and I held my breath for her as she jumped off that bridge strapped in a harness and bungee cord. I have to give her kudos for that. I was scared silly, for her. I guess you can tell I’m not a roller-coaster kind of girl.

My motto is that life poses enough challenges, without making up more as you go along!

For some, getting up in front of an audience to give a seminar might be a big challenge. Or speaking up in your own defense when you are falsely accused, might give you hives. For others, it might be driving the freeway (my mom’s biggest fear) or confronting your boss for a raise.

At any rate, I think all of us, in one way or another, have decided to go for broke at one time in our life. In my story Carrying the Rancher’s Heir, my heroine, does exactly that. Callie Sullivan has been in awe of hero, Taggart Worth, since childhood, but as fate would have it the entire Worth family had been forbidden to her since birth. She was never to go near any of the three Worth boys that were her neighbors and classmates. But all grown up now and a woman in her own right, Callie has a chance meeting with Tagg, in another town, and suddenly all the rules changed. Callie decided to finally go for broke, to just do it, to be brazen and bold for once in her life and finally satisfy her fondest desire.

I have to admit, that I wouldn’t have the courage to do what Callie did, to go up to the man you admire most in the world and lay your heart on the line. With no guarantees, no real assurances that she wouldn’t get rejected, or worse yet, have her heart broken.

So what have you done in your life that surprised you, yet made you proud? What have you accomplished that you thought you never would? Have you ever gone for broke, in even the smallest way, and did it make a difference in your life?

I’d love to give away an autographed copy of The Billionaire’s Baby Arrangement, a 2010 RT Top Pick or any one of my backlist titles, either Desire or Historical, to one commenter today.

Charlene Sands is a USA Today Bestselling author of Harlequin Desire and Historical. She’s the recipient of the National Reader’s Choice Award, The Cataromance Reviewer’s Choice Award and double recipient of The Bookseller’s Best Award. Her May Harlequin Desire, Carrying The Rancher’s Heir, the first of her Red Ridge series, starring the Worth brothers, is available NOW in book stores and online outlets. Be sure to visit her WEBSITE for Grand Prizes “Worth”Winning where you could win one of 3 Amazon Gifts Cards.

Christina Hollis: Families and Food...

 

Although The wedding happened over a week ago now, thinking about it still brings a smile to my face. Wasn't it wonderful? And not only was it a lovely spectacle, it gave millions of people the chance to spend some time together with their families, if only in front of the TV!  Did you hear that one of the two royal wedding cakes was a chocolate refrigerator cake of the type William had loved since he was a little boy? Just about every family has their own favourite recipe for this-crushed sweet biscuits set in a melted mixture of butter, sugar, golden syrup and cocoa, then given a chocolate topping. Princess Diana always tried to give her boys as normal a childhood as she could in the circumstances, so I wonder if refrigerator cake conjures up happy memories for him of time spent in the kitchen together? I can remember standing on a chair when I was tiny, 'helping' to make this for every family get-together and I'm sure lots of you do, too. a family, we don't spend enough time together, but luckily we managed to have lunch together at The Organic Farm Shop in Cirencester, while DD was at home over Easter. Eating meals around the same table is one of our favourite ways of spending time together, but family life has changed so much over the past few years, for many people it's now a rare treat.  Once upon a time just about everyone in England sat down to a roast dinner at Sunday lunchtime. It would be beef & Yorkshire pudding, or chicken with all the trimmings. Nowadays families are more fragmented, and much less confined by tradition. We're all more likely to grab a sandwich at midday and then maybe enjoy a barbecue later - but only while the sun is shining!

What's your favourite recipe for a happy family get-together?

Christina Hollis writes Modern Romance for Harlequin Mills and Boon, which appear as Harlequin Presents/Extra in the US. You can follow her on Facebook and Tumblr as Christina Hollis, while on Twitter she's @christinabooks. Visit her website at http://www.christinahollis.com between now and the end of May to enter her latest competition to win signed books and other goodies!

The Smell of Money - Donna Alward

There's an old saying that goes you can take the girl out of the country but you can't take the country out of the girl. That'd be me. It's why I love escaping into worlds of regencies and classy, sexy romances but when it comes to writing them - and getting truly up close and personal with my characters, the magic "formula" that finally worked for me was a western. I understand farm life, and it did come down to write what you know.

On Easter weekend I went to visit my family five hours away. My mum was widowed many years ago and has a great new husband - someone we all knew for years. He had a dairy farm until his daughter and son-in-law took it over, and now he and my mum live a few doors away from the original farm and house. On Sunday, when we were arriving back at Mum's after being at my sister, the wind was blowing just right and the scent of cow manure was pretty strong.

I don't know about you, but cow manure doesn't smell bad to me. Maybe because I grew up with it. Then again, I grew up near a chicken farm too, and we did see someone spreading chicken manure on our drive back and the scent was enough to make me gasp. There is something NOT NICE about hogs and chickens. ANYWAY, my girls were like...eeew, cow poop! And my husband looked at me and said, "That's the smell of money."

You see, while my husband was not a farmer, he did work a lot of summers for his uncle, who was, and that saying is straight from Uncle Don.

When we went inside, we talked for quite a while about cows, and the stink of silage, first and second cuts of hay, and general farm stuff. It was really, really nice.

These days farmers are really struggling, and "the smell of money" isn't very accurate. But for all that, it's still the smell of home. And that's nice.

In my current release, Sophia is a city girl who ends up with a pitchfork in hand, cleaning out the barn.  I had a lot of fun getting her out of her comfort zone! And of course it helped that there was a reward like Tomas Mendoza at the end of the day!

It's available now at amazon and eharlequin and wherever Harlequin Romance is sold. :-)

Lilian Darcy: Love, loss and latté…

Café du Jour, my all-time “book of the heart” is about to launch on Amazon Kindle™!

Everyone is talking about the wildfire growth of e-books now that their reading platforms have become so much better and cheaper. Superstar authors such as Nora Roberts are hitting the million mark in e-book sales. Everyone got a Kindle for Christmas. It feels like a bumper Christmas for authors like me, as well. Finally, stories we’ve placed so much faith in over the years, but that don’t fit into our mainstream publishers’ marketing plans can find their readership.

Café du Jour has been such an important book for me. I wrote the first draft before my first child was born, and that’s twenty-one years ago. It received a publication offer from a successful Australian publisher back then, but their New Fiction publishing program was cancelled before the book could appear.

For years it sat in that place all writers know, the bottom drawer full of old unpublished manuscripts, reworked and tweaked, updated and added to, loved and hated in turn. The characters stayed with me and grew as I matured and changed. A great agent loved the story and signed me up on the strength of it. A Harlequin editor said to me, “I love this book. I really want to find a home for it at Harlequin.”

But it was hard. The book didn’t quite fit into their existing programs. It was too quirky, too bitter-sweet. Finally it was published by the Australian division of Mira, Harlequin’s major single title imprint. It sold respectably, and received some great feedback and reviews, but went out of print all too soon.

Now I have the rights back, I’m putting Café du Jour out as an e-book, and I’m so happy that readers will have a chance to discover it, and maybe find in it something of the meaning and emotion that it has for me, the same kind of meaning and emotion I’m putting into my new fictional blog at www.liliandarcy.com/blog  I hope some of you will stop by there and enjoy a glimpse into the life of my fictional alter ego, Liz Davenport, and her large, messy family.

Meanwhile, here’s a little more about Café du Jour to whet your appetite:

“If today is a cup of coffee it has to be a big, piping hot café au lait, served in a bowl the way they often do in France. I drink it with my hands curved around the bowl for warmth… and for safety…”

Susie used to have the perfect sister, the perfect boss, the perfect restaurant kitchen to cook in and a man who only needed a tweak or two. Now, everything is changing and all she can do is take it one sip at a time.

“I loved this book!” - Jane Porter, best-selling author of Flirting With Forty and She’s Gone Country

“Warm and witty… an excellent read.” - Dianne Dempsey in The Melbourne Age newspaper

A Most Unlikely Princess - Annie West

My latest story is just out now. It's about a woman called Luisa, who grew up on a dairy farm. She knows how to milk, fix a tractor, juggle increasing debts and run a farming co-op. She's very practical - she's had to be, with the family farm having a bad run of luck with drought and now flood. But Luisa knows that her hard work will be worth it to get the farm back on track and in the black.

This day is tougher than most. The bank is talking about foreclosure and she's spent hours down at the creek, saving a cow that got trapped in deep mud. Caked in muck, she returns to the old farm house longing for a hot shower.

But this is the day her plans go awry. Instead of an empty house she finds a helicopter, guys in dark suits whispering into earpieces and one man who stands out from the crowd:
The sun silhouetted a man who was long, lean and elegant. The epitome of urbane masculinity. She could make out dark hair, a suit that probably cost more than her car and tractor put together, plus a formidable pair of shoulders.
He looks a little like this.

Fortunately he's not from the bank. Instead he's foreign royalty, there specifically to see Luisa so she can take up her long lost inheritance as princess in his kingdom. He promises her the wealth and position she thought would never come to her since her mother was disinherited.

There's only one catch: in doing so she must also fulfil a contract signed years ago - for her to marry the prince. She'd never have to worry about money again. But is that what Luisa wants? It takes more than money to impress her. And even if she's persuaded to agree, how would a down to earth dairy farmer ever hope to transform herself into a princess?

This book was such fun from the moment I envisaged the meeting between Raul in hand stitched Italian suit and glossy shoes, with a mud-smattered and not so easily impressed Luisa. I also got to use two of my fave themes - the fish out of water and marriage of convenience.

Do you like fish out of water stories? If you had to create an unlikely princess, what background might you give her, just to make things interesting?

Annie will send a selection of signed cover flats as a prize to someone (drawn at random) who leaves a comment.

PRINCE OF SCANDAL is on sale now in the UK. You can find it at Amazon, Harlequin Mills and Boon and The Book Depository. Then in June it's released in Australia/New Zealand and finally in mid July in North America. If you want to read more about it, visit my website where you'll find an excerpt, background information and even a contest where you can win the book.

Elaine Viets: Little Bikinis and Big Muscles

The itsy-bitsy bejeweled bikini in the picture is no ordinary suit. It’s a custom posing suit for women bodybuilders. This pink confection is worn by national bodybuilding competitor Karen Choat. The posing suit costs $280 – and that’s a reasonable price.

Vandella Costumes is just one company that makes costumes for bodybuilding, fitness and figure competitions for men and women.

My new Dead-End Job mystery, “Pumped for Murder,” is set in the incredible world of competitive bodybuilding. Helen Hawthorne and Phil, just back from their honeymoon, open their private eye agency in Fort Lauderdale. They tackle two hopeless cases – a Miami Vice-style death from 1986, and a cheating husband. Their client’s husband has developed a killer body – but not for her, alas. Shelby wants to know who is enjoying Bryan’s hot new physique.

Helen works this dead-end job undercover to watch Bryan pump iron.

In this scene from “Pumped for Murder,” she sees Debbi, a young bodybuilder who hopes to win her first competition, and her two scary mentors.


Kristi looked like she’d escaped from Area 51 in Roswell, New Mexico. The bodybuilder had huge round eyes, a wrinkled face and a furtive manner. With her misshapen muscles, Helen thought Debbi’s mentor could pass as an extraterrestrial.

Tansi, the other mentor, looked like a creature from this planet – a reptile with yellow eyes and smooth scales for skin. The Lizard and Space Alien, Helen thought. What a pair.

“You look perfect, Debbi,” Kristi said. There was a cosmic emptiness in her smile.

Debbi preened, if a strip of leather could preen. She stood before the mirror in the middle of Fantastic Fitness. Helen and Carla were at the reception desk some thirty feet away. Debbi was obviously proud of her stringy body in her posing suit, a black bikini with yellow sparkles.

“I can see you on stage, picking up that trophy,” said Tansi.

“Nice suit,” the Space Alien said. “Looks expensive.”

“Four hundred bucks,” Debbi said. She couldn’t hide her pride – or her need for their praise. She craved it like an addict needed heroin.

Helen gasped. “Did I hear right?”she asked Carla, her co-worker at the reception desk. “There’s barely room for a dozen gold sparkles on that teeny bikini.”

“Four hundred dollars is what a good competition suit costs,” Carla whispered. “I know competition bodybuilders who spend a thousand bucks or more on their posing suits. They cover them in emeralds, Swarovski crystals, or real gems. One competition builder couldn’t pay her rent. All her money went into – or rather on – her suit.”

“You’ve done a good job maintaining your base tan,” the Lizard said told her protege.

“The day before the competition, I’ll go in for a spray tan,” Debbi said. “Then I’ll get another coat before the pre-judging and another coat before the evening show.”

“Make sure you get a dark tan,” the Lizard said. “East Coast Physique judges like a natural bronze – nothing sparkly. You’re using the competition spray tanner I gave you?”

“We gave you,” said Kristi, Debbi’s other mentor. The Space Alien smiled and distant suns darkened.

“Tanning is too important to get wrong,” their protege said, as if the universe would implode should she miscalculate the color.

“We’ve done good,” the Alien said. “If the competition was today, you’d have the Novice Women’s Muscle title.”

“I hope that ‘we’ includes me,” the reptilian Tansi said. “I’ve been working with her, too.” She smiled and Helen thought of dinosaurs and extinct volcanos.

“Debbi reminds me of myself when I started bodybuilding,” Tansi said.

“That’s been awhile,” Kristi said.


The Lizard frowned. Planes of muscle shifted in her forehead like tectonic plates. No wonder Tansi looked unhappy.


Racing Father Time was one competition that bodybuilders couldn’t win.


***

“Pumped for Murder,” Elaine Viets’ tenth Dead-End Job mystery, is available in hardcover and as an e-book. Enter Elaine’s contest too win a $50 gift certificate to your favorite bookseller. Click on Contests at www.elaineviets.com.

Jasmine Haynes: Past Midnight, The DeKnights, Book 1

Releasing May 3rd, my latest Berkley Heat!

My editor thinks I might have created a new genre, erotic “issue” stories! Past Midnight isn’t simply an erotic romp. It’s a passionately emotional story about a couple living through a terrible tragedy that has torn their lives apart. Writing it made me cry. I can imagine nothing worse than losing a child, and that’s what happens to Erin and Dominic DeKnight, they lost their little boy and they are now losing themselves. When I started writing this story, I wasn’t sure how I would bring them together again. I wasn’t sure that was even possible. My editor thought that was going to be a huge challenge, and I’m so glad that she gave me the opportunity to try to write this story. To make matters worse, not only do the DeKnight’s face this emotional challenge, the business they own together, DeKnight Gauges, is under siege, too. I interviewed my friend and former boss, Teresa, on that part of the story. DeKnight Gauges is patterned after her business and some of the corporate intrigues Erin and Dominic face are ideas Teresa provided me with. I greatly admire her as a businesswoman. I’m attending a garden party at her house in a couple of weeks, and I’ll be taking her an autographed copy of the book. I hope she thinks I did the story justice!

Here’s a blurb on Past Midnight, Book 1 in my sexy, emotional new DeKnight trilogy.

How far will they go… Past Midnight.

Erin and Dominic had the perfect life—until a devastating blow rocked their marriage to the core. Now they only reconnect after dark, when sleepless nights become hours of ecstasy as they soothe emotional pain with physical pleasure—but still wake up feeling distant and alone.

Dominic refuses to give up on the relationship. To save their marriage, he sets up erotic adventures that take them far beyond the boundaries of both their comfort zones. As their love life moves from the privacy of their bedroom to public parties and sex retreats where anything is possible, will Dominic and Erin form a deeper bond…or will they lose it all?

“A highly erotic journey for two lost souls desperately seeking solace...captivates from the opening sentence.”
Romantic Times

If you’d like to read Past Midnight as an e-book, try it on Amazon Kindle and B&N Nook.

Take a moment to read the excerpt for Past Midnight. What is their son’s name? Leave a comment with the answer to the question and your contact e-mail address to enter my drawing for a copy of Power to the Max, the fourth book in the Max Starr series. I’ll announce the winner on Friday! Not, a foreign winner will receive the book emailed in pdf format.

Don’t forget to stop by my blog for a free erotic read of Kinky Neighbors, a chapter every week!

Free Kindle Books and Tips -- Susanna Carr

Do you have a Kindle? If so, here's a resource that I want to share: Free Kindle Books and Tips. The daily blog lets you know about the Kindle books that are offered for free at Amazon in the United States. I was happy to see several romance and women's fiction titles in the daily selection. The books posted on the blog range from fiction and non-fiction, and the only books not listed are public domain and erotica.

This blog also gives you tips, tricks and information on using your Kindle. Did you know that you can return an e-book within 7 days of purchase? You can find out more here. Were you aware that you can add free music to your Kindle? There are also free Kindle games and apps. Blackjack anyone?

Most Kindle readers I know would like to learn how to how they can add books from other sites onto their Kindle. This blog offers information on how to transfer books onto your Kindle. I haven't tried it yet because I have really bad luck with technology. I need to gather up the nerve because I have quite a few PDF e-books that I want to load onto my Kindle.

I hope you find the Kindle blog helpful! What are your favorite resources for readers and book buying?

Kate Walker : May Day

It's  the first of May - May Day - and while it's not quite the beginning of Summer, just the name of the month makes it feel as if the   winter is at last behind us and the beauties of Spring flowers are blossoming in the gardens.

Here in England there are lots of old traditions for May Day. There's  the custom  of going 'a-mayiong' - that is going out to collect branches and flowers to weave into a garland, to bring the spring indoors and decorate the  houses.  Also first thing on a May Day morning,  young girls used to rush out into the garden to wash their faces in the May dew. This was supposed to give them a beautiful complexion, with no spots or freckles for the rest of the year.

So many of the traditions and customs have to do with the return of spring - the sunshine, the flowers - fertility and growth. Thgere's dancing round the maypole which can be seen as a symbol of trees and  growth - or a less inocent and more masculine sexual symbol.   The men are also much involved in Morris Dancing which with its use of sticks or even swords can be seen as a mock battle amongst the men.

Then there is the crowining of the May Queen where every year a  girl from the village is crowned as the May Queen.  When I was a child, this was always connected with the local church's May Processsion  to honour the Virgin Mary. I was never a May Queen but when I was ten, I was one of her attendants in a pale blue dress and white gloves!

Of course the other traditon for the coming of spring is that of Spring Cleaning, cleaning the house from top to bottom, throwing out everything that's old and doesn't work properly, washing and polishing and leaving the place ready to sparkle in the coming sunny months.

I always feel that Spring has so  much in common with the story in a romance novel  - after all, what are romances but tales of starting over, getting rid of the old, dead feelings, the problems that clutter a relationship and starting fresh and new. That's why I love writing reunion stories like my latest release The Proud Wife which is selling wonderfully in Presents Extra this month.

I love writing this theme because there is so much raw emotion in the idea of second chances, of the hope of starting again, building a new future from the shattered pieces of the old one. So this is a really appropriate time of year for this book to come out.

That’s why Spring has always been my favourite season and it’s the reason why I love reunion stories so much. In The Proud Wife, Pietro and Marina start out in one of the darkest times in their lives. When the love they once shared seems to have totally disappeared, been destroyed by the tragedy that tore them apart. Both of them believe that there is no future for them together – and they meet up in the lawyer’s office to put the final nail in the coffin of their marriage – and sign the divorce papers. But from their very first meeting, it’s so obvious that there is still so much between them – if only they can work through the pain of the past.

This spring of course we've had a perfect example of new beginnings and hopes for the future with last Friday's Royal Wedding where Kate Middleton married Prince William. It was everything a wedding should be - handsome groom, beautiful bride, gorgeous dress, stunning floral arrangements. It seemed to me to be a perfect symbol for the coming of Spring and the hope of renewal that brings.

This is why I write romance - I like to think of it as a reminder that when days seem dark and gloomy, whether it's the weather or the season or what life throws at you then you can always hope to  begin again, have a fresh start. Perhaps you need a little spring cleaning to brighten the place up but there is always the hope that today the sun will shine and things will start to make you smile.  That's what happens to Marina and Pietro in The Proud Wife - and it's what I'm trying to make happen between Carlos  the proud but embittered  Argentinian and  his heroine Martha in the book I'm writing now.

I love giving unhappy, lonely, cynical characters a whole new outlook on life, spring cleaning their relationships and bringing them round to their brand new Happy Ever After.

What about you?  What do you do to mark Spring  - do you do all the Spring Cleaning stuff or do you love to get out it the garden and plant new flowers? Or do you go for walks in the brigther sunshine - or just sit and read with the windows open to let the fresher warmer air come inside?

I have a signed copy of The Proud Wife to give away to one person who comments - to help you celebrate May Day and fresh starts with a brand new book.

You can read more about my books over on my web site and the really up to date news is all on my blog. Hope to see you there!


And the winner is Mary Anne

Mary Anne can you please email me kate AT kate-walker. com and let me know where to send your book.
Thanks to everyone for commenting - see yu next month (or over on my personal blog)

Kate Noble: The Road Trip Romance

Love ‘em or hate ‘em, everyone has been on a road trip. I personally love them. I love prepping for the trip, figuring out what you’re going to need to take and what route you’ll take. I love packing up the car, a strange, Tetris-like exercise in trying to keep a sliver of the back window visible. I love turning around four minutes into your journey to grab that thing that’s vital that you forgot.


But I’ve never fallen in love on a road trip. I’ve never had that startling discovery of finding the person you’ve been sharing your car or bus seat with is the one you want to share your life with. Maybe that’s why I wrote Follow My Lead – a road trip romance of the first order, where two opposites – the duke of Rayne and bluestocking Winnifred Crane -- have to work together to get to where they’re going… and figure out they were meant for each other along the way.

I adore road trip romances, and thought I’d share with you a few of my favorites:

It Happened One Night

The Quintessential Road Trip Romance, It Happened One Night happens mostly on a bus. Ellie Andrews, an heiress and society darling wants to get back to New York and the guy that’s waiting for her there. But she’s easily recognizable, so newspaperman Peter Warne (Clark Gable, who is charm is reaching Rhett Butler heights) promises to help her along – at the price of the story of her adventures. I’ll give you one guess for what happens along the way…

Romancing the Stone

Full disclosure: I’m pretty sure my boyfriend fell in love with me because he has a Joan Wilder fetish. This is the movie that made romance writers stand up and cheer, and romance lovers fall madly for Michael Douglas. Kathleen Turner is romance novelist Joan Wilder, who has to travel to Colombia to save her sister’s life. When she arrives, she gets on the wrong bus, and is saved from certain disaster by the snarky, street-smart Jack Colton. As they make their way across the Columbian jungle, being chased by jewel thieves and crazy military guys as they go, is it any wonder that they end up falling for each other?

Spaceballs

Yes, Spaceballs. A movie that owes almost as much to It Happened One Night as it does to Star Wars, 2001: A Space Odyssey, and Planet of the Apes, Spaceballs answers the question (that nobody asked, but hey, go with it): what happens when you strip away the whole boring hero’s quest thing from Star Wars, and just make it about what we really want to see: the princess and the pilot hooking up.

Added bonus of having Joan Rivers as your Robot Virgin Police and John Candy as your puppy sidekick.

Leap Year

And incredibly sweet entry into the Road Trip Romance genre, Leap Year stars the delightful Amy Adams and the delicious Matthew Goode as a woman determined to get to her man in Dublin and ask him to marry her, and her Irish guide, respectively. But plucking Amy Adams out of her fast paced life makes her realize just how much she’s been missing… and having a starchy, perky woman around who is intent upon her course makes Matthew Goode realize just how much he wants to break down her walls.

What do you think? What are some of your favorite Road Trip Romances?

Kate Noble
http://www.katenoble.com/

Cathleen Ross: Anatomy of a Cover

How do you tell your publisher you’re not on board with your new book cover, especially when it’s the cover for the book of your heart? Okay, I admit it, I’ve been spoiled for covers so far, so when I was asked to choose a cover by my latest publisher, yes you heard that right, I had problems. The publisher of sent me a link to a website where I had to choose from a selection of stock art which their graphic artist would then alter.

Let me take you back a few steps. I’d sold my contemporary women’s fiction, Love, Lust and Lies, a Big Fat Greek Wedding meets Moonstruck, type book to Passion in Print. Contemporary is a tough market right now so I was delighted to land this sale with a print publisher who pays 15 percent of Net sales on print and 50 percent on ebook. Excuse me for talking money so blatantly but PIP has a sample contract on their website.

A cover should capture what your book is about and lure potential readers in. It should say, “Pick me!” amongst the competition. I’m not an artist so I had trouble choosing but managed to come up with picture one . The trouble was, my hero looked effeminate and I needed my hero to be irresistible so that my heroine feels that she made the right decision to kick her husband out after he has an affair and she takes up with my gorgeous, young hero.

I had Michelangelo’s statue of David in mind. I wanted a sexy face, great chest and more than the fig leaf but to get an image of that you’ll have to read the book.

So I asked my publisher, Laura Baumbach, could my hero be more muscular? I wondered what Laura would think of me asking to change the cover but she was with me all the way, never making me feel like I was a nuisance, even when I didn’t like my hero’s head and chest. See picture two.

After I had selected a head, she sent me a selection of chests. I was building the bionic hero. See picture three.

In the end I had a sexy hero my heroine would want to have an affair with and the pleasure of working with a hands-on publisher who was interested in the writer’s opinion. See final cover.

Have you ever disliked your cover? Have you done anything about it?

Cathleen Ross
http://www.cathleenross.com/

Jessica Barksdale Inclán: The Same Old Story

A few months ago, I was staring at the third editing letter from an editor at a large publishing house. She loved my novel . . . but. We'd gone through two rounds of edits, had a phone conference with my agent, and she had one last huge round of edits before she was willing to make an offer.

After my agent sent me that letter, I commenced immediately to editing, going through the manuscript for what felt like the millionth time (I wrote the first draft of this story in 2003!). I needed to sell this novel--I needed to show that I could still do it, and do it I would. But as I typed the last word into what might have been the final edit, I sat back. I took my hands away from the keyboard; I looked out the window.

It was time to stop the madness. All I had just done was to write more of the same problem into the manuscript. I was taking the problem, putting a new saddle on it, and trying to trick the editor and probably myself into making it appear like a new ride. But it wasn't.

It was time to stop. To let go. I had to admit to myself that I wasn't going to sell to this editor at this big publishing house. I wasn't going to get an advance any time soon. Not with this manuscript.

And in that letting go, I came up with a plan that was really about creating something that I liked. The new story I began working on had perhaps the same spine, but it was now completely different, new, exciting, and interesting--at least to me. And the good news was that I didn't miss the old story, the one that had been changed and rewritten over and over again. It had become the thing I had to do to get to what I was writing now, the new story, the one that had grown out of the ashes. Right now, my agent is going over this new draft, and who knows? It might go out to editors in June. Or--well, it might not.

The tale of the eight year long rewrite isn't over yet, but the lesson for me is clear. At some point--with writing and just about everything--there comes a time when we look at what's in front of us and say, "No more." The manuscript, the person, the job, the plan, the course of action are all wrong. The fit isn't. The satisfaction not. The hope gone.

Time to saw through the rope and let whatever it is sail off to sea. Wave at it or him or her. Think thankful thoughts. After all, without that challenge, we wouldn't be where we are. But know it's over. We've let go. And now we can go on.

Jessica Barksdale Inclan

This month, I'm having a giveaway of my backlist. The first ten folks who post a comment and then send me an email can have their pick (while supplies last!) of The Instant When Everything is Perfect, The Beautiful Being, or an ebook of choice. My web site has desrciptions of all.

Tawny Weber: Reunited... And It Feels So Good

by Tawny Weber

I'm celebrating the release of my latest Blaze this week. JUST FOR THE NIGHT is in stores now. This is a story that was so fun to write, because there is something just extra sweet about reuniting a couple that missed out on their well-deserved happy-ever-after.

Larissa and Jason had a serious thing going a few years back, but life, jealousy and their issues got in the way - splitting them up.

Now, thanks to a sneaky matchmaker and a 24 hour blackout that takes down the power on the entire Eastern Seaboard, they have a second chance.

What I realized in writing this story is that not only do I believe in true love, and the perfect someone for everyone. I also believe in timing. Timing is a major factor in whether or not a couple can make things work or not. For Larissa and Jason, the timing before was all wrong. They both had some growing up to do, and some lessons to learn. In my own life, I'd met my husband years before we became a couple (we were in high school together). If we'd dated back in school, I'm sure we'd have split up and gone our separate ways. But after a few years of independence and growing up we were both in the perfect place for our own happy ever after.


How about you? Do you believe timing is a major factor in relationships? And are you a fan of reunion stories?

And the bonus question of the day... if you were stranded with someone for 24 hours... who would that someone be (lets pretend this is a world where husbands and significant others don't exist, that way I can be stranded with Johnny Depp).

Popular Romantic Theme Comes To Life -- Michelle Monkou

Romance stories and day dreams go hand in hand. As a romance writer and an avid romance reader, I enjoy a story of opposites meeting and falling hard for each other. In my heart, it's a cause for celebration.

One of the biggest romantic premises is about to happen on April 29, 2011 (BTW, my 21st wedding anniversary) when a "commoner" marries a prince and heir to the throne. The event has taken on the trappings of a celebrity event opened to the world for viewing and commenting via social media networks. No matter how jaded we may feel with our realities, we can't turn a hard heart on the beauty of the romantic journey.


Cinderella kind of started this fantasy, right?

Then we had Hollywood A-list Grace Kelly turn into a beautiful stunning princess. Meanwhile, my fellow romance writers created and continue to write wonderful stories of the everyday-woman marrying the prince, king, or sheik.

This fantasy is beyond just a trend; it's the epitome of the romantic couple.

Our stories do have the implied happy ever after. So I'm purposefully not talking about the burden of the couple's new public status, the baggage of numerous failed royal marriages, and the work needed to make a relationship work. That's called women's fiction. LOL.

As a romantic at heart, I raise a celebratory glass to Kate and William (LOL - I'd written Harry). Cheers!

While we're in the full bloom of all things romantic this week, enjoy my free e-book at http://www.everyonesreading.com/the-millionaires-ultimate-catch/

Michelle Monkou

Tina Leonard: Hot, Hunky Guys

(and a beta male named Bertie)

I love reading ongoing series, and I love writing them.  I suppose I'm long-winded.  The bigger the project, the happier I am, because then I get to know families and communities.  This past summer, I read every single one of P. G. Wodehouse's Jeeves and Wooster books.  Then I started the series over.  I even have the dvds of the series.  Long before actor Hugh Laurie was the crusty Dr. House on TV, he was the lovably quirky Bertie Wooster.  Bertie and his friends and the loyal butler Jeeves speak to me; I love their adventures, Bertie's squabbles with Jeeves, and Bertie's incorrigible Aunt Dahlia, and even Nephew Thos.  I feel like I know Bertie's community, including their less-than-enjoyable acquaintances.  The pages fly as I read as fast as I can.

I'm also a fan of ongoing Britcoms, and lately the dramatic and enticing The Tudors.  I rent the series from the Blockbuster on the corner and spend weekend nights with the deliciously naughty Henry VIII.  Somehow I think ol' Henry wasn't quite so hot in real life, but the series has me breathlessly awaiting each twist and turn.  It makes me want to get out my Norah Lofts' books, and run to the library for dust-covered tomes of English history. 

Drama, drama.  Delish!

Being a series fan--as you now know--I thought up an idea for a six-book family-palooza set in New Mexico.  I loved the idea of six brothers who'd been raised by their determined and somewhat fey little aunt.  Aunt Fiona runs the Callahan household with a velvet touch, yet manages to raise six rascals to manhood.  Now she's determined to get them married off, and no better way to do that than to set them all to competing for the family homestead and ranch.  At Rancho Diablo, mystical black Diablo horses run, and a rumored silver mine causes trouble between the Callahans and their greedy neighbor, Bode Jenkins.  The Callahan brothers have no desire to settle down, in spite of their redoubtable aunt.  Yet with a magic wedding gown thrown in to the mix, and Fiona's Books'n'Bingo friends, maybe nothing is impossible under Rancho Diablo skies!

It was so much fun to write the Callahan series.  One thing led to another, and a Christmas novella was added, then an online prequel to kick the series off.   Now that the Callahans are ready to share their stories with you, I hope you'll join them for the fun as Jonas, Creed, Sam, Pete, Rafe, and Judah try to find those elusive brides.  It won't be easy for die-hard bachelors to take up Fiona's challenge, but then again, maybe they weren't so die-hard after all…

Ladies, get your guys!

Best wishes,

Tina Leonard

#1 May '11 The Cowboy's Triplets--Callahan Cowboys series
#2 May '11 Frisco Joe's Fiancee & Laredo's Sassy Sweetheart (Showcase)
#3 June '11 The Devil of Rancho Diablo eharlequin online serial
#4 July '11 The Cowboy's Bonus Baby--Callahan Cowboys series
#5 Sept '11 The Bull Rider's Twins--Callahan Cowboys series
#6 Nov '11 A Rancho Diablo Christmas--Callahan Cowboys novella
#7 Jan '12 His Valentine Triplets--Callahan Cowboys series
#8 Mar '12 Cowboy Sam's Quaduplets--Callahan Cowboys series
#9 May '12 A Callahan Wedding--Callahan Cowboys finale!

May 2011 Bonus: Frisco Joe's Fiancee and Laredo's Sassy Sweetheart together in a special mass market Showcase release!  ISBN 037368827X

For a free bookmark, send an email to tulipsaloon@aol.com~~ and join me at twitter.com/tina_leonard, and facebook.com/tinaleonardbooks to follow the brothers' adventures!

Carole Mortimer: The Scandalous St. Claires

April, May and June, sees the publications of my Harlequin Presents trilogy, Return of the Renegade (Top Pick in the April Romantic Times), The Reluctant Duke (Top Pick in May Romantic Times), and Taming the Last St Claire (still to be reviewed), and collectively titled The Scandalous St Claires.

In 2008/09 I had written a quartet of Regency books and a novella for Harlequin Historical, called The Notorious St Claires (The Duke's Cinderella Bride, The Rake's Indecent Proposal, The Rogue's DisgracedLady, and Lady Arabella's Scandalous Marriage), featuring three brothers and their younger sister, with the hero of the novella (Christmas at Mulberry Hall) having been a minor character in three of these books, and who I felt deserved his own story.

For eight months I had completely immersed myself in the lives of this fascinating family and their friends, and so when it came to the time to say goodbye to them all I found that I couldn't do it, felt that there was still more to tell. Which was when I had the 'what if...?' question that comes to so many authors. In this case, 'what if there were three gorgeous aristocratic brothers who were the present day ancestors of my Regency family....?'

Once I'd asked myself that question there was just no stopping my imagination from overflowing with ideas, and luckily my editor agreed with me - I wasn't quite finished with the St Claire family yet! Within days Jordan, Lucan, and Gideon had become three fully fledged characters, as had the three women destined for only them, and the trilogy, The Scandalous St Claires, is their story.

Enjoy!

Carole Mortimer

http://www.eharlequin.com/author.html?authorid=158