Nadia Lee: Three Reasons Why I Write Romance

 

1. Romance novels have a happy ending. Some people may call that unrealistic or foolish, and yes, I realize the world is more depressing than upbeat at times. But I don't want to subscribe to that kind of negativity. I want my readers to feel good after they read my books. And how could anyone not be happy when two people find love?

 

2. Heroes. Romance heroes are fun to write about. One of my readers asked me if I base my characters after people I know in real life. She was most curious about my heroes. :) I don't. My heroes are basically who I think would be the most perfect man for the heroine for any given story. So Ethan Lloyd from Reunited in Love (Hearts on the Line, Book 2) is sophisticated, sexy, rich, employed, patient, cooks like dream and has amazing stamina. Why? Because Kerri needed somebody nurturing and loving to show her she can entrust him with her heart. Meanwhile Blaine Davis from Forever in Love (Hearts on the Line, Book 5) is somewhat rough around the edges, a bit impulsive from time to time, but is very clear on what’s right and wrong because Catherine needed somebody who could make her see that she's an amazing woman, not just flashy trophy-wife material.

 

 

3. Heroines. I don't write about heroines I couldn't be friends with in real life. How can I root for a woman I don't like? :) They're generally smart, well-meaning and overcome their past to better their present and future. And I try to give them qualities that would make them perfect for their men. Amandine Monroe Lloyd from Redemption in Love (Hearts on the Line, Book 3) is so patient and loving that her husband Gavin couldn't help but realize it's okay to be emotionally open to her. It’s clear just from her personality that she'll never break his heart or stop loving him.

 

 

So now you tell me: why do you READ romance?

 

Nadia Lee is a contemporary romance author living in Japan with her husband and toddler boy. Her latest series is the Hearts on the Line. The first book, Vengeful in Love, is currently free on Amazon, Apple, Barnes & Noble, Kobo and Google Play. The latest book in the series, Forever in Love, was just released on May 12.

Connect with Nadia Lee via her new release alert, blog, Facebook and Twitter.

Sara Hantz: Is celebrity all it’s cracked up to be?

I’m often asked by people where I get my ideas from, so I thought I’d blog about my latest book WILL THE REAL ABI SAUNDERS PLEASE STAND UP. This story is about a young girl who is a kickboxing champion but because of her stutter hates meeting new people. So, when she gets the chance to become a stunt double to a famous movie star instead of being excited about it she’s petrified.

I do love fish out of water stories, and I’ve always been fascinated by celebrity and, in particular, young stars and how so many of them seem to go off the rails, either through drinking, taking drugs, or eating disorders. Look at Lindsay Lohan, Amanda Byrne, Britany Spears, Justin Bieber, to name a few. It all seems too much for them to cope with. And this has been going on for years. Remember what happened to Drew Barrymore as a child star. She has managed to work through the drinking and drug taking, but she seems to be one of the rare ones.

I often wonder why it is that they go off the rails, and in my opinion one of the reasons could be because they don’t have a formal education, in the traditional sense, and so their view of the world and their coping skills haven’t developed in the way most young people’s do. The one star who springs to mind who appears to have not been affected by child stardom is Justin Timberlake.

Anyway, for me it seemed the perfect book to write, mixing a fish out of water and coming of age story with the backdrop of celebrity status and Hollywood. What’s your take on young stars going off the rails? Should there be more restrictions on young children/teens on TV or in movies?

I’d love to hear your views. There’s a prize of a $10 Amazon gift card to someone who comments.

***Sara's winner is Erin!  Please email totebag@authorsoundrelations.com with your mailing details!***

Why I love a Warrior Hero by Michelle Styles

There is something about me which does love a warrior, particularly a battle-scarred warrior. I like exploring a psyche which has gone through a baptism of fire.  Battle inevitably dehumanises people. People have to behave in ways that might be honourable in war, but are not necessarily honourable in normal life. When they step outside the bubble which war creates, they have to confront their old life. Or at the very least encounter people who have not been through the hell they have suffered.

 Once someone has gone through a battle, they are forever changed. The innocence is gone.  They have experienced death. They may have killed.  They have seen people be killed.  They may have lost a limb or be marked in some way. They may be in constant pain because of their injuries. And they may have learnt that while physical injuries heal, mental anguish can continue unabated.

 They have to ask - -why did I survive? Why (perhaps) did my best friend die? Why did someone I thought better than me die? Could I have done more to save him? Could I have done more to save people who depended on me?

For me, my warrior heroes are not coming from an easy place but as they get to know the heroine and fall in love with her, they inevitably find their humanity returns. His growing love for her means that he can long for a life which is different from the one he has known. He can also worry that his growing love makes himself vulnerable in away he wasn’t vulnerable before and to a warrior, being vulnerable can be a fate which leads to death.

I also love the fact that warriors are inevitably self-made men. A warrior can inherit titles, prestige and wealth. His father or grandfather might have been great. But a warrior is only as good as his fighting ability.  He has to prove himself. I find these sorts of heroes are more interesting as they have done beyond being born to deserve their good fortune.

Good warriors are also intelligent. They have to be able to understand the intricacies of battlefield strategy, for instance. They also have to know how to work with other people. One warrior cannot stand alone against a hundred but several warriors working together can. History is littered with examples.

A warrior believes in something. He has some reason to fight. He has a code of conduct. It might not be something we would want to adhere to today but it exists for him.  With my heroes, before I started writing Viking warriors, I had to be clear in my own mind that my heroes were not into raping women. They had their own code and knew where the lines were drawn. This is not to say that others did not indulge, just simply that I had to be able to write a warrior that I could fall for.

Do why do I love a warrior? Because they are complicated but rewarding. And they stand the test of time.

Michelle Styles writes warm, witty and intimate historical romances for Harlequin Historical. Her latest Return of the Viking Warrior is out now. Her next book Saved by the Viking Warrior will be out in September 2014.You can learn more about Michelle and her books on www.michellestyles.co.uk

Christina Hollis: This Writing Life...

By Martyn Stanley

Spring has definitely arrived here in Gloucestershire. While it's still dark, I carry my first cup of tea of the day outside.The dawn chorus starts at around 4:30am, and at long last, the cuckoo has arrived! While I listen to the birds, I think about my WIP. It’s a lovely way to ease myself into the working day.

My bees are going mad, working over the fruit tree blossoms and wild flowers. I lost all seven of my colonies over the wet and miserable seasons of 2012/2013, and only managed to restock last July. I’ve started this year with just a single colony, and at the minute they’re expanding very fast. I've got everything ready in case they decide to swarm.

See more at http://amzn.to/1s1xFHH

Every evening after the bees have gone to bed, I stroll out to listen to them driving the moisture off from the nectar they’ve gathered during the day. It’s a really restful sound, and promises plenty of honey to come. 

I’m including this lovely piece by Delius called “On hearing The First Cuckoo In Spring”, in case you’ve never heard it before. One February night years ago, while OH was working in the US and I was in the depths of PPD, a combination of flu and DD teething had kept me awake all night. I honestly didn’t know how I was going to drag myself through the next day. Around 3am on that freezing cold, pitch black morning I made myself yet another cup of tea and switched on the radio. As sleet battered the window, I heard this:

It was the first flicker of light at the end of a bleak, black tunnel. Writing acted as my therapy, and eventually helped me back get my life back together. OH finished his stint in the US and came home. Slowly, day by day, the weather got brighter–and so did I. 

Has there been one special day that turned your life around? 

Christina Hollis writes both contemporary and historical fiction - when she isn't cooking, gardening or beekeeping. You can catch up with her at http://www.christinahollis.blogspot.com, on Twitter and Facebook, and see a full list of her published books at http://www.christinahollis.com

Here We Go Again

2014 is turning out to be my year of backlist books.  My first books were

published by Kensington's Precious Gems line and they're coming out again as eBooks.  The two that are out now were published as Be My Baby and Side By Side.  They're back to my original titles.  Why?  Because I really liked my original titles.  So now Be My Baby, which deals with a lactation consultant (something I worked at for years) is Bosom Buddies. Yeah, I know.  You're either laughing…or rolling your eyes.  My kids would be rolling their eyes, so it's okay if you are!

The book was Side By Side, and now it's Cinderella Wore Tennis Shoes.  Really, when a runaway bride runs what else would she wear but tennis shoes??

On all these new old releases I'm using the tagline "A Holly Jacobs Classic Romance" because I want readers to know that these are older works.

I don't tend to reread my older works, so rereading some now has been interesting.  I see the writer I've become (am becoming) in those stories. I hope that readers enjoy these blasts from the past!

On Thursday, even more older books are coming out.  Harlequin is rereleasing most of my Perry Square series as eBooks.  These stories were set around a real park in downtown.  I've set most of my books in and around Erie, but the Perry Square series is unique because I set it on a real downtown park.  Oh, I include real Erie landmarks in other books, but being set on the Square made this series unique.  I put together a tour of the real Square.  If you ever visit Erie, you'll definitely want to visit it, until then, come with me...


A Perry Square Visit:

Perry Square is a real two block park in Erie, Pa. It's named after Oliver Hazard Perry, made famous during the Battle of Lake Erie. There's a statue of him in the park.

Here is just a beautiful autumn shot of the park.

The real Perry Square is surrounded by businesses. In my Perry Square books I've added fictional businesses such as Snips and Snaps Beauty Salon, By Design, The Chocolate Bar, a law firm and a eye doctor's office. This isn't any reflection on the very lovely stores that really make up the square. If you're ever in Erie, I hope you stop by and visit them. In the meantime, I hope you'll read about my fictional ones! 

If you go a few blocks down from Perry Square, you'll reach our bayfront. In my books I take you there a lot. Characters go visit the tower. And they've even taken dinner cruises. 

A view of Presque Isle Peninsula from the tower.

A view up State Street from the tower. Perry Square is about five blocks straight ahead!

Finally, see the little stack in the background? That's ourMaritime Museum and the Blasco Library!

These three beach shots were taken August '03. That's me...and the sunsets. Truly, the sunsets are Erie at its best!

Once Upon a Prince spend a lot of time on the Bayfront. Shey and Tanner go to the Blasco library (2, 3), which is next to the Maritime Museum (1) and the Brig Niagara (4).

1. 

2.

3. 

4.

Finally, Shey and Tanner head off to Liberty Park's Ampitheater and watch a Jimmy Buffet tribute band. 

Notice the great views!!

I write a lot about the beauty of Erie. I hope, through my books, you learn to love my favorite city as much as I do! 

~Holly

The 8 Perry Square Books:
Do You Hear What I Hear?
A Day Late and a Bride Short
Dad Today, Groom Tomorrow
Be My Baby

Once Upon a Princess
Once Upon a Prince
Once Upon a King

Here With Me

Whatever the weather . . . with Kate Walker

I spent almost all of yesterday on a sun warmed terrace outside a villa in Tuscany.  There was a swimming

pool  nearby, just down a flight of stone steps, and a panoramic view of rolling hill and green fields. The sun was warm and comforting  and the birds sang.  . .

 . . .Er – not! The truth is that yesterday was cold and windy and wet. Wet, wet,  wet.  Rain lashed against the windows, the wind buffeted the garden and the cats refused to go out.   The Tuscan villa, the swimming pool, the sunshine – they all belonged to my characters. The Villa   D’Oro was where my hero Dario had taken his newly married wife of convenience  for their honeymoon. So they got to enjoy its delights while I just got to dream. But at least  I got to enjoy them in my imagination – and it took my mind off the cold wet day outside.

One of the great things about being a writer is that when I’m creating worlds for my characters to live in I can make them whatever I want, put my hero and heroine wherever I want. I can put them in an English village – or out in a desert kingdom. I can even create my own country for them to them to live in and for my hero to rule as King – as I did in A Throne For The Taking. 

And the weather can be whatever I want  or need it to be for the story. The funny thing is that I never – well, rarely ever create the same weather for my hero and heroine as I’m actually experiencing as I write. Yesterday’s downpour is a case in point . And it made me remember  the way I was feeling when I wrote my next book  - the one that’s coming out in June.

This book is called A Question of Honor  (or A Question of Honour if you live in the UK!) and my hero, Karim Al Khalifa is the son of a sheikh.  You’d think that would be the perfect cue for a hot, dry day amongst the desert sand. Well, yes that may be where he lives but at the start of the book he has been sent to find the runaway  bride Clementina  Savaneski and take her to her fiancé when she’s to be married.  The problem is that Clemmie has run away to a small English village  and it’s the middle of winter.  In fact the weather is so bad that my characters are snowed in.

And I was writing this on one of the hottest weekends of the summer! I was trying to imagine how it felt to be freezing cold, with snow falling down outside and having to light a fire to keep warm – while all the time I was fighting to keep as cool as possible, with all the windows open and a fan blowing next to my desk. It’s a good thing I’ve got a vivid imagination.

This made me wonder if as readers you really notice the weather/heat/cold  climate  in which a book is set. Does it matter to you – would it increase your enjoyment if  the book  was set somewhere  very hot. Or do you perhaps love it when the hero and heroine are snowed in together like Karim and Clemmie?  I know lots of readers have favourite settings – but do you have favourite climates? I’d love to know.

Well, it’s time I got back to Dario and Alyse. The sun is still shining on that terrace but they’d better enjoy it for now because I’m sending them back to cold rainy England in a moment.   And guess what – as soon as they head for London and get caught in a rainstorm, the sun has started to come out here in Lincolnshire. I

can’t win!

My atest Harlequin Presents title is– A Question of Honor  which is published  on May 20 th

I've also revised and republished a Kindle edition of the 12 Point Guide To Writing Romance which  is now  available on Amazon.co.uk  or Amazon.com

You can find out more  about me  and my books on my web site or on  my blog where the latest and most up to date news is posted.

Stationary Stationery

by Anna Campbell

When I was a little kid - I'm going back to primary school here - I thought the most boring presents in the world were toiletries and stationery. Which was a pity because the relatives used to give me toiletries and stationery in droves.

Switch forward um, 20 years or so (please, humor me!), and two of my favorite things to receive as gifts are, you guessed it, toiletries and stationery!

I must admit to being a bit of a stationery nut anyway. A real treat for me is a visit to OfficeWorks, our local warehouse office supplies company. Amazing what interesting little doodads you can find in those long corridors smelling deliciously of paper. Little doodads you had no idea you wanted until you saw them in front of you begging to be bought. 

I thought today I might share some of the pretty stationery in the stationery cupboard. This year, I've made a concerted effort to write more actual letters. There's a reason the universe is showering me with all these pretty notecards.

Actually I really enjoy writing letters, but it's something that requires a bit of a mental shift, doesn't it? It's so much easier just to shoot off an email. But I think people love getting actual mail in the post - I know I do. And I'll keep letters, whereas it's just so easy to hit the delete button when it's electronic. 

I also love buying pretty stationery for people - clearly so did all those aunties and cousins when I was a wee gel! There's something really pleasurable about looking at gorgeous printed cards and thick creamy sheets of paper and wrapping them up as a present.

Luckily, my critique partners love buying people (me!) stationery, often as souvenirs of their wonderful overseas trips. Both the New York and the two Rijskmuseum sets in this blog came as booty from my friends having exciting times far away from me.

Hold on, that didn't come out quite right!

The Liberty set was a birthday present this year from a fellow historical romance writer who understands my taste to a T.

And the beautiful romantic Victorian set of notelets, a very welcome Christmas present, came from another romance writer who I know has a wonderful time picking out nice stationery as the perfect gift. We've both admitted that we tend to buy what we'd like someone else to buy for us as presents! Often those are the best gifts, aren't they?

So do you write letters still? Or have you gone completely e in your communications? Do you like stationery? Do you have a favorite style of stationery?

Beginnings and Endings :: Anne McAllister

Perhaps it’s because I’m in the middle (deep, deep in the middle) of my current book, that I’m thinking about endings and beginnings (anything but the present moment is far more appealing!)

Perhaps – and even more likely – it’s because my oldest grandson is getting his AA degree this week (I was a child grandmother),  two more grandsons are ‘graduating’ from pre-school and a granddaughter is graduating from 8th grade.

They are celebrating endings.  They’re looking back and remembering good things (even a rather recently turned five year old can say, “Remember when …” ) – and they’re looking forward to new beginnings.

They will no doubt leave part of themselves behind as they end this phase of their lives.  But a part of who they were before their graduations will be with them always. What they did then will make a difference to who they become. 

The oldest one, of course, knows this better than the others. He’s a baseball player as well as a good student. He’s worked hard both academically and in his chosen sport.  I could say that his sport chose him, because I think that that’s more likely the case.  He’s always been a baseball player, as was his father before him, and his brothers coming along behind.

But given the predilection and the talent, he’s added plenty of hard work, so that now he has been given a very good scholarship for his final two years to a school he wouldn’t have dared think about without having made that effort. One beginning leads to another.

The past leads to the future, informs the future.  It isn’t just a matter of unrelated stepping stones. These beginnings and endings build on each other.

I had an email from one of my daughters-in-law the other night talking about the same experience in her life – how she wanted to get back to the important personal reasons she had begun her medical career, how touching base with her beginning was, she hoped, going to help her make the right decisions about future work. 

It seems that way in writing, too (and not only because I’m in the middle).  I’ve always written – and it wasn’t the writing that mattered. Like my grandson and baseball, it found me rather than the other way around. But while the interest was there, like him, I had to hone my skills.  And then I had to find out, like my daughter-in-law, what I was doing the writing for.

Going back to my own beginnings has helped me do it.  What has always mattered to me is the notion of relationship.  What connects people, what they find in each other that makes them each more fully who they really are – that’s always been a major fascination for me.  When I get side-tracked by the middle or feel depleted at the end, it only takes thinking about the beginning to give me that desire to start all over. 

Maybe it’s the leitmotif that gets me from one beginning to the next.  It’s been around for a long time. It is a thread that runs through all my beginnings and endings.  It runs through my books, too.

What about you? Do you see beginnings and endings that feed on each other in your life? Or do you think about the changes in a different way?  Please share them with us.

Watch for Last Year’s Bride, coming soon from Montana Born Brides at Tule Publishing!

 

 

 

 

1) Pre-school graduation: By Gideon Tsang (Flickr) [CC-BY-SA-2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

Blissed out in Bali - Kandy Shepherd

I’ve just got back from a week of utter bliss in tropical Bali, Indonesia in honour of our twenty-fifth wedding anniversary. Just us, with no other family or friends for seven entire days.

This is the life! Waiting for lunch to be served at the resort restaurant

We reckoned that a quarter of a century of happy marriage deserved to be celebrated with a special vacation. And we couldn’t remember when we’d last gone away on a trip like this!

Our vacation was to celebrate our 25th wedding anniversary

People asked were we having a second honeymoon in the place where we had our first honeymoon. Actually, no. Our first honeymoon was three nights in a humble beach cottage that was kindly loaned to us by a friend of a friend. It was memorable for many reasons, not least of which we took our cat with us!

Tropical fruit juices were the order of the day

To tell the truth, the choice of the Bali destination was more mine than hubby’s. He’s rather more active than I am and didn’t know how he’d deal with just relaxing, reading (and in my case writing!), spa treatments, swimming, and eating wonderful food we didn’t have to cook (or clear up afterward). One thing was for sure—he refused to go shopping!

Indonesian sate with peanut sauce and red rice--the rice was something new to me and scrumptious!

Just a day into the break and he was thanking me wholeheartedly for booking the small, villa resort in Seminyak (on the west coast of the island of Bali) and giving us both a chance to wind down, relax and just talk to each other without everyday demands getting in the way.

The sunsets on the beach at Seminyak were spectacular

It was one of those vacations that I couldn’t fault—I loved every minute of it. The weather was perfect, the resort divine (The Elysian) and the Balinese people as charming and hospitable as we remembered from our first visit to Bali fourteen years ago.

A writer's work is never done--how inspiring to write under the shade of a frangipani tree!

Will Bali feature as a location in a future book? As it is such a romantic destination, I can certainly say “yes” to that!

What about you? Do you have a favorite vacation destination? Do you like a vacation packed with activities or one where you laze around? Did you have a memorable honeymoon—or second honeymoon? Please make a comment, I’d love to hear about it, and you can go in the draw for a free copy of my Harlequin Romance The Summer They Never Forgot to give away—either a mass market paperback or via an Amazon gift voucher for an e-book.

Please include your email address in your comment if you want to be included in the draw (and let me know if you prefer print or e-book.)

Kandy Shepherd writes fun, feel-good fiction.  The Summer They Never Forgot is Kandy’s first release from Harlequin Romance in the US, the UK and Australia. Watch out for her Harlequin Romance The Tycoon and the Wedding Planner to be published in July 14.

 Visit Kandy at her website

www.kandyshepherd.com

Taking it on the Chin by Joanne Walsh

When my first book, a novella entitled THE UNEXPECTED BRIDE, was published on 25th April by Montana Born Books, I was incredibly excited. It was the moment I’d dreamed of for so long.  But now it was actually happening, I also became a little fearful and anxious: my book would be up there on Amazon and if anybody did read it (which of course I really wanted them to), they might leave a review—and not necessarily a good one!  Could I deal with the criticism?

You may wonder why I was getting my knickers in a knot about getting feedback.  Well, partly because it’s kind of a boot-on-the-other-foot situation.  For years, I was the one handing out the criticism, as an editor for a well-known publishing house.  Then, I did try to be constructive and encouraging when I gave edits to authors, because that was the way to get buy-in and manuscripts revised.  But there were times when I got it wrong, usually because time pressures or frustration, and I learned the hard way how a few ill-chosen words were all that it took to crush the recipient.

But it’s also because I had witnessed authors being torn apart on internet platforms.  We’ve long been trained by famous critics of literature, film, theatre and art to expect pithy comment.  There’s a certain vicarious thrill in reading a really excoriating review.  But at least the critic is standing up and being counted. However, in our super-communicative, digital times, it’s so easy to let off steam relatively anonymously about stuff that we dislike and throw it out there into cyberspace.  If a book annoys us, it’s cathartic to have a good old nit-pick and hide behind a handle.  And there does appear to be an effect; if one person gives a sneering summary, others seem to willingly jump into the pool of poison and join in.

As it happens, I needn’t have worried: most of the reviews so far for THE UNEXPECTED BRIDE have been good and really encouraging. The criticisms have been thoughtful; real pearls of wisdom that I can take on board and use to make future books better, from genuine readers who love the romance genre, and who have generously shown support to a new writer.

Perhaps it’s a sign that the Internet is coming of age?

Joanne Walsh’s romance novella is published by Montana Born Books/Tule Publishing and is available now: http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_i_0_20?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=the+unexpected+bride&sprefix=The+Unexpected+Bride%2Cstripbooks%2C236