Christina Hollis—How Writing One Book Led To Another...

Available from The Wild Rose Press at
 http://bit.ly/1GQPIIq

Last year, I escaped the horrible winter weather by shutting myself away in the warm to write a book called His Majesty’s Secret Passion. It was published by The Wild Rose Press earlier this year. You can find out more here, and read an extract here. 

When the hero of that book, King Leo, fell in love with a girl called Sara, his personal assistant Krisia was promoted out of his life. She went to work for the king’s brother, Prince Athan.  Krisia and Athan were such a mis-matched couple, sparks were bound to fly. When readers asked me what happened to them, I knew I had to write a second book about the Princes Of Kharova.  Her Royal Risk was the result, and you can find out more about it here.

When I started brainstorming ideas for Her Royal Risk, I didn’t have much to go on. Krisia resented being pushed aside to work for Athan. He was head of the army, and everything Krisia wasn’t: loud, self-confident and full of native cunning. In contrast, she was quiet, but highly intelligent and determined.  Part of the fun of writing is to take an idea, and let your mind freewheel.

I decided that, as her father worked for the royal household, Krisia could have had lessons with the royal children. I thought back to when I was a swot, and a boy called Gary disrupted every lesson. He was noisy, defensive and could fly off the handle over nothing. He made school life hell for everybody. Nobody could figure him out. In those days, there weren’t many experts ready to identify and help children who fell behind. Gary was pretty soon excluded from school, and left to fend for himself. I met him years later, and  discovered his story had a happy ending. Gary was mad keen on fishing. When he wasn't at school, he did odd jobs at the local angling club.  One of the members had experience with kids like Gary, and a chance remark led to his problem being diagnosed. 

Knowing what was wrong was half the battle. With a lot of help and  hard work, Gary found his feet and was eventually taken on as an apprentice at an engineering firm. Once he had a job, his self-esteem went through the roof. He got married, and lived happily ever after.

I thought a variation on Gary’s story would make a good romance. Playboy Prince Athan has been a bad boy all his life—his parents’ attention was always focussed on his two older brothers, and his problems at school fed on themselves. The routine and camaraderie of military life suits him, so when life bowls him  a tricky ball, he thinks a light is about to shine into all the dark corners of his private life. He needs a personal assistant. Krisia’s the last person he wants, but she’s also the best person for the job.

Available from The Wild Rose Press
http://bit.ly/1ujX5zc

Krisia doesn’t want to be a meek housewife like her mother, who has no life outside of their home. She wants to be part of the new, modern country King Leo is building. Until she starts working with Athan, she thinks her new boss is a fool, and her new job is a demotion.  Then she discovers the prince isn't the unruly boy thrown out of the royal classroom any more. He’s a brilliant, instinctive soldier, who’s hiding the problem ruining his life behind his Alpha-male exterior. As long as he’s judged on his actions, Athan is unbeatable. Krisia is completely different. She wants everything done by the book, and properly, first time. 

I threw these two opposites together, then put them under such pressure, they had no one to turn to but each other. Krisia discovers Athan’s secret, but is there time to help him defuse an explosive situation threatening their whole country?

Everybody deserves a second chance. Athan gets it when he’s teamed with Krisia. I got my second chance when I met OH, and he showed me how amazing family life can be. 

What’s the best thing that’s ever happened to you? There’s a copy of Her Royal Risk on offer for a comment picked at random after 17th May.

Blurred Lines

Sometimes my real life creeps into my books.  For instance, I have two dogs, Ethel Merman and Ella Fitzgerald.  I'd written the Everything But... trilogy about a Hungarian grandmother who'd accidentally cursed her family to bad weddings, then she started a second trilogy where she was playing matchmaker.  I needed a way to end the series and...I don't think I'm giving too much away when I say Nana Vancy started matchmaking homeless dogs to their forever families!  She's made a couple cameos in other books fixing up families with dogs.

The dogs even made the cover...

That's just one of the many ways my real life infiltrates my writing.  I call those pieces, Easter Eggs.  They're sprinkled throughout my stories.  Some only I recognize, but some are pretty blatant so readers can find them.  Just One Thing takes places mainly on Mondays...that was an Easter Egg for my social media friends who know all about my Monday Glee!

So imagine my surprise when lines blurred and suddenly my fictional story crept into my real life!  In my new release, Carry Her Heart, the heroine has a wild garden in her backyard.  I wrote a scene I fell in love with where she's planted some milkweed and is reflecting on life in general..."Maybe we all repeatedly curl up in a chrysalis and emerge as something else entirely."  I loved that entire scene.  Frankly, though I have a big garden here, I fell in love with Piper's milkweed.  Which might explain why I found myself at a Master Gardeners' plant sale last weekend.  I have my own butterfly garden plants now...we're starting to dig them a new home today.

I'm used to my real life influencing my fiction, and when I started writing this blog, I thought I'd end by saying that now there are blurred lines and my fiction is influencing my real life...but as I wrote this, I realized that's wrong.  My writing has influenced my real life in so many ways.  There's a saying about most people live one life, but readers live hundreds (or more).  The same can be said of writing.  Whether I'm writing romantic comedies like Everything But a Dog, or emotional women's fiction/romances like Carry Her Heart, those characters live with me for months as I write them.  I literally walk a mile (or more) in their shoes.  That can't help but impact my life.

I'll keep you all posted on the butterfly garden!

Holly

The Gift of Books by Kate Walker

I had a birthday last week. That’s why I’m a bit late writing this blog today – I lost track of time – partly because I was celebrating, there were visitors coming to the house – my DH and I went out f

or a couple of days – and then my son and his fiancée came and we all went out for a meal together. It was lovely. A real family time and just the way to celebrate a birthday.

I was going to say the perfect way  - but there was another bit that was needed to make the birthday week (it stretched into a week – aren’t I lucky?) . What made the difference? Books of course!  Lots of books – in different sizes, different types,  different reasons for them arriving. And one that was planned for the future that was one of the best of all.

I suppose it’s inevitable, that people give me birthday presents that are books. After all, I’m a writer, my husband’s a writer, my friends are writers – and we’re all readers.  We’re book addicts and proud of it as the badge that came on one parcel said.   My son knows just the sort of books to pick for me – he’s very good at selecting novels that I’ll enjoy and he doesn’t just choose the ones that he hopes I will pass on to him when I’ve finished them. His book reading habit is worse than my own.  But he chooses  great ‘women’s novels’  as well as the psychological  thrillers we both enjoy.  My husband  - obviously – loves books too but I think he also loves them because they’re easy to wrap, because wrapping is not his very best skill!

I don’t mind! I love to receive a gift that is so obviously a book – another one to add to the TBR  pile. (We won’t mention the TBR list on my kindle – it would be too embarrassing.)    I even got an adult colouring in book   as an ‘anti-stress aide!’  That a wonderful multi-coloured  pack of felt-tip pens and it’s like going  back to childhood.

So, as if I didn’t have enough  books  to read in the birthday celebrations – the next thing that arrived was  a series of packages of my books – books I’ve  written that have been translated into other languages. There was the Russian edition of A Question of Honor, the Dutch version of the same book, the Danish – Norwegian,  Swedish and Finn translations of A Throne For The Taking.  But perhaps the best ‘present’ that I had where my books were concerned was the acceptance of my newest and latest novel – the one I’d been working on the revisions for in the run up to my birthday.  So just before the ‘big day’ dawned I got the wonderful

 news that my editor  had loved the revisions – she loved the book  - and she was accepting it for publication. So my 64th title  Destined For The Desert King will be published in December.

And – do you know what made the whole set of books , books  and more books even more perfect ? That’s the fact that because  this book had been accepted – it meant  that I now have a bit of breathing time – a free space  to settle back and actually read to my heart’s content. Just for this week. I’m loving it! 

Now that’s a real gift to give a reader.   But I’m  a writer too – and  I’ve had the time to relax and read and  . . .guess what . .  there are a new hero and heroine who are  whispering in my thoughts and  demanding that I think about telling their story . . . So  that’s the end of my peace and quiet . But I suppose I wouldn’t have it any other way.

Books – I just love them, whichever way they come into my life and fill up my days!

The 63rd book of mine  Olivero's Outrageous Proposal was out in April.

And the 12 Point Guide To Writing Romance is now available on Kindle.  And I've recently revised and republished that in a brand new paperback edition that's cheaper than the original one.

You can catch up with all of Kate's news on her website  or on her blog.  You can also find her on her author page on Facebook.

Saluting Mothers! -- Anne McAllister

This blog is a little late in the day because we've been celebrating Mother's Day (and yesterday I wasn't anywhere that the computer could get a signal).

Things have been a little fraught here lately.  Changes are coming, and thinking about that in conjunction with Mother's Day has made me think of a lot of the changes in the lives of mothers I know -- and how they handled them.

My maternal great-grandmother picked up her life and moved to Butte, Montana from England to follow her miner husband, bringing with her two little girls.  She liked civilization. She didn't get a lot of it in late nineteenth-century Butte.  She coped. With grace.

My maternal grandmother grew up in Butte.  She didn't have a lot of expectations. Good thing, too, as she was never disappointed.  She was strong, resilient, worked like a horse, and gave her daughters a role model they revered.

She gave her grandchildren her time, her interest, her unwavering support, and her unswerving faith.  We couldn't have asked for better.

My mother had high expectations. Some of them were disappointed.  She learned how to deal with them, how to be kind in the face of adversity, how to take the higher road,
and do what needed to be done.

Another great-grandmother left Germany with two little girls to marry a man in Iowa with three little children.  I suspect her brother suggested the marriage.  She and her prospective husband had never met.  It took a leap of faith and real desperation to make that kind of move.

Another made a home in the literal wilds of west Texas for her husband, children and an increasing number of grandchildren who came to 'visit' and whom she ended up raising.

All of them met challenges with determination and inner strength.  They gave me lots of family values on which to build my own life.

I see my daughter meeting challenges every day that I never had to face. She does so with fortitude and grace and a wry wit that makes me terribly proud of her.  Earlier this month I watched my daughters-in-law, each in her own way, do wonderful things which will make their own children stronger as they grow up.

These women all embody the sorts of women I write as heroines in my books.  They are the sorts of women I admire --- independent yet nurturing, resilient yet flexible, strong and capable, understanding and at the same time challenging.  They are supportive, but they are never doormats. They have individual goals, but they also share goals with their husbands and families -- and they bring out the best in all of them.

So, happy Mother's Day to all the mothers.  May you all feel about your own mother the way I feel, the way my six year old grandson, Henk, feels.  He wrote to his mother this morning, "Of all the moms in the world, I got the best!"

What's your most special memory about your mom?  Please share with us.

From Paradise to…Pregnant! - Kandy Shepherd

People often ask me where I get my ideas for my stories. The answer is from anywhere and everywhere—I’ve even dreamed the start of a book!

But I have a very clear memory of what inspired my June release for Harlequin Romance From Paradise to…Pregnant!

US cover for From Paradise to...Pregnant!

 My initial inspiration for heroine, feisty Zoe Summers and international soccer star Mitch Bailey’s story was a couple I noticed in a hotel where I was staying. (Beware—writers are always people-watching and taking notes!)

The man was drop-dead handsome, and confident and charming with it. Maybe he was someone famous that I didn’t recognise—who knows? His wife was very plain and reserved though elegantly dressed. He obviously adored her and couldn’t keep his eyes off her. She positively glowed with the aura of a well-loved woman. Just looking at them together made this romance writer smile!

It made me want to write a story about two people who seem to be total opposites with the odds stacked against them—and Zoe and Mitch came to life.

UK cover for From Paradise to...Pregnant!

 Then I thought about how interesting it might be if they had met before—say at school—but were never likely to meet again as their lives had gone in such very different directions. And then what if they were thrown together by a natural disaster—trapped in an earthquake, for instance? To make it more interesting, what if there had been unfinished business from the past between them?

So I put Zoe and Mitch on the tropical island of Bali, unbeknown to each other staying in the same resort. Then an earth tremor hits…  Maybe they seek comfort in each other’s arms—and maybe that adds a whole lot of complications they weren’t expecting that take them from one side of the world to the other!

I thoroughly enjoyed getting these seeming misfits together. 

Have you ever had a disaster happen on your vacation? Or something surprising?

I’m giving away two signed, paperback copies of From Paradise to…Pregnant! Make a comment to be in the draw. Please include your email address if you want to be included in the draw.

 From Paradise to…Pregnant! will be released on June 02, 2015 and is available for pre-order now.

Kandy Shepherd is an award-winning author of contemporary romance and women’s fiction. She lives on a small farm in the

Blue Mountains near Sydney, Australia, with her family and a menagerie of four-legged friends.

Visit Kandy at her website

www.kandyshepherd.com

Connect with Kandy on Facebook and Twitter

Toto...We're Not In Kansas

I've lived in Florida, Illinois, Texas and California so I'm used to natural disasters.  I've weathered several back-to-back hurricanes in Central Florida and luckily never experienced anything more than a slight tremor in Cali but in Texas we got tornadoes.  Big old scary ones that made me keep our storm closet empty.  And I'm a hoarder so that was a big challenge in itself.

The thing I don't like about them is they are random.  They are unpredictable and the early warning system is getting better all the time but there is still the fact that the tornado can destroy one house and leave the one right next to it perfectly in tact.

So when Eve Gaddy and I were trying to come up with a place to start our new novella WHERE THERE'S A WILL, I suggested with a tornado.  Because let's face it if I'm going to be staring down something scary like a big old twister, I'd want to be in the storm closet with a hot guy.

Wouldn't you??

Here's a teaser from Where There’s A Will.

            “Come over here,” he said. He held up one arm and gestured for her to move over next to him.

            There was so much strength in Ryder. She freely admitted that was one of the reasons she was attracted to him. That strength wasn’t just physical but also part of his core. He had a strong moral fibre that was hard to shake.

            “Why?” she asked.

            “I hate seeing you look as if you are trying to disappear into the wall,” he said.

            “I’m fine,” she said. She’d been weak earlier and look where it had gotten her.

            Where had it gotten her? More confused than ever. Afraid of Ryder?

            “Am I really scarier than the storm?” he asked. That whiskey smooth voice of his brushing over her senses and making her want to forget her gut instincts which said getting closer to him was a dumb idea.

            But she did it anyway. She’d grown up in the Barrels which, let’s face it, had seemed like one big dare to make it to adulthood. And she never backed down. Maybe she could just brazen her way through the next few minutes or hours until the storm abated and they got out of here.

            She tipped her head to the side to study him. His face was strong—there it was again—strength. It was hard to see him as the kind of man who wasn’t trustworthy. And she’d never really trusted anyone.

            But she’d kissed him twice. That had to mean something. She never let her guard down twice. And even allowing for the storm that still meant that he was different.

            “I’m not scared of you, Ryder.”

            “Really? Sure seems that way to me,” he said. “I offer you comfort and you stay huddled in the corner. Looks like you’re scared...maybe it’s not me you’re scared of but yourself. Your lack of willpower.”

            Damn he was good. Turning the tables back on her. “I was thinking of you.”

            “Do tell,” he said dryly.

            “Just trying to help keep you from giving in to temptation. You did seem pretty adamant about doing things right,” she said.

            She watched him carefully but he was too good a lawyer to give anything away. She knew that once they were out of this closet reality would intrude and she’d remember that she was leaving. And Ryder wasn’t going anywhere.

            And she wanted him.

            His kisses were hotter than most of the other embraces she’d experienced. He made her laugh with his dry wit, and he was smart. All the things she liked in a man.

            “What are you implying?”

            “That this closet and the storm are throwing you off your game.”

            “Off my game?” he asked, shifting around as if he were getting ready to move.

            She nodded her head and conjured up her most sympathetic look. “It could happen to any guy.”

            He stared at her a moment before laughing. “Nice try. I was being a gentleman, Addison,” he said. “You and I have been dancing around each other since Christmas. Hell, if we’re being honest, since the day you walked into my office answering my ad. And I thought it might be nice to do this thing properly. Dinner, dancing and then see where the night leads.”

            He stood and walked over to her then crouched down next to her in the closet. He was so close the scent of his aftershave wrapped around her and all she could hear was the soft inhalations of her own breath and the heavy beating of her heart.

            “But if you have a better idea, I’m all for it.”

What about you?  What are you most afraid of? 

I feel like I should confess I'm also terrified of snakes and when I'm home in Florida where there are tons of them, I often just call out "Dad's with me." Nothing bad can ever happen when my dad's with me!

Leave a comment below to be entered to win a $10 Amazon gift card!

***Katherine's winner is Anita H!  Please email totebag@authorsoundrelations.com with your mailing details!!***

May blossom

May is absolutely my favourite month. It's when all that hard work we put in back in September comes to fruition and there are pots and beds overflowing with flowers.

At least, that's the plan. This year we had a wonderfully warm April so everything was a bit early, but winter was shortened - always a bonus - and here's what we've been able to sit out and enjoy

And here are the grandchildren in woods, enjoying the early flush of bluebells!

Addison Fox: The Fall

I finished up copy edits on my October manuscript this morning, delighted at several spots where my editor had made smiley faces in the manuscript. This book was a toughie and it was especially satisfying to get this one over the finish line.

Some books write hard and some write easy and this one was definitely in the former category. There was something about this hero and heroine. I’ve had them sparring with each other for the past two books and now that it was their turn to find happy ever after, they clammed up on me.

Fortunately, I knew them well. Even more fortunately, my editor had a keen eye to what I was missing. Namely….they needed time to fall. Not down, although since this is a romantic suspense that does happen.

But fall in love.

The problem was, in my mind, they were already there. They’ve known each other for some time, bickering with a smoldering intensity that any right-thinking soul would label as verbal foreplay. Their best friends have gotten together and are already on the way to their own forevers. And, well, it’s the third book in a series - (sorry, spoiler alert) - OF COURSE THEY’RE GETTING TOGETHER!!

So what was taking the two of them so long?

Part of what I love about being a writer is working with an editor. They see the manuscript with both the fresh eyes of the reader and the sharp of eyes of someone who understands what’s needed to make the work better. Sure, I know Max and Violet are destined for each other and my readers likely know it, too.  But now that they’re getting their own story, it’s essential I make that fall fun, exciting and well-paced.

After all, the fall is the reason we keep turning the pages. That slide into love is what keeps us coming back for more and whether the hero and heroine are life-long friends or people who’ve known each other only a short while, we readers want to see each and every moment of their love story.

The reader in me knows that. But the writer in me needs a good reminder every now and again!

Thanks for joining me today.

XOXO,

Addison

Despite early ambitions of being a diver, a drummer or a doctor, Addison Fox happily discovered she was more suited to life as a writer. She lives in Dallas and - thankfully - doesn't have to operate on anyone. You can find her at her home on the web at www.addisonfox.com. Her latest book, SECRET AGENT BOYFRIEND, is out now from Harlequin Romantic Suspense. You can visit her at her website at www.addisonfox.com

CJ Carmichael: Cleaning & Purging

Salutations!

It’s May. I can’t believe it. April was a blur of writing for me. Today I’m putting the final touches on Forgotten before sending it off to my editor. My publishing team should have the book out by May 21 and I’m very excited about that.

The few times I’ve poked my head out of my writing cave the past while have been to deal with the renovations Mike is supervising around here. We’ve re-done the ceilings, painted, and updated our kitchen sink and island. It’s all part of my natural inclination to clean & purge before summer comes. (And then I just want to be outside!)

Part of the purging process this year, is reducing the number of backlist books I have stored in boxes in the basement. They’re not doing any good there! So I’m working hard to give away as many as I can.

If you’d like to help me with this, please sign up for my newsletter—I draw names from that list all the time and send surprise packages of autographed backlist books.

Or, if you happen to work or volunteer or frequently visit a senior’s care home, please send me an email through my website and give me the address of the care home and I’ll send them some books.

Do you get swept up by Spring Cleaning plans? If so, what are you focusing on this year?

Happy Cleaning & Purging!

CJ Carmichael

Roxanne Snopek: On Hopes and Dreams, Overcoming Fears… and The Best Chicken Ever

If you’re like me, you’re always looking for fast, delicious but mostly easy recipes. I never roast chicken in the oven, but throughout the year, we roast chicken on the barbeque and I guarantee, it’s the most flavorful, moist bird you’ll ever taste.

It’s so good, I put it on the menu of the dinner-dance in my latest release, CINDERELLA’S COWBOY. In this fun novella, Cynthia, my stuttering, irrepressible wallflower heroine has to arrange the details of a fundraiser for cowboy-playboy Chad, who makes her believe in magic even though they are complete opposites.

Compared to overcoming fears, dreams coming true and little lost kittens, the chicken is pretty unimportant. But nevertheless, here’s the recipe. Try it. You’ll love it! (Need the roaster? Read on!)

Beer-Can Chicken

You will need:

A barbeque

A beer-can-chicken roaster

A roasting chicken

A can of beer – can also be soda, lemonade or any flavorful beverage.

Olive oil

Montreal Chicken Spice (lemon pepper or any barbeque rub would work fine, too)

How to do it:

Fire up the Barbie, nice and hot. Drink half a beer, saving the other half in the can. Slather a nice gloss of olive oil on your chicken, then sprinkle it with generously with your seasoning. Set the can in the roaster device. Prop that baby (watch out, it’ll be slippery) onto the can, ie: insert can into chicken. Yes, it looks mildly disturbing.

Turn the front burner off, but keep the back burner on, so that you’ve got a fairly hot (how’s that for specific?) barbeque. Set the chicken-and-device onto the front part of the barbeque, so that it cooks on indirect heat. Close lid. Pop another beverage and do something else for an hour or so while your chicken cooks.

Check on it occasionally to make sure it’s not burning. You may need to adjust the temperature or the position of the chicken. It’s important it doesn’t sit directly over the heat.

When the skin is a deep, dark, golden brown, the thigh bone moves easily in the socket and only clear juice comes out when you poke it, your meat is done.

Remove it carefully from the barbeque, then even more carefully, grab it with tongs and pull it off its beer-can perch. Put it on a warm plate and cover with foil for ten minutes or so, so the juices retreat back into the meat. Then, carve and serve.

Note: do not drink the hot beer. Actually, try not to look at it when you pour it down the sink. It’s pretty disgusting.

Now: I’ve got a beer-can roaster to give away to one lucky commenter. So tell me what you think: have you ever tasted beer chicken before? Have you ever cooked it? Do you want to try it?

Kathleen O'Brien: DOCTOR, LAWYER…RANCHER, PRINCE?

If you could place a custom order for that one special man, would you choose a rancher or a prince?  At first blush, the decision probably seems fairly easy.  Those two men are very different in almost every way, right?

And yet, if you’re like me, your choice couldn’t ever be made that way. If you’re like me, Mr. Right’s occupation isn’t important.  Falling in love is all about character and chemistry.  If you’re lucky enough to find a man who can make you feel rock-solid secure and champagne-bubble giddy, both at the same time, you’re probably not going to quibble about labels.

Over the past two weeks, I’ve had two new releases—both with heroes I adored.  Grant Campbell, the horse-breeder hero of THE RANCHER’S DREAM, which is a May release from Harlequin SuperRomance, is steady, nurturing and deeply connected to his Colorado land.  He’s a bit of a loner, a wounded heart who isn’t sure he’s ready to risk it all again.  Ronan Vicenza, the hero of HIS DEFIANT PRINCESS, which just came out from Tule Publishing, is witty, cosmopolitan and privileged.  He’s the free-spirited second son of the royal family, a heartthrob who charms the common sense out of every woman he dates.

So how could I fall so completely in love with both heroes?  Well, as dissimilar as they seem on the surface, these men also have much in common.  They’re both profoundly loyal, especially to family.  They’re smart, honest (even when it hurts), and unfailingly kind.  They’re strong, physically and emotionally, and will always protect their own.  They’re both willing to completely remake their worlds for the women they love.

Here’s a sneak peak at them.  I hope you agree that, royalty or commoner, they’re men who know how to treat a woman right.

GRANT CAMPBELL, FROM THE RANCHER’S DREAM:

“When you told Stefan you weren’t sure you wanted to sell, I thought maybe you were…you were just…”

She twisted her mouth sideways, clearly trying to think how to say it.

He smiled down at her. “Just being a jealous ass?”

She gave him a quizzical glance. “No. I was going to say I assumed you were just playing hardball.” She looked down at her fingers and toyed absently with the metal brace. “Besides, why would you be jealous? You know there’s nothing between…”

“Between you and me. Yeah, I know.” The words sounded harsher than he’d meant them to.

Crimson glanced up at him, her smile crooked again. “You know, Grant, you really should stop finishing my sentences, especially since you don’t have a clue what I’m planning to say. I was going to point out that there’s nothing between Stefan and me.”

He took a deep breath, and then let it out in a chuckle. He loved the sassy way she called baloney on people. It was one of the qualities that had always made her such a good friend. When she was ticked, she didn’t smolder and pout and give off smoke signals that were impossible to decipher.

She just informed you of your jerk status and expected you to shape up.

RONAN VICENZA, FROM HIS DEFIANT PRINCESS:

“Look, Brenna…I don’t blame you for wanting nothing to do with me. I was a bastard. I know that, and I don’t have any excuses to offer. I lied to you. I took advantage of you. And then, when I had to leave, I didn’t even have the courage to explain.  I didn’t have the guts to say goodbye.”

She kept her eyes focused just beyond his right ear, staring at one of the Vicenzas on the wall.  What did he want her to say? Yes. You were a bastard, and you broke my heart, and I don’t know how to forget. Or forgive.

“I’m not asking you to forgive me,” he said, as if he had read her mind.

“Good.” She’d been reaching for cool sarcasm, but the word came out broken and wounded.  She caught her breath and tightened her jaw.  She wanted to pull away, but she felt paralyzed by the heat of his hands, even though they rested so lightly on her shoulders.

He bent his head, so that their gazes were level, and for a minute it was as if he could see right through into her…into her brain, her heart, her soul, wherever her secrets were hidden.

“I’m not asking for forgiveness.  But I am asking you to put your anger aside for now. This is bigger than that summer. Bigger than us. Emory needs your help, Brenna. Cornetta needs help. You can go right back to hating me afterward, if you want, but please…don’t punish them for my mistakes.”

I’d love to hear what makes a man “hero material” for you.  I’m giving away a $10 Amazon gift certificate, as well as a digital copy of both books, to a randomly chosen commenter, so please do take a minute and share! J


***Kathleen's winner is JCP Smith!  Please email totebag@authorsoundrelations.com with your mailing details!!***