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Cover and News!

very pleased to report that my editor is on board with my Chiang Mai story! Coffee and Cupcakes for all!!

Also, the lovely Leah Ashton found the cover for our forthcoming anthology Mills and Boon Loves… It’s it gorgeous?

I am honored to share a book with Barbara, Aimee and Leah. Fabulous ladies, all of them! This is also the very first cover for Aimee and Leah and I’m so excited to share THAT with them too. 😉 May it be the first of many!

The book that I have featured in this anthology is called The Petrov Proposal. The heroine is Madeline Forrester, who some of you will have met in Marriage Made on Paper. If you remember, poor Maddy was caught in a sex scandal! Five years on and she’s done her best to put distance between herself and unsavory headlines. But she’s having more trouble keeping distance between herself and her sexy boss, famed jewelry designer Aleksei Petrov.

I had so much fun writing Aleks and Maddy’s story and I hope you all enjoy it!

Also, have to share this! I had the opportunity to meet the whole M&B Loves crew in NYC and we got this great picture (provided by Nikki Logan) at the Harlequin Party! We clean up pretty nice, don’t we? 😉

Fun Stuff!

Fun stuff that’s happened over the past couple of days…

Right now I have a blog up at Mills and Book UK where I talk about redemption, skin and The Highest Price to Pay: Come visit me there and leave a comment! I would appreciate the company. 🙂

Also, I found out yesterday that my September US release (Available from eharlequin August 1st!!) got a 4 1/2 star review from Romantic Times!

“Gage hires Lily’s company to do damage control whenever the opportunity presents itself. An unapologetic misogynist, Gage is taken aback by Lily’s aggressive business practices. It isn’t long before the two recognize their undeniable attraction. Gage’s overall transformation and growth is terrific and Lily’s strength would make any woman proud.”

Love it! My favorite line is about Lily’s strength, because to me, she was the epitome of a strong woman who set out to make things happen in her own life, rather than waiting for things who happen to her.

She’s what my writer friend Lisa Hendrix calls ‘a self-rescuing princess’. 😉

My Two New Books!

I love strong characters. Characters who, from moment one, have attitudes, clear strong voices, a precise look and clear conflicts. I don’t get those characters often. Normally I have to poke and prod my characters to get them to share anything with me!

But not Lily Ford. I saw Lily very clearly in my head almost as soon as I hit send on my third book, The Inherited Bride. Lily, in my mind, was a stunning brunette with berry colored lipstick and matchign manicure. Her hair was tied back in a bun. She had on a black tailored skirt and jacket. And blue high heels.

She liked shoes. And make-up. And she was a strong, driven business woman who valued independence and image.

I knew I had to write her book, and fortunately, the perfect man for her walked into my mind soon after she did. Her boss, Gage Forrester. Witty with a ruthless edge that he keeps hidden beneath a casual demeanor.

I sat down and started writing, and they took over. They had so much to say to each other. Their book was a real joy to write because they were SO strong that it wasn’t difficult to let the book be driven by their characters.

I like to describe their book as His Girl Friday meets Two Weeks Notice. With a dash of Thailand and sex on the beach thrown in for good measure!

I’m very excited that Gage and Lily’s story, MARRIAGE MADE ON PAPER, is out here in North America in September! As always, it will be available for order and download from eharlequin on August 1st.

I also have a book out in the UK right now, THE HIGHEST PRICE TO PAY and I’ve gotten two nice bits of feedback recently that I wanted to share.

RLA left a fab review on her blog, and here’s a quote from that review! “From the very first page I could really feel the weight on each of the characters hearts, as well as the web of sexual tension the author spins around them. The plot is riveting and really well written, as are both of the characters. I loved how tortured Blaise is and how he realises his past mistakes but doesn’t make excuses for his behaviour. Ella is a wonderful heroine, the perfect mix of bravado and sadness.”

And just today, Karin Baine wrote to me on Twitter and said this: “Just finished ‘The Highest Price to Pay’ you really made me wanna cry for Ella and Blaise- poor tortured souls! Really moving”

And also: “‘The Highest Price to Pay’ – Love is colour-blind and so is a fantastically-written romance”

I really loved that quote. Partly because there has been a bit of controversy regarding this book, the cover, either the UK cover for its boldness, or the AUS cover for it’s less-than-bold approach. But just as a hero is a hero, not because of the color of his skin, or in spite of it, but because of the characteristics he possesses, I hope this book touches people, not because of the cover, but the contents.

Unfortunately, some (and by that I mean one person who wrote me claiming to represent a group of readers) were put off by the fact that I have a character of African descent in this book. To that I say: Sidney Poitier came to dinner in 1967. Why are we still having this discussion?

So there you are. My two new books! I hope you all enjoy them both. 😀 And thanks to RLA and Karin for the lovely words.

Winners and a Cover!

All right, first things first…I have run names through a random number picker…and the winners for Marriage Made on Paper are….*drum roll*

Nardia, Erin K. and Pearl!

So use the contact for and send me your pertinent details, ladies so I can send you on a copy!

Next order of business…

I am finally allowed to share the Australian (same image will be used on the US cover, most likely) of The Highest Price to Pay! I think it’s a really beautiful cover. I have (yet again) uber hair envy of my heroine and frankly, diamond envy!

Girl on a Diamond Pedestal and More Giveaway!

Today felt quite milestoney! I sold my 10th Presents, Girl on a Diamond Pedestal, release TBA.

I’m always excited about my books, so it’s silly and redundant to say I’m excited about this one…but I am!

First off, there’s the hero, my belived Aussie, Ethan Grey. I found him so incredibly fun to write, and of course, he’s wickedly sexy. What’s hotter than a quick wit, I ask you? 😉

Now Noelle, the heroine, was quite different for me, and that made her a bit of a challenge to work with. She had been quite beaten down by an overbearing stage mother, and so much of the book is about her finding her strength and her value, outside of the life of fame that’s slipped from her grasp. At twenty-two, she’s a has been, a woman with an entire career behind her and an unknown future in front of her.

Sort of fun mixture of heroines I have, as Lily’s story, Marriage Made on Paper, is coming out in North American in September! (on shelves last week of August-ish)

Now Lily is a woman who knows just what she wants, and just how to get it. She knows that image is everything, and, from her tailored suits to her colorful high-heels, she’s crafted a perfect exterior that no one can crack!

Well, except for her boss, Gage Forrester…

And speaking of, I happened to get author copies in the mail today! (I’m in book heaven!) So that means…giveaway time! Leave a comment to get your name entered to win a copy of Marriage Made on Paper!

And here’s a little teaser…

“This is inappropriate,” she said, horribly conscious of the fact that her voice was as shaky and jittery as her whole body felt.

“Would you rather I danced with Cookie?”

“Maybe not, but I’m enjoying it.”

Marriage Made on Paper releases in September, and is part of the 21st Century Bosses mini-series…21st Century Bosses: Impossible, infuriating and utterly irresistible!

No Sir, I Don’t Like It

I feel that way about each and every one of my books several times during the writing of them. It’s this strange and mystical thing I like to call…”My Process”.

My Process includes much pacing, eating of cookies, angsting, drinking caffeinated beverages, etc. It also includes…

I SUCK. THIS SUCKS. I SUCK SO BAD!!! *wails*

Now, there are times when this is your gut telling you something. (Lynn Raye Harris just blogged about similar) But there are, I have learned, also natural points in a MS when I just feel this way. How can you tell the difference? Sadly, I think you have to write through it.

Writing through that terror is something that I’ve had to learn to do. It’s not natural. What I want to do when I feel that way is CRAWL INTO A HOLE. I am an imposter. I am the great pretender of romance novelists. I have no business trying to write a book. Cue cookie eating, angsting, etc.

I haven’t figured out a way to NOT feel this way while I’m writing. If I do, it will probably mean I have taken up drinking. And in that case, the pain will not be gone, it will simply be dulled by a blissful haze of alcohol.

But what I have figured out is that it’s not allowed to win. It is not allowed to claim my writing day, it is not allowed to bum me out. It has to lose, because my book HAS TO GET DONE.

So when I start that scene and I think…oh blah! This is dreck! I am awful! *pounds fists on wall* *chucks toys out of buggy* I write it anyway. Because, and I tell myself this the whole way through, I can stop if I’m wrong. I can delete it if it’s bad, but WRITE THE WORDS, DUFUS! (I’m talking to myself. I am mean to myself. I took my cookies AWAY from myself for being such a whiny crybaby)

Do you know what I’ve discovered? 9 times out of 10, I don’t have to delete it. I may have to go back and deepen it, make it a little less blerg, but I usually manage to get the right thing down, more or less. And that’s better than getting up from the chair and wasting a whole work day. Conquering the mountain, even if it’s tough, is much better than standing at the bottom saying you can’t, or shouldn’t, or don’t wanna.

So yeah, all that said, sometimes you have to power through it. And sometimes you have to commit to writing recklessly. You can always edit the crap later. I think Nora said that. Nora’s a smart cookie.

mmm…cookies!

Sweet Inspiration!

I’m getting the ball rolling on Presents #11, The Coffee Magnate’s story. Really enjoying pulling together inspiration for this book. The locations I’ve decided on are GORGEOUS (and a possible excuse to go to San Francisco for a couple of days?) and having such beautiful imagery swirling around in my head really helps get me excited about a MS!

I don’t always have celebrities cast in the roll of my characters, but this time…i do! The always handsome Andy Whitfield is cast as my hero. (why yes, he has inspired two of my other heroes. What of it? O_O)

And for my heroine, I chose Isla Fisher, who has such a sweet look about her.

My hero is the owner of a massive (Starbucks level massive) chain of coffee houses, and my heroine conceptualizes the recipes for all of the sweets that appear in the shops. (at least that’s how it works at this point…but it’s early days!) But in honor of my heroine’s profession, I took the kids off to The Cupcake Company yesterday to taste, and take pictures of, some real life inspiration! We have some seriously gourmet cupcakes! Strawberries and Cream, German Chocolate, Boston Cream. And then there were the ones we didn’t try! The Chunky Monkey (peanut butter frosting, banana cake and chocolate filling!) and the Grasshopper! (chocolate with mint frosting.)

After indulging in THAT bit of research, I got to indulge in more location research. I’ve used Thailand as a location in a book before and was completely captivated by the scenery. And for this book, I wanted to return there, but not to the coast this time, to Chiang Mai. Chiang Mai is the ideal place to grow coffee and tea, so it wasn’t hard to think of a reason my hero and heroine might have to go there…

And once they’re there…well, what happens in Chiang Mai doesn’t stay in Chiang Mai. 

Loving writing this one (and researching it!) so far, and it’s helping get my mind off of the wait for Girl on a Diamond Pedestal! (*bites nails*)

So here are some pictures that inspire me…what inspires you?

Some Stuff About My Process

My process is a fluid and strange thing. I don’t think I’ve ever had a book work exactly the same as the one before it. Some ideas come in fully formed, while others are just little germs that I have to add moisture to and stick in a damp cupboard so they can grow more spores. (lovely imagery!)

Disclaimer: The following post has not been evaluated by the FDA, not only that, it’s personal to me, as always. It guarantees nothing except general rambling.

I just turned in revisions for Presents #10 (Girl on a Diamond Pedestal, AKA The Aussie, release date TBA) and now I’m getting ready to start on the fourth and final book of my current contract.

At the beginning of this contract, I was asked to submit four proposals, one for each book on the contract. And I was asked that one fit a specific theme so that it could be a part of the One Night In… series.

So I submitted different outlines, each one between one and three pages, to give my editor an idea of what I was thinking of doing for the year.

I’m a horrible outliner, FYI. My outlines are made of suck and broken dreams, and it is entirely possible there is one floating around in the ether that includes the phrase ‘cowboy baby daddy’.

But since I am A) not a plotter and B) not a terribly strong synopsis writer, I try to keep it short and to the point. I focus on set-up, character and internal conflict. The fine niggly details are hard for me to pin down, since I don’t have a laundry list of scenes in my head that I’m aiming for. But I find that if I can sell strong characters, an interesting initial set-up and the promise of a solid conflict, that’s usually enough!

In fact, interesting point, my shortest outline was the one my editor asked me to write first, and my most detailed outline (and by detailed, I mean it was filled with ‘and then this will happen and they will do and that will make this happen and then after that this will happen’) was the one that was met with the most Meh response.

In my experience, the ‘they do this, then they do this’ is MUCH LESS IMPORTANT than the characters themselves, their goal, motivation and conflict.

So then typically (this step got skipped a couple of times this contract) I’ll write a partial after my editor has had a look at the outline. The reason I do the partial still (not everyone does, for various and valid reasons) is that I find if I can nail the beginning it cuts down on my revisions pretty significantly once I have the full completed.

Then I revise the partial according to my editor’s notes, and continue on with the full. After which there will be more revisions almost certainly! XD

Right now, I’m getting started on my new MS (#11!! EGADS!!) and hope to have the partial ready to go to my editor sometime next week. (that will all depend on how well these character behave, The Coffee Magnate was my most luke-warmly received outline, and while I have completely revamped the idea, I’m having trouble getting a handle on these characters!)

So that’s a little bit on how I’ve worked with my editor since going to contract! If anyone has any questions, feel free to ask in the comments!

Winners!

I have drawn my winners using a random name picker online…all results are all official and stuff.

The winners are…

Karin and Alison!

You can send me your deets via my contact form!

I always wish EVERYONE could win. I hate having to just draw a couple of names. :/ but I’ll be running another contest soon for my next north American release Marriage Made on Paper…so check back soon!

Giveaway Time!

My author copies of The Highest Price to Pay came in the mail today…and that means it’s giveaway time!

I’m giving you two chances to win. You can comment here, and you can comment on the Sassy Sisters blog too to double your chances of winning!

I always, ALWAYS love seeing my books in print, but this one is my favorite. The cover is gorgeous, and I love the golden ‘book of the month’ seal. Makes me feel all special.

This book is extra special to me too. It’s the last one I did with the editor that bought me, and she and my husband share a joint dedication in it. 😉

It was such an emotional book for me to write, for many, many reasons. But the biggest reason was that the characters. They needed a happy ending so badly, and I wanted to make sure they had it.

Here’s a little teaser from The Highest Price to Pay:

“Don’t,” she said, her voice sharp. She started to walk away from him.

“Don’t?” He caught her hand and drew her back to him. She complied, but he imagined she only did so because every eye in the room was trained on him. His sex life was a constant fascination to the public, and any woman he was seen with was assumed to be a lover. He couldn’t remember the last time it hadn’t been true.

No one ever…no one had ever touched them like that. The way he moved his thumb over the marks on her hand, the way he’d stroked her neck.

Only one man had ever put his hands on her scars, and that had only been with the intent of humiliating her, which he very thoroughly had.

Her mother and father had stopped touching her altogether after the fire. No loving embraces, no casual brushes of their hands. Nothing but cold distance as they wrapped themselves in their guilt. Even her pain became about them.

The soft, hot graze of Blaise’s fingers had hit her with the force of an electric shock, shook her out of her thoughs, tiny sparks of sensation continuing along her veins well after the initial contact. And then she had looked at him. At the smooth, mahogany perfection of his skin. She had been reminded then, of why she shouldn’t let him touch her.

Don’t forget to comment for your chance to win a copy! (open to everyone, as always!)

Revisions and Release Week!

After a week away from the computer, I was more than ready to chain myself back to the keyboard and get back in to writing. Writing is more than a job for me, it’s my passion, and after spending all that time with my fellow writers, I was charged up and ready to work the moment my strappy sandaled feet hit Oregon soil!

So it worked out then, that I had a sooper sekrit project to get sent to Place and that I had revisions Monday morning for the Aussie!

Had a lovely chat with my editor Tuesday and I’m in the middle of this strange process where I’m changing a the hero’s motivation. It’s making that element SO much stronger but right at the moment it feels a bit like Frankenbook. (GIVE MY CREATION LIFE!!!)

Also, it’s release week for me! The Highest Price to Pay is now available in print and ebook on the Mills and Boon UK site, it’s shipping in print from Amazon UK and it’s available for Pre-order on Kindle. It will be in stores on July 15th in the UK. (Confused? I am.)

I am SO excited to have this book out. I feel very passionately about it, and it was great to sit and chat with our executive editor at Nationals, because she was so very passionate about it too, and about the GORGEOUS cover I was given for the book.

A few months back I did a post on the subject of redemption, and he was the hero on my mind at the time. He needs redemption, and yet he feels so beyond the point of even being able to ask for it. So he’s continued on down the wrong road because he simply feels it’s too late for him to turn back.

But Ella, my heroine, saw more in him than that. She was willing to take his hand and lead him back the right way.

That’s one thing I loved so much about working with these characters. They had a bit of a business rivalry going from page one (or more accurately, he seized control of Ella’s company, and she had a BIG problem with that!) but personally, they really moved each other forward and built each other up. It made it such a rewarding book to write. I loved that them being together gave the other strength, made them better.

And it has one of my favorite scenes I’ve ever written. It involves a beautiful setting, a yacht and a rose. But you’ll to read the book to get more details. 😉

New York, New York!

I have finally come out of my conference coma and am able to share pics and stories from this year’s RWA Nationals conference! (If you click on the pics, you can see larger versions of them. Formatting this many in a post is blerg!!)

I had a wonderful time! Meeting up with old friends from last year, meeting new ones this year! (Side note, I seem to be famous mostly for twitter. Everyone who got a book from me at the literacy signing knew me from there! Do with that info what you will…)

It’s so wonderful to get together with other writers and talk about…well, things that writers get! I loved sitting in a group of people and being able to say, “And then I found out my heroine was keeping a secret from me!” and having NO ONE look at me like I had just sprouted a four point antler. No, these people get characters that have minds of their own. And hero torture. They totally get the hero torture. Bwahaha.

And they also get why a man standing on a balcony overlooking the Harlequin party might give one an idea for a book. (I had to take a picture of him because…well, the whole Smoldery McSmolderson thing had my imagination going, and I wasn’t the only one!)

Speaking of the Harlequin Party…it was amazing! We got dancing socks (because all the amazing heels tend to get ditched a couple of songs in, because let me tell you, we dance!) and they are my new favorite thing (it doesn’t take much to make me happy) But they have the Harlequin logo on them and I just think they’re SO MUCH FUN. I shall wear them when I tackle my Aussie revisions (which is a whole different story all together!)

One of my favorite things about the party was the candy. Not because it was so tasty (but it was) but also because the candy, like the socks, had the Harequin logo on them. If only I had these to EAT during revisions!!

The conference hotel was in Times Square, and right on Broadway. It was incredibly crowded, and while I later discovered I much preferred the Upper East Side (heh) it was truly a spectacular experience. The view from my room faced an advert for How to Succeed in Business, starring Daniel Radcliffe. And for a Harry Potter nerd it DOES NOT GET COOLER. Here’s one of the pictures I took of the incredibly populated street in front of our hotel. 

On Wednesday of us had tea at the plaza. That was such an experience. I felt like Eloise. 😀 And here is the FAB-U-LOUS Jennie Lucas, and me, in our fascinators. We were very, very fancy! 

We did some incredibly fun and fancy things, but I do think the memory that will really stay with me is sitting in the hotel bar with Lynn Raye Harris, Natasha Tate, Jennie Lucas, Jane Porter, Caitlin Crews, and Janette Kenny eating appetizers, talking about writing, life, and books we love.

Another of my very favorite things was the day I spent with Aimee Carson. We walked around the city and went to Rockefeller Center,and  bought hot dogs and a pretzel from a cart. Then we got tickets to Top of the Rock and took in an amazing view of the city. After that we spent too much money in the gift shop. 😉 Then we walked some more, past Cartier and into Versace, where they (surprisingly) didn’t kick me out for taking pictures of the shoes!

My roommates this year were amazing (Abbi Cantrell, Maggie Marr, Aimee Carson and in the adjoining room, Jennifer Probst and Wendy Marcus) and we had much coffee and candy and general rowdiness…when we were all actually IN the room, which was a rarity!

The sights were great, but the company was the real highlight. As Anne Shirley would say, we’re a group of kindred spirits, and it’s left me refreshed and energized (somehow that’s working hand in hand with my exhaustion, not sure how…) and ready to tackle another year of writing! (which is good…since I left conference with a lot more work to do! The nature of meeting with editors, etc!)

And one more picture…me at the Harlequin Party!