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Alpha Smart

(this is about heroes, not the word processors…see what I did there? huh?)

I was thinking about alpha heroes again. And what I was thinking was what a broad thing that really is. Presents get a rep for being one note, or for having heroes that are all a certain way, but that’s not true. Yes, they are billionaires, powerful men, but that’s part of the promise of the line.

They are also all alpha males, but that can be expressed in so many different ways. Just looking at a couple of my heroes (I always feel weird using me as an example because…dear heaven I’m not The Authority or anything…I’m just musing.) you can see the different ways that alpha is expressed by different men.

My hero Maximo from An Accidental Birthright/Mistake, A Prince and A Pregnancy believes in doing what’s right. What he thinks is right at least. And he works at persuading the heroine that getting married is the right thing for them. And while he’s dogged in his attempts to convince her, he’s not forceful. He appeals to her logic, because in his mind, he’s right and that’s all it will take. (Because can’t any intelligent person see that he’s right??)

Then I have Adham al bin Sudar (pictured…heh). Now, he’s a sheikh and he’s driven 100% by honor. And if he has to pick the heroine, Isabella, up and carry her out of the hotel to bring her to her destination safely, he’ll do it. Because he will fulfill his duty no matter what. Adham has the dangerous edge, he’s the action man. He takes his honor, his destiny, very seriously.

And there’s Gage…Gage Forrester. American, Californian businessman with a protective streak that basically dominates his life. He raised his much younger sister and that gives him a kind of paternal set of priorities. He’ll do anything to protect her. He’s also laid back but driven, funny and giving, but demanding when it comes to business. He plays hard and works hard and, has (according to him) locked his little black book in a safe so no one can find it and use it for evil.

They are three very different men who have that leadership quality, that drive for ultimate success, at their core, and yet they express it differently. Because it’s NOT as simple as plugging the Alpha Male characteristics in your Alpha Smart Hero Creator (Partly because that’s not what an alphasmart is, but it’s what it sounds like it is to me). Because your hero still has to be a man. A real man, with his own background and thoughts and even fears. Reasons for what he will and won’t do, and a reason why he chooses to express himself in the way he does.

He has to be a whole person, not just a two dimensional rendering.

I’m going to recycle a quote I’ve used before, because it’s totally worth it:

The true Alpha male is not a bully or a brute. He is the guy who is first to lead the charge for a worthy cause. He is supremely equipped, physically and mentally, to fight for success in the ultra-competitive world we inhabit.

The true Alpha male embodies the best characteristics of the male of our species, namely rugged outer qualities such as muscularity, strength and power, but also inner qualities such as confidence (without conceit), courage (without recklessness), commitment and a conscience.

The true Alpha male has the combination of physical and mental toughness but also a concern for other humans as a whole.

A true Alpha male meets the ideal of contemporary masculine excellence. In other words, the true Alpha male has all the core qualities of a hero.

So that’s a little more on being Alpha Smart. 😉

Winner! I haz one!!

So, this time I actually put your names in a little virtual online fruit machine…was cool. You would have liked it. Wish you could have been there.

And the winner is…

Alexandra Fiennes!! Yaaaaayyy!!!

Alexandra, just send me your deets via the contact form and let me know what book you would like and where to send it!!

Also, I’ve had two really wonderful review for The Inherited Bride one at this link here and one here!

And another lovely one for An Accidental Birthright here!

They made me all happy inside. Check them out!

As always…I’m sure I’ll have more giveaways…so check back! Or just come visit me. Whatevah.

Giveaway!

I’m celebrating because Marriage Made on Paper is currently #8 in the weekly top ten on Mills and Boon UK…and An Accidental Birthright has been in the daily top 5 on eharlequin’s ebook site since its release and…today it’s #1!

So I’m giving away a copy of one of my books to a lucky commenter…it’s winner’s choice! So if my random winner picker (also known as Mr. Yates) picks you, you can choose which book you’d like!

His Virgin Acquisition (Marriage of convenience with a twist), An Accidental Birthright/A Mistake, A Prince and A Pregnancy (IVF mix-up means the heroine is pregnant with a prince’s baby), The Inherited Bride (Sheikhs and forbidden love) or Marriage Made on Paper! (An office romance with a little His Girl Friday/Two Weeks Notice vibe)

So comment! Tell me why you love romance…or why you love Presents…and then I will have hubby pick a winner!

Balance

In honor of my post on proactive heroine over at the Sassy Sisters’ site, I’m am going to talk about balance today. 🙂

Getting the balance right between a hero and heroine can be tricky. It’s very important to me that one character doesn’t have all the power. Even if one character has minimal power…it’s important to get the sense that they somehow need something from each other.

I talked a little bit about how I had to revise the heroine for Presents #7 a bit, because she just wasn’t standing up against a hero who ended up being much more full on than the heroes I typically write. But this was an angry man with revenge on his mind. And rightfully so. But it made him a force on the page and initially, the heroine was out of balance with him. She was too timid. My editor pointed out that she looked down a lot. (cue much chagrin on my part)

It wasn’t a matter of changing the hero so that he was less intense. No, his motivations were justifiable, but he seemed more like a bully than I had intended because the heroine was giving him too much ground. She wasn’t putting him back in his place.

So she had to change. She had to get stronger. And that made the book stronger. Because they seemed suited to each other. She didn’t seem at such a disadvantage, or like he might run her over for the rest of their lives because he was so much stronger than she was.

This really makes me think that it really is more about balance than about a heroine who’s too strong, or a hero who’s too strong. It’s about building a couple who compliment each other.

That’s when people want to root for them. That’s when people can see why these people NEED to be together. When they enhance each other, make each other better. Sure, they can have conflict, they can work in opposition, but in all of that they have to grow together somehow, and be stronger for being together than they were separately.

Another reason my heroine needed to…excuse the expression…grow a pair. Because a hero like mine needed someone to push him back. To make him think.

And she became that woman. 🙂 Yay her!

Okay, So I Didn’t Get A Pony…

But I DID find out that The Vengeful Rogue is sold! So…whatever, I don’t need a pony. I don’t have to clean up after a sold book, at least not once the revisions have been done! XD Either way, it’s a great birthday present, and a nice way of of celebrating me hitting a QUARTER CENTURY!

This is the book I was talking about a few posts back in regards to subtle changes making the difference and I’m happy to report that I was right! HA! *shoots doubt crows in the face*

Those subtle changes, my heroine’s reactions, really made all the difference! So YAY!! That makes Presents #7 for me, details on title and release date will come to you as soon as they come to me! (I love this part!)

I also found out I will be a little extra busy over the coming months as I got offered a Sooper Sekrit Projekt…which I of course said yes to. This is good though because I LOVE to be busy. I find that I’m more productive in every area of my life when I have a lot going…which is great, because with three kids under five, down time is a foreign concept.

It’s funny, because I was completely tangled up in doubts this week. I was sure I hadn’t done the revisions right, sure it couldn’t have REALLY gone so smoothly…but I was wrong. See? DOUBT CROWS LIE! Just sayin’.

But now that my crows have been temporarily banished back to the nether realm from whence they came, I’m more than ready to get stuck in to my new WIP…which will be me returning to a little sheikh love. Ah yes…me and sheikhs…if you’ve followed my blog for a while you remember how it all went down the first time I tackled a sheikh. I rewrote, I angsted, I rewrote again…I fell in love with Sheikhs by the end of it. So I’m very excited for my return to the desert.

Oh yes! Don’t forget, Marriage Made on Paper is on M&B UK and An Accidental Birthright is on eharlequin! (Browsing options in the side bar there).

Hope my birthday is as good to all of you as it has been for me! *bounces away*

M&B UK and eHarlequin Release Day!

I am in the midst of another brilliant Double Release! An Accidental Birthright is now available at eharlequin and Marriage Made on Paper is available at Mills and Boon UK (I hear it’s also shipping from Book Depository).

An Accidental Birthright…

An IVF clinic mix-up means eternally single Alison Whitman is now carrying the child—no, the royal heir—of Maximo Rossi, Prince of Turan!

Maximo had given up on the hope of fatherhood a long time ago—until this surprise second chance. Now, the dynamic ruler will seize this opportunity with both hands. However, tradition is high on the prince’s agenda and he’ll never stand for an heir born out of wedlock….

Alison is about to find out that royal marriage is a command, not a choice!

And then we have…Marriage Made on Paper, part of the 2st Century Bosses series!

Pretend marriage, real wedding night! When ambitious public relations expert Lily Ford signs a contract with hot-shot property tycoon Gage Forrester, she inadvertently signs her life away!

A tough taskmaster, he wants Lily at his beck and call 24/7. Gage expects employees to go above and beyond. So, when he needs to generate some positive PR, his solution is completely unexpected – he proposes to Lily! All in the name of business, of course.

This may be a deal struck on paper, but Gage is a stickler for tradition: his bride must wear white on their wedding night!

21st Century Bosses Impossible, infuriating and utterly irresistible!

You can browse both books from the widgets in the sidebar there —->

Or just read the excerpt from An Accidental Birthright here!

You can buy Marriage Made on Paper from Mills and Boon UK, and An Accidental Birthright from eharlequin!

And to celebrate my releases today, I did a Limeterview with my twitter friend, Limecello! Come, read, be shocked, hear my thoughts on cheese and The Golden Girls. I’m giving away two copies of An Accidental Birthright…so come win! Plus, tomorrow is my birthday! *dies from excitement*

Here’s the link to the limeterview!

Doubts

I have made for you, a small film, showing you how to handle doubt crows. Enjoy.

Okay, yeah, I promise I won’t quit my day job…

Really, if only doubts were just crows and we could PHYSICALLY beat them off with a frying pan. It would be easier than dealing with the un-physical stuff. Because changing how you feel is a whole lot harder than beating off a few, disgusting birds.

I’ve had a bad few ‘doubt’ days. That kind of thing happens to me when I’m waiting and my subconscious sends me emails from my editor in my dreams that say things like: ‘this is so bad, I’ve sent it around the office for a consult to find out what we can possibly do to make sense of this hash you’ve sent us.’ Yeah. My dreams are mean.

This leads to days like this: I sit down, ready to go. I open my WIP. I hate my WIP. I open another idea up. I hate that too. I open up another file…GAH!! **headdesk**

So I think, I need to fix my WIP…and start skimming it. Then I think, it’s not the WIP. It’s just me.

So what do you do? What do I do?

Sometimes, when it’s really bad, I just walk away for a while. Because my frame of mind is so defeated I’m not going to get anything done. That happened with this WIP. I felt like it was a totally unknowable mystery. I had a fun set-up in mind that my characters were at odds with so the first few chapters were like wading through molasses since I was doing the wrong things.

I didn’t know how to fix it though, because, well, I was so sure I sucked.

So I walked away. I watched Buffy. I ate ice cream. I took a shower. I FIGURED IT OUT! And then, suddenly I didn’t suck so bad anymore because I had solved the unsolvable problem! I didn’t even cheat. Back on up Captain Kirk!!

Other days it’s best to push through. Don’t read back over your writing until you’ve done your words for the say (a lot of people swear by Alpha Smarts for this very reason…and no, it’s not a hero generator, I thought it was too.)

But no matter how bad the doubts get…you just can’t believe them. Because we can so easily be our own worst enemies, either through inflated pride of crippling self-doubt. I so wish I could remember who said this on twitter the other day because I’d love to attribute it to them. They said not to be afraid of being honest about where you’re at.

Not being convinced you’re the best thing that ever happened to the world of writing. It’s good to feel like you can improve. I know I can. And have. But also, not being so hard on yourself that you scrutinize everything you do, that you tell yourself that everything you do is rubbish.

Sadly, it’s an ongoing battle. At least it is for me. But today, I’m determined to write through the fog of doubt crows. Ya with me?

Building a Character

Sadly, it’s nothing like building something from a kit. Paint by numbers. Glue part C to part D and attach to parts A and B. Nope. It only it were that simple.

And the great thing about characters? They’re ALL different. Like people. Which means creating them is rarely the same process twice. Goooody.

Really, it’s fun to make people. It’s like…very powerful feeling. And if you’re like me…you create them them and then you stick ’em in a jar and shake it up real good and watch teh magic happen.

But characterization can be a tricky, tricky beast…and I won’t even pretend I figure it out easily every time. Sometimes, yes, characters are loud. They come roaring in. They know what they want and how they want to get it. They tell me where they came from, why they are the way they are. Yay. I love those characters.

I don’t always get them. Like…I rarely do.

There are a lot of things that go in to making a character a real person, and not just your puppet that you pull around. Your characters have to make decisions that make sense to who they are as people. It goes back to a-way back when I was working on my second book, and I had my hero coerce my heroine onto a plane. “Why would she get on the plane with him?” my editor asked…”Because I needed her to,” I said.

*headdesk*

It didn’t make sense. I was guilty of manipulating my character, making her look stupid, so advance the plot. Bad me. Because that’s going to make for a character that readers can’t connect with, because they can’t figure her out!

That doesn’t mean a character can’t change, or that who she is can’t be at odds with what she’s trying to show the world. Heck, we all go through that. Your heroine may be terrified on the inside while she takes a step into the unknown, and she may be acting brave. That’s not a contradiction. To me that’s what makes a character three dimensional.

Because having a character that is equally confident in all aspects of life may not ring true. My heroine in An Accidental Birthright, Alison, is confident in her ability as a lawyer, but she is decidedly less confident when thrust into the role of princess in a foreign country. So while I would characterize her as a confident character, it doesn’t mean she reacts to every situation with “I’ve got this. I’m confident”.

It’s the same with a hero too, even an alpha hero. The power comes in finding those moments where he isn’t confident…ideally it’s the heroine that gets him! 😉

Your characters pasts will influence them too. Their goals, their decisions, their hang-ups.

It’s also really important not to fall back on stereotypes. He’s an alpha male so that means he’ll do this…well, maybe, but what if he’s an alpha male who’s afraid he’ll fail at love again because he feels he was a bad husband to his first wife? That will change the way he acts. What he avoids.

What about a heroine who’s a twenty-four year old virgin. Great! WHY? She was exposed to her mother’s endless string of failed relationships and is afraid of losing herself to all-consuming, unhealthy passion the way her mother did. There ya go. 🙂

Those things will enrich your characters and make them people we can root for and relate too. Because trust me, when it comes to character elements, when someone asks why your character is something/did something…’because’ doesn’t work as an answer.

I’ve tried.

Happy Character building! (I am aware I have rambled a bit…many apologies…)

The Cycle Continues

It’s the writer circle of life…Write book…submit book…angst about book…get swarmed by LEGIONS of flipping doubt crows. Then the voices start talking to you. You know, the voices of the characters for your next MS.

What? Don’t tell me they don’t talk to you. They do, right? It’s not just me…RIGHT??? (it gives me Cathy caliber sweat drops, I tell you!!)

Ahem.

Truly though, some people call those voices ‘a need for medication’ I call them ‘inspiration’ and inspiration is a good thing.

Inspiration is the thing that keeps you going even when you do doubt yourself. It’s the thing that makes you press on after getting rejections. Inspiration can also be a pain because it is possible to have too much of it. And then you want to start the first page of 956 MSs and not finish any of them. And that gets you precisely nowhere because no publisher I can think of wants to buy 956 page ones. :/

So we want inspiration…yes we do. And where does it come from? Everywhere. TV shows, movies, books, songs, the news, the double rainbow you spotted outside your bedroom window (yes, that joke will die someday but NOT YET).

Part of the inspiration for my April UK release came from His Girl Friday. Not from the plot, but from the dialogue. The way the characters spoke to each other. The fast paced, never-miss-a-beat interactions and killer comebacks and quips.

The other piece of inspiration came when I saw, in my head, this woman who was perfectly coiffed and polished, with berry colored lipstick and a matching manicure and I thought…some guy really needs to come and mess with her perfectly ordered existence.

And that was the start of Gage and Lily. Small little impressions, and yet they bloomed into a full fledged book.

And as for controlling the inspiration surge? It’s a must, it really is. It’s part of that ‘discipline’ thing I talk about all the time. If you don’t like listening me talk about it…imagine Andy Whitfield in his gladiator garb telling you to behave. :}

The best piece of advice I can give is write a synopsis/outline/character sheet and put it in a file for ideas to be used later. (Some of the authors on twitter were talking about how nothing kills their love for a new idea better than having to write a synopsis for it…so it could work in that respect too! LOL)

Something I used to do, but don’t much anymore, is if I was having a total block on my main MS, I would pull up my side project and fiddle with it. That way there was no excuse for not writing during a writing time. (deadlines have made this impractical, so I tend to just slog my way through the MS I’m ‘supposed’ to be working on).

So that’s a little bit on taming inspiration…and the cycle of being a writer. It’s noisy in a writer’s head, isn’t it!?

How do you tame/get inspiration?

It’s the Little Things

That’s what it came down to in the revisions on this MS. I didn’t realize it until I was actually in it. That making my heroine more assertive was a matter of her meeting the hero’s eyes instead of looking down before she spoke to him. That a few subtle changes in her body language, and her tone, made a conversation a whole new thing.

And eventually, made the book different too.

I went through this when I was working on revisions for His Virgin Acquisition too. In my first revision letter for that book my editor pointed out that my hero wasn’t as alpha as he might be. At first I thought I would have to change…everything. But that wasn’t the case. The foundation was there, I just hadn’t executed it quite right. I found it became a matter of making him more decisive. His questions became commands, his manner more authoritative. The changes were subtle, but impacting.

This is an example of the changes I made in my last MS. This is version 1:

Lazaro watched the delicate color drain from Vanessa’s cheeks. “I don’t…I don’t know if I…”

“We have an agreement Vanessa. I intend to honor it.”

And he intended to let Michael Pickett know just how much control he was assuming of his assets. That he didn’t just have his daughter, but that he’d played the part of savior for the venerable Pickett family business.

“It seems like too much,” she said, her eyes on a blank legal pad in front of her.

“A fair exchange, I think.”

“It all seems like too much,” she said.

“Do you want to back out?”

“I don’t…”

And this is version two. A large part of the focus of my revisions was making Vanessa less passive, making her more assertive and confident.

Lazaro watched as Vanessa’s cheeks flushed with angry color. “No.”

“We have an agreement, Vanessa. I intend to honor it.”

And he intended to let Michael Pickett know just how much control he was assuming of his assets. That he didn’t just have his daughter, but that he’d played the part of savior for the venerable Pickett family business.

“I am not getting myself into that much debt. Not with you.”

“Not a loan, an exchange. A fair one, I think.”

“Hardly. I feel like you’re…buying me.” She spat out he last words as though they were something distasteful.

“Do you want to back out?”

She snapped her mouth shut, tightened her jaw. “I don’t…”

Anyway, this is the kind of changing I did throughout the entire MS. Making her less cowed by him, having her stand up to him, show some spin. (because spine looks good on a woman!)

I think it gives a different feel to the scene, and a whole different vision of Vanessa’s character.

It’s not always about the big *delete* *delete* *delete*. (though it can be!) Sometimes those little things can make a massive impact. And that means paying attention to what it says about your heroine if she meets the hero’s eyes or looks away, what it says if she takes a step toward him or a step back.

This has been a very thought provoking and important revision process for me…and I really did enjoy it. Hopefully this helps some of you out too! And hopefully, I’ve done my job and my editor likes it!

First Chapters and A Cover

The fabulous Elissa Graham has done a post on her blog The Ardent Writer about first chapters, and I am SO honored that she took the first chapter of The Inherited Bride and used it as an example for how to write a good one! http://theardentwritereg.blogspot.com/ I loved the post, so insightful and fun! I think she taught me a thing or two. 😀

And also, I had to post the very sexy cover for my May North American release, The Inherited Bride (it’s the one with the good first chapter!! Well…I like the other chapters too)

Double Releases!

(cue the double rainbow song, cuz you KNOW I love it!)

Ahem.

In just two weeks Marriage Made on Paper will release on Mills and Boon UK…and An Accidental Birthright will release on eHarlequin! Both books will be in stores by the beginning of April! And I have a couple of snippets for you, one from each book.

I’ve posted a bit of A Mistake A Prince and A Pregnancy before, but since it’s getting its new incarnation as An Accidental Birthright, it gets to go again!

“I don’t have a lot of time, Ms. Whitman.”

Anger flared through her. He didn’t have a lot of time? As if she had any spare moments just lying around. It was difficult for her to take any time off of work. Every case they handled was vitally important to the people involved. They were advocating for those who couldn’t advocate for themselves, and by taking the afternoon off to drive up here and talk to him she was leaving her clients in the lurch.

“I can assure that you my time is valuable too, Mr. Rossi,” she said stiffly. “But I need to speak with you.”

“Then speak,” he said.

“I’m pregnant,” she said, wishing, even as she said the words, that she could call them back.

A muscle in his jaw ticked. “Am I meant to offer congratulations?”

“You’re the father.”

His dark eyes hardened. “You and I both know that isn’t possible. You may not keep record of your lovers, Ms. Whitman, but I can assure you I’m not so promiscuous that I forget mine.”

Her face heated. “There are other ways to conceive a child than sexual intercourse, as you well know. When Melissa from ZoiLabs called she implied that I worked there but I’m a…I’m a client of theirs.”

He froze, his expression hardening like granite, his jaw tightening. “Let’s go into my office.”

She followed him through the large living area of the house and through a heavy oak door. His home office was massive, with high ceilings that were accented by rich, natural wood beams. One of the walls was made entirely of glass and overlooked the valley below. There was nothing as far as she could see but pristine nature. Beautiful. But the view was cold comfort in the situation.

“There was a mistake at the clinic,” she said, keeping her eyes trained on the mountains in the distance. “They weren’t going to tell me, but one of my friends works there and she felt I…that I had a right to know. I was given your donation by mistake and there was no log of your…of your genetic testing.”

An Accidental Birthright deals with honor, and two people very much trying to do the right thing when faced with an impossible situation that isn’t of their making. I was fascinated by the idea of two people who didn’t even have that basic, sexual attraction in common as a foundation, dealing with a surprise pregnancy. And with all the clinic mix-ups in the news, it was instant inspiration. I enjoyed watching Alison and Max step up the the plate to deal with a hard situation, and finding love in the process.

And this is the beginning of Marriage Made on Paper. I had so much fun writing this one. Lily and Gage wrote their conversations for me. They both had a lot to say…and they both have some very strong opinions. Watching them spark off of each other was a an extremely rewarding writing experience.

Lily Ford wasn’t thrilled to see Gage Forrester standing in her office, leaning over her desk, his large masculine hands clasping the edge, his scent teasing her, making her heart beat at an accelerated pace. She wasn’t thrilled to see Gage, the man who had turned her down, but her body seemed to be on a different wavelength.

“I heard that Jeff Campbell hired your company,” he said, leaning in a little more, his shoulder muscles rolling forward. He certainly didn’t spend all of his time behind a desk in a corporate office. A physique like that didn’t happen on accident. She knew that from personal experience.

It took her four evenings a week in the gym to combat the effects of her mostly sedentary job. But it was important. Image counted for a lot, and it was her job to keep the images of her clients sparkling clean in the public eye. She felt that if her own image wasn’t up to par she would lose her credibility.

“You heard correctly,” she said, leaning back in her chair, trying to put some distance between them. Trying to feel like she had some measure of control. It was her office, darn it. He had no call coming in here and trying to assume authority.

But then, men like Gage operated that way. They came, they saw, they conquered the female.

Not this female.

“So, are you here to offer me congratulations?” she asked sweetly.

“No, I’m here to offer you a contract.”

That successfully shocked her into silence, which was a rare thing. “You rejected my offer to represent your company, Mr. Forrester.”

“And now I’m extending you an offer.”

She pursed her lips. “Does this have anything to do with the fact that Jeff Campbell is your biggest competitor?”

“I don’t consider him a competitor.” Gage smiled, but in his eyes she could see the glint of steel, the hardness that made him a legend in his industry. You didn’t reach greatness by being soft. She knew it, she respected it. But she didn’t necessarily care for Gage, or his business practices. Generally speaking, she thought what he was somewhat morally bankrupt. But an account with Forrestation Inc. would be a huge boon for her company. The biggest account she’d ever had.

“Like it or not, he is your competitor. And he’s quite good at what he does. He doesn’t leave half the mess for me to clean up that you would.”

“Which is why he isn’t really my competition. He’s too politically correct, too concerned with his public image.”

“It wouldn’t hurt you to be more concerned with it. The endless stream of actresses and supermodels on your arm don’t exactly give off an aura of stability. Plus you’ve had a series of very unpopular builds lately.”

“Is this a free consultation?”

“No. I’m charging you by the half hour.”

“If I remember correctly your services aren’t cheap.”

“They aren’t. If you want cheap, you have to suffer incompetence.”

I enjoyed the dynamic of Gage of Lily in Marriage Made on Paper. Because Lily is Gage’s PR specialist, and that means she’s hired to tell him what to do in a sense. She has an area of expertise he does not, and he has to defer to her. So even though he’s her boss, she has quite a lot of power in the relationship. The two of them have a lot of mutual respect for each other, and eventually, even kind of a friendship. Of course…those darn romantic sparks get in the way. And Lily doesn’t like to give up control…and that seems like a challenge to Gage…

So there you have it! An intro to my next releases! 🙂

AN ACCIDENTAL BIRTHRIGHT releases in North America in April (on eharlequin in March) and MARRIAGE MADE ON PAPER will be on the shelves in the UK in April and on Mills and Boon UK in March!