Fiona Lowe's Blog, page 23

Fellow Author Nicola Marsh has a surprise!

My friend Nicola Marsh who writes for the Mills & Boon Romance line has written a single title fun romance called 'Busted In Bollywood which will be published by Entangled Publishing.  It's out in December, just in time to be the perfect Christmas stocking stuffer and to wet your whistle, here is her amazing cover!

 Want to know more? Sure you do

Shari Jones needs to get a life. Preferably someone else's.  

Single, homeless and jobless, Indo-American Shari agrees to her best friend's whacky scheme: travel to Mumbai, pose as Amrita, and ditch the fiancé her traditional Indian parents have chosen. Simple. Until she's mistaken for a famous Bollywood actress, stalked by a Lone Ranger wannabe, courted by an English lord, and busted by the blackmailing fiancé.  

Life is less complicated in New York.  

Or so she thinks, until the entourage of crazies follows her to the Big Apple and that's when the fun really begins. Shari deals with a blossoming romance, an addiction to Indian food and her first movie role, while secretly craving another trip to the mystical land responsible for sparking her new lease on life. Returning to her Indian birthplace, she has an epiphany. Maybe the happily-ever-after of her dreams isn't so far away?

So write yourself a note marking December 6th or head on over to Nicola's blog for more information. As for me, I've got another mate with a Christmas book so my stocking is going to be overflowing.! Stay tuned for Rachael John's  gorgeous cover, coming soon!

Readers LOVE to share what they've read. It's like this...

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 Readers LOVE to share what they've read. It's like this need to 'tell on' a great read. I was at the Athletics carnival at school on Sunday, which is an all-day gig and I had about three conversations about books and I came away with a couple of recommendations. I've also just discovered Kristan Higgins courtesy of Amanda over at Chick Lit is the New Black. Her recommendation arrived at a time when I needed a good escape read that made me laugh and Kristan Higgins delivered. 

As an author, I don't feel comfortable reviewing books…I don't see it as my role but I love to share a 'Good Read' so I've joined Goodreads. Wow, what a community! So many passionate readers with passionate views, but it's a great way to get recommendations for books because, let's face it, there are a gazillion stories out there and sometimes it can be daunting when you're deciding which book to read.  So if you're looking to connect with other readers, give GoodReads a try!

The Subjectivity of Reading

I belong to a book group and each month eight women read the same book and then we gather together with wine and cheese and we talk about the book. This is the second book group I've belonged to, but one of the common themes that crosses over is the diverse reaction to the book.

At each meeting, one person will put her hand on her heart and say, 'this book changed my life.' Another will toss it contemptuously onto the coffee table and say, 'it was crap.'  The rest of us will shrug and say, 'It was okay', and then talk about the bits we liked and the bits we didn't, and why.

It is rare for the eight of us to agree on a book, although this year we all agreed that The Help by Katherine Stockett was a great book. It might take another four years before that happens again

Reading is subjective. As a reader, we bring our own thoughts and experiences to the book so we will all react to it very differently.  For instance, in reviews for Boomerang Bride the following has been said,

Matilda is a heroine I can definitely get on board with.

I just had a hard time caring about the characters.

Tidly was an awesome heroine. She doesn't cower, she stands on her own two feet, and just charges ahead. I loved that about her.

I hated Matilda!

Matilda was tenacious and never gave up.

This is the best contemporary romance I've read this year.

I could go on, but you get the idea People are never going to agree because they bring different emotions to the book and different preferences.

I can't read 'The Brontes'. Give me Jane Austen and her humour every time. I can't read horror or suspense because I get too scared. I don't like those sort of books, but that doesn't mean I go around suggesting people don't read them.  I just accept they're just not my 'cup of tea.' 

I like to read a book where I can go on a journey and no matter what happens, I know it will end happily. Why? Because the world is a tough place and I deal with enough 'grit' on the news. That said I do pick up books like 'The Kite Runner' and read them and learn, but I can't exist on a diet of those types of books alone. If I did, I would end up curled in fetal position, unable to stand up.

I think it is a really important to understand that we're all different and therefore we have different reading tastes, just like we have different tastes in wine, theatre and art. There is no right or wrong, just lots of differing opinions

Thoughts?

To read the differing reviews of Boomerang Bride click here

Mission Romance

Join me over at Mission Romance; a new romance blog run by the lovely Juanita Kees. I'm talking about all sorts of things and there's a new excerpt from Boomerang Bride.:-)

 

Please welcome Dee Tenorio

I'm thrilled to have fellow Carina Press author, wife, mother of four,  eHarlequin hostie and busy woman (!!) Dee Tenorio  visiting  me today. So a big Aussie welcome to Dee!

Dee writes books that are very different from mine, but that's what makes reading so wonderful…we can visit all sorts of worlds without leaving our chair  and Dee creates amazing paranormal worlds

Tell us, Dee,  how you juggle writing with being the mother of  4 children including preschooler twins?

 It's pretty easy, actually. I don't sleep, I cry a lot. I hide in the closet occasionally. LOL! Ok, except for the crying and the "easy", that's true. Hubby helps a lot and my family sometimes steps in to save me from myself and my insane schedule. But mostly Hubby saving my life. A lot.

 How long have you been writing or have you always written intrigue-style books? What number book is Deceiving The Protector? Is is part of a series?

 Oh, I've been writing as long as I can remember, but I started writing and trying to get published about 14 years ago. I've come and gone with suspense stories before, but I didn't think I was able to really do it for a long time. Then I started the Resurrection series—Deceiving The Protector is Book 2—and realized it was unquestionably a suspense series. And that I'd better figure out how to get it done right or I was in a lot of trouble. (So far, so good!)

 Tell us something about your hero he wouldn't want us to know.

 Hmmm, well, Tate is definitely one of those gruff, stern kind of guys who can get a lot done with charm or a good lethal stare. So it probably wouldn't go over too well if I revealed that the man goes absolutely gooey about little, little kids. Everybody has a soft spot, right?

 What was the last fabulous book you read?

 Actually, it was a book called "Alchemy" by Mike Wood. Amazing, fabulous indie book about a boy coming of age in 1984. Loved it.

 Tell us something about yourself that might surprise us?

 I am a near violent football fan, lol. I make my husband and kids crazy. In fact, he often takes the kids out so I can watch the game without scaring the crap out of anyone if there's a bad call. (As you can imagine, he was the Football police when I was pregnant and he had to turn off the games when I'd have too many contractions, lol)

 And now to the most important bit, what is Deceiving the Protector all about?

 Well, it's a paranormal suspense , a stand-alone  second book in  a series about shifters along an Underground Railroad trying to survive a genocide. Along the road, a woman with dark, dark secrets is traveling and a protector has been sent to guard her. What he doesn't know is that she already has a protector…of the most terrible kind. Can the hero gain her trust? Can the heroine keep him alive long enough to get back to safety?

The back blurb says,

 The mate he never wanted may be the woman he can never have…

After a series of murders is discovered along the trail of the Shifter Underground, wolf soldier Jensen Tate is assigned to find and protect a missing stray. But Lia Crawford doesn't seem to want his protection. When she eludes his watch and returns with mysterious injuries, Tate knows she's hiding something. To discover her secrets, he'll have to win her trust…and get closer to the woman he thinks may be his mate.

Lia has reasons to keep her distance. The killer is haunting her steps, determined to claim her. He will come after them both if he sees how drawn she is to Tate, though it becomes increasingly difficult to deny her attraction to him. Protecting Tate is vital – but will her deception cost her his love?

 

Ohh, sounds intriguing.  I loved the excerpt and the cover!

Thanks so much for taking time out of your busy schedule to visit today

If you want to know more about Dee and her wonderful books you can find her at her website, her blog, Facebook and Twitter. Meanwhile, here is her Bio which makes me smile

Dee Tenorio has a few reality issues. After much therapy for the problem—if one can call being awakened in the night by visions of hot able-bodied men a problem—she has proved incurable. It turns out she enjoys tormenting herself by writing sizzling, steamy romances of various genres spanning paranormal mystery dramas, contemporaries and romantic comedies. Preferably starring the sexy, somewhat grumpy heroes described above and smart-mouthed heroines who have much better hair than she does.

The best part is, no more therapy bills!  Well, not for Dee, anyway. Her husband and kids, on the other hand…

Starting a new book

For those of you who have been following this blog for a while now, you'll know that I don't start a new book very easily and I have constant battles with my process.  At theRWAus conference two weeks ago, I listened to Susan Wiggs, pretty much outline my process in her talk, 'Plotting from the Inside Out.'  I have to tell you, it made me feel a lot better!

So here is the collage for book 17, so far titled, 'That gorgeous Argentine guy'  

I'm also researching polo, hippotherapy, cerebral palsy, Wolff Parkinson White syndrome and a heap of other stuff, however most importantly, I have laid down chapter one! My deadline date will have me sticking to a chapter a week to get this baby done by the due date and meanwhile I mustn't distract myself too often by viewing this clip.  I'm sharing it here in case you missed it on Facebook. See, I really am a kind person

Small towns, Big Hearts

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The lovely women at Petite Fours & Hot Tamales invited me to be a 'guest chef today'. YAY!  I'm talking about small towns- you know the ones where everyone knows your name.  I get to create small towns in my books and it's my secret meglomania   I get to decide what and who are in the town.  What would you put in a small town?

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Partying in the Pacific!

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I'm thrilled and excited today because my blog tour is taking a detour to the glorious Pacific and visiting Nas Dean's Romance Book Paradise. Is there a more perfect place to read than Fiji?

Amongst other things, I'm chatting about the biggest obstacle I had to over come before I got published. Oh and I'm giving away stuff

Looking forward to seeing you there!

The Twilight Zone

Continuing on with my blog tour, today I'm over at Totebag n Blogs and I'm sharing a story that, cross-my-heart-and-hope-to-die, really DID happen to me! Talk about life imitating art or to be more precise, life imitating Boomerang Bride.  I'd love to hear your 'doo-dah, doo-dah' moments!

Romancing The Book Blog

Today I'm being interviewed over at Romancing The Book. I'd love for you to come join me and discover such things as which bit of equipment I MUST have to write.  I'm also giving away some cute boomerang magnets and a free copy of Boomerang Bride.  See you soon!