Marie Laval's Blog, page 9
September 13, 2015
Elaine Violette's Regencies
I am delighted to welcome another great romance writer today - Elaine Violette.
Hello Marie and thank you for inviting me to your blog! What a lovely place to visit and share my two recent Regency Romance Kindle releases, Regal Reward on August 27th and A Convenient Pretense on September 1st.
Can you tell us about your novels?
I’d love to tell you about both.
In
Regal Reward
, my hero, York Blackstone, is virile, reckless, and obsessed. He lived as the privileged first son of an Earl until his father is falsely accused of treason, imprisoned, and his family tossed to the streets of London. As a mere child, he turns to thievery to live and care for his grieving mother and sickly younger brother. His inherited aristocratic bearing makes him a leader in his world of thieves. He becomes obsessed with clearing his father’s name, reclaiming the title and lands lost, and making the villain who destroyed his family pay for his misdeeds. His ruthless occupation as a highwayman, leads him, one night, to discover the beautiful Lady Marielle Henley asleep in the woods with her dog Beatrice and her newborn pups. He is disbelieving of his find. What is a prim and proper miss doing asleep against and old Oak tree in the dead of night with only a dog and her brood? Fearful, but defiant, Marielle struggles with her captor who tosses his prim package on his horse with her bundle of squirming animals and steals her away to his seclude cottage. Yorkwon’t let his captive’s allure turn him from his goal when he realizes he can use her as a pawn in his vengeance. Regal Reward can be purchased on Amazon at http://amzn.com/B013TRQ9C8.
In
A Convenient Pretense
, my second Regency release, my lovely heroine, Emily Grace, is independent, stubborn, and a self-declared poetess. I enjoyed being able to include a bit of poetry as she sits and ponders her craft. Emily observed her father and mother’s failed marriage and has chosen a single life much to her widowed father’s dismay. Here’s a snippet of an opening poem which is a self-proclamation of her views on marriage. Foolish is a maiden who sets her heart a flight
With dreams of wedded bliss that surely lead to strife.
She might best consider a single life…
When her father forces her to go to Londonfor the Season, she must obey. Aunt Delia is given the task of finding her niece a suitable husband. Her aunt’s best friend Agatha has been anxious to find her disinclined nephew, Lord Marcus Deming, a suitable wife. The two spirited aunts conspire together and set up a meeting. When Emily and Marcus are introduced, Emily can’t deny her attraction to his startling good looks but she refuses to be drawn in to his charm. When she discovers that Marcus has an aversion to marriage, she boldly suggests a convenient pretense of courtship. He agrees it will save them both from their aunts’ badgering and their parade of candidates. Emily didn’t expect to fall in love with her collaborator. Little does she know when she escapes Londonand returns home, a more sinister pretense is afoot, one that will destroy her family. Only Marcus, the man she’s run from, can untangle the deception. Are Emily and Marcus too much alike to realize they belong together? A Convenient Pretense is available on Amazon at http://amzn.com/B014Q1EKU4
B oth novels sound absolutely wonderful. Just the kind of stories I love to read! I need - but rarely get - quiet to write. What about you? What is the one thing you absolutely need to write?
An empty house is best when I’m typing away and inventing characters and plots. My writing space is a bedroom turned into an office. Only the occasional interruption from my husband, wondering if I’m still alive, breaks my concentration. I need total quiet when I’m writing though I do miss my dear Cocker Spaniel’s breathing when she used to be stretched out on the rug by my chair. She passed away and I still haven’t convinced my dear husband to rescue another pet. I’m working on it.
I'm sorry to hear that, Elaine. We do get very attached to pets. They make wonderful companions...
What are you working on at the moment?
Presently I’m polishing up my fourth Historical Romance. The Journal of Narcissa Dunn is a departure from my previous books. It takes place in New England and has inspirational elements. The idea of this story came from a walk in a cemetery a few years back. I read the epitaph of a girl that passed away at eighteen in 1808. I never forgot it. Once I finished my third novel, I knew my story for her had to be written. I look forward to its release in a few months.
Another great read I musn't miss!
And now for the word association fun test!
Pick 5? Here are flash responses.
Day - Sunshine, writing, busyness
Night- A glass of wine and TV with hubby
Winter- Too cold for comfort. Furry slippers
Summer- Beach time. Lobster. My favorite time of year
Travel- Gaining new perspectives. Love new places
It was such a pleasure visiting, Marie, Thank you for your gracious hospitality. I’d like to invite readers to my Facebook page at www.facebook.com/elaineviolette.authorwhere they can subscribe to my monthly newsletter for news on upcoming releases, contests, and recipes too. (I love to bake!)
You are very welcome, Elaine. It was a pleasure talking to you!
Author BioElaine is a veteran English teacher and holds a BS in English Education from the University of CT and an MS in Educational Leadership from Central CT State University. She presently teaches public speaking part time at a local community college. She is a PAN member of Romance Writers of America, CT Romance Writers (CTRWA) and Charter Oak Romance writers (CORW). She resides on the Connecticut shoreline and especially enjoys being a wife, mother, and grandmother.
September 9, 2015
RACING HEART by June Moonbridge
I am delighted to welcome June Moonbridge and her novel RACING HEART today. There is a giveaway at the end of the post, so don't forget to click on the link!
Hello June, and thank you for coming on the blog today. What can you tell us about RACING HEART?
Racing Heart is a Romantic Suspense novel, set against the glamorous backdrops of Monaco, Parisand Nice. It mixes romance and mystery as Desirée Hart struggles to come to terms with her past to be able to embrace her future and love into her life.
The Rivierais a wonderfully glamorous setting for a romance! I would like to know more about your characters. In three words - What kind of man is your hero?
Lorcan Shore is an international F1 star, with golden heart and misunderstood behaviour.
In three words - What kind of woman is your heroine?
Désirée Hart is a young woman trusts no one, especially when love is in question, she also has too many skeletons in her closet.
And what did Lorcan think the first time he saw Désirée?
After realising that the car collision could be his fault and after his driving skills were brutally verbally attacked by her, he realises she likes to be in control of her life. After turning his invitation for a drink down he’s certain of it.
What about Désirée? What did she think of Lorcan the first time she saw him?
Before she recognises him, Désirée thinks Lorcan is one idiot of a driver.
What is the one thing you absolutely need to write? (quiet, music, an empty house?)
A mug of coffee, music and a time past midnight. I’m a night owl… and most of my writing is done at that time.
I would probably fall asleep! I'm more of a early morning person. Give me a silent house and lots of tea or coffee, and cake, of course, and I am very happy!
Do you find it difficult to come up with titles for your novels?
Somewhat difficult. Although I found the title quite soon, the publisher (Safkhet Soul) decided with me agreeing, to change its current one.
I absolutely love the names of your hero and heroine - Désirée is such a romantic name... How do you pick the names of your characters?
Basically I choose a name and a surname. After that the research is done – if there is anyone in the world that has that name… If I find that there is a real person who owns that name, then I try to combine it with middle name if not – the name is born… ;)
What are you working on at the moment?
It’s another romantic suspense, set mostly in a different climate zone and culture.
And now for the word association fun test!
Day day job
Night writing
nature peace
books escape
music relaxation
Thank you so much June for coming on the blog today. I wish you lots of luck with RACING HEART.
Here is a little bit about the story...
Desiree Hart in desperate search for her kidnapped son, does everything in her power possible to find him. Due to a letter she receives after official search was closed, she changes everything; her appearance, her hometown and even her name.
When she meets Lorcan Shore, the Five Times F1 World Campion, their encounter is everything but ordinary. Out of pure fear for her life, she loses her temper and spits over everything he is absolutely certain he can do the best; how to drive.
Leaving him alone on Grand Corniche she is certain she would never see him again. But the next morning proves her being totally wrong. He was no quitter and no matter how she tries to run and hide, her heart desires at the end come back to the surface…
Will the man of her dreams be able to fulfil them all? Including the most important will he help her find her missing son?
AMAZON UK
AMAZON US
The person behind the name of June Moonbridge, has many names and many faces too. Although living in the same area, she was born and raised in one country and now living in another.
She studied economics, and quickly realised she hated it. Afterwards, she found herself working in mainly male businesses; at first in automotive and later - steel products productions. She can choose for you the best steel you need, but don't, please don't, ask her which lipstick to use.
She started to write in her high school and was negatively criticised by her teacher. Stubborn as she is that didn't stop her. Under different pen names for her stories she tried to get some independent opinions, which came back as good reviews in magazines and later she published three books.
Giving birth to two children, and learning that her second child has Autism, she married the father of them and continued to work. All that together took all of her free time. But the desire to write didn't die. When life somehow sorted itself out, she decided to write her novel in English and her first submission to Safkhet was rejected…
For what happened later… read third paragraph, second sentence.
https://www.facebook.com/JMoonbridge
www.junemoonbridge.com
https://twitter.com/JMoonbridge
@JMoonbridge
https://si.linkedin.com/in/jmoonbridge
GIVEAWAY: 2 e-copies of the book!
http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/4be03017101/
Hello June, and thank you for coming on the blog today. What can you tell us about RACING HEART?
Racing Heart is a Romantic Suspense novel, set against the glamorous backdrops of Monaco, Parisand Nice. It mixes romance and mystery as Desirée Hart struggles to come to terms with her past to be able to embrace her future and love into her life.
The Rivierais a wonderfully glamorous setting for a romance! I would like to know more about your characters. In three words - What kind of man is your hero?
Lorcan Shore is an international F1 star, with golden heart and misunderstood behaviour.
In three words - What kind of woman is your heroine?
Désirée Hart is a young woman trusts no one, especially when love is in question, she also has too many skeletons in her closet.
And what did Lorcan think the first time he saw Désirée?
After realising that the car collision could be his fault and after his driving skills were brutally verbally attacked by her, he realises she likes to be in control of her life. After turning his invitation for a drink down he’s certain of it.
What about Désirée? What did she think of Lorcan the first time she saw him?
Before she recognises him, Désirée thinks Lorcan is one idiot of a driver.
What is the one thing you absolutely need to write? (quiet, music, an empty house?)
A mug of coffee, music and a time past midnight. I’m a night owl… and most of my writing is done at that time.
I would probably fall asleep! I'm more of a early morning person. Give me a silent house and lots of tea or coffee, and cake, of course, and I am very happy!
Do you find it difficult to come up with titles for your novels?
Somewhat difficult. Although I found the title quite soon, the publisher (Safkhet Soul) decided with me agreeing, to change its current one.
I absolutely love the names of your hero and heroine - Désirée is such a romantic name... How do you pick the names of your characters?
Basically I choose a name and a surname. After that the research is done – if there is anyone in the world that has that name… If I find that there is a real person who owns that name, then I try to combine it with middle name if not – the name is born… ;)
What are you working on at the moment?
It’s another romantic suspense, set mostly in a different climate zone and culture.
And now for the word association fun test!
Day day job
Night writing
nature peace
books escape
music relaxation
Thank you so much June for coming on the blog today. I wish you lots of luck with RACING HEART.
Here is a little bit about the story...
Desiree Hart in desperate search for her kidnapped son, does everything in her power possible to find him. Due to a letter she receives after official search was closed, she changes everything; her appearance, her hometown and even her name.
When she meets Lorcan Shore, the Five Times F1 World Campion, their encounter is everything but ordinary. Out of pure fear for her life, she loses her temper and spits over everything he is absolutely certain he can do the best; how to drive.
Leaving him alone on Grand Corniche she is certain she would never see him again. But the next morning proves her being totally wrong. He was no quitter and no matter how she tries to run and hide, her heart desires at the end come back to the surface…
Will the man of her dreams be able to fulfil them all? Including the most important will he help her find her missing son?
AMAZON UK
AMAZON US
The person behind the name of June Moonbridge, has many names and many faces too. Although living in the same area, she was born and raised in one country and now living in another.She studied economics, and quickly realised she hated it. Afterwards, she found herself working in mainly male businesses; at first in automotive and later - steel products productions. She can choose for you the best steel you need, but don't, please don't, ask her which lipstick to use.
She started to write in her high school and was negatively criticised by her teacher. Stubborn as she is that didn't stop her. Under different pen names for her stories she tried to get some independent opinions, which came back as good reviews in magazines and later she published three books.
Giving birth to two children, and learning that her second child has Autism, she married the father of them and continued to work. All that together took all of her free time. But the desire to write didn't die. When life somehow sorted itself out, she decided to write her novel in English and her first submission to Safkhet was rejected…
For what happened later… read third paragraph, second sentence.
https://www.facebook.com/JMoonbridge
www.junemoonbridge.com
https://twitter.com/JMoonbridge
@JMoonbridge
https://si.linkedin.com/in/jmoonbridge
GIVEAWAY: 2 e-copies of the book!
http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/4be03017101/
Stick with me! A Post for Rhoda Baxter 'Release Me' splash
Let's start this post with a riddle.
I come in different shapes and sizes, but I am usually small and square.
I am very colourful and easily spotted.
I have a sticky bit at the top.
You can scribble or doodle all over me, or just use me to mark a page.
I make sure you don't forget that brilliant idea or the beautiful words that just popped into your mind.
What am I?
Yes, you guessed. I am a Post-it note.
I'm sure I am not the only writer who loves Post-it notes. In fact, bestselling author Julie Cohen gave a brilliant, fun and informative presentation about them and the 'Art of the Rewrite' at the latest Romantic Novelists Association Conference which was held in July at Queen Mary University, London.
According to Julie, once you have completed the first draft of your novel and after a celebratory glass of champagne (a cup of tea will do too!) and a little break, it is time to start the rewriting process. For this she uses Post-it notes...lots and lots of them, that she sticks on a board, a wall or even on the back of a door.
She finds them an invaluable visual aid to highlight the structure of the novel. Not only do they help her map out the development of the plot and sub-plot, but she also uses colour-coded Post-its for different characters so that she can see exactly where and how often they feature in the story and how they interact with one another. By placing some Post-it notes slightly higher or lower than other, she can also spot the novel's high and low points. In short, she creates 'a Post-it plan' of the novel.
I am not in any way as well organised in my use of Post-it notes as Julie Cohen, but I do love them. I have tiny ones, long ones, large ones, square ones. Some have flowers or fancy romantic borders, others are just plain and boring! I stick them on every surface available in my dining room since this is where I usually write. They are sometimes so full of scribbles I can't read them at all, but most of the time they help me pin down an idea or a passing thought, remember a question or and point to further research for my work in progress.
So I will be sticking with them!
This post is part of the PLEASE RELEASE ME blog splash!
PLEASE RELEASE ME by Rhoda Baxterhttp://www.amazon.co.uk/Please-Release-Me-Choc-Lit-ebook/dp/B013SY9CCG
Blurb
What if you could only watch as your bright future slipped away from you?
Sally Cummings has had it tougher than most but, if nothing else, it’s taught her to grab opportunity with both hands. And, when she stands looking into the eyes of her new husband Peter on her perfect wedding day, it seems her life is finally on the up.
That is until the car crash that puts her in a coma and throws her entire future into question.
In the following months, a small part of Sally’s consciousness begins to return, allowing her to listen in on the world around her – although she has no way to communicate.
But Sally was never going to let a little thing like a coma get in the way of her happily ever after …
I come in different shapes and sizes, but I am usually small and square.
I am very colourful and easily spotted.
I have a sticky bit at the top.
You can scribble or doodle all over me, or just use me to mark a page.
I make sure you don't forget that brilliant idea or the beautiful words that just popped into your mind.
What am I?
Yes, you guessed. I am a Post-it note.
I'm sure I am not the only writer who loves Post-it notes. In fact, bestselling author Julie Cohen gave a brilliant, fun and informative presentation about them and the 'Art of the Rewrite' at the latest Romantic Novelists Association Conference which was held in July at Queen Mary University, London.According to Julie, once you have completed the first draft of your novel and after a celebratory glass of champagne (a cup of tea will do too!) and a little break, it is time to start the rewriting process. For this she uses Post-it notes...lots and lots of them, that she sticks on a board, a wall or even on the back of a door.
She finds them an invaluable visual aid to highlight the structure of the novel. Not only do they help her map out the development of the plot and sub-plot, but she also uses colour-coded Post-its for different characters so that she can see exactly where and how often they feature in the story and how they interact with one another. By placing some Post-it notes slightly higher or lower than other, she can also spot the novel's high and low points. In short, she creates 'a Post-it plan' of the novel.
I am not in any way as well organised in my use of Post-it notes as Julie Cohen, but I do love them. I have tiny ones, long ones, large ones, square ones. Some have flowers or fancy romantic borders, others are just plain and boring! I stick them on every surface available in my dining room since this is where I usually write. They are sometimes so full of scribbles I can't read them at all, but most of the time they help me pin down an idea or a passing thought, remember a question or and point to further research for my work in progress.So I will be sticking with them!
This post is part of the PLEASE RELEASE ME blog splash!
PLEASE RELEASE ME by Rhoda Baxterhttp://www.amazon.co.uk/Please-Release-Me-Choc-Lit-ebook/dp/B013SY9CCG
Blurb
What if you could only watch as your bright future slipped away from you?
Sally Cummings has had it tougher than most but, if nothing else, it’s taught her to grab opportunity with both hands. And, when she stands looking into the eyes of her new husband Peter on her perfect wedding day, it seems her life is finally on the up.
That is until the car crash that puts her in a coma and throws her entire future into question.
In the following months, a small part of Sally’s consciousness begins to return, allowing her to listen in on the world around her – although she has no way to communicate.
But Sally was never going to let a little thing like a coma get in the way of her happily ever after …
August 31, 2015
LIFE IS A DRAG: Meet author Janie Millman
I am delighted to welcome fellow 'Accenter' Janie Milliman today! Hello Janie and thank you so much for coming on the blog to tell us about your debut novel LIFE IS A DRAG, which has been getting terrific reviews! I believe you live in a beautiful part of the South of France. I am so envious...
Can you tell us about your novel?'Life's A Drag' is set in San Franciscoand Suffolk.
A struggling San Francisco Drag club.
An idyllic English village.
What do they have in common?
More than meets the eye. It is a riotous account of two very different communities coming together to help each other and though they seem worlds apart it soon becomes clear that appearances are not everything and that sometimes human connection can surprise us. San Franciscocollides with Suffolkand nothing will ever be the same again.
'A magical bucolic frolic with a cast of characters you'd love to meet.'
What kind of man is you hero?I have two heroes – Drew Berry ( Honey Berryin the evening) is a drag queen in San Francisco. He is fighting a battle to save his club and the livelihoods of his closest friends and the community who depend on him.
With a heart to match his waistline he is larger than life – charismatic and compelling - an extrovert who lives life to the full.
Jamie is a straight talking Scot. He is an actor, full of fire and passion, embracing life with energy and enthusiasm.
What about your heroine?Roz is my heroine – she is Jamie's wife and also an actress. She is kind and compassionate – she cares deeply about people and worries for England.
They are both struggling to come to terms with some recent life changing news and have moved to Suffolk to start a new chapter in their lives.
What do you absolutely need to write? I know I need - but rarely get - silence and a reasonably neat house.
I like to have peace and quiet to write at home but bizarrely I am able to write in trains, busy cafes, planes etc. I usually try to get up at 6.00am and get words done before the day starts and madness ensues! I aim for 1000 words a day – sometimes happens – sometimes doesn't!
I love finding titles for my novels. What about you? Do you find it difficult to come up with titles for your novels?This is my debut novel – so I've not really had a problem with titles yet .... having said that this novel did go through about five different titles before we settled on 'Life's A Drag.'
I think it's a great title! How do you pick names for your characters?I try not to use names of close mates or family....there are quite a few characters in this book and to be honest I have no idea where the names came from .. they just seemed to pop into my head. It was quite a challenge because I also had to make up names for the drag queens!
What are you working on at the moment?I am working on my second novel at the moment – which still remains untitled....
It also has a dual setting – Marrakech and SW France.
After that I hope to write the sequel to 'Life's A Drag' which has been tumbling around in my head for a while!
Thank you so much, Janie, for being my guest today. I wish you lots of success with your novel and with your writing! LIFE IS A DRAG Blurb:Fabulously funny debut fiction! Actress Janie Millman opens up the world of ‘women’s’ fiction in this warm-hearted and hilarious debut, as she brings together an English village fighting for its traditions and some of the San Francisco’s hottest drag queens… Roz and Jamie have moved to leafy Suffolkfrom London in search of a quiet life so it is a surprise to find that the village is embarking on its riotous annual drag competition. Fuelled by large quantities of alcohol and ubiquitous community spirit, they soon find themselves caught up in a battle for the identity of the village itself. Meanwhile, in San Francisco, Drew is fighting his own battle to save his club and the livelihoods of his closest friends. Though they seem worlds apart, it soon becomes clear that appearances are not everything and that sometimes human connections can surprise us. Drag is the new cool – think Conchita Wurst, Ru Paul, Priscilla, Queen of the Desert and Kinky Boots in London. This fun-filled and life-affirming romp will appeal to anyone who enjoys humorous fiction. “High jinks and high heels… imagine The Archers in drag, with a huge heart and lots of laughs.” Veronica Henry(award-winning romance author)
Author Bio: Author Janie Millman was an actress for twenty-five years, appearing in the West End, on UK and World-wide Tours, on television and film. Her least-recognised role was as Leonardo the Ninja Turtle. Since 2009, she and her husband have lived in south-west France where they run Chez Castillon in an eighteenth-century house which provides an idyllic setting for painting, photography and creative-writing courses. She contracted breast cancer a couple of years ago and was inspired to write a popular blog: ‘Hair Today, Gone Tomorrow’ which sparked an interest in wild and unusual wigs, which probably helped when writing the Drag Queen characters. LIFE IS A DRAG is available from: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Lifes-Drag-Janie-Millman-ebook/dp/B00XA4Y75Mandhttp://www.accentpress.co.uk/en/Contributor/19120/Janie-Millman.html[image error]
Can you tell us about your novel?'Life's A Drag' is set in San Franciscoand Suffolk.A struggling San Francisco Drag club.
An idyllic English village.
What do they have in common?
More than meets the eye. It is a riotous account of two very different communities coming together to help each other and though they seem worlds apart it soon becomes clear that appearances are not everything and that sometimes human connection can surprise us. San Franciscocollides with Suffolkand nothing will ever be the same again.
'A magical bucolic frolic with a cast of characters you'd love to meet.'
What kind of man is you hero?I have two heroes – Drew Berry ( Honey Berryin the evening) is a drag queen in San Francisco. He is fighting a battle to save his club and the livelihoods of his closest friends and the community who depend on him.
With a heart to match his waistline he is larger than life – charismatic and compelling - an extrovert who lives life to the full.
Jamie is a straight talking Scot. He is an actor, full of fire and passion, embracing life with energy and enthusiasm.
What about your heroine?Roz is my heroine – she is Jamie's wife and also an actress. She is kind and compassionate – she cares deeply about people and worries for England.
They are both struggling to come to terms with some recent life changing news and have moved to Suffolk to start a new chapter in their lives.
What do you absolutely need to write? I know I need - but rarely get - silence and a reasonably neat house.
I like to have peace and quiet to write at home but bizarrely I am able to write in trains, busy cafes, planes etc. I usually try to get up at 6.00am and get words done before the day starts and madness ensues! I aim for 1000 words a day – sometimes happens – sometimes doesn't!
I love finding titles for my novels. What about you? Do you find it difficult to come up with titles for your novels?This is my debut novel – so I've not really had a problem with titles yet .... having said that this novel did go through about five different titles before we settled on 'Life's A Drag.'
I think it's a great title! How do you pick names for your characters?I try not to use names of close mates or family....there are quite a few characters in this book and to be honest I have no idea where the names came from .. they just seemed to pop into my head. It was quite a challenge because I also had to make up names for the drag queens!
What are you working on at the moment?I am working on my second novel at the moment – which still remains untitled....
It also has a dual setting – Marrakech and SW France.
After that I hope to write the sequel to 'Life's A Drag' which has been tumbling around in my head for a while!
Thank you so much, Janie, for being my guest today. I wish you lots of success with your novel and with your writing! LIFE IS A DRAG Blurb:Fabulously funny debut fiction! Actress Janie Millman opens up the world of ‘women’s’ fiction in this warm-hearted and hilarious debut, as she brings together an English village fighting for its traditions and some of the San Francisco’s hottest drag queens… Roz and Jamie have moved to leafy Suffolkfrom London in search of a quiet life so it is a surprise to find that the village is embarking on its riotous annual drag competition. Fuelled by large quantities of alcohol and ubiquitous community spirit, they soon find themselves caught up in a battle for the identity of the village itself. Meanwhile, in San Francisco, Drew is fighting his own battle to save his club and the livelihoods of his closest friends. Though they seem worlds apart, it soon becomes clear that appearances are not everything and that sometimes human connections can surprise us. Drag is the new cool – think Conchita Wurst, Ru Paul, Priscilla, Queen of the Desert and Kinky Boots in London. This fun-filled and life-affirming romp will appeal to anyone who enjoys humorous fiction. “High jinks and high heels… imagine The Archers in drag, with a huge heart and lots of laughs.” Veronica Henry(award-winning romance author)
Author Bio: Author Janie Millman was an actress for twenty-five years, appearing in the West End, on UK and World-wide Tours, on television and film. Her least-recognised role was as Leonardo the Ninja Turtle. Since 2009, she and her husband have lived in south-west France where they run Chez Castillon in an eighteenth-century house which provides an idyllic setting for painting, photography and creative-writing courses. She contracted breast cancer a couple of years ago and was inspired to write a popular blog: ‘Hair Today, Gone Tomorrow’ which sparked an interest in wild and unusual wigs, which probably helped when writing the Drag Queen characters. LIFE IS A DRAG is available from: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Lifes-Drag-Janie-Millman-ebook/dp/B00XA4Y75Mandhttp://www.accentpress.co.uk/en/Contributor/19120/Janie-Millman.html[image error]
August 29, 2015
Happy Birthday Romancing Robin Hood: Medieval Murder and Modern Love by Jenny Kane
Today I am handing over the blog to Jenny Kane, who celebrates the first birthday of her fantastic novel Romancing Robin Hood!
Many thanks Marie, for letting me visit today to help celebrate the first birthday of my novel Romancing Robin Hood, which is part modern romance, and part medieval mystery.
The last thing I expected I'd be doing during the drafting of a romance novel was plotting my first murder (on paper that is!), and yet, that is exactly what I did when I wrote Romancing Robin Hood.
Perhaps, with a legendary outlaw in the title, it isn't so surprising that I have found myself sorting out the finer points of a murder mystery- and yet I didn't see this coming. Whenever I begin a new novel, I have plenty of ideas, sketch out a plotline, and cobble together a synopsis, but at the same time I very much like my characters to take hold of the story themselves. I enjoy travelling with them, and being as surprised (hopefully) as my readers will be when they read my finished work.
Romancing Robin Hood – Blurb.
Dr Grace Harper has loved the stories of Robin Hood ever since she first saw them on TV as a girl. Now, with her fortieth birthday just around the corner, she’s a successful academic in Medieval History, with a tenured position at a top university.But Grace is in a bit of a rut. She’s supposed to be writing a textbook on a real-life medieval gang of high-class criminals – the Folvilles – but she keeps being drawn into the world of the novel she’s secretly writing – a novel which entwines the Folvilles with her long-time love of Robin Hood – and a feisty young girl named Mathilda, who is the key to a medieval mystery…Meanwhile, Grace’s best friend Daisy – who’s as keen on animals as Grace is on the Merry Men – is unexpectedly getting married, and a reluctant Grace is press-ganged into being her bridesmaid. As Grace sees Daisy’s new-found happiness, she starts to re-evaluate her own life. Is her devotion to a man who may or may not have lived hundreds of years ago really a substitute for a real-life hero of her own? It doesn’t get any easier when she meets Dr Robert Franks – a rival academic who Grace is determined to dislike but finds herself being increasingly drawn to…Romancing Robin Hood is a contemporary romance all about history lecturer Dr Grace Harper, who is nuts about Robin Hood and the historical outlaws that may have inspired him. So not only does Romancing Robin Hood tell the story of Grace’s fight to find time for romance in her busy work filled life, it also contains a secondary story about the fourteenth century criminal gang Grace is researching- the Folvilles. This family, based in Ashby-Folville in Leicestershire, were a group I researched in-depth as a student many moons ago. In the novella she is writing, Grace’s fourteenth century protagonist Mathilda is getting to know the Folville family rather better than she would have liked. As well as living with them, she suddenly finds herself under a very frightening type of suspicion.
I must confess I'm rather enjoyed weaving this sub plot around the main romance of the modern part of Romancing Robin Hood.
I had no idea killing someone off could be so much fun!! It was rather like doing a jigsaw from in the inside out, while having no idea where the corners are!
Here’s an extract from part of the medieval tale Grace is writing... Mathilda thought she was used to darkness, but the dim candlelight of the comfortable small room she shared at home with her brothers was nothing like this. The sheer density of this darkness seemed to envelop her, physically gliding over Mathilda’s clammy goose-pimpled skin. This was an extreme blackness that coated her, making her breathless, as if it was stealthfully compressing her lungs and squeezing the life from her.
Unable to see the floor, Mathilda presumed, as she pressed her naked foot against it and damp oozed between her toes, that the suspiciously soft surface she was sat on was moss, which in a room neglected for years had been allowed it to form a cushion on the stone floor. It was a theory backed up by the smell of mould and general filthiness which hung in the air.
Trying not to think about how long she was going to be left in this windowless cell, Mathilda stretched out her arms and bravely felt for the extent of the walls, hoping she wasn’t about to touch something other than cold stone. The child’s voice that lingered at the back of her mind, even though she was a woman of nineteen, was telling her – screaming at her – that there might be bodies in here, still clapped in irons, abandoned and rotting. Mathilda battled the voice down; knowing it that would do her no good at all. Her father had always congratulated Mathilda on her level headedness, and now it was being put to the test. She was determined not to let him down now. Placing the very tips of her fingers against the wall behind her, she felt her way around. It was wet. Trickles of water had found a way in from somewhere, giving the walls the same slimy covering as the floor. Mathilda traced the outline of the rough stone wall, keeping her feet exactly where they were. In seconds her fingers came to a corner, and twisting at the waist, she managed to plot her prison from one side of the heavy wooden door to the other, without doing more than extending the span of her arms.
Mathilda decided the room could be no more than five feet square, although it must be about six foot tall. Her own five-foot frame had stumbled down a step when she’d been pushed into the cell, and her head was at least a foot clear of the ceiling. The bleak eerie silence was eating away at her determination to be brave, and the cold brought her suppressed fear to the fore. Suddenly the shivering Mathilda had stoically ignored overtook her, and there was nothing she could do but let it invade her small slim body.
Wrapping her thin arms around her chest, she pulled up her hood, hugged her grey woollen surcoat tighter about her shoulders, and sent an unspoken prayer of thanks up to Our Lady for the fact that her legs were covered.
She’d been helping her two brothers, Matthew and Oswin, to catch fish in the deeper water beyond the second of Twyford’s fords when the men had come. Mathilda had been wearing an old pair of Matthew’s hose, although no stockings or shoes. She thought of her warm footwear, discarded earlier with such merry abandon. A forgotten, neglected pile on the river bank; thrown haphazardly beneath a tree in her eagerness to get them off and join the boys in their work. It was one of the only tasks their father gave them that could have been considered fun.
Mathilda closed her eyes, angry as the tears she’d forbidden herself to shed defied her stubborn will and came anyway. With them came weariness. It consumed her, forcing her to sink onto the rotten floor. Water dripped into her long, lank red hair. The tussle of capture had loosened its neatly woven plait, and now it hung awkwardly, half in and half out of its bindings, like a badly strapped sheaf of strawberry corn.
She tried not to start blaming her father, but it was difficult not to. Why hadn’t he told her he’d borrowed money from the Folvilles? It was an insane thing to do. Only the most desperate … Mathilda stopped her thoughts in their tracks. They were disloyal and pointless...
...Does Mathilda seem miserable and scared enough? Grace wasn’t sure she’d laid the horror of the situation on thick enough. On the other hand, she didn’t want to drown her potential readers in suffering-related adjectives. No, on reflection it was fine; certainly good enough to leave and come back to on the next read through. She glanced at the clock at the corner of the computer screen. How the hell had it got to eight thirty already? Grace’s stomach rumbled, making her think of poor Mathilda in her solitary prison.
Switching off her computer, Grace crammed all her notes into her bag so she could read over them at home, and headed out of her office. Walking down the Queen’s Road, which led from the university to her small home in Leicester’s Clarendon Park region, Grace decided it was way too hot, even at this time of the evening, to stand in the kitchen and attempt, and probably fail, to cook something edible, so she’d grab a takeaway.
Grateful it wasn’t term time, so she didn’t have to endure the banter of the students who were also waiting for associated plastic boxes of Chinese food, Grace speedily walked home, and without bothering to transfer her chicken chow mein to another dish, grabbed a fork, kicked off her shoes, and settled herself down with her manuscript...
***Buy links
Amazon UK- http://www.amazon.co.uk/Romancing-Robin-Hood-Jenny-Kane-ebook/dp/B00M4838S2/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1407428558&sr=8-1&keywords=romancing+robin+hoodAmazon.com- http://www.amazon.com/Romancing-Robin-Hood-love-story-ebook/dp/B00M4838S2/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1409936409&sr=8-1&keywords=romancing+robin+hood
Kobo- http://store.kobobooks.com/Search/Query?ac=1&Query=jenny%20kaneNook- http://www.nook.com/gb/search?utf8=%E2%9C&%5Bs%5Dkeyword=Jenny+Kane
Many thanks for inviting me over today Marie.Happy reading everyone,
Jenny xxx
Bio
Jenny Kane is the author of the bestselling novels, Abi’s House, Romancing Robin Hood (Accent Press, 2014), and Another Cup of Coffee (Accent Press, 2013), as well as its novella length sequels Another Cup of Christmas (Accent Press, 2013), Christmas in the Cotswolds(Accent 2014), and the forthcoming, Christmas in the Castle (Accent, 2015)
Jenny’s next novel, Another Glass of Champagne, will be published by Accent Press in April, 2016.You can keep up to date with Jenny’s book news via her blog - www.jennykane.co.uk
Twitter- @JennyKaneAuthor
Facebook -https://www.facebook.com/JennyKaneRom...
Many thanks Marie, for letting me visit today to help celebrate the first birthday of my novel Romancing Robin Hood, which is part modern romance, and part medieval mystery.The last thing I expected I'd be doing during the drafting of a romance novel was plotting my first murder (on paper that is!), and yet, that is exactly what I did when I wrote Romancing Robin Hood.
Perhaps, with a legendary outlaw in the title, it isn't so surprising that I have found myself sorting out the finer points of a murder mystery- and yet I didn't see this coming. Whenever I begin a new novel, I have plenty of ideas, sketch out a plotline, and cobble together a synopsis, but at the same time I very much like my characters to take hold of the story themselves. I enjoy travelling with them, and being as surprised (hopefully) as my readers will be when they read my finished work.
Romancing Robin Hood – Blurb.
Dr Grace Harper has loved the stories of Robin Hood ever since she first saw them on TV as a girl. Now, with her fortieth birthday just around the corner, she’s a successful academic in Medieval History, with a tenured position at a top university.But Grace is in a bit of a rut. She’s supposed to be writing a textbook on a real-life medieval gang of high-class criminals – the Folvilles – but she keeps being drawn into the world of the novel she’s secretly writing – a novel which entwines the Folvilles with her long-time love of Robin Hood – and a feisty young girl named Mathilda, who is the key to a medieval mystery…Meanwhile, Grace’s best friend Daisy – who’s as keen on animals as Grace is on the Merry Men – is unexpectedly getting married, and a reluctant Grace is press-ganged into being her bridesmaid. As Grace sees Daisy’s new-found happiness, she starts to re-evaluate her own life. Is her devotion to a man who may or may not have lived hundreds of years ago really a substitute for a real-life hero of her own? It doesn’t get any easier when she meets Dr Robert Franks – a rival academic who Grace is determined to dislike but finds herself being increasingly drawn to…Romancing Robin Hood is a contemporary romance all about history lecturer Dr Grace Harper, who is nuts about Robin Hood and the historical outlaws that may have inspired him. So not only does Romancing Robin Hood tell the story of Grace’s fight to find time for romance in her busy work filled life, it also contains a secondary story about the fourteenth century criminal gang Grace is researching- the Folvilles. This family, based in Ashby-Folville in Leicestershire, were a group I researched in-depth as a student many moons ago. In the novella she is writing, Grace’s fourteenth century protagonist Mathilda is getting to know the Folville family rather better than she would have liked. As well as living with them, she suddenly finds herself under a very frightening type of suspicion.
I must confess I'm rather enjoyed weaving this sub plot around the main romance of the modern part of Romancing Robin Hood.
I had no idea killing someone off could be so much fun!! It was rather like doing a jigsaw from in the inside out, while having no idea where the corners are!
Here’s an extract from part of the medieval tale Grace is writing... Mathilda thought she was used to darkness, but the dim candlelight of the comfortable small room she shared at home with her brothers was nothing like this. The sheer density of this darkness seemed to envelop her, physically gliding over Mathilda’s clammy goose-pimpled skin. This was an extreme blackness that coated her, making her breathless, as if it was stealthfully compressing her lungs and squeezing the life from her.Unable to see the floor, Mathilda presumed, as she pressed her naked foot against it and damp oozed between her toes, that the suspiciously soft surface she was sat on was moss, which in a room neglected for years had been allowed it to form a cushion on the stone floor. It was a theory backed up by the smell of mould and general filthiness which hung in the air.
Trying not to think about how long she was going to be left in this windowless cell, Mathilda stretched out her arms and bravely felt for the extent of the walls, hoping she wasn’t about to touch something other than cold stone. The child’s voice that lingered at the back of her mind, even though she was a woman of nineteen, was telling her – screaming at her – that there might be bodies in here, still clapped in irons, abandoned and rotting. Mathilda battled the voice down; knowing it that would do her no good at all. Her father had always congratulated Mathilda on her level headedness, and now it was being put to the test. She was determined not to let him down now. Placing the very tips of her fingers against the wall behind her, she felt her way around. It was wet. Trickles of water had found a way in from somewhere, giving the walls the same slimy covering as the floor. Mathilda traced the outline of the rough stone wall, keeping her feet exactly where they were. In seconds her fingers came to a corner, and twisting at the waist, she managed to plot her prison from one side of the heavy wooden door to the other, without doing more than extending the span of her arms.
Mathilda decided the room could be no more than five feet square, although it must be about six foot tall. Her own five-foot frame had stumbled down a step when she’d been pushed into the cell, and her head was at least a foot clear of the ceiling. The bleak eerie silence was eating away at her determination to be brave, and the cold brought her suppressed fear to the fore. Suddenly the shivering Mathilda had stoically ignored overtook her, and there was nothing she could do but let it invade her small slim body.
Wrapping her thin arms around her chest, she pulled up her hood, hugged her grey woollen surcoat tighter about her shoulders, and sent an unspoken prayer of thanks up to Our Lady for the fact that her legs were covered.
She’d been helping her two brothers, Matthew and Oswin, to catch fish in the deeper water beyond the second of Twyford’s fords when the men had come. Mathilda had been wearing an old pair of Matthew’s hose, although no stockings or shoes. She thought of her warm footwear, discarded earlier with such merry abandon. A forgotten, neglected pile on the river bank; thrown haphazardly beneath a tree in her eagerness to get them off and join the boys in their work. It was one of the only tasks their father gave them that could have been considered fun.
Mathilda closed her eyes, angry as the tears she’d forbidden herself to shed defied her stubborn will and came anyway. With them came weariness. It consumed her, forcing her to sink onto the rotten floor. Water dripped into her long, lank red hair. The tussle of capture had loosened its neatly woven plait, and now it hung awkwardly, half in and half out of its bindings, like a badly strapped sheaf of strawberry corn.
She tried not to start blaming her father, but it was difficult not to. Why hadn’t he told her he’d borrowed money from the Folvilles? It was an insane thing to do. Only the most desperate … Mathilda stopped her thoughts in their tracks. They were disloyal and pointless...
...Does Mathilda seem miserable and scared enough? Grace wasn’t sure she’d laid the horror of the situation on thick enough. On the other hand, she didn’t want to drown her potential readers in suffering-related adjectives. No, on reflection it was fine; certainly good enough to leave and come back to on the next read through. She glanced at the clock at the corner of the computer screen. How the hell had it got to eight thirty already? Grace’s stomach rumbled, making her think of poor Mathilda in her solitary prison.
Switching off her computer, Grace crammed all her notes into her bag so she could read over them at home, and headed out of her office. Walking down the Queen’s Road, which led from the university to her small home in Leicester’s Clarendon Park region, Grace decided it was way too hot, even at this time of the evening, to stand in the kitchen and attempt, and probably fail, to cook something edible, so she’d grab a takeaway.
Grateful it wasn’t term time, so she didn’t have to endure the banter of the students who were also waiting for associated plastic boxes of Chinese food, Grace speedily walked home, and without bothering to transfer her chicken chow mein to another dish, grabbed a fork, kicked off her shoes, and settled herself down with her manuscript...
***Buy links
Amazon UK- http://www.amazon.co.uk/Romancing-Robin-Hood-Jenny-Kane-ebook/dp/B00M4838S2/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1407428558&sr=8-1&keywords=romancing+robin+hoodAmazon.com- http://www.amazon.com/Romancing-Robin-Hood-love-story-ebook/dp/B00M4838S2/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1409936409&sr=8-1&keywords=romancing+robin+hood
Kobo- http://store.kobobooks.com/Search/Query?ac=1&Query=jenny%20kaneNook- http://www.nook.com/gb/search?utf8=%E2%9C&%5Bs%5Dkeyword=Jenny+Kane
Many thanks for inviting me over today Marie.Happy reading everyone,
Jenny xxx
BioJenny Kane is the author of the bestselling novels, Abi’s House, Romancing Robin Hood (Accent Press, 2014), and Another Cup of Coffee (Accent Press, 2013), as well as its novella length sequels Another Cup of Christmas (Accent Press, 2013), Christmas in the Cotswolds(Accent 2014), and the forthcoming, Christmas in the Castle (Accent, 2015)
Jenny’s next novel, Another Glass of Champagne, will be published by Accent Press in April, 2016.You can keep up to date with Jenny’s book news via her blog - www.jennykane.co.uk
Twitter- @JennyKaneAuthor
Facebook -https://www.facebook.com/JennyKaneRom...
August 11, 2015
Isabelle Eberhardt, an inspiring dreamer, nomad and writer
I was always fascinated by North Africa, by its history, art and culture. My mother was born and brought up in Algiers. She was from a French, Spanish and Italian background and had a very original, colourful and at times slightly crazy family (to say the least!).
The Cantrel family, Jnnuary 1940 - My mother is the little girl standing on the chair
The young man in uniform is her brother Paul, who was to die at DunkirkShe left Algeria during the war of Independence in 1962, never to return, but her colourful childhood stories made the place special for my sisters and I.
La Robertsau, Algiers
The 'cabanon' (literally 'shack') in seaside Suffren, about 50 kilometres from Algiers, where the family would go fishing and spend holidays. It was shared with two other familiesAs a teenager I read many novels and short stories which were set there. I particularly loved 'Bivouacs sous la Lune' by Frison-Roche for his beautiful tales of the Sahara and its lost kingdoms.
And then I discovered Isabelle Eberhardt and fell under the spell of her short stories, which brought the tastes, smells and landscapes of North Africa to life. Her often tragic characters were unforgettable. Her writing was neat, precise, simple but incredibly powerful and transported me to a bazaar in a small town of the M'zab, or along the steep, narrow alleyways of the Algiers Kasbah, or again across the magnificent wilderness of the Saharan plains.
I was also intrigued by her as a person because her life is definitely a case of reality being more fascinating than fiction. Like Alexandra David-Neel who travelled to Tibet and converted to Buddhism, Odette du Puigaudeau in Mauritania, or again Ella Maillart in Asia, Isabelle was one of the very first Twentieth century women who travelled alone - and relished the adventure and the solitude.
' For those who know the value of and exquisite taste of solitary freedom (for one is only free when alone), the act of leaving is the bravest and most beautiful of all.'
― Isabelle Eberhardt, The Nomad: The Diaries of Isabelle Eberhardt
Isabelle Eberhardt: 'A nomad I will remain for life, in love with distant and uncharted places.'
Isabelle was born in Genevain 1877, the illegitimate daughter of Natalia, the widow of a former aide de camp to the Russian tsar Alexander II, and a Ukrainian scholar - an anarchist, according to some. Although her family was shunned by Geneva's polite society, Isabelle was well educated and spoke French, Russian, Italian, German as well as Greek, Latin and Arabic.
From a young age she dreamt of adventure in far away lands, North Africa especially, where two of her brothers joined the Foreign Legion. She was twenty when she travelled to Bône in Algeria, where she lived with her mother and converted to Islam. After her mother's death, she started travelling extensively across Algeria, alone, dressed as a man and under the name Si Mahmoud Saadi.
'Je suis seul, et je rêve' (I am alone, and I dream).
It's interesting to see that she writes about herself as a man (by using the masculine form of 'seul'). Dressing up and living as a man allowed her freedoms which would have been denied to her as a woman - the freedom to travel or have access to zouaias (islamic religious schools), taverns and brothels.
In 1901 she married Slimane Ehnni, a spahi - a soldier from the French colonial army's light cavalry regiments, but her life was cut tragically short by a flash flood in Ain Sefra in October 1904. She was only 27 when she died.
I can't resist posting this beautiful painting by Maxime Noiré, 'the painter of horizons on fire and weeping almond trees'. Actually it sounds better in French: 'Le peintre des horizons en feu et des amandiers en pleurs'.
And what about this extract of one of her short stories set in Bou Saada - the Saharan oasis nicknamed 'the city of happiness' which was well-known to Hugo and Lucas Saintclair, the heroes of my historical romances ANGEL HEART and THE LION'S EMBRACE.
'Bou-Saada, la reine fauve vêtue de ses jardins obscurs et gardée par ses collines violettes, dort, voluptueuse, au bord escarpé de l'oued où l'eau bruisse sur les cailloux blancs et roses.'
Isabelle Eberhardt, Pleurs d'amandiers, 1903
I won't even attempt to translate this into English!
North Africa and my mother's childhood stories also inspired me to write short stories, one of them was published in Accent Press' SHIVER anthology last October. I find the mix of cultures and popular beliefs fascinating. Berber, Arab, Spanish, Italian, French - brought their own superstitions. But that will be for another post....
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Shiver-collection-halloween-stories-best-selling-ebook/dp/B00O9VKGJG/ref=asap_bc?ie=UTF8
What about you? Who was the writer who influenced you the most and made you dream?
The Cantrel family, Jnnuary 1940 - My mother is the little girl standing on the chairThe young man in uniform is her brother Paul, who was to die at DunkirkShe left Algeria during the war of Independence in 1962, never to return, but her colourful childhood stories made the place special for my sisters and I.
La Robertsau, Algiers
The 'cabanon' (literally 'shack') in seaside Suffren, about 50 kilometres from Algiers, where the family would go fishing and spend holidays. It was shared with two other familiesAs a teenager I read many novels and short stories which were set there. I particularly loved 'Bivouacs sous la Lune' by Frison-Roche for his beautiful tales of the Sahara and its lost kingdoms.
And then I discovered Isabelle Eberhardt and fell under the spell of her short stories, which brought the tastes, smells and landscapes of North Africa to life. Her often tragic characters were unforgettable. Her writing was neat, precise, simple but incredibly powerful and transported me to a bazaar in a small town of the M'zab, or along the steep, narrow alleyways of the Algiers Kasbah, or again across the magnificent wilderness of the Saharan plains.I was also intrigued by her as a person because her life is definitely a case of reality being more fascinating than fiction. Like Alexandra David-Neel who travelled to Tibet and converted to Buddhism, Odette du Puigaudeau in Mauritania, or again Ella Maillart in Asia, Isabelle was one of the very first Twentieth century women who travelled alone - and relished the adventure and the solitude.
' For those who know the value of and exquisite taste of solitary freedom (for one is only free when alone), the act of leaving is the bravest and most beautiful of all.'
― Isabelle Eberhardt, The Nomad: The Diaries of Isabelle Eberhardt
Isabelle Eberhardt: 'A nomad I will remain for life, in love with distant and uncharted places.'
Isabelle was born in Genevain 1877, the illegitimate daughter of Natalia, the widow of a former aide de camp to the Russian tsar Alexander II, and a Ukrainian scholar - an anarchist, according to some. Although her family was shunned by Geneva's polite society, Isabelle was well educated and spoke French, Russian, Italian, German as well as Greek, Latin and Arabic.
From a young age she dreamt of adventure in far away lands, North Africa especially, where two of her brothers joined the Foreign Legion. She was twenty when she travelled to Bône in Algeria, where she lived with her mother and converted to Islam. After her mother's death, she started travelling extensively across Algeria, alone, dressed as a man and under the name Si Mahmoud Saadi.
'Je suis seul, et je rêve' (I am alone, and I dream).
It's interesting to see that she writes about herself as a man (by using the masculine form of 'seul'). Dressing up and living as a man allowed her freedoms which would have been denied to her as a woman - the freedom to travel or have access to zouaias (islamic religious schools), taverns and brothels.
In 1901 she married Slimane Ehnni, a spahi - a soldier from the French colonial army's light cavalry regiments, but her life was cut tragically short by a flash flood in Ain Sefra in October 1904. She was only 27 when she died.
I can't resist posting this beautiful painting by Maxime Noiré, 'the painter of horizons on fire and weeping almond trees'. Actually it sounds better in French: 'Le peintre des horizons en feu et des amandiers en pleurs'.And what about this extract of one of her short stories set in Bou Saada - the Saharan oasis nicknamed 'the city of happiness' which was well-known to Hugo and Lucas Saintclair, the heroes of my historical romances ANGEL HEART and THE LION'S EMBRACE.
'Bou-Saada, la reine fauve vêtue de ses jardins obscurs et gardée par ses collines violettes, dort, voluptueuse, au bord escarpé de l'oued où l'eau bruisse sur les cailloux blancs et roses.'
Isabelle Eberhardt, Pleurs d'amandiers, 1903I won't even attempt to translate this into English!
North Africa and my mother's childhood stories also inspired me to write short stories, one of them was published in Accent Press' SHIVER anthology last October. I find the mix of cultures and popular beliefs fascinating. Berber, Arab, Spanish, Italian, French - brought their own superstitions. But that will be for another post....
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Shiver-collection-halloween-stories-best-selling-ebook/dp/B00O9VKGJG/ref=asap_bc?ie=UTF8What about you? Who was the writer who influenced you the most and made you dream?
August 6, 2015
THE REST OF MY LIFE
Today I am welcoming Sheryl Browne to talk about her latest release by Choc Lit, The Rest of My Life. Don't forget, there is a lovely giveaway at the bottom of the post!
Hello and welcome Sheryl! Can you tell us about The Rest of My Life?
Ooh, I would love to, thank you! The Rest of My Life comes from Choc Lit on recommendation of the WH Smith Travel Fiction buyer. My books generally tend to turn around the male character, looking at the fragility of love life and relationships, ergo I always start off with a nicely formed man (which isn’t a bad way to start, you have to admit). Whether he’s good or bad, or a dangerously heady mixture of both, my hero is always right there, his features, his hair, his clothes, his mannerisms, his conflicts. The heroine actually grows from him, as in: what kind of woman would be attracted to him? Is she not attracted to him? In denial? If so, why? I suppose I’m playing the ‘what if’ game. What if … she was attracted but couldn’t/wouldn’t admit it? What if a relationship between them was unacceptable – to society, to family, to themselves? You can see how a story might grow. The premise for The Rest of My Life was simply that Adam isn’t your usual hero material. He has the essential human flaws, but Adam’s run a little deeper. He’s a Lothario, a womaniser and a commitment phobe with a dark, defining secret in his past. The questions I wanted the book to answer were: Could we love him? Could he learn to love himself?
Adam sounds like a fascinating hero, but if you only had three words to tell me about him, what would you say?
Sienna’s thoughts: Cocksure, lonely, terrified
I do love your heroine's name... I find Sienna wonderfully romantic and evocative, but in three words again, what kind of woman is she?
Adam’s thoughts: enigma, sensual, innocent
What did Adam think the first time he saw Sienna?
Adam’s thoughts: Bloody hell. Adam did a double take. It was the girl from the cottage. Innocent looking and fresh-faced, a radiant smile as she chatted to the punters she served at the pub, seemingly unaware of most of them eyeing her up, Adam had tried hard not to notice her. He couldn’t help but notice her now. She was wearing the shortest of shorts and the skimpiest of bra-affair tops he’d ever seen in his life. It was her hair, though, which she was now wearing loose, that really caught his attention. Red hair flecked gold, tumbling carelessly down her back, it was stunning. She was stunning. Barefoot, with tanned long legs, she was undeniably attractive. Definitely his type, he might once have confided to Nate – as he had when he’d first met Emily. She’d been barefoot too, he recalled the image vividly, fishing from the side of a boat with her father. Pretty hopelessly it turned out. She hadn’t had a hook on her line, because she hadn’t wanted to hurt the fish. She’d caught him that day, the day he’d learned to smile again after his mother had gone. Emily had been his first love. His last love, too, as far as Adam was concerned.
And what did Sienna think of Adam the first time she saw him?
Sienna’s thoughts: She and Lauren had caught a glimpse of the well-sculpted torso of the owner of the little white river cruiser moored at the quayside directly opposite – the man they’d christened Lothario, having noted certain nocturnal activities on board. Due to his late comings and goings, Sienna hadn’t really spoken to him, other than a passing hello – and then he barely acknowledged her, but she could see what his obvious attraction to women was, on the surface anyway. Tall, toned, tousled dark hair, bronzed skin the colour of caramel mocha latte, the man was definitely eye candy. They’d spotted him again last night. Living up to his reputation, he’d been sneaking a woman onto his boat, amidst much shushing from him and giggling from her. They’d both been tipsy and, judging by the need for secrecy, they were obviously having an affair.
I love this! What is the one thing you absolutely need to write?
When you are really in character you need quiet, otherwise they go all shy.
I couldn't agree with your more! One cannot overestimate the importance of silence. Unfortunately my house is anything but quiet. Right now my eldest is practicing on his electric guitar at full blast with AC DC! Do you find it difficult to come up with titles for your novels?
Extremely, they’re either there or they’re not – ever. My first book was called Loose Screws. My agent loved it. The publishers loved it … the title only, unfortunately! Back to the drawing board.
One of my greatest pleasures when I start a new novel is to choose names for my characters. Can you tell me how you pick the names of your characters?
I can’t work until my characters are christened. I like short names, particularly for men. I tend to use that indispensable writers’ tool nowadays: Google. Even when writing contemporary fiction, it’s important to make sure your character’s name fits his date of birth.
Yes, you are right Sheryl. There are so many trends and fashions for names, you do need to be careful. What are you working on at the moment?
I have three books begging to be written, would you believe? Firstly, a poignant romance (possibly romantic suspense) currently titled, Ripples on the Water. Here’s a teeny smidgeon of an outline (still a work in progress): Aaron Calthorpe-Jones, a police dog handler, has been at odds with his father for as long as he can remember. He leaves his family home under a cloud of hostility and resentment when the husband of the woman he’s having an affair with apparently commits suicide. Aaron’s father, who washed his hands of Aaron years ago after his younger sister tragically drowned while in Aaron’s care, renounces him as a home wrecker, a man with no morals and no son of his. Five long years later, Lyndsey, the woman with whom Aaron had the affair, also leaves the small farming community. Seeking Aaron out, she presents him with the daughter he’s never known existed, and then disappears from his life. (The book opens with Aaron returning to the village where he knows he’s not welcome. I did say I like to start with a nicely formed man!).
The second is a poignant family drama (idea suggested by the WH Smith buyer). I’m still playing with that, but I have the first chapter which opens with a grandmother and granddaughter discussing why the lady in the middle, dutiful mother and daughter, has suddenly decided to run away from home.
Finally, I have a sequel to my thriller, Death Sentence, which is the respective daughters’ stories, Ashley’s and Taylor’s. I’m feeling a ‘Fatal Attraction’ mood settling over that.
Clearly, I’m going to need to focus on one, but they are all clamouring for headspace!
PLUS! Breaking news here: I have just received another contract from Choc Lit for my book, Learning to Love! I think I’m going to be a busy little bee.
Congratulations Sheryl. This is wonderful news! I can see you are going to be very busy in the next few months. Good luck with all your projects. And now for the word association fun test!
Day: dreams
winter: Christmas
summer: wine … um?
films: Ghost
love: romance
Blurb for The Rest of My Life
“You can’t run away from commitment forever … “
Adam Hamilton-Shaw has more reason than most to avoid commitment. Living on a houseboat in the Severn Valley, his dream is to sail into the sunset – preferably with a woman waiting in every port. But lately, his life looks more like a road to destruction than an idyllic boat ride…
Would-be screenplay writer Sienna Meadows realises that everything about Adam spells trouble – but she can’t ignore the feeling that there is more to him than just his bad reputation. Nor can she ignore the intense physical attraction that exists between them.
And it just so happens that Adam sees Sienna as the kind of woman he couldcommit to. But can he change his damaging behaviour – or is the road to destruction a one-way street?
Amazon UK Amazon US
Choc Lit
Heartache, humour, love, loss & betrayal, Sheryl Browne brings you edgy, sexy, poignant fiction. A member of the Crime Writers’ Association, Romantic Novelists’ Association and shortlisted for Innovation in Romantic Fiction, Sheryl has seven books published to date. Sheryl’s new contemporary romance novel was recommended to the publisher by the WH Smith Travel fiction buyer. THE REST OF MY Life comes to you from award winning Choc Lit.
Author Links
Website | Twitter | Facebook | Buy | Buy US | Pinterest
Loveahappyending Lifestyle
Safkhet Publishing | Choc Lit | Romantic Novelists’ Association
This is the code for the giveaway! Good luck!
http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/4be0301796/?
Hello and welcome Sheryl! Can you tell us about The Rest of My Life? Ooh, I would love to, thank you! The Rest of My Life comes from Choc Lit on recommendation of the WH Smith Travel Fiction buyer. My books generally tend to turn around the male character, looking at the fragility of love life and relationships, ergo I always start off with a nicely formed man (which isn’t a bad way to start, you have to admit). Whether he’s good or bad, or a dangerously heady mixture of both, my hero is always right there, his features, his hair, his clothes, his mannerisms, his conflicts. The heroine actually grows from him, as in: what kind of woman would be attracted to him? Is she not attracted to him? In denial? If so, why? I suppose I’m playing the ‘what if’ game. What if … she was attracted but couldn’t/wouldn’t admit it? What if a relationship between them was unacceptable – to society, to family, to themselves? You can see how a story might grow. The premise for The Rest of My Life was simply that Adam isn’t your usual hero material. He has the essential human flaws, but Adam’s run a little deeper. He’s a Lothario, a womaniser and a commitment phobe with a dark, defining secret in his past. The questions I wanted the book to answer were: Could we love him? Could he learn to love himself?
Adam sounds like a fascinating hero, but if you only had three words to tell me about him, what would you say?
Sienna’s thoughts: Cocksure, lonely, terrified
I do love your heroine's name... I find Sienna wonderfully romantic and evocative, but in three words again, what kind of woman is she?
Adam’s thoughts: enigma, sensual, innocent
What did Adam think the first time he saw Sienna?
Adam’s thoughts: Bloody hell. Adam did a double take. It was the girl from the cottage. Innocent looking and fresh-faced, a radiant smile as she chatted to the punters she served at the pub, seemingly unaware of most of them eyeing her up, Adam had tried hard not to notice her. He couldn’t help but notice her now. She was wearing the shortest of shorts and the skimpiest of bra-affair tops he’d ever seen in his life. It was her hair, though, which she was now wearing loose, that really caught his attention. Red hair flecked gold, tumbling carelessly down her back, it was stunning. She was stunning. Barefoot, with tanned long legs, she was undeniably attractive. Definitely his type, he might once have confided to Nate – as he had when he’d first met Emily. She’d been barefoot too, he recalled the image vividly, fishing from the side of a boat with her father. Pretty hopelessly it turned out. She hadn’t had a hook on her line, because she hadn’t wanted to hurt the fish. She’d caught him that day, the day he’d learned to smile again after his mother had gone. Emily had been his first love. His last love, too, as far as Adam was concerned.
And what did Sienna think of Adam the first time she saw him?
Sienna’s thoughts: She and Lauren had caught a glimpse of the well-sculpted torso of the owner of the little white river cruiser moored at the quayside directly opposite – the man they’d christened Lothario, having noted certain nocturnal activities on board. Due to his late comings and goings, Sienna hadn’t really spoken to him, other than a passing hello – and then he barely acknowledged her, but she could see what his obvious attraction to women was, on the surface anyway. Tall, toned, tousled dark hair, bronzed skin the colour of caramel mocha latte, the man was definitely eye candy. They’d spotted him again last night. Living up to his reputation, he’d been sneaking a woman onto his boat, amidst much shushing from him and giggling from her. They’d both been tipsy and, judging by the need for secrecy, they were obviously having an affair.
I love this! What is the one thing you absolutely need to write?
When you are really in character you need quiet, otherwise they go all shy.
I couldn't agree with your more! One cannot overestimate the importance of silence. Unfortunately my house is anything but quiet. Right now my eldest is practicing on his electric guitar at full blast with AC DC! Do you find it difficult to come up with titles for your novels?
Extremely, they’re either there or they’re not – ever. My first book was called Loose Screws. My agent loved it. The publishers loved it … the title only, unfortunately! Back to the drawing board.
One of my greatest pleasures when I start a new novel is to choose names for my characters. Can you tell me how you pick the names of your characters?
I can’t work until my characters are christened. I like short names, particularly for men. I tend to use that indispensable writers’ tool nowadays: Google. Even when writing contemporary fiction, it’s important to make sure your character’s name fits his date of birth.
Yes, you are right Sheryl. There are so many trends and fashions for names, you do need to be careful. What are you working on at the moment?
I have three books begging to be written, would you believe? Firstly, a poignant romance (possibly romantic suspense) currently titled, Ripples on the Water. Here’s a teeny smidgeon of an outline (still a work in progress): Aaron Calthorpe-Jones, a police dog handler, has been at odds with his father for as long as he can remember. He leaves his family home under a cloud of hostility and resentment when the husband of the woman he’s having an affair with apparently commits suicide. Aaron’s father, who washed his hands of Aaron years ago after his younger sister tragically drowned while in Aaron’s care, renounces him as a home wrecker, a man with no morals and no son of his. Five long years later, Lyndsey, the woman with whom Aaron had the affair, also leaves the small farming community. Seeking Aaron out, she presents him with the daughter he’s never known existed, and then disappears from his life. (The book opens with Aaron returning to the village where he knows he’s not welcome. I did say I like to start with a nicely formed man!).
The second is a poignant family drama (idea suggested by the WH Smith buyer). I’m still playing with that, but I have the first chapter which opens with a grandmother and granddaughter discussing why the lady in the middle, dutiful mother and daughter, has suddenly decided to run away from home.
Finally, I have a sequel to my thriller, Death Sentence, which is the respective daughters’ stories, Ashley’s and Taylor’s. I’m feeling a ‘Fatal Attraction’ mood settling over that.
Clearly, I’m going to need to focus on one, but they are all clamouring for headspace!
PLUS! Breaking news here: I have just received another contract from Choc Lit for my book, Learning to Love! I think I’m going to be a busy little bee.
Congratulations Sheryl. This is wonderful news! I can see you are going to be very busy in the next few months. Good luck with all your projects. And now for the word association fun test!
Day: dreams
winter: Christmas
summer: wine … um?
films: Ghost
love: romance
Blurb for The Rest of My Life
“You can’t run away from commitment forever … “
Adam Hamilton-Shaw has more reason than most to avoid commitment. Living on a houseboat in the Severn Valley, his dream is to sail into the sunset – preferably with a woman waiting in every port. But lately, his life looks more like a road to destruction than an idyllic boat ride…
Would-be screenplay writer Sienna Meadows realises that everything about Adam spells trouble – but she can’t ignore the feeling that there is more to him than just his bad reputation. Nor can she ignore the intense physical attraction that exists between them.
And it just so happens that Adam sees Sienna as the kind of woman he couldcommit to. But can he change his damaging behaviour – or is the road to destruction a one-way street?
Amazon UK Amazon US
Choc Lit
Heartache, humour, love, loss & betrayal, Sheryl Browne brings you edgy, sexy, poignant fiction. A member of the Crime Writers’ Association, Romantic Novelists’ Association and shortlisted for Innovation in Romantic Fiction, Sheryl has seven books published to date. Sheryl’s new contemporary romance novel was recommended to the publisher by the WH Smith Travel fiction buyer. THE REST OF MY Life comes to you from award winning Choc Lit.
Author Links
Website | Twitter | Facebook | Buy | Buy US | Pinterest
Loveahappyending Lifestyle
Safkhet Publishing | Choc Lit | Romantic Novelists’ Association
This is the code for the giveaway! Good luck!http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/4be0301796/?
July 24, 2015
ONE WEEK UNTIL ANGEL HEART IS PUBLISHED!
ANGEL HEART will be released on 30th July by Accent Press.
I can't wait! In the meantime, here is the blurb and a short excerpt...
Blurb Devonshire, 1815.
A mysterious Templar relic,
A web of intrigue and lies,
A woman about to lose her heart...
Marie-Ange, the young widow of an English officer, accepts an inheritance in Franceonly to find that everything in Beauregard is not as it seems. Why is the sinister Malleval so obsessed with her family? And could her darling Christopher still be alive? Marie-Ange finds herself trapped in a dangerous web of lies, intrigue and mystical possession, and the only person to whom she can turn for help is Captain Hugo Saintclair. Yet the enigmatic Hugo represents a danger of a different kind …
‘Angel Heart’ is a lavish mix of romance, adventure and a hint of the supernatural, largely set in Franceagainst the turbulent background of Napoleon’s return from Elba.
Excerpt
Marie-Ange meets Capitaine Hugo Saintclair...
She pushed open the door to the drawing room and hurried inside. Splinter and Rusty ran under her feet, tripping her. Her cry of alarm died on her lips as two strong arms caught her. Surprised, she tilted her head up to look at the tall, dark-haired man holding her against his hard, wide chest. His intense blue eyes held her gaze and sent a shiver down her spine. One side of his weather-beaten face was barred by a long, ragged scar. The thin line of the mouth and the tightness in his jaw gave an impression of controlled anger. For a moment fear gathered in her chest. Then he smiled, a slow, confident smile, and he was transformed into the most handsome man she had ever laid eyes on.
The dogs barked at them furiously. Marie-Ange parted her lips to order them to stop but before she could speak Robert took a few steps forward, an angry scowl twisting his face, his fists clenched by his sides.
‘Let her go at once, sir,’ he warned, ‘or …’
‘Or what?’ The man arched his eyebrows, a mocking smile at the corner of his mouth, as if he dared Robert to come any closer. He shook his head and released her.
‘I will ask you to restrain your puppies, Madame. The three of them,’ he said as he looked down at her.
‘How dare you call me a puppy?’ Robert's face flushed a deep red, and he took another step forward.
Marie-Ange found her voice at last.
‘Rusty. Splinter. Lie down at once.’ She pointed to the rug in front of the fireplace. The dogs whimpered but obeyed. ‘Robert. That's enough. Monsieur was just helping me.’
Robert muttered an apology and crouched beside the dogs to stroke their wet, muddy coats.
‘You must be Capitaine Saintclair,’ she said, tilting her chin up to look at him again.
The papers had been full of sketches and reports about the famous French cuirassiers and she had no difficulty imagining Saintclair in a dark blue uniform, his chest covered with shiny metal plates and his helmet topped by a black horse mane, charging onto the battlefield. His current attire of black breeches and tall leather riding boots topped by a short brown coat did nothing to dispel the heroic image conjured in her mind.
He clicked his heels together and bowed his head.
‘At your service, Madame.’
Links
http://www.accentpress.co.uk/Book/17119/Angel-Heart
I can't wait! In the meantime, here is the blurb and a short excerpt...
Blurb Devonshire, 1815.
A mysterious Templar relic,
A web of intrigue and lies,
A woman about to lose her heart...
Marie-Ange, the young widow of an English officer, accepts an inheritance in Franceonly to find that everything in Beauregard is not as it seems. Why is the sinister Malleval so obsessed with her family? And could her darling Christopher still be alive? Marie-Ange finds herself trapped in a dangerous web of lies, intrigue and mystical possession, and the only person to whom she can turn for help is Captain Hugo Saintclair. Yet the enigmatic Hugo represents a danger of a different kind …
‘Angel Heart’ is a lavish mix of romance, adventure and a hint of the supernatural, largely set in Franceagainst the turbulent background of Napoleon’s return from Elba.
Excerpt
Marie-Ange meets Capitaine Hugo Saintclair...
She pushed open the door to the drawing room and hurried inside. Splinter and Rusty ran under her feet, tripping her. Her cry of alarm died on her lips as two strong arms caught her. Surprised, she tilted her head up to look at the tall, dark-haired man holding her against his hard, wide chest. His intense blue eyes held her gaze and sent a shiver down her spine. One side of his weather-beaten face was barred by a long, ragged scar. The thin line of the mouth and the tightness in his jaw gave an impression of controlled anger. For a moment fear gathered in her chest. Then he smiled, a slow, confident smile, and he was transformed into the most handsome man she had ever laid eyes on.
The dogs barked at them furiously. Marie-Ange parted her lips to order them to stop but before she could speak Robert took a few steps forward, an angry scowl twisting his face, his fists clenched by his sides.
‘Let her go at once, sir,’ he warned, ‘or …’
‘Or what?’ The man arched his eyebrows, a mocking smile at the corner of his mouth, as if he dared Robert to come any closer. He shook his head and released her.
‘I will ask you to restrain your puppies, Madame. The three of them,’ he said as he looked down at her.
‘How dare you call me a puppy?’ Robert's face flushed a deep red, and he took another step forward.
Marie-Ange found her voice at last.
‘Rusty. Splinter. Lie down at once.’ She pointed to the rug in front of the fireplace. The dogs whimpered but obeyed. ‘Robert. That's enough. Monsieur was just helping me.’
Robert muttered an apology and crouched beside the dogs to stroke their wet, muddy coats.
‘You must be Capitaine Saintclair,’ she said, tilting her chin up to look at him again.
The papers had been full of sketches and reports about the famous French cuirassiers and she had no difficulty imagining Saintclair in a dark blue uniform, his chest covered with shiny metal plates and his helmet topped by a black horse mane, charging onto the battlefield. His current attire of black breeches and tall leather riding boots topped by a short brown coat did nothing to dispel the heroic image conjured in her mind.
He clicked his heels together and bowed his head.
‘At your service, Madame.’
Links
http://www.accentpress.co.uk/Book/17119/Angel-Heart
July 18, 2015
Welcome to Yorkshire novelist Helen Pollard
A very warm welcome to Yorkshire writer Helen Pollard. I have had the pleasure to meet Helen a couple of times for lunch in the delightful Yorkshire town of Hebden Bridge and I have read and very much enjoyed her two romantic novels, WARM HEARTS IN WINTER and HOLDING BACK.
Hello Helen. It's lovely to talk to you again! What can you tell us about Holding Back?
Holding Back is a summer romance set in northern Portugal and it concentrates on the developing relationship of Daniel and Laura who, as the title suggests, are both wary of each other and the prospect of falling in love. From a very rocky start, they move through a rollercoaster of mutual attraction, misunderstandings, friendship … but will they allow that to develop into something more?
I loved the Portugal setting. Even though I have never been there, I could picture perfectly well the scenery and the little towns Laura and Daniel visited. In three words - What kind of man is Daniel, your hero?
Demanding, loyal, goodhearted.
Indeed... I found Daniel a wonderful romantic hero! In three words - What kind of woman is Laura, your heroine?
Independent, capable, stubborn.
What did Daniel think the first time he saw Laura?
After a mix-up over luggage and hire-cars at the airport, Daniel thought Laura was stroppy and incompetent … and attractive despite her dishevelled appearance:
He was so tired he could sleep for a month. Encounters with stroppy, sexy women he could well have done without. On his drive north from the airport, he'd had quite a struggle to forget the pretty brunette with attitude.
And what did Laura think of Daniel the first time she saw him?
Laura thought Daniel was arrogant, rude … and handsome:
"Pity his manners aren't as attractive as the rest of him," she muttered as she pushed her trolley through the throng. And, she had to face it, the rest of him was attractive, even to her usually oblivious eyes.
What is the one thing you absolutely need to write? (quiet, music, an empty house?)
I like music if I'm fiddling about with bits and pieces – marketing, social media, etc. – but when I'm actually writing or doing some serious editing, I do need quiet. As for an empty house … that's a rare occurrence so I tend not to rely on it, or I'd never get anything done!
Just like me then! Do you find it difficult to come up with titles for your novels?
Yes, I find titles really hard. I know some authors think of a title first and write around that, but I can have the whole book written and still draw a complete blank!
With Warm Hearts in Winter, even when I’d finished the book, everything I thought of seemed to have been used before. In the end, I went for something that gives the reader a clear idea of what they’re getting (with a little alliteration for good measure!) For Holding Back, I spent weeks trying to come up with something. I wanted it to reflect the story, the fact that the hero and heroine are too stubborn and reticent to allow themselves to fall in love. In the end, good old hubby came through and suggested Holding Back, which I'm really pleased with.
As for my current work in progress, it has several working titles - none of them suitable, of course …
I am sure you will find wonderful title. Sometimes, it's better not to try too hard and it just pops into your mind! Now for the word association fun test!
day coffee, work, walk night insomnia, owl, pillow
winter snow, robin, radiator
summer coast, flowers, garden
nature trees, river, wildflowers
Blurb: The last thing they're looking for is love … Laura Matheson is a natural at avoiding romance, so when she is drawn to mystery guest Daniel Stone while helping out at her friends' hotel in Portugal, she assumes all she needs is a little extra willpower.
Daniel is at the hotel on business. The demands of work and a manipulative ex-girlfriend mean he doesn't have the time or energy for romance, but Laura is a distraction he finds hard to ignore.
As they negotiate a minefield of misunderstandings and mutual attraction, will they both continue to hold back? Or will they finally allow love into their lives?
Buy Links:Amazon UK: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Holding-Back-Helen-Pollard-ebook/dp/B00WRZ1PKA
Amazon US: http://www.amazon.com/Holding-Back-Helen-Pollard-ebook/dp/B00WRZ1PKA
Kobo: https://store.kobobooks.com/en-US/ebook/holding-back-2
Smashwords: http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/539037
Barnes & Noble: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/holding-back-helen-pollard/1121818382?ean=2940151469210
About the Author:Helen Pollard writes contemporary romance with old-fashioned heart. She believes there will always be a place for romantic fiction, no matter how fast-paced and cynical the world becomes. Readers still want that feel-good factor - to escape from their own world for a while and see how a budding romance can blossom and overcome adversity to develop into love ... and we all need a little love, right?
A Yorkshirelass, Helen is married, with two teenagers and a psychotic cat. When she's not working or writing, it goes without saying that she loves to read. She also enjoys a good coffee in a quiet bookshop, and appreciates the company of family and close friends.
Find Helen at:
Website & Blog: http://helenpollardwrites.wordpress.com
Facebook: http://facebook.com/pages/Helen-Pollard/372986142839624
Twitter: http://twitter.com/helenpollard147
Goodreads: http://goodreads.com/author/show/8647878.Helen_Pollard
Amazon: http://amazon.com/author/helenpollard
Excerpt:Laura's mind raced as her footsteps slowed. What on earth was he doing here? The unlikely hope he might be passing by—perhaps he'd called in for directions to somewhere else?—was immediately scotched as he lifted his luggage from the car. Reminded of their encounters at the airport, she could have squirmed with embarrassment at how out of character she'd acted, making mistakes and being so snappy about them.
Well, he wouldn't see her like that again. If Daniel Stone was a guest here—and it seemed there was no escaping from it—then she must make him welcome. For goodness' sake, she was used to dealing with awkward situations every day at school!
He turned at the sound of her footsteps. Forcing a calmness into her voice that didn't extend to her stomach, she stepped forward and held out her hand.
"Mr. Stone? Welcome to the Quinta Maria."
Closing the car, he straightened up to his full six-foot-something and reached out to shake hands. For one brief, glorious moment, Laura thought he might not recognise her now that she was spruced up a little, but any hope of that disappeared as his eyes narrowed in sudden recognition and his hand dropped to his side as though it had been burned.
"It seems you have the advantage over me, knowing my name," he said. "Since you're determined to turn up like a bad penny wherever I go, perhaps you could enlighten me with yours?"
Incensed, Laura bit back a response. They were no longer on neutral ground, and as his host, she could hardly give him a piece of her mind.
"I'm Laura Matheson," she replied as evenly as she could. "If you'll excuse me, I'll get your key and then I'll show you around."
Disappearing into reception before he could find further fault with her, she crossed to the desk and raked her tired eyes over the reservations spreadsheet with a growing sense of disbelief. Not only was Daniel Stone booked in for a full fortnight, but he'd been allocated the room next to hers. Even Paulo and Rachel were unknowingly conspiring against her!
"You're in room eleven," she announced, sensing his presence in the doorway. "Your other party checked in earlier. Will you require a second key?"
"My other party?"
Something in his tone made her glance up. She recognised the travel weariness in his stance, but his face showed only bewilderment.
"Yes." She squinted at the computer screen again. "Miss Hartman."
His eyes froze to a dangerous dark blue. "Natalie Hartman?"
"That's right," she confirmed, double-checking the name. "Is there a problem?"
"What time did she check in?" His mouth was a hard, thin line.
She frowned. "I'm sorry, I don't know."
"You don't know?" There was incredulity in his voice, along with displeasure and a hint at incompetence on her part.
Laura didn't like it, nor was she going to take it. "I don't know because I wasn't here in reception when she checked in. As you're aware, I only arrived here a short while ago myself. I …" She stopped. There was no need for her to explain herself. Frankly, she couldn't understand why he didn't just go and talk to his companion. After all, they were sharing a double room. Thank you so much for coming on the blog today Helen. I wish you plenty of success with HOLDING BACK and good luck with your work in progress!
Hello Helen. It's lovely to talk to you again! What can you tell us about Holding Back?
Holding Back is a summer romance set in northern Portugal and it concentrates on the developing relationship of Daniel and Laura who, as the title suggests, are both wary of each other and the prospect of falling in love. From a very rocky start, they move through a rollercoaster of mutual attraction, misunderstandings, friendship … but will they allow that to develop into something more?
I loved the Portugal setting. Even though I have never been there, I could picture perfectly well the scenery and the little towns Laura and Daniel visited. In three words - What kind of man is Daniel, your hero?
Demanding, loyal, goodhearted.
Indeed... I found Daniel a wonderful romantic hero! In three words - What kind of woman is Laura, your heroine?
Independent, capable, stubborn.
What did Daniel think the first time he saw Laura?
After a mix-up over luggage and hire-cars at the airport, Daniel thought Laura was stroppy and incompetent … and attractive despite her dishevelled appearance:
He was so tired he could sleep for a month. Encounters with stroppy, sexy women he could well have done without. On his drive north from the airport, he'd had quite a struggle to forget the pretty brunette with attitude.
And what did Laura think of Daniel the first time she saw him?
Laura thought Daniel was arrogant, rude … and handsome:
"Pity his manners aren't as attractive as the rest of him," she muttered as she pushed her trolley through the throng. And, she had to face it, the rest of him was attractive, even to her usually oblivious eyes.
What is the one thing you absolutely need to write? (quiet, music, an empty house?)
I like music if I'm fiddling about with bits and pieces – marketing, social media, etc. – but when I'm actually writing or doing some serious editing, I do need quiet. As for an empty house … that's a rare occurrence so I tend not to rely on it, or I'd never get anything done!
Just like me then! Do you find it difficult to come up with titles for your novels?
Yes, I find titles really hard. I know some authors think of a title first and write around that, but I can have the whole book written and still draw a complete blank!
With Warm Hearts in Winter, even when I’d finished the book, everything I thought of seemed to have been used before. In the end, I went for something that gives the reader a clear idea of what they’re getting (with a little alliteration for good measure!) For Holding Back, I spent weeks trying to come up with something. I wanted it to reflect the story, the fact that the hero and heroine are too stubborn and reticent to allow themselves to fall in love. In the end, good old hubby came through and suggested Holding Back, which I'm really pleased with.
As for my current work in progress, it has several working titles - none of them suitable, of course …
I am sure you will find wonderful title. Sometimes, it's better not to try too hard and it just pops into your mind! Now for the word association fun test!
day coffee, work, walk night insomnia, owl, pillow
winter snow, robin, radiator
summer coast, flowers, garden
nature trees, river, wildflowers
Blurb: The last thing they're looking for is love … Laura Matheson is a natural at avoiding romance, so when she is drawn to mystery guest Daniel Stone while helping out at her friends' hotel in Portugal, she assumes all she needs is a little extra willpower.Daniel is at the hotel on business. The demands of work and a manipulative ex-girlfriend mean he doesn't have the time or energy for romance, but Laura is a distraction he finds hard to ignore.
As they negotiate a minefield of misunderstandings and mutual attraction, will they both continue to hold back? Or will they finally allow love into their lives?
Buy Links:Amazon UK: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Holding-Back-Helen-Pollard-ebook/dp/B00WRZ1PKA
Amazon US: http://www.amazon.com/Holding-Back-Helen-Pollard-ebook/dp/B00WRZ1PKA
Kobo: https://store.kobobooks.com/en-US/ebook/holding-back-2
Smashwords: http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/539037
Barnes & Noble: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/holding-back-helen-pollard/1121818382?ean=2940151469210
About the Author:Helen Pollard writes contemporary romance with old-fashioned heart. She believes there will always be a place for romantic fiction, no matter how fast-paced and cynical the world becomes. Readers still want that feel-good factor - to escape from their own world for a while and see how a budding romance can blossom and overcome adversity to develop into love ... and we all need a little love, right?
A Yorkshirelass, Helen is married, with two teenagers and a psychotic cat. When she's not working or writing, it goes without saying that she loves to read. She also enjoys a good coffee in a quiet bookshop, and appreciates the company of family and close friends.
Find Helen at:
Website & Blog: http://helenpollardwrites.wordpress.com
Facebook: http://facebook.com/pages/Helen-Pollard/372986142839624
Twitter: http://twitter.com/helenpollard147
Goodreads: http://goodreads.com/author/show/8647878.Helen_Pollard
Amazon: http://amazon.com/author/helenpollard
Excerpt:Laura's mind raced as her footsteps slowed. What on earth was he doing here? The unlikely hope he might be passing by—perhaps he'd called in for directions to somewhere else?—was immediately scotched as he lifted his luggage from the car. Reminded of their encounters at the airport, she could have squirmed with embarrassment at how out of character she'd acted, making mistakes and being so snappy about them.
Well, he wouldn't see her like that again. If Daniel Stone was a guest here—and it seemed there was no escaping from it—then she must make him welcome. For goodness' sake, she was used to dealing with awkward situations every day at school!
He turned at the sound of her footsteps. Forcing a calmness into her voice that didn't extend to her stomach, she stepped forward and held out her hand.
"Mr. Stone? Welcome to the Quinta Maria."
Closing the car, he straightened up to his full six-foot-something and reached out to shake hands. For one brief, glorious moment, Laura thought he might not recognise her now that she was spruced up a little, but any hope of that disappeared as his eyes narrowed in sudden recognition and his hand dropped to his side as though it had been burned.
"It seems you have the advantage over me, knowing my name," he said. "Since you're determined to turn up like a bad penny wherever I go, perhaps you could enlighten me with yours?"
Incensed, Laura bit back a response. They were no longer on neutral ground, and as his host, she could hardly give him a piece of her mind.
"I'm Laura Matheson," she replied as evenly as she could. "If you'll excuse me, I'll get your key and then I'll show you around."
Disappearing into reception before he could find further fault with her, she crossed to the desk and raked her tired eyes over the reservations spreadsheet with a growing sense of disbelief. Not only was Daniel Stone booked in for a full fortnight, but he'd been allocated the room next to hers. Even Paulo and Rachel were unknowingly conspiring against her!
"You're in room eleven," she announced, sensing his presence in the doorway. "Your other party checked in earlier. Will you require a second key?"
"My other party?"
Something in his tone made her glance up. She recognised the travel weariness in his stance, but his face showed only bewilderment.
"Yes." She squinted at the computer screen again. "Miss Hartman."
His eyes froze to a dangerous dark blue. "Natalie Hartman?"
"That's right," she confirmed, double-checking the name. "Is there a problem?"
"What time did she check in?" His mouth was a hard, thin line.
She frowned. "I'm sorry, I don't know."
"You don't know?" There was incredulity in his voice, along with displeasure and a hint at incompetence on her part.
Laura didn't like it, nor was she going to take it. "I don't know because I wasn't here in reception when she checked in. As you're aware, I only arrived here a short while ago myself. I …" She stopped. There was no need for her to explain herself. Frankly, she couldn't understand why he didn't just go and talk to his companion. After all, they were sharing a double room. Thank you so much for coming on the blog today Helen. I wish you plenty of success with HOLDING BACK and good luck with your work in progress!
July 4, 2015
Welcome to American Author Barbara Donlon Bradley
Today is July 4th so it only seemed appropriate that my guest should be American. I am delighted to welcome Barbara Donlon Bradley and her latest release HIDDEN DESIRE - which is book eight in her series Vespian Ways.
Hello Barbara. I am delighted to meet you. Can you tell us a little about you?My name is Barbara Donlon Bradley and I live in south east Virginia in the USA. Happily married for thirty years, I live with my husband, son, 87 (almost 88) year old mother-in-law and two cats who don’t really care for each other. I’ve been published since 2001 but have been writing off and on since I was a teenager. I love writing, it’s such a strong passion for me. Writing is my way to escape into the worlds I’ve created.
I know what you mean. I feel exactly the same exactly the same about writing and the need to escape from a busy life. Where do you get your ideas for your stories?
I play the ‘what if’ game a lot. That was how I developed my first book, which is a time travel. I had read a lot of them and it seemed that every time the heroine, who normally was the one going back in time, always knew about history of where she was going. They worked in museums or were history teachers. I sat there and said what if my heroine knew nothing about the timeline? So I made her an astrophysicist. What I heard from my readers is they loved the way the heroine would do something we take for granted, like a light switch on the wall, then had to explain the strange behaviour. Now that I’m writing SF/Fantasy Erotic romance I still do the same thing. What if the hero is a shape shifter? What if my heroine thinks she’s human but finds out she’s not.
Can you tell us about Hidden Desire?
Hidden Desire is the 8th book in my series the Vespian Way. Heather wants to fight beside her people, not watch from a safe distance. So when her brother comes up with a way to disguise her she jumps at the chance. Now she can try out for an elite team to help defeat Reasta, who has a stronghold on their planet. No one knows who she is, including her mate, who has also been disguised. They must find each other, qualify for the team and help rescue the elders without being found out.
I do love the name of your hero. Storm, how wonderful... What did he think the first time he saw Heather?
He finds her fascinating. She is petite by Vespian standards but she walks with an air of confidence that he likes.
And what did Heather think of Storm the first time she saw him?
She thinks he’s a womanizer. Vespian males release a pheromone when their single. It how they find their mate. The effect on humans though is powerful they either love them to obsession or hate them just as powerfully. When she first sees him he’s surround by a bunch of women who were fighting each other to touch him.
Tell me Barbara, what is the one thing you absolutely need to write?
All I need is my recliner and noise from my television. I know it sounds crazy but that is what I got used to over the years.
It doesn't sound crazy at all. We all have our favourite places and times of day to write...What are you working on at the moment?
Book nine of the series – Timeless Desire. Someone is messing with the timeline and only Skye and Sam know the truth. They must bring Heather and Storm together again and fix the timeline back the way it should be.
That sounds exciting!
Now for the word association fun test! Please write the first 3 words that come to your mind.
1. night – time to write
2. summer – the beach
3. romance – what I write
4. writing – my escapism
5. reading – as much as I can
Thank you so much Barbara for coming on the blog and being my guest today. I wish you lots of success with Hidden Desire.
Author bio:
Writing for Barbara Donlon Bradley started innocently enough, like most she kept diaries, journals, and wrote an occasional letter but she also had a vivid imagination and wrote scenes and short stories adding characters to her favourite shows and comic books. As time went on she found the passion for writing to be a strong drive for her. Humour is also very strong in her life. No matter how hard she tries to write something deep and dark, it will never happen. That humour bleeds into her writing. Since she can’t beat it she has learned to use it to her advantage. Now she lives in Tidewater Virginia with two cats, one mother in law – whose 87, her husband and son.
BlurbHeather wants to fight beside her people, not watch from a safe distance. So when her brother comes up with a way to disguise her she jumps at the chance. Now she can try out for an elite team to help defeat Reasta, who has a stronghold on their planet. No one knows who she is, including her mate, who has also been disguised. They must find each other, qualify for the team and help rescue the elders without being found out.
ExcerptHeather had been dropped off near one of the security outposts, where she had been told by Kuarto to sign in, then was directed to the large cave nearby. She saw about eighty other soldiers with her. This small a crowd should make it easy for her to find her mate, if he had been dropped off at the same place. Looking around, she didn’t see anyone who fit his build and height right away. She’d have to search for him later. The meeting was about to start.
Fridon’s image stood in front of them, waiting for everyone to gather and quiet down. “All of you are here because of your records. I am looking to put together several more elite teams to infiltrate our enemies’ stronghold. Our war is a private one, not sanctioned by the council. They have been compromised and can’t help us right now, so we need to help them.”
Soldiers around her murmured amongst themselves.
“As with any elite team, you must be tested. Once you leave this cave you will find out what your destination is. You’ll have two days to get there. That is all.”
As they filed out, they were given a handheld that contained all the information they needed to get to their destination. Heather looked at hers as she followed the people in front of her. Interesting. She had two days to get to the target that normally took three days to travel on foot if they followed the basic paths, and they weren’t allowed to use any sort of transportation because it could be traced. She grinned. This was going to be fun.
Buy Links
Publisher: http://www.phaze.com/author.php?author=21
Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/7773192-barbara-bradley
Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B0072OTZJE
B&N: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/s/Barbara-donlon-bradley
ARe:http://www.allromanceebooks.com/storeSearch.html?searchBy=author&qString=Barbara+Donlon+Bradley
Kobo: http://store.kobobooks.com/en-US/Search?Query=Barbara%20Donlon%20Bradley
Shelfari: http://www.shelfari.com/search/books?Keywords=barbara%20donlon%20bradley
Social Media sites:
Website: http://www.barbaradonlonbradley.com/
Blog: http://barbaradonlonbradley.blogspot.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Barbara-Donlon-Bradley/118673448173249
Twitter: https://twitter.com/barbbradley
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