Heidi Rice's Blog, page 17

The Lady from RT calls On the First Night of Christmas 'The Perfect Holiday Read'

Woohoo!! Had a lovely four-star review from Sabrina Madan at RT Book Reviews waiting for me when I got to work this morning... So here it is in it's entirity:


ON THE FIRST NIGHT OF CHRISTMAS … (4) by Heidi Rice: 

Through with being a doormat, Cassie Fitzgerald confronts the driver of a vehicle that rudely splashed her, only to discover former bad boy Jace Ryan, the object of her teenage crush, behind the wheel. Chemistry between them is explosive and Cassie can't resist indulging in a holiday affair. But she soon discovers she wants more than a wild Christmas fling; she wants Jace's love. But can they have a future when Jace is determined never to fall in love? The sassy heroine, redeemable bad boy hero and just the right amount of humor make this the perfect holiday read.

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Pretty darn cool, huh?

You may also have noticed I've been mucking about with my blog design... Still a work in progress, but it's a little sneak peek for my new website which will be with you soon. Honest!! Just a few bits and bobs to iron out and then I'll finally be launching my new website with my On the First Night of Christmas book comp. Hopefully before Christmas!! So you can all have a chance to enjoy 'the perfect holiday read' over the holidays... Sorry, did I mention that already.

Pocahontas, New Voices and My Goodreads Giveaway!

So first off, I'm over at the Pink Heart Society today banging on about why Pocahontas is by far the best of Disney's princess heroines.. Bravery, courage, great boobs and impressive cliff-diving skills being just a few of her qualifications. I mean, come on, what is the point of a princess who can't dive off a cliff at a moment's notice?? So come leave a comment on my post so I don't feel lonely!

The big news yesterday afternoon, though, was of course the announcement of the New Voices Top 21!! I'm thrilled to bits to be working with Helen Lucas on her entry Return to Heartbreak Hotel, which I finally got a chance to read this morning. If you haven't had the pleasure yet give it a go. I can totally see why it grabbed the eds attention. She's taken a well-used and much-loved trope - that of reunited lovers - and given it a fresh and fiesty 21st century spin. I mean, how many heroines get the chance to kick their hero in the nuts in the first chapter! Not only that, but her writing is  polished and  evocative and her characters reactions wonderfully subtle while at the same time being emotionally compelling. Also the sexual tension is Hot! Hot! Hot! So I think Helen and I are gonna have some fun over the next week as she prepares her second chapter. I feel quite priveleged actually, getting to be the first to read it.

Now, having said that... And sending out my congratulations to all the other finalists too...

I know for a fact that there are going to be a lot of disappointed writers out there. Almost a thousand of you to be precise. And to you I say this. Firstly, I'm fairly sure that given the quality of the entries this year, there will be quite a few additional peeps getting contacted by the eds, because while the competition is great for making a big media splash, giving those talented 21 that extra boost and showing everyone how hard it is to write an M&B, the search for new talent is an ongoing one and the eds will have seen a lot of other talent here which deserves a follow-up.

And for those who don't get that extra contact, do not despair either. Yes, you're absolutely entitled to feel disappointed. You've put effort into your entries and it's taken a considerable amount of courage to put it out there and it's always tough when it seems that you've got nothing to show for it...

But actually, you have got something to show for it. You've made that first step. You've hopefully got some useful feedback. And most importantly of all you've taken the knock and kept on going (because you are going to keep writing, right!). And that's something every writer needs to do, both published and unpublished. Because this is a hard business, particularly for creative sensitive types like us writers! And believe me, they'll be lots more knocks that you have to negotiate along the way, so learning to laugh in the face of disappointment, and rejection (Ha, take that adversity!) and never lose faith in your ability to learn and grow as a writer is a very valueable thing.

And if you want some more heartfelt advice, check out these great blog posts from Jessica Hart and Donna Alward.

Last but not least, I wanted to flag up my Goodreads giveaway of On the First Night of Christmas (see huge great badge in sidebar). There's only one more day to enter and I've got four copies to give away. So do give it a go if you haven't already. That said, my new website is almost finished (honestly) and will hopefully be up in the next week or two, at which point I'll be doing another comp to win a copy here.

New Voices Workshops and New Book Comp!

So, I had a really fab time on Monday night doing the second of my New Voices workshops, this time in Fulham Library.

Once again the turn out was amazing (I think there was 30 people there!!) and it was really great to see so many aspiring authors who not only knew about New Voices but had either entered already or were about to. While I like to spread the work about M&B, it's always nice to be able to bypass all the obvious stuff (such as 'yes, you can have more than just kidding in M&B books now' and 'no, Barbara Cartland isn't writing for them anymore, in fact she never did!') and get down to the hard graft of talking about internal vs external conflict, characterisation and motivation, how to make your alpha hero an archetype not a stereotype, why not to let an Elvis impersonator into your manuscript, etc, etc, etc.. You know, all the important stuff.

Now I had planned to go into a more in-depth discussion of what we talked about. But then the fabulous Rebecca Thornton (aka wonderful book blogger and New Voices entrant) did a really great blog, which not only did a better job than I could ever do of explaining the workshop but makes me sound really informative (cool!). So I'm going to give you a link here to her blog to check it out.

Honestly, it's just like being there. So ta Rebecca. You might also want to check out her review of Cupcakes and Killer Heels (I'm just saying!!).

Now on to the other fab news. I got a lovely big box of shiny new copies of my latest Riva/Harlequin Presents Extra release, On the First Night of Christmas, yesterday morning in the post. As always I'm planning to do a competition to give some of them away... But I'm afraid you are gonna all have to wait a little bit longer, cos I want to launch my brand new website with the competition and a sneak peek of the book is necessary to answer the question. Sheesh, am I a tease or what?

Anyway, until that time (which will hopefully be in the next week or so, fingers crossed). Here's the tantalising back cover blurb.



 Cassie's tips for the Perfect Christmas Fling! 
1. 'Tis the season to be daring: Find the perfect Mr Right Now (extra points for a bad-boy-turned-billionaire) and be brave about getting him – even if that means jumping straight into sexy Jace Ryan's car! 
2. Enjoy the ride: Once you've chosen your flingee, get swept away by the moment! For once, Cassie's determined to stop worrying about the future. But she must remember one thing… 
3. This fling is just for Christmas: Jace Ryan's a seasonal special. Do not start falling for him, Cassie. No matter how perfect the package or how much you've enjoyed unwrapping it…

New Voices... And How to Adopt the Pollyanna Approach

As I'm sure you're all very well aware by now, the fabulous New Voices — aka The Mills and Boon X-Factor — has launched over on www.romanceisnotdead.com. I spent a very nice afternoon on Sunday browsing through some of the 144 entries already loaded and left fairly detailed comments on a couple which I particularly enjoyed reading. Once again I'm an author mentor for the second round — along with 19 other fab authors such as Abby Green, Natalie Anderson, Liz Fielding, Donna Alward and Fiona Harper — but at this stage I think it's really invaluable for people to get commenting and if you're a new writer, to take the time to read some of the entries (and the comments) as well as your own.


But I do have a little bit of advice... So here are:

Heidi's Top Tips on the Pollyanna Approach to Commentary:

For Commentators: Be Nice. Be Constructive. And Say It Gently!

A constructive comment is an invaluable thing but a comment that just says: 'Your hero's a complete tosser!' or 'Your premise is ridiculous' doesn't actually help anyone. It may be your opinion and that's always valid, but think about why you didn't like the hero, what was it about him that turned you off. And can you think of anything that may have helped to turn you on to him again. If you're a writer yourself, it can be helpful in your own writing to think about how you would revise or edit another's story. And last but not least, be gentle, because us creative types have fragile egos... It's a huge step putting your work out there and many people will be doing it for the first time. We've all been there, so we all know how it feels if someone is unnecessarily harsh or abrupt. And if there's absolutely nothing you liked about an entry, I'm not sure I'd comment at all.

For Commentees (is that a word??): Value Criticism. But Don't Take It Personally. 

As writers whether we're published or unpublished we all have to learn to take criticism of our work and use it constructively, because we're writing these stories for readers as well as ourselves. And great writing is about writing and then rewriting and then rewriting some more and.... Well, you get the picture. The opportunity to get constructive feedback from people who read romance is the real reward of this competition so make the most of it. That said, feel free to ignore comments that aren't helpful or suggestions that you know won't work for your story (this is after all your story and your characters and you know them best) but remember, if a lot of commentators are basically saying the same thing it is probably something you want to look at. And last but not least, whatever anyone says don't take it personally!! Some very nice person who had taken the trouble to read my book and write about it on Goodreads told me she thought it was 'morally repugnant' (and several other not entirely complementary things besides) but I pasted my best Pollyanna grin on my face and figured.. Ok, she didn't like it but at least she told me why in exhaustive detail (and I certainly hope she doesn't take the trouble to read any more of my books!). So if I can do it, so can you!

As part of my Mentoring Duties I'm going to be doing a New Voices Workshop at Mayfair Library tonight at 6.30pm... And I'll be reporting back on it here tomorrow for all those who can't attend.

But until then to all the entrants and commentators.. Keep writing, keep commentating and let's make this competition a positive experience for everyone!

PS: I have rather arbitrarily illustrated this post with a photo from my recent photoshoot with the wonderful photographer Anne Mortensen.. What d'you think??? I'm so chuffed, I think she's made me look like a proper romance novelist - and captured my best Pollyanna smile!

Cowboys, Aliens and a variety of Hotties!

Am over at the Pink Heart Society today doing my regular Must-Watch Friday movie spot on Cowboys & Aliens, the all action genre mash-up which has the added benefit of Vintage Tottie and Hottie Tottie in the shape of Harrison Ford and Daniel Craig...

Actually I could have watched anything with those two in it, but all the alien and western action did not go amiss with the men in my family!



Also, have just got a US release date for Cupcakes and Killer Heels:
 
It's March 2012 when it will be coming out as a Harlequin Presents Extra (will be interesting to see if they keep that title). For those not in the know this is the sequel to Surf, Sea and a Sexy Stranger... Featuring my lushous cupcake entrepeneur heroine Ruby Delisantro and her brooding barrister hero Callum Westmore. Sexy, sassy and with chocolate frosting on top!

Summer in Sicily... Hot, in more ways than one!

Just back from my relaxing holiday on the lovely Italian isle of Sicily. It really is a gorgeous place, rustic unspoilt and the locals were super friendly. The tiny town where we were staying was having a fiesta the night we arrived, which turned out to be very fortuitous as we couldn't find our villa. Ended up with a car load of local guys leading us to the place after a faltering exchange with us talking in English, them talking in Italian, and lots of gesitculating over the rather crap map from the holiday company. Am thinking this may be the start for a book!!

The weather was blazing sunshine everyday which unfortunately meant I couldn't do a thing except laze about the pool or at the local beach - where I did a lot of very valueable research watching the buff young local guys show off their tanned abs... Gotta love Italian men, they don't half know how to flaunt it! Sadly I could not get any pictorial evidence of this inspiring pastime for my blog as I had my slightly older but no less sexy husband sitting next to me! So have added in a few others pics to make you salivate.

The other rather liberating thing was that there was no internet connection to speak of... Amazing how productive you can be when you have no access to Twitter, Facebook, email or my latest internet time-suck obsession Goodreads (am now a Goodreads author if anyone wants to go Friend me as I'm feeling a little lonely). So have now written the first three chapters of my next book...

Which involves an events planner called Tess Tremaine who ends up ever so slightly pregnant after she gets dumped by her boyfriend and ends up having super hot rebound sex in a closet with a New York billionaire called Nate Graystone. Tess is a former wild child turned demure career woman who's cover has just been blown in spectacular fashion... Can she pick up the pieces of her shattered image? Go back to being a good girl again? And how is arrogant, super sexy and totally aloof Nate, who she only knows in a biblical sense, going to deal with the prospect of fatherhood? Not well as it turns out!

Very excited about this one, scenes literally pinging into my head while lounging by the pool in the sun. That said, I know I am in the first flush of love and will probably want a divorce by chapter ten.

In other news, also returned to discover a super classic cover for On the First Night of Christmas in it's US/Harlequin Presents Extra incarnation. What d'you think? So different from my Riva cover... More Christmassy, very classy but a little less sexy maybe?



















Which one do you prefer?

I'll be doing a giveaway on Goodreads and a comp here on my blog as soon as I have my author copies...

Come on Mr Postman, get a move on!

On the First Night of Christmas....

My true love gave to me... A smokin' hawt cover for my next book!

Adore my bad boy hero with the lipstick-marked stubble, and my sassy heroine... Although had a little wobble over her fuscia eyeliner! That said, Son One tells me the eighties is back in, so maybe it's trendier than I think.... And of course he has no memory of ABBA's many fashion faux pas!

Can't wait now to see what my Harlequin Presents Extra cover will look like. Should be interesting to compare the two and have a little straw poll here of essential items such as Hero Hotness Factor, Unwrappability, etc.

I had hoped to post a sneak peek of this book on my website at this point, but as you may have noticed am having some problems with my website. Namely, it's vanished into thin air and I can't find it anywhere on my computer. Oops. Still am in the process of having a brand new website professionally designed for me, so it shouldn't be long before you get a little taster of my delicious, devil-may-care web design millionaire Jace Ryan, my lovelorn but game-for-a-fling book illustrator Cassie Fitzgerald and their fortuitous meeting one stormy Christmas night on Oxford Street.

My New Voices Workshops in London!

Ok folks, here are the details of my New Voices workshops in London in September:

Tuesday 20th September 6.30pm-8.00pm
Mayfair Library
25 Audley Street
LONDON W1K 2PB
Tickets for this one are £3 and you need to book your place by calling: 020-7641-4905 or email the library on mayfairlibrary@westminster.gov.uk

Monday 26th September 6.00-7.30pm
Fulham Library
598 Fulham Road
LONDON SW6 5NX
This is a FREE workshop. To book your place call 020-7753-3877 or email clare.edgson@lbhf.gov.uk or rob.symmons@lbhf.gov.uk

In the past I've always just done a talk with questions (and talked an awful lot about myself, funnily enough), but this time around, I'd love to try and limit the talk to an hour and then spend half-an-hour doing a workshop on attendees specific mss. So if you've already done some work on your New Voices entry all the better and we can brainstorm starting sentences, hero and heroine, internal vs external conflicts, etc. Obviously we're going to have to play it by ear according to who attends and how much they already know about M&B, New Voices and what they want to write, but hopefully it'll be a possibility.

Whatever happens, we should be able to have a good old chinwag about writing for M&B and the New Voices comp.

And if you can't attend my workshop, do check out the other workshops which are being given by some fabulous authors all over the country as far afield as Glasgow, Swansea and Norfolk, etc kicking off on next Thursday 25th with Sarah Mallory in Ilkley West Yorkshire. So you should be able to find one, if you live in the UK.

For those of you who don't live in the UK: Do join M&B's New Voices Facebook Group where lots of published authors are lurking to answer questions by aspiring authors about writing for M&B.  Plus there's all the info (and as of Sept 13th the entries) on www.romanceisnotdead.com to take a shuftie at. The New Voices team are also looking into doing an online workshop for overseas entrants, nothing's been finalised yet as far as I know, but if I hear anything I'll pass it on.

Best of luck everyone!! And as I just went to see Cowboys & Aliens here's a little visual stimulation for y'all! (I mean, come on ladies, Mr Craig and Mr Ford fighting aliens and looking sexy on horseback - what's not to be inspired by, right?)

And the winner is...?

So I dragged my actorly oldest son out of bed this morning to pick a winner from the entries for my One Amazing Night Baby competition...

And the winner is...

Jane Linfoot

So congrats to Jane, if you want to email me your addy at heidi@heidi-rice.com I'll pop a signed copy in the post. BTW, the other two stories by Anne Oliver and Robyn Grady are YUMMY! Have already devoured them myself, so you're in for a treat.

And for all those who didn't win this time, thanks for entering... And I'll be running a comp in the near future as soon as I get my hands on author copies of my November release On the First Night of Christmas...  Sheesh, am I talking about Christmas already?

Right, back to work and the hard task of trying to come up with a new story idea with a house full of snotty teenage boys! Groan.

Wanna see Guy Pearce's bum??

Then check out my post on The Pink Heart Society about the new HBO mini-series Mildred Pierce. Which has Kate Winslet brilliantly cast as the successful 1940s restaurateur but not so successful mother, Guy as her feckless but handsome lover Monty, lashings of beautifully observed period detail and some very sexy scenes involving.... Well, need I say more. Check out the darn post!


Also don't forget I'm still running my comp to win a copy of One Amazing Night Baby. To enter the prize draw answer these two questions by the close of play today (that's Friday 12th August) about my book Pleasure, Pregnancy and a Proposition.


1) The name of the Hero and Heroine from PPP
2) Why the Hero all but kidnaps the Heroine at the start of the story... 

And email the answers to heidi@heidi-rice.com and I'll announce the winner tomorrow.