Great Big Blog Party 30 - Liz Fielding

I can't quite pinpoint exactly when I met today's Guest Blogger - which is a pity as it would be great to recall exactly when the lovely Liz Fielding came into my life. We must have been at the same author days and Mills & Boon Author lunches but I don;t recall ever actually being 'introduced' to her.

But I do recall how I've always enjoyed her bokos so much and how impressed I was when, as I was trying to take my first tentative steps onto the internet, I discovered that she had a web site all of her own - the first English author, I think, ever to do so. This lady had her finger on the pulse, I decided - and then on one trip to New York for RWA, I managed to spend more time with her - and thoroughly enjoyed it, specially the image of the Hotel Manager's discomfiture when confronted by this small, quietly spoken woman's icily righteous indignation at being locked out of her own room by a faulty key. Liz Fielding maybe be small in stature but she is not small in personality, or strength, believe me.

And in my book - and those of many many others - she is not small in stature in the romance writing world either. With innumerable awards - and two RITAs - I'll say that again two RITA's to her credit, she is one of the stars in the Harlequin Romance firmament. Loved by readers and admired by fellow writers. Liz Fielding writes like a dream, her cool, clear, somehow very English prose, effortless to read so that you can just enjoy absorbing the story she weaves so brilliantly

And her stories are always full of one thing - heart. They are stories from the heart, books with heart. Very much like Liz herself. If there were spaces in the group of writers who gathered to celebrate my 50th title in Lincoln last month - and there were a few - then Liz Fielding was definitely one of them. Her presence would have just added to the joy - and the heart - of the occasion.

But at least she can be here at the Great Big Blog Party .

Welcome Liz Fielding

Helping Kate celebrate her 50th Modern Romance is pretty special. We’ve marched along, pretty much shoulder to shoulder with our romances, but Kate has done so much more. Helped so many people to publication. Run courses. Written the definitive book on writing romance.

With so much to choose from, so many books, it should have been a struggle to choose something to pick out, tell the world what make’s Kate special for me.

Not a bit of it. One word sums up both her work and the woman.

WARMTH

The word defines not only Kate’s wonderful romances, but Kate herself. To meet her anywhere in the world, to walk into a hotel in New York, Colorado, London is to be greeted with that unforgettable smile, a huge hug that wraps you in real and genuine warmth.

It’s that same warmth that draws you into her stories. Her heroes are true alphas, men who, like all leaders, stand apart. Stand alone. But her heroines ... oh, those lovely heroines could melt permafrost. The men in their life might as well give up on page one, surrender, recognise that they’ve finally met their match.

Fortunately for us they don’t, but choose to go down fighting. Bliss.

Congratulations on this wonderful anniversary, Kate. I hope I’m still staggering along, just behind you, when you reach your century!

GIVEAWAY:
My contribution to the party is a copy of REUNITED: MARRIAGE IN A MILLION, to be published in August.

And my QUESTION:
You’re at a glittering ball and you can have the last dance with the hero of any romance. Who would you choose?