Remeber how I mentiuoned the fabulous banner at the top of my web site pages - the one for The Proud Wife?  That is the work of my brilliant web designer  -  Heather Reed from HR Web Concepts who maintains my site and keeps it up to date  regularly - well, as regularly as I send her updates! 

Heather also runs the  great site  We Write Romance where you'll find reviews and articles - and where I blog every month in Kate's Corner.

This morning Heather contacted me with the news that her new project, a new site called We Read Romance is now functioning  and will be live from now on. And she also sent me  a fabulous  review of The Proud Wife   that one of her reviewers has written for the launch of the new site.

I thought I'd share this with you as it really made my day:

Intensely emotional, Kate Walker’s The Proud Wife turns a red-hot love affair with devastating loss into one of the most endearing tales I’ve read in a long time. Filled to the brim with gut wrenching confusion and love, this story allows you to see how miscommunication and circumstances can often cause people who rush head first into marriage to need a break to find perspective. What it also shows is that often first instincts can be just the ticket.


Sicilian Tycoon Pietro D’Inzeo knew he wanted Marina at their first meet, and an unplanned pregnancy certainly gave him the excuse he needed to push their affair to the next level–only circumstances cause the two to separate. But after two years when they’re about to make their divorce final, they realize it’s near impossible to really let each other go!

Ms. Walker’s voice rings proud and true in The Proud Wife–a must-read in my book!

Thank you so much Larissa.  I'm starting my day with a smile on my face aftereading your review.  One of the reviewers on the M&B site also loved this book - calling it a Modern Masterpiece. 

And perhaps even better, a reader who  said that : I don't normally read Modern Mills & Boon stories as I find the plots very repetetive. " added - "I was pleasantly surprised by this book and really enjoyed the way Kate Walker wrote this story. It was actually believable.  I will read other books by Kate Walker. "

Now that's a real compliment and it's put me in a really great mood to tackle the  proofs  of The Return of The Stranger that arrived while I was in Wales.  Not my favourite job but one that will go so much better as a result of these great reviews.

Back . . .

I'm back . . .  In body at least,   A part of my mind is still back in Wales, in Fishguard Bay staring out at the sea and talking and teaching and having a lot of fun.

As always, the welcome from Anne and Gerry  who run Fishguard Writing Weekends and Caerleon Writers'  Holidays was so warm it was like coming home. The group for the Advanced Writing Romance course were a great bunch - and a real mixture.   Some of them I'd met before, others were new to me but not for long. And I even had two already published authors - Susan Moody and Janet Laurence  - in the class to learn more about writing emotion.   

I seem to have blinked and found that the weekend had run away from me but I know it happened and I did teach something worth knowing - setting up a new course and running it for the first time is a  bit of a challenge. But Cara who was in the group has written a lovely blog all about it  and she  obviously got a lot from it.

Thank you so much to everyone who was in the class - you made my weekend and the way you all joined in made the classes fun as well as work.  The lovely gifts I was given were unexpected and thank you so much for them.

The even better news  - for me, if not for everyone else - is that the Advanced Romance Writing class is already half full with bookings for next year!  So  in February 2012 I get to do it all over again. So in case you want to sign up for a writing weekend in Wales,  the details can be found here. 

Remember that this is the Advanced  course so it's open to people who have already done a basic Writing Romance course - hopefully with me as the details I cover in that are the perfect grounding to working on the Advanced course.   The basic course is the one that I teach on the Caerleon Writers Holiday  - but  you'd better get your name down for that if you're interested. There were only 20 places left on the whole holiday last I heard.  You can find the details here.

So now I'm getting back to work and concentrating hard on the latest book.  This is helped by some really great news I've been given . . .  but can't tell you quite yet!   So instead I'll share the good news I can tell  you - and that is that my newest book - The Proud Wife - has been the #1 bestseller on the Mills & Boon web site  for what seems like ages - it's the 3rd week at the top right now! I'm so so happy about this.  And it isn't even on the bookshop shelves yet!

Thank you so much to everyone who has bought a copy to put it there.

Oh - and if you buy  your romances in ebook versions from eHarlequin site, then they've just put up the April titles on there. And The Proud Wife is included in those April Presents Extra releases.  You can find the ebook here.

I hope you've seen the fabulous banner for this book at the top of the page. That was done for me - as were all the web site updates  - by Heather at We Write Romance  and HR Web Concepts. 

  Heather has recently updated my site for me and she's added excerpts from books that are out now so why not check out thenew details?

Here Come the Grooms - the winners

So the cats (Sid) dogs (Mitch and Micah McAllister  and - er  - I think - husband?  (Mr Liz Fielding)  were roped in to choose the winners of the Here Come The Grooms contest and the results were:

My winner  Mik  from Michigan
Anne's winner is Desere from South Africa
and Liz's winner is  Kelly from Canada
Our readers certainly cover the world!

Congratulations to the winners who all receive  a copy of
The Proud Wife by Kate Walker
Hired by Her Husband by Anne McAllister
Chosen as the Sheikh's Wife by Liz Fielding

I have to admit it's a great prize and if I hadn't read the books - and written one - already then I'd love to win myself.   I was thrilled to discover that The Proud Wife is currently #1 bestseller on the Mills & Boon web site for the second week running.   And it's not even officially out yet!

I have to finish preparing and head out for Fishguard for my  Advance Writing Romance Course so if I don't blog for a few days that's where I'll be.  But I do have a blog for A Date With Kate over on the Pink Heart Society site on Friday.  So I'll see you there.

PS if you're on my newsletter list then there are still a few days left to enter the special  Grooms contest  for the Newsletter prize - I'll run the draw for that when I get  home on Monday. If you'd like to be on my newsletter list - just see the link in the sidebar or at the bottom of the pages of my web site.

Kate's Corner

As I said, I'm blogging over at We Write Romance today - where my post for Kate's Corner is up now.

Because I write romantic ficiton, everyone always asks me about my Valentine's Day - so I've written about it - and the truth about the romance novelist's glamorous life!  

I'm giving away a Valentine's  prize too - a copy of  Mediterranean Tycoons - so come and tell me about your Valentine's Day.

Oh - and I  in that blog talked about a lovely little antique brooch that the Babe Magnet gave me for Valentine's Day. I can't find an image that's the same shape etc as the actual one  but here is the sort of  lucite brooch from the 1940s that it is - but minde is heart-shaped.  Isn't it lovely?

Happy Valentine's Day!

Happy Valentine's Day to  you all!  Today is your last chance to enter the Here Come the Grooms Contest.

Anne McAllister, Liz Fielding  and I (s0rry - and Sid the cat ) will be drawing the names of the winners  at the end of today. So get your answers in  fast!

Don't forget too that today is Pink Monday over on the Mills and Boon web site  with lots of great deals - new ones each hour - to grab some real bargains and some great  books.    Meditteranean Tycoons has already been included in one great offer - ansd I see that there are some Modern Romance books coming up soon. So keep your eye on the site.

I'm buried in preparations for my weekend course in  Fishguard   but just to remind you that tomorrow is my day for blogging over at We Write Romance  - in Kate's Corner. And Friday sees my second Date With Kate post on the Pink Heart Society -  by which time I'm be settled  in Wales, looking out at the sea from the Fishguard Bay Hotel.

RNA Pure Passion Awards - and those darn extracts!

The RNA Pure Passion Awards celebrate the very best in romantic fiction. Over 200 titles were submitted for this year’s four categories, from the long-standing and hotly-contested Romantic Novel of the Year, to more recent additions which recognise the breadth of romantic fiction – the Historical Novel Prize, Romantic Comedy Award, and Love Story of the Year.

‘This year's short list represents the whole gamut of romantic fiction,’ said Katie Fforde, RNA Chair. ‘We have royalty, love letters, history and humour, from both newcomers and established authors. A truly impressive list.’

The shortlists

Over 200 books were submitted for the greatly-prized Romantic Novel of the Year. The shortlist of six titles have been selected by a panel of 85 readers from the general public. The winner will be selected by three independent judges – Amanda Craig, author and book reviewer, Foyle’s War actor and contributor to the blog Vulpes Libris, Jay Benedict, and fiction buyer for Waterstone’s, Janine Cook. The shortlist, in alphabetical order by author name, is:

To Defy a King Elizabeth Chadwick Sphere

The Golden Prince Rebecca Dean HarperCollins

Kissing Mr Wrong Sarah Duncan Headline Review

The Jewel of St. Petersburg Kate Furnivall Sphere

Amazir Tom Gamble Beautiful Books

The Last Letter From Your Lover JoJo Moyes Hodder & Stoughton



The Romantic Comedy Prize is organised and administered in the same way as the Romantic Novel of the Year. To reach the shortlist, the books must be laugh-out-loud funny. The winner is chosen by a panel of judges - Jane Wenham-Jones, author and columnist in magazine Booktime, Glenda Wood, Head of Libraries, Culture and Learning for Hertfordshire County Council, and Sara Craven, author of over 80 books for Mills & Boon. The shortlist is:


The Way to a Woman’s Heart Christina Jones Piatkus

I Heart Paris Lindsey Kelk HarperCollins

Mini Shopaholic Sophie Kinsella Bantam Press

Take a Chance on Me Jill Mansell Headline Review

Katy Carter Wants A Hero Ruth Saberton Orion

A Date in your Diary Jules Stanbridge Little Black Dress


Fiction submitted which is set pre-1960 is eligible for the Historical Novel Prize. As with Romantic Novel of the Year and Romantic Comedy Prize, a shortlist of six is selected by a panel of readers, and the winner selected by three judges – Richard Lee, founder of the Historical Novel Association, Elizabeth Hawksley, author and creative writing teacher, and Diane Pearson, president of the RNA since 1987. The shortlist is:
To Defy a King Elizabeth Chadwick Sphere

Trade Winds Christina Courtenay Choc Lit

The Golden Prince Rebecca Dean HarperCollins

The Wayward Governess Joanna Fulford Mills & Boon Historical

The Jewel of St. Petersburg Kate Furnivall Sphere

Heart of Stone Jane Jackson Severn House


The Love Story of the Year is for a shorter romance where there is a strong emphasis on the developing central relationship. A shortlist of six is again chosen by the reading public, with the winner selected by three judges. The shortlist is:

The Piratical Miss Ravenhurst Louise Allen Mills & Boon Historical

Mother of the Bride Caroline Anderson Mills & Boon Romance

Bride in a Gilded Cage Abby Green Mills & Boon Modern

Moving On Valerie Holmes Linford Romance

Fortunate Wager Jan Jones Robert Hale

The Captain’s Mysterious Lady Mary Nichols Mills & Boon Historical


Two Lifetime Achievement Awards will be presented to two people who have made outstanding contributions to romantic fiction and the Romantic Novelists' Association.
The winners for each award will be named at the Pure Passion Awards 2011, Monday, 7th March 2011 at a champagne reception at One Whitehall Place, Westminster.

Many Congratulations to all the nominees.

And the good news is - that thanks to the lovely Heather those extracts from my books are finally up on my web site!

So if you're still looking for the answer to my question on the Here Come The Grooms Contest - you should find it there!  Thank you Heather.  I'm still trying - and failing - to get the link into the sidebar so it's great to know  the extract from  The Proud Wife - is now available along  extracts from The Good Greek Wife, Kept for Her Baby, The Konstantos Marriage Demand  and - because of the  reprints in the new collections   - The Greek Tycoon's Unwilling Wife (from Mediterranean Tycoons) and Spanish Billionaire, Innocent Wife from One Night in Madrid)

Just to remind you of the contest

To celebrate the publication of our new books, once again I’m getting together with the fabulous Anne McAllister and Liz Fielding to run our now traditional February Here Come the Grooms Contest.

The Prize

As before, we have three prizes to give away – each prize will be a set of the three new titles we have coming out soon

These will be:

The Proud Wife by Kate Walker

Hired By Her Husband by Anne McAllister

Chosen As The Sheikh’s Bride by Liz Fielding

(In Becoming the Tycoon’s Bride together with Patricia Thayer)

Each winner will win a set of all three books

What do you have to do?

Answer these three questions – you’ll find the answers on the authors’ web sites or blogs – and send your answers to us with Here Come The Grooms Contest in the subject line of your email.  (Please remember to answer all three!)

You can answer once with each author – so visit Anne’s and Liz’s sites too to send them your answers as well.
The Questions

Answer all three questions to be in with a chance of winning. As always, I’ll get Sid the Cat on to the job of picking a winner.

1.From The Proud Wife - What has Marina received from Pietro at the opening of the story?

2.From Hired by Her Husband - What is George's occupation and where does he live?

3.From Chosen as the Sheikh’s Bride - Who was Violet's great-great-grandmother?

Deadline

The contest starts on February 1st and runs until February 14th. The draw will be held at the last moment of Valentine’s Day and the three lucky winners will have an extra Valentine’s gift to celebrate.

Good luck!

And just to make sure you know where to find an extract of The Proud Wife  (I'm having no luck trying to put one  in the sidebar - sorry!
There's one on the Mills & Boon Site  here
And one on Amazon here.

Writing Contest

I know a lot of visitors to my blog are interested in writing to be published - so I though I'd let you know about this  new contest -

Romance Junkies 2011 Writing contest

Taking the plunge into the new year contest!

Sponsored by Carina Press!
They will accept contest submissions beginning February 1, 2011

http://www.contestjunkies.com/

The Prizes for the Writers!

The Editorial Staff of Carina Press will select winners from among the Finalists.

The Grand Prize will be a Kindle plus a critique* from a Carina editor.

Second, Third, and Fourth place critiqued* by editorial staff of Carina Press.

*Critiques will be offered for a set number of pages, not just the contest entry. Length of critique piece will decrease from Grand Prize to Fourth place, but will not be less than 15 pages.

The Prizes for the Readers!

The voting process allows readers to provide feedback to the writers through our online form. Each week an email address will be selected at random from these posts and will receive a digital Carina title of the winner’s choice.

The Grand Prize will be 25 digital Carina titles of the winner’s choice and will be selected at random from all of those who voted.

And - I have donated 2 copies of the third edition of  the  12 Point Guide to Writing Romance   that will be extra prizes for two of the finalists.

Check out the link for further details, rules, and to enter. 

Contest Schedule


February 1st– April 1st-- Take in Entries

Feb 14th– thru May 14th– Post entries

(every week a group of entries are posted on the contest page to be voted on by readers)

May 30th– Winners Announced

Ciao  -
Kate has told me to come and introduce myself as  she is busy -preparing for classes in Wales. And busy, it seems with another man.  Someone called Carlos Ortega . . . or he might be called - I forget what!  He uses  two different surnames and I don't know which one is really his! He does not seem to know himself very well, this  Argentinian, but no doubt he will tell his  story to Kate and then she will write it down and we will all find  out just what has happened to him.

Just as you will all find out my story - mine and La bella Marina - in the book  The Proud  Wife.   I am to tell you all about this as I am one of The Grooms in this contest. My name is Pietro -Pietro D'Inzeo.   Prince Pietro D'Inzeo  in fact. Or - if you want the full details and title, as my parents would have insisted upon - Il Principe Pietro Raymundo Marcello D'Inzeo - a mouthful of a title that Marina would throw at me  like a challenge whenever we  confronted one another.

She thinks it matters - that damn title of mine. Yes, I am a prince and yes my family come from a long line of  Sicilian aristocracy. Those things might have mattered once - they certainly still matter (too much) to my Mother! - but  when they come between me and the woman I love then  they are irrelevant and  old-fashioned.

I say that I am one of the Grooms because this contest is calle Here Come the Grooms  - but the truth is that I am more  like poor George  who got Anne McAllister to tell his story, and unlike Fayad who is the Groom who chose Liz Fielding to tell his   and who  it seems  is busy arranging a divorce at the same time as he is arranging  a wedding!  I am not actually a groom - my wedding day to the beatiful but defiant Marina was almost three years ago and now,  as we have been separated for close to two years, I felt - or do I mean feared?- that the time has come to  accept defeat, acknowledge the fact that our marriage is over and make a clean break. That seemed to be what Marina wants.

But Marina should know that I do not give in so easily. After all my family's motto is What is mine, I hold.  So I summoned her to Sicily . . .  and that was when the sparks really started to fly.

If you want to know what happened, then you will need to read the book of course. Kate tells me that  our story - mine and Marina's is  currently at #1  on the Mills & Boon web site.  It will be out in the shops in March - and in America in April.

PS from Kate

Thanks Pietro -  I know you are Marina really had some sparks flying. I had to duck a couple of times when  I was working on your book.  But  then, what can you expect when you bring together a proud Sicilian Prince and a passionate, fiery readhead?

Now about the contest - an apology! I was supposed to have post an extract from The Proud Wife on my web site so that you could find the amswer to my question in there - but I'm afraid that life has kept me too busy to actually get round to it.  So -  if you are looking for an extract - you can find  it either on the Amazon.co.uk page for The Proud Wife  or on the Mills and Boon web site  page.

I'm also posting a 'browse the book' link in the sidebar and  hoping to get the extracts uploaded just as soon as I possibly can.  Sorry about this!

Blogging around

Today is the first Sunday in February so as usual, I'm blogging over  on  Tote Bags 'N' Blogs.

Today I'm talking about  books that  keep coming back as reprints again and again  - and  as I'm celebrating the release of   the February collection  -  Mediterranean Tycoons - there's a chance to win a copy.  This  3 in 1 volume has a reprint of the  2007 title The Greek Tycoon's Unwilling Wife.

Mediterranean Tycoons is a great collection - there are books in there by Michelle  Reid and Sarah Morgan too  - fabulous company to be in.

Here Come The Grooms Contest - Year 4

It’s that time of year again!

For the fourth year in a row, Liz Fielding, Anne McAllister and I are celebrating our latest books with  the now- traditional Here Come The Grooms! contest.

It’s a chance to answer three questions, win three great new books, and meet three gorgeous guys in the process.

This year the heroes are  Pietro D’Inzeo, a passionat Sicilian prince in my book,  Liz’s gorgeous sheikh Fayad al Khalifa. and Anne's sexy physicist, George Savas.

How’s that for variety? A hero for every taste. You’ll get to meet each of them in the coming days. But for now here’s glimpse  of each of these exciting heroes - and each picture is  definitely worth more than 1,000 words!

So here's

PIETRO



GEORGE



FAYAD

Here's a little more about  all three books:

The Proud Wife


Her husband wants her back!
Marina thought her dreams had come true when her husband placed a wedding band on her finger. But their marriage was not the fairytale she’d hoped for, and eventually Marina walked away, her heart broken.

Two years o Pietro DInzeo no longer haunts Marinas dreams. She knows the time has come to move on, and even a summons to join him in Sicily won’t deter her. However, with his wife standing before him, about to sign on the dotted line of their divorce papers, Pietro wonders why he ever let her go?



Hired by her Husband
Back in her husband’s bed!

Once Sophy and George Savas were happily married . . . Then Sophy woke up and realized that her blissful marriage was a sham. She’s never looked back — until the day she learns her husband has been critically injured and her world is shaken.
Now though he’s stubborn and proud, George wants Sophy’s help. He knows she won’t come willingly, so he hires her to be his wife for as long as he needs her! But playing happy families is dangerous, and soon George realizes that his need for Sophy runs deep and strong . . .

Chosen as the Sheikh’s Wife
After a beautiful stranger discovers his long-lost heirloom under a floorboard, Sheikh Fayad al Kuwani swoops in to protect innocent Violent Hamilton. Now, with greedy enemiesgathering, the only way he can keep her safe is to put her on his private jet, take her to his desert kingdom and … marry her!

If that isn’t enough to whet your appetite, you can check out excerpts on our websites –   you'll find Liz's here , Anne's is here.  And just as soon as the wonderful Heather completes the details there will be an extract on my site too - but for now, if you want to read one you'll find it on Amazon or on the M&B web site

If you want to enter the contest – you get three chances to win! – go to each of our contest pages, answer the three questions there, follow the rest of the directions on how to enter, and you’ll have three chances to win the books.

Closing date is February 14th - so if you get the answers right you'll get to share Valentine's Day with our three gorgeous heroes!    GOOD LUCK!

PS The Proud Wife is  now available a month in advance of the shops over on the  newly updated Mills & Boon Site