Important Auction

It's almost May 1st and if you don't know what that signifies then you should!
May 1st is when Brenda Novak's  Annual Online Auction for Diabetes Research starts for 2013.  

Here's what Brenda herself  says:
Brenda Novak's Annual Online Auction for Diabetes Research is gearing up for its biggest year yet. Thanks to all who have participated in the past — both donors and shoppers — we've raised a cumulative total of $1.6 million. This year we are hoping to surpass $2 million to help all those with diabetes.


So many people have donated lots for the auction and all funds go towards this great cause.

Every year in the past, I've donated two lots -  in the past these have been a Readers' and Writers' Basket  - and, previously, a critique of a partial aimed at the Harlequin Presents line. 

Well, this year I'm still offering the Readers' and Writers' basket but, sadly, I am no longer able to offer the critique. I'm sure I don't have to explain why.  This is the damage that the copyright infringement case has done to the trust between authors and unpublished writers.  But I was determined to offer two lots as I have always done - so

The first lot is the Readers' and Writers' Basket -

The winner of this bid will receive  these autographed books

12 POINT GUIDE TO WRITING ROMANCE

THE STRAIGHTFORWARD GUIDE TO WRITING ROMANTIC FICTION

A great selection of Kate Walker novels:

The Alcolar Family Trilogy (3 in 1), which includes:

THE TWELVE-MONTH MISTRESS

THE SPANIARD'S INCONVENIENT WIFE

BOUND BY BLACKMAIL

The trilogy Claimed by the Sicilian (3 in 1), which includes:

THE SICILIAN'S WIFE

SICILIAN HUSBAND, BLACKMAILED BRIDE

THE SICILIAN'S RED-HOT REVENGE

Also included are the following autographed paperback books by Kate Walker:

THE DEVIL AND MISS JONES (Presents Extra April 2012)

THE RETURN OF THE STRANGER (Presents Extra October 2012)

THE PROUD WIFE (Presents Extra October 2011)

THE GOOD GREEK WIFE? (Presents Extra April 2010)

All books are packed into one of my Kate Walker Tote Bags; bonus: Kate Walker pen.

Full details and how to bid can be found here


Lot 2 -  10 Book Autographed  Collection

The winner of this bid will receive  these autographed paperback books:

THE DEVIL AND MISS JONES (Presents Extra April 2012)

THE RETURN OF THE STRANGER (Presents Extra October 2012)

THE PROUD WIFE (Presents Extra October 2011)

A THRONE FOR THE TAKING (brand new title!)

The trilogy Claimed by the Sicilian (3 in 1), which includes:

THE SICILIAN'S WIFE

SICILIAN HUSBAND, BLACKMAILED BRIDE

THE SICILIAN'S RED-HOT REVENGE

THE GOOD GREEK WIFE?

KEPT FOR HER BABY

THE KONSTANTOS MARRIAGE DEMAND

All books are packed into one of my Kate Walker Tote Bags; bonus: Kate Walker pen.

Full details and how to bid can be found here

I hope you'll take a look - but don't just look at my lots - browse the whole site and see the amazing things there are on offer.
The auction starts in two days time -  It's a  great cause  - so why not bid?

A box full of heroes

The Babe Magnet and I have been away, visiting York. The sun actually shone, afternoon tea at Bettys was wonderful as always, and I managed a little shopping while he browsed the second hand bookshops.  His carrier bags were much heavier than mine - but my  contents were much  prettier!

Came home to find there had been a delivery - a box full of  heroes!  The UK editions  of A Throne For the Taking - library editions and paperback ones -

had arrived.  This is always a fantastic moment - to hold the copies of my latest in my hands. It's something ebooks will never replace.

But I'm still not sure about that waistcoat!

Incidentally, coming in August, there will be some changes to the Presents covers in America - about time I think - they needed a refresh. Some of the new covers are already appearing on Amazon so look out for those and see what you think.

Books and Friends

One of the really great things about being a writer is that I get to meet some really great peple who are also writers.  In fact I get to meet so great people who are also great writers.

And those great people prove how great they are by giving me copies of their books.

So this is what arrived in the mail this week.

I've known Julie Cohen since  - well, I can't quite recall exactly when but I know we met at the RNA Conference before she was ever published. I  was thrilled to share the celebrations of her first ever Mills & Boon Modern Extra, Featured Attraction and the other books she had published with them and then Little Black Dress. I've watched her career grow as she moved on the bigger books -  Getting Away with It and The Summer of Living Dangerously.  I've even taught  a weekend course with  her in Leicester - and had a great time doing so.

And I've been waiting to read this new book ever since Julie told me all about it. Well, not all  - she didn't tell me how it all works out and I didn't want her to. That's part of the pleasure of reading it for myself. 

Claire and Ben are the perfect couple. But behind the glossy façade, they’ve been desperately trying – and failing – to have a baby for years. Now, the stress and feelings of loss are taking their toll on their marriage. Claire’s ready to give up hope and get on with her life, but Ben is not. And then Ben’s best friend, Romily, offers to conceive via artificial insemination and carry the baby for them.
Romily acts in good faith, believing it will be easy to be a surrogate. She’s already a single mother, and has no desire for any more children. Except that being pregnant with Ben’s child stirs up all sorts of emotions in her, including one she’s kept hidden for a very long time: Ben’s the only man she’s ever loved.
Two mothers—and one baby who belongs to both of them, and which only one of them can keep.

So the other books on my TBR pile are going to have to be put aside for a while - sorry Robert Goddard, Diane Chamberlain . . . The Edna O'Brian and Billy Joel biographies are going to have to wait - even the book on Perkin Warbeck that I'm half way through. All I can say is that I'm glad I'd finished Gone Girl (Gillian Flynn) and The Good Father (Noah Hawley) before this arrived. Otherwise I'd have had a real problem.

So if I'm missing for a few days - you'll know the reason why.

Thanks Julie!

Review and Offer

Thanks to Michelle Styles, I have been able to see the Romantic Times  review for  A Throne For The Taking   and I'm  thrilled to find that  they have given my new book  4 1/2 stars.  That's great news.

Here's the review:

10 years ago, Ria Escalona had her friend Alexei exiled from Mecjoria. But now she knows the truth, and she needs him back to save their country from tyranny and civil unrest. Can she do it without revealing her true feelings?

Alexei Sarova has spent the past decade forgetting Ria, building a successful but lonely life. Now she’s back and needs his help to claim the throne of their homeland. Will she agree to his unscrupulous terms?  

The majesty of Walker’s fictional principality shines, and her frenemies-to-love story is  perfectly passionate.

Thank you RT - and thank you Michelle

I don't know if you remember but last year sometime I asked blog readers to suggest a name for this

ficitional country and Caroline was the one who suggested  Mecjoria.  I promised a copy of the book to the person whose name I chose - so Caroline, the book is on its way to you, if you haven't received it already.

And the offer?
Well, if you're in America, and  want to get your hands on a copy of A Throne for The Taking - the bookshop  Author, Author!  is running a special offer on this brand new title.   As they say on the offer page:

This book is regularly $4.99 but we've discounted it to $3.25 for this very special offer. This book should ship on or around May 21.

$3.25 is selling this book at cost with just a reasonable shipping fee, so it's a really great offer.
My special thanks to Author, Author! for organising this.

Oh - I just checked - Author, Author!  staff are at a conference this weekend - but they're back onn April 23rd.

Updated

New book - new look!

Heather of HR Web Concepts has updated my web site with news, covers of the new book - and a brand new colour scheme . We'd had the red white and bronze colour scheme for  ?? years (can't actually remember how long!) so it was definitely time for a chage. 

So we've tweaked it as well as updating it - and added a new 'shout' line -  Emotionally  rich and passionately intense! (Many thanks to Virginia from Booked Solid with Virginia C who gave me this line as her description of my books  and who uses it for  the page where she reviews my books too.)

We had a strange moment - well, I did , where the changes didn't quite take and I was left with a half and half effect  with the new colour scheme at the top of the page and the old red and bronze colouring  on the rest of it, but I think that has all settled down again now and everywhere is refreshed and 'tweaked'! And there's a brand new banner for A Throne For the Taking as well.

So  - this is the new look now. I hope you like it.

Vintage offer

If you have a kindle and you're interested in collecting   my older titles - the M&B  Vintage edition of The Groom's Revenge  is currently available at the special price  of just £1.80 on Amazon UK right now.   (And it seems to be $2.76 on Amazon.com but that's not totally clear)

Not my most favourite cover! But that doesn't matter so much on a  kindle does it?

Changes coming up

I've been busy, working with the lovely Heather from HR Web Concepts who designs and maintains my web site.   We've updated it recently, with the details of my new book A Throne For The Taking  ready for  publication day in June  (or May 21st in America).   And, as I'm sure you've noticed,  there's a brand new banner at the top of the pages to advertise that.  When it gets closer to the date, I'll be running a contest (with Lee over at Author Sound Relations) to celebrate having this book out.

We've also been planning to refresh the look of the site, with a new colour scheme. The red and bronze colours have been on the site ever since Heather took over - and I'm scared to think how many years ago that was! So we're looking into 'tweaking' it with a new look.

I've also updated the Events page which now shows the dates for the courses I'm running in Wales - Caerleon in the summer (28th July - 2nd August)  and the Advanced Course in Fishguard in February 2014.  And then . . . more changes.

If you look at the Writers' Holiday web site, you'll see that this will be the last ever Writers' Holiday at Caerleon. Yes, I know I said that was a possibility last year but this time it's definite. The whole format of Writers' Holiday  is changing - and we're moving. From July 2014  all the Writers' Holiday events will be at the Fishguard Bay Hotel  and the summer event will have a  different format. So  although we're going to be sad at leaving  the Caerleon university campus whihc has been 'home'  for  this event for so many years, we're also looking forwars to the new style event in the  venue that has welcomed us every February over the past years.

And I'll still be teaching  the Writing Romance course - but  that will have a diferent format too, with more hours of workshops (8 hours instead of 5) and  people will just sign up for the one course each summer.

I'm still working on the exact design of the course right now  - I've been looking at the Advanced Course  (the February one) and the prospect of the summer course and trying to see what I can do

that helps most people.  It's all to be finalised yet  but as soon as it is, I'll let you know. 

 But I do know the dates -   so for now - here's what's coming up -

Writers' Holiday at Caerleon -  Sunday 28th July - Friday 2nd August 2013 - where I'm teaching the Complete Introduction to Writing Contemporary Romance.( For details of the other courses and accommodation etc check out the Writers' Holiday web site)

Writers' and Artists' Workshop Weekend at Fishguard Friday 28th February - Sunday 2nd March 2014  - where I'm teaching the Advanced Contemporary Romance Workshops  (NB I think there is just one space left on this course already. Otherwise it's booked up!)

Writers' Holiday at Fishguard Monday 21st-Saturday 26th JULY 2014 - at the moment this will be the longer, fuller  Introduction to Writing Romance but I'll let you know more details when I have them.

Tote Bags

Life! It never slows down, does it - but , well, I like to be busy and I can never say I'm bored.
And I manage to muddle through somehow.

Anyway, today is the first Sunday in  April and,as  I'm sure you'll remember, that means that it's the day for my regular Tote Bags 'n' Blogs  post - so here's where you'll find me today.

Now I have an interview to complete - and some parcels to pack . . .
And I thought the weekend was meant to be a day of relaxation!

Pink Heart Day

As it's the first Friday in April, today is the day for my Pink Heart Society column  .  So today yoi'll find me over there with my  A Date With Kate blog.

Today's topic?  Knitting!  Well, it is supposed to be the latest  really fashionable craft, after all the baking TV programmes and now the 'Sewing Bee'.

So what crafts would your heroine enjoy? If she does any sort of crafting that is.  Or maybe even your hero is into some sort of craft work?

Manga Magic

The Easter weekend has meant that there has been no post arriving at the house for several days but with the end of the holidays, the post man has resumed his deliveries and yesterday there was a rush of new  editions of my books. 

There was a Norwegian edition of 12 Month Mistress,    a Spanish translation of The Return Of The Stranger,  two Japanese editions -  one of The Devil and Miss Jones, the second  one of my favourite things - a manga reworking of one of my much earlier titles - The Hostage Bride which was originally published in 2001.
The Manga editions are always intriguing - it's interesting to see key scenes from my past books  taken and reworked  in this specialised form.  This page here shows

a  moment where  my hero Ricardo Valeron - who has kidnapped  the heroine from her wedding -  first shows a gentler side. After watching the heroine, Fliss struggle to remove the innumerable pins that hold her wedding veil in place, he comes to her aid.

But I think my favourite image is the one where Rico 'casually tossed the bunch of keys up into the air, catching them one-handed as they fell  back down. '

In the Manga edition, Rico is twirling a set of keys  that look as if they would have  secured a dungeon rather than a bedroom door in a modern house!

But perhaps the most intresring difference is in the portrayal of the characters - the hero and heroine. With their huge eyes, pointed chins and high cheekbones, the image is very different  from the tall, dark and powerful hero on the Presents edition cover of  The Hostage Bride . 

This has always been one of my favourite covers.

It's always a thrill to see  much older books  -  it's  now 12 years since this was first published -  being revived and reprinted.  And it's a special thrill to  see them reproduced in this very differnt, specialised  and really rather magic format.