Special New Year Giveaway Nominations

Don't forget you have just over 24 hours to nominate  someone for a special New Year book

giveaway.

Is there a friend or someone in your family who has had a tough time in 2017?  Someone in hospital, with health problems, or someone who has faced problems you wish you could have helped them with?
Is there someone you'd like to help cheer them  into 2018 on a happier, brighter note?

Suggest their name here and as the new year dawns, I'll get Charlie   or Ruby - or both! - to pick some names so that you can give them a little gift of one  of my books and hopefully make things  a little bit better.

You can choose from these titles:

The Konstantos Marriage Demand

Bedded By The Greek Billionaire

A Throne For The Taking

Kept for her Baby

Olivero's Outrageous Proposal

A Question of Honour

Destined for the Desert King

New Year Special Giveaway - nominate someone who needs their day brightening

I've just been packing up the Christmas giveaway books to go out to the winners who have let me know your postal addresses - there's a couple who still haven't let me know, so if you're tagged

please send me a mailing address.

As we head into the new year of 2018, I'm running an extra giveaway - but this is a little different. I've run it every year and it's been so great to be able to share with people who need cheering up.

So - you can join in by posting in the comments below - but this time you can hope to win a book as a gift for someone special who needs a little something to brighten their day. If you know someone who has had a difficult time through 2017 or is struggling with a problem and you'd like to offer them a little something to brighten the start of 2018, post below letting me know who you'd like me to send a book to and why. If you can pick a title of one of the books I have to giveaway then please let me know your choice - and the second choice - from the lis

t and I'll hope to send that one. I'll also add in a small extra gift from me to wish them a much happier New Year in 2018.

Books you can choose from are

The Konstantos Marriage Demand

Bedded By The Greek Billionaire

A Throne For The Taking

Kept for her Baby

Olivero's Outrageous Proposal

A Question of Honour

Destined for the Desert King

The final draw for the names of winners will be on New Year's Eve - just before midnight - at least I can be sure that Charlie and Ruby will be in at that time - and picking the names, choosing treats, will distract them from the sound of fireworks as 2018 begins,

Special Christmas Photos

Some of you will know that this hasn't been the easiest of years for me - health and other problems have slowed my writing down so that I'm truly happy - and relieved - to know that A Proposal to Secure His Vengeance will be a new title published in 2018 (very soon now!) and hopefully the second book in this duet will be revised and sorted soon as well.

So while I haven't had the most productive year - other members of the family have been busy in a different way, and we have welcomed two beautiful baby boys into the family within 6 months of each other.

So when I have felt down there have been some wonderful photographs to make me smile and brighten up dark days. Because this is what Christmas is all about - family and love - I asked my niece  Kitty 

Westbrook  if I could share a couple of pictures of her gorgeous little son and she's let me do that - so here is my youngest reader - and I hope a fan! Caspar is my great nephew - so I believe that makes me a Great aunt!

Have a wonderful first Christmas tiny face! (And your mum and dad too)

Christmas Eve winners

It has been a hectic and busy time over the past few days and I lost track of most things - including what was happening with the Christmas Giveaway. So I let both Charlie and Ruby go wild on the treats and names from all past posts so that they could three winners each to celebrate Christmas eve. 

So - Christmas Eve winners are:

Henza R. Mazengo

Diane Spigonardonardo

Phyllis Perryman

Sian Cusack

Debbie Cooban

Michelle Turner.

Not all these will link to the winners' names - but I hope you see your names. Please DM and send me your postal address or send it to katewalker AT ntlworld.com

Titles I have for you to pick from (please give me your first and second choices:

The Konstantos Marriage Demand

Bedded By The Greek Billionaire

A Throne For The Taking

Kept for her Baby

Olivero's Outrageous Proposal

A Question of Honour

Destined for the Desert King

Happy Christmas to all winners - and to all my readers!

I have one last special giveaway that I love to do at Christmas - but I'll put that in a separate posting.

A Box of Real Books!

At last - after weeks of waiting, seeing the new covers on Amazon etc - I finally have a box of actual books with the redesigned UK covers on. It's always such a thrill to hold a real book in my hands. It's nothing like the manuscript I first wrote - then submitted!  And I had called it Claimed by The Corsican  as my working title - not A Proposal to Secure His Vengeance.

 32 years ago, I received my first ever published book - it's great to still be getting a box of new books after all this time. The covers are so different but the thrill is just the same!

Don't forget you can still enter the Christmas books giveaway - just leave a comment, telling me the strangest Christmas present you either gave of received,

New Covers Reveal . . .

At last I can show you all the new covers for my January book - A Proposal to Secure His Vengeance. 

As you know, Harlequin Mills and Boon  are revamping the whole look of their  books  and  the covers have been radically redesigned - the same with Australia -   so I've been waiting until I could show you all three covers for my next title.

Here goes: 

The USA  cover stays the same - designers think that the long established white cover, red band and hero and heroine in a circle is iconic and will stay the same.



The new UK design - out January - is very different. What do you think?
BTW - my hero doesn't have  a beard - and he has jet black hair (see the USA cover!)






Finally - the new-design Australian cover



I think I like this one the best - what do you think?


 And the back cover 'blurb' is this:
Raoul Cardini will have his revenge! His preferred method? Ruthless, irresistible seduction!
Imogen O’Sullivan is horrified when charismatic tycoon Raoul breaks up her engagement and makes her his own convenient bride! She once surrendered everything to Raoul — body, heart and soul. But as he stalks back into her life it’s clear he has punishment in mind — not just passion. Can Imogen resist Raoul’s potent brand of delicious vengeance?


PS Don't forget that you can still enter the Christmas book giveaway - just leave a comment, telling me the most unusual Christmas gift you've given - or received.

Catching up and Giveaways

This is one of my favourite Christmas 'gifts' each year. I buy a bale of hay  for the Hillside Sanctuary  from each of us in the family - to help these lovely creatures have their Christmas dinner. So easy to do - and I also love 'adopting' a horse and a donkey to care for in 2018. The Babe Magnet and I hope to get to Sanctuary to visit again later in the year.

Still working hard to catch up on things that need to be done - and not succeeding very well! But when some things - like sending bales of hay to Hillside Sanctuary are so easy to do at least I know that's sorted out.

Charlie was out tomcatting all night - in spite of the cold - so he's only just woken up in order to pick a few winners of some Christmas giveaway books - so starting with a post back last week for Tote Bags N Blogs - Denise Stout Holcomb - he picked your name as a winner. And from the post about favourite authors - Mindy Nace Kugler and Joanne Robinson are the names that were chosen. Please contact me on Messenger to let me know a postal address - or at katewalker at ntlworld.com and I'll get your prize in the post.

Today's giveaway comes after I've sent off the bales of hay instead of some Christmas cards - so if you want to join in the giveaway today - what is the most unusual Christmas present you've ever given - or been given? I'll get Ruby on to picking some names in a day or so.

A Special Treat and a giveaway to celebrate

Thank you so much to everyone for the get well wishes. I'm not sure who had the worst of it - but I do think that being ill first, and then needing to nurse the other through 'man flu' was a bit too much. ( And Natasha Oakley - I don't think there's anything very romantic about sharing boxes of tissues and hot lemon drinks - sending get well wishes to you too!) The worst bit was not being able to read!!😮😒

But at least that bit has receded now so I can treat myself to some recovery time with a very special treat. My Christmas present to myself is a brand new copy of a new novel by the wonderful Helen Bianchin.  It was a real joy to discover that she has a new title - Alexei's Passionate Revenge - out this month. When I first started trying to write romance, Helen's books were some of the ones I grabbed off the shelves as soon as I saw them - so I can't wait to lose myself in this story. It's been too long since there was a new book.

So - to share that delight and as part of my Christmas giveaway (belated) - if you could wish for a new book from a favourite writer who hasn't had a new book out recently - who would you pick to read ? I can't promise a new title by any favourites - but Charlie will pick a winner - or maybe two - to have a book giveaway this week. Post answers in the comments below and I'll get Charlie on the task of choosing.

Not the 12 Days of Christmas afterall!

It is a well-known fact that having a chest infection/fluey virus that lasts over 10 days+ will ruin all carefully laid plans for Christmas cards/presents/giveaways. And, that being the case, a DH with the male version of the said virus (aka man flu) will mess things up even more and delay them even longer.

So my plans for a 12 Days of Christmas giveaway have rather taken a back seat lately! I shall rethink and regroup however - and the will be some sort of Christmas giveaway in the coming week - I hope!

In the meantime, as you'll know, Mills and Boon are busy giving glimpses of the new look makeover that will launch in 2018. A small package arrived today, with the very first copy of my own new- look book and a special card to mark the event - so here's your first sneak peak of the new-look Modern cover and the new line Dare coming soon.

More details to follow . . .

Ruby's Big Day - Part 2

Today is the third anniversary of the day that Ruby came to live with us. She was a little 8 week old stray, being looked after by a wonderful lady from the Cats' Protection League but the minute I walked up the drive

and towards the pens where she was staying she threw herself at the netting and demanded - loudly to be taken home As we had recently lost out beautiful Maine Coon Flora, we had a large cat shaped hole in our lives and Ruby has helped to fill that - in spite of being about one third the size of Flora.

 She was barely a quarter of the size of Charlie when she arrived, but she made sure he understood that she was the Queen around here.

She has happily posed for her homing birthday portrait - she knows she is

beautiful! And she has now chosen two winners of the Crime Writer's Casebook so I'll post the winners in a moment - but first some photos to mark Ruby's Coming Home Day.

And the winners are:

Charlotte Mcfall
and
Julie Ryan

Please contact me  at katewalker AT ntlworld.com with postal addresses to send you on your prize copies of The Crime Writer's Casebook.

Oh - and seeing as I've had several enquiries about any possible courses - I should just let you know that if you're interested Stephen Wade will be running a course in April at Cirencester University in April. There has already been plenty of interest and some bookings so it's starting to fill up.

'Relax & Write' 2018 Weekend Courses
The Royal Agricultural University
Cirencester
6-8 April 'Focus on Romantic Fiction' with Kate Walker
6-8 April 'Write that Crime Story' with Stephen Wade
6-8 April 'The Business of Writing' with Simon Whaley

For details - contact Lois Maddox at Malagaworkshops.co.uk

Ruby's big day

Ruby is busy celebrating today - it's the anniversary of her arrival here to live with us.

 But she also has a special job to do - to pick the winners of the special Writers Casebook giveaway. She's taking her time picking the treats on each piece of paper with an entry's name on it - but I'll be back when she's made up her mind!

Crime Writers' Giveaway

CRIME WRITER'S GIVEAWAY

Tomorrow is December 10th. That makes it the official publication date of the Babe Magnet's great new book from Straightforward Publishing. The Crime Writers' Casebook.

To celebrate, my DH has given me two paperback copies of this book to give away over the weekend. As Good reads have changed their policy making international giveaways much more difficult, I'm going to have to do this personally.

Written with Stuart Gibbon, former Metropolitan Police detective with 30 years experience in crime investigation. As a DCI he was in charge of murder cases and was an SIO on the East Midlands Special Operations Unit. He is now a writing consultant advising authors on police procedures.

Stephen Wade is the author of over 60 non-fiction books, many of them on crime history. His most recent works have included The Justice Women, No More Soldiering and The Girl who Lived on Air, all mainly concerned with legal issues in history. His book, Murder in Mind, was featured at the Ilkley Literature festival in 2017. Stuart and Stephen give talks to writing groups on crime past and present.

To enter, just leave a comment below - or on my Facebook page - telling me - and Steve and Stuart - the name of your favourite ever crime novel .. Giveaway open internationally; prizes posted next week; you don't have to buy anything to enter; and names

will be drawn at random.

This time, Ruby will pick the winners on Monday morning - which is a day when she will be celebrating a special something herself!

Here's a small hint about what -

Feline Filing

I have a slight quandary. 

I need to print out some advance information and key selling points for a new edition of the 12 Point Guide to Writing Romance - but this is the basket that contains all my printer paper . . .

 Err - Charlie . . . !

Grab a Black Friday bargain !

Because of this chest infection I've been locked indoors - mind you there 's nothing much about the weather - freezing winds, snow, now icy rain - that has made me even want to consider   venturing outside.  Charlie (who is full of tuna and other treats  - thank you to everyone who suggested them, he says!  - has been snoozing in his cosy bed all afternoon and Ruby is lying in front of the  (as yet unlit) fi
re,  waiting for the Babe Magnet to  set a match to the kindling.

So I haven't done very much about Black Friday - or  has it been Black Monday - or just Black Week all week?   Anyway, I haven't felt  like going out and hunting for bargains, though I did find some on- line which meant I didn't  have to brave the cold and rain.   And while I was doing that I found some g

reat Black Friday/Week bargains for you.

 I was looking for the details  and UK cover of my January book - more on that  later. (As you know, Harlequin are having a complete makeover with some  new and  very different cover designs . . .)  But while I was looking for A Proposal To Secure His Vengeance, I  came across  a bundle of my backlist titles that are currently  at a reduced price on Kindle.

So if there are any of these that you don't have already - or you'd like an ebook edition for convenience - here's  your chance to catch up with some past titles at

 a bargain price.

All these books are  on sale at just £0.99 on Amazon - and on  the Mills and  Boon web site

Return of the Stranger
Kept   for Her Baby
The Sicilian's Red-Hot  Revenge
Bedded by the Greek Billionaire
No Holding Back
Rafael's Love-Child
The Unexpected Child
A Sicilian Husband
Wife for a Day
 Constantine's Revenge
The Devil and Miss Jones
Flirting With Danger

Not sure how long  they will be on offer -  but  if the weather stays like it is, you might want something to curl up inside in the warmth and read  this weekend - so grab a bargain.

Where did the week go?

I think there was a week that just went by - but a savage attack by chest infection meant that I wasn't that aware of much of it.

 I do hate being so ill that you can't even read!

Charlie is peeved because he hasn't celebrated the fact that it's 7 years since he came to live with us so there will have to be some extra treats tonight. But to mark the occasion - here is the little blue-eyed boy who arrived here on November 28th 2010 and then there's the handsome purrson he's grown into. 

 (Specially for Anne McAllister - he has also made sure his Advent Calendar is out and ready for the big countdown. He's made a list and checked it twice . . . )