Conferences and Covers

Heading out today for the RNA Conference and meeting up with lots of friends and fellow writers - so looking forward to this. But I just wanted to share - sometimes my covers seem a bit 'samey' but every now and then I get a new cover design that really stands out. So I was delighted with this from a French collection that I spotted today.

 And I'm in a collection with the wonderful Sara Craven who was one of the special writers who made me love the romance genre and I learned so much from her! So consider my day made with this.

Now I need to finish packing and get one the road - to everyone I'll see at RNA - travel safely - Oh, and yes, I'll be at Wellington Library tonight so if you're coming to that I'll see you there.

PS Perhaps I should say that the title of mine in this collection is Cordero's Forced Bride - which had a rather different cover

Now where was I . . .?

Sorry for the delay in updating this blog - one of the things about being a published author is that in order to keep that title you have  to write - and that takes time and focus. Life has been hectic anyway, and I've needed to carve out time to spend with a sexy Italian and his wife of convenience, to get their story told.  

So that's where I've been and what I've been doing  - on the writing front anyway.

On the teaching front, I've been thrilled by the response to the new Kindle edition of the 12 Point Guide To Writing Romance  - and want to send many thanks to everyone who  bought a copy  at the special promo price |(and to the wonderful friends and fellow authors who spread the word that it was available.)  The ebook is now on sale at it's proper price - but as that is only $3.99 - or  £2.45 in the UK., I still reckon this is a bargain compared to the  price of the paperback. Plus,   the Kindle edition is easily available to more countries  - copies have sold in Germany, France, Australia and Canada - all with just one click! I love ebooks.

I'll admit I never thought I'd say that but I do love ebooks. I love the ease with which I can buy them, the way that I can store hundreds on my reader and not clutter up my room. I'm never without something to read, travelling is easy - just throw the reader in my bag and I  will never run out of  reading matter or if I should do, then  it's easy to get hold of something new.

Not that I'm ever likely to need to do that  . . . the problem is that my Kindle sits on my desk beside me as I

write this - and if during the day I spot an interesting title, then  the temptation is very strong . . . and I was never good at resisting temptation - at least not where books are concerned!

And as a writer, the great thing about ebooks is the way that old titles  get a  whole new lease of life as people discover them. When I was first published , Harlequin romances were in the shops for one month and that was it.  They sold, or they didn't and there was little chance of getting  a copy once the month was over. Sometimes, a book might be reprinted as a 'Bestseller'  - but that would be years later.  I often used to get letters/emails from readers looking for a replacement copy of an old book - or to catch up on one

they'd missed  and  it was difficult to help them.

Now I have old titles out in ebook  form - and it's great to see  - as I did this morning - that older titles like  Kept For Her Baby, At The Sheikh's Command,  The Italian's Forced Bride and Cordero's Forced Bride are out there in the list of bestseller for Modern Romances on Amazon UK.

Oh - and btw -  if you buy  your ebooks from the Mills & Boon web site - they've now introduced a brand new app  which is the best way to read Adobe® Content Server protected eBooks on your iOS device.

What else? Oh yes - courses - I need to update the info on the courses coming up   including one special

retreat style event called Focus on Writing Romantic Fiction - but there's an Italian calling to me so I'll post about that tomorrow.

If you're still looking for a basic course - check out the details  on the upcoming course at Weetwood Hall -   below -  it has filled up but if you're interested I can find another space for you.  Details are also on the Events page of  my web site and on the Relax and Write website here. 

More details on the other course(s) and the Focus retreat as soon as I get some more words added to my total for Dario and Alyse! 

Advent Calendar Day 15

I've been preparing packages for the post - prizes for winners -  so now I need to add two more names to those because my last prize was to give away two copies of The Konstantos Marriage.

It's taken some time to get Charlie in to pick the winners. The weather actually brightened and he was out enjoying the sunshine (cold sunshine - but at least it was bright and dry) and so he didn't want to come indoors at all - not even for cat treats!

Anyway, he's come back in for a short visit and has picked the two winners for me - they are:
Debby
and
Charlotte

Ladies  - you know the drill, please email me with your postal addresses and I'll get your book in the mail to you.

So how are you all doing with your Christmas preparations? I have  a tree. Some crackers. Some stocking to fill and the little gifts to fill them.  Parcels overseas have been sent (apart from prizes!) , cards written and posted - except for the couple of people I forgot!  I lost my  list of names and addresses  - I had it on my computer and a computer blip meant that it was corrupted and so this year I had to start all over again. I know there will still be some one  who  I've not got on the new list - but I'm hoping that if a card arrives from an unlisted sender, I will have some cards left over - and  can add their name to my new list.

What about you?  Are you still writing lists of things to do?  Still got gifts to buy? Cards to send? Or are you like some incredibly organised people and have it all done and dusted now? I have a sister who often buys
Christmas gifts in  July - in the sales! If I did that, then I'd put the presents I'd bought somewhere 'safe' - and forget where I've hidden them.

So tell me about how organised you are so I can be envious - or make me feel happily smug that I'm doing

better than you.

Today's giveaway is  another of those 3 in 1 collections - His Suitable Bride
My book in this collection is  Cordero's Forced Bride-

Taken in payment into his bed!
Alexa Montague is mortified. She's had to call off her sister's wedding, and now the ruthless, arrogant groom, Santos Cordero, is demanding that shy, ugly duckling Alexa, takes Natalie's place!
The Montagues have stolen his money and his convenient bride, so Santos will enjoy taking Alexa instead. For Santos does not - cannot - love. But his body burns for Alexa as it has for no other woman before. He'll keep her captive in his bed until she's begging to be his . . .

The other novels in this collection are by Cathy Williams and Abby Green

So post your comments  - let me know how you're doing with your plans and preparations -  or not! And you'll be in with a chance of winning this.

Advent Calenday Day 6

I'll be out and about  a lot today  so this is a quick posting to give you the next question so you can get your answers in while I'm away from my desk.

Oh - and that reminds me - I just need to say that I'm delighted to see so many of you joining in the Advent Calendar giveaway and posting comments   for each blog.  I have enjoyed reading them all - but there are so many of you that I really don't have time to respond to each on individually. I wish I could, but like everyone else I'm rushing around, getting organised,  doing 101 jobs . . .

So please forgive me if I don't answer every post you leave. I am loving reading them and learning more about  you - but if I was to answer each and everyone then I'd have no time for anything else.  And Charlie is enjoying the number of cat treats that come his way with all your names as he picks the winners - so keep them coming!

Yesterday I talked about personal preparations for Christmas -  I hope some of you will get a chance to have some pampering or at least a small treat as you prepare.   And that started me thinking about what you'll be weraring for the big day. 

I know the magazines and the papers are full of  party dresses and glitter and glam -  but I'm not talking about those sort of things. What do you wear for Christmas Day?

Are you someone who likes to get dressed up, glam dress, hair done, full makeup?
Or do you prefer to go for comfort - jeans? A loose top  - perhaps even an elastic waistband? (One has to think of all that  Christmas dinner!)
Or perhaps you're someone who loves to have the fun factor?   Do you like special  Christmas jumpers with festive designs on them? Reindeers, holly - Santa?

When The Offspring was young I used to go for the fun thing - I had a jumper that was covered in Penguins one year and that was cute.

These days I got for something that's comfortable - but smarter than my usual working at home scruffy sweats!  So I have velvet trousers and a top with some  beaded decorations on it.  When it comes to the evening - when we have our Christmas dinner  visitors joining us then I'll opt for something a bit more glammed up -I have one silky blouse, but if I see something really nice when I'm out and about that will be a good excuse to treat myself.

So what about you? What do you think you'll be wearing on Christmas day?
Or what's your fantasy for glamour?

Today's giveway prize is the book the Babe Magnet picked out of the pile I have ready to give away - and he's chosen a golden oldie -  Cordero's Forced Bride. This was first published in 2009.

Taken in payment into his bed!
Alexa Montague is mortified. She's had to call off her sister's wedding, and now the ruthless, arrogant groom, Santos Cordero, is demanding that shy, ugly duckling Alexa, takes Natalie's place!
The Montagues have stolen his money and his convenient bride, so Santos will enjoy taking Alexa instead. For Santos does not - cannot - love. But his body burns for Alexa as it has for no other woman before. He'll keep her captive in his bed until she's begging to be his . . .

Don't forget to post your answers in the comments section and I'll get Charlie on the job of picking a winner.

Tomorrow is the first Friday of the month so my post - and the next question will be over on the Pink  Heart Society blog and you'll need to post your answers over there.  I'll put up a reminder here tomorrow in case you forget.

A Mystery Solved

I spotted over on Amazon that there was a 'new' title out on  17th February.

This is a 3 in 1 By Request  collection  - so a reprint of one of my older books. I had no idea what the actual  book involved was - the title of the collection  His Suitable Bride - doesn't exactly give me a lot of help with guessiing!  Neither does the cover, which is rather striking,  but not exactly evocative of any particular story.

But today I've just had a delivery of books - hardbacks of The Devil  and Miss  Jones, Paperbacks of that book too - and some  copies of His Suitable Bride. So now the mystery is solved.

The book in this collection is in fact Cordero's Forced Bride. . A book that first came out in 2009

Taken in payment into his bed!
Alexa Montague is mortified. She's had to call off her sister's wedding, and now the ruthless, arrogant groom, Santos Cordero, is demanding that shy, ugly duckling Alexa, takes Natalie's place!
The Montagues have stolen his money and his convenient bride, so Santos will enjoy taking Alexa instead. For Santos does not - cannot - love. But his body burns for Alexa as it has for no other woman before. He'll keep her captive in his bed until she's begging to be his . . .

They're very different cover images, aren't they - it's no wonder I couldn't easily work out which of my titles was involved.
.

Covers Contests and Kudos

I posted about covers over on Tote Bags 'N' Blogs yesterday, showing the UK  and the USA cover of The Proud Wife, and Nas very kindly connected me to the Australian cover which is   a much fuller version of the USA  Presents Extra cover and  actually the one that best represents a scene in the book - the board room setting, the passion between the hero and heroine. The purple dress is all wrong - that's just not the impression that my heroine Marina was trying to give - but  you can't have everything!

Anyway, I thought I'd share it with you all here.

Kudos - well, I'd completely forgotten - I've been  so busy that the fact that it's March 7th hadn't registered. So today is the day that the RNA's Pure Passion Awards are handed out. And right about now in London the ceremony is  under way. I have no idea yet who has won anything but as soon as I do know, I'll pass the information on to you - and I'll raise a glass in a toast to all the winners - and all the entrants - later tonight.

If you missed the lists of the books nominated for each of the Pure Passion Awards  then you'll find it here.

And finally - contests -

One of the things I've noticed is how many of you are trying to collect up past books of mine, from my backlist.  The Advent Calendar giveaway created a lot of interest and people were trying to win copies of the older books that they'd missed or didn't have  copies of. So  to celebrate the publication of The Proud Wife - and to mark that 3 weeks at the #1 slot - I've got together with Lee Hyat of  My Tote Bag.

In the run up to the USA publication of The Proud Wife ( April 12th I think!)  we're running a series of contests where the prizes are collectable backlist books of mine. Each  contest, there will be a chance to win different title.   This time the books you can win are: 

A copy of Cordero's Forced Bride & The Sicilian's Red-Hot Revenge.
You will find the details and the question you need to answer here.  Please respond to Leena and not to me!

And look out for more such contests coming up - I'll let you know too.

Advent Calendar Giveaway Day 22

I'm getting later and later posting - but that's only to be expected - I have a kitten climbing up the christmas tree, frozen pipes, more snow coming down - and still got parcels to wrap!

But Sid has come back from wherever he went wandering and the winners he's chosen for the prizes are:

Julie M wins a copy of Cordero's Forced Bride

and

Caroline wins a copy of The Greek Tycoon's Unwilling Wife

Please send me your postal addresses ladies!

Today's book is a recent title - it came out in 2009 and it's - Kept For Her Baby.

Wanted: wife and Mother...
Staring at the granite-handsome features of Italian billionaire Ricardo Emiliani, Lucy knows she's made a mistake coming back to their palatial Lake Garda home. But she'll do anything for her baby son—even return to the husband who never loved her...
Ricardo branded his wife a gold-digger, however, tiny Marco needs his mother so he will keep Lucy captive on his private island until she proves herself a worthy wife—in every sense...

Kept For Her Baby is in the Dark Nights with A Billionaire collection for Presents Extra.

And today's question is . . . what do you do on Christmas Eve?

Anything? Nothing? Do you put out a mince pie for Father Christmas or a carrot for Rudolph?
The last thing I do is to put up the Christmas crib that has been in my family since I was a baby - so it's just about an antique. We put up out all the figures except for the model of the baby Jesus - that goes in on Christmas Day.

Then when my son was little we'd leave out a plate with a mince pie and a carrot - perhaps a glass of wine for Santa and some water for the reindeer too! I used to have to leave just the carrot stub with teeth marks in it!!

Do you have any special Christmas Eve traditions? If you don't - well just come and chat anyway. Tell me something you have planned for this holiday and as long as you comment you'll be included in the draw!

PS - Please remember to check past posts in case you're a winner and have missed the message! Gaelikka - you for example!

Advent Calendar Giveaway Day 20

I'm still dashing around like a mad thing - but I suppose that's to be expected at this time of year! A migraine hasn't helped so that's why I'm late posting today.

So again I'll just have a post of a book and a question

Oh - and of course - Sid's Winners!

So the winner of Spanish Billionaire;Innocent Wife is Lois

and the winner of The Italian's Baby Bargain is Gaelikka

Please email me your postal addresses and I'll get these prizes in the mail to you.

Today's book is Cordero's Forced Bride (2009)

Taken in payment into his bed!
Alexa Montague is mortified. She's had to call off her sister's wedding, and now the ruthless, arrogant groom, Santos Cordero, is demanding that shy, ugly duckling Alexa, takes Natalie's place!
The Montagues have stolen his money and his convenient bride, so Santos will enjoy taking Alexa instead. For Santos does not - cannot - love. But his body burns for Alexa as it has for no other woman before. He'll keep her captive in his bed until she's begging to be his . .

And the question - one of my favourite things about preparing for Christmas is putting together a stocking for each member of my family. Even though my son is grown up - and so is his partner - I still like to collect silly gifts for this tradition. And the sillier the better.

So do you make up a stocking for anyone or have you given up on that tradition if your famiy is grown up?What sort of things do you think make good stocking stuffers? (I always think that romances make good choice - for the women anyway! And do you wrap the stocking gifts or just bundle them into a stocking?

You know what to do - answers in the comments please.

Lots of my friends are getting caught up in the travel chaos with the ice and snow. If you're struyggling in the freezing weather or the snow (we're supposed to be getting more of that tonight) keep safe and warm and I hope you get to wherever you're going.

Reasons to be cheerful, Part One

So I finally got around to writing the cheery post - not because I lost any of the cheeriness, but because I found I could add more. Which is great - so . . .

1. The Greek is gone. My scarred Greek hero has left the building and is sitting on my editor's desk (now there's an image) waiting to see what she thinks of him. Zarek Michaelis is no longer my hero (until he returns, needing tweaking no doubt) and I can finally turn my thoughts to a Sicilian who has been waiting patiently since I thought of his story but had to put it aside for Zarek and the Greek Myth project.

2. The sun is shining. Well, it's a little early for that right now, but when I planned this post yesterday it was very definitely shining and creating a wonderful, warm and bright Indian Summer.

3. The flu is gone at last. It lingered like a bad smell, dragging me down, for far too long but yesterday it was wonderful to be back on my walk, in the sunshine (see above) and watchig the squirrels play in the fallen leaves, talk to all the dog walkers and their dogs, see the changing colours and hear those leaves rustling under my feet.

4. I heard from We Write Romance that they had reviewed Kept For Her Baby - and what a review -

"...a masterpiece that will live in the hearts...for many years to come!"
Kept for Her Baby by Kate Walker is sensuality personified with a touch of real emotional upheaval. The fire between the hero and heroine is palpable and intriguing. And while the subject matter dealt with in the plot is harsh, it is so real and well done that if you give Lucy a chance you'll not be sorry because it will make this story a true keeper.

Lucy Emiliani couldn't handle the emotions that came after childbirth. Running on highly unstable hormones and horribly negative thoughts, Lucy sought escape in order to save her child. Even knowing she was branded a bad mother, she braved returning under the cover of night to catch a glimpse of her baby boy. And hopefully catch her husband unaware so she might have a chance at getting what she was after.

Ricardo Emiliani is a rich Italian billionaire who felt as though he'd been trapped into marrying a pregnant Lucy. He'd thought she were an innocent and beguiling girl...until she'd found out who he was and how much money he had. Knowing she was probably just another gold digger didn't diminish the heat between them and he had to have her. While she gave herself and her innocence over freely, she'd also given him something else. The best thing in his life, Marco...before abandoning them both.

When Lucy returns after no word for months he's reluctant to let her back into his or Marco's life, but when his reaction to her is the same fast and furious appeal it had been the first time they'd met, when they'd been strangers, he decided he'd make her an offer she couldn't refuse. And in doing so they found the love that had been missing when they'd married.

Kept for Her Baby kept me intrigued from beginning to end. I was curious as to what could keep a woman from her baby, and not once at the beginning of the story did I imagine it would be mental issues. Maybe threats from someone or the like, but not mental. And those issues were very real and very well done by Ms. Walker. It makes those who might not have had those feelings and bad moments after childbirth see how real it could be, and how hard it would be to live with them and the real fear that you could be putting your child in danger just being with them.

Ms. Walker has created a masterpiece that will live in the hearts of the reader for many years to come!

A masterpiece! No wonder I was smiling all day yesterday.

And in the same email:

5. Again from We Write Romance, I learned that both Kept for Her Baby and my previous book Cordero's Forced Bride had been nominated for the 2009 Reviewers' Choice Award "for being the best in their respective subgenres." So now do you see why I was feeling so cheerful?

6. I've had some emails from readers and would-be writers in Scotland who feel - unsurprisingly - that the workshops I do in Wales (Fishguard and Caerleon) and Southampton involve too long a journey for them to get to. So I was wondering what I could do, if anything, to remedy the situation. And then I got an email from an arts organisation based in Inverness asking if I would be in terested in doing a romance event or maybe more with them early next year. So Scottish readers - watch this space . . .
(I will still be doing Fishguard and Southampton - so it's going to be a busy Spring - details of all events and the Inverness one when it's finalised can be found on my Events page.)

7. I'm blogging over on the Pink Heart Society today about one of my favourite types of reading - ghost stories - just in time for Halloween.

And finally -

Sir Sidney, Princess Flora and Dylan would like you to know that 29th October is National Kitteh Day which is a reason for the to be cheerful and they would like you to help them - and me - celebrate it . So when I'm celebrating I like to share and when Sid is celebrating her likes to - well - eat . . .

So if we combine the two - you tell me one (or more) of your reasons to be cheerful today and I'll get Sid on the job (er - offer him a few cat treats) to pick the names of couple of winners who will win a book from my backlist. I'll add in a pen and one of my brand-new bookmarks.

Let's have some more reasons to be cheerful.

Tote Bag Full of Books Presents Special - Starting the Hunt

Every year I run a special summer contest to win a Tote Bag Full of Books – one of my special tote bags crammed full of fabulous summer reading. And this year I’m running the contest again – but this time it’s a really special competition.

Because this year marks the 60th anniversary of Harlequin, and because July is the month when the Harlequin Spotlight is on the wonderful Presents line, I have planned this year’s Tote Bag Contest as a Presents Special. Every book in the tote bag has been donated by one of my fellow Presents authors.

So you have a chance to win 15 – that’s right - 15 fabulous Presents titles, many of them signed, from some of your favourite authors.

Right now the prize list looks like this:

Cordero's Forced Bride by Kate Walker

The Italian Boss's Mistress of Revenge OR Forced Wife, Royal Love-Child by Trish Morey

Mistresses By Blackmail (3 in1 ) by Melanie Milburne

Ruthlessly Bedded, Forcibly Wedded by Abby Green

The Antonides Marriage Deal by Anne McAllister

The Markonos Bride by Michelle Reid

Rich, Ruthless and Secretly Royal by Robyn Donald

The Tuscan Tycoon's Pregnant Housekeeper by Christina Hollis

Virgin Mistress, Scandalous Love-Child by Jennie Lucas

The Greek's Convenient Mistress by Annie West

Spanish Magnate, Red-Hot Revenge by Lynn Raye Harris

The Desert King's Bejewelled Bride by Sabrina Philips

The Diakos Baby Scandal by Natalie Rivers

Desert King, Pregnant Mistress OR Housekeeper at his Beck and Call by Susan Stephens.

Bought for Marriage by Margaret Mayo


What do you have to do to be in with a chance of winning this great prize?

All through July – starting tomorrow July 8th - the Presents authors will be guest blogging on my blog and each one of them will end their post with a question.

Visit the blog regularly, and just answer the question of the day.

Keep that answer safely, collect up all the answers and at the end of the blogs send the 15 answers you have via email to me with Tote Bag Presents Special in the subject line.

The contest closes on August 1st. After that, Sid will pick two winners who will both receive a tote bag filled with all this fabulous holiday reading

And to start off the questions - and to mark my contribution to the tote bag - a signed copy of Cordero's Forced Bride - here's my question - question #1

What is the title of my next book - out in September in Mills and Boon Modern and in October in Presents Extra ?

Find the answer on my web site, note down the answer and then come back tomorrow for the next question adn the next blogger.

Good luck!

All About Alphas 22 - Questions and Answers

Sorry to have been MIA for a few days - I was flattened by a vicious migraine that was worse than usual so that I couldn't bear to look at the screen, never mind work on it. So Ive had to wait until now to get to the final question and round off this All About Alphas discussion.

Today's question comes from Johanna

Just a quick note to say how useful this has been, and a suggestion. Could you
perhaps give us an example(s) of alpha heroes and the journeys they have to make
in order to find love? Perhaps using your own books, or recent books by other
authors. This way we might see how the characters develop, how the hero "finds
the courage to face his own flaws and overcome them". And doing this might also
clarify for us where the misperceptions of alpha (as arrogant etc) come
from.

This is an interesting exercise for me as I don’t often sit down and look at my own books to see how I create the ‘journey’ that a hero makes. I weave information in instinctively and because I know from them outset just why he’s behaving as he is, what I know is his motivation – and so why I believe in writing him at all, I find that it comes into the story as I go along and I don’t stop to think of it specifically. I couldn’t write a man as a hero unless I believed I had given him justification for his thoughts action and behaviour – even if those are mistaken beliefs – so I’m always writing from that perspective rather than feeling the need to make sure I detail these elements. And of course I stick by the things I’ve said about the more outrageous the behaviour - on the part of either the hero or the heroine – the stronger motivations I have to make sure they have. Often this is the most important bit of planning, the piece of the jigsaw that needs to fall into place – exactly WHY he is doing this – or, no matter how great the plot I think I have, I can’t go forward with it.

So – to do a brief run through of a ‘journey’ of one of my heroes means I have to look at the book in a way I don’t normally do . But seeing as Santos Cordero from Cordero’s Forced Bride has already been mentioned in the comments of the last post (take a look at what Michelle has to say about that) I thought I’d take him as an example.

So we have Santos Cordero and Alexa Montague. All Alexa knows about Santos is that he is the man her younger half -sister is supposed to be marrying, plus the fact that he is involved in business deals with her father – deals that seem to be making her father ill and tense. She meets him for the first time when she comes to the pre-wedding dinner and thinks he has the coldest eyes she has ever seen. He is also known as El Brigante – the Brigand.

All this information comes through Alexa who doesn’t really know Santos at all. She doesn’t even know the truth behind the wedding. But when she sees that her sister is afraid if the marriage she insists that Natalie doesn’t go through with the wedding. She arrives at the church to tell Santos and is stunned by his reaction which is to laugh and ask why he should care. He is very cold, very angry, determined that someone should pay for the humiliation of the marriage that isn’t going to take place.

As Michelle says, the reader needs to know that there are reasons, justifiable reasons, behind Santos’s behaviour. Seeing the scene from his POV the reader sees that there is more to this marriage than Alexa realises. And that Santos believes Alexa knew this all along. Circumstances, plus Alexa’s attitude which he sees in a different way – the way that his past has led him to expect build to create this idea is his head. So fears/scars that he isn’t prepared to admit even to himself – that he doesn’t acknowledge are affecting his thinking – influence his reaction.

And the most important thing – the one he’s only just beginning to admit to himself is the fact that in Alexa he sees the woman he wants most in all the world. It’s a raw, compelling, overwhelming powerful hunger that right now he doesn’t know how to handle. So he attributes it to anger and a determination for revenge because he doesn’t have the emotional vocabulary – or understand to see it as anything else.

Anger, revenge etc are the feelings he vocalises - so that’s what Alexa believes drives him. He singles her out at the wedding reception - a reception his pride makes him hold even though there’s no wedding – but also because it keeps Alexa with him. He isolates her from her family so that he can focus on her. He tells her that he has no belief in love but at this stage doesn’t explain why. Just says that he is a very cynical man. He alos declares she can take her sister’s place. What he means is he wants her to take her sister’s place. He wants her as he has never wanted Natalie. – he never slept with the younger sister; it was purely a marriage of convenience.

But when he sees that Alexa’s feet are torn to ribbons by the shoes she’s been wearing he shows concern and gentleness as he cares for them,. This new closeness spills over in to passion.

But Alexa runs away – so when Santos comes to find her again in her small house in England, he has his armour back up. He is not prepared to risk saying that he can’t get her out of his mind so he has excuses like the shoes she left behind – and protective armour like the declaration that her family opwes him a bride – to shield himself from revealing to her (and admitting to himself ) the feelings that are growing inside him – feelings he doesn’t understand for reasons that Alexa will soon discover.

Santos starts to let out some facts about his past – the past that has made him what he is – and at the same time Alexa’s behaviour makes him start to wonder if in fact she really knows what has been going on and the way that the rest of her family have behaved. He also knows that what matters is not that a second Montague sister has run out on him but that this one – Alexa – is the one whose desertion has actually affected him. He can’t laugh off this one with ‘why do you think I would care?’

When he crashes his car and Alexa shows that she is upset at the thought he might have been hurt, more of the emotional, internal barriers between them start to come down and they make love again in a very different mood and atmosphere from the first heated passion of the non-wedding day. Waking, Alexa sees evidence of the physical damage that mirrors the emotional damage done to Santos in the past and explains why he doesn’t believe in love. For Santos this is an important discovery – that he is prepared to trust Alexa with the story he hasn’t told anyone else.

Alexa’s father phones which makes her find out the truth about the way her family have behaved, the money they owe Santos, the reasons behind the planned wedding between him and Natalie. She now believes he is only after the respectability that having a Montague as a wife would bring him – just as he had planned it with her sister. Santos takes another step towards recognising what he feels by saying that he will forget all about the past, what her father owes him, but he still cannot say the words Alexa needs to hear – the words he has never known or believed in. He can only say that he wants her and that is not enough. He has to recognise that his own behaviour has brought them to this point and she pushes him even harder when she says she can’t accept his proposal – marriage or nothing, he says – so(without love) for her it has to be nothing. But when it comes down to it he can’t walk away, can’t leave this woman who has come to mean so much to him. So he has to face his own part in what has happened, the way that his own cynical approach to life, his denial of love, has led him to almost lose the woman he now recognises he love.


That is how I saw the story developing – the journey that I thought Santos was on. The problem at the beginning is that, because he is not yet ready to accept or believe in love, he doesn’t know what it feels. He knows what sexual desire – what wanting a woman is – but he wants this one more than any other. And so he si determined to hold on to her, keep her, by whatever means possible. Deep down inside there is still a trace of the scared little boy who was abandoned and abused – so he daren’t let that little boy surface again or he will feel the hurt and loss all over again. But if he doesn’t then he will experience another, more devastating loss.

Butu – and here is the most important thing for a writer and perhaps the hardest ting to do when writing Santos’s story. He doesn’t yet know this – so even in his own POV he can’t acknowledge it until he has been through some of the journey towards loving and so can let his attitudes and thought processes start to change. If the reader doesn’t sense some of that vulnerability, the self-deception, self-protection inside his mind, then she will think that he is as cold and hard as he is acting – as cold and hard as he is telling himself that he really is. And so as cold and hard as he comes across to Alexa in the beginning. The author needs to show those touches of vulnerability – those chinks in his armour – the way he adjusts and changes his opinion so that really the reader needs to know him better than himself. And this is one of the reasons why the alpha male in these sort of circumstances is often misread and misrepresented – because some readers can read those clues easily and some can’t. Some readers are totally convinced that the ‘your family owe me a bride’ declaration is a cold-blooded brutal demand while others will see the defensive shield that is put up to protect that little boy inside from yet more hurt by a woman that the grown man desperately wants but can’t fully trust.

Because sometimes you can put in all the clues, all the motivation that you think works – the things that would convince you as a reader and they just don’t work for other people. The problem then is what they bring to the story and not what you put into it. But you have to do your very best to make that motivation and that ‘journey’ work so the aware and sensitive reader can see how your hero has grown and developed through the story.

I hope that this makes sense and that it helps - as I said, I'm not used to analysing and dissecting my books in quite this way.

And that's the end of the All About Alphas special. I hope you've taken away ideas and thoughts and perhaps had your vision of an alpha male expanded and deepened as a result. I'd like to thank all the wonderful authors who have joined in and helped me by giving their take on the alpha hero - every post has added to the knowledge and they have all been fantastic.

And as I firmly believe that the theory is best understood and brought home by actual examples don't forget that reading the books by these authors will add to your knowledge and understanding too. Because it's one thing discussing the theory - another thing entirely to put it into practise and creat a believable, sexy, powerful and yet sympathetic hero for your heroine to come up against. And then to put him into a story that shows his development - and hers. So read these authors, with their blofg comments in mind.

I hope you've enjoyed this special - please let me know if you have. And if there's enough interest maybe at some point later we'll do another one on another topic - if you'd like that then please leave your suggestions for thr writing topics you'd like to see covered in the comments section .

And on a final, personally celebratory note, I heard from my editor this week that my own latest Alpha has stolen her heart away ( 'delicious' was the word she used to describe him) and so Nikos and Sadie's story has been accepted and bought and will appear under the title of The Konstantos Marriage Demand in February 2010. So on to the next alpha in my life . . .

Radio Humberside

Well that was fun. Thankfully the freezing fog dissipated and turned into bright sunshine so the journey was quick and easy. And then the radio interview went so quickly and was a lot of fun.

Lara King was so easy to talk to and we laughed at the same things. Kept having to remember when the mike was on and when it wasn't! Thank you Lara for making it so easy so that I didn't have a moment to have nerves.

And thanks too to Helen for friendly reception and the mug of coffee - hope you both enjoy the books.

Oh yes - the book. That's what it was all about isn't it? Officially today is the publication day for the UK edition of Cordero's Forced Bride, but to judge from the shelves in WH Smith, it has probably been out for a couple of days already. There were only 8 left of the 15 or so copies that had been put out. So that made my day too. And if you're in Grimsby and you're planning on buying a copy - I left some of my bookmarks there so if you're quick you'll get one.

And for those who have asked (thanks Anna) I think you can catch the interview on the listen again facility of the Radio Humberside site . I can't be totally sure as it does say the 'highlights' and I haven't listened to myself. But if it's anywhere, that's where you'll find it,

Right now I have to pick up where I left off with a recalcitrant Greek and then next in blogging terms is answering another question . . . Back soon!

Do you lie about your reading?

An interesting article in the Telegraph today about the results of a survey orgainsed to mark World Book Day.

Readers were asked to reply anonymously to the questions which included one asking if they had ever lied about reading literary books "to make themselves appear more intelligent and sexy than they actually are."

Apparently two thirds of those who responded admitted to lying about their reading. And the book most people claimed to have read was 1984 by George Orwell.

The second part of the survey asked people what they really liked to read and enjoyed. And guess what was right in there, above authors like James Herbert and Frederick Forsyth but Mills & Boon. 5th out of a list of 10. Good for all those readers, that's what I say. At times when the subject finding ways of getting people to read and keep reading is being debated all over the place - how about taking note of a resounding vote for simple, straightforward reading for pleasure? If people were made to feel less embarrassed by the fact that what they enjoy reading doesn't meet with the approval of the elitist critics who seem to think that only reading thier choice of the 'right' books is actually worth registering, then perhaps the levels of literacy could go up through simple practice and enjoyment.

If you want to know the full results then here they are:

Books we pretend we have read:
1. 1984, by George Orwell42%
2. War and Peace, by Leo Tolstoy31%
3. Ulysses, by James Joyce25%
4. The Bible24%
5. Madame Bovary, by Gustave Flaubert16%
6. A Brief History of Time, by Stephen Hawking15%
7. Midnight's Children, by Salman Rushdie14%
8. In Remembrance of Things Past, by Marcel Proust 9%
9. Dreams from My Father, by Barack Obama6%
10. The Selfish Gene, by Richard Dawkins6%

(If you want to know - I've read 1-5 of these and not the others. And no I've never lied about reading any of them - I can't actually see the point.)

Authors we actually like reading:
1. J K Rowling61%
2. John Grisham32%
3. Sophie Kinsella22%
4. Jilly Cooper20%
5. Mills & Boon18%
6. Dick Francis17%
7. Robert Harris16%
8. Jeffrey Archer15%
9. Frederick Forsyth13%
10. James Herbert12%

I suspect this topic might come up tomorrow when I have an interview on Radio Humberside.

If you can find the station (95.9fm, 1485am ) , I'll be talking to Lara King sometime after 10am. I'll be talking, amongst other things, about my latest book - Cordero's Forced Bride - which is officially published tomorrow. And possibly about living and working with another writer (aka The Babe Magnet) in a combinaton that's affectionately known as Crime and Passion.

Blizzard Thoughts

I wrote this yesterday and tried to post it then but Blogger was having none of it. So let's hope that they've got over their problems now and this posts today.

One of my resolutions for this year has been that, before I BICHOK - Bum in chair, hands on keyboard - every working day, I really should do some BOOC, LIM - Bum out of chair, legs in motion - ie some sort of exercise so that I can 'earn' my hours sitting and working.

And if I don't do that before I start my working day, then I know I'll never get to do it. So I've been 'walking to work' - setting out as if I was heading for an out of the house office and walking . . . Luckily there's a lovely big park nearby and I walk round that before heading back to my desk.

But yesterday there was a heavy, wild snowstorm - a real blizzrd that descended while I was walking. It was a real experience walking through it. I could barely see a few metres ahead of me, and the snow was coming down so heavily that within minutes, it seemed, all the recognisable landmarks disappeared, the paths vanished, and I could barely find my way out of what was a very familiar landscape.

And it was as I was trying to find my way that I started thinking that really the wild winter storm was very like writing romance - in several ways.

For one thing, the route I take on my walk is pretty regular. There are lots and lots of paths through the park so I can take various different ways, but they are all in the park, and they all start from one point and end up at a particular destination - coming home.

Which is very much like writing romance. You start with the meeting, the conflict and work towards the happy ever after ending. There are only so many ways to get there, but if you choose a different combination of approaches and walks then you can end up with what seems like a different journey every time - or one that's different enough not to get bored.

And every day the scenery is very slightly different. Or, as in yesterday's case, totally different. Today after the storm where everything had been 'whited out', prisitine and clean and monochrome, there was a blend of dingy dull grey-brown, of molten ice and swirling water. It was so much the same as when I walked there the day before and yet some very different touches had made it a completely different plpace. Just as when I'm writing a novel, I know that the basic 'journey' is going to be so similar and familliar, but I try to sdd in things that can make it look so very different.

That journey in the wild storm was somethign that i also try to put my hero and heroine through - an emotional storm though, rather than a physical one. One in which the surroundings and liveds they knew suddenly changed because something happened to make them different and dangerous, strange and unfamiliar. The emotional storm means that for a time they lose their way, get blown off course, and have to fight to find their way back to the peace and security they once knew. My winter storm even had a moment of sudden peace - of clear blue skies and dropping wind - just before the real 'black moment' when the clouds closed in again and the snow almost blinded me, so that I felt it worst for having a brief respite.

Finally, my whole journey turned into a metaphor for writing - the way that I an set out on the 'journey' of a book thinking that this is all a familar landscape to me - that I kow where I'm going, what paths I'm choosing this time, what my route and the scenery will be. And then some emotional storm between my characters descends and they and the book get blown off coourse. The lanmdmarks that I thought would see me along my way are almost obliterated and for a while I think I'll never find my way to the end. But I just keep on going, adapting to the new conditons, changing as I need to, and keeping my eye on a few fixed points that I know are important. (In the snow bound park, these were the benches scattered all around the place. They marked the lines of the paths even when the paths were snowed in and no longer visible.)

And I hope that when my readers get to the end of the book they will have enjoyed the storms and emotions that suddenly sprung up. And that they, like me, when I finally got back inside my home and out of the fury of the weather, will feel invigorated and excited by what they've just been through. Happy to be in the peace and quiet again but feeling that they wouldn;t have missed the drama for the world.

That's what I'm aiming for anyway. And I'm thrilled to know that with this latest review of Cordero's Forced Bride, for one reader at least I've succeeded in that.

Here's what Julie Bonello of Cata-Romance has to say about Cordero's Forced Bride which she personally described as - "a gloriously intense and wonderfully romantic story"

Kate Walker’s legion of readers will not be disappointed with her latest tale of torrid passion and heart wrenching emotion: Cordero’s Forced Bride.

. . .when Santos kisses his shy English bride, he is not prepared for the sheer power of his desire for her and when wild passion leads to a love which neither of them can deny, Santos cannot help but wonder whether his convenient bride will ever consent to being his wife for real…

Kate Walker's name is synonymous with unforgettable romantic novels that stay with the reader long after the last page is turned and Cordero’s Forced Bride is the latest in a long line of captivating tales from this most talented of storytellers. Fast-paced, passionate, intensely emotional and gripping from start to finish, high quality romantic fiction does not get any better than this!

Thank you so much Julie! Your review made all that time in the 'blizzard' of emotion of writing Cordero's Forced Bride so worthwhile.

You can read the rest of her great review here on the CataRomance site .

PS And while I was out walking in the blizzard, the sensible ones in the family were curled up safe and snug like this

Tote Bags 'N' Blogs

It's February 1st - the first Sunday of the month. And that is now my new regular blogging date to appear over on Tote Bags 'N' Blogs on Lee Hyat's great site My Tote Bag.

So that's where you'll find me today - talking about bright things to look forward to in dark and cold days.

And there's a chance of a copy of my latest release, Cordero's Forced Bride up for grabs if you come along and post a comment.

Oh - and over on eHarlequin there's a contest to guess which desk belongs to which writer. Check out the photos and see if you can match the desk to the author. Regular readers of this blog will have an advantage in spottting which one is mine.

See you there!

Here Come the Grooms - the result

I really should never go away. I enjoy the trip - I had a wonderful time in Dublin, and spending time with Abby Green is always fun - but by the time I get home and unpacked and the washing done and caught up with emails and phone calls, it seems as if I've been away for ages instead of just a few days.

Anyway, as I said, Dublin was fabulous. Freezing cold but sunny and we even managed a trip to the sea to walk along the shore at Bray. The Babe Magnet researched ghosts, we spotted copies of Foul Deeds and Suspicious Deaths in Dublin in the bookshops, and we relaxed over wonderful meals and bottles of wine and talked books and writing and life with Abby who is now in London helping to launch the new continuity that links romance and rugby.

The important thing I must do is announce the winners of the Here Come the Grooms Contest - I finally got Sid to stop sulking because I abandoned him and choose the winner for me.

So the result is:

Anne McAllister's winner (ie PJ's winner) is Karen from North Carolina

Liz Fielding's (Jago's) winner is Rachel from New Zealand

and my winner (Santos's winner) is Lynn from Florida

These three lucky readers each get a copy of the three books:

Antonides' Forbidden Wife by Anne McAllister

Wedded in a Whirlwind by Liz Fielding

and Cordero's Forced Bride by Kate Walker

I also ran a special Newsletter additional contest to mark the publication of Cordero's Forced Bride and the winners of that prize draw are:

Dina from Wisconsin

Ronda from Texas

Carol from New Jersey

Thank you to everyone who entered. I've been chatting with Anne and Liz and we are already planning the next Grooms' Contest - probably around this time next year. After all, you have to keep up a great tradition.

Oh - and many, many thanks to everyone who has already been out and bought a copy of the Presents edition of Cordero's Forced Bride. I've had an amazing week with it being on the eHarlequin Top Ten, the Top Ten ebooks and now on the Waldenbooks Top 10 too. Wonderful

Which reminds me - if you like to buy your Presents novels in ebook form, then Cordero's Forced Bride is still available at a special sale price of 25% off on eHarlequin now and Spanish Billionaire, Innocent Wife is offered with a 10% discount too in the Best of the Best ebook offer. And in the Winter Sale on the Mills & Boon Site, The Greek Tycoon's Unwilling Wife is still on sale at just £0.99p. Don't miss out on these bargains while they are still available.

'I have a dream. . . '

I'll admit that I'm pretty cynical about politics and politicians but yesterday I spent a lot of my afternoon glued to the television and the sights and sounds of the inauguration of President Barack Obama. (And in some ways I still can't quite believe I'm writing that.)

No matter where things go from here, yesterday was an important and an exciting day and one that I personally have hoped to see for many years. As someone who's old enough to have been around when the words were first spoken, I kept thinking of the words of Martin Luther King and they were ringing in my head as I watched yesterday's ceremony.

I look to a day when people will not be judged by the color of their skin, but
by the content of their character.

It was wonderful to be able to see the pinnacle of that dream finally coming true.


Today is the final day for entries to the Here Come The Grooms Contest. It will close when January 21st ends wherever the last time zone is. I may be a little late in getting Sid to pick my winner as early tomorrow I'm heading for the airport and a trip to Dublin so that the Babe Magnet can research ghosts and crime and I can meet up with Abby Green and talk books.

I'll be back on Sunday and either then or Monday morning I will post the names of my winner and those whose entries on Anne's and Liz's sites have won the copies of the three books:

Wedded in A Whirlwind by Liz Fielding
Antonides' Forbidded Wife by Anne McAllister
Cordero's Forced Bride by Kate Walker

You still have time to get your last minute entries in - so what are you waiting for?

If you've missed the details or have onl;y just discovered this contest - here's what you need to know:

Here Come The Grooms

Groom #1 is Anne McAllister's hero, P J Antonides in her book Antonides' Forbidden Wife.

No one knew PJ Antonides had a wife! Sometimes PJ barely remembered it himself. He'd married Ally Maruyama in another lifetime on the other side of the world. He'd been doing her a favor then. They'd both moved on.Now Ally is back! And she says she wants a divorce. Suddenly PJ wants anything but . . .Ally isn't sure she trusts PJ or these new ideas of his. And heaven help her if she falls in love with him all over again!

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Groom # 2 is Kate Walker's Santos Cordero in Cordero's Forced Bride.

Alexa Montague is mortified. She's had to call off her sister's wedding, and now the ruthless, arrogant groom, Santos Cordero, is demanding that shy, ugly duckling Alexa, takes her sister's place!

The Montagues have stolen his money and his convenient bride, so Santos will enjoy taking Alexa instead. For Santos does not - cannot - love. But his body burns for Alexa as it has for no other woman before. He'll keep her captive in his bed until she's begging to be his.

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And finally Groom # 3 Nick Jago in Wedded in a Whirlwind.

Trapped in the dark, certain she's about to die, Miranda Grenville believes things can't get worse. She's wrong. She's trapped with Nick Jago...

Miranda is a survivor. Her rare beauty masks the scars of an emotionally deprived childhood and self-destructive youth; the protective barriers she’s built against hurt.


Desperate to escape a surfeit of “happy ever after” family events, be alone for a while, she grabs a flight to the remote island paradise of Cordillera where “alone” takes on a terrifying new meaning when an earthquake hits. Trapped deep underground in the total darkness of an ancient temple, her first encounter with an embittered Nick Jago is not promising but to escape they must co-operate and as they embark on a life-changing journey towards the light their protective layers are peeled away, every truth revealed. But once free will they go their separate ways or will that very special bond of trust lead to something more lasting?

Okay, you've had a taste of what's in store for three lucky winners of these three books. Now here's what you have to do.There are three questions and to win you have to answer all the questions and email your answers to Anne, to Liz and to me.

Each of us will pick a winner and that winner will get a copy of each of these three books.

Here are the questions:

1. PJ left New York after he graduated from high school. Where did he go?

2. Who was Santos supposed to be marrying?

3. What scent did Jago recognise?

You'll find the answers on our websites and you've got until January 21 to send in your answers.

Got it? You'll find "contact me" links on all our websites. Use those to email us -- all three of us with all three answers, don't forget.

And good luck!