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 . . . )

Halifax

Had a  great trip this week, meeting up with my sister and her husband  to celebrate my sister's

birthday. We were also  going back to visit  the town I grew up in - Halifax  West Yorkshire.  I also go to visit one of my favourite places in   Yorkshire - Halifax's Piece Hall.

The Piece Hall is a Grade I  listed building in Halifax, West Yorkshire, England. It was built as a cloth for handloom weavers to sell the woollen cloth "pieces" they had produced. It opened on 1 January 1779, with 315
separate rooms arranged around a central open courtyard

When I was living in Halifax, the Piece Hall was pretty much a wreck and   there wasn't much to bring visitors - or even locals -  to the place.  The last time I was there   - for another family get together - the Piece Hall  was closed while  a massive renovation project took place so I was excited to

see the results of the redevelopment and improvements.

They didn't disappoint.  The place has been revitalised and cleaned up, there are elegant shops and cafés - a bookshop that made the Babe Magnet more than happy.  The huge main gates had been refreshed and repainted so that they looked fabulous and colourful.  I was only sorry that we were leaving on the day that the huge Christmas tree was being put 
up in the central courtyard of the building - but that could be a good excuse to go back again!

Sara Craven 2

As a tribute to the wonderful Sara Craven who sadly died yesterday, I thought I'd just repost the tribute to  this fabulous writer and friend . This is a post I wrote for the Pink Heart Society when I was one of their columnists and I was asked to write about a favourite category romance novel. 

I'm happy to know that back in  August 2007, I was able to show Sara this article and know how much it had  thrilled her to read my tribute to her.  So I'd like to share it again in her memory.

PINK HEART SOCIETY 30/08/2007

My favourite category romance? Uh – no - can’t do it. Just can’t do that. My one working brain cell has fizzled and fused just at the thought. I mean – one favourite category romance in an umpty-ump year lifetime of reading category romances . . .

No – sorry . . .

But I’ve been asked to write something. And here with my lovely brand new Pink Heart Society Columnist logo all sparkly and fresh, I want to do the job that Trish and Ally have given me – so I have to think of something to say.

OK then, I can tell you about a favourite category romance author. A writer whose books I snatched off the shelves if I found one in a bookshop in the days before – and after – I was first published. When I got my first rejection letter from Mills & Boon, the then Senior Editor Jacqui Bianchi advised me to read certain authors who she felt wrote the sort of book I could write - and then try again. I read those – and saw what she meant. They were romances I could write. But then I picked up a book by Sara Craven – and I read the sort of romances I wanted to write. Sara Craven’s romances reached out, grabbed by the heart and the brain and they just made me want to be part of the company who published her work.

Sara was one of Mills & Boon’s stars back then in 1984 – and she’s still one of the big names in the Modern/Presents line up today. Incredibly, she’s been writing for M&B since 1975. That’s an amazing 32 years of writing top class contemporary romances - and she’s still selling. I’ve lost count of just how many books she has actually written.

I have a collection of older Sara Craven novels – starting with The Devil at Archangel in which Christina Bennett takes a job on an island in the West Indies where she meets the disturbing and charismatic Devlin Brandon. But having been warned to ‘Beware the Devil at Archangel’ - can she possibly trust him?

But the two books of Sara’s that really live in my memory, etched there from the moment I read them – so much so that I don’t even have to go and fetch my elderly and battered copies to remind myself about them – are the 1980 title Fugitive Wife and the wonderful Comparative Strangers that was published in 1988.

Fugitive Wife is singly responsible for my addiction to romances in which the couple are snowed in, trapped in an isolated cottage, cut off from anywhere else. In Sara’s story Bryony, a rich man’s daughter, young, (so young she’s fresh out of school!) falls for and marries the older, cynical, foreign correspondent Logan Adair, but the marriage fails and she runs to her Aunt’s isolated Yorkshire cottage to lick her wounds. She’s there all alone, determined to recover from the break down of her marriage when in the middle of a wild snowstorm another key turns in the lock, the front door opens,

. . and then the hall light clicked on and the words shrivelled and died on her lips as she looked down into the face of the man standing below her.
For a moment they stood in silence, staring at each other.
Then, ‘Hello, wife,’ said Logan with no expression in his voice whatsoever.

Oh dear – just writing that makes me want to go and read it all over again. I know what happens after that – how the snow comes down even more heavily and they are stuck in the small house together and they have to face the strains and the problems that wrenched them apart in the first place. And how Briony has to do some growing up – fast - both physically, as Logan insists that she shares his bed, and emotionally as she discovers the truth about her husband’s relationship with sophisticated Karen Wellesly.

But if you really forced me – at gunpoint – to choose just one, desert island, absolute favourite Sara Craven novel, then it would have to be the brilliant Comparative Strangers. It’s a book I bought twice, once in the original printing – and then sadly lost it. So I was overjoyed when in 1993, the story was reprinted as a Best Seller Romance and I was able to replace my missing copy with this new edition.

Comparative Strangers opens with Amanda, the heroine, on the verge of suicide, feeling she has nothing to live for because she has found her fiancé, Nigel in bed with another woman. She is rescued by Malory Templeton, Nigel’s older half-brother. And here’s where Sara Craven’s brilliance is shown – because to Amanda Malory isn’t the man who is so stunning that women fall at his feet as soon as they see him - to Amanda he has always been a ‘vague disappointment , because she supposed she’d been expecting an older edition of Nigel, with the same outgoing charm and rakish good looks.’ Compared with his younger half-brother, is shorter, paler - Amanda even sees him as ‘colourless’.

At first.

Because from the moment that Malory rescues her, stopping her from jumping off a bridge into a river, he takes charge of her life. When in order to save face in front of Nigel, Amanda declares that she is going to marry Malory instead, he reacts quite calmly, but with total control.

“It’s quite simple,’ he said. ‘You’ve told the world, through Nigel, that you’re going to marry me. So – marry me you will. ‘

From then onwards Malory grows in stature and strength on every page. Subtly, but irreversibly, the reader is brought to change her opinion of this quiet but charismatic man, just as Amanda comes to see his strength and his qualities, his understated sexual appeal – until, when Nigel reappears he seems flashy, immature and downright shallow in comparison. Virginal Amanda had never wanted to sleep with her first fiancé before her wedding night, but he responses to Malory are much harder to suppress.

And this leads to the two scenes that etched this book forever into my brain so that I can almost repeat them word for word. (A skill I discovered that at the recent RNA Conference Sophie Weston shares with me – as we share a love for this book.)

Unable to hold back any longer, Amanda decides to sleep with Malory , but innocent and naïve, she reaches for him touches him, ruining his careful control. As a result her first sexual experience is painful, disappointing and forces from her the stunned question ‘Is that - that – what all the fuss is about?’

There will never be another time, she declares.

But Malory has other ideas. A few days later, he sets himself to a determined and skillful seduction of Amanda, teasing all her senses, awakening all her untried sensuality, bringing her to her very first orgasm. And then, when she is still reeling . . .

. . .The shock of finding herself deposited back on the sofa woke her sharply from her dream. His hands were brisk, almost businesslike as he ordered her dishevelled clothing, pulling her dress into place and reclosing the zip.

Then he got to his feet. He said quietly and evenly, ‘Now that – that – is what all the fuss is about. Goodnight Amanda.’

Perfect. I remember almost cheering out loud the first time I read it. It was the memory of that line that had me grabbing the book to buy it a second time when it appeared as a bestseller - in the treasured copy that Sara Craven signed for me as a fellow author and friend when I met her in person for the second time at the RNA one day Seminar in Bath about ten years ago.


Do you love   Sara Craven's novels?  Do you have a favourite  or one that has a special memory for you?   I'd love to share your memories of this lovely woman  and her books.

Sara Craven - Sad News

When I first started aiming for publication with Harlequin Mills and Boon, one of my most favourite authors was the brilliant Sara Craven. I learned so much from reading and loving her books and if there was a new title out I grabbed it with both hands. Her novel Comparative Strangers was one of my favourites that I read over and over again - but there was also Fugitive Wife. Moth to The Flame . . .so many more that I adored.

I was lucky enough to meet Sara in person many... years ago at an Association of Mills and Boon lunch - the first I think - in London. I admit that when I met her and realised who she was, I actually curtsied in respect of her talent and her achievements. From then on I was honoured to call her a friend and her burning intelligence (she won the UK Mastermind award in 1997) vivid wit and fabulous personality brightened so many days at RNA events and others.  

She loved my husband too and he adored her - in spite of her tendency to stroke his knees whenever he dared to wear shorts at the RNA conferences. I shall never forget my last AMBA lunch with her - and then spending a long, warm chatty evening on a settee together while she told me of all the changes in her life recently - including the 'love of her life' her bright as a button new dog.

So I was desperately sad to learn how seriously ill she was only today - and I am broken-hearted to learn that only a couple of hours after I received that news there came the worst news of all - that Sara had passed away far too soon.

I seriously doubt that I wold ever have become a published romance author without the inspiration and example that Sara gave me. I loved her as an author, as person and as a friend. I'm thrilled to know that she saw the books I produced as we shared our careers for some very happy years - not enough ! And I'll always treasure a note from her after reading on of my own titles (The Twelve Month Mistress) - 'Oooerr Missis,' she said, ' you do build up a head of steam - you made me all hot and bothered.'

That was the greatest compliment from one of the greatest women and writers I've ever known.

Rest in peace dear friend - heaven will be all the richer for your wit, intelligence and wonderful story telling.

Winners . .

And the winners are : Hollie Rebecca and Gillian Emans (with special thanks for the poem!)

A poem for Charlie:

Right Yourself Charlie,

Don’t fight anymore!

Then you won’t need a cone

To go out of the door.

So listen to Daddy

Read his “Write Yourself” now

To keep yourself busy

Is that clear? Miaow

Charlie was so honoured that so many people were concerned about him and the wound to his neck. So he was happy to pose for a new photo today - without cone ...- without blood! - to show how perfectly fine he is now. Thank you to everyone who asked about him. He enjoyed picking the winners of the copies of Write Your Self - which will be going in the post today - and he's now preparing to celebrate the 7th anniversary of coming to live in his forever home with us. More treats will be expected, I think!

Home again

To catch up - Charlie is fine - thank you to everyone who asked about him and wished him well. The bite has healed up, he has taken all his antibiotics (amazing what some special sauce treats will do!) and he is completely cone-of-shame free. He also had a great time with our lovely cat-sitter who obviously gave him lots of fun and games with the toys to chase and catch. So now he is wondering where she is and why we've come back instead.

We had a fabulous weekend away - ...in Crickhowell in Wales and visited the gorgeous Tretower Castle with resident robins who should have been posing on Christmas Cards they were so tubby and cute. It's wonderful to spend time with fellow writers who just 'get' what you're talking about. Fascinating conversations, much laughter, delicious food, and the weather was so kind to us, with sunshine and mild temperatures.

And waking up to this view every morning was just fabulous

Right - I need to check on Charlie and get him to pick winners for the copies of Writing Yourself . . .

A flash giveaway

Charlie thanks everyone who has sent him get well messages.  The bite in his neck is healing well and cleanly  and apart from   boredom which is driving him crazy he is  so much better.  He chased his sister Ruby around the house at  speed in the middle of the night (using our bed as a launch pad!) just to have something to do. It sounded more like a  herd of buffalo than 2 small furry creature. Well, small where Ruby is concerned!
Anyway, I think  he's feeling  so  much better and the cone comes off v soon so that will please him.

While I'm away for the weekend, I'm going to run a flash giveaway to celebrate the weekend. But this time the book isn't mine - remember how I promised I'd try to persuade the Babe Magnet into letting me off  a couple of copies of his  book for writers to share with you - well, he's agreed, and I have two copies of Write Your Self  to give away.

This book got a great 5 star review from Simon Whaley on The Business of Writing.

There are many books about how to write. There is plenty of advice online about how to journal. What Write Your Self does is merge the two together - become a better writer by journalling your journey of exploration, as you discover your inner writer-self.

This is a practical book, packed with exercises, and oozing with examples. Stephen begins by raising a theme, issue or idea, and then follows through with an example. After that, it’s time for you, the reader, to have a go … (top tip: treat yourself to a brand new journal at the same time as you buy this book).

What makes this book different is the way Stephen encourages you to learn more about yourself as a person, as well as about yourself as a writer. Doing so not only helps you explore the direction in which you’d like to go with your writing, but it also helps you mine your wealth of life experience for potential material to write about.

Despite not being a poet, I particularly enjoyed the poetry chapter, and the idea of taking an observation from the day and creating a short haiku from it. Most people can manage 17 syllables, yet after a month of observations you have at least 30 of them in your journal. That in itself is an impressive body of work. But you’ve also learned more about how you, as a writer, observe the world around you.

I’d recommend reading this book at least twice: once right through, to absorb the idea and premise behind the text, and then a second time, with your journal at the ready. Tackle all the exercises within the book and Write Your Self will map your journey from thinker and observer into a thought-provoking writer.


There's a great interview with the author on there too.

To enter, just leave a comment below - sending get well wishes to Charlie, or saying why you'd like to win this book.   Giveaway open internationally; prizes posted next week; nothing to do with FB and all to do with me; you don't have to buy anything to enter; and names will be drawn at random.  

 Charlie will pick the winners - a little something to keep him from getting bored  and an allowance of extra treats on the names of entrants  for him to choose when I get home on Monday. (And then he'll be  able to go outside again!)

. Have a great weekend.

Cats!

Charlie the Maine Coon has been out fighting again. He has a nasty cat bite on his neck.

 How does he know I've planned a weekend away with friends?

 He wants everyone to know that extra treats (mixed with antibiotics) are no compensation for being kept a prisoner indoors and being forced to look like this:

Happy Birthday Ruby!

Today is Ruby's 4th birthday.

Well, that's as close as we can get to the likely date, seeing as she was found wandering as a lost stray at about 8 weeks old when we adopted
her from the Cats' Protection League.

 She happily posed for her birthday portrait, but Charlie wasn't interested - wake me when you bring out the birthday treats, he said.

 So Ruby got first go at the special tea - and now is happily snoozing in her favourite spot with her head on the Babe Magnet's feet (rather her than me! But she loves the scent of socks and slippers!)

Great weekend in Keele.

What a fantastic weekend - even though I was officially 'working' - running the Writing Fiction that Sells weekend for Relax and Write at Keele, I had so much fun that the weekend just flashed past in learning, laughter, friendship, enjoyment and fascinating discussions. Thank you so much to everyone who joined us and made the weekend a real delight. The only flaw was that sadly Lois Maddox couldn't be with us. She was missed.

So that's it for my teaching for this year. I need to draw breath and look at my own work now! Next course will be at Fishguard in February with WritersHoliday - the Advanced Romance Writing course but that is already booked up!

So the one after that will be a Focus on Writing Romance - a Writing Retreat at Cirencester in April . Again, numbers on this course are strictly limited - and I know  4 or 5  places are already booked. So if you're interested please get in touch with Relax and Write to get your name on the list.

Another teaching weekend.

Right - after a very busy day  yesterday, planning, sorting, organising, printing, I think I now have everything I need for my weekend course at Keele University this weekend - Writing Fiction that Sells  with Relax and Write,   Setting off today.


 Sadly,  Lois  Maddox won't be able to be there with us, but I hope everyone else will have a great time. Travel safely and I'll look forward to seeing you all tomorrow afternoon.

A Sad Loss to Romance

More years ago than I care to calculate, I went to my very first ever Mills and Boon Author Day - back in the times before we had the Association of Mills and Boon Authors Lunches. I didn't know anyone - except an editor or two. My then editor promised to introduce me to another of her authors, a lovely lady from Liverpool called Jennifer Taylor who, at that time, was writing for the Romance line but later became a real superstar of the Medical Romance

line.








Jennifer Taylor receiving her award for 75 books.

 Jennifer and ...I -two Northern Lasses - took to each other from that start - and later that day we also made friends with the fabulous Michelle Reid - another writer from up North! Later we formed our own 'Northern AMBA' (known affectionately as the Nambies - with Jacqueline Baird and, occasionally, with Roger Sanderson (writing as Gill Sanderson). Many times we met for a long, laughter-filled lunch at Huddersfield (a point midway between everyone's home towns) and Jennifer always used to arrive in her smart little red sports car, much to everyone's admiration.


 Later the Babe Magnet and Jennifer's smashing husband Bill used to join us - and Michelle's husband - when we got together in London for the official AMBA.


 There were times when life was far from kind to Jennifer, family tragedies, losing Bill, and her own health problems knocked her hard but she always wore her wide bright smile and shared her wicked sense of humour in spite of everything.


Jennifer wrote 85 medical romance novels over almost thirty years, entertaining millions of readers and capturing their hearts with her heartwarming stories set mainly in GP surgeries, country hospitals, or in the Mediterranean, a place she loved.


 The last time I saw her was when we both met at the Harlequin Offices to meet with our editors last year. She was fighting her illness with grace and courage and refused to feel sorry for herself. Instead she carried on writing and publishing and the legacy of books she left behind are a great tribute to a strong and brave personality who refused to be knocked down. Her daughter and her grandchildren brought an extra sparkle to that smile and it was wonderful to see her enjoying being a grandmother so very much.




Sadly Jennifer recently  lost her battle with myeloma but she will always be remembered by her family, her friends - fellow writers - and of course the thousands of readers who loved her romance stories.


Rest in peace, dear Jennifer - you are someone I will never forget.

Another 'grim' day

 I'm  just setting out on  another day as PA the the other half of the 'Crime and Passion' duo. The Babe Magnet is speaking today at the Ilkley Literature Festival - in a discussion about  Crime in Your Back Yard   with fellow Yorkshire writers Liz Mistry   and A A Dhand  (at the Playhouse at 5pm  ).

I'll  be the back up team this week  - next weekend I'll be the one doing the work at the Writing Fiction That Sells weekend course at Keele University.

Looking forward to that, but the treat this week, is that we get to have afternoon tea  at Bettys in Ilkely - no doubt we'll bring home  Fat Rascals (and I'm not talking about DH!)

The weather is supposed to be untypically mild - so long as this storm Ophelia doesn't hit us  so I'm looking forward to the trip.

Tote Bags Day

The 12th of every month is the date that I write a post for the Tote Bags 'n' Blogs  Blog. 
So that's where I have posted today . 
(well - a couple of days ago - I've only just  caught my breath to remember to come and post here to tell you about it!)

Anyway, I've written about being one of two writers in the family and how my DH - aka the Babe Magnet  is a writer of  Local History and True Crime - and the history of Crime.

So you'll find out about him on Tote Bags  - and about his new books coming out - that's Write Your Self.  

And then  The Crime Writers' Casebook with his friend  former Detective Inspector in the murder squad Stuart Gibbon.


This weekend we're off to Ilkley where the Babe Magnet if speaking on writing true crime and crime history at the  Ilkley Literature Festival.  So I'll be acting as PA   then and letting him do the speaking and greeting.

Big News from MIlls and Boon UK

There's an interesting article in The Bookseller  this week - revealing the big news about the complete revamp of the covers and the whole look of Mills and Boon Romances which is coming in January.

Mills & Boon (M&B) has revealed a “huge” relaunch lined up for January, the first face-lift for the brand in a decade. The rebrand features a sleeker logo and revamped covers, refreshed point-of-sale material, a beefed-up book club and the brand’s first engagement with the blogging community. 

There will also be a raft of commercial partnerships and retail promotions for the romance imprint which will go live on 1st January.

If you want to read the article about the relaunch and  get a sneak peek at some of the newly designed covers then you'll find the details here.

And look out for the new covers designs appearing on Amazon/ the Mills and Boon Web Site and in the shops for the new year.

catching up 1

Sorry - I thought I had posted since I was away in Liverpool,  but just checking on things I find that a few posts have been stuck in me  pending tray and I need to  make sure they appear  here as  well as Facebook! Soory!

Had a great weekend in Liverpool at the Jack The Ripper Conference with H Division True Crime Club. So many interesting talks and a special dinner and presentation with Fred Dinenage. Thank you to everyone for the warm welcome.

And of course there was a talk by one Stephen Wade. Lots of books to be signed afterwards too. Just discovered that some of these are now on Kindle for only £0.99 so there's a real bargain.

Next event is the Romantic Novelists' Association Afternoon Tea in York - life certainly has so much interest - and such contrasts!