Interesting Q&A

Life has been a bit hectic  and I've had my head down focusing on the revisions for the latest book -  all quite straightforward, it's just that things keep happening  that have interrupted my work time.

Anyway, this focus has meant that I foolishly forgot to mention that there is a great  books site (interviews, reviews etc) for romance and Women's Fiction   - called Bookish Jottings,  This is run by Julie who used to review my books on the  now sadly defunct  Cata Romance site.

Bookish Jottings is  Julie's own venture and  she asked if I would do a Q&A with her when Indebted to Moreno came out. I did - and then promptly got buried in  stuff and  forgot to let everyone know about it.
But today I've remembered  again - and I'm posting about the interview before I forget.

You can find the Bookish Jottings Q&A here 


And if you're interested in Julie's reviews - she reviewed Indebted To Moreno here    and she's also read the 12 Point Guide To Writing Romance and has reviewed that here

Thank you for the lovely rreviews, Julie - sorry I was so late letting everyone know about them!!   The Trouble with this writing job is that sometimes  one has to focus on writing!!

Reviews and Fan Mail

I've had visitors staying so my time to reach the computer has been limited but everyone's still asleep so I'm catching up a bit.

I'll start with the fan mail - no, not fan mail for me but . . . well, you know A Certain Cat who has a purrsonality all of his own and who tends to be a Star in this blog? The one who picks all the prize winners? Yes Sid the Cat - a Cat of Superior Breeding. Well, he receieved a parcel yesterday. A parcel of goodies from his biggest fan in the whole world - his favourite Lady Across the Pond Anne McAllister.

Anne had found the most appropriate gift for ACOSB - a food bowl. In fact, as Sid himself would say, it was A Bowl of Substance. And what's more, if bore the label ' Bad to the Bone'. Obviously describing The Cat himself.

Sid is delighted with this - particualarly because if is a bowl that will take a sunstantial amount of food. He defends it from all comers, particularly The Floozie and is happy to eat his meals from it.

Thank you again Anne!

The review however was mine - a lovely review for Kept For Her Baby that was sent to me from Cataromance and written by the lovely Julie Bonello. Julie has been a reader and reviewer of my books for so many years that I'm always slightly nervous when I send her a new novel. I would hate to disappoint her! But luckily she loved Kept For Her Baby and she wrote a fabulous review of it. Here's just a little bit of it:

Kate Walker's latest Modern Romance, Kept for Her Baby, is a superbly emotional and highly poignant tale of unforgettable passion and devastating choices that, once again, kept me in thrall from beginning to end! In Kept for Her Baby, Kate Walker has written a powerful tale imbued with sensuality and pathos that had me reaching for the tissues and kept me engrossed and frantically turning the pages in the early hours of the morning.

Kate Walker’s name on a book cover is a surefire guarantee of high quality romantic fiction and her legions of readers will certainly lap up this enthralling tale from one of Mills and Boon’s most outstanding writers!

You can read the rest of the review here.

Thank you so much Julie! I'm as delighted with the review as Sid is with his bowl.

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

Holed up

So today's the day.

I'm sitting here in the one room in the house that has any curtains up - my office. The plan is that this room will be the last one to have the windows done, hopefully when I have to be out anyway.

Everywhere else, the curtains are down, the furniture moved and covered and I am holed up in the office with Sid and Flora (Dylan is out patrolling the grounds) waiting for the window men to arrive.

I'm just thankful that the weather has calmed down since yesterday, the wind and lashing rain seem to have eased for now and the sky is bright clear blue. Hopefully this will allow for good and fast progress with the window replacements. Perhaps I should have said that I'm here with Sid, Flora and the awkward so and so Santos who I am hope is going to be a little more cooperative so as to distract me from the thumps and bangs and crashes in the rest of the house.

Other news is that I had my first review for Spanish Billionaire, Innocent Wife yesterday. This came from lovely Julie Bonello who reviews for Cata Romance and she gave this book a fabulous write-up:

If you want to read the very best in category romantic fiction, then pick up Kate Walker’s latest Modern Romance, Spanish Billionaire, Innocent Wife.

Alannah Redfern wasn’t looking for love when she fell for Spanish aristocrat Raul Marcin, but pretty soon the virginal English girl found herself enraptured by the gorgeous Marquez’s charm and sophistication. However, as an ordinary girl, Alannah knew that she was no match for a titled billionaire, so reluctantly she left Raul and Spain and returned to England to nurse her broken heart and to try and move on with her life. But fate had other plans for Alannah and Raul because two years later, they meet once again…

Raul is shocked when he claps eyes on Alannah again. Two years may have passed, but his attraction towards her hasn’t waned. However, Raul cannot trust Alannah again – not after she dumped him without a backward glance. Still, that doesn’t prevent him from seducing her all over again…

Alannah knows that she should reject his advances, but she has never been attracted to someone in the same way that she was attracted to Raul. Sexy, charismatic, rich and absolutely gorgeous, Raul is like no man she has ever known before, and the only thing that she wants to do, is to lose herself in his embrace and let him make love to her all night long.

But has too much water gone under the bridge for the two of them to pick up from where they left off? Is theirs destined to be merely a convenient sexual arrangement? Or will this reunion bring them closer together in and out of the bedroom?

Spanish Billionaire, Innocent Wife is Kate Walker at her mesmerizing and absolute best!

Gripping, dramatic and written straight from the heart, Spanish Billionaire, Innocent Wife is an emotional rollercoaster ride written by a novelist who is at the very height of her powers.
Compelling, absorbing and enthralling, Spanish Billionaire, Innocent Wife is a stirring contemporary romantic novel by a novelist readers all over the world just cannot get enough of!

4.5 stars Jullie BonelloCataromance.com

Thank you so much Julie! Your review had me smiling all day long yesterday

One other bit of news - I was working hard on a different project at the weekend, one that will be interesting for all would-be authors reading this. I'll be posting over at Tote Bags 'n' Blogs tomorrow when, ion my regular 12 Points on the 12th, I shall have more news on this . And this ----->

If you're interested in writing romance you'll want to check this out as I have news of a week long Writers' Special coming up soon to mark a special celebration.

Busy day

I'm dashing in quickly because I'm supposed to be talking contracts with my editor this morning (the tweaks on the Greek Black Angel book were fine and that has now been accepted) and then we're supposed to go and - hopefully - complete the Christmas shopping.



Yes, maybe I am early with this but with friends and family in Australia and America, their gifts need to go in the mail, and the BM starts his new job on Monday which will mean there'll be very little to no time free to browse the shops. Tomorrow is the delightful combination of hairdresser and dentist (not both at the same time and the latter, thankfully, just for a check-up) and on Friday I'm meeting a friend for lunch. Saturday the BM and the Offspring are going to a football match together so if we want to choose any gifts together then it has to be today.

So if I don't get back in here today, then here's something for you to read while I'm gone -



The lovely Julie Bonello did and interview with me for CataRomance and she emailed me this morning to let me know that the result is posted on the site now.



I'm talking about my writing, The Greek Tycoon's Unwilling Wife and my plans and publishing schedule for next year. So if you're interested, you can read the interview here.

Great Big Blog Party 16 - Winner

Lovely Julie Bonello's question about your very first Kate Walker novel certainly got you talking - and I was fascinated to read all the answers. Some of you have been with me so long!

Julile has just emailed me with a name and her winner is

Minna - Minna picked The Twelve Month Mistress as her very first Kate Walker book

Congratulatons Minna and you know what to do - send me your postal address and I'll pass it on to Julie who will send you your prize.

And because I so enjoyed all those posts and finding out which books had brought you to my novels, I'm going to add an extra prize of a signed book from my backlist to the reader who named the very oldest book on that list

And that winner is - this really doesn't surprise me -

Lidia who first read Broken Silence - which came out way back in 1987!!

Lidia, I'll be in touch to let you know which books I have left so that you can pick.

I'll be posting another Guest Blog soon

Great Big Blog Party 15 - Julie Bonello

For today's guest, we're going travelling again - this time to a lovely Mediterranean Island where I set my book Calypso's Enchantment.

Last Thursday when I quoted from a wonderful review of The Sicilian's Red-Hot Revenge, I mentioned that you'd be seeing more of the lady who wrote that review - and today is the day. Today's Guest Blogger is a very special reviewer for me. I wanted to include Julie Bonello in my guests because she has been reviewing my books for years - but before that, she wrote to me as a reader and a fan and we've become cyber friends as a result.

Julie lives on the beautiful island of Malta and so she and I share a love of this wonderful place which I visited with my family some years ago and would love to get back to visit if I can. One thing I envy this lady for is the amount of reading she manages and the number of books she gets through! As a reviewer for CataRomance.com, Julie is always prompt and efficient in delivering her reviews - and I always hold my breath just a little when I send a new book to her. When someone has enjoyed your work as much as she has over so many years, I would hate to disappoint her. Luckily I never have!

So here's Julie -

I began my love affair with Mills and Boon romances as a fourteen year old schoolgirl when I stole one from my mother’s shelf and I got swept away by a gorgeous hero, an independent heroine and descriptive and passionate writing which thrilled my teenage heart and began my addiction to all things romantic.

Now, many years later, I’m still in love with the genre. Mills and Boons have been with me through the good times and the bad. Whenever I am ill or feeling run down, a Mills and Boon romance is absolutely essential and when six or seven years ago, I had an awful bout of flu and had absolutely nothing to read, I sent my daughter off to the library to get me a couple of romantic novels and she returned with a novel by an M&B writer whose books I had never read, but who was to become one of my favourites – Kate Walker.

As soon as I read the first page of Rafael’s Love Child, I was absolutely hooked. I loved her gorgeous Alpha hero, admired her resolute heroine and just loved the novel’s blend of potent sensuality and intense dramatic emotion. I devoured Rafael’s Love Child in a single sitting and every single book of Kate’s I’ve read is on my keeper shelf and for me, one of the greatest pleasures in life is curling up with one of her novels in a comfy chair with a cup of tea by my side and escaping into the wonderful world she evokes – a world of passion, romance, emotion and drama which sucks me in from the very first page and which I always find impossible to put down.


I adore Kate Walker’s novels, but I also admire her as a woman for she is kind, generous, smart and a passionate advocate of the romance genre. Her books are a wonderful example of how well-written and intelligent romantic fiction truly is, so raise your glasses to a remarkable novelist and a wonderful woman and here’s looking forward to fifty more spellbinding novels!

GIVEAWAY:

Julie has very kindly offered to give away a couple of goodies from Malta as a prize to a lucky winner. (Makes me wish I could enter!)

QUESTION:

Julie says:
I’d like to ask everyone what was their first Kate Walker novel as I mentioned that mine was Rafael’s Love Child. Which was the very firts book by Kate Walker that you ever read?

As always answers in the comments please. Julie will be dropping by to join in the dicussion when she can. And I'll be intrigued to see who comes up with the oldest of my books and when you read it.