Favourite covers - For Andrea

I must apologise to one of my readers and students on my writing courses - I have been so so busy that I've only just caught up on this,. 

So -  For Andrea

When I was helping with the Tickled Pink Collection for Breast Cancer Research,   Andrea wrote and offered a generous donation   to the collection if I would let her know which of my covers are some of my personal favorites.

To start this off, she listed these  covers as her personal choices  - and I have to agree with her on them really!

So -   Andrea said -
I loved the ones with the painted covers. Some of my faves are:

'Hers for a Night' (can't beat the James Bond dinner shirt and untied bow tie look),

 'Man of Shadows' (man in a jumper and old jeans ... enough said)



'The Konstantos Marriage Demand' - incredible story and incredible cover - the way the hero is kissing the heroine


 ... and 'Kept for Her Baby' ditto



  So now I need to go and check through my covers . . . only 60+ of them  - and see which ones I'd label as my  'favourites' . 

I have to admit that, long ago title though it was, that  Man of Shadows cover was one I always loved.

Anyone else want to join in?

My First/Favourite Kate Walker novel - Michelle Reid

In another of the occcasional blog to celebrate 25 years of being published, today I have a post from a very special writer and a very special friend - Michelle Reid.

If you haven't read a Michelle Reid book then I both feel sorry for you and at the same time I envy you. I find it hard to believe that there are people out there who haven't yet experienced the intensity and emotion that Michelle brings to her stories. But then if you haven't, I envy you the fact that there are all those great books out there waiting for you to read them all.

2009 was a difficult year for Michelle with family health problems so the new books haven't been coming as fast as she would like but for American readers who haven't yet been able to buy it, Marchese's Forgotten Bride is out in Presents in March., with another title coming in July/August UK/USA And of course her book The Brazilian's Blackmailed Bride is available in the We Write Romance Selects Presents ebook bundle on eHarlequin and Amazon right now.

Here's Michelle:

Celebrating Kate Walker's 25th

When I think of Kate’s early books there are 3 which instantly leap into my head; Flirting with Danger - Shattered Mirror - Man of Shadows, and as I typed this I realised why these three leap out at me – just look at those titles! They speak for themselves of deep dark intriguing heroes and vulnerable heroines. They flag trouble before you even glance at the first page, where you’re treated to opening gambits like,

The sound of the doorbell rang loudly through the house, making Catherine tense instinctively. She froze in the middle of the room...

from Flirting with Danger,

Or, “How dare you? How bloody well dare you?” The savagely angry words flung at her from the darkness, seemed to slam into Eve...

from Shattered Mirror.

Don’t you want to read on? I know I do.

Just plucking these books off my shelf today I was hooked all over again. Sadly, I couldn’t find my copy of Man of Shadows, which is really annoying because I have a full set of Kate Walker books so it should be there, now I know I won’t settle until I find it. --Look’s like my bookshelves are about to receive an early Spring clean!

Some other favourites:
Rafael’s Love-Child
The Twelve Months Mistress
A Sicilian Husband
Constantine’s Revenge
Kept for Her Baby

And because they have to be here...
The Alcolar Family

Thanks Michelle!

On a personal note, I have to put Shattered Mirror as one of my favourites in this list as it was the first book of mine that Michelle and I talked about when we met and started our very special friendship over 15 years ago.

You can read more about Michelle's books and find out about new titles on her web site here

My First Kate Walker - some readers' stories and winners

You know, I used to have something called 'time' - time to read, time to write, time to post on this blog . . .

But that was before Christmas, before visitors, shopping, wrapping, more visitors . . .

I feel like I've been chasing my tail ever since December began - and now it's almost over! But I wanted to get back to the celebrations for the 25th anniversary so that I can post a few more 'Firsts' stories - and announce some winners so I can send out prizes.

But first I must remind you that the Closing Date for the Contest has been moved - I've added an extra month to the deadline so that you will have extra time to get your entries in and help me find out which of my books is currently at #1 in the top favourites rating. And maybe win a prize for yourself.

So don't forget - the deadline is now January 31st 2010

Right - now I have two readers who have written and told me their 'First Book' stories.


The first of these is Elaine S from Ontario who already answered this question over on Tote Bags 'N' Blogs when I blogged there. Here's what she said:

Congrats on your 25th! I look forward to the next 25!

You have asked a difficult question to answer. Back "in the day", I didn't keep track of who wrote which books. I just read them. I went to your web site to check out your back cover blurbs and cover pictures to refresh my memory, and three books seemed familiar: BROKEN SILENCE, MAN OF SHADOWS, and THE SPANIARD'S INCONVENIENT WIFE.

I DO know that I recognized your name as someone whose books I read often, like Anne Mather and Penny Jordan. That would have been in the eighties, so I was having kids then! Ahhhh, those were the days. And I thought I was busy THEN! I would have picked them up in a local book store (one of my favourite places!!!), and then I would have passed them on to one of many girlfriends (as I still do).Since I've started blogging, I now write down my comments on Post-It notes and attach to the books.

I recently read CORDERO'S FORCED BRIDE, and I wrote "fast read (GREAT!!!) ... made sense throughout ... liked how they talked to each other ... realistic re details - could imagine it actually happening ... wished I were the Heroine ... dress on cover was blue satin and pg 9 said it was pink satin."Thanks for offering all the great books through the years. Now you've whetted my appetite to read even more (which is the reason for blogging, I imagine)!!!

Back to today.... Since I can't remember which was the exact first book I read, I looked over your backlist again. The first one published of those mentioned above was BROKEN SILENCE from Feb/88, so I'll go with THAT being my first book. It IS possible that it was MAN OF SHADOWS from July/88, as I didn't read books in order of publishing dates then, nor do I now. (In fact, I have boxes of over 500 books I bought during the last several years that have just sat there for the past few months, because when I started blogging this summer, I started to record my comments and save all the newest books with those remarks. It really messes up my process of passing my books on to friends, so I MUST figure out a new system for this. So far, I'm only coming up with quitting blogging/recording and just passing all books, including those autographed, on to my friends. I am very confused.... Any help you could provide would be most appreciated, but it's my problem, so I'll have to deal with it....)

Thank you Elaine! You've talked of a couple of very early books of mine. Although they both came out in the same year (1988), the first publication (UK) of Broken Silence was actually in 1987. And although that made it my 5th published title, it was actually originally written much earlier than that. It was the second submission I made to HMB - Garrett of Stoneroyd - the one that didn't have enough 'emotional velocity'. But it did earn me a letter from a Senior Editor.

So I put it away and some time (years) later I took it out again, reworked it, revising it with the new knowledge I now had and this time managed to get it accepted. So there's a piece of advice for all you would-be writers out there- never throw away a rejected manuscript, no matter how dreadful you think (OK - you know) it is - It may one day be possible to revive it and rework it and turn it into something worth published. That worked for me with Broken Silence

For her contribution, Elaine wins a signed copy of Bedded By the Greek Billionaire.

The second winner is Kelly W from Manitoba (I've only just realised that both my winners today come from Canada). Here's what Kelly has to say:

I was just on your website and saw the contests you're running. Congrats on 25 years!! Here is my story for the first book of yours that I read.

I first read Calypso's Enchantment when I was only 13 years old! My mom has a small bookshelf in the basement and had asked me to dust the books and put them away in a box to give to a charity book sale. As I was doing this I found a section of romance novels and the cover of Calypso just really drew my eye. It was so colourful and pretty! I started to read it right away in the basement and after a few chapters I stopped reading, finished what I was supposed to be doing, and took the book upstairs to hide it under my bed so I could read in secret later. That was the book that got me addicted to Harlequin novels in general and yours in particular! Until I was 16 I would read my mom's or grandma's stash in secret, and then I finally got up the nerve to go to the store and buy my own!

While I don't remember the specifics of that first book, I do remember being completely caught up in the romance of the characters and the exotic location of Malta. It was a beautiful story! I still remain a devoted reader of Kate Walker books, and I thank you for introducing me to the wonderful world of romance novels!

And just for fun I thought I would list my top 5 favourite books for you to help you with your poll:

1. The Sicilian's Wife

2. His Miracle Baby

3. Desert Affair

4. Constantine's Revenge

5. The Hostage Bride

I really look forward to many more years of fabulous books from you!

Thank you Kelly for that - and for including your personal Top 5 Books - I'll add them into the total poll and post some results soon.

Calypso's Enchantment was first published in 1994 and it was inspired by a wonderful holiday that I spent with my family one Easter on the beautiful island of Malta.

An interesting point - Man of Shadows and Calypso's Enchantment have two of my favourite covers over the past 25 years. They both - Man of Shadows particularly - have the hero and heroine almost exacatly as I imagined them - which is pretty rare!

For her contribution, Kelly wins a signed copy of Cordero's Forced Bride.

And another reader, Pat C from Texas wins a copy of At The Sheikh's Command for her selection of Top Five favourites:

1. The Twelve-Month Mistress
2. The Spaniard's Inconvenient Wife
3. Bound By Blackmail
4. Kept for Her Baby
5. Cordero's Forced Bride

What about you? Do you have a 'first book' memory? Or a selection of your top 5 favourites? I'd love to know. If you want to enter then all the details are on my Contest page - but don't forget that the closing date has moved to January 31st.

Finally, a special reminder to all the would-be writers out there in the UK. 2009 is coming to an end which means that from January 1st the Romantic Novelists' Association New Writers' Scheme will once again be open for entries.

So if you want a chance to have your work read, assessed and critiqued by a professional author from the Association, then now is the time to get your application to join in the post so that it reaches the secretary as early as possible in the year. There are only 250 places available on this scheme and they are allocated on a first-come, first served basis - so send those applications off now.

Full details of the NWS and all the RNA's activities can be found on their main site - here.

C is also for covers . . .

Yesterday I spent a lot of time scanning past covers and writing up the back blurbs so that more titles could be added to my backlist pages on my web site by the wonderfully efficient Heather of We Write Romance. That was a real trip down memory lane – looking at older books and reading snippets here and there. Reminding myself of stories I’d partly forgotten. Characters I hadn’t revisited in way too long. And like meeting up with old friends, as soon as I glanced at a page or two I was deep in ‘Oh I remember . . .’

The covers were fascinating too – the styles that changed and developed over the years. The look so similar and yet so very different from the covers we see now. There were the covers I hated – like the one for The Golden Thief where I had described the hero as looking like Robert Redford (the human one – not the cat!) at his glorious, golden best. And instead I got Robert Redford’s older, fatter rather lecherous cousin.

Or there was the cover to Man of Shadows which I loved because for once in their lives (and believe me it wasn’t all that common in 1987) the people then responsible for selecting the artwork actually read my descriptions of my hero and heroine and came up with some thing that looked like the way I'd described them.

Here's my hero - Jordan Sumner – “. . . this man’s face had character, rather than the superficial veneer of handsomeness. . . The touch of steel was there all right; it showed in the tightness of the muscles of his jaw and was emphasised by the way that the thick brows were drawn slightly together as if his habitual expression was a frown rather than a smile. Under the straight nose, the firm mouth looked as if it rarely curled into anything other than the hard line that made it look as if his lips were clamped shut against some biting comment. . .

In spite of his thinness, he was broad at his shoulders and chest under a heavy sweater and he held himself with a sort of easy, well knit power that spoke of trained muscles and, before illness had taken its toll, a perfect physical fitness. Crisp hair of the shade that would bleach gold-blond in the sun, but was now the rich colour of liquid honey, was cut close against his well shaped head, the no-nonsense severity of its style clearly meant to impose some order on a rebellious tendency to wave if it grew and inch or so longer."

And, even more unexpectedly, my heroine Madeleine, who describes herself as “average height, average build, with perhaps a little too much curve at breasts and hips for the current fashion” actually has those curves rather than appearing as a stick insect, no matter how she’s described inside the book.

I loved this cover when it appeared – it fitted my characters and the setting of the book perfectly. I even tried to find out who the cover artist had been – I would have loved to have a copy of the cover as a print on my wall – but even though I asked, the search drew a blank.

But looking at it again yesterday reminded me of a long ago trip to Toronto (my sister lived there at the time) and a visit to Harlequin offices at Don Mills where I talked to the head of the design team – I remember telling them how much I loved the Man of Shadows cover. And how much the cover to Jester’s Girl – with a hero in a flat cap and a tweedy jacket – with a yellow handkerchief in the breast pocket! – had made me laugh. I couldn’t help wondering why some Canadian artist had really believed this was just what a young man – a man who was in fact a satirical comedian – would wear to walk on the Yorkshire moors with his girlfriend. That girlfriend too looked old enough to be his mother . . .

Some of these covers are now like historical documents, detailing the style and the images that appealed (more or less!) in the past decades of my writing career. So it’s rather appropriate that my 50th title which is coming out next month in June should also be one of the first titles to appear in the freshly launched ‘new look’ covers – which are not so much a total new look as a reworking of the same theme. I’ll talk more about these tomorrow but I will say that with the cover to The Sicilian’s Red-Hot Revenge, I have very definitely struck lucky – as lucky as I did with Man of Shadows – not a flat cap or a handkerchief in sight! Not all that much clothing in sight really!

And Vito Corsentino is very definitely just the way I imagined him.
Perhaps I might stand a better chance of hunting down a copy of this cover . . .