Spotlight on A Question of Honor

I've had problems getting my time zones sorted out for this extra  blog - dealing with days away from my desk, plus thunderstorms, plus visitors - but I'm here now to let you know about the special Spotlight on A Question of Honor over on  Romance Book Paradise.

With special thanks to Nas Dean for organising this as part of the mini book tour to celebrate the publication of my latest book.

Spotlight and giveaway

I've been so busy that I've neglected to blog for days.    I'm not quite sure where the time has gone but at least today I have a blog for you - if not quite here!

Because A Throne For The Taking is out very soon - tomorrow in fact, in  Harlequin Presents in America and   June 7th in  M&B Modern in  UK  - I'vebeen asked to do some blogs - and interviews here there and everywhere (well it seems that way!)

So today the first of those is published - with a special Spotlight Interview over on  Romance Book Paradise.  Lovely Nas Dean asked me a set of probing questions and now the interview is posted on the site.  There's also a giveaway of a signed copy of A Throne For The Taking for someone who posts a comment.

So maybe I'll see you there  - and there are other guest blogs and posts coming up in the next few weeks.  There will be more giveaways too.

It's May. . .

Happy May Day!   It seems that May has got off to a good start - the sun is actually shining, now if we could just get rid of that sneaky cold wind  it  would be gorgeous.

Reasons  to like May - I have a birthday coming up. So does my sister. Sadly she's in Tasmania so we won't be getting together to celebrate .

The Brenda Novak Auction for The Cure of Diabetes is now officially open.  Why take a look at some of the amazing lots - and maybe place a bid?  As I said earlier, I have the Reader and Writers' Basket  and the  10 Signed Novels lots on offer - and I'm delighted to see that there are already some bid on these. Thank you to anyone who has put in a bid.

Other reasons to like May -  A Throne for The Taking is now available on the UK's Mills and  Boon web site  and the Harlequin Presents edition will be released  on May 21st in USA.

Oh yes - and  A Throne For The Taking has  these great reviews over on  Romance Book Paradise.


The author lets her characters truly speak , as reader I was very glad to see that the author let me in


on just what each one of the characters were thinking, as I often find that I want to know what she or he is thinking and not knowing drives me insane, and in the case of Ria and Alexei it would have infuriated me, so thank you Kate!

I particularly liked the message this read gave me, not all secrets are as deadly as one may think, sometimes revealing the truth can save you, opening up the road to recovery.

I highly recommend this read for lovers of royal romances with intense secrets and all Kate Walker fans!   
Desere


A THRONE FOR THE TAKING is a very different, intriguing and thrilling story. It is full of conspiracy, scheming and plotting against the kingdom amidst the mesmerizing romance between Ria and Alexei. Author Kate Walker has yet again stunned her readers with a unique twist to her romance. She skillfully penned another gripping and compelling tale that would hook a reader in until the very last page.
Nas

Thank you both Desere and Nas

You can read the full reviews here.

So May has got off to a great start. Let's hope it continues that way.

PS Just discovered that A Throne For The Taking is already at #3  in the Harlequin ebook Bestsellers list today - another reason to like May!

Countdown to Christmas 3

Thank you to everyone who came by to tell me a bit  more about yourself yesterday -  it seems that my readers are spread far and wide, which is wonderful.

First - some lucky winners
 Over on Romance Book Paradise, the winner of the 12 Point Guide To Writing Romance is Juanita Kees
and my first Countdown winner  is Sunu

Please email me  - see the  link at the bottom of my web site hom page - with your postal address abd I'll get the prize in the post to you.

To those who didn't win  - please make sure you come back every day and join in as there are still lots of prizes to win, right up until Christmas.

Today's giveaway book is an older novel - At The Sheikh's Command was published in 2006.

Bought...
Abbie Cavanaugh's young brother is in jail. Abbie can obtain his freedom - but only if she marries the Sheikh of Barakhara.
And bedded...

The explosive passion between Prince Malik and Abbie could turn a marriage of convenience into one of Eastern promise.
By The Sheikh!
But neither Abbie nor Malik knows the other's real identity. Can their relationship survive once the truth is revealed?

And today's question is -  how do you decorate your house for Christmas? Do you like traditional  decorations - holly, tree, candles - or do you go for something different? If you don't live in the UK or USA please let me know what is a 'traditional'  way of decorating for you.

Don't forget to come back tomorrow for another giveaway . . .

Guestblogging and a chance to win

So today, officially, I'm blogging over at Romance Book Paradise.  I say officially because all the time  zones have conspired against me and it's the  morning of December 12th here  - but evening of December 12th the other side of the world.

So I'm heading over there to catch up with everyone who has commented on my post which is about the vexed subject of sagging middles - and I'm not talking about the after effects of the Christmas feasting but  the point in the middle of a book when you know it's s-l-o-w-i-n-g  down and starting to sag

And  as I said, today starts my Countdown To Christmas  when I'm  hoping to find out more about you - and chat with you and there will be some giveaways each day on the 12 Days of Christmas.  Today is the special launch day  and you have a chance to win a signed copy of my 12 Point Guide To Writing Romance.  There will be more giveaways on my blog  from now on.

But first I'm off to Fiji  (I wish I was  really going there and not just virtually)  and Romance Book Paradise  - see you there!

Gifts for Writers

Tuesday?
My last post was on Tuesday?
Where did the week go?

Well - there was shopping, and planning, and wrapping, and writing cards,  and posting . . . . You see, I suddenly realised that it's December  11th - and there's only  14 days left till Christmas.  So I've been  rushing around like a mad thing, trying to knock things of my To Do list.

What about you? Have you got things organised, or are you still trying hard to get everythig done? Bought all your presents - or  are you still  desperately looking for ideas?  Well, if you're  wanting to find something to give to a writer friend - or a would-be writer, I may have a few ideas for you.

A couple of weeks ago,  the very lovely - and very talented (you should see all the prises she won in her exams!)   Riya, daughter   of Nas Dean who so efficiently organised the Big Blog Tour I've just finished,  asked me to guest on her blog Romance Reader .  The Blog Tour was officially over, but I was happy to contribute a guest post - and she came up with a great suggestion for the topic-  Christmas (or any other time) gifts for writers.   That was easy! I just had to think of all the things I'd love to find in my stocking or under the tree this Christmas . . . .
So my suggestions list is posted over on Riya's  blog today - I hope it'll provide some inspiration for you if you're still wondering what to buy for a writer in your life.

Today it's Riya's blog, tomorrow  I'm back visiting Nas at Romance Book Paradise - and  with a post about the craft of writing. There will be a  very special giveaway with this post - one that launches my  special  Countdown to Christmas  12 Days Of Christmas  giveaways on my blog. 

So if you've read the list on Romance Reader's Blog and decided that a copy of the 12 Point Guide to Writing Romance is going on your wish list for Santa - then come over to  Romance Book Paradise and chat and see if you can win yourself a signed copy.

See you there!

Big Blog Tour - Round Up and Winner

So    - it took  almost 3 months
There were about 32 posts - 33 if you count this one
It visited blogs in America, Australia, Fiji,  UK, Canada  . . .
There were about 337 different  commentors -  that's new commentors - many of you can back again and again and chatted with me - thank you!
And I gave away over 35 books!

Charlie had plenty of cat treats to snarf down as he picked the names of winners- and even Flora joined in sometimes to help
.
So I think you can count the Big Blog Tour as as great success ( But I'm pretty relieved not to have to think of extra blog posts - and  replies to comments  for a while now.)

And Charlie has just done his last  blog tour duty  - picking  4 extra winners from my Newsletter list  to celebrate coming to the end of the tour - so

Judith  R from Israel
Sarah H  from UK
Gladys from Houston
Tessa B

Are all winners too -  please email me (see bottom of Home Page)  with your postal address and choice of  a backlist title from this list:

The Greek Tycoon’s Unwilling Wife

Bedded By The Greek Billionaire

Sicilian Husband, Blackmailed Bride

The Sicilian’s Red-Hot Revenge

The Good Greek Wife?

Kept for Her Baby

The Konstantos Marriage Demand

Cordero’s Forced Bride

Spanish Billionaire, Innocent Wife

The Proud Wife




And finally  - the big winner -  picked from the special list or people who stayed with me and 'stalked' me along the blog tour, is most of the places I stopped - or at least as many as they could manage ..  .
And the winner is:
SUSIE MEDWELL

Susie - you win a signed copy of The Return of The Stranger and  your choice of three other backlist books from the list above. Please email me with your choices

Finally a great big thank you to Nas Dean  from Romance Book Paradise whose contacts, enthusiasm and calm efficiency made this all possible. keep an eye on Nas's site for news of other authors who are running blog tours so you can join in and maybe win a book or two. And don't forget that over on my author page    that Nas has set up,  there will be news of other  blog visits I will be making in the future so you can visit them as well. 

THANK  YOU Nas!

And coming up on Romance Book Paradise on December 12th is a chance to win a signed copy of the 12 Point Guide just in time for Christmas  -  so look out for that.

Normal service will now be resumed - except when I see you out and about!

Big Blog Tour - the last stop

Well  it's been  a l-o-n-g tour, - I started way back on September 11th and I feel as if I've been all over the internet in the time since then.  I've had blogs in America, Australia,  Fiji  . . .  I've talked of all sorts of things - reading writing, cats, school days, The Brontes .. . and of course, the book  that was the reason for this  major tour in the first place - the celebration of the publication  of The Return of the Stranger.

I've met lots of great people - readers and writers. I've chatted with  you all through your comments  on the  posts and I've given away books all over the place. I've sent out copies of The Return of the Stranger, backlist titles  and even a couple of copies of The 12 Point Guide to Writing Romance.  And I've made some special friends along the way - people I know I will keep in touch with in the future, and I'll be going back to visit their blogs  either as a reader or a guest blogger if they invite me. (Some of these have already been planned.)

But today is the last stop on this official big blog tour this time around.   After today the tour comes to a halt, apart from the round up party and final giveaway of the main prize which will be on December 1st. So today's last stop is over on Romance University. 

As the name implies, Romance University is a great site  which declares as it's aim: "Dedicated to helping writers establish and advance their careers, introducing readers to a variety of authors, and delving into the ever-inscrutable male mind."  So obviously my post there is with my 'teaching hat' on  - I'm talking about the tight focus and word  count that goes into a category romance  and the need to 'Cut for Pace'.  So maybe I'll see you there.

After today that will be the end of this actual tour - but don't lose sight of the Author Page  that Nas Dean of Romance Book Paradise has set up. Nas has been my help and support  and kept me organised - just - through the whole of this tour. And She has already listed some of the upcoming blogs where I'll be posting in the not too distant future. So if you keep an eye on her listings, you'll know where to find me.

A great big thank you to Nas for keeping me on track over the past months - without her I would never have been able to organise this tour, or to take you to so many fatastic sites.

Great Big Blog Tour Stop 12

Today's stop on the blog tour is  one of my regular blogs over on the Pink Heart Society Blog this morning.

In A Date With Kate I'm talking about  the New Voices  contest again - and why a couple of animal stories/songs  have kept me going in the past when I've felt low  - and convinced I would never write again. After the publication of The Chalk Line in 1984, I was convinced I would be a one book  wonder and had to keep going and trying again before Game of Hazard appeared in 1986.

And on a sort of opposite extreme, I'm giving away a copy of my award-winning bok The Konstantos Marriage Demand which won Best Presents Extra 2010.

See you over there.

And talking of my Big Blog Tour, some of you will remember that I was hosted by lovely Michelle Fayard  on her Birds'Eye View Blog on  October 4th. Well, since then Michelle has read  her copy of The Return of The Stranger and has posted me a wonderful review over on Good Reads and Amazon  - Thank you so much Michelle!

With her latest release, THE RETURN OF THE STRANGER, veteran romance author Kate Walker takes the classic tale found in Wuthering Heights and lets it inspire her to create a modern take on the powerful story.

STRANGER is part of a series, The Powerful and The Pure. In this title, Heath Montanha left England as an orphaned gypsy and made a new life for himself in Brazil. Now he's rich and powerful, but he's missing something. He thinks it's revenge on the two men who kept him poor and powerless. What he's soon to learn is it's love in the form of the one woman who always believed in him, Lady Katherine, sister to one of Heath's former tormenters, widow to the other.

STRANGER might be inspired by a classic, but rest assured that Walker has taken the characters and atmosphere and brought them into the 21st century to make the story her own with high-voltage intensity. If this book could be described in only one word, it would be "chemistry."

Oh and if you're interested in how this Big Blog Tour thing works - and you'd  like to learn  more, then Nas Dean  from Romance Book Paradise    has written a great post on Michelle's blog all about the way she plans and runs these.

Birthdays and Blogs

 A couple of quick  catch ups today.First, and most important  (at least that's how she would think!)  - today is Flora's birthday. It seems amazing but she is four today and now fully grown and a very beautiful, mature Maine Coon queen.

She and Charlie have just celebrated her special day with an extra delicious breakfast of chicken and ham and have gone out into the garden to enjoy the promised sunshine. It's lovely to see them chasing each other around.

And talking of the garden,  I have hardly mentioned them this year - in fact, I've hardly seen them -  but as there was a report recently that hedgehogs are dangerously close to extinction, I thought I'd keep an eye open for the Hecks, the family of hedgehogs who live at the bottom of our garden,.  We heard snuffling  at the the beginning of summer,  and have spotted lots of fresh hedgehog droppings which  told us they were out there, we just hadn't seen them. So  after watching for them specially this last week or so, I'm glad to be able to report that there was at least one very large, mature hedgehog in the middle of the lawn enjoying  the thrown away chicken cat food. He/she was obviously stoking up for the winter hibernation. I don't know if the sightings were of the same hedgehog or two different ones but  at least there is one still in residence in Hedgehog Towers.

 It's going to be a busy week so I need to mention  a  couple of blogs I'm visiting this week - these weren't included in theBig Blog Tour  which is still going on.  Today I have a post on the Harlequin Presents  Authors' Blog  where I'm talking about  the latest book -  The Return of The Stranger - of course .  I was thrilled to see that the book is already shooting up the best seller lists over on Amazon.com even though  it's still on pr-order only and not yet released. And I was stunned that the Goodreads giveaway that Lee Hyat ran for me had nearly 1200 entries - for five copies!

I've also been invited to guest blog on Lucy Monroe's blog this   week - and I just heard that my post will go live on Friday  - there will be a giveaway with this post if you come by and say hello.

And talking of giveaways - the latest winners from the blog tour are :
Desere S from South Africa - from Marlena Cassidy's blog
And
Janice  H  and Glynis S from Talli Roland's blog (Janice and Glynis please contact me with your postal addresses so I can send out your prizes. 

The Romance Book Paradise  blog hosted by Nas Dean is still open.  And you can find out the next official stop on the blog tour by checking my author page here.

Big Blog Tour Day 6 - Romance Book Paradise

I  meant to write this the minute I got up - but then  the cats needed feeding, the window cleaner appeared - at 7.30am!  - there was banking to do (the tax man needs to be paid) emails to answer . . . .

So I've been up for ages - though I'm not dressed  yet! - and I still haven't told you the important news of the day - like where you can find me today!

Today the Big Blog tour moves on from Talli Roland's blog   to another  and one that's really rather special - because this one is the blog of the lovely,  energetic lady who is helping me run this  Blog Tour and keeping me up to date, delivering blogs  on time - and believe me she had her work cut out as I'm  zooming here there and everywhere, dealing with all sorts of home situations - and meanwhile Nas goes on quietly making sure my blogs are where they should be . . . and I know where to look to chat with everyone.

A great big THANK YOU! to Nas without whom I'd be totally lost!

And today, you want to visit her fabulous blog -Romance Book Paradise - not just because I'm there today - but because Nas always has lots of interest for the romance reader - and I regularly visit her blog to see what's going  on.

So why not join me over there? - And there are extra goodies to win in the giveaway this time.
people.

Oh, and I'm still using the fabulous UK cover of The Return of the Stranger to illustrate this - but sadly the UK edition's time on the shelves here in the UK is almost up - so readers in America and Australia need to start looking for it in your shops, on eHarleuin or Amazon.   And that means that  from the end of this week, I'll need to start using the USA/Aus cover - which is fine . . .  but it's just not the handsome hunk of the UK one - I'm going to miss him!