Contest on My Tote Bag

There is a Kate Walker Contest  running on My Tote Bag  where Lee Hyat is running a series of contests where you can win copies of some of my backlist books.

Have you missed Spanish Billionaire, Innocent Wife? Never got a copy of The Sicilian’s Red-Hot Revenge? Check out this set of contests and have a chance to win some of the great novels you missed.

Marina thought her dreams had come true when her husband placed a wedding band on her finger. But their marriage was not the fairy tale she'd hoped for, and eventually Marina walked away, her heart broken.

Two years later Pietro D'Inzeo no longer haunts Marina's dreams. She knows the time has come to move on, and even a summons to join him in Sicily won't deter her....

However, with his wife standing before him, about to sign on the dotted line of their divorce papers, Pietro wonders why he ever let her go.

Question:What - or who - helps Kate pick the prizes for her contests?

Hint: You can find the answer on my web site!

Contest Deadline: April 30th, '11.



Prize: A copy of Sicilian Husband, Blackmailed Bride & Spanish Billionaire, Innocent Wife!

Please email  with your answer and include your full name and mailing address. Please also mark the subject heading as Kate Walker Contest.

Catching Up and Looking Forward

I made it back at last.

Thank you so much to everyone who left me Happy New Year messages- Nicolette, Nature Nut (Nancy) Madeline, Jenny and the Nooligan (though I think Flora is a Nooliganess) Cryna, Anna, Anne McA, T'Other Kate, Jan, Nell, Rachael, Sandra, Tammy, MammaDuck, Lee and Lidia - thank you all and Happy Happy New year wishes right back (only a little late).

And Rachael a very special thank you to you - the Christmas Cake was wonderful and delicious and was much admired and enjoyed by many visitors to our house at Christmas. And I did admit that I hadn't baked it but you had. Thank you!

I'm not quite sure what happened to last week, except that I seemed to blink and found it had gone past. There was a lot going on in there - New Year rituals, kittens - well, just one kitten but she's as crazy as a bunch of small furries. Nicolette asked me if Flora had had a mad half hour yet? A mad half hour? This girl had mad half days. She treats the house like a race circuit - out of my office, along the corridor, through the kitchen, along the hall, up the stairs, round the bedroom, over the bed, back down the stairs . . .. The Gentlemen Cats would like a little peace and quiet please and they are most happy when she finally fall asleep.

Oh yes, and as you're all watching with fascination the growing 'romance' between Sir Sidney and Flora the Flirt - they have finally started sleeping together - but only in separate beds.

What else happened in this week?

Well in this family, the final Christmas/New Year celebrations don't stop until 12th Night - because the feast of The Epiphany on January 6th is the day we celebrate the birth of The Offspring quite a few years ago. It does mean that when everyone else is starting to settle down and think of getting back to work and Resolutions and things like that, we are still planning parcels and parties and such. Having a baby on January 6th was not exactly the best planning - but then I didn't plan it. In fact, he wasn't due for another 2-3 weeks. He was supposed to be a last week in January baby . But then a combination of a major thunderstorm, a panicked elderly neighbour, a visit from my Mama all combined to bring the event forward - one or other or all of them created a huge spike in my blood pressure. I suspect it was my Mother's influence - she wanted to see her new grandchild and if he didn't arrive during her visit, she would be back at work and miles away when the actual event occured. So she probably muttered some sort of incantation behind my back and The Offspring was induced on January 6th in time for Granny to celebrate the feast of the 3 Kings with a brand new grandson.

But I did also have to get back to work - my Christmas post from my new editor was the proofs of the just-finished book now glorying in the title of Bedded By The Greek Billionaire but known to me and to my blog readers as The Black Angel,. So I had to correct Angelos's proofs and get them back on my editor's desk. Which I have done.

Also on the work front, I was delighted to receive a card from everyone at eHarlequin and specially thrilled when I found this message inside:

Kate, ebook readers love their Presents, and in 2007 you had two of our most popular titles! . . . .

Of course then I was intrigued and wanting to know which titles had been so successful. Thanks to my Editor, I've been able to find out that those two of the most popular titles were The Italian's Forced Bride (which I suspected as that sold at #1 in Waldenbooks) and my 50th title The Sicilian's Red-Hot Revenge. What a great result for that special book.

So a great big Thank You to every one of my readers who contributed to this success. I couldn't have done it without you.

In the email, my Editor also said that she'd also been told that my Mini Round Robin title Stolen by the Sheikh is a consistent top download on eHarlequin.com. I had such fun with that Writing Round Robin on the eHarlequin site and that;s when I got to meet a wonderful group of people who call themselves The Hoods. Nancy/Nature Nut - if you're reading this and you're still in touch with The Hoods please say Hi to them from me and let them know of the great success of our story together. And thank you too to the Hoods who contributed to that success.

The rest of the week was filled with reading - The Offspring gave me The Thirteenth Tale as part of my Christmas present I'm on the last section now and it has held me riveted for some nights. Unfortunately I couldn't say the same about one of the films he also gave me - Scoop - with Woody Allen and Scarlett Johansson - and some guy called Hugh Jackman. Let's just say this film did not hold me riveted - even with Mr Jackman in a swimming pool scene.

Oh yes and one thing that gave me a lot of pleasure was being able to buy the Essential Medicines from Oxfam Unwrapped as your Christmas Card from me. Thank you again for all the books you bought and the votes you posted so that I could do this for the second year running.

The Christmas Stocking prizes went out and I've heard from Julie in Scotland that her parcel of books has arrived - I envy her the chance to dive into all those books and I hope that Dawn's prize has reached her safely too. And all the 12 Days of Christmas prizes, together with the specials from my Newsletter list, have gone in the mail too. So that's the contests for 2007 - but there will be more coming up in 2008.

The rest of the time I have been planning and organising things - a new book, a series of guest blogs, celebrating special books with some author friends, new contests, new teaching plans, some events . . . and of course a very special year for Mills & Boon.

But this blog is already long enough so I'll come back later with Part Two - the Looking Forward bit.

Still celebrating

Remember this?

Just when you thought all the celebrations for the 50th title had died away, there's one last party to visit.

When I actually celebrated the publication of The Sicilian's Red-Hot Revenge in July and ran the Great Big Blog Party here in the summer, things were so hectic and life was so busy that I didn;t manage to celebrate with a special site and a bunch of people who have been so much a part of my life - writing and personal - for over seven years.

I'm talking about the eHarlequin site and specially the Community and the message boards there where I have 'met' so many of the writers I now call my friends, many of the wonderful readers who have helped my career by buying and reading my books and discussing them there - and I must specially mention the hosties(some of whom you met here in the summer) Dee, Rae, Danica and of course Boss Lady Jayne who runs the show.

As I said, I didn't get time to celebrate with my friends on eHarlequin before, so when Jayne discovered that I have the newest title -The Greek Tycoon's Unwilling Wife - out now, she suggested that we celebrate both that and the 50th in a special party thread on the Simply Series section of the message boards.

So today - and the rest of this week - that's where you'll find me - I'm hosting a special celebration party thread and I hope you'll drop by. If you havr any questions about writing for Presents or just about my books, then ask away - I'll have a few random 'door prizes' to give away too so if you post a message you'll be in with a chance to win too.

Hope to see you there.

Postal deliveries

I have had a bumper postal delivery today, with lots of lovely surprises - and some expected things too.

So here are 5 Reasons to be happy that the postal strikes have stopped

1. I have an update on the preparations for the Fishguard Novel Writing Weekend. Another couple of weeks and I shall be heading for Wales and beautiful Fishguard Bay where I'll be teaching the Contemporary Romance course. I'll be able to meet up with my great fellow tutors Jane Jackson and Lesley Horton who are teaching the Historical and the Crime Novel courses.. We always have great fun as well as getting a lot out of the course. There are still places left so if you're interested, the details are on my Events page or the Writers' Holiday site here.

2. Someone must have realised that I'd actually made a small indent into my TBR mountain - because my lovely writer friends decided that I needed the pile topping up! And no sooner had I mentioned Donna Alward's Marriage at Circle M than - as lovely Donna herself let on yesterday - there it was in my post pile ready to - errr - ready to add to my slightly diminished and now getting bigger again TBR

3. My great friend from 'downunder' Trish Morey has sent me her next book too - we're 'shelf-mates' in November in the UK and USA with my Greek Tycoon's Unwilling Wife and Trish's The Boss's Christmas Baby.

Thank you both so much Donna and Trish - now all I need is a little more (a lot more) time to read. If only I didn't have to write . . . And I'm still waiting for Anne McAllister's The Boss's Wife For a Week (and stop telling me how much I;mn going to enjoy it! I know that - I just want to read it!)

(Oh and Donna - watch your own mail box! And no, I'm not going to explain!)

4. Author's copies of the joint book on writing that the BM and I have collaborated on that is out this month - Being a Professional Writer - it looks good!

5. Unexpected foreign editions - always a thrill. This time I have copies of the Polish edition of The Married Mistress where my book is in a duo with Sara Craven - and as readers of this blog will know, I'm a huge admirer of Sara's books, so I'm honoured to be linked with her.

And the Spanish edition of that 50th title - The Sicilian's Red-Hot Revenge under the fabulous title of Venganza Siciliana (Sicilian Vengeance). And that cover always looks great no matter what size it is or the colour it's set against.

And the BM got a couple advances for books he's delivered and a contract for a book on local ghosts . . .

So we were both more than happy that the postal deliveries are getting through properly. The postie wasn't too pleased at having to carry all those extra books though.

In other news, thanks to the fantastic Heather Reed who maintains my web site, I'm all up to date over there as well. So if you want to read all about The Greek Tycoon's Unwilling Wife, see photos of the presentation of the lovely gold pin for my 50th title and all my other news then why not visit now? There will also be a new contest for the publication of The Greek Tycoon's Unwilling Wife coming very soon over on My Tote Bag just as soon as Lee gets it up there - I'll let you know when it's ready.

Catching up with books

I've spent this last week catching up with so much - updates for my web site, reading scripts to critique for the RNA's New Writers' Scheme, tidying and sorting out my office which is in it's usualy post-book chaos. I added to that chaos by buying new shelves for my bookcases. The new shelves are very useful - but buying new shelves means that I had to move the old shelves up or down several spaces in the bookcases . Which meant that I had to take all the books off the shelves in order to do so. So now I have the new shelves in and all the books to go back on them. But for once in my life, I actually have some spare shelves without books on them! I wonder how long that will last?

In amongst the new books I have to put on the shelves (see - I know those spaces won't stay for long) I have the latest of my own. I have the copies of both the UK and USA editions of The Greek Tycoon's Unwilling Wife with their wonderful sunset covers. It's good to be looking forward to seeing them out in the shops while over on Amazon .com, and .co.uk that 50th title The Sicilian's Red-Hot Revenge is still on the best selling romance charts after 3 months. And today when I was out shopping, I spotted the 3 in 1 By Request collection Mistress Material which has my book The Married Mistress reprinted in it. (This also has books by Lucy Monroe and Daphne Clair in the volume.)

And when I have sorted out the shelves I hope that I will find my next TBR book! While I was still concentrating on writing Angelos's story, Anne McAllister sent me a copy of her The Boss's Wife for A Week which is out now in Presents - and has been on the Waldenbooks Bestseller list for three weeks! Congratulations Anne! This only makes me want to read this book even more. I did snatch a glance at it while I was still wrestling with Angelos, and before I knew it I was at the end of the first chapter - and I so wanted to go on! But I had to be strong. I had my own book to write.

So I put The Boss's Wife For a Week away safely to avoid temptation. But the trouble is that I put it somewhere so very safe that now that I have time to read it, I cant find it - it's somewhere in the piles of books that need to go back on the shelves! Oh well, at least that means that I have an extra incentive to sort the books out in order to find it. But it also means that when I do find it I shall probably down tools and read until I've finished it. I hope I find it soon.

In the meantime, I've been reading lovely India Grey's first book - The Italian's Defiant Mistress which I thoroughly enjoyed. It's one of those books where I could hear India's own voice as I read which for me is a real plus in a book. It shows an author who has an individual writing voice that will be hers no matter what story she tells. I'm a little bit late reading this in the UK edition which came out in July - which just shows how busy I've been. But like Anne's book this one is out in America this month so if you're looking for a good read why not grab both of them before they're off the shelves?

No - it's no good - now I've mentioned The Boss's Wife for A Week, I'm going to have to find and read it. I've heard such great things about that I just can't wait.

I'll be back when I've got all the books back on the shelves and hopefully found it - and read it!

Nice surprises

Well after some of yesterday's less than gracious (and less than informed) comments on romance novels of the BBC programme, it was good to find some more pleasant news this morning.

First there was a rather belated review for The Sicilian's Red-Hot Revenge. Sadly, this didn't get up on the reviewer's web site Writers Unlimited because of personal problems for the site owners. But although it's late I'd like to post it here for a couple of reasons - one because it's a damn good review -and never mind what book it's about the review shows wonderfully how carefully and critically a reader approaches a romance book and so is obviously not just the poor creature without two neurons to rub together in her brain as dismissed by those critics yesterday.

Secondly, in the opening paragraph, this reviewer describes one of the reasons why people read romance - or any other 'escapist' books. I'll come back to that later in this post.

And thirdly, this review is wonderfully written to give the reader the atmosphere and the emotion contained in the plot without giving away a 'spoiler' of the main point of conflict. And that takes some doing - so thank you Kim. It's a great review.

Have you ever felt the need to escape it all? I know I have. Kate Walker explores this need with her characters in The Sicilian’s Red-Hot Revenge. Emotional and physical escape mesh together, forming a blistering hot situation which is aching to achieve the ultimate goal, true love. But once reality rears its fierce head, heartbreak and disappointment can be the only result to the ill-timed escape of Ms. Walker’s heroine. The ups and downs of life unfold violently throughout her story.

Life seems to have thrown one curve ball after another at Emily Lawton. Nothing has turned out like she envisioned. Just when she was going to regain control of her life, tragedy strikes and she had to relinquish her happiness again. Needing to escape on the one day she believed would change her life but did not, Emily ran to the beach. Surely there she could find some inner peace and strength to carry on. During a moment of crazy abandon fate steps in and changes everything once again. Emily’s blissful day turns her into a damsel in distress, screaming for help. Along comes her knight in shining armor, Vito Corsentino.

Vito was enchanted the moment he spotted the beautiful woman on the beach. His artist eye appreciates her form but there is something else about her that calls to him on a more personal level. When she needs his help, he races to her side. Once Emily is safe, the attraction he, they, feel takes complete control. Both discover a sizzling happiness together. When reality intrudes, the “truth” comes out and shatters their relationship before it barely began. Vito feels betrayed and harshly sends her away. He never wants to see Emily again. However, he cannot get her out of his mind and his body definitely remembers hers. He will find her again, only this time he will be the one in control. She will be the one left wanting him.

The Sicilian’s Red-Hot Revenge is Kate Walker’s fiftieth release and her skill as a story teller continues to impress her fans. You are bound to find something that calls to you within its pages. Emily and Vito are perfect for each other but Ms.Walker gives them many hurdles and mistakes to overcome. As they struggle to find happiness, her tale will keep you enthralled. You may recognize Vito’s name from his brother, Guido’s book, Sicilian Husband, Blackmailed Bride, another excellent read. Do not miss out on adding Ms. Walker’s books to your collection.

Kim Swiderski
Writers Unlimited Reviewer

Another nice bit of news was to find that over on eHarlequin.com as I was browsing through the ebook boutique I spotted a familiar title and cover. My next Presents/M&B Modern title The Greek Tycoon's Unwilling Wife which is a November release, was already there at #5 in the bsetsellers chart. Officially, it's not actually even on ebook release until Monday. So that brightened my day - a lot.

Finally, again on the eharlequin message boards, a reader was talking about the sad time she'd had recently - losing people she knew, one in awful circumstances. So she'd curled up with a great Presents book (my friend Anne McAllister's The Boss's Wife For A Week to be precise) and had become absorbed in the fictional world that story created.

Now I'll suppose that if Mary Evans Professor of Women's Studies at the University Of Kent who said that romances were books that are "a classic literature for - you know - rather miserable, rather disappointed, rather jaundiced people..." had meant this sort of unhappiness then she might have had a small point - but in completely the opposite was she actually used it. What she said was that romance reinforced the misery, the disappointment - what the real reader - this reader said was she was thankful for the good books that Presents issues. "They always take me away for a while, which seems then to make reality a little better to deal with. "

And all I can add to that is that if one of my books makes one person feel better in that way during a tough time in their life then I'm happy - and proud.

Finally, while checking out the other major critic of romance on the BBC programme - Celia Brayfield - on Amazon I found that she was a book coming out in 2008 called Arts Reviews: And How To Write Them. The synopsis for this book includes the line:

"This book explains how to seize your readers' attention and how to be witty always, fascinating most of the time and bitchy when you need to be."

Yes - well, she should be good at teaching that part of things.

For me, I'll stick with the readers and writers who are 'radiators' I remember as defined in an article by Maureen Lipman where she classified people as either radiators (warm, giving, welcoming) or drains (cold miserable 'draining') . And I'll leave the 'drains' well alone.

A Kate Bit Cats and Covers

Sid is busy working on the choice of winner for Lee's question about your favourite covers . We had a minor crisis when I realised that we had run out of cat crunchies!A quick dash to the supermarket has remedied that and so Sid can now get to work.

In the meantime, I've been looking at the covers listed as your favourites and many of them are my favourites too.

Lots of you chose the cover of the courrent 50th title - The Sicilian's Red-Hot Revenge - which doesn't surprise me at all. I've loved that cover from the start and it represents the book really well.

Those Sicilians are obviously very popular as several 'Sicilian' covers were chosen. One was specifically mention in the M&B Modern Romance version and that was A Sicilian Husband.

Another favourite of mine that several of you chose is Constantine's Revenge. I loved this one so much that it's the cover that is reproduced on my business cards - and used to be on my bookmarks - Sicilian's Red Hot Revenge is on them now.

As I expected, the wonderfuly rich and exotic cover of At the Sheikh's Command was very popular - both on the Presents and the M&B Modern version. I've posted the UK edition here as it shows more of the artwork on the cover. the artwork

Another cover where the UK version was chosen is Hers For A Night - where the comment was that it was - and still is - fairly rare just to have the hero alone on the front of the book.

The USA cover of The Antonkaos Marriage was another one that was popular and another cover that I totally agree with one of the comments about was the recent #1 bestseller

The Italian's Forced Bride.

Nature Nut Nancy loved the heart shaped surround given to the picture for the special February and Valentine's Day publication. But for me the way this cover is described by Olivia is exactly what I feel when I see this cover and why I personally like it so much:

Without a doubt, my favorite cover is The Italian's Forced Bride. There is no picturesque landscape as background. There are no fabulous diamonds adorning the heroine and nor is she in a flamboyant gown. But what strikes me is the intensity of the emotions of the characters as can be deduced from their body language . The hero pulling the heroine closer to him with subtle pressure. The heroine resting her hand on the hero's lower back. And the utterly sublime and anticipative expressions on them both. This cover always draws me back to re-read this story.

This is just a selection of the covers chosen - others were the Spaniard's Inconvenient Bride, Bound by Blackmail and The Groom's Revenge. If you'd like to see those covers - and more - they are all listed on the Backlist pages of my web site. You'll find a link to that here.

And I'll leave you with another preview of my brand new next cover

- this is the book that's out in November -

so here is the USA Presents cover of The Greek Tycoon's Unwilling Wife

A Kate Bit - Celebrations, Contests, Cats and Charts

Over on Anne McAllister's blog she's calling the Great Big Blog Party the Never-ending Blog Party! And it seems appropriate. I can't quite believe how long this celebration has gone on for - not that I'm complaining! But this week it will be coming to an end - I think! (Though I did get one last offer of a blog only on Sunday!) And I've been saving some of the best till last so I hope you'll enjoy the last few party posts. I'll be putting up another one today.

But thinking about today's Guest Blogger reminded me that I need to put up one last post about my Spotlight and Great Big Contest that is still running - just over on Leena's Goodie Room. Those of you who have been visiting and answering questions already will know that there are 50 questions to answer. Lee has been adding a set of questions each week and now they are all posted up there. Answer all 50 - even at this late stage - and you are in the running to win the major prize. Even if you can only manage the set of questions that are up for this last week, you're still in with a chance of the Book a Day that I'm giving away.

And if you need a reminder about the main prize - there are signed copies of the hardback edition of the special 50th title - which you all know by now is The Sicilian's Red-Hot Revenge, together with the other linked title in the Sicilian Brothers duo - Sicilian Husband; Blackmailed Bride. And there's a lovely heart shaped necklace too.

So with such great prizes on offer, why not enter while you still have time? This contest is closing soon.

The other prize giveaway I have been running was to bribe - ahem - ask - you all to vote for your favourite top five Kate Walker novels. I haven't posted a result of this for a while so here is the Top Ten as it stands at the moment.

1.The Italian's Forced Bride
2.A Sicilian Husband
3.The Antonakos Marriage
4.The Sicilian's Wife
5.Desert Affair
6.The Spaniard's Inconvenient Wife
7.Sicilian Husband, Blackmailed Bride
8.12 Month Mistress
9.Wife For A Day
10.At The Sheikh's Command

And I need to announce another batch of winners from amongst those who have emailed me their votes so the winners are:

Judy Theis

Mary Reinert

Marcy Shuler

Laurie Bertram

Eva Silkka

I'll be contacting the winners today

On to cats or The Cat

If you've read Anna Campbell's Contest for yesterday, you'll know that she has asked Sid to help her pick a winner from amongst the answers. He has taken his responsibilities very seriously and has been up all night reading the many entries. I did mention that he could try the usual cat crunchie on the names technique and he says he will try that one when he has woken from the exhausted sleep that has laid him flat out on my desk after all that reading. Watch this blog for the result.

Finally, while I was away in Wales, my ccountry count did a mini leap and I now have had visitors from a grand total of 110 countries! I spotted a couple of the new ones - Togo and Gibraltar and I think the third one was Pakistan. Wherever you're from, thank you for visiting - and I hope you'll come back often!

A Kate Bit - Blog Party thoughts and round up so far . . .

I have been so lucky in this job of writing. Not only have I been able to do the job I love, but I've also sold well enough that I've been able to earn my living from it and so make it my only job.

But alongside that, and every bit as valuable, have been the numbers of wonderful friends I have made through my writing. Whether they have started out as readers, or fellow M&B authors, peope I have met through classes I've taught, at the RNA meetings and Conferences - or through the times I've travelled to other Conferences, where I was warmly welcomed in New Zealand or the Romance Writers of Australia Conferences, or even a couple of times at RWAmerica National.

Then there have been the people I've 'met' on the internet - on the eHarlequin message boards, the the Romance Junkies web site and Readers Club, the We Write Romance Site run by my brillilant web mistress Heather Reed. There have been some great reviewers like Julie Bonello and many others who have stayed with me through the years, and last but very definitely not least, the wonderful Lee Hyat on any web site she's been involved with right through to her own personal site My Tote Bag and her Authorsound Relations.

One of the reasons behind this Great Big Blog Party has been to introduce you to some of these people in my life, my friends and fellow authors, writers I admire, people I've worked with. I wanted them all to be part of this special celebration of this golden book of mine. When I started out, I had hoped that I might just make the total of 50 posters who would all join in, all come and say hello to you so that you could learn more about them - and their generosity in giving away prizes has been amazing.

And it's not over yet!

As I said, I'd hoped to make the total of 50 posters - and today, as we head towards the 41st Guest Blogger , I'm able to say that not only will we make that golden total - we'll actually surpass it!

I just checked the number of Guests I have till to come and the total will go past that 50 target.

And believe me I have some fantastic guests lined up for you in this final countdown. There have already been 40 of my favourite people in all the world chatting with you so far - there are more to come. Some of the best writers and people not only in the world of category romance but in novel writing as a whole. People I'm just thrilled and delighted - and honoured to have come and share this special time with me as have been all the people who have joined in so far.

So I hope you're not yet tired of partying and that you'll keep coming back for the next 10+ days there are left of the Great Big Blog Party celebrations. (We might even have to run into August!) There are some fabulous guest and wonderful prizes still to come.

I hope I'll see you all here!

PS And I must add a special great big gold Thank You to every one of my readres who have made The Sicilian's Red-Hot Revenge (and its companion book Sicilian Husband, Blackmailed Bride) such a wonderful success. With Vito's story still riding high in the Amazon Bestseller lists in the UK and USA and in Barnes & Noble, and Waldenbooks - this really is a golden time for me. Thank you all for being part of it.

Kate Bit - Celebrations, Charts and Covers

The Great Big Blog party is still going on - I'll be posting another Guest Blog in a moment. And it looks like we'll be partying right to the end of this month as well! Which means that the celebration for the publication of The Sicilian's Red-Hot Revenge will be going on right through the two months it's been out in UK, USA and Australia. So that's fantastic.

And something else that's still going on is the poll for your Top Five favourite Kate Walker titles. Voting on this poll has slowed down a bit so can I just remind you that if you haven't voted please send in your vote! You're in with a chance to win a signed book if you do. Email me with your Top Five titles in order of preference and if Sid picks your name then you'll win.

At the moment the result for the Top Ten looks like this:

1. The Italian's Forced Bride
2. A Sicilian Husband
3. The Antonakos Marriage
4. Desert Affair
5. The Spaniard's Inconvenient Wife
6. The Sicilian's Wife
7. 12 Month Mistress
8. Sicilian Husband, Blackmailed Bride
9 Wife For A Day
10. Bound By Blackmail

Is your favourite there? If not, why not send me a vote for it and maybe you'llsee it in the next chart I publish.

Interesting to see that although it's only been out a couple of months, the other Sicilian Brothers book - Guido's story (Sicilian, Husband, Blackmailed Bride) - is already in the Top Ten at #8. It makes me wonder what might happen when you've all read Vito's story this month - would that jump right in there too?

And finally, the current book(s) are still on sale, but publishing being the way it is, I'm already looking forward to the next couple of titles. I have just dealt with proofs for the March 2008 book (Spanish Billionaire; Innocent Wife) and the hardback library editions of November's The Greek Millionaire's Unwilling Wife arrived in the post the other day. I realised that I've put the cover up in the slide show in the sidebar, but not actually shown it to you all here - so here it is:

Knowing the scene that my editor had asked for I had hoped that it would be a good cover and it is. I'm really happy with it.

What do you think?

A Kate Bit - RITAs , Readers and Rejoicing

First and most important - the RWA's RITA Awards were announced in Dallas last night. Congratulations to all the winners but specially to HMB's own Barbara Hannay for her win in Best Traditional Romance.

Congratulations Barbara!

If you want to know the rest of the results, take yourself over to the Pink Heart Society blog where Trish and Jenna have all the news for you.

Readers - I have had so many wonderful messages from readers since I started celebrating the 50th and I want to thank every one of you who have written to me. I can;t quote them all but as an example, this morning I received a wonderful letter from Eva - a reader who has been with me for a long time. I can't quite remember when I first had a note from Eva, but I know she was one of the very first to sign up for my newsletter. Eva won a prize in the Romance Junkies celebration and here's what she had to say:

Thanks very much for letting us share your special celebration.

And I have to tell you Kate, your 50th is a 50 carat gem! I absolutely loved Vito and Emily and could not put down the book until the end, and of course the same is true for Guido and Amber!

Here's to your 100th! :)

I've been smiling ever since I read that. It's messages like this that make my day. Knowing that I've connected with my readers and given them a book that they really enjoy - that's my personal RITA award. Thank you so much Eva - I'm thrilled that you enjoyed The Sicilian's Red-Hot Revenge - and Sicilian Husband, Blackmailed Bride.

And Rejoicing -

Well, that's the blog party itself - it has been bigger and brighter and more of a success than I could ever have dreamed. And for that I must thank all of the wonderful authors and friends who have given their time to write blogs, to come in and chat - and given away their prizes too.

In the comments section on Wednesday, Lidia said -

I can't believe that we are still partying here.

And in another note I receieved from Dena, Liz Fielding's Winner from Thursday July 5th, she wrote :

Your big party celebration is so much fun. It's been a lot of fun reading all the guest blogs along with your own. This is the best party ever given by any writer ever!

Lidia and Dena - I'm so happy that you're enjoying the party and believe me it's not over yet! Yesterday I was checking out the blogs I've received and still have to post up here - and the party is going to keep on going for at least another two weeks. If I'm lucky we will actually make the total I aimed for of 50 Guest Bloggers.

And there are still some of the really big names in Romance writing and in Romantic Fiction in general. - So keep coming back - and see who is yet to post!

And while I'm talking about rejoicing - I forgot to mention that yesterday was the Babe Magnet and my 34th wedding anniversary . (I was a child bride - honest!) So Happy HappyAnniversary Babe Magnet - here's to many more.

A Kate Bit

The Great Big Blog Party has reached a sort of midway point. I'm not sure yet if it's exactly half way or not. I'm still getting posts from peole who want to join in and I'll be continuing to post then through July as well.

Because of course this Great Big Blog party is to celebrate the publication of The Sicilian's Red-Hot Revenge - my 50th title.

We started in June when the UK edition of this book came out and we'll be going on into July because July is when the American edition of it appears in Presents and the Australian edition comes out as a Sexy Romance. These editions are out now so they should be in the shops this week.

So I'm going to keep on celebrating through July as well - as long as I have posts coming in from friends, writers and assorted other individuals - I'm never quite sure whose post is going to appear in my inbox next.

But this isn't the only blog party going on at the moment. Those of you who read Kate Hardy's contribution to the blog party will remember that she mentioned her own reason for celebrating - the fact that her July book Breakfast at Giovanni's will be her 25th title for Harlequin Mills & Boon. (But you don't want to know how quickly she's written those 25 titles - you really don't! Not for nothing do I call her Scary Kate!)

So T'Other Kate (Scary Kate) is celebrating this month too. And she's running a blog party with lots of guests and lots of prizes too - so if you want more chances to win or you just want to join in the fun then head on over to her brand new blog . You'll see some familiar faces over there too.

But don't abandon me completely - you'll miss too much good stuff if you do. I have lots more guests arriving every day and there are some of the biggest names in romance writing lined up ready to post.

Oh yes, and talking of some of those big names - over on the Pink Heart Society they snuck in a sneaky post that I didn't know was coming, asking some of the best writers of romance to name a favourite Kate Walker title. Seeing as there are some authors there who I deeply respect and some of my own personal favourites to read, I am so honoured that they would do this. You might like to go and visit over there and maybe add the name of your favourite to the list - right now I think The 12 Month Mistress is the most popular choice.

While you're there you could post a comment on Saturday's post to have a chance to win the wonderful PHS Hamper crammed full of wonderful books - and even if you don't win that then there's always something interesting to read over on the Pink Heart Society blogazine. (I have to say that - they just asked me to become oneof their regular columnists so you'll soon be able to see me over there as well.

And in the meantime - on with the Great Big Blog Party!

Great Big Blog Party 23 - Winner

Heather Rae Scott has sent me the name of her winner and this time the lucky lady is

Ellie

Congratulations Ellie! You win a signed copy of The Last Thing I Expected.

And while I'm talking about prizes I think I should remind you all of the great prize there is to win in my Great Big Contest in the special Spotlight over on Leena's Goodie Room on the Author Sound site.

As well as signed hardback edtions of the two titles in my Sicilian Brothers duo (that's Sicilian Husband;Blackmailed Bride and of course The Sicilian's Red-Hot Revenge) you also get a chance to win a real gold heart shaped necklace.

So what do you have to do to be in with a chance of winning?

Well, every week, Lee is posting up a set of questions about my books - all those 50 titles on my backlist. All you have to do is to find the answers to each question - the answers can all be found on my web site in the backlist pages. Answer the questions and send you entries to Lee together with your full names, mailing address and of course the answers to this week's questions!

Every week seven winners will be picked out and each of those seven will win a first round prize of a signed book and one of my special bookbags. There are 50 of these first round prizes to win so you have plenty of chances.

Then at the end of the 50 questions, everyone who has answered all the questions correctly will have their name entered into the Great Big Prize draw and one lucky winner will receieve the main prize.

Now just in case you have missed the first couple of weeks' questions - don't worry . You can still enter the Main Draw! Just catch up on the questions you haven't answered - they're still up on the Spotlight page for you to see them. Answer all the questions - including this week's - and send them in to Lee then come back and answer the rest next week and the week after.

Each time you enter you'll be in with a chance for a first round prize - and everyone who get all the answers right, whether they're a Round One winner or not, will be entered into that final Main Draw.

So hurry over to Leena's Goodie Room - read the Spotlight - and enter the contest for a chance to win a really Great Big Prize.

Great Big Blog Party 19 - Natalie Rivers

It's a special thrill to me to be able to introduce my next Guest Blogger as someone who has her novel out on the shelves with me this month. Not just her novel - but her very first published novel ever. Natalie Rivers is a brand new signing to the Modern/Presents line and her book The Kristallis Baby is out now in both UK an America - and in the UK it's sharing a shelf with The Sicilian's Red-Hot Revenge.

Which is a delight to me because I have watched this book develop - and watched Natalie grow from an eager student, throught the New Writers' Scheme, to a published author - and I've had my own small input into the success of her career.

But I'll leave Natalie to tell you about that. Just to say that I'm specially pleased that the success of Natalie's book shows how talent, determination, hard work and commitment will win through - and that the publication of it is a great endorsement of the Romantic Novelists' Association New Writers' Scheme - which I'm proud to be a reader for.

So - Natalie Rivers

There are more than 50 reasons why I love Kate Walker, but here are just some of them…

As a brand new writer, I felt very proud and honoured when Kate asked me to take part in her 50th Book Celebrations. It still seems quite unreal to me that I’ve been published (my first book, The Kristallis Baby, is out in June UK and US), and I am delighted, and somewhat awed, to say that Kate Walker helped me on the road to publication.

I first met Kate three years ago at the Romantic Novelists’ Association conference, at Leicester University. It was her second year as the creator/organiser of the Conference Virgins and she did a wonderful job looking after the first-timers. But even better than that, she arranged for us all to have a ten minute discussion with an author of our choice.

Well, you can guess who I chose! I’d loved Kate’s books for years, so it was fantastic to get to meet her as a fan. And, as an aspiring Modern/Presents writer, who could be better to talk to for help and advice?

I already had a very good idea of Kate’s warmth, intelligence and caring personality from her on-line presence. But in person I was immediately struck by her amazing dynamic energy. She is also an incredible teacher and is unstintingly generous with her wealth of knowledge about the craft of writing. (Just take a look at Kate Walker’s 12-Point Guide to Writing Romance, and you’ll see what I mean.)

I discussed my story idea with her. Then, once it was written, I sent it off to the RNA’s New Writers Scheme, hoping that my manuscript would fall into her hands. I was lucky! Although the reader is supposed to be a secret, I was sure I recognised her voice in the hugely detailed and helpful feedback. I revised my story – always keeping in mind Kate’s favourite question Why? Then sent it off to Mills & Boon.

And now my book is on the shelves in the UK, next to the fabulous The Sicilian’s Red Hot Revenge by none other than the equally fabulous Kate Walker.

GIVEAWAY PRIZE:

signed copy of The Kristallis Baby and sequined coin purse

GIVEAWAY QUESTION:
In The Kristallis Baby the hero whisks the heroine away to the beautifulGreek island of Corfu. If you could go anywhere in the world, which islandwould you love to visit for a romantic getaway?

Natalie doesn't yet have a web site that I can link you to but as she has just had her second book accepted, I hope that she soon will have one - and as soon as I know, then I'll give you a link to that.