Moving on

I've been forcibly upgraded so I am now officially on new Blogger whether I like it or not. And then as soon as that happens, I might not be blogging for a while. I'm heading back to Ireland again.

Regular readers will know that I'm going to Dublin - and points west and south - to meet up with Anne McAllister and show her Ireland (well, some of it). She needs an Irish castle and to soak up the atmosphere and I need a break. Writing may not be very physical work, but it can be very draining on the brain. I'm hoping that time and space will recharge my writing cells and then the new Spanish hero Raul will stop dancing round in my head and actually let me get a lot more of his story down on the page.

Of course, I never ever travel anywhere without some way of writing even if it means resorting to the old-fashioned way of using a pen and notepad! Often the change to writing that way, together with the fact that I'm away from the demands of the phone and the email can clear a space in the clouded brain cells , make things fall into place, and mean that I start scribbling down ideas at a fast rate. The only problem I have then is trying to read my own writing to find out what I wrote!

As I write this I'm still keeping my fingers crossed that Anne will actually make it. The last I heard from her she was setting out for Chicago in a gap between snowstorms and I can only hope that she will reach Chicago by car, leave Chicago again by plane and arrive in Dublin tomorrow morning. Travel safely Anne!

The BM & I plan to arrive in Dublin tonight. We also plan on seeing the lovely Abby Green again, and hopefully the wonderful trish Wylie, having tea in Bewleys, Grafton Street, walking down O'Connell Street, staring at the

Millenium spike that has replaced the statue of a woman in a fountain that I used to know by the affectionate name of 'The Floozie in the Jacuzzi' - and talking - and talking - and talking. We also have some exciting plans for Thursday that could come under the heading research or just plain fun - I'll blog more about those if things go according to plan.

We aren't just staying in Dublin - Galway and Cork are on the itinerary too. I've never visited Cork so that will be a first.

I'll hope to find some access to the internet somewhere every couple of days and report in. Otherwise normal service will be resumed from the 22nd.

And if you're missing me and you need something to read in the meantime, you can always visit the new Harlequin Presents blog

and see what's happening. Or try Tote Bags 'n' blogs where there are always lots of interesting topics and a wide variety of authors posting them.

And I'll see you soon.

Birthday Blog Bonanza winners

Okay so I finally woke up Sid - actually I woke him up a while ago and posted the results, then Blogger ate my post so I'm trying again. Luckily I remember the result.

Thank you all for your comments on my blog so far - Sid was delighted to be mentioned as one of the major attractions but then he went all Italian on me, showed he'd been listening to Domenico and said 'Naturalamente!'

The hedgehogs will be pleased that they were popular too but at the moment they're too busy hibernating at the moment - and hopefully making baby hedghogs for the spring so they do't realise they're famous.

So the winners - one chosen by each cat -


Redford chose Nicolette








Spiffy chose Joye






Dylan chose Sue A






And Sid chose Rachel

Can the winners please email me - kate(at)kate-walker.com with your postal address and the nme of your choice of book from this list. Please give me a first and second choice in case I've run out of any of the titles by the time I hear from you
THE HOSTAGE BRIDE

THE SICILIAN'S WIFE

DESERT AFFAIR

THEIR SECRET BABY

THE MARRIED MISTRESS

THE TWELVE MONTH MISTRESS

THE SPANIARD'S INCONVENIENT WIFE

BOUND BY BLACKMAIL

THE ANTONAKOS MARRIAGE

AT THE SHEIKH'S COMMAND

If you can let me know today then I can hope to get your prize in the mail to you tomorow morning - if you're later than that then I wiull be heading for Ireland again and will have to post it when I get back

Congratulations to the winners and thank you to everyone who commented. I'm glad to know that you've been enjoying the blog - and the hedgehogs - and of course Sid.

And the Grooms' Winner is . . .

Ciao

Domenico here - I have to take a moment from my honeymoon with la bella Alicia to let you know the results of the Grooms Contest.

But first I have to say grazie mille for buuying my book so that it is at numero uno on the Waldenbooks chart. Kate was so excited when she told me - and so was Alicia - but as I said naturalamente, it is a best seller - you readers know a good hero when you see one.

So now - the big announcement - the winner is

Mona Hassan from Egypt

Alicia tells me that it is a good thing Kate promises to send her prizes anywhere in the world as her last prizewinner came from Bulgaria!

Theo has already told the world that his winner is Jennifer Yates - he also tells me that he is planning to grab his brother George from where George is hiding in his laboratory and put a blue bow around him and send him off with the books. He thinks that marriage has been so good for him that maybe it might help George have a little fun too.

Max hasn't announced his winner yet but I'm sure he will do soon. Don't forget that Max's book The Valentine Bride will be on the bookshop shelves this week - Theo and I have had out time on the Waldenbooks Top Ten list so we are cheering Max on to be there too! As Theo would say - Go Max!

Theo's book The Santorini Bride and my story with Alicia - The Italian's Forced Bride are also still on sale.

Grazie mille again for joining in the contests -we Grooms had fun and Alicia and her Bride friends did too.

Now I must let Kate have her blog back as she says that she needs to talk to Sid - il gatto nobile about some blog birthday winners. H

Ciao!

Domenico

Little things mean a lot

Remember X and her demand that I should 'Write better books!'?

Well - no - don't remember - how could I worry about one person for whom my books just don't work when there's the popularity of The Italian's Forced Bride to prove that plenty of other people feel that way.

And then there are the reviews. I got another one for The Italian last week - from Sherri who reviews for Romance Junkies. The review was wonderful

Kate Walker has done it again! Internationally best-selling author Ms. Walker
pens another fantastic romance that will capture readers’ hearts. Alpha heroes
with a soft side and heroines with courage are Kate Walker’s speciality, and Dom
and Alice are no exception. With its passionately sensuous love scenes, its
emotionally gripping storyline, and realistic characters readers will care
about, THE ITALIAN’S FORCED BRIDE is going to definitely be another award winner
for Ms. Walker.

Thank you so much Sherri

But the best bit of this review was the mesage that came in the email with it - I've asked Sherri if I can print here and she's said yes so:

Sherri said: I don't know how you can keep coming up with such great storylines after so many books, but you never dish up the same old stuff. Thank you for giving readers a great story that tugs the heartstrings.

And that is a truly wonderful thing for a writer to read. When I'm coming up to the publication of my 50th title, believe me, it can be difficult to start on a new story - there are only so many plots that fit romances and it can be a struggle not to think, 'Oh but I did that in book 5 or book 18 or book36.' To me it has always been part of the challenge of writing to keep the freshness in my stories. I know I shall have to repeat some elements - after all there's that basic plot line that never alters.

Man meets woman they are attracted to each other but there is a conflict between
them/reasons why they feel they should not be together. They work to resolve
those problems/conflicts and by doing so find a love that promises to give them a
lifetime of happiness together.

So that's the framework. To keep the stories fresh and interesting is both difficult and simple. Some authors - and a lot of editors - think in terms of 'secret baby plots' or 'amnesia plots' or 'marriage of convenience.' Trouble is, that makes these sound like all those other secret babies or amnesiacs or MOC books. For me the only way to keep things different is to tell the characters' stories. So a couple of books might have a marriage of convenience plot, but one will be Sienna and Keir's story (The Hired Husband) another will be Ramon and Estrella's story (The Spaniard's Inconvenient Wife)- very different backgrounds, settings, people, relationships - so, hopefully making very different books.

That;s why, somehow, in those 50+ titles (I'm now on the 52nd) I've made it a point of pride not to repeat a name. How long I'll be able to keep that up I don't know - but it's part of the challenge of writing. The cahallenge of not just writing the tried and true. Some people say well your readers won't remember that you used that name/plot back in 1990. - Well I'd remember and it would disappoint me - so I'm sure it would disppoint my readers.

So it's wonderful to read Sherri's comment and to know that, for this reader at least, I've succeeded in writing stories that ring fresh and true and emotionally satisfying. Thank you for taking the time to write, Sherri!

Funny though, isn't it - where Sherri describes 'heroines with courage ' and an 'emotionally gripping story line' - that is just about the exact opposite of X's belief that my heroines are cry babies who do nothing but whine and a plot that goes nowhere. Makes you wonder if they read the same book.

Just goes to show that, at the risk of repeating myself, you can't please all of the people all of the time. I can write a book where I believe that the hero is an Alpha with heart and the heroine is a woman of courage and sensitivity - and someone will read it and find an unredeemed male jerk and a wimpish whiney crybaby! But as the author, I'm not responsible for the personal background/beliefs / prejudices the reader brings to my book. So I'll just carry on writing what I believe makes a good story and thank heaven for readers like Sherri and other who 'get it ' so wonderfully.

After all, they're the readers I write for.

PS I haven't forgotten I have some prizes to give away - but first I have to rouse Sid from his morning snooze. And I have to get hold of Domenico to announce the winner of his (and Max's and Theo's ) Grooms' Contest. And as he (Dom) is away on his honeymoon somewhere I'll probably have some trouble getting him back here to do so.

Back soon.

Blog Birthday Bonanza

February 9th 2007

So today is the anniversary of the very first day I posted in the blog. February 9th 2006.It's been quite a year.

In that time we've had Lions and Tigers



And contests -bookbags and Christmas stockings
and author friends and
new authors
and authors who are so welcome back




And we had cats and dogs -

-a very special
Cat of Superior Breeding
and a wonderful Guide dog in training
called Uffa










Then we had Hugh's Day
and Hugh-in-a-towel
(who could forget Hugh-in-a towel?)








And we've had hedgehogs
And Hearts - Dancing Pink Hearts








And there were the Brides and the Grooms


There were blogs - And of course there were books - new books, old books, books I've read, books I want to read - books coming up - writing books - 'How to write' books - and some ideas on how to write books.


So was it fun for you? Was it interesting ? Are there things I didn't talk about that you wanted to know? Things you wish I'd said more about?

Now's your chance. Today is the Blog Birthday Bonanza - and because I'm celebrating, I'm also offering prizes . All you have to do is to post a comment on today's post. Just tell me what you've enjoyed in this blog over the past year - and if there's anything you'd like to see a post about then mention that.

And then I'll get A Cat of Superior Breeding and his friends, Bob, Spiff and Dylan to pick some winners and the winners will receieve a signed copy of their choice of my backlist of books.
Happy Blog Birthday to you - I'm looking forward to the next year!

It doesn't get better than this

I'm celebrating! I thought last week was great with The Italian's Forced Bride being at #2 on the Waldenbooks Top Ten but it just got better

The new Waldenbooks list is out for last week - and I just read this:


Borders Group Inc. -- February 2007 Romance Best Sellers

Week Ending 2/3/07
Series
1
THE ITALIAN'S FORCED BRIDE

Kate Walker

Harlequin Presents #2605


That's really made my day!

Books, Blogs and Birthday Bonanza

Interesting post today - no, not this one - I must remember that this is a post as well

OK - interesting mail delivery today. Lots connected with writing and romances -

First, 3 different foreign editions - the Presents edition of my next book (the one after The Italian's Forced Bride which is still on sale now.) This is Part One of the Sicilian Brothers duo - Sicilian Husband, Blackmailed Bride (Guido's story) It's out in the UK in March (you can see that cover in the sidebar) and in America and Canada in April. So I suppose that means it's also in Australia in April.


Then there's the Italian edition of Bound By Blackmail - this shows how the books still have a long shelf-life even after they've finished their on-sale month in the big markets. B by B came out in the UK in 2005 and it's only just appearing in Italy.


Even older is the other book I receieved - >
This one dates from 2002. It's The Christmas Baby's Gift (which was reprinted in the Christmas By Request collection Christmas Kids and Kisses). This edition is a translation into Hungarian. It's getting to be a well-travelled book.

The other thing I got in the post today was a Newsletter from HMB Editorial for Modern/Presents telling me all about some new and interesting developments that are coming up for the line. I can't go public about all of them yet (watch this space) but here's something I can let you in on now.

There's a new blog in town and it's devoted entirely to Harlequin Presents novels. And as I'm assuming that most of you who are reading this blog are fans of Presents then this is for you.

It's a blog for the readers and the fans of Harlequin Presents written by some of the biggest fans of the line - the editors - and there will be plenty about the authors too. Right now Executive Editor Tessa Shapcott is blogging about the very special appeal of the Harlequin Presents line and there are lots of interesting posts coming up. So why not take a look at I(Heart)Presents and see what's going on?

Finally, tomorrow is February 9th - and it will be exactly a year since I started this blog on February 9th 2006. So to celebrate the blog's birthday, I'm having a Blog Birthday Bonanza. I'll tell you more about that in the next post.

A Great Day For Romance

Ten years ago if you’d asked me to name my favourite category romance writers, one name would have been right there on the list without a moment’s hesitation. The name of an author who wrote truly magical romances with gorgeous, sexy heroes and bright, appealing and totally individual heroines. An author who’s ‘tag line’ is Books that leave you laughing through the tears! – and she certainly accomplished that. Her books always had that – well I’m going to use that word again – that magical quality that turned them into modern day fairytales – not fairy stories note - and yet still had such believable, vibrant real life elements that you totally believed they could exist in the modern world – and at the same time made you wish that the real world could be as magical as these books made them out to be.
Books like Passionate Proposition with the mysterious and devastating ‘Shayde’ taking control of Tess Lonigan’s life. Or the sexy Salvatore brothers – Alessandro, Marco, Stefano and Luc , who all had books of their own, and were impossible to choose between.


There was the truly magical Fairytale Weddings where couple met at the Cinderella Ball – and, to quote the line on the books -

The inspiration behind the Cinderella Ball was simple...
Come single,
leave wed.
By midnight perfect strangers could find themselves
married...
As if by magic!

The name of the author ? DAY LECLAIRE

Day wrote over 30 books the came out in Harlequin Romance , Special Releases, a Single Title and the Forrester Square continuity. She was nominated for a RITA award no less than 10 times and won numerous other awards for her writing. I loved her books, looked for each new one eagerly, snatched it off the shelf, devoured it in delight

But then real life intruded into Day’s writing. She became ill, diagnosed with breast cancer almost six and a half years ago. Anyone who was lucky enough to know her then knows that she faced the disease with a grace, courage and humour that for me at least was truly inspirational and frequently brought tears to my eyes. At the time the BM and I were going through some tough times but knowing that Day was going through worse, and still picking herself up and carrying on, helped me such a lot. She came through the illness, and although the treatment was successful, as she says in her blog, afterwards “ I found that my creativity had gone to sleep.” The writing dried up. The books stopped appearing and fans like me could only go back to their collection of ‘keepers’ and remember.

But not any more. The good – the great news is that Day LeClaire is back.
She’s no longer writing for Harlequin Romance but for Silhouette Desire which will mean some changes in her writing – but ones that will enable her to keep that essential emotional, magical special Day voice. I know that voice is still there because it’s already showing in the excerpts from the books on her web site and in the on-line story that she’s telling over on eHarlequin.

And she’s back with a vengeance – with a brand new, sparkling trilogy - The Royals Trilogy - out in America this month. The first book The Forbidden Princess is in the shops on (officially anyway) February 13th, but knowing the way these things work, it could be out this week. I hope so – I’ve asked Anne McAllister to get me a copy and bring it with her when we meet in Ireland next week. She flies out on the 13th, so hopefully she’ll be able to grab a copy.And then I just know I’m going to want parts 2 and 3 - The Prince’s Mistress and The Royal Wedding Night. I can’t wait! Those of you who haven’t got friends who can get you a copy in America, can order it from Amazon – or wait . ..I’m sure these books will be published in the UK eventually. It’s just that I’ve been so long without a Day Leclaire book to read that I’m just not prepared to wait for eventually. I can barely wait until next week.

Welcome back Day – it’s wonderful to have you and your fabulous books back in the romance reading world where they belong. I hope your newly revived career is wonderfully successful as you deserve. Just keep those books coming – I’ve missed them so much!

If you want to know more about Day and The Royals Trilogy, you can visit her web site – or check out her blog on eHarlequin. And if like me you can’t wait to read some of her wonderful story-telling then there’s her on line read The Royal Affair here.

Have a great Day!

The Blank Page

Well, all The Other Writer’s stuff is done – the deadlines met (just) , the mss mailed or emailed depending on the publishers’ preferences and my life is my own again. And hopefully Foul Deeds and Suspicious Deaths in Grimsby and Plain Clothes and Sleuths and Heroes Villains and Victims of Leeds (second in the series after H V & V in Lincoln) are all with their respective editors and heading towards the bookshops some time later this year.

And I can concentrate on my own book instead.

So I’m back on a deadline and I’m back at the beginning of a new book. Some people love this stage, with all the wide open spaces of a new idea ahead of them and all that potential for character development and conflict creation.
My feelings at the start of a book tend to vary depending on what stage of ‘hatching’ I’m at.

Each book is different. Sometimes I know exactly how a book is going to begin, but then perhaps the middle stage is cloudy, unsure. Other times I know something that is going to happen a third of the way through but not quite how my characters are going to get there. I once wrote a book – Saturday’s Bride - knowing exactly the way that it had to end and working towards that so that I almost had to write the book backwards! With The Italian’s Forced Bride, I knew a major event that happens two thirds of the way through – and that meant that certain obvious things had to take place before I could write it. With the next release – Sicilian Husband, Blackmailed Bride – well that’s a book I was talking about in March last year. I knew the opening. I could see my hero, Guido Corsentino, walking into a village church and . . . well, no you’ll have to read the book to find out.

So where am I with this book? Well, right now I’m feeling lucky. The tiny seed that I planted and left to develop while I was rushing around helping The Other Writer has grown into a nice sturdy little seedling. For once there isn’t just a beginning or an ending – but an beginning, a past story – an conflict and a middle twist. This is rare, believe me! And I have no intention of looking gift horses in the mouth. I’ve been scribbling notes to myself and noting down lines of dialogue even when I can’t actually get to my desk. Now all I have to do is to collect them up and hope I don’t miss any. I don’t want to let any of those fragile, newborn ideas get away.
At this stage, the prospect of all those words ahead of me, coming between me and The End can be daunting., and the worst thing of all is the prospect of that totally blank page – page one. So that’s the reason why I have this funny little superstition when I finish a book. As soon as it’s done, and I’ve emailed the ms to my editor, that’s when I open a new file. I label it W I P or something equally bland and I set up the first page – I add a heading with my name, the page numbers. And I put down CHAPTER ONE. Then I write a couple of lines – something that I think sounds like a good beginning and hopefully has potential. It might be the start of something; it might not ever go anywhere. But the important thing is that I never, ever have nothing new to work on. I’ve always started a new book – even if I might come back later and erase the beginning, replace it with a new one.

This time I had the line ‘The hands of the clock didn’t seem to have moved in all the time she had been sitting here . . .’ It might stay, it might not. But I know what I was planning when I wrote it – and where I was going. 21 words down . . .54,979 to go

PS aka Groomed for Success

PS Domenico has insisted that I tell you that he and Theo are both feeling justifiably proud right at this moment at the success of their books - The Italian's Forced Bride is currently at #1 in the Harlequin Presents bestsellers over on Amazon.com, with The Santorini Bride at #5. And over on Barnes & Noble the guys are at #2 and #5 respectively. There the #1 slot is taken by that other Theo - Theo Savakis who is mentioned in the HERE COME THE GROOMS CONTEST in the previous post.

Both Dom and Theo are also cheering on Max whose book has yet to be officially published at the Harlequin Romances are out in the second set of publications - on the date that was formerly for Silhouette Romance.


Right now The Valentine's Bride is at #5 in Amazon's bestselling Harlequin Romances and #6 on B&N

Both Theo and Dom would be thrilled to see Max and his Valentine's Bride appear on the Waldenbooks listing when his book actually appear - after all they've had their turn!


And I expect that Max will be pretty happy too,

All in all The Grooms are feeling pretty pleased with themselves (But then that could be because they're currently enjoying their honeymoons - and their Brides' full attention now that the Brides' Contest is ended)

Sunday the day of rest?

(Insert hollow laughter here.)

I was also toying with the idfea of calling this post 'And I thought I was mad!' - the reason for that being that the dear Babe Magnet has gone and got himself in a tangle with four - count them - four - deadlines for - well, for now!

And that measn that nromal life as we know it - as anyone knows it - is sort of suspended as he goes crazy over the keyboard and I proof read and check and pack up mss to be flung in various directsion by mail on Monday. Add to that the fact that his email has packed up and I'm acting as secretary/PA and general dogsbody until peace is restored (hopefully tomorrow) . A couple of the books are already listed onAmazon! That's how mad publishing can be sometimes.

So until I have a brain cell to spare - I'll fill the space in my blog (and in my thoughts) with a reminder that although the prizes for the Brides Contest have already been posted, the Grooms still hoep ofr lots of answers to their questions.

Here are the details again . . .

HERE COME THE GROOM'S CONTEST has much the same rules as the brides' contest.You get three chances to win -- one on each of the blogs: mine Liz Fielding's and and Anne McAllister's

You have to answer the following nine questions - three on each blog. That’s just one for each book you can win. Some of them have two parts, so make sure you’ve got all the answers before you send them in.The answers can all be found on the blogs– or by using the sidebar links. The prizes are all listed in my previous blog.

Questions - - each of our heroes has set three of them and you can find the answers on their author’s blog.

THEO’S QUESTIONS
1) Which book, also being published in February has a hero called Theo Savakis (who is NOT ME because he is going to marry Miranda Weston and I am going to marry MARTHA!) and who is the author of that book?

2) My (Theo's) sister was the heroine of an earlier McAllister book. What's the name of the book -- and the full name of my sister?

3) McAllister says there is "another hero" in The Santorini Bride (which isn't true, by the way). What breed of dog is Ted?

MAX’S QUESTIONS:

1) St Valentine’s Day is a worldwide phenomenon, but Liz (my author) lives in Wales and they have their own special day for lovers in January. What’s the date? And what is the name of the saint involved?

2) The Valentine Bride (the book that Louise and I share), is the last one in a mini series. What was the series called? Name another author who wrote a book in that series.

3) Liz wrote a special online story The Cinderella Valentine to set up this series. What are the full names of the two characters who met and fell in love in my Chelsea restaurant?

DOMENICO’S QUESTIONS:

1 Where did Kate celebrate a book launch party this month and which famous novelist did she meet there?
2. What award did Kate's February release - The Italian's Forced Bride win?

3. If the winner of The Brides Contest has already read The Italian's Forced Bride, Kate will give away a copy of her March M&B Modern release which also had Bride in the title. What is the name of this book – and what is the name of its hero? (If you need as clue he’s one of those sexy Sicilian guys . .)

When you’ve got all the answers, send a copy of all of them to each of the authors. You can contact them through their websites (there’s a sidebar link on the blog) or, in the case of Anne you can just click on the "Contact Anne" tab and then send the email from there. Don’t forget to put GROOMS CONTEST in the subject.

The contest is running now and ends in a week on February 10th, 2007. So, that’s it – You have three chances to win a pile of great books. All you have to do is a little hunting

Here Come The Brides - one last time

Well now that Sid has stopped posing for calendar pics, he’s actually done the job he’s paid for(in crunchies) and he’s chosen my - sorry – Alice’s winner from the HERE COME THE BRIDES contest with Anne and Liz.

And the winner is Stanislava Ivanova from Bulgaria.

Congratulations Stanislava!Well, I said I would post books to anywhere in the world and my readers are keeping me to that. Arkansas and Indonesia last time. Bulgaria this one.

Anne has announced her winner too so I can tell you that she is Laurie Bertram from Canada.

And at some time today Liz will put her readers out of their misery and let them know who her winner is . Abd then I can get busy posting out copies of The Italian’s Forced Bride out to all of them. To go with the copies of The Santorini Bride and The Valentine Bride they will received from Anne and Liz.

And then, sadly our joint contest will be over. Thanks to all of you who entered. Martha, Louise and Alice had a lot of fun with it. So did Anne and Liz and I. Perhaps we could do something like this again sometime. If we get a chance to link up in the same way. Or perhaps there could be other joint contests with other authors. Would you like that? Do you like the joint contests idea? I know that the bag of books and Christmas Stocking contests have always been hugely popular.

Remember, of course, that the Grooms' contest is still going on -- and will be until February 10th. So you have plenty of time to enter that if you want. Of course because they are men, Max Theo and Domenico have come up with a BIGGER contest – which means you have to work a little harder than you did for the Brides' contest. But that's because you get a bigger prize – 3 books from each author so it’s well worth it. (Well D T & M would say so - or they would if they weren’t busy elsewhere – off on their honeymoons with Alice, Martha and Max)

Don’t tell Theo but I spent a very happy evening yesterday spying on him on his way to his happy ever after by reading The Santorini Bride and he’s got me hooked. I haven’t managed to finish it yet – just got to the part where the HEA – and Theo and Martha - couldn’t actually be further away from each other. Now if I can just sneak in a couple of spare hours to finish it. It’s a great book. A classic Anne McAllister and Theo is a gorgeous hero. Charming, determined . . . and what was it Alice said over on Anne’s blog –

Well, admittedly there were parts of it when I absolutely wanted to KILL Theo.

I know how she felt. But then Theo reminded her about the afternoon on the beach with the paints. . . I’ve read about the afternoon on the beach with the paints – and I’m not at all surprised that Theo remembers it. And I’ve no doubt Martha will never forget it either. I love it.

Then I’m going to find out all about Max. He doesn’t appear in America until – appropriately enough – Valentine’s Day. So I have time to read his story before most of you! I believe Anne has already read it - and fallen hard for Mr M Valentine.

What? Oh yes – Sid has reminded me that I should say that the answers to the Brides question
What are the full names of the three Brides in our three February books – are

The Santorini Bride - Martha Antonides
The Valentine Bride - Louise Valentine
The Italian's Forced Bride -Alice Howard

Hmm – I think, even if they are off on honeymoon, I can hear some male laughter and a couple of ‘easy- peasy’ comments. D T & M say you’ll have a harder job on finding the answers to their questions. In fact, they’re not sure that many of you will do it.

You’re going to prove them wrong aren’t you?

Let me remind you what you can win


From Anne McAllister each winner gets:
A three-in-one book containing three complete novels: The Cowboy's Code, containing Cowboys Don't Quit, Cowboys Don't Stay and The Cowboy and the Kid (Romantic Times's Best Series Novel of the Year) PLUS a copy of Theo Savakis's book by the author whose name you have to figure out.

From Kate Walker each winner gets:
Her best-selling Alcolar Family trilogy: The Twelve-Month Mistress, The Spaniard's Inconvenient Wife and Bound by Blackmail.

And from Liz Fielding each winner gets:
Copies of her terrific book all about GROOMS: The Corporate Bridegroom, A Suitable Groom and Her Wish-List Bridegroom

And you can find the questions here.

But for now – from Alice Howard (now Parrisi) Martha Antonides (now Savas) and Louise Valentine (now – well, now Louise Valentine!) Goodbye and thanks for taking part in our contest

There go the Brides!

Cat Calendar - February