Advent Calendar Day 3

I've set myself a problem with getting Charlie to pick the Advent Calendar winners - he's a much younger cat than dear Sid was so he's  out and about a lot more! I managed to get him to pick a winner for the Tote Bags 'n' Blogs prize - the winner was Martha Lawson -    and then he decided that he wanted to go out roaming while there was still some daylight and before it got too cold.  So I'll have to get him back on the job of picking a winner when he comes in for supper.

In the meantime, I want to post up today's question.

Over on Tote Bags, I was talking a bout buying and sharing ebooks - and that was on my mind because I've  been  watching how my ebooks - old and new - are selling since some were re-issued as Harlequin Treasury and M&B Vintage.  It has been interesting to see which of the older books have been bought  since they came out in this format. Amazon show a listing of the bestselling M&B books  and for the past few weeks I've been thrilled to have three books on this list  for almost a month - in spite of the fact that they were all originally published some years ago.

It's made me wonder what sparks off a new interest in an older book - word of mouth? Or some new  readers who have just found my books and want to pick up old ones?   Or readers who read these books when they originally came out  and lost their print copies so now they';re collecting ebook versions to reread. I know that's why I've been buying some of the M&B Vintage classics. 

You can see all the titles of mine that have been reissued as Vintage/Treasury titles in the great banner that Heather has made for the head of this page -  nut there are a couple of other 'oldies' that have been appearing in the Bestseller charts. The top runner for weeks now has been The Sicilian's Red-Hot Revenge, This is a really special book for me as it was my 50th title published. It came out back in 2007. 

The other books that have had a renewed interest in them have been  a mixed bunch - Kept For Her Baby (2009) has been appearing on the list for the past 4 weeks or so - and  now it's been joined by His Miracle Baby (2001). It makes me wonder if someone is wanting to read some older stories with babies in them. I know so many people have written to me to say that thnis are real heart tugging stories so perhaps that's it?

And then of the Vintage titles, the most popular is The Groom's Revenge  (1997)  and The Unexpected Child (also 1997)  - there's another 'baby book'.

So that set me wondering - what golden oldies would you want to pick up if you were buying |Treasury/Vintage titles?  What older books do you remember that you'd love to go back and reread, to see if they were as good as the way you remember them the first time?

You don't have to name any of my books - but I'd love to know if there are any  you'd like to find.

Today's Advent Calendar prize is one of those  bestselling, second time around books - that very special 50th title of mine - The Sicilian's Red-Hot Revenge.(Vito's story)
 
They shared one night of passionate lovemaking. Then in the cold light of day, her secret tore them apart. Now Vito has come back – and he’s determined to have his revenge.
Emily Lawton never expected to see him again. But Vito Corsentino has tracked her down and he wants Emily. This time he’ll take her and he’ll be the one to leave when it’s over.
But Emily has one last secret for Vito . . . She’s having his baby and if he finds out, he’ll want more than revenge!

When only seduction will settle old scores.
Part One of The Sicilian Brothers series is Sicilian Husband, Blackmailed Bride - Guido's story
Don't forget - answers in the comments section and I'll get Charlie on to picking a winner  tomorrow.

Oh yes - and if any of you are real collectors and looking for  some real golden oldies to add to your collection - I have some of those on offer in this Advent Calendar including some  that I think are now totally out of print - keep wathcing thnis space! And I hope you'll join in the rest of the contests as you do.

Advent Calendar Day 2 - on Tote Bags 'n' Blogs

Have you joined in the Advent Calendar giveaway yet? Yesterday's first day is still open for comments - at least until I find Charlie and get him to pick a winner!  So you still have a little time to post a comment.

And then there's today's Day 2 posting with another chance to win a book as an extra Christmas gift from me -  but thta's posted somewhere else.

Today is the first Sunday of the month so that means that I'm over on Tote Bags N Blogs with my regular post there.  It also means that today's Advent Calendar givewaway is over on Tote Bags as well.

The prize giveaway today is the 2008 book Bedded By The Greek Billionaire -

Taken for passion. . . or ruthless retribution?

As a naïve teenager, Jessica Marshall fell achingly in love with a gorgeous Greek – Angelos Rousakis.
But her clumsy attempt at attracting his attention cost Angelos everything.
Seven years later, Angelos Rousakis is back. Hard and powerful, he intends to claim what is his – and that includes Jessica. However the once innocent girl now pretends that she feels nothing for him. . . which only inflames his passion for her further. . .
As Jessica falls for the sexy billionaire all over again, she cannot be sure - Is he back for passion . . . or retribution?

If you want a chance to win this title, you'll need to answer over on Tote Bags 'n' Blogs - and come back here for Day 3 of the Advent Calendar tomorrow!

Advent Calendar Day 1



It's December 1st and that means that all over the world, wherever Christmas is celebrated, young  children - and not so young - are pinning up their Advent Calendars and opening the first door to see what picture  - or chocolate - lies behind.

 

In past Decembers I've shared this tradition with you - offering a small surprise/giveaway for each day leading up to Christmas . It's been a way of sharing the time of celebration, of  thanking my readers for  sharing the past year with me - and specially for sharing and enjoying my books.  It;s also been a way of getting to know you all better because the way we share is that I ask you a question about yourselves, your lives, your families, the way you celebrate Christmas - or whatever you're celebrating right now if Christmas isn't a special festtival for you.

What you do is you leave me an answer in the comments section - here, or wherever I'm blogging on each day - and I pick a winner of a particular book to give away, Well -  no, I don't pick the winner. In the past that was always Sid the Cat's job. I gave him the names on pieces of paper and with a cat treat on the top of each one. And the first treat that Sid ate, the name of the winner was on that piece of paper.  Sadly dear Sid is no longer with us but he did train up his apprentice in Charlie The Maine Coon (and ccasionally Flora The Floozie). Charlie is well ready to perform this important task - and as you can see from the photo, he's already been practising on his own  Advent Calendar which was given to Sid by his dear Lady Across The Pond Anne McAllister  and has now been passed down to Flora and Charlie in their turn.

So today is December 1st -  the start of the countdown to Christmas and time for the first question .

 

Today's book is  a bumper givewaway - Mediterranean Tycoons is a 3 in 1 volume with books by two other great authors as well as mine:

The De Santis Marriage is by Michelle Reid

and

The Sicilian's Virgin Bride is by Sarah Morgan

 

My book in this collection is  The Greek Tycoon's Unwilling Wife.  This was originally published in  2007

 

 

He thought she was his mistress . . .
Recuperating on his private Greek island after a car crash, Andreas Petrakos had no memory of the previous year. The last thing he remembered was his passionate affair with beautiful Rebecca Ainsworth.
. . . when actually she was his wife!
Becca returned to the island because Andreas had asked for her. But she had to hide the truth from him. So what would happen when he recalled throwing Becca out - on their wedding day - for a reason only he knew?


So would you like a chance to win a copy of this great collection?
All you have to do is to leave an answer in the comments section -
Today's question - well, I've been talking about Advent Calendars.  What about you?
Do you have an Advent Calendar in your house? For you or just for the children?
What picture/theme/design is it this year?  (The lovely Anne McAllister specialises in great Advent Calendars - she always sends me a Jacquie Lawson Advent Calendar to have on my computer. I love it!)
So what does yours look like?  Do you have pictures or chocolates behing the 'doors'
Or perhaps you light an Advent candle or make a Blue Peter Candle Wreath   . . . or do something else entirely?

If you don't have advent, a calendar or anything like that - how do you mark the days leading up to a special celebration?  I'd love to know.

And yes- before anyone asks  -  I will send the prizes anywhere in the world. So back. Leave your answer  - I love getting to know more about my readers. So come and join in. The more the merrier.

Much Needed Catch Up

I knew that I needed to blog  - having neglected to post for some time – but I hadn’t realised just how long it is since I actually posted anything here.  And when my sister in Australia notices that I’ve been  missing in action (sorry Big Sis!) then I know it’s well overdue to write something.

So here I am, trying to catch up  and bring things up to date. What have I been doing since  I last posted?

1.       With the help of the wonderful Heather Reed of We Write Romance, I’ve  finally updated my web site. (Thank you Heather!)  I can’t believe how long it is since that was done. So now there is a complete list of all the recent M&B Vintage/Harlequin  Treasury ebooks that have been issued  - including a special banner that Heather has created -  and they’re all clearly shown.  The new publicity pic is up there too.

2.       On a personal front  there was the dental emergency  - how can a tooth go from ‘fine’ to ‘ouch!’ in what seems like the blink of an eye. Well, that’s what mine did  or so it seemed. So I’ve spent more time than I care to remember sitting in a dentist’s chair, trying to breathe calmly while the old filling was drilled out and a new one put in. Fun – not!

3.       Reading.  One of my resolutions – not new year, obviously, but a determined one all the same – has been to read more as I’d not been getting my hands on as many books as I would have liked.   So I’ve had my nose buried in as many volumes as possible – some good, some not so satisfactory.

4.       Admitting at last that the C word is coming – it’s December tomorrow and that means that Christmas is just around  the corner. And with friends and family in America, Spain, Australia, Japan, presents and parcels need to be  organised, gifts bought, wrapped and sent on their way.  I’ve just put what is (hopefully) the last foreign posting in the Mail.  Which means of course that I’ve bought the gifts and wrapped them before I did that! And there are some other presents ticked off the list for friends and family nearer home- I’m starting to feel   surprisingly organised.

5.       Watching the results and reading the top 3 entries in the So You Think You Can Write Contest – I enjoyed them all –  Congratulations to  all three – Mel, Amber and Jennifer – and extra special congratulations to Jennifer for winning that prized publishing contract. 

6.       Celebrating some very special news when  a dear friend Anna Louise Lucia  and her husband announced that they are adopting a a gorgeous, bouncy, little two year old boy.  That’s the very best sort of news on a cold grey damp November day.

7.       Planning the Advanced Contemporary Romance  Writing Workshop for Fishguard in February2013.  The welcome letters and the reading list have gone out and now I’m planning the final details of the course and waiting for some first chapter submissions so that I can discuss them in the one to ones in February. So looking forward to that. Oh – and if you were hoping to book for Fishguard, but hesitated after I announced that the course was sold out – as a result of an unexpected cancellation, there is now ONE place left on the course for February 15^th 2013.  One place only  - so if  you’d like to grab it – check out the details here and get your booking in.

8.       I’ve also been planning my Christmas celebrations on the blog – with the  Advent Calendar coming up starting on December 1^st (that’s tomorrow isn’t it? Yikes! Must get organised!)  I have a book a day to give away – some old, some new -  and I know that there are some Kate Walker collectors out there who might be interested in a couple  of ‘golden oldies’ I have on offer. All you have to do is to join in,  come and chat, tell me what’s happening in your world  and post a comments to be in with a chance to win -   So look out for that Advent Calendar starting Saturday December 1^st.

And that’s it – I think!  I’m sorry for the absence,  and  glad to be back. With the Advent Calendar giveaway lined up for the next 24 days, I’ll hope to be  much more of a regular blogger for December at least!

 

On Line Read

Mills & Boon free on-line reads:

 

 Wife for Real by Kate Walker - Chapter 8 FINAL CHAPTER

Sold out!

Congratulations to the 3 finalists in the So You think You Can Write contest.  If you haven’t read their entries – check them out on the SYTYCW page.    And look out for more news on other entries that have attracted attention and who may well be contacted by  the editors very soon.

Good luck to everyone  involved – and keep writing! Even if you’re not in this  list – or the longer list of finalists, the only way to reach your dream of being published is to keep writing, keep learning,  keep trying.

Oh – and talking of learning. I have just organised some updates on my web site, one of which was to put the updated details of  my Advanced Contemporary Romance WritingCourse in Fishguard on the Events page but   last night I heard that the final place on in February 2013 has been booked – so this course is now officially sold out.  Sorry to anyone who had hoped to get a place for 2013. But don’t forget – you can still send an email to show your interest and Gerry Hobbs will put your name on the waiting list in case anyone who has booked  drops out between now and February – this will be on a first come, first served basis so get you name in now if you  want to secure any place that comes free.

Finally, if you've missed it until now  -  my free online read, Wife For Real is running on the Mills & Boon web site. This is the story of Alexander Alcolar – the first of the Alcolar Family whose story appeared in the  called surprisingly enough – The Alcolar Family (and yes- Fiona  - they were originally 3 separate titles).   Wife For Real is now at Chapter 6 where the story is about to come to its emotional climax.  

I’ve been reading through this again for the first time in ages and I remember how much I had to pare it down to fit it into the short, serial format of the on-line reads. There was no room for extras, much description or anything but the immediate story. It was a fascinating exercise – getting the emotional impact of the story into just 10,000 words.  Reading it, I’ve been thinking how it could also be used  as a long, detailed plan of a novel, sketching out the emotional journey of the hero and heroine and  then it would be possible to go back and shade in all the details later.

I’m not very much of a planner,  but that way might work for some who need more structure. (Hmm – note to self – look at this from the point of view of  teaching on that Contemporary Romance Writing course. . . .

Tote Bags Blog day

Today's the first Sunday of the month so as usual I've written my usual blog post over on Tote Bags 'N' Blogs.

I'm sharing with you the very self-indulgent week I've had 'filling up the well' of my imagination with lots of great reading.   It's been so much fun - and I've made a large reduction in my TBR pile as  a result!

 What have you been reading lately?  Anything good? I'd love to know. I actually have space on my Kindle/TBR shelves now!

Good news for Australian readers

One of the books I get enquiries about so often from my Australian readers is A Sicilian Husband.  This is because this novel is part of a duo – the first title being The Sicilian’s Wife.

The first book tells the story of Cesare Santorino and his heroine Megan, and in that story readers met Cesare’s half-brother Gio Cardelli. Gio had adored his wife and had been heart-broken when  she had died tragically and far too young.

So many readers wanted to read Gio’s story – it was published in 2003 here in the UK, 2004 in America. But in Australia, it wasn’t  easy to find as it was published in a multipack of ‘Winter Warmers’ rather than as a separate title.

So if you missed it then, I have good news for you – and it’s great news for me too. Mills & Boon Australia is publishing a special reprint of both  these titles in a double volume  in their Bestsellers Collection which is out this month.

I’m so thrilled  about this for a couple of reasons – on is that A Sicilian Husband is one of my own personal favourites amongst my books. I always loved Gio from the moment I introduced him in Maegan and Cesare’s story. And secondly because it’s a real honour to have  two of my stories  reprinted in the special Bestseller series. It’s something I’ve dreamed of for a long time – and I’m really happy that the books selected are these two titles.

So I hope that if you’re one of my wonderful Australian readers who missed Gio’s story (or perhaps Cesare’s)  the first time around, or perhaps you just want to replace an old/missing edition of these stories you’ll be as glad as I am to see them back again. Or it they’re totally new to you – really hope you enjoy them this time around.

Oh - and I've  just discovered that over on the Mills & Boon website,  my novella Wife For Real is being republished  in their On Line Reads. This is the very first  story in  the series The Alcolar Family.  It isn't  available  in the reprint of the 3 in 1 Collection  - so if you wanted to know how that series began  - and to learn about Alex Alcolar  now's your chance to catch up.

(Wife For Real is included in the ebook collection of The Alcolar Family on Harlequin web site too)

Tomorrow in the first Friday in November which means that I will be blogging over on the Pink Hearts Society  site. I’m posting a second set of thoughts following on  from the So You Think You Can Write Contest  - hope to see you there!

Well I did warn you . . .

Just to say that  after I posted about The Advanced Romance Writing Course in  Fishguard in February,   someone who read the blog  has now booked one of the two remaining  places for Feb 2013.

So there is now only one place left on the course coming up. After that, it's fully booked up.

 If you want to book here's where you'll find the details.

If you don't get  your booking in in time for this space,  you can still leave your name and email and if anyone drops out between now and February, then any spaces will be offered  on a first come first served basis.

So looking forward to seeing everyone  in February.

Thank you and a bit of news

You are all so lovely. Thank you so much for the wonderful compliments on my new publicity photo. I was blushing as I read them - still am, thinking of them.  I'm so glad you approves.

The Babe Magnet says he's not surprised. He picked out that photo from the set of contact prints - some of the others weren't too bad but that was his favourite.  So I'm happy.

This brand new 'official' photo is pretty important to me as it marks a new stage in my writing - I hope. Certainly it marks the acceptance and scheduling of my 61st Modern Romance. Some of you will have spotted that this has been a long time coming, and I was going to blog a  bit about that   but I think I'll leave it for a my next post because I have some other news that  needs to be posted first.

I have been getting organised and planning my next few weeks  and one of the things I really must do - with some urgency  - is to update my web site and reorganise that.

Which means that I need to bring up to date the details of the events  coming up in 2013.  And as the first of these will be the Writers' Weekend at Fishguard in February,  I thought I'd check just what the situation is with booking for this weekend.

The Advanced Romance Writing Course has a strict upper  limit of 15 places  available. It has always been very popular, in fact has usually sold out almost every time - but there are more than three months still before the actual date of the event. (It runs from 15th - 17th February) So I was suprised to find that it is already just about sold out.

There are in fact only two places left on this course  for February 2013.  (And I've already had some interest in one of those places.) So if you are interested in joining us in beautiful Wales next year,  now is the time to thinking about booking so as not to miss out.

I am so looking forward to going back to Fishguard - I love the place, the hotel staff are always so very helpful,  I get to be back with the wonderful Anne and Gerry Hobbs who  as most of you know also run the fabulous Writers' Holiday in Caerleon in July.  The weekend is great value for money - only £219 all in, and if you book online,  you save an extra £10 of that.

There’s nothing extra to pay -  you can even  be collected from Fishguard or Haverfordwest Railway stations and return you there at the close of the event on Sunday afternoon. You’ll have a choice of single, double, or twin roomed, all en-suite accommodation (even taking the trouble to guarantee that you’ll have a room next to your friends), and excellent full board plus (vegetarian choices) hospitality for the duration of your stay. Fully inclusive, the only extra expense will be in the bar during the weekend, or if you wish to purchase a book or souvenir from the Bookroom.

There are courses and places that are much more expensive  - but believe me, we cram a lot into one weekend at Fishguard. I always come home inspired and buzzing with ideas - even if I have no voice left after all the teaching.

Oh yes  - the teaching -   This course is open to previous Fishguard workshop or Caerleon Romance course participants or  those who have been on one of my basic Romance courses or workshops elsewhere. It is not for beginners. Designed especially for Fishguard to move you on, the whole weekend will be concentrated on this workshop - without other distractions. Guests are encouraged to complete work with me prior to the weekend commencement, and everyone will have a short one to one session with me to discuss your writing.  This is in addition to a series of six advanced novel workshop sessions.

So if you’re interested – check out the full details on the Writers’ Holiday website  and get your booking in now , and I’ll hope to see you in February.

For those of you who have already booked, I’m so looking forward to seeing you (again  - for some of you) and I’ll be contacting you all very soon about the  course.

Can’t wait!

Congratulations & Photo

First thing today is to congratulate the Top  28  - the writers who have been chosen to go into the next stage of the So You Think  You Can Write contest.   This is a real achievement for all of you  - so Congratulations! I hope that this success spurs you on to greater things - I'll look forward to seeing the results of the next stage when they are revealed.

If you haven't see the list, then you can find it here.

Good luck to the long list 'winners' - but really, the hard work starts now. It;s one thing to create a first chapter, polish it and submit it and win the attention of the editors/reader voters - quite another to craft it into a full length, fully developed and readable story.   Go for it!

Those who have not been selected - this is not the end. I'm sure that more than the 28 long listers will have been noticed - and I hope that having taken the plunge and written something  you will not give up now. Remember, getting published is a marathon, not a sprint - keep on  keeping on and hopefully there will be many newly published authors from this contest.

Photo - I expect you'll be seeing lots of these all over the web in the last few days - When the authors all met for the annual Association of Mills & Boon lunch, back in September, Harlequin provided a photographer to take photos of everyone there  so a s to provide a new publicity photograph for author pages etc.  We all received our copies of the new photos last week and as I said many authors have been posting them on their web sites, blogs etc.   So if you've always wondered what a favourite author looks like you'll find them around the web.

And if you want to know what  mine looks like - well, here  you are. 

The Babe Magnet likes it, so does The Offspring and even Flora and Charlie think it looks like Mum!

Kate's Corner day

It's October 15th so that means that I'm blogging over on We Write Romance today in my regular Kate's Corner spot.

I'm not doing well in keeping up with my personal blog here but at least I am blogging in my regular 'guest spots' which is something! I keep hoping that at some point life will settle down a bit.

Well I can hope . . .

Good luck to everyone who has entered the So You Think You Can Write Contest - I'm looking forward to seeing the list of the final 28.

Catching up again

Well, that was a busy week.   I'm not quite sure where most of it went -  I was deep in revisions so I  was barely away from my desk.  We had family to visit and I have to judge a writing contest for a  Writers'  Circle . . . Blink and the week was gone.

I did actually blog a couple of times on my usual   monthly dates for other sites but then the internet played up and I didn't post to let everyone know.  So if you want to catch up, then there are posts
 here   on the Pink Heart Society Blog (talking about the So You Think You Can Write contest)
and
here at Tote Bags 'N' Blogs  - talking about my favourite season

I'm back today with some interesting news -  I was talking about older books  and that seems to be the thene of the  month really because I've just discovered that Mills & Boon have brought out some of my older titles in brand new ebooks. This is part of a new initiative to republish  older titles in the  Mills and Boon Vintage series.

At the moment they are publishing  Modern Romances  from the 1990s and there are five of my older books appearing in Kindle editions from today.  I noticed these last week, while I was still busy revising,  and they just had blanks for their covers but today I'm really pleased to see that they have proper covers  with the artwork from the past editions in a new format .

The books now available are :
The Unexpected Child
Hers For  A Night
Flirting With Danger
No Holding Back     (which has one of my favourite openings ever)
The Groom's Revenge.


So if you missed any of these in the past and would like to catch up on some older Kate Walkers  here's your chance.

I'm not sure about being called Vintage - but it's the books not me!

And talking about older books -  special thanks go to Marybelle, Maria and Princess Fiona. I'm sorry I was so busy that I've neglected to answer your comments - I really enjoyed reading about your book collections so  - if you'd like to email me  -  see the link  at the bottom  of the page, I'd like to see if I can add a book to your Kate Walker collection. I don;t have any really old ones but I'll let you know which of my backlist books I do have and you can choose one of them.

Talking of older books . . .

This is a post that results from a comment posted on my earlier blog about the reissue of older books.

In the comments on that day PrincessFiona said:

>>Excellent to see the ebooks coming out. Though I look at my nice little shelf with 37 of your titles in paperback and want to complete the set.

I was so thrilled to think that Fiona had  a collection of my books and was looking to complete the set (only 23 titles  to go Fiona!  Well - actually only 21 as two of these were only in ebook form  or a story published on eHarlequin). But this got me wondering  - which is the oldest Kate Walker title  you have?  On your bookshelves? Do you have a collection of oldies from my writing history?

Does anyone out there have a complete collection of Kate Walker titles? Or who has the largest collection?  Is Fiona's 37 titles the biggest collection of Kate Walker's in captivity?

Or - another question - which older title would you most love to find and read ?

Fiona - I don't know if you knew of this, but I just discovered that one of those 'ebook only' stories has actually be published in print in  Australia -  Wife For Real which was a serial over on eHarlequin was a bonus book in with  Innocent Secretary . . .Accidentally Pregnant by Carol Marinelli.  You might find that somewhere.

Anyway - tell me about your oldies and  I'll have a look in my book stock boxes and  offer a couple of giveaways from my backlist to help some of you add to your collection.

Where does time go?

Yesterday we celebrated a birthday in this house. No, not mine or the Babe Magnet's  - but Flora's.  I find it hard to believe that she is actually now a mature (well I use the word advisedly ) lady of five .

Five! That's mature in cat years. And even though Maine Coons are supposed to keep on growing longer than most cats, she has now reached her full size and beauty. And she knows it.  It's hard to remember when she was just a small kitten who came to live with us two days after Christmas  in 2007.

So to celebrate,  I thought I'd just post a couple of pictures of   Princess Flora Floozibelle - as the little kitten I first met, through her growing up years and - as she was yesterday , asleep on my desk after all the extra treats and food.

Old books . . . New editions

One of the best things about writing for Harlequin Mills & Boon is the way that the books are published in so many different formats and countries all  over the world.  Every now and then a bundle of new foreign editions appears in the post and I have fun finding out which books they are and where they've been reprinted this time.

I've  had a flurry of these books lately and it's been interesting to see which 'old favourites' have turned up this time.

One is a reprint of a reprint  now appearing as a 'Select'  title in Japan. The Twelve Month Mistress always had one of my favourite covers and now I think it looks really powerful and  atmospheric in this new edition.

Another reprint of an older book appears in a French edition where I'm thrilled to be published together with my lovely friend Trish Morey - who just received her silver pin for her 25th title  -   In this edition  Trish's Secrets of Castillo Del Arco  has my  The Married Mistress included as a free promotional title - a great bargain. And Congratulations Trish on that 'silver' book!


In parcels of books arriving last week, I also  had an Italian edition of The Antonakos Marriage,   The Return of The Stranger in Greek, Spanish, Portugese, and  Hebrew. And The Devil and Miss Jones is out in France this month too.

It's been intriguing to see these foreign language editions appearing on Kindle - and so showing up on my listing on Amazon, where I can now spot German, French, Spanish, Italian, Portugese editons alongside the UK ones.  When I think back to how when I was first published, the books tended to appear on a shelf in a UK bookshop for one month and that was the only time I ever saw them on sale, this is such a great thrill to see  all these editions appearing now.

And then there are the older books, now being reproduced in the Kindle format -  after browsing on Amazon, I discovered that The Sicilian's Red-Hot Revenge has been brought out in this format last month -  sadly, without the gorgeous sexy cover  of the original. 

And it's great to see that in the top 100  Mills & Boon titles on sale on Amazon today, there  are four 'elderly' Kate Walker titles  listed there - The Greek Tycoon's Unwilling Wife (in Mediterranean  Tycoons)  Kept For Her Baby, The Duke's Secret Wife  and, of course The Sicilian's Red-Hot Revenge. It's great to see them all enjoyuing a new lease of life  as Kindle books.

And who knows what today's post might bring!

What oldies but goldies romance books would you love to see reappearing on Kindle?

Celebrating a friend's achievement

Today I have a blog in a very special place - I'm over on my friend Kate Hardy's blog, joining in  the special  - and very big - blog party she's having to celebrate her real landmark book - her  50th published title!

Some years ago I shared the day of my 50th book presentation with Kate  because  she was then celebrating her 25th silver pin.    And last Friday I was there after the AMBA lunch  to cheer and applaud when she was presented with her gold pin for her 50th title!

Er . . .yes  - five years later!! She's hit 50 and I'm plodding along with 61 . . .

That - and other reasons are why I call her Scary Kate. If you want to know more, then why not visit Kate's Blog today. I'm giving away two copies of my trilogy Claimed by The Sicilian (it includes my 50th title The Sicilian's Red-Hot Revenge)  as part of the celebrations.

See you there?

And many, many congratulations, Kate on this landmark book. At the pace you write, I'll expect to be celebrating your 75th . . .Oh - next year??

Missing again

My blog is getting neglected  - that's because I've been busy and been away again

I've only just got back from a trip to London where I was att the annual lunch for the Association of Mills and Boon authors  - I also had a great trip to the theatre - and  dinner with my sister.

Because it's the day for my regular Kate's Corner blog over on  We Write Romance,  there are more details over there.

Meanwhile, I've been busy appeasing  the cats for abandoning them, unpacking, washing . . reading for getting back to my desk tomorrow.

Pink Heart Day

It's the first Friday of the month so that mneans it's my Pink Heart Society  day for blogging in my Date With Kate Column.

So that's where you'll find me - with the So You Think You Can Write  contest in mind, as a special  request from PHS editor, Michelle Styles, I'm talking about choosing just which type of romance writing will suit you best.

See  you there!

Tote Bags Blogging Day

It's the first Sunday of September  (where did the rest of the year go?). So today is my day for blogging over at Tote Bags 'N' Blogs so that's where you'll find me.

 I'm talking about my  'New Year'  - which I'm starting with a book giveaway. So if you post a comment over there you'll be in with a chance to win. Maybe The Devil and Miss Jones  or The Return of The Stranger  . . . Your choice of the backlist books I have available.

Thanks to everyone who has sent sympathies and get well messages after Charlie revealed that I'd sliced into my finger - it was definitely an OUCH! moment. It's  still not quite healed - I'm not sure if I'm going to lose the nail - but it is getting there so thank you all for your concern.  It has certainly made typing messages  a lot more difficult! One of the reasons for the shortage of blog posts.