Liz Fielding, ELOPING WITH EMMY, and Giveaways!

Romance writer and multi published UK based novelist Liz Fielding when asked about....

WHERE DO YOU GET IDEAS?

 This is the universal question – the one thing every author is asked over and over again. It’s not often I can be absolutely sure. Usually stories evolve slowly. A photograph will spark something in the brain, characters will walk onto the stage that is waiting for them, a line of dialogue will hum in the imagination… And so it begins.  But occasionally you can pinpoint the exact moment a story began.

 That’s how it is with Eloping With Emmy.

 It was a Saturday afternoon. I was on my own – unusual – and I picked up the Radio Times (the magazine listing the television and radio programmes for the week) and that afternoon, buried amongst the sport, was an old movie that I’d never seen. It Happened One Night with Clark Gable and Claudette Colbert. I read the blurb, reached for the remote and grabbed a notebook.

 I had a great afternoon watching a fabulous movie – it won the entire sweep of major Oscars that year – Best Film, Best Screenplay, Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Director. Runaway heiress, down at heel hero… I made some notes, but mostly I just watched and over the next few days my writing brain began to play with ideas.

 Scenes ran through my head, made some more notes. Some ideas were discarded (I seem to remember one in a hayloft that that never made it onto the page), some jelled, none were anything like the scenes in the movie, but that’s not how inspiration works. It’s like the sparkplug in your car. It fires the engine, but after that you’re the one applying the fuel.

I sent the first three chapters to my editor and asked her what she thought and then got on with writing Wild Fire.

It was a while before she came back to me – on the day I delivered Wild Fire. And she wanted the rest of the book by the end of the month. Gulp. I had twenty-six days to finish Eloping With Emmy; I delivered the manuscript on the last day of the month.

My book isn’t anything like It Happened One Night. Emmy isn’t running away from marriage to a boring millionaire (!) and Tom isn’t down at heel in any way, although he is from a completely different social strata. They are, however, forced to stick together on their journey across England and France, even though their objectives are at odds. She is determined to reach the man she’s vowed to marry. His assignment is to stop the wedding, whatever it takes.

What I learned from It Happened One Night was the value of the journey as a crucible. According to the Shorter Oxford English Dictionary a crucible is – “A vessel, usually of earthenware, made to endure great heat, used for fusing metals. A melting pot. Fig. Used of any severe test or trial.”

And that – according to my very first editor - is what every great romance needs.

Leave a comment telling me what romantic movie you’ve loved and if there was a crucible, how it held the hero and heroine together.

I’ll draw a winner from the comments for an eBook download of Eloping With Emmy, a signed copy of my new Harlequin Romance, The Last WomanHe’d Ever Date and an eBook download of Liz Fielding’sLittle Book of Writing Romance.

Eloping With Emmy

Back Blurb


Hot shot legal eagle, Tom Brodie, has been landed with an assignment to test any man to his limits - do whatever it takes to prevent headstrong heiress Emerald Carlisle from marrying a fortune-hunter. He is not happy about it, and when Emmy stows away in his car, his day goes from bad to worse, but since she's the only one who knows where to find the man in question he has no choice but take her along for the ride.

It's a bumpy one!

Emmy is not a woman to sit back and let things fall as they will. She has a plan and she keeps Brodie on his toes in a rollercoaster chase across the UK and France. He's more than up to the challenge, but falling in love with Emmy along the way is always going to end with his heart in pieces.

THE LAST WOMAN HE'D EVER DATE

Back Blurb

Claire Thackeray: Hardworking single mom and gossip columnist. Hoping for the inside scoop on sexy billionaire Hal North, aka her teen crush!

Most wary of: Gorgeous men who set her heart racing. (Been there, got the T-shirt—and the baby!)

Hal North: Bad boy made good. Back in his hometown as new owner of the Cranbrook Park estate. Determined to put his troubled past behind him.

Most wary of: Journalists—especially pretty ones, like new neighbor and tenant Claire Thackeray.


Liz Fielding around the web:

Website         Blog        Twitter        Facebook

Donna Alward talks on her THE LAST REAL COWBOY! And Gifts!

This week RBH invited Romance Author Donna Alward to share with us about the heros she likes to write and read about. But as she says there are damaged heroines and heros who love them!

Damaged Heroines and the Heroes who love them….

I tend to write damaged heroes. I love a good broody, wounded man who falls really hard for the right woman. Wounded heroines are a harder challenge for me. Maybe because we don’t want to feel sorry for a heroine. We want to see strong, independent women we can cheer for – and because the majority of readers of Romance are women and the main protagonist is generally female, you really have to make sure she’s relatable. The hero is the man you dream of, but you walk in the heroine’s shoes.

Wounded heroines need special sorts of heroes. My last three Harlequin Romances have all starred wounded heroines – some of the scars are visible, some are not. In my current release, THE LAST REAL COWBOY, social worker Angela Beck seems confident at the beginning, like she has her crap together. She’s Executive Director of Butterfly House, a second-stage housing shelter for abused women. She’s a hard worker and she’s strong and determined to make it a success.

But Angela hasn’t dealt with her own issues yet, and her own secret: that she feels guilty for leaving after high school – leaving her mother to deal with her abusive father all by herself. There’s a little piece of her that still hopes her mother will be strong enough to leave him someday.

It takes a big man to deal with that sort of baggage.

In walks Sam Diamond. Sam seems pretty cocky at the beginning, but he’s also carrying a fair burden – the day-to-day running of Diamondback Ranch in the wake of his father’s stroke. Not just the practical running of it but stepping in as the de facto head of the family even though that title still belongs to his Dad, Virgil. Sam knows how to love and how to care for someone. And he’ll protect those he loves ‘til the end. They are two pretty strong personalities to put together, and sparks fly a bit, but they’re a pretty good team, too.

In THE REBEL RANCHER, the follow up book out next month, Angela’s first client Clara is our wounded heroine. As a client of Butterfly House, we know she’s come from an abusive relationship and jumping into another is not in the plan. Especially with a man like Tyson Diamond – the rebellious Diamond who left the ranch at 18 and never looked back. Ty’s got a reputation as a bad boy and that scares her to death – until she meets him and sees a whole other side to him. She sees the hurt behind the bravado. The calm beneath the charisma. Clara’s a wounded bird, and Ty, despite his reputation, is loyal and especially gentle. I don’t have to tell you that I really love Ty, do I?

And last fall I wrote a damaged heroine whose scars are pretty obvious – HOW A COWBOY STOLE HER HEART - Meg Briggs is a breast cancer survivor. She’s gone through a mastectomy and chemo. While inner wounds are easier to ignore, it’s harder when it’s so obvious and well-known. Meg is, to a large extent, identified by her cancer.

Clay is an old friend and he hasn’t always been a good one. Before her treatment they had words and now he needs to apologize for not being there for her. Clay’s had his own experiences with the Big C and the truth is it scares him to death. But he’s stronger than he gives himself credit for. And he loves Meg – he always has. What Clay has to offer is acceptance – of her diagnosis, her treatment, and what the future might mean. And the scene where that acceptance is tangible is my favourite scene in the book.

It’s resonated with readers as well – this book has been nominated for Romance Writers of America’s RITA award, has won the Colorado Award of Excellence, and is also nominated in the National Reader’s Choice Awards and the Booksellers’ Best Awards.

[Wow! Donna! Congratulations on being nominated for so many awards!]

I think what it comes down to is that we all have scars of some sort, and we all dream of rising above them. Throw in a dreamy, sexy and strong hero and you get a Happy Ever After that makes it all worth it.

Donna’s website: www.donnaalward.com

Twitter: @DonnaAlward

Buy links at Harlequin: THE LAST REAL COWBOY

 

Buy link at Amazon for THE LAST REAL COWBOY

And last we have a gift from Donna Alward! You can download her book Hired By The Cowboy among some more books! Well altogether sixteen books are available for you to download FREE!

Lynn Raye Harris is romancing the Sheikh! And a Giveaway!

Recently two of Lynn Raye Harris's books were reviewed on Romance Book Haven and both were Sheikh books! So we invited Lynn over for to discuss the attraction of Sheikhs! But she came with a GIVEAWAY of her CAPTIVE BUT FORBIDDEN!

So over to Lynn now...

What is it about a sheikh?  Maybe it’s that edge of wildness, that sense that he’s barely tamed, or the dark good looks and autocratic attitude (which our heroine will always change!) that he carries wherever he goes.  Whatever it is, I’ve always loved reading about sheikhs in romance novels – and now I love writing them.

 My latest sheikh, Malik ibn Najib al Dhakir, is the brother to King Adan, who readers met in Strangers in the Desert.  Malik’s book is called MarriageBehind the Façade – and he was so challenging to write about!  He’s dark, brooding, and arrogant – just as you would expect.  But there’s more to Malik than meets the eye.

Malik’s wife, Sydney Reed, is a California girl.  But she’s not the typical California girl with blonde hair, a tan, and a surfboard.  No, Sydney is red-headed and pale – and she’s convinced she’s the ugly ducking in her family of swans.  When Malik first swept her off her feet, she felt like her every dream had come true.

 Until she realizes that her husband doesn’t actually love her. 

 Sydney leaves Malik, but when a year goes by and she sends him divorce papers, the last thing she expects is for Malik to show up on her doorstep and demand that she accompany him to the desert kingdom of Jahfar.  She doesn’t want to go, but the only way they can ever divorce is if they live as man and wife for 40 days in Jahfar.

 Naturally, nothing goes as planned.  Malik isn’t quite what he seems on the surface, and Sydney has some growing of her own to do.  It’s an emotional journey across a harsh landscape, but of course you know it works out in the end.  It’s a romance!  I hope you’ll give Marriage Behind the Façade a try, and that you’ll love Malik and Sydney as much as I do.

Lynn Raye Harris on Facebook, Twitter and her Website.

Buy Links:

Mills & Boon : Marriage Behind The Façade

Marriage Behind the Façade

Mills & Boon : Marriage Behind The Façade

Marriage Behind the Façade

One lucky commenter will be getting a copy of CAPTIVE BUT FORBIDDEN!

Annie West on her UNDONE BY HIS TOUCH!

As you all know we at Romance Book Haven love romance and HEA! So we invited Australian author Annie West to tell us about her unique latest release which has a blind and scarred hero! The classic Beauty and the Beast story!

Thank you for inviting me to share a little about my latest story, UNDONE BY HIS TOUCH. This book is a change for me as well as being a return to home ground. After writing books set all around the world, including most recently in a fictitious middle eastern kingdom, this story is set in my home territory, Australia.

Part of the book takes place in central Sydney, in a plush harbourside apartment with a mouthwatering view of the harbour. The rest is centred around the Blue Mountains west of the city - a gorgeous wilderness area with stunning scenery as well as gorgeous mountain hamlets and exclusive retreats. If you're interested in the area, check out my website.

On the other hand this book is a real change from the other stories I've written because it follows the Beauty and the Beast theme, for the first time. I've read lots of other romances that feature wounded 'beast' heroes, and I've definitely written books where the poor hero is emotionally wounded. This is the first time my hero is wounded both physically and mentally and it gives him a whole new outlook. It makes him a very brooding and intense hero. He was scarred and blinded in an accident on the mountains but instead of escaping the area, he stays there, where so many things remind him of the accident and the brother he lost in it. Fortunately Chloe is a heroine who's determined and strong enough to vanquish the shadows that tie him to the past.

Undone By His Touch
Back Blurb

Revealed in the darkness… Cast into a world of black, Declan Carstairs is a man in torment. Consumed by guilt, he sees no way out of the darkness his life has become. Only one thing drives him: finding the woman who caused his brother’s death and the accident that took his sight. Housekeeper Chloe Daniels refuses to pity her devastatingly gorgeous boss, but treating him as the strong, capable man he is soon proves dangerous. As Chloe falls deeper under Declan’s spell, awakened by his touch, she forgets all about the secret she keeps that may destroy them both…


So what about you? Do you like wounded heroes? Are you put off by the idea of a physically scarred hero, or does that add to his intrigue? Do you have any favourite reclusive heroes?

Book Club Discussion- The Nurse's Not -So- Secret Scandal!

We at Romance Book Haven Book Club read Wendy S Marcus’s The Nurse’s Not –So- Secret Scandal and decided to pick it as our book for this month!

Nas: The hero- Fig was tattoed! And the description was so vivid that I loved visualising it!

Amazon Kindle

Maria: The hero Fig: I don't actually like tattoos but I was lenient with Fig's when I saw the reason just why he had it.

In this medical romance, the unusual thing was that Fig was an IT professional rather than a doctor. The medical person in this romance was Roxie. Although both the hero and heroine were both memorable characters, it is my opinion that Roxie was the star of this story, no disrespect to the hero. Anyway, romances are generally written with women in mind as readers, so why shouldn't the heroine by the main character?

Desere: Fig certainly was a interesting character Nas, I am no fan of a tatttoed man but somehow Wendy made this one work, it certainly but quite the image in my minds eye, one that will not leave soon.

Nas:    Roxie was a spunky heroine. I laughed every time she demanded money from Fig for saying ‘sorry!’ The dialogue was spontaneous and witty. And she was not taking any nonsense from anyone.

Maria: Roxie's personality: It came out even when she appeared in ONCE A GOOD GIRL. She has a ready wit and tells it like it is. She is refreshingly candid and in your face honest. The scene where she reveals to the head nurse Victoria and investigator Fig that a video of her making love has been uploaded to a porn site is a classic. Fig watches fascinated then remarks that she has a great ass. She smiles proudly and says it's her best feature. Can you imagine this scene?

Desere: Roxie for me in the beginning of the book came of as a bit of the town easy girl - but once you get to know her you understand why she needs to lose herself in meaningless one night stands every now and then, but as the book progresses you learn she is a strong woman who faces more than one battle in life.

Amazon UK

Nas: Normally in Medical Romances, the hero and heroine work together in the profession, yet here the hero Fig was an IT professional and despite him having all these medical conditions, he still came out as very heroic!

Maria: Yes, that's an unusual feature of the story, Fig's not a medic but an IT man. He is definitely attractive in spite of the fact that he's not an alpha male type. He has a healthy attitude to relationships and sexuality and he is comfortable with what he is and who he is. That's what made him attractive for me.

Desere: Yes you are absolutely correct Nas, I have not yet read a medical romance where the two characters did not work together but it always seems to be nurse and doctor boring after about the fifth or six book definitely but what Wendy does is she spices it up everytime with a new and fun creative job for the other character instead of the norm.

Nas:  I had difficulty believing that Fig’s mother was poisoning him to keep him sick.  Though I do know this mental condition exists.

Maria: Fig's mother was obviously a woman whose love of her child went beyond the healthy norm. She obviously 'needed to be needed' and needed her son's dependence on her to validate her existence. Roxie's mother also has a mental illness so this is what the pair have in common.

Desere: This part for me was a new on in a book, I love watching crime stories so I am fully aware of the condition that Fig’s mother suffered from but to see it incorporated into a book was brilliant!

Nas: Roxie’s mother was hoarding all these things and I felt sorry for Roxie when she took the blame for not looking after her mother. She had a difficult childhood, that one! She went to rock bottom then climbed back up. I was filled with admiration for her.

French Edition

Maria: Roxie taking the blame for neglecting her mother. In family situations, things are very often not exactly the way they seem. How many people admire the brave wife of a man who drinks for taking care of the family so well, only to see her fall apart when the man chooses sobriety. There are so many family situations which look one way to outsiders, but the insiders know the truth.

Desere: I agree she had it really rough, but what got me that the most that her brothers were so mean about the situation, I am mean it was after all still their mother so how they could be so cruel and unkind was beyond me but it did also make Fig the ultimate hero!

Nas: Sex had become boring and she started experimenting! Lucky for her she met Fig when she did!

Maria: Sex had become boring? It was more interesting for her! I think that while sexual attraction brought Roxie and Fig together, it was the power of love which helped them to help each other to heal and move on in life.

Desere: As I said before Nas, she was using the meanless sex as a means of letting go every now and then and yes it does make her sound bad but I was so elated when she found Fig to make it all a new and wonderful experience for her that I nearly cried!

Nas: Remember the bed bath? Technically Roxie’s was not Fig’s nurse! To pull off that scene .... Ohhh...oh!

Maria: I think she was just using her professional expertise to get closer to him. No harm in that if the desired effect is achieved. It wasn't unprofessional behaviour as such - just an opportunity taken at the right time. This is my story and I'm sticking with it!!!

Desere:Ohhhh ...oh! indeed I was expecting his real nurse to pop her head in at any minute and be completely and utterly shocked but yes nicely done Wendy that was certainly something new.

Nas:  The sex scenes were at times so tender and other times so wild! And imagine that in a Medical Romance? This author loves pushing the boundaries and playing around with her characters! This was a refreshing story from the Medical line. It can no longer be said that it’s your aunt or mum’s favourite line. The HM&B Medical line is for the new generation of readers. The young adult students and housewives all share the passion for this line now with the introduction of new writers such as Wendy S Marcus.

Maria: I am not usually very comfortable with love scenes. But I found these scenes wonderfully easy to read. They were dealt with in a compassionate and human way which I found wonderful. There was nothing vulgar or erotic for the sake of eroticm.

Desere: Fully agreed! For me the medical romances have never been really all that interesting expect for the medical facts which I have always found educational and helpfull, but as for the wild and crazy sex scenes- yes now those I have only been able to discover in the medical romances by Melanie Milburne, and therefore I was surprised to find a another author who pushes the boundries and really goes all out to make the sex scenes- therefore the whole book fun, fresh, new and exciting.

Nas: I’ve read so many Medical Romances, but to come across so many conflicts and so well done in only 50,000 words was a surprise. Reading this story was thrilling as there was the element of danger. There was blackmail, drugs, theft and investigation of hospital narcotics supplies and the hero and heroines’ childhood issues. The kissing on the mouth issue is a reality as well among some people. And I hated Roxie’s brothers for not being there for her.

Maria: For a category romance, this story was as close to mainstream fiction as ever I've read in a novel.

Desere: Yes the element of surprise was the name of the game in this book, the author took me on a wild ride of thrilling new adventures and the added criminal parts really had me double checking the cover to make sure I was reading a medical romance. Quite simply- I loved it!

Nas:  Then there was a chance to catch up with Victoria and Kyle from ONCE A  GOOD GIRL. And I also loved revisiting with Ali and Dr Jared from WHEN ONE NIGHT ISN’T ENOUGH.

Maria:  It was good to catch up with Kyle and Victoria, even though we weren't 'in their heads' in this book. LOL. If you care about characters in a novel you read, you love to see they're doing after the book finishes! Would love to catch up with Roxie and Fig later too.

Desere:  Yes the incredible story of Victoria and Kyle from Once a Good Girl and also of Ali and Dr Jared making a entry in the book really was awesome, I adore when previous characters make comebacks in books it is like getting to know a family. And what a incredible “family “ the author has created, not only were Victoria, Ali and Roxie good friends they were we will stand together till the very end friends!

So friends! There you have it! Wendy S Marcus's The Nurse's Not -So- Secret Scandal has something for everyone! Every readers taste is catered to!

If you want your book discussed by our BOOK CLUB just holler! And if you want your latest release Banner made and displayed, go no further eg...