And the Winner is...!!

Okay, so forced my sleepy 12-year-old to pick a winner for my book contest this morning while he was eating his cereal and, being as he was half asleep, he picked two names out!! We had a little debate and decided that it would be bad karma this close to Halloween to re-draw them so have decided to keep the good-luck gremlins happy and offer two books! And the names picked out were:

RACHAEL BLAIR and JAYNE HALL

So Rach and Jayne, congratulations... Email me your details and I'll post off your brand spanking new copy of Surf, Sea and a Sexy Stranger asap.

Thanks everyone else for entering, it's always nice to know there's a lot of people out there wanna win my books. Rye and Maddy's story is actually on sale from November 19th in the UK and Ireland, as it's in the first cycle of December releases.. And details will be up on the M&B site on 1st November.  I've also got word that it will be going into Presents Extra in the North America in April 2011!! Yippee...

I'm gonna post a sneak peek on my site today, so watch this space.

In other news, Cal and Ruby's story has just got the green light from my editor, after some frantic last-minute revisions... This is my delicious barrister and my flirty cupcake entrepreneur. It's currently slated for release in May 2011 in the UK as a brand spanking new RIVA. The title they're toying with made me grin from ear to ear. No blackmail, no billionaires, no mistresses... Just Cupcakes and Killer Heels. How cool is that? It's not definite yet mind you, but I like it. Am really excited about the way this line is going... And am thinking there's a lot they can do with cupcakes and dishy guys on the cover!!

Anyway, was a bit gutted to hear that neither of my mentees got through to the Final Four on New Voices, but just wanted to say it was a pleasure working with both Kat and Kara and hope they enjoyed the experience as much as I did. They're both talented writers and I'm sure we haven't heard the last from either one of them.

So onwards with a new story idea, am currently thinking about making my next heroine a freelance heirhunter and my hero the illegitimate heir to an Italian Dukedom.. With locations in San Francisco and Lake Como... Which gives me a great excuse to spend the rest of the day googling piccies of George Clooney in his Italian home! Jeeze this is such a hard job sometimes.

See what I mean!!

Book Comp, First Kisses and Robert Redford in Navy Whites

I'm over at the PHS today, getting all goose-pimplely about the classic weepie The Way We Were... Does anyone look better in Navy Whites than Robert Redford in that movie? I guess Richard Gere in An Officer and a Gentlemen gives him some serious competition... You decide.

Now, you can pop over and comment there to win a copy of my new Modern Heat novel, Surf, Sea and a Sexy Stranger, which isn't actually due out until November 17th in the UK... But as I've just received a whole box of them, and I'm super proud of this book, and the gorgeous new cover design for Modern Heat - plus as this is going to be my last Modern Heat book (little sniff of sadness here), with the line morphing into Riva in January - I've decided to give away a copy here too. Simultaneously. How cool and astrologically aligned of me is that!!

All you have to do is email the answer to this simple question to heidi@heidi-rice.com! You may have to scroll back through this blog to get the answer as the details of this book won't be on the M&B website till November 1st. I'll also be posting a sneak peek on my website this weekend so watch out for that. I'll pick the lucky winner next Friday.

Q: In which British coastal county does Maddy rescue Rye from the waves.

Now in other news, I send thru the revisions on Cal and Ruby's story on Tuesday night.... Late on Tuesday night, and am currently keeping my fingers crossed that my ed likes them. I've also been super-busy mentoring my two fab entries in the New Voices competition. So if you want to check out any of the top ten second chapters which are now up, you can here.

And I'm over on I Heart Presents today talking about First Kisses, Second Chances and Unfinished Business with the Duke... Accompanied by this photo of me as a scruffy tomboy (I take no responsibility for that mess of a hairdo, my mother didn't believe in hairbrushes and came from the just-lop-off-the-fringe school of haircuts).

So if you have a great first kiss story - either good, bad or ugly - then come share.

New book, new cover... Hot HERO!!

So am just back from Ireland where I did a day's work on the new Sean Penn movie as an extra... Yes, really. How glamorous am I?? Actually it wasn't that glamorous at all, it was exceptionally hard work, getting up at the crack of dawn, filming in a crowded shopping centre and spending large amounts of time sitting around waiting to be used. But still, I can't wait to see the movie now which looks like another Sean corker....

but now to the real reason I have slipped out of the cave, was just flicking thru Amazon and spotted the cover for my new book... The one about the surfer and the beach lifeguard, you remember. All very exciting this and long awaited as it's one of the brand new, no more embarassment reading it on the tube covers from M&B.... So, drum roll please. Here it is.

Love the dramatic, windswept Cornish coastline and Rye, my windswept hero, fits the description perfectly. Moody and magnificent. Love it. Surf, Sea and a Sexy Stranger is listed as a December release, but for any eager beavers it's actually hitting shelves on November 17th as part of cycle one (whatever the heck that means, still haven't got my head around this new way of doing things. Anyway, will be giving away copies left, right and centre on my blog, at the PHS, etc and doing a sneak peak on my website very shortly.

Right, back to the cave to bash Cal and Ruby's story into shape. Deadline is looming and my hero and heroine are not cooperating (with me that is, they're cooperating rather too much with each other).

They think it's all over... It is now!!

Okay, after England's glorious defeat against Germany yesterday afternoon... I mean 4-1!! All right it should have been 4-2 but for the blind linesman, but honestly let's not let it be said that the Lions don't know how to crash out in style!! The worst ever defeat in England's World Cup history. Fabulous... Fabio-lous even..

But the good news is there shall be no World Cup nonsense on this blog from now on... With or without the benefit of visual aids. I am now back on the straight and narrow writing Cal and Ruby's story.

And, with that in mind, wanted to flag up a very interesting discussion on Jackie Ashenden's blog about not forgetting to put those essential little moments of romance into your WIP... Got me to thinking that after two chapters of a flaming argument between my hero and heroine - she's done something rash and impulsive and interfered in his personal life (which he finds unforgiveable) and he's making her pay for it - I've suddenly realised that yes, I do need to lighten the mood. The thing about arguing is, it can ramp up the tension but while it can bring out the worst in your hero and heroine (illustrating some of the issues they are going to have to work out to make their relationship work) it can also bring out the best in them... When you figure out how they are going to find their way out of said argument.

So thanks Jackie for getting me thinking about that!

Who's your favourite Bad Boy?

Enquiring minds want to know... Is your favourite bad boy Josh Holloway's sexy Sawyer in Lost? Or Jon Hamm's deliciously bad Don Draper in Mad Men? Or are you drawn to the classic bad boys of old such as Marlon Brando, or Steve McQueen or Jimmy Dean?

I'm over on The Pink Heart Society in a coveted Male on Monday slot talking at considerable length about some pretty life-altering stuff... So pop over and join me and tell me if I've missed out a great movie - or TV - bad boy... Am always keen to induct a new name into The Heidi Rice Bad Boy Hall of Fame!

In other news my ed has given the go-ahead for Ruby and Cal's story. Remember, that's the one about the free-spirited and flirty Camden Town cupcake entrepeneur (formally known as Suky!) and the deliciously brooding and sexy barrister, who wasn't a bad boy... Until his swanky Italian sports car rear-ended Ruby's fire-engine red VW bug one hot August afternoon...

I'm getting stuck into the story and have already quizzed a very chatty barrister about what they do (the word advocacy was used a lot, until I plucked up the courage to ask what that is, exactly: answer: arguing in court!). And I've located a cupcake entrepeneur who has kindly invited me to one of her cupcake decorating classes.... Oh dear, can see myself slipping off the diet wagon. Again! Still one must sacrifice one's hips for the sake of one's art. Right?