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.

Feeling Hot! Hot! Hot!

Check out the cover for my November book Public Affair, Secretly Expecting which has just gone up on Amazon!! I'm fanning myself here, ladies. That guy is seriously BUFF! And they've even got the Hollywood sign in the background.... Because if you don't already know my hero Mac Brody is a movie star.... And my heroine Juno does actually wear a slinky red dress at one point, although not for long, I have to admit.

Big congrats to the marketing department at M&B who have done an amazing job.

And now I've got the cover pic, it must be time to stick up a sneak peak on my website. What d'ya reckon??

The lady from RT, she say 'Yes!'

Whoo-hooo, just found out I got a whopping 4 stars for Hot-Shot Tycoon in the September edition of Romantic Times Book Reviews. So nice to break out of my three-star doldrums at last.

The reviewer Sandra Garcia-Myers (she of the fabulous taste!) called Daisy and Connor's story 'emotional and heartfelt' and pointed to the 'amusing opening'. Cool to know I made her smile with Daisy's satin knickers...

Also while surfing the usual blogs (as you do when you ought to be writing) I discovered this vote of confidence from the fab  Waiting For the Call blog which said Hot-Shot 'could just be my new measure for the ideal Modern Heat Story.' 

I'll be posting more snippets from the RT review on my website soon, but until then I'm going to go bask in the golden glow of my own fabulousness.... Smug? Full of myself? Just a tad.

Now if I could only wrestle Leo and Issy's story into shape I'd be over the moon.

Come Back Col, All Is Forgiven

Ha, got a very nice email from my lovely ed this morning to say that she'll be recommending my sixth book for acquisition under the title Public Affair, Secretly Expecting! Fingers crossed it should be out this November in the UK.

Can't tell you what a relief it is to have this book done and dusted... And to know that in the final analysis all the pain was worth it. Although, having said that, I'd still like a lot less pain the next time thank you very much.

So anyway, enough about the pain and onto the pleasure. As I'm currently feeling so magnanimous - and have a great big silly grin on my face to prove it - I'm posting a pic of a gorgeously young and sexy Paul Newman in one of my favourite films, The Long Hot Summer, which I'm blogging on tomorrow at the PHS. And I'm even going to forgive Colin Farrell for mucking me about as my muse...

Wishing everyone a happy Easter with lots and lots of chocolate...

A Fresh Start....And About Time To

Ha, well, after a marathon phone conversation with my editor yesterday (god, bless her), I've finally managed to whittle some semblance of a story out of all the waffle on my new WIP. Only problem is it does mean pretty much junking the whole 20K words I've done so far and starting all over again from scratch.

That Feb 10th deadline isn't just looming anymore, it's threatening to throttle me. Still I've begun writing a detailed chapter-by-chapter breakdown (duh! why didn't I think of that sooner) and I'm really excited about my story and my hero and heroine. You see I knew I had a conflict in there somewhere, it just took me, my ed and a very large shovel to find it... 

Now all I've got to do is write the darn thing (in three weeks... EEEK). And what's Colin Farrell got to do with all this?? Not a lot actually, except I need serious amounts of inspiration at the moment and I think he's just the man for the job.

Much more exciting is the news that Modern Heat have just signed a brand new author. The fabulous Lucy Roberts who wrote such a wonderful first chapter for the Feel the Heat Comp at the end of last year that she won it. Not only that but they bought the book with virtually no revisions (yup, you heard that right). 

Anyway, huge congrats to Lucy and having read the first chapter already on iheartpresents (check it out too, it's fab), I can't wait to read the finished book now. You can read all about her on-going road to publication on her blog.

Welcome to the Mod Hot Posse Lucy.

Party Time...

Oh, alright, it was a week ago and all those other super-efficient romance writers have had their photos up on their blogs for over a week. But hey, at least I remembered my camera this time, and not only that I actually got it out of my bag and took a grand total of three pictures! 

So here they are, from my wild and wonderful afternoon and evening at the AMBA lunch and the Mills and Boon Authors toast afterward. Held at Browns restaurant in St Martin's Lane right next to Trafalgar Square, it's our annual opportunity to swan around and pretend that romance authors really do have uber-glamourous lives. 

Fabulous to meet Natalie Anderson for the first time, who had come all the way from New Zealand... Plus me old mates Kate Hardy and Julie Cohen. So here's a photo of the Mod Hot Posse, looking all glam of course. (The reason I'm not smiling is because when I do I always look like I have rigor mortis, it's not because I wasn't enjoying myself, honest).

Here's another pic from the lunch itself. I got sat next to the big chief at M&B Karen Stoecker so I was trying very hard not to sound like a complete ninny. Jennie Lucas who was sat on the other side rather unfortunately lost her voice that morning, so had to spend the whole lunch using a pad to jot down her responses! But luckily she's a writer...

And last, but by no means least, here's Abby Green and Natasha Oakley (my fellow RITA nominee this year) trying to figure out all the info about widgets from the nice man from the technology department. What the heck's a widget? seemed to be the main topic of conversation as I recall.

So on to more nuts and bolts stuff. Emailed the final version of my ms this morning, all the revisions have been okayed and it's just got to be line-edited now. Then I should get the official word that Book Five is a goer! Yippee. Will keep you posted about the next title.

Whose stupid idea was this anyway...

Okay, finding a bit of time for blog duties in between a major case of angst over my latest project... and no small amount of prevarication.

So, after three weeks of re-writing the first chapter of my new WIP I'm thinking 'whose stupid idea was it to resurrect this story?'

My reasoning was simple at the time... or maybe just lazy. I had to make a mid-July deadline, I had a great hook already, a story framework all worked out and characters that I loved... Why not go with it, and I might have a hope in hell of getting it done in time because I'd already done the donkey work (so to speak).

But uh-oh, as I've found out over the last few weeks, what the heck do you do when the tone of the story is wrong, the characters are not doing what they're told and you're a pantser who finds it hellish hard to get inspired if you already know what's going to happen. So now I'm having to rethink my characters, my story arc, my motivation and my whole way of working, and everything in between.

And if it's going to take me three weeks to write each chapter it might have been easier to start from scratch. The good news..? Is there any, oh yeah I've finally moved on to chapter two. But guess, what, I'm still not sure chapter one is working. Arrrghhhhh!

The Chaos Theory... And how to survive it.

Or how to rewrite a novel in three weeks while fitting in a trip to New York (with two kids and a husband), a birthday party and your first day job in an office for ten years... I seriously would not recommend it if you don't want to turn your hair white... Still, it's over now, I'm out the other side and my fourth book has gone to the copy-editors with the title Pleasure, Pregnancy and a Proposition - which pretty much sums up my wonderful story (but not the process of writing it which was more like Agony, Angst and a major case of Apoplexy). It'll be out in the UK in November (I think) and hopefully in the US eventually too - and when I see it on the shelves that frantic subbing on the plane, in an airport lounge, in a hotel room (with Spongebob blazing on the telly) and in an office on my lunch hour will all have been worth it. Anyway, after all the glamour of the RITA nomination it certainly brought me back down to earth with a bang. Whatever happens, you're only as good as your next book — and for me at least they ain't getting any easier to write.

My third book, The Tycoon's Very Personal Assistant has popped up with a fabulous cover on Amazon which I am posting here and which I absolutely love. (It's out in July in the UK and Sept in the US). My hero's dark, my heroine's fair and they've even managed to fit in the red convertible that they whizz round Big Sur in. They look like they're in some Italian piazza when they're supposed to be in Las Vegas, but hey. haven't they got a pastiche of everywhere in Vegas, so I'm not complaining. Totally cool cover, when all's said and done, so I'm feeling all positive and rosy at the moment.

Now all I've got to do is come up with another idea before my next contract deadline in July. Oh crap... My mind's just gone blank.

More Good News... Of the RITA variety.

What better way to lift the gloom of rewrites than the call I got from that nice lady at the RWA this afternoon. She told me that my second Modern Heat The Mile High Club (aka The Millionaire's Blackmail Bargain in its Presents incarnation) has Finalled in the RITAs (the Contemporary Series Romance Category). What a thrill. Had to go on line straight away and register for the Conference in Frisco in July - now all I have to do is dig up the airfare from somewhere and buy a great frock.

Also heard from a certain little bird that there's another Modern Heat author in there but I'm sworn to secrecy about who it is until the list comes out tomorrow.

Whoopee! Modern Heat is taking over the world.

My Valentine's Treasure Hunt Clue... A bit early.

Okay, I'll admit it, I'm so excited I couldn't wait and decided to post my Treasure Hunt clue a few hours early. But then again, it's probably the 19th now in Oz, so it's not too early at all. There, justification done.

Firstly, in case you don't already know, the Sensational Romance Blog is running a Valentine's Treasure Hunt this month with a fabulous job lot of great Modern Heat romances to be won. All you have to do is go to the different author blogs where the clues are posted, jot down the answers to one simple question, and then send them all in an email to our webmistress Ally Blake at win@allyblake.com by 28th Feb. The winner will be announced on the Sensational Romance blog on 29th. Don't forget you need all the answers to win the prize. A list of the difference authors and the books they're giving away is on the Blog too.

I'll be giving away a copy of my second Modern Heat/Sexy Sensation book The Mile High Club, which got a four star review from Romantic Times (under its US title The Millionaire's Blackmail Bargain) and won a Cataromance Reviewers Choice Award earlier this year. So it's not half bad, if I do say so myself.

I'm going to post two short excerpts from the first chapter and then ask an easy peasy question underneath. So here goes.... (Drum roll please).


Carmel Rourke strained to hear the footsteps in the bedroom next door, crouched against the cold enamel of the bath and tried not to breath. Now, if she could just stop her heartbeat sounding like the canon fire finale from the 1812 Overture, she might be able to avoid spending Christmas in a prison cell.

How had she ended up hiding in The Ritz hotel bathroom of a complete stranger?

Mel fisted her hands to stop them trembling and sunk down further into the bathtub as the bathroom light flashed on. A dark shape crossed in front of the gauzy layers of shower curtain.
He looked enormous.

But at least he was whistling. Maybe he wouldn’t mind when he found a mad woman hiding in his bathroom? She swallowed and prayed her stomach wouldn’t grumble. The fear and the hours she’d spent in confinement were making her head start to spin. Running water sounded and then the whistling stopped. Was that the hum of an electric shaver?

Mel tried to inch upright without putting her head too far over the lip of the bath. She needed to be ready to put her plan -- pathetic as it was -- into action. The humming stopped and the whistling started again. Then came the deafening crackle of a zipper and the thud of something hitting the floor. Mel felt her heart jump into her throat and had to suppress the yelp when a tanned, muscled forearm sprinkled with dark hair appeared above her and grasped the shower control.

Two quick twists and a deluge of cold water shot out of the showerhead. Mel squealed as the icy spray hit her full in the face.

‘What the…’

The shower curtain whipped back and towering over her was the hunk -- without a stitch on. A sprinkling of dark hair defined the contours of a hard muscled chest and arrowed down to his groin. Mel’s blood pressure shot up to boiling point as her eyes followed the arrow down completely of there own accord. Through the deluge of warming water, she saw something she knew she’d never forget as long as she lived. Her gaze rocketed back up to his face so fast it was a wonder she didn’t get whiplash. Piercing blue eyes glared at her, accusingly. But he made no move to cover himself.

Mel pushed the dripping hair off her forehead, her hand shaking so hard she thought she might be having a stroke.

‘What the hell are you doing in my bathroom?’ he shouted.



Okay, that's it, now my question is...

What's the name of the hotel where Mel is hiding from her hunky stranger?

See, I told you it was dead easy.

Right now once you've got that, you need to head on over to Nicola Marsh's blog for 21st Feb where the next clue will be posted. And if you've missed any of the other clues along the way just go back to the Sensational blog and check them out again before the 28th.

Good luck.

A Belated Merry Christmas..

I've once again been neglecting my blog duties. Just back from Cambridge where I had a very nice Yuletide with my extended family of sisters, in-laws, nieces, nephews, etc. So great to have someone take care of the turkey detail for once — meant I could concentrate on the far more important business of spreading the good cheer.

I've got Bedded by a Bad Boy going large in the US in January under the brand new title of Bedded by a Playboy. It briefly topped Harlequin's ebook bestsellers list earlier this month so I have high hopes for it in the US, where it will — rather dauntingly — be in the new Presents Collection: 'Pregnant Mistresses'. But at least it's in great company with my fellow Mod Heat authors Natalie Anderson and Kate Hardy. If you fancy picking up a copy of Playboy in the States, just click here.

And have a fab New Year. My resolution? To finish my fourth book in time for my deadline on Valentine's Day and to start blogging more.