Heidi Rice: Writing Playground

Showing posts with label Writing Playground. Show all posts

Friday, 13 November 2009

Up, Up and Away

...In my beautiful balloon. Which is what I'd like to do right now after cycling to work today through a rainstorm only to discover all the computers were down. Could this be Friday 13th I ask myself?

Well, to brighten things up I'm blogging over on the Pink Heart Society today on the wonder that is Disney/Pixar's new movie Up. I absolutely fell in love with this film, you can find out why over there. All I'm saying is that animated movies aren't just for kids anymore, especially not Pixar's ones.

I'm also due to be blogging on The Writing Playground on Monday 16th, and I'm giving away a copy of my latest book Public Affair, Secretly Expecting to one lucky commentator so you won't want to miss it. What's the blog about? My sad obsession with jigsaw puzzles!! No really. To find out how I've managed to connect that with writing category romance by way of a particularly ingenius (and somewhat strenuous) analogy you'll have to go play over there.

And last but by no means least, I've been answering questions as diverse as 'When does winter start for you?' to 'What do you wish you'd known about publishing before you got published' over at the M&B community. Here's the link for that one if you want to read my carefully considered answers. 'Carefuly considered' as in extreme long and waffly answers!

Okay, nuff publicity for now, back to crafting the final scene in my latest book... Now, where did I leave that sexual tension again?

Wednesday, 4 March 2009

Writing Playground

Just back from the Writing Playground where I had a great time blogging yesterday with the playmates (ooh, that didn't come out quite right!)

Suggest anyone who wants to have a good old natter from time to time pops on over there.

Monday, 8 September 2008

Blog Crazy....

Well, turns out that September is the month of the blog for me. So I thought I ought to try and update my own sadly neglected blog with info on some of the other places I'm blogging this month.

First off, I did an extremely informative and well modulated piece about my writing process (and how it frequently drives me right up the wall) for Writing Playground on September 3rd. Then I'm scooting on over to I Heart Presents later in the month to add my two cents to the Feel the Heat contest with a blog on my wonderful year so far (which is of course just an excuse to mention my RITA nom and my posh frock ad infinitum - you have been warned). Got a very interesting email from Kate Walker about the Presents Blogathon being hosted by WeWriteRomance in October so I've thrown my hat in the ring to blog there too. Let's hope they want me...

Can you tell I am waiting not so patiently for a call from my ed about my latest WIP. Poor woman's only had it a week, but I'm still panicking. Ahh, the writer's life, why didn't anyone tell me what a flipping hard slog it was before I got into this malarkey in the first place?

My Book Recs!

Dirty Secret by Mira Lyn Kelly
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

So I know absolutely NADA about ice hockey, I'm a Brit after all. But when I saw my old writing mate Mira Lyn Kelly had written a series of HAWT hockey romances I hit the insta-buy button because I know what a fabulous writer she is – and I had a week-long holiday in Spain with lots of lounging-around-a-pool time to fill. I'm happy to say I was not disappointed. Because this book hit all my sweet spots hot hero, smart savvy heroine, snappy dialogue and deep deep emotion wise.... (Although I still know nada about hockey I feel I can now talk quite knowledgeably about how hot ice hockey players are at least!)

Dirty Secret is the first of the Slayers Hockey team stories (although Greg and Julia feature in Dirty Player, in another series, which I will sooo be checking out after I finish this series). Anyway Dirty Secret features team captain Greg Baxter's arch rival Vaughn Vasser and Greg's little sister Natalie, who is absolutely OFF LIMITS to the rest of the team. But most of all to Vaughn, who recently threw a punch at the cap, is not much liked by the Chicago press, the Slayers fans or nearly all of his teammates either, and has his sights set on a trade back to Oregon ASAP...

But what Vaughn does not know is that the "Allie" he had an uber hot one-night stand with eight months ago in Vancouver, and who ran out on him without leaving a number and who he cannot forget is none other than the guy he hates little sis. Natalie is so busted when Vaughn turns up at her door, after discovering who she is... And that she knew who he was all along, and that's why she was using an assumed name. To say he's pissed is putting it mildly, but the truth is he is also hurt. WTF was she thinking, leaving him in the lurch like that after pretty much the best night of his life? Ofc, it's only a matter of time before pissed gives way to provocative, because these two really cannot keep their hands off each other, or any other crucial parts of their anatomy tbf. But while the secret sex scenes are the perfect blend of explosively intense and toe-curlingly spicy, the real secret in this book is that the hard-nosed (and hard everything else) Vaughn, is actually a really sweet guy. But only Natalie ever gets to see that side of him...

Not all that surprisingly, given their explosive chemistry, it doesn't take long before their under-the-radar romance is impossible to keep under the radar (or anything else for that matter).

Once Greg finds out that his rival is secretly dating his kid sister, all hell breaks loose, leaving Vaughn's career in the crosshairs and Natalie having to deal with her big brother's ego explosion. So how is Vaughn not gonna blow up his career and get over the girl he can't have but still wants all the damn time? How is Natalie gonna get her big bro to back the hell off and give her space to figure out that Vaughn is the guy for her? Which is a big ask for her, because she spent her whole life living in the shadow of Greg's career. And she does not want to risk living in the shadow of another man's career - however right he seems....

I'll leave the answers to those crucial questions for you to find out, but I was rooting for them both throughout the fallout, even when they made mistakes. I loved the underlying theme,too, that love is never easy, that chemistry can be dangerous as well as delicious but that ultimately it's the compromises you make and the secrets you are brave enough to share about who you really are, and what you really want that give you the greatest rewards.

What a terrific start to this series, I'm already three books in and I am TOTALLY ADDICTED which is good because I'm now back in a cold and rainy London, and some Slayers Hockey heat is the perfect antedote. So thank you Mira Lyn for giving me my summer back, I appreciate it.

View all my reviews

Pages