Cosmo News and Movie News

YAY! Have just heard from my editor that the Cosmo team loved my partial and I am now under contract to write my 2nd Cosmo Red Hot Read. After all the hot fun I had writing 10 Ways to Handle the Best Man, I should have a blast writing 10 Rules to Sex-Up a Blind Date...

Here's my Pinterest board for the book, to give you some heft hints about what's in store.... But basically it involves a sex-starved London journalist with a secret Twitter habit, a super-studly American alpha wolf in geek's clothing and one super-hot blind date night in a luxury London hotel, and the mayhem that follows the morning after.

Apparently it's penciled in for release in October, so I need to get writing - and do much research on Channing Tatum and Chris Hemsworth who are vying to become my hero inspiration! (Damn this is a tough job.)

And if you want to catch a really fabulous (and totally off the wall) film experience, check out what I had to say about The Grand Budapest Hotel which is my Must Watch Friday pick for this month over at the Pink Heart Society today.

#TemptedToWrite, RWA2014, New Projects & Shirtless Cowboys!

As Mills and Boon's #TemptedtoWrite competition draws to a close on Twitter and FB (check out that hashtag to get involved in the conversation) this is a reminder to get your 10K word entry polished and entered by Monday 10th February... Just in time for Valentine's Day!

For more details have a look at Mills and Boon's Facebook Page, which is full of tips, hot tottie and tempting tasters of some of the entries, or to upload your entry go straight to the app here.

I'm one of the judges along with Charlotte Phillips and Joss Wood and I can't wait to read your stories! As a little tease I've written a special blog for all the Tempted to Write peeps at Books with Benefits on 10 Ways to Handle Being a Professional Writer (for when you get that all-important publishing contract)... Written in the spirit of my Cosmo Red Hot Read 10 Ways to Handle the Best Man (but without a gorgeous nekkid man in it, sorry!!)

In other news, I have signed up for the RWA Conference in San Antonio Texas in July, so if you're going to be there let me know. Love the conference, it's such a great gathering of career-orientated writers - and a great way to find out what's happening in the big ole world of romance publishing. Plus there's glamorous parties, book signings and, as we're in Texas, lots of shirtless cowboys... hopefully! maybe! pretty please!

And talking about writing, I am currently having a ball working on lots of proposals for possible new projects. Don't know yet which one I'm going to be writing next, but I'm really excited about all of them.

First off, I've got a possible new KISS continuity - with three other amazing authors - in the works, which, if it gets picked up, will be AWESOME.

Secondly I've submitted a new proposal for Cosmo Red Hot Reads, which is even hotter than my last one and is a tale of sex, lies, blind dates and Twitter etiquette!

And lastly, but I'm hoping not leastly, I'm developing an idea for a longer book set in London, Paris and the Smokey Mountains (at the moment)... But my lips are totally sealed on that one. So I don't jinx it! Having soooo much fun though writing outside the box.

Happy writing folks and have a great V-Day....

Happy Birthday, Mr Dickens!

So it's Charles Dickens's 200th birthday today... And as he's one of the writers who inspired me to become a writer I celebrated in style by sending off the epilogue to Nate and Tess's story this afternoon.

After my editor's very positive feedback, I'm hoping that the news will be good when she reads the revised manuscript with the epilogue attached.

But I have to be totally honest with you and say this wasn't the easiest book to write. Accidental pregnancy stories have always fascinated me not just because of the instant ramping up of the conflict, but because of all those obvious questions which it's sometimes easier in romance (and especially the sort of lush romantic fantasy that I write) to shy away from because, well, they're not very romantic. Such as, if the heroine's accidentally pregnant, wouldn't she consider having a termination? And wouldn't the hero be likely to question whether he is the father, especially if he's only made love with this woman once, and hardly knows her? And if two people are thrown together because of an accidental pregnancy, wouldn't that make them more cautious about committing to a long-term relationship rather than less cautious? Wouldn't the shock of having a major life change like parenthood thrust upon them make them want to avoid any other emotion complications? I wanted to have my couple wrestle with those very real questions in a believable way while at the same time keeping them sympathetic, giving the romance that fun flirty edge that Riva demands  and having them eventually fall in love.

Well folks, it wasn't easy. And once I'd started writing, I realised exactly how not easy a set-up it was. Because apart from trying to give my hero and heroine that contemporary edge, I'd also given them one heck of a lot to resolve in 50K words. Not just their own unique internal conflict, but also enough external conflict to fell two much lesser mortals. Luckily for me, Nate and Tess came through in the end - after having to give me several stern talkings-to during the course of writing the book - and I'm very pleased with the story now. But I won't lie to you, I had several moments when I wanted to kill them both (not to mention the baby, to my eternal shame!).

And for all those peeps considering the 'accidental pregnancy' trope as an easy way to ramp up your couple's conflict.... All I can say is... It ain't! Now I know why Dickens never used it... Smart man.

Want a sneak peek of GBW??

Can you tell I'm waiting to hear back from my ed on my latest offering?? Yes, this is why I'm currently blogging like crazy, because I've already bitten off all my nails. Hate this bit... How is it that as soon as you press that send button you then go back and re-read your ms and discover all those things that need to be corrected that you should have spotted in the edit! Groan

Anyway, enough about me. I have now got a sneak peak of The Good, the Bad and the Wild up on my website... Go have a read and tell me what you think. And in honour of it, I've added a lovely istock photo of San Francisco's iconic Golden Gate Bridge, anyone want to guess where Eva and Nick go for their bike ride after meeting in that art gallery???

Summer in Sicily... Hot, in more ways than one!

Just back from my relaxing holiday on the lovely Italian isle of Sicily. It really is a gorgeous place, rustic unspoilt and the locals were super friendly. The tiny town where we were staying was having a fiesta the night we arrived, which turned out to be very fortuitous as we couldn't find our villa. Ended up with a car load of local guys leading us to the place after a faltering exchange with us talking in English, them talking in Italian, and lots of gesitculating over the rather crap map from the holiday company. Am thinking this may be the start for a book!!

The weather was blazing sunshine everyday which unfortunately meant I couldn't do a thing except laze about the pool or at the local beach - where I did a lot of very valueable research watching the buff young local guys show off their tanned abs... Gotta love Italian men, they don't half know how to flaunt it! Sadly I could not get any pictorial evidence of this inspiring pastime for my blog as I had my slightly older but no less sexy husband sitting next to me! So have added in a few others pics to make you salivate.

The other rather liberating thing was that there was no internet connection to speak of... Amazing how productive you can be when you have no access to Twitter, Facebook, email or my latest internet time-suck obsession Goodreads (am now a Goodreads author if anyone wants to go Friend me as I'm feeling a little lonely). So have now written the first three chapters of my next book...

Which involves an events planner called Tess Tremaine who ends up ever so slightly pregnant after she gets dumped by her boyfriend and ends up having super hot rebound sex in a closet with a New York billionaire called Nate Graystone. Tess is a former wild child turned demure career woman who's cover has just been blown in spectacular fashion... Can she pick up the pieces of her shattered image? Go back to being a good girl again? And how is arrogant, super sexy and totally aloof Nate, who she only knows in a biblical sense, going to deal with the prospect of fatherhood? Not well as it turns out!

Very excited about this one, scenes literally pinging into my head while lounging by the pool in the sun. That said, I know I am in the first flush of love and will probably want a divorce by chapter ten.

In other news, also returned to discover a super classic cover for On the First Night of Christmas in it's US/Harlequin Presents Extra incarnation. What d'you think? So different from my Riva cover... More Christmassy, very classy but a little less sexy maybe?

Which one do you prefer?

I'll be doing a giveaway on Goodreads and a comp here on my blog as soon as I have my author copies...

Come on Mr Postman, get a move on!

My Little Tribute to London's Big Day

Have to admit I'm not big on flag-waving or patriotism or most of the things that go with celebrating royalty in this neck of the woods, but the romance-arama of yesterday's Royal Wedding was kind of hard to avoid if you're a Londoner — and a hopeless romantic like moi. And I did get a free day off, which is never a bad thing IMHO, especially if you have a book to finish by the end of May and you've still struggling through chapter six (eek!!).

That said my oldest son did manage to prise me away from my ms (not nearly as hard as it should have been) insisting that I watch some of the ceremony because it was 'history'... And have to admit I ended up enjoying it more than he did... Teenagers after all have remarkably short attention spans when it comes to pomp and circumstance.

Things I particularly liked:

My home town looking pretty magnificent with the green trees and regency splendour nicely offset with views of the Millennium Wheel and the city's modern heart.

Historian Simon Schama on the BBC valiantly trying to give all the hoopla a bit of historical context.

The jets flying over my house in formation... Very impressive!

William's eyeroll to Kate in the Abbey, nicely documented here.

And last but not least the cool bit of graffiti I discovered yesterday while cycling to the gym which I have used to illustrate my post. Marmite indeed!!

How to Be Young Forever!

I'm over at the Pink Heart Society today doing a coverted Male on Monday slot and talking about teenage dreams, how your teenage crushes can keep you young forever and THAT guy from the Katy Perry video.

Actually, he's the inspiration for my latest hero, Nick Delisantro, a former North London bad boy, who now lives in San Francisco, has a very successful career as a Hollywood scriptwriter, but still has a wild streak, as my heroine is currently finding out after climbing onto the back of his motorbike.

Anyway to find out where I got my inspiration from, check out the PHS today.

Jake Gyllenhaal is HAWT!

Am over at the Pink Heart Society today talking about the fiendishly clever new Jake Gyllenhaal movie Source Code and it's very dishy star, so come join me.

Am currently writing Chapter Five of Nick's story and have just discovered that he doesn't like to talk. At all! Never encountered this strong-but-silent routine with a hero before and it's driving me mad... And turning my heroine into a chatterbox. The poor woman can't shut up.

Happy Super Mum Day!!

Am feeling all blissful and pleased with myself today... First off, it's Mum's Day and I got a great card from my supremely talented oldest progeny! Not sure if he really thinks of me as Super-Mum or he just knows how to suck up really well (probably a bit of both is my guess), but the design he did hit all my happy buttons: particularly liked that he thinks he and his brother are Powerpuff Boys. And check out my cleavage and my knee-high boots! Wonder Woman eat your heart out. So I'm sharing it with you all, and wishing mums everywhere a Happy Mother's Day.

Not only that, but I got some lovely blogger reviews for Cupcakes and Killers Heels — which I'm also going to share, cos I'm very proud of them, and because I'm hoping to persuade a few more punters to buy my book (now we know where my son gets his sucking-up genes!!).

First up is the fab Doris O'Conor who reviewed Cupcakes on her Tardis Scribbles blog

"I laughed, I gasped, I wanted to bang their heads together...and the ending left me with a nice warm fuzzy feeling like any good romance should.

This is Heidi Rice at her best, funny, sassy, sensual and a jolly good read. If you have read any of her other books, you will love this one too and if you haven't? Why ever not? Where have you been?"

See, I'm blushing here.

Then a couple of days later I got this from RLA at the Every Day is the Same blog, where she's busy embarking on her challenge to read 365 books in a year. That's a book a day, folks (for those you who are as statistically challenged as I am). And mine came in at number 11!

"I have been a big fan of Heidi's books for a while, I find her writing is always full of quick wit, sparky characters, as well as having a very modern feel. To me her books are like the love-child of 'Sex and the City' and 'Bridget Jones', which can only be a good thing!"

Now I should fess up and say I sent copies of my book to both these bloggers because I know they like my stuff. But it's still lovely to find out that they enjoyed the book enough to write really great reviews of it. Not only that but RLA got her hubby to read it, and he loved it too. As I can't get my own hubby to read my books, that is pretty darn cool!

So here I am on Mother's Day happily basking in my own brilliance. Now if I could just get past Chapter Four on my current WIP, which is unfortunately due at the end of May, I'd be even more brilliant!

Cupcake Winners Announced

Hey all

So the Cupcakes comp is now closed. I nabbed my youngest son to pick the winners out of his favourite hat... And as usual he got a bit carried away and picked out FOUR!! So no cupcakes for him then!

Anyway, here are the four names picked out of the hat in the order they came out (here's hoping none of you live in Outer Mongolia or the postage is gonna kill me!):

Biraj Trivedi


Ann Murphy


Desere Steenberg


Wendy S Marcus


Just email me your snail mail addresses and I'll post off your signed copy of Cupcakes and Killer Heels this morning. Comisserations to everyone else. But don't worry, you can always buy a copy!! Hint, hint. It'll be available on the M&B website in the UK on April 1st and is hitting Amazon (and UK and Irish book shop shelves) in May... So not long to wait now at all.

Am busy getting stuck into my next book, which is a linked book to Cupcakes, and involves a maverick North London bad boy turned Hollywood scriptwriter called Nick Delisantro (Ruby's brother, who is mentioned in Cupcakes but doesn't appear) and a bookish ancestral geneologist from West London called Eva Redmond. Studious and conscientious  Eva is about to discover her wild side when she is sent to San Francisco (where Nick lives) to tell Nick he's the illegitimate heir to a fortune in Italian real estate but can't quite get the words out when she engineers a meeting with him at an upscale SF art gallery opening and he immediately starts flirting with her, inviting her for a ride on his motorbike. She's never been on a motorbike before in her life and has never flirted with a guy before, either, and especially not a guy as hot as Nick. Uh-oh!

Having a great deal of fun so far, which is probably famous last words but I live in hope this one is not nearly as much of a pineapple as the last one (but I always say that don't I).

The manuscript has left the building... And a special thanks to Ms Katy Perry!

Muchas celebrations here in North London after I pinged off my latest manuscript to my wonderful editor (notice the sucking up, for added good karma) on Saturday... Only a day late! Yippee! Of course it may soon come winging back to me with a 20 page revision letter attached, but I'm not letting the prospect dampen my spirit, or my wine intake tonight!

As the ms is out the way (for now) I have spent some quality time updating my website with a brand new Books page, which lists all my books in order of publication (for all those readers who are as anal as me and like to know this sort of thing!). I've also added a sneak peek of Cupcakes and Killer Heels which is due out in the UK and Ireland in May. Check it out and let me know what you think? Wanna read more? I certainly hope so.

Unfortunately I've been told the release of Cupcakes in the US (which is a linked book to Surf, Sea and a Sexy Stranger - as it's Maddy's brother Cal's story) will be delayed until 2012 as my next book in the US will have to be the one I've just sent in. See, the new ms is all about a scorchingly hot winter fling in London at the height of the festive season (complete with shopping at Selfridges, where else!) so needs to go out in the Christmas period in both the US and the UK... Now why didn't I think of this before I started writing it!! Doh!

Amazingly, I already have a new idea cued up and raring to go as it's a linked story to Cupcakes (and Sexy Stranger)... While writing Cupcakes I discovered that my heroine Ruby Delisantro had a very interesting brother. Nick Delisantro is a North London bad boy turned Hollywood scriptwriter living in San Francisco. He and his sister Ruby have been estranged since he ran away from home at age 16. As it turns out he's had a very dark and tortuous journey to Hollywood success which means he's of particular interest to a bookish ancestral geneologist called Eva Cooper - a woman who knows everything there is to know about long-dead people but very little about living men. Eva specialises in tracing the long-lost heirs to European estates and is about to uncover the secrets of Nick's past... What she doesn't know is that she has some pretty hot revelations of a more personal kind in her own future when she makes the mistake of tangling with Nick - who's sexy, surly, has a killer instinct for seduction and doesn't take too kindly to women who want to know more about him than he's willing to reveal.



Nick btw has been inspired by the rather tempting guy from Katy Perry's Teenage Dreams video. Don't have a clue who he is, but he's got just the right quality of sex, smoulder, surliness and shock value! And Katy certainly looked like she was enjoying herself!

Can't wait to get writing this one, and after the tortures I had with kick-starting my last story I'm hopeful it won't be as hard... ie no re-writing the first three chapters twenty times. But don't quote me on that!

Have you seen The King's Speech yet?

Well, if you haven't you should... And I'm telling you all the very good reasons why on the Pink Heart Society today. And yes, the gorgeousness that is Colin Firth is one of them! Give that man an Oscar, already. If nothing else I'm sure he'd give a great acceptance speech.

If you have seen the film feel free to come join the party... And this from someone who doesn't usually do Royal dramas.

See you there.

PS: Currently having major struggle with latest WIP, feel as if I'm swimming through treacle again, haven't had this much agony since Public Affair! Arghhhh... Why doesn't this ever get any easier?

Christmas is coming.... And Heidi's ready to Party!

So after much rewriting and editing, I finally pinged off the first chapter of my Christmas (for next year) book to my ed. I know, I've been working on that damn first chapter forever, but am hoping that if I start this thing in the right place it should save work further down the line. At least, that's the plan. Anyway, to try and invigorate myself for the long haul, I decided to do a little location scouting round London's West End for locales and such for the rest of the book.

After checking out the Winter Wonderland in Hyde Park with its fairground rides, ice rink and all round Christmas bling (can definitely see some fun to be had there), I needed a luxury hotel for my couples romantic tryst (well, several romantic trysts) so I popped into the Dorchester on Park Lane to be inspired... And boy, is that one beautiful hotel, all Art Deco glamour and vintage class. And the Christmas decorations add that festive shimmer of fairy dust (see, I'm waxing all lyrical already!!).

Then I trooped up to Oxford Street and snapped some pics of Selfridges fabulously funky window displays. Check out that handsome fella sitting next to the Barbie Christmas tree and all those lovely sparkles inside the store. To finish the afternoon I hopped on a bus to have lunch with my true love in this wonderful little cafe tucked away on a back street in Clerkenwell near where he's working at the moment.

Love Clerkenwell, it's all cosy and Dickensian but with the arty crowd of designers and architects and journalists to make it uber trendy too. Have decided to make my hero a web designer instead of a Broadway producer... Cos I saw these three very handsome chaps on the table opposite us looking all intense and brooding and artistic while tucking into their homemade Chicken and Sweet Potato soup. Perfect.

Should also let you know I'll be crashing the Harlequin Post Party on 15th December talking hunky heroes with some of my favourite Presents authors, such as the wonderful Kate Hardy, Maisey Yates and Kate Walker as well as a host of other Harlequin names.

So be there, or be a Christmas turkey!

Thank You Roanne and the other M&B reviewers!

With the fun and inspirational good times of the RNA conference in Greenwich passing into memory, I was sitting at my desk yesterday staring at my current WIP for the first time in over a week and feeling a little despondent about it... As is often the case when I catch up with my characters again after an enforced absense, I discovered that much of what I've written so far (all 30K words of it!!) is good but not nearly good enough. The story is at a crucial crossroads and I know I need to push on with it, forget about the bumps that I've left behind and get to the end before I go back to smooth the path... Or I'll end up going over the same ground forever and Ruby and Cal will be mighty peeved with me because it'll take them forever to get to their happy ever after... But the temptation to stop and fiddle was overwhelming, so to distract me from it and give myself a little incentive for continuing on I decided on a short jolt of internet surfing.

Now, this is of course an excellent time suck, so - taking a leaf out of Kate Hardy's Planner's Guide to Creativity, I decided to time myself. I had exactly ten minutes to browse while I took a coffee break and, after doing a quick round of my favourite blogs, ended up on the M&B site where to my great joy I discovered some very nice reviews of my books! What a pleasant surprise, and what a nice treat... But then on closer inspection I discovered that one particular reviewer has done some really sterling work - posting up a host of wonderfully expressive reviews of my books which not only lifted my spirits considerably and gave me the incentive I was looking for but, completely by chance, brought a really big smile to my face.

So first off I just wanted to say a great big thank you to Roanne Gomez - and all the other reviewers who have taken the time to post such lovely reviews of my books... I'm really chuffed that you enjoyed them and that I've now got a guaranteed pick me up the next time I get a bad review.

 But also a special thanks to Roanne for this particular review of Hot-Shot Tycoon, Indecent Proposal:

"I have just finished reading this piece of romance engineering, because that indeed is what it is. It was sensual, seductive and wow. Rice really knows how to make a romance novel realistic and without cliche. I did not want this book to end. Definitely a must read."

Unbeknownst to Roanne, the term 'romance engineering' struck a particularly lovely chord with me because my dad just happened to be a world renowned structural engineer - engineering such buildings as Pompidou Centre in Paris, the Sydney Opera House and the Lloyds Building in London. A softly spoken Irish man with a huge love of literature and the arts, sadly he died in the prime of his life over 17 years ago and I and the rest of my family still miss him. But I know he would have been tickled to bits by that reference too - and the fact that I have become a romantic novelist.

So thanks Roanne, for helping to kick-start my creativity and for really making my day! I'd love to send you an advance copy of my next book which I should get copies of in October or thereabouts, so feel free to email me your contact details on heidi@heidi-rice.com

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?

Moments of Escapism... Are you getting yours?

The sun has been shining in London Town this week (and about time too) and I've been busy helping those nice people at Starbucks Discoveries publicise a recent survey they did with 2000 British women. Spent the morning on Friday doing a series of local radio interviews answering questions about the survey (and trying to do a few shameless plugs for Unfinished Business with the Duke) which I enjoyed immensely, because as you all know I'm a bit of a media tart!!

Shocking news is that one in six of us don't even have time for a brief moment of escapism during the day. I'm thinking that doesn't include many romance readers, though, as one thing we've all got in abundance is an ability to have a brief moment of escapism when necessary.... Preferably backed up with lots of hero research.... In fact I've managed to make a career out of my brief moments of escapism!!

Also had a whale of a time meeting up with fellow Presents authors Natalie Rivers and Abby Green in a swanky West End hotel bar for champagne cocktails. Any similarity between us and the Sex and the City ladies was purely intentional!!

All of which has helped immensely taking my mind off what my ed thinks of my latest partial (yes, that would be the one with the ten-page synopsis which had everything in it bar the kitchen sink!!). No news yet about Ruby and Callum's story (have renamed my heroine because son number one told me "Suky" was too ridiculous, even for me... the cheeky little...!). So fingers crossed and double crossed on that one.

In other news my offer to critique a first chapter and synopsis aimed at Harlequin Presents only has a few days left on Brenda Novak's Diabetes Auction. Currently the bidding stands at $60 which is still fairly cheap. If anyone wants to put in a bid, click here. But frankly I'd go have a look around anyway cos there's lots of other great stuff on offer, especially for aspiring writers.

Book Eight.... She say yes!!! And some fender bending inspiration.

Woohoo! Just had my eighth Modern Heat book accepted.

This is Rye and Maddy's story.

Rye King's a bad boy ex-surfer turned billionaire Xtreme sports entrepeneur who's living as a recluse in his grandfather's old gothic mansion on a Cornish clifftop, and still licking his wounds after surviving a serious motorbike accident six months before. Maddy Westmore is a waitress in the local beach cafe who also does shifts as a beach lifeguard, and has a bad habit of trying to save the wrong guy which she has decided to break.

The book opens at the end of October, Maddy's doing her last shift on the beach in the cold sleeting rain, when she spots a guy trying to surf - and doing a terrible job of it - then he goes down and she dives into the surf to save him... Little does she know that this is going to be the start of a wild romantic ride for both her and Rye which will take them from their incendiary no-strings affair in her cozy cottage on the cliffpath to his penthouse apartment on Kensington High Street and the heart of London high society as Christmas approaches...

Think it's scheduled for release in November, but will let you know nearer the time... And will post a sneak peek on my website as soon as I have a title and a cover to go with it! But to keep you happy in the meantime I've stuck in a nice photo of Josh Holloway on a beach!

Meanwhile my head is down as I work on Book Number Nine. Am already very excited about this story which is coming to life in my mind. Didn't have an opening hook until I narrowly avoided being crashed into by a gorgeous Meditterenean-looking guy in an Italian sports on Holloway Road last week! See that's what's wonderful about being a writer, you can turn even the most hair-raising of life's little annoyances into inspiration for a book???

While mulling the story over I have been surfing the M&B sites round the world (as you do) and have illustrated this post with some of the book covers I found.

And just in case you didn't know. My June release Unfinished Business with the Duke is now up for grabs at the M&B site in the UK. And some sweetie pie's already given it a 5-star rating. Yippee!!

Hello 2010!

Popping in a couple of days late to wish everyone who reads this blog (or better yet reads my books!) a fabulous 2010! (what the heck happened to 2009 - I feel like I blinked and it flashed past in a nano-second). Have to say I just heard a great story on the news about a group of revellers who went to Britain's highest pub in the Yorkshire Dales to ring in the New Year and have now been snowed in there for three days.... According to one of them who was interviewed on the radio they're 'keeping their spirits up'! I'll bet... Sounds like a great story to kick off a romance.

Anyway, back to business:

Things to look forward to this year:

Public Affair, Secretly Expecting is due out in Australia and New Zealand this month as a Sexy Sensation, and the US as a Harlequin Presents in March.

And my seventh Modern Heat novel, Unfinished Business with the Duke will be hitting the shelves in the UK and Ireland come June. As we sadly no longer have a Borders in  my neck of the woods I'll be popping into the West End to see it on the shelves (which never gets old let me tell you). And posting a sneak peek from the opening chapter on my website shortly.

New Year's Resolution:

To finish my next MH by the end of February. Which seeing as I've barely even started it is a pretty tall order... (oh, and to loose ten pounds of course, but that's a rolling resolution thats been on the go for three years!!). So if I'm  not blogging much in the months ahead my mad typing frenzy might have something to do with it. Still will try and pop back every so often and keep you informed about how Rye and Maddy's story is going. At the moment I've got a cracking opening chapter... Plus I know the heroine has a battered Fiat Panda called Scarlet, the hero lives in a gothic mansion on a Cornish cliff and they get stuck over night there in a blackout. And that's about it! No conflict, and no plot to speak of yet so I better stop waffling about Yorkshire revellers and get to it.

The Wonderful Wizard of Oz

Pop on over to the Pink Heart Society where I'm doing my monthly Must Watch Friday slot. Today, in honour of the Christmas season I'm waxing lyrical on a movie that has always meant Christmas to me. The Wizard of Oz... And all the wonderful things it does.


In other news, have finally got fingers back to keyboard and written the first chapter of my next WIP. Set on a wind-battered, rain-soaked Cornish beach at the tail end of the summer season.... My heroine's called Maddy and she's a lifeguard, my hero's called Ryan (or Ry) and he's out trying to surf on the choppy swell when... Well, that would be telling wouldn't it.