Shortlists Announced for the RoNAs

Judy Finnigan and Richard Madeley will announce the winners from a shortlist of thirty authors vying to be named the winner of their category in the Romantic Novel Awards (RoNA) 2013 presented by the Romantic Novelists' Association. They will also reveal the winner of the RoNA Rose Award.  These announcements will be made on 26 February at 6.00 p.m. during a glittering reception to be held at the RAF Club, 128 Piccadilly, London, W1.

Each category winner will receive an elegant crystal trophy as a mark of their success. They then go forward to contest the RNA's most coveted award, the Romantic Novel of the Year (RoNA), which will be announced on 16th May.

The categories for which the 30 shortlisted authors are competing are:

Contemporary Romantic Novel, Epic Romantic Novel, Historical Romantic Novel, Romantic Comedy Novel and Young Adult Romantic Novel. Additionally, shorter fiction authors - known as category/series and magazine serial authors - will learn who has won the RoNA Rose award.

The full shortlists are:

The Contemporary Romantic Novel category:

Katie Fforde, Recipe for Love, Arrow
Veronica Henry, The Long Weekend, Orion
Mhairi McFarlane, You Had Me At Hello, Avon
Monica McInerny, The House of Memories, Pan Macmillan
Sue Moorcroft, Dream a Little Dream, Choc Lit
Polly Williams, The Angel at No. 33, Headline

The Epic Romantic Novel category:

Rowan Coleman, Dearest Rose, Arrow
Dilly Court, The Lady's Maid, Arrow
Madeline Miller, The Song of Achilles, Bloomsbury
Kate Morton, The Secret Keeper, Pan Macmillan
Gill Paul, Women and Children First, Avon
Liz Trenow, The Last Telegram, Avon

The Historical Romantic Novel category:

Charlotte Betts, The Apothecary's Daughter, Piatkus (Little, Brown)
Christina Courtenay, The Silent Touch of Shadows, Choc Lit
Kate Furnivall, The White Pearl, Sphere (Little, Brown)
Pamela Hartshorne, Time's Echo, Pan Macmillan
Susanna Kearsley, The Rose Garden, Allison & Busby
Mary Nichols, The Kirilov Star, Allison & Busby

The Romantic Comedy Novel:

Jenny Colgan, Welcome to Rosie Hopkin's Sweetshop of Dreams, Sphere (Little, Brown)
Victoria Connelly, The Runaway Actress, Avon
Jane Costello, All the Single Ladies, Simon & Schuster UK
Nicola Doherty, The Out of Office Girl, Headline
Belinda Jones, Winter Wonderland, Hodder & Stoughton
Jane Wenham-Jones, Prime Time, Accent Press Ltd.

The Young Adult Romantic Novel:

Jo Cotterill, Sweet Hearts: Model Behaviour, Red Fox (RHCP)
Laura Jarratt, Skin Deep, Electric Monkey/Egmont
Marie-Louise Jensen, The Girl in the Mask, OUP
Victoria Lamb, Witchstruck, Corgi (RHCP)
Sarra Manning, Adorkable, Atom (Little, Brown)
Susan Waggoner, Neptune's Tears, Piccadilly Press

The RoNA Rose Award:

Fiona Harper, Always the Best Man, Harlequin Mills & Boon Riva
Sarah Mallory, Beneath the Major's Scars, Harlequin Historical
Heidi Rice, The Good, the Bad and the Wild, Harlequin Mills & Boon Riva
Carol Townend, Betrothed to the Barbarian, Harlequin Historical
Scarlet Wilson, West Wing to Maternity Wing, Harlequin Mills & Boon Medical
Scarlet Wilson, Her Christmas Eve Diamond, Harlequin Mills & Boon Medical

Interview with Judy Astley

Judy Astley had been writing since she was a child but, intimidated by the sheer class of the writers studied during an English degree, gave it up until she was in her thirties when her children were in school and she had to face the awful prospect of getting a Proper Job. Before that, she’d got by as a dressmaker and designer, a painter and had written and illustrated a children’s counting book. Her first book, Just for The Summer, was published in 1992 and she’s just finished her seventeenth novel for Transworld. 

Tell us about your latest book, and what inspired you to write it.

The new book is called I Should Be So Lucky and it’s about Viola who has had zero luck in her love life. Her first husband (the lovely Marco, father of their daughter Rachel) is gay and now lives with his partner James. Her second, Rhys, was a soap-star love rat who died, crashing his Porsche while leaving Viola for another woman. The book is about Viola getting her life back, both from the past and from her over-protective family who fear she is a doomed sort and needs looking-after.

It was a teeny thing that inspired the book. I got interested in the idea of guerrilla gardening – planting up spare neglected bits of land, either with flowers to jolly up a scrappy place or with vegetables for anyone to have. So I thought a guerrilla gardener would be a fun hero-type character and Viola meets him in the first chapter where he’s planting a tree on a traffic island in the middle of the night and she thinks he’s up to some serious No Good.

I thought I should do my bit too – and close to my house where the council only rarely turn up to tend a scruffy old plot, I’ve sneaked in an apple tree – my first step to forming the Twickenham Embankment Community Orchard. I’ve got a plum tree ready to go in when it’s warmer..

Do you have a critique partner or share your work with anyone before you submit to an editor?

Nobody gets to see it before my editor and that’s when it’s completely finished, rather than me sending it in in chunks of chapters, though sometimes I’d quite like to do that, if only to stop me twiddling with it. If I get stuck, I might go out for lunch with my husband and maybe run a few ideas past him. He’s a lateral thinker and often comes up with something I’d never have thought of, plus he’s not had his brain cluttered up by reading it so only sees the problem-of-the-moment.

Your books are full of wit and humour. Does it come naturally or is it a skill you’ve acquired with practice? 

I think the older I get the funnier I think life is but I’ve always seemed to see the funny side of most situations. I was once at a funeral and aching with suppressed laughter because the coffin was resting on its stand at a a worrying angle and I was imagining the terrible possibility of it tumbling to the church floor. The awful thing is, I half-hoped it would (the occupant would have loved that, as it happens!) I never said I was nice..

What do you enjoy most about being a writer, and the least? 

The best thing about writing is the chance to be in the company of other writers who are my absolutely favourite sort of people. There can be no better work-fun than to get together with a bunch of authors and just yak for hours. I also love it that lying on a sofa with tea/wine and the cat draped across me while I’m reading through the day’s output is actually ‘work’. The worst thing – deadlines. I’m not good with deadlines. I end up all of a rush, like doing your homework on the bus. I must grow up.

Of all the characters you’ve created, which one holds a special place in your heart? 

I’m a bit torn here. There’s lovely feisty Polly, a ten year old from Pleasant Vices with a show-biz ambition to join the Putney Shangri-la Majorettes and who opens the book by asking her mother, “Mum, what’s oral sex?” (not sure it would be OK to open a book with a child asking that these days..) And I also love Melanie from Unchained Melanie who is writing gruesome detection fiction and getting used to life on her own now her ex has remarried and their daughter has gone to university. It’s a book with sad bits in and fairly deep stuff as well and I gave her a gorgeous gardening (again!) man to fall for.

If you could have the best seats to any event for free, which would you choose?

I’d choose the one that I missed – the Rolling Stones at the O2. I dithered about whether to buy tickets or not because I was so furious at the massive price and I wasn’t going to part with £200 just to be at the back of the arena in touching distance of the roof. And then when I changed my mind it was too late. Now of course I regret it so for this question, please let me re-wind time.

What makes you laugh the most?

Recently, some seemingly straight but utterly outrageous lines on Coronation Street. Dignified and solemn Mary and Roy in the café, playing chess. She’s eating a sandwich and says, “Sorry Roy, I’ve spilled piccalilli on your bishop”. Had me in fits. And last week, an old hopeful, dating Audrey and asking her if she plays bowls. She says no so he says, “You haven’t lived till you’ve had a wood in your hands”. I can just see the gloriously camp scriptwriter coming up with those. Priceless, for me.

So What Next?

In a slightly loopy way (because I’d made her up in the first place), I’ve always wondered what happened to Miranda, who was a pregnant 16 yr old in my first book, Just for The Summer, set in a Cornish seaside village. It’s been 20 years since that was out so I’ve just written a follow-up with Miranda as the main character this time. Her step-father Jack has just died and the family return to where they once had a cottage to scatter his ashes and have a sort-of memorial holiday. Miranda is more than a bit surprised at who is still around... I loved writing this as I already knew the people but had to move them on. It’s called In The Summertime, doesn’t require previous reading of the first book as it works fine as a stand-alone and should be out in hardback some time around July.

Thank you for sparing time to talk to us today, Judy. We wish you continuing success with your books. To find out more visit her website:

http://www.judyastley.com/

Best wishes, 
Freda 

Interviews on the RNA Blog are for RNA members, although we do occasionally take guests. If you are interested in an interview, please contact me: freda@fredalightfoot.co.uk
 

Interview with Linn B. Halton

I’m delighted to welcome Linn B. Halton to the Blog today. Linn writes contemporary women's love stories that reflect life for Sapphire Star. Linn is an editor and featured author on loveahappyending.com. Tell us something of the genre in which you write. What is it’s special appeal for you?

My tag line is ‘life, love and beyond… but it’s ALWAYS about the romance, simply because I find categorising really difficult. Romance as a genre covers a wide spectrum and the way I write about it is more in terms of the eternal struggle to find happiness. Contemporary women’s romance is probably a better description, because I write about the baggage we all carry with us. Each one of us is unique, the one thing we share is that we all have problems.

What would you say are the major influences upon your work.

I have read and loved so many authors over the years, reading way above my age level from the age of eleven and upwards. Stephen King (who terrified me) and Sergeanne Golon, as well as the classics by Wilkie Collins, Thomas Hardy and Jane Austen. I think the librarians always assumed I was taking books home for my parents. Marriage, raising a family and a full-time career meant ideas for stories went into a journal for the day I could sit down to write. I then read authors like Marian Keyes, Cathy Kelly, Freya North, Anna Barrie, Sophie Kinsella, Judie Astley and continued to read old favourites like Ian Fleming and Ken Follett, to name but a few.

Being an avid reader inspired two main aims for my own writing style. The first that the reader should feel each character is ‘real’ and I often write about a character from more than one point of view. I also wanted the reader to feel I was sitting next to them, telling them the story and that whatever lessons life was going to teach the characters, the ending would always be uplifting.

Some writers need silence, others prefer music playing, or the bustle of a coffee shop.What is your favourite mode of working?

I can write in silence, or have background music playing as long as it’s an artist I like. My taste is eclectic. However, I don’t like TV noise or radio and I prefer not to have interruptions. I often write late into the night; I love it when the house is quiet and everyone else is in bed. Usually my cat, Mr Tiggs, sits with me. He’s no respecter of ‘being in the zone’. If he wants me to stop and sit with him whilst he eats, he doesn’t give up until I join him!

What is the best piece of craft advice you ever had?

Two stand out. One is to write what you know, or have experienced. Of course one’s imagination will then take over and that’s where research can then take it that bit further, but I know my limitations. The second was to accept that you can’t please everyone all the time. In THE RESTAURANT @ THE MILL there is a cameo appearance by a spirit named Sarah who wanders the mill and dips in and out of the story. One reviewer couldn’t see the point of including this character and yet someone else absolutely loved it. I respect every reader and reviewer’s comments and celebrate the fact that everyone has a different viewpoint. The wonderful thing is that feedback like this is golden for a new writer like me.

How did you devise the hero and heroine for your latest book?

My latest release is NEVER ALONE, officially launches tomorrow. It didn’t start with a character, but a real-life experience. I took a part-time job showing houses to prospective purchasers to give me a break for a couple of days during renovation work on an old cottage! I had the most awful experience in one of the houses I had to show, to the extent that I found myself unable to go inside. Rather difficult when you have a busy Saturday and eight couples booked in at half-hourly intervals.

It was the trigger for the story, the idea being that Holly Elizabeth Atherton has the perfect life until it all begins to unravel after one unfortunate psychic experience. I thought what if that incident makes her realise that it’s happened before and she’s chosen to ignore her psychic sensitivity? As her life falls apart her ‘perfect’ man, Will, is there beside her, but does he understand and what if the path she’s on in life isn’t the one she’s supposed to be following? What do you do when the going gets tough? Work harder. Work is a cure-all; being productive leaves you feeling positive and it’s uplifting to know you haven’t wasted time. Time is precious and life is too short to fritter it away. If life was plain sailing it would be boring, wouldn’t it?

Which temptation do you find the hardest to resist?

Chocolate and coffee when I’m under pressure. Two essentials and I’ve yet to find a healthy substitute.

Can you tell us something of what you are working on now?

I’ve started a complicated story called THE GLASS WALL, which is about a woman who has two soul-mates. I’m about twenty per cent in, when a chance ‘live’ Twitter conversation with two readers of THE QUINTESSENTIAL GEMINI, stopped me in my tracks. They wanted to know when the sequel was coming out and both indicated they interpreted the ending in two very different ways. It taught me not to make assumptions when you end a book with a question mark, and it made me laugh. Then I thought, I’d better ask the main character… and found the question mark was there for a reason. So I’m working on THE QUINTESSENTIAL ASTROLOGER right now. I hate loose ends!

“It’s a gift to be shown something that allows you to make a difference and alter the outcome of someone else’s life. However, the weight of the responsibility that goes along with that is huge and what about the ethics? The thing I have to ask myself is how did my actions change the future?” 

Holly is the envy of all her friends, she has lived with the gorgeous Will for five years and supported him every step of the way. His IT business is about to go global and they are on the verge of having all their dreams come true! A life split between homes in the UK and Los Angeles beckons, offering them a glamorous and exciting lifestyle they will both fit into quite perfectly. So when Will pops the question, why won’t Holly say ‘yes’? 

A series of terrifying encounters unleashes an inherited psychic connection within Holly. Her ‘perfect’ life is turned upside down as she struggles with the reality of her ‘gift’. Help comes from a chance meeting with medium Peter Shaw and she discovers that she is also being given healing and protection by the spirits of two people. One of them is her best friend’s brother, Nick, who died suddenly in tragic circumstances. Holly finds herself confiding in him in an attempt to sort out her own life. 

She begins to sense that the path she’s on isn’t the one she’s destined for, but is it too late to change things? The thought of hurting the people she loves the most causes her to bury her emotions, until fate takes a hand. Life is all about the choices we make … 

Thank you for sparing the time to talk to us today. Find out more about Linn here: http://loveahappyending.com
http://www.sapphirestarpublishing.com/linnbhalton 
Twitter: @LinnBHalton 
Facebook: Linn B Halton

Interviews on the RNA Blog are for RNA members, although we do occasionally take guests. If you are interested in an interview, please contact me: freda@fredalightfoot.co.uk 

Interview with Christy McKellen

Today I’m delighted to welcome Christy McKellen to the blog. Formerly a Video and Radio Producer, Christy now spends her time as either a slave to her children or her muse. When she’s not writing spicy romance, she can be found stomping around the South West of England, glomming her to-be-read pile or escaping from real life with her rather delicious husband. Lovely to have you here, Christy, do tell us something of your journey as a writer. How did it begin?

 I’ve enjoyed writing all my life, but I really started to get the bug whilst travelling around the world with my husband in 2001. I’ve written on and off since then, initially for my own pleasure, until after my second child was born (I have three of them now and fit my writing around looking after them full time.) After I decided to write with publication in mind, I read every craft book I could get my hands on and got involved in the online romance community as well as joining the RNA New Writers’ Scheme. It’s been a long, but wonderful journey.

What was the hardest challenge for you in getting published? 

The hardest thing for me was finding the time to write and send my stories away. My children are still young and take a lot of my attention – and energy – so I’ve had to write in the evenings and during stolen moments in order to get stories finished. Luckily, I have a very supportive husband!

Which author has most influenced your work? 

I think every writer whose book I’ve read has probably influenced me in some way. I read widely and can honestly say I’ve found value in every story. If I had to choose one writer who has truly inspired me though, it would be Kate Atkinson.

Writers are always asked where they find their ideas. Would you like to share any tips with us on what inspired you to write this novel?

Overcoming the effects of emotional abuse is something a good friend of mine has tackled and thankfully beaten. She’s such an inspiration to me and her story was the catalyst for my heroine, Ellie’s, journey. Most of my ideas for stories are rooted in reality; things that have effected either me or my friends in some way.

I know you are a busy mum, do you ever find yourself writing in odd places, like the bath? Where and when do you escape to write?

I write wherever I can find a space, usually in amongst the debris on the kitchen table or with my laptop propped on my knee in bed. I tend to carry a notebook and pen around with me too so I can jot down any ideas or lines that come to me when I’m out. I’ve been known to write whole chapters in that notebook while my children play at the park.

You write contemporary romance, what do you enjoy most about your particular genre?

My favourite part of writing contemporary romance is the lead up to the first kiss. The bit where the characters take that step over the cliff of want into the chasm of need. I also enjoy reading and writing about strong female characters; women who aren’t afraid to go for what they want.

Do you take advice before sending your baby out into the wide world? If so, who from?

I have a wonderful critique partner who is absolutely brilliant at picking up on inconsistencies/plot holes/major boobs and very gently and kindly pointing them out to me. My stories wouldn’t be as strong – or make as much sense – without her.

What was your most romantic Christmas? 

Hmm. They’ve all been romantic in their way. I adored Christmas as a child and have very fond memories of those times. Nothing specifically romantic has happened at Christmas, but I love being able to spend that magical time with my family. Before we had children, my husband and I would divide our time between our parents’ houses, but now we have everyone to us instead. It’s always a busy, but enormously fun time.

Is your family supportive of your writing, or do they think you’re a crazy person?

My family are great – although I suspect they secretly think I’m a little bit crazy. As I’ve already mentioned, my husband is very supportive and has been a huge help during the ups and downs of my journey to being a published writer. My oldest daughter thinks it’s wonderful I have a book out. She’s a total bookworm and I often find her reading under the covers at night when she’s supposed to be asleep. It seems so wrong to stop her so I usually pretend I haven’t seen it.

So what next? Can you tell us a little about your work in progress?

I have three other stories on the go, all jostling for my attention. I think the next one to be completed will by my South of France story about a wanderer and a workaholic. I love these two characters; they’re totally wrong for each other, but oh so right.

Six months ago Ellie Holdsworthy’s life was all planned out - kids, wedding, happy ever after - until her boyfriend dumped her for another woman. Now her best friend, Penny - an heiress to a small fortune - looks set to run off with a gold-digger, and Ellie is determined to save her from certain doom . Unfortunately, the only person who can help is the one person she’d rather not ask... 

Little does Ellie know, persuading her brother’s best friend - commitment phobic, playboy businessman, Gideon DeLancy - to hold an intervention at his beautiful Georgian manor would be the easy part. Keeping her hands off him is a whole other matter.

Gideon doesn’t intend to fall for his friend's snarky sister, and he sure as hell doesn’t expect their weekend to develop into a full-on sex-fest. When passion takes a strangle-hold, their differences don’t seem to matter. After all, a torrid weekend affair should be the easiest thing in the world to walk away from, so why are they finding it so difficult...? 

Published by Crimson Romance on 7th January 2013. 
Amazon UK
itunes 
 
You can contact Christy at:
http://www.facebook.com/christymckellenauthor 
https://twitter.com/ChristyMcKellen 
http://www.christymckellen.blogspot.com

Interviews on the RNA Blog are for RNA members, although we do occasionally take guests. If you are interested in an interview, please contact me: freda@fredalightfoot.co.uk 
 

On the Eleventh Day of Christmas...Kate Jackson

On the eleventh day of Christmas Kate Jackson decorates the RNA Christmas tree...

Our Christmas tree is decorated with an odd assortment of decorations, some bought and others homemade. There are delicate wooden toys and chunky salt dough bells, which my children made at playschool. My favourite is our angel which I made for our first Christmas in the first house we bought. Money was tight so I decided to make an angel, Blue Peter style. She's part cornflakes box, part kitchen roll inner tube, with a felt dress, paper wings, felted wool head with embroidered eyes and mouth and her hair is sheep's wool from when I had time to spin - pre-children. She’s has a wild hippyish look about her and is not a typical angel, but we love her and still use her as the tree wouldn't be right without her. She's always the last to go up on the tree, and after her job is done she spends the rest, of the year in a bed of tinsel in the decoration’s box.

Kate's latest....

Daisy Chain Summer and other stories is a collection of stories about family, friendships and love, all previously published in The People’s Friend magazine. Now available on Amazon.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Daisy-Chain-Summer-Stories-ebook/dp/B00AQX46YM/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1356279665&sr=8-2

For more information on Kate and her work...

http://katejacksonswriting.blogspot.co.uk/

On The Tenth Day of Christmas...Charlie Cochrane

On the tenth day of Christmas Charlie Cochrane decorates the RNA Christmas tree...

This old glass stand plays a part, in some shape or form, in our Christmas decorations every year. It belonged to my mother – I have no idea where or when she got it, but it always appeared on special occasions, laden with jam tarts or whatever snack was the favourite of the time. (Whenever I think of Christmas I think of Ritz biscuits with Dairylea and celery on them and I bet this glass stand saw a few of them in its time.)

This year’s incarnation has seen it used as a candle holder all through Advent and now it’s gracing the Christmas table. There’s a story behind those fabulous pine cones, as well. A big branch came down off a tree just across the road from our house, laden with huge cones. At the risk of life and limb I diced with the rat run traffic to rescue it, with the intention of drying it out and using it on the fire pit. I’m pleased I resisted the urge to do that and found a more constructive use than just fuel.

On twelfth night that glass stand will go away for another year, taking memories of happy Christmasses – then and now – safely with it.

Charlie's latest book...

Two officers, one ship, one common enemy.

Alexander Porterfield may be one of the rising stars of Nelson's navy, but his relationship with his first lieutenant, Tom Anderson, makes him vulnerable. To blackmail, to the exposure of their relationship—and to losing Tom, either in battle or to another ship. When sudden danger strikes—from the English rather than the French—where should a man turn?

On the Ninth Day of Christmas...Jenny Haddon

On the ninth day of Christmas Jenny Haddon decorates the RNA Christmas Tree...

My favourite is a Very Old Friend. She is four years younger than I am. I remember her arrival.

My parents were a) a whole generation older than most people's parents and b) hard up. The first time either of them made Christmas it was for me and they did it on a shoestring. My father hacked a branch off a major conifer in our garden and my mother anchored it upright, somehow.  They made decorations, bought lights. But there was no money for a Fairy, they explained. I went to bed on Christmas Eve and there was a workmanlike star on the top of the tree.

But when I came down in the morning there was -  a Fairy.

I can still taste that feeling of not daring to believe because you are so much luckier than you deserve or thought possible. (Didn't feel that again until my first book was published, now I come to think of it.) I adored her. 

My mother had acquired a sub Barbie from a bring-and-buy sale and dressed her out of floaty white scraps, with starched muslin wings and a wand made of glittering milk bottle tops wrapped round a matchstick.

Mind you, that fairy was always a free spirit. When he thought I was listening my father said, 'That fairy has been on the toot.'  It was her expression. It still is.

Over the years she has been Roman (toga made out of a silk handkerchief) a hippy (tinfoil and doilies) and, these days, at the behest of a Shakespearian actor friend, the Duchess of Malfi (remnant box). But she still leans unto the wind with That Look in her eye. Way Hey!

Jenny's latest book... To Marry a Prince by Sophie Page, published by Arrow

On The Eighth Day of Christmas...Kate Walker

On the eighth day of Christmas Kate Walker adds an angel to the RNA Christmas tree...

A long time ago, before I was published,  and so I  had time to do things like crafts and such, I found a pattern to make some lovely felt decorations for the Christmas tree. In a rush of enthusiasm and wanting to make Christmas very special for my son who was just two at the time,  I decided to have a go at making them. Here is my little felt angel that I made all those years ago.

There were a couple of other little decorations I made as well that year - Father Christmas with a wonderful beard, and the Snowman with his jaunty hat and scarf, a very red nose. 

I have very special memories of the evenings I spent cutting out felt, stitching it, stuffing the little  bodies, and gluing on decorations. I had to do it in secret so that my son had no idea about the decorations until he first saw them on Christmas morning on the tree.  My Mother in Law was staying with us at  the time and she decided to help me so we did the job together.   We had a glass (or two) of sherry while we were working so we were lucky that the decorations turned out so well – we got fits of giggles several times and when  bits like the  angel’s red cheeks or the snowman’s conical  ‘carrot’ nose just wouldn’t stick in the  right place.

Sadly my Mother in Law died last year and so Christmas 2011 was the first time that we put the decorations on the tree without her seeing them. The little angel is a bit battered and worn – she’s see a lot of Christmases – but when they are hanging on the tree together that always makes me feel it's really Christmas.

Kate's latest book....The Devil and Miss Jones

Martha Jones has never taken a risk in her whole life. Until the day she runs out on her wedding and succumbs to the magnetism of a man she has only just met! A man she knows only as Diablo.

Lone wolf Carlos Ortega won't promise Miss Jones more than one searing-hot night. Yet Carlos is shocked by Martha's sweet innocence. This runaway bride is a virgin, and it seems the repercussions of their sizzling encounter could last forever . . .

For more about Kate and her books...

http://www.kate-walker.com

http://kate-walker.blogspot.co.uk/

January Releases

Katherine Garbera  One More Kiss

Publisher Harlequin Blaze

3 January 2013 Cost  $5.25

One taste isn't enough…

Since her divorce, cupcake queen Alysse Dresden prefers baking over boys…until a phone order from a sexy-voiced stranger melts her insides like butter. It isn't until Alysse makes the delivery in person that she realizes—too late—that the only man who can do that is her ex-husband….

After Marine Corps ace Jay Michener walked out on his weeklong marriage, he never stopped thinking of Alysse. Wanting her. And with his reenlistment only weeks away, he wants a second chance.

But Alysse has plans of her own—and if the way into a guy's heart is through his stomach, maybe the way out of it is through his bed!

website www.katherinegarbera.com

Lesley Cookman  Murder In The Monastery

Accent Press

13th January

£7.99 paperback £1.91 ebook

11th in the Libby Sarjeant series, where Libby and Fran try to research the provenance of an ancient reliquary, and uncover murder on the way.

www.lesleycookman.co.uk

J L Merrow  Midnight in Berlin

Samhain Publishing

ISBN: 978-1609288907
1^st January 2013
Paperback, $14.00  discounted to $9.80 for limited time only.

The hookup from hell…or the ride of his life?

When he’s offered a ride by a good-looking man in a Porsche, Leon thinks it’s his lucky night. Until he discovers his savior from the storm hides a dark secret: he’s a werewolf. 

http://store.samhainpublishing.com/midnight-berlin-p-7267.html

JL Merrow   Trick of Time
ASIN: B00A22UVQO
Carina Press
28^th January 2013
ebook; £2.07

A lover from another time

When Ted Ennis steps out the doors of the Criterion Theatre for a cigarette and finds himself in Victorian London, he begins to doubt his sanity. At first he thinks it's all a film set, and is sure that the strikingly handsome young man leaning against a lamppost must be the leading man…

http://carinapress.com/blog/coming-soon/

JL Merrow Poacher’s Fall

Dreamspinner Press
30^th January 2013
ebook; $2.99

One snowy night just before Christmas, 1922, poacher Danny Costessey rounds off a night trapping rabbits by climbing a tree to fetch some mistletoe for his mother—only to fall and break his leg. Taken to the manor house to recover from his injuries, Danny meets the reclusive owner, Philip Luccombe. 

http://www.dreamspinnerpress.com/store/index.php?cPath=55_125

JL Merrow  Keeper’s Pledge
Dreamspinner Press
30^th January 2013
ebook; $3.99

A sequel to Poacher's Fall.  

Christmas 1926: visitors to the manor threaten Danny and Philip’s happiness.  But the worst danger comes from much nearer home. 

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June Davies    In Destiny’s Wake

Linford Romance Library

ISBN: 9781444813951 

1 January 2013

£8.99

Accused of stealing a necklace of pearls, Maud Pemberton flees Yorkshire to escape imprisonment. With the help of her sweetheart, attorney-at-law Henry Broome, she begins a new life alone on the wild Lancashire coastline.

There she encounters enigmatic innkeeper, Lawrence Kearsley. Lawrence, however, is concealing a family secret. And when Henry Broome unexpectedly arrives, Maud discovers Henry has a dangerous secret of his own . . . Caught within a spiral of lies and intrigue, Maud risks everything to save the man she loves from the dreadful consequences of long-buried deception.

www.junedavies.com