The winners of the 5 excerpt books are

Kay
Jahaira
Vivian Davis
Quilt Lady
and
Sharon A

Email me at shana@shanagalen.com with your address. I’ll send you an excerpt book and some LORD AND LADY SPY swag. Congrats!

Tomorrow is September. You do not know how long I’ve been waiting for it to be September! I’ve been waiting years for it to be September, even though I didn’t know it.

I started writing a book I called Lord and Lady Smythe in 2007. I worked on it, put it away, worked on it some more, wrote other books, tried to get it published, put it away again, and then in 2010 I dragged it out one last time.

I had always been in love with the concept for the book. What if Mr. and Mrs. Smith (like the movie with Brad and Angelina) lived in the Regency? Two married spies who don’t know the other’s secret identity who have to work together? I loved the premise, but I couldn’t make it work.

Until 2010. I finally figured out what was keeping these characters apart, what was driving them, what made them interesting enough to fuel a book.

And now four years later, Lord and Lady Spy, which has been with me for so long will finally be available to all of you. See why I’m so excited for September?

I want you to be excited about September and Lord and Lady Spy too. I’m giving away five copies of an excerpt book featuring an excerpt from Lord and Lady Spy. It also features excerpts from authors you love like Zoe Archer, Katharine Ashe, Monica Burns, Robyn DeHart (yes, one of our own!), Lila DiPasqua, Elizabeth Essex, Alexandra Hawkins, Sophie Jordan, Vanessa Kelly, Kris Kennedy, Mia Marlowe, Ashley March, Elisabeth Naughton, Miranda Neville, Heather Snow, and Emma Wildes.

Want a chance to win? Just tell me what you look for in a book excerpt.

Oh, and if you get a chance, check out my blog tour. There are tons, seriously so many, opportunities to win a copy of Lord and Lady Spy, and it all begins Friday.

And don’t forget tomorrow begins our Guess the Jaunty contest. Check back daily and comment on blogs by our Mystery Jaunty!

Once upon a time, in a life that now seems far, far away, I used to be an artist. I’ve always been a writer, but art was something I did just for me. That was before I had a family and the responsibilities of being one of the grown-ups in the house. For many years, art took a back burner to life’s other demands.

Recently, I’ve dusted off that passion and allowed myself time to dabble in photography and art journaling between deadlines. Julia Cameron, author of THE ARTIST’S WAY (a book for creative souls be they writers, painters, musicians, dancers…), insists one must make weekly “artist dates” with oneself in order to refill the creative well. Ideally, these dates are done solo and can be as short as an hour. It can be an outing to a place, shop or restaurant you’ve never been to, or it can be time set aside to dance or paint or bird watch.  While I haven’t been able to take myself out weekly, I have made an effort to treat myself more often than I have in the past.   It’s amazing how energizing and refreshing the dates have been. Even though it might have been time away from the computer, it was definitely time well spent.

I wanted to share the fruit of some of my Artist Dates…my photography. But first, I wanted to ask you: If you were to take yourself on an Artist Date, where would you go?

There’s a term in romance, especially romantic comedy, called the meet-cute…or is it cute-meet? At any rate, it’s the moment in a book or movie when the hero and heroine first make significant contact. But first, a few real life meet-cutes from folks I myself know.

Story #1: A&S: They were fixed up by friends. Hated each other. Really, really instant dislike. Spent the hour staring at other people in the restaurant. Raced each other for the door, hoped never to see each other. When those mutual friends got married, they found themselves together again at the same table. Admitted the fact that they couldn’t stand each other. A mutual respect grew from such bald-faced honesty. Two years later, they were married.

Story #2: J&L: They met at a river raft race; he asked if he could call her. She rattled off her number lightning fast, saying if he could remember it, he could call her, and she might go out with him. He remembered that number, all right. When he proposed, he wanted it to be on a mountaintop. Got all the way up there and realized he left the ring in the car. He left her there, tromped back down, got the dang thing from the glove compartment and hiked all the way back up. She said yes (imagine if she hadn’t, right?). They have four kids now. Two of them are my godchildren.

Story #3: K&M: Wanting to cut to the chase and meet a decent guy, she registered on a dating website. Slogged through the lengthy questionaire, yadda yadda. Exchanged emails with a few guys, agreed to meet one. He walked into the restaurant on their first date and smiled at her, and kablammy! She fell in love, just like that. When the day came to propose, he took her back to that same restaurant and asked her family to come, too, so he could pop the question in front of everyone she loved. They got married this year and are now expecting their first baby. Happy? Oh, my goodness, yes. And how fitting, since she works in the romance novel industry!

The meeting of the hero and heroine is one of the most important elements of a romance novel. Apparently, there are certain “don’ts” for the meeting—car accidents are out, someone told me. Clumsy meetings seem to be out. No more spilling of coffee or  beer on the heroine or hero. No more “Whoops, I tripped, but thankfully you caught me!” moments. No more “Heck, I just stepped out of the shower, what are YOU doing here!” Or so they say, whoever they are who make these rules. 

I loved the meet-cute in the movie Bridesmaids, in which the hero, a cop, pulls the herione over for driving erratically, and she demonstrates her sobriety by dancing, not just walking, in a straight line. The reason it works is because her driving (and the conidtion of her car) is a recurring theme throughout the movie, and it symbolizes something about the hero. It’s not just cute.

I also love the issue of first impressions made during the meet-cute. Often, they don’t like each other (Elizabeth and Darcy, Scarlett and Rhett, Dean Robillard and the chick in the beaver suit). Sometimes, though, the first impression turns out to be true…despite future evidence. Look for that theme in UNTIL THERE WAS YOU. What Posey wants to believe about Liam doesn’t seem like it’s actually true; he’s a bad boy hero, and though she wants to believe there’s honor and decency in there, he’s doing his best to disprove that. But maybe Posey knows more about him than he does himself

In my own books, the first meeting of hero and heroine that most stands out is that of Grace and Callahan in TOO GOOD TO BE TRUE, when she mistakes him for a burglar and whacks him on the head with a field hockey stick. It’s not clumsy, mind you. It’s a perfectly placed blow. But I also love when Maggie runs into Malone in CATCH OF THE DAY, and Callie’s meltdown in front of Ian at the Department of Motor Vehicles in ALL I EVER WANTED.

So I’d love to hear a story from you of a notable meet cute. Maybe you’ll see a version of it in a book someday! And tell me what you like to see when the hero and heroine first lay eyes on each other.

I arrived back from Disney, survived an earthquake (we don’t do those here in NJ!), did the presentation about covers (went REALLY well!) and then survived a hurricane (we REALLY don’t do those very often in NJ!). So, now I can announce the two winners from my blog last week.

The winners – who will each receive a wee Disney giftie and a signed book of mine — are:

“JV”

and

Kay!!

Please email your mailing/shipping info to me at terri@terribrisbin.com and I’ll get the prizes out to you ASAP. Thanks to everyone for posting………….

Terri B

Chrissy, Liz, Kay, Melanie and Sharie are winners of my weekend book drawing!! Thanks to everyone who came to the party and helped me celebrate.

If the winners would please email me through my website…www.cindykirk.com and let me know if you have the book, The Doctor’s Baby…where Mary Karen and Travis, the hero and heroine of my latest release, If The Ring Fits, are first introduced.

Also give me your snail mail addy and I’ll get that book (or another if you already have that one) in the mail to you pronto!

Monikarw is the winner of my drawing from Friday – about the new TV season. Congrats, Monika! Send me your snail mail address (margomaguire@yahoo.com) and I’ll get your book out to you next week!

My September release from Harlequin Special Edition, IF THE RING FITS (Mary Karen and Travis’s story), is on the shelves now!

To celebrate its release, I’m hosting a LAST BLAST of SUMMER launch party. I’m furnishing the plates and silverware and iced tea and coffee. All I ask is that you bring a dish or drink we can all enjoy and a copy of a favorite book from your “keeper” shelf. Since we are all booklovers, I thought it’d be fun for each of us to bring a book then place these favorite reads on a table (OF COURSE, you’ll take them home with you when you leave–I would never ask you to leave your favorite book) During the party each guest can pick up any of the books on the table, read the back cover copy and decide if it’s a book they might want to read.

The book I’m bringing is Natural Born Charmer by Susan Elizabeth Phillips. You might recall that I raved about this book several weeks back when I read it. Since I could only bring one…that’s the one I chose.

So…come to my party and help me celebrate the release of IF THE RING FITS. Let me know what tasty treat you’ll be bringing and what book. If you do, you’ll be entered into a drawing. I’ll draw FIVE winners on Sunday night at 9 pm from everyone who comments.

Oh I’ve got to go….I hear the doorbell now!

Doesn’t the new TV season start in September?  With cable shows and reruns and Netflix, I can hardly keep track of what’s coming up. But that’s just an excuse. I admit to being a TV dolt. I never know what any of the shows are or who stars in them. I’m still trying to figure out who the characters are on Grey’s Anatomy. (Pathetic, I know!). There are a couple of shows I try to watch, although it’s rare that I remember to sit down at show time. (Thank heavens for On Demand!) I still have to catch up with True Blood – I think I’m 2 episodes behind because I just got back from 2 weeks in Europe. And I have hopes that Walking Dead will pick up the pace a little bit this season, too. It’s funny that I enjoy watching this kind of show because my writing doesn’t reflect it. I might write in a castle ghost, but that’s as far into the occult as I get! (But I’m not ruling it out for the future ).

Occasionally, I’ll have a little free time and I’ll sit down and surf channels. Usually, I stop at something like NCIS or Criminal Minds. I’ve seen the last half hour of most of those and Law & Order. One of these days, I’m going to figure out when Antique Road Show is on, and maybe record it for when it’s convenient.

My husband and I have been watching a few BBC series via Netflix, and loving them. We saw all of Doc Martin last winter and are waiting for them to film another season. Monarch of the Glen was another one – set on a financially troubled estate in Scotland. In this series, the ‘hipster’ son of the laird has to come home and figure out a way to save it – very entertaining. If you like historical drama, Larkrise to Candleford was wonderful! So was Foyle’s War, a WWII police drama. Who doesn’t love Michael Kitchen??

Best of all for the fall (for me, anyway) is Red Wing hockey. My sons played travel hockey when they were younger, and I was a director of their league, which was owned by the owners of the Red Wings. So I’m a chump for the game now.

 What are you looking forward to on TV this fall? Anything new and interesting coming up? Let me know what you think for a chance to win Seducing the Governess, my latest book.

Soon, Kathryn Smith’s photo wll be replaced by a silhouette (we miss you, Kate!). Kathryn’s writing is taking her in exciting new directions, and her schedule coupled with blogging was just too much.  While we hated to see Kathryn go, we’re thrilled to bring another great author on board as the latest Jaunty Quill.

Her name is…

Well, I can’t tell you yet.

All of the Jaunties are excited about this author and we can’t wait for her debut blog.  But we’re not going to tell you who she is right away. We’re going to let you guess! And the best part is we’re going to reward you for guessing!

So Ta-Da!!!  The Guess the Jaunty contest begins September 1st and runs through the month of September.

Here’s how it’ll work.  Our secret Jaunty Quill will blog periodically in September, giving you hints as to who she is. Each time she blogs, we want our readers to post a comment guessing her identity.

Everyone who guesses will be entered to win a gift certificate for $50 to Amazon.com. Those who guess correctly will also be entered to win a signed copy of a book from each of us (that’s 12 signed books!). In the unlikely event that no one guesses correctly, the first person who is randomly chosen from our secret Jaunty Quill’s posts will win and get to choose her prize.

Fun, huh?  We’ll reveal the new Jaunty’s name, and the winners on Sunday, October 2nd. So visit us all through the month of September, and don’t forget to comment on all of those Guess the Jaunty blogs to enter the contest!

Oh, one last hint, but promise you won’t tell the other Jaunties I’m telling you this.  Are you one of Jaunty Quills’s Facebook friends? Jaunty, our resident porcupine mascot, has all the inside scoop. Friend him for additional hints and for the head’s up on when a Guess the Jaunty blog is coming.

Good luck everyone!