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My latest blog posts
David Attenborough’s ‘Africa’: A rich source of inspiration
One of the elements of my book Burning Embers that readers most often comment on is that the description of Africa is vivid and transports the reader to the wild and exotic Kenya of the year 1970. Take, for example, the following description is extracted from a scene in which
Book review: Summerset Abbey by TJ Brown
The first book of a sweeping trilogy set in Edwardian England. From the blurb: 1913: In a sprawling manor on the outskirts of London, three young women seek to fulfill their destinies and desires amidst the unspoken rules of society and the distant rumblings of war. . . . Rowena
New Year’s resolutions for readers
A happy New Year to you all! It’s such a wonderful time of the year, full of hope and aspirations. Spring is a while off, but the promise of it lingers in the air, and the whole year stretches ahead, a wonderfully clean slate, full of unknown wonders. Do you
Book review: A Most Unsuitable Earl by Ruth Ann Nordin
From the blurb: Ethan Silverton, the Lord of Edon, is very content with his life. He’s carefully sculpted it so that everyone thinks he’s a notorious rake. For years, he’s worked hard to build his reputation to secure his place as the most undesirable bachelor in London. And it’s worked.
One of my favourite places to visit on a lazy afternoon
Eze is a quaint medieval town on the Côte d’Azure.
Recipe: Mulled Wine
A popular Christmas tipple worldwide – just the scent of it brewing is enough to stir Christmas cheer. It’s a taste of history too; in England, a recipe can be found in the famous 1869 book entitled Mrs Beeton’s Book of Household Management. It’s wonderfully warming, easy to make at
Books and movies for tapping into the Christmas spirit
It’s Christmas! Time for a break from work, filled with plenty of moments with family, delicious food, Christmas movies and perhaps the odd glass of mulled wine. But amid the buzz and bustle, I do hope there’s some time for you, too. And if you’re anything like me, you’ll enjoy
Book review: Reckless Nights in Rome by CC MacKenzie
From the blurb: Though the name of her celebration and wedding cake business is up in lights, Bronte Ludlow doesn’t care for the trappings of success. All that matters to her is her company, her independence and her heritage, The Dower House. Home to her ancestors since the seventeenth century,
The Twelve Days of Christmas
Black skies, the crunch of snow underfoot, breath puffing out in a cloud on the icy air, the smell of chestnuts roasting, candlelight and, to complete the picture, voices raised in harmony singing age-old carols. It’s a wonderful sight and sound; one of my favourite elements of the holiday season.
Forging a path through Christmas shopping choices: Online or offline? Independent or giant?
Where are you doing your Christmas shopping? If you’re like most people today, your answer will be either ‘Online’ or ‘Partly online’. Internet shopping has revolutionised the way we buy our Christmas gifts. Why fight through the crowds and stagger around for several hours weighed down with bulky and heavy
Book Review: An Innocent Abroad by Rae Summers
From the blurb: Isobel Harrington, fresh from her English finishing school in the summer of 1922, is sent to visit cousins in Italy for just one reason: to catch the eye of their wealthy and eligible house guest. But the man who awakens Isobel’s passion is not the respectable British
Win a copy of my book in the Reading Romances Gifting Books Christmas Giveaway
#XmasGIVEAWAY Gifting Books Christmas hop was organized by Reading Romances! I’m delighted to be taking part in this giveaway event. Some wonderful books on offer – ideal escapism for the holiday season. What you can win here: 1 copy of my novel Burning Embers Number of winners: 1 Open
Who wouldn’t want to summer on the French Riviera, with views like this?
View of the approach to St Tropez. I love the amber warmth of the buildings here, offset against the bluest sky and sea, and verdant greens hills.
Having faith in a little magic
As Christmas approaches, parents worldwide struggle with a difficult issue: will this be the year that their child stops believing in Santa Claus? Of course the time comes when a child’s logic wins out over their imagination: when they realise that the man in the Santa costume who’s visiting their
Book Review: Scent of Triumph by Jan Moran
From the blurb: Scent of Triumph is the story of Danielle Bretancourt, a talented young French perfumer with a flair for fashion and a natural olfactory gift. In the language of perfumery, she is a Nose, with the rare ability to recognize thousands of essences by memory. The story opens on
Book Review: Duke by Day, Rogue by Night by Katherine Bone
From the blurb: Constance Danbury is fleeing an arranged marriage to lecherous Lord Burton, a man who has blackmailed her father and is nearly twice her age. Her escape takes her aboard a merchantman bound for Spain, where she hopes an aunt will help her procure funds to save her
A dreamlike view from my house in France
I love skies like these. I will happily sit out on the terrace for an hour, just gazing up and dreaming.
I’m delighted to be taking part in the Orangeberry Virtual Book Expo, running from Friday, 7th December to Sunday, 16th December 2012. Lots of fun with some really great books, authors and giveaways. Check out my author page here for an outline of the many blogs I’ll be featuring on: http://blog.orangeberrypromo.com/2012/10/virtual-book-expo-hannah-fielding/
‘Love-scent’ descriptions
This week I read a wonderful book by fragrance lover Jan Moran called Scent of Triumph (review to follow on the blog this week) in which perfume and the aromas of nature feature heavily. The book struck a chord with me because I have always felt scents have such power
Book Review: The Proposal (The Survivors Club #1) by Mary Balogh
From the blurb: Lady Gwendoline Muir has experienced her fair share of tragedies in her short life: she lost her husband to a freak accident and developed a limp after falling from horseback. Still young, Gwen is sure that she’s done with love and that she will never be married
A view to get the creative juices flowing
Part of my daily scenery when I go for a walk in Ste Maxime.
Ten Romantic Winter Dates
At my home in Kent, where I’m ensconced until the New Year now, it’s beginning to look a lot like winter – frost on the lawn, ice-encrusted puddles, clouds of breath misting the early morning, fires stoked all day long. Having grown up alongside the Mediterranean in a warm country,
Calling all romance authors: Guest posts and author interviews invited
I’ve been reviewing books for some time now, and I’ve been publicising my own book, Burning Embers, on various blogs thanks to the generous support of some wonderful book bloggers. I’m keen to return the favour and help out fellow romance authors, so I’ve decided to open up my own
Rain: Dreary romance dampener, or perfect passion producer?
Recently, it has been raining rather a lot in England, and we’ve had terrible flooding as a result. The skies are dark, the ground is soggy and I find myself housebound, reluctant to venture out beneath clouds that leave me damp and shivering. The cold I don’t mind; but having
Book review: A Rural Affair by Catherine Alliott
From the blurb: ‘If I’m being totally honest I had fantasized about Phil dying.’ When Poppy Shilling’s bike-besotted, Lycra-clad husband is killed in a freak accident, she can’t help feeling a guilty sense of relief. For at long last she’s released from a controlling and loveless marriage. Throwing herself wholeheartedly
Fishing boats on Deal’s shingle shore
I love to take walks on the beach here. At this time of year, the sea air is bracing and refreshing, and it’s divine afterwards to get home to a warm house and a hot drink.
My latest blog posts
‘This Masquerade’
Today I’m inviting you to take a musical interlude, and step back in time with a version of ‘This Masquerade’ by the Carpenters, which dates to the era of my novel Masquerade. It’s such a haunting and melancholic song; I thought of it while writing my new novel – of
Should authors re-read their own books?
Plenty of actors famously declare that they don’t watch their own movies. Johnny Depp told David Letterman on The Late Show: ‘In a way, once my job is done on a film, it’s really none of my business. I stay as far away as I possibly can… I don’t like
‘We’re all tribal…’
In my new book Masquerade, an ‘us’ and ‘them’ mentality dominates the location in which the story is set: Andalucía. On the one side is Andrés, a respected businessman and technology visionary, mixing in aristocratic and elite circles. On the other is Leandro, a spirited and wild gypsy, one of
‘Knowledge is success’: A driving force
In my new book Masquerade, the heroine, Luz, is a writer who has taken a commission to write a biography on a famous Spanish artist. The client who has hired her is the artist’s nephew, Andrés de Calderon. He is a well-respected and influential businessman, the chair of Caldezar Corporación
Spotting the differences in romance novels
Do you remember the children’s game ‘spot the difference’, where you compare two pictures and circle the differences? Well, if you played that game with two romance novels, you would entirely deface the pages with red circles (please don’t!). To me, it is evident that all romance novels are unique.
And the winner is… Indiscretion!
I’m delighted to share that my novel Indiscretion has been named the winner in the ‘Fiction: Romance’ category of the 2015 USA Best Book Awards! You can check out the award and my win over at http://www.usabooknews.com/
Super Stocking Stuffer Giveaway Hop
Welcome to my stop on the Super Stocking Stuffer Giveaway Hop, hosted by The Mommy Island (http://themommyisland.blogspot.com) and The Kids Did It (http://thekidsdidit.com). I’m giving away a copy of my sultry, evocative romance novel Burning Embers in paperback, so you can escape to the sun this winter: Burning Embers is a contemporary
Gratitude Giveaway Hop
Welcome to my stop on the Gratitude Giveaway Hop. I am giving away a paperback copy of my new novel Masquerade: love, mystery and desire under the scorching Spanish sun. Entry is via Rafflecopter: a Rafflecopter giveaway All of these bloggers are offering fantastic prizes too: <!– end LinkyTools
Innovative sequels to extend the book’s legacy
Two stories recently in the news caught my eye. The first concerns JK Rowling and her enduringly popular Harry Potter series. Having announced in 2013 her involvement in a Harry Potter-related play, Rowling has now shared details. The play, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, will open in London’s West
The Brontë Plot by Katherine Reay
From the blurb: When Lucy’s secret is unearthed, her world begins to crumble. But it may be the best thing that has ever happened to her. Lucy Alling makes a living selling rare books, often taking suspicious measures to reach her goals. When her unorthodox methods are discovered, Lucy’s secret
While away an hour in the British Library – at home!
I recently came across an article discussing the British Library’s collection of images. Fascinating, I thought at once: I love to visit the library when I am in London. Then my eye caught the word ‘online’. I was astonished to read on and learn that the British Library has shared
Where lies her heart: opera at the theatre, or Flamenco in the wild?
In my new book Masquerade, the heroine, Luz, is descended from an old and well-respected Andalucían family. But such is her manner that she usually avoids mixing with the aristocratic circles of the region, preferring instead quiet evenings spent with the same handful of friends, long walks in the countryside
Newsletter: A new medium for expression
No doubt you’ve come across newsletter signups in your forays online. Perhaps you subscribe to some newsletters; perhaps you even put out your own. Certainly, newsletters have become one of the core tenants of a marketing strategy, alongside social media activity. But I wonder: have you ever stopped to think
Tales of the Alhambra
One of the best things, for me, about writing a trilogy set in Spain is the excuse it gives me to bury myself in Spanish history, culture and folklore. Of all the countries I have travelled to (and there is quite a list), Spain is in my top three favourites
A matter of honour
Welcome to Cadiz, setting for my new novel Masquerade. But not the sparkling, alluring parts of Cadiz to where the tourists flock: welcome to another world – to the gypsies’ world. A little distance from the sea in a glade as dry as brown wrapping paper, wild and barrenlay the
Spooktacular Giveaway Hop
Welcome to my giveaway, as part of the fantastic annual Spooktacular Giveaway Hop. Of the four romance novels I’ve published to date, one stands out as fitting with the ‘Spooktacular’ theme, for its haunting air: The Echoes of Love, a passionate story of secrets, loss, hope and haunting love in romantic
My latest blog posts
‘Save my child’: Writing of mothers in my novel Concerto
‘Motherhood: All love begins and ends there.’ So wrote the poet Robert Browning. In my new book, Concerto, the beautiful, all-encompassing love of the mother is a foundation for the story. There are three mothers in Concerto: the heroine and her mother, and the hero’s mother. Each is a fierce
‘Personal and yet universal’: Music to touch the deep recesses of the soul
I listened to a lot of classical music while writing my new novel Concerto, set on Lake Como, but one modern track featured regularly in my playlists. For me, one of the most tender, moving and romantic songs of the past few years has been this, ‘All of Me’ by
‘Seeing’ the story from the hero’s perspective in Concerto
I have always enjoyed fiction which offers multiple points of view on a story. It is traditional in the romance genre to tell a story from the heroine’s point of view, but keeping solely in that perspective limits the story. It’s so enriching to know what the hero is thinking
Spectacle, grandeur, beauty: a night at the opera
By far and away my favourite occasion as a child was a visit to the Alexandria Opera House to watch a ballet performed by a visiting company like the Bolshoi or the Leningrad. It was like stepping into a fairy tale – every little girl’s dream. I still love to watch
Rewarding readers – here, there, everywhere!
It is an indisputable fact that reading is good for us. Reading builds understanding and empathy – ‘We read to know we’re not alone’ (William Nicholson). Reading even makes us live longer: researchers at the Yale School of Public Health found that people who read for half an hour a
Lake Como: a ‘spot blessed by heaven’
At the heart of my latest novel, Concerto, is a great composer, Umberto Monteverdi. At least, Umberto was a great composer, until he lost his sight in a terrible accident. Ever since, depression, despair and stubbornness have kept him from his beloved piano. After the accident, Umberto moved back to
Art inspiring art: why writers are drawn to art, and artists to literature
Here is my idea of a heavenly afternoon: spending time at an art gallery. I walk about and take in the body of works. I read the information presented beside each work, eager to learn about the artist’s background and process. Quite often, I sit on a bench and just
Clara Schumann – a heroine for the modern woman
This year marks 200 years since the birth of one the greatest women of musical history, Clara Schumann. I write about Clara in my forthcoming book, Concerto, with reference to her relationship to two other great German Romantic composers, Robert Schumann, her husband, and Johannes Brahms, her very close friend.