The great American writer Ernest Hemingway said, “There is nothing to writing. All you do is sit down at a typewriter and bleed.” Writing, indeed, is hard work. The countless hours you put into dreaming and researching and planning and writing and revising and writing and revising (not to mention
Standing at La Capitainery terrace at Ste Maxime Harbour. Such a wonderful view!
I owe my passion for romance writing to various sources of inspiration, from my parents teaching me about the arts to my education in French literature and the many places I have seen and experienced on my travels. But an important inspiration for me was a childhood lost in my
Musing Mondays is a weekly meme hosted by Miz B at Should be Reading. Each week she poses a question related to books. This week’s question is: Do you take notes while you read? For me, it really depends on what I’m reading. If it’s a novel, I may get
I love dance. I love ballet and flamenco and folk dancing. As a young girl I dreamed of being a ballerina; now I am content to watch and be swept away by the beauty of a dance. For me, dance in all its forms is wonderfully romantic, because it is
I recently ran a question survey via SurveyMonkey and Goodreads to discover people’s ‘most romantics’. For the question ‘What is the most romantic gift?’, the results were as follows: Book: 38% Jewellery: 28% Flowers: 25% Lingerie: 9% Given that I ran one part of the survey on Goodreads, I expect
Blurb: When beautiful, spirited Finnula Crais kidnaps the dashing knight Hugh Fitzstephen, she has no idea that she’s ensnared the new Earl of Stephensgate on his way home from the Crusades. Nor does she realise that Hugh is quite happy to be kidnapped by an enchanting tomboy, and will do
I like to visit when I’m staying in France; ideal for sitting in a pavement cafe with a citron pressé and watching the world go by.
I recently ran a question survey via SurveyMonkey and Goodreads to discover people’s ‘most romantics’. For the question ‘Who is the most romantic artist?’, the results were as follows: Monet: 64% Renoir: 14% Da Vinci: 12% Van Gogh: 10% The founder of Impressionist painting, Claude Monet, has topped the poll. It’s
The county of Kent, where my English home is situated, is famous for many things. The White Cliffs of Dover. The Royal Navy heritage at Chatham. Canterbury Cathedral and Chaucer. Jools Holland, a Rochester resident. Hops and oast houses. But it is perhaps best known for its orchards. Pears and
Théophile Gautier was a great traveller, visiting places as diverse as Spain, Italy, Russia, Egypt and Algeria, and his writing based on the various places he visited are works of art. He has a knack of transporting you to the place and making you live the experience he is living. His descriptions are
I was delighted to receive an advance copy of this contemporary women’s novel for review (if you prefer the word ‘chicklit’, it fits into this genre). The blurb intrigued me: When Jenny Shaw hears someone shout “Jessie!” across a hotel lobby, she impulsively answers. All her life, Jenny has toed
I recently ran a question survey via SurveyMonkey and Goodreads to discover people’s ‘most romantics’. For the question ‘What is the most romantic food?’, the results were as follows: Chocolate: 50% Strawberries: 36% Ice cream: 7% Oysters: 7% Interestingly, while oysters are proven to stimulate desire, the jury is out
When I get writer’s block, I go for a long drive to Agay (about an hour away). The view on the corniche is breathtaking. The sea is of the most beautiful azure.
Twenty-five years ago this month the film Dirty Dancing was released in cinemas. A low-budget movie made by a new studio and with no stars in the lead roles (hard to believe now, but Jennifer Gray and Patrick Swayze were relatively unknown before the film), it has gone on to
Honoré de Balzac was a coffee addict – drinking up to fifty cups per day to fuel his prolific writing. Baudelaire, Verlaine, Rimbaud and Verlaine were partial to absinthe. Dostoevsky had a gambling habit and reportedly rushed the end of Crime and Punishment because he desperately needed his advance. William
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
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
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
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
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.
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/
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
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
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