fbpx
blog posts in languages:

My latest blog posts

My latest blog posts

The most romantic lines in literature

My readers – especially those of you who follow me on Twitter – know me as a writer who takes great inspiration from quotations. When it comes to aphorisms and proverbs, I am something of a collector, noting them down for inspiration in my writing, or to share on Twitter.

Read More »

Book review: The Sleeping Night by Barbara Samuel

A beautiful, passionate, thought-provoking story about forbidden love; this book will be going on my ‘favourite romances’ shelf. From the blurb: An unforgettable romance in an unforgiving time. They’ll need love and courage to see the dawn. He’s a hometown native, returning from the war, determined to change the world

Read More »

Favourite artist: Paul Signac

One of my favourite styles of art is that of Pointillism: a technique in which the artist uses dots of colour to create an overall image. Notable artists who have used this technique include Vincent van Gogh, Georges Seurat, Henri-Edmond Cross and Andy Warhol at the start of his career.

Read More »

Happiness: a definition and a choice

Happiness is  what we seek in life. Other things – love, laughter, accomplishments, security – are about making us happy; love, most of all. So it follows that at the core of a romance book is the characters’ search for happiness. In Burning Embers, Rafe and Coral fall in love,

Read More »

After the happy-ever-after

It seems that barely a week goes by without a new story hitting the headlines about a celebrity couple splitting up. In the past few weeks I’ve read of Johnny Depp’s split from his wife of 14 years, and then Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes heading for the divorce courts.

Read More »

Book review: Sowing Secrets by Trisha Ashley

Fran lives in North Wales, ‘the most beautiful place in the world’, is married and has a teenage daughter, Rosie, at university. But her marriage is not going well, she has nothing in common with her husband, Mal, and he doesn’t want to spend any time with her.  She wants

Read More »

Scent-sational

Have you heard of the latest dating sensation to hit America? Pheromone parties are the brainchild of a 25-year-old neuroscience graduate student from California, who realised that how her boyfriend smelt was a big factor in her attraction to him. Now, men and women are attending parties to which they bring

Read More »

A Secret Disgrace by Penny Jordan

Over the course of her writing career Penny Jordan wrote 187 books for Mills & Boon, of which I have read many. There was a hint of sadness and poignancy, then, as I read this book to review for the publisher, because it is Penny’s last book, written in her

Read More »

Hannah Fielding, traveller

I was born in Alexandria, and now live part of the year in France and the other part in England. In between, I’ve travelled extensively around the world. If you’re interested to read more about my travels, take a look at the Wanderlust travel website, which has published an interview

Read More »

Favourite film: The ultimate rom-com, Bringing Up Baby

It’s funny to think, now, that this film, made way back in 1938 and starring Hollywood greats Cary Grant and Katharine Hepburn, was not a success when it was first released. Today, it’s widely regarded as a classic in cinematic history, the pioneer of the screwball comedy and one of

Read More »

My latest blog posts

Stuck in a Good Book Giveaway Hop: Jane Eyre

Welcome to my blog, and thank you for visiting. I’m delighted to be participating in the hop, not least because surely one of the greatest pleasures in life is being thoroughly immersed in a great book, so deep that you just can’t bear to put it down and mundane aspects

Read More »

‘Epic’ romance: Redefining a classic term

This week, I was reading a review of my new novel, Masquerade, when a particular word jumped out at me from the page: epic. It is a word I’ve come across several times in reviews of my books, not least in The Sun newspaper’s review of my novel The Echoes

Read More »

Luz: A heroine of the sexual revolution

My new book, Masquerade, is set in 1976. The most important aspect of the historical context is that the heroine, Luz, is finding her way as a young woman in a society being transformed – by the sexual revolution. The revolution changed lives across the Western world in the 1960s,

Read More »

Written in the stars: The power of fortune telling

A common theme in my writing is fortune telling. In Burning Embers, a witch doctor warns Coral of what is to come; in The Echoes of Love, a Chinese wise man offers Venetia advice on where her path will take her; in Indiscretion, an old gypsy, Paquita, thrusts her predictions

Read More »

Book review: Touched to the Soul by Elsa Winckler

From the blurb: A passion that runs soul deep… Zoe Sutherland can’t stand the pushy, arrogant architect Dale Cavallo. He was just too damn sure of himself, too handsome, too…everything. Maneuvered into working as the interior decorator on his latest project, a glamorous new hotel, Zoe can’t keep her mind

Read More »

WIN in my September giveaway

This month I’m giving away a paperback copy of Masquerade, a ‘Legends of Gypsy Flamenco’ CD and two £20/$30 Amazon gift cards. Entry opens tomorrow. Good luck! a Rafflecopter giveaway

Read More »

Do judge a book by its cover: Crafting the book blurb

‘Blurb.’ It is not a very compelling word; it does not seem to signify text of importance. Indeed, the word came into common usage back in 1907 when it was popularised by humourist Frank Gelett Burgess, who used it as a dig at commercialising publishers: ‘To blurb,’ he wrote, ‘is

Read More »

Archive

Archive

Search the post archive by publishing date
Search the post archive by category