Feeling love, in many ways, is easy. Letting go in order to really, truly give your heart is harder. In my novel Burning Embers, Rafe is a man who is haunted by his past. He is unable to let go of a difficult situation in which he found himself and
The modern writer has a choice: paper or PC? Of course, PC is the most practical – but does it, I wonder, help or hinder the creative process? Wherever I go, in my handbag I keep a small notebook, so that when an idea walks into my mind I can
The publisher of my new book, Omnific, has just revealed the cover for my book on its blog (http://omnificpublishing.blogspot.com/2012/03/author-author-blog-bounce-and-cover.html). Exciting indeed!
‘The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face’: one of the most romantic songs ever written, I think, for the poeticism of the lyrics. When I am writing romantic fiction, the three most pivotal moments, for me, are the first meeting, the first kiss, and then the first time the
A small municipal garden not far from the house looking onto the most fabulous sea views splashing over the rocks. I sit in the shade of the pins parasols (the umbrella trees) and think out my most romantic love scenes. I usually have the place to myself, especially in the spring and
I’ve been reading romance novels since I was a young girl, and years ago, in more traditional times, the happy ending at the end of a book was wrapped up in marriage. Either the hero proposed to the heroine, or, usually in an epilogue, they stood at an alter and
One of my favourite quotes about love is from the book Captain Corelli’s Mandolin by Louis de Bernières: “Love is a temporary madness, it erupts like volcanoes and then subsides. And when it subsides, you have to make a decision. You have to work out whether your roots have so
Curry calls to mind India; coconut curry calls to mind Thailand. The following recipe, however, is a traditional Kenyan one from the East Coast – the kind of meal that the characters in my novel Burning Embers may well have enjoyed, cooked by their local staff. I prefer a mild
A mimosa tree in my grounds in France. They flower all over the French Riviera. Some towns celebrate La Fête des Mimosas, and chariots adorned with mimosa flowers and branches parade through town.
… Or so the popular saying goes. Heathcliff and Cathy. Elizabeth Bennet and Mr Darcy. Scarlett O’Hara and Rhett Butler. Jane Eyre and Mr Rochester. Pip and Estella. Dexter and Emma (One Day)… Romantic stories throughout the history of literature are peppered with the prolonged separation of lovers, which serves
This week journalist Jonathan Freedland, who writes thrillers under the pen name Sam Bourne, has published an article called ‘Why the Facts Really Count in Fiction’. In the article, he explains that he takes great care in his writing to ensure that his books are as factually correct as possible.
In researching my book Burning Embers, which is set in Kenya in the 1970s, I read a lot of African materials – legends, fables, proverbs, poems, songs – so that the traditional tribal culture with which the protagonists’ modern, more westernised world overlaps was authentic. I was particularly interested in
Most of my favourite films are romantic classics from previous decades – like Gone with the Wind. But I do occasionally watch a more recent film, and a friend recommended I watched the 2010 film Charlie St. Cloud because she had seen it and thought it would strike a chord
Regular readers of my blog will know that I’m passionate about music across many different genres, and I often use music as an inspiration for my writing. So I was delighted, this week, to read an article in The Huffington Post on ‘lit-pop’ – songs inspired by literature. The fourteen
My local town in the south of France. The reflections of the lights remind me of the phrase from the song ‘On My Own’ in Les Miserables: ‘All the lights are misty in the river.’ (Though of course it’s the ocean!)
In my novel Indiscretion, it is the power of heredity that pushes the heroine, Alexandra, to return to the place of her birth: Spain. She has lost her mother, and is estranged from her father and now, in her twenties, she has been feeling unsettled. She reads this poem
This morning, I logged onto Amazon UK and had a look at the books bestsellers list. What did I find at the top? Not a novel, not a biography, not a non-fiction tome, but one of these: Of the top twenty bestselling books on Amazon this morning, five were adult
The closest city to the hacienda, El Pavon, where my characters live in Indiscretion is Seville, Spain. It is a city I know well, and love, and so I very much enjoyed describing my heroine, Alexandra’s, exploration of the place. As in my previous novels, where my heroines got to
Twitter: a social media platform used regularly by 302 million people, including me. I use Twitter extensively as a means by which to connect with readers and fellow romantics – I chat, I publish news relating to my books, and I share quotations about life and love. As yet,
On a mild summer’s day, once I have completed the writing tasks I set myself, I am usually to be found sitting in my garden near sweet-scented flowers, reading a book. Romance novels are, of course, firm favourites, and I spend much time reading background materials on the country
In my new novel, Indiscretion, the heroine Alexandra is a young woman of dual heritage: she is half-English and half-Spanish. When her parents’ marriage ended, in her childhood, she went to live in England, and for many years she has been estranged from her Spanish side of the family. Until,
I know that many of my readers enjoy historical romance, and a number of you either write in the genre or aspire to. So I thought I would share details of an intriguing collaborative writing contest. Avon Books, an imprint of HarperCollins, has launched Avon FanLit, a 12-week onliune writing
Is reading romance a ‘guilty’ pleasure for you? Do you read romance novels on an ebook so no one knows what you’re reading and judges you by it? Do you associate the words ‘trashy’ or ‘illicit’ or ‘low-brow’ or ‘anti-feminist’ with the romance genre? Then may I suggest you read
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