My Second Visitor - Victoria Lamb

Today, excitedly, I have Victoria Lamb answering questions on her book The Queen’s Secret. She's my second blog tour visitor and was happy to answer the same questions I set for Cherie. (I was worried they were a bit crap, if truth be told, found them harder to write than my own novel, but Victoria said they were very good, so we stuck with them).

Q: Can you give us your elevator pitch (to the reader) for what your book is about?

A: Elizabeth I on her Royal Progress about the country in the summer of 1575 stops for a few idyllic weeks at Kenilworth Castle, the Earl of Leicester's country home. Robert, Earl of Leicester, entertains her lavishly, turning his castle into Camelot in a last-ditch attempt to persuade the Queen to marry him. But Elizabeth suspects her favourite has restarted his affair with Lettice Knollys. Determined to uncover the truth, she enlists the help of Lucy Morgan, a young black court entertainer, to spy on the adulterous couple for her, unaware that Leicester has already asked Lucy to be their secret go-between. Soon Lucy is entangled in a terrible web of deceit, uncovering more than she anticipated when a plot to murder the queen emerges. A richly textured novel, this not only features Elizabeth I and Lettice Knollys as point of view characters, but also Lucy Morgan and her guardian, the charismatic spy Master Goodluck.

That was probably quite a tall building as elevator pitches go, but it's a complicated plot!

Q: My 'Twitter' question - Describe your heroine in 140 characters. (you can always check it on Twitter rather than count the 140 characters lol!). 

A: Lucy Morgan: a young black entertainer for Elizabeth I whose star is rising. An X-factor winner for Tudor times!

Q: Obviously you're in love with your hero - you wouldn't have written him otherwise - but why do you love him, and think your readers will too? No character limit this time lol! 

A: This is a very interesting question, because it forces me to examine exactly WHO my hero is in The Queen's Secret. This not being strictly a romance, although it contains romance, I do not have one male figure on whom the heroine's interest is focused. Or do I? Lucy meets a young man early on, named Tom Black, with whom she begins to fall in love as the story unfolds. But for me, the true hero of The Queen's Secret has to be her guardian, Master Goodluck. He is one of Walsingham's spies, a master of disguises, a shadowy figure who is never at the forefront of the action but is constantly watching and trying to protect Lucy from harm, which infuriates her. In the sequel to this novel, already written, his fascinating character and backstory are developed even further, and if there is any character in Lucy Morgan's story with whom I've fallen in love, it has to be Master Goodluck.

Q: And can you prove that all published writers are really human? 

A: Is this where I have to type out a few wonky letters correctly to prove I'm not a spam-bot? If it's any consolation, I've had to serve a VERY long apprenticeship before holding The Queen's Secret in my hands. I wrote my first novel at the age of twelve, only considered myself to be a 'serious' writer - in that I started to get a few pieces accepted in magazines - in my late twenties, and slowly began publishing from then on, but had to wait until my mid-forties before signing my first major publishing contract. 

Sometimes writers are late bloomers, or keep falling just short of the radar, or simply aren't writing what's currently popular or fashionable. So although I know how lucky I've been to get six books under contract, I have no illusions that this wonderful state of affairs will last - or at least, not without some serious grind on my part. 

Being a published writer is about being able to accept flux and change, and still keep writing what's important to you. Some years will be lean, others less so. You may have to struggle for years, even decades - as I did - in order to be noticed. It's not about talent, though talent plays into the equation. Some talented writers may never get published, and some writers are constantly getting contracts without having much to recommend them beyond hard work and reliability. Success is a combination of factors, not all of which are within the writer's control, including talent, hard work, determination, personality, and of course, the all-important X-factor in a writer's career - LUCK. Though we make our own luck to a certain extent, by putting ourselves about and talking to the right people, and just working hard. But even if things never seem to happen, the big thing is to be yourself and not sweat too much over whether you're doing it right, or going to the right parties, or whatever. Just be perfectly yourself, with no false front, and sooner or later the universe will come to your door. That's my theory, though I have no idea whether it's true or not. Don't trust me to tell the truth, I'm a storyteller.

The Queen's Secret by Victoria Lamb (Bantam Press, £12.99) is available now in hardback and ebook. Link to Amazon here!

If you would like to follow Victoria, her blog is here.  And you can follow on twitter https://twitter.com/#!/VictoriaLamb1

Thank you, Victoria. Good luck with The Queen's Secret. Another book I will have to add to my 'to-read' pile - having a heroine with Morgan for a surname, what's not to like about it.

Valentine's Day Secrets

It's a bit late - as the day is almost over - but I've been so busy today (it being half term and needing to entertain the kids) that this is the first chance I've had to post!

Being a romantic novelist (albeit not published - yet) you would think Valentine's Day is important to me. And it is. But I do believe that if you love someone, you shouldn't need a day to tell that someone. You should be telling and showing them every single day.

In fact, I find the romance is lost on Valentine's day. Going out for that romantic meal, and you have to stick to a over-priced set menu, and there are more tables crowded in, rows upon rows of couples, all eating the same food. It feels a little false.

To me, Valentine's is really about the secret admirers. This is a day to tell someone, albeit secretly (unless you're really brave and can face the (possible) rejection) that you fancy the pants off someone.

I've only ever sent one 'secret' card myself when I was about 15 years old (if you exclude the time me and my mate Rachel making quite a few up - cutting out letters from papers, spraying them perfume and all sorts - and sending them out to a few guys for a laugh).

I have received two 'secret' cards, when I was at school (so I was 14-16 years old), and to this day, I haven't the faintest idea who sent them to me. But they still made me feel special. It really did make my day - especially as I considered myself an ugly duckling at school (not that I think I've turned into a beautiful swan now, but I believe I have improved a bit with age lol! Better glasses for a start!). It was kinda cool, yet scary. Especially as one was hand delivered to my home address! (The other had been posted by the postman - so they still knew where I lived, but hadn't actually hand delivered it).

This year, I received so many I had to wade through the cards, flowers, champagne and chocolates in my hallway. All from Adam Levine. Obviously. Oh, there might have been some from Bradley, too...

As it's Valentines, I deserve my favourite picture of Bradley :D

What does Valentines Day mean to you? Have you ever sent a card as a secret admirer? Have you received one? Did you ever find out who your secret admirer was?

Book Review: Little Book Of Writing Romance by Liz Fielding

Liz Fielding's Little Book of Writing Romance by Liz Fielding

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


Every wannabe romance writer should read this book!

I'm a big fan of Liz's style of writing, how she makes the romance sizzle between the hero and the heroine, even in a 'sweet' romance - so to have a 'how to' book by Liz is just fab!

There are loads of examples included to help illustrate Liz's points. It really is useful.

Unlike some 'how to' books that you can start getting bored with, switching off, this book reads effortlessly. It was nice to read snippets of books I have read, and be reminded of why I loved them so much (Tempted By Trouble being one). It's also pointed out I have so many more books of Liz's to read.

Thank you, Liz, for writing such a great book and sharing your expertise.

And can I just say, I really do love the cover of this book!


View all my reviews

My First Ever Visitor - Cherie Nicholls

Okay, I'm a wee bit new to all this, but Cherie Nicholls is here to talk about her début book ‘Leashed By A Wolf’. 

Cherie and I ‘met’ in September 2010 – we both entered a first chapter in the Mills and Boon New Voice competition. We were both unsuccessful to get past the first stage, but we have formed great friends and writing buddies through participating, so neither of us regret getting involved.

Cherie Nicholls lives in the London and writes paranormal romances - your traditional love story but with a twist. She comes from a very large family; she’s the youngest of 5 with 4 nephews, 3 nieces, 5 great nieces and a god daughter. By day she’s an IT geek and by night an author.

I asked Cherie four questions and these were her answers!

  

Q: Give us your elevator pitch (to your readers) for what your book is about?

A: Dear me this is a really hard question! Let me see what I can come up with… Hmmmmm… ok let’s try this: It’s a story about one head strong woman, mixed in with an alpha wolf, stirred with a spoon of assumptions and hot attraction served on a plate of forever.

Q: My 'Twitter' question - Describe your heroine in 140 characters.

A: Laney St Clair is head strong, smart, sexy & can fix your car & kick your butt - all at the same time, depending on how bad you annoyed her.

Q: Obviously you're in love with your hero - you wouldn't have written him otherwise - but why do you love him, and think your readers will too? No character limit this time lol!

A: Heath is tall, strong, and alpha to his back. He can be a formidable leader when he needs to be but can also be a doofus. Because he is fiercely protective, he sometimes doesn’t realise they may not need him to protect them and they can stand on their own two feet. But I love that about him, his caring side is just as strong as his masculinity without each detracting from the other.

Q: And can you prove that all published writers are really human?

A: Well, that’s a bit hard to be honest. As most people who know you will tell you, as a IT geek I am never far from a machine nor do I often go without a gadget in my hands. So some say I am part machine… but as a whole, I think I am human, or so the doctors said when I was born.

I think most writers are human, we write the stories we do because there isn’t anything else we could do. Once a character is in your head, they won’t go away until you have told their story. We, most of us, don’t do this for the money - let’s be honest unless you are JK Rowling or Dan Brown this won’t make you rich - but we do it because we want to take you on a journey through the lives of our characters. We want you to be there at their first meeting, laugh when something funny happens and cry when something tears them apart. We want you to feel that anger they do but most of all, we want to leave you with a smile on your face and the knowledge that just for a little while you left this world and visited another, where just about anything can happen and often does. Did I mention that Heath Marsterson can turn into a wolf?  And do not get me started on the other characters I have ready to introduce to you all! See just about anything can happen...

 

Thanks, Cherie. Good luck with the book – and what a fantastic cover! How super sexy is that?

Leashed By a Wolf - Released by Liquid Silver 27th February 2012

Mechanic Laney St. Clair doesn’t want much in life. All she wants is to run her father’s garage as she sees fit, her brothers to stop treating her like she is still their baby sister, and for Heath Marsterson to realise that under all the grease and overalls she is a grown woman, ready, willing, and able to show him just how talented her hands can be.

Heath’s an alpha shifter who knows he needs a mate to help him rule. A strong woman who can stand with him and up to him when needed, a woman who can help keep his pack safe. What he doesn’t need is a fragile human whose family protects her as if she’s made of spun glass. No matter how persuasive little Laney-girl tries to be or how much he wants her, Heath knows she’ll never be strong enough to handle his true self no matter what she says, moans, screams…

If you would like to follow Cherie here are the links: 

Blog - Cherie's Rambling Soap Box 

Cherie's website - http://www.cherienicholls.co.uk/ 

Liquid Silver's Website - http://www.liquidsilverbooks.com/

And if you click here - this is a forum of 'coming soon' books from the publisher.

So, how did my first blog tour go?

Some Exciting Stuff

I'm not sure if I told you, but I did a sort of interview for Friday Magazine - they messaged me via Twitter. Basically, I had to answer the questions (mainly about reading books and one on writing) in a maximum of 140 characters. Obviously, I tested them in Twitter to make sure I was on target lol! I've been sent the link now. It was published way back on 31st December 2011 - but look at this! How fab or what?

Also, I have a couple of blog tours coming up. Two authors visiting my blog! Cherie Nicholls and Victoria Lamb (aka Jane Holland). If anyone else would like to visit my blog, I'm more than happy to oblige.

Now just got to put together some witty questions! (This is the hard part.)

How exciting? 

I could eat cake...

Or stare at Bradley to celebrate!

Oh my giddy aunt, could you just get lost in those eyes?