Archive for the ‘Harlequin’ Category

Why Australia’s the sexiest country in the world

Monday, November 14th, 2011

by Katrina Latham

My first introduction to the romance genre was through Harlequin Presents novels, so not only did I learn a whole lot about what boys and girls do when they like each other, but I also got to explore new countries for only a few dollars a month.

That’s how I realized Australia’s the sexiest country in the world.

Lots of the novels were set in London and Australia—places where they called their friends “mate” and lived in flats (which for years I pictured as apartments with lower ceilings).

Both places sounded amazing, but Australia kicked London’s ass on several levels. First, the London novels often took place in offices (*yawn* I’d seen 9 to 5 with Dolly Parton—offices looked like dreadfully boring places to fall in love). The heroes seemed uptight and the heroines wore stockings.

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Do You Think You Can Write?

Thursday, November 10th, 2011

If so, you may be interested in Harlequin’s SYTYCW (So You Think You Can Write) Contest.

If my calculations are correct, I believe this is their second one. I do see one big difference, though, than the one they held last year: this year, entrants must submit a full manuscript. If you’re interested in entering, here’s the link to their page, where they’ve posted submission rules etc.

 

Writers who started their writing career writing category novels:

Linda Howard
Nora Roberts
Sandra Brown
Janet Dailey
Lisa Jackson
Stephanie Laurens

 

It’s My Party

Saturday, October 22nd, 2011

But there will be no crying today as I celebrate my birthday. Instead, I’m offering up some fabulous books for giveaway.  To enter to win, tell me what’s your ideal way of celebrating your birthday. 

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Giveaway: It’s baby time!!

Thursday, October 13th, 2011

I’m going to be an aunt again today!!! Yep, my brother’s wife is going to have a boy today. They’re naming him Nicholas. I so love that name. (Psst, Nicholas is Charlotte and Alex’s son’s name in An Heir of Deception).

Soooo, to celebrate this momentous  occasion I’m featuring and giving away a couple of baby or child themed romance books. I haven’t read THE BABY PROJECT by Susan Meier but it does come highly recommended. I have read SIMPLY IRRESISTIBLE by Rachel Gibson and it’s one of my absolute faves. I have this terrible weakness for great conflict, a sexy romance and an irresistible hero and this book has it in spades.

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Age difference in romance

Tuesday, September 27th, 2011

by Kat Latham

Back in the early 90s, when I first started reading romance, I remember reading a few books where there was a big age difference between the hero and heroine. Of course, the hero was always the older one.

In one book, the hero was in his late 30s and ended up with a 19-year-old woman. At the time, that didn’t gross me out because I was barely a teenager…37 and 19 seemed equally elderly to me.  But now that I’m older, that age difference isn’t romantic—it’s grooming.

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Giveaway: Win an ereader & enjoy the ebook sale!

Tuesday, September 20th, 2011

You know what I love about digital books? Not just the convenience of being able to store about 6 billion books in my pocket. And no, not that my book clutter has been vastly reduced or that with my iPad and iPhone, I don’t even need light to read. Oh, and did I fail to mention that I definitely read more books than ever since I got an ereader.  And did I fail to mention I can sort my books by the click of a button and that they are displayed so nicely on the lovely virtual book shelf. Gosh, if all that wasn’t enough reason to love those digital books then I have to say the plethora of sales surely would push me right over the edge. When I can snag a much loved, much wanted ebook for under $5, I’m pretty much in heaven. And it would appear, so is the rest of the read buying public. :)

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An author to watch – Jeannie Lin

Friday, September 16th, 2011

Today I won a copy of Jeannie Lin’snovella from Harlequin Historical Undone THE LADY’S SCANDALOUS NIGHT on Twitter. I didn’t mean to win it as I receive Harlequin books to review but I forget to let her know I was retweeting for my followers. But as I won it, I decided one of my blog visitors really deserved to win it…so here I am giving it away.

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Authors flying under the radar

Friday, September 2nd, 2011

I’d like to do a monthly post on under appreciated authors–you know the ones who fly under the general reader’s radar. Lately, when I’ve discovered a ‘new-to-me’ author, they’ve well and truly been discovered–as in New York Times bestselling author. Actually, when I think about it I did recently discover Mira Lyn Kelly. She writes for Harlequin Presents and I found her on Twitter. I think the deal was she had a book coming out so I requested a copy from Harlequin to review (like to support my Twitter followers as much and whenever I can). The book was FRONT PAGE AFFAIR and I absolutely loved it so I went back and found her debut, which was WILD FLING OR A WEDDING RING. Loved that one too.

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Keeping it in the family: when a heroine dates brothers

Tuesday, August 16th, 2011

by Kat Latham

My husband’s the youngest of four boys. If I were a romance novel heroine, that would mean I’d have plenty of dating opportunities if anything awful happened to my husband.

As a real woman, that thought fills me with the ickies.

Dating two people in one family is a common theme in contemporary romance. Kristin Higgins’s The Next Best Thing, for example, is about a woman who starts sleeping with her dead husband’s brother while she’s grieving, but eventually learns he’s more than a way to forget her pain for a while.

One Good Reason by Sarah Mayberry—released this month by Harlequin Superromance—tells the story of Gabby, who falls in love with her ex-boyfriend’s brother. She’s only recently met Jon, who lived in Canada when she was dating his younger brother Tyler. And she dumped Tyler three years ago. Perhaps these details ease the ick-factor those of us with real-life brothers-in-law feel.

Jon himself is not immune to feeling uncomfortable that the woman he’s having sex with also used to practically live with his younger brother. And the sexual side of their relationship is what he focuses on.

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5 reasons I wish I were a romance heroine

Friday, August 12th, 2011

by Kat Latham

Many of us romance readers wish we had the same things the heroines we read about get: a beautiful man who adores us, a close community of friends, fantastic sex, and a guaranteed happy ending.

But a tweet from Lauren Plude, editorial assistant at Grand Central Publishing, got me thinking. Lauren wrote: “One of the many reasons I sometimes wish I was a romance heroine–they never seem to have to wait for AM laundry delivery.”

Since I read that while working on a really annoying project, I started thinking about all the little blessings romance heroines have in their lives.

Forget the hot heroes; these are the real reasons I wish I were a romance heroine:

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