Weekend Wind Down - the work 'do'!

Pink Heart Society Editor, Natasha Oakley, shows you exactly why writing for Harlequin Mills & Boon is a wonderful job!

The life of a writer isn't often glamorous. It's difficult to summon up much enthusiasm to put on make-up and sexy footwear when you're generally holed up trying desperately to get words (and preferably the right ones) down on paper. BUT .... there are those days when it is rather glamorous. The AMBA (Association of Mills & Boon Authors) lunch is one of those days.

This year it happened at Brown's in London's Covent Garden. Should you wish to follow in our footsteps you'll find it a short step from Leicester Square Tube, right in the middle of theatreland.

Michelle Styles was the genius behind the planning. Her choice of venue was inspired. Very central and rather lovely. Grade II listed, the restaurant began life as the Westminster County Courts in 1908. That was a nice twist since Mills & Boon published its first book that year. Since 1996 it's been a place to have breakfast, afternoon tea, pre and post theatre suppers and, of course, lunch and dinner. You can even get married there, should you so wish.

Whilst we all spent a bit of time in the bar, the lunch proper was upstairs in The Courtrooms, which still retain the Bench and Judges Chairs. Four tables full of chattering authors - and, yes, we do talk shop.

We followed a starter of warm goat's cheese with mixed leaf salad, basil oil and fig relish with corn fed chicken breast with mixed roasted pepper tomato provencal sauce, seasonal vegetables and roasted new potatoes. That was followed by rich chocolate truffle with raspberry coulis and cream for dessert, followed by coffee and after-dinner chocolates. It was lovely.

But the AMBA lunch is really about meeting up. It's fun. A little informative, too. I wouldn't be surprised if you don't find a good number of us try really hard to understand widgets (apparently something I really should have on my website) and I was completely seduced by the Sony ebook reader. Apart from being able to go everywhere with a hundred odd books in your handbag, the UK version has Fiona Harper's lovely Romance 'English Lord, Ordinary Lady' preloaded into it.


I didn't do very well as a roving Pink Heart Society reporter because I was too busy talking to get many photographs - but here are Presents/Modern authors Sara Craven and Jennie Lucas just prior to walking up that staircase.

And, here is India Grey, who you just cannot get a bad photo of.

Not a bad work 'do', was it!!

Now it's back to real life and a hero who just will NOT do what I want him to ....

Much love
Natasha

Natasha's latest Harlequin Romance 'Wanted: White Wedding' is available in the UK here and in NA here!

Romantic Times Magazine says: 'Natasha Oakley's Wanted: White Wedding (4.5) has its share of deeply touching moments, but what makes it stand out are the humor and the wonderful characters.'

You can find out more about it on her website and you can hear her moan about 'life, the universe and everything' if you visit her blog.

Friday Film Night: Another Woman

This month on the Pink Heart Society, Silhouette Desire author, Maxine Sullivan, continues the reviews of the Harlequin romance movies.






"Another Woman" is a 1994 movie based on a Superromance by Margot Dalton. The story is about Lisa Temple who wakes up in hospital and remembers nothing - her name, who she was, her wealthy husband Paul's intention to divorce her, or that she was badly beaten and left for dead in an alley. When Paul takes her home Lisa must relearn everything. Convinced Lisa is putting on an act to circumvent his plans for divorce, Paul treats her cautiously, but gradually he falls in love with her all over again. As Lisa's memory returns, she is shocked when she eventually remembers that on the night of her accident she put events in motion that could result in the death of the man she loves.






Lisa is played by Justine Bateman. I’ve liked Justine ever since she played Mallory Keaton in Family Ties. She’s always been a very good actress and in this movie she plays her vulnerability and confusion to a charm. Lisa needs to find out why she changed from a loving and happy person into “another woman” who was bitter and filled with hatred. But if she finds out the truth will it bring her memory back, and will that return her to the person everyone disliked so much? And who is that stranger stalking her?






Peter Outerbridge plays wealthy Paul Temple. He’s a good actor but to my mind he just didn’t seem right for the part. He was much too young-looking and I kept thinking he was more like Lisa’s younger brother than her husband. After an initial attempt at hostility, he came across as very loving and easygoing - just like many a guy in real life - but for a movie I wanted more. He had been terribly hurt by Lisa and, for me, I would have expected him to be much colder and more withdrawn. Actually when we eventually discover what happened to them I was surprised more hadn’t been made of his own angst.



The sexual tension between Lisa and Paul wasn’t really visible. There’s some nudity with a flashback to when they first made love on the beach, but other actors clearly play the younger Lisa and Paul and that diminishes the moment for me. The only other love scene between Lisa and Paul was in present time and was very tame and very sweet.



The scenery is lovely and the mansion they live in quite stunning, though I’d be happy with their luxurious “cabin” in the woods. Yet for all the trappings of wealth I still felt at times the characters were just playacting and pretending to live in these places and didn’t actually belong there. They just didn’t seem to fit their surroundings.


I found I was more riveted by the scenes between Lisa and Bonnie, Paul’s teenage sister who lived with them. Lisa had been terrible cruel to Bonnie and the two women had some intense scenes that brought out a lot of anger by the younger woman that was heartfelt.


But for a real tug on the heartstrings, the moment Lisa gets her memory back and the reason she’d changed so dramatically is unforgettable. This is followed by the climax of the story with a twist that took me totally by surprise. Thankfully for once the back cover blurb didn’t give it away, so I won’t give it away here either.




In spite of all those nitpicky things, I still enjoyed this movie and I give it 7 out of 10 on the Harlequin movie Richter scale.

Maxine’s latest Silhouette Desire, The CEO Takes a Wife, was a July 2008 release and is still available at eHarlequin. Details are available at her website http://www.maxinesullivan.com/

Thursday Talk-Time - Sexy Archaeologists!

Welcome back to Kate Hardy...with a post on sexy archaeologists...let me tell you never has BRAINY been quite so SEXY here at the PHS... if you don't believe us...read on!

I always knew I wanted to be a writer…but I was a greedy child. I wanted two jobs. And the other one involved archaeology.

I spent hours and hours digging up our back garden, to see if I could find anything. (Broken pottery. Lots and lots of broken pottery.) What I really wanted was to find a Roman villa. I wasn’t that far out, as it happens – when I researched the history of the house where I grew up, I discovered there was a Roman station about half a mile away. And my particular corner of the UK is fairly big in prehistory: more Iron Age torcs and bracelets have been found in Norfolk than in the rest of Britain put together (and there’s something called the Snettisham Hoard – the largest collection of Iron Age gold and silver neck rings found anywhere in Europe. You can see it in the British Museum).

Ahem. I digress. Anyway, that love affair with archaeology has never really gone away. So, last year, I persuaded my editor to let me write a Modern Heat starring an archaeologist.

She wanted him to be a banker.

But I stuck to my guns. Archaeologists are sexy, I said.

She wanted proof, so I found some.

Starting with Harrison Ford. Didn’t everyone fall in love with him, in Raiders of the Lost Ark?

Brendan Fraser. I defy you not to find him sexy in his role as Rick O’Connell, in The Mummy.

Michael Wood. In Search of the Dark Ages was absolute required viewing from me, back in the early 1980s, and I’ve thoroughly enjoyed his programmes ever since. OK, he’s not an archaeologist per se: he’s a historian. But he was known as the ‘thinking woman’s crumpet’ for a very good reason. (And yes, I do own all his books. This is where my hero Alex’s career comes in.)

I should (maybe) have added Gerard Butler, in his role as Terry Sheridan in Tomb Raider. (Not an archaeologist exactly… but if he’d been redeemed, maybe he would’ve become one. He had an appreciation for artefacts, at least. And he’s gorgeous, yes?)



And this summer, in the UK, we’ve had Bonekickers, a drama series about archaeologists. I give you Hugh Bonneville.

I rest my case. Archaeologists are sexy!

What I want to know is: do you agree, and can you add any more proof?


Kate has two books currently on the shelves: Hotly Bedded, Conveniently Wedded – complete with sexy archaeologist! – in the UK, and The Spanish Doctor’s Love Child in Australia and the US (and next month as a Presents Extra in the US).

You can find out more about these books, and Kate, on her website (http://www.katehardy.com/) and her blog (http://katehardy.blogspot.com/)


Spanish Doctor’s Love Child

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Hotly Bedded, Conveniently Wedded

Now it's time for more spectacular birthday prezzies for L'il Pink Guy!

For today's stupendous prize, head on over to Kate Walker's Blog to see what she's giving our dancing dude. Then answer a pretty easy question to enter to win one of Kate's amazing prize packs...you're not going to want to miss this one!

Writer's Wednesday...Holiday Titles

Holly Jacobs joins us with a bit of a challenge...called "Title a Holiday Romance"! After all, who doesn't love those seasonal offerings??? (We sure love them!)

You know those lightbulb minutes that happen every now and again? My recent lightbulb was that this is my year of seasons. You see, my August SuperRomance was entitled, SAME TIME NEXT SUMMER. Here in the States, September 1st is Labor Day and it signaled the unofficial end of summer. It’s also the day my first Harlequin American Romance, ONCE UPON A THANKSGIVING, went up for sale on eHarlequin.

Summer, Thanksgiving...and the sequels are Once Upon a Christmas and Once Upon a Valentine’s. Summer, Thanksgiving, Christmas and Valentine’s. This is my year of seasons. Lightbulb. Ta da. I didn’t set out to do it. Oh, I set out to do the holiday trilogy, but hadn’t really thought that the Summer book fit the pattern. But it does. It gave me geek glee (lots of things give me geek glee!)!

Here’s the thing–I like holidays.

I like summer’s at the beach. Okay, so I don’t do the sun (says she of the eternal paleness), but sunsets on Lake Erie are absolutely beautiful!

And Thanksgiving? I love Thanksgiving. A time when the family gets together...with turkey, stuffing and pumpkin pie. Seriously, does it get any better than family, friends and pumpkin pie (with real whipped cream)?

Last year we decided to downsize our Christmas. We tried to limit presents, and put the emphasis back on family. Part of that is a new family tradition...the holiday jigsaw puzzle. There’s something quite nice about the sharing and visiting that goes on as we work on it.

Then of course, there’s Valentine’s. Now, I’ve confessed in various public forums that my dh and I are all about geek dates. We don’t tend to do any big romantic gestures on Valentine’s. But without sounding sappy, I’ve got to confess that our geek dates, whether it’s an antique store, or a wine tour, is a perfectly wonderful Valentine’s celebration in my personal opinion.

So, what’s my favorite season? It’s hard to pick one, because I love them all. But if I had to choose, I’d probably say Thanksgiving. I love that it’s simply a day about family...about being together and giving thanks. And in my life I have a lot to be thankful about. I’ve got a great family–a husband who enjoys geek dates as much as me, and four fantastic kids. I’ve got wonderful, lovely friends who support, amuse and like me despite my many foibles. And I’ve got my dream job...writing stories about people who love.

I really love that my August SuperRomance fit into my holiday trilogy theme. I wish I could do a book for every season...just coming up with titles alone would be a blast. For instance:

~Lucky at Love (Leprechauns are lucky...a St. Patrick’s Day Romance). ~Betty’s Big Bang (Okay, I’m worried...if anyone here has followed my great Knackered debate with Kate Walker you’ll know why. I don’t know how Bang translates into English-English, but in the US it can mean sex, which wasn’t what I was talking about. I was talking about Bang as in Fireworks...a 4th of July romance. LOL)

Okay, so I was just thinking about a romance centered on Flag Day, but I got as far as Hoisting it up a Big Pole and stopped...my friend Biddy would say I have “a dirty, dirty mind.” LOL But I like the idea of holiday romances.

So, today while I’m hanging out with you all at Pink Hearts, let’s play Title a Holiday/Seasonal Romance. Can you come up with a romance title for a not-often written about holiday? Boxing Day, Canada Day, Columbus Day...post your ideas and titles if you dare!

Holly has scads of titles out this season! Check it out! (while we wonder when she possibly sleeps!!!!)

SAME TIME NEXT SUMMER, Harlequin Superromance, US and Australia release, 8/08

EVERYTHING BUT A BRIDE, Avalon Books, 8/08

ONCE UPON A THANKSGIVING, Harlequin American Romance, 10/08

ONCE UPON A CHRISTMAS, Harlequin American Romance, 12/08

EVERYTHING BUT A WEDDING, Avalon Books, 12/08

CHRISTMAS EVE KISSES, UK Mills Boon Single Title, 12/08

And the prizes just keep coming for Lil Pink Guy...he sure is feelin' the love. Today's prezzie is courtesy of Natasha Oakley. Pop over to her blog and see what her cool gift is, and enter for a chance to win a copy of WANTED: WHITE WEDDING, Natasha's latest Romance release.

Male On Monday : Simon Baker

A while back, Trish did an ode to blond heroes. Of course it made me start thinking of who I could cast in my next story. And who did I stumble across? Simon Baker.

I needed someone who's done a lot of work. Ever since the afore-mentioned Trish got me started on backwards casting, I need pictures. I need different angles, different backgrounds, expressions, clothes.

Lucky for me (and his bank account) he's worked steadily for years. He had small roles in big movies like L.A. Confidential and The Devil Wears Prada; big roles in small movies like Something New (which will be my next Friday Film) and Sex and Death 101.

He's been involved with some great small screen projects which really help with the pictures - a lawyer in The Guardian, a thef in Smith, and a detective in The Mentalist. He's the any hero!

Ally and Nic will hunt me down if I don't give Australia credit for producing him. He lives in California now with his wife, Australian actress Rebecca Rigg, and their three children: Stella, Claude and Harry.

In my story he's a lawyer...who plays guitar in a band, drives a motorcycle, and lives in a floating house. I think he'll work out just fine :)

**Do you have any ideas for hero fodder who deserves a Male on Monday slot? Let us know! **





Jenna is working on a new story for Modern Heat with lawyers, cake, and tickling. In the meantime, Par For The Course is out, with car sex, an interesting approach to learning to golf, and a love story hazardous to your hankie supply. Oh, plus exploding toads.. Check out Jenna's website, or blog.

And now it's time for another birthday prezzie! This one comes from Aussie author Annie West! Annie's giving away her prize via her webpage, so go HERE to her latest news and scroll down just past the fab pics of the RWAus conference to see what she's giving the Pink Guy and also what's up for grabs for you!