April 2012

Sheikh Without A Heart by Sandra Marton

Dressed only in a skimpy sequin-studded bikini is not the way Rachel Donnelly wants to meet Sheikh Karim al Safir. Especially when he is so devastatingly handsome—and fully clothed!

Karim is horrified that this is the mother of his newly discovered nephew. His raging pulse at the sight of Rachel's barely dressed body belies his reputation as the sheikh with no heart, but he'll live up to it to ensure that the heir to the throne is raised in Alcantar!

For more information, visit http://www.harlequin.com/storeitem.html?iid=25557&cid=226

Savas's Wildcat by Anne McAllister

Yiannis Savas, the irresistible playboy of the Savas dynasty, was every girl's dream. But he quickly turned into Cat's nightmare when his promises led no further than a fiery affair.

Now Cat MacLean has grown up and out of her girlish fantasies. Determined not to fall prey to smooth talk and fast charm again, she's engaged to someone sensible.

Then she's forced to spend a week with the one man she's never forgotten. Yiannis's heated gaze pierces her defences, and suddenly sensible doesn't seem quite so good….

For more information, visit http://www.harlequin.com/storeitem.html?iid=25611&cid=226

The Devil And Miss Jones by Kate Walker

Martha Jones has never taken a risk in her whole life. Until the day she runs out on her wedding and succumbs to the magnetism of a man she has only just met! A man she knows only as Diablo.

Lone wolf Carlos Ortega won't promise Miss Jones more than one searing-hot night. Yet Carlos is shocked by Martha's sweet innocence. This runaway bride is a virgin, and it seems the repercussions of their sizzling encounter could last forever….

For more information, visit http://www.harlequin.com/storeitem.html?iid=25612&cid=226

A Different Desert Experience - Annie West

GIRL IN THE BEDOUIN TENT, my current book, begins in an isolated encampment in wild, inhospitable mountains. Cassie and Amir spend a week in the most luxurious tent you could imagine - one fit for a king, and later they return to his royal palace. To get the feel of the story right I had to imagine an arid, almost deserted landscape.

Readers often ask how much research I do for the settings of my books. It varies. I often write about places I know or have visited. If it's somewhere I've never been then research, including contact with people who know the place, is invaluable.

This time I can tell you that yes, I've visited a desert. A couple in fact. I've camped out on the fringes of the desert in Australia (yes, we have them too!). I've ridden a camel into the desert in Egypt and walked far enough to learn how difficult it is to trudge through sand. I've felt the blaze of daytime heat and been surprised by the evening chill of a desert night. I've been amazed at the number of stars you see in the desert sky at night. And I've shuddered at the thought of coming across a scorpion.

But it had been some time since I'd been in a desert when I planned Cassie and Amir's story. So when I had the chance on a recent trip to Dubai, I signed up for an excursion to a desert national park.

This was a completely new experience for me. Instead of moving under my own steam or on a four-legged animal we were in a 4WD driven by a man who clearly saw the desert as a playground for thrill seekers. We deliberately veered at improbable angles over steep dunes and more than once it seemed inevitable we'd overturn. Imagine a roller coaster on wheels... It was exhilarating and fun, but I think he was disappointed I didn't scream as the dips and sways grew more outlandish.

We saw a spectacular sunset and had a delicious meal. I hand my hand painted with henna - a soothing, fascinating experience but far too short. We were entertained by a belly dancer and there were, of course, camels to be ridden. And there were lots of us. I had to laugh when I turned from taking the photo of the sunset (above) and clicked this photo of just a few of the many people who'd also booked a desert trip. This was not the setting for a blissfully romantic tryst.

It was a fun, fascinating experience and one I wouldn't have missed. I got to soak up the scent of the desert and feel the prickle on my skin as the night closed in around us. It helped me focus on some of the things I wanted to bring to the setting for GIRL IN THE BEDOUIN TENT and it also reinforced the things that would be different in my story. Cassie and Amir's book would have less people and there'd be horses for transport, not 4WDs. There would be a sense of isolation - the two of them trapped together in difficult circumstances, and despite that, a sense of pure luxury that befits a royal sheikh.

Have you ever been somewhere you'd always wanted to visit? Did you find it just as you expected? Or was it full of surprises, like my desert trip with a thrill seeking driver? Would you rather be surprised or are you disappointed when places aren't the same as you imagined?

GIRL IN THE BEDOUIN TENT is out this month as a Presents Extra release. I'm thrilled to say it's just been awarded a CataRomance Reviewers' Choice Award (yay!) and was also shorlisted for an Australian Romance Readers' Award. You can read an excerpt of it on my website.

March 2012

Strangers In The Desert by Lynn Raye Harris

Isabella, the wife Sheikh Adan thought was dead, has just walked back into his life on the eve of his wedding to another woman.

Now Adan is to be crowned King, Isabella must be his Queen—sharing his desert throne and the royal bed. But gone is the dutiful, pure girl he once knew; in her place is a defiant, sultry woman who makes Adan's blood run hot. A woman who has no memory of being his wife….

For more information, visit http://www.harlequin.com/storeitem.html?iid=25373&cid=226

Girl In The Bedouin Tent by Annie West

Sheikh Prince Amir has vowed to redeem his scandalous family name—so the last thing he needs on a tour of his desert kingdom is to have a sensuous blonde with more spirit than clothes presented for his harem.

Fiery Cassie might have been kidnapped by bandits and dolled up as the Sheikh's love slave, but she refuses to be any man's plaything. Yet spending a week in Amir's desert tent pretending to be his mistress would get underany girl's skin. Especially when she is under his sheets.…

For more information, visit http://www.harlequin.com/storeitem.html?iid=25431&cid=226

February 2012

 The Lone Wolfe by Kate Hewitt

 

After years lying neglected, the walls of Wolfe Manor tremble as Jacob Wolfe returns—the master is back!

Gardener's daughter Mollie Parker has lived amidst the secret, overgrown garden in her little cottage—waiting…for what, she wasn't sure…until now.

Reputation in tatters, Jacob licks his wounds alone in the shadows. Mollie knows his ferocious bark is worse than his bite and as she takes her tentative steps across the threshold, she brings with her the light missing from his darkened soul. The lone Wolfe will never be tamed—but she knows that once he loves, he loves for life.

Fianceé for One Night by Trish Morey

Leo Zamos persuades his virtual PA, Eve Carmichael, to act as his fake fiancée at a business dinner. Thinking he's never met her before, Leo assumes that Eve's appearance will be as neat and professional as the work she's so efficiently performed for him. But soon he realizes how wrong he's been! With her soft curves, and lips that beg to be kissed, Eve is every bit as tempting as her namesake….

Eve has accepted Leo's commission reluctantly—how can she, a single mom, refuse the fee he's offering her? But will he recognize her as the girl he once briefly met and for whom he felt a simmering attraction? When Eve sees Leo again, she knows that the one-evening masquerade she's signed up for is about to become a whole passionate night…in his bed.

Once a Ferrara Wife by Melanie Milburne

Laurel Ferrara wouldn't know a happy ending if she fell over it—of course her whirlwind wedding was always going to end in disaster. But it wasn't as simple as just walking away. From the moment she is summoned back to Sicily, the shivers of unease set in….

The command comes from legendary billionaire Cristiano Ferrara, the husband she can't forget—but it might as well have come from the devil himself. The outrageously gorgeous Cristiano's power is a potent reminder of this Sicilian dynasty's unbreakable rule: once a Ferrara wife, always a Ferrara wife….

January 2012

His Poor Little Rich Girl by Melanie Milburne

"Sleeping rough not your thing anymore, little rich girl?"

Alessandro Vallini once made the mistake of proposing to spoiled princess Rachel McCulloch. Her rejection scored his soul. But now the tables have turned: bad-boy-made-good Alessandro now holds Rachel's future in the palm of his hand! He needs a temporary housekeeper, and she needs money—it's a perfect opportunity to taunt her with what she turned down.…

Riches-to-rags Rachel is very different from the glittering socialite Alessandro remembers. He's laid his trap—with himself as bait!—but who's catching whom in this web of desire? 

The Most Wonderful Time of the Year...

I love this time of year, although it must be said the winter of  2010/2011 was a trying time here on the border between England and Wales. It started snowing in December in a way it hadn't done for decades. That was lovely for the village children, but not so brilliant for commuters. We were completely snowed in for ten days, and nobody could go anywhere. Then a tractor blazed a trail through from the main road half a mile away, and we were able to get the cars out. We managed to deliver all the Christmas presents and cards to relatives on the other side of the Severn, but it started snowing again as we started for home, and we only just got back before the lanes were blocked again! That was the last time anyone left our part of the village for another couple of weeks. 

It's a good job we all get on well as a family.  A family of writers in a house with plenty of chimney corners is a lovely combination. The snow made it really romantic, too. Once or twice my husband and I tried a moonlit walk, but with temperatures down to 12 below freezing, we didn't get much further than the field gate. Hot chocolate in front of the fire tasted even better than usual after that but we were all very glad when the thaw finally set in!

We've already had a few snow showers this month, but now the schools have broken up and DD is home from university, I've stopped worrying. The weather can do what it likes. We've got plenty of supplies of everything, including writing paper and printer cartridges. Where we live it's safer not to try and travel when the weather's bad, so we just keep an eye on our neighbours and feed the birds.

I hope all your dreams come true this Christmas. Happy Holidays to Presents lovers everywhere, and here's to a peaceful, productive and passionate 2012 for us all!

December 2011 Release

The Real Rio D'Aquila by Sandra Marton

Italian by birth, this street urchin lived a life of extreme poverty until he escaped to Brazil—where he cast off his roots, took a new name and pulled himself up from the streets.


Now Rio D'Aquila is beyond wealthy, with a reputation for being uncompromising in business…and incomparable in bed! But on meeting vulnerable Isabella Orsini, he feels something deep within him stir, and he finds himself pretending to be that long-forgotten man.


Passion flares and their affair spirals, but Isabella still doesn't know that her lover has lied to her. Who is the real Rio D'Aquila?


For more information, please visit http://www.harlequin.com/storeitem.html?iid=24856&cid=226