The Baby Stakes - by Trish Morey

“You don’t know me, but I’m having your baby.”

Discovering that you are to have a child - is there any moment in our lives more emotionally charged and powerful? Is there any moment - maybe other than when that child is born, that is more precious?

Even for most couples, when nature and desire join forces without too much trouble, this is such a special time. But for those who have to endure the trials of IVF, those couples who have already been put through the emotional mill and beyond, learning their treatment has been successful and that a pregnancy has resulted, is even more precious, more joyously received.

So what happens then, after being through all that IVF involves, after the struggle and the injections and the pain and the resultant celebration when it proves successful, only to discover the baby you are carrying is not your own, and when your husband refuses to support your decision to hand the child over to its rightful parents?

And what happens, when a man across town learns that embryos frozen and long forgotten have been implanted in the wrong woman and resulted in a pregnancy?

I have to admit, a few years ago I would never have believed a story such as this could possibly happen. I always imagined places such as IVF clinics to be faultless in their operation - how could they not be, given the emotional dynamite they played with on a daily basis?

But of course, events of the last few years have shown that mistakes and mix ups can happen anywhere.

The Heir from Nowhere was conceived in this world.

Angie Cameron is determined to give this baby to its rightful parents. Her husband has walked out on her because of her choice, but it is the right thing to do. It’s not her child.

But when billionaire widower, Dominic Pirelli learns of the mistake and meets the sickly woman supposed nurturing his child, his own protective instincts kick in. There is no way he can leave her to live by herself in an unsavoury neighbourhood when she could be looked after in his own home.

A deal is made, Angelina will stay until the baby is born. The cold, business-like deal suits them both.

Except the longer she stays, and the more the baby inside her grows, the harder Angelina finds it to think of this baby as something she can give away. Despite her determination to stay detached, she begins to bond with her unborn child. And the longer she stays, the harder Dominic is finding it to think of her leaving...

Probably the most emotional story I have written to date, readers on millsandboon.co.uk have also had their say -

“The best M&B that I have read in a long time.”

“Another superb Modern Romance from Trish Morey. A must for all those who believe in the adage that beauty is only skin deep.”

“Once I started I couldn’t put it down.”

And from RTbookreviews, a four star review that concludes with, “A great read.”

I hope you enjoy it too!

Covers and Content

There are lots of exciting moments in a writer's life. Having the book come together just as you'd hoped. Days when the characters spark with life and teach you things you didn't realise about the story you thought you knew so well. Opening your email to find a message from a reader who loved one of your stories. And, seeing the cover of your next book for the first time and (hopefully) falling for it.

Many writers have input to their covers but I'm not aware of anyone who has the final say in what their book will look like. That's in the hands of art departments and marketers. Personally, I find myself holding my breath when I open the box I know has my new title in, after all this is someone else's interpretation of what your story is about. That story you worked on frenetically for so long, and lived day and night.

Recently, when I opened a package with my first (UK) editions of PRINCE OF SCANDAL, I was thrilled. I love the colour scheme (especially the touches of red), I love the intensity of the couple staring into each other's eyes (so like Luisa and Raul, it reminded me of a number of scenes from the story). I particularly enjoyed the feel of elegance and a hint of royal glamour, since this was the story of an ordinary girl (a dairy farmer in fact) who enters of marriage of convenience with a prince. I did wonder for a moment or two how Luisa's blonde hair had morphed into what appear to be lovely long, dark locks. I did ponder the castle so beautifully lit to gold (I'd imagined an alpine setting perched high on a mountain). But the feel of it, and particularly the intensity of that look between Raul and Luisa was spot on.

Then just a couple of days ago, I found the North American Presents cover of the same book. The cover gods must have been smiling on me for I love that cover too. Again, Raul and Luisa are embracing, and Raul is looking darkly handsome. This cover doesn't have the same focus on the royal theme in the book (no castle in sight) but I smiled when I saw it, as the cosy wood panelling and the sense of intimacy in the room, remind me of that intensity between the couple in the story. Even surrounded by courtiers so often, and with the eyes of the public on them whenever they step outside, what sticks in my mind is the intimacy that grew so quickly between Luisa and Raul, and I feel this cover captures that perfectly. Maybe it's coincidence but I enjoyed the fact that it hints that they manage to turn a royal castle into a home. Plus the model for Luisa is just as I'd pictured her!

That's not always the way. Take Rafiq in THE SHEIKH'S RANSOMED BRIDE. Handsome as he is, the model for this cover lacks one thing Rafiq had - shoulder length black hair (usually hidden or tied back, except in the bedroom). I assume the decision was made to give him short back and sides because that might appeal to more readers. I understand that and it doesn't bother me, though it did make me grin, especially when I saw the Russian edition which had the same illustration, but with the addition of a long mullet - superimposed long dark hair to go with the short cropped sides.



By contrast, here's the same book in manga (comic book) edition. This is my first English language comic book - just out! This Rafiq has long hair and is certainly dashing. The illustrations inside focus a lot on the theme of his pirate ancestry which is lots of fun. I think the cover captures beautifully the whole exotic Arabian Nights feel of the story and I know I'd be tempted to pick it up and browse on the basis of that. For me it's fascinating to see how two such different interpretations of the same characters and situation still manage to evoke certain similar themes.

Do you have a favorite cover? Favorite styles of covers? Do you buy on the basis of a cover? I'd love to hear what other readers think and I'll forward a selection of signed cover flats to one person, chosen at random, who leaves a comment.

If you want to find out more about the books mentioned here, you'll find details and excerpts on my website. PRINCE OF SCANDAL is released in May (UK) and mid July (US), while the comic book of THE SHEIKH'S RANSOMED BRIDE is available now from Amazon in 2 parts.

Thank you everyone who stopped by and who left a comment. I've drawn a prize winner and it's JENNIFER TANNER. Congratulations, Jennifer! If you send me a message at annie@annie-west.com with your postal address I'll send your signed cover flats on to you.

May releases

The Unclaimed Baby by Melanie Milburne

Billionaire Luc Sabbatini may have ruthlessly cast Bronte from his life…but he'd be lying if he said he'd forgotten this sweet ballerina.

That's why he's back, and ready to reawaken their lost passion. Only this time he finds Bronte isn't quite so biddable!

Her better judgment is urging her to walk away. Bronte has been lured into Luc's lair before…This time, however, the secret she's hiding will have its repercussions!

Visit http://www.eharlequin.com/storeitem.html?iid=23532&cid=226  for more information.

Melanie Milburne: The Unclaimed Baby

Have you ever had someone ask you to keep a secret? I get asked to do it from time to time and I find it really hard. Not that I would ever betray a friend or anything, but just the fact that someone had begged me, “Don’t tell anyone” makes me feel under enormous pressure. I have to check every word that comes out of my mouth when I’m talking to a mutual friend!

However, I love writing stories about secrets. And one theme that I have revisited a few times now is The Secret Baby Plot. But times have changed and so have readers. While in the past keeping a hero’s child a secret from him worked quite well, these days readers like to have a very good reason why the heroine would not or could not tell him of the existence of or expectation of a child.

In Unclaimed Baby (released in UK/ Australia as Scandal: Unclaimed Love Child) is a story about two secrets. One of course is the baby, but the other is the secret about Luca Sabbatini’s health. He is plagued by a condition that he has told no one about. Not even his family knows. And he has certainly not told Bronte Bennett, the beautiful ballet student he has been seeing.

 Facing the prospect of  do-or-die brain surgery, Luca comes to the decision he must end his relationship with Bronte. He gives her no explanation. He just cuts her from his life. He blocks all contact. He wants to have a clean break so she can move on with her life. He doesn’t want her to give up her life for him if he was to become an invalid. A heroic choice but sadly it backfires on him terribly.

Two years on from his surgery Luca steps back into Bronte’s life. Unlike Ashleigh in The Secret Baby Bargain who felt she couldn’t risk telling Jake she was pregnant, but just like Scarlet in The Marciano Love-Child, and Charlotte in Bought for Her Baby - (See? I told you I like this theme!) Bronte did everything she could to contact Luca to tell him he was to become a father, but finally gave up in frustration and anger.

When Luca makes it clear he wants to resume his affair with her she is furious. Where was he when she needed him most? Bronte wants to tell him about little Ella, and is working up the courage to do so when he finds out via someone else. What a shock to find he has a child!  

Luca is one of my favorite heroes because he really tried to do what he felt was the right thing by Bronte. He was terrified of becoming an invalid and thereby tying her to him. He knew her well enough to know she would never desert him.

This is the first book in my Sabbatini Brothers Trilogy and I wrote the other two books around the premise of this one because Luca, like his older and younger brother, needed to learn that love can truly conquer all.

Warmest wishes,

Melanie Milburne

p.s. Do you find it hard to keep a secret?!!

Kate Walker: Springtime – and New Beginnings

I’m celebrating today -  for a couple of reasons. First of all, I have a new book out – The Proud Wife is released in Harlequin Presents  Every new book that I have published is a real thrill. It’s a delight and an excitement that never goes away – no matter how many titles I have in my backlist. This latest, brand-new, beautiful ‘baby’ is one I’ve never seen in the shops before. It’s a ‘first’ for this title and seeing it in all its untouched beauty in a new cover, new title is a very special thrill.  A whole new beginning.

It’s one of the best things about being an author. That feeling of seeing your work in print is something that never fades – or it hasn’t for me. I may be heading for my 60^th romance title   but I always love that feeling of having a brand new book out there so that readers can find it and  - hopefully  - enjoy it.   So The Proud Wife is one reason why I’m celebrating.  I’m so happy to have this book out in the shops and  I hope that readers will love my heroine Marina and her  estranged husband  the Sicilian Prince  Pietro D’Inzeo.  I’ve been thrilled by the response to this book in the UK – it was at #1 in the bestsellers on the Mills & Boon website for 3 weeks and one reviewer called it a ‘Modern masterpiece’.

But  there’s a second reason why this month is very special for me and that involves a past book – one that I had published  last year – in  March 2010 to be precise. I’m now finally able to announce, The Konstantos Marriage Demand, has just been awarded Best Presents Extra 2010 in the Romantic Times Reviewers’ Choice Awards. I just wish I could be at the RT convention this week to pick up the award but I’m in the UK and  I’m on a really tight deadline so there just wasn’t the opportunity to be there.  I’ll raise a toast to the book – and to everyone who’s going to be there anyway!

Both The Proud Wife and The Konstantos Marriage Demand  are about one of the themes I most love to write – and read about  - in romance. And that’s the theme of lovers reunited. When a couple have once been  lovers - once so very close, intimate in all ways that a man and woman can be, and then are torn apart by some action   of Fate, some terrible mistake on  the part of one – or both of them – the fact that they once cared so much makes the pain of the break-up so much worse to bear.   When  my hero and heroine have once felt a deep, passionate love and something comes along to destroy that feeling  then   where there once was a deep love, now there is a deep, deep pain. The loss of the feeling they once had leaves a real emptiness inside.   And they close themselves off from the source of that loss – the person they once loved.

 I love writing this theme because there is so much raw emotion in  the idea of second chances, of the hope of starting again,  building a new future from the shattered pieces of the old one.  So this is a really appropriate time of year for these books to come out.  Here in the UK, the real signs of Spring are starting to show. The  tulips and daffodils are coming into flower, so are the primroses, all making a brave display of colour and brightness after the long dark, cold  days  of winter. The blossom is blooming in the trees, the birds are singing and building nests and a whole new sense of life and renewal is filling the air .

I always think that this is just like a romance story. We have a saying  that  March comes in like a lion and goes out like a lamb – and that’s the way the story  of  lovers reunited develops.  The conflict between them – the reasons why they split up, the lack of trust,  the anger and pain that drove them apart are all like the  stormy, dark days of winter. Times when the wild winds howl and the nights are cold and bleak.  But slowly, gradually that coldness  changes and turns into  a hope of a new spring – a new beginning.   It’s not a just a new calm but  a green, golden and fertile peace. One that has the promise of potential for growth and trust – and a whole new future.

That’s why Spring has always been my favourite season   and it’s the  reason why I love reunion stories so much.  In The Proud Wife, Pietro and Marina  start out  in one of the darkest times in their lives. When the love they once shared seems to have totally disappeared, been destroyed by the tragedy that tore them apart.   Both of them believe that there is no future for them together – and they meet up in the lawyer’s office to put the final  nail in the coffin of their marriage – and sign the divorce papers. But from their very first meeting, it’s so obvious that there is still so much between them – if only they can  work through the pain of the past.

They don’t find it easy. They’re both proud, determined people. Both hurt by the past and scared of going through that pain all over again.  But they both know that no one else has ever made them feel  the way  they make each other feel.  So can they find a way to put the past behind them,  put right the mistakes they made,  and create for themselves a new future – together?

You’ll have to read The Proud Wife to find out!  Romantic Times gave this book  4.5 stars and called it  “ an emotionally charged page-turner with plenty of tension and passion.” And that sounds to me like  ‘coming in like a lion and going out like a lamb’ – just like  the month of March merging into April as Spring arrives.

You can find out more about The Proud Wife over on my web site and you can read all my latest news and the most up to date events on my blog.  I hope to see you there

April 2011 Releases

Picture of Innocence by Jacqueline Baird

Lucy Steadman refuses to be intimidated by brooding Italian Lorenzo Zanelli. He may hold the fate of her family's business in his iron fist, but she will not submit to his more personal demands.

As a talented artist, Lucy can see the truth in beauty; Lorenzo may be devastatingly handsome, but he has a soul blackened by his desire for revenge. And to give in to such a man, even for a single kiss, would be to lose her head—and her heart—forever….
For more information, visit http://www.eharlequin.com/storeitem.html?iid=23403&cid=226



The Devil's Heart by Lynn Raye Harris

Francesca D'Oro was just eighteen when darkly sexy Marcos Navarre swept her up the aisle—then fled before the ink on the marriage license had dried. Marcos might have given Francesca a jewel for her finger, but he stole another: the Devil's Heart, a dazzling yellow diamond he believed belonged to his family….

Years later, Francesca, no longer so youthfully naive, is determined to reclaim the precious gem! But she's forgotten that Marcos lives up to the treasure's name—and dealing with the devil is always dangerous!
For more information, visit http://www.eharlequin.com/storeitem.html?iid=23359&cid=226



Not For Sale by Sandra Marton

Lucas Vieira needs a translator to seal a high-profile business deal, and also a woman to pose as his girlfriend to fend off a colleague's overeager wife—so why not kill two birds with one stone?

Linguist Caroline Hamilton jumps at the chance to earn some decent money. But when she meets her client, she realizes she may be out of her league. The powerful Brazilian seems to be interested in more than just her brains….

Is the price of this passion too high?
For more information, visit http://www.eharlequin.com/storeitem.html?iid=23356&cid=226



The Proud Wife by Kate Walker

Marina thought her dreams had come true when her husband placed a wedding band on her finger. But their marriage was not the fairy tale she'd hoped for, and eventually Marina walked away, her heart broken.

Two years later Pietro D'Inzeo no longer haunts Marina's dreams. She knows the time has come to move on, and even a summons to join him in Sicily won't deter her….

However, with his wife standing before him, about to sign on the dotted line of their divorce papers, Pietro wonders why he ever let her go.
For more information, visit http://www.eharlequin.com/storeitem.html?iid=23404&cid=226

Sandra Marton's NEW APRIL PRESENTS!

Do you love to people-watch? I do. I’m  drawn to observing people virtually everywhere. In cafes, in restaurants, in airport lounges…

 

 In the lobbies of elegant hotels.

 

I was waiting to meet someone in such a lobby a while ago.

 

Either I was early or she was late. It didn’t matter because I was content to pass the time watching the world go by. The lobby was filled with sophisticated, fascinating-to-watch New Yorkers.

 

One man, of all the rest, caught my eye.

 He was the perfect alpha hero. Well-dressed. Well-groomed. Totally gorgeous in that way only truly masculine guys can ever achieve. 

He kept watching the entry, his expression intent. Each time a woman stepped through the door, his eyes narrowed. Then he’d frown, look away from her and check his watch.

 

And I thought, he’s waiting for a particular woman.

And I thought, he’s irritated because she’s late.

And then I thought, in the way of writers everywhere…..

What if he’s never met her before? What if he’s not sure of how he’ll identify her? What if he needs her for some vital purpose?

What if, what if, what if?

 

And so my April release, NOT FOR SALE, was born.

   

HE is raw masculinity in a well-tailored suit.

SHE is a woman who wears thrift-shop finds.

 

HE is incredibly rich.

SHE lives on a scholarship and earns what she can, translating.

 

HE is powerful, arrogant, and totally self-assured in New York’s most sophisticated settings.

SHE is a small-town girl, a graduate student at home only in academia.

 

NEITHER is looking for passion.

 

WHY WOULD HE, when whatever woman he desires is his for the taking?

WHY WOULD SHE, when her sole interest is in getting her degree?

 

But FATE will bring them together.

 

HE needs a translator for the evening, one good-looking enough to pass as his lover.

 

SHE needs the job. She’s wary, she’s definitely NOT FOR SALE, but it’s just a few hours of translating and smiling, and she’ll not only get paid, she’ll get a decent meal.

 

That she ends up in his bed, that they all but set fire to the night, is unplanned.

 

But it’s okay. They’ll never see each other again.

 

At least, that’s what LUCAS VIEIRA and CAROLINE HAMILTON think.

 

Oh, how wrong they are!

Be sure and visit me at SandraMarton.com  and tell me what you think!