And the winner is . . .

Kate Walker!

I suspect Gunnar of being bribed, but he insists that I am the one who put the treats on the names. He's only the eater.

And Kate's name was the one on the slip of paper he gobbled his first treat off of.

So, Kate, you are the winner of the signed copy of Tess Gerritsen's The Mephisto Club -- and a definite departure from your normal reading fare it will be.

I'll post it on Monday. Gunnar hopes you enjoy it. And of course, so do I.

Thanks to everyone who participated this week. I appreciate the discussion.

I spent part of the afternoon at the movies enjoying Indiana Jones -- and the other part with the three ideas for future books I sent my editor yesterday.

We are going to discuss them on Monday. So I need to be prepared. It's not often I juggle three book ideas in my head at once. It's not often I even have enough plot to talk about one of them. Let's hope I do on Monday.

So the next guy up might be Christo -- or it might not.

I'll keep you posted.

In the meantime, on Sunday I'm going to be blogging over at Tote Bags 'n' Blogs, so drop in and say hi. I'll come back and make a live link when I've put up my post.

I was wrong!

A closer look at my trade-sized foreign edition has convinced me I erred. It isn't Dutch (it didn't look quite like Dutch somehow, but I knew it wasn't German).

It's Afrikaans.

It was printed in Natal. That's the give-away. At least I think it is. Maybe it's Dutch as spoken in South Africa. I can sort of read it. A little. Very little.

Anyway, I'm thrilled as not all my books get translated into Afrikaans. I hope some readers will enjoy Spence and Sadie's jaunt to Fiji in Afrikaans -- or whatever languages it gets translated into.

I'll be back as soon as Gunnar has determined the winner of Tess Gerritsen's The Mephisto Club.

He's just had breakfast and can't be counted on to do justice to a number of treats so soon after (unlike Mitch and Micah who will snarf them down with nary a qualm). Gunnar is, um, fastidious. And inclined to be grouchy when I impose on him.

So . . . stay tuned.

Oh, and a Japanese edition of The Santorini Bride appeared late yesterday afternoon.

Where Have All My Red Dots Gone?

Those of you who drop by here frequently might have occasionally glanced at the sidebar and noticed the ClustrMap which shows the whereabouts of people who drop in here. Or if not the people themselves, at least where their IP address is coming from.

I love seeing those little red dots turn up. Between ClustrMaps and Neoworx I can get a feel for the global scope of my readers and casual visitors. And it's always a thrill to see new dots or discover the flag of a new country.

Neoworx's flags turn up right when the visitor appears. ClustrMaps redraws its maps every time there is a 10% increase in the number of visitors, so there is delayed gratification as the numbers build. Below is last year's map. We've started over on the sidebar.

My 88th country was Albania. Someone from Tirana (waving to Tirana!) turned up last week. And I was eagerly awaiting my red dot on Albania.

But -- alas! -- ClustrMaps did their yearly archive of my map yesterday. And now I have just a few dots again. No dot in Albania. So I hope whoever it was in Albania comes back. And I hope lots more people from lots more countries visit. It's always a thrill.

I know Kate Walker's flag list is well over 100 now -- creeping up toward 150 when last I looked. I have 12 more to go to reach 100. Hmm.

Could we have a concerted effort here, do you think? Write to your friends in Burkina Faso and Chad and Bolivia and Norfolk Island and tell them to drop by. Not to mention all the places that already have flags but whose dots have been archived!

# # #

Tomorrow is the day I'm giving away a signed copy of The Mephisto Club by the brilliant talented personable Tess Gerritsen, who is -- it goes without saying -- a terrific writer who scares me to death in her books.

Maybe if you're into the less terrifying stuff, you won't want to read Tess. But if you have friends who love that 'edge of your seat' 'what's going to happen next' and 'oh God, it's worse than I thought' then they really need to drop by and comment to get in the drawing.

Or better yet, just tell them to go out and buy Tess's books!

# # #

Post script: 89! I just got my 89th flag -- from Colombia!

Ask and you shall receive, I guess. Anyway, welcome, Columbia, whoever you are. So glad you stopped by.

And to add to the international flavor of the day, the postman just brought books -- The Santorini Bride in its Polish edition and a trade-sized paperback of The Boss's Wife For A Week in Dutch (I think. Well, it's almost German but not quite. But I can't see a place of publication. Must go examine it more closely).

In the meantime, who will be country #90?

Weekend Wind-down Winner!

A little alliteration never hurt anyone, right?

So, the winner of last weekend's wind-down on the Pink Heart blog is Debora. Congratulations, Debora. Gunnar picked your name from the treat-covered slips of paper to win a copy of The Boss's Wife For A Week.

If you will email me from the contact Anne tab on my blog with your snail address, I'll send you a copy this coming week.

Thanks so much to everyone who gave me their choices. You had some great ideas. I'll be considering them and will let you know what I come up with. In the meantime it sounds as if some of you have good ideas for books of your own based on that list.

I have finally downloaded the granddaughter photos and will be posting the high points of my R&R this week. The last three days I spent cleaning my house for an impending visit from a cousin. He is here now -- and very impressed (so he says) with the spotlessly clean guest room he's inhabiting (never mind the upside down lowboy in the corner. It's decorative -- and it has a bum leg and until we can get it fixed, there it stays).

Of course my office is in worse shape than ever as the overflow from the guest room moved -- guess where? Why are there never enough book shelves in my house?

I'll have to show you my beautiful roses, too. Daughter and family sent lovely roses for mother's day. Actually son-in-law is responsible. (I am very fond of him). Tomorrow I will show you. Tonight I'm going to crash.

If you haven't been to Michelle Reid's newly revamped website, give it a look. I will try to post the link tomorrow (having trouble doing it tonight), but if you go to Kate Walker's blog (link in sidebar) you can get to Michelle's website from there.

GBGA -- This Week's Winner

This week's winner of the Great Book Give-Away is Lidia!

Congratulations, Lidia! And thanks to all the rest of you who commented this week!

Lidia gets the five books promised, but if Dina, Ellen, KimW, Mads, Mags, and Christa will also go to my website, hit the "contact Anne" tab and send me a mailing address, I'll send along a book for each of you as well. Some of you have won earlier, but all of you have been faithful in the extreme. Thank you for that.

So, send me your address and I'll send you a book from the GBGA bag.

Today I went to my genealogical conference which was excellent. Colleen Fitzpatrick spoke on "forensic genealogy." It's fascinating and she has a really interesting website if you're interesting in taking investigative skills and such to the genealogical and local history front.

I'm blown away by some of the information she can get out of a photograph or a database.

In life on the writing front, tomorrow the MIA Chapter Eight frog will be making his appearance at last.

I know now why he's been missing so long. I don't want to spook him, though, so I'm not commenting until he's here and things are under control.

Gunnar says thanks for the treats to everyone who entered. He hopes we'll do it again -- soon.

And I hope you'll keep coming back and commenting anyway because it's not as much fun talking to myself.

They're predicting a 50% chance of snow tonight. Good grief!

Gunnar's Pick!

Gunnar and The Prof have come up with another winner.

Of course you're all winners in my book, but this week's winner of the five book give-away is Patricia!

Congratulations, Patricia. Now you'll have more multi-tasking to do while you read all the books as well as do all the other stuff you have in your life!

Go to my website and hit the Contact Anne tab to send me your snail mail address and I'll post your books as soon as I can. Hope you enjoy them!

Gunnar says he wants to pick more winners because having to wait for Saturdays for his treats is getting old. But I like going to the post office once a week, so we shall see who persuades whom.

Anyway, starting on Monday there will be a new set of books for this week (while Gunnar and I negotiate)

In the meantime I'm trying to get Seb and Neely out of the gate. They have less than two weeks to get all their frogs in a row (we've gone off ducks this year. It's the year of the frog hereabouts -- which is appropriate seeing as how the back yard has been a swamp since the snow cleared off). So wish them luck. The frogs are hopping every which way at the moment.

And the winner is . . .

Gunnar and The Prof went down to the basement and did their complicated treat ritual again. Gunnar now looks stuffed to the gills with treats. And he has made his choice.

This week's winner of The Great Book Give-Away is Ellen!

Congratulations, Ellen! I hope you enjoy all six of the books that will be coming your way next week.

Please go to my website, click on the "contact Anne" label on the left hand sidebar and send me your mailing address. Then I can post your books.

Hope to hear from you by Wednesday. If not, I'll have Gunnar pick an alternate winner. Many thanks to everyone who commented this week and last. You were all in the drawing this week.

You will all be in next week's drawing as well. On Monday I'll announce the first of the books to be given away this coming week.

In the meantime The Prof and I are off to watch oldest grandson play in a basketball tournament this weekend.

And, of course, I have Seb and Neely to deal with, too. Right now we're looking for a transition. Sometimes those are easy. Sometimes sitting and staring at a blank page is the order of the day. I fear it's one of those days. Let's hope it's not one of them again tomorrow.

Smile!

Over on Tote Bags 'n' Blogs yesterday I had a post about sitting down and getting things done, not just thinking about it.

In the blog I quoted a couple of bits of great advice: If you build it, they will come, from the movie, Field of Dreams (which I was actually IN) and "Just take it bird by bird, buddy," from Anne LaMott's terrific book Bird By Bird.

And then I asked for other bits of great advice -- and I certainly got some. It's a set of comments well worth printing out. In fact that's exactly what I'm going to do.

I said I would choose a winner from among the commenters, and she would get a copy of Flynn's book.

It was difficult to choose -- and I couldn't leave it up to Gunnar because he's working on tomorrow's winner here of the great pile of give-away books, and I didn't want to overload him with treats. Plus, I really wanted to choose the best.

Well, you can't really choose "the best," can you, from so many bits of good advice? So I had to choose the one that I though spoke the most to me. And that was from Dina, who said she was always reminded to "smile at least once a day."

Well, yes.

And as one who sometimes looks less than thrilled even when I'm feeling perfectly happy, I find that Dina's advice resonates with me not because I do it, but because I NEED to do it.

So, thank you, Dina, for the reminder!

Go to my website and click on the "contact Anne" link on the left hand sidebar. There you can send me an email giving me your address and I'll post a copy of One-Night Love Child to you on Monday.

Many thanks to everyone who entered their best bits of advice. I loved reading it. You are all winners in my book.

If you want another chance to win One-Night Love Child (is anyone going to have to buy this book?), go to Kate Walker's Launch Party and make a comment there.

Mitch and Micah are going to pick the winner from that bunch on Sunday.

Tomorrow Gunnar is picking the winner of the 2nd week's Great Book Give-Away. The last book in this week's give-away is by no means least. It's a spectacular historical romance by Julia Ross called Clandestine.

Guy Devoran is Sarah Calloway's only hope for finding her missing cousin. So she goes after him, becomes a part of his life and, heaven help him, he falls in love with her.

The last person Guy wants to fall in love with is Sarah. There are things in his past he's not proud of. One thing in particular, he is sure, will destroy Sarah's love for him if she ever finds out.

But not telling her is as bad as telling her, for if he doesn't, she will never understand why they cannot be together.

The moral dilemmas in Clandestine abound. It's a book of secrets and passion and, above all, it's a book about honor. I loved it. I hope the lucky winner will, too.

So there you have it. This week's give away books are:

• A Wife On Paper by Liz Fielding
• Beau Crusoe by Carla Kelly
• Miranda's Big Mistake by Jill Mansell
• Hot by Julia Harper
• Clandestine by Julia Ross

and last week's Tempting by Susan Mallery because last week's winner had already read it.

Six super books. And tomorrow morning Gunnar is picking a winner from the blog commenters, so check back to see if you've won!

By the way, Neely's favorite advice from the Tote Bags blog was "Look for the silver linings."

As she is presently painting the houseboat a lovely soft gray called "Silver Linings" she totally agrees with that sentiment. It is the core of her character. Thanks to Michelle Douglas for reminding me of that!

The 12 Point Guide to Writing Romance

Kate Walker wrote a book a few years back called The 12 Point Guide to Writing Romance. As she has been published by Harlequin Mills & Boon as long as I have, she's been around the block a few times and she knows what she's talking about.

Lots of people besides me think so. Kate's book was an enormous success. It sold out pretty much everywhere it was on sale. And recently her publisher came to her and wanted to reprint.

Kate had a better idea. She knew that some writing advice is timeless, but some depends on publishers and the market. In order to give fledgling writers the best chance possible, she was determined to make the book as timely as possible. So she rewrote and updated the book.

The new revised second edition of The 12 Point Guide to Writing Romance is launching this month. In fact it's making its official debut at the London Book Fair, which is pretty impressive.

Kate is off to London to hobnob with the bigwigs next week and promote her book. I haven't seen it yet, though I offered some "timely" advice for it. I have no doubt, though, that it's every bit as good as the first edition. Probably it's even better.

Check it out via Kate's blog. And if you are a writer, especially a romance writer, looking for a lot of good advice by someone who knows what she's talking about, pick up your own copy of The 12 Point Guide. It's like being walked through the process of writing by a cheerful, knowledgeable expert who understands what you need to know and tells you before you even think to ask.

There is a blog party launch celebration going on over at Kate's right now. So if you hie yourself over there, you might win a copy of it or of any number of terrific books.

If I had a copy, I'd give it away here.

I don't. So I'll just have to add another of my recent reads to the pile of Give-Aways for this week.

It's Julia Harper's novel Hot. I think it may be her first novel. It was a fun read. Turner Hastings, small town Wisconsin librarian turned criminal-on-the-run, and John MacKinnon, the FBI Special Agent who, the longer he chases Turner, loses sight of exactly what his priorities are officially supposed to be, are fun to spend time with.

A veteran of lots of upper midwest summers -- and the ticks, bugs, sweat, and heat that go with them -- I had no trouble putting myself right in Turner's shoes. That isn't the only thing that makes it hot, by the way.

Parenthetically, I'm blogging today over at Tote Bags 'n' Blogs about writing. Stop by and leave a comment there and you could win Flynn's book. And you can read my 'wisdom' too, of course! It's about writing (and if I didn't say it for Kate's book, I should have. It's good advice).

Miranda's Big Mistake

Here's another book I wouldn't be parting with if I didn't have another one on my shelves.

A friend visiting London brought it back to me, without realizing I'd already ordered my own from an online bookseller the instant it came out.

Miranda's Big Mistake by the wonderful witty Jill Mansell is a BIG book. 506 pages of delight in which to wallow as you watch kind-hearted, mistake-prone hairdresser Miranda make a mess of her life.

There are, as there always is in every Jill Mansell book -- great characters, joy, humor, pain, wisdom and, of course, a satisfying ending when Miranda, bless her heart, finally gets it right.

When I was writing The Great Montana Cowboy Auction, I read a lot of Jill's books because they're fun and humorous and because she handles legions of characters and more plot twists than I could write in 50 books with great aplomb.

I did my best to figure out how she did it.

I don't do it nearly as well, but I learned a lot. But even if I weren't reading it to learn, I'd read any Jill Mansell book that came my way.

In fact, I have them all on standing order so that I get them almost before they even hit the shelves.

Leave a comment if you haven't already and you could be the one who gets Miranda as well as Carla Kelly's book, Liz Fielding's book and Tempting by Susan Mallery.

Gunnar says that he is susceptible to bribes, too, but I probably shouldn't be telling you that!

As for me, I wish Jill would write a book about an architect with a leaky houseboat. Seb and I could use some advice.

Shipwreck! Scandal!

And all that good stuff . . .

Today's addition to the growing Give-Away pile is Carla Kelly's wonderful Regency romance, Beau Crusoe.

If you've never read a Carla Kelly book, you should. I started with Summer Campaign, which is still my absolute favorite and no one is EVER going to get that one away from me. But there have been many absolutely excellent Carla Kelly books since then, and I probably shouldn't be playing favorites at all.
Beau Crusoe is the last one I read. I think it may be her newest. And it was a special and distinct and memorable as the others. Different than the others, different than everyone else's regencies -- that's one of the things that makes Carla's books special.

She isn't afraid to push the boundaries of the genre. She pushes the envelope. Sometimes she goes outside the envelope all together. She does that in Beau Crusoe, the story of James Trevenen, shipwrecked sailor rescued and returned, feted as a hero and yet -- James is barely holding himself together because of what happened on that island.

And the heroine determined to help him lay those ghosts is Susannah Park, a woman who knows very well what it's like to be an outcast.

If you like your romances a little bit different, if you like your characters a little more complex, you will love Carla Kelly.

Have you read her earlier books? If so, which was your favorite?

Great Books Give-Away II -- Liz Fielding

I hate giving this book away.

I loved it. But I want someone else to love it, too.

It's A Wife On Paper by the incomparable, stupendous, absolutely spectacular (can you tell I like her books?) Liz Fielding.

Liz writes terrific books. She's done 50 of them. And this is, in my estimation, one of the best.

Certainly it's one of my favorites.

What I like best about it is all the repressed emotion. Guy Dymoke has had feelings for Francesca for a long, long time. But she belonged to his brother. And Guy -- being a hero you understand -- wasn't the sort of man who poached. He bottled everything up, buttoned it down, got on with life, and survived without her.

But he didn't forget her.

And when Francesca is widowed and circumstances throw them together again, well, you can guess what happens. But it's best to let Liz tell you.
A Wife On Paper is the first of this week's give-away books. But the pile already has a head-start because Tempting by Susan Mallery (from last week) is still here as Chris, who won it, has read it already and said she would leave it for someone else to enjoy.

She's getting my own In McGillivray's Bed instead. Thanks for asking for Hugh and Sydney's story, Chris. I hope you enjoy it.

* * * *

Seb's past the halfway point. It's all downhill from here, I told him. He thinks I need to make sure I know what I'm doing so we don't back slide. He might be right. But I'm not telling him so.

After all, who's the author here?

Gunnar's Choice

I sent Gunnar off with The Prof and a jar full of treats and little slips of paper with names on of everyone who commented this past week.

It was their job to decide on a winner. I gather that they went through some complicated ritual that allowed Gunnar as many treats as possible while still remaining upright. And they returned with a winner of this past week's five books.

So . . .

Chris, if you are out there -- you are the winner!

Congratulations! Gunnar seems to think you're the perfect choice. (It's possible he had to eat through all the treats to get to your name. I don't know the means they used to make the decision.)

I realize from reading your comment that you have already read Tempting, so if you would rather have another book from my bag, I'll substitute another one for that and hope you haven't read it. If you do want a substitute, I'll include Tempting with next week's books.

Please go to my webpage and click on the contact link and send me your mailing address and I will send the books out to you on Monday.

Thanks to everyone who commented this week. I'll be putting up more books in the week to come and Gunnar will pick a new winner next weekend. So keep on commenting!

* * * *

Seb says to tell you that he's cooperating and that we're getting the details and he had no idea 'scratching' could be so interesting.

I'm not precisely sure what he's referring to.

As he's being particularly close-mouthed at the moment, I wonder what he knows that I don't know -- yet.

I wish he'd get his nose out of the newspaper and hurry up and tell me.

Tempting!

That's the name of Friday's book by Susan Mallery.

And tempting it is, too.

In this year of political campaigns, if you can't get enough of them, you'll have a blast with Tempting, which is the story of restauranteur Dani Buchanan who discovers she's the biological child of Senator Canfield -- who just happens to be running for president!

Unaccustomed to being someone's 'secret' Dani makes the acquaintance of the Senator and his wife and their family -- all children they've adopted and one, in particular, extremely suspicious of her. That would be Alex, the oldest, his father's campaign manager, who has his suspicions about whether Dani's story is true or if she's trying to stir up trouble.

That would be bad enough, but the attraction that springs up between them is worse.

Dani has been around in several of Mallery's other books about the Buchanan family. And they get back in here to form Dani's support group and prove to her that being family isn't a matter of blood. Not that she ever thought it was.

Tempting is far more tempting than reading about the real political scene, if you ask me. Someone (Gunnar hasn't picked yet) will get to enjoy it next week.

So, there you have it -- this week's 5 Give-Aways:

• Dark Lover by J R Ward
• The Education of Mrs Brimley by Donna MacMeans
• Spellbound by Nora Roberts
• Brighter Than the Sun by Julia Quinn
• Tempting by Susan Mallery

Gunnar will be picking a winner of this week's books from among those who have commented on the blog this week.

* * *

I'm back in Twyla Tharp mode and "scratching" for bits and pieces of Seb's book.

It's what she calls the part where you go looking for those bits of inspiration that will give you something to build on to get the finished book.

The idea is there, lots of the story arc is there. It's the concrete details I need now to hang the story on -- or the handholds I will be scratching out of the mountain this month as I work my way to the top.

Right now, though, I'm thinking a space break looks appealing!

Thursday's Book

One of my favorite historical regency period writers is Julia Quinn. She's written some of the most delightful books of that period. I like her so much I have TWO copies of Brighter Than the Sun.

So Brighter Than the Sun is Thursday's book to be added to the Great Book Give-Away. If you know Julia's work, you know that all her books have a certain sparkle. And Brighter Than the Sun is certainly no exception.

You know that as soon as Charles Wycombe, Earl of Billington, falls out of a tree at Ellie Lyndon's feet! But like all Julia's books, it isn't just a romp. The relationship between Charles and Ellie might start out with a "cute meet," but coming to terms with what is really required of them as a couple once they marry is much more complex.

I hope whoever wins enjoys it as much as I did.

By the way, Gunnar thinks this Great Book Give-Away is a fantastic idea because he gets treats for everyone who enters. I'm surprised he's not out on the highways and byways telling people to come sign up.

Oh, and Kate tells me that One-Night Love-Child has made it into the shops in UK now. (Did you notice the British version has an extra hyphen?)

So if you have been waiting for Flynn and Sara and you live on the other side of the pond, check your local stockists.

Great Book Give-Away again

Because yesterday I was posting about Roy, I didn't clutter up the post with the next book in my Great Book Give-Away. So today I'm posting two.

Along with J.R. Ward's Dark Lover in this week's bunch, there will be Donna McMeans' fun first novel, the regency romance, The Education of Mrs. Brimley.

When Emma Brimley tells one small fib to win a teaching job at the Pettibone School for Young Ladies, she is only doing it to get the job. And what difference will it make if they think she's a widow and not a single woman.

Big difference! Because the Powers That Be at Pettibone's expect that a widow will be able to prepare the Young Ladies for the "intimacies of marriage." Ooops. And when Emma meets Lord Nicholas Chambers --- who could certainly enlighten her about exactly what those intimacies entail -- what happens next is a great deal of fun.

And today's book is a novella, really, by the incomparable Nora Roberts. Spellbound is all the best of Nora's romance with a tiny bit of 'fantasy' thrown in -- the blend she does so well. I enjoyed it and, if you're a Nora fan, I imagine you will, too.

So, if you want copies of these three books, plus the two that will be coming up tomorrow and Friday, post a comment. I'd love for them to have a happy home.

If you've already commented for this week, you don't have to again to be entered in the drawing -- but I'd love to hear from you anyway. And if you have read any of these books and want to add your two cents, by all means, do so.

The Big Book Give-Away

Those of you who have been hanging around a while know that I'm in the midst of what might euphemistically be called "home improvements."

Basically this means, gutting our bedroom and starting over. Except for the dressers, that's pretty much the case. And in the process of doing so, I've gone through the bookcases (those were the dusting episodes).

Now then, I have accumulated a GIGANTIC bag of wonderful books that I want to find homes for. I'm going to give them away and several lucky souls are going to get them. I could, of course, lug them down to the local used bookstore (because the owner is a good friend of mine and she let me read about 400-500 of them when I was first starting out writing romance just because she's a good person). But taking her books -- especially not completely current books -- is a little like taking coals you-know-where.

So . . . I figure I will give them away here. If you comment, you get chance to be selected to receive a book or five. I'll post up one or two every day. They're good books. I wouldn't have kept them if they weren't. But there is only so much space in this house, and I want them to go to good homes.

If I post a book you particularly want, post a comment. If you've read it and you have a comment (particularly if you want to rave about it), post a comment. If you have too many books in your house, but you want to make a comment anyway, say so, and I promise I won't send you the books.

The idea is to find them happy homes and get some discussion going.

The first book on the Give-Away pile is, Dark Lover, the one that started J.R. Ward's series of books about the Black Dagger Brotherhood. Definitely a book to get your teeth into! Sorry, bad pun. Great book.

Want it? Comment.

I'll add a book a day and post this week's winner on Friday.

So, what do you want to talk about? Anyone know any good additives for what I should be using to wash down the walls before George comes to paint them?

Oh, and celebrate with Kate Walker who finished up Santos's book today. Congrats, Kate. I know it was a long slog. I hope I can celebrate Seb and Neely's ending a month from now.

We Have Winners!

Flynn, Tom and Raul are delighted to announce the winners of the second annual Here Come The Grooms! contest --

• Flynn's winner is Carol Woodruff of New Jersey
• Tom's winner is Jane Squires of Missouri
• Raul's winner is Alison Bond of Manchester, UK

Congratulations to you all!

And many thanks to everyone who took the time to enter. The guys were delighted that so many of you took part in the contest. They hope you enjoyed it as much as they did.

I'm sure Flynn will be back this month to blog a time or two.

Stay tuned for tomorrow's blog. It's Mother's Day in Britain -- and for all I know other places as well, so we'll doing a drawing on comments tomorrow for all the mothers.

But mostly we will be celebrating a new suitor for Abby Green. A new Eamon -- a US version -- has reared his woolly head and asked to be introduced. You'll meet him tomorrow -- and a very special photographer as well.

Happy St David's Day

No, I'm not in Wales where I could say that and not get odd looks.

But before I got married I had a reasonably common Welsh surname and a father who insisted that somewhere, generations back, we really were Welsh (what part of us wasn't Choctaw, French, Scottish, German and English).

And I do like daffodils. And the name David -- gave it to my eldest son, actually.

So I figure I'm entitled to celebrate.

I'm also celebrating because I did a guest blog at Liz Fielding's the other day (Liz lives in Wales) -- and it's still up so you can go visit and check out an excerpt from the new book (yes, I know it takes place in Ireland, but you can't have everything; besides Ireland was lovely).

I'm happy to report that Seb's book is coming along nicely at the moment. A whole 10 days of well-behaved hero . . . hard to believe. I do sense a bit of white water ahead (though hopefully not a waterfall). It's a matter of figuring out the 'dramatic structure' now.

Not my forte.

Not the planning of it, anyway. Gut reactions, yes, I can do those. So I guess I'll go try to come up with some stuff that I can have gut reactions to and either keep it and work on it or throw it out. At least I'll be getting somewhere.

The contest is over. Flynn will be picking the winner today -- unless Gunnar manages to convince him that he should do it instead. Stay tuned!

And many thanks to all of you who entered.

Last Chance!

The grooms -- Flynn, Tom and Raul -- are about to take their contest and go home. The last day to enter their "Here Come The Grooms!" contest is February 29th.

So if you still haven't entered (and you enter three times -- once on my website, once on Kate Walker's and once on Liz Fielding's -- links on my sidebar), drop by and enter NOW!

Raul, Flynn and Tom will be glad you did. And you might be, too, if you win a copy of each of their books.

All you have to do to enter is answer three questions:

From Tom: What colour silk did he become intimately acquainted with?

From Raul: What's his full name and the name of his heroine (and no, it's not the name on the back cover of the book)?

From Flynn: What story was he covering when he went to Montana six years ago and met Sara McMaster in the first place?

The answers to Flynn's question is on my blog and in the excerpt on my website. Tom's is on Liz's website, and Raul's is on Kate's website. It doesn't take an advanced degree to figure out the answers.

And to be honest, Theo and Max and Domenico (last year's grooms) think you guys have it easy. They asked three questions apiece! They have been giving Tom, Raul and Flynn a hard time about it ever since they put up the contest. They say this year's grooms are 'lowering the standards.' So you better turn out and prove them wrong!

On Thursday I'm going to be blogging at Liz's -- so drop by and say hi if you want. You can win a book there, too. Or you can go out and buy one. What a novel concept! They're on the shelves now, except at Wal-Mart where Chris lives. There is a chance, I suppose, that they may have sold out. But my money is on them never having made it to the shelves in the first place.

So if you go looking and don't see it at your favorite store -- ask! Say, "Where's One-Night Love Child?" I'm sure they'll know precisely what you're talking about!

And if they don't, you can tell them. Thanks!

Guest blogging at Tote Bags 'n' Blogs

This is my day to blog at Tote Bags 'n' Blogs -- the lovely Lee Hyat's blog about books that have to do with all things romance.

As a year ago today I was heading off to Chicago in an attempt to beat a blizzard so I could catch a plane to Dublin to do research for One-Night Love Child (at the time simply called Flynn's book), I thought that writing about 'research' might be interesting.

It's my favorite part of writing, as a matter of fact. And you can read why -- in brief -- over there today.

But here I'll give you a list of my favorite research moments -- ones that I never would have got to do if I hadn't been writing a book:

• going to bull-riding school for The Cowboy and The Kid
• spending an afternoon at Frederic Fekkai Salon in NYC for The Inconvenient Bride
• lunching at the Society of Illustrators in NYC with the artist who did my cover for Dream Chasers and who took me to a cover shoot afterwards
• learning how to build an 11 ton sand castle for Marry Sunshine
  
• going to Ireland in search of a perfect place for Flynn for One-Night Love Child
• interviewing a major league umpire for A Chance of Rainbows
• Having a stunt coordinator work out a stunt-gone-wrong for Cowboys Don't Quit
• Learning what goes into being a muralist for The Santorini Bride
• Going on an archeological dig for Dare To Trust
• Exploring an island off the coast of Maine for Call Up the Wind
• Following a professional beach volleyball player's tour for Out of Bounds

Just thinking about on them all makes me reflect how rich and varied a writer's life can be. It's not all sitting in the garret staring at the blank computer screen -- though some of it definitely is!

Anyway, the trip to Ireland was an adventure -- the blizzard was only the start of it. But it was great fun -- and definitely worth the trip, as well as the hours in the garret writing afterwards.

Stop by and say hi. You also have a chance to win a copy of Flynn's book just by leaving a comment there. Gunnar will be picking the winner on Tuesday.

Here Come The Grooms!

Remember last year when Liz Fielding, Kate Walker and I had books out in February and they were all about brides?

We got together and had a Here Come the Brides! contest, run by our lovely heroines.

Only our heroes, Theo, Max and Dom were not to be outdone. Before we knew it they'd organized a "Here Come the Grooms!" contest and basically took over. Well, they're men. What do you expect?

This year we decided to harness all that energy right from the start. So this year while the brides plan their weddings, my Flynn, Kate's Raul and Liz's Tom are going to be putting on a "Here Come the Grooms" contest, part II.

Who are these guys?

Well over the next few days, we'll get to that. You can meet each of them here, one by one. Or you can -- and I hope you will -- drop by Liz's blog and Kate's blog or websites and meet Tom and Raul there.

In the meantime, you've all seen the cover for One-Night Love Child (or if you haven't, scroll down to the entry below). Now let me introduce you to Flynn.

When Sara (and I) met Flynn Murray, she was nineteen, he was twenty-six and I was old enough to be writing my forty-ninth book. It was called The Great Montana Cowboy Auction, and the heroine was Polly McMaster, Sara's mother.

It was a single-title and there were a lot of characters -- most of them Polly's children, as I recall -- and the oldest was Sara.

Sara was a wonderful foil for Polly. Polly multi-tasked in her sleep. She had to. She was a widow with children, dogs, cats, a widowed mother, and an inability to say no to good ideas. Sara was organized, straightforward, focused, idealistic. She was going to go to medical school and save, if not the world, at least her little corner of it. She had Plans, Ambitions, Goals.

And then she met Flynn.

The first time they met she knocked him off his feet. Literally. And he returned the favor, figuratively and literally both.

Glib, charming, Irish to his toes, Flynn Murray was a journalist covering a story. He was a here-today, gone-tomorrow sort of guy. In fact he stuck around three days. Something of a record for a guy like Flynn.

And he was as enchanted with Sara as she was with him. Something between them just clicked.

But it was the wrong time. The wrong place. And he was the wrong man.

Flynn knew that, even if Sara didn't.

He wasn't a settling down sort of guy. He had places to go, things to do. And he was honorable enough to have left her untouched. Or he would have been if she hadn't showed up at his hotel room that last night and, in her honest Sara way, challenged him about what had been happening between them.

A man only had so much self control.

And that night Flynn reached the end of his. It was wrong, and he knew it. She'd hate him, he knew that, too. But how was he supposed to resist the woman who wrapped her arms around him and told him she wouldn't hate him at all?

Well, he didn't.

But he did leave. He had nothing to give her. And besides, Sara had goals and dreams of her own. He wasn't a part of them. He had no right to upset them.

But faced with Sara's idealism, he found the determination to find goals and dreams of his own.
And when he left he didn't look back. He spent the next five years covering stories from hot-spots all over the globe.

Fast forward six years and, just like John Lennon promised, life happened to both Flynn and Sara while they were making other plans.

Flynn, raised as the spare, suddenly became the heir and just a few months ago, the ninth Earl of Dunmorey.

And Sara -- well, Sara was almost as good a multi-tasker as her mother as she raised her five year old son.

Their paths might never have crossed again -- if a letter Sara letter wrote years ago hadn't finally caught up with him, and Flynn hadn't discovered he had a son.

# # #

To enter the Here Come the Grooms! contest, you will need to answer three questions, one each from Flynn, Raul and Tom. Then go to each of our website contest pages (here's mine) and send us the answers. Or you can send an email to me through the 'contact Anne' tab on the sidebar of my webpage if you have trouble making the send entry gizmo work.

There will be three drawings on March 1st -- one by each hero -- and the winners get copies of all three books!

Flynn's question is: What story did he come to Montana to cover when he met Sara in the first place?

You can find the answer on my blog or in the excerpt to One-Night Love Child on my website. You can get Tom's and Raul's questions on Liz's and Kate's blogs. Have fun!

Speaking of heroes . . .

Well, I don't suppose we were, except tangentially. Not here anyway.

But over on the Romance Banditas site, Anna Campbell did an interview with Anne Gracie that started us off on a discussion of what makes a good hero. I said a few things off the cuff, but it started me thinking about it because I'm trying to convince Sebastian to be a good hero.

And it seems that his idea of being a good hero and my idea are not converging at the moment. He's being, um, difficult. He knows exactly what he wants -- and he expects me to hop to and get it done.

I expect him to have just a bit of patience. Books weren't written in a day, I told him.

"Not at the rate you're going anyway," he said.

I told him sarcasm causes baldness. He rolled his eyes.

So I've told him we are going to discuss heroes on Wednesday right here on this blog, and he'd better pay attention because there was going to be a test at the end -- to see if he'd got the drift.

So bring your ideas and let's tell bloody Sebastian what's what. If he's going to get a whole book about his life -- and love -- he's got some wising up to do.

I haven't told him yet who his heroine is. He's going to be appalled.

See? He has a long way to go!

And get ready for the Here Come the Grooms contest, part II -- on February 1st, when my guy, Flynn, is joined by Kate Walker's new hero and Liz Fielding's new hero. Theo promises to come back and give them all a bit of moral support.

He could give Sebastian a lesson or two as well.

Chloe Picks a Winner

Meet Chloe.

She's Anne Gracie's dog. She has sparkly collars and feather boas for all occasions. And in this case she was picking a winner from among the commenters on my blog about Anne over on Tote Bags 'n' Blogs on Monday.

So here's what happened, in Anne's words:

"Papers bearing numbers 1-18 were laid out over the rug. Wagging tail
and leaping dog (who knows a camera means Treats) disrupted original
neat layout.

A dried liver treat was tossed onto the rug. There was a flurry of dog
and sparkles and a piece of paper bearing a number got pawed away in
the scrum.

And the number on that piece of paper was #13, which was... Deseng..ie.
Michelle L, the winner."

So, congratulations, Michelle L! If you will go to my website and hit the 'contact Anne' button at the bottom of the sidebar (or just click the link here), you can leave me your mailing address and I'll see that you get your prize -- a copy of my The Boss's Wife For A Week and one of my favorite book of Anne's, The Perfect Waltz.

Thanks so much to everyone who commented. I think Anne enjoyed her birthday!

And for those of you who are contest-oriented, check back on Feb 1 when Kate Walker and Liz Fielding and I -- and those grooms! -- start up the second annual "Here Come The Grooms" contest.

We Have A Winner!

Gunnar has picked the winner of the 12 Books of Christmas contest.

Congratulations to Rania in New Mexico for being the person whose name he picked. All 12 books will be going out to you this week, Rania. I hope you enjoy them!

Thanks very much to everyone who took the time to enter. You overcame difficulties on my website (which still aren't totally fixed, but we're working on it) and I'm very impressed. Thanks for that!

And remember that beginning Feb 1 I will be having the second annual Valentine's Day contest along with Kate Walker and Liz Fielding. Last year, if you recall, the Brides started a contest -- a "Here Come The Brides" contest -- and were almost immediately challenged by Theo, Max and Dom doing their "Here Come the Grooms" version.

No idea what will be happening this time, but I can say that I'm sure Theo will be back at least once in February. He's already told me he'll be here.

I'll endeavor to have my contest page fixed by then -- or preferably sooner.

Congrats, again, Rania! And thanks to all who entered!

Twelfth Night

It's the twelfth day of Christmas.

That means it's the last day you can sign up to enter the Twelve Days of Christmas contest on my website. You don't even have to know anything -- you just have to sign up.

Then tomorrow Gunnar will choose a winner from the entries and the lucky winner will get TWELVE books!

Which twelve? I'm so glad you asked.

Of course there will be a signed copy of my very own most recent title, The Boss's Wife for a Week. Here are the rest:

• To Rescue A Rogue by Jo Beverley
  
• Reunited: Marriage in a Million by Liz Fielding
• The Naked Marquis by Sally MacKenzie
• Cents and Sensibility by Maggie Anderson
• Sofie Metropolis by Tori Carrington
• What Price Love? by Stephanie Laurens
• Over Hexed by Vicki Lewis Thompson
• The Forbidden Mistress by Anne Mather
• Millie's Fling by Jill Mansell
• A Game of Chance by Linda Howard
• Lady Jane's Nemesis by Patricia Oliver

How's that for a stack of great books? A few contemporaries, a few historicals. A few chick-lit, a few single title, a few series. Even a little mystery.

So stop by my website today, click on the contest logo on the left sidebar, and submit your entry!

Gunnar says he hopes there are a lot of entrants. More treats for him, thank you very much.