Anne Gracie « Anne McAllister's Blog

Posts Tagged ‘Anne Gracie’

Wild About Harry

Tuesday, September 9th, 2008

I love Anne Gracie’s books. Never met one I didn’t like, want to hang out with, read from cover to cover, then go back again and start all over.

I’m particularly wild about Harry, the hero of her new book, His Captive Lady, which just came out this month.

Harry Morant is the half-brother of Gabriel Renfrew, hero of the first of Anne’s Devil Riders series. If Gabe’s childhood was difficult, Harry’s was well-nigh impossible. He’s past it now. Grown up. A man of his own making — but still something of a work in progress.

And the man Harry is going to become is in large part due to what happens when he meets Nell.

As the back cover tells us, “Harry Morant’s tough exterior hides a badly scarred heart. Home after eight years at war, Harry is planning a practical, unemotional marriage. But his careful plans are threatened by an unexpected passion for an unknown lady.

“A lifetime of lies has brought Lady Helen Freymore to the brink of ruin. Forced into a marriage she never thought to have, she soon finds herself powerfully drawn to this deceptively gentle soldier… and increasingly worried about his reaction once he discovers her secret.”

Oh, yeah. Wounded hero. Unexpected passion. Mysterious heroine. What’s not to love?

Brooding, intense Harry captured my heart. And as she always does, Anne tells his story with equal parts deep emotion and gentle humor.

Her characters are wonderful to know. I fell in love with Harry when I read him in rough draft form. And he’s only improved with polish.

And Nell? Nell is the last woman Harry would ever have imagined himself falling in love with. He fights it. So does Nell. But love is more powerful than fear, than bitterness, than the past.

Harry and Nell’s love — in spite of themselves — is what makes the story so special.

Thanks, Anne, for another great read. Now get back to the computer, hurry up and finish Rafe’s book! Your public is waiting.

Tags: Anne Gracie, Heroes
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Chloe Picks a Winner

Wednesday, January 16th, 2008

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.

Tags: Anne Gracie, Contest, Here Come the Grooms
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Where do you get your ideas, part 4

Sunday, January 13th, 2008

I have no idea how many times we’ve talked about where you get your ideas — or I get mine. But there have been a few posts at least. So consider this a sequel and let’s talk about football.

Football?

Why not? It was the best weekend for football all year. Four games between the eight best teams. What more could you ask for?

There was drama, excitement, snowstorms, controversy, old gunslingers and new kids on the block. All the stuff that great stories are made of.

If you watched, you would have a ton of story ideas. Who wouldn’t warm to the Ryan Grant two-fumbles followed by three touchdowns and 201 yards bounce back from disaster? Who didn’t delight with Brett Favre in yet another amazing game — this one complete with snowballs?

Who didn’t wonder whether Tony Romo should have gone to Cabo — or if they didn’t wonder that, they probably wondered why on earth anyone would care where he went and with whom?

And Eli? Who expected Eli to be the last Manning standing on Sunday evening? And who doesn’t know who the Chargers’ backup quarterback is now?

People ask, Where do you get your ideas?

Watching football. Or doing whatever else you did this weekend. You don’t even have to write about football. In fact, if you’re writing romance, you probably don’t want to be writing about football because, Susan Elizabeth Phillips aside, most romance writers who tackle (only slightly intentional pun) football don’t endear themselves to their editors — or at least to marketing.

The point is, the ideas are there. It’s being open to them. Spotting them. Twisting them and turning them. Perceiving them in this light, then in that one. It’s all in what you do with them.

And anyone who writes will tell you that even given the same ideas, we all do different things with them.

Today I wrote a guest blog about a writer who does great things with the ideas that come to her — and who never ceases to delight me when I read her books. You can find the blog over on Author Sound Relations’ Tote Bags ‘n’ Blogs. Check it out. Leave a comment.

If you do, you might win a copy of my most recent book, The Boss’s Wife For A Week. You might win a copy of my favorite book of hers, The Perfect Waltz.