MALE ON MONDAY - Teenage Dreams

Today Fiona Harper 'fesses up to some of her teenage crushes and sees whether they stood the test of time...


Ah, those wonderful teenage years... Full of angst and hormones and many an unrequited crush. At least mine were jam-packed with unrequited crushes on boys close by and dashing heroes on my TV screen and on the posters on my bedroom wall. I was very shy as a child and any actual attempt by a real boy to talk to me normally resulted in copius blushing lots of stammering and then a little cloud of dust as I ran a mile in the other direction. The guys on the posters on my wall were a much safer option and, looking back, there was an innocent sweetness about that kind of yearning.


Crush no.1 - Pierce Brosnan

I had a little thing for Pierce waaay before he became 007. At 13 I was hooked on a show called 'Remington Steele', starring Mr Brosnan and Stephanie Zimbalist. The show was about a female private detective who had discovered that many of her clients were unhappy to hire a woman, so she invented a fictional male boss, Remington Steele, and later discovers an English con man has assumed Mr Steele's identity and they end up working together to solve cases. Look at that photo on the left - can you see why I was smitten?

The show had a will-they-won't-they element to the ongoing relationship between Laura and Remington that kept me hooked, and Pierce Brosnan's character was deliciously cheeky and debonair. Wish I could watch it all again and see if the show stands the test of time as well as its star has.



Crush no.2 - Timothy Dalton

When I was also 13, the BBC did an adaptation of Jayne Eyre starring Zelah Clarke as Jane and Timothy Dalton as Mr Rochester. Given, Mr Dalton is way too good-looking to be Edward Rochester, but he worked for me and set my little teenage heart a-fluttering.

I mean, what's not to like - a tall, brooding, long-legged hero in what continues to be one of my favourite love stories.



Crush no.3 - am I really going to admit to this?

Okay, deep breath, be brave... Every girl has to have one pop-star crush during her teenage years, doesn't she? Mine was Simon Le Bon from Duran Duran. Not that I admitted to it (much) a the time. It was something about his height and his long legs that got me. Don't ask me why I like tall guys. I'm five-three and looking up at them gives me a crick in the neck.

Anyway, I was totally enraptured by Mr Le Bon and his out-of-time dancing and obscure song lyrics.


So that's it - all my secrets out in the open, and considering two out of three of my teenage crushes went on to play James Bond, I don't think my taste in men was too bad back then! And I still count Rio as one of my favourite albums of all time (so sue me!).

But what about you? Who are your teenage crushes, and have they stood the test of time? Fess up!


Fiona's latest release, Three Weddings And A Baby is out now in shops and is online at Mills and Boon's website! You can even have a sneaky peak at the first chapter! The North American Version, Millionaire's Baby Bombshell, is also availble on eHarlequin now.

Do you believe in love at first sight? Jennie Hunter and Alex Dangerfield did, and they married just a few weeks after they met! But when Alex disappeared on their wedding night Jennie was left alone – and angry – in her honeymoon suite. A month later, and Jennie has given up hope of ever seeing her runaway husband again. Then Alex returns – with his toddler in tow!

Marilyn's Review Roundup

Thank you so much to the Pink Heart Society Team for asking me to share what I'm reading.

It’s been a week of  “sheikh” romances for me.  

Linda Conrad’s Silhouette Romance/Suspense The Sheik’s Lost Princess part of her Desert Son’s series..  It’s a reunion love story as they had a past and now Shakir is out to rescue his long lost love, Princess Nicole.  She’s been held captive by their ancient enemies.  However, what Sahkir doesn’t know is that Nicole has a son and he’s been kidnapped.  Could it possibly be his?  This has been a very intense series to read as their enemies are so evil.  

Due to it's intensity, I read a couple of chapters and then have to set it down.

Annie West and Jane Porter have teamed up together with the Sheikh’s Defiant Queen

In The Sheikh’s Chosen Queen, Jane Porter mesmerizes her readers with a magnificent and magical “sheikh” story, part of The Desert King series. It’s a bit of a reunion love story as nine years earlier, Jesslyn and Prince Fehr were lovers. They were brought together by a tragedy when Fehr’s two sisters and Jesslyn were in a horrible accident and the sisters were killed.

Trapped by desire and something else, you won’t want to miss Annie West’s The Desert King’s Pregnant Bride!  Sheikh Khalid Bin Shareef and Maggie Lewis were like “two star-crossed lovers” when they met one dark, blustery and rainy evening. They were meant to be but they didn’t know it.  I think my favorite part of this story was reading about all of the changes for Maggie making her  more confident as a person, and taking charge of her life.  Simply, a beautiful romance.

I’m reading Maisey Yates Mills and Boon Modern debut sheikh, The Inherited Bride.  Princess Isabella Rossi is the promised bride to his brother, the ruling Sheikh Hassan.  Adham has been sent to Paris to confront Isabella and bring her home to the desert to await her upcoming wedding because she’s runaway to try and find herself.   She’s been sheltered all of her life and she just wants a little time to due normal things like sightsee, shop, etc.   Adham is a tortured hero and it’s all about loyalty and his country.  However, he fights his attraction for Isabella every step of the way.  I wonder if he’ll betray his brother and take her to his bed?    Or will loyalty to his country and his only brother win out?  You'll be able to see my review sometime next week.

I finished reading Lynne Graham’s Flora’s Defiance part of her triology Secretly Pregnant. 

The charming and pretty English village of Charbury St. Helens is home to three young women whose Cinderella lives are about to be turned upside down….by three of the wealthiest, most handsome and impossibly arrogant men in Europe.

Flora’s sister and her husband have died in an accident, leaving behind a child and the very alpha brother-in-law Angelo has the baby at his estate in Amsterdam.  Flora has arrived and wants to adopt the child..  Angelo intimidates her, makes her feel and want things she doesn’t understand.   The chemistry between them is absolutely explosive.  It’s one smoking, hot romance!  And Flora is one stubborn redhead.  I can’t wait to read the final book, Jess’s Promise which comes out in April.

Two more dark and handsome sheikhs are waiting to tell me their stories. 

Abby Green’s Secrets of the Oasis her second sheikh romance.  Talk about a tortured royal but he still wants her in his bed!  This review will be also posted next week.

Olivia Gates Silhouette Desire, To Tempt A Sheikh, part of her Pride of Zohayd series.  Finished this fabulous book today and all I can say is their chemistry was immediate and you won't believe their time at an oasis.....blushing the two of them on a horse.  All I can say is that they were soul mates!

Trust me, both of these sheikhs so different but amazing!

What books are you looking forward to reading and what are you reading now?  Until next Sunday……….

Marilyn


http://marilyns-romance-reviews.blogspot.com/



WILD CARD WEEKEND: To the Ledge and Back

When the going gets tough, Mira Lyn Kelly's girlfriends get her though...

Okay, so it’s that time again. Yeah, back away slowly. The crazy pants have come on and, oh baby, they are fitting nice and snug. Or they were at least, until my back up arrived.

So between sick kids, holidays, snow days, cracked foundations and failing sumps (to name just a few of the highlights) the last two months have been significantly less productive writing wise than I’d hoped. And while I try to keep my cool…after a while, that one more thing, one more day, one more delay eventually turns into the one little piece of hay that breaks this camel’s back.

Enter: The ledge…and me backed up to it.

We’ve all made it to this spot at one time or another. Where all the demands of our lives, lay scattered on the ground around us. That showy act of juggling, nothing more than a distant memory. This is the land of short breaths, panicky laughter, and a fuse the length of your pinky toenail.

Not a pretty place to be. And not always an easy spot to get out of either. Not without a little help from some like-minded, crazy-pants wearing, quirky-sense-of-humor sporting, good-old-fashioned girlfriends.

Without them I’d be lost.

They show up with a ready ear, a hug, or a bottle of wine. A joke or tip or some trashy bit of gossip they know I can’t resist and, casting it out into that sea of chaos that is my current breakdown, offer me something to hold on to while they reel me back in with news of my favorite writer’s coming release.

They make me laugh…hard…and somehow that’s enough to put the ledge behind me…for at least another week or two. Leaving me to write another day...or wrestle a case of pink-eye out of the house. Whichever it may be.

Wishing you all as wonderful a set of go-to girls as I am lucky enough to have!

:-)Mira

Mira Lyn Kelly

http://www.miralynkelly.com/

Fill the Well Friday -- SWEAT

Michelle Styles examines a way to jumpstart  your creativity -- SWEAT

Right here is where I confess  -- I hated PE in  high school. I intimately know the humiliation that comes from always being the last one chosen for a team as well as consistently coming last in any run. My PE teachers tried (and failed) to instill a love of running. And I am well aware of my limitations as a dancer. I am the one who dances to the beat of my own drum as it were, trying and sometimes failing not to elbow anyone in the head along the way. BUT I also know exercise is good for you. As a human being I am not an amorphous blog of jelly with a brain.

For many years, I confined my exercise to gardening and walking (nothing that really made me sweat too much) but writer's bottom is a problem in my chosen profession. Bottom in chair , hands on keyboard may be the recipe for writing but it also means.a sedentary lifestyle which means fewer calories used. Stay at home mothers who are constantly on the move with young children use up far more calories than writers who are sitting typing on a computer. When you make the transition, you need to take it into account. I didn't. Combine it with mindless grazing as I searched for inspiration and the result was a growing writer's bottom.
When you start piling on the pounds, creativity can go south. Things become too much trouble. Stress grows and stress can inhibit creativity. Exercise can relieve stress and open your mind. By pumping endorphins through your system, it can make you feel strong and energised. It can bring fresh perspective to your work.

So I have tried a variety of things from rowing machines to  workout dvds. The main thing is consistency and SWEAT. You need to do something you like or otherwise you won't keep it up. It all has to be able to fit in your day. For me, taking an aerobics dance class is akin to torture. And going to a gym means encountering various instruments of torture. Plus then  well toned people will see how inane I am.  Give me an exercise machine and I will figure out a way to have something go wrong. Deadline pressures mean swimming takes far too long. And I have to walk the dogs (about 3-4 miles per day) My excuses are many.

However, in January I stopped giving excuses. I'd seen pictures from the Harlequin party... I also saw a workout dvd -- Jillian Michaels 30 day shred. I figured in the interests of improving my bottom line, I could give up an hour a day. To my surprise when I started doing the dvd, it was 20 minutes (plus about 5 min warm up and cool down). I sweated. I lost inches but more importantly my outlook improved. My engery came back and  I discovered the post work out buzz. (I also went down a dress size) I also found Jillian Michaels very motivational. So inspirational that I bought some of her other dvds, and have continued to work out. Although now I take 50 minutes a day and really work hard. It is all about trying hard. (And it is not easy -- I swear, sweat and probably swear some more)  When I go back to my wip, the task doesn't seem as daunting.

Other people like Donna Alward and Amanda McCabe have their favourite workout dvds. The important thing is to sweat and relieve that stress. By bringing the same discipline and work ethic that enabled you to finish a manuscript in the first place, it is possible to deal with the writer's bottom line and improve your creativity at the same time.

You can find out more ideas about how to become a Healthy Writer by visiting the Healthy Writer Blog. I know it helped me stopped making excuses and actually do something. Your body and your mind will thank you for taking the time to sweat.

Michelle Styles writes historical romance in a wide range of time periods for Harlequin Historical. YOu can learn more about her books from her website www.michellestyles.co.uk and you can follow her progress in reshaping her writer's bottom line on her blog www.michellestyles.blogspot.com

What are you reading...Pamela Stone? (with giveaway)

Harlequin American Romance Author Pamela Stone reveals what she is currently reading and confesses a secret.

First I have an admission. When I’m on deadline or working on a proposal, I seldom read. My brain becomes so immersed in whatever project I’m writing that reading is too much of a distraction. However I turned in a proposal to my editor at the end of January and have been taking time to breathe and actually catch up on some reading. I didn’t realize how much I miss reading. I’m loving it.

When I choose a book to read, strong characters are my thing. I want to fall in love with the hero and be able to relate to the heroine’s issues. I want to fall in love with the hero through the heroine’s eyes as the story unfolds. Great characters are more important to me even than the plot.

At the top of my ‘To Be Read’ pile was Primal Calling by Jillian Burns. Hot tortured hero. Alaska bush pilot. Sizzling chemistry and one of the sexiest covers I’ve run across. Hmm, maybe that’s why I put it at the TOP of the stack. Great read, but it’s also nice just to stare at the cover.

I next treated myself to Sea Swept by Nora Roberts. I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve read this book through the years, but it is one of those stories that inspires me to be a better writer and create real life characters. Characters that jump off the page. The entire Chesapeake trilogy is great, but Sea Swept never fails to sweep me away. Cameron Quinn – be still my heart.

At a recent Library event, I was lucky enough to pick up a copy of Lorraine Heath’s latest book, Pleasures of a Notorious Gentleman. I’m just starting the book, but if it’s anything like her others, it will be a delightful read. Lorraine Heath has never failed to pull me in with her wonderful characters.

I also took time to read and proof my March release, Second Chance Dad. Funny that even after you write a book, by the time it makes its way through the process and becomes an actual book, reading it is almost like a visit with old friends.

Let us know what you’re reading and what you look for in a book. Do you look for plot? Cover? Characters? Earn a chance to win a copy of my March release, Second Chance Dad, leave a comment. Void where prohited.



Pamela Stone
To learn more about Pamela's upcoming releases visit www.pamelastone.net/

Writer's Wednesday - Revise Revise Revise

How do you make your story shine? Brigid Coady is neck deep in revisions. 



I'm drowning. In a nice way I am drowning in the possibilities of my book. With my first draft I wrote and didn't worry about cliches, I didn't worry about sentence flow. I didn't worry about consistency or repetition. All I cared about was getting the story down. I wanted to make sure I got to the satisfying ending (I wasn't sure they were going to make it so need to rush to the end).

But now I am going back and making this a book. I am weighing words, crafting sentences, checking whether I have shown and not told and some days it feels like I'm drowning. If I shade this scene one way what does it do to the rest of the book?

In a masochistic way it is quite good fun. Immersing myself in the world I created and looking up after two hours to discover I have revised two paragraphs, cut two hundred words and add three hundred. My non-writing friends think I'm mad.

"It is a beautiful day! Come for a walk!"
"Come for lunch!"

But I refuse to do it. I would much rather sit at my desk and weigh the pros and cons of 'possessed' versus 'hijacked' (don't ask).


Revising is where the story is really told. It is where you use all your skill to learn what to hold back and what to reveal to keep your readers reading. You might write a scene that explains everything that is going on in the hero and heroine's heads during the first draft but when you revise you pick and choose what needs to be revealed and what doesn't.


One day (very soon) I will have revised my way out the other side and it will be the same story but it will be a better book.

Brigid will be emerging from this round of revisions very very soon. 

Crafty Corner : Layered Up!

Is there anything better than layer cakes? Pink Heart Society editor Jenna Bayley-Burke doesn't think so. Others can ride the cupcake craze, but she's feeding a family, not having a tea party!


I love cake. LOVE. There are cookie people and pie people and fruit loving people whom I thought had to be aliens until I gave birth to one such specimen. And then there are cake people.

There is so much you can do with cake. You can stuff it full of pineapple and carrots and pretend it's healthy. You can replace the butter with applesauce and well, miss the butter. You can even call it a muffin and make it breakfast. I mean...triple chocolate muffin? Nobody is fooled. But...blackberry corn muffin? GOTCHA!



My small boy shares my love of all things cake. One of our friendly families is doing 52 Cakes, an annual challenge to bake a different kind of cake each week. I'd be on board if I didn't look like I ate 52 cakes, myself, on Tuesday. So we're cake-ing on special occasions.

After a disappointing attempt at a peanut butter chocolate cake that doctored up a baked mix, we've decided to stick to homemade cakes. The boy has even learned the importance of cake flour, which I am sure will make him a lovely husband some day.

We've samples 4 different coffee cake recipes...my favorite is the traditional sour cream with nuts...his is the Bisquik version. We tried a red velvet using beet juice instead of red food coloring (since the tall boy is allergic) and need to tweak the recipe and give it another go.

Our wins so far have been a divine coconut cake, and the chocolate carmel fudge cake. Oh my, we need to make that one again!

As much as I love cake, I really love sharing the baking experience with the small boy...who is not so small anymore. I measured him, he can go on all the rides at Disneyland. I hope my baking time with him will last longer than my ability to remain taller than him.

I hope all my kids look back on their childhood and remember the crazy things we did with cake - including a build your own cupcake birthday party, and a cupcake wars birthday party - and think of their creative expressions. Maybe they'll recall how I let them once flavor and color frosting with kool-aid powder or how the could choose the cake, filling, or frosting, but not all three. (I have 3 kids, and they all get a vote - makes for some interesting combos).

My philosophy is that it's cake - how bad can their ideas really be? You can't really go wrong with cake. There hasn't been anything I haven't been able to save yet (even the not-so-red red velvet cake - hint, just don't call it red velvet cake).

Writing is like that too (you knew I was going there). All ideas are good, but they can't reach their full potential until they are mixed with other ideas and blended into something spectacular. Even things that you try and decide don't make it onto the serving plate (grape flavored frosting, anyone? yeah, didn't think so) are worth the effort of having tried them.

OK...question time! What kind of person are you?

I'm a chocolate cake person...especially with the caramel fudge filling the small boy selected.

Jenna Bayley-Burke is a best-selling author recently featured on Good Morning America. Kinda. Compromising Positions made the best seller list for Kindle for a few weeks, and GMA did their daily top ten list of Kindle bestselling ebooks and Compromising Positions made the list. But doesn't it sound better the first way? Keep up with Jenna's spin on things on her website & blog.