Research can be a beautiful thing.  Especially if it takes you out of your chair and across to the other side of the world. Recently my daughter and I experienced the thrill of flying to Paris and embarking on a sparkling dream tour that took us from Paris to Venice then through the regions of Italy to Amalfi.

I can’t tell you how beautiful it was learning about the history, local delicacies and wines of each region. Our hearts are filled with France and Italy and the people we met there. So much of it will shine in my memory for all time. I’ll just mention a few precious highlights.

Paris, cruising the Seine. Also, every Parisian street, every shop, every salad dressing.

Venice…Oh, Venezia. All of it is divine. One morning we visited La Fenice hoping to be permitted inside for a glimpse of the recent recreation of this legendary jewel of an opera house. That very day the cast were rehearsing Don Giovanni for the night’s performance. To our extreme delight the director invited us into the auditorium to watch.  Sheer bliss.

Lake Maggiore. One of many renaissance palaces we were privileged to visit was built on an isle in the middle of this beautiful lake. Isola Bella is still the summer residence of the princely family who own it. Magnificent gardens, white peacocks roaming free…They’ve dedicated a little courtyard there to Princess Diana, who was a sometime guest.

Florence. Wine and pecorino cheese, fabulous, but above all for me the Uffizi Museum and La Primavera, one of Botticelli’s most luminous paintings.

Beautiful Siena. Gelato, mediaeval streets and the head of Saint Catherine. The rest of her is in Rome, but after viewing her head we declined to see any more of the sainted woman.

Roma. I’ve always loved it , every cobble stone, every fountain, every piazza. This time I had my picture taken standing on the very spot where Tosca stood before she threw herself into the Tiber.

Sorrento is the most beautiful place in the world, and I must go back there, I must! However, no one will ever talk me into that chair-lift on the Isle of Capri again. 3,600 feet above sea level is a tad too high for Anna Cleary!

If ever you visit Sorrento, you must make the spectacular drive to Amalfi around the Bay of Naples. You’ll probably see me there, sipping a granita in Positano, perusing the china shops or exploring the enchanting lanes and alleyways of Amalfi.

In the meantime, there’ll be plenty of romantic books to take you to those delicious places, and hopefully, some of them will be mine!

Everyone I’ve ever met who travels in Italy comes away with a subtle new dimension, as if they’ve somehow acquired some mystical enrichment of the spirit. Can anyone suggest what it might be about Italia that has this magical effect?

Tuscany

The sea from the 3,600 foot top of the chair lift.

The view from my window in Venice.

Venice

Me at the Villa Carlotta, Lake Como

The view from my balcony in Sorrento

Diana’s Courtyard, Isola Bella, Lake Maggiore

Siena

Amalfi

Are you an aspiring romance writer who also:

♥ Loves medical heroes – can’t get enough of Hugh Laurie’s brilliant but guarded hearted doctor, Gregory House; the irresistible charm of Grey’s Anatomy McDreamy (also known as Dr Derek Shepherd), or George Clooney’s warm-hearted but maverick paediatrician Dr Doug Ross in ER?

♥ Has longed for an opportunity to write contemporary romances set amidst the excitement, warmth and passion of today’s medical world?

♥ Is a fan of the Medical Romance series and would love to be published in this unique, globally distributed series?

If your answer to any of the above is YES, then here is a great opportunity to get your fabulous work in front of a Medical Romance editor – fast!

Harlequin®/Mills & Boon® Medical Romance™ is looking for new authors – and if you send us a first chapter, three chapters, or even a full manuscript of a romance in a medical setting, then we will give it a fast-track read…and get you a fast-tracked response this summer!

Here’s what to do to get fast-tracked:

• Send us a covering letter with a synopsis of your story and characters (no more than two pages) along with anything from the first chapter of the story to the complete manuscript.

• In order to be eligible for fast-tracking, submissions must be received between 1^st and 24^th August (12.00 Midnight BST, British Summer Time) 2010. Don’t miss out!

• You must email your submission (as a Word document attachment) to medicalfasttrack@hmb.co.uk and make sure you include your current email address in you covering letter as you will receive your response by email.

• Otherwise our normal submissions and format criteria apply (visit ‘Submit manuscript’ section at www.millsandboon.co.uk)

Of course, we are open to unsolicited submissions at any time, but if you send us your Medical Romance submission in August then we’ll send you a response in August from one of our London-based editors.

Want to learn more about this unique series? Then see our writing guidelines or buy Medical Romance titles in print or ebook format – available at www.eHarlequin.com (where you’ll also find a Medical Romance podcast with Harlequin/Mills & Boon editors) and www.millsandboon.co.uk

Happy writing! And remember, this is your chance to get your Medical heroes in front of a Harlequin/Mills & Boon editor’s eyes – so make them so gorgeous we can’t possibly resist!!

This weekend is the Romance Writers of America’s big national conference–topped off with the RITA Awards on Saturday night!

As I blogged about back in March when the nominees were announced, four Harlequin Presents novels and authors are up for the big award in the Contemporary Series Romance category! They are:

• Revealed: a Prince and a Pregnancy by Kelly Hunter (Harlequin Presents, April 2010)
• The Christmas Love-Child by Jennie Lucas (November 2009)
• One-Night Mistress…Convenient Wife by Anne McAllister (November 2009)
• Duty, Desire, and the Desert King by Jane Porter (December 2009)

Good luck to all of you this weekend!!!! (and all the other fabulous Harlequin authors nominated in  other categories) Fingers crossed that next week I get to do a “Congratulations” post to the winner (too bad there’s be only one, eh?)

I won’t ask anyone to choose their favorite from these three, but what other authors/books are you rooting for this year?

~Amy

It’s conference season and I am sure that if you’re like me, and you will be attending the RWA conference in Orlando, you will be busy planning your agenda (and your outfits)! With so many people to see and events to attend, it is hard to keep track of them all, which is why I have to plan it all out on a excel spreadsheet…

But no matter how you keep track of where you need to be and at what time, if you are an unpublished author interested in Harlequin Mills & Boon, I have another date for your diaries/spreadsheets:

Harlequin Mills & Boon Open House for Unpublished Authors

Thursday 29th, 3-4pm

Harlequin Hospitality Suite, Europe 8

Are you interested in submitting to any of the following series: Harlequin Historical, Harlequin Presents, Harlequin Romance, Harlequin Medical Romance or Modern Heat? If so, please come along and meet with the Harlequin Mills & Boon editors, Linda Fildew, Joanne Grant and Jenny Hutton, for the opportunity to ask questions in an informal situation.

We promise we don’t bite, but do be gentle with us

We look forward to seeing you there! Now, what to wear…

Have you ever heard someone talk about a book in such glowing terms that you went straight out to find it for yourself, only to learn it isn’t in print any longer? Or maybe you’ve discovered an author whose writing you really love and wish you could read other books she’s written while you wait (oh so patiently!) for her next novel to be published.

I’ve certainly had those experiences. So have the  editors at Harlequin, and they’ve come up with the perfect solution. It’s a Special Release program of some of the most popular books the company’s published, and its called  Harlequin Showcase.

This month, July, I’m thrilled to tell you that Harlequin Showcase will reissue two of my most popular, classic, intensely emotional Presents in one volume. They are Mistress of the Sheikh and The One-Night Wife.

Mistress of the Sheikh is about  sexy, wealthy, powerful Nicholas al Rashid. Nick has a home in Manhattan, more women than any man could want, and a strong dislike of the media spotlight. Amanda Benning is a successful decorator. Well, not quite. Amanda’s hoping to become successful, and when Nick’s sister suggests Amanda redo Nick’s penthouse, Amanda goes for it. It’s to be Nick’s birthday surprise, but when Nick finds Amanda in his bedroom, taking pictures, taking notes, he assumes she’s a tabloid reporter. And when Amanda says no, she’s his birthday surprise… Trust me. Things get a little confused, and a lot hot, hot, hot!

The One-Night Wife brings together Sean O’Connell, a billionaire gambler whose success with women and cards have earned him quite a reputation and the beautiful, mysterious Savannah McRae. Savannah plays high-stakes poker, too, but for a wealthy patron who hates Sean and demands that she play and ruin him. Savannah has no choice. She has to win if she’s ever to get away from her patron, if she’s ever to afford the care for her sick sister. The game takes place at a private casino in the Bahamas. At first, things go Savannah’s way but Sean’s just setting her up. When he’s ready, he starts to win. And win. Ultimately, Savannah loses all her patron’s money. Sean offers her a last chance to win it back. The wager? The thousands she’s lost against one long, heated night in Sean’s bed.

Mistress of the Sheikh and The One-Night Wife were both best-sellers. I loved writing the books and I truly hope you enjoy reading them!

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There’s something exciting about watching a movie or reading a book where you get to revisit familiar landmarks and experience local customs through a character’s eyes.   Maybe they enjoy a drink at your favourite night spot or, as in Dane’s case in my latest US release, Mistress: At What Price?, live in a beautiful historic home that you’ve driven past and would love to live in yourself.

I’ve always lived in Adelaide, South Australia.  (Frog cakes, anyone?  Or maybe you fancy a pie floater.)  Both are Adelaide icons.  Frog cakes are a particular favourite of mine with their jam, cream filled sponge, although I didn’t manage to write them into this story.  Dane managed a pretty good pie floater, however.

Frog Cakes.  Yum.

Pie floater.  A meat pie in thick pea soup smothered in tomato sauce.  Yes, really!

This is the first story I’ve set in Adelaide.  I so enjoyed walking the streets in historic North Adelaide and the little towns in the Adelaide hills looking for places for my characters to live and fall in love.  As it happened, I began this story on the morning of Black Saturday, 7^th February, 2009 when 173 people died in Victoria as a result of bushfires.  The temperature across the two states was 46 degrees with howling winds.  Using the conditions to my advantage, I wrote a scene reminiscent of the day to include later in the book.  I had no idea of the devastation and heartbreak that would occur a few hours later.

I love reunion stories so I wanted my heroine, Mariel, to return home, put the heartache of the past behind her and finally be with the man she’s never been able to forget.  Their childhood friendship ended the night before she left to study fashion design in Paris when she unwittingly discovered he never wanted her the way she wanted him.

The beautiful Adelaide Hills.

Ten years on, betrayed by her French business partner and lover, she’s fled the scandal and returned to Adelaide, only to bump into Dane on her first night back.  And the old attraction is still there.

A reluctant ‘Bachelor of the Year’, Dane is a no-strings man. He wants to concentrate on his professional image rather than his celebrity status and the constant string of women dogging his every move.  So he offers Mariel a deal.  He’ll help her set up her business if she’ll help him distract the paparazzi by pretending to be his mistress.  But their passionate nights together lead to a lot more than either of them intended.

I loved this house in North Adelaide for Dane’s residence.

I loved walking in Dane and Mariel’s shoes and hope you will too.  Have you read or written a book set in your home town?  Enjoyed a fictional scene in a familiar location?  I’d love to hear about them.

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Another round of congratulations are in order–Harlequin Presents July titles are on the USA Today bestseller list once again (and 5 out of 6 are in the top 100)! They are:

#81 – The Wealthy Greek’s Contract Wife by Penny Jordan

#94 – Scandal: His Majesty’s Love-Child by Annie West

#95 – The Shy Bride by Lucy Monroe

#96 – His Penniless Beauty by Julia James

#99 – The Virgin’s Secret by Abby Green

#109 – The Melendez Forgotten Marriage by Melanie Milburne

by Susan Stephens, author of Ruling Sheikh, Unruly Mistress (Harlequin Presents Extra, July 2010)

Writing about two brothers, both sheikhs, and both rulers of neighbouring countries, gave me the opportunity to explore two very different personalities. Sheikh Razi al Maktabi, my hero in Ruling Sheikh, Unruly Mistress, is the younger brother. Protected as a child by his elder brother Ra’id, Razi is now highly successful, both in business and in bed. We have no idea what he might be capable of until we see him tested.

Razi is one of those urbane, confident men, who seems unattainable but deep down Razi is searching too. Fortunate to have true friends he has known all his life, Razi is well aware that a man in his position can attract false friends too, and that the women who cross his path sometimes see no further than his money and status.

Razi is a strong, determined man, who, knowing that his playboy life is at an end, is determined to devote himself to his country to the exclusion of everything else. Razi is deeply kind and compassionate beneath his apparently unbreachable shell, and for this reason I gave him a vulnerable heroine – curvy chef, Lucy Tennant — a quiet girl, with a vivid inner life.

Lucy learned that she had nothing interesting to say growing up in a large, noisy family, where she was the only girl, and where her brothers and parents were brilliant academics. But that didn’t stop Lucy dreaming. In fact, the less she spoke, the more she dreamed, until one day she stole away from the family home without anyone really noticing.

Starting at the very bottom in a professional kitchen, Lucy worked her way up until finally she is offered a job as a chef, catering for a top class chalet company. It is here that Lucy is destined to meet a man who will change her life forever. Having decided to keep his identity a secret, Razi is intrigued by the quiet, dutiful girl who is oblivious to celebrity and all its trappings.

Intrigued, yes, but Razi will return to rule his magical island, which means putting all his personal desires aside. Will the quiet girl accept being sidelined, or will circumstances force Lucy Tennant to embrace her inner strength?

—–

Sounds like Lucy is a true romantic, Susan! And you know what they say about having to watch out for the quiet ones

What does everyone out there think? What is the appeal of quiet heroines vs. sassy and outspoken ones?

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The Balfour Brides

A proud, powerful dynasty…

Absolute scandal has rocked the core of the infamous Balfour family

The glittering, gorgeous daughters are in disgrace…

Banished from the Balfour mansion, they’re sent to the boldest, most magnificent men to be wedded, bedded…and tamed!

That is the premise for the new continuity series from Harlequin called The Balfour Brides! Eight books starring eight of the Balfour daughters, who share a habit for scandal….and scorching romance!

Can’t wait to try it out? Luckily this month a new FREE online read has started at eHarlequin.com called Scandal at the Balfour Ball by Michelle Reid that’s a prequel to the miniseries! It stars Meredith Ferrera, a Balfour cousin, and much of the action in the online read dovetails with future books. Here’s a blurb about the online read:

After barely a year of marriage, Alessandro and Meredith Ferrera’s relationship is already strained by careers that force them to live in different countries for weeks at a time. So it doesn’t take much to raise Alessandro’s suspicions about what his bride is up to with his best friend Marco when he’s not around!

Meredith Ferrera doesn’t know what’s gotten into her husband. When she calls him in Milan to tell him some important news, she’s discouraged by his surly attitude and veiled accusations. And when he fails to show up in London to escort her to the ball hosted by her illustrious Balfour relations, she quickly discovers the room is abuzz with rumors about the state of their marriage…

Click here to start reading Scandal at the Balfour Ball (first 2 chapters are already up ). The story is also being posted at MillsandBoon.co.uk.

The first book of the Balfour Brides series, Mia and the Powerful Greek by Michelle Reid, goes on sale in North America in August but you can order it now from eHarlequin.com or the eHarlequin ebook store. The series is already started in the UK as The Balfour Legacy series (with some really gorgeous covers!), and the first couple books in the series can be purchased at the Mills & Boon website. In fact, some of you may have taken up their special offer from a while back and ordered the whole series already!

The US editions of the rest of the series are as follows:

MIA AND THE POWERFUL GREEK – by Michelle Reid

KAT AND THE DARE-DEVIL SPANIARD – by Sharon Kendrick

EMILY AND THE NOTORIOUS PRINCE – India Grey

SOPHIE AND THE SCORCHING SICILIAN – by Kim Lawrence

ZOE AND THE TORMENTED TYCOON – by Kate Hewitt

ANNIE AND THE RED-HOT ITALIAN – by Carol Mortimer

BELLA AND THE MERCILESS SHEIKH – by Sarah Morgan

OLIVIA AND THE BILLIONAIRE CATTLE KING – by Margaret Way

Have any of you read a Balfour book yet? What do you think?

Have you ever had one of those annoying blank moments? You know, when you just can’t think of a word or a person’s name? I seem to be having them more and more just lately! But what if you couldn’t remember what you did yesterday? The week before? Or what about the last year of your life?

This is what my heroine Emelia discovers when she wakes up in a London hospital. She doesn’t even recognise her name-her married name that is! How can she have forgotten the last year of her life and the broodingly handsome stranger standing at the foot of her bed who claims to be her husband?

Emelia has no recollection at all of how she came to be Javier Mélendez’s wife. The fact that she was apparently his trophy wife is even more disturbing. She was not that sort of shallow person, or at least she didn’t think so. She can’t believe she had married him for money, position and possessions. What sort of person had she become?

Emelia is forced to return to her forgotten married life with Javier in Spain. The villa is foreign to her, so too are the staff, but strangely the language is not. Other things come back to her in stages, like images through a haze or fog. Her journey is a difficult one as she has to confront who she was as well as who she is now. And she also has to learn to deal with Javier who expects things to be the same as they were before, but how can they be? Everything has changed and Emelia can’t go back to who she had been before. She has to be true to herself even if it means losing the one thing she wants most in the world–Javier.

Memory both fascinates and terrifies me. I had a really scary experience a few years ago when I was taking some strong pain medication for a back problem. I was on holiday in Queensland and was in so much pain I had to stay in bed and miss out on all the fun stuff.  It was so bad I couldn’t even swim! When my husband and boys returned to the villa after their day out sightseeing my husband noticed a new prescription had been filled out for the tablets I was taking. Get this: I had NO memory of leaving the villa that day. NO memory of going down to a medical clinic and then to the pharmacy to have the prescription filled. NO memory of coming back to the villa which was quite a walk.

Nada. Nothing. I guess you can see where I got the inspiration for The Mélendez Forgotten Marriage, right? You betcha. I know what it feels like to be totally and utterly blank and it’s terrifying.

What about you? Have you got a blank moment or period to share?

I was thrilled that cataromance.com gave this book a 5 out of 5 review. I hope you enjoy it and it inspires you to always be true to yourself as Emelia learns to do.

Happy reading and remembering!

Melanie Milburne

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