Hey everyone! I’ve been inspired by Classic Romance Revival’s recent very successful Blog Carnival, and thought I’d introduce a little fun to this particular blogaholic’s life…

So, what’s the plan? Well, I thought I’d offer a prize at the end of it, so read on. The idea is for anyone to challenge me to blog on a particular topic of your choice. Just add your topic as a comment to this post, I’ll pick it up and blog, and will then select another author to pass the challenge onto, then pick up the next topic… At the end of July, the authors will vote for the best topic challenge, and the winner gets their pick of one of my books. The blurb and covers are listed below…

A Thick Black Line

Bo Carmichael has drawn a thick black line around her heart, and with good reason. She has worked hard to overcome the anguish of betrayal and the devastation it wreaked in her family’s lives, and she’s now close to realizing her dreams. There simply isn’t place in this equation for emotional entanglements, especially not with Nic Sinclaire, the only man who has the ability to breach her defenses.

From their first encounter, an impossible chemistry rages between them – a crackling heat that threatens to melt the ice surrounding her.

A bizarre twist makes Nic a constant companion and self-appointed protector. As Bo’s barriers shift and crumble, she can no longer ignore the powerful emotions his proximity evokes…

The Look

With a secret that makes her pretty much a walking time-bomb with the potential to turn her own life and a whole lot of others inside-out, Morgan Slater’s plans definitely don’t include the suspicions of the determined and dynamic Blake Thornton.

She heads out to the back of beyond on a simple Quest for the Truth, but her first meeting with Blake draws the battle lines for a persistent confrontation that makes focusing on her real reason for being there extremely difficult. Worse, he has this uncanny instinct and a way of seeing beyond her sassy, street-wise confidence that makes their ongoing conflict more than simply a battle of wills.

But Morgan has also not anticipated a lot of other complications and, as she struggles to keep her secret and protect herself and others in a world of shifting boundaries and increasingly difficult emotional situations, The Look rapidly becomes…

Still Running

Josie Tate has been running for a long time – from her past, from a tragic secret, and mostly from herself. Then her life is suddenly upended, and she finds herself back in the one place on earth she doesn’t want to be. Worse, she is suddenly caught between an unforgiving past and Cade Harper’s unrelenting pursuit.

As determined as she is desperate, he seems hell-bent on making sure that her running days are over. It doesn’t help that Cade is the most gorgeous man ever. Or that the uncanny attraction between them seems to have a life of its own.

But Josie is determined to keep her distance from Cade. He is equally determined to shatter the walls she is raising up between them. And when her ghosts reappear in the flesh Josie’s life finally implodes. The only way out seems to be to keep on running…

There you go! Post those challenges and let’s see which topic wins!

See you on the blog!
Jude

Release Day! What a grand feeling – the first thought I had actually, when my eyes opened in that grey chill just before dawn, and I treated myself to a tiny space of just simply enjoying it before hauling myself out of bed to do life…

A Thick Black Line is now “out there” and, even though this is now book number 3, the excitement of it isn’t diminished by the familiarity of the process. It’s a funny thing – each one is different, each one has it’s own “identity” and it’s own special place, and it’s wonderful to be able to celebrate the “birthday” of my latest with as much enthusiasm as I did the others.

In some ways, A Thick Black Line represents a milestone in my writing life. The book provided the opportunity to explore the suspense genre, with a sinister undertone to the plot that adds an interesting dimension to the relationship between the hero and heroine. I found it a fascinating catalyst, as it raised all kinds of questions that demanded answers, and opened possibilities that might have remained closed had the plot been structured in any other way.


Bo and Nic, the heroine and hero, both recognise this particular issue:

“Would we even be here having this conversation if it weren’t for this whole crazy, stupid situation?”

He considered that. She could see him thinking it through, like he wanted to give an honest answer. “I don’t know. But I don’t think it’s relevant. We are here, and I don’t think going back is an option.”

These two lines are enormously ironic. They speak of the enormous impact the situation – the suspense, the intrigue, the danger – has on their relationship. They also suggest the inevitability of it, and the process that they are drawn into despite having drawn A Thick Black Line around their personal choices…

While fundamentally “classic” romance – real romance with heart – A Thick Black Line has enough of the suspense factor to intrigue and tease, and adds a little sinister something to the traditional…

Here’s the blurb, and a short excerpt. You can find A Thick Black Line at:

http://www.bookstrand.com/product-athickblackline-13953-330.html

Blurb:

Bo Carmichael has drawn a thick black line around her heart, and with good reason. She has worked hard to overcome the anguish of betrayal and the devastation it wreaked in her family’s lives, and she’s now close to realizing her dreams. There simply isn’t place in this equation for emotional entanglements, especially not with Nic Sinclaire, the only man who has the ability to breach her defenses. From their first encounter, an impossible chemistry rages between them – a crackling heat that threatens to melt the ice surrounding her. A bizarre twist makes Nic a constant companion and self-appointed protector. As Bo’s barriers shift and crumble, she can no longer ignore the powerful emotions his proximity evokes…

Excerpt:

“Need a hug?” Now she was surprised, and it showed in the widening of her eyes and the quick look of warning. “Just a hug. You can trust me.”
He stood so close that some of the dampness of him brushed onto her shirt. She imagined being there in his arms. He’d be cool from the water, but still strong, and still enormously tempting.
“It’s not you I’m worried about.” Honesty seemed the only option. It had clearly surprised him, because he stopped rubbing his hair with the towel, and the blue of his eyes deepened a little.
“Because you want more?”
“Yes.” And she did. Much more. The truth of it loomed, suddenly huge, the only reality in the moment, a kind of tense and breathing thing that wouldn’t be denied. “At least right now I do, but it’s just a moment…” She let that trail into silence, conscious that too much had already been said.
“A moment of weakness.” He finished it for her. “You think I don’t know that? And, just for the record, there’s nothing wrong with that.”
“Isn’t there? Just a month ago I was so sure where the lines were—I drew them myself, remember? Now they’re all over the place. We’re all over the place. It’s…” She took a breath, trying to find the words to voice the impatience and the confusion of it all. “It’s like we’ve gone from zero to a hundred in three seconds. One minute you’re my new business partner, we’ve drawn the lines and set the boundaries. The next you’re living in my house, protector, friend, and who knows what else besides and…and well, I’m not even sure how it happened.”
“Circumstance.” Yet again he made it seem so incredibly simple, except she knew it wasn’t.
“That’s my point. Would we even be here having this conversation if it weren’t for this whole crazy, stupid situation?”
He considered that. She could see him thinking it through, like he wanted to give an honest answer. “I don’t know. But I don’t think it’s relevant. We are here, and I don’t think going back is an option.”
It wasn’t. Bo knew that. She couldn’t even be sure where “back” was. It seemed like some kind of forever ago, beyond memory even. “I don’t want to need you,” she said. And then, because it sounded almost ugly: “I don’t want to need anyone. Needing is what got this whole thing started.”
He looked a little offended. “I don’t think you can lump Dario and I in the same basket.”
“No.” She shook her head. “That’s not what I mean. What I’m trying to say is that…” Voicing it felt suddenly hard, like the truth of it suddenly took on the nature of a cake of soap in the bath, slipping beyond her grasping and never being held for long enough to make sense of it. “Well…if I was to ever… if we… Oh hell, this is insane! What I mean is that need isn’t a good reason to start anything. It’s a place of weakness and—”
“Bo, you’re not making any sense.” He smiled down at her, all charm and humour and gentle affection, and she could feel her heartbeat take an erratic leap.
“I know. Not even to myself.” She laughed, a shaky, half-embarrassed thing that said a lot more than it should have.
“Go to bed,” he said gently.
“Yes.” It was the only sensible thing left to do. She could see that the moment had begun to fade, that common sense had clicked in and she felt grateful for that. It was another thing she liked about him. So why on earth should she suddenly feel disappointed?

Just for fun, because I’m in the mood to celebrate, I’m going to add an ARC of A Thick Black Line to the Classic Romance Revival subscriber’s weekly draw for the last week of June (i.e. the short “two-day” week, 29th and 30th June) making it a double prize – A Thick Black Line and The Look.

To enter, simply go to the CRR blog at http://www.classicromancerevival.com/blog/. Enter your email in the Subscribe2 block in the sidebar and click send. You’ll receive a short story free read, and automatically go into the draw.

See you all again soon. I’m off to celebrate!
Jude

Yep, a Red Letter Day for me… and a humungous learning curve. And yes, I’m here treating myself to a glass of Old Brown Sherry (it’s winter here in South Africa, and Old Brown is something of a tradition…) and feeling just a little smug and Cheshire-Cat pleased with myself… I have that kind of warm fuzzy feeling that comes along once in a while, and I’m gonna make the most of every minute of it!

So, you might well ask, why the self-satisfied smirk? Well I just did something I never thought I would. Not only that, I did a pretty darn good job of it too (even if I do say so myself). I DID MY OWN COVER for A Thick Black Line!

It’s an odd thing, really, how we writers somehow assume that our poor cover artists have a masters in mind reading… of course they can see right into our little writer heads and instantly transform the slightly fuzzy picture there into a masterpiece. What was I thinking? I have to tell you, cover artists now inhabit a place of awe and respect in my world…

First of all, there’s the matter of hunting for images… which of course have to look exactly like the couple in said little writer head. Nothing less will do. I just hadn’t realised how long it takes to hunt through megazillions of images, or how hard it is to find just the right hair colour, expression, mood, not to mention age… oh, and of course, couples with clothes on (once you’ve cropped and sized that wonderful him and her image, both in swimwear, you seem to end up with two people who look decidedly like they’re both stark naked…)

So fine, yippedy-do, we find and buy the image. Then we have to choose a background, the other significant bits that need to be brought in without detracting from the couple while providing important clues as to the plot, the feel, the mood of the book. Then it’s the text – which kind, how big, what colour… all on one line, or separated over two or more?… where exactly, how to balance it with the images…

Like I said, a learning curve… getting your (very) basic graphics software to behave like Photoshop is a challenge all on its own, not to mention which to fade and which not to fade, and how to avoid the different components looking like they’ve just be cut and pasted (which they have, lol, but shouldn’t look like it…)

Still it was worth the effort. And I’m really glad I made this somewhat lunatic excursion into the realm of cover artistry. (It might have frazzled the mind en route, but I think once I’ve got over that it will also have broadened it a little). And, aside from the stress and anxiety while awaiting the publisher’s response, it was a whole lotta fun. Fortunately the publisher thought it was great (and spared me the urgh! of having to deal with rejection, lol), and I now get to enjoy the fruits of my labours (and my dementia!) for a long time to come…

And here it is – my “masterpiece” (which I keep sneaking a look at) for the cover of A Thick Black Line which is due for release very soon. Just the right sense of the dramatic, the sinister, and the romance – and living proof that we can do pretty much anything if we’re committed enough. And I’ve included the blurb below so you can see what I mean…

Blurb:

Bo Carmichael has drawn a thick black line around her heart, and with good reason. She has worked hard to overcome the anguish of betrayal and the devastation it wreaked in her family’s lives, and she’s now close to realizing her dreams. There simply isn’t place in this equation for emotional entanglements, especially not with Nic Sinclaire, the only man who has the ability to breach her defenses.

From their first encounter, an impossible chemistry rages between them – a crackling heat that threatens to melt the ice surrounding her.

A bizarre twist makes Nic a constant companion and self-appointed protector. As Bo’s barriers shift and crumble, she can no longer ignore the powerful emotions his proximity evokes…

Here’s the link: http://www.bookstrand.com/product-athickblackline-13953-330.html

Thanks for letting me share – I’ll chat again soon.
Jude