Win a Paperback Copy of Tempting the Deputy!

So I just sent off the AAs (the final proofs) of my latest Harlequin Presents - Captive at Her Enemy's Command. This is the second Whittaker sisters book, a sequel to The Virgin's Shock Baby which is out in October... And to celebrate I've decided to do a Giveaway! Yay!

And as luck would have it, I just got a gorgeous package of books and bookmarks from my other lovely publisher Tule, of my Men of Marietta book, Tempting the Deputy. So of course it makes sense to do a giveaway of this book... The original release in March this year was digital only so this is a rare print edition of the story - and I may stick in a few bookmarks too, with details of the other books in the series.

Just enter the Rafflecopter below or on my Heidi Rice Author Page on Facebook to be in with a chance to win it - innit!


a Rafflecopter giveaway

Truly Madly Deeply Launch Day... Time to Partay!

Hey all

Just joining in the fun today for the launch of the fan-tabulous 24 (or 35 if you're buying on digital) Short Story Collection Truly Madly Deeply featuring some of the rising stars and bestselling authors of the RNA (that includes me, just in case you were wondering).

We're over on the Truly Madly Deeply Facebook Page  or you can connect with us on Twitter @RNATweets with the hashtag #TrulyMadlyDeeply (obviously!) if you want to join us for lots of fun and frolics today (BTW I've already nabbed Jamie Dornan as my virtual date and he said Hell Yeah... so forget it if you wanted to ask him).


But I'm also blogging here about:

The Inspiration for The Fundamental Things

For pictorial inspiration you can check out my Pinterest page...

These are the lifts in question.... Sans Josh & Antonio

Basically though, I got the original idea one day while at my other job working for a magazine as a film journalist. The magazine is based in some super swanky offices just behind the Tate Modern on London's South Bank. In fact the offices are so swanky they often get film crews there filming. Among some of the things to be shot there are Salmon Fishing in the Yemen and an episode of Spooks (yes WITH Richard Armitage in). Anyway, I've worked there as a freelancer for years and NEVER got to meet anyone famous. But I was uber-peed off a couple of years ago when I got into work to hear that Woody Allen was in the building shooting and he had with him Josh Brolin and Antonio Banderas... And some other tart who worked in the building had got stuck in the lift with Josh and Antonio for 20 minutes that morning... I mean, seriously? How fricking close do you need to get and NOT get to meet Josh Brolin and Antonio Banderas? Anyway, I pulled my disappointment - and my over imagination - out of the bag on that one when I came up with the premise for my story.

Then I started to ask the romance author's favourite question... What If?

What If... The guy you got stuck in the lift with wasn't a movie star, but your childhood sweetheart?

What If... You hadn't seen him in 22 years but you still hated his guts for a very good reason?

What If ... That reason wasn't as valid as you thought and finding out the truth might change your life/ and his in a very fundamental way?

If you'd like to be in with a chance of winning a copy of Truly Madly Deeply with my story - and tons of other fabulous stories - in it. Then you could enter the Rafflecopter posted below.


a Rafflecopter giveaway

So now it's time to PARTAY!!! 

Annoncing the KISS & Tempt On the Hunt comp... With a huge prize haul

So, just in case you don't know this already (where have you BEEN???) I've joined forces with the other fabulous Harlequin KISS/Modern Tempted authors to launch our very own Facebook Page.

Kiss & Tempt is the go-to place for romance chat, girl talk, hot men, news about all our books (and not just the Harlequin ones), hot men (or did I mention that already) and some cool comps... And we're launching it with the coolest comp of all...

 On the Hunt is the search for the perfect picture for our Facebook banner. We've narrowed it down to seven. Now you need to tell us which one says Kiss & Tempt the most to you?
 
You can head to the page to peruse the pics, make a choice and then enter thru the competition tab. The Grand Prize for one lucky winner is completely AMAZE-BALLS...

Or you can enter the Rafflcopter below.

a Rafflecopter giveaway
Now go get voting, and liking and sharing and tweeting. You've got a week, starting NOW!

The Wedding Season Giveaways Begin!!

To celebrate our fabulous KISS continuity, The Wedding Season, a four-book series that starts this month, we of the Wedding Season Quartet will be running a series of giveaways of the books in the series.

First up is Aimee Carson with her brilliant first book The Unexpected Wedding Guest. Unfortunately this giveaway is only open to US readers, so if you're one of those do enter the Rafflecopter below - or you can enter via the tab on our Facebook page.

If not have no fear, we will be doing stuff for Worldwide readers too, and there will also be the launch of the Quartet in Modern Tempted (in September in the UK) to celebrate later.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

If you want to know more about the other books in the series - including mine, Maid of Dishonor - you can like our Facebook page and/or follow our Pinterest boards.

And don't forget you can also download Aimee's prequel novella The Wedding Dress Diaries for free from Harlequin, to get you in the Wedding mood.

 

Islington Workshop & Book Comp for The Mile High Club!

Hey all...

Hope you had a wonderful sunny weekend. It was a bank holiday here in the UK so my DH and I decided to decorate our front room. One of those daft decisions that you totally regret when you're knee deep in paint, and dust, and general decorating crap and it's blazing sunshine outside... Oh well, now it's all ready for the next Bank Holiday at the end of May (when it better not be raining).

Now I have news. I'm going to be at Islington Central Library tomorrow evening doing a writing workshop as part of Islington's Word2013 Festival.

Here are the details:

Alpha Hero to Contemporary Heroine:
Writing Contemporary Romantic Fiction for Mills & Boon
by Author Heidi Rice
at
Islington Central Library
Address: 2 Fieldway Crescent, London N5 1PF
Phone: 020 7527 6900
Wednesday 8th May
6pm-8pm

You need to ring the library to book a space, but it's completely free and I will have free books to give away to attendees.

I also got a rather cool package in the post last week with a brand new Riva-branded copy of my 2007 story The Mile High Club, which has been out of print now for a number of years and is only being made available to subscribers in the UK...

This story is very dear to my heart, it was only my second book, has settings in London, Paris and New York (my three favourite cities) and has as its heroine a young journalist on a London listings magazine (yes, that would be my first proper job) and the hero is an enigmatic American crime novelist. Plus the book got a RITA nomination!!

Anyway, I have one spare copy to give away... So if you want to be in with a chance to win you need to enter the Rafflecopter below:


a Rafflecopter giveaway

EXCITING Red Hot news & Comp Winners Announced!!

I got some VERY EXCITING news from my editor on Thursday... And it comes in two stages.

 Firstly, I submitted a proposal earlier this year for the new Cosmo Red Hot Reads line which is a digital first collaboration between Cosmopolitan Magazine in the US and Harlequin... These are going to be digital only books, a little shorter than series books but with lots and lots of sass and steam! With New York Times Bestseller Sylvia Day and RITA winner Sarah Morgan already signed up to write for this extremely HOT new imprint I really really wanted to be a part of it... Anyway after much nailbiting and panic over my partial, which had to go through a rather more rigorous acquisitions process than I'm used to (eventually being okay'd by Cosmo's main man in NYC) - I got the word from my ed last week that they want to buy the book I was proposing... The working title at the moment is  10 Ways to Handle the Best Man... (We're talking Four Weddings Meets 50 Shades - by way of a pushy Maid of Honor forced to handle the Best Man from Hell).. If you want a few more tantalising hints as to what happens next, check out my Pinterest board.

http://pinterest.com/hlric/10-ways-to-handle-the-best-man-working-title/

Secondly, I also got the go-ahead to write a Hopeless Romantic's Guide to A Great Movie Night In for the new digital first Harlequin Pop line... Once again can't wait to write this, and wear both my film journalist and my romance-landia hats at the same time!! How cool is that?

Anyway, watch this blog for more news on both projects... Now all I've got to do is calm down enough to write them!!

I would also like to say a big thank you to all those who entered my blog comp last week to win a copy of my new Harlequin KISS novel Too Close for Comfort...

So, with no more ado, the lucky winners of a signed copy of the book are:

Desere Steenberg

Sharon Collins

For those who didn't win, don't forget to have a crack at my Goodreads Giveaway below:

Goodreads Book Giveaway

Too Close for Comfort

by Heidi Rice

Giveaway ends May 15, 2013.
See the giveaway details at Goodreads.

Enter to win

Win a Copy of Too Close for Comfort, my 1st Harlequin KISS novel

The lovely UPS man delivered a big ole box of books today of my first ever Harlequin KISS novel!! So how excited am I??

Too Close for Comfort is due out on May 21st in North America and features drop-dead delicious Mexican-American PI Zane Montoya - who appeared briefly in my last Harlequin Presents Extra One Night So Pregnant  and got everyone hyperventilating - well, me anyway!

So I just had to write Zane's story. But I wanted to find him a heroine who would really challenge him and get behind that sexy, devil may care charm to the tortured and tender soul beneath. Step up Iona MacCabe, a feisty Scottish wildlife artist who's in California to track down the deadbeat who conned her father out of his life savings... Unfortunately said deadbeat is also on Zane's hit-list, and the last thing Zane needs after staking out the guy's motel room in Morro Bay for most of the night is some reckless kid breaking into the room and screwing up a six-month operation...

Uh-oh, I see trouble ahead... And moonlight and dancing and lust and... well you get the picture!


You can read a sneak peek from the first chapter of Too Close on my website here: 

Psst.. This copy of the book also features a seriously smexy free novella by Aimee Carson called The Wedding Dress Diaries: the stunning intro to our wonderful Harlequin KISS continuity The Wedding Season by Aimee C, Amy Andrews, Yours Truly and Kimberly Lang...Which I guarantee you will not want to miss... I'm still fanning myself after reading it a couple of months ago!

So if you'd like to win a free copy of Too Close for Comfort (with Aimee's bonus novella), you can either enter the Goodreads Giveaway listed on the sidebar of this blog (which will be approved shortly and runs until 15th May!).

Or Enter the Rafflecopter below (PS, if you need help with the answer to the question, check out my website page for the book above!).


a Rafflecopter giveaway

And the winner is....

Hi all

Well, the competition is now closed, many thanks to everyone who entered. Did the draw this morning with a little help from my first born (who was not too ecstatic about being dragged out of bed on his half-term!!).

The winners of a copy of The Good, the Bad and the Wild are:

Aimee Duffy


Henza Richard

So you two just email me your snail mail addresses on heidi@heidi-rice.com and I'll post off a copy asap.

To everyone else, do not despair, (shameless plug alert) copies are available to buy in paperback and ebook at the M&B website NOW. And the book will be on the shelves in the UK and Ireland next month and in North America (as a Harlequin Presents Extra) in July. I'm also doing a Goodreads Giveaway for the UK edition (you can enter to win on the right) and I will do another Goodreads Giveaway (for all territories this time) for the US edition in June!

Right, still waiting to hear back on my current ms from my ed... And taking my mind off it by joining Pinterest courtesy of fabulous fellow Riva author Nicola Marsh. I'm not really a visual author, more of an auditory one (it's the voices in my head that help me create!) but I've had great fun doing a Pinboard of photos for The Good, the Bad and the Wild with selected quotes from the book - amazing how you can persuade yourself that trawling the internet for that perfect picture of Colin Farrell's tattoo is actually extremely valuable book promotion!!

The Good, the Bad and the Wild... Goodreads Giveaway

There's still a few days left to enter my competition to win a copy of The Good, the Bad and the Wild...

But failing that you can also apply for my Goodreads Giveaway of the book on your right.

So don't say I never give you nothing!

The Good, the Bad and the Wild comp has landed!

So, I finally sent off my latest manuscript on Monday night, after much last minute research on Facebook.... Still need to find an events planner I can have an email or phone chat with, so if anyone reading this blog knows one, especially one based in the US, let me know.

Now, on to my BOOK COMPETITION!! 

The Good, the Bad and the Wild is out as my next Riva in March. It's a linked book to Cupcakes and Killer Heels as the hero is my cupcake baker Ruby's long-lost brother Nick Delisantro... A delicious bad boy screenwriter who lives in San Francisco. I'll be posting a sneak peek on my website shortly. But first:


I have two copies to give away to two lucky readers. All you have to do is answer the following question and I'll put you in the draw to win. (hint: You will have to read the back blurb which I have already posted on my website for the answer)

Question: In The Good, the Bad and the Wild, who's good, who's bad and who's going wild?

Send the answer to heidi@heidi-rice.com and I'll be announcing the winner on 1st Feb!


Good luck

PS: There's still five days left on my Goodreads giveaway of the US edition of Cupcakes and Killer Heels, you can click to enter on your right....

Last chance to enter my website comp!

Only a few hours left to enter my website competition to win a copy of On the First Night of Christmas...

All details are on the home page of the new website so check it out! Closing date is today at 12midnight GMT.

Heidi's got a brand new website!!

It's fireworks night in the UK this evening... Which seems somehow fitting for the launch of my AMAZING new website.


It's got a brand new look (with some very nice photos of moi!), info on all my books, a backlist page (with details of all my heroes, the heroines, how they are linked to other books, etc), a links page with info for readers and aspiring writers alike and even a Coming Soon page which details my next release and even the books I am currently writing (although these are subject to change because my muse works in all sorts of unpredictable - and seriously annoying - ways).

To celebrate I'm giving away two copies of On the First Night of Christmas... but you have to visit the site and poke around a bit to enter... Closing date is the 14th November. So what are you waiting for?

Special thanks goes to the wonderful Heather Reed at HR Web Concepts who did such a great job with the site and Anne Mortensen for making me look gorgeous in the photos (it's all an optical illusion folks, but do I care!)

New Voices Workshops and New Book Comp!

So, I had a really fab time on Monday night doing the second of my New Voices workshops, this time in Fulham Library.

Once again the turn out was amazing (I think there was 30 people there!!) and it was really great to see so many aspiring authors who not only knew about New Voices but had either entered already or were about to. While I like to spread the work about M&B, it's always nice to be able to bypass all the obvious stuff (such as 'yes, you can have more than just kissing in M&B books now' and 'no, Barbara Cartland isn't writing for them anymore, in fact she never did!') and get down to the hard graft of talking about internal vs external conflict, characterisation and motivation, how to make your alpha hero an archetype not a stereotype, why not to let an Elvis impersonator into your manuscript, etc, etc, etc.. You know, all the important stuff.

Now I had planned to go into a more in-depth discussion of what we talked about. But then the fabulous Rebecca Thornton (aka wonderful book blogger and New Voices entrant) did a really great blog, which not only did a better job than I could ever do of explaining the workshop but makes me sound really informative (cool!). So I'm going to give you a link here to her blog to check it out.

Honestly, it's just like being there. So ta Rebecca. You might also want to check out her review of Cupcakes and Killer Heels (I'm just saying!!).

Now on to the other fab news. I got a lovely big box of shiny new copies of my latest Riva/Harlequin Presents Extra release, On the First Night of Christmas, yesterday morning in the post. As always I'm planning to do a competition to give some of them away... But I'm afraid you are gonna all have to wait a little bit longer, cos I want to launch my brand new website with the competition and a sneak peek of the book is necessary to answer the question. Sheesh, am I a tease or what?

Anyway, until that time (which will hopefully be in the next week or so, fingers crossed). Here's the tantalising back cover blurb.

 Cassie’s tips for the Perfect Christmas Fling! 

1. ’Tis the season to be daring: Find the perfect Mr Right Now (extra points for a bad-boy-turned-billionaire) and be brave about getting him – even if that means jumping straight into sexy Jace Ryan’s car! 

2. Enjoy the ride: Once you’ve chosen your flingee, get swept away by the moment! For once, Cassie’s determined to stop worrying about the future. But she must remember one thing… 

3. This fling is just for Christmas: Jace Ryan’s a seasonal special. Do not start falling for him, Cassie. No matter how perfect the package or how much you’ve enjoyed unwrapping it…

And the winner is...?

So I dragged my actorly oldest son out of bed this morning to pick a winner from the entries for my One Amazing Night Baby competition...

And the winner is...

Jane Linfoot

So congrats to Jane, if you want to email me your addy at heidi@heidi-rice.com I'll pop a signed copy in the post. BTW, the other two stories by Anne Oliver and Robyn Grady are YUMMY! Have already devoured them myself, so you're in for a treat.

And for all those who didn't win this time, thanks for entering... And I'll be running a comp in the near future as soon as I get my hands on author copies of my November release On the First Night of Christmas...  Sheesh, am I talking about Christmas already?

Right, back to work and the hard task of trying to come up with a new story idea with a house full of snotty teenage boys! Groan.

Wanna see Guy Pearce's bum??

Then check out my post on The Pink Heart Society about the new HBO mini-series Mildred Pierce. Which has Kate Winslet brilliantly cast as the successful 1940s restaurateur but not so successful mother, Guy as her feckless but handsome lover Monty, lashings of beautifully observed period detail and some very sexy scenes involving.... Well, need I say more. Check out the darn post!

Also don't forget I'm still running my comp to win a copy of One Amazing Night Baby. To enter the prize draw answer these two questions by the close of play today (that's Friday 12th August) about my book Pleasure, Pregnancy and a Proposition.


1) The name of the Hero and Heroine from PPP
2) Why the Hero all but kidnaps the Heroine at the start of the story... 

And email the answers to heidi@heidi-rice.com and I'll announce the winner tomorrow.
 

One Amazing Night, Baby! Competition

 

And one amazing day for me when I got a little package in the post today containing two copies of my first every By Request title: One Amazing Night Baby!

Which not only features my fourth Modern Heat story Pleasure, Pregnancy and a Proposition (that's the book that topped the Waldies for two weeks in a row - sorry have I mentioned that already??) but also two super cool stories by my fellow Riva gals Robyn Grady and Anne Oliver.

So to celebrate this glorious event I'm gonna give away one copy to anyone who can answer the following two questions correctly:

1) The name of the Hero and Heroine from PPP
2) Why the Hero all but kidnaps the Heroine at the start of the story... 

For some clues, check out the sneak peek Here

To enter just email the answers to heidi@heidi-rice.com by Friday 12th August and I'll announce the winner on Saturday.

And just in case you were wondering I'm only giving away one copy cos I'm keeping the other one for myself so I can read Robbie and Anne's Amazing Baby stories!

In other news, I have just enlisted the help of a proper website designer to give me a brand spanking new website.... Not least because my current one seems to have disappeared off my desktop and is consequently going to be stuck in a Spring 2011 time warp forever more. So watch that space!

Also, just wanted to remind all you aspiring writers out there that New Voices is back this September.

It was a phenomenal success last year and they're making some interesting changes which I think will make it an even more positive experience for everyone who enters.

For starters I'm going to be doing two London workshops in Fulham and Mayfair. Will give you more deets about those when I have them. But there will be lots of other authors doing workshops round the country (I know the fabulous Fiona Harper will also be doing one in London), so hopefully they'll be one near you (if you live in the UK). but even if you don't live in the UK you can enter the comp. For details of how just check out the website and don't forget to join M&B's New Voices Facebook page.

Cupcake Winners Announced

Hey all

So the Cupcakes comp is now closed. I nabbed my youngest son to pick the winners out of his favourite hat... And as usual he got a bit carried away and picked out FOUR!! So no cupcakes for him then!

Anyway, here are the four names picked out of the hat in the order they came out (here's hoping none of you live in Outer Mongolia or the postage is gonna kill me!):

Biraj Trivedi


Ann Murphy


Desere Steenberg


Wendy S Marcus


Just email me your snail mail addresses and I'll post off your signed copy of Cupcakes and Killer Heels this morning. Comisserations to everyone else. But don't worry, you can always buy a copy!! Hint, hint. It'll be available on the M&B website in the UK on April 1st and is hitting Amazon (and UK and Irish book shop shelves) in May... So not long to wait now at all.

Am busy getting stuck into my next book, which is a linked book to Cupcakes, and involves a maverick North London bad boy turned Hollywood scriptwriter called Nick Delisantro (Ruby's brother, who is mentioned in Cupcakes but doesn't appear) and a bookish ancestral geneologist from West London called Eva Redmond. Studious and conscientious  Eva is about to discover her wild side when she is sent to San Francisco (where Nick lives) to tell Nick he's the illegitimate heir to a fortune in Italian real estate but can't quite get the words out when she engineers a meeting with him at an upscale SF art gallery opening and he immediately starts flirting with her, inviting her for a ride on his motorbike. She's never been on a motorbike before in her life and has never flirted with a guy before, either, and especially not a guy as hot as Nick. Uh-oh!

Having a great deal of fun so far, which is probably famous last words but I live in hope this one is not nearly as much of a pineapple as the last one (but I always say that don't I).

Another chance to win a copy of Cupcakes and some Barcelona boasting!

Many thanks to all those who have already entered yesterday's competition to win a copy of my new book Cupcakes and Killer Heels (and cheers for the comments about the sneak peek.. that was the idea, to get you all hooked... Brawahahaha!)

Anyway, there's another chance to win a copy on The Pink Heart Society today if you leave a comment on my extremely interesting and informative post about where my ideas come from, why inspiration is everywhere but why it isn't as important as you think... Or something like that! I've also included some great pictures of my recent weekend trip to Barcelona to make you all jealous... Sorry, I meant to say, which are extremely relevant to the post. And that smug smile on my face in the photo of me in Barcelona last weekend illustrating this post is entirely coincidental, by the way.

Anyhow, nip on over to the PHS and stick a comment up, so far the only one is from Abby Green and I've already sent her a copy! So she ain't getting another.

Win a Copy of Cupcakes and Killer Heels!

Okey, dokey, so the nice postman delivered a huge box of brand new books yesterday. Yippee! Cupcakes and Killer Heels has finally arrived. As you know I love the cover and the title, so am mighty proud of this book.

Anyway I've got a couple of autographed copies to give away. All you have to do is take a gander at the fiendishly clever question below (you'll  probably have to check out the sneak peek on my website here for the answer, unless of course you're clairvoyant) and then send your answer to heidi@heidi-rice.com by Monday 21st March (that's next Monday for anyone without a calendar) to be included in the prize draw.

Question: What is the name of Ruby Delisantro's cupcake-making business in Cupcakes and Killer Heels which she has printed on the side of her VW Beetle in glittering pink lettering?

 

And the Winner is...!!

Okay, so forced my sleepy 12-year-old to pick a winner for my book contest this morning while he was eating his cereal and, being as he was half asleep, he picked two names out!! We had a little debate and decided that it would be bad karma this close to Halloween to re-draw them so have decided to keep the good-luck gremlins happy and offer two books! And the names picked out were:

RACHAEL BLAIR and JAYNE HALL

So Rach and Jayne, congratulations... Email me your details and I'll post off your brand spanking new copy of Surf, Sea and a Sexy Stranger asap.

Thanks everyone else for entering, it's always nice to know there's a lot of people out there wanna win my books. Rye and Maddy's story is actually on sale from November 19th in the UK and Ireland, as it's in the first cycle of December releases.. And details will be up on the M&B site on 1st November.  I've also got word that it will be going into Presents Extra in the North America in April 2011!! Yippee...

I'm gonna post a sneak peek on my site today, so watch this space.

In other news, Cal and Ruby's story has just got the green light from my editor, after some frantic last-minute revisions... This is my delicious barrister and my flirty cupcake entrepreneur. It's currently slated for release in May 2011 in the UK as a brand spanking new RIVA. The title they're toying with made me grin from ear to ear. No blackmail, no billionaires, no mistresses... Just Cupcakes and Killer Heels. How cool is that? It's not definite yet mind you, but I like it. Am really excited about the way this line is going... And am thinking there's a lot they can do with cupcakes and dishy guys on the cover!!

Anyway, was a bit gutted to hear that neither of my mentees got through to the Final Four on New Voices, but just wanted to say it was a pleasure working with both Kat and Kara and hope they enjoyed the experience as much as I did. They're both talented writers and I'm sure we haven't heard the last from either one of them.

So onwards with a new story idea, am currently thinking about making my next heroine a freelance heirhunter and my hero the illegitimate heir to an Italian Dukedom.. With locations in San Francisco and Lake Como... Which gives me a great excuse to spend the rest of the day googling piccies of George Clooney in his Italian home! Jeeze this is such a hard job sometimes.

See what I mean!!