Kate’s 25th party – first day of summer holidays and last prize(s)…

All righty. Today really IS the last day of my blog party. I had originally planned more guests – but as I’m on holiday tomorrow and won’t have internet access for a week, it would’ve meant a hiatus in the party. Which would’ve been a bit sad, especially as we’ve already had the hiccup of having to move blog providers in the first week! Plus things such as conferences, round the world trips, babies and life in general got in the way for some of my proposed guests, and time just ran out. (They know who they are. :o) But am I going to make them feel guilty? Course not. Given my week or so of being dopey on painkillers and toothache, I know what it’s like to be up against an impossible deadline. I’m sending them a hug instead.)

I would like to thank all the guests who came and took part, and let me borrow pictures of beautiful dogs (all right, Mrs Walker and Mrs Parkin, and two cats) and ducklings. And thank you to everyone who came and joined in, whether you posted a comment or were shy and lurked in a corner with the cyber-cookies. (Cookie recipe is at http://www.katehardy.com/recipes.html - ditto the cheese stars and the lemon cake.)

Remember we still have three competitions going on, to win books by Anne McAllister, Fiona Harper and me...

Actually, I hate the end of a party. I don’t mind the clearing up bit; what I REALLY don’t like is saying goodbye. (This is also the reason why I loathe writing the end of a book. I hate saying goodbye to my characters.) I’m disappearing to Herefordshire tomorrow, but please don’t go away! I will be back in just over a week with photographs and tales of our adventures with Dr Who. And in the meantime, I have the final competition of the party for you.

GIVEAWAY: Breakfast at Giovanni’s is my fifth Modern Extra. So I think an appropriate finale would be to offer five prizes of a copy each. You have ages and ages to answer this because I’m going to draw the five prizewinners when I return from holiday. (I know I keep mentioning the H word – it’s to stop certain people nagging me about overdoing things. As if I ever overdo things. And I’m going to prove it on the Pink Heart Society next month…)

GIVEAWAY QUESTION: What is it that draws you to Italian heroes? If you’re not swept off your feet by Italians, then please argue your case for Spaniards (I’d definitely argue for Mr Banderas) or Englishmen or Americans or Aussies - in other words, tell me what you look for in the hero of a romance novel. I’ll pick the winners when I get back.