A milestone day

Current work: working on M&B #59 (Rom – Mediterranean prince) and two or three other projects (focus, Kate Hardy, focus…)
Listening to: Passenger, All the Little Lights
Reading: next on TBR
Gym: cardio today (aka much sweating); 121 with weights/circuits tomorrow

Today has been a milestone day. I can honestly say that waiting for your child’s exam results is far, far, FAR worse than waiting for your own :o)

But I’m thrilled to say that my eldest has passed all his exams and will be going to sixth form in September to study maths, physics, chemistry and history. He’s busy tonight and DH is busy tomorrow night, so we’re going out to celebrate properly on Saturday. But we also went out to lunch today for a kind of mini-celebration. (I’m one for celebrating life as much as possible. I think it’s important to celebrate the good times.)

On the work front, I need to get some tension simmering between the hero and heroine in book 59, work out the rest of the outline for book 60, and write a little more on the other projects. But I like the way they’re shaping up.

Other than that, we have a wasp’s nest being removed tomorrow, and I’m researching guitar amplifiers (for my lovely blue electric – at the moment I’m torn between a Roland Cube and an Orange Crush, but I need to hear them both in action before I can make a proper decision).

Oh, and I have a title for Baloo – ‘Behind the Film Star’s Smile’. Out April 2014 in the US, and I’m not sure when elsewhere.

Blog tour - Nina Harrington

I'm thrilled to be hosting Nina Harrington today. I've known her for a very long while through the RNA, and I'm so proud of her because her first single title is out right now! But I'll let Nina do all the talking...

 Confession time.

Kate Hardy and I share a not so very secret passion; The Love of all Things Italian.

Kate has shared her travel diaries with us from her research trips to wonderful locations such as Sorrento, Rome and of course Venice. These settings have inspired many of her wonderful Harlequin books, including more than a few Italian billionaires and playboys and I seem to recall an Italian GP!

But what is so very irresistible about Italy and all things Italian?

For me is it a remarkable combination of many factors, including the beauty of the landscape, the colours of the ancient walled towns, stylish design and high art culture and of course, the diversity of mouth-watering food that each region of Italy is famous for.

Pasta, wine, cheeses, cured meats, coffee and gelato are the basis of any Italian feast. But the food is much more than that. It is pleasure, tradition, family, style and passion. Imagine multiple generations of a family gathered around a long wooden table on a sun kissed terrace, laden with wonderful food and you have some idea of the connection between the love of food and the Italian culture and way of life.

Cooking is my hobby and my pleasure and many of my Mills and Boon titles are foodie romances, but for the first time I have written a romantic mystery set in an Italian delicatessen. 

‘Recipe for Disaster’ is a fun contemporary romance with a feisty Irish-Italian heroine and a hot Italian bad boy lawyer. Not much in common – except their love of good food. I do hope that you enjoy it – and the food! Buon Appetito!

London chef Bunty Brannigan has no time to celebrate her 30th birthday. She is working every hour to create a menu for an award ceremony and to keep customers coming through the door of the small Italian deli she has inherited from her parents.

Bunty’s life was complicated enough when all she had to deal with were her best friends from convent school, but when she finds her celebrity chef cousin Luca Caruso lying unconscious in the fava beans, hot lawyer, charmer and Italian stud Fabio Rossi enters her life, and things begin to get really out of control.

What will happen when all of the Caruso family secrets are out in the open?

Will Bunty's Italian grandmother still try to stay in control from beyond the grave?

Can Fabio persuade Bunty to change her mind about dating Italians?

Will the convent girls be forced to finally confess to Sister Teresa the truth about the visiting choirboys and the missing communion wine?

And how much chocolate do you need to create a life size man part?

Let the mayhem begin...before it becomes a recipe for disaster!

To discover even more about Nina Harrington, and to keep up with her latest projects, you can visit her at:

Facebook     Twitter     Website

catchup

Current work: working on M&B #59 (Rom – Mediterranean prince) and two other projects
Listening to: Beethoven
Reading: next on TBR (recently, have enjoyed Nicola Cornick’s ‘Forbidden’ – great read)
Gym: cardio – zumba and jazz dance tonight

So what’s been happening so far in the summer holidays? Lots of painting (mainly by DH and son). Curtain shopping (mainly by daughter and me). Leaning on wet paint (dog). Archery (son and DH).

There have also been trips to the seaside. (This is Mundesley, on the North Norfolk coast.)

And some scoffing of nice food (total serendipity – the queue at the new fish and chip shop in Cromer was quite long, so we decided to go to one of the nearby pubs instead, and guess what was on the specials board? Result: one happy Kate).

Other than that, I’m waiting on revisions for #58, working on the next one, and tinkering with a couple of other projects. (Course I can write three books at the same time. A change is as good as a rest, right?)

Oh, and new hair. Still cappuccino.

lots of exciting things!

Current work: just finished revising #58 (Med continuity), about to start #59 (Rom – Mediterranean prince) and working on a idea that refused to go away and isn’t a romance, but… hey, I’m rolling with it
Listening to: Muse
Reading: next on TBR (recently, have enjoyed Jojo Moyes’ ‘The Girl You Left Behind’ and several by Sarah Mayberry)
Gym: cardio (this week, new PB on squats – 40kg)

So today is my wedding anniversary – 21 years. Happy anniversary, honey.

I think I look a bit of a zombie in this pic, but then I had been awake since 5am and this was taken mid-afternoon. And my hair is dark because there’s a ton of hairspray on it to keep the curls in place :o)

What other exciting things are going on?

Baloo (#57) has been accepted. I’m still waiting to hear about the release date and title (though I am trying bribery and corruption and promising to make lots of cake for the office if they let me keep my working title). So I get to buy the Pandora bead for it today. I need something with a star.

We’re also partway through painting the house. Pretty much the same colour scheme, but just making everything look fresher. And the teenagers are helping, bless them :o) But that’s the next week and a half taken up…

Ballroom dancing is still going well – learned a couple of new steps in the cha cha cha (the Turkish Towel and the zig-zag shoulder-to-shoulder).

Gym – going nicely and am enjoying Zumba and Jazz.

Have a nice day! (I have pink champagne and cake planned - hope your day will be as good).