Step Into The Story

Another week, another survey... This one has been studying reading habits of 2000 people and has come up with the "news" that women know how to read properly whilst men have a desultory and, at best, casual approach to books. Apparently nearly half of women are avid readers who cannot put a book down once they start it and who get through a long list of titles in a year. Meanwhile twice as many men as women admitted that they never finished a book. Well! As with a lot if "research" this seems like a huge generalisation and made me wonder who on earth the researchers were surveying. Take a straw poll of me and a few friends, male and female. I read lots of books a year but will put one down (probably without giving it a fair chance) if it doesn't grab me within the first few pages. One female friend of mine is exactly the same. Two others will grimly soldier on to the end even if they aren't enjoying the book. My dh isn't an avid reader but reads across a...

Here is the first cover for my new HQN Regency series, The Brides of Fortune, which will be coming to a bookstore or internet bookseller near you in June! I am SO excited to see the covers for my new series, which are all in this beautiful style. Over the next few weeks I'll be posting all the covers and some juicy details about the series! I've noticed that the "headless bodice" cover seems to be increasingly popular with publishers and has featured on historicals by Phillipa Gregory, Elizabeth Chadwick and Mary Balogh, amongst others. In this case of course the heroine isn't totally headless, just cut off somewhere around the nose. And whilst this may not sound very attractive, I think the cover looks gorgeous. But what do YOU think? Do you like covers where there's a little bit of mystery about the appearance of the hero or heroine, or do you prefer a full face version or even a full body version of hero and heroine together? Let me know!

Yes, I'm back from my trip to the US and Mexico and I had a fabulous time! Whether it was learning about the fascinating military and humanitarian history of the USS Midway in San Diego or reading about pirates in the Sea of Cortes, the trip was one long historical treat after another. I learned so much I did not know about different aspects of US and Mexican history that it only whetted my appetite for more. Oh, and I loved meeting so many friendly people along the way - that is one of the many things I love about visiting the US. When we left the lady at the airport said "come back soon!" and we will! On the last few days of our holiday we drove from Flagstaff in Arizona to Los Angeles in California along part of the famous Route 66. I'm sure this needs no introduction to my US readers but for those like me who didn't know about Route 66, this was once the "Main Street of America" connecting Chicago in the east to Santa Monica in the west. Route 66 was...