Stephanie Cage - Writer

This week I welcome Cait o'Sullivan to talk about the book I wish I'd written, Taming the Tango Champion.  Isn't that a fabulous title!  Cait, would you like to share the cover and a bit about the book? There’s passion on the Dance Floor On return from a trip around the world, TV presenter, Ava Whittaker, has a baby by Matthias de Romero, Argentine Tango champion, hacienda owner, and the man she loves. The problem? He doesn't know. Fast forward two years, and Ava reluctantly agrees to be a contestant on a new dance show on TV, but to her shock, Matthias – the man she never expected to see again – is one of the judges. Matthias de Romero is leaving his beloved stallions in Argentina to assuage his pride. Two years previously, the one woman he thought he could care for walked out on him after just one glorious night. He arrives in London ready for revenge. Will Ava’s secret cause their intense feelings to burn out, or fan further the flames of love?  Buy her...

Hello Nancy!  It's lovely to have you visiting again! I interviewed you in 2013 when Shadow of Greed came out, and you said that it was going to be part of a five book series. How did it feel, seeing the whole Shadows and Light series come together? It was such a wonderful feeling, but that doesn’t really express what seeing all five books in a row did for me. For years, I dreamed of being an author, like Nora Roberts or Kat Martin. And here I was with a completed five book series, and in less than two years. It verified in me that dreams come true. Do you think you have changed as a writer over the course of the five books in the series? (And/or) Can you share something you learned along the way? There is no way I’m the same writer who sent In the Shadow of Greed into Crimson Romance with every finger and toe crossed. I think the greatest learning experience I have had is working through developmental edits with my amazing editor, Julie Sturgeon. With each book, she pus...

I wonder how often those words have been uttered over the course of the 13 years that Strictly Come Dancing has been aired? The celebrities who speak them are usually referring to the intense roller-coaster ride of a single series, but those of us who have been fans from the start have travelled a much longer and more rambling route. When the show started in May 2004 I was an English graduate, ballroom dance lover and aspiring writer in my late twenties, living near London and working in market research.  Over the years, my Strictly journey and my writing journey have become intricately entwined, thanks to an idea I had as soon as I heard that there was going to be a competitive dancing show on TV again for the first time since Come Dancing hung up its dancing shoes.   I’d noticed at university that the dancing world was something of a hotbed of gossip and romance, and thought it would be fun to combine a dancing show with something more relationship-focused – think ‘Str...

Crimson Romance have really made my New Year's Day!  I've just spotted that the collection of sports romances, 'Perfect Game', featuring my dancing story 'Perfect Partners', is one of this week's top sellers on the Crimson website.  But if sports aren't your thing (and I wouldn't blame you - apart from dancing and skating, they're not really mine), you might prefer this new collection, also featuring 'Perfect Partners'.   Lovers of stage and screen have a treat in store with 'Spotlight on Love'.  Crimson have collected seven love stories starring some of their hottest heroes and most heartfelt heroines, and I'm so excited to see my couple feature alongside some of Crimson's biggest names.  I've already read quite a few of these books, but if any of them are new to you, the whole e-book collection comes at a bargain price so it's well worth a look.  Here are the seven stories, plus my thoughts on them. Forgi...

Modern Magic hit the stores today and I couldn't be prouder to be part of this collection alongside three other amazing romance authors.  In case you need a reminder to help you decide whether it's for you, here's the blurb: What if Cinderella ditched the prince's ball and sent her fairy godmother to find love in her place? Suppose a streetwise hero hired to steal an all-powerful Genie (stuck in a flash drive rather than a brass lamp) for a tech company ended up running for his life with the CEO's gorgeous, intelligent daughter? Or what if the bed that a certain golden-tressed girl accidentally napped in belonged to the hot and famous middle brother of a notorious boy band? Can you envision the sparks that might fly if a bitter and downright beastly wheelchair-bound woman propositioned a handsome bookseller to stay with her in exchange for her rare book collection? This spellbinding anthology features modern and sexy spins on four classic fairy tales ...

Just in case you missed it, here's a quick post to let you know that the Perfect Game 'box set' - six sporty stories in ebook form - is now out.  Alongside my dancing romance, Perfect Partners , there's the first of Rachel Cross and Ashlinn Craven's exciting formula one stories, High Octane: Ignited .  I loved it so much, I immediately had to go and download the rest of the series! Plus four other stories of sports stars getting their happy-ever-afters.  All for less than the price of a coffee!  Here's the official blurb:  Playing the field comes easy to these six successful athletes who are at the top of their games, but lasting love is harder to find. Watch them meet their perfect matches in these adrenaline-fueled sports romances. Are you game? Full Strength : When an injury derails goalie Shane Reese, he takes it badly, and the new team shrink, Allie Kallen, has to help him get his head back on straight. Allie sees through his bravado to the real fe...

For the launch of Modern Magic, my fellow Crimson Romance authors and I are trying something new to us: a Thunderclap campaign .  I've supported a few of these recently, including a very successful one for Jane Holland's fantastic thriller, Girl Number One . (You can read about her Thunderclap campaign on her blog here ). All it means is you agree to allow the app to post a one-off message on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram on a specified date about the book, and as the campaign only runs if at least 100 people support it, the internet becomes a 'perfect storm' of book news for a few minutes - hence the term 'Thunderclap'.  Although the initial posts only last for a few minutes, it can have a lasting effect on how many people are aware of the book. Our Thunderclap for Modern Magic is here and we would love you to click through and support it! If you want to know more about how you could use Thunderclap to promote your book or cause, their FAQs are here ....

I'm so excited that Crimson Romance, who published my first full-length novel (Perfect Partners) have picked my contemporary fairy-tale retelling, Music to Her Ears, as one of their 'quartet of fractured fairy tales'.  The anthology is due to be released a month from today (on November 9th). It's a privilege to be featured alongside three very talented authors and it was enormous fun working out what a certain fairy story would look like if it took place in the present day with three human brothers in place of the bears.  I love the cheeky fairy-tale cover.  What do you think?   Blurb: What if Cinderella ditched the prince's ball and sent her fairy godmother to find love in her place? Suppose a streetwise hero hired to steal an all-powerful Genie (stuck in a flash drive rather than a brass lamp) for a tech company ended up running for his life with the CEO's gorgeous, intelligent daughter? Or what if the bed that a certain golden-tressed ...

If I'd had to place bets on the likelihood of anything I ever wrote appearing in a book on sports, I'd have placed it up there with the likelihood of me landing on the moon.  I don't do sports.  My husband is mad about football and tennis, but my involvement is generally limited to sitting in the same room as the football on TV, with headphones in, reading or writing. However, despite the total lack of hand-eye coordination which prevents me from getting involved in ball or racquet sports, I do love to ice-skate, swim and dance.  And it's that last interest which led to my inclusion in Crimson Romance's forthcoming sports anthology: 'Perfect Game'.   I don't do competitive ball games, but I do love competitive dance - I danced for my university teams while studying for my BA and Masters, and although I no longer compete, I still love to dance whenever the opportunity arises.  Some years ago, fuelled by my obsession with 'Strictly Come Dancing...

New York Minute immediately appealed to me because it involves my favourite combination of business and music.  The heroine, Veronica or Vero, is an accountant who decides to break out of her boring life by putting on the persona of an outgoing fashion buyer and having a one-night stand with Diego, a gorgeous guy she meets at a wedding.  When she bumps into Diego again at a speed dating event she’s dragged to by a more outgoing friend, their brief flame is rekindled and the one-night stand rapidly starts turning into a real relationship.  Diego is a fabulously hot hero, with a successful – and fascinating - career as a musician and a deep devotion to his family.  As Vero learns more about Diego’s apparently perfect life, she feels less and less able to tell him the truth about her career, but of course the secrets she is keeping soon become a threat to their relationship.  Not only that, but it turns out that she’s not the only one keeping secrets, and ...

Today I am hosting fellow Crimson Romance author Zrinka Jelic.  Make sure to read to the end, as Zrinka is kindly offering an ecopy of Rose of Crimson or one of her other books to one lucky commenter.   Welcome to my blog. I’ve never met a Zrinka before! Is it a Croatian name?   Thanks for having me on your blog today. It’s a pleasure to be here. Yes, Zrinka is a Croatian name. It comes from an ancient noble family Zrinski. That last name still exist in Croatia, but the descendants are no longer nobles or they never been. During Feudalism serfs often assumed or were given their masters’ last name as a stake or claim on their lives. You live in Canada now. Do you make use of your different travel experiences in your stories? Yes, for over twenty years now I’ve been calling Canada my new home. I always use experiences from my travel in my stories, however sometimes readers have a hard time believing certain things, like you cannot rent a car with automatic...

Yesterday People: Book 3 of the Past Life Series by Terri Herman-Poncé My rating: 4 of 5 stars Yesterday People is the first book I've read in the Past Life series and I was a bit concerned that I would be confused starting at book 3, but the author does a great job of feeding in exactly the information you need, from the gripping, terrifying beginning, through all the twists and turns of the present-day story and the snippets of the characters' past lives. You don't need to believe in reincarnation to enjoy the clever interweaving of history and reality as the lives of the central characters play out a situation that has evolved over centuries. David Bellotti is an appealing hero who cares deeply for his partner and his daughter, and often makes the wrong decisions, but always for the right reasons. Lottie, too, is a believable, likeable character, though at times I lost sympathy with her a little when she found herself unable to resist the draw of the third person...

So, I have a new hobby.  I find this new pastime perfectly suits both my innately social personality and my inherent laziness.  By attending facebook parties, I can chat to my heart's content with fascinating people all over the world, and I don't need to touch a mascara wand or a pair of straighteners, much less try to work out which of my several dozen party dresses will be new to this particular combination of people, or whether I need to add yet another to the collection. I know I'm a bit behind the curve here (let's face it, that's not uncommon for me) but I only recently discovered the delights of facebook parties, mostly thanks to Alexia Adams and friends' sterling efforts to publicise Sexy in the City. I spent a delightful evening paying a virtual visit to my US-based writer friends, sharing stories and pictures of our favourite exotic locations, and discovering several fantastic new books (all part of the 'Sexy in the City' boxed set, which...

“I said—do you have any children?” The repeated question was spoken a lot slower and carefully enunciated this time, as if she herself were a child. The question, unbeknown to him, brought to the surface her secret, long held dream of having a child of her own. To raise her child to be loved and wanted, as she was never brought up. Never to be used as an accessory, then discarded when the party was over. Rania shook her head sadly, partly to dispel the image and partly to answer his question, murmuring softly, “No. No, I don’t.” She had a sneaky feeling the barriers she had long ago constructed were becoming more transparent with each passing minute of this conversation. His sharp gaze never seemed to miss a trick as he watched her smooth down her apron for the umpteenth time that evening. “Why do you ask? Am I that much of a natural with children?” She smiled breezily. Clearly, he was in no mood for jokes as her light-hearted comment fell on deaf ears and he continued...