Stephanie Cage - Writer

And in other news... The Santa Next Door will also be one of the books featured on popular blogsite Snarkology's 25 days of Christmas series.  Check out Melissa's shiny, lovely site over the course of December to be introduced to a whole Christmas cornucopia of seasonal stories! Here she is: http://melissasnark.blogspot.co.uk/

The Witness by Nora Roberts My rating: 5 of 5 stars There are only two things you really need to know about this book: I couldn't put it down, and it made me cry. Just in case that's not enough to convince you that you need to read it NOW, I suppose I should explain the reasons behind my love of The Witness. From the first, I empathised with the intelligent but socially inept heroine, Elizabeth. We first meet her as a vulnerable teen making her first foray into rebellion, and while most of us manage to dye our hair and sneak into clubs without drastic consequences, Elizabeth's rebellion leads her by degrees into a terrifying situation where she will need all her intelligence just to survive.  Nora Roberts has gone to great lengths to set up a character who could convincingly outwit a group of Russian gangsters and hack into top secret files, so that despite the high drama of the story, it never steps beyond the bounds of possibility.With such an outstanding heroin...

Today I am delighted to be interviewing Katherine Grey, whose historical romances An Unexpected Gift and The Muse are published by The Wild Rose Press.  Welcome, Katherine.  Have you always written historical romances, or have you experimented with other genres? I wrote a mystery about a year or so ago but apparently didn’t do a very good job with the red herrings as my friend told me she figured out who the murderer was by the third chapter.   It’s currently sitting on the shelf in my closet. I’m not sure if I’ll revise it and try to sell it or use it as a learning experience. Can you tell us a bit about your most recent release and what inspired it? My most recent release is An Unexpected Gift . It’s about two damaged people finding each other while searching for their loved ones. The hero was a secondary character in my novella, The Muse . I couldn’t get him out of my head so I knew I had to write his story. You wrote ‘The Muse’ for the ‘Love Lett...

For the next couple of weeks, I've decided to use my 'sneak peeks' to introduce you to some of my favourite characters from my first book, 'Desperate Bid' , and after meeting Sarah last week, it's time now to introduce you to struggling musician Alex, who's about to turn his life around by putting it up for sale on an online auction site:         Alex had shaken his head and frowned to himself. Eyeing up random women, falling for the singer... What was happening to him?          It hadn’t even been that long. It must just be the pain in the singer’s voice catching at him and making him think, as he had avoided doing for the last few weeks, of Suzy. She’d have looked good in the singer’s place, smooching around in the low light with the coloured spotlights dancing across her pale skin. Not that she’d have been seen dead in a dive like that. Even when Suzy was roughing it, as she’d always been, a little, w...

Today I'm delighted to be welcoming Jane Lovering to my blog.  Jane won the Romantic Novel of the Year award for her wonderful love story, 'Please Don't Stop the Music', and after I heard her talk to the Romantic Novelists' Association about her success, I managed to persuade her to answer some follow-up questions for me.  Humour in writing obviously comes naturally to you, but what advice would you give someone who’s not a naturally funny writer? Firstly I would say, think very carefully about whether or not you want to write humour, because people expect you to live up to their expectations of being ‘a funny person’.  If your natural bent is to be slightly depressive, you may have to cultivate a new persona when appearing in public (just remember, if you are old enough, how disappointed the public used to be in comedians like Tony Hancock, a depressive man but a funny performer – all right, he didn’t write his own material, but the comparison...

For the next couple of weeks, I've decided to use my 'sneak peeks' to introduce you to some of my favourite characters from my first book, 'Desperate Bid' , and who better to start with than my heroine Sarah and her sister Gillian?  (In case you're wondering, since this appears out of context, the subject of their conversation is the nightmare 'team-building event' which Sarah attended the previous day.           Sarah would sooner have been soaking in a hot bath than sitting in this dingy dive, staring at a wall papered inches thick with posters of unknown rock bands. But she’d promised Gillian ages ago that she’d come to hear this great new band, and she didn’t like to let her down. And for all its grubbiness, Campbell’s had a certain charm, a friendly, lively atmosphere that was hard to resist.          “So you loved it, then. I’m sure.” Gillian matched Sarah’s sarcasm.    ...

In view of the weather, it seemed appropriate to post a sneak preview of a wintry scene from my just-revised Christmas holiday romance, with the working title of 'The Santa Next Door'.  Sue and her daughter Trudi are walking past the house of their reclusive neighbour when Trudi spots a pattern drawn in the snow that looks something like a face... Before Sue could warn Trudi that not everyone appreciated company, she'd already poked her head through the bars of the gate and demanded, in a small but carrying voice, “What is it?” The man jumped, making it clear Sue had guessed correctly.  He’d thought himself alone.  He didn't look annoyed, though.  Although his face was expressionless, there was a hint of warmth in his voice as he answered, "It's a snow devil."  "Don't most people make snow angels?"   "I guess.  I didn't feel like getting cold by lying down in the snow.  This is easier, and I always think that snow brin...

I feel I should be posting a countdown... 'Three, two, one, we have lift off.'  Yes, it's just one day to go until 'Perfect Partners' hits Kindles, e-readers and even i-phones (in fact, anywhere you can install the lovely easy-to-use Kindle app).  Lucky me, I got to celebrate today with a fabulous review from The Book Lovers .  If you don't know this blog, I thoroughly recommend it - there's a great range of books covered, and the reviews are very comprehensive so it's easy to tell if the stories are your cup of tea or not.  I was SO happy with this review of 'Perfect Partners' - if you read it, I'm sure you'll see why.  The reviewer completely understood what I was trying to achieve with the book, and she really captures the flavour of the story - "all the glitz and glamour of the dancing world and the chemistry that poured off Lisa and Red".  Yes, yes, YES! 

Wow!  I absolutely love the cover that Crimson Romance have put together for my dancing novel, 'Perfect Partners'.  Lisa and Redmond look glamorous and romantic, and I could just see them on Strictly Come Dancing or Dancing with the Stars , or indeed Couples , the 'dance meets romance' show I created especially for this book.  And if you look closely, you'll see that the hot pink title text is studded with sequins... just in case my hero and heroine weren't sparkly enough already!  There's more about the story on Crimson Romance's website here , and I'm so excited to see my book lined up alongside all their other fantastic new releases .  Roll on February 25th, when the ebook hits the virtual shelves. Coming soon to a Kindle near you...

In the run-up to the publication of my ballroom dancing novel, 'Perfect Partners', I've been thinking about the things that inspired me to want to write about dance, and realising that my fascination with the subject goes back a very long way.  Unlike many of my childhood friends, I didn't take ballet classes, so apart from the odd country dance in the school gym when it was too rainy for outdoor play, I didn't do a lot of dancing until I took my first ballroom class, aged sixteen.  Having said that, though, I can trace my interest back much further than that, to a book by that most beloved of children's authors, Noel Streatfield.   I wonder which book came to mind for you when I mentioned that name?  Usually when I talk to people about Noel Streatfield, their eyes light up and they respond with fond memories of the Fossil children in 'Ballet Shoes', and it's true that is a wonderful book, but it's not the one that I've returned to time ...

Thanks to Maureen Wood , I just discovered squidoo's Reading Meme.  A chance to chat about books and reading?  How could I resist?  There are some really interesting questions for bloggers and others to answer.  If you'd like to play, just visit the site here and grab a copy. What have you just read? Carol Marinelli's 'Banished to the Harem', one of Mills and Boon's more dramatic sheik stories, as the heroine nearly becomes part of the hero's harem!  Although it's loaded with stereotypes, I was fascinated by the interplay of the two cultures.  What are you reading now? I've just started P.D.James' 'Death Comes to Pemberley'.  I love the concept of bringing together crime and high romance, and since I enjoyed 'Pride and Prejudice with Zombies', I think I'll have fun with this one too. Do you have any idea what you'll read when you're done with that? I have a fairly extensive to-read pile, both physical and on...

So, we're a week into January and pretty much every mailing list, group and magazine I subscribe to has asked me about my goals for 2013.  Up to now I've largely avoided the question, partly because I was still pondering the answer, and partly because I tend to resist sharing goals/resolutions in January in case anyone tries to hold me to them later in the year! I can just about cope with concentrating on a goal for one month at a time - NaNoWriMo , for example - but any longer seems to be a struggle.  So, this time, instead of setting goals for the whole year which I'll probably have forgotten by March, I've decided to focus on some areas of my life, like writing, fitness, work and clutter-clearing, and setting smaller goals that I might have a chance of reaching before they've totally faded from my mind! So far, in the name of my January 'goals', I have collected together a to-read pile which was previously scattered all over the house (you can see par...

Can you believe it?  I'm still not sure how 2013 arrived without my noticing.  Possibly I was a little distracted by all the Christmas celebrations - not least the final and Christmas Special of Strictly Come Dancing .  I loved all the finalists' performances, as well as the festive fun on Christmas day, and I'm feeling a little lost now the series has finished.  It's a good thing Dancing on Ice is coming up soon!  When I haven't been busy with seasonal fun, I've also been busy with edits on 'Perfect Partners', which is due out this year from Crimson Romance .  Wow!  I'm so excited that I'm finally sharing Lisa and Redmond, my lovely dancing heroine and hero, with the world.  I suppose I should have tracked down a dancing-related New Year's image just for them, but never mind.  I've always been a fan of fireworks , and these are very pretty ones.  So, Happy New Year, everyone, and don't forget to look out for 'Perfect Partners...

Now we've come to the end of my 'twelve days of kindle' round-up of my year's e-reading, it seemed helpful to put links to all the posts in the same place in case you've missed any. So, here goes with my twelve favourite e-books of the year: The Hunger Games, Suzanne Collins Vampire State of Mind, Jane Lovering Those Violet Eyes, Vonnie Davis Daughter of Smoke and Bone, Laini Taylor Dear Julia, Rae Summers A Stolen Chance, Linda LaRoque Falling for You, Heather Thurmeier Honky-Tonk Man, Sylvie Kaye Sing to Me, Cowboy, Lauri Robinson The Sea on Our Skin, Madeleine Tobert The Beaumont Brides Collection, Liz Fielding Liz Fielding's Little Book of Writing Romance And now it just remains for me to wish you a very Merry Christmas, jolly holidays, and happy reading!