Right now, CHARADE is available on eharlequin as an e-book! WhEEEEE. And it will be on the fictionwise.com site as of Oct 1, apparently.

Not only that, you can actually get the print version for free -- sort of -- since it's one of the buy-one, get-one-free selections at eharlequin. So if you buy one of the other selections, you can get CHARADE for free. Or vice versa. I'm hoping to attract some new readers that way, lured in by the pretty picture on the cover.

That's all the CHARADE news I have for now. It's actually an October release, so all of this is rather premature, but I take my fun where I can find it!

Kate

I just heard that Romantic Times magazine loved CHARADE -- yay! And what a relief.

CHARADE received a 4 and 1/2 star rating. I had confidence in it, but still... A Mafia princess and a Eastern European dictator are far afield from the characters I usually create, so a little validation is wonderful, wonderful, wonderful.

Oh, and my author copies arrived too. Now begins the dance. The carton will sit in the entry way, unopened, for a while -- maybe two days. I will circle it warily, or gaze on it fondly, depending on my mood. It's part anticipation, part superstition, and mostly procrastination -- because if it's the wrong book, or the cover is hideous in person, I don't want to know.

I did receive the wrong books once -- those of another author with a release that same month. Very disappointing. Eventually rectified, but I always remember it, thus the circling.

Did you know that once I open it, I will not ever open the book itself, except to autograph some copies? I have never once in my life read any of the pages of my books once they're bound. Why? Because I can't tweak them anymore, and I'm such an eternal tweaker, I just can't look. Plus, if I see a typo or error, I'll go crazy.

Best not to look.

Kate

It seems like I might just be in love with the hero of CHARADE (my October Athena Force book).

Why is this such a surprise? I routinely fall for my heroes, but I thought this one was different. Handsome and sexy, sure, but not really my type. Or so I thought. The plot-line called for a certain kind of guy, and I created him, and liked him a lot. But love?

Apparently.

There are three kinds of fictional guys that I generally fall in fictional love with. Take charge and arrogant (but with a heart of gold, of course)– yum; stubborn and dedicated to a cause, and doggedly trying not to be distracted by me the heroine – I love him; and the charming con man – yowza, I think he’s my favorite.

Jeff Crossman doesn’t fit any of those profiles.

I just finished proofing the galley pages (or what H/S calls the AAs), and to my delight, I was seriously crushing on him, so much that I kept forgetting to proofread. I had to force myself to go back and concentrate on the words instead of him.

He’s the take-charge-with-minimal-gabbing type – no arrogance at all. And since my favorite heroes are usually much more chatty and quip-y, this was a first. The heroine is a wild woman, and I was originally concerned that she’d overshadow him, but surprisingly enough, she gets a little tongue-tied and droolie around him too. I didn’t realize until now that he actually steals a couple of scenes from her! Who’d a-thunk it?

There’s something so decent about Jeff. And isn’t “decent” supposed to equate with “boring”? But apparently not. There’s a sexy edge to his attitude that I love, mostly because he’s in complete control of almost every situation. Well, 99% of the time at least. And in that other 1% -- sigh. That’s fun too. He’s so sincere. And adorable. And determined. And, well…

Yep. I’m officially smitten.

I can’t wait to get some other reactions to him.

Kate

P.S. When I say Sasha’s a wild woman, I’m not kidding. Among other things, she’s a dress designer, a Mafia daughter, and an undercover thrill-seeker for the FBI.

Well, we now have a glimpse of the first cover. Check it out:
http://community.eharlequin.com/webx?50@623.dKqDacLO6bW.370773@.4a84785f/0

I'm away from my real computer so I can't turn that into a compact link, but if you cut and paste it into your browser, who knows? I'll fix it later.

The good news is, there's a cool new thread at eharlequin (on Book Buzz actually in Simply Series, but I wish they would put it in Book Buzz since more people would see it there) where AF can be discussed and anticipated.

Kate

Here is a list of the titles and release dates for the new Athena Force continuity. The first book will be out in less than three months! ( click here for list )

Hi everyone. I'm coming out from under my bad, bad workload to share some good, good news.

Not big news, mind you, but still fun for me.

My second bombshell, PARALLEL LIES, is being re-printed in a UK edition as a Mills and Boon Intrigue. It's all part of the Mills and Boon 100th anniversary celebration. Yay! What a nice surprise.

And CHARADE is now listed on Amazon. For some reason, I'm always tickled when we get to this stage. Don't ask me why. The real release is still months away, but seeing it there, for pre-sale, is fun. The first two books -- LINE OF SIGHT and THE GOOD THIEF -- have been listed on Amazon for a while now. No covers for them yet, but I'll be watching, because it should give an indication of what CHARADE's cover will look like.

That's it for now! I'm planning to write like a maniac this weekend, so wish me luck.

BTYL,
Kate

As I mentioned previously, Silhouette has been re-thinking the titles for the 12 books in their new ATHENA FORCE continuity. Yesterday, all the authors, including moi-self, received an email giving us the official new list.

Originally, all of the books had one-word titles that were fairly generic: TRUST, DOUBT, SECRETS, MEMORIES, etc

Mine was originally entitled SECRETS. I didn't like that one, so I campaigned for the title VENDETTA (and I believe I detailed that campaign last year on this blog). VENDETTA fit my book sooo well because my heroine has a Sicilian and a mob background, plus, she's feuding on several fronts. However, I was told that VENDETTA was too harsh-sounding, and didn't really fit with the tone of the other names.

Then I proposed CHARADE, and my editor loved it. I was thrilled when she accepted it. Case closed.

Months later, when I heard that they were re-thinking the names, I again suggested VENDETTA, but I was told they wanted the new names to be more romantic. That was okay with me, because I had grown very fond of CHARADE, and I just hoped they'd keep that one. (It seemed romantic to me, so I felt pretty confident)

Yesterday, as I said, the list came out. I was relieved to see that my book -- a.k.a. book #3 -- is still called CHARADE.

But guess what book #4 is now called--- 

Yep. VENDETTA.

You gotta love publishing.

Luckily, CHARADE is a great title and very romantic. And it fits my story well, because the heroine -- who left her mob roots, more or less -- has to pretend to return to that life as part of her undercover assignment.

But since I blogged in the past about wanting VENDETTA as a title, I thought I should forewarn my blog-readers so you don't have a WTF moment. The truth is, had they accepted VENDETTA when I was begging for it, I would have written the book to accentuate that element, maybe even using the word "vendetta" frequently. But when they turned it down, I wrote the story from a "charade" standpoint, and probably only used the word "vendetta" once or twice.

And trust me, as much as VENDETTA is a great title, I do NOT want to re-write that book. It was hard work, I loved the results, and the publisher didn't request any revisions when I submitted my manuscript. For a (lazy) writer like myself, that's a perfect situation -- I'm not about to poke at it.

So all's well that ends well.  Right?

BTYL,
Kate

Well, I finished my proposal for a new romantic suspense story (the one originally designed as a choose-your-own adventure with four exciting endings, but now, only has one).

Not only that ( Click here to read more )

My July contest is winding down, and I have to say, it’s been wild. Over 200 entries!

I’ve held the same kind of contest three months in a row, and for August, I’m changing formats. I thought I’d mention it so that if you stop by, you can figure out your answer now and avoid the August rush.

Basically, I’m doing a little research on what visitors would like to see in a blog entry. Do you like hearing about my writing woes? Tidbits about upcoming books? Do you prefer movie reviews? My opinions on miscellaneous? My feud with the you-know-what?

Semi-seriously, I want to know. It would help me decide what to blog about, and how often to do so.

So officially, the August/Sept question will be, which blog entry have you liked best so far, and why. I’m going to keep track, and perhaps modify my blogging accordingly (or not, depending on how valid the results seem, as in, if I get 100 entries that all say the same thing, word for freaking word, I won’t be too impressed.) But if a dozen people want movie reviews, well – that gives me a reason to go to the movies more often, so I’d be very, very inclined to take it to heart!

It’s still four days away, but I’m planning ahead as you can see.

Meanwhile, I Fed Ex’d my CHARADE manuscript to Silhouette today – and I was definitely ready to let it go. The first draft was pretty solid, but I made tons and tons of one-or-two-sentence changes during the read-through, which then produced the second draft. I made dozens and dozens of one-or-two-word changes to that one, and printed the third draft. Could I have found more tweaks? Sure, but basically, I was happy with it. The difference in shipping if I had gone one more round? 72 dollars instead of 38 – yep, that’s 34 reasons to ship it today, so I did.

BTYL! – Kate

If you’ve read any of my SPIN books, or certain of my blog entries, you’re familiar with Justin Russo, the sexy hero of SPIN CONTROL, which is my upcoming release. (Sept!! Less than six weeks away!!)

I’ve had some fun the last few days daydreaming about the difference between Justin and the guy in the book I’m writing right now (CHARADE, my Athena Force book, which won’t be out till March).

Justin first. He’s the quintessential hero for a spy story. Resourceful, charismatic, upbeat – for example, fast with the one-liners – and very good-looking. He’s also brave and has a heart of gold. His weaknesses? Loves women a little too much; tendency to go rogue; just a tad reckless (but of course those are actually strengths too, at least for purposes of my story.)

Justin was supposed to be a throwaway character in my first SPIN book, IDENTITY CRISIS. I don’t think he appeared for more than 15 or so pages total (in fact, he never “appeared,” he was just on the phone with the main character in three scenes). But he stole each of those scenes, and I got a fair amount of mail about him – at least as much as I got about the actual hero of that book! So I figured he was a keeper – someone who could stroll through each succeeding book, never getting tied down.

That’s what happened in EXIT STRATEGY. He walked into the final scene, stopped the show with his trademark hunky/casual aire, then disappeared. Yep, he stole that scene too.

Now he has his very own book. And he falls in love with his very own lawyer. Unfortunately for him, Suzannah has read his file, and knows better than to fall for his line.

Okay, that’s Justin. Now what about the guy in CHARADE?

I keep calling him “the guy” because that’s all he was to me at the beginning. Solid, nice guy – bit of a grouch, but only because he’s trying so hard to do a great job under difficult circumstances. Sure he has dark green eyes and a great body. But he’s all about the strategy. The details. Plans a great op. Handy to have around, but without Justin Russo’s cachet.

His role was backup, both as an operative and as a character. I knew he’d round out the story nicely because the heroine is an impetuous hothead, so the contrast would be classic.

I wrote the whole first draft liking this guy a lot, and making sure there were sparks between him and the heroine, et cetera. He more than did his job. I was very pleased.

Then I sat down and read the draft, and woah!! I can’t believe this guy! His name is Jeff Crossman by the way. And he’s a mass of hunky contradictions, sexy as all get out – really sneaks up on you. I took him for granted, but now he owns me. Yum.

He’s no Justin. But then again, Justin’s no Jeff.

Don’t make me choose!! (Okay, okay. If you’ve really read my books or blog, you know it’s all about Ortega for me, but since he’s taken, these guys will definitely do. In fact, since Ortega's wife is now expecting their first child, I can't quite work up the same old enthusiasm for him anymore, so....)

BTYL ~ Kate

I finished my first draft of CHARADE (my Athena Force book) last night.

Yay!

Okay, so in the middle of the night, I remembered something I forgot to wrap up in the Epilogue, and I’ll add that today. But still, I’m counting the victory as of last night.

I have never – ever – been so glad to finish the first draft of a book. Why this one?

There are lots of possible reasons. It’s part of a continuity, which means I relinquished more control over it than I have for my other books. So in the back of my mind, I’ve been telling myself not to get too attached to it. But in truth, I absolutely adore this book. So that’s probably not the reason.

Maybe it’s because I don’t like having books due in the summer. I love summer. I love the spontaneity, and quite frankly, I lose that when I’m too tightly scheduled, as I am in the month before a book is due. So I tried to power through this one, leaving as much of the summer free as possible thereafter. Not that I won’t write, write, write all summer – I just won’t write on a deadline. There’s a world of difference, believe me.

But the real reason? I’ve got such a great idea for another book, and I couldn’t dare start it until this one was done. Plus, an editor recently asked me to send her a few chapters on another idea I pitched a while back, so I need to do those before I begin seriously working on my “great” idea. (By seriously working, I mean allowing myself to concentrate on it. I’ve been jotting down notes, somewhat surreptitiously, like a criminal, but now I can write it in the light of day, so to speak.)

Am I out of the woods yet on CHARADE? Hardly. My first draft is just that. Now I begin the sometimes-painful process of going back and answering my own little queries. You see, I leave myself notes, right in the manuscript, that say things like [Kate: what is she wearing?}, [Kate: find out what kind of gun she’d be using], [Kate: did she eat any meals today?], and my least favorite [add some sort of transition here]. Plus, by the end of the book, I know my characters so much better than I did at the beginning, I’m bound to do a lot of tweaking when I re-read it.

Add to that the stack of notes I write myself and put in a “fixer” file – these are things I think of later, like when I’m in Chapter Eight and I think of something that should have happened in Chapter Two. I don’t dare let myself go back – too reminiscent of a time loop from which I’d never escape – so I write myself a “fixer” note, sort of like a contractor’s change order.

For CHARADE, I probably have about twenty fixer notes with which to deal.

Still, I declare absolute victory – ergo the: yay!

Celebrate with me by doing something fun today. I'll be writing, and for me, that's definitely something fun.

Kate

I’ve mentioned that I’m writing the third book in the new ATHENA FORCE continuity for Silhouette Bombshell, but until now, we couldn’t agree on a title.

Now I’m excited to announce that it will be called CHARADE . Nice, huh? It will be out in March 2007.

Meanwhile, my web designer and I are putting together a CONTEST for May. There will be three questions, the answers to which can be found on this blog. Persons who email the correct answers to me will be eligible to win, and the winner will receive a signed copy of one of my Bombshells, winner’s choice.

The questions will be placed on my website, but I’ll post them here on the blog too.

I might even post them here early. May 1st suddenly seems pretty far away!

Kate