BRAND NEW COVER!

My latest book is out in the UK.

It's called SHAMEFUL SECRET, SHOTGUN WEDDING and it's available in all good bookstores now.

(Er, actually that's not quite true - since Waterstone's doesn't stock it. You're missing a chance there Waterstone's, I must say....)

It's about a gorgeous international playboy called Giancarlo Vellutini and Cassie, a naive girl from Cornwall who takes a Christmas vacation job in a glittering London department store. Sparks really fly when this most unlikely of couples meet.

Thanks to the lovely Rick Stroud for inspiring the heroine's name - Rick and I were at the Cheltenham Literary Festival last year. And thanks also to Elizabeth Douglas, who has already read the book, which prompted her to write me a letter about growing up in Cornwall in the 1040's. My job has all kinds of wonderful perks - and letters like Elizabeth's are at the top of the list.

Apologies to the prize winners of my recent competition. Caroline, Michela and Rachel - if you've been wondering where your books are - I'll post them out next week.

Do you like the snazzy new cover?

NEW VOICES

I'm blogging over at iheartspresents today - so please come over and add your thoughts.

Specifically, I'm talking about the exciting new competition which is being run by Mills & Boon, giving one lucky entrant the opportunity to have her/his book published.

So what are you waiting for, and are you going to enter?

You SPHINX so?

Am mulling over ideas for my new book which will be set in an imaginary Sheikhdom of golden sands, azure skies and palaces of impossible beauty.

What would you call YOUR imaginary kingdom?

I have several book prizes to give away - so send me your entries now!

Oxford wedding

A vast wooden door, opening straight onto the picturesque high-street - leads into a secret world of cloistered gardens and ancient stone. Yes, I'd finally got my foot inside an Oxford college (and wished I worked harder at school!)

Where erstwhile students can marry......

And this is Sarah, my clever cousin, marrying the musically-gifted Tom.

Don't they look gorgeous?

Here I am with my cousin Gerald - with whom I shared many a happy (!) game of Monopoly when I was growing up.



And here's the dining hall where we ate the delicious wedding breakfast and I kept looking up, expecting to see banks of floating candles or magical happenings occurring around the portraits, because it was just like being on the set of a Harry Potter film.....

Since I'm a romantic novelist, and since Mills & Boon is currently running a competition to find a new writer - would you like to share your experience of Beautiful Weddings You Have Been To? It might inspire some of the entrants.....

A Folly and EXCITING NEWS!

I couldn't resist trying out this balletic pose while exploring the beautiful gardens at Nymans, which I mentioned in an earlier post.


Here are some pretty flowers (aka "exquisite herbaceous borders")



This is the surreal house - minus a roof!


And this is what they call a Herm


Are you still with me? Do you like the Herm?

As for the exciting news - it's for all you would-be romantic novelists who are longing to write the most powerful love-story of all time.

Well, now you can.

AND you can get it published.

All you have to do is to enter the fantastic new competition being run by Mills & Boon.

So what are you waiting for?