Dissecting the rumours

Still on the topic of Harlequin's move to NET royalties on e-books, check out agent Kristin Nelson's figures.

Interesting reading.

Rumours

No, not an old Fleetwood Mac release but the kind that are flying around the Internet at the moment regarding Harlequin's new contract amendments on e-book royalty rates.

For Harlequin's latest response, check out DEAR AUTHOR today.

Marc of the Beast

I love when Google Alerts drops something fun into my inbox and this is one of those.

MARC of the Beast, a blog 'celebrating ridiculously awesome titles', featured GIRL IN A VINTAGE DRESS.

This is a snippet of what they had to say:

"here’s an example of a cute title and concept that doesn’t cause an involuntary eyeroll (unlike 90% of series romance).
Also, she is not pregnant, he isn’t her boss, and she likes vintage clothing. Win-win-win."

Check it out here.

(thanks for all your well wishes. Hoping preschooler's asthma eases soon. As for my heart symptoms, I don't have time to have a heart attack so you'll be stuck with me for a while longer!)

Double book giveaway

I'm guest blogging at the fabulous Romance from Paradise in the Pacific today.

Come visit to discover the inspiration behind my upcoming release GIRL IN A VINTAGE DRESS, plus an excerpt.

Also doing a book giveaway, 2 signed copies of a recent release!

New cover reveal

I'm always excited to see a new cover and considering SEX, GOSSIP & ROCK & ROLL is one of my favourite books, I was extra angsty to see this one!

What do you think?

I love the tag too: 'Secrets of the VIP area revealed!'

If you're in the US, this book hits shelves in October.

In OZ/NZ, it's on shelves now.

Or it's available with free worldwide postage at the BookDepository.

READER REVIEW: Girl in a Vintage Dress

Sorry for being absent the last few days but I have a sick kidlet who's worsening as the week progresses: hacking cough, sore throat, sore tummy, fever. Winter lurgies are the worst!

But this brightened my day, the first reader review for GIRL IN A VINTAGE DRESS (releasing simultaneously in the UK & USA in 2 weeks!)

Here's a snippet:

GIRL IN A VINTAGE DRESS is a wonderfully tender romance that I found charming, absorbing and moving. Nicola Marsh is a terrific writer who creates likeable characters readers are sure to take to their hearts. I found Lola to be a realistic, flawed yet resilient heroine who seriously lacks self confidence and is constantly under-selling herself and Chase was a strong, charismatic and turned out to be a sensitive hero, I absolutely adored. Even the secondary characters, the four B’s, are to be loved.

I liked author Nicola Marsh’s style. It seemed like she is writing about real people in situations that could happen. Scenarios come alive as do the people with her use of witty dialogue and situation that helps us know them better.

GIRL IN A VINTAGE DRESS is well worth reading!

Thanks to Nas (from beautiful Fiji) for taking the time to review on Goodreads and other book sites. It's a huge plus for an author to have readers do this.
You can read the full review here.

Weekend Book Club: Live to Tell

Lisa Gardner is one of few authors guaranteed to make me lose sleep (as in I can't put her book down.)

Live to Tell is book 4 in the D.D. Warren series and another ripping good yarn.

Here's the blurb:

He knows everything about you—including the first place you’ll hide.

On a warm summer night in one of Boston’s working-class neighborhoods, an unthinkable crime has been committed: Four members of a family have been brutally murdered. The father—and possible suspect—now lies clinging to life in the ICU. Murder-suicide? Or something worse? Veteran police detective D. D. Warren is certain of only one thing: There’s more to this case than meets the eye.

Danielle Burton is a survivor, a dedicated nurse whose passion is to help children at a locked-down pediatric psych ward. But she remains haunted by a family tragedy that shattered her life nearly twenty-five years ago. The dark anniversary is approaching, and when D. D. Warren and her partner show up at the facility, Danielle immediately realizes: It has started again.

A devoted mother, Victoria Oliver has a hard time remembering what normalcy is like. But she will do anything to ensure that her troubled son has some semblance of a childhood. She will love him no matter what. Nurture him. Keep him safe. Protect him. Even when the threat comes from within her own house.

I enjoyed the changing POVs in this one, allowed me to really get inside the heads of the 3 protagonists: tough female cop D.D. Warren, psychologically scarred paediatric psych nurse Danielle and mother of a special needs kid, Victoria.

I challenge any parent to read this book and not be moved.

You'll want to go and hug your kids more than usual throughout.

Lisa Gardner's thorough research is mind-blowing and her books shine because of it.

I could hardly put this one down, a stellar five star read, until the end where the villain's motivation becomes tangled and the reader is left unsure what really drove him to commit such acts of mind-blowing violence. It pained me to take off a star but the ending detracted from an otherwise stirling story.

What are you reading this week?

Entangled Publishing website live

The fabulous folk at ENTANGLED PUBLISHING who bought my Bollywood book have launched their website. Check it out!

Dear Lucky Agent contest

The fab 'GUIDE TO LITERARY AGENTS' blog is running their 9th 'Dear Lucky Agent' contest.

And it's free!

This contest is for women's/upmarket fiction so check out the details here.

Great opportunity!

EXCERPT: Girl in a Vintage Dress

GIRL IN A VINTAGE DRESS releases simultaneously in the UK & USA in 21 days!

To celebrate, the Book Depository are offering it at 25% off here.

Here's a snippet of Lola:

Lola didn’t take kindly to being bossed around. She’d had enough of it growing up from her Miss Australia finalist mother and catwalk model sister.
Wear the boot cut jeans, not the slim fit.
Don’t wear the A line skirt, it makes your bum look big.
Use the coral lipstick, not the pink, you look washed out.
Bossiness never failed to raise her hackles and the moment Mr Tall, Dark and Domineering had strutted into her domain, ignoring house rules, she’d been primed for battle.
Mobile phones didn’t belong in Go Retro for a reason. Trying to recreate a vintage ambiance was imperative to her business and considering those infernal devices weren’t invented back then, she’d made it a house rule to not have them used in her pride and joy.
She also hated their constant buzzing and ringing and clattering as people tapped at those miniature keypads like their lives depended on it.
How anyone could be glued to a phone when surrounded by all this beauty…she trailed a hand over a velvet 1940s vermillion ball gown, savouring the plush-ness, the timeless elegance, let her fingers skim a floral silk scarf she bet could tell a few stories about the necks it had been knotted around over the years.
She glanced at the diamante shoe clips, the crimson lipsticks in different brands, the fascinators at jaunty angles on the classically dressed mannequins.
Every item had been lovingly chosen in the hope it would bring joy to its next owner in the same way it had brought her joy to discover it. Surrounded by all these wonderful treasures of the past, how could anyone not be tempted?
“I need an answer.”
Just like that she snapped out of her reverie and glared at the philistine who wouldn’t appreciate vintage at its finest if it slithered off a mannequin and onto his rather impressive frame.

READER REVIEWS: Sex, Gossip & Rock & Roll

Thanks to trusty Google I stumbled across a great review for SEX, GOSSIP & ROCK & ROLL.

"Nicola Marsh has written a spectacular, light, fun and sexy romance with Sex, Gossip and Rock and Roll...

From the time Luca opened the door to Charli I just laughed because it was obvious there would be sensual tension of seismic power. Oh was I spot on, it was amazing....

There was intense emotion in Sex, Gossip and Rock and Roll, add to the mix the comeback rock star, his son, the sexual attraction, the sex, it all had me smiling and crying because they had both lost so much in their youth...

a splendid reunion an incredible ending to a perfect love story."

Thanks to Marilyn! Here's the full review.

(If you're in Australia & NZ you can grab this book off shelves now!)

Weekend Book Club: Girl Saves Boy

I'm blown away that this book was written by a 16 yo teenager.

Not because of the language or the way it was written but for the subject matter and the realistic way it is explored.

Here's the blurb:

The first time we met, Jewel Valentine saved my life.

Isn’t it enough having your very own terminal disease, without your mother dying? Or your father dating your Art teacher? No wonder Sacha Thomas ends up in the lake that Saturday evening…But the real question is: how does he end up in love with Jewel Valentine?
With the help of quirky teenage prodigies Little Al and True Grisham, Sacha and Jewel have a crazy adventure, with a little lobster emancipation along the way.
But Sacha’s running out of time, and Jewel has secrets of her own.
Girl Saves Boy is a hugely talented debut novel, funny and sad, silly and wise. It’s a story of life, death, love… and garden gnomes.

Melburnian Steph Bowe takes a heavy subject and injects it with just enough humour to have you turning pages in her wonderful YA debut.

Her very real characters explore a complex range of emotions in a beautiful, poignant, readable way.

What are you reading this week?

Exciting reading experience

Entangled Publishing (who are releasing my Bollywood book in December!) have just announced an exciting partnership with Kobo.

Read all about it here.

Montlake romance

You may have heard Amazon recently launched its Montlake Romance imprint, with bestselling author Connie Brockway's title The Other Guy's Bride.

Now the imprint is open to agented submissions.

For full details, see here.

What's your writing mantra?

While I recover from the intensity of completing revisions on WHO WANTS TO MARRY A MILLIONAIRE? here's a gem from Larry Brooks at StoryFix.

What happens in the story is driven by what the characters are feeling, where more often it is the other way around.

I love finding snippets like this, snippets that make us think and look at our writing in a new and positive way.

Do you have a favourite writing snippet or mantra?

Weekend Book Club: Call Me Irresistible

My life is manic.
I rush around all week, school runs, taekwando, swimming, basketball...this week throw in orthodontist, doc and surgeon, and you get an idea of how hectic I am.

I also have 4 deadlines in 3 months.

So when I say I read Susan Elizabeth Phillips CALL ME IRRESISTIBLE in 2 days, you know I've sacrificed precious sleep to do it.

Like all her books, I couldn't put this down.
She is the queen of small town romantic comedies, her characters so real you feel like you know them personally and are still thinking about them long after you've finished the book.

Here's what Publishers Weekly had to say:

Phillips crafts a laugh-out-loud and romantic story with panache that mostly makes up for some gaping plot holes. Onetime PGA star and smalltown mayor Ted Beaudine (met in 2005's Fancy Pants) is about to marry Lucy Jorik, the daughter of a former president, when she's persuaded to break it off by her best friend, Meg Koranda (2008's Glitter Baby), the aimless daughter of Hollywood royalty. Everyone in Wynette, Tex., loves Ted, but Meg feels Lucy deserves a passionate partner, not a god of self-control. After the disaster of calling off the wedding at the last minute, Meg's parents cut her off, stranding her in the hostile town. As Meg finds her own path and helps Ted discover his heart, the townspeople stoutly (and hilariously) defend their golden boy. However, some readers may not appreciate that Meg's good deed is punished so often and severely en route to happiness.

If you're a fan of SEP, you'll adore this book.
If you're not, read this book and become one!

What are you reading this week?

By request

I have a few favourite books I've written and THE BOSS'S BEDROOM AGENDA is one of them.

Beth is the least likely person to work at Melbourne Museum but the sparks she creates with Aidan, the CEO archaeologist...!

This story is currently reprinted in a 'By Request' anthology, out now in the UK.

Or available here almost half price!

Release day in OZ & NZ

If you're in Australia or New Zealand, SEX, GOSSIP AND ROCK & ROLL is out now!
This is quite possibly my favourite book I've written so go check out why.

Here's a snippet:

Two sharp honks on a horn behind them had her cursing and shoving him away before she returned her hand to the gear stick and slid into first.
“Care to explain what that was about?”
Her tone had resumed its frostiness while he couldn’t wipe the grin off his face.
“Not that I usually need to explain why I kiss a beautiful woman but we couldn’t shake on the deal so I did the next best thing. Why, did I offend you?”
His silky tone garnered a snort in response. Better than an f-off.
“News flash. That out of line kiss rendered the deal null and void. New deal. We don’t talk for the next fortnight. Capish?”
Oh yeah, that kiss had got to her.
“Where’s the fun in that?”
“You’re here to manage the finances, not have fun.”
“Surely the two aren’t mutually exclusive?”
She screeched into a side street, giving him momentary whiplash, before cutting the engine and turning to face him.
“Another news flash. I’m not one of your bimbos. I work for your grandfather. I take my job seriously. And I don’t need some goof-off blow-in making trouble for me. Got it?”
She stopped just short of jabbing him in the chest. Pity, he would’ve liked to feel her hands on him again.
“Loud and clear.”
Her shoulders sagged in relief, before he added, “Doesn’t mean I’ll play nice.”
“You’re a pain in the—”
“With all this talk of work, doesn’t sound like you have much time for fun?”
“I have plenty of fun.”
His snort deepened her indignant frown. “When’s the last time you had a date?”
She clamped her lips shut.
“Had sex?”
Her legs followed suit and he laughed.
“Look, we can do this the hard way or the fun way. My mouth? Has a life of its own. Runs away all the time. I’ll compliment you constantly. I’ll tease you incessantly. I may even kiss you several times but it’s harmless. All good, clean fun.”
It was her turn to snort but not before he’d caught the gleam of excitement making the gold flecks in her green eyes glow.
“No kissing.”
He paused for a moment, pretended to think. “Sorry, can’t promise that.”
“You’re impossible!”
“But you like me anyway.”
Their gazes locked and the car’s tight confines shrunk further. He could smell her light floral perfume, could see the indecision warring with excitement in her eyes, could sense her capitulation as her shoulders relaxed and she leaned forward a fraction.
For once, he kept his big mouth shut, enjoying the electricity buzzing between them, savouring the promise of sparring, sparks and sex.
And there would be sex, he had no doubt. They had some serious chemistry going on, the kind you couldn’t ignore.
Throw in the fact they’d be together twenty-four-seven and it was inevitable.
He could hardly wait.
“There’s nothing I can say that’ll make you back off, is there?”
“No.”
With an exasperated sigh, she shook her head. “Having you tag along on this tour goes way beyond the call of duty. And I have to put up with grief to boot?”
She revved the engine, the firing cylinders a joy to a guy’s heart.
“Go on, admit it.”
“What?”
“You’re having fun already.”
With another neck twisting wrench on the steering wheel she pulled back onto the road.
“Does it look like I’m having fun?”
“Either you’re trialling for the Grand Prix or you’re driving like a maniac because you’re ticked off.”
She threw in another wheelie for good measure.
“Okay, got the message loud and clear. I’ll shut up ‘til we get to Ballarat.”
Her hands instantly relaxed on the steering wheel.
“How long?”
“An hour, maybe ninety minutes in this traffic,” she said, her tone smug.
He let her have her little victory for now.
She’d soon learn he didn’t always do as he said.

And I love that I'm in a duo with Heidi Rice's 'Cupcakes and Killer Heels', a book I've heard raves about and can't wait to read.