Today I am a happy person. Today, I am the Snoopy of the Blaze babes, heels locked together, doing the Joe Cool dance.

Today, my book is out. Just Surrender is Book 1 of the Harts of Texas trilogy, and I’ve got a link to an excerpt here.

Just Surrender

And as if that wasn’t enough to make me smile, I just turned in my revisions on Book 3 of my trilogy, so I have no deadlines.

Ahhhh!!!!!!

For some reason, the Perfect Storm of Happy is bearing down upon my life. It is spring, the temps are warm, the trees are budding with flowers, I have lost 6 pounds, and the kidlets are on Spring Break.

I’m having a great day today, and I think it’s going to be a really good week. Is there anybody else having a great week? Everybody ready for spring? Let me know if things are good or bad for you and one random commenter will win a signed copy of JUST SURRENDER!

If there’s one thing Blaze readers know about, it’s yummy men, and once upon a time I was lucky to meet a legendary one–Cary Grant.  I not only got to meet him, I got to spend time in a coat closet with him! Yes, a coat closet.  Here’s how it all went down:  During the summer between my junior and senior years of college, I got a part-time job with TWA in passenger relations at JFK airport.  I worked in the domestic terminal assisting arriving and departing passengers and was basically a walking information counter.  Our uniforms were tres spiffy–designed by Ralph Lauren, no less!–and the job was an absolute blast.  Part of our job (which was really a perk, if you ask me) was escorting VIP’s. And that’s where I met Cary Grant.

The legendary Cary Grant

He and his wife Barbara were catching the afternoon flight to LA and my assignment (along with a senior passenger relations rep) was to escort the couple from the fancy schmancy Ambassador Club to their first class seats onboard the 747 (a tough job, but hey, someone had to do it!).  Now, company policy was that we weren’t supposed to ask celebs for their autographs, and I’d managed to refrain up to that point, not asking Cher, Ryan O’Neal, Farrah Fawcett, Muhammad Ali, Raquel Welsh or Peter Falk to name a few, but really–Cary Freakin’ Grant??  How many chances does one get to meet him?  What am I, made of stone?

So there I am, in the fancy schmancy Ambassador Club, and OMG, there’s Cary Grant.  Wearing those trademark black glasses, his silver hair perfect, wearing a white dress shirt and light gray trousers, looking utterly perfect and oozing class and debonair charm.  His wife is stunning and wearing some gorgeous dark blue ensemble that undoubtedly cost more than my car (this was back when people actually dressed up to travel, especially in first class), but really who cares about what she’s wearing when Cary Freakin’ Grant is standing there?!

The other passenger relations rep chats up Mrs. Grant, leaving me to chat up the legend himself.  And naturally, I’m completely professional.  I nearly faint and breathlessly gush, “Ohmygosh, Mr. Grant, I am your hugest fan.  Arsenic and Old Lace is one of my favorite movies of ALL TIME.  Do you think I could possibly have your autograph?”  Smooth–I’m telling you, I was reaaaalllly smooth.

He leans closer to me and says IN THAT VOICE WITH THAT ACCENT!, “Well all right, but I don’t want to give it to everyone.  Let’s go in the coat closet.”

Cary Grant in Arsenic and Old Lace

Since there isn’t a person on the planet who would argue with that logic, into the coat closet we went.  Now you must understand that this being the fancy schmancy Ambassador Club, the coat closet is a walk-in and a pretty good size–kind of long and skinny, probably about 8’X12’ so it’s not like we’re crammed into something the size of a Porta Potty (darn!).  Being the walking info counter I am, I carry a clipboard with a printout of the day’s flight information.  I quickly turn the paper over and present it to him with my pen, all while gawking at him in my most professional manner.  The conversation goes like this:

Carey Freakin’ Grant–What’s your name?

Most Professional Me: Jacquie

(He writes To Jackie then signs his name and hands me the clipboard).

MPM–Thank you so much, Mr. Grant.  But, um, you spelled my name wrong. (well, I had to say SOMETHING to keep the conversation going!)

CFG (looking startled)–Really? (takes clipboard back and says IN THAT VOICE WITH THAT ACCENT!)–How do you spell your name?

I spell it for him, slowly as to drag out our closet time together (why didn’t I think to say my name was Jacqueline??)  As I do, he crosses out Jackie and spells it correctly, then for emphasis adds a couple exclamation points.

CFG–(IN THAT VOICE WITH THAT ACCENT!) Why do you spell your name like that?

MPM–there was an actress my mom liked who spelled it that way**.

** (note–I’m 99% sure this is what I said, certainly it’s what I wanted to say, but I may have forgotten how to speak English, so there’s a chance I merely blubbered and drooled on his shoe—which was a perfectly shined black leather Oxford, btw).

Me and Cary in the coat closet. Yup, that's us. Really. I mean it.

While we were in the coat closet, we collected his garment bag.  Then with CFG’s garment filled with CFG’s clothes folded over my arm, I escorted him from the fancy schmancy Ambassador club to his first class seat (his wife followed with the other rep).  We made small talk, he was incredibly charming, and I could have listened to him talk for hours.  I still have that autograph, along with the others I collected during my time at TWA–Brooke Shields, Timothy Hutton, Dustin Hoffman to name a few.  All of whom were delightful and charming.

But none of them were Cary Freakin’ Grant.

Cary and his wife Barbara. Photo taken around the time I met him.

So–have you ever met a celebrity?  Were you calm, cool, and professional like me (cough, cough), or did you blubber, drool and gawk?  Is there a celeb you’d love to meet?  If you met him/her what would say?

***The winners of the signed copies of INEVITABLE are comment #25 “chey” and comment #40 “Elaine.” Please email me at michelle@michellerowen.com with your mailing addresses to claim your prizes. Thanks everyone for the great comments!***

There is one thing I love most about March. No, it’s not the snow finally going away, although that is pretty good to see here in Southern Ontario. It’s not March Break, since as a writer I work seven days a week (or at least i have been lately!) and no tropical vacays are in my immediate future, and it’s not the new spring fashion lines. Because, um, I don’t dress nearly well enough to care.

It’s something small. Something sweet. And something that’s only here once a year.

Yes, it’s the Cadbury Egg. A chocolate shell filled with creamy ambrosia. These divine little things have been around pretty much all my life and the fact that they’re only available part of the year makes them all the more desirable.

Sure, they also have the Cadbury MIni Eggs you can get all the time, but…they’re NOT THE SAME. They are not quite as special and not quite as good.

This is a treat that can’t be had all the time. Mostly because it will make you sick. But aren’t some the greatest things in life best enjoyed in moderation? If I downed a dozen of these puppies, I’d probably feel very ill. It would be too much of a good thing! And then I might not want them anymore. I had that experience with donuts when I worked at a donut store in college. But let’s not talk about the Year of the Apple Fritter.

So there you go. My love of the Cadbury Mini Egg! Yum!!

Another thing I love about March is that this is my release month for my third Blaze INEVITABLE. While totally standalone, it’s set in the same world as my previous two books with this fun, fabulous, and super sexy line. It’s paranormal, (since, quite frankly, I’m not totally positive I can write anything that isn’t!), following the lives and loves of the agents of PARA (the Paranormal Assessment and Recover Agency).

Some things should never be bottled up…

Paranormal investigator and erotic novelist Emma Black is at a masquerade ball and looking for a coveted lust potion. Unexpectedly, she bumps into her former partner, the ridiculously sexy (oh so sexy!) Ryan Shephard. And, for added bonus temptation points, the rare lust potion is splashed on both of them—with instantaneously hot results!

But is the incredible, mind-blowing sex between them only the result of the potion? Or are Emma and Ryan simply giving in to the inevitable?

—

I’d love to give away TWO signed copies of INEVITABLE to a couple commenters who can tell me — What’s your favorite kind of chocolate or candy, either now or when you were a kid? I’ll pick two winners at random on Sunday, March 27th at 9:00 pm EST! International entries welcome. Good luck!

The husband and I celebrated our Valentine’s Day last evening, because Monday was a zoo, and we both felt that it would be miserable trying to have to wedge in a night out. “Oops, we have to go get the daughter from driver’s ed.” “ Violin’s over in ten minutes. You were done with that dessert, right? We need to leave.”

And so, last night was great. All we had was dinner out, but it was quiet and peaceful and for a few hours I pushed off everything else.

I’m finishing up my book now. I’m at the point when I have a list of things that I need to put in, or need to double-check, and one of the things I always put on my list is the falling in love scene.

My favorite books and movies have the ‘ah’ scene where you can see the hero or the hero (ideally both of them) falling in love. Last weekend, Pretty Woman was on TV, and I watched it, and there’s a great scene where Richard Gere is sleeping and Julia Roberts (aka Vivian the hooker) kisses him on the lips. It’s a very soft, gentle kiss, but the audience knows exactly what it means because Vivian has told him her rules and there is no kissing on the mouth for her. When I watched that scene, my heart sighed and I was suddenly Vivian, loosening my defenses where Richard Gere was concerned (and I don’t even LIKE Richard Gere which tells you how effective it was).

I love when the hero is doing something that he hates for the heroine. To me, that says I love you in ways that Kay or Jared jewelers never can. I’ve had heroes who have subjected themselves to all sorts of misery for the heroine, dancing, dressing up in a suit, going to a chili-cook off, all because the heroine asked. These are the best heroes to me. I know that a hero that will put his life on the line for the hero is really cool and popular, but you know, if he dies, then he doesn’t have to worry about the embarrassment of facing his friends, who will most likely laugh at what he has done.

Writing these falling in love scenes always makes me cry happy tears, and last week I was at Panera Bread writing away, tears streaming down my face, and I think people might have been staring, but I didn’t care because I’m a romance writer, and tears (happy and sad) are part of it.

So, what about y’all? What’s the most romantic scene/gesture, either fictional or real life? What’s romantic to you?

A few years ago, I wrote a blog about how this time of year could better be known at Stressmas at my house rather than Christmas. Every year I vow to make the holiday season less aggravating and more of what it should be – a time to celebrate and spend time with family and friends.

So, in honor of that, I’ve asked a few of my Blaze author friends to share what they like to do during this time of year.

Lori Borrill likes to do something I like to do, too – and that’s watch movies on the Lifetime and Hallmark networks. With a TV right in her kitchen, she can get all her baking done while catching an all-day marathon!

One of Alison Kent’s favorite things is that they don’t clean up (I could really get into this!). According to Alison, “We leave wrapping paper and ribbons and boxes and bows all over the living room floor for most of the day. And no one gives just one gift. Everyone has multiple gifts from
everyone else because we wrap EVERYTHING. The batteries get wrapped separately from the toys. The accessories get wrapped separately from the main gift. It is madness and mayhem and a garbage strewn living room that we sit in the middle of to eat dinner, watch movies, play video games, laugh and talk and try to whip each other in Trivial Pursuit or Scrabble! Eventually the clean-up has to be done, but we put it off as long as possible and enjoy EVERY PIECE OF PAPER AND TAPE!” This sounds like A LOT of fun!

Lori Wilde likes to watch a movie, too. She’ll make cookies, a pot of hot chocolate and invite the family over to watch A Christmas Story. As she puts it, “Gotta love that leg lamp.” By the way to Lori’s family and friends, I saw a replica of that leg lamp at Walgreens.

Candace Havens says her favorite thing about this time of year is to have everyone over from both sides of her family and eat, sing carols and open one present. For the last two years, she’s added Mexican food to the mix with tamales, chili and Mexican cornbread. Here’s her recipe for Chicken Enchilada Casserole is below.

Tomorrow, I’ll spend with the in-laws, and I’ll be bringing my Sweet Potato Casserole (which is really my mother-in-law’s recipe, but I now claim it as mine). I keep the recipe on my blog, and I have people who try it every year. You can check it out here.

I hope you all have a wonderful holiday!

Chicken Enchilada Casserole
1 cooked chicken, or 4chicken breasts
2 tsp cumin, garlic powder, chili powder
tortillas (package)
Shredded Cheddar (16 oz pkg)
Use a store bought cooked chicken, or boil 4 chicken breasts in chicken broth
with a teaspoon of cumin, chili powder and garlic powder. Once chicken is cooked
it’s time to start layering. Place flour tortillas on the bottom of a
buttered/Pam casserole and cover the pan well. Layer chicken and then shredded
cheddar. Repeat this process at least once, maybe twice, depending on the size
of your casserole. End with tortillas on top. Sprinkle cheddar over the
tortillas. Bake at 350 degrees for 20 mins, or until cheese melts and tortillas
begin to brown.

In a sauce pan mix 8 ounces of sour cream with at least half a jar of salsa (you
can use more if you like your sauce spicy). Add 1 tsp of chili powder, cumin,
garlic powder, and a dash of Cayenne. Cook on low heat until sauce is heated
through and ingredients are mixed well. Serve sauce on top of casserole.

Thanks, everyone, for stopping by to say goodbye. It was lovely having one last chat with you all. Thanks for sharing your dreams, news and awesome book recommends. Hopefully I’ll be chatting to you all sometime in the future.

Until then, all the best,

Sarah

* Original post *
Hello. Lovely to “see” you all. This month I wanted to talk about my latest release, The Best Laid Plans. As you can probably tell by the photo accompanying this post, it’s a Super Romance, not a Blaze, but we’ll get to that later…

The Best Laid Plans is the story of Alex (Alexandra) and Ethan, both of whom are lawyers working for a prestigious Melbourne law firm. Alex and Ethan play racquetball and have lunch occasionally and generally see eye-to-eye on business issues to do with the law firm. They’re friends – sort of. Ethan is a good looking guy, and he’s got a bit of a reputation with the ladies – ahem – and Alex is very career focussed and professional. The last thing she would ever do is let herself “go there” with a fellow partner. It’s hard enough being a woman in a male-dominated industry – she’s not going to make it any harder for herself. So she keeps Ethan at arm’s length – until the day she runs into her ex on the street and discovers he’s become a father.

Eighteen months ago, Alex broke up with Jacob because, after seven years together, he refused to even discuss the idea of them starting a family. Heartbroken, Alex ended things between them – having a family is something she’s always, always wanted, and she refused to give up on her dream. But now Jacob is a father, despite all his protests that he would never want to be a parent, and she is single and heading towards her 39th birthday. Then she visits her doctor for her yearly check up and gets worse news – contrary to what she’s always imagined, her chances of having a baby with her own eggs after 40 are just 10%. Time is literally running out for her.

Freaking out, she joins Ethan for their weekly racquetball game and ends up blabbing far too much personal stuff to him. And Ethan winds up caring way too much about the stuff Alex has blabbed to him, because contrary to appearances, he was once a man who desperately wanted a family, too. Being lawyers, these two smart people make things very complicated before they acknowledge their feelings for one another – but then, of course, there are other issues to overcome on the journey to happiness.

This book was inspired by an ad I saw when I was living in New Zealand – a woman was advertising for a sperm donor, clearly having made a decision that even though she was not in a relationship, she didn’t want to miss out on being a mother. That ad really got me thinking – a woman would have to be really determined and sure about what she wanted to take this route to motherhood. Alex is just such a woman, and getting to know her and Ethan was a great journey for me. If you want to know more about this book and my thoughts when writing it (or if you ever wondered what I sound like!) I recorded a podcast with Malle Vallik, Harlequin’s on-line editor, a few weeks ago and it’s available here.

As I pointed out above, this is a Super Romance, as are the next few books I’m contracted to write with Harlequin. For some reason, these are the kinds of stories that are popping into my head at the moment, so these are the stories I am writing. As such, it feels a little naughty for me to keep blogging here at the Blaze Authors blog, so I have come to the difficult decision that it’s time for me to resign from the blog. This was a very tough call for me – I LOVE being a Blaze Babe, and I LOVE the Blaze line and everything it represents, and I LOVE Blaze readers – you are awesome, interesting women. But, as I said, it feels wrong to be talking about other Harlequin lines on this Blazing red hot site!

Rest assured, I will miss you all so much. I can honestly say with my hand on my heart that my blogs here are the highlight of my month, and I have loved sharing laughs, dreams, stories and opinions with you all. Sniff sniff. Please drop by my website occasionally if you want to stay in contact, or perhaps send me an email via my site to let me know you’d like to join by new releases newsletter list – this means you’ll hear from me whenever I have a book out or other big news.

To celebrate the release of The Best Laid Plans and to commemorate my time on the blog and send myself off in style (can you send yourself off? Not sure!), I‘m going to give away a copy of The Best Laid Plans and three books from my backlist (except Can’t Get Enough, all out of them!) as well as a $50 Amazon voucher for you to add to your TBR pile. Tell me about a dream you have that you refuse to give up on, or simply tell me how things are in your corner of the world, or tell me about your most recent great read – I’m always looking for new authors and books to add to my TBR pile.

Looking forward to our last chat!

I’m close to releasing my first SuperRomance (November) and it’s a Christmas book, which brings me to my biggest problem with the holiday months ahead–the Fight The Fat Season.

I have a love/hate relationship with October, November and December. The love is obvious, but the hate is related to food, specifically sweets in my case. Halloween, Thanksgiving (a little, since the traditional holiday foods aren’t my favorite indulgences–well, except for homemade rolls), and then Christmas with all the parties and cookies and alcohol and candy everywhere you go just about kills me.

I’ve maniacally exercised and been militant about staying lowish carb for the last couple months and I’m nearly my target weight.

Yet, I can easily slap on 10 pounds in the next month or so, while STILL exercising madly. I’m watching THINtervention AND America’s Biggest Losers in self defense…. But I only have so much will power.

Over at the SuperRomance blog, I garnered some really cool tips like: Don’t go to a party hungry, use the smallest plate, carry a photo of yourself at your ideal weight and look at it when temptation strikes, minimize alcohol consumption.

So help me add to the list, which I intend to print out and carry in my purse. I’ll choose three names from those who offer their best tips for managing sugar intake during the Fight The Fat Season!

Warning: A LOT LIKE CHRISTMAS, my November book, set in a special shopping at Christmas, is full of food references…sigh. But it does have a great couple and a darling dog…and it got 4 stars from Romantic Times…so I hope it’s worth the temptation.
Best,
Dawn
www.dawnatkins.com

We had our first run of sunny days here in Melbourne over the weekend. After months of overcast skies and rain, rain, rain, I feel like a bear coming out of my winter cave. We had friends over and sat by the pool eating yummy things and soaking up the UV. It was fantastic!

As you might be able to tell from the title of my post, I am high on the joys of spring. My garden is going nuts with the perfect combination of rain and sun – I’m including a couple of piccies for you all so you can marvel at the amazing color of the tree outside my bedroom window. Bubblegum pink – unbelievable!


And aren’t those magnolias gorgeous? I am such an ignoramus when it comes to the garden, I have no idea what half the trees are in our yard. So the discovery that I have not one, but two magnolia trees – one white, the other purple – was only made when they started to flower. I have a feeling it’s going to be that way with a lot of the garden!

So, I plan on getting out there and getting my hands dirty and enjoying being outside after a long, cold winter. I’m having a small writing break, and I’m going to read, garden, try to get my exercise routine back on track and generally just recharge the batteries.

How about you? What’s happening in your part of the world? Drop in for a chat and you’ll have a chance to win a copy of my September Blaze, Hot Island Nights. Looking forward to hearing from you…

*STOP PRESS – A special request last minute addition follows – the purple magnolia, in all it’s almost fully-flowering glory!

So much to do, so little time! Especially in the fall when we’re bombarded with new television shows. That’s a dangerous prospect for a career-couch potato like yours truly.

Mostly I’m looking forward to returning shows — Supernatural, Survivor… uh, I’m sure there are more. New shows haven’t been doing it for me lately. I checked out Nikita — nope. Nothing like the original. Lost Girl — nope. Don’t get me started on this one. I’ve been totally underwhelmed with the new offerings. I have The Event on my DVR waiting for me to find the time to give it a go. I’m looking for my Lost replacement. It could happen.

What I’ve really been doing is working hard on my revisions to my March 2011 Blaze, INEVITABLE. It’s inevitable that I’ll be done soon! Ha ha. Inevitable. I used the title to… oh never mind.

Yesterday I got a big box full of my November Blaze, TOUCH AND GO, which has, I think, the hottest cover ever! In this one, I return to the paranormal investigation agency I started in my first Blaze, HOT SPELL, as two sexy agents head to the Bahamas to solve a mystery and try not to give in to the mutual lust they’re feeling. Will they succeed? Well… it is a Blaze. (K)

I’d love to give away a signed copy of TOUCH AND GO to a commenter. Tell me what Fall TV show you’re most anticipating and why — new or old.

I’ll pick a winner at random on Monday, October 4th at 9:00pm EST. Good luck!

Happy Reading!

Michelle xoxo

If both ladies could email me via my website (www.sarahmayberry.com) I will get a book in the mail to them ASAP. Thanks for chatting,everyone. As always, I loved hearing your stories.

Original post:
In case you hadn’t been popping by regularly, I have a book out! Yay. As I mentioned in last month’s post, I love having a book out because it means I have reader letters coming my way, and reader letters make my day. Sometimes, they make my week, and if they’re very special, my month.

But I digress. This month, I wanted to talk about taking risks. The heroine in Hot Island Nights – my September Blaze – is what you might call slightly uptight. A real good girl, well behaved, well spoken, polite, deferential to her elders… You get the picture. She’s also more than a little repressed, mostly because the one time she tried to tell her fiance and soon-to-be husband what she wanted in the bedroom department, he got all stuffy and respectful and patronizing on her. Elizabeth was left feeling foolish and a little smutty for wanting what she wanted – which, you know, in the Blaze world was really pretty vanilla.

But things come to a head in Elizabeth’s life when she learns that the man she thought was her father is not her father – he was, in fact, her stepfather. It seems that while she’s believed both her parents have been dead for many years, she still has a living parent out there in the world. This shocking news, and the fact that her fiance has known this secret and colluded with her grandparents to keep this information from her gives Elizabeth the kick in the pants she needs to take charge of her own life.

She calls off her engagement. Then she flies from London to Australia in search of her birth father. She winds up on a small island off the coast of Victoria, Philip Island, but instead of meeting her father at the address she’s been given, she finds Nathan Jones. And he’s wearing nothing but a towel and a hangover and a hell of a lot of grumpy bear attitude.

I don’t think I’m giving too much away by saying that first encounter doesn’t go, shall we say, well. But when they meet again at the local pub that night, things are a little different. Elizabeth is forced to acknowledged that she finds Nathan very, very sexy. And he can’t stop looking at her and thinking about her, even though he knows she’s got “complicated” written all over her, and for his own reasons he’s not up for complicated right now.

Elizabeth is faced with a choice at the end of that evening – let an opportunity to explore other aspects of herself walk out the door (literally) or grab hold of the challenge with both hands and go for it. She takes the plunge, and even though things get rocky before they get good, it’s the best decision of her life.

All of this got me thinking – would I have been as brave as Elizabeth if I was presented with such a big life challenge? I’m not sure I would. I’ve done my share of semi-brave things in my life – moved countries twice, spoken at big public events, launched a new magazine – but I don’t know that I would have the courage to turn my life upside down the way Elizabeth does.

What about you? Are you a risk taker? Or do you prefer to indulge your love of challenge and risk between the pages of a book? Or are you a mixture of both – a sometimes-risk taker who likes to walk on the wildside within the pages of someone else’s story as well? I’d love to hear your thoughts on this subject. And I’ll be giving away 2 copies of Hot Island Nights to 2 random posters, so don’t be shy! I’m really looking forward to your stories and responses on this one.