Harlequin filed a Patent Application for the Essential Romantic Kiss? Of course they did!

Did you know that on February 3rd Harlequin announced they submitted a patent application (61438360) for the “Essential Romantic Kiss” to the United States Patent and Trademark Office (Patent Pending)?

If love makes the world go ’round, then a kiss is what fuels it! Harlequin even created the Chief Kissing Officer position that I’m pleased to hold and am very excited to be a part of. In this role, I lead the Harlequin Office for the Preservation of the Kiss (HOPK), a division of Harlequin that exists to celebrate all things related to kissing.

The kiss is the cornerstone of romance, the turning point of every good story. It can change lives, start a rumor or break hearts. And with more than 60 years of publishing romance, no one knows the kiss like Harlequin. It’s time to stop thinking of the kiss as a mundane, everyday form of affection. This patent application celebrates the kiss and brings romance back to kissing.

To celebrate and promote kissing we also created a fun website, www.PatentYourKiss.com where you can create your own unique kiss with our interactive kiss creation tool! As of now, there are nearly 1400 kisses in our Kiss Vault so be sure to visit the site and make your own unique kiss. You can also share your kiss directly on Facebook and Twitter to encourage more kissing and spread the love.

Thinking about Kissing and Harlequin Books, it’s hard to not immediately think of Blaze. 2011 is a very special year for Harlequin Blaze as we all celebrate the 10th Anniversary. In honor of the sexy series that features lots of kissing, we’re offering a FREE e-book download of Slow Hands by Leslie Kelly. If you need a bit of inspiration for your unique kiss, I recommend this book or any other Harlequin Blaze!

During the development of the “Essential Romantic Kiss”, we conducted a survey across North America to enhance our understanding of attitudes toward kissing in the era of digital romance. Surprisingly, Americans are still traditional when it comes to kissing, with more than half of American men and women (53%) believing that women should not initiate a first kiss. Do you agree?

Although some women may be hesitant to make the first move, we discovered one out of three women will readily tell someone about a bad kisser. What do you think? Do you dish the dirt with your friends after a bad kiss??

Congratulations to Blaze on an amazing 10 years!
Michelle Renaud
Chief Kissing Office, HOPK
xoxoxo

Before graduate school, before college—before high school, even—I was a romance fiction enthusiast. It all began with Judy Blume’s Forever, and soon after reading that I was toting thick historical romances and dog-eared series paperbacks in my book bag. I read on the school bus, in the cafeteria and in the library. I developed a mature vocabulary and quite an imagination. Years after starting my secret tryst with the genre I went to college and realized that there should be nothing “secret” about reading romance. It was there for me when I was a kid trying to figure out what kind of adult I wanted to be. It gave me the unshakable love for reading and writing that I have today. I appreciate what it offers to readers—but what I don’t appreciate are people who degrade the genre based on ignorance.

In literary criticism classes and creative writing workshops alike, I’ve been asked this question: “But you’re so smart—why do you read (or write) romance?” That is quite possibly the biggest complisult (backhanded compliment) ever tossed my way. It feeds some of the stigmas and fallacies attached to romance fiction, such as 1) romance appeals only to unintelligent people and 2) highly educated people can’t understand or enjoy complex, sexy and relatable characters that face real conflicts and somehow overcome them to achieve ultimate happiness. And 3) book smarts is the only measure of intelligence. Not everyone has the opportunity to obtain higher learning. Sometimes, it’s the stuff outside of textbooks and classrooms—life lessons—that offers a true education.

So here’s the deal. I don’t like the segregation in academia that values literary fiction but not popular fiction … or, say, the work of a Brontë but not the work of a Harlequin author. I think romance fiction can be scholarly. After all, it taught me a great deal about men, women, friendship, careers, sex and relationships. It’s true that this genre isn’t for everyone, but it shouldn’t be written off for containing themes of romance, passion or seduction when these very same themes can be found in the most celebrated works of Homer, Shakespeare and Austen.

I’m on a mission to offer a better understanding of this genre, give it scholarly attention and in the process learn more about it myself. So if you’d like to chime in, please comment or answer the following questions:

For readers (and editors): Why do you read romance? Have you learned anything from this genre, particularly sexier titles? What do you think of the smart-people-don’t-read-romance notion? Why do you think romance, while undeniably profitable, isn’t more respected?

For writers: Why do you write romance? What reactions do you receive when people discover your craft? Do you think your books offer more than entertainment to readers?

Big hugs and thanks to the Harlequin Blaze community for making a guest blogger feel welcome!

Harlequin has a longstanding tradition of being where women are beyond the traditional bookstore, and we recently celebrated 60 years of providing outstanding reading entertainment for women. We have a selection of FREE downloads at www.tryharlequin.com where you’ll find a taste of everything we offer including Leslie Kelly’s fabulous BLAZE title Slow Hands which earned a 4 1/2 stars from Romantic Times. If you haven’t read it, I suggest you take this opportunity to nab it, but be prepared for an unputdownable read. You may have to cancel your afternoon plans!

So you’re probably wondering what we do online to engage and connect with our readers in all these online spaces where women are? Well for one thing, consider this an early invitation to SAVE THE DATE for December 15th. That’s the date for our annual Holiday Party in our online community at eHarlequin.com. We invite as many authors as we can stuff into your computer, to raise a glass of virtual eggnog and hobnob with our readers in a series of discussions throughout the day (to accommodate the time zones of our international readers) and the highlight is a 3 hour live chat in the evening. I do hope you consider joining us for the fun, and prizes galore and to share holiday cheer with your favorite authors, and yes our BLAZE ladies will be there as always. How often do you get to chat with them in REAL time??

If you need the occasional kick in the pants to get reading after a slump or having trouble deciding which book to pull from your TO-BE-READ pile, I highly recommend our Reading Challenges. Pick one of our fun mini-challenges, countdown, theme or TBR games to gear up your reading and get you turning the pages, and while you’re at it, why not create a community profile and start reviewing the books you’ve read so you have a record of your reading adventures in our community? You just might meet some new friends and find some book recommendations you haven’t thought to try!

Have you ever tried one of our online stories? We publish weekly and daily online stories at eHarlequin.com and you can read and discuss them with the authors as each chapter is published in our companion discussions. We even have a FREE library of stories there so you can sample one from every line we publish . Our online read discussions are lots of fun and are a great way to share your thoughts on how you feel after reading each chapter and where you think the story is going and how it’s going to end. Right now we’re talking with B.J. Daniels in her discussion of A Forever Love and Wendy Warren about Daniel’s Gift, why not join us?

Check out our Forums for discussions on our Series books and Single Titles and if you have a hankering to write one of your own then you really should join the aspiring authors on our Write Stuff board. Did you know that over 50 of our Community members have sold to Harlequin and Silhouette through the years we’ve been hosting writing related discussions? We host live editor chats as well where an acquiring editor joins us to share just what exactly she/he’s looking for in the PERFECT book for their lines, so do check our schedule often. In fact this November we’ll be hosting our own Harlequin version of the popular NANOWRIMO contest where aspiring authors are challenged to write an entire novel through the month of November with encouragement and advice from our authors, so do check us out!

So please FRIEND us on Facebook to keep tabs on what we’re up to on a daily basis, and follow us on Twitter for up to the minute news and information, and if you’re a member of any of the major social networking sites I noted above please stop by and say hello and catch up with us there, and if we’ve missed one you think we should be on, by ALL means let me know. We’ll be waiting for you!

Happy Reading!
Jayne

Lady Bea Lindsey confronts that very scenario in The Tutor my Victorian-set romance published with Harlequin’s super sexy Blaze line. At the opening of The Tutor, Bea has gotten herself engaged to a very nice but very dull gentleman.

Conventional wisdom counsels that a young woman on the cusp of twenty-one, in this case a young woman of noble birth, purse-poor dowry, and an impulsive nature, dare we say “wild streak” should settle down safely and quickly. But conventional wisdom is not always…wise. And Bea is very much a modern girl—modern in the context of the 1890’s. She may be willing to settle for a dry-as-toast husband at the dining table but when it comes to the boudoir, she is going to need a little jam.

Only a disastrous dry run of the wedding night (pun intended) has demonstrated that if she wants any pleasure in her marriage bed, she’ll have to take the lead. But first she needs to be taught. And who better to take on the role of tutor than the oh-so-sexy Ralph Sylvester, a former East London street rogue and her brother-in-law’s private secretary?

Never did Ralph imagine that the woman of his dreams, a lady born, would proposition him and on the very night her engagement to another gentleman is announced! But when Bea shows up at Ralph’s bedchamber door after midnight wearing a red velvet cape and nothing beneath, he knows she means business. Armed with a contraband copy of The Kama Sutra and nine months’ of shored up lust, he sets about tutoring her in the loving arts. It’s every man’s fantasy, until the pupil surpasses the teacher.

Along with The Tutor, I have another Scottish historical coming out this July. My Lord Jack, first published in 2002 with Berkley, is being reissued with Carina Press, Harlequin’s new exclusively digital publishing imprint, on July 12th. A Rogue’s Pleasure, my Regency-set romp, will release with Carina Press on August 16th.

Happy Summer and yes, Happy Reading,
Hope Tarr

Hope is offering a signed copy of her Scottish-set Blaze Historical, TWELVE NIGHTS to one lucky commenter today!!!

Hope Tarr is the award-winning author of thirteen historical and contemporary romance novels including THE TUTOR. “Tomorrow’s Destiny,” her first novella, will appear in a single-title Christmas anthology, A HARLEQUIN CHRISTMAS CAROL, with Betina Krahn and Jacquie D’Alessandro this November 10, 2010. Visit Hope at www.HopeTarr.com where you can read her blog and enter her regular contest.

I just returned from the South, which is rapidly becoming my go-to spot for fun. First I flew to Huntsville, Alabama, for the Heart of Dixie Readers Luncheon, which is always a blast. Then Blaze Babe Rhonda Nelson and I drove to Atlanta, where we met with Blaze Babe Jennifer LaBrecque and spent a couple of days plotting books and eating way too much yummy food prepared by Jen.

Great times all around, but I almost mucked it up before I ever left Tucson. Because I’m traveling more than ever, I’m constantly looking for ways to get through security with less hassle. I have my easy-off shoes and a standard outfit that involves very little metal. I have a bitty netbook that’s easy to get out and put away again, and my jewelry is minimal. This particular time I was congratulating myself on how efficiently I’d navigated the process.

I put my ID back in my purse and zipped the purse into my carryon. I had my book and myboarding pass. I was sickeningly well-organized. Then the gate agent announced we’d have to produce our ID again before boarding the plane. I dug out my ID, which I presented along with my boarding pass, but at this point, I was in the chute with no time to put my ID back in the purse that was zipped inside the carryon without holding up the entire parade.

So I tucked my ID in my book.

Did your tummy just clutch? You know what happened, don’t you? Once I was settled in my window seat, I opened the book to retrieve the ID. It was gone.

My seatmate was understanding and let me out, but truly, if she hadn’t, I would have simply vaulted over her. Like a salmon swimming upstream, I plowed through the passengers trying to board, all the while scanning the floor and telling everyone within hearing distance that I’d DROPPED MY ID. I made it to the cockpit, and nada.

Wild-eyed, I glanced at the flight attendant. “I’ve lost my –”

Smiling, she held it up. “This?”

I could have kissed her.

There you have it, my almost-disaster story, and I still haven’t figured out how it ties into WANTED! except that maybe . . . okay, this works. My hero, Nick Chance, stumbles upon a closely guarded secret that challenges his entire belief about himself, i.e. his identity. Ta-da! I guess it’s a bit of a stretch to compare my lost ID to Nick’s drama, but it’s the best I can do. And let me just say that writing about sexy cowboys is way more fun than searching the floor of a plane for a lost ID.

Have you ever lost your ID? Or nearly as bad, a credit card? Do you have any tips for avoiding this scary situation?

Tell me all your war stories, which will make me feel better and also enter you to win one of two copies of WANTED! I’ll give away today. Happy Monday!

Can there ever be too much of a good thing? Nah! Not when it comes to Blaze…and not when it comes to reissuing great stories that Harlequin readers love! As Executive Editor of Feature and Custom Publishing, I consider it my mission to find reissue opportunities for our authors. After all, the majority of our series authors build up a sizeable backlist over their writing careers, and odds are against the majority of those books…many of which were reader favorites (not to mention personal favorites of mine!)….occupying fresh precious space on the book racks. That’s just the reality of the current marketplace.

So imagine my delight when Marketing came to me with a request that we plan for a new program (albeit in format not unfamiliar to us!) that would pair stories by popular series authors, appear monthly and offer great value to the reader!

Well, yes, those of you who have been around for a while may comment, it does resemble the old By Request program. How is it different? First, we will be grouping these books by category, and happily for the Blaze authors and their fans, it was decided to focus on and launch with the Passion category. Second, we’re calling it Showcase. Third, some volumes will feature two books by the same author, and those books may be linked. And fourth, well….the packaging! It’s gorgeous!

First things first: Showcase is launching in May 2010, with two volumes per month, each containing two complete books by bestselling authors. And at $6.99/7.99, a great value!

Our scheduling has been designed to complement our authors’ frontlists wherever possible. For example, Showcase is launching with a 2-in-1 by Vicki Lewis Thompson. Working with Senor Editor Brenda Chin, we deliberately positioned this volume so that the first book of Vicki’s Three Cowboys and a Baby trilogy, The Colorado Kid, will be offered as a free ebook. The next two titles in this trilogy, Two in the Saddle and Boone’s Bounty will be featured in Showcase in May. And then in June, Blaze will launch Vicki’s new cowboy trilogy, Men of Chance. We have a similar plan for Tori Carrington. Again, our goal is to build our authors’ presence to the readers, so Blaze will offer a free ebook, Forbidden, the first book in Tony and Lori’s Sleeping with Secrets miniseries in August. In September, our Showcase volume will feature the next two books in the mini-series, Indecent and Wicked. And Blaze will launch a new Carrington trilogy, Private Scandals, in October.

But Blaze authors fare particularly well in this program right through till December. In June, Showcase will feature two Leslie Kelly favorites, Naturally Naughty and Wicked & Willing. Jennifer Labrecque and Jo Leigh pair up in August with Barely Decent and The One Who Got Away, and we have another team slated for October, Rhonda Nelson with 1-900-Lover and Joanne Rock with Silk Confessions. Finally, for December, our final Blaze 2-in-1 of the year– Cara Summers’s Intent to Seduce and Debbi Rawlins’s A Glimpse of Fire.

As you can see from the cover images we’ve included, the team responsible for this program took a very non-series looking tack with our packaging strategy. It is based on a concept that was very successfully executed by Harlequin France, and this seemed the perfect product to try it on, so we are excited to see how it will be received by North American audiences. It focuses the readers’ attention directly on the author names and titles, and we have not tried to tie the two books together by an overarching title or conspicuous branding, as we have often done in the past. We feel we’ve achieved a very sophisticated and attractive package. What do you think?

We have five free Showcase books to give away to our first five comment posters. I’d love to hear what you think of the packaging, and am open any other great ideas you may have for getting the word out about our new Showcase program!

So without further ado, here’s Brenda…

I love hot men. Ooops, let me rephrase that. I love writing about hot men. The hotter the better. I’d read Blazes for years and after probably wearing Blaze-editor Brenda Chin’s patience down, since I’m sure she let me finally write me to get me off her back, I tackled writing my first Blaze. But then in order to write about a good Blaze guy I had to have the perfect Blaze girl. Umm, I wondered where could I find such a creature, one of those daring women who would truly appreciate my hot guy?

I looked at the young ladies in my family (ages 25 – 35) and found one or two who would fit the bill, and what they shared almost made my gray hair turn grayer. But after my interview with them I was ready for the big hook-up. I had found my guy a girl who was just as hot as he was, which equated to a lot of spontaneous combustion in my book. Thus, the title Spontaneous came about.

I love my hero Duan Jeffries. And it didn’t hurt matters that I’d gotten to know him first when I wrote his sister’s story in my Silhouette Desire of February 2009, Tall, Dark Westmoreland, which was followed three months later with his brother Terrence’s story in my Kimani book titled, Temperature’s Rising.

Of the three Jeffries siblings, Duan is the oldest which means a lot of experience in my book. And there’s nothing like writing about an experience hot man. So if you’re in the market for a hot man who meets his match in an equally hot woman, who together solves a mystery that involves her mother, this is just the book for you.

Blazes are known for being red-hot reads and I believe this one definitely will fit the bill.

So . . . it’s that time of year again. Do you all have your shopping done?

I always vow that this year will be different and stress free. Hahahahaha. I think it’s a holiday rule: No matter how carefully you plan your gift-giving, there’s always that one stinkin’ present that turns into a hellacious hassle. Last year it was a Thomas the Train storage table. This year it’s Ugg boots.

My son gave me the word – my granddaughter wanted Ugg boots, but I wasn’t to get REAL Ugg boots, which would be expensive and silly for a kid who’d outgrow them in six months. He said the fake kind were at Costco at a reasonable price.

Those of you who shop at Costco know the drill. Gift items are here today, gone tomorrow. By the time I got to Costco, those fake Ugg boots were way gone. But was I discouraged?

Well, yes, but this is the season of good cheer, so I contacted my friend Google to search Ugg boots online. And I found some! At a great price! Ordered them with a song in my heart and a Visa card in my wallet! Failed to notice the price was in . . . pounds.

Okay, so the girl was going to get actual Ugg boots from Australia, and it was extravagant, but what the hey. It’s the holidays and the bill won’t come until January.

Except . . . the boots were shipped from China. I could tell because there were Chinese characters all over the packing slip. I’m quick that way. And the box was damaged, although the boots were fine, except they stunk to high heaven. But I comforted myself that at least they’d have that all-important Ugg label on the heel.

Except . . . they didn’t. The label was WHOOGA. Which is an approximation of what I said when I saw it. Had I accidentally paid full price for a Chinese Ugg boot knockoff? And what about that godawful smell? Fortunately I’d saved the web site email address, so I researched returns and discovered that I could, in fact return these smelly, not-labeled-Ugg boots, but I’d have to pay postage. TO CHINA???

Before resorting to such drastic measures, I shot off an email to the company. The reply was extremely civilized and stated that these were, in fact, Ugg boots made by another Australian company with a pedigree as good as Ugg itself, and that all Ugg-type boots were now manufactured in Asia, and that the smell was from the tanning process and would go away in a few days. They apologized about the battered box.

Faced with return postage to China (or Australia, not any better), I set the boots outside to air, and you know what? The smell is gone. The boots are lined with genuine sheepskin and they’re cozy to the touch. My granddaughter isn’t expecting boots with Ugg on the heel. When she sees WHOOGA, she’ll probably think I got them at Costco. I’m giving up on the angst and giving her the boots.

Which gift is keeping you up nights or causing you to haunt the stores or eBay? Or are you all done and feeling smug about it?

No? Okay, so maybe that was only me.

But my heroine, Roxie Stanley, from Zero Control was a weird kid like me (and you too if you’d just admit it. I know how you are. I’m an introvert with a vivid imagination just like you.) She lives too much in her head, indulging in fantasies. And fantasies are all they are…until her boss sends her to get the lowdown on his competition, Eros Airline and “adults only” vacation resorts. At Eros, Roxie meets her match, a man who not only indulges her most forbidden fantasies, but takes things to a whole new level. Too bad Dougal Lockhart just happens to be an undercover air marshal out to nab himself a corporate spy.

There’s lots of pretending, wish fulfillment and erotic fantasies in this one. So come on, get your game on, join Roxie and Dougal as they learn firsthand how dangerously fun it is to live their deepest fantasies.

Oh and while we’re at it, fess up. What was it you used to pretend to be when you were a kid?

So…what are some of your favorite things (besides Blaze books )? What do you collect and why is it important to you? And does anyone know of a rehab facility for collectors—preferably one near a shell-filled beach and lots of antique shops?