In Loving Hate - a romance with suspense - #FREE this weekend only #Kindle

For most of us, foreign travel is off the cards this summer, but that doesn't mean we can't escape to gorgeous destinations through our choice of reading.  And if you fancy a sojourn in Greece this weekend, you can do so for FREE, if you have a Kindle.  Just click on the image, or this link:

http://mybook.to/InLovingHate

In Loving Hate begins with Lyssa actually leaving Greece, a country she loves, but where she was deeply unhappy and she shares her story with a sympathetic stranger on the ferry from Greece to Italy—a stranger who later becomes the only person to whom she can turn for help when she returns to England and her life turns upside down.

What readers say:

"In Loving Hate is a fascinating study of a woman who in order to embrace her future has to learn to leave much of her past behind her."

"Lynette has created fantastic characters and a plot that is fabulously constructed, building suspense and never quite giving away the answers until the very end. "

"Elegantly written, and filled with romantic entanglements and a fast moving pace this book is one exciting page-turner."

The Blurb:

How far will the rich and powerful go in order to achieve their goals? That is the question Lyssa must decide when she finds herself caught between two formidable adversaries: powerful business tycoon and shipping magnate, Alex Andrakis and close childhood friend, ‘Dynamic’ Nell Winters, brewery heiress and prolific businesswoman.

Following the failure of her marriage in Greece, Lyssa returns to her family home in London, to discover that her mother, a once-celebrated actress, is now facing crippling debts. When Lyssa begins to investigate these, she becomes embroiled in the intricate business dealings of Nell and her arch-rival Alex. Irresistibly drawn to widower Alex and his unhappy young son, Lyssa begins to uncover some unexpected and disturbing facts. 

The more involved she becomes, the more shocking are the discoveries she makes. The conflicts culminate in a frightening battle for survival as Lyssa finds herself the prime target between the possessive Nell and obsessive Alex. With her loyalties deeply divided, Lyssa needs to make the right choices for everyone concerned.

But does she?  Find out by downloading your FREE copy—but be quick; the offer ends on Sunday.  I'd hate you to miss it.

 http://mybook.to/InLovingHate

New Release - 'In Loving Hate' by Lynette Sofras #MFRWauthor

Formely published by MuseItUp Publications, I'm delighted to have received back my publishing rights to my romantic suspense In Loving Hate, in order to publish it myself at a lower price.

It's out today, only $2.99 plus tax, or £1.99 in the UK.

Blurb:

How far will the rich and powerful go in order to achieve their goals? That is the question Lyssa must decide when she finds herself caught between two formidable adversaries: powerful business tycoon and shipping magnate, Alex Andrakis and close childhood friend, ‘Dynamic’ Nell Winters, brewery heiress and prolific businesswoman.

Following the failure of her marriage in Greece, Lyssa returns to her family home in London, to discover that her mother, a once-celebrated actress, is now facing crippling debts.  When Lyssa begins to investigate these, she becomes embroiled in the intricate business dealings of Nell and her arch-rival Alex.  Irresistibly drawn to widower Alex and his unhappy young son, Lyssa begins to uncover some unexpected and disturbing facts. 

The more involved she becomes, the more shocking are the discoveries she makes.  The conflicts culminate in a frightening battle for survival as Lyssa finds herself the prime target between the possessive Nell and obsessive Alex.   With her loyalties deeply divided, can Lyssa make the right choice for everyone concerned?

Review copies are now available.

Excerpt:

“Nicky, ela!  We’re leaving.”  Alex interrupted coldly from the doorway.

Lyssa turned quickly, surprised at his hostile tone.

“Oh not yet, Alex.  I want to talk to Lyssa.”

“Now.” Alex’s face looked like thunder.

“But you said—”

“Forget what I said.  We’re leaving.”

Lyssa watched him in confusion.  “Is there something wrong, Alex?  Perhaps I can help?”

He threw her a contemptuous look.  “Help?  Oh I think you’ve ‘helped’ quite enough.  I suppose I must congratulate you on a job well done, Lyssa.  I promised to do nothing without consulting you—you might have offered me the same courtesy in return.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Your technique, Lyssa.  A clever little trick, but your tactics stink”

“Wait…I don’t understand”

“You ought to have followed your mother onto the stage.  Your performance certainly fooled me.”  He turned and began pulling the protesting boy up the staircase.  She followed them in bewilderment as far as the oak door, where he turned and cast a final, angry look at her.  “Goodbye, Lyssa.  I wish you and your cunning friend every success.”

“Which friend?” she whispered to herself after he disappeared and before she recalled that she only possessed one.

She turned towards the drawing room where she found her mother pacing the floor in agitation, ramming her stick vigorously into the thick, silken pile of the carpet at every turn.

“What happened, Mother?”  Lyssa asked, as she watched the limping figure.

“Poor Alexis is a little upset about it all,” Dame Constance explained.  “I didn’t expect him to take it quite so badly—in fact, I’d hoped he might be rather pleased for me.  I think I shall go and lie down.  That young man has quite exhausted me with all his questions.”  She limped toward the door, stopped upon reaching it and half turned to face her puzzled daughter.  “And Lyssa…thank you, my dear.  Please don’t imagine that I’m unappreciative of your efforts.  This is a great load off my mind.  Oh, and if you are off to see Nell, why don’t you ask her to dine with us one evening?  Or, perhaps I really should ask her myself?”  Dame Constance continued to muse over the question as she left the room.

Lyssa stared after the retreating figure of her mother; still an elegant and commanding woman, despite her limp and advancing years.  Then Lyssa repeated Nell’s name inaudibly, with a slow nod of her head.

Manic Scribbler's A-Z Challenge - C is for Cat (Of course!)

C is for Cat

Of course!  Anyone who has visited my blog in the past will know I have a bit of a fondness for fur-balls.  If I can sneak a picture of one into a blog post, you can be sure I will.  How can I baffle you with cat facts?  Well, did you know they've been stalking the earth for over 35 million years and in all that time have barely changed in appearance or behaviour?  We all know they were revered in Ancient Egypt but did you also know that if you hurt or killed one, you could be put to death?  Or that a blind cat uses its whiskers in the same way a blind man uses his white cane?  And did you know that a cat's hearing is better than a dog's and three times that of human hearing?  How about this one: the collective noun for a group of kittens is kindle.

It's hardly surprising that cats keep creeping into my stories.  They're never there at the planning stages but
when my back is turned one will invariably sneak in.  I know I shouldn't have favourite's but I do have a bit of a soft spot for Bessie, who is Emma's tortoiseshell moggy in Shopping for Love and who is based on my own cat.  

Thistle from In Loving Hate is perhaps the most unobtrusive cat.  She belongs to the housekeeper but adopts the heroine, Lyssa in the way cats often decide to do.  Mr Minniver, in Killing Jenna Crane is perhaps the most sinister cat.  He's responsible for bringing Ellis and Chloe together but may not always be what he seems.  One thing all three cats have in common, however, is their greed!  Bessie (Shopping for Love) becomes a bit of a daredevil whenever a bowl of tuna is mentioned.

“Come on, Bessie, let’s get you that tuna,” she said, turning towards the worktop next to the sink and reaching for the can opener. 

“Mrawrr,” Bessie said again, more urgently this time and brushed even harder against her legs.  Emma blinked back her tears and tamped her nose with the back of her index finger as though taking in snuff.  She hoped the wet, sniffing sound would not be audible.

“Aren’t you pleased to see me?”  Bailey asked, coming up behind her and enclosing her in his arms.

“Don’t!” Emma ordered, brandishing the can opener at him.  “Just leave your key and go back to Russia.”

“Mongolia, not Russia,” he corrected, shuffling the length of his body against hers and attempting to nuzzle her neck where he knew she liked it, just below her left ear.

Emma pushed him away angrily and reached for a saucer to decant the tuna for the now frantic Bessie who was risking life and limb weaving in and out between both pairs of legs.  Once done, she placed the saucer on the floor in the corner of the kitchen and the cat began gulping it down with shameless greed.

Manic Scribbler's A-Z Challenge - B is for Bard

B is for Bard

As in the bard.  

Now old William Shakespeare knew a thing or two about love, and all other aspects of the human condition, didn't he?  As a teacher, I was frequently asked by complaining students how the plays and poems of someone writing nearly 400 years ago could possibly be relevant today.  Here's (more or less) what I would tell them.  The themes of Shakespeare's plays have made them endure throughout the centuries. His tragedies deal with issues vitally relevant to us today; for example: the complexities of love and friendship in every form, whether between men and women, parents and children, siblings, colleagues or friends. He delved deeply into human emotions and how these manifested in a multitude of profound and complex ways, such as jealousy and deception, possessiveness, pride, anger, foolishness and many, many more. In all his plays he explored important issues such as loyalty, duty, honour, marriage, trust, honesty and societal expectations as well as what happens to

the human psyche when these are threatened or undermined.  Nuff said?

The title of my first romantic suspense was stolen from Shakespeare - I hope he wouldn't mind.  In Loving Hate is about just that, love and hatred and the fine line separating both.  The phrase (an oxymoron) came from Romeo and Juliet who, despite their youth, experienced profound and very real love. 

Capturing the intense pleasure and pain of love and portraying it to the reader differently each time is no easy feat when you are not Shakespeare but we can only keep on trying in the hope that practice will make us better, if not perfect.  Here is the moment when Lyssa and Alex from In Loving Hate stop fighting their desires and follow their hearts:

He reached beyond her to tug at the stiff, old sash and, as it yielded, his face brushed against her hair and she felt the warmth of his breath on her ear.  She turned, as if hypnotised, feeling the heat of his body through the thin, silk robe he now wore.  She looked into his eyes and felt herself drowning in them.  Their lips met but barely made contact, lingering for a moment on that tantalising brink of uncertainty, until a little gasp of exquisite pain escaped from hers, to be captured by his, and the union completed.  She wanted him every bit as much as he wanted her.

As his warmth enveloped her, the passion so long quiescent within her rose and engulfed her until she began to tremble with the bewildering mixture of quivering fear and intense desire.  Her heart quickened and throbbed as powerful emotions pulsated throughout her body, swamping and crushing her like savage winter waves, bruising and wounding her with their intensity.

He held her closely, but with such sweet tenderness that her heart cried out in agony and anguish until it seemed to burst from its tortured confinement, erupting with a volcanic intensity that made her sob with longing.  She clung to him tightly with a powerful sense of belonging—no longer as a separate entity, but as a part of that vital essence within him which needed her as much as she needed him.

His response so matched and harmonised with her emotions that they seemed to drift together onto a completely separate plane, where words were redundant and all that mattered was that sense of perfect unity, that sense that only one force stood there, consoling itself in its own sweet embrace.

Bad British Humour? In Loving Hate by Lynette Sofras

Picture this: an attractive and rather vulnerable young woman has left her selfish husband, turned her back on her cruel and unhappy marriage and embarked on a long and solitary journey across part of Europe to return to her family home.  That's a home to which she has no idea whether or not she will be welcome, incidentally, but that's an ordeal for the future. 

Instead of hopping on a plane and getting the ordeal over with in three or four hours, Lyssa has boldly chosen to drive herself from Greece via Italy, Switzerland, France and across TheChannel into England.  The first leg of her journey entails a slow ferry crossing from Patras in Greece to Ancona in Italy.  These two day ferry crossings are only made tolerable if one travels first class and Lyssa feels she owes herself that little luxury. 

On the ferry boat she meets a good-looking stranger, an English surgeon, who is very plainly attracted to her.  He makes an easy and pleasant travelling companion - a great listener - and Lyssa finds herself pouring out her sad history to his interested ears.  When he hears she will need to find work back in London, he offers her a job as his secretary - an impulsive act of kindness but not taken very seriously by either of them.  Nevertheless, there is definite chemistry between them and David makes the inevitable move on her.  He offers her a fling, therapeutic sex if you wish, and could anyone really blame Lyssa if she accepted?  She doesn't, of course, because David is married and makes no attempt to hide that fact (when he could very easily do so).  Here's a snippet of the conversation between them the following day before they part and go their separate ways:

“Meet me in Milan,” he said suddenly.

She looked into his face quickly. “You do believe in living dangerously, don’t you?”  She remembered he would be meeting his wife in Milan.

“For lunch,” he argued.  “To discuss the job.”

“And then what?”

He gave her a mischievous grin.  “References, perhaps?”

Lyssa’s gaze wandered abstractedly around the lounge where small groups of people gathered together, anxiously checking passports and hand-luggage as the boat lumbered inexorably northward.

“How many times have you cheated on your wife?”  Try as she might, she could not expel the natural tremor from her voice.

“Thirty six,” he answered immediately, looking pained.  “Give or take a few dozen.  I can assure you I don’t make a habit of this.  I’m not exactly collecting material for a clinical trial.”

Now it was never my intention to suggest that David had seriously had thirty six affairs!  His immediate answer and pained expression should have indicated that his answer was ironic.  He's impatient at her question and is beginning to feel a sense of urgency about whether he'll see her again. The almost unreal two-day interlude on the boat has led them to forge a bond that neither of them quite understands, and which both feel a certain reluctance to end completely.  

However, several readers so far have failed to understand the joke and were shocked by David's flippant answer, not realising he had simply plucked a number from the top of his head as a sarcastic response to a silly question. The disservice to my character was my fault, not his.  I didn't intend to suggest that David was an outrageous womaniser!

Of course he shouldn't be contemplating cheating on his wife in the first place, but no man is perfect when faced with a pretty and available woman and, if the opportunity arises, what red-blooded man won't attempt to seize it?  Come to that, what red-blooded woman might not also at least consider it?

What does concern me, however, is that British humour doesn't always translate well and that my characters suffer bad press as a result.  We Brits so often base our humour on irony or sarcasm  that it's second nature to us.  It's all too easy to forget that the rest of the world may take our words literally and naturally misinterpret our intention.  

So, apologies to my readers and to any of my characters who've been affected by bad British humour that has failed to translate.  There is a helpline available at the end of this blog...oops, sorry!  Will try harder in future to tone it down or make it clearer! 

Released at Last - In Loving Hate by Lynette Sofras

It's been a long, slow journey and I'm more relieved than pleased that my romantic suspense, In Loving Hate, has finally (and very quietly) emerged from its year-long wraps to sit pristinely on Amazon's shelves, vying, with all the other new releases, for some loving attention.  Now, I suppose the real work begins of getting it noticed, which will most certainly be down to me and not the publisher.

I'm not complaining.  Since the publication of my first novel almost a year ago, I've learned that the onus for marketing falls squarely on the authors' shoulders.  Following the release of my first novel, I've also published two other contemporary romances so the fairy dust has fallen from my eyes and I have a much clearer idea of the hard work involved.  But that's next week's task.  Today I'm celebrating my latest release and talking a little bit about it.

In Loving Hate

After the devastation of her failed marriage, Lyssa returns  from Greece to her family home in London to pick up the pieces of her shattered life, only to learn that her mother, a once-celebrated actress, is now debt-ridden and has sold the luxury apartment in the top of their home to Alex Andrakis - a Greek shipping magnate.

Now why would a Greek multi-millionaire want a flat in a private house, no matter how prestigious the address, when he could afford to buy half the street?  Ostensibly, it's an altruistic act, to help out Lyssa's mother who is an old friend and former flame of his father's.  However, Lyssa soon discovers that with Andrakis, nothing is ever straightforward and the apartment is merely a pawn in a much bigger game.  A game that takes a dangerous twist when Lyssa's childhood friend and prolific businesswoman, Nell Winters, begins to take an interest and does some digging of her own.

It seems in the international business world nothing and no one is what it appears and Lyssa finds herself caught in the crossfire with her emotions pulled in different directions as she tries to unravel the mysterious wheelings and dealings of all concerned.

In Loving Hate is now available from Amazon, the Coffee Time Romance and Muse ItUp Publications book-stores (both offering 20% off) and will hopefully hit other leading retailers in the next few weeks.

Lynette Sofras: My Next Big Thing

I was thrilled to be tagged last week by the supremely talented Paula Martin to answer 10 questions about my next release which will be published next month.  To read about Paula's Next Big Thing, which sounds very exciting, you can visit Paula's blog - and I recommend you do!

Here is what I certainly hope will be MY next BIG thing:

What is the working title of your book?

Actually, I just referred to it as the Greek Story.  The name In Loving Hate (which is one of those oxymorons in Romeo and Juliet) didn't come until after I'd finished writing it. Anyone who has followed my posts will know how much I agonise and obsess over titles!  I'm struggling right now with with a title for my WIP...I feel a headache coming on just thinking about it.  Help!

Where did the idea come from for the book?

This was a snip of a dream I had about a young woman in a London street glancing up at a top window of her elegant family home in central London, because she sensed someone was watching her. She herself felt something of an outsider, having spent several years away from home and when she went to investigate who the stranger was, she received quite a considerable shock.  When I woke up, the whole story started sliding into place. 

What genre does your book fall under?

It's my first (but hopefully not my last) foray into romantic suspense.

Which actors would you choose to play your characters in a movie rendition?

Emilia Fox as Lyssa

Eduardo Verastegui as Alex

This is always so hard for me - but what fun!  When I started poking around on Google for ideas, I really started enjoying myself.  Lyssa needs to be beautiful enough to "pierce hearts" but with that aura of vulnerability to her.  I think actress Emilia Fox would certainly be able to do her justice!  Now I've never seen the work of the next three actors but they leapt off the screen at me and I just had to share them.  Alex Andrakis looks like this rather gorgeous guy, Eduardo Verastegui (though the equally gorgeous John Barrowman would probably do quite as well, if he could master the accent!)  But I also found two other important characters.  Nell looks like Selma Blair while Mark definitely looks something like Josh Hartnett.  I'll have to watch these actors in action.  Oh, but right from the start, when this story first popped into my head, I modelled Lyssa's mother, Dame Constance Culver on our own wonderful actress, Dame Maggie Smith, currently starring in Downton Abbey - but believe me, I had her earmarked long before that!

What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book?

Beware of Greeks bearing gifts! Is Alex offering Lyssa his heart, or trying to ensnare hers for more sinister reasons?  (Sorry,  I know that's two sentences but it's the publisher's tagline).

Will your book be self-published or represented by an agency? 

MuseItUp Publications is the publisher.

How long did it take you to write the first draft of your manuscript?  

This is hard because I actually wrote this story a long time ago when I was living in Greece but then forgot about it.  I totally revamped it recently, which didn't take very long at all - perhaps two or three months.

What other books would you compare this story to within your genre? 

Impossible to say.  Rather like Paula, I just don't compare books in that way.  Someone else would have to answer this.

Who or What inspired you to write this book?

There's no doubt that some of the inspiration came from actual experience.  I wanted to write a story set in both Athens and London and with Greek and British characters showing the good and bad sides of both.  

What else about your book might pique the reader’s interest?

I hope the glamorous and rather dangerous world of the extremely rich and powerful will intrigue readers.  These are people who know what they want and go out to get it at any cost.  And that the strong friendship between Lyssa and Nell and also between Lyssa and widower Alex's young son, will hold their interest throughout.  Lyssa finds herself plunged into an intrigue between bitter business rivals, Nell and Alex, which is so complex and tortuous that she almost begins to doubt her own sanity.  

Selma Blair as Nell

Josh Hartnett as Mark

Dame Maggie Smith as Dame Constance

Next Wednesday (October 10th) the writers tagged to tell you about their Next Big Thing are:
Mary L. Ball, Tara Fox Hall, Deborah Court, Kim Jackson and Gloria Harchar.  I hope you'll visit them all - I know I shall and I know they'll all be worth it..

That First Kiss - In Loving Hate

If you have read my previous posts on this subject, you'll know that I've been working through each of my novels discussing the scene of the first kiss.  Today I've reached my forthcoming release In Loving Hate, which I can hardly wait to share, but must remain patient until its release - scheduled for 9 November.  As yet, I don't even have a cover for this (hence I'm resorting to a cute kitty image to brighten up the page) so it still feels a little unreal to me.

Here is the blurb:

How far will the rich and powerful go in order to achieve their goals? That is the question Lyssa must decide when she finds herself caught between two formidable adversaries: powerful business tycoon and shipping magnate, Alex Andrakis and close childhood friend, ‘Dynamic’ Nell Winters, brewery heiress and prolific businesswoman.

Photo credit: Giorgos~ (moving to Google+) via photopin cc

Following the failure of her marriage in Greece, Lyssa returns to her family home in London, to discover that her mother, a once-celebrated actress, is now facing crippling debts.  When Lyssa begins to investigate these, she becomes embroiled in the intricate business dealings of Nell and her arch-rival Alex.  Irresistibly drawn towards widower Alex and his unhappy young son, Lyssa begins to uncover some unexpected and disturbing facts.

photo credit: UGArdener via photopin cc

The more involved she becomes, the more shocking are the discoveries she makes.  The conflicts culminate in a frightening battle for survival as Lyssa finds herself the prime target between the possessive Nell and obsessive Alex.   With her loyalties deeply divided, can Lyssa make the right choice for everyone concerned?


The first kiss scene of the story is unusual as things are not quite what they seem.  Lyssa has lured Alex into a trap for her own ends and throws herself at him in a very public embrace.  Alex's reaction, and her own, are not at all what she expects.

He caught her tightly in a fierce embrace, gazing into her eyes for a moment.  A moan of urgent need escaped his lips before they sought and found hers and he kissed her hungrily and with an intensity that left her weak with shock, unable to pull away.  But as she recovered her senses, thoughts of pulling away seemed to slip out of her mind.  His tongue gently parted her lips and found hers, performing a little mating dance that caused a thrilling current to spread throughout her body, charging every nerve ending until each one seemed to tingle with anticipation and long for more.  What am I doing?  No answer.  For a moment she felt absolutely powerless to do anything but respond to the passion of the instant which he, not she, dominated. Time stopped and the world around her stood still, dissolving into nothingness as she succumbed to the intense pleasure surging through her body, which left her faint with desire for more.

When she finally did pull away, he continued to hold her closely, cupping her face in his hands and showering both it and her hair with greedy little kisses as if he couldn’t get enough of her to satisfy his voracious hunger.  His eyes were like bottomless pools of pure desire and she knew her own must mirror them.  She looked at him in astonishment, trying to regain her composure but with extreme difficulty.  What just happened?  The question hammered at her brain but received no answer.

Finally she found her breath, though her voice came out as little more than a weak whisper.  “Oh dear, this isn’t quite…” She took a deep breath and eased herself smoothly away from his embrace, her planned speech having fled her mind.  “I’m terribly sorry Alex, but I’ve just remembered something very important.  Do you mind if we cancel lunch?”

Wednesday's Writer - Me!

It's often said that a change is as good as a rest, so, as a change from my usual Wednesday's Writer post, I've decided to offer a sneak preview from my forthcoming romantic suspense, due for publication later this year.  Needless to say I'm incredibly excited about this, but it's been a long time in the publication process and November still seems so far away.  The book still doesn't have a cover, but it does have a title (for many years in my head it was always known as the Greek story).  This eventually evolved into In Loving Hate - a quotation loosely borrowed from Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet.


For more information about In Loving Hate and a longer preview, please check out my publishers' website here.

The Blurb:

How far will the rich and powerful go in order to achieve their goals? That is the question Lyssa must decide when she finds herself caught between two formidable adversaries: powerful business tycoon and shipping magnate, Alex Andrakis and close childhood friend, ‘Dynamic’ Nell Winters, brewery heiress and prolific businesswoman.

Following the failure of her marriage in Greece, Lyssa returns to her family home in London, to discover that her mother, a once-celebrated actress, is now facing crippling debts.  When Lyssa begins to investigate these, she becomes embroiled in the intricate business dealings of Nell and her arch-rival Alex.  Irresistibly drawn towards widower Alex and his unhappy young son, Lyssa begins to uncover some unexpected and disturbing facts. 

The more involved she becomes, the more shocking are the discoveries she makes.  The conflicts culminate in a frightening battle for survival as Lyssa finds herself the prime target between the possessive Nell and obsessive Alex.   With her loyalties deeply divided, can Lyssa make the right choice for everyone concerned?

In this short excerpt from Chapter One, Lyssa, fleeing from Greece to meet her best friend, Nell in Geneva before driving back to London, encounters a friendly and charismatic surgeon on the two day ferry crossing between Greece and Italy.  She is grateful for his friendship, which later becomes very significant, but which he would like to develop into something deeper:

In Loving Hate

They paused beside the small deck pool, now hidden beneath heavy rope netting.  The deck teemed with loitering passengers, enjoying the balmy night air.  Like themselves, others had collected around the pool where the playful breeze did not reach.  As if called by an unspoken command, they turned and retraced their steps toward the stern.

“I’d like to make love to you,” he told her. He placed his hand over hers on the rail.  He stood so close to her, she could feel the warmth of his breath on her cheek.  A tiny thrill of pleasure tingled through her body and she allowed herself to savour it, just for a moment.

She looked down at his tanned hand with its long, sensuous fingers and smiled.  “I know.  I read the clues.”

He leaned closer still and brushed her ear lightly with his lips.  “That’s not an answer.”

“You didn’t ask a question.”  She turned her hand palm upward and surveyed his elegant, slender fingers for a moment longer before easing her own hand away from the contact.

“Won’t you share my air-con?”  He kept his voice light.

She shook her head and turned away to stare into the churning waters below.  Laughter filtered out across the deck, danced about her ears; then flew out across the dark water.

“Why not?”

She started suddenly as a plaintive cry sounded above her.

“It’s a seagull.  They always follow the boats,” he explained, without looking upward.

“Even at night?” Surprised, she scanned the blackness for a moment before discerning the white shape darting about the flapping blue and white flag above them.

He placed his hands evenly on her shoulders.  “Well?”

Her gaze fell slowly until it rested on his face.  She smiled faintly as she considered the doctor’s prescription.  One night of illicit sex.  She wondered what vicarious pleasure he might receive from administering his chosen therapy. 

“You are overqualified, doctor,” she chided.

He frowned in puzzlement.

“I have a severe allergy to married men,” she explained.

He sighed; then smiled in resignation, offering no further arguments.

What's In a Name?

You would think that a writer would have a good enough imagination not to be phased when it comes to finding a title for her magnum opus. Sadly, not in my case.  When it comes to ideas for stories, it’s standing room only inside my brain, but finding titles for those stories is an entirely different…well, story.

A title needs to stand out, to grab the attention of potential agents, publishers and readers.  It needs to inform, intrigue and entice and most of all, it needs to be relevant.  It shouldn’t be boring, mustn’t sound pretentious and can't afford to be instantly forgettable. So, we’re not asking much of it, are we?  

And is it any wonder that I develop something akin to stage fright when I have to come with a title?

I indulged in a little moan about this recently on Twitter.  No one seemed to be able to offer me the magic solution, sadly.  One Twit (sorry, Tweep) said he had the reverse problem, plenty of titles, no story ideas.  After reflection that did make me feel slightly better, though it didn’t solve my problem.

I mean, take my first novel: ‘The Apple Tree’.   I still cringe at just how unimaginative that sounds.  One sensitive soul asked me what the relevance of the title was and was clearly unimpressed to hear that the heroine had an old apple tree in her garden which seemed to represent her childhood triumphs and achievements.  It’s a minor character in the story, however, and tells nothing of the dramatic traumas the heroine undergoes as an adult.

My most significant novel (the one of which I’m still so possessive that I can’t yet send it out into the big wide world to try its fortune) still has its working title “Unworkers”.  In fact it’s lived with that for so long that I doubt I could bear to change it now.  A good friend kindly pointed out to me that I'd invented the word, which was meaningless.  Not to me, it’s not!  The work is women’s fiction (with a supernatural twist) and one of the characters explains its meaning in Chapter Two.  “Unworkers”, she claims are those “Unpaid, unvalued, unnoticed [women] ... we’re like those little elfin tailors, beavering away invisibly, putting the world to rights with our neat little patches while we put our own lives on hold for everyone else.”  Speaking as one of them, I think I invented a pretty good word…it remains to be seen whether it will work as a title, however.

And now my latest dilemma is to find a title for my current work – a romantic suspense.  This has lived – untitled – in my mind for so long that naming it now seems almost wrong!  But name it I must.  So I put on my oversized thinking cap and went to work.  The moment I stopped toying with ideas, one popped into my head.  ‘In Loving Hate’.  Now, why I had been thinking of Romeo and Juliet at that moment, I have no idea.  So I asked my chief critic and mentor (my son) what he thought of it – and he told me in his delightfully honest way.  ‘Don’t like it.  Too commercial and common.  It lacks sophistication.’  Well, I wonder how William would feel about that?  I asked my good friend and fellow writer, Deb what she thought and this was her response: 'I LOVE the title!!! It's short and powerful, intriguing, and catches the reader's attention.  And it has a Shakespeare connection'. Hmm...

So here is my question to any readers kind enough to respond.  To be or not to be: ‘In Loving Hate’?  

Oh, and if you have a secret for coming up with great titles, please share it!