With Love (From Me to You): 3 for 1 Valentine's Special

I’ve received a number of queries from readers wanting to know if and when I plan to re-release my contemporary romance box set, With Love.  Well the good news is, I’ve decided to do another limited release for this Valentine’s Day at a special low price – three books for the price of one.  But it will only be available at this price for one week.

Click cover for free download

What’s more, I’ve replaced my award-winning romance The Apple Tree  - since this is now available free from Amazon and other retailers - with one of my personal favourite stories, The Nightclub, a contemporary romance laced with suspense.

The Nightclub concerns two stepsisters on the run from a bad home situation.  The older, Laura does her utmost to support herself and her younger sister (who dreams of being a famous singer) and keep a roof over their heads, but finds this far from easy in London.  In desperation she accepts a job as a hostess in a nightclub to earn extra cash.

The nightclub is Ferriby’s, which was once one of London’s top entertainment venues, but since the death of Guy Ferriby, has deteriorated in his brother Mel’s hands.  Now Mel needs to lie low for a while and persuades the youngest Ferriby brother, Julian to take temporary charge of the club.  As Julian strives to restore the club to its former glory, he begins to learn the extent of the problems he has inherited – problems that place him, his club, his new hostess, Laura and her younger sister, Bibi in extreme danger.

The other two contemporary romances in the set are the bestselling Wishful Thinking and also Shopping for Love.

A struggling single mother and a pop-icon turned Hollywood star meet in unusual circumstances. Fate drew them together but the intrigue and trappings of stardom threaten to unravel love's ties.

They shop for others out of kindness and naturally fall in love; but he is still raw from his painful divorce and she is his children's teacher.  Add to the mix a spiteful ex-wife and scheming ex-boyfriend and love may have too high a price tag.

For more information on these and all my titles, or to read excerpts from the stories, please visit my website: http://lynettesofras.com/

The above books can still be purchased individually, but why not take advantage of this special offer, this week only - With Love, from me to you.

Is 'Freebie' a Dirty Word?

These days I seem to be inundated with lists offering me free books.  Often I don’t have time to look at these, but sometimes I do and occasionally might come across a new book or author that interests me.  And I’m very grateful.  My free downloads are sparing, however, and I never download a book until I’ve read the description and taken a peek inside to make sure the writing style appeals.  Life’s too short to waste it reading uninteresting or badly written books, and let’s face it, there are plenty of those out there.

I know the blood, sweat and tears that go into producing a marketable novel and for an author to then

make his or her work free is a kind and generous act, so when I’ve finished reading a free book, I try to show my appreciation by leaving a review.  My reviews are almost invariably positive, because I don’t download books I’m likely to hate.  I see reviews as showing appreciation to the author and hopefully a helpful tool for future readers.

Perma-free 'The Apple Tree'

As an author, I’ve also made my books free and in fact over the years have given away thousands of copies – I even have one book set permanently free.  What happens to those downloads is a mystery, because I rarely receive much feedback in the form of reviews as a result of these freebies.  Like all authors, I give away my stories in the hope of reaching new readers and bringing them a little bit of pleasure.  The only way I know if a reader has actually read my book is if she or he makes contact or leaves a review.  And like all authors, I know the value of reviews.  Good and bad.

It seems to me there is a growing breed of people who spend their time downloading freebies just for the sake of it.  Whenever I make a book free, downloads go through the roof.  What happens to the book then is a mystery.

Except, of course, for those people who love to complain because you’ve inflicted a free gift on them that isn’t to their liking.  Last year I participated in producing a compilation of excerpts with fourteen other authors.  Apart from giving samples of our Cinderella-themed stories, we also included recipes, party games and such.  Although we couldn’t have made it any clearer that this was a sampler, the complaints poured in from readers who felt cheated because the freebie contained only excerpts and not complete stories.  Clearly there are people out there who expect everything for free – in this case fifteen complete novels in one set. 

So why do we authors continue to punish ourselves by giving away our hard work?  Have we brought this sorry state of affairs upon ourselves?  Have we made ‘freebie’ a dirty word?

Award-winning #Romance. New cover. New low price from @ManicScribbler #MRFWAuthor

Revamped and re-launched, The Apple Tree is my first contemporary romance, which won a writing award and publishing contract from Prism Book Group (formerly Inspired Romance Novels) at the end of 2011.


It's now available again from Amazon at a special low price of $0.99 or £0.99.



Here's what some readers said recently in their 5* reviews:

"It is a fantastic read! Reminded me somewhat of a Danielle Steele novel"

"I thoroughly enjoyed this book, it held my interest and loved the characters, would highly recommend"

"I highly recommend this soul searching novel"

"I loved the characters in this book. I cheered for each of them. Lynette Sofras had me on a roller coaster ride with them, and the heart-stopping trip was worth it"

The Apple Tree

Escaping from your past is never easy, as junior hospital doctor Juliet discovers when she tries to start afresh, leaving both her marriage and her career behind.

Love blossoms rapidly when she meets the mysterious and forthright Nicholas, who seems to herald the new beginning she craves.  But Nicholas isn't quite what he seems—and also holds strong views on the subject of marriage that she fails to take seriously.

The past quickly dissolves into insignificance as their all-consuming romance propels them forward, but Juliet has to learn the price of happiness in the cruellest way possible.  Will she be able to tackle the painful roots of her past in order for her future to grow strong and healthy?

Buy The Apple Tree from Amazon

To read an excerpt on my website

Valentine Special Offer: 'With Love' - 3 heart-melting romances

When I produced my boxed set of three contemporary romances, my intention was to make this special officer set available for two limited 2-3 week periods around Christmas and Valentine's Day. The set is now available once again until February 21st only.

For $3.99 plus VAT—that's less than half the price of the three individual books—you can buy all three heart-melting romances during the first three weeks of February.




The individual stories are:

The Apple Tree - Prism Book Group's Grand Prize Winner of 2011

A disaffected young hospital doctor mistakes a successful businessman for a gardener and an unlikely love blossoms.  

But she has a past she wants to forget and he lives by strong principles of truth which drive them on separate, painful journeys of self-discovery. 

Wishful Thinking - Amazon UK's #1 seller in 2012

A struggling single mother and a pop-icon turned Hollywood star meet in unusual circumstances. 
Fate drew them together but the intrigue and trappings of stardom threaten to unravel love's ties.








Shopping for Love

They shop for others out of kindness and naturally fall in love; but he is still raw from his painful divorce and she is his children's teacher.  
Add to the mix a spiteful ex-wife and scheming ex-boyfriend and love may have too high a price tag.


Click on any of the covers to take you to Amazon (US) or any of the links below for more information about each story:

Amazon UK 
Amazon US
My Website

Happy Valentine's Day to all my readers!

Prism's Birthday Blog Hop

I first became a published author in 2011, when Prism Book Group (at that time called Inspired Romance) selected my contemporary romance The Apple Tree as its inaugural contest winner and expressed an interest in publishing it.  You can't imagine how thrilled I was!  I worked closely with Prism's wonderful editor, Joan Alley, and the book quickly took shape - albeit in a slightly Americanised way!   Since then, I've gone on to publish six more novels and have, as the old cliché goes, never looked back.  So thank you, Prism—your special celebration is mine too!

This week Prism Book Group is celebrating its third birthday and I'm delighted to be part of those celebrations, not least to say thank you to them for starting me off on my own writing journey.  The party runs from September 20th to 23rd and includes some great giveaways, including a $100 gift card. There are also lots of scrummy dessert recipes donated by all the Prism authors. All you have to do is follow the blog hop.  For my own prize, I'm offering a copy of The Apple Tree (or one of my other titles if preferred) as an e-book. Just leave a comment and your email address at the end of this post, telling me which book you'd like to read.

Be sure to sign up with the Rafflecopter to be entered to win the $100 gift card.

Now for my own recipe, which is very special.

In my contemporary romance Shopping for Love, Emma is renowned for her chocolate mud cakes - a secret recipe handed to her from an aunt.  Her best friend, Jenny loves them and begs for the recipe, but Emma promised her aunt she'd keep it a secret.

The recipe I had in mind when writing this story was one that was similarly entrusted to me, but, unlike Emma, I've decided to share it with you for Prism's birthday bash. It's easy, it's fool proof (i.e. very forgiving if you don't quite get the quantities right) and it's absolutely yummy!


EMMA'S AUNT'S SECRET MUD CAKE RECIPE

Into large bowl put
2 cups unsalted butter
150 g dark cooking chocolate
2 cups caster sugar
1 tablespoon coffee powder
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup water and 1/3 cup of orange juice - or if you're feeling really decadent, substitute whisky (as recommended by Emma's aunt).

Melt in microwave and stir until really smooth and glossy.  (About 4 or 5 minutes).
To the mix add
1/3 cup self-raising flour
1 ½ cups plain flour
1/3 cup cocoa
2 eggs.

Mix well and pour into 7 or 8 inch round tin.
Cook on about 320˚F (160˚C) for 1½ - 2 hours (or until the skewer comes out clean)
Brush with a little milk while still warm and in the tin.
Tip out after about 10 minutes onto its head and then put back on its base on flat board or plate.

Now, it's great to eat this as it is, but for extra yumminess, make a ganache icing by melting chocolate and cream (dark or milk chocolate; using a little less cream than chocolate - but the measurements don't need to be exact).  Stir well to create a nice, glossy look.  Drizzle the ganache over the cake or serve in separate bowls with strawberries and whipped cream.

Don't forget to sign up with the Rafflecopter

a Rafflecopter giveaway

and also visit the other great blogs for more giveaways and more lovely recipes - just click on the links below.  (All participating author links can be accessed via the first link).

Prism Book Group 

Jacqueline Hopper

Gay N. Lewis

Kim McMahill

Lynn Lovegreen

Georgina Sellwood

Penelope Marzec

Bonnie McClune

Paula Mowery

Linda Carroll-Bradd

Kimberly B. Jackson

Victoria Pitts Caine

Karen Cogan

Mary L. Ball

To check out my novels and decide which one you would like, just click on either of the following links:

My Website

 Amazon Author Page

and don't forget to visit Prism's website to learn about all the great titles on offer.

Prism Book Group

Now just enjoy the Birthday Hop!

Authors in Bloom Blog Hop - Lynette Sofras has TWO Romances for You to Claim

I'm no gardener - I'll own up to that from the start - I've tried to grow my own vegetables but simply ended up making my garden resemble a scene from The Day of the Triffids (probably because of over-fertilisation) but yielding very few edible vegetables.  Living in an early Victorian cottage, I yearn to have a typical cottage garden filled with pretty flowers and, most importantly, lots of herbs, and with these I have been a little bit more successful.

For my Authors in Bloom contribution, here are my six golden rules gleaned from years of trial and error and an extra tip for preserving your herbs once grown.

1)  Be ultra careful when buying herbs from garden centres; in my experience it's better (and more rewarding) to grow them from seed.  Having an array of herbs in pots on the kitchen windowsill is very satisfying for aspiring chefs.

2)  Pay attention to the directions on the seed packs regarding spacing requirements.  It can be fiddly handling tiny seeds but never crowd them

3)  Keep them well-watered but don't allow them to stand in water for too long.  Good drainage is essential for healthy roots.

4)  Move the pots around regularly for even light-distribution.

5)  Never overfeed (I've lost so many that way, mistakenly believing they'll grow better if well-fed).  In fact herbs will grow well in relatively poor soil conditions.

6)  Don't be tempted to harvest the leaves too early.  Allow them to grow up to 8 inches and strip leaves sparingly.  Then wait for regrowth before snipping more.  For the herbs you use most frequently, grow extra pots.

Top Tip:  If you want dried herbs - a brilliant way to dry them quickly is to cut them and spread them onto newspaper on a sunny window ledge or in the back of the car on a sunny day.  Close all the windows and they'll be dry in no time - leaving your car deliciously aromatic at the same time.  

My heroine, Juliet in my giveaway novel The Apple Tree (winner of Inspired Romance's inaugural writing competition) has, like me, very little knowledge about gardening and plants.  When she visits the gardening centre owned by an old family friend, she meets Nicholas and immediately mistakes him for a gardener.  This is something Nicholas, if only the demands of big business permitted, would happily embrace.  The misunderstanding is soon cleared up, however, but Nicholas' love of gardens is certainly one of the reasons Juliet falls in love with him.

Here is the blurb for Giveaway One: The Apple Tree.

Escaping from your past is never easy, as young hospital doctor Juliet discovers when she tries to start afresh, leaving both her marriage and her career behind.  Love blossoms rapidly when she meets the mysterious and forthright Nicholas, who seems to herald the new beginning she craves.  

The past quickly dissolves into insignificance as their all-consuming romance propels them forward but Juliet has to learn the price of happiness in the cruellest way possible.  Will she be able face the painful roots of her past in order for her future to grow strong and healthy?


Giveaway 2:  Shopping for Love

Now when it comes to cooking, I know much more, believe me.  I love nothing better than experimenting with exotic cuisine and frequently globetrot in my kitchen.  In my second giveaway novel Shopping for Love, my lovely hero Greg fancies himself as a bit of a Gordon Ramsay in the kitchen.  In this excerpt he prepares a Thai fish meal for Emma.

He handed her a glass of chilled wine and she leaned against the tall fridge sipping it as she watched him busy himself with a wok and bamboo steamer.  “I feel guilty just standing here.  Can I help?”

“You already are.  Just by decorating my kitchen, making eye candy – it’s almost ready, anyway,” he told her with a grin. “It’s all in the prep, you see.”

He had steamed the fish over banana leaves in a bamboo basket and poured sizzling sesame oil over it at the last minute.  It was accompanied by little bowls of perfectly cooked rice and vegetables and Emma was almost too impressed to think about eating.

“This is wonderful.  Where on earth did you find fresh banana leaves?” She asked peering into the bamboo steamer in the centre of the table.

“Oh you’d be amazed at what  wonderful things you can pick up in supermarkets these days,” he said with a knowing wink which reduced Emma to helpless laughter for some time until he apologised and ordered her to begin eating, which she did, accompanied by appreciative sound-effects.

“How can a man who cooks like this possibly be divorced?” she asked at length.

Greg laughed, genuinely amused.  “Spoken like a true foodie.  But, you know, it takes more than culinary skills to make a marriage work.”

“Not for me, it wouldn’t,” Emma said with a smile, transferring more of the succulent white flesh from the sea bass onto her plate before coaxing it between her chopsticks.  “If I could eat like this every day, I would ask for nothing more in life.”  She paused before bringing any more of the food to her mouth.  “Would it be out of order for me to ask what happened?”

If you'd like to win either of these books in any e-book format, simply leave a comment or answer the following question and don't forget to leave your email address and say which book you'd prefer to win.

Recent research claims that the smell of the herb rosemary can help what?  (Hint - Shakespeare had a fair idea about this 400 years ago - so it's hardly new research!)

For more information about any of my books, please click on any of the following links:

Amazon (US) 

Amazon (UK)

Website

Don't forget to visit other authors on the  Authors in Bloom list for your chance to win an e-reader and $25 worth of books. 

Manic Scribbler's A-Z Challenge - A is for Apple

A is for Apple

Well duh, who doesn't know the significant role apples have played in the greatest love stories of all time?  Ancient mythologies and folklore, The Bible, Shakespeare, fairy-tales and arguably the most romantic film ever, Sleepless in Seattle have all featured apples.  You remember that poignant moment in Sleepless, when Jonah worries that he'll forget his mommy and his father tells him "She could peel an apple in one long, curly strip.  The whole apple."  Then later, Annie (Meg Ryan) hears Sam (Tom Hanks) on the radio and I'm willing that apple peel not to break as she listens to - but here, see for yourself:

In literature and in life, apples symbolise love.

So maybe that's why I chose to call my first published novel The Apple Tree.  One grows in Juliet's garden and when she begins to feel stirrings of love for Nicholas (whom she mistakes for a gardener) she suddenly realises how important that old tree is to her.

Julie watched him deftly pulling away grass and weeds to let the delicate blue heads find the spring sunlight and thought, he is a gardener...no matter what else he might also be...first and foremost, he is a gardener.  But he handles these tiny flowers with all the reverence of an artist or even as if he created them himself.  She wondered if his earlier deprivation had been responsible for his love of gardens and flowers.  She leaned back against a mossy trunk to give him space to work and to watch him admiringly and soon became preoccupied with her own thoughts.  When he had finished, he looked around as if to seek her approval and smiled at her.

“When you begin work on our garden, will you promise to be as kind to our old apple tree?”  A sudden feeling of sentimentality overwhelmed her.

He smiled down at her.  “Given a half-way reasonable defence, I expect I could be persuaded, though as a physician you must know that it’s not a healthy tree.”

“Isn’t it?  No, I didn’t know that.”  The thought filled her with alarm.

“Would you like to outline its medical history?”

All of a sudden, the future of the old apple tree became very important to Julie.  “It’s where all the important things of my early life happened.  I took my first steps under its branches and it was where my mother used to love to sit and read.  I always knew I would find her there if nowhere else.  She made me a swing from one of its branches and I loved that swing.  And apart from everything else, it’s got something to do with today just feeling so special.”

“Say no more!  I never harm sacred property,” he promised.

With love and - that first kiss...

Photo credit: Thomas Hawk via photo pin cc

As romance writers, that first kiss is one of the major milestones we build up to in our stories and it's what romance readers expect and look forward to.  It has to be written sensitively, convincingly and sexily to be a satisfying experience for the reader and, if I'm honest, it's not something I'm entirely comfortable about writing.

How many different ways can that first kiss be written and still sound original and convincing?  These days I often feel when reading that the kiss is just a preliminary to the more important business of the sex act.  The slow build up is no longer acceptable to many modern readers because in Soaps and films two people no sooner meet and like each other than they are in bed and declaring undying love and even, in that post-coital haze, contemplating marriage…followed almost immediately by a cold blast of reality. 

This isn't for me because as I've said all too often, I prefer to leave the bedroom door closed and let my lovers get on with the fun bits without my help.  But the kiss is my responsibility and I fret over it like a mother hen with her chicks.  It's so important to get it right that sometimes (I now realise) I cheat and overwork it or simply work around it.  The one thing I do know is that it shouldn't be formulaic, that every first kiss in every story needs to make the reader go "aahhh" and remain memorable.

Photo credit: violet.blue via photo pin cc

They say all women remember their first boyfriend, their first date, their first kiss, their first…well you get my drift.  They don't necessarily all involve the same person - they certainly didn't with me.  My first proper kiss was incredibly awkward and clumsy because I had no idea what to do.  I'd seen chaste kisses and people apparently giving each other tonsillectomies in films - but, at 15, no one had taught me the right way to kiss.  Consequently I probably behaved like Doris Day's maiden aunt.  I know I didn't particularly enjoy the experience and decided to leave it a while before repeating it.  Just as well really, because I never heard from the boy again.

There is one kiss which happened about ten years later that became my yardstick for the perfect first kiss and when I feel that first kiss scene posing difficulties, I remind myself of the sheer romance surrounding this particular milestone in my life and try to inject a little of that magic into the scene.  I can't claim always to succeed, however.

In my first story, 'The Apple Tree', I certainly didn't do Juliet any favours when the gorgeous Nicholas first kissed her.  It should have been wonderful.  She had been wanting it and willing it to happen but, as usual, misread the signs and turned the moment into something awkward and embarrassing, so that it passed almost without her comprehension and she was left to relive it in her memory later to truly appreciate the moment.  She provided me with the excuse to gloss over the occasion rather quickly.

"And before she could open her mouth too far to protest, his lips found hers and invited them into an altogether more pleasurable occupation.  Her resolve melted in an instant at the touch of his softly sensuous mouth, though not before the thought had crossed her mind that the fragment of poetry he had just quoted had, coincidentally, come from Shakespeare."

I can't say I'm especially proud of that kiss and in future blog posts, I thought I'd reveal how my first kisses progress through my subsequent novels (and I like to think they do), I'd love to hear what you remember of your first kiss or how you go about dealing with this romantic moment in your writing.  Is it painful, or purely pleasurable?

With  ♥ and xxx 

Six Sentence Sunday

Welcome to this week’s Six Sentence Sunday where I choose six sentences from one of my books. This weekend (since it’s available FREE on Amazon today and because today is also my birthday) I’m offering a little snippet from my debut contemporary romance The Apple Tree, which was the the Grand Prize Winner of Inspired Romance Novels' 2011 Writing Contest. 

The Apple Tree

Their eyes met for an instant but he was guarded, his mask of indifference firmly back in place.  He shrugged and looked off into the distance as they began to walk back to the cemetery gate along one of the narrow gravel paths between the rows of graves, many of which were adorned with huge flowers in their many autumnal shades of rust and yellow. 

"It’s nothing," he replied dismissively and they walked the rest of the way in silence, leaving Julie wrestling with her emotions.  She wanted to shout, but it is! It is!  How can I bear your kindness when I know you have such a low opinion of me?  

I hope you'll support me and download your FREE copy of The Apple Tree today.  This is available from:

UK: http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Apple-Tree-ebook/dp/B006MGDABW/ref=pd_sim_kinc_1

US: http://www.amazon.com/The-Apple-Tree-ebook/dp/B006MGDABW/ref=pd_rhf_gw_p_img_1

Check out other participating blogs here

The Apple Tree - Free Download This Weekend

My publisher is giving away copies of my first contemporary romance, 'The Apple Tree' on Amazon this weekend.

Amazon UK
Amazon.com

Here is an except from Chapter 5 of this prize-winning romance.

She gazed at a street lamp in front of her, watching the moths jostling for position as they flapped round and round.  She thought Nicholas was like that light, attracting all the moth-like creatures, the Annabels, the Clarissas, the Livvies and probably many more, all irresistibly drawn to his lovely flame.  He could have married any one of them and made the same mistake as her.  Had he always been entirely truthful with them all?  Had he never come close to feeling that intensity of emotion he seemed to have shared with her, close enough at least to have wrong-footed somewhere en route?  Could he really know himself so well and be so perfect?  Robert certainly thought so.  He made him sound like a saint.  Saint Nicholas—no, sorry, got one of those already—and he was a do-gooder too!

Some ten or fifteen minutes must have passed and Julie wondered if Livvie and Nicholas had finished ‘catching up’ and whether Nicholas had been left with sufficient strength to have maneuvered her car from the drive without further damage to either it or the van.  Damage her insurance company would now have to sort out for her.

“There you are!” he exclaimed from a point close behind her.  “I’ve seen to your car for you.”

“And Livvie too, I trust?”

He actually managed the merest flicker of a smile, if it wasn’t just a tic in his cheek, that is.  Livvie’s ‘catching up’ must have been very therapeutic, Julie thought.

“She’s an old friend,” he explained dismissively, to no-one in particular.

But not very old, Julie thought.  Then she caught her breath as Nicholas came to sit on the bench beside her.  At last he was coming to his senses!

“Can I ask you one question, Julie?  Was it because you thought I was a simple gardener that you felt you had free license to trample on my feelings?”

She groaned.  “Oh Nicholas, you know that isn’t true.”

“Then it seems I know very little,” he replied dryly.  “I suggest you go home now before you freeze to death.”

She jumped up from the bench, her feet, in their light, strappy sandals smarting with the cold as she planted them solidly in front of him and gazed down at him.  “My marriage was over long before I met you.  It was a mistake that should never have happened.  I was ashamed of it.  It was like my career in a way.  Passing your exams doesn’t automatically make you a good doctor in exactly the same way that signing a book in a registry office doesn’t automatically mean that you’ll have a good marriage, or even a proper one!  Simon and I were never really husband and wife, we were just good friends.”

“Simon?”  He nodded and repeated the name in a voice heavy with sarcasm.  “Simple Simon?  Simply making mistakes?”

Julie knew he was referring to her observation that sometimes people simply made mistakes in their choice of marriage partners, so the insult was double-edged.  “You have no right to insult him.” she reproached quietly.

“No, of course not.  He’s your husband.”

“No, Nicholas.  Not anymore, but he is my friend.”

“Really?  That’s what I thought I was.  It seems you treat all your friends the same way.  Badly!  In my book, friends don’t cheat and lie.  You should have told me instead of deliberately letting me believe you were someone…something else”

“How could I, knowing your views?  I grew too attached to you.”

“All the more reason for telling the truth, don’t you think?”

“But I couldn’t bear to risk losing what we had.”

“We could never have anything built on a foundation of lies.  If I asked your husband, would he tell me you were never really his wife?  Would he betray you the way you betrayed him?  Do you hate all men, Julie?  Or is it that you simply don’t know the difference between right and wrong, or the truth and lying?”

She was as wounded by his tone as much as his words but still pressed on, her voice little more than a shaky whisper.  “I don’t hate you, Nicholas.  I love you.” 

“I’ll leave your keys on the bench.”  His voice sounded icy.

She backed away a pace and stared down at her feet in misery.  Was there nothing she could say to move this man with whom she had shared so much love?  Had she really damaged their relationship so irrevocably?  How could he have changed so much, her tender lover?  Had she done that to him?

She wanted a glimpse of the old Nicholas to reassure herself that he had existed and she hadn’t dreamed him up.  This cold, hard stranger bore no resemblance to him. 

When she raised her head, Nicholas was no longer there.  She had told him she loved him and he had simply walked away.  How much more humiliation could she take?

Is My Sweet Romance Too Dirty?

Stick with Ted until you're wed?

-  I like it when books leave it to your imagination as to what goes on between the sheets or in the privacy of one's home - that's what relationships are - private - and should stay that way, so congratulations on keeping the book clean and sensitive. Amazon.co.uk review

-  This is a clean read no sex (just reference to) and no swearing!  Amazon.com review

It seems a little ironic that after my last post ‘Is My Romance too Sweet for You?’ (see below), I should now be asking if my ‘sweet’ (and I’m still mildly uncomfortable with the term) romance is clean or…well whatever the opposite is – dirty, I presume?  Can a sweet romance be dirty?  That sounds like a contradiction in terms – an oxymoron, even.  Either way, it seems I have been deluded in glibly thinking that I write ‘clean’ romance!

But that is what I stand accused of now!  You can imagine how surprised I was to receive an email this week from a reviewer who claimed she was unable to finish reading The Apple Tree because, effectively, it was not ‘clean enough’ for her tastes!  My disappointment, I hasten to add, was short-lived.  Since it took her more than four months to make her monumental decision, it was hardly at the forefront of my mind. However her comment did shock me and make me wonder, yet again, about romance sub-genres and whether we poor writers will ever be able to please all of our readers all of the time.

The two reviews quoted above both relate to The Apple Tree and both clearly refer to it as being ‘clean’.  A little research into the first reviewer shows her (or him) to be a discerning reader while the second is a reputable reviewer.  Could they have got it wrong?  How many more classifications can the ‘sweet’ sub-genre be broken down into?

A look at another romance writer’s blog was extremely helpful.  In her delightful blog (http://Sweetnotspicy.blogspot.com), Morgan Mandel describes Sweet as showing attraction between the sexes but with intimate contact being limited to sweet kisses, while Sweet Discreet allows implied but not detailed sex between the hero and heroine. This must be “either understood to be behind closed doors; or, if it's mentioned in the here and now, no graphic and/or overly long details dwelling on body organs and body responses.”  Morgan’s definition is extremely useful and it places The Apple Tree very cleanly (sorry!) in the Sweet Discreet category.  But is this a category universally understood by readers, writers and, indeed everyone else?

The condemning of my novel to some unclean category also raised another question in my mind.  Am I being hypocritical in allowing my characters to have sex, but refusing to describe it?  As discussed previously, it's a conscious decision not to describe their intimacy, but should I also refuse its existence?  Hmm.  

In The Apple Tree my heroine is on the threshold of her twenty-seventh birthday; she has already been married and is a doctor, to boot.  The hero is at least the same age, possibly even in his early thirties, absolutely gorgeous, eligible and with girls falling at his feet on every street corner.  Would it be realistic for these healthy heterosexuals, with no religious or cultural constraints, to resist their powerful sexual attraction for each other until after they are married – i.e. throughout the course of the entire novel, especially when their two best friends are living together quite openly?  

I would love to know what other romance writers feel about this and I would especially love to hear from readers of romance – after all, they are the ones whose preferences really count in such matters.

What a Difference a Day Makes...

Well it all happened so suddenly!  One minute I was having a whinge about the traumas of self-publishing and the next I was receiving a contract offer from a publisher for my debut novel ‘The Apple Tree’.  How did that happen?  Well, promise you won’t laugh…?

Being a newbie to this publishing game, I started approaching review blogs asking them very politely if they would like to review my new contemporary romance – I touched upon that briefly in a former blog.  One of these ‘blogs’ turned out to be a site for a start-up publisher called ‘Inspired Romance Novels’.  A lovely lady named Joan agreed to accept my submission and read it.  Trust me to get it wrong, but who cares?  Joan liked the novel and offered me a contract!

Not only that but, by submitting to her site, I had unwittingly entered my novel into her ‘kick-off romance writing competition’ – which I subsequently won!  Since then the wonderful Joan has worked painstakingly with me to help me revamp my novel, find just the right cover art and prepare for its re-launch.

I’ve been so inspired and excited that I churned out my next novel in record time – true the idea was fully-formed in my mind – but ‘In Loving Hate’ (title still open to debate, by the way) was so much easier to write after that little confidence boost.

What I want to say to shy new writers (like me) is have faith in yourself.  Approach the review blogs after first making sure that your work fits their wanted list and don’t give up hope.  Joan was my fairy godmother – I hope you will find yours!

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!

The Apple Tree and Bound to the Prince

 

[Please see previous blog entry]

The Apple Tree by Lynette Sofras is a contemporary romance of approximately 58,000 words

Escaping from your past is never easy, as young hospital doctor Juliet discovers when she tries to start afresh, leaving both her marriage and her career behind.  Love blossoms rapidly when she meets the mysterious and forthright gardener, Nicholas, who seems to herald the new beginning she craves.  The past quickly dissolves into insignificance as their all-consuming romance propels them forward but Juliet has to learn the price of happiness in the cruellest way possible.  Will she be able face the painful roots of her past in order for her future to grow strong and healthy?

Bound to the Prince by Deborah Court is a fantasy/erotic romance of approximately 100,000 words

Once a proud warrior, elven prince Elathan is living in exile, fallen from grace and separated from his own people. When he beholds a compelling mortal woman on a London bridge one night, he hunts her down and abducts her to be his slave of pleasure. Bound by magic and desire, Igraine Chandler finds herself in a world beyond her wildest dreams, fighting at her prince's side to reclaim his throne.

Feeding the Mechanical Cannibal

Friends always seem interested in the types of writing I get asked to do as a freelance writer and always ask me what I’ve been working on.  The short answer to their question is ‘anything and everything’ because there is not a single topic about which you can’t find some information on the internet – and all that information has to written by someone like me.

Every article needs to be informative and as accurate as possible (although I’m only too well aware that is not always the case with everything you read on the World Wide Web).  Needless to say, my knowledge is not encyclopaedic (if it only were, I would be applying as an understudy for the legendary Stephen Fry!) and of course worthwhile articles require painstaking research to give them any commercial value at all.  That, of course, means that I spend most of my day browsing the internet, sifting through the billions of words in search of reliable, verifiable facts.

I have two visions of the internet: one as something vaguely incestuous with interrelated links like a massively extended Eastenders family; and the other like a gigantic mechanical cannibal as it constantly feeds off its own kind, regurgitating the same information to be re-devoured and regurgitated in a slightly different way in order to evade accusations of plagiarism.  There are numerous devices available to check for copyright infringements, but after a few years of writing articles it become easy to trace these back to their source through their sometimes tortuous literary umbilical cords.  I have seen my own material re-created in this way and no longer feel indignant about what at school was once called ‘cheating’ but which has now become standard internet practice.  After all, it’s only words, and the spirit of the internet is to make knowledge accessible, which can only be a good thing.

Still, it does make general article-writing pall after a while.  Thinking up new things to say on a subject becomes more and more difficult as the internet expands at such a fast and mind-boggling rate.  Do we need one more article parroting the same information on this over-burdened super highway?  This is one of the reasons I have moved slightly sideways into editing and am finding this much more satisfying.

Most interesting of all is editing creative work.  With the growing popularity of ebooks, more and more writers are taking advantage of this platform to self-publish.  They say everyone has a book in them and just a quick glance at Amazon’s Kindle store seems to corroborate this urban myth.  However the internet also encourages brutal honesty and readers will write reviews telling you exactly what they think and one thing readers definitely dislike is reading a book with glaring errors of grammar, punctuation, syntax etc.  And this is where I come in.

I feel truly privileged to work with really creative people and help them to realise their ideas by tidying up a well-crafted story so that it flows properly and does not hinder its readers’ enjoyment of the narrative.  With my own aspirations to be a published writer, I can honestly say that this is a dream job – only one step away from enjoying success in my own right (or should I say write?)

Creativity and ambition are infectious too, it seems.  One particular writer for whom I edited an ebook quickly became a very good friend who began to encourage me in my own writing endeavours in a positive and helpful way.  The result was that within a week, thanks entirely to her, I published my first ebook on Kindle and that was a truly thrilling event for me!  It was something I had simply not considered for myself before.  The short blog to follow this will contain brief descriptions and links to both Deb’s debut novel (Bound to the Prince) and my own (The Apple Tree) and I would be equally thrilled if you chose to read either of them, as one shows my editing skills and one my writing.