No, stop, don't roll your eyes. Don't click on to your next blog stop. This isn't yet more about the making of covers or about my covers, this is a HEADS-UP that the 2007 Cover Cafe Best Cover voting is open. (This is the one that used to be on All About Romance.) I have oohed and aahed over the beautiful covers; I have wrinkled my nose at the ones I think a bit meh; and I've looked at the "worst cover" category and felt for the authors who had no say while also thinking, I've seen plenty worse.

Toughest category to pick my favourite: Alternate Reality. Also contemporary single title had a couple I really loved and found hard to pick between.

Slightly disappointed that the series (category romance) is top-heavy in non-peopled covers. Not saying they're not gorgeous covers, just that I'd have liked to see some variety which included, for example, a gorgeous traditional romantic cover a la Harlequin Romance. I was also going to say, and a Desire (who me, biased?), but after a quick hunt I couldn't find one from 07 that I loved. Same quick hunt revealed these enticing examples from Harlequin Romance without breaking a sweat.

Guess I'm a bit of a fan of the traditional couples after all. :-)

Labels: covers, other blogs

In case you haven't heard enough about this book yet, this review just in from Debby at Cataromance.

Misconceptions, and undeniable passion rule the pages in Bronwyn Jameson's Tycoon's One-Night Revenge.

After a brutal attack, Donovan Keane lost his memory of several crucial days. Now, months later he has pieced together the missing time. He knows he spent a weekend with Susannah Horton and afterwards lost a major deal to her fiancee. He is sure she spent that weekend with him to ensure her fiance's success. Since the final papers have not been signed as yet, Van resolves to arrange a night where he can have Susannah again and ruin the deal and her engagement as well.

Bronwyn Jameson's talent as a writer shines from the pages of Tycoon's One-Night Revenge as heat becomes flames and fascination keeps us glued to the pages to see if love or pride wins.

Read the full review.

Labels: Cataromance, reviews, Tycoon's One-Night Revenge

There's a fabulous post at Liz Fielding's blog by a freelance artist who does cover work for Harlequin. I linked to another by the same artist at Pink Heart Society a few months back, but if you missed that one and are interested in the process of how a cover comes into being, go take a look.

Labels: covers, other blogs

This week at Diamonds Down Under, we have a Q&A with Desire editor Diana Ventimiglia. If you're interested in writing for the line, this is a don't miss opportunity to hear what the ed's are looking for AND -- special bonus! -- to go in the draw to win a critique. If you're a reader, there is a terrific book pack gioveaway instead.

Labels: giveaway, other blogs, Silhouette Desire, writing tips

A writing course, a whole week, in Tuscany. Sigh. It's like my idea of bliss. Excuse me while I drift off to daydream a while about courtyards and picnics and Italian food and Alpine views and, oh yes, a little writing as well. I will not daydream about the complete unfeasability of distance and cost and suchlike. Sigh.

Labels: other blogs, writing retreat

Have I mentioned lately that I have a book out? And that you should buy it? :-)

In case you're wondering if it's your cup of tea or not, here's a review just in from The Romance Readers Connection. Deborah Hosey does a brill. job summarising the story setup.

"After a brutal mugging, millionaire businessman Donovan Keane doesn't remember the weekend he'd just spent with Susannah Horton. He has pieced together the details and he's convinced that she sabotaged his bid for The Palisades hotel he desperately wants. Susannah never heard from Van after that weekend despite the promises he made, so she got on with her life and accepted a friend's marriage proposal when he agreed to bail her business out of financial trouble. Van's summoned her to get to the nitty gritty of what went wrong with their original deal, and though he might not remember their passionate weekend, he can easily imagine taking the lovely Susannah to his bed. Now that she's engaged and The Palisades Hotel is part of the marriage contract, there's only one thing to do: keep Susannah with him and somehow stop the wedding...and try not to lose his heart once again.

TYCOON'S ONE-NIGHT REVENGE is an intense and entertaining read. It combines an amnesia plot, sexual tension, the beauty of Tasmania, and an already-familiar set up from Jameson's Princes of the Outback trilogy to make it a must-read Silhouette Desire. Bronwyn Jameson always provides compelling reading, and TYCOON'S ONE-NIGHT REVENGE is this and more!"

End of shameless self-promotion.

Labels: Princes of the Outback, reviews, Tycoon's One-Night Revenge

An hour of Mariah Carey songs? Oh, boy. I almost didn't watch. I thought, geez this is almost enough that MJ might be glad to be gone. (JK.) I can't quite see him doing Mariah Carey, but then I couldn't imagine David Cook or Jason either and look what they did! Yep, I was pleasantly surprised because, as you may have guessed, Mariah's songs are not amongst my favourites and I expected train wreckage. Not so. They all did pretty good and I've just realised that its not the songs I dislike. Who knew? So, my favourite tonight: David Cook, hands down.

Labels: American Idol

We have a winner in my giveaway of the HM&B Mother's Day pack and that winner is...

squiresj

Congratulations! With over a hundred comments to go into my barrel of numbers that was a most lucky draw. Please email me at the contact address up the top right of this page with your address and I will send your prize pack. I think there are 8 books in all so a lovely early Mother's Day gift for you or for your mother.

Labels: giveaway, winner

In the comments to my last post about cover art, Dena asked how I felt about my covers and whether they'd been true likenesses to my characters. (She didn't ask that exactly, but her comment led me to that question.) I decided to put my 14 covers to date into one image and in the long, fiddly process--graphic artist, I am not!--thought about that question.


I haven't had any real shockers, in terms of wrong hair colour etc although when I analyse them one by one I see how few matched the image in my head. My first cover, In Bed With The Boss's Daughter, is still one of my favourite covers even though the cover model is too elegant and not brawny enough for how I imagined my slightly-rough-around-the-edges Jack Manning. But I love the cover because of its subtle sensuality.

The best likeness, by far, is A Tempting Engagement. That is Mitch and Emily, just as I pictured them. The worst? Zane is absolutely not right -- he has longer, lighter hair and is NOT Mr Clean Cut. The title is Zane: The Wild One, after all. Most of the others are, to quote Randy Jackson, "just okay" as far as character likenesses go.

The only cover that I hated on sight and still despise. The Rugged Shadow. Is that ugly or what?


To counteract that *shudder* horror, two of my all-time favourite covers are for foreign editions of The Rugged Loner. The character likenesses in these two are perfect for Tomas and Angie, yet I imagine they came out of the stock file. I wonder if they got it right by chance, or if they read the character descriptions?

Labels: covers

Dorchester author, Marianne Mancusi, is a TV producer for her day job, working on a show called Better TV. Recently she and Better TV partnered with Dorchester Publishing to do a story on how a romance novel cover is created, from concept to final product. Haven't watched it myself yet (need to connect some speakers that work because it's really not the same without sound!) but I will. I'm always fascinated by behind-the-scenes stuff and thought I may just share that fascination with some others out there. If you do watch it, let me know what you think.

Labels: covers, other blogs

"Check it out, dawg."
"What's happening."
"It was okay for me, just okay."
"It got a little pitchy."
"Tryin' to keep it real."

That said, I though this week's show was okay for me, just okay. Not that some of the performances weren't good--they were--just that they weren't songs I liked...apart from Angels. As Simon said, one of the best pop songs, eva, and because I love the original it was hard to listen to David A's version. Not his fault, mine.

My favourites last night: Kristy Lee and Michael. Least favourite: David Cook and Carly, because of their song selections. Who will go? Ooh, tough, but I'm afraid it might be Carly. :-(

Labels: American Idol

...a surname for a guy, something strong but distinguished, with a leaning toward English origin if anything. For extra encouragement I'm offering a reward, a choice of books from my backlist, for the name I like best. Contest closes April 12. Disclaimer: I may not end up using the chosen name, but I'll still do the giveaway.

While I'm here, a heads up that I'm blogging today at 2 B Read about the concept of "the eternal present" in books. Would love your input. Comments this week go in the draw to win a desire Duo with includes my The Ruthless Groom.

Labels: 2BRead, giveaway, other blogs, The Ruthless Groom

I have been trying to publish that last post ever since Thursday. I kept getting a zillion error messages when I tried to publish it; couldn't republish the whole blog; nothing worked. I ended up so exasperated that I decided enough-with-Blogger, I'm going to switch to Word Press. Plans are in progress. Today I decided to seek some expert blogger help and, since I had blogger open, I hit PUBLISH one more time...and it worked. Hooray! Just when I thought the dust had killed it stone dirty dead.

Just to make this post about something other than my trials and tribulations with blogger...

I heard on the news the other day that, despite my best efforts in taking cloth reusable bags to the supermarket whenever I shop, that last year's usage of plastic bags rose by 40%. What's up with that?

Labels: blogger

Yesterday was the most godawful day down here in the land of Oz. Gale-force winds howling around my office windows, blowing dust through every hint of a crevice. I swear it got into my eyes while I was sleeping last night. My first job today (after washing my eyes) was dusting, not because I'm housework obsessed or anything, but because I hate the feel of grit beneath my fingers on the keyboard.

Apparently it was even worse further south. This picture is of Melbourne; if you look hard you can just make out the cityscape in the background through the dust.

Moving on from boring weather details to Idol. I was trying to think of a clever segue from dust to Dolly, but that would be just disrespectful and Dolly always seems so nice. And she's so tiny.

Anyway, a whole show of Dolly Parton songs? I thought this might prove a trainwreck but I liked their interpretations, mostly, with only Ramiele and Jason not so much. Who'd have thought the guys would shine on Dolly songs? Both Davids and Michael were terrific. Can't pick one from those three as my favourite performance.

I think the bottom 3 this week might be all girls. Ramiele, Syesha, Kristy Lee.

Labels: American Idol, Australian life

I am jumping the gun slightly. I admit it. It is not yet April 1 in America which is the only place TYCOON'S ONE-NIGHT REVENGE is available this week...except for the eBook version, which is available everywhere right now. But since I won't be on-line to publish this tomorrow, I took liberties and pretending it is April 1 already.

I am also taking the liberty of posting the Dear Reader letter from the front of the book, which explains a little about how this book came about. It has been a looonnnggggg time coming, the process almost drove me over the edge of sanity, and I can hardly believe it's finally out (almost.)

Also, I believe the eBook version doesn't include the letter. Which is wrong. Everyone should get the whole package. So here it is.

Dear Reader,

If you've read my PRINCES OF THE OUTBACK trilogy then you may remember Susannah Horton. Although she didn't appear on the page, Susannah played a vital, indispensable role as Alex Carlisle's intended bride. In The Ruthless Groom, she was the catalyst that brought Alex and Zara together...and one of the obstacles that kept them apart.

The possibility of creating a happily-ever-after for Susannah only struck after I'd finished writing The Ruthless Groom, and during the final edits I hurriedly added some hints of her future story. At that stage I had no idea what her story would be,
only that she'd run away from her wedding because of "a mystery man." That man
would have to be very special, I knew, and her reason for running high-stakes.
And that was all I knew.

To those readers who've been eagerly awaiting Susannah's story—here it is! I hope you enjoy her journey from a conveniently arranged engagement to a marriage based purely--and inconveniently--on love. I also hope you enjoy your reading journey to Tasmania, Australia's southernmost island state. Stranger's Bay and Charlotte Island are both fictitious but, I hope, reflective of the wild natural beauty and dramatic scenery for which Tasmania is known.

Cheers from the Land Down Under,
Bronwyn Jameson

Labels: Princes of the Outback, The Ruthless Groom, Tycoon's One-Night Revenge