It’s launch day for Sally Clements’ new book, Marrying Cade, and to celebrate, she’s having a Mexican wave of excerpts! You can keep up with the wave’s progress on the twitter hashtag #MarryingCadeWave – and add a tweet with the hashtag to chat with everyone else who’s reading along!
Here’s how to do it…these are the stops, just call in to these blogs to read each excerpt (they start at stop one, and finish at stop ten). Alternatively, start wherever, and click on the next stop link at the bottom of the excerpt. Or just click on the buy link, to get your own copy of Marrying Cade!
Stop One – Talli Roland’s blog http://talliroland.blogspot.com/
Stop Two – Maya Blake’s blog http://mayabauthor.blogspot.com/
Stop Three – Nas Dean’s blog http://nas-dean.blogspot.com/
Stop Four – Joanne Coles’s blog http://joannecleary.blogspot.com/
Stop Five – Romy Summers’ blog http://romysommer.blogspot.com/
Stop Six – Lorraine Wilson’s blog http://lorraine-wilson.blogspot.com/
Stop Seven – Joanne Pibworth’s blog http://joannepibworth.blogspot.com/
Stop Eight – Suzanne Jones’ blog http://suzanne-sj.blogspot.com/
Stop Nine – Lacey Devlin’s blog http://laceydevlin.blogspot.com/
Stop Ten – Sally Clements’ blog http://sallyclements.blogspot.com/
Stop Six’s excerpt…
“Ciao, Cade.” Her low voice caressed his name. Her eyes rose to his and jolted him with a bolt of blue.
It was Melo, all right. He’d know those eyes anywhere.
She leaned toward him, proffering her cheek for the customary kiss.
Cade’s lips grazed the smooth skin of her cheek, and his nostrils filled with the intoxicating scent of her perfume. His fingers smoothed over her upper arms, feeling the shiver snaking through her. She had a tiny mole above the outer curve of her mouth, something else he remembered from the Melo of old.
He stepped back, needing distance.
“Hi Melo. You look great.” The scratchy croak was just about all he could manage. Rosa’s sister had blossomed into the most stunning woman he’d ever seen. Twelve years ago, the gangly tomboy had been the perfect companion for a boy on holiday. They’d done everything together. Well, almost everything. Now he was tongue tied around her, and that was new.
I've taken myself out of mothballs and have dusted myself down to blog over at the Minxes of Romance today. So if you're looking for some light relief from the mundanity of royal wedding commentary, have any interest in marrying a hot-yet-still-single prince or just want to say 'Hi' please pop over :-)
I blame the painkillers. How else could I have missed Michael Weatherly returning to the screen in a new series of NCIS?Or Simon Baker with the re-start of The Mentalist? Or fail to spot a new legal drama starring Rupert Penry Jones - Silks. Okay he's playing a bastard but he's still easy on the eye and I can even forgive the glaring errors of the programme's researchers (I used to work in that world, in another life).
I've missed being in touch with my writing friends too. If I haven't emailed you back it is definitely NOT personal, I think I'll have to do an inbox trawl to see what I've missed...
If you're looking for inspiration and want to get in the mood (to write of course. What else? ;-) both the media and Selfridges are doing their bit. Grazia and The Daily Telegraph have had big splashes about the Mills and Boon workshops given by Heidi Rice last week. It was certainly a fab day on Friday, made all the nicer by the fact the London Traffic gods were kind to me, making me early so I bumped into Heidi and Abby Green in the Yellow Cafe (see below). 
Thank you for all your good wishes, both human and canine (waves to Elissa's Tillie!). Pip is home and doing well except for a very swollen foot. Now I just need to keep him from moving on the leg so the plate and screws stay in place... Ha! If Pip had only one leg working he would still find a way of getting around and getting places he shouldn't.
I've just dropped Pip off at the vets for a major operation and can't settle to anything. In fact I didn't sleep last night and the expression on his face when I handed his lead to the vet clutched at my heart. 
Since my last post Modern Heat has made it onto audible.co.uk (Hooray :-)It's good timing - A fall down the stairs before Christmas has left me with nerve, muscle and ligament damage in my back and knee which a doctor cheerfully told me last week would take 3 months minimum to heal. The irritated nerves are stopping me from sleeping and as the bath is the one place I can unclench my teeth I spent last night there (yes, the whole night, very glad of the combi boiler!), listening to Heidi Rice's "Pleasure, Pregnancy and a Proposition". Thankfully Heidi managed to distract me with the sizzling interaction of her characters :-)
As the injury is just one of the unpleasant things being thrown across my path at the moment after "The End" of the audiobook and in the interests of not going stark raving mad I progressed to series 4 of Brothers and Sisters which arrived on my doormat with perfect timing (yes, I have come late to the 'Gilles Marini in his swimming trunks party' but better late than never ;-)
Also I have had a go at making a bag from M&B Riva covers - they are so fab it's not hard to make them look good! Click here to see the other M&B bags.
I've always used books to self medicate against stress, the greater the stress the 'nicer' the book I prescribe myself. During my university finals I had a pile of my old Enid Blyton's and pony stories under the bed and as 2011 has been more than a tad stressful so far perhaps it explains my recent foray from Heat over to Sweet in listening (yes, listening! M&B audiobooks have returned to the UK :-)
