Seven of my books now in Kindle Unlimited...

I have just put the following books into kindleunlimited

Angel All Year

Bound to Love

Catch Me A Catch

Marrying Cade

Challenging Andie

Mile High

Love on the Vine

So if you're in, and you want them, they're there!

Click here for the author page on .com

And here for the author page on .co.uk

Christmas Reads with added firemen!

More updates for my Christmas Reads page.
Sally Clements, Suzanna Ross, Rae Summers, Rachel Lyndhurst, Maya Blake, Talli Roland, Diane Alberts, Stacey Joy Netzel, Jennifer Probst and Kitty French all have books on the Christmas Reads page - and now I'm pleased to announce they've been joined by a whole station house of firefighters!

Blaze by the Minxes of Romance is available now-
Pop on over, and have a look!

Lots of 'freeloads' and some nice reviews too...

I've had over 36,000 free downloads of The Morning After and Catch Me A Catch over the past 3 days, so thank you everyone who's grabbed themselves a copy, I hope you enjoy!

And thanks to 2 review sites that have posted reviews in the past day or so:

Romancing the book gave me a 'lovely rose' rating, which they describe as 'an enjoyable read, I would recommend it' (you can read the entire review here)

http://romancing-the-book.com/2012/05/review-the-morning-after-by-sally-clements.html

and Coffee Time Romance and More gave me a 4 cups review, saying:

I thoroughly enjoyed The Morning After. This book has everything you want in a story: a great plot, interesting settings and characters you want to hope for and believe in. Add that these things are all written in a fun, lighthearted way and it was easy to get lost in this story.

You can read the entire review here:

http://www.coffeetimeromance.com/BookReviews/themorningafterbysallyclements.html#.T64HSirfMpU.twitter


Thank you very much, both - I'm so glad you enjoyed The Morning After!

Some thoughts on story arcs...

I've been thinking about story arcs today - using a book by Nigel Watts, called Writing a novel and getting it published. He talks about the 8 point story arc, which details 8 stages that are used in every story.

I'm using the story of Cinderella as an example.

The words in capitals are the ones Mr Watts uses for his eight points.

STATIS.
At the beginning, Cinderella is living with her ugly stepsisters and stepmother, sweeping up.

TRIGGER
Next comes the inciting incident, or trigger that starts the story into action.
An invitation to the ball arrives. Both of her stepsisters are excited about going to the ball and meeting the prince! Cinderella dreams of going, but knows she won’t be going, her family wouldn’t allow it. Then the trigger appears, in the form of a fairy godmother who says – you will go to the ball.

THE QUEST
The fairy godmother changes the white mice into footmen, changes a pumpkin into a carriage, finds her a dress and glass slipper. The story elements set into motion by the trigger, continue and build momentum.

SURPRISE
This stage takes up most of the middle part of the story. Cinderella goes to the ball. There are obstacles and complications, her family are there and she has to make sure they don’t see her. The prince asks her to dance, she has to make the decision to dance with him, even though she knows she’s hiding her identity…

CRITICAL CHOICE

Time is ticking down to midnight. At midnight she’ll lose her beautiful dress, and the carriage will disappear. But she’s still entranced by the prince, dancing with him. When the clock strikes the first peal of midnight, she makes the critical choice – and runs away, leaving her glass slipper behind her.

CLIMAX

The prince is determined to find the mystery woman again, and searches all the houses in the land. In the climax he arrives in Cinderella’s house, and tries the slipper onto the feet of her stepsisters. This is the highest point of tension in the story. He’s so close, but she’s in the shadows, not considered, until…

REVERSAL
Mr Watt’s states that the reversal should be the consequence of the critical choice and the climax, and it should change the status of the characters – especially the protagonist. In Cinderella’s story, the reversal comes the moment that the prince asks ‘Is there no other female in the house?’ notices Cinders in the shadows, and calls her forward to try on the glass slipper. As her foot slips into it, he recognizes her.

RESOLUTION

The final point of the story. A new statis. Now, instead of being the downtrodden step daughter, Cinderella’s life has changed forever. She’s in love with the prince, and loved in return. The difference between this new reality from the statis at the beginning of the story perfectly illustrates the story arc.

Thanks, everyone!

Thanks to everyone for downloading The Morning After last week, I had an astounding over 20,000 freeloads (which is free downloads), and this week am doing nicely - in the top 100 in the Kindle UK store, and rising well in the US store too.

And this afternoon there's a new review just in from Turning The Pages Reviews:

Here's an extract:

Sally Clements ability to tackle the romantic aspect of a story with just enough heat and the right amount of spice, leaves you craving more. As with her other novels, I found The Morning After to be a wonderful read.

Overall, if you are looking for a steamy, romantic novel to curl up with, this is one that will not disappoint!

The entire review is here.

Now back to writing!

TGIF

First week back after school holidays is always hard work - so I'm saying TGIF here!

And Thank Goodness for reviews too...

New one just in for Marrying Cade - a 4 star review from Mom in Love with Fiction.
Here's an excerpt from the review...

I recommend this book to anyone who enjoys romantic heat mixed with a believable relationship. Cade manages to be both the White Knight and a man who respects a confident, strong woman like Melo. It’s sexy, and what’s a romance novel without a good amount of sexy?

You can read the whole review here. Thank you to the reviewer!

Now, off to flake out for the weekend...

Coming in July...

Love On The Vine has a release date!

11 July 2012.

It's from the Wild Rose Press, and is part of their 'The Flower Basket' series, set in Almendra in California. This story has a sweet rating, which means lots of smoulder, but no 'spicy' stuff - perfect for those who find my spicy stuff too hot! It features a sexy french vineyard owner, transplanted into California soil, and the woman (daughter of the man determined to destroy him) who he needs to help him launch his new vintage...

Here's an excerpt...

 

Her eyes sparkled and shone, and her cheeks were pink. Her body moved in perfect harmony with the relentless beat.

Ice chilled his top lip as Etienne took a long swallow of his drink and smiled back. With any luck, she wouldn’t see how much her dancing affected him.

With a flip of her hand, she pointed at her feet, mouthing watch. A mock frown creased her brow.

Of course, he’d watch her, he couldn’t drag away his gaze as her feet repeated the steps. The pattern didn’t look too hard. And he’d always had a good sense of rhythm.

The music faded. Bella returned quickly to the table and picked up her glass. “Okay, so those are the basics.” She drank deeply. “Are you ready to try it?”

“I’d prefer to just watch you.” He trailed a finger down her cheek, feeling the sharp tug of attraction as her eyes darkened to jade. “You look beautiful.”

“So do you.” She tilted up her chin.

Etienne stood and snaked a hand around her waist to hold her close.

At the action, her lips parted and her eyelashes fluttered closed.

She looked like a woman who wanted to be kissed. Instead, he moved his lips to her ear, speaking words intended for her alone. “Would you like me to kiss you?” He felt her shiver. “If you do, you have to tell me, remember?”

Her long, dark eyelashes fluttered and her eyes opened, staring straight into his.

The arousal in their depths stunned Etienne to his core.

“I want you to kiss me,” she murmured.

 

And in the meantime, why not head over to Amazon and check out The Morning After?

What's on my kindle?

Lots and lots (and lots) of crime actually...But as well as that, I have added some new romance books on my kindle, so here's a look at what's there...

First up: Rachel Lyndhurst's Kidnapped by the Greek Billionaire:
Here's the blurb.
Kidnapped!

Or that’s what it feels like to Kizzy Dean when a business disagreement with arrogant Greek lawyer Andreas Lazarides leaves her no choice but to accompany him to the Greek Isle of Rhodes. It doesn’t help matters that this sexy brooding stranger, who is unaccustomed to the word No and the very idea of commitment, shows her what it feels like to be truly desired.

Amidst the ancient myths and alleyways, tensions run high as Kizzy feels an immediate attraction for the man she wants to both ravage and strangle.

Accustomed to gold-digging women, Andreas is mesmerized by Kizzy’s feisty

nature and Gypsy beauty. Guilt and sorrow have been his only bedfellows since his sister’s death, but Kizzy stirs up a desire he’s unwilling to succumb to . . . until she makes him an offer he simply can’t refuse.

The Amazon.com link is here.

Next, I have one from Talli Roland, Miracle at the Museum of Broken Hearts

Here's the blurb.

Does every relationship deserve a second chance?When chief romantic Rose Delaney scores her dream job at London's quirkiest new attraction, The Museum of Broken Hearts, she thinks she's got it made. Sure, it's a little depressing dealing with relics of failed relationships each day, but Rose is determined not to let it break her 'love conquers all' spirit. After discovering the museum's handsome curator is nursing a broken heart of his own, Rose steps in to fix it. Can Rose heal the rift, or will this happy ending go awry?

Amazon.com link here

I've also snagged myself Catherine Bybee's Wife by Wednesday...

Here's the blurb.

Blake Harrison:
Rich, titled, and charming… And in need of a wife by Wednesday so he turns to Sam Elliot who isn’t the business man he expected. Instead, Blake is faced with Samantha Elliot, engaging and spunky with a voice men call 900 numbers to hear.
Samantha Elliot:
Owner of Alliance, her matchmaking firm, and not on the marital menu... That is until Blake offers her ten million dollars for a one-year contract. All she needs to do is keep her attraction to her husband to herself and avoid his bed. But Blake’s toe-curling kisses and charm prove too difficult to combat. Now she needs to protect her heart so she can walk away when their mercenary life together is over.

The Amazon.com link is here

And finally, the last addition to my virtual tbr pile is from Natalie Anderson. Melt.

Here's the blurb.

When two frozen hearts collide…
Emma Reed closed her heart to love years ago after a lifetime spent getting kicked around foster homes and bad relationships. Now she’s on a mission to prove she deserves her recent award to paint a mural for a research base in Antarctica. Nothing and no one is going to get in her way.
After months working in recovery zones around the world, Hunter Wilson planned to escape everything this holiday season by rebuilding a lab at the Kiwi Research Base. Alone. No to family, no to fun. It’s isolation not intimacy he’s aching for. But when he sees the determined artist, that ache becomes an urge – after all, shouldn’t someone show her what two people can do with twenty-four hours of brilliant sunlight?
In the coldest place on earth, even the most frozen hearts can melt.

And the Amazon.com link for that one is here.

I've just put in .com links, because that's where I buy from, but obviously you can find these other places too. When I'm not writing, I'm reading - so the minute I've finished with the excellent Jack Reacher paperback I'm currently glued to (the excellent, Worth Dying For) from Lee Child (one of my favourite authors btw) I'm diving into these ones!

As they say in Nasa - I'm go for launch!

The Morning After is up on Amazon as of this morning!

You can find it here on Amazon.com

And here on Amazon.co.uk

I keep having to remember to call it The Morning After, as all the time I was writing it, I referred to it as The Winnie The Pooh book. Why? Well you can find the answer by just going to the link, clicking on the cover, and having a look inside!

I really loved writing this book, and I think it shows. After all, with an Irish Hollywood hunk as my hero, and a teacher who's life changes in an instant as his heroine, fun is definitely on the agenda!

I have a cover!

I have just received my cover for my book The Morning After, and I love it! It perfectly shows the couple, Ethan and Cara, and hints at paparazzi action in the background.

I'm going to launch this book in the next week or two, and will give a shout when it's up. As usual, if anyone buys and likes, I'd love a review!

What do you think?

What's next?

Well, January's over. An absolutely fabulous one for me. I sold over 3,000 books, which is a lot more than I'd sold in the past eighteen months combined.

So now it's a new month. No more from me about sales. Instead, I thought I'd mention my next project. I'm working with my editor on edits for a new book, The Morning After while my cover designer does her magic on a fab cover. The Morning After will be out by March - and I'm really excited about it. Here's a bit about it. I'm looking for people to review it once it's out, so if anyone would like an early copy, just let me know either by contacting me through my comments link, or by giving a shout out in the comments, and I'll send you one when it's ready.

The Morning After

A mortifying incident in her youth has shaken sense into Cara Byrne. No more bad-boys. No more getting arrested. Instead, hard work and good behaviour has earned her a job teaching at the local Boys Secondary School, and a proposal from a worthy man. So what if he doesn’t exactly light her fire – surely passion is overrated?
When her friend since childhood, Ethan Quinn, storms back into the small Irish village he left to pursue a career as a Hollywood action hero, she’s stunned to discover she’s as susceptible to his lethal charm as every woman in the world. And when a compromising photograph floods the media of them in a clinch, her almost fiancé reveals his true colours, CarEthan starts trending on twitter, and she loses her job, could anyone blame her if she accepts his invitation to hide out at his Malibu beach house?
Ethan loves women, but never lets his girlfriends into his heart. He’s failed at being there in the past, and won’t put his heart on the line for anyone, ever again. But Cara’s a different matter – and when passionate attraction is added to his friendship with the one person he’s always confided in, he’s thrown for a loop. Cara’s lost everything, and like it or not, he’s responsible. There’s no fighting the attraction that blazes between them – but when the month long affair is over, will he be able to let her go?

And just for good measure, I'm throwing in a picture of my hero inspiration for Ethan Quinn. He's an Irish actor turned Hollywood movie star....and darned yummy! (Thanks for the inspiration, Colin!)

Bound to Love - Free today and tomorrow!

It was such a rush making Bound to Love free at the beginning of the month that I'm doing it again this weekend, so if you haven't got a copy for your Kindle, do pop over to Amazon and pick it up today or tomorrow!

Here are the links:

At Amazon.com http://amzn.to/wQKogJ

or, if you're in the UK....

At Amazon.co.uk http://amzn.to/wFH89E

With my last free giveaway, 19,000 copies were downloaded - wonder what will happen this time?

Happy weekend, everyone!

Update: Day one of two at free and over 8,000 giveaways! I'm currently #24 free in the kindle store, #3 in romantic suspense, and #5 in contemporary romance - woo!
And another update: Day two of free resulted in another 5,500 giveaways.

Review link

Turning the Pages have just given  a review today too Bound to Love. Amongst other lovely things, the review said:

Overall, a fun and exciting read. With vivid backgrounds, fiesty characters and a thrilling storyline, this is a story that I could actually see being made into a major motion picture.

You can read the full review here
 
Thanks again to everyone who's ever given me a review. I've been reading a lot of debate today which suggests that authors shouldn't comment on their reviews, so I won't be doing it in future, but would like to say that I appreciate them.

Result of Amazon Experiment - Awesome!

Happy New Year!

In this, my first blog post of 2012, I'm reporting back on the results of making Bound to Love free on Amazon for 31 December and 1st January.

The amount of giveaways was...well, I'm speechless really! I had about 19,000 giveaways!

Bound to Love started back into paid on the afternoon of the 2nd January. Before it went free, I had sold 16 copies of Bound to Love in the US, good figures for me, and was feeling okay about everything. After...

Anyway, my rank when I came off being free was frighteningly depressing #263,827.
By Wednesday, I was at #133.
I got to #4 in fiction, and #1 in romance.

As at now, I've sold over 1,200 copies of Bound to Love, and my other book ranks are improving too.

Woo!

Free on Kindle Today and Tomorrow!

Just to let everyone know, Bound to Love is free on Kindle today and tomorrow, and so is New Beginnings.

Here are the links:

Bound to Love - Amazon.com
Bound to Love - Amazon.co.uk

New Beginnings - Amazon.com
New Beginnings - Amazon.co.uk

Matthew Crawley in my stocking...

(...not my stockings, that would be a whole other post!)
I'm a happily married woman. So actually having Matthew Crawley in my stocking for Christmas would be totally out of the question, but with Christmas almost upon us, I for one, am really looking forward to lying around full of Christmas cake and watching the Downton Abbey Christmas special.
I love Downton. In fact, I'd go as far as saying I'm completely addicted to the whole Downton experience. Beautiful scenery, fabulous interiors, delicious clothes, and best of all, the great characters written so well and with such depth that there's a character for every viewer to latch on to and root for.
Matthew Crawley is my favourite character, especially as he's grown so much during the present series. His experiences in war, his recent loss (no spoilers here for those who haven't discovered Downton yet!), and his medical problems, melding with the 'bubbling under the surface' pash he has for Lady Mary make him a totally captivating character for me.
So over Christmas, I'll be eagerly watching the Christmas special.
Will you? And who's your favourite Downton character?

Characterization V True Character (featuring Princess Fiona)

When I'm writing a character, I'm not really one for character sheets. I tend instead to have a picture of my heroine, and a general impression of what she is inside, the things that have happened during her lifetime that influence her, and the beliefs and fears that have shaped her.

One of the most interesting characters out there, in my opinion, is Princess Fiona from Shrek. I love the original Shrek movie, because it turned the traditional fairy tale on its head. Let's look at Fiona through the lens of characterization. How does she appear on the outside?

At the beginning of the movie, Fiona is a princess in an ivory tower, protected by a fierce dragon. She's been locked up for years (poor thing) and has very definite ideas about what will happen when she's rescued. The man who saves her from her incarceration will be: A handsome prince. He'll give her 'true love's kiss'. They'll marry, and live happy ever after. And on receiving true love's kiss, she'll banish the ugly part of herself that appears each night.

She's gorgeous. Tall, slender, and pretty. She's princessy, haughty, and proud. She'd be your average fairytale princess if her deep character matched her characterization. But it doesn't. Princess Fiona (like an onion) has layers. And once those layers are revealed, she becomes much more than just a princess, she becomes real.

I love the movie Shrek, because not only can we see that Fiona is a deeper character than intitially thought, we can see it by her revealing her true self (spoiler alert: an ogress!!). But in her human form, she acts in many unexpected ways that tip us off to her true nature. She loves all sorts of inappropriate for a princess behaviour. Eating rats on skewers, calmly frying eggs when her singing causes the bird mother to explode, general farty and belchy behaviour, and joking around with Shrek, who she has a lot in common with. She's ashamed of her ogre transformation, hiding at night so that she can't be seen. She feels she cannot be loved for who she is, a trait she also shares with Shrek.

When Lord Farquar finally claims her as his bride, the opening shot of him climbing from his horse and being tiny is yet another disappointment to her. He hasn't battled the dragon and fought for her. He's not amusing, like Shrek. And, if she were in any doubt, Fiona realises that characterization is not true character. Farquar isn't her true prince. Who knew her prince would be an ogre?

So appearances are deceptive. What is inside matters far more than the externals. And only by accepting that, and learning to love her true nature, does Princess Fiona achieve true love.

And I think she looks gorgeous green!

Spreading the word - Ben Hatch

I'm delighted to host another of my twitter followers today, Ben Hatch is here with his new book, Are We Nearly There Yet? (which is a moan anyone with kids has definitely heard at least a hundred times while driving!) Ben is @BenHatch on twitter.

Here's some stuff about him...

Ben Hatch was born in London and grew up here and in Manchester and Buckinghamshire. His latest bestseller, Are We Nearly There Yet? 8000 Misguided Miles Round Britain in a Vauxhall Astra has been praised by John Cleese ("Ben Hatch makes me laugh"), Mumsnet ("I laughed outloud and cried") and the Daily Mail ("An absolutely wonderful book") although, unfortunately, not by his wife Dinah ("I do NOT drive like Mr Magoo, you bastard!") His first comic novel, The Lawnmower Celebrity, based loosely on his time as a chicken sandwich station monitor at Darlington McDonalds, was named one of the Radio 4's eight books of the year in 2000. The International Gooseberry about a hapless backpacker with a huge ungovernable toenail was published in 2001 and described as "hysterical and surprisingly sad" by the Daily Express. Ben Hatch was on the long-list of Granta's 2003 list of the most promising 20 young authors in the UK. In association with his wife Dinah, Ben has also written guidebooks for Frommer's. The guidebooks are a mixture of helpful and humorous tips on holidaying with children, quirky reviews of attractions, and incendiary arguments with his wife about, among other things, what is the best type of owl.

He's currently flying high on the Amazon bestseller ranking - Go Ben! with what appears to be a cracking read, just perfect as a Christmas present!

The book blurb says...

If you think writing a guidebook is easy, think again! 'A family's 8,000 miles round Britain in a Vauxhall Astra' they were bored, broke, burned out and turning 40, so when Ben and Dinah saw the advert looking for a husband and wife team with young kids to write a guidebook about family travel around Britain, they jumped at the chance. With naive visions of staring moodily across Coniston Water and savouring Cornish pasties, they embark on a mad-cap five-month trip with daughter Phoebe, four, and son Charlie, two, embracing the freedom of the open road with a spirit of discovery and an industrial supply of baby wipes.

Ben's book is available via Amazon.co.uk here

From Amazon.com here

(These are links to the paperbacks, but its also available at amazon for kindle)

And to finish, here's a lovely pic of him with his children.

Thanks for being here today, Ben, and best wishes for lots of lovely sales!

Spreading the word - Laura Wilkinson

The second in my series of books by my twitter followers, is from Laura Wilkinson, whose twitter handle is @ScorpioScribble. A dip into Laura's amazon author page reveals...

Laura Wilkinson grew up in Wales and now lives in a never-to-be-chic area of Brighton. Recently, she's worked as a freelance writer, an editor and a copywriter.

She has been a finalist and shortlisted in a number of competitions including: the New Writer, Cinnamon Press, the Virginia Prize and Brit Writers' Award 2010. She has published short stories in magazines, an anthology, and digital media like Ether Books.
BloodMining is Laura's debut novel. Yvonne Roberts, award winning journalist and author describes it as: 'Lean, lyrical, topical and emotionally gripping. This book is about the issues that we care about most - with a twist. Read it and pass on the word!' In between raising two young boys and working Laura is completing her second novel. Read some of her work, and find out more about her here: http://laura-wilkinson.co.uk/

BloodMining sounds really compelling, and has a rash of rave reviews on Amazon.co.uk already - so here's some more about it...

Genre: Literary/General

Megan Evens appears to have it all: brains, beauty, a successful career. But deep down she is lonely and rootless. Pregnant, craving love but unable to trust after the destructive affair with her baby’s father, she returns to the security of her birthplace in Wales. When Megan’s son is later diagnosed with a terminal condition, a degenerative, hereditary disease, everything she believed to be true about her origins is thrown into question. To save her son Megan must unearth the truth; she must excavate family history and memory. Enlisting the help of former colleague Jack North, a man with a secret of his own, Megan embarks on a journey of self discovery and into the heart of what it means to be a parent.


BloodMining is available as a paperback as well as for the Kindle.
You can buy it here in paperback for the UK
Or here for the Kindle in the UK

Or here for paperback via Amazon.com
Or here for the Kindle via Amazon.com.

All the best with your novel, Laura!

So....November!

Well I spent October polishing my M&B sub manuscript, and did no promo at all. I also raised the price of Bound to Love to 2.99.

As a result - I had a wonderfully creative month. But my sales suffered as a result, so I will have to strive to do better! First off, I've dropped Bound to Love in price to its usual 99c, which people seem to like buying it for.

And I'm half way through another book I'm loving writing, so I'm concentrating on that for November, while waiting for a cover, copy edits and a release date for Love On The Vine.

I'm NTAI the full I sent off last week, because stressing about it won't make any emails come at me any quicker.

And finally, I'm feeling a lovely, warm feeling in my heart regions at this review just in from Turning the Pages for my first book, Catch Me A Catch. Thank you, Lindsay!