A lovely new review for Marrying Cade

Just in - a lovely new review for Marrying Cade at To Read, Perchance to Dream. You can read it and comment on their link here.

The reviewer, Maria said...

I honestly don't read romance novels much anymore, but Sally Clements' writing is always enjoyable. Her book are fun and easy to read. It's just like you come home from a long day at work and slip into something comfortable - a Sally Clements novel!



In Marrying Cade, you're off to a gorgeous island with cool breezes and sizzling heat between Melo and Cade. Melo is a strong, nurturing female character, with whom most women can relate today. Cade is that sexy, carefree bachelor women long to tame. The connection between the two will draw you in and keep you reading. (Flipping the pages also helps cool you off from the steamy romance developing between the two!) All the characters are unique and individual, so its a pleasure to get to know all of them.


This romance is an entertaining read. Give it a try! Also, I've had the pleasure of interviewing Sally Clements and reviewing another of her books, Bound to Love. Check them out after you've read Marrying Cade!

Maria gave Marrying Cade a 4 booksworms rating,
Marrying Cade available from amazon.com here and amazon.co.uk here

I'm having a difficult and challenging week, and reviews like this warm my heart, and cheer me up, so thank you, Maria!

What's the story?

In all last week's excitement, I realise now I haven't given a run down of what my new book Marrying Cade is about! So - just for you, here's the inside track...

When half Irish, half Italian Melo Bellucci first met Cade West they were both teenagers.
Traumatised by his father's death, Cade is holidaying with a friend on the island she lives on, the idyllic Isola dei Fiori. The hours they spend together are balm for Cade's wounded soul - but he has no idea that Melo is infatuated. So much so, she confides to her sister, "When I grow up, I'm marrying Cade."
The story begins twelve years later, when Cade returns to the island as best man at Melo's sister's wedding. She's determined to show him she's grown up, and make him aware of her as a woman. Melo's caring nature means she's inherited the whole nightmare of planning her sister's wedding extravaganza - but when Cade catches sight of her, the gleam in his eyes warms her heart, and heats her blood.
Her mission has been accomplished - and how!
As they spend long days together, Melo realises the man is very different from the boy she'd fancied herself in love with once, long ago. Workaholic Cade had vowed to put business aside for his brief stay for the wedding, but when a chance comes his way to buy land on the island to site his new hotel, he has to take it.
He's used to casual romances - and guards his heart fiercely, but can't resist Melo...who could?

If only he'd known that beautiful Paradise Beach belonged to Melo...and there are two plans for Paradise...

Marrying Cade is a spicy, summer read available now: Amazon.co.uk and Amazon.com

What's in a name?

I've been thinking about names today with the news that Kate Hudson has named her new baby Bingham Hawn, and Posh and Becks have called theirs Harper Seven. Celebrity baby names are nothing new - after Peaches, Pixie, Apple and Sparrow, it's almost a given that a celebrity might go with something unusual....

Contrasting it with fiction - JK Rowling of course has Harry, Hermione and Ron, as well as some wonderful wizardy names, and I like reading fiction with characters with real names, as it's less distracting!

What do you think? Weird or Trad?

Oh, and incidentally, I'm over at Romance at Random today, talking about Irish Romance. There's a chance for free books too.

#MarryingCadeWave Stop Ten – The final stop!

(YAY! NOW WITH WORKING AMAZON LINKS!!!)
It’s launch day my new book, Marrying Cade, and to celebrate, I’m 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
Stop Two – Maya Blake’s blog
Stop Three – Nas Dean’s blog
Stop Four – Joanne Cole's Blog
Stop Five – Romy Sommer’ blog
Stop Six – Lorraine Wilson’s blog
Stop Seven – Joanne Pibworth’s blog
Stop Eight – Suzanne Jones’ blog
Stop Nine – Lacey Devlin’s blog
Stop Ten – Sally Clements’ blog - you're here!
And to read a review from a reader who has read it... do visit,
Madeline Ash's blog.

Stop Ten’s excerpt…

Her eyes widened slightly, and her lips parted a miniscule amount. Her skin was perfect, soft and tanned without the addition of make-up. The curve of her neck led down to a tantalizing glimpse of cleavage.
Maybe this wedding wouldn’t be such a chore after all.

****

Melo swallowed and climbed into the driver’s seat. She’d been sure of her mission when she started out, but now, with the adult Cade in the seat next to her, her heart was doing the cha-cha, and she wasn’t sure she had the nerve to carry it out. He’d changed. His hair was long, brushing his shoulders, parted slightly off-centre, and long at the front too, pushed away from his face. He was as dark as ever, though. And his unshaven jaw was unbelievably sexy. He hadn’t needed to shave the last time she’d seen him. Her fingers still tingled with the memory of touching his stubble. What would it feel like under her tongue? Her nipples tightened into hard nubs under the lace of her bra.
He was taller too. A good couple of inches taller than Adam, who easily topped six two. When his warm lips had brushed her cheek, her eyes were just about level with his mouth. His shoulders too were wider, lean and muscled under the black shirt open at the neck, showcasing a faint dusting of dark hair. The last time he’d been on Isola dei Fiori they’d swum together in the sea every day. Swimming with him now would be a completely different experience. At the mere thought of an almost naked Cade, heat swept through her.
“Buckle up.” She spun the Mercedes in a spray of gravel, and sped away from The Fiori Hotel down the road to the villa.

I’d like to thank all my wonderful friends for letting me take over their blogs for the day with the #MarryingCadeWave!

For the Kindle:
Amazon.co.uk
Amazon.com

And in a variety of other ebook formats from The Wild Rose Press here
- in a variety of ebook formats - pdf,mobi,lit,html and epub.

Bound to Love cover up for an award!

The lovely cover created by Chris at The Cover Factory is up for an award on Alternative Read.com .
Do go check it out, voting is now open, and there are ten great looking covers to choose from!

Marrying Cade launch day on Wednesday!

Sixteen years of a fabulous crime series - and counting!

I really like crime series. I have the complete series of Ed McBain's Precinct novels, carefully tracked down in second hand bookshops all around Ireland in the 1980's. I also collect and read Patricia Cornwell's Scarpetta series, and Andrea Camilleri's Inspector Montalbano series, just for starters!
There's something comforting about starting a new crime novel that's part of a series, the characters aren't strangers, but the situations they find themselves in is different, and there's a challenge, an excitement to be experienced. And through the story their relationships deepen with those they love (and hate) and more about the central character is carefully revealed.
My current favourite series is by that mistress of the written word, J.D. Robb (aka, Nora Roberts).

I'm talking about the In Death series, and if anyone out there has yet to discover these, I recommend you track down Naked In Death, the first book of the series, and get addicted!
I was initially reticent to try the In Death series (I know, I know!) because they're set in the future, and I don't generally go for futuristic books, but half way through the first chapter of Naked In Death, I realised my mistake!
The In Death series feature an absolutely FANTASTIC heroine, Eve Dallas. She's a cop. With a mysterious past, and a kick ass attitude. She's also vulnerable, caring and hard on herself. She's exactly the type of character I love to read, and love to write too.
To match her, enter the enigmatic Roarke, who has to be one of the most charismatic, sexy heroes to ever grace the page. He's mysterious, tremendously wealthy, with a dark past. He's not always 100% law abiding. He loves Eve Dallas with a ferocity that burns off the page. And he's Irish. Swoon.
J.D./Nora doesn't need me to tell her how great these books are. She's a bestselling author in whatever genre she attempts, after all, and an acknowledged mistress of her craft. And she started the In Death series in 1995, so this is no 'brand new release' thing. I just wanted to share my thoughts about it. And pass on the good news that after sixteen years, and 32 books, this series is still going strong. It's an awesome accomplishment!

The Good Wife

In my opinion, The Good Wife is absolutely riveting, must watch TV, and I can't wait for Series 3. I know that both Series 1 and Series 2 are currently playing around the world, so won't give away any vital plot twists and turns in this post... except to say that there are plenty, and if you haven't seen them all, keep watching!

The series has won critical acclaim, both for the excellent writing by writing team Robert King and Michelle King, and by the fantastic acting by the entire cast. Ridley Scott and Tony Scott are amongst it's impressive executive producer team, and the attention to detail shows.

As I'm a writer - for me the icing on the cake is the strong writing - and the perfect portrayal of the characters by the talented actors. I could talk about them all day, but I'm going to focus on my two favorites in this post - two strong women characters - Alicia Florrick (played by Julianna Margulies) and Kalinda Sharma (played by Archie Panjabi).

Alicia FlorrickI've long been a fan of Julianna Margulies, from right back in the ER days, when she and gorgeous George were a couple-but in my opinion, Alicia Florrick is her most perfect role. Everyone has their own preconceptions about what they might do in her circumstances when the story starts-she's been publicly betrayed by her husband-and is thrust back into the workforce for the first time in 13 years. There was plenty of scope to treat such an emotive situation badly. But the character Alicia is stoic, brave and contained. No ranting at the unfairness of life for Alicia - rather a careful application to doing her best for herself and her children. The writing is masterful-a classic portrayal of the 'show don't tell' approach. Alicia is often hurt, in obvious emotional pain, but shows it by her expression, the subtle tightening of her mouth, and what she doesn't say. And each episode has it's own self contained storyline, with Alicia and the other's characters in the background building through each episode. It's done so sucessfully that I'm drawn in, week after week. And often surprised at what I learn about each character.

Kalinda Sharma
Archie Panjabi is a wonderful actress. And she has been gifted a great role, as Kalinda, a woman wreathed in secrets, unwilling to share anything of herself, who over time becomes Alicia's closest confidante and best friend. Once again, like Alicia, we know there is a hell of a lot going on below the surface. We wonder about her background, her lovers, what she cares about. And I for one enjoy the way she manipulates, investigates and earns the admiration of all who come in contact with her. She's a fantastic heroine, scarred and vulnerable in the peeks that we get of her character's inner journey.

In conclusion, I applaud all involved in the making of this terrific series. Alicia and Kalinda are real. Their actions are driven by their motivations, and as such they come across as believable characters because they act the way Alicia and Kalinda would in the circumstances they find themselves in. They are also strong heroines, living life on their terms. Facing adversity, feeling the pain, and dealing with it.
They're the sort of heroine's I love. the ones I try to write. And  I can't wait for Series 3...

For a rundown of The Good Wife on Wikipedia, see here.