And the Winnahs Are...

by Caren Crane

We have two lucky winners resulting from our fabulous "overheard" post featuring Jennie Lucas and Trish Morey.

Gannon Carr is the lucky winner of Jennie Lucas's "Caretti's Forced Bride". Congrats, Gannon (and thanks for returning the GR in one piece)! Please contact Jennie with your snail mail addy at: jennie AT jennielucas DOT com.

And the winner of Trish Morey's "The Italian Boss's Mistress Of Revenge" (kinkiest title ever) is Helen! Please contact Trish Mo with your snail mail addy at trish AT trishmorey DOT com.

Congratulations, Helen and Gannon. Enjoy the Italian hotties for us!

Jennie Lucas and Trish Morey - Overheard At RWA

by Caren Crane

While at the RWA national conference in San Francisco last week, I kept my eyes and ears wide open. Not only are there romance writing stars aplenty at conference, there is also plenty of goss to be heard (that's "gossip" for us Americans). Then again, sometimes you overhear good friends indulging in a treacly love-fest, completely adoring each other's work. I overheard one such conversation last week between Harlequin Presents authors Jennie Lucas and Trish Morey.



Lean in close and let me play the tape I conveniently made of their conversation:

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JENNIE: Trish, you were a pal and fave author long before you became a mentor. It's because of you that I got my first sale to my dream line, Harlequin Presents. You wouldn't let me quit writing that book, no matter how much I whined, "But I'm wasting my time, they won't buy another American author!" I've never been so happy to be wrong! I can't thank you enough!

TRISH: Well you sent a big basket of flowers to me in Australia when you got the Call, that was a nice start! The bouquet was even bigger than the one in the bike basket on your website! Seriously though, Jennie, I always thought you'd make it. And now look where we are - from Golden Heart finalists in 2003 to Presents shelfmates this month. Awesome!

JENNIE: I know, I can hardly believe it! Your books rock, Trish. I can't wait to read The Italian Boss's Mistress of Revenge. And not only are we shelfmates, but our stories both feature Italian heroes!

TRISH: Well, Jennie, there's probably a reason for that, and here's one of them... It's such a chore writing about Italian heroes when they look like this guy, when they're not doing the Presents scowl of course. So tell me about your Caretti's Forced Bride. I heard it was about a secret child. Maybe a little too secret? There's no mention of that anywhere on the cover.


JENNIE: The most beautiful princess in the world secretly had a baby at eighteen, the result of an affair with a poor Italian-American mechanic. To hide the scandal, her beloved elder brother passed off the child as his own. Ten years later, Isabelle desperately needs help and turns to that mechanic, now a self-made billionaire. Paolo agrees to help - but only if she'll be his one-night mistress. She accepts because she's never stopped loving him, but she's terrified. If he learns the truth, her "nephew" - who's now king of the Mediterranean country - could lose everything.

TRISH: That sounds amazing, I can't wait to read it. And you're probably not going to believe this, because the title doesn't give it away, but my story also features a baby, or at least a pregnancy, something that nicely complicates the bargain Dante Carrazzo has made to get hotel manager Mackenzi Keogh into his bed. A baby is something neither of them bargained on.

JENNIE: Babies, babies! What is it about these Italian men, do you think, that they're all so amazingly virile?

TRISH: LOL. Well, it's certainly got to be something good that makes people forget about protection, or renders it useless.

JENNIE: Ha!!

TRISH: Mind you, with the likes of men like this, I suspect I might not only forget about protection. I might just forget to breathe...

JENNIE: Phwoar. I take your point. Although I’m a married woman so looking at that photo is making me blush — I’m covering my eyes. (I swear!)

TRISH: Yeah. I’m covering my eyes too. *grin*

JENNIE: Ahem. (*still blushing*) I was just in Italy in May, attending a creative writing course with Sharon Kendrick. It was my first trip there and there really is something about those Mediterranean men. Even the waiters were incredible.

TRISH: I'm green with envy! Although I will be in Italy myself in just two short months.

JENNIE: Oooh, lucky girl! I only had one day to be look around Tuscany, as I was mostly hard at work on the writing course. Next time I just want to be a tourist!

TRISH: It's been years since we were last there and we're looking forward to taking the tinlids back and renewing our Italian love affair with the country. Here's a very ancient pic of me and a couple of the girls at Pisa, and to illustrate how ancient it is - or how short I am - all my kids are now taller than me, not just the one in my hubbies backpack while he took the pic but even the one that wasn't yet born. No wonder I write short contemporary. :-)

JENNIE: LOL. And I thought you were only in it for the men!

TRISH: It's research, Jennie, research. Here's another I think you might like. I slaved hours over a hot google looking for this one...



And this guy is so versatile. Not only does he look good dressed but he looks equally good undressed...



Now that's what I call versatile. :-)

JENNIE: Looks like he's hero material to me! But the beauty of our job is that we don't just have to limit ourselves to Italian men. It's the whole Mediterranean region.

TRISH: And that’s why I’m off to Greece right after Italy.

JENNIE: Grrr!!

TRISH: Don’t be jealous, Jennie. I promise I’ll be back with lots of photos! And then we can discuss our other favorite topic — Greek men! *wink*

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Trish Morey's The Italian Boss's Mistress of Revenge and Jennie Lucas’s Caretti's Forced Bride are on sale now in the U.S. Bring some Italian hunkiness home today!

Well, Banditas, who knew we would get our tender ears burned eavesdropping - er, listening - to that conversation? Wah! I feel slightly naughty eyeballing those Italian hunks, don't you? There is a better than slight chance that both Jennie and Trish will be with us today (barring jet lag on Trish's end and total conference meltdown on Jennie's). They saw me sneaking off with the tape recorder and Jennie twisted my arm (really hard) until I told her they could be guests and defend themselves and their love of Italian hunks.

Graciously, Jennie and Trish have offered signed copies of their books to lucky Bandita Buddy commenters. So tell us BBs, how do you really feel about Italian hunks?

The Exotic World Of Jennie Lucas

by Caren Crane

Trees dressed in red and gold climbed the foothills of the Appalachian mountains and descended in glorious splendor to the terminus of the Appalachian Trail: Amicalola Falls, Georgia. From the Piedmont of North Carolina and the foothills of the Rockies in Idaho, two starry-eyed Maggie finalists descended upon the Moonlight and Magnolias retreat center, with hopeful hearts and steely ambition. The two met, bonded and became fast friends when one whispered to the other at the awards ceremony, "We don't have to win. All we have to do is make third place and we'll have our names in the RWR!" (Okay, that was Jennie *g*)

Jennie Lucas and I have been friends since that magical retreat at Amicalola Falls. Though most of a continent separates us, we are there to celebrate our successes and commiserate our misses. I had the great pleasure of celebrating Jennie's Golden Heart win in Reno, 2005, and her first sale to Mills & Boon/Harlequin Presents in 2006. Jennie sent me a copy of her first US release, The Greek Billionaire's Baby Revenge, and I squealed when I held it in my hands! We are thrilled to have Jennie with us today to talk about her alpha heroes, lavish settings and the dark edge of romance. Welcome to Romance Bandits, Jennie!

Thanks so much for inviting me, Caren! I was so happy when you became a Golden Heart finalist in 2006. The Banditas rock! (I'm a member of your sister tribe, the Wet Noodle Posse.) I'm thrilled to be in the Lair. I know some of you already, and I'm particularly in awe of my current idol, Anna Campbell.

Jennie, I'm not sure when you have time to read, since you are without a doubt one of the hardest-working authors I know! Your debut release was Dec. 2007 and I see you have two books out on top of each other. The Spaniard's Defiant Virgin is out next week in the U.S., while Caretti's Forced Bride comes out in Australia and the UK. Have you cloned yourself, stopped bathing, boycotted laundry or what?

How have I written so quickly? The simple fact is that for the last year or two, I haven't done anything but either write or take care of my family. I got The Call in October 2006, when I was seven months pregnant with my second child. Since then, parts of my house seem to have become a permanent mess--and often so am I. There are days I don't even comb my hair, I just yank it back in a speedy ponytail. I don't wear nail polish because I don't know when I'll have time to take it off. I haven't scrapbooked any baby pictures, cleaned out my closet, or gone to the dentist in ages. I don't have time to shop for fun or just hang out and read a magazine. I'm often stressed and feel the need to be productive every single minute of my time. (Many moms of young children can probably identify with this feeling!)

I'm not sure if I could have handled having babies and writing to deadlines. I am in awe of you! Do you ever feel like you're in danger of burning out?

I'm happy to say, things are starting to change. A few weeks ago, a wonderful babysitter starting coming over on weekday mornings to play with the kids while I write. That has helped a lot. I love hearing the kids play downstairs, doing crafts and playing in the front yard, while I'm working in the bedroom. I'm still able to put the baby down for his nap and hang out with them during my morning "coffee breaks". It's kind of like having a part-time job--but with all the happy perks of being at home!

I handed in my fifth book last week, and starting with my next MS, I'll be writing books a month faster--going from a five-month cycle to four. I'm thrilled and so excited. I love writing for Presents! Being a mom and having my dream career at the same time--I wake up every morning feeling so lucky and grateful.

Four months between books? [fans self] Just the thought makes me feel faint. I'm not surprised Presents is so taken with your stories, though. Your books are lush and your heroes are dead sexy! Here in the Lair, we have shared our love of Presents and their alpha heroes. Are you giving us another dark and dangerous hero in The Spaniard's Defiant Virgin? The excerpt left me clamoring for more!

Alpha? Definitely. Marcos Ramirez is a dark, powerful, sexy Spaniard who has planned his revenge against Tamsin's family for years. He kidnaps Tamsin in Morocco on her way to her wedding, and drags her to his Moorish castle in Andalusia, where he keeps her captive and seduces her. Then he finds out she was a virgin. It makes him feel guilty about the way he treated her, until he wakes up the next morning to find that she's betrayed him and escaped.

Oh, my! Jennie, your books take place in magnificent, exotic locales. Have you turned into a globe trotter since you began writing for Presents?

It's funny. It seems sometimes I like dreaming of travel more than actually doing it. I spend a ton of time pouring over guide books and watching travel shows, but haven't traveled all that much - I've gone to Europe three or four times, and that's about it. But in the last six months, we definitely have started to do more.

We went to Hawaii with the kids in November. (See The Top Ten Reasons Harlequin Presents is Better than a Hawaiian Cruise.) In February, my husband and I went on a luxury romantic getaway to Cancun. (See My Romance of the Year.) And next week, I'll be traveling to Italy on my own to attend bestselling Presents author Sharon Kendrick's weeklong workshop on how to write for Harlequin Mills & Boon. I signed up on a lark because I wanted to meet Sharon and be able to hang out in Tuscany with other romance writers. (You can learn about the Watermill at Posara and their Creative Writing workshops at www.watermill.net.)
I can hardly believe I'm going! I have the best, most understanding husband in the world to let me do this while he holds down the fort at home!

I just found out that the BBC will be at the Watermill with a film crew, filming the class as British actress/presenter Stella Duffy tries to learn how to write a romance for their documentary about Mills & Boon's Centenary. The thought that I might possibly appear on television makes me think I should try and lose a couple pounds. But as I tend to ponder the idea while making double-chocolate brownies with my toddler, it doesn't seem likely. Oh well. Want some brownies before they're gone? They're really, really chocolatey.

Ack! Careful, Jennie, you'll get a reputation as a temptress around here! Ha, ha...ha. Hmm...double chocolate you say? Any chance there are chocolate chips in there? Pecans, maybe? *ahem* I mean, WOW, what a wonderful trip you have coming up. Tuscany is a dream destination for many of us here in the Lair (okay, for me too, and YES I'm insanely jealous!). I'm sure that will be inspiration a-plenty for your upcoming Presents novels. So besides the jet-setting abroad and domestic bliss at home, what else is in store for you and for us, your lucky readers?

Let's see...what's ahead. As you mentioned, my second book is coming out in the U.S. next week, The Spaniard's Defiant Virgin. That will be followed by RWA Literacy Autographing , and I'm a little nervous. I hope some of you will stop by and say hi!

I'm just getting started on writing my sixth book for Presents, and I'm trying to think of a truly exotic setting. I will probably include Tuscany, of course, as I'm sure to be inspired by being there. But what else? I'm wracking my brain around the four corners of the world. Can any of you think of a really gorgeous, unusual, evocative place that you'd love to read about? An exciting location for an arrogant billionaire to ruthlessly seduce a tender-hearted heroine?

I'll pick the answer that most captures my imagination, and send you a prize - my first book, The Greek Billionaire's Baby Revenge and a little treat from me!

There you have it, folks. Be sure to suggest your favorite exotic locale in your comments and ask Jennie anything at all about her glamorous, fabulous life! (Please don't let the following picture of Jennie's glamorous, fabulous life intimidate you...)