My 25th Book!!!

I guess it's a measure of how distracted by life and family I've been that I haven't mentioned my cause for celebration. The Bridesmaid's Best Man, which was on sale on the UK and North America last month and is on sale in Australia and New Zealand this month, is my 25th book!!!!

Last year when I was in Sydney, London editor Sheila Hodgson presented me with a lovely pin to acknowledge this and now, belatedly, I'm planning a competition to celebrate.

You can either post here that you'd like to enter, or if that's a bit daunting, you can send me an email to barb n elliot @ bigpond.com (no spaces). Put BRIDESMAID in the subject and you can be in the draw to win a signed copy of this latest release or another book from my backlist (Because you've already rushed out and bought Bridesmaid, haven't you?)

I've had some nice feedback about Sophie and Mark's story. I hope you enjoy it, too.



P.S. I hope placing this address like that won't bring me endless spam. If I notice a problem, I'm afraid I'll have to think of something else. I'm totally inundated with spam from my website's email address and I'm sure I've missed some mail from readers. Sorry if you were one of them.

A sneak preview

Thanks to the lovely readers who've sent emails about Needed: Her Mr. Right. It was huge fun to work with Liz and Jackie on that trilogy.

The hardbacks for my next book The Bridesmaid's Best Man arrived last week and I dutifully posted them off to my mum and my daughters.

This book, my 25th!, will be out in the UK and USA in January and in ANZ in February (I think). If out in Feb, I think the cover has a definite Valentine feel.
It's very pretty, isn't it -- rather like what I was hoping for, although my hero, Mark, looks a little too narrow shouldered and thin chested for an Outback cattleman. And my heroine, Sophie, is supposed to have milk white English skin and glossy curling hair.

Here's what the back cover tells you...

Sundown in the Outback

As the shadows grow long and the sun melts behind the hills it's just another day for cattleman Mark Winchester. But nothing has been the same since he was best man at a wedding in London six weeks ago and met bridesmaid Sophie Felsham...

A rainy morning in London

On the other side of the world, city girl Sophie is about to make the most difficult phone call of her life. The one beautiful night she shared with rugged Mark has resulted in pregnancy -- and now it's time to tell Mark that he's going to be the father of her child...

My 25th book!

Sophie and Mark now have a title and a release date. Their story will be called
THE BRIDESMAID'S BEST MAN and it will be released in January 2008.

This means they will be part of two milestones!!! The first month of Mills & Boon's 100th anniversary, which is the biggie!!! (Isn't it wonderful that M&B have been publishing since 1908?) And my personal milestone -- 25 books.

The funny thing is, I've been thinking about the need to "brand" myself as an author, thinking I need to write all my books set in the Outback with a certain kind of hero. (One of my author mates has suggested my brand is a modern Lucy Walker -- I wish.)

I'm not sure how readers feel about that and I would love to hear if they like to know exactly what kind of story they're going to get when they pick up an author's book. More or less like knowing if this author is a cherry ripe of a peanut brittle. For example, when I read Rosamunde Pilcher, I know her books are almost always going to be set in Cornwall or London or Scotland (with a dash of Spain or America thrown in), and I know I'm going to be reading about reasonably wealthy, upper class people with artistic sensibilities, who invariably love gardening or the countryside. I know I can expect warm, emotional stories with some delightful, witty insights, some wise older characters and some less wise young ones, etc, etc. And then there's RP's distinctive voice.

And I love knowing that I can trust her to write about these things. The expectation is part of the enjoyment, I guess. Dick Francis or James Herriot are similarly reliable (no, I didn't say predictable. (quick examples off the top of my head.)

I have no idea if I have a distinctive voice, but anyway, to get back to the point I began making a few paragraphs ago, Sophie and Mark's story is set right in the Outback on the Queensland/Northern Territory border and Sophie is an English girl, pregnant after a one night stand with Mark (when they were best man and bridesmaid). But the title doesn't have a whisper of the Outback in it. I guess it will be on the blurb, however and may be evident on the cover -- and does it matter? I haven't a clue.


Did you know that Rosamunde Pilcher used to write for Mills and Boon? That's why she's my hero. I dream of some day writing a longer book set in WW2, in the vein of the "The Shell Seekers".