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Best Book Launch Party – EVER!
On a cold and miserable February morning, June Kearns, Mags Cullingford and I set out to catch the 11.32 from Leicester to St Pancras. We had our friend Maisie with us and were looking forward to meeting our bestie, Jan Brigden later that day. Why were we there? Why, only to attend the BEST BOOK LAUNCH PARTY – EVER for Adrienne Vaughan’s latest novel, That Summer at the Seahorse Hotel.
‘Seahorse’ is Adrienne’s fourth full length novel but she has also written a book of poems and short stories, and produced two collaborative works. You can find out more about Adrienne, here.
After lunch at the fabulous Betjeman Arms we sallied forth for some retail therapy, homing in on the new MAC shop where I bought some makeup brushes and WHISTLES where Mags bought a fabulous tunic . An Author has to look glamorous, right? And the Romantic Novelists’ Association’s annual awards (aka the RoNAS) are just around the corner. Anyhoo, I digress . . . At 4.30pm we rocked up the a private room in the Betjeman Arms where Adrienne was waiting to greet her guests.
As friends, family, and fellow writers gathered, the excellent and attentive staff made sure that no one’s prosecco glass went unfilled. Adrienne, her agent and publisher Lisa Eveleigh and Natalie Keene, Associate Director at AVA PR, had ensured that the room looked fabulous and books were available to purchase. Many of us had already downloaded Summer at the Seahorse Hotel but were keen to obtain a signed copy for our bookshelves.
Upon arrival, each guest was asked to choose a tarot card from a set proffered by Adrienne. I drew The Emperor and then settled down as Adrienne read extracts from ‘Seahorse’. Click here to read the first few chapters of That Summer at the Seahorse Hotel. You will also be able to download a copy here, too. 
Earlier, Christina Courtenay had drawn THE KNIGHT OF SWORDS from Adrienne’s pack and that was declared as the winning tarot. Her prize was a copy of ‘Seahorse’ and a some chocolate to take home. Readings over, books purchased, we all queued up to congratulate Adrienne, and then had a great time catching up with friends. RNA members in attendance were: June Kearns, Mags Cullingford, Lizzie Lamb, Sue Moorcroft, Jean Fullerton, Cathy Bramley, Pia Fenton and Julie Vince.
All that remained was to gather New Romantics Press together for one last photo before catching the train back to Leicester.
Fabulous blogger Anne Williams who’d written a review of ‘Seahorse’ earlier that week was also in attendance. You can read Anne’s review here. Two other bloggers/book reviewers have also reviewed Adrienne’s novel, Many thanks to Rosie Amber and Jessie Cahalin for their support.
Have a wonderful weekend everyone, I’ll be spending mine within the pages of ‘Seahorse’, I can smell the briny and hear the waves crashing on the shore from here.
That Summer at The Seahorse Hotel
– BREAKING NEWS –
ADRIENNE VAUGHAN’S LATEST NOVEL
now available to pre order
That Summer at The Seahorse Hotel
One family, one secret – that changes everything forever
Blurb
Mia Flanagan has never been told who her father is and aged ten, stopped asking. Haunted by this, she remains a dutiful daughter who would never bring scandal or shame on her beautiful and famously single mother.
So when Archie Fitzgerald, one of Hollywood’s favourite actors, decides to leave Mia his Irish estate, she asks herself – is he her father after all?
That Summer at the Seahorse Hotel is a tale of passion, jealousy and betrayal – and the ghost of a secret love that binds this colourful cast yet still threatens, after all these years, to tear each of them apart.
That Summer at the Seahorse Hotel is a tale of passion, jealousy and betrayal – and the ghost of a secret love that binds this colourful cast yet still threatens, after all these years, to tear each of them apart.
The author – Adrienne Vaughan
That Summer at The Seahorse Hotel is now available to pre order as a quality paperback and to read as a kindle download
buying links –
Many congratulations, Adrienne, from all at New Romantics Press
Write An Amazon Review Month!
Authors know how difficult it is to build a following of loyal readers and to gently persuade those readers to review their book once they’ve read it. To help redress that, August 2016 has been decreed Write An Amazon Review Month! By @TerryTyler4 #AugustReviews and we’re going to do our bit to help.
On Monday 25th July, book blogger Rosie Amber wrote this post encouraging readers and writers alike to post a short review on Amazon for any book they’ve read and enjoyed ~ following this up, Terry Tyler is starting this initiative along with other writer-bloggers including Rosie, Cathy from Between The Lines, Barb Taub, Shelley Wilson and Alison Williams. 
The idea is that, from August 1st, everyone who reads this uses their Amazon account to post just one review on one book that they’ve read (but feel free to carry on if you get in the swing!). You don’t even have to have read it recently, it can be any book you’ve read, any time. The book does not have to have been purchased from Amazon, though if it is you get the ‘Verified Purchase’ tag on it; however, if you download all your books via Kindle Unlimited, as many do these days, they don’t show the VP tag, anyway.
Remember, this isn’t the Times Literary Supplement, it’s Amazon, where ordinary people go to choose their next £1.99 Kindle book. No one expects you to write a thousand word, in-depth critique; I don’t know about you, but I’m more likely to read one short paragraph or a couple of lines saying what an average reader thought of a book, than a long-winded essay about the pros and cons of the various literary techniques used. Yes, those are welcome too (!), but no more so than a few words saying “I loved this book, I was up reading it until 3am”, or “I loved Jim and Vivien and the dialogue was so realistic”, or whatever!
Why should you write a review?
- They help book buyers make decisions. Don’t you read the reviews on Trip Advisor before deciding on a hotel, or any site from which you might buy an item for practical use? Book reviews are no different
- If the book is by a self-published author, or published by an independent press, the writers have to do all their promotion and marketing themselves ~ reviews from the reading public is their one free helping hand
- The amount of reviews on Amazon helps a book’s visibility (allegedly). If you love a writer’s work and want others to do so, too, this is the best possible way of making this happen
- It’s your good deed for the day, and will only take five minutes
Off we go, then! A few more pointers:
- If you need any help with writing your review, do click on Rosie’s post, above.
- A review can be as short as one word. The shortest one I have is just two 🙂
- You don’t have to put your name to the review, as your Amazon ‘handle’ can be anything you like.
- No writer expects all their reviews to be 5* and say the book is the best thing ever written; there is a star rating guide on Rosie’s post.
Would you like to tell the Twittersphere about your review? If so, tweet the link to it with the hashtag #AugustReviews ~ and thank you! 
One last thing . . . New Romantics Press’s latest venture is a tapas selection of our work. It is available on Kindle and is FREE to download this weekend and 99p thereafter. We think it gives you a real flavour of our writing and hopefully will bring our books to the attention of new readers. You can download it here.
Take a chance on New Romantics Press –
It doesn’t seem possible that four years have passed since New Romantics Press was launched. At the time, we each said: “We’ll be happy just to see our novel in print.”
Since then, we’ve been bitten by the writing bug and gone on to write further novels, win accolades, reach the finals of a prestigious book award and achieve bestseller status (historical romance>Scottish) on Amazon. Not to forget, hosting a wonderful book launch at Waterstones in Kensington. Between us, we’ve written ten fabulous novels and gained a host of readers who are hungry for more! With four new novels in the pipeline, we thought it time to thank our wonderful readers/supporters and to celebrate our achievements by uploading a kindle book, containing the first two chapters of each of our novels to share with you.
The kindle is almost a novel/novella in its own right – almost forty thousand word in all!
So . . . if you have never read any of our novels, now’s the time to
TAKE A CHANCE ON US
Within the pages of the kindle you will find: romantic heroes and heroines aplenty; men in kilts, cowboys, Victorian Misses, Twenties Girls, wild Irish actors who bear more than a passing resemblance to Pierce Brosnan, feisty heroines who live on remote islands in the Atlantic, academics, priests, enigmatic heroes – and women ‘who love not wisely, but too well.’ In short, ten ideal summer reads to take to the beach with you – a book for every mood.
click here to pre-order your copy of Take a chance on us
and, from all of us – thank you very much – have a great summer!
Lizzie, Adrienne, June and Mags
PS – keep your eye open for Lizzie’s forthcoming SUMMER NEWSLETTER when you’ll have a chance to win a FREE signed copy of Scotch on the Rocks. But you have to be a subscriber to win . . . so, join 350 of Lizzie’s lovely readers today, and join in the fun.
Welcome to our blog – SUE MOORCROFT
New Romantics Press is thrilled to welcome successful author and fellow RNA member Sue Moorcroft to our blog. Lizzie has known Sue for quite a few years now (!) but thought some of our followers would like to learn more about Sue and her books.
Sue, tell us all about yourself –
I write women’s commercial fiction and my current contract is with Avon Books UK, part of HarperCollins. I also write short stories, columns, courses, serials and novellas, and I’m a creative writing tutor. I love being a full-time writer but in the past I worked for a bank, a digital prepress and Motor Cycle News.
What, for you would be a typical writing day?
I start about 7.30am and finish around 6.00pm, generally Monday to Friday but sometimes weekends. I usually take a couple of hours off for Zumba, FitStep, Yoga or piano. If I can, I shoehorn in a cuppa with my gym buddies. I always have a clear idea of my day: planning, writing a first draft, editing, writing front or back matter, working on promo with my publisher’s PR agency, writing course material etc. When I’m writing a first draft I tend to edit the day before’s session before moving on. It gets me in the zone.
We all have to embrace it, so Social Networking – a help or a hindrance?
I lurve it, when I have time. Twitter and Facebook are part of my morning routine. I use social media for contact with readers and other writers, promo, research and fun. I’ve acquired useful research sources (such as a close protection officer) and workshops, interviews and blog posts and even my fantastic street team through social media. However, when I’m feeling the pressure of a deadline I reduce or remove social media from my day. You can read more about my views on social media on my blog
Sue, you must be thrilled to be have AVON BOOKS UK as your current publisher. We all know it takes years to be an overnight success –
do you have any advice for fledgling authors?
- Persist – I truly believe the name for an author who doesn’t give up is ‘published’.
- Expand your knowledge. Other creative careers demand years of training so why shouldn’t writing?
- Learn about publishing as well as writing so you can act professionally and in your own best interests.
- Don’t be afraid to try different writing techniques. You never know when you’re going to discover something that works for you.
- Balance a ‘can do’ attitude with healthy realism. You’re entering a competitive field that might involve sending work to someone you don’t know and hasn’t asked to see it, or presenting your writing to readers when there are a lot of other writers for them to read, so try hard to do the best job you can.
We’d love you to share your top five writing tips with us, Sue!
Learn about viewpoint (from whose perspective you’re writing) and what use of it is acceptable in your genre or desired by any editor or agent you’re approaching.
Understand how to show rather than tell. If this seems hard, think about running everything through your viewpoint character: see, hear, taste, feel, think and know what they see, hear, taste, feel, think and know. Give your characters actions that reflect what they’re experiencing, ie Melissa wiped the sweat from her eyes rather than Melissa felt too hot.
- Ultimately, you’re writing for readers. Do you know who they are and what they like? If you’re self-published this can be all you need to know … but it’s important that you do because you don’t have a publishing house to take care of such pesky details. If you’re seeking traditional publishing you need to understand what the editor/agent wants, too, as that person is the gatekeeper to your readers.
- Hone your dialogue. Conversation breathes life into characters and passes information to readers. It’s a boon to your character development as vocabulary, syntax and rhythms of speech can indicate region, religion, education, interests, social adeptness, career, experience, mood and a host of facets. It can indicate the dynamics of a relationship, too – characters don’t usually speak to their mother in the same way they speak to their lover, for example.
- Plunge into your story. View the first page/first chapter as an access corridor and don’t clutter it with too much description or backstory.
Tell us about your next book
My next book is The Christmas Promise and though scheduled for September/October publication it’s available for preorder now!
For Ava Bliss, it’s going to be a Christmas to remember … On a snowy December evening Sam Jermyn steps into the life of bespoke hat maker Ava Blissham. Sparks fly, and not necessarily the good ones…When PR guru Sam commissions Ava to make a hat for someone special to him she makes a promise that will change her life. She just doesn’t know it yet. Ava needs this job – she’s struggling to make ends meet, her ex-boyfriend is a bully and she’s desperate for distraction because no one dreads Christmas like Ava Blissham. Soon Ava finds herself reluctantly needing something from Sam. He’s quick to help, but Ava is in for a nasty shock… Can Ava keep a cool head and be true to herself? Will she be able to keep her promise? If she does, might this be the Christmas dreams come true?
Finally – what are you working on ATM?
Having just finished the copy edits for The Christmas Promise I’m catching up on blog posts and writing a short story for S Magazine. Then, bliss, I’ll be able to return to Just for the Holidays, which is due to be published in May/June 2017. It’s about Leah, who has actively avoided acquiring a husband and kids, being stuck in France … looking after her sister’s husband and kids. On the bright side, she begins a holiday romance with Ronan, a grounded helicopter pilot spending the summer in his holiday-home next door – until his ex-wife turns up to live with him.
Thank you so much for sharing your time and expertise with us Sue. Good luck with all your projects. If anyone would like to learn more about Sue, here are the links where you can find her.
Website Blog Facebook Facebook author page
Twitter Google+ LinkedIn Instagram:
Guest post – Tamie Dearen
New Romantics Press would like to welcome a friend from across the pond onto their page. Drum roll – take it away, Tamie Dearen and welcome to the UK!
Secrets Behind The Best Girls Series
Blurb from Her Best Match, Book One of The Best Girls Series.
Feisty, stubborn, and bored with life in Texas, Anne Best is about to get more than she bargained for.
The lovely widow heads off to the Big Apple for a job interview, expecting no more than a few days adventure in New York City, only to find herself with a new job working for the most infuriating man she’s ever met.
Billionaire Steven Gherring is one of New York’s Most Eligible Bachelors, and he has every intention of staying that way. But Gram has other ideas. She’s on a not-so-secret campaign to find a wife for her grandson.
As fearless as she is clumsy, Anne tackles every challenge (including her new boss) enthusiastically, with two lone exceptions… public speaking and recognizing her own feelings. Passions rise along with hemlines as Gram joins forces with Anne, a veteran matchmaker, to find the perfect match for Steven.
If you like Hallmark movies, you’ll love The Best Girls!
The Best Girls is a sweet romantic comedy series, currently made up of a free novella prequel and four novels, set in New York City and chronicling the romantic adventures of Texas native, Anne Best, her two daughters, Emily and Charlie, and their friends. Today, I’m going to let you in a few secrets about the characters.
All characters appearing in this work are fictitious. Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental
You’ve probably read that disclaimer a thousand times in various fictional books. But do you want to know a secret? The characters in The Best Girls Series are real! Let me introduce you.
Anne Best is me. Okay, she’s a bit younger and a lot more outgoing. But she’s the same clumsy, matchmaking, competitive woman with a degree in Chemistry and two grown daughters. Steven Gherring? He’s my sweet, thoughtful, intelligent romantic husband, with a bigger bank account and slightly-more-visible six-pack abs. The two daughters, Emily and Charlie, are eerily similar to my own daughters, and our relationship is pretty identical to that of Anne and her girls. In fact, my daughters once called my cell and left a message. Hi Mom! This is Emily! This is Charlie! How are things going in New York City? We can’t wait to come visit you.
What about Gram? She’s this funny, quirky, fireball widow from my church. You should meet her, she’ll keep you in stitches.
I’ve got a son-in-law named Spencer. He’s tall, handsome, and athletic, and my daughter was the first girl he ever kissed. (How sweet is that?)
Now Brad, Josh, Grace, Olivia, Claire and Hannah aren’t walking around in flesh and blood, but they are just as real to me as all the others. Here’s another little secret. I wrote the entire Best Girls Series, chapter by chapter, giving it to the girls at my office as it was written. We talked about those characters every day, laughing and crying together over every page. So all of those people became a part of my life, intertwined with the lives of my physical friends.
Now, if you read about The Best Girls, you’ll know the inside story. Y’all come on over to Texas and visit. We’d love to have you!
BIO:
Tamie Dearen lives in Texas with her very romantic husband of thirty-four years. They have two beautiful daughters, two amazing son-in-laws, and one awesome grandson. She plays piano, flute, harmonica, keyboards, and guitar, and loves composing and art. And she hates housework. She has been a dentist in private practice for thirty years. Tamie stays busy playing on her church’s praise team and leading a weekly Bible study. In her spare time, she writes books.
Other Books by Tamie Dearen
Amazon Author Page:ÊviewAuthor.at/TamieDearen
Amazon Books:
- viewBook.at/BestToCome
- viewBook.at/HerBestMatch
- myBook.to/BestDatingRules
- viewBook.at/BestLaidPlans
- viewBook.at/BestFootForward
- viewBook.at/NoellesChristmas
- viewBook.at/ARoseNBloom
- viewBook.at/Alora-TheWanderJewel
- viewBook.at/Alora2
Barnes and Noble:http://www.barnesandnoble.com/c/tamie-dearen
iBooks:https://itunes.apple.com/us/artist/tamie-dearen/id819513899?mt=11
Twitter handle: https://twitter.com/TamieDearen
Facebook address: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Tamie-Dearen/1384772145109650
Website address: http://tamiedearen.com
Something for the Weekend?
New Romantics Press is thrilled to invite FABULOUS debut author Janet Brigden into to our den to learn more about her novel AS WEEKEND GO. Fabulous cover, Jan.
cover designed by Berni Stevens
Jan has been a great supporter of the NRP over the years and it’s great to have the opportunity to Pay It Forward and help her celebrate in style. Here we are at Waterstones, London last year with Jan and other members of the Romantic Novelists’ Society.
So tell us all about AS WEEKEND GO, Jan, you have the floor.
It was on Valentine’s Day 2015 that I found out As Weekends Go had been shortlisted in the Choc Lit and Whole Story Audiobooks Search for a Star Competition. One month later, I discovered I’d won! I can’t tell you how elated I felt upon signing my Choc Lit contract.
Aspiring authors will want to know how you did it, Jan. Any tips ?
The idea for the novel stemmed from a creative writing course assignment I completed a few years back via The Writers Bureau. I had to create a tense scenario involving two characters only. I chose a husband and his wife’s best friend. He’d secretly invited her to his house on the pretence of discussing his wife’s surprise 30th birthday party. Instead, he confronted her about some gossip he’d heard regarding a recent weekend trip the two women had taken together. Which afterwards begged the question in my mind: ‘Well, what did happen during that weekend?’ And so the story slowly evolved…
I didn’t have any buddies or contacts in the literary world, at the time, so made the effort to attend lots of author talks and events, subsequently connecting with writers and readers on Facebook and Twitter. I then became a member of the Romantic Novelists’ Association’s fantastic New Writers’ Scheme, receiving two fabulous critiques for the early drafts of As Weekends Go from my assigned reader, which gave me the confidence that I could actually write and that my book had much promise. Music to a budding author’s ears, for sure!
I went on to form an online writing/blogging group with seven very special ladies, who became The Romaniacs. Two of our biggest highlights to date include releasing a charity anthology last year, entitled Romaniac Shorts: Fashionably Brief’ and more recently, proudly receiving the RNA industry Media Award. RNA Industry Media Star Awards We even got a mention in The Bookseller.
And now, as the year draws to a close, I’ve had the biggest thrill of all in proudly seeing Choc Lit publish As Weekends Go. I hope you enjoy it, here’s the blurb.
What if your entire life changed in the space of a weekend?
When Rebecca’s friend Abi convinces her to get away from it all at the fabulous Hawksley Manor hotel in York, it seems too good to be true. Pampering and relaxation is just what Rebecca needs to distract herself from the creeping suspicion that her husband, Greg, is hiding something from her. She never imagined that by the end of the weekend she would have dined with celebrities or danced the night away in exclusive clubs. Nor could she have predicted she would meet famous footballer, Alex Heath, or that he would be the one to show her that she deserved so much more …
But no matter how amazing a weekend is, it’s always back to reality come Monday morning – isn’t it?
As Weekends Go – available on Amazon.co.uk and Amazon.com
You’ll find Jan at these places – Facebook, Twitter and @theromaniacs
I hope you enjoy it. Love Jan.
We know we will Jan, thanks for appearing on the NRP blog – happy sales and happy Christmas. Now get on and write the next one, that’s what we do. LOL.
New Romantics Press 