Looking the part

I've often wondered why writers pose with tools of trade on display. One office is very much the same as another office. We have desks with computers. Filing cabinets, and shelves. As a former professional housewife and mother (now retired) I suspect that the books make me appear more scholarly, the computer, more technically proficient. In actual fact I'm neither. What happened here was that I discovered that my computer (the one you can't see with the tennis court sized screen) could take photographs. So I decided to fiddle with it. I put my best blouse on, turned the computer round and posed with my retired computer and the new set of shelves I'd been waiting years for and finally got. Anyway, I squared myself up in the little square viewer and clicked my mouse. One...two...three!!! The resulting flash nearly knocked me off my chair. When I was a professional housewife and mother I didn't pose for photographs with my broom or mop and bucket held aloft. Do plumbers pose proudly with their plungers and S bends? No don't answer that one. Anyway, for what it's worth, here I am looking the part as best I can.

PS. Can I call myself a photographer now? No? Oh...okay.

DAUGHTER OF DARKNESS

A long time ago, I wrote my 2nd book. It was called Daughter of Darkness. As a beginning writer I spent a great deal of time on it, drawing on my scant knowledge of writing practices at the time to perfect it.

I entered the manuscript into a national competition for unpublished novels, which was sponsored by Random House and Australian Women’s Day. To my delight it was placed third from out of the hundreds of entries, and I won $2,000 for my efforts. I was delighted by this encouragement. Unfortunately, only the novel that won the competition was published. I sent the manuscript to Robert Hale, a library publisher who decided it was written well enough for public consumption.

Daughter of Darkness was published in 2001. The following year I decided to enter it in the mainstream section of the Romantic book of The Year award, an annual competition which is run by the Romance Writers of Australia. It won!

The book has long been out of print, though now and again a used copy turns up on the net, offered by some enterprising person for a hugely inflated price!

Readers often write and ask me where they can buy it, which prompted me to investigate electronic publishing. I gave the manuscript a light edit, but generally ignored the urge to unravel it all and rewrite it completely, because it still works as it is.

So I’m happy to announce that the book has now become available for download in ten formats, from Belgrave House. http://belgravehouse.com/bookstore/
The cost is US$5.00

Salting The Wound

Review: Salting the Wound – Janet Woods 4.50 stars.

"An epic tale of family loyalty, forbidden attraction and heartbreaking choices, Janet Woods’ latest historical romance, Salting the Wound, is guaranteed to hold readers in thrall!"

Sea captain Nick Thornton cannot wait to go back home to Dorset and see the woman he’s loved since childhood: Charlotte Honeyman. Nick is determined to leave the sea behind and to settle back home and open an emporium with Charlotte by his side as his wife. But on his return, Nick is shocked when the woman whom he has loved for most of his life coldly announces that she has married another man and that she never wants to see him ever again.

Charlotte Honeyman has always been aware of the fact that Nick was infatuated with her, but she could never consent to reciprocating his feelings; not when his uncle, Erasmus, was responsible for the death of her beloved mother. Crushed and heartbroken, Nick cannot believe that the woman whom he was head over heels in love with now belongs to another man. Realizing that he can no longer stay in Dorset now that his beloved is somebody else’s wife, Nick decides to head back to sea, but he vows to make Charlotte pay for this cruel betrayal…

Charlotte’s younger sister Marianne was flabbergasted when her elder sibling announced that she was marrying another man – and she was mortified when she heard Charlotte tell Nick that if she ever saw him near her again, she would shoot him! Determined to apologise on her sister’s behalf, Marianne heads to Nick’s ship before it heads off to Boston to atone for her sister’s less than ladylike behaviour, but when she has an accident on the ship, she finds herself trapped on board the vessel…and in close proximity with the brooding and dangerous Captain Thornton!

Nick is delighted when he finds a helpless Marianne Honeyman in his cabin, desperately needing his aid – and realizes that he’s finally found the perfect way to revenge himself upon the woman who scorned him: he will seduce her sister and marry her in order to save her reputation. Marianne is well aware of the reason behind Nick’s seduction, but in his arms, she cannot help but wish that her husband would realize that the younger Honeyman sister has been in love with him for years!

The more time Nick spends with Marianne, the more he finds himself attracted to her. Is he falling in love with his convenient wife? Or will his desire for revenge blind him to what’s in front of his very eyes?

Written with deftness, confidence and style, Salting the Wound is an outstanding historical romance featuring a wonderfully gutsy heroine who jumps off the page, a swoon-worthy hero, a well-rounded cast of supporting characters, poignant and riveting romance and an intriguing and dramatic sub-plot which will keep readers riveted until the final page!Fast-paced, dramatic and wonderfully romantic, Salting the Wound is another winner from the exceptional pen of the fabulous Janet Woods!

Reviewed by Julie Bonello - http://singletitles.com

Follows is a top pick review by Kristal Gorman from Romance Reader at Heart.

Nicholas Thornton has come home at last to claim his bride.  After years back and forth at sea, he is now ready to settle down with the woman of his dreams.  He has big plans to come home and marry his childhood sweetheart, even if the last time he was home, she rejected him and broke his heart.  Sure that she has now come to her senses, Nick arrogantly decides that he is going to go out to Charlotte's house and find a woman who is more than willing to marry him.  But the reception that he receives is much different than the one he had thought.  Because the woman that he has loved all of his life is already married to someone else, and when Nick shows up at her door, she shows him the business end of a rifle!

Nick retreats to lick his wounds, vowing to find some way to make Charlotte pay for this humiliation.  When Charlotte's little sister Marianne decides to try and make things better and go to visit Nick on his ship, she has no idea the trouble she has gotten herself into. When Nick finds her hurt on his ship two days out to sea, he doesn’t do the "gentlemanly" thing and return Marianne to her home right away; instead, he decides that sweet revenge is staring him right in the face.  To his way of thinking it would serve Charlotte right to be worried and furious over her missing sister.  What Nick doesn't count on is the feelings that he discovers for little Aria Honeyman.  Long gone is the little girl that he used to tease all the time, and in her place is a beautiful, vibrant, young woman, one he finds himself increasingly drawn to.  

I LOVE Janet Woods style of writing.  I haven't been disappointed by a single book I have read of hers, and I have read them all!  Nick and Marianne have fabulous chemistry and the writing flows beautifully.  Ms. Wood's simply knows how to tell an excellent story with captivating characters and situations.  I highly recommend SALTING THE WOUND if you are looking for not only a page-turner, but also a new book for your keeper shelves. 

Large Print Cover art

To make this a hat trick. Severn House has just surprised me with a new jacket for the large print version of Edge of Regret, and I couldn't resist showing it off.

With three lovely covers in the past week or so, I'm not expecting any more surprises - but then, they wouldn't be a surprise I were.

SEVERN HOUSE

STRAW IN THE WIND
ISBN: 9780727868930
MARCH 25TH 2010

The stand-alone sequel to Salting the Wound

1835, England. A married woman, pregnant with her sea-captain lover’s child, dies giving birth. The child, Serafina Finn, is abandoned to an orphanage and grows up longing to feel that she belongs somewhere. Eighteen years later, her father, hearing rumours that his lost daughter survived, dispatches a detective, Adam Chapman, to discover the truth. Adam finds, and falls in love with, Serafina – but, even if he can prove her identity will her real family accept her?

The audio edition of ‘Hearts of Gold’ has just been released, and it has such a lovely cover that I just wanted to show it off. Audio books usually play for about eight hours or more – and it’s interesting (but not always comfortable) to hear how a reader interprets the tone of the dialogue and text, and how the words issue from the characters mouths. I’m now waiting for my author copy to arrive to I can drop everything and have a good “read”.
And a reminder that ‘Hearts of Gold” will be available under its original cover to buy in trade paperback at the end of the month.