Today’s the day! My first new book in 15 months (though I’ve had some rewritten older ones come out) and … shit, I hate praising my own stuff.
Well, that’s not exactly true – I think I’m brilliant, even if I’m not to everyone’s taste. As Jo Beverley used to say, we can’t expect everyone to like our work, we just need to find the people who do. (Damn, I miss Jo!). I want people to read my books and love my books – of course I do. I just feel a bit squicky about asking them to buy them.
So, okay, pretend this has nothing to do with commerce. I love this book. It took so damned long for Emma and Brandon to get back to each other. First, they met when he was a dying soldier and she was an anonymous volunteer at the military hospital. Then she came out of nowhere to save his life when he tried to kill himself.
He’d been such a wreck that he needed time to get his shit together. He went up to a small, shuttered estate he owned in the Highlands of Scotland with a crusty old retainer (are there any other kinds?) to whip his butt into shape with the 19th century form of military basic training (daily swims in icy rivers, tromping over high mountain peaks etc). He’s clean and sober and strong, has been for three years, and now he has to rejoin his family and make amends.
Meanwhile, Emma has thrown herself into her studies, realizing her gift for the medical sciences. She’s become a surgeon, working in the shadows because she’s a woman, but with the Rohans’ help she’s been able to practice despite the disapproval of society. She’s put Brandon out of her mind, knowing she can never have him, and then he walks into her life three years later and he doesn’t remember a thing.
Oh, it’s good! I slaved on this sucker too – my shoulder went wonky and it took almost a year to get surgery, another few months to recover enough to type. I dictated some of it, wrote longhand, but with all the stopping and starting when my shoulder was too bad to work I ended up going in wrong directions. I threw out 40,000 words (almost half the book) and rewrote and moved stuff around until, finally, it was where it felt right, and then I soared on through to the end. Brandon was a revelation. For all he can be a cynical, surly bastard he turned out to be an amazing lover and a surprisingly decent human being while still being hot as hell.
And Emma, in all her angry confusion and denial, stays strong and determined and can’t keep from loving him, no matter how dangerous loving is.
Ooooh, it’s just wonderful. Picture me: 
So, okay, here’s your task, and I will be crassly commercial.
1. Buy the book
2. Tell other people to buy the book
3. Tell everyone how wonderful it is
4. Write reviews on Amazon and Goodreads
5. Buy a copy of the book for your mother (she can handle it – I’m probably older than she is and I wrote the smoldering thing)
6. Turn your dolls into Brandon and Emma characters (okay, that’s just me). Pack the male doll’s pants.
7. Buy a paper copy so you can stroke it and kiss it
8. Buy a copy for your town library
9. Buy 150 paper copies and roll around naked in them
10. Spend a thousand dollars and frame the cover because it’s so freaking gorgeous
11. Buy a copy for your dog.
That’s your mission if you choose to accept it. Otherwise I’ll blow up your computer.
Nah. It’s a lovely book and I think you’ll love it, and now I get to turn my attention to something new. I need to write stories like I need oxygen to breathe, and I’ve spent way too much time on getting this ready for publication. Time for a new, epic love story.
Ciao.