Spotlight Authors Chat About Valentine's Day

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To ring in the new year, we're experimenting with something new this year - group interviews with your favorite authors. Since we decided to start in February, what could be a more natural topic than Valentine's Day? So read on, as this month's authors chat about Valentine's Day memories and their current releases.

Be sure to check out February's new releases on the Spotlight page.

PASSING THROUGH PARADISE
Susan Wiggs
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ENSLAVED
Susan Kearney
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DR. DESIRABLE
Kristi Gold
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UNFORGETTABLE
Meryl Sawyer
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SECRET GAMES
Jeanie London
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THE KNIGHT AND THE ROSE
Isolde Martyn
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EVER A PRINCESS
Rebecca Hagan Lee
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ROSE IN THE MIST
Ana Seymour
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FALCON'S ANGEL
Judith E. French
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A SECOND-CHANCE PROPOSAL
C.J. Carmichael
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THE VALENTINE TWO-STEP
RaeAnne Thayne
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DOLPHIN'S SONG
Wilma Fasano
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GOOD TIME GIRL
Candace Schuler
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SILK, LACE, AND VIDEOTAPE
Joanne Rock
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Writerspace: How will the characters in your current release celebrate Valentine's Day together?: Susan Wiggs: Well, one of the fun things about my new release, PASSING THROUGH PARADISE, is that Valentine's Day, 2002, actually happens to the characters in the book. The hero, who is a single dad struggling to stay in his kids' lives, is taking his awkward 13-year-old daughter to a father-daughter semi-formal, and he doesn't know how to dance. Fortunately, the heroine gives lessons! The scene where he picks up his daughter from her mom's house is heartbreaking and real.
Also, the hero's young son makes him a touching valentine. I did not have to make this one up--it's the exact valentine one of my students once made me, back when I was a teacher. The message is unforgettable!
http://www.susanwiggs.com; Kristi Gold: Knowing Dr. Nick Kempner, anything's possible. I imagine his idea of celebrating would involve strawberries and champagne... in bed. Whatever he decides to do, you can bet Michelle is in for a real treat.:)
http://www.kristigold.com; Meryl Sawyer: UNFORGETTABLE is set in Hawaii. They celebrate with a picnic in the moonlight in an area of Maui that most people never visit. It is far beyond Hana near where Charles Lindberg is buried.
http://www.merylsawyer.com; Jeanie London: In my February Blaze SECRET GAMES, Maggie and Sam celebrate Valentine�s Day at a romance resort in Niagara Falls, where they�re on a mission to uncover the resort�s secret for igniting erotic sparks for their guests.
http://www.jeanielondon.com; Isolde Martyn: In The Knight and the Rose, Johanna and Geraint will ride into the wild wood and walk hand in hand listening to the birds singing.
http://www.berkelyjoveauthors.com; Rebecca Hagan Lee: Adam and Princess Georgiana, the characters in my February release, EVER A PRINCESS, will settle down in front of the fire with a bottle of bubbly, and Wagner (her dog) and their new little princess, and rewrite the Female Provision of the Karolyan Charter so that their new little Princess Alex will never have to sign away her right to rule the principality in order to have a husband and a family.
http://www.berkelyjoveauthors.com; Ana Seymour: If there had been our modern kind of Valentine's Day back in Elizabethan times, the setting for ROSE IN THE MIST, Eamon Riordan and Cat O'Malley would probably have spent half the day arguing their opposing points of view and the other half...making up. They're passionate at both activities!
http://www.berkelyjoveauthors.com; Judith E. French: If Angel and Will (Falcon's Angel) did get to celebrate, they'd share a picnic on the island beach, swim with the dolphins, and make passionate love by moonlight.
http://www.ivyauthors.com; C.J. Carmichael: I think the Shannon sisters (from my Feb/Mar/Apr trilogy with Superromance) and their new husbands will spend the holiday at Cathleen and Dylan's bed-and-breakfast. Poppy O'Leary will cook for them--and there are plenty of bedrooms for everyone, later!
http://www.superauthors.com; RaeAnne Thayne: Valentine's Day is the climactic scene in THE VALENTINE TWO-STEP. My characters' matchmaking daughters have spent the whole book trying to throw them together. One way was to arrange for them both to serve on a school committee for a Valentine's dance and carnival to raise money for library books. At the carnival, the heroine -- who has already turned down the hero's proposal because she is frightened of her feelings for him -- realizes how desperately she loves him and how she can't bear the thought of a future without him. She steps outside to grieve in private for her loss in the frigid Wyoming night when the hero comes looking for her.
http://www.intimatemomentsauthors.com; Wilma Fasano:The characters in DOLPHIN SONG, Cass and Digger, will soon celebrate their first Valentine's Day as husband and wife. They will start the day with breakfast in the sunny renovated kitchen of their Victorian mansion, which they're restoring into an upscale bed and breakfast.
After gazing adoringly at each other over their waffles and fresh strawberries, they'll stroll down to the beach and say "Happy Valentine's Day" to their dolphin friends.
Then, just because it's Valentine's Day, they'll forget about work and home renovations and drive out to a shell- covered beach. Between kisses, Digger will feed heart-shaped chocolates to Cass.
Later, Cass will cook a gourmet dinner for Digger, one which echoes the one she cooked for him in DOLPHIN SONG featuring beef stroganoff and chocolate cheesecake.
And after dinner? This is romance, isn't it? And you are romance readers, aren't you? Use your imagination.
http://tara.writerspace.com; Candace Schuler: The action in GOOD TIME GIRL takes place mostly during the summer, starting in late June at a honky-tonk outside of Lubbock, TX, and ending with an epilogue in December at the National Pro Rodeo finals in Las Vegas, so Valentine's Day doesn't enter into it. But when Tom and Roxy do celebrate their first Valentine's Day together, I imagine it will be in the tack room of the barn on the Second Chance Ranch, atop a quilt spread over a pile of loose hay...
http://www.blazeauthors.com; Joanne Rock: The characters in my February Blaze, SILK, LACE & VIDEOTAPE, don't celebrate Valentine's Day because the book takes place a bit later in the year, but the characters in the online prequel- MANHUNTING MASQUERADE (launch date 1/16/02)-- celebrate the day in a big way! Chloe Leclaire and her friends attend a fundraiser for the Heart Society called the SILK MASQUERADE and decide to use the masked party as an opportunity for some serious manhunting!
http://www.blazeauthors.com; Stella Cameron: That's a cute question. Byron Frazer and Jade Perron from FINDING IAN will bundle up warm, pack a picnic and take it to Readymoney Cove near their home in Cornwall, England. In the evening they'll drink wine by the fire and watch through the windows while lights shiver on the River Fowey. Ooh, bring on the popcorn. I wish I was with them...
Stella's page
Writerspace: What makes Valentine's Day a special day of the year to you?: Susan Wiggs: I look great in red!
http://www.susanwiggs.com; Kristi Gold: Valentine's Day to me encompasses all forms of love--the love of friends, family and significant others. Yes, it's a special day to celebrate love, but it's also a reminder that we should embrace that love all year long.
http://www.kristigold.com; Meryl Sawyer: It's a chance to celebrate the love we have for each other.
http://www.merylsawyer.com; Jeanie London: Valentine�s Day marks a �new year� for me. I celebrate romance with cards and flowers and make a resolution to keep on celebrating love with my Valentine each and every day of the year.
http://www.jeanielondon.com; Isolde Martyn: I was born in England so St Valentine's Day means the hope of spring after the cold winter, the yearning rising in all creatures to stretch out to the sun and find warmth and love. Where I live now, it occurs in Autumn so it doesn't have quite the same meaning. When I was promoting The Knight and the Rose in Australia, some young friends of mine dressed in medieval costume and sang medieval love songs. It reminded everyone in the bookshop that people all over the world have been celebrating this special day for centuries.
http://www.berkelyjoveauthors.com; Rebecca Hagan Lee: It's cheerful. I think I smile all day long. Just enjoying the fact that on this day, everyone is in love -- or wants to be.
http://www.berkelyjoveauthors.com; Ana Seymour: As a romance author, I have no problem admitting that I believe love and romance absolutely make the world go round. This one day of the year it becomes okay for the rest of the population to agree!
http://www.berkelyjoveauthors.com; Judith E. French: Valentine's Day is not just a day for lovers, but one to remember all those people I care about, especially my friends and my one and only sister.
http://www.ivyauthors.com; C.J. Carmichael: It's a great reminder to couples (especially those with children!) that they need to spend time together every now and then--just the two of them.
http://www.superauthors.com; RaeAnne Thayne: For me, it's not just a romantic thing anymore. I love going to dinner with my husband (or staying home and making a special dinner together after the kids have gone to bed!) but I also love showing my children how much I love them on Valentine's Day. We always try to do something special for them -- balloons or cards or a little toy. Just something to remind them how important they are in our lives.
http://www.intimatemomentsauthors.com; Wilma Fasano: Valentine's Day is special to me because it reminds me of the love between my heroes and heroines: Clinton and Lisa in WEEKEND ROMANCE, Jon and Judy in LOVE SONG, Chad and Sydney in THE LOVE GAME, and now Digger and Cass in DOLPHIN SONG.
http://tara.writerspace.com; Candace Schuler: Valentine's Day is special because of the planning and thoughtfulness that goes into it. Remembering and celebrating Valentine's Day says, "I thought of you...I bought a gift or a card (or made a special meal or planned something) especially for you."
http://www.blazeauthors.com; Joanne Rock: It is a valuable reminder every year to have a day devoted to telling the people in our lives how much they mean to us. I have three young sons who keep me incredibly busy. I never forget to appreciate them every day, but sometimes my husband can get overlooked! I am grateful to have an occasion to spoil him and let him know he's irreplaceable.
http://www.blazeauthors.com
Writerspace: What is your favorite type of Valentine's Day gift? Candy, balloons, flowers, naughty lingerie .... and why?: Susan Wiggs: A sweep-me-away date involving a great meal and a fabulous hotel. Now THAT's one thing he's really good at.
http://www.susanwiggs.com; Susan Kearney: My husband brings me flowers once a month--for no reason than it makes me happy. Now, that's romance and Valentine's Day has nothing to do with it. :)
http://www.susankearney.com; Kristi Gold: I love flowers! Absolutely, any kind. They brighten my day. However, my husband gave me some lingerie a couple of years back that fit in a box that couldn't have been more than a half inch deep and eight inches all the way around. My first question was, What, a new hanky? He now sticks to flowers.:)
http://www.kristigold.com; Meryl Sawyer: I go for something unique, clever. One year I wore edible undies (from Fredricks of Hollywood) for my husband.
http://www.merylsawyer.com; Jeanie London: Flowers, definitely. My husband always brings me a fresh-cut arrangement with my favorites�gladiolus, or sometimes peonies or roses. Why? Because I can enjoy them. Candy translates into five extra pounds, balloons make the kids war over who gets to pop them and naughty lingerie . . . well, now that I think about it, I�d enjoy receiving naughty lingerie.
http://www.jeanielondon.com; Isolde Martyn: None of those. No ostentation either. Just a card from my husband with a loving message.
http://www.berkelyjoveauthors.com; Rebecca Hagan Lee: The dozen red roses my husband always brings home. Because he sent roses to me in the dorm at college after our first date.
http://www.berkelyjoveauthors.com; Ana Seymour: Candy, sigh. February 14 is usually when my New Year's resolution to lose those extra pounds gets tucked away for another year.
http://www.berkelyjoveauthors.com; Judith E. French: I love to get a heart-shaped box of chocolate on Valentine's Day, although one year, my husband bought me a candy-apple red car, the first I'd ever owned in my own name.
http://www.ivyauthors.com; C.J. Carmichael: I love to be taken out to dinner...my husband and I have such great conversations when we make the time to do this.
http://www.superauthors.com; RaeAnne Thayne:I know it's not very original, but I love flowers. They are such a sensory-pleasing gift. Beautiful to look at, wonderful to smell, soft to the touch. I love walking past them a week later and still being able to conjure up the warm glow I had when they were first given to me.
http://www.intimatemomentsauthors.com; Wilma Fasano: My favorite type of Valentine's gift? Well, let's see. There are chocolate-covered strawberries and chocolate- covered cherries and chocolate-covered peanuts. And dark chocolate and German chocolate and milk chocolate and chocolate . . .
Of course, for my dolphin friends, the favorite Valentine's treat will always be raw fish.
http://tara.writerspace.com; Candace Schuler: While flowers are always welcome (and jewelry is much appreciated), my absolute favorite type of Valentine's Day gift is time together, making memories... Spending the day antiquing; having dinner at a funky little restaurant we've never tried before; playing tourist and going to the zoo or an art gallery or a museum; taking a long drive to nowhere in particular and stopping for lunch at whatever roadside diner or caf� catches our fancy...
http://www.blazeauthors.com; Joanne Rock: Flowers and candy are always welcome, but my absolute favorite gifts are the out-of-the-blue, thoughtful things my husband comes up with-- if I've had a busy month, he'll give me a gift certificate to the spa for a special facial or massage. If I'm griping about cooking duties, he comes home with lobster for us-- and cooks it himself! I love these surprises.
http://www.blazeauthors.com; Stella Cameron: I look forward to my cards--I always get two. My husband takes longer to buy a card than anyone I've ever known and he usually makes me cry over one and laugh over the other. We both like simple things. Flowers are wonderful but I never refuse a pretty pair of earrings or a pin:)
Stella's page

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