Julie Anne Long

The RWA Conference: highlights, and a pictorial of sorts. Also: Vote for your favorite JAL title at AAR!

Hello, darlings. How are things?? I'm still giddy and hoarse, a result of being conference-lagged (a term I've newly coined). And by that I mean...well, as you might have guessed from the big, shiny photos of the unusually well-groomed authors below, I've just returned from the San Francisco RWA conference. Well, I say "just returned," but it was just downtown—it's not like I needed a passport to get there or anything, just a $1.50 for MUNI or a twenty for cab fare. But the conference is always like spending a week on another planet populated entirely by women, every single one of us wearing brand new shoes, every single one of us sporting about five flaming blisters a piece by the end of the week. This is a quick and incomplete pictorial of events, so far mostly courtesy of my buddy and Rita nominee Toni Blake, who has developed the highly useful habit of always having a camera. 

Highlights were my incomparable agent Steve Axelrod's 25th Anniversary cocktail party, where I had a wonderful time talking to (but like a nimrod, did not have anyone take photos of me grinning with) some of my all-time favorite authors, including Jayne Anne Krentz, Susan Elizabeth Phillips, Julia Quinn and Christine Feehan; the Literacy Signing, where I met Diana! Our dear blogger friend Diana!! Yay!! (see the photo below of the two of us laughing hard -- you can see my molars and right up my nostrils); the presentation I did with Agent Steve on Thursday on Why Publishing is Making You Crazy—and What You Can Do About it, which was, according to feedback, both fun and a roaring success, much to our immense, immense relief; drinking margaritas and chowing on empanadas at the cocktail party introducing the new Avon website (it's going to rock), and trading fashion tips, admiring the polished toenails of, and exchanging body hair removal advice with the Avon/HarperCollins girls Julie Blattberg and Rachel Chou (and we also, of course brainstormed brilliantly about how to sell millions of books); the fabulous lunch at Chez Papa Resto with a very entertaining group of authors hostessed by my charming and hilarious editor May Chen (after I first accidentally lead 12 some-odd authors in precisely the opposite direction of the restaurant for a few minutes); the Avon dinner at the Mandarin Hotel, which was delicious and lively and classy, a very generous evening, indeed, and where I thoroughly enjoyed meeting and chatting with Kerrelyn Sparks (on my left, and who was a bit alarmed at how fast this San Francisco girl talks) and local TV producer (KRON-4) Stacy Tiffin, who is a lot of fun and well-informed on a variety of very useful topics, including local media, movies, and Facebook games; meeting and hanging out with the lovely and very sharp and fun Kim Castillo, who is truly an Author's Best Friend; getting to see and hang out again with the always-foxy and hilarious Megan Crane, Michelle Rowen, Liza Palmer, Candice Hern, and many of my other author friends; and the Ritas!!

Toni was nominated for a Rita for her fabulous book Tempt Me Tonight! We sat in the front row of the auditorium during the ceremony, shivering from anticipation and aggressive air conditioning. Everyone looked GORGEOUS. She didn't take home a Rita, but now she joins the very esteemed ranks of those of us who have been nominated and who have departed the award auditorium sans statuettes. It's an exclusive club. :) (and a foxy one.)

Below we have a couple of photos of 1 and 2) me and Toni on Rita night; 3) a photo of me and Julianne Maclean at the Avon dinner (anyone with a "julie" in their name rocks, as far as I'm concerned); 4) me and Diana at the Literacy signing; 5) the funny and delightful Anna Campbell, Jenna Petersen, and me at the Avon dinner, taken by Sophia Nash (also funny and delightful, and in the throes of revisions during the conference); 6)  Toni, me, two-time Golden heart winner Jackie Floyd and Lindsey Faber, the producer of the marvelously hilarious Rita Trash Talk video, on Rita night. I'll post more photos as they show up in my inbox. :)

And last but definitely not least: All About Romance tells me they're featuring me in their annual Favorite Books by Favorite Authors poll! Isn't that lovely? What an honor! Eleven other authors are part of it. I have to tell you, I never in my wildest dreams thought I'd be included in a poll with the likes of Jayne Anne Krentz. Click here to vote for your favorite book written by moi up until August 15th.

Most importantly: How are you all???

Holy Cow, I love your eyes!

To launch us into the holiday weekend (well, here in the states it's a holiday--you Canadian gals feel free to have a barbeque and light sparklers and wave them around for us), I wanted to share this video of a song by my favorite band. Now, Elbow (from Manchester, England) is known for eclectic, gorgeous music that ranges from moody and spare to enormous wall-of-sound rock, and their lyrics are generally poignant and clever and wryly funny — and often very romantic without being cloying. They're passionately loved in much of the world but only really becoming known here. And I can't say this song is representative of their sound, because it's hard to really say WHICH of their songs really represent it —"beautiful" is the word that comes up a lot, often in reference to Guy Garvey's voice. But I love this song for a number of reasons: it's a song about waking up and realizing you're in love, and it has the world's best lyric, especially given how clever or poetic Elbow's lyrics generally are: "Holy cow, I love your eyes!" LOL. Who hasn't felt that about someone they're mad about? I mean, what else can you say? The song is joyous and big and anthemic—absolutely captures the sound of realizing you're in love, that feeling of light pouring into your life—and the video is very simple, but fabulous and funny on a number of levels. In which an ordinary guy turns a potentially mundane and onerous job into a sort of joyous ballet. You'll see what I mean.

So may your weekend be exactly this joyous, no matter what you're doing. :) Since California remains pretty much a tinderbox, there are only a few fireworks shows in the Bay Area this year (most of them have been canceled), including the annual big one in San Francisco. Hopefully the fog will cooperate by parting by the time the show rolls around, and I'm going to go up to a high hill to watch it. :) I love fireworks...from a safe distance. LOL.

Thumbs-up in shark pajamas

Couldn't resist sharing this photo—here my nephew (in pajamas covered in little sharks) and firefighter Jeremy Billeaudeaux from the City of Orange give a thumbs-up for the camera—the big Humboldt fire is under control. My sister's house was spared, but 74 other homes were lost. It's going to be a long, tough fire season, boy. Mr. Billeaudeaux and his crew (who drove for 12 hours from Orange County to Northern California) were part of 3,000 or so firefighters who fought the 23,000 acre fire. They drove in intense heat, worked and slept (in the high school gym) in intense heat, and remained cheerful and gracious throughout. Amazing, amazing people, firefighters.  Here's to an uneventful, fabulous weekend for all of us. :)

Fires, floods, tornadoes, earthquakes

Oy, you guys. I don't know about you, but it's been a very, very rough week for many of my friends and loved ones for many reasons, chief (but not solely) among them natural disasters. I've heard from MySpace friends who've lost homes or suffered property damage in tornadoes and floods—but thankfully they're safe. Large wildfires are burning all over California, including in the nearby Santa Cruz mountains, in Monterey, and in Butte County, about three, four hours north of here. My sister and her family and pets have been evacuated from her home along with thousands of other people as a result of the huge Humboldt Fire in Northern California, which has consumed 20,000 + acres and up to 40 homes at this point—they still haven’t been able to make an accurate assessment of how many structures have burned. 1500 firefighters from all over California are on the scene, on the ground and in the air. I'm staying glued to the web, radio and news reports—cell phone reception is pretty spotty, and it’s hard to get current news about it here in the Bay Area, as it’s not really local news and the Santa Cruz fire was an immediate and grave concern, but they are covering it. I found a radio station online that's reporting on it regularly—apparently it's an outrageously difficult fire to battle, because of the terrain (hilly), the heat (100 degrees) and the winds. They’re beautifully taking care of each other up there, with businesses and schools opening doors, donating cots and food and supplies and showers to evacuees, but as you can imagine, or as you know if you’ve ever gone through anything like this, it’s surreal. So we just wait, and pray for calmer winds and more humidity, for strength for all those amazing, brilliant, firefighters pouring in from all over the state, and for safety for everyone affected. When you’re packing up your car to evacuate your home and family, you very quickly realize what matters. One guy evacuated as a result of the fires grabbed his dog, a few personal papers, and told a reporter, “everything else is just stuff.” 

I know for some of you guys tornadoes and hurricanes are seasonal concerns, so doubtless you have a good sense for what you’d take with you if you have to leave your home behind. In California, we’re mostly spared that sort of thing, though floods and fires are seasonal facts of life depending upon where you live in the state. And we get major quakes, but we don’t have an earthquake season, per se. The unpredictability of earthquakes adds a bit of, shall we say, piquancy to the thrill of living in the Bay Area. But I do have an earthquake kit I keep packed. It’s pretty light. I know where to grab my valuables (one of which is a fat orange cat, and most of which are mostly valuable only to me), and there are really only a few of those things, too. And there was a teeny little earthquake in the East Bay this morning. A nice little nudging reminder to make sure the batteries in my portable radio are still live and that I have extra batteries, some canned goods stocked, etc. We do get mondo quakes here in the Bay Area, as I’m sure you all know, and I was here for the terrible ’89 quake that broke the upper deck of the Bay Bridge and burned down a good portion of the Marina district in San Francisco and other parts of the Bay Area. Other parts of the world are still dealing with the unthinkable aftermath of their own quakes.

In short: Oh, man. Lots of people needing our love and support and prayers this week. J  Send prayers and good thoughts if you can, check the batteries in your portable radios, and here’s to a safe and peaceful weekend for us all. J

I hear you singing in the wire...

Happy Monday, darlings. Good grief -- time has flown since the blog party. Has it really been a month?? How are you? How's the weather?? :) I've been working, naturally, very absorbed in writing and other projects, and in between I seem to have embarked on a sort of obsessive deep spring cleaning. Not just the usual purging and sorting. I mean flossing out grout (there's tile all over this place) with a special little brush. Carefully washing the little crystals on the entry chandelier. Stuff like that. I honestly don't know what's gotten into me. Anybody else overtaken by a similar fever?? We just had a crazy heatwave for a week—97 degrees in San Francisco! I had to leave my windows open! LOL. And strange enormous flying insects (mosquito hawks....I think) took advantage of that and decided to play tourist in my house, much to my cat's delight. He murdered a few of them; I captured and escorted a few of them back outside. The fog is back, though, and I wore a sweater and a scarf to the grocery store today to combat the howling winds. :) And so it goes. And today was the famous (or infamous) Bay to Breakers race in San Francisco. Ever seen photos from that, or participate in it? It has to be witnessed to be believed. One year I'd actually forgotten it was Bay to Breakers day (it's all over by 10 a.m. or so) and I had gotten on the train to meet a friend downtown for lunch, and I was starving. On the train among all the people was....a giant oreo cookie. With legs. Holding onto the overhead bar. It gave me quite a start. For a disorienting moment I entertained the notion that I might be hallucinating from hunger, but then I remembered it was Bay to Breakers day, and that the cookie was just a person in costume. I do love San Francisco.

Anyway, I thought I'd share this video as part of my Julie's All Time Favorite Songs series. Remember that episode of Seinfeld where Elaine is dating a guy who practically goes into a bliss trance every time he hears "Desperado?" (you know, the Eagles song?) He shushes her and is all, very coldly, "Elaine...please..." whenever it comes on the radio? I kind of do that when I hear the song in this video. LOL. (It's not Desperado, btw.) Well, actually, I probably do that with a lot of songs, being a music freak, and all. But the melody of this song still makes the little hairs stand up on the back of my neck (in a good way). And it's been covered by everyone from R.E.M. to the White Stripes to Homer Simpson, but in this video we have  the artist who made it famous doing it (um, rather, performing it, I should say) with Stone Temple Pilots, believe it or not.  Very loose, very cool, very beautiful version. Do any of you have have songs that make you shush people??

Hope everyone's doing great. Tell me how you are!

Check out my Blog Party at Red Room!

Happy Monday, cookies!! Join me for blog party in honor of POP and my movie premiere (hee!) over at Red Room today and through Friday this week!! I'm giving away books and earrings, and I'll be hanging out at my blog there all week. They're featuring my video on their home page, so I thought it'd be fun to hold an event there. Come play with me! :) You have to register to comment, but it's quick and easy. See you there, hopefully!

In which Julie shares a few of the things in her Deadline Preparedness Kit

Hey kittens -- so as an experimental little project (and with the loan of a Flip camera from Lauren Naefe at Avon), I made a movie!! LOL. It's a little, um, instructional film for authors and aspiring authors, if you will, about deadlines, and how authors can prepare for them. You might be a little surprised by a few of the things I pull from my Deadline Preparedness kit. LOL. I think my favorite part of this movie is where I part the Red Sea, though I'm also quite proud of the 15-minute car chase through the hills and streets of San Francisco. (Or maybe those were parts of other movies? It's all a blur now.) Later, I'll tell you about a couple of the things I left out of the movie (otherwise it would have been 15 minutes long). Enjoy! Feel free to laugh and point!! And spread it around if you want.

Rebecca La Rebelle, and your Monday French lesson

Hello, darlings. I thought I'd rise up from my swoon couch (ha! (you know, because that's where I landed right after I finished my revisions for LIKE NO OTHER LOVER, which my editor pronounced "wonderful," and that's where I've been, cool damp cloth over my forehead, shades drawn, tinkly New Age music playing, slave boys murmuring soothing, flattering things to me to help me regain my strength) to share something fun with you.  As I've said before, one of the best parts of being an author is connecting with people all over the world via stories, and over there to the left is THE RUNAWAY DUKE -- translated into French!!  Rebecca La Rebelle  (that's the Amazon France link)-- Rebecca the Rebel -- good title, eh?? It's really a trip to flip through the foreign versions of my books.  Connor is "Conrad" in this version, and instead of Roarke (which is Connor's real name in the English version—he was Roarke Edward Connor Riordan Blackburn) they've called him "Harry," for inscrutable French reasons. And because I'm really just a snickering teenager deep down, I paged to the love scenes to see if I could discover the French word for "erection." I do know some French (I read it better than I speak it), and I can usually guess the meaning of a French sentence pretty accurately if I have a few other sentences around it for context, or if I at least know one or two words in it. Anyway, I do believe the word—well, actually, it turned out to be wordS—are "membre dressé ."  I'm sure you can guess the meaning of the first word, and the second one is descriptive of the first word's condition. :) So there's your Monday French lesson. LOL. You're quite welcome. :) I have to tell you though, when I read those particular kinds of scenes (say, pages 216-220 or so in THE RUNAWAY DUKE) aloud in French, they're sexy as all get out.  I'm dying to hone my French by working my way through the whole story. And the French translation of TO LOVE A THIEF —Pickpocket en jupons—will be out in April in France, and a beautiful online French magazine called Les Romantiques featured an interview with me this month, too, if you haven't had a chance to check it out. The German translation of BEAUTY AND THE SPY, I'm told, will be out in September, and it will be called GARDEN OF DESIRE. Isn't this fun?? I'll post more foreign covers with you as I have them. I have the Polish version of Beauty and the Spy, and it's beautiful, but I have to scan it.

How is everyone?? I'm busy with various little projects, all of which I'll tell you about you if they turn out the way I want them to. :) Did you have a nice Easter? We're having beautiful weather—clear, sunny, very windy and ferociously cold if you're walking against the wind. Also, I wanted to point something out to you—in my list of blogs/websites over to the right is The Hunger Site, and if you visit it once a day and just click on the various tabs—just click, that's all you need to do—they'll donate a certain amount of money to Hunger, Rainforest, Animal Rescue, Breast Cancer, Child Health and Literacy causes. You'll see what I mean—there are different tabs. It's fast and easy and it feels good to do it!!

A guest blog at Romantic Inks and "A Celebration"...

[Note: the link to RI's blog was wrong a little earlier; I just corrected it. It's right now!] Happy Tuesday, ladies, from the land of Spring!! At least that's how it feels here in San Francisco this week. Smells, looks, feels like spring, what with a bluejay scouting nest locations in the backyard, the lavender bush in such extravagant bloom that my cat was tempted to burrow into it and I had to dig him out and we both ended up disheveled and smelling fabulous, and the brilliant blue skies. Our friend Haven from Romantic Inks invited me for a blog interview today and asked some good questions (check 'em out and comment if you're game!), one of which prompted me to track down the following video—and Haven, darling, I have to thank you, because MAN, I'd forgotten how much I loved this song!! What led to this? She specifically asked about my band days, and which songs I enjoyed playing the most. This one suddenly popped into my head—we used to cover it. I should specify that this band isn't, um, actually us. But that might become apparent as you watch. LOL. You might sort of recognize them. This song is a rarity of theirs—I can't even remember how my band first got our hands on it—but man it's a great song, and it sounds even better when played very LOUD (live or recorded). These guys look like wee babies in this video! Who would have dreamed that the guy with the tiny heinie in the tight red pants would one day be nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize?? These boys have come a long way. :)

Anyway: any day I get to sit in my ratty old hoody sweater and jeans working on revision for my next book while I chat with cool gals on my blog and the city of San Francisco goes about the business of looking beautiful outside my window is cause for a celebration. :)  How's your week going??

Sound the trumpets—we have a title!! + a very groovy guest blog, a Facebook reminder, and "one of the really great musical artists of our time!"

Hello my darlings! With much, much gratitude and big hugs to everyone who contributed brainpower and creativity to the renaming of my next book, I'm delighted to announce we have a title for the book formerly known as The Dangers of Desire! I present to you....

LIKE NO OTHER LOVER!

So what do you think?? I quite love it, actually. Whew. What a process!! And you can preorder that baby, too -- the correct title will show up on Amazon in a few weeks, but that link takes you to it.  We'll have a cover and back cover copy, soon, too, and I'll tell you about that when I have it.

All of this news actually makes me feel like dancing:

Hee! Thought you'd enjoy that. :) Is that surreal, or what? I like The Captain's sparkly lapels.

Also—I wanted to let you guys know that I did a very groovy guest blog over at the FAB Lux Magazine today—Bethany asked some great questions. . Find out how I know that 65-year-old men love Beauty and the Spy, whether I think there's a stigma associated with romance novels, and how to stay motivated to write! Stop by to check it out or just say hi!

And don't forget to join me and the Avon Romance group for a live chat about POP on Facebook—February 29th, 8 p.m. EST, 5 p.m. PST, and if you live between coasts, you do the math for the time, because math isn't my strength. LOL. You have to register for Facebook and join the Avon Romance group if you haven't yet, but that's easy and free and quick.

How is everyone?? It's sunny here! I'm up to my eyeballs in work! All is status quo, in short. :)

Happy Valentine's Day, blossoms! + Check out my blog at Avon Romance

First: Check out my blog at Avon Romance this Valentine's day where I talk about POP, what's sexy to me, and wrap it all up by mentioning a nude Jude Law. :) 

And yes -- note the seasonal nature of my greeting! There are indeed blossoms busting out all over here in San Francisco. What's it like in your neck of the woods?? The trees around here seem to think it's spring. I'm less certain, though it's definitely sunny, outrageously windy, and I'm sneezing a lot. A little bird was merrily and noisily splashing in the birdbath out in back of my house, too, and all of these things seem to be signs of spring.

Over there to the left is one of my readers, Bethany Hensel, who works for a hot new magazine in PA called Lux—here's their new blog. And that delicious man she's with is none other than Joshua Bell, violinist extraordinaire, who's on my hot guy list. :) She had an opportunity to meet him a few weeks ago and she shared these photos with me. His talent is superhuman—in his hands, a violin seems like a living thing, with a full range of emotions. And here's our theme song for the day, and my valentine to you: Ave Maria as played by him.

And yes...we're still working on the title thing!! LOL. I'll keep you posted! Meanwhile, hope you celebrate the day by doing a few of your favorite things with your favorite people. ;)...I had chocolate-covered strawberries to celebrate, in part, and mostly I'm celebrating today by writing something romantic. xo...julie

POP goes my heart (and look inside POP!)

This is hilarious, and I have Harlan Coben (who posted this on his MySpace page) to thank for this: Ever see that Hugh Grant movie, "Music and Lyrics?"? Ever live through the 80's? I love Hugh Grant, I loved the 80's, and you might have noticed that I like the word "POP." Couldn't resist sharing this.

Thanks for the title brainstorming help, my darlings. I had a blast, and you made me laugh, and I sent a little list off to my editor this morning incorporating a lot of your words and a few of your suggestions. Status report? We (my editor and I) are still mulling titles. LOL. I tell you, sometimes coming up with a title takes almost as long as writing a book. (well, OK: that's a major exaggeration. But still.)

While we wait for the title, enjoy a little POP music. LOL. Happy Monday!!

Adding something new to this post at 9:45: ust for laughs, I'm adding something new to this post: a new widget!! If you're feeling nostalgic for the POP countdown widget, or just jonesing for a new toy, check this out. HarperCollins just provided this new "Browse Inside" widget, and with it you can browse POP in its entirety, and grab the code put it on your blogs and website, or pass it around to your friends via email or what have you. I'm hoping it goes viral, in the nicest possible way. LOL. So help yourselves!! Help me, I should say. LOL. Spread the word, if the spirit moves you.

I'm very demanding lately, aren't I?? :) 

Browse Inside this book Get this for your site

Calling all brainstormers! Need a new title, stat!

Hey kittens! I need your help (Ahem -- Lareign you've already made this something of a hobby, so you have a head start :) ): we're renaming THE DANGERS OF DESIRE, as another Avon book coming out this year has a title much too similar. So!  Brainstorms, please! ASAP! Tell your friends! LOL. Spread the word!! And if you or someone you know suggests the title we use, you will be LAVISHLY thanked in the front of the book. LOL.  And I"ll send you a signed ARC! (I don't know how many ARC's I get from Avon with this second book, but I figured i'd make this rash promise anyway.) We're looking for something alliterative (repetitive initial letters); it doesn't necessarily have to begin with "The."  And very, very, very broadly stated: it's about reluctant but very hot and secret attraction between an aristocratic hero and a charming, penniless ambitious girl who had a glorious reign during the season and is suddenly made a social pariah by scandal. Pride is an issue. I realize that isn't much to go on, but hey -- go to town! LOL. And I just had some cough syrup, so I ought to be able to come up with a few wild titles. (Hmm....maybe something to do with "Wild." Or "fantasy." Or...) Throw anything out there, because one of your titles, even if we dont'  use it, might inspire another idea. Go ahead and post them in the comments if you have ideas.

"The Dangers of Desire" worked very well, because risk really was involved and the danger of desire of course is that you might just fall in love. (Hey...maybe something with "Risk.") I liked the "The Art of..." (Lareign's suggestion in the blog below) but it's a trifle to soft for this particular book.

And also...Lareign alerted me to a wonderful review of POP, and AAR just sent it to me, and I had to share it. They made it a Desert Isle Keeper, and I love what the reviewer had to say -- it's a very thoughtful, detailed, wonderfully written review, and I'll cherish it.

AAR Review of POP.

I'm going to go lay on the couch and think of titles and try to recover from POPping til I drop.

POPping til I DROP! + a guest blog

   It's POP day!! Pop the cork with me darlings!! Doubtless by now you've been inundated with bulletins from me -- LOL -- MySpace, my newsletter, etc. -- but thanks so much for all the enthusiasm, support, early feedback, help spreading the word, early sighting reports, and etc. Cross your fingers it does well, and buy lots of copies! LOL. So I just wanted to drop in and say -- Yay!!!!! -- hope you're doing great! And visit me today at Southern Sunshine. A signed book is up for grabs. We'll have a celebration of some sort after I turn DOD in!!

I also wanted to mention something else: Patry Francis's  debut novel THE LIAR'S DIARY came out in hardcover from Dutton last spring. The trade paper release is today, but a few weeks ago, Patry was diagnosed with an aggressive form of cancer. She's had several surgeries, and her prognosis is good. Buthat Patry won't have much energy for promoting, so authors all over are helping her to get the word out.

'THE LIAR'S DIARY blog day' is today—take a look at Patry's website. In support of Patry Francis, Penguin Group USA is offering 15% off the paperback edition of The Liar's Diary when purchased online from the the Penguin website until 2/15/2008. On the shopping cart page, enter PATRY in the 'coupon code' field and click 'update cart' to activate it. Let's all send our thoughts and prayers to her!

Tell me how you are here, too, if you can. Hope all is well for you! xo for now....julie

POP is an RT Top Pick! Riding a little wave of raves, here! and btw, Happy New Year!! (greetings from the deadline submarine)

Hello darlings!! Happy New Year!! How are you!?! I''m here and alive. Just rather...well, "busy" is probably a slightly pale word for this moment in time. LOL. But I'm having fun! Truly! It's sunny and clear and cold, though whatever's blowing through on these gusty winds is making me sneeze a LOT (I can't decide whether it's allergies or a cold), and I'm down in the deadline submarine, polishing up DOD  (The Dangers of Desire), which I'm really having fun with, and doing other mysterious author-y things (signing contracts, mailing things, making MySpace graphics, running on my mini-trampoline. You know.) And I have to submerge again in a moment, but I surfaced for a bathrobe dance (OK: I was wearing jeans, but still—I was in my bathrobe in spirit) when I learned POP was an Romantic Times Top Pick!! And what a review!!  Not only do they consider it HOT, but RT reviewer Kathe Robin said this, bless her heart:

"Long's star continues to rise with each new emotionally powerful, wonderfully rich novel. Incorporating the perfect depth of emotion into a romance rich in passion and character, she creates memorable love stories. Even a tried-and-true captive/captor plot feels new in her capable hands."

Hoo boy, eh?? That's exactly the sort of energy boost I need to push me over the deadline finish line. :) Also, Cherokee Sanders at Coffee Time Romance said it's a "fast moving story that just engulfs the reader with every page...Colin and Madeleine are a dynamite duo and their interactions are fantastic." And Marilyn Heyman at Romance Reviews Today called it "Well paced, romantic and suspenseful, with underlying sexual tension...THE PERILS OF PLEASURE should go on your must-buy list."

If you guys stumble across any other good early reviews, send 'em my way. :) Sometimes reviewers send them to me, and other times I sort of happen upon them later, but I'd love to link to them in my newsletter, etc.  if you find any. And if you stumble across any "eh" reviews, please keep them a deep, dark secret. LOL.

A few other completely random things:

1) Are you guys aware of the Jane Fest happening on Masterpiece Theater on PBS?? OH. MY. is all I can say. I heartily approve of this entire gallery of heroes. Good calls casting-wise, all the way across the board. I think Captain Wentworth might be my favorite. Or George Knightly. Or... Boy, this is hard. Pick your favorite out and report back. LOL.

2) Circe Designs, a Northern California jewelry designer, designed a collection of handcrafted jewelry inspired by POP!! It's gorgeous. (That image up there is the bracelet). Circe tells me they'll send a free pair of sterling silver and Chalcedony earrings to anyone who makes a purchase of anything directly from their site using the coupon code "POP." I can vouch for the beauty and quality of it all. It makes me feel pretty, and Lord knows, by the time the end of a deadline rolls around, I need all the help with "pretty" I can get.

3) I just splurged on a new teapot, and the first time I boiled water in it, it scared the bejesus out of me. It's a Chantal whistling teapot—but the whistle is apparently a Hohner harmonica mouthpiece. I had no idea. When the water first boils, the steam forced out of the spout plays this loud, rich like -- C note!!! And then an actual chord!! At first it was the world's most unearthly sound, and I whirled around and was like, "WHAT the—?" The hair practically stood up on the back of my neck. My cat literally ran out of the room in terror. But then the chord played. Man, I tell you, it's all I can do to not boil water all the live long day just to hear it. LOL. I'm totally enchanted by it. You know...It's the little things. :) (And the cat is used to it now.)

OK, I have to go make tea, eat soup, and other author-y t hings. :) Tell me how you are when you get a chance!