Mary Croyden from There's Something About Lady Mary loves roast duck. At the end of The Secret Life of Lady Lucinda, the Summersbys are all getting ready to celebrate Christmas together at Moorland Manor. They each have their favorite dishes, but I thought I’d share Mary’s since it’s also a dish that I look forward to each holiday season. Roast duck stuffed with prunes and apples Preparation time: aprox 40 min Cooking time: 2 – 2 ½ hours Resting time: 15 min (serves 4-6 people) Ingredients 1 defrosted duck (6 ½ – 7 ½ lbs) Salt & pepper 4 apples – peeled and diced 1 lb prunes 2 ½ cups dl water 1 onion 2 carrots Fresh thyme 1. Rinse and dry the duck well under running water both inside and out (remember to remove the neck and heart which have usually been bagged & placed inside the duck –...
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Sophie Barnes Visit her website at www.sophiebarnes.com Follow her on Twitter at @BarnesSophie Like her on Facebook at www.facebook.com/AuthorSophieBarnes Follow her on Goodreads at: www.goodreads.com/author/show/5400052.Sophie_Barnes Born in Denmark, Sophie has spent her youth traveling with her parents to wonderful places all around the world. She’s lived in five different countries, on three different continents, and speaks Danish, English, French, Spanish and Romanian. She has studied design in Paris and New York and has a bachelor’s degree from Parson’s School of design, but most impressive of all – she’s been married to the same man three times, in three different countries and in three different dresses. While living in Africa, Sophie turned to her lifelong passion – writing. When she’s not busy, dreaming up her next romance novel, Sophie enjoys spending time with her family, swimming, cooking, gardening, watching romantic comedies and, of course, reading. She currently lives on the East Coast. The Interview Lisa:...
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Title: There's Something About Lady Mary: A Summersby Tale Classification: Adult Fiction Genre: Historical Romance Format: Paperback, 400 pages Publisher: Avon Impulse (December 4, 2012) ISBN-10: 0062225383 ISBN-13: 978-0062225382 Author's Website: http://www.sophiebarnes.com/ "A number of years ago," Percy began, "I made a promise to an old fiend that if anything were to happen to him, I'd keep a watchful eye on his daughter. Apparently, this fiend of mine was under the impression that his daughter would be in some sort of terrible danger if anything did happen..." Ryan Summersby was once an agent for the Foreign Office. When Sir Percy, a family friend, asks him to watch over his friend's daughter, Mary, as a personal favor, he does so begrudgingly. On his first night of watching over her residence he is approached by a man dressed entirely in black with his face concealed behind a hood and a scarf who warns him,"If she starts looking for answers...
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One of the best/worst parts of the books process is coming up with titles. Sometimes they flow so easily and sometimes it's like pulling teeth from an extremely reluctant dinosaur. Sophie Barnes has got some of the best titles around (all bias aside, of course) and it's truly been a group effort. The book that went on sale today, THERE'S SOMETHING ABOUT LADY MARY, got its title from the brilliant brain of one of our fabulous publicists, Jessie. With a woman in every title, the direction for each cover was clear. Plus, what better way to fit these awesome, long, titles on a cover but over acres of glorious fabric? Aren't they gorgeous? What other books do you think have great titles? Do you have particular favorites, where the titles and covers work together just perfectly?
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After writing The Unfortunate Persecution of the Romance Novel on a whim back in January, I was surprised by how much attention it got and by how many people responded to it. Many posted comments relating how difficult it can be for them to be taken serious by others simply because they like reading romance novels. Some of these people were even too embarrassed to admit to friends and family that this is the genre they prefer. Unfortunately, there will always be ignorant people in the world who will snub their noses at something based on preconceived ideas and without actually knowing what they’re talking about. If you ask me, nobody should have to be ashamed of the books they read, and those who are most biased, are usually those who are most ill-informed. I’ve thought this over many times in my head since writing that first post, wondering what...
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We just had a cover conference this morning (where the editors meet with the art department and discuss a few titles) and it got me thinking of some of my favorite covers lately. I adore quite a few of our recent and upcoming covers--and the books between them!--so I thought I'd show them off here. Any pique your interest? From Avon Impulse: From Avon: From William Morrow:
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This is my first post for Avon, and while I initially ran it as part of my blog tour back in January of this year, I received a lot of positive feedback from it and thought I'd share it here as well. So, without further ado, here it is again - in case you missed it the first time around :) When I received the offer from Harper Collins for two of my books, I was so thrilled I practically started doing cartwheels across the floor – the feeling of acknowledgement was incredible. My family and friends were still unaware that I was making a serious attempt to break through as an author – I’d been reluctant to say anything before receiving the positive reinforcement this contract provided. Now was the time to let the cat out of the bag. Filled with excitement, yet nervous about how this sudden news...
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