What's New

Sorry to have been so quiet these past weeks but:

1.  My husband and I switched from our Connecticut home to the Florida house in search of warmer weather--and found it, but only intermittently! It's been cool in the south this winter.
2.  I had page proofs to do for my third Orsini book, FALCO: THE DARK GUARDIAN, which will be published next November. (And many, many thanks to all of you who've written, asking me when and if I'm going to do Falco's story!)
3.  I had the absolute pleasure of creating a special note for my French readers. It will be included in France's publication of  my novel, THE ALVARES BRIDE. The book is being honored as the 3000th Azur  to be printed. Azur is the French version of Presents.
4. I was busy writing the fourth Orsini book. It's Nicolo's story and as soon as the title is set, I'll share it with you. Nicolo's book will be published next December.
5.  My family flew down for a visit! Here we all are, in Audubon's Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary in Naples, Florida. The day was cloudy and cool but we had a wonderful time.

With love,

Sandra

And... more about that gorgeous cover I just posted (in the right hand column at the top of the page) in a later post. For now, I'll just say that BLACKWOLF'S REDEMPTION is, I promise, unlike any Presents you've ever read.

Sandra

HAPPY NEW YEAR--AND A NOTE FOR MY UK READERS

Happy New Year! Can it really be the end of one decade and the start of another? Seems like just yesterday we were worried about Y2K and the effect of a change in centuries on all our computers, doesn't it?

My husband and I had a lovely, joy-filled New Year's Eve with friends. Lots of laughter, good food, delicious  champagne. And snow. A lot of snow.

There's more snow today. Loads of it. A prediction of 1 to 2 inches has already turned into 4 to 6 inches, with more to come this afternoon, tonight and tomorrow. I'm glad my husband filled the bird feeder before the new storm began!

Some exciting news for my UK readers:  many of you wrote to me and to Harlequin Mills and Boon to say you'd loved my bestselling O'Connell mini-series. Others wrote to say they'd missed one or two of the six books I wrote and wanted very much to read them. And several of you said you wished Harlequin Mills and Boon would bring the O'Connells out again so you could enjoy them in sequence, from start to finish.

My publisher listened to you! They've  brought out a beautiful new edition of the O'Connell saga. It's in two books: THE O'CONNELLS DYNASTY: BUSINESS AND PLEASURE, out right now in the United Kingdom, and coming next month, THE O'CONNELLS DYNASTY: CONVENIENTLY WED. Says Harlequin of these books: "Three powerful, intense and satifsying novels by one bestselling and award-winning writer: SANDRA MARTON."

Three complete  O'Connell novels are in each book. The full novels, just as they were initially published. You can order both volumes at Mills & Boon, at amazon, or wherever you usually purchase your romance novels. I hope you enjoy reading them as much as I enjoyed writing them. As more than one reader told me, "The O'Connells are keepers!"

A TASTE OF SPRING

I know, I know. You're asking yourself why I'm talking about Spring when, technically, it isn't even winter... yet.

Well, it certainly seems like winter here in southern New England. We've had snow a few times, not the heavy, deep stuff of true winter but enough to put several inches of the white stuff on the trees, woods and meadows. And it is COLD! The sky is grey. So, yes, many of us are thinking "winter" even if the calendar doesn't agree.

My editor sent me a Spring treat a couple of days ago. It's the cover of my next Presents, coming in May, and it's so beautiful I thought I'd share it with you.

You have to admit, it's the kind of cover that generates enough heat to turn any winter day warm.

Sandra

xxxx

Happy Thanksgiving

I know I'm a day late but I want to wish everyone a very happy Thanksgiving.  Thanksgiving has always been my favorite holiday. I love gathering around the table with friends and family; I love cooking all the traditional dishes; I especially love the days and days of leftovers that mean no-fuss meals until the turkey, stuffing and cranberries are finally gone.

Here's a photo of our dining room table before our guests arrived.

There were eight of us, friends and family alike, and we had a wonderful day!

Love,

Sandra

What's New

I've spent the last three, yes, three weeks coughing and sneezing. We gave a dinner party Labor Day weekend--lobster, shrimp, baked potates, corn on the cob, wine, beer, a traditional New England feast--and we had a wonderful time... but half of us at the party came down with the kind of nasty bug that won't go away. There's something really miserable about being sick in summer and I was especially grumpy about it because I'd just had an awful cold in July while I was at the RWA National Conference!

Anyway, we're all feeling much better now: husband, son, daughter in law, both grandkids and me. I'm writing my next book in the Orsini Brothers series. This one's about Falco: very sexy, very tough, very macho. I'm at the point where I can clearly see the last chapters in my mind. That's always a good feeling but it also carries a touch of melancholy because it means I'm going to send Falco off into the world fairly soon and I'll miss him.

As always, exceprts for my November and December releases are on my website,

Better Late Than Never!

I came home from the RWA conference in Washington, D.C. two weeks ago and fully intended to post here right away... but I returned home sick, sick, sick! It was a summer cold made worse, I'm sure, by rushing around D.C. like crazy. You're supposed to take it easy when you have a cold, I know, but how could I do that when there was so much to do, so many people to see?

My editor, Joanne Grant, was there. Though we met, briefly, a couple of years ago and we've talked on the phone numerous times, this was our first real visit... and it was a joy! Here's a photo of us taken at the wonderful Presents Authors lunch given by Jo and executive editor, Tessa Shapcott. Jo took me out to dinner, too, but neither of us thought to ask the waiter to get a photo of us! Trust me when I tell you the restaurant was elegant and the food... amazing. I ordered shrimp, Cajun sausage and grits--for those non-Southerners among us (including me) it sounds, well, a bit strange. Well, it wasn't strange at all. It was absolutely delicious!


I was honored that my publisher asked me to sign copies of Billionaire Prince, Pregnant Mistress at Harlequin's big booksigning event. What fun that was! I met loads and loads of fans--a special 'hello' to all of you who stopped by. And the gorgeous cover of that book was shown absolutely everywhere at the conference, including on a huge (100 ft long plus) curved screen at Harlequin's gala which is always held Friday evening at the annual conference.

We Presents writers had a marvelous time visiting with each other, and it was especially terrific to see Sharon Kendrick and Kate Walker, sister Presents writers who came over from the UK.

So, yes, I returned home with just enough energy left to give my husband a big hug--and then I spent the next few days drinking hot tea, downing aspirin and getting rid of that miserable cold.

TOMORROW, TOMORROW

Remember that song from "Annie?" I'm humming it right now! Tomorrow, I'll be in New York City autographing my July book, BILLIONAIRE PRINCE, PREGNANT MISTRESS at the Harlequin Booth at BOOK EXPO AMERICA. BEA is the biggest publishing venue in the USA and I'm delighted that Harlequin invited me to participate. The cover for BILLIONAIRE PRINCE, PREGNANT MISTRESS is in the panel to the right...

And speaking of covers, here's a SNEAK PEAK at my November release, RAFFAELE: TAMING HIS TEMPESTUOUS VIRGIN. Trust me: the story of Rafe and Chiara is every bit as beautiful, as passionate, as sexy, as tender as this gorgeous cover.