Meet ETHAN, first of our new RIVA heroes! - with Kimberly Lang

So as I said yesterday, RIVA is back in the UK - YAY!!! You can get them right now direct from Mills and Boon UK - use this gorgeous app on Facebook to read more about each! 

And a bunch of us RIVA authors thought it'd be fun to introduce you to some of the hot heroes of the new Riva line-up. First we have Ethan from The Privileged and the Damned by Kimberly Lang. Let's learn a little something about him...

Name: Ethan Marshall

Age: 30

Occupation:  Financial Manager, Marshall family businesses

Vital Stats: 6 ft, built like a swimmer, blonde hair, green eyes

Celebrity Look-a-like: Ryan Lochte

White Lie or Absolute Honesty: Absolute Honesty – and this is a bit of a problem for the heroine, Lily.

Order In or Dine Out: Dine Out

Boxers or Briefs: Boxers

Best known for: Being a Marshall

We’d want to date him because…  The Marshall family is US royalty, and who doesn’t want to be a princess? He’s gorgeous, sexy and smart, but he has a stubborn streak about things that just begs to be broken.

So the guy sounds gorgeous, right?! I'd definitely want to spend a few hours with him... let's here a little something from Ethan himself with an excerpt from The Privileged and the Damned...

“Wh-what are you doing?” Lily stammered.

             “Kissing you.” Ethan punctuated the statement with a slide of his tongue against her bottom lip. “Unless you want me to stop…”

            She closed her eyes. “But… why?”

            That was a damn fine question, and for the life of him, he couldn’t come up with an answer better than, “Because I want to.”

            He heard Lily’s gasp in response, and the pulse in her neck fluttered under his fingers. She must’ve liked that answer. “B-but do you think it’s a good idea?” she whispered.

            “Best one I’ve had in a long time.” He pressed another kiss against the corner of her mouth and felt the tiny shiver that ran over her skin. “You taste delicious, Lily.”

            “Oh.” The muscles in her neck relaxed, giving him access to the soft skin under her jaw. The hand holding his slid to his wrist and her fingers tightened. Her chin dipped, and Lily’s lips met his – hesitantly at first, then gradually more insistent. Her tongue touching his was spark to the powder, igniting a fire in his stomach that raced through his veins.

            Lily angled her body towards his as she sank into the pillows, and the kiss grew deeper, hotter, more devouring. One hand held his wrist tight as he traced over a delicate collarbone and moved lower to rest on her chest, right over her pounding heart. When her other hand gripped his bicep, it was icy-cold and the contact against his heated skin…

            Cold? His brain was tangled from Lily’s kiss, but the small part still working knew that wasn’t right. Icy… ice pack… injury.

            He smothered a curse as he pulled away, and Lily looked confused. And delightful, his little brain added, but he forced himself to focus. He was pawing an injured woman just moments after patching her up. Lily didn’t seem to mind, but still… not his best moment.

            “Ethan?” She bit her bottom lip – still swollen and moist from his kisses – and her forehead creased in confusion. The movement must have hurt her head, because the crease smoothed out and she lifted a hand to rub around the bandage. “Is something wrong?”

            One of her braids was loose now, but he had no memory of releasing it – only how silky it had felt between his fingers. Her breathing was still slightly erratic, and pink tinted her cheeks. When Lily licked her lips and pushed her hair out of her face with a shaking hand, it was all he could do not to reach for her again. He cleared his throat and ran a hand over his face – noting he wasn’t exactly steady either. “Nothing’s wrong, but you should probably rest for a while.”       Lily looked… shocked? Disappointed? Upset? It was hard to tell because she dropped her head and her hair fell across her face.

            “Take it easy, okay? And keep the ice packs on.” She nodded and he stepped outside. Shaking his head to clear it, he questioned his sanity a bit.

            He didn’t regret kissing her – not by a long shot, he thought ruefully, and tried to calm his body down a bit – but Lily’s “good idea” question did have merit. Now that he wasn’t kissing her, at least.

            There were the obvious problems – the fact she worked for the Grands was a huge one, actually. Nana and Granddad disapproved of any kind of not-strictly-professional relationships with the staff. It was a good way to either get slapped with a sexual harassment suit or make the front page of the tabloids. Or both.

            Plus Lily was young and sweet. She might not be able to understand or handle the ground rules – ground rules that should have been established before he kissed her in the first place.

            None of this rational self-talk could take the sharp edge off the desire still knifing through him, though, and he rubbed a hand across his stomach. Lily was a sinful temptation, and now that he knew she tasted as sweet as she looked…

When wealth, power and politics cross paths with the criminal underworld… Ethan Marshall, grandson of a former senator, is handsome and charming – and he’s lusting after Lily Black! Working for the Marshalls as a stable manager, Lily has the ideal job for the first time in her life – she loves working with the horses on the beautiful Marshall estate. Whilst Lily’s attentions are soon drawn to the very fine Ethan, her past holds dark and criminal secrets…which could bring the Marshall family to its knees. The gorgeous playboy is determined to win her affections, but should Lily do the right thing by her family, or the right thing by the Marshalls?

The Privileged and the Damned is the first book in the Marshall series. The other two are  The Power and the Glory and Redemption of a Hollywood Starlet.  Kimberly has most awesomely agreed to GIVEAWAY a copy of the ENTIRE TRILOGY!!! All you have to do is enter below to be in with a chance to win. Use your email to enter, or use the Facebook login if you prefer. Entries are open to anyone, anywhere in the world.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Kimberly Lang isn’t one of those people who always knew she wanted to be a writer. She actually wanted to be a ballerina, but puberty failed to deliver the required swan-like elegance. That dream scuttled, she went on to get her Master’s Degree in English – and she has the bartending skills to prove it. At her husband’s insistence, she quit teaching in 2007 to write full-time, and in May 2008, sold her first book to Harlequin’s London office. That book, The Secret Mistress Arrangement, debuted at number nine on the Borders Series Bestseller list and won the 2009 National Readers’ Choice Award for Best First Book.
Since then, Kimberly’s books have appeared on the USA Today, Amazon, Borders, and Bookscan bestseller lists, and have been translated into more than a dozen languages. (And, yes, that’s really cool.) She’s married to her college sweetheart, whom she affectionately (but appropriately) calls her Darling Geek, and is Mom to the most brilliant and beautiful child on the planet (aptly nicknamed Amazing Child). She started taking yoga-based fitness because she eats way too many jelly beans while writing, and became an instructor once she figured out that spending time with her butt over her head helped spark her creativity. More than one sticky plot point has been solved in the Down Dog position.  She has no hobbies because she doesn’t have time, but if she did, they’d include knitting, skiing and  ballroom dancing, because they sound like they might be fun.

Find out more at Kimberly's website, her Facebook page and be sure to follow her on Twitter.

If you're in North America, be sure to pick up a copy of Kimberly's latest Presents Extra release, WHAT HAPPENS IN VEGAS, its available at Amazon and Barnes and Noble now! 

So I bet you all want to learn about Lily now too, right?! Well hop on over to Ally Blake's blog on Thursday and get to know her there! And be sure to come back here as every Tuesday through September and October, we'll be introducing other Riva heroes and heroines, with  giveaways and sneak peeks at more great stories!!!

Buy THE PRIVILEGED AND THE DAMNED
from Mills and Boon UK

Updating & Contests!

Okay, I've finally updated my website - it had been a while, but let me skip the excuses and say get thee over my Facebook page immediately!
I've got a promo going on there (click on the 'contest' tab) - you could win FIVE books, plus bookmarks, plus chocolate! So go on, enter - because the deadline is coming up - Saturday August 6 - so hurry hurry!
Meanwhile, for my Australian/New Zealand readers, DATING & OTHER DANGERS is on the shelves this month - I've had some fabulous feedbook:

"The verbal (and virtual) sparring from the two characters is brilliant, at times I couldn't help but laugh! There was so much chutzpah in these characters, I thought they were fantastic...The story is very original and fun and I really loved reading it."

You can read the whole review from RLA here.

Meanwhile Nas at Romance Book Paradise had this to say:

"Following Ethan and Nadia was a hilarious journey... characters come alive on the pages with the use of sharp and humorous dialogue and vivid atmospheric details that the reader is personally involved in their happiness. It is a story with real characters, inspired plot and delightful resolution... Nadia and Ethan’s story is hugely enjoyable and highly romantic tale readers will find absolutely impossible to resist... without a doubt, made it to my favorite list!"

Dating & Other Dangers will be on the shelves in the US early next year.
Those of you in the UK can grab a copy of NICE GIRLS FINISH LAST - direct from Mills & Boon from now! It's a little early for reviews yet, but here's the blurb:

Once she was bad...

After one very wild and heartbreaking affair in her past, Lena is now very, very good. She prides herself on her iron self-control - working for the hottest rugby team in New Zealand, it's all testosterone but no touching!
But he's tempting her to be wicked...

Spending day-in-day-out in the boy's locker rooms, Lena thinks she's immune to even the most honed set of abs. Then Seth saunters into her life, and suddenly her inner bad girl is back in the game!

Oh yes, people, we're talking rugby - just in time for the World Cup! ;)

Blowing the cobwebs off the blog!

Oh dear! I didn't realise how much time had slipped since I last blogged... BAD blogger me!!!

But I have excuses, you want to hear them? No, I agree, they're really not that fascinating. Ultra short version is that moving cities with four kids and short notice = chaotic. Yes, my brain is somewhere in that room where all the unopened boxes are still piled...

But never mind. We're here now and good to get on with it!

SO the writing side of life has been a little slow during the shift time - but there's a deadline looming and motivation is needed. This week is the Romance Writers of America national conference in New York. Harlequin is having a party at the Waldorf Astoria. I got an invite... but sadly, New York is just too far for this little Cinderella this year...
However, instead of getting down about all the fun that's going on over there and living vicariously through the #RWA11 hashtag on Twitter, I decided to set up a Cinderella hashtag #cinders - so any of you writers out there who want to kick butt writing wise this week, and want some company, come and play (if that link doesn't work, just go to Twitter and search on the hashtag #cinders). We're setting own goals for the week (mine is to write 6k by Saturday, others are doing 1500 a day, others are revising) - that makes it sound like there are a zillion of us, but actually I think fewer than 10 - we're small in size, but big on friendly - and focused.
Well, trying to be focused...

I do have some exciting news - my latest book has gotten a title and release date: FIRST TIME LUCKY? will be out in the UK as a Riva in January 2012 - so big YAY. And yes, I think Roxie is pretty lucky in her first time ;)


Don't forget that THE END OF FAKING IT is on the shelves in the US in July, while DATING AND OTHER DANGERS will on on the shelves in the UK in July. Be sure to come over to the LoveCats blog this Sunday 4th July for an excerpt from Dating - and the chance to win a copy!

Meanwhile, I'd better get down and write my tally so I keep up with my fellow Cinders!

With very best wishes,
Natalie

Lovely news for May

I'm so pleased to report that HOT BOSS, BOARDROOM MISTRESS has finalled in the Short Sexy category Romance Writers of Australia's R*BY Awards (Romantic Book of the Year)!!!

There are so many incredibly awesome Australasian romance writers, I'm just so thrilled to have finalled :) It has been a doubly exciting time in the Anderson household as my hubby has finalled in our national media awards too. So, to celebrate, I'm doing some random giveaways over on my Facebook page - come join the party!

And there are a couple of other things that have been keeping us very busy and offline for a bit - but hopefully it will all come together soon. Please forgive my absence!

Writing-wise, I'm working on a last couple of tweaks to my latest and then need to get settled on a new story. But THE END OF FAKING IT is on the shelves in OZ/NZ right now, and will be out in the US very soon. While my internet duelling couple in DATING AND OTHER DANGERS will be hitting the UK very soon too.


For now, come on over to Facebook and celebrate with me :)

With very best wishes,

Natalie

XXX

Happy April Days!

Hey everyone - sorry have been absent from the blog a bit (blame the deadline). But we're into April already and that's a super exciting month for me because I've got double releases - WALK ON THE WILD SIDE hits North America, while THE END OF FAKING IT is on the shelves in the UK.


WALK ON THE WILD SIDE features my snowboarding super stud Jack and covered-up chameleon Kelsi - here's what some Amazon UK reviewers have said:


The characters of Kelsi and Jack were well developed and any dialogue between them, well written. I found I understood them both and rooted for them too. I was especially impressed by the fact that Kelsi wasn't your conventional stunning beauty, but had a freshness and quirkiness about her which was endearing.  - Lizzie


Walk on the Wild side is a classic Mills & Boon type of romance, but unlike many of the genre its characters are really realistic and likeable. ..It's a feel good sort of book; it takes only a few hours to read and would be ideal for a long train journey or flight or just curling up with in front of the fire. I'd certainly recommend it both to anyone who's curious about what Mills & Boon are really like, and to die-hard fans alike. - Imreallyanelf 


With a heroine who has some deep seated inadequacy issues and a hero afraid to stop having fun, this opposites attracts story is fun, hot and oddly sweet. Whether it's Kelsi's amazing array of contact lenses, or Jack's attempts to see the real her and make her believe she is beautiful, this tale is quirky and adorably feel-good. Even with both of them too defensive to take an emotional risk, this never wallos in self-pity or repetitive inner monologues, and the ending is adorable... Relax and enjoy the romance!  - Book Gannet


You can grab a copy from stores in a week or so, or online now!





Meanwhile, THE END OF FAKING IT hits UK stores this month too. More reviews are to come - but here's what one reader said on the Mills & Boon website:


"What can I say other than another great read... Wonderfully written and Carter is such a great character and a perfect foil for Penny.  A really enjoyable and racy read.  More please!!"


This book will also be out on the shelves in Australia and New Zealand next month, but you can get it direct from M&B Australia now - and best of all, it's in a new duo format with THE MAN SHE LOVES TO HATE by the fabulous, RITA nominee Kelly Hunter!


So I've been busy meeting one deadline and am getting stuck into something new now, but please be sure, sure, sure to come find me at my Facebook page - I'm hanging there most often these days and as soon as my next box of author copies arrives (hopefully any day now) I'll be doing a snap giveaway of a bunch of them. So come and get connected so your name can be one of the ones pulled :)

Gotta love a giveaway...

I know I do and to be honest I think the giving is as much fun, if not more, than the getting...

As you all know I'm a very proud New Zealander - never more so than at the moment - so together with my upcoming UK and US April releases, I'm giving away a little bit of Kiwiana. I have some more pretty pewter wine glass charms to giveaway - this time they're Kiwi fauna - so there's a pukeko, a little Blue penguin, a gecko, a fantail, a tui, and of course a little kiwi herself. (I'll explain all those during the week on the FB page). And, to make your drinks soiree collection Kiwi complete, there's a little china dip dish with spreading knife, with a local artist designed fern on it.

The winner will also get signed copies of up coming releases - WALK ON THE WILD SIDE and THE END OF FAKING IT. So you can have a nice girly drinks night and then curl up in bed with a couple of new books - sound fun?

I'll throw in a couple of books as second and third prize draws too.

So, how to enter? Well I do believe in making these thing as easy as possible - all you have to do is 'like' my Facebook page here. If you're already connected to the page, you're in the draw to win! Do call in and say hi tho, it's nice to catch up! The giveaway is open to anyone from anywhere, you just have to have liked the page by the time I do the draw - which will be next Monday 14 March (NZ time) so be sure to drop by the page and be connected by then!