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You should feel good about spending time with my handsome prince!
Your purchase of ROYAL CALEVA: RAUL (during pre-orders and release week) increased my donation to Harmony Dog Rescue to $1,100.00! You rock!
Dr. Darling Daughter’s sweet dog, Luka, says thank you so much for helping his fellow pups when their owners are experiencing homelessness, medical emergencies, and/or domestic violence. You made it possible to find them safe homes when their owners are in crisis. That is a wonderful thing to do!
Of course, I am profoundly grateful for your support of my handsome prince and of Harmony Dog Rescue. I have the best readers in the world!
And now I have to get back to work on the next book in the series: ROYAL CALEVA: MIKEL!
The prince has arrived!
I’m so excited! Royal Caleva: Raul (Book 3 in the Royal Caleva series) is out in the world now! He’s at a special price for release week of $2.99 (regular price $5.99) on Kindle so grab him while he’s cheap. You can also get him in print, and he will be available in audio, as all the Royal Caleva novels are.
Raul is the workaholic crown prince of Caleva, and he suffers from terrible guilt about his cousin Gabriel’s kidnapping. This is the story of how a strong woman, Erica Ortiz, helps him fight through that burden to find joy in life again. Of course, he also finds love!
I had such fun with the research for this book, which included rock climbing, flying helicopters (Erica is a pilot), and the nesting habits of Komodo dragons (because I wanted the giant green fictional lizards called Calevan dragons to be authentic). I also watched video of fighter jets taking off and landing on an aircraft carrier. Like all writers, I love doing research—sometimes more than is absolutely necessary.
As you know, I always donate a portion of the pre-order and first week’s royalties of a new book to an animal rescue organization. My daughter is a veterinarian in the Pittsburgh area, and she has recommended Harmony Dog Rescue for my donation. She says her clinic works with them to provide safe homes for dogs whose owners are experiencing homelessness, domestic violence, or medical emergencies. Even though the group assists such inferior creatures as dogs, my tabby cats, Skoda and Mobi, heartily approve. They figure dogs need all the help they can get.
I hope you’ll fall in love with my handsome prince!
Royal Caleva: Raul is up for pre-order!
I’m so excited! Not only is Royal Caleva: Raul up for pre-order, it’s at a special price of $2.99 on Kindle. (The regular retail price will be $5.99 a week after the book’s publication date.) Raul’s book will release on September 24th. Woohoo! I think you’re going to love my handsome, workaholic prince.
As always, I will be donating a portion of my pre-order and first week’s royalties to an animal rescue organization. Dr. Darling Daughter the veterinarian suggested Harmony Dog Rescue, an organization she and her clinic work with in Pittsburgh to provide safe homes for dogs whose owners are experiencing homelessness, domestic violence, or medical emergencies. Even my cats, Skoda and Mobi, approve. They figure dogs, being inferior beings, need all the help they can get.
Here’s the description of Raul’s story:
A prince bound by duty. A commoner who knows her place. Can they find a future for their forbidden passion?
After his cousin is kidnapped and tortured in his stead, Prince Raul works himself mercilessly so he can be worthy of such a sacrifice. When he collapses from exhaustion at a public ceremony, the prince is forced to take a vacation. He reluctantly finds refuge in the mountains, guided by a strong woman whose warmth and understanding dispel the shadows of his guilt.
Erica Ortiz has never felt good enough. Wrestling with the weight of her father’s disapproval, she pushes herself to reach greater heights as a pilot and a part-time wilderness guide. But she never expected to be responsible for the crown prince’s safety on a towering mountain cliff—or to share his innermost secrets.
While Erica battles her growing love for the fascinating, tortured prince, Raul realizes that his feelings for her have grown too powerful to control. He can never offer her the forever she deserves because the heir to the throne and a commoner can never marry.
When they join together for a desperate rescue mission, can they tear down the barriers that threaten to destroy their love?
Royal Caleva: Raul is the gripping third book in the Royal Caleva contemporary romance series (but can be read as a standalone). If you like alpha princes, independent heroines, and the power of love, courage, and healing, then you’ll be thrilled by Nancy Herkness’s passionate romantic adventure story.
Buy Royal Caleva: Raul to be swept away by a handsome prince today!
You did this! You doubled my donation!
You pre-ordered and bought ROYAL CALEVA: LUIS in its first week of release! That made my donation to Clarion PAWS go up to $2,000! The folks there are so excited, and so am I.
Skoda, Mobi, Crumpet, and I thank you for your support and generosity. No, I didn’t adopt another kitty (although I’d love to). Crumpet is a foster fail who owns Alicia, my lovely contact at Clarion PAWS. Turns out Alicia and Crumpet love to read, so they bought ROYAL CALEVA: LUIS too.
I am so grateful to you for doubling my donation amount through your purchase. You are royalty in my eyes!
Support animal rescue when you buy Royal Caleva: Luis
The vote is in! The majority of my newsletter subscribers chose Clarion PAWS in Pennsylvania for my donation of royalties from pre-orders and release week for ROYAL CALEVA: LUIS. Dr. Darling Daughter, Skoda, and Mobi say, “Thank you so much!” If you haven’t already, I hope you’ll pre-order ROYAL CALEVA: LUIS at the special pre-order price of $2.99 on Kindle. Print and audio will be available too but not until June 25th.
If you would like more info about Clarion PAWS, click here. Dr. Darling Daughter says they do great work and can put my donation to good use.
In-person event in northern New Jersey in May!
I’ll be speaking with a panel of four other fabulous romance authors on May 21st at 5:00 PM EDT at the North Bergen Free Public Library in northern New Jersey. We will be presenting An Exploration of the Romance Genre, discussing what makes romance both challenging and rewarding to write, as well as the broad variety of choices it offers the reader.
I will be speaking as well as moderating for this great group which includes fellow authors Ruth A. Casie, Maria Lokken, Jennifer Wilck, and Kristie Wolf.
If you’d like more information, here’s the link to the library’s listing.
We’ll be selling our books too, so please come join us and say hello! I would love to see you!
I loved the book…but how do I write a review?
This is a re-post of an older blog post I did after several readers asked me how to write a review on Amazon and other platforms. This doesn’t cover the actual posting part, just the writing part.
So here’s the post:
Reviews on Amazon and other websites are so important to an author. They help other readers find books that you enjoyed. If you loved the book, please consider writing a review!
“But I’m not a writer,” you say. “I’m nervous about writing a review.”
Here’s how to do it in a few very easy steps:
The Headline
Just a few words to kick off your review. You might use any of these categories to create your headline:
- Emotional response: “Loved this book!”
- Specific type of book: “Great small town romance!”
- Kind of character(s): “Hot billionaire.” or “Sassy heroine.”
- Endorsement:“Put this on your TBR list now!”
The Body.
Amazon recommends that you write between 75 and 500 words for a review. Their preferred minimum is 20, but if you give a book 5 stars and say, “This was one terrific read. I couldn’t put it down,” that is wonderful for the author.
Think about what you most liked about the book in one or more of these categories.
- Characters: Their job (veterinarian, chef, billionaire, office temp) and/or their qualities (cute, compassionate, sassy, angsty, tough).
- Setting: Small town, New York City, Mars, the mountains, the beach.
- Atmosphere: Light-hearted, dark and dangerous, sweet.
- Plot: Twisty, emotional, happy ending, straightforward.
- Writing: Vivid, poetic, spare, fast-paced, snappy dialogue.
- Premise: Small town girl meets high-powered businessman; marriage of convenience; Cinderella story; beauty and the beast.
You don’t have to answer all of these; just the one or two that really grabbed you.
Write the review. Fill in these blanks with the things you’ve thought about above.
I loved the (sassy heroine’s snarky dialogue) and the (exotic setting in Bali).
OR
(The hot billionaire) and (the sweet country girl) made a great couple in this (emotional romance with a wonderful happy ending).
OR
If you like (small town romance) you’ll love this story (set in the mountains of West Virginia) with a (sexy veterinarian) and an (ambitious lawyer.)
OR
Love (beauty and the beast stories)? Try this (futuristic fantasy romance) set on (Mars) with a (dark, twisty plot).
See how easy it is? Just fill in the blanks!
The Summary line.
To round off your review, show your enthusiasm for the book with one of these kinds of comments.
- I read it in one sitting!
- I read it twice!
- I told all my friends to read this book!
- I can’t wait for the next book from this author!
- I highly recommend this book!
Just follow these easy guidelines and you’ll have a super review. Your favorite author will be so grateful to you for your support!
Royal Caleva: Luis at special pre-order price
My sexy but lonely king in Royal Caleva: Luis is up for pre-order at a special price of $2.99 on Kindle. The price will go up to $4.99 a week after release day, June 25th, so grab my hot silver fox, King Luis, while he’s cheap.
As always, I will be donating a portion of my pre-order and release week royalties to one or more animal rescue organizations, so you’re supporting animals when you buy Royal Caleva: Luis. Mobi and Skoda—my rescued tabby brothers–thank you for that!
I enjoyed writing this book because it gave me the chance to create a love story for more mature characters. Not to mention that I found it fascinating to imagine how difficult it must be for a king to meet a woman who can see beyond the crown to the man. Luis has been king for a long time, so even he cannot separate who he is as a person from who he is as a leader. I loved exploring that.
For Luis’s heroine, I gave him a down-to-earth Midwesterner, Eve, because she would be less overawed by the pomp and tradition surrounding Luis. While I adore royal weddings and coronations and such, I am not a monarchist, so Eve wouldn’t be either. However, she is well aware of the vast gulf between Luis and herself.
The story unfolds in the island country of Caleva, where the water is turquoise blue, the lilies cure dementia, the vaho hibiscus waft their glorious fragrance, and giant frilled lizards roam the mountains. After reading Royal Caleva: Gabriel, many of my readers told me they wanted to book a vacation to Caleva. Honestly, so do I!
I hope you’ll consider pre-ordering Royal Caleva: Luis for your Kindle. If you prefer other formats, it will be available in print and audio on release day, June 25th.
Do you want to ask me questions?
Do you want to know what I’m working on now or or what my future projects are? Do you want to see my latest tiara? Do you want to meet my cats or hear about my travels?
You can do all this and more every Wednesday (almost!) at 2:00 PM ET on Facebook when I go live in “Writer Unedited”. Why “unedited”? Because I don’t have a script, I don’t get dressed up, I don’t have a fancy background…I just sit at my writing desk and chat. If you comment, I say hi! and answer your questions. I love having company, so please join me on Facebook here. If you miss it, I post all the LIVEs on my YouTube channel here. You can catch up with me anytime.
Happy Anniversary to me!
Woohoo! I am celebrating twenty years as a published author this month. Yup, my debut novel, A Bridge to Love, was released by Berkley (then part of Penguin) in August 2003. I can hardly believe it’s been that long because I’m barely any older than that newbie author. 😉
Now I have 18 published books. Wow! That’s crazy. (You can find them all listed on my website here.)
Don’t tell my other heroes, but Randall Johnson in A Bridge to Love may be my all time favorite male lead. Since I had no editor, no agent, no one telling me what to write, I wrote Randall just for me. He’s a self-made multimillionaire (because billionaires weren’t a thing back then) with a sexy Texas twang. He drives a Jaguar and owns a helicopter. He looks amazing in a tuxedo. And he puts all his many resources at Kate Chilton’s disposal when her child has an emergency. Le sigh.
To celebrate my 20th author anniversary, I am reducing the prices on my debut novel, A Bridge to Love, and on my other two standalone novels, Shower of Stars (published 2004) and Music of the Night (published 2008). They are all just 99 cents on Kindle for the entire month of August! This is my gift to you, my wonderful reader.
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