Editor’s note: we continue our series on Blogger eBook Bundles with Heather Reed, writer for WeWriteRomance.com, whose bundle is Blogger Bundle Volume II: WeWriteRomance.com Selects Presents.

by Heather Reed, blogger for WeWriteRomance.com

Let me start by saying again how honored I am to be asked by Harlequin to participate in their Blogger Bundles. WeWriteRomance.com is about all things romantic fiction, so when Harlequin asked us to put together our picks for an eBook bundle we were definitely over the moon. Then came what we thought would be the easy part—picking the books! But it was a lot harder than we’d thought—as Harlequin publishes so many exciting and wonderful stories! But in the end, we agreed on the strongest of the lines: Harlequin Presents.

Presents stories have it all. They have what women want most: excitement, an escape from reality, and most of all romance that ends with enduring promises. They are well-written and just the right size. They are, in a word, fabulous.

And what better way to showcase the line but to select a few of the authors who have, over time, shaped the line into what it is today. While there were quite a few, we finally narrowed it down to Kate Walker (who is celebrating her 25th anniversary this year!), Anne McAllister (who is also celebrating her 25th anniversary this year!), Margaret Mayo (who celebrated the publication of her 75th book last year) and Michelle Reid (who is on her way to her 25th anniversary at 22 years).

The first book we chose to showcase from this line was Kate Walker’s The Twelve-Month Mistress. Ms. Walker allows you a glimpse into the life of Spanish aristocrat, Joaquin, who has a stead-fast rule to only keep his mistresses for twelve months…but when an accident claims his memory, he forgets all about his latest mistress Cassie breaking up with him! Up next you’ll find Margaret Mayo’s Surrender to the Millionaire where a life changing decision could lead Kristie down the path to revealing a devastating truth to Radford, one that doesn’t only affect their lives. To be followed by Anne McAllister’s Lessons from a Latin Lover which allows us—and Molly McGillivray!—to learn the art of seduction from super-sexy Joaquin. And to round out our super Presents package is Michelle Reid’s The Brazilian’s Backmailed Bride that takes us through the art of seductive revenge…Anton only thinks he’s got Cristina where he wants her: blackmailed and in bed!

So we hope you’ll download your copy of these fabulous books all in the one neat little ebook bundle, WeWriteRomance.com Selects Presents.

And don’t miss out reading each of the author’s blog posts on WeWriteRomance.com’s blog this month (as well as posts by other Presents authors) as each one shares a little about their book in the bundle and more about where they are today.

Editor’s Note: For the next three days we’re featuring the lovely bloggers who took part in creating our Blogger eBook Bundles! We kick off the series with Jane from Dear Author, whose bundle is Blogger Bundle Volume I: Dear Author Selects Unusual Heroines.

by Jane Litte, blogger for Dear Author.

I can’t express how thrilled Dear Author was to be asked to put together a list of backlist titles to be re-released in digital format. We thought long and hard about the bundle and what we could have included. We love the unusual at Dear Author and in reviewing our own memories, talking with other readers, and looking over the Harlequin backlist, we came up with the following titles:

Arm Candy by Jo Leigh
Just Kiss Me by Kathleen O’Reilly
Obsession by Kay David
Code of Honor by Kathryn Shay

Each book features a strong heroine but a different one: Banker, lawyer, marketing maven, firewoman. They are women in different places in their lives: looking for a new love, recovering from a lost one. They are women going after what they want and women pursued. In sum, just like all of us.

Arm Candy and Just Kiss Me are more lighthearted books but they all have some sly humor in them. Just check out the back cover copy from Arm Candy:

HOW TO IMPRESS A WOMAN
Wine her and dine her. Listen to her. Laugh with her. Buy her flowers. Go shopping with her. Don’t stop reminding her she is beautiful. Console her when she is down. Rejoice with her when she is up. Read romantic poetry to her. Tell her you love her.

HOW TO IMPRESS A MAN
Arrive naked. Bring beer

In Just Kiss Me, Joe writes notes to Amanda featuring a checklist wherein the last two items Amanda is to check off is how angry she is with Joe:

__ Don’t like O.J., please change to apple juice
__ Need coffee
__ Milk?
__ Thinking that Joe might be an okay guy
__ Thinking that Joe is an ass

See you soon,

Joe

I think another thing that all these authors share is the keen sense of observation and the ability to convey, in brief, a lot of meaning. From Kay David’s Obsession:

Tonight she wore a sleeveless black dress, straight and severe with a scarf tucked into the neckline. She’d probably read in a magazine somewhere that the square of silk would make the dress into a cocktail outfit. She’d been wrong to think so. It still looked like a banker’s dress. No nonsense. Businesslike. Boring.

Emma, in Obsession, was a banker and frankly, she wanted to convey that message of staid, businesslike and boring because it was such a reversal from the lowest point in her life when she was addicted to alcohol and pills, lost her family, and her way. The last two books in the bundle are different in tone than the first two. Arm Candy and Just Kiss Me are more flirtatious. Obssession and Code of Honor are more serious. They both deal with loss. Chelsea, the firewoman, has to struggle with a past relationship gone bad and the rising forbidden attraction to her station lieutenant all the while proving her worth as a female firefighter in a job supposedly meant for men.

In all, we chose these books because the writing is good and the stories of romance, while varied, are heartening. We think that they represent the diversity and talent in the genre. We hope you enjoy these stories as much as we do.

by Sherryl Woods, New York Times bestselling author of Amazing Gracie.

Over the years and after more than one hundred books, readers often ask me if I have a favorite. Since that’s a bit like labeling just one of your children as being special, I usually respond that it’s whichever book I’m working on at the moment. And mostly, that’s true. When pressed, though, I always go back to Amazing Gracie, which is now back in print after more than ten years.

And to think, I loved it even before it became a Romantic Times Top Pick and later one of the books chosen by RT as one of the best 200 romances published during their first 20 years of publication. I have no idea what combination of plot and character caught their attention. If I did, I’d make sure it happened in every single book, but sometimes there’s just something magical about the way a story comes together.

The setting, of course, is very special to me. It’s one of the first books I wrote fictionalizing my childhood summer hometown of Colonial Beach, Virginia, which later provided yet another fictional setting for the Trinity Harbor trilogy. Colonial Beach, where I still return each year to the house that’s been in my family for more than 60 years, is just like one of those unique small towns about which I love to write. People are friendly. For better or worse, everyone knows everyone else’s business. And just like in the fictional Seagull Point of Amazing Gracie, there are some, shall we say, distinctive personalities.

When it comes to the characters in Amazing Gracie, Kevin Patrick Daniels combines just about everything I love about laid-back, generous, contrary and caring Southern men. If I’d met him in real life, I’d have snapped him up immediately.

As for Gracie MacDougal, well, in some ways she is me. Friends often say they can see bits of me in my heroines and this was never more true than with Gracie, who had a succession of love affairs in which the men immediately went on to marry other women. For a while in my own life I was tempted to started a dating service—send your commitment-phobic men to me for a few months and they’ll promptly marry you! I think it would have been wildly successful.

Of course, as in so many of my books, there are secondary characters galore and a wonderfully loving and very quirky family. I think adding generations to a storyline adds a special richness to the stories.

I’m so delighted to have Amazing Gracie available for you once again. I hope you’ll enjoy your visit to Seagull Point. Stop by www.sherrylwoods.com and let me know if you do.

by Jayne Hoogenberk, eHarlequin Community Manager

With the New Year comes new series, and I thought I’d share the scoop on some of the exciting, new, not-to-be-missed continuities and miniseries to be found starting up this month.

Starting off the year in American Romance is Kayla’s Daddy by Laura Bradford. This is Laura’s first book for Harlequin! Not only is this a wonderful story about a long-lost letter that kindles one romance and rekindles another, it’s the first book in American Romance’s 12-book, year-long thematic continuity, BABIES & BACHELORS USA. A whole year worth of adorable babies and hunky heroes!

And if we’re not talking babies in American Romance, we’re talking cowboys!! Hill Country Hero by Ann DeFee has a hunky hero who’s a cowboy and a football player! This author’s fun stories always have a sense of humour—and this one is set in everyone’s favourite part of Texas, the Hill Country.

Bestselling author Lynne Graham is back with a fabulous new trilogy in Harlequin Presents with PREGNANT BRIDES. She popped over to the I Heart Presents blog to discuss Book One, Desert Prince, Bride of Innocence and why she loves to make her character suffer…interesting reading! Also available this month from Presents is the all-new AT HIS SERVICE miniseries featuring Cinderella heroines and billionaire heroes, all beginning with the passionate rags-to-riches story Powerful Italian, Penniless Housekeeper by India Grey. I don’t know about you but I LOVE to escape into Presents…glamorous settings, passionate men and more money than you can imagine…. The perfect recipe for romance!

Also, USA Today bestselling author Marie Ferrarella leads an all-new 6-book continuity about a fertility clinic and the romance conceived there with Prescription for Romance in the new THE BABY CHASE series in Silhouette Special Edition.These contemporary romances from the Silhouette Special Edition line will strike a chord with you as heroines find the balance between their work lives and personal lives on the way to true love!

Meet six gorgeous men in Harlequin Romance this month in the new INTERNATIONAL GROOMS miniseries. Each title is set in a different country or setting and the authors have created different tips, travelogues and information on the settings that you can read about in their blog… This month also features a debut author, and Cara Colter’s “proposal” book, which features the winning proposal from the eHarlequin Competition “Diamond Proposal” contest we hosted last year. We are making the romantic month of February…the month of Harlequin Romance!

From Superromance and Romantic Times Career Achievement award winning author C.J. Carmichael, we have a three-book miniseries, THE FOX & FISHER DETECTIVE AGENCY, running from January to March. The titles are: Perfect Partners, The P.I. Contest and Receptionist Under Cover (available in March). I’m told these books have a light mystery element and are solid, satisfying reads. More than a romantic relationship, it’s mainstream romance with the promise of happy ever after!

If you’re in the mood for a little intrigue then check out the BODYGUARD OF THE MONTH, a new 12 month continuity starting off with The Socialite and the Bodyguard by Dana Martin. These stories feature rugged, tough bodyguards who are more than capable of protecting their innocent women. Tune in every month for edge-of-your-seat reads and a new powerful bodyguard adventure available from Harlequin Intrigue.

You can find more spine-tingling reading with Twin Targets by Marta Perry. This book is the first book in a new six-book Love Inspired Suspense continuity series, PROTECTING THE WITNESSES, which focuses on looming danger and forever love in the witness protection program. With a flood of unsolved murders, those connected to the program are running scared.

And if your tastes run to Historical the editors also recommend The Duke’s Redemption by Carla Capshaw, a terrific story about a British nobleman who comes to South Carolina to find his brother’s murderer and falls in love with a young colonial woman—who might just be a spy!

I’ll be back next week with some more series to check out until then, what series are you most looking forward to this year?

Congratulations to all authors who are in this week’s New York Times bestseller list.

Paperback

#8 Worth the Risk by Nora Roberts (Silhouette, week 5)
#24 Fairy Tale Weddings by Debbie Macomber (MIRA, week 5)
#28 Angels at Christmas by Debbie Macomber (MIRA, week 9)

Enjoy a sample of some of our bestsellers with the Browse the Book widget!

by Emily Ohanjanians, editor of Snapped by Pamela Klaffke

I first read Snapped more than two years ago, when it landed on my desk as one of countless unsolicited manuscripts. I was delightfully surprised when it turned out to be not only one of the best unsolicited manuscripts I’d ever received, but also one of the best books I’d ever read.

The writing is sharp, raw and witty. The story is beautifully paced, and the lead character is unique, perceptive and surprisingly lovable (for a narcissistic near-sociopath). I couldn’t put the book down and after I turned the last page, wishing it was only the first, I passed the book around the MIRA team, hoping against hope that—even though it was nothing like what MIRA normally publishes—everyone would love it and we would acquire it all the same. I wanted so badly to work on this book.

We’ve since bought it (smiles! clapping! champagne!) and through the editing process I’ve read it a few more times. Honestly, I still can’t get enough. Every time I go through it something new stands out. Sara B., the lovable though cringe-inducing protagonist, is a hard-drinking, hard-living trendspotter who’s getting older every day and being pushed out of the biz by an elbow-throwing cabal of younger, trendier hipsters. While I felt for her plight (not to mention the secondary embarrassment I felt every time she drunkenly humiliated herself) I couldn’t help myself from laughing at her hilarious, irreverent observations of the world around her, and how absurd pop culture can be. She says things we’ve all, I’m sure, thought before but are way too PC to ever say aloud or dare ever put to paper. She’s also ridiculously insightful because, in only a few words or phrases, she’ll describe thoughts and feelings so apt it’s as if she’s known you forever. I certainly felt as if I’d known her forever.

This book is a guilty pleasure of the highest order. I’d love to hear what you think!

by Robyn Carr, author of Forbidden Falls, the latest release in her Virgin River series.

There are lots of different kinds of heroes in this romance world—the bad boy, the damaged man with the strong heart, the passionate guy who just can’t help his urges, the solid man who hasn’t allowed himself to love before, but with the right woman….

I like them all.  But my question was bigger—what kind of man does Virgin River need right about now?  A man with vision and commitment.  A man passionate about his beliefs; a man with integrity and the strength to stand by it.  Enter Pastor Noah Kincaid, a young widower with enough imagination and compassion to open up the old, abandoned, boarded up church that sits right next to Jack’s Bar.

It’s a big job.  It’s going to require a pastor’s assistant.  And of course he doesn’t have any intention of hiring one applicant: the short skirted, cleavage-bearing, big-haired former stripper. That would totally ruin his debut in the little town of Virgin River.  But then he learns that Ellie Baldwin needs a respectable job, a job like he is advertising, to regain custody of her children—and he’s sunk.  Because in spite of all that vision, commitment, passion and imagination, he also has an irrepressibly soft heart.  Besides, he can’t help but admire her determination.  And there’s a little something else—once he stops looking at that cleavage long enough, he discovers a strength of conviction to rival his own.  And boy—is it sexy.

A pastor and a stripper?  Where else but Virgin River!  And what a way to start off the new year!  Forbidden Falls is full of surprises, the first of which is—how long can the good reverend resist the beautiful, earnest, honest young woman he hired to help open his church?  Is there anything more intriguing than watching a good man at war with his libido?

While there are some very tense moments besides the almost instant attraction, I think readers will have the most fun trying to decide which one of these two has the greatest strength and wisdom.  Is it the over-educated, 35-year-old theologian or the 25-year-old woman with a GED and a long history of survival skills?  Noah grew up rich and spent a over a dozen years in college, collecting post-grad degrees; Ellie grew up dirt poor and worked full time from the age of 14.

The town of Virgin River can be judgmental sometimes, but they also tend to like things a little edgy, exciting, interesting.  Some of the regulars like Mel and Jack Sheridan, Preacher and Paige, General Walt Booth…they appreciate Noah.  Admire and respect him. But they love Ellie.

Do we really get to choose whom we love?  Does the person for whom we have passion come packaged a certain way?  Can we turn the object of our desire into the kind of person who seems more right for us?

What’s next for Virgin River?  Readers have fallen in love with the Riordan brothers, and I aim to please!  In Angel’s Peak (on sale January 26, 2010) Sean Riordan reappears with a huge desire to win back his ex-girlfriend, former USAF flight nurse Franci Duncan.  And in Moonlight Road (on sale February 23, 2010) we’ll catch up with Aiden Riordan, who finds himself stuck between the most desirable woman he can imagine and an impossibly crazy ex-wife!

I guess as long as there’s a Virgin River, there are many possibilities.  I like it here, so I’ll stay.

Welcome to the River!

by Elizabeth Somer, M.A.,R.D., author of Eat Your Way to Happiness (Harlequin Nonfiction)

If you’re like me, you have had a bit of experience with New Year’s resolutions – they come and go. We have great hopes and intentions to head off to the gym, start a new diet, lose weight, be healthier. By February, the gym shoes are at the back of the closet, the diet plan is history, and the weight is still haunting us. Well, I have a solution to that.

Over the years, I’ve honed a few painless, super easy steps to a better diet, slimmer waistline, and more fit body. Here are five fool-proof resolutions from my latest book, Eat Your Way to Happiness.

1. Eat breakfast: No excuses! Hey, it takes no more than 5 minutes to fix and eat a good breakfast, yet the benefits will last you lifetime. Breakfast eaters have more energy, think more clearly, perform better at school and work, and are less vulnerable to cravings throughout the day, therefore, they are more successful at weight loss and maintaining the loss over time. The 1,2,3 Breakfast I discuss in the book is your mainstay: 1) a whole grain, 2) a protein, and 3) one to two colorful fruits and vegetables. My favorite is a bowl of whole grain cereal (shredded wheat, Kashi, Grapenuts, etc), low-fat milk or soymilk, and a handful of blueberries. Smoothies also fit the criteria, as does whole-grain waffles with peanut butter and a glass of OJ.

2. Start lunch (or dinner) with a bowl of soup: It’s the volume or weight of food that fills us up. If it takes a pound of food to feel satisfied, you can gobble a pound of French fries for a zillion calories or a pound of carrots for 50 calories. The best way I’ve found to boost volume is to eat foods that have water and fiber in them. Vegetable soup is a perfect example. When people have a bowl of soup before a meal they consumed 200 calories less and still feel full and satisfied. So, add a bowl of chicken noodle or cream of tomato to your sandwich for lunch every day and you could lose up to two pounds a month. That’s 24 pounds by the end of 2010!!

3. Cook in cast iron: If you are a premenopausal woman and you are tired, more than likely you are one of the up to 80% of women during the childbearing years who is iron deficient. You probably aren’t so deficient that you are anemic, but the symptoms are the same: You are tired, more susceptible to colds and infections, can’t think clearly, and might even have trouble sleeping. Years ago, I tossed the fancy cookware and went back to my mom’s cast iron pots. The iron leaches out of the pot into the food, boosting iron content several fold, especially in acidic foods, such as spaghetti sauce.

4. Chew gum: Do you taste test while cooking? Pop food scraps in your mouth as you load the dishwasher? Take a bite of the leftover lasagna while rummaging through the fridge for tonight’s dinner? That is called mindless eating, and it could be at the root of your weight problems, since every bite averages about 25 calories. Four mindless bites in a day and you’ve gained a pound in a month. Instead, chew sugarless gum when cooking or in the kitchen to discourage putting anything else in your mouth.

5. Move more: OK, I’m an exercise junkie and most people think I’m nuts to bike when it is raining outside! But, I also know most people aren’t as addicted to sweat. If the likelihood of sticking with an hour vigorous workout at the gym is slim, you can boost activity and shed pounds by just adding more movement to your daily routine. Walk up the escalator – it drives me nuts when people stand like a statue as the escalator works for them! Park at the end of the lot, rather than drive around for 15 minutes looking for a closer parking spot. Throw out the remote control and get up every time you want to change the TV station. Studies show that adding little 10 minute bursts of activity to your day add up to significant health benefits and even a few inches off the waistline.

Editor’s note: Best of luck with all of your resolutions in the new year from Elizabeth and the whole team at Harlequin!

Congratulations to all authors who are in this week’s New York Times bestseller list.

Paperback

#7 Worth the Risk by Nora Roberts (Silhouette, week 4)
#18 Fairy Tale Weddings by Debbie Macomber (MIRA, week 4)
#20 Angels at Christmas by Debbie Macomber (MIRA, week 8 )
#31 Cold River by Carla Neggers (MIRA, week 4)

Enjoy a sample of some of our bestsellers with the Browse the Book widget!