Today is International Women’s Day.  In fact, it’s National Women’s Month in America!  To celebrate, the Harlequin Blog is going to feature a month of blog posts that reflect on how we in the romance world celebrate the achievements made by strong, empowered women.

I’m kicking the day off with my own reflections, but check back throughout the month to read posts from our editors, fellow bloggers and friends!

I love my man as my fellow; but his scepter, real, or usurped, extends not to me.
—Mary Wollstonecraft, A Vindication of the Rights of Women (1792)

I studied Mary Wollstonecraft’s treatise on the rights of women in university.  Back then, it was just a mouldy old text written by a poet’s wife (although she did also give birth to one of my favourite writers—Mary Shelley!).  I didn’t give it much thought other than, “Wow, was she ever ahead of her time!”

Now, I see it in the context of my own life and my work.  My favourite romance novels have a touch of Mary’s wisdom in them.  Because, if there is anything I cannot abide, it is a heroine who cannot stand up for herself. You know the one—I like to call her the wet noodle because all she does is flop around!

But it didn’t take Mary’s words to get that; I think I’ve always known in my heart what sort of heroine—real or fiction—I’d relate to.  The obvious indicators came from books and television: I rooted for the Jessica Rabbits, the Elizabeth Bennets…the Bridget Jones’s!  The romantic heroines I have always admired have been fearless and tenacious. And no matter what they might look like, what obstacles are thrown in their way, even in the darkest moments, they have always stayed true to themselves. Critics may deride the message of a romance novel as fantasy, but they’re wrong. We read books that reflect our lives, our characteristics. I’m proud to say that I read romance novels.

The only difference is now I get to help sell these stories.  Ask anyone who knows me and they’ll tell you I always have a suggestion to make if they’re looking for a book; and it often involves a really cool heroine who knows who she is and doesn’t take any guff.

I know that there are countless women’s issues in the world that still need addressing today, but I hope you’ll take a moment and reflect just a little bit on the amount of progress we’ve already made.  Harlequin romance exists because of women who read and write great stories. Without them, where would we get our happily-ever-afters?

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

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PAPERBACK:
#9 Moonlight Road by Robyn Carr (MIRA, week 1)
#12 McKettricks of Texas: Tate by Linda Lael Miller (HQN, week 4)
#15 Angel’s Peak by Robyn Carr (MIRA, week 4)
#29 Shift by Rachel Vincent (MIRA, week 1)
#32 The Best is Yet to Come by Diana Palmer (Harlequin, week 1)

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by Courtney Milan, author of Proof by Seduction (HQN January 2010)

Historical romances are all about the fairytale. They are set in a time when carriages were pulled by a team of eight spotless white horses, when servants did all the dishes, and when gowns were personally made to fit you and accentuate your glowing inner beauty.

This is in sharp contrast to the way things are for me today: the car is making a weird grinding noise, I’m doing the dishes, and fashions are designed to make my butt look big. Naturally, I love the escape that historical romances provide (and I always hope that if I look busy enough when I’m reading one, my husband will do the dishes instead).

But when I set out to write one, I found that I couldn’t just write about the fairytale. I can never fully escape into a heroine’s life if she’s never known deprivation. If someone has already done the heroine’s dishes, if her personal maids can cinch her into a corset that makes her appear to have a sixteen-inch waist, and if every time someone threatens to make her life difficult, she can snap her fingers and order a servant to solve the problem… well, what does she have that I can relate to?

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The heroine of my debut novel, Proof By Seduction, was very much my answer to this conundrum. Nobody has ever snapped their fingers for her. She’s faced economic deprivation. She’s won, because she’s now telling fortunes to the wealthy as a way of making a living. She’s not wealthy herself, but she is comfortable.

When my wealthy hero enters the picture, he doesn’t offer her a carriage pulled by eight spotless horses. Instead, he threatens her comfort by telling her he will expose her as a fraud. And in order to prevail, my heroine is going to have to take him–and all his servants–on, all while wearing a dress that might make her butt look big.

And that’s a fairytale I can relate to.

Courtney Milan

by Jayne Hoogenberk, eHarlequin Community Manager

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Not only is March roaring in like a lion up here in Toronto and in the Eastern Seaboard, it’s also heating up as we prepare to celebrate the 2,000th Silhouette Desire novel, with a month-long ‘blog bash’ on the eHarlequin Community Desire Author blog.

Fan Favorite author, Bronwyn Jameson kicked off the festivities on Monday the 1st and all of your favorite authors will be popping in to post about writing these sensual, irresistible stories about rich, powerful heroes, strong and sultry heroines and scandalous family sagas. Visit their blog daily for new updates.

As you well know, bestselling author, Brenda Jackson has the honor of being the author of the line’s 2000th release, Hot Westmoreland Nights, delivering yet another highly-anticipated installment of the steamy Westmoreland saga and we can’t wait to read about Ramsey Westmoreland’s dilemma with his delectable new cook, Chloe and how she takes him down! It’s also Brenda’s 15th Anniversary as an author this year, so she truly has a lot to celebrate. Brenda gave us some insider info on her latest Westmoreland story in her Inside Scoop interview and says, “Readers can expect a strong, sexy and handsome hero who thinks he doesn’t need love, and a beautiful and feisty heroine who shows him differently. Readers can also expect a hot and sexy love story.”

Brenda is a die-“heart” romantic who married her childhood sweetheart and still proudly wears the “going steady” ring he gave her when she was 15. Because she began believing very early in the power of love and
romance, she can’t help but write stories with happy endings and we love the Westmorelands so much that we can’t wait for even more beginnings!

Don’t miss Hot Westmoreland Nights, one of six new sensual Silhouette Desire titles on sale this month, and don’t forget to stop by the Desire Author blog to say hello. For all of Brenda Jackson’s currently available titles, see her author page on eHarlequin.com.

To learn more about the author, visit her Web site, www.brendajackson.net.

And tell us, who is YOUR favorite Westmoreland so far?

Jayne

by J.T. Ellison, author of The Cold Room from MIRA books

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It’s that time again.

The release of the fourth book in my Taylor Jackson series is upon us, and I forget just how exciting the debut of a novel can be. As I write this, there’s only one week to go. Tour plans are in place, television and radio spots scheduled, blogs and interviews being written. It’s that moment experienced writers warned me about several years ago, as I was preparing for my actual debut. Enjoy this time, they said, because once the book is out, things change.

Boy, do they change.

One of the biggest challenges I face as a writer is the balance between promotion and creative time. What I didn’t realize until I had a second book coming out was the fact that regardless of release timing, I would be promoting a book, editing a book, and writing a book, all at the same time, for the rest of my natural born writing life. I think this is what the more experienced writers were warning me about, this juggling act we must do.

Writing a series means I’m in constant contact with my characters. I live their hopes, dreams, joys, tragedies and horrors on a daily basis. But I’m always thinking two books ahead of the book I’m promoting, because that’s the book I’m writing. Wrenching my head out of that book to talk about the releasing novel is incredibly hard for me.

But I’ve done it, and here we are.

I’ve always been fascinated by the psychology behind relationships. In The Cold Room, I wanted to throw a few curve balls to my characters, just to see how they would react.

Taylor Jackson is a woman of convictions, of morality, of a code. She’s a hero, flawed but with incalculable focus. She enjoys a challenge, isn’t afraid of much, and has a badge and gun to back her up when times get tough. She’s also very stubborn and enjoys intrigue, and her current case presents a puzzle she’s not seen before. The fact that her fiancée John Baldwin already has a foot in the case is a help too – she has an excuse to work with him again, something she always enjoys.

Taylor also has a few new people in her life, from Detective Renn McKenzie, her new partner she doesn’t entirely trust, to the handsome, moneyed New Scotland Yard detective, James “Memphis” Highsmythe, who also happens to be the Viscount Dulsie. He and Taylor share a background – both drawn to law enforcement despite their privileged upbringing, both searching for something. Plus Taylor’s been unfairly busted back to detective after a run in with the Office of Professional Accountability and is at her most vulnerable…. It’s a hard place for a strong woman to be, and a goldmine for a writer looking to develop her characters.

I hope you enjoy reading The Cold Room as much as I enjoyed creating it. It’s a different book from the previous three, both darker and lighter, with truly frightening serial killers that spooked ME when I was writing them. But it’s more than a story about a killer. It’s an exploration into the ultimate betrayal.

Editor’s Note: Thanks, J.T.! Best of luck juggling all those tasks. I’ve also got great news—Karen, our Digital Marketing Maven, has just told me that the first book in the series, All the Pretty Girls is available for free on our eHarlequin eBooks store until March 31st! It’s a great way to introduce yourself to a spinetingling new (to you!) series.

And looking for more info on J.T.? Check out her Web site where she has tour info or hop over to Murderati where she recently wrote about The Cold Room as well.

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

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#12 Angel’s Peak by Robyn Carr (MIRA, week 3)
#18 McKettricks of Texas: Tate by Linda Lael Miller (HQN, week 3)
#34 Twice as Hot by Gena Showalter (HQN, week 3)

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By Katie Fisher, Director of Overseas Business Development

Earlier this month, Harlequin officially opened its 19th office in Istanbul, Turkey, and I was lucky enough to have been there for the launch.

It was my second visit to Istanbul—the first was in the summer of 2008, when Adam Kapusta (Managing Director of Eastern Europe) and I were visiting to assess the market potential.  We liked what we saw—from a business perspective, Turkey is a large country with a stable economy, a high literacy rate, and a growing urban population—lots of potential women to buy our books. There is also a well established publishing industry, lots of bookstores, books for sale in many different kinds of stores, and a high proportion of translated fiction. If you name a bestselling fiction author, I’ll bet you’ll find his or her books on the shelves in Istanbul. 

Our recommendation after this visit was that we should be in Turkey—about a year and a half later, we saw this recommendation turn into reality.

Fast forward to the launch of Harlequin Turkey (or Harlequin Türkiye, as it is known in the local language). On February 2, we held a luncheon for a small group of about a dozen local media at an absolutely gorgeous hotel right on the Bosphorus. Have a look at the room—stunning!

Speeches, interviews, questions & answers, and a great meal kicked off the day’s events. Here we are just before the event kicked off.

(From left to right: Arda Gedik, our local partner, Steve Miles, EVP of Overseas for Harlequin, me, Adam Kapusta, MD, Eastern Europe & Turkey)

We are working with a local company, Ekip, who looks after translation & editing, coordinates local printing, and helps us with marketing & distribution. Combining their local knowledge with Harlequin’s global knowledge feels like a recipe for success.

After the luncheon our PR agency sent a kit out to about 100 more media and we were thrilled with the results—the story of Harlequin Turkey’s launch has been picked up by news agencies, newspapers, internet and television channels across the country, and we are expecting further coverage in the March issues of many women’s magazines. A great way to get the word out to the women of Turkey!

Right now, we are selling 8 stories per month in Turkey, but we plan to expand our program during this year. Here’s a look at our Turkish books:

I managed to sneak in a little bit of free time to see some of the sites around Istanbul—it is such an interesting city with so much history. I would love to go back and spend more time there, though maybe next time I’ll go when it won’t be snowing!

The Blue Mosque

by Meg Lewis, Assistant Editor of Harlequin Romance and Cara Colter, author of Rescued in a Wedding Dress.

He’s bending down on one knee, looking into your eyes and taking a gorgeous little box from his jacket pocket….

It could only mean one thing! That moment you’ve been waiting for—he’s going to propose! Most of us girls have imagined our perfect ‘proposal scene’ at some point…

Well last February, we on the Harlequin Romance team launched a competition where the prize was not only a diamond necklace but also the opportunity to see their ultimate proposal come to life… in the pages of a Harlequin Romance story! The contest was part of our celebrations for Harlequin’s 60th anniversary. We also published a special collection of books that month: Diamond Brides. Every story featured some of those beautiful, sparking gems we all love! Read about the stunning collection here.

The competition generated much excitement and we were flooded with wonderful ideas. Our readers really are a romantic and imaginative bunch and it was a pleasure to read all your entries!

The winning idea really stood out to the judges because it was highly romantic, special and creative, and featured a beautiful setting. What was it? Well, to find out you’ll just have to read the fantastic Rescued in a Wedding Dress by Cara Colter—out this month!  (There may be a hint on the cover, though!)

And now over to Cara Colter, who’s going to share her experience of including the winning proposal idea in her story, Rescued in a Wedding Dress:

Other people think differently than me!  Sometimes I find this hard to accept, for instance when my husband, Rob, and I have somewhat opposing views on how to raise a perfect dog, or on what tidy the kitchen means.

But at other times a different point of view can be amazingly refreshing.  I loved the winning suggestion in the Diamond Brides competition, because it was an idea so different than any I have ever come up with on my own.  It was extraordinarily simple (I do have a tendency to complicate things, ask Rob, re: dog and kitchen) and yet really, really  fun and deliciously romantic.  It made me think about romance in a brand new way which is a very good thing, given my line of work.

Maybe I can even convince Rob that romance could mean a trip to the Napa Valley instead of a truck ride out of town and around the lake to look at one of his job sites together…

Please do drop us a line; we’d love to know what you think of the competition, and hear your own ideal proposal scenario. Maybe it actually happened just this Valentine’s Day?!

Finally, check out all of the Harlequin Romances this month: the International Grooms collection. You can see all of the books and the authors blogging in the eHarlequin Community.

And read more about Cara Colter on her Web site.

By Gwyneth Bolton, award-winning Kimani Romance Author

“More than simple instruments of pleasure and amusement, toys and games play crucial roles in helping children determine what is valuable in and around them. Dolls in particular invite children to replicate them, to imagine themselves in their dolls’ images. What does it mean, then, when little girls are given dolls to play with that in no way resemble them? What did it mean for me that I was nowhere in the toys I played with?”
— Ann DuCille, Professor and Cultural Critic

“African American romance readers enjoy stories about women who look like them—not just physically, but politically, socially, economically, and emotionally as well. We deserve no less.”
— Gwen Osborne, Journalist and Word Diva of Black Romance

When I think about African American romance novels, I can’t help but think of the Black Barbie. Now, I realize this connection doesn’t automatically come to mind for all. So, bear with me as I explain.

Playing with dolls and reading romance fiction are both recreational activities that provide pleasure and enjoyment. And, while women and girls aren’t the only gender to participate in these recreational activities, they make up the majority in both. Also, I don’t think I am making too much of a leap in connection when I say that the joy a little girl experiences when she opens up the box of a brand new doll is pretty close to the joy many women feel when they open up a new shipment of books from Harlequin when it comes in the mail. (Maybe I should just speak for myself in this regard, since I have been known to stalk my mailman as I wait for my latest order from eHarlequin.com…)

As a child growing up in the 70s and 80s, I was lucky enough to grow up in a time when Mattel’s Christie doll—the second black Barbie doll after the ill-fated “Colored Francie”—was widely available. Besides Christie, there were lots of other baby dolls with brown skin just like mine. I never had to experience a time like Black feminist scholar Ann DuCille writes about when I couldn’t play with a doll that “looked” like me. I can’t say the same for having romance novels to read. I used to sneak my mother’s Harlequin Presents and her Silhouette novels in the 80s. That’s where I became addicted to romance and really honed my love of reading. I would spend entire weekends reading book after book after book. I fell in love with romance when I was twelve; right around the same time I publicly stopped playing with dolls. (Truthfully, I played with Barbie dolls until I was around fourteen. But I would’ve never admitted it.) As I became an adult, I lost touch with romance novels much like I stopped playing with dolls. (Okay, I actually still collect black porcelain dolls and even some collectible designer Barbie dolls. But I don’t “play” with them. That’s my story and I’m sticking to it…)

Before Kensington published the first Arabesque novels fifteen years ago, there had been a few romance novels published that featured black heroes and heroines. There was Rosiland Welles’s Entwined Destinies (1980), Jackie Weger’s A Strong and Tender Thread (1983), Sandra Kitt’s Adam and Eva (1985) and Joyce McGill’s Unforgivable (1992). There were also attempts made to publish African American romance lines by Holloway House and Odyssey Books. However, romance novels that showcased black love had been sparse to say the least.

That all changed when editor Monica Harris got Kensington to publish those first Arabesque novels. Kensington’s Arabesque line went from two to four books a month before it was sold to BET Books and then Harlequin’s Kimani Press. Those early Arabesque authors—Francis Ray, Rochelle Alers, Shirley Hailstock, Sandra Kitt, Donna Hill, among many others—helped pave the way for the wealth of African American romance novels we see today. So did the black women authors who integrated Harlequin and Silhouette lines early on by writing romances with black leads. Women like Maggie Ferguson writing for Harlequin Intrigue; Angela Benson writing for Silhouette Special Edition; Robyn Amos writing for Silhouette Yours Truly and Intimate Moments; Rochelle Alers writing for Silhouette Desire; Brenda Jackson writing for Silhouette Desire and Blaze; and Natalie Dunbar writing for Silhouette Bombshell and later Silhouette Romantic Suspense. All of these trailblazing women made it possible for me to have a very sizable African American romance collection right next to the shelves that house my black doll collection.

The Arabesque line is still going strong with Kimani Press and we even have the first African American category-length line in Kimani Romance. Companies such as Genesis Press and Dorchester publish African American romances and we can also find many African American romance novels being published through lines like Dafina Romance and Urban Soul. In the space of less than thirty years, we have moved from being able to count the amount of African American romance novels on one hand to a healthy representation of black love growing stronger and stronger every day.

Hopefully one day—much like the Black Barbie doll isn’t just sold to little black girls and we can see little girls of all races, colors and creeds playing with the rainbow of Barbie dolls that are available—we will see more and more people reading romance across race. Yes, we needed Black Barbie dolls because little girls needed to see themselves represented in the toys they played with. But we also needed them so that little girls of other races could be exposed to diversity and difference. African American romance novels allow us to see wonderful representations of black love and hopefully as these novels become more widely available more people will see that a great love story—much like a beautiful doll—can be enjoyed by all no matter what color it comes in. What do you think? Do you think one day we will reach a place where the race of the characters really don’t matter? Can you think of other interesting things besides dolls that can be connected to romance novels?

Editor’s Note: Thank you to Gwyneth for this inspiring piece on African American romance novels. Join us as we celebrate Black History Month at eHarlequin with a very special discount of 40% on all Kimani Press titles!

by Brenda Jackson, New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of Hot Westmoreland Nights

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Anyone who has read my books knows I have this thing for family series.  And when I was told that one of my family series book was Silhouette Desire’s 2000th book, I could not contain my excitement.

From the time I first began reading romances, Silhouette Desires were my favorite.  It was small enough to toss in my purse and pull out for a good and relaxing read just about anywhere.  Especially when I got a break during those busy management meetings at the well-known insurance company where I worked.  Once I decided I wanted to be an author, my choice was to be a Silhouette Desire author.  After a number of rejections letters—a few telling me what to do to improve my craft—I joined a writers group where I received not only good feedback on what I needed to do to improve my writing, but I became friends with a bunch of lovely ladies, who like me wanted to write love stories.

I never gave up the belief that one day I would do it, even after one of my bosses at work who found out about my dream, basically told me that he would win the lotto before I published a book.  Not a lot of encouragement there, right?  Wrong.  His words encouraged me to prove him wrong and I did.  I have written over 70 books and he’s yet to win the lotto.  Of course I couldn’t pass up the chance to send him a copy of my first book with a card asking, “How many millions did you win playing lotto?”

Hot Westmoreland Nights becoming Silhouette Desire’s 2000th book is special because it’s about the Westmoreland Family.  I wrote my first Westmoreland Book in 2002 and now Hot Westmoreland Nights is my 17th novel in the series.  The Westmorelands continue to be a special family because my readers have made them so, and each time I pen a story about them, I can’t forget just how special they are.

I have plenty more Westmoreland stories to share and if you missed out on the Westmoreland series, my first book in the series, Wrapped in Pleasure, has been reissued.

Congratulations to Silhouette Desire for reaching such a wonderful milestone, and I appreciate being a part of your growth and success from day one as a reader, and now as one of your happy and dedicated writers.

Happy Reading to all!

Celebrate 2000 titles! Get 3 Desire books for $9.99 at eHarlequin.com!