Maria V. Snyder’s Glass Trilogy is a series filled with magic and intrigue, and the lovely people at MIRA in the United Kingdom wanted to create an online widget to introduce it to new readers.

What’s a widget, you ask? Well, it’s a whatchamacalit! Or a doodad…or more technically: a digital content box that updates in real-time (so you don’t have to do anything to it! Just let it do its thing!) Widgets contain neatly organized (and shiny) applications and content chosen by the user to share with others.

Want to see what I mean?

Now that is a good-looking widget. It’s packed with information: character synopses, an author bio, pictures, videos and upcoming news! You can share it on Facebook, MySpace, through email and lots of other online social media outlets.

Kudos, MIRA UK!

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by Amy Wilkins, Assistant Manager, Digital Content and Social Media

They say don’t judge a book by it’s cover, but sometimes it’s very hard not to…especially when a cover doesn’t quite turn out quite like you imagined. And some covers can become notorious–even non-romance fans know about the infamous three-armed woman! (In fact, my college publishing instructor brought in a copy of the original Castles in the Air to class one day. Though I think she might sell it on eBay if she knew how in demand it is now!)

The original release of Get Lucky by Suzanne Brockmann was one such cover. The hero, Luke “Lucky” O’Donlon, is supposed to be the hottest member of the Navy SEAL team that stars in her Tall, Dark and Dangerous miniseries — along the lines of Brad Pitt. The cover? Well, not so much Brad Pitt… Luckily, author Suzanne had a good sense of humour about it!

So when it came time to release more titles from the Tall, Dark, and Dangerous series as part of our eBook program, we thought it was time to give Lucky a cover he deserves. Armed with a budget of next to nothing (so sadly Brad Pitt was out), the Harlequin digital team picked out some potential Luckys from stock photos and sent them to Suzanne to make the final selection.  She ended up choosing an image of a smiling (and most attractive ) man since she describes Lucky as a “happy-go-lucky” kind of guy.

And here is the final cover!

We hope you like Lucky’s makeover as much as we do! And for fans of the Tall, Dark and Dangerous series, we’re thrilled to announce that all 11 books in the series are now available in eBook format individually, as well as the whole collection in bundle format. Click here to see all the available titles.

So now that you’ve seen our pick for Lucky O’Donlon, I’d like to know who you would have cast as the sexiest SEAL of them all?

by Deanna Raybourn, author of the Lady Julia Grey series and the upcoming The Dead Travel Fast.

One of the great pleasures in having books brought out electronically is the chance to write enriched content. This is usually an assignment I get months—sometimes years!—after the book was first written, and I adore getting to revisit my favorite characters. When I write a book, I have maps and family trees and backstory anecdotes that may never find their way into the novel itself, but enriched content offers me a chance to share those juicy little morsels with readers. I love to include mentions of food in my books, and the enriched content often includes actual recipes so readers can create the same foods my characters are eating and munch along as they read.

Another favorite bit of enriched content are the letters I write between characters. There might be an occasional note in a book, but the letters I create for the ebooks are special. They are much more detailed, and often they give a much fuller picture of the relationship between characters. In the enhanced ebook edition of Silent in the Grave, there is a letter from the main character, Lady Julia Grey, to her sister, Portia, years before the main action of the novel opens. But it sets up that action, even foreshadowing a few events that did not unfold for my characters for several years and giving readers a little peek at what is yet to come.

As the first in the series, Silent in the Grave lent itself particularly well to enriched content. Due to the vagaries of publishing, I had actually written the extra material for the second and third books in the series before I tackled the first! But writing that additional material for those novels made me all the more eager to contribute to the ebook of the first. For me, every book I write has something I wanted to explore further but had to leave out for reasons of space or time. Enriched content is the perfect place to bring those treasures out to play!

Editor’s note: to thank Deanna for writing us a great post, we’re rewarding you, our readers! Let us know if you’ve ever bought an enriched ebook edition in the comments by midnight EST January 25th and we’ll send you a real book: an advanced reader copy of Deanna’s upcoming The Dead Travel Fast. That is, when we get a copy of it! Contest only open to residents of the US and Canada. Full contest details here.

By Margie Miller, Creative Director, Single Titles

Women fall in love with them. Men want to be them. Everybody loves a cowboy.

The ultimate strong silent type—fearless, honest and hard working. They’re never afraid to roll up their sleeves and jump in when a crisis hits. They’re tough to pin down, but once you do, you have a friend and partner for life. They are an American icon, the epitome of what it means to be an honorable man, and as Linda Lael Miller puts it. They are “the equivalent of the British Knight”.

Last June, on a ranch outside of Los Angeles, and together with a team that included a photographer and his assistants, a wardrobe stylist, an animal trainer, and other really helpful people from the ranch, we began the task of bringing Tate, Garret and Austin McKettrick to life for the covers of the new, upcoming Linda Lael Miller books. This year, we added film to the mix, in order to provide the readers with an added glimpse into these characters.  John Logsdon of Blind Vision Films came on board to join in a really long and exceptionally fun day of shooting.

I hope you enjoy watching and reading about these three cowboys as much as I did bringing them to life!

Visit Take A Cowboy Home for the full-length version of this documentary. For more info on the McKettricks of Texas and the Take A Cowboy Home website and sweepstakes follow the McKettricks blog tour to:

Beyond Her Book – Jan 18 (that’s today!)

Super Librarian – Jan 19

Petticoats and Pistols – Jan 21

Dear Author – Jan 21

And don’t miss the spotlight on Linda Lael Miller and the McKettricks men at Love Western Romances in March!

Editor’s Note: We finish our series about eBook Blogger Bundles with Wendy, the Super Librarian whose bundle is Blogger Bundle Volume III: Super Librarian Selects the Harvey Girls (containing The Doctor’s Wife, The Lawman’s Bride and The Preacher’s Daughter.)

by Wendy Crutcher, the Super Librarian.

I rediscovered the romance genre over ten years ago when I took my first professional library job, and I quickly developed an insatiable appetite for historical romances. Joining various e-mail loops, doing some reviewing, and starting my own blog in 2003, led to the accumulation of a TBR pile that can be seen from space and a reputation for being a champion of historical western romances.

So it’s really no surprise that I’m hopelessly devoted to the Harlequin Historical line. While the western once ran amok in the romance genre, the number of titles has dwindled in recent years. Harlequin Historical is one of the few places where I can routinely get my western fix, and I’ve discovered many wonderful writers through them.

Cheryl St.John is easily my favorite of the bunch. She really has a knack for making her characters sing. These are people with pasts, and typically a fair amount of emotional baggage, but who don’t wallow or throw pity parties for themselves. She routinely writes determined, yet vulnerable heroines, and pairs them with strong heroes. The best part, is that being romance novels, the reader knows that no matter the odds, no matter the terrible things that may have happened in their pasts, the author is going to make everything alright in the end. Nobody really does this better than Cheryl St.John, whose stories exemplify the term “comfort read” for me.

When Harlequin asked me to propose an eBook bundle from their expansive backlist, I knew I had to include a bundle of nothing but Cheryl St.John Harlequin Historical titles. She’s written many wonderful books over the years, but I think a good place to start is with her loosely-connected Harvey Girls trilogy. They are textbook examples of why I enjoy her stories so much. I hope you enjoy them as well.

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

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 Amanda Thiessen, Assistant Product Manager, Core Series

Wow!  This is so exciting—did you know that you can now go online and interact with your favorite Harlequin Presents characters?  That’s right; Harlequin Presents has teamed up with Big Fish Games to bring you the first ever Harlequin Presents online interactive game!  You can go to www.bigfishgames.com/harlequin to try a free one hour trial of the all-new game Harlequin Presents: Hidden Object of Desire.

This game is based off the popular Royal House of Karedes miniseries, where two islands have been divided by the Stefani diamond. They must come together to mend this diamond and their future bond as a country.  Hidden Object of Desire allows you to follow a few key characters through their journey; with your help in finding many key items along the way you will help bring these islands together again.

I have to say from experience this game can be quite addicting, so make sure you have lots of time on hand for when you decide to purchase this game.  There are a ton of fun puzzles and mazes, plus lots of items to find that have been hidden within a variety of settings. Check out these screenshots:

Have fun and good luck with all of the exciting games!

Are there other online games you love to play?  We’d love to hear about them.

by Jason Pinter, author of the Henry Parker series

Hey Harlequin Readers!

It’s a thrill to introduce you to my brand new eBook release THE HUNTERS. For those of you who have read previous books in my Henry Parker series, I think you’ll enjoy how this never-before-published eBook fleshes out characters you’ve grown to love while whetting your appetite for my biggest thriller yet – THE DARKNESS.

For those of you who haven’t read my books yet (what are you waiting for?!?!?), THE HUNTERS gives you a taste, a whiff, a glance at a world that I believe you’ll want to come back to again and again.

So where does THE DARKNESS fit into my series? Well, just last month MIRA released THE FURY, the fourth book in my Henry Parker series, but the first in a two-part epic that I feel is the best work I’ve ever done.

In THE FURY, Henry Parker finds out that there is a deep, dark skeleton in his family’s closet: a brother he never knew existed. And when Henry begins to investigate the murder of his estranged brother, he uncovers a conspiracy over two decades in the making. This two-part story concludes with the publication of THE DARKNESS on November 24 – and in between THE FURY and THE DARKNESS there is one night. One night in which two ruthless killers follow a deadly agenda, which will enable their plan to begin at sunrise.

Now, if you’re like me, the hours from sunset to sunrise are peaceful. Relaxing. But not in this eBook. In THE HUNTERS, you’ll see just how much drama, murder and mayhem can be packed into just one night. You’ll see Henry Parker preparing to chase the story of his life. You’ll see Jack O’Donnell, disgraced legend and Henry’s idol, hoping to save his legacy with one last hurrah. And you’ll see two killers with a plan that, if pulled off successfully, will turn New York City into a war zone.

I hope you enjoy THE HUNTERS, and I hope it encourages you to pick up a copy of THE DARKNESS on November 24th. Just remember, a lot can happen in one night. But you’ll have to read it for yourself to find out just how dark things can get…

Happy reading,
Jason Pinter

P.S. For more information on these books and other books in my Henry Parker series, visit my website at www.jasonpinter.com

Download your free copy of THE HUNTERS at the Harlequin eBook Store. ~ the Harlequin Digital team

by Tara Gavin, Editor

It is such a thrill that the second installment of Susan Kyle’s science fiction trilogy THE MORCAI BATTALION is now available, exclusively in eBook format: THE MORCAI BATTALION: THE RECRUIT. And I love the fact that it is written under Diana Palmer’s real name—Susan Kyle!

I’m Susan’s editor, and we’ve worked together for twenty-five years. She is a fabulous writer and she loves romance. Readers all over the world are delighted when a new book by Diana Palmer is published. Her next book, THE MAVERICK, will be available from Silhouette Desire in December and is a new Long, Tall Texan story. And there is a lot more romance coming from Diana Palmer in 2010 and beyond.

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However, the landscape of the Morcai Battalion has always been alive and percolating in her very active writer’s mind. She wrote the original THE MORCAI BATTALION before she was ever published in romance, and her dream has always been to have it reissued and to complete the MORCAI BATTALION trio.

THE MORCAI BATTALION, first published by Luna Books in December 2007, is a “space opera” and the canvas this story unfolds on is very wide and daring. I’ve fallen in love with the lead protagonists featured, too. There is the enigmatic Dtimun—an alpha hero of epic proportions and the leader of the legendary Holconcom, a military unit with startling powers…and the wonderful Lieutenant Commander Dr. Madeline Ruszel, who has been programmed not to feel love. But then what is the emotion she is overwhelmed with when in the presence of Dtimun?

The other characters grabbed hold of my heart, as well. Holt Stern and how he rises above his fate. Dr. Strick Hahnson, Madeline’s colleague and confidant. And we can’t forget Komack, the Centaurian soldier who has a mysterious and surprising background. All these characters—and so many more—make up THE MORCAI BATTALION series.

Readers have been writing in, asking about THE MORCAI BATTALION and when a new installment would be available. Susan has had fans from all over the world wondering—and she has even garnered quite a few new fans. Teenage boys have emailed her, telling her how much they’ve enjoyed THE MORCAI BATTALION.

That’s why I’m so delighted that Susan and Harlequin eBooks are publishing the second book in the series and have reissued the first book under the name Susan Kyle. Susan is dedicated to her readers, and once they told her they wanted to know what happened to these unforgettable characters, she wanted to finish out their story.

This year is Harlequin Books’s 60th Anniversary—and we’ve always kept our readers foremost in mind when presenting them with books. Our mission is to create entertaining and enriching experiences for readers to enjoy, to share, and to return to.

I hope that you enjoy THE MORCAI BATTALION: THE RECRUIT. I know that I did! Whether she is writing as Diana Palmer, or as Susan Kyle, this amazing writer delivers books that enthrall readers time and time again!