Hey everyone!  Today I’m guest-blogging over at Romance Novel TV, with a fun topic for Friday:  Which five fictional characters would you invite to a dinner party?

From the comments so far, people are putting together some really great parties.  So if you get a chance, drop by and give us your dream invite list!

Have you heard?  If you’ve poked around on Goodreads or Amazon, you know that Book 3 has a title… Something About You.  Here’s a little more about the book, which releases March 2nd:

FATE HAS THROWN TWO SWORN ENEMIES…

Of all the hotel rooms rented by all the adulterous politicians in Chicago, female Assistant U.S. Attorney Cameron Lynde had to choose the one next to 1308, where some hot-and-heavy lovemaking ends in bloodshed. And of all the FBI agents in Illinois, it had to be Special Agent Jack Pallas who gets assigned to this high-profile homicide. The same Jack Pallas who still blames Cameron for a botched crackdown three years ago—and nearly ruining his career…

…INTO EACH OTHER’S ARMS

Work with Cameron Lynde? Are they kidding? Maybe, Jack thinks, this is some kind of welcome-back prank after his stint away from Chicago. But it’s no joke: the pair is going to have to put their rocky past behind them and focus on the case at hand. That is, if they can cut back on the razor-sharp jibes—and smother the flame of their sizzling-hot sexual tension…

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In other fun and exciting news, both my books were recently reviewed very positively by the Chicklit Club.  Practice Makes Perfect, in fact, received their highest score–only 12 out of over 525 novels reviewed by them have received 9 out of 9 stars.  And they named Just the Sexiest Man Alive as one of the books they’d most like to see made into a movie.  Thanks Chicklit Club– I’m honored and thrilled!  (See the reviews for both books here, and I’m doing an interview with them that should post this week.)

Also exciting was a new review of Just the Sexiest Man Alive from Romance Reader at Heart.  JTSMA scored a Top Pick rose– their highest mark!  Thanks RRAH!

Beth Kery is guest-blogging over at Romance Novel TV today, with a great column on author inspiration.  If you haven’t yet heard about my inspiration for Practice Makes Perfect, and you’re curious, be sure to check Beth’s blog out.

And now for the nostalgia part of this blog…  At RWA, author Colleen Gleason and I got into a discussion about some of the earliest books that inspired us, and discovered that we both used to be big fans of the Trixie Belden books.

For those of you who’ve read the Trixie Belden books, you’re probably taking a walk down memory lane right now, thinking about Jim Frayne (the original bad boy hero–ooh…he’s a runaway, but secretly a millionaire) Honey Wheeler, and all the other Bob-Whites.  If you haven’t read the books, in a nutshell, Trixie Belden is a headstrong thirteen year-old with an uncanny knack for stumbling upon mysteries that she and her friends have to solve.

Talking to Colleen got me thinking about the TB series and I began poking around on eBay (always a dangerous endeavor), and I bought a few of the books with the thought that I might try to collect all of the series.  I read the first book over the weekend, and wow–did that ever bring me back in time about twenty years.  Brought back a lot of memories… by the way, what the heck are “dungarees”?

So now I’m curious–do any of you have similarly nostalgic feelings for a particular book or series?  And anyone else out there a former Trixie Belden fan?

And the winner of the signed copy of My Lord and Spymaster is…

LISA!!

Congratulations, Lisa!  Please email me at info@juliejamesbooks.com with your snail-mail address, and I’ll get My Lord and Spymaster right out to you.

Thanks to everyone who entered, and a special thanks to Joanna Bourne for both the thoughtful Q&A and for the signed book!

So that’s it, folks– the end of the Six-Book Giveaway.  Big-time thanks to all the authors who participated (Beth Kery, Shiloh Walker, Colleen Gleason, Jill Shalvis, Wendy Wax, and Joanna Bourne).  I had such a fun time doing this!  Hope you all did, too.

Stay tuned… I’ve tons of fun stuff in the upcoming weeks and months, including more giveaways.  And–psst– I’m hoping to have the cover for Book 3 very soon…

Happy reading everyone

Note: The giveaway is now closed.  Winner will be announced tomorrow.

I can’t believe it– the sixth and final installment of the Six-Book Giveaway is here. But if, as they say, all good things must come to an end, at least we’re going out with a bang with… drumroll please… (Okay, I know you saw the title but play along anyway)…

Joanna Bourne!

I had the absolute pleasure of meeting Joanna at RWA– we talked about classic black & white romantic comedies, the writing process, and the joys–ha–of writing under a deadline.  I had just finished reading The Spymaster’s Lady the week before the conference and I couldn’t resist telling her how much I enjoyed the book.  I found The Spymaster’s Lady to be clever, thrilling, and beautifully written.  If you haven’t read this book, well, get yourself a copy, pour yourself a glass of Bordeaux, and enjoy.

After finishing The Spymaster’s Lady, I knew I’d quickly be picking up Joanna’s next book, My Lord and Spymaster.  The book which– in case you hadn’t heard–just so happened to have won the RITA for Best Regency Romance of 2009.

He found the traitor, the man who killed his best friend.

Trouble is, he’s falling in love with the traitor’s daughter.

After her father is wrongly accused of selling secrets to Napoleon, lovely Jess Whitby infiltrates the London underworld for the real traitor—only to end up naked in the bed of a rude merchant captain. Not only is she falling in love with him, but he may be the scoundrel she’s looking for.

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So today I have a signed copy of My Lord and Spymaster, generously donated by Joanna, for one of you. In addition, I asked Joanna if she’d be willing to talk a little about herself and her writing, and she very graciously replied.  Here goes:

JJ: When did you first realize you wanted to write, and how did you get started?

JB: I don’t think I so much wanted to ‘write’ . . . as I wanted to tell stories.  That goes back to the beginnings of memory.

I remember keeping my little sister up at night because I was telling her stories.  I was about four maybe?

We used to take . . . oh, scarves and boxes and mirrors and our blocks and cans from the kitchen and make ‘kingdoms’ across the living room floor. We’d make up whole histories about what happened there.

Then we’d walk our dolls through the landscapes and the stories and give ’em dialog and action.

Not bad training for writing, actually.

JJ: What is it about writing romance that appeals to you?

JB: I’m a ‘happy ending’ kinda gal. I want the bad guys to slink away, defeated, and the heroic and virtuous, (more or less,) to be rewarded. I want to believe people can find happiness when they hold onto their courage and their ideals. I want my women to win.

That’s more of less the definition of Romance, right there.

JJ: What advice would you give an aspiring writer?

JB: Tell the story you have in you. Care about what you write.

On a practical note . . . the way to write is to write, write, write.

After you write, write, write, go back and edit, edit, edit.

JJ: What do you do on those writing days when you’re stressed, worn out, or distracted?

JB: Ummm . . . 
I write . . .?

I do pretty much what you do if you’re a bank clerk or a football player or a brain surgeon or the mother of a two-year-old.  When you are frazzled and worn out and at the end of your rope, you just keep on adding up columns of numbers or slamming into 280-pound linebackers or slicing cerebrums or singing Marsy Dotes.

There is great advice on the writing life out there . . .

Carve out time for the hobby that refreshes your spirit. Exercise. Eat right. Hold onto your friends and family as if they were particularly buoyant logs and your boat was sinking. Be genuine in every encounter, unless it’s going to get you eaten by lions, of course. Be generous. Let go of grudges. Call your parents every week. Take Vitamin C.

But, y’know, I’d give the same advice to the mother of a two-year-old.

JJ: What can you tell us about your current (or next) release?

JB: This one is Maggie and Doyle’s story. It’s set in 1794, in Paris, during the French Revolution, at the height of the Terror. Think Tale of Two Cites and The Scarlet Pimpernel.

This setting allows me to have sufficient of what we call, ‘External Conflict’ — i.e. bad things happening to the hero and heroine because of outside forces — without expending any particular effort on my part.

JJ: What are you watching on TV these days? (Or what are you reading?)

JB: I am coming down to the finish wire on the Doyle and Maggie manuscript, so I’m not reading or watching anything right just along of now.

But when I do watch TV, I tend to like . . . I guess you’d call it ‘elegant puzzle’ TV. Bones. Burn Notice. CSI. NCIS. Criminal Minds. That sort of thing.

JJ: What are you listening to on your Ipod?

<jo looks around>

JB: Ipod? What Ipod?

I do have a playlist on the computer. When my surroundings become noisy, I turn that on so I can tune out the distraction.

Next up on the playlist is Bob Dylan’s Forever Young. Then Woodie Guthrie, in the wonderful Library of Congress recording of ‘Froggie Went a Courting‘, and then, ‘Fun, Fun, Fun‘, by the Beach Boys.

JJ: What is your biggest weakness (shoes, purses, chocolate, etc.)

JB: There’s books, of course. I would have every wall in the house covered with books if I didn’t hold myself back. And flowers. They are a great luxury, but I do love flowers on the table.

JJ: Complete this sentence: One fun thing about me that people might not know is…

JB: I almost became a marine biologist.

S’rsly. Fascinating work. I would have gone into it in a serious way if I had not been so very susceptible to seasickness.

There I’d be — pondering on how interesting all these luminous benthic bacteria were and admiring the beauty of the ocean with the sun hanging just on the horizon and feeling the sea breezes caress my hair — and I’d also be hanging over the side of the ship, sick as a dog.

Sad really.

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“I want my women to win.”  Well said, Joanna.  I couldn’t agree more.  And thanks so much for the thoughtful responses!

So now for the giveaway– one lucky person who comments below will win a signed copy of My Lord and Spymaster.  The contest will run until 10pm CST on Tuesday.

Happy reading everyone!

And the winner of the signed copy of The Accidental Bestseller is…

NICOLE!!

Congratulations, Nicole!  Please email me at info@juliejamesbooks.com with your snail-mail address, and I’ll get The Accidental Bestseller right out to you.

Thanks to everyone who entered, and a special thanks to Wendy Wax for both the thoughtful Q&A and for the signed book!

Oh my gosh, can you believe it?  On Monday I’ll be posting the sixth and last giveaway.  And trust me– this is one you won’t want to miss.  To wrap things up, I’ve got a wonderful Q&A from a lovely author and a signed book that’s just fantastic.  Should I give you a hint?  Remember when we started that I promised you a RITA winner…