Romy Sommer

Welcome to the fifth installment in the ongoing round-the-campfire story of His Way Home . If you haven't yet read the previous installments, you can find them here: Part 1 - Lori Connelly Part 2 - Sarah Lefebve Part 3 - Zara Stoneley Part 4 - Lynn Marie Hulsman Source: www.freedigitalphotos.net Now read on... Beth’s mouth opened, but no words came out. Matthew wouldn’t believe her anyway. Just last night he’d told her to get her head out the clouds and face reality, and the thought that had started to form... it was too improbable. Improbable but inescapable. And there wasn’t much time. “We need to talk,” she told Matthew. His brow furrowed. “Then talk.” She drew in a deep breath. She had no idea where to start. She sat in the chair where Walter had sat not so long ago. “Tell me about your grandmother.” His frown deepened, but he sat in the armchair across from her. “I don’t remember much about her. Towards the end she was a little batty. Kept going on abou...

We're back again! Luckily, someone flipped the switch in South Africa last week, ushering winter out the door and the most beautiful summery heat in ... the perfect weather to sit around a campfire telling scary stories as the flames leap up and make eery shadows all around. If you need to catch up on the story so far: Part 1 - Lori Connelly Part 2 - Teresa F Morgan Part 3 - Carmel Harrington Part 4 - that was me! Part 5 - AJ Nuest Part 6 - Charlotte Phillips Part 7 - Lori Connelly Part 8 - Carmel Harrington Part 9 - Teresa F Morgan And for Part 10 read on... Clara slid a shaking hand beneath her sweater and shirt. The burden was too great to carry alone. With Barbara gone, she needed a friend more than ever, and there was no one else but Mark. She pulled out the cloth-wrapped bundle. After an entire night strapped against her skin, she'd grown so used to the weight that without it she felt naked. As she slowly unwrapped it, Mark took his eyes off the road ...

Here's the story so far: Part 1 - Lori Connelly Part 2 - Teresa F Morgan Part 3 - Carmel Harrington We're seated around the camp fire, marshmallows toasting, wine and warmth making us rosy... now here's my contribution to the story: Clara cruised down Main Street, her eyes scanning for a parking outside the Lucky Number Café. A car pulled out into the street ahead of her, leaving a space right out front of the café. But what she saw through the front window made her put her foot on the gas and keep on going. The summer house it was. Only when she hit the freeway did her heartbeat slow down enough to enable her to think. What was Derek doing back in town? And what business did he and Mark have together? Her knuckles turned white as she gripped the steering wheel. Had Mark’s invitation to talk been a trap? She didn’t want to believe it of him...not him of all people...but what other explanation could there be for the two of them sitting together like old friends...

Check out the Minxes blog today for a special promotion running Mon 15th to Thurs 18th July only : 6 romances priced at only 99c each (77p in the UK).

I've been a bad, bad blogger these last few weeks, but I rationalise it by saying I'm sure you'd all rather have my next book than yet another blog post. Right? But just so you don't forget me, here's a quick round-up of some of the lovely reviews Waking up in Vegas has had so far. Thank you to all the reviewers for taking the time to not only read the book, but to write down and share your thoughts. Reviewers rock! Desere Steenberg of Romance Book Haven 's Contemporary Romance Reviews gave the book 5/5: "I highly recommend this read to everyone that enjoys a fun and spicy romance read with a difference. The fact that the author incorporated a fairy tale backdrop made it that much more magical!" You can read the full review here . Jeannie Zelos gave the book 4 stars on her blog: "This is a fun romantic tale with a lovely HEA. Sometimes you want light-hearted and funny and this book does it." You can read the full review here . ...

Today is release day for Waking up in Vegas ! And as you're reading this I'm sitting beside the road somewhere watching a Toyota TV advert being filmed. Hopefully I'm warm, comfortable and not too exhausted from an early morning start. So what are you still doing here? Have you gone off and bought my book yet? Oh, okay. If you've already bought your copy, then you're allowed to stay a little longer and read on... Waking up in Vegas started with a dream. Not a metaphorical dream but a literal one. I woke up one morning and thought “now that would make a great story”. I wrote the first draft three years ago, in 30 days during the mad month of November. I submitted it to a publisher only to receive a personalised rejection that said the opening just wasn’t innovative enough. So I set the story aside, wrote a bunch of other stuff, learned the craft, and then one day late last year, as I was driving home from work, singing at the top of my lungs to Katy Per...

Since this is the week in which Harper Impulse launches, I thought I'd bring you a couple of posts on my journey so far with this brand new imprint. Next week I'll give some glimpses into the inspiration, characters and setting for Waking up in Vegas , and once the exhiliration of release day is over I'll be back with normal scheduled programming (just in case you're looking for my Behind the Scenes in the movies posts). * * * There has been a great deal said recently, by some of the most respected names in self-publishing, about how publishers are a dying breed. The most commonly cited reasons for the death of traditional publishing is that the big publishing houses don’t listen to their readers and that they are unable to turn on a dime. The Big 6 publishers (now Big 5, but since I’m South African, that just makes me giggle as I wonder which publisher is the elephant!) have been likened to the Titanic, too large and unwieldy to avoid collision with the ...

It's Friday morning, 5th April. I return to my desk at the day job from a coffee run to see an email in my inbox titled 'Harper Impulse submission'. My heart starts thumping wildly. It's only been three weeks since I submitted to Harper Impulse , the brand new imprint from Harper Collins, but I've heard via the grapevine that the editors had an acquisitions meeting... I'm not too stressed. A sale would be a dream come true, but a rejection won't be the end of the world. If it's a rejection, then I plan to self-publish. I have a freelance editor on standby and a cover already designed. I may not be anxious, but I can still scarcely breathe as I click open the email. It's two lines only. "Are you free today for a quick call? I'd love to chat further to you about your submission." I've already had friends go through this, so I know editors don't just call to chat about your work. They call to buy. I shoot back a reply. ...

If you're here looking for the next instalment in my Behind the Scenes series, my apologies. Those posts take a little time to put together, and since I've been kept busy on a shoot for a headache tablet commercial (and the house we were shooting in had zero signal) the next post will be delayed. In the meantime, I've gotten my rights back to Let's Misbehave and have been re-writing it ready to self-publish. There are moments when I see flashes of brilliance, but mostly I'm thanking all the writing gods for the opportunity to edit. There are 'had's and 'that's all over the place, and my characters 'notice' or 'watch' everything around them. Happily, I not only get to fix these basics, but to add more depth to the characters. The new and improved version will be available on Amazon later this coming week. Here's a sneak peek at the new cover, courtesy of Viola Estrella .

"If you believe in yourself and have dedication and pride - and never quit, you'll be a winner. The price of victory is high but so are the rewards." - Paul Bryant

Blaze, our Minxy anthology, is FREE today and tomorrow on Amazon - our special Valentine's gift to you. It is available from Amazon and Amazon UK . Jennifer Shirk is also running a give-away of her latest Entangled book, A Little Bit Cupid , on the Minxes blog . Leave a comment and stand a chance to win.

The winner was selected by my completely impartial (since she can't yet read) five year old. And the winner of the Romance Madness give-away is: Cassandra I'll be emailing you direct, Cassandra. Well done! Thank you very much to everyone who visited this blog during the Romance Madness Hop.

This year I'm trying something a little different, by taking part in Six Sentence Sunday , that Twitter and Facebook sharing of excerpts. I'll kick off the year with an excerpt from The Fire Inside , my contribution to Blaze , the anthology of eight stories by the Minxes of Romance. SIX SENTENCES: He was tired beyond belief of the endless events he attended. More and more all he wanted was a real conversation over dinner. A real flirtation with some real chemistry. “You can always take Sam. She doesn’t have a date.” Yeah. That kind of chemistry. THE FIRE INSIDE Fire fighter Sam Redfern is used to being seen as just one of the boys. Until TV talent scout and celebrity Ryan Morgan shows up in Coombethwaite and starts to make her feel very much like a woman. A woman with needs. Available from Amazon and Amazon UK .

I can't remember when last I started a new year so full of energy, hope and excitement! 2013 has got off to a wonderful start. On January 1st I began my new contemporary novel, Time Heals , managing 1,304 words. According to my spreadsheet (thanks Minxes!) I've already completed 4%. I've also started using my treadmill again. It needed a good dust off, but I've now used it every day for a week. My new motto is "begin as you plan to continue". What am I hoping for this year? Aside from keeping up the writing pace I established during Nano, I'm hoping for feedback from the two publishers I currently have submissions with, and I'm hoping to get the way overdue feedback on my query for When September Ends so I can start shopping that to agents ... oh, and a big lottery win would be real nice. Finally, I'm hoping for lots of reasons to pop open champagne this year, and happiness, health and posperity for everyone I know. And yes, that's you...