2004 Romance Author Roundtable

12. AOTW: What are you working on now?

Judi McCoy: I'm working on the third book in my sci-fi romance trilogy. Again, the concept isn't new, but the twist I gave it is. I loved the movie Starman with Jeff Bridges and Karen Allen, but was furious it had a sad ending, so I decided to remake the tale my way. In my books, the aliens are women, and the ending for each heroine is a happy one.

Wanted: One Perfect Man, February 2004, Avon
A Match Made in Heaven, Spring 2004, Kensington
Wanted: One Special Kiss, December 2004, Avon

Susan Elizabeth Phillips: I'm preparing to tour for the February 17th publication of my latest hardcover from William Morrow, Ain't She Sweet? (She isn't! Well...not exactly.)

Lisa Kleypas: I am midway through my Wallflower series, featuring four ambitious and lively young women who band together to help each other find husbands! I got the idea for it when I reflected on my own high school days, when my friends and I were pretty nerdy, and we never could figure out how to get the popular boys to ask us out! So this is a series in which the Wallflowers get the gorgeous, sexy, wonderful men --- and they have a lot of fun and many adventures along the way!

Nicole Jordan: I'm starting a new Regency series called Paradise that's set partly on an enchanting Mediterranean island as well as England, and features a secret society of protectors, sworn to fight evil and tyranny across Europe. I'll still be writing about dangerous rakes and bold adventurers and the women who win their hearts, but I'm adding some fresh, intriguing new elements to pique readers' interest.

For now I have five books planned in the Paradise series, with five pairs of fascinating heroes and heroines who meet their matches and find true love. The first Paradise romance, Master of Temptation, will be out in May, followed by Lord of Seduction in December.

Readers can read more about all my series and books by visiting my website at www.nicolejordanauthor.com.

Lisa Jackson: Currently I'm working on an interesting project. I'm rewriting my first "big" contemporary novel, Treasures, notching up the suspense and creep factor so the book is more in line with my more recent stories. Although the original title is on the back cover with a letter of explanation, this book will have a new title, See How She Dies, and a new cover. I have literally rewritten it from page one. It goes back to that dependability factor. I want to keep that audience that put me on the New York Times list happy.

Jill Marie Landis: A third contemporary set in Twilight Cove, California, a fictional town that is the setting for Lover's Lane (Ballantine/ paperback/May) and the upcoming Heat Wave/hardcover/Ballantine/May.) Excerpts will be up on www.jillmarielandis.com soon.

Linda Lael Miller: I'm about to write a big, meaty historical, McKettrick's Choice, set in Texas. It involves lots of subplots and more than one relationship.

Kimberly Raye: Right now I'm working on the second book in my sexpert series from Warner Books about three sisters and their Harvard-trained sexologist mom. The first book about the oldest sister, Skye Farrel, is out right now. It's called Kiss Me Once, Kiss Me Twice, and features a hot, hunky Nascar driver as the hero. The second, Sometimes Naughty, Sometimes Nice, is the youngest sister's story and is scheduled for November of this year. It's been a blast to write because the characters are so funny. They're all so totally disillusioned when it comes to love and romance (not unlike a lot of women I know), that they find themselves totally out of their element when they do finally find Mr. Right.

Susan Crandall: I'm currently working on my fourth women's fiction (whoa, there's another subgenre, one that defies consistent definition). It's titled Promises to Keep and takes place in the same small town that hosted two of my previous novels. As for that women's fiction subgenre, I think it's a romance with the latitude to spread its wings. It allows the author to delve into all aspects of the heroine's life, as opposed to just her romantic relationship.

Karen Rose: Well, I just finished my third book --- another romantic suspense. I love Suspense as a subgenre --- developing the good and the bad guys is such fun! I'm now working on the proposal for my next book --- a few of my ideas bring secondary characters from previous books in the forefront as the chief hero or heroine.

Linda Francis Lee: I'm working on The Sexy Trilogy, three books that revolve around three best friends in Texas. The women grew up together on Meadowlark Drive, and my goal was to make each story fun, sexy and poignant. Ballantine's publishing the books three months in a row, so it's very exciting: September, October and November of this year.

Laura Lee Guhrke: I just finished my latest book, and though it doesn't yet have a title, it will be the October 2004 Treasure Romance for Avon. The hero, Dylan Moore, was a secondary character in my book, Guilty Pleasures, which is in bookstores now. I am about to begin a new manuscript, and I wish I could tell you what it is about, but I don't quite know yet. I do know it is connected to the previous two, but at this point that's all I know.

Cherry Adair: On Thin Ice is an action/adventure romance set during the Iditarod race in Alaska. The thousand-mile race, from Anchorage to Nome, has been a fascinating learning experience for me. I hope my readers enjoy the thrill and adventure of it, if only on the page.

Stephanie Bond: My next humorous romantic suspense novel, Whole Lotta Trouble, is due in a few weeks! Readers will see three Manhattan book editors who plot to humiliate a bad-boy literary agent. Their plan goes off without a hitch until they discover the next morning that he is dead --- and not of humiliation! To be released October 2004.

Mary Balogh: I have just left behind a six-part series of books about the Bedwyn family. I feel rather bereft. I have just started a quartet of books about four teachers at the same school in Bath. Two of these teachers appeared briefly in one of the Bedwyn books, so I am not completely out on a limb! The first book has no title yet, beyond Governess I. Since that is hardly a title to make a book fly off the shelves, it will eventually be renamed!

Beverly Jenkins: I am working on a western that is scheduled to be published by Avon in 2005.

Jane Feather: I'm reading around several ideas, waiting for one of them to jump up and bite me.