Hot Heroes and Sally Clements!

Happy Valentine's Day! I'm thrilled to have the wonderful Sally Clements here today -- on the launch of her new romance, Bound to Love! I'll turn it over to Sally now; have a romantic day, everyone!

Hi Talli, thank you so much for having me as your blog guest today, its’s great to be here!

Around the middle of February is the traditional ‘thinking about what constitutes a hot man’ time, carefully disguised by a flurry of marketing. It’s impossible to get through the door in Tesco’s without knocking over the huge cardboard display touting love and flogging cards.

And when you do, it’s straight into everything heart shaped (which costs twice as much as the same product in a round packet, and will be in the bargain bin by the 16th).

Anyway, in my estimation, Valentine’s Day is for thinking about the ideal hero – and mine?

Well, he’s tall, dark and handsome, but that’s a given. He’s got a grin to die for. He’s also strong and lean, smells delicious, and has a deep, sexy voice. And he’s naughty, with a fine line in snappy dialogue, that leaves women flustered, blushing and all out of kilter.

It’s all about new love, when you can’t really tell if he’s serious or kidding, when you don’t know if he’s stepping forward to speak or kiss you, when the mere thought of brushing up against him in the shed (it’s happened…in my first book, Catch Me A Catch, doing the laundry is an exciting experience!!) is enough to make your heart thunder like a freight train.

In my current release, Bound to Love, released on today as one of Embrace Books’ launch titles, my security expert hero Jake Forrester, is such a man.

When he finds himself tied up in an abandoned lighthouse with a feisty redhead and has to undo her bindings with his teeth – well, he manages heroically!
So – in praise of my ideal hero – I leave you with some pictures, hope some of these inspire you all!

Sally’s website : www.sallyclements.blogspot.com
Catch me a catch is available here or from Amazon.co.uk here, or Amazon.com here.
Bound to Love e book: Amazon.co.uk & Amazon.com
Bound to Love print: Amazon.co.uk & Amazon.com

Bodice Rippers, Hunky Heroes and Secrets

Over the Christmas holiday, I spoke to The Times (and by default, The Daily Mail) about the enormous popularity of romance novels on Kindle. The reporter asked me if I thought it was due to the fact that on Kindle, you can hide the cover of your novel in a way that's just not possible in paperback form.

I reckon that's part of it. There is indeed an unfair stigma attached to romance, and riding the Tube with your sexy cover displayed for all the local pervs to eye up might attract some unwanted attention. Plus, there lurks the stereotype of the spinster getting her kicks through such books. And it doesn't help when the article itself used cliched language like 'bodice rippers' to describe romance novels; someone please tell me how that's romantic?

The bit the reporter didn't include was this: romance novels are fast-paced, entertaining and well plotted. They're as difficult to write as any genre, and as enjoyable. That's why romances are so popular, and always have been. And with the low prices available on Kindle, the masses are pouncing on them yet again.

So this brings me to my question: have you ever wanted to buy a book, but were turned off by a childish/ too feminine/ embarrassing cover? And if you have a Kindle, would you consider buying that same book now?