Yesterday Amazon finally posted the cover of my April 28th book, Always a Scoundrel: The Notorious Gentlemen. In honor of that, I decided I would also unveil the stepback of the book, which shows a very naked Lord Bramwell Lowry Johns and his heroine, Rosamund.

As I was writing the book, I happened to look up at the television to see some sort of Dior cologne commercial – and there he was. Bram. Black hair, black eyes, fair-skinned, wearing all black. Then I had to search the internet for this fellow, and I finally found him. Bram’s hair isn’t quite that wavy, but otherwise I think it’s a pretty close match.

Of course there are other pictures I used for inspiration for my hero. Bits here and there matched the image I had in my mind, but overall the Dior guy is probably the best single image I’ve found. In real life he may be an uncoordinated, whiny wimp, but since he’s just a photograph I can imagine him however I like – which is witty, cynical, and athletic.

That’s the problem a great many celebrities seem to have. In the movies, when they’re reading someone else’s lines, pretending to be some other person, they seem pretty cool. And then they make an appearance as themselves somewhere, and they just aren’t as attractive. (This, of course, does not apply to Hugh Jackman.)

Are there actors or writers or neighbors you’ve liked from a distance, but once you learned a little bit more about them, you wish you hadn’t? What do you think of Bram? Has an actor’s real life ever interfered with your enjoyment of them on screen?

51 Comments »

It is truly my honor to welcome New York Times best-selling author,Susan Elizabeth Phillips, back to Mt. Oly!

Susan is known for writing incredibly warm, witty contemporary romances. If you’re not reading them; why not?!?! She’s simply phenomenal! (Pssst! Want to hear SEP reading the first chapter of her newest release WHAT I DID FOR LOVE? Check it out!

And now, welcome, Susan!

Celebrities! What do you most envy about the celebrity lifestyle and what would you hate?

I spent a lot of time thinking about those questions when I was researching and writing my new hardcover, WHAT I DID FOR LOVE. It’s the story of the former stars of a popular television sitcom lovers on camera, bitter enemies off who find themselves accidentally married. (I’m a sucker for marriage-of-convenience stories.)

The book also features a punk nightmare housekeeper, a pushy parent, a traitorous ex-husband, and, as you might expect, lots of paparazzi. Can you imagine? To dish on fashion with Katie. To talk kids with Brad and Angie, or ring up Leo to see if he wants to share a pizza. Then there are the designer freebies. You don’t really think celebs are buying those two-thousand-dollar handbags themselves, do you?

After walking in my heroine’s shoes for the eighteen months it took me to write LOVE, I think the rest would be horrible, starting with those humiliating candid photos.

Can you imagine having your appearance scrutinized every time you leave the house?

I’ve just gone to the grocery store in baggy jeans, my “Visit Alaska” hoodie, and beat up sneakers with no makeup and third-day hair. But if you’re a celeb, appearing in public like that lands you in the tabs, and not in a good way. (Witness Helena Bonham Carter.)

Even more demoralizing, can you imagine getting all dressed up — new outfit, nice hair, makeup, feeling great and then finding a picture of your spiffy self underneath the “What Was She Thinking?” banner? There’s a reason so many celebs talk about having poor self-esteem. (But get over it, darling Jen. You’re beautiful. You’re talented. You’re totally amazing!) Frankly, I don’t think there’s enough money in the world to make up for that kind of personal invasion.

What do you envy about the celebrity lifestyle and what would you hate? Or maybe you’re not into celebrities at all. (Conversely, maybe you’re spending way too much time on TMZ.)

We’re all friends here. Spill!

105 Comments »

So far life has been kind and my grown kids are able to come home every Sunday for Sunday dinner around the dining room table. We catch up on the details of our week, the victories, the annoyances, but mostly Big D and I sit and listen while the kids compare notes about what’s going on in their world. This is what it sounds like:

Daughter: I saw Sally Supertall at a party on Wednesday.

Son #2: Was she with her boyfriend?

Daughter: No, they broke up.

Son #1: Really? Are you sure?

Daughter: Yeah, it was on her Facebook.

Son #2: It must be true then. It’s Facebook official. I ran into Drew Dreadlocks at the mall. He’s engaged. I checked her out on Facebook. She knows Mandy Mole, that girl we went to summer camp with. I recognized her from her Facebook page.

Son #1: Mandy Mole? She facebooked me last week. She’s cousins with that guy I took driver’s ed with.

Daughter: Really? That cute guy? Wait, I’m going to check his Facebook out right now.

With Facebook, you can know the whole world. And know you know the whole world. But nothing is official, no breakup, no wedding, no graduation, no move, no offer of employment until it appears on your Facebook page. My daughter is in a serious relationship at the moment and it was a Big Deal when she changed her Facebook status from unattached to in a relationship. He was watching over her shoulder as she made the change, and they smiled at each other lovingly when it was completed. They’re not engaged, but they’re Facebook Official.

I am new to the Facebook Universe. My profile is pitiful. Nothing I do will ever be official until my Facebook page pronounces it so.

I am in deep trouble.

Do you Facebook? What does your Facebook page say about you? What do you think about the Facebook phenomenon?

88 Comments »

Some people are party people. I am not.

I like to stand in a corner and chat during a party, but dancing and mingling makes me very self-conscious. Walking into a party filled with people I don’t know? Argh. Gives me a stomach ache just to think about. So if you see me at a party standing by the wall, looking like I’m going to flee, come up and start to chat with me. I will totally pay you. (Not really. This is just an expression.)

As for planning parties… No can do. Really lousy at it, and all DH’s and my parties have been colossal flops.

But this is Mt. Oly and my party here would have to be fab and fun. I would stock the tables with delectable chocolates – all no-calorie of course. There would be fountains of TAB and never-empty mimosa glasses.

And I would stock the guest list with lots of fun people to chat with. Because it’s Mt. Oly, there’s no limitation on who I could invite! Men, women, living, dead. DH and I played a game at dinner last night: If you could invite 3 guests from any time in history to a party, who would you invite and why? DH is a history teacher and we had a lot of fun with this.

Here were mine:
- Daniel from the Bible: He was an adviser to kings, surviving the transition from the Babylonian to the Persian empire. The stories he could tell. I’d love to sit and listen!
- Queen Elizabeth I: She oversaw one of the most prosperous periods in British history as it rose to a world power. Plus she held power without a husband at her side.
- Sir Isaac Newton: There have been few people through history who have independently changed the world. Newton is one of these people, in my opinion. His studies of math and physics are still the basis of our science today.

Of course, some of you party animals want a good band and dancing, so if you want that kind of entertainment, you’ll have to invite them yourself.

So if you could pick 3 historical figures to invite to my Mt. Oly party, who would you bring, and why?

56 Comments »

The release date of any new book is a big day for the author. Today is especially important to me because The Sins of Lord Easterbrook is officially on sale.

It is the last book in a series, so I say good-bye to characters I love today. Also, Easterbrook is one of those men, the kind readers glom onto when he first appears, so launching his story is both exciting and scary. To learn more about the book, you can visit my website here

Easterbrook has lots of sins both in his past and his present. Some are sins of self-indulgence. That has me thinking about my own sinful indulgences.

There isn’t really anything sinful about mine. I just feel deliciously bad when I enjoy them, like I am breaking some rule or getting away with something. I think that is because some of them involve things that I couldn’t afford when I was younger and was watching every dime. And newer ones involve “wasting” time, which I can’t afford now.

But some of them, like savoring an absolutely fresh, perfectly soft, glazed donut,  are simply sinfully wonderful.

Make- up is one indulgence for me. Not my everyday make up. ”Trying out something I saw in a magazine” make up. I experience a moment of daring and excess even if it costs less than ten dollars. Maybe the fact the nuns wouldn’t let us wear make-up in school adds to the sinful thrill I still get.

What are your favorite sinful indulgences?   (If you post any comment today I will put your name in a hat for a contest that is just for this blog. There will be three winners, and you can choose any book from my backlist of titles on my website —except the anthology, because I never received the normal number of copies of that, sorry! Winners will be posted late tonight, and also contacted directly.)

Do little indulgences give you as much delicious fun as big ones?

Is there an indulgence that you have had to give up, and really miss?

Are your favorite indulgences free?

Why do you think we call them “sinful” indulgences?

Does enjoying your sinful indulgence involve some kind of ritual?

Do men have sinful indulgences, or is “sinful” a guilt trip women stick on their own moments of self-indulgence?

Indulging in sin at a gambling hell, 1824

69 Comments »

I probably shouldn’t admit this, but I’m addicted to television. I blame it on growing up in Thailand, where they only showed English-language shows occasionally (even those were dubbed in Thai, but at least the English soundtrack was broadcast on the radio). I hardly EVER watched TV as a child.

That changed once we came back to the U.S., and it’s been downhill ever since. Like readers who glom an author they discover, I glom TV series. I almost never get hooked when the series first comes out–I try to limit my TV watching to the few shows I’m already hooked on. But then everything will be in reruns, and I’ll catch an interesting bit on a show I don’t usually watch, and next thing you know, I’m hooked.

I am currently glomming NCIS (in reruns on USA network–I had a crush on Mark Harmon when I was young and that hasn’t changed) and 21 Jump Street (Johnny!). It took me years to finish my glomming of Law & Order (I have no idea why I didn’t start watching them sooner, because I love every one of the series), and then Charmed. 

Aside from the aforementioned, I also enjoy The Mentalist (Simon Baker is YUMMY, and I don’t usually go for blonds), Cold Case, Without a Trace, The Big Bang Theory, Two and a Half Men, and 30 Rock. The Mentalist was my only new addition this year, a fact of which I am proud.

Many of my friends pooh-pooh TV. They either play video games or watch only movies. Movies are too long for me. I mean, I like a good movie, but if I’m sitting down to have a snack or folding clothes or whatever, I don’t want to watch a movie. Movies take my full concentration. TV doesn’t.

My sister and one of my critique partners dealt with their addiction to TV by canceling their cable. I tried that. It was not pretty. Plus, my dh revolted. Recently, I’ve considered doing the DVR/Tivo thing, but I’m afraid that I would disappear into a marathon of TV watching and never escape. Sigh.

What about you? I know you read books, but aside from that, do you watch much TV? Sitcoms, reality TV, or dramas? Or do you prefer movies or video games? Do any of you do DVR or Tivo? And if you do, did your viewing increase as a result?

74 Comments »

Oh yeah, do we have a FROS for you!

To set the stage, here’s a tasty excerpt from goddess Madeline Hunter’s coming January 27th release, THE SINS OF LORD EASTERBROOK:

He responded with a lazy smile. “You would have never sought me out. You would have run away and hidden from me, no matter what benefits I might bring to your missions here.”

He loomed over her, close enough to subtly dominate. Close enough that he might hear the stunning way her heart beat.The hard curve of his mouth matched the arrogant confidence in his eyes. He could tell that she was too much affected by him. . . . .

WOWZA! (pant, pant!) I can’t WAIT for this book! Because we’re all goddesses here on Mt. Oly, I asked Madeline if she could send us a FROS picture of her inspiration for Lord Easterbrook.

Madeline said, “I don’t base my characters’ appearances on specific people, but different faces come to me while I write. Some are famous, others are only in my imagination. For Easterbrook, some known ones kept returning. One was Jim Morrison from the 60s band THE DOORS. What can I say-Easterbrook is my post-Regency rocker, LOL.”

Then Madeline added, “Johnny Depp showed up a lot too while I wrote some scenes.”

“And,” she continued, “when Easterbrook’s humor turned sardonic or whimsical, Johnny in another personification would pop into my head.”

How’s that for some top-secret insight into how a phenomenal writer ’sees’ her characters?

Fascinating stuff!

Happy FROS, m’dears! And remember, get your copy of THE SINS OF LORD EASTERBROOK this coming Tuesday!

18 Comments »