NW Book Festival--long day with lots of new people and almost flawless weather. Valley Romance was represented by Paty Jager, Genene Valleau, Chris Kraemer, Teri Reed, Minnette Meador, and myself. (I hope I didn't leave anyone out) Rosemary Indra (a past member/longtime secretary of Valley Romance) was also there with her debut book A Wife for Jay Prescott. We missed you Eli. but we are all praying for a speedy recovery. Thank you so much Veronica for hosting this event and I'm hoping there will be a repeat. Oops, I forgot the adorable little girl, Tink, who gave the entire experience a brand new spin. Check out Tink in her cowboy hat. OMG, I think Tink's a girl. I even asked. So, hopefully, once again I hope I don't offend any of her/his doggy friends.

My appologies to Minnette. I left her out the first time around. And as with Chris K. I somehow cut her in half. Sigh...a photographer, I am not.

Review from Coffee Time Romance for The Talisman:

This is a wonderful tale, full of action, emotion and a bit mystical at times. Ivan and Moriah each have a silver armband set with amber, an heirloom in their families. They are unlikely soul mates at first, but the author creates a very engrossing love story for them. There are no half measures here at all, the heroes are very good and brave and the villains have absolutely no redeeming qualities. Sometimes it is nice to not have to make a decision whether to love or hate a character.

To see the entire review: http://www.coffeetimeromance.com/BookReviews/thetalisman.html

Woohoo, I received my rights back from Kennsington for my first two books, Dakota's Bride and My Angel. In honor of this I am giving away a copy of The Talisman which is the fourth book in the series beginning with Dakota's Bride. (Actually,there is one before Dakota's Bride but it isn't published yet. All you have to do to win is comment on my blog. Please include your email address in your comment. I will draw one lucky winner. The contest will run until the end of the month.

So...I didn't post on Sunday after the signing. It was Mother's Day after all. The month has been busy. The end of the 2008-2009 school year is upon us. (Two more days) Yay! I have two new books of my own out, Allura and The Talisman. Allura is the beginning of a series and The Talisman is the second to last in another series. I have my rights to Dakota's Bride and My Angel back. I will be publishing them later on this year or next. These two books begin the series of Dakota's Bride, My Angel, The Locket, The Talisman, and then Forever His which will be published in December of this year. Rogue Phoenix will start publishing two books a month in July.

Whew! I need to step back and take a break. Which is exactly what I plan on doing next week!

I'm looking forward to the May 9th book signing at the Blue Pepper. The Angels, (Genene, Chris K and myself) have all put a lot of work into this event. Rosemary Indra, a debut author will be there signing her book A Wife For Jay Prescott. The event is from 1:00 to 4:00. Hope to see everyone there. I will post picture on Sunday.

Readers Luncheon yesterday in Portland was fun. We had a great speaker, great food, and lots of great readers. I took some pictures of the Valley Romance crew but didn't think about having someone else take a picture so I could be in one of them. For the first time in three years they had my books. Wow! Thank you Marci, you did a great job. I drove to Portland with Genene. We had super convrsation and we were able to discuss some promotional ideas. I'm looking forward to the next Mid-Valley meeting. See everyone there on Thursday.

5 ribbon review from Romance Junkies http://romancejunkiesreviews.com/artman/publish/historical/Allura.shtml

Christine Young’s ALLURA is a delightful historical novel full of suspense, lovable characters, humor and a budding romance between two characters determined not to fall in love. Allura and Hunter’s stubborn, determined natures allowed for some interesting scenes as they attempted to get one up on each other. As a modern day woman I felt bad for Allura because technically her husband would dictate every aspect of her life and the freedom she loves would be a thing of the past. Hunter is unbending as far as to how he believes a wife should behave but falling in love changes him and his perception of Allura. Hunter and Allura are the main focus of this story but there are secondary characters whom I absolutely adored and would love to revisit in future novels (hint, hint). Especially the youngest sister Aiden and Hunter’s trusted friend Blade. He doesn’t believe in love and she’s determined to do whatever’s necessary to get him to notice her.

What is in a review? If it is a good one, it leaves the author feeling great! If it is a bad one...
Many different emotions go through my head. I absolutely love my last three reviews, two for Allura which is just out and one for Safari Moon. I couldn't want anything better.

How do you feel about reveiws? (as an author and as a reader) Does a good review sway you to buy the book?

Stop by and leave a comment. Check out Aidan's Misadventures blog and look for an upcoming interview on Rogue's Angles blog. Soon to be announced.

Check out Coffee Time Romance for the first review of Allura:

It has mystery, humor and, whew, steamy love scenes! An awesome group of characters make this read very entertaining, from the tough as nails Allura to her meddlesome younger sister, Aiden. There is never a dull moment throughout this book and you will surely not be disappointed. I can only hope that some of my favorites get a story of their own. Well done Ms. Young.

Allura will be released April 10th by Awe-struck.

Wow, it's spring vacation again and I have so much to do. In honor of the 12 sisters/cousins in Allura's household, I have decided to start a new blog. The blog will honor Aidan, the youngest of them all and will feature each relative as thier individual books are released. Since Aidan is already "in love" I wonder if she will marry her soul mate. Will Blade, the object of the young lady's desire, fall in love with her. At the moment she is simply an unwanted distraction and yet there is something protective about the way Blade treats this lovable and vivacious charater.

The question of the day is what is a soul mate? Do they really exist? Can someone fall in love "at first sight?" So all of you incurable romantics out there, what do you think?

Don't forget to check out the Rogue's Angels blog http://www.roguesangels.blogspot.com/ for the newest information on the Valentine Anthology coming in February 2009
And Rogue Phoenix Press http://www.roguephoenixpress.com/

Allura will be released by awe-struck books next month. This book is the first in a series of twelve books. They were conceived several years ago with the help of my youngest daughter who was in middle school at the time. I cherish these books, in part, because of the wonderful time I had with Jenee. She plotted their horoscopes, gave them physical characteristics, and fantastic personalities. I have only written three of the twelve books, but I'm hoping that when I retire, I will have more time to settle down and finish all the stories.

The origional concept was a fairy tale based on the twelve dancing princesses. Where did they dissapear to each evening? Their father was beside himself to discover this mystery.

In this series, there are three families, all related in some way. Each family has four daughters and yes, they too dissapear. Where do they go? The father of the oldest child, Allura, distributes a handbill over all of England and Scotland. He pledges to give the hand in marriage of his oldest daughter to the man who can discover their secret.

Of course, Allura is outraged. She is a kick-ass heroine in the regency period, and she doesn't appreciate all the medling done by her father.

Christine

What characteristics make up the best heroes? Does the best hero have great looks? Or is it his charm, something perhaps undefinable? Could the best hero simply be a person who leaves his cell phone in his car when he takes you out to dinner?

So, writing the novella is turning out to be a lot of fun. I was supposed to write a regency but somehow this one was in my head. I have always had a kind of connection with the Civil War, was always interested and so when we visited Gettysburg, I reconnected.

The heroine is a southern bell, living near Fredricksburg in Virginia. She is left to maintain the family farm when everyone she loves goes off to war. Finding herself pregnant at the beginning of the war, she quickly marries the most convenient man. (Not the man she loves--the who fathered her child). Five years later the man she loves, a Union cavalry officer appears at her doorstep. The war is not over but everyone knows the Confederates can not hold on much longer.

The hero returns to his beloved's home. He hopes that when everything is done, he can find a way to convince the heroine to forgive him for joining the Union army.

Ah, back to New York. The next stop on our tour was the first capital of the United States. George Washington served his presidency here.

There are so many interesting sights in New York city as well as the fascinating history. We all know that the Dutch settled on the southern tip of Manhattan Island and the English on the northern part. What I didn't know was that the Dutch who were terribly afraid of an English invasion built a wall across the entire island to protect themselves. It was at this wall they did business with the Indians and other traders. Unfortunatel this wall did not protect them. The English invaded successfully and took over the island. The wall the Dutch built later became Wall Street the heart of our financial district. Soemtimes when they are doing new construction or tearing down old, they find parts of the origional wall.

I'm trying to figure out how to write a 30,000 word novella. My books have all been over 90,000 words. So I look at this as a huge challenge. I suppose I will have to plot, plot, plot and do more plotting. Again I usually have a general plot and then work from there letting the characters guide me. I don't think that philosophy will work this time.

If you write novellas, please log in and let me know how you go about plotting and keeping the word count low.

Launching my new e-pub is getting exciting. I have some great books and the potential for more. The first commuter book should be out in about 6 months so the countdown is on. My friends and colleagues have helped a lot and have given me some great ideas. My family has also been there with great ideas and comments. What fun is this? When I retire I'm hoping this will be well on it's way to keeping me busy and satisfied.

My Civil War book is beginning to take shape and my part of an anthology is forming in my head. I've always wanted to write and be part of an anthology and now I can invite my favorite authors to be part of one of my dreams.

Before Hershey we took a tour to New York City. We came to the island via the Staten Island Ferry and having been there before, the stark emptiness stood out. The missing World Trade buildings brought the reality of what happened that day home to me.

Today is a day to write my synopsis for a proposal I'm sending to Awe-struck. I won't give up my connection to a company which has helped me grow as a writer.

So, I'm off to work and a happy writing day.

After Gettysburg we drove to Hershey. Hershey is a great place and a surprise for both of us. We had no idea that hiding behind the choclate factory was a rollercoster park. We might have opted to spend an entire day there and enjoy the various rides. But we didnt know and we didn't have the time. So we satisfied ourselves with a visit to the choclate factory and the sweet delights inside.

Well, I didn't work on my book yesterday. I worked on things for everyone else. That is okay though. I plan on giving my new book at least an hour today. I know my heroine is a spy/nurse. She is a staunch unionist even though she lives in the South. She does not believe the south should have left the union. So she works as best she can to help bring the two sides back together without giving away her identity.

Juggling is good for the soul. I think. At least I have time to work on all the things I put off during the winter. I'm starting a new book which I said I wasn't going to do for a while. This was all generated by a long-time wish to write a War Between the States book. I visited Gettysburg two weeks ago on vacation and a wealth of ideas were generated. So, today I'm doing background work on the characters and some plotting. Happy writing.

I guess a picture of Gettysburg is in order.

Summer vacation has begun and I've been taking full advantage of it. Two weeks of vacation in the East and almost 3,000 miles driven I am happy to be home. All in all it was a great time and my husband and I saw some incredible sights as well as some historical sights I have always wanted to visit. The highlight of my trip was on our first excursion to Niagara Falls. The falls are incredible. The power and the majesty of the water is awesome. And of course, a picture of the falls is in order.

I have so many projects circling my desk I am not sure where to start. I'm afraid I will have to make a list. Lists go against everything I believe in, but there are times when they are definitely in order.

Where has spring gone? I certainly don't know. It's the end of May. School is almost out and I'm trying to wrap everything in a nice tidy bow. I don't think it's going to happen.

Rogue Phoenix Press has sent out it's first contract. We are still looking for wonderful and unique stories that don't fit the mold but hold the readers attention and leave them wanting more. If you have a story, check out the Rogue Phoenix website, polish it and submit.

On a more personal note, I am editing a story of my own, The Wager. It set in regency London and is a sequel to Allura which will be published in 2009. The hero has lost the will to live after his wife and young child were murdered during a summer outing. He now engages in all types of reckless activities. The heroine is Allura's cousin. She has been sent to London to find a husband. She dares to dey her father, refusing to do his bidding. Will the hero and heroine find true love? Or will they sabotage their chance at love?

How to find enough time to do all the things I want to as well as take time to play? I don't know. I would love to start a new contest but I haven't figured out how to contact the winners of my contests and send them their prizes. It can't be that difficult but somehow nothing seems to work for me. If you are out there and have won one of my contests please let me know. I'm not a slacker. I really do want to send you your books and your goodie bags.

Messages? Do you answer all of your messages? Does the heroine run off to the village to meet with her protector because a message says he needs her? Or is she prudent? Does she stay at home because she knows her life might be in danger? Did the hero even tell her he suspected foul play?

And when the hero runs off to London to safe her brother, does he figure it out? Does he realize he has fallen in love with his mistress? Ah, and when he procures a special marriage liscense is he afraid she might say no?

Stay tuned:

Christine Young

I can't believe I haven't posted anything since March 25. We've encountered the coldest weather for April. No one could believe that we had snow during spring vacation. And there was snow on the beach! That was incredible. I'm back at school and trying to finish An Uncommon Thief. I've written 99,000 words and I still have 2 chapters to go. I do believe this is going to take a lot of editing when I finish the rough draft.

The hero is going to marry the heroine, to keep her safe of course. But he hasn't asked her. Will hte heroine accept his proposal? Or will she decide she just isn't good enough for him? Or will fate step in and stop the wedding?

Stay tuned:

Christine Young

Looking forward to another bright sunny day here in the rainy part of the country. It's great outside and maybe I'll get a little work done in the garden. My husband very sweetly spent the day outside so he wouldn't bother me while I was writing. How nice it is to have a sensitive husband. Oh, yeah.

The hero and heroine start to patch up their differences. After the near drowning the hero knows he cannot live without the heroine. But he doesn't understand that it is LOVE. Oh, no, he still believes his attraction to the heroine is just physical. He also wonders about the Earl's knowledge of his mistress. How did the Earl discover that the hero's mistress is his bastard daughter? He cannot put all the facts together. And then...

And then the heroine's brother shows up on their doorstep in the country and announces that the other brother has vanished. Where has he gone? Has the evil mam kidnapped him or sent him to Newgate?

Stay tuned:

It's raining again. The wind is blowing and it's just a gorgeous stormy day. I'm writing and my "to do" list isn't growing any smaller, but I've made significant progress on my book.

So how does the heroine end up knee deep in water in the middle of a lake and in a sinking boat? Does the hero show up in time to save her? Who is behind the nefarious scheme to end the heroine's life? Is it her father who has finally discovered her true identity? Or is the person who taught her the tricks of her trade?

Stay tuned:

Christine

Spring break! I'm looking forward to getting some of the things on my 'to do' list checked off. And writing. I haven't had the energy to write and now that vacation time is upon us, I hope to change that. I have big plans to finish the rough draft of An Uncommon Thief. But I'm going to have to write about 2,000 words a day. In the words of the little train, I think I can, I think I can. Wow, am I rambling or what?

There is so much going on in the world. Obama is in Portland and then Salem. Tickets are sold out. It would have been interesting to see him speak. He is probably more charismatic in person than he is on TV.

I'd love to run another contest, but I can't figure out how to get in touch with my winners. I don't see why they can't just send me their address. I still have two contest winners that I can't locate to send them thier books. I'd really like to hear from them.

No comments on the book. I haven't written anything since Monday night. So hopefully tomorrow I'll have something to post.

Stay tunned:
Christine