What the Beautiful People are Wearing — and Reading — this Season

Posted by Kate Carlisle Aug 31 2007, 7:01 am in Uncategorized

By Kate

Many people know I’ve had an interest in fashion from the time I was 10 years old and sewing my own fabulous outfits. My keen awareness of clothing style at that early age was considered phenomenal and people clamored for my opinion on the latest trends. Really!

I’ve carried this fashion awareness throughout my life, but I must admit, being a young style prodigy often meant I was a lonely little girl. I was lucky, though, because I managed to fill the void by discovering my other passion, reading.

So today, I’m thrilled to bring those passions together as I present my slightly abbreviated version of Kate’s Fall Fashion and Reading Forecast.

It’s official: color is out, capes are in, backless is hot, jeans are going wide, plaid is everywhere. But no matter what you wear, your most important accessory is always — a book!

Check out the latest backless look on Kate Moss below. This look works for everyone! As long as you’re carrying your very own copy of Donna MacMeans’ wonderfully scintillating debut, The Education of Mrs. Brimley, you’ll be happy and confident and completely pulled together. And check out Donna’s gorgeous cover which proves the backless look is always beautiful, always in fashion.

Did somebody mention plaid?
As you can see by this ensemble, plaid can often appear staid and a bit old-fashioned. In order to bring some pop to your look and truly highlight a perennial fashion favorite, may I suggest picking up a copy of Karen Hawkins’ marvelously funny and sexy new novel, To Scotland With Love? You’ll fall in love!

Finally, there is no bolder fashion statement this season than a cape.

Capes come in every color and style from high fashion to Haute Halloween!

I can’t think of a better accessory choice to complete your dramatic caped look than with JR Ward’s latest in her fabulous Black Dagger Brotherhood series, Lover Unbound. This is Vishous’ story. I can’t wait!

So…what books are you looking forward to reading this Fall? And how about the latest fashion trends – do you follow them or laugh at them? Leave a comment and you’ll be eligible to win a $25 Amazon.com gift certificate to help kick off your Fall reading season!

50 Comments

To Beard or Not to Beard

Posted by Jo Robertson Aug 30 2007, 7:21 am in Jo Robertson

Here’s the thing about facial hair on men. Today’s image of a sexy alpha male often includes the scruff beard; in fact, some of our heroes keep a constant two- or three-day beard’s growth. It makes them look manly, rugged, and sexy.But the reality is those babies hurt like heck if they’re rubbed against the sensitive female skin. So where’s the fantasy come from and how does it transcend the reality? It’s clear that bodily hair serves an evolutionary purpose – to keep the species warm in frigid climates. I imagine our primordial ancestors possessed lots and lots of the
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And The Winnah Is…

Posted by crocodesigns Aug 30 2007, 3:33 am in coming attractions, contest winner, guest blogger

tracyg!Super-congrats to Tracy! You are the winner of Lorraine Heath’s book and mug. Please send your snail mail info to Suzanne at swwelsh2001 at yahoo dot com. BIG THANX to everyone for hanging out with us here in the lair and a SPECIAL THANX to Lorraine for being a GREAT GUEST! Be sure to check back with us often because we have MORE GREAT GUEST BLOGGERS coming up including Kathrynn Dennis, Terri Garey, and Sandy Blair just to name a few.

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Meet Historical Star Nicola Cornick

Posted by Anna Campbell Aug 29 2007, 7:01 am in Anna Campbell, historical romance, Lord of Scandal, Nicola Cornick, The Last Rake in London

I’m delighted to introduce to the Banditas hugely talented historical romance writer and altogether good egg (keeping the British flavor) Nicola Cornick. Nicola writes for Mills & Boon Historicals, Harlequin Historicals and HQN and her main area of interest is the Regency period. Nicola, welcome to the Romance Bandits. Can you tell us a little bit about your early life as a writer and your journey to publication? I think my earliest foray into writing was when I was about ten and created an imaginary kingdom called Ibazania of which I was, naturally, the queen! I had all kinds of
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Baseball and The Boys of October!

Posted by Suzanne Ferrell Aug 28 2007, 7:16 am in baseball, Cleveland Indians, heroes, perserverence, writing craft

by Suzanne Welsh Yes, I know it’s not quite Labor Day yet, but the run for the baseball playoffs is heating up! Especially in the American League Central division. The Cleveland Indians, my team, are leading by a slim margin of 2 and 1/2 games! And tonight they turned one of the rarest plays–an around the horn triple play. It was a thing of beauty. I adore baseball. My mother and her two sisters in Tennessee were Cincinnati Reds fans back in the days of Johnny Bench, Pistol Pete Rose and the Big Red Machine. There was no such thing
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Lorraine Heath, guest blogger

Posted by Suzanne Ferrell Aug 27 2007, 5:20 am in historicals, Lorraine Heath, NYT bestseller, RITA winner, romances, YA

Interviewed by Suzanne Welsh RITA Winner and NYT best-selling author, Lorraine Heath joins the Romance Bandits in the Banditas Lair today. Lorraine’s newest historical romance, Just Wicked Enough, recently received a 4-1/2 star review from Romantic Times Magazine and will be on the shelves at your local book stores tomorrow. Today, she’s here to give us a sneak peek at Just Wicked Enough and talk about writing both historicals and Young Adult (YA). Congratulations, Lorraine on the great review and welcome to our lair. Your stories always bring your readers wonderful alpha males in need of the right heroine to
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A Super Surprise

Posted by Beth Andrews Aug 26 2007, 12:26 pm in Uncategorized

By Beth Andrews Tuesday (my husband’s birthday ) I was getting ready to pick up my daughter from ball practice and to go to the post office to send a query on my Golden Heart winning manuscript, All Or Nothing, when the phone rang. Because I was running late (as usual) when no one else answered it, I snatched up the phone and snapped out a Hello. It was an editor with Harlequin Superromance. She told me she’d requested the full of All Or Nothing after judging it in the Golden Heart. I figured she wanted to ask for revisions
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Break a…nail?

Posted by Jeanne Adams Aug 26 2007, 12:40 am in Uncategorized

I’ve been on vacation this last week. I didn’t write, I didn’t diet. I didn’t do much of anything strenuous, which was perfect. Just before we left, I had a manicure. My hands looked great. Pretty polish, perfect length on my nails, just delightful and quite unusual for me with an active lifestyle including dogs and lets-play-baseball-and-chase-sons. I was thrilled. So, I’ll ask you, have you ever broken a nail just when you thought they were the perfect length, looked great and actually looked like you intended them to? Yep, did that. Unlike acrylics, if your natural nails break, you
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Debra Webb Finishes Book 66!

Posted by Guest Aug 24 2007, 11:17 am in Debra Webb, guest blogger

by KJ Howe Today, the Romance Bandits are lucky to have talented and prolific author Debra Webb joining us. Feel free to ask Deb any questions you may have about writing or the publishing industry. This warm-hearted Southern gal always goes out of her way to help others. Here are a few interview questions to kick off the day! KJ: Congratulations on the upcoming release of TRACELESS, a single title romantic suspense from St. Martin’s Press. The conflict between your hero and heroine, Clint and Emily, fairly sizzles. Clint has been in jail for ten years for the murder of
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An Inspirational Challenge

Posted by Donna MacMeans Aug 23 2007, 4:33 am in Creativity, Donna's posts, Inspiration

by Donna MacMeans Several years ago, when RWA’s annual conference was held in New Orleans, I heard a workshop on creativity presented by Felicia Mason. She maintained that as writers, we experience life in a whole different manner than non-writers. We see possibilities, when others see scenery. We hear sounds and instantly create metaphors to describe the sound while others dismiss it as white noise. In that workshop, Felicia challenged the group to think of the one thing they were meant to see in New Orleans. That one thing that we saw through our writer’s eye that we could use
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