RT last report

On Wednesday, the Ebook Fair:

Posing with my husband before signing my book cover for French Peril on Wednesday afternoon.

My friends from the Writers at Play stopped to visit and buy my book. Terri Garey, Rita award winner book, Dead Girls Are Easy, is a fabulous book, a must-read for anyone who likes paranormal or simply likes a great book. And Janice Lynn, multipublished author for Mills& Boon. Janice writes my favorite medical romances .

My critique partner, Helen Scott-Taylor, came from England to attend the RT convention and meet her editors at Dorchester. Her book, The Magic Knot, was last year winner of the American Title contest. I hope you all read The Magic Knot.

On Saturday, the Book Fair:

Janice Lynn signing her medical romances : The Heart Surgeon's Secret Son and The Doctor's Meant-To-Be Marriage.

Terri Garey signing her new book

Olivia Gates flew all the way from Cairo, Egypt, to receive an RT Best Book Award for her Silhouette Desire: The Desert Lord's Baby

On Friday, at the luncheon celebrating the 60th anniversary of Harlequin:

Janice posing in front of a poster representing a book cover from the 50s.

Mona and Olivia next to the same poster.

On Friday night, at the Vampire Ball:

Terri Garey, Mona Risk, Janice Lynn.

At the RT Convention, I met readers I only knew through various blogs.

I was happy to introduce my husband to my writer friends.

The RT convention was a great way
to promote our books. Here I pose with my book, TO LOVE A HERO, with people who were promoting books for TV.

I hope you have enjoyed all the pictures I posted.

As we are coming to the end of my presentation for the RT Convention 2009,

please take the time to look at my video trailers for To Love a Hero:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uE5eXfUznGw

And for FRENCH PERIL:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RBVTnTfOGkE&feature=related

I hope you had the opportunity to read my books. To Love A Hero is in paperback at Cerridwen Press. French Peril is an ebook and will be printed in paperback next month.

BABIES IN THE BARGAIN will be released on July 3, 2009 both as ebook and paperback by The Wild Rose Press.

Thank you for your comments.

More about RT Convention

Friday night, Heather Graham and Helen Rosburg's Vampire dinner party.

[click on the picture to enlarge. Heather is in red. Mary Stella has a reddish blonde wig on the right. I can't guess who the others are]

Here is what I found out at RT:

1- Writers support each other and become your best friends.

2- Meeting editors, agents and publigers face to face in a friendly atmosphere make them look human.

3-Brushing shoulders with NY bestsellers is a boost of energy to your muse.

4-A reader's nice comment about your book is even better than selling many books.

FRW authors: Mona Risk, Heather Graham [yes, the one and only] Traci Hall, Kathleen Pickering











Mona anf Jianne Carlo ......................................Kathleen Pickering, FRW prez, and Karen Kendall.

A view of the Book Fair on Saturday.

Mona with Aleka Nakis, Resplendence.

Kathy Pickering, proudly displaying Flirting With Finance, an amazing, funny book that teaches all we need to know about finance. I read half of it in one sitting today and had problem letting go for dinner.

Karen Kendall, Signet.

Linda Conrad, Harlequin, and Bonny Vanak, Dorchester.

AND HERE ARE MORE PICTURES:

Cai Smith, Ellora's Cave

KyAnn Waters, Ellora's Cave, and?

Jimi Gaskin, the nicest romance model with ???

??????


????????

More pictures tomorrow.

More about RT

We drove to Orlando on Tuesday and met Judith Rochelle as soon as we arrived. Judith was a well of information and already knew the hotel, program, and schedule while I vaguely read my printed pages of the agenda and paid the price later.


The Windham hotel was great, a vacation resort, with at least sixteen to seventeen two-story buildings, several pools and restaurants.

We really exercised going from our room to the main lobby and conference rooms.

On Tuesday night, my husband and I attended the Ellora’s Cave get together and I introduced him to everyone.

Hubby was in charge of taking pictures. Even the picture of his wife with a bunch of hunks. Or a Romance Model.

Wednesday started with breakfast and continued with workshops. Convinced that Ellora’s cave luncheon was on Thursday like last year, I missed it and was thoroughly upset at myself for not checking the agenda. In the afternoon, we attended the ebook fair. I signed book covers of French Peril and gave away a silver necklace and bracelet as prizes for two lucky winners from among the readers who bought my ebook. My husbands diligently distributed flyers and bookmarks.

A friend suggested a Greek restaurant for dinner. Seven of us went together and I insisted we should be back by 8:00 at the latest to ready for the Ellora’s Cave party and the authors’ presentation, that is, each author sauntering across the stage on the arm of a handsome, bare-chest hunk. Count on the traffic to help you being late and miss the best. We walked into the ballroom two minutes after the authors’ presentation. But we had so much fun dancing, it almost made up for my disappointment.

Thursday night was the big Fairy Ball. Watching the fairies parading was a huge fun. [Pictures will be posted tomorrow]

Friday night another party organized by NY bestseller author Heather Graham and Medallion publisher, Helen Rosberg. Another delicious dinner and more dancing followed a live sketch. [Pictures will be posted tomorrow.]

And at night the Dorchester party where readers were allowed to grab free books.

Booksigning on Saturday for printed books. Here is Kathy Kulig from Ellora's Cave.

and Rena Marks.

Did we do anything serious? Of course, attending workshops and panel discussion.

Networking.

Promoting books.

Discussing.

Rewinding for more writing.

It was all very very serious

as these pictures attest.

EC/CP at RT Convention

(Click on the pictures to enlarge them)

Back home from a fun, productive, exhausting, relaxing, all of the above and more, convention.

Tuesday night: Ellora's Cave get together.


Guess who is the pretty lady with the lovely hat?

Cerridwen Press writers Joanna Wauch and Mona Risk framing our dear publisher Raelene Gorlinsky.

Seriously working on anatomy research for the next book.

On Wednesday evening, signing French Peril
at Ebooks Fair.

Meeting my dear friend Sandra Cox.

And signing my first printed book To Love A Hero at the Book Fair:

Eden Robins from Ellora's Cave was sitting next to me.

Sandra Cox (signing The Crystal) sitting next to Christie Craig (Dorchester: Weddings Can Be Murder, a hilarious romantic suspense).

Kate Poole from Ellora's Cave

Teri Thackston signing her Cerridwen Press book.

Joanna Waugh signing Blind Fortune,

sitting next to KyAnn Waters

A fun time: Kate Poole, Sandra Cox, Mona Risk and my favorite Romance Model Jimi.

Our book covers rolled on a screen during the Ellora's Cave Jungle Party

And we came back home with our paw.

More pictures tomorrow.

Beth Trissel: DAUGHTER OF THE WIND

Beth Trissel lives on a farm in the heart of the Shenandoah Valley with her husband, children and multiple animals.

The beauty of the valley and uniqueness of rural life has led her to write a collection of atmospheric personal essays compiled into a work of nonfiction, in addition to several historical paranormal romances.

I had the pleasure of meeting, Beth Trissel, two years ago on the Pink Fuzzy Slippers blog and we finally “saw” each other last year at RWA in San Francisco. Beth’s historical Through the Fire was nominated for a Golden Heart Award in 2008. It will be released by the Wild Rose Press on May 22nd, 2008, both as ebook and paperback. Beth has two other novels coming out at The Wild Rose Press, on May 1, Daughter of the Wind, and on May 8th, Enemy of the King.

[I am posing with Beth just before the Golden Heart reception].

Is Daughter of the Wind a historical romance?

Daughter of The Wind is a light paranormal romance with strong American Historical roots. Set among the clannish Scots-Irish in the mist-shrouded Alleghenies. It’s the tale of the clash between peoples and young lovers caught in the middle. Ever influenced by my regard for Eastern Woodland Indians, I interwove mystical Native American elements with “Daughter”.

How do you characterize your heroine?

A change was coming as surely as the shifting seasons; Karin McNeal heard the urgent whispers in the wind.

Karin yearns to know who she truly is. The secrets of the past are guarded by her fiercely possessive grandfather and uncles. Only an elderly aunt will shed any light on the tantalizing mystery. No one will speak of her father or utter his name as if fearing to conjure a demon from the shadows. Then a newcomer arrives at the McNeal homestead on the eve of Karin’s twentieth birthday and anniversary of her mother’s death.

What about your hero?

Leaves swirled through the blackened doorway and a young man staggered inside, his face partly hidden under a wide-brimmed hat, chestnut hair pulled back. He wore the rugged dress of a frontiersman, a brown, green-fringed hunting shirt, leggings, and deerskin moccasins well up his calves. Wet through from the blowing rain, he fell forward. Blood streamed down his sleeve from a wound to his shoulder.
Grandpa reached out to steady him. “What on earth?”
The injured man collapsed in his arms. “I’m shot—” His musket slid from the woven strap over his other shoulder and thudded to the floor.

Former Shawnee captive, Jack McCray, has known a lot of winter in his life. A man of war, he’s battled more years than not. The long bloody Revolution is finally behind him, but he didn’t fight on the same side as his former kinsmen and resentments run deep. His quest in returning to the clannish settlement must be kept secret or his homecoming will be his funeral. He sees in Karin’s eyes that she’s in ignorance of her past, one he knows well. He also has a scheme for her future; he just hadn’t planned on his overpowering reaction to this unusual young woman.

Jack fluttered his eyes and looked beyond his weeping mother to Karin.
His gaze drew her almost against her will. She leaned toward him.
“Someone seeks for you, Shequenor’s dahnaithah,” he whispered.
The message rippled through her with a prickling shiver. And she knew—his was the inviting summons in the wind.

Short Synopsis:
Autumn, 1784: A tragic secret from Karin McNeal's past haunts the young Scots-Irish woman who longs to know more of her mother’s death and the mysterious father no one will name. The elusive voices she hears in the wind hint at the dramatic changes soon to unfold in her life among the Scot’s settled in the mist-shrouded Alleghenies. Jack McCray, a wounded stranger who staggers through the door on the eve of her twentieth birthday and anniversary of her mother’s death, holds the key to unlocking the past. Will she let this handsome frontiersman lead her to the truth and into his arms, or seek the shelter of her fiercely possessive grandfather? Is it only her imagination or does something, or someone, wait beyond the brooding ridges—for her?

Daughter of the Wind is available at The Wild Rose Press and Amazon.com

http://www.bethtrissel.com/

Easter Eggs

Yesterday, I spent a few hours coloring eggs with my granddaughters. In spite of the mess that resulted, I couldn’t imagine a more relaxing time than watching two adorable little girls, 3 and 5 years, performing their tasks so seriously.

The way they prepare themselves for the job was even cuter. They went to change and wear old shirts that could be spotted without damage, and then they each chose one of my aprons to protect their own clothes. There were no complaints when I insisted on tying their hair in ponytails.

Each one received a box with a dozen of previously boiled eggs and a coloring kit. You should have seen them pulling their sleeves, ready to start.

I opened the kits for them and they put the tablets of various color in the plastic little bowls of matching color. I added boiling water in each bowl and they started stirring and shaking their bowls to dissolve the tablets and obtained the blue, green, orange, yellow and hot pink solution.

That was when the real fun began. To carefully, very carefully transfer one egg at a time into the bowl. They tried it with their hands, and then with a tablespoon. For the next half hour, they kept on working and dying their eggs and fingers with a rainbow of colors.

In the end, we had two dozens of colored eggs, a happy mess around the place and two satisfied little girls, not to mention a grandmother with an ear-to-ear smile and a very proud mommy.

http://www.monarisk.com/

Booksigning in a Teahouse

What a fun day. We had a blast.

Six authors held a booksigning in an elegant old-fashioned teahouse, called Serenity Garden, in West Palm Beach. About twenty members of FRW came to support, cheer and share the fun. Some brought their mothers, mother-in-law, sister or friends.

And I brought my dear husband, a brave man, who didn't mind being the only male among the exclusively feminine assembly. Actually Sam said, he had a great time talking to every author or guest.

And guess who I held in my arms as I entered the teahouse, and then kept on my lap during tea? You guessed wrong!!!

It was my teddybear, General Sergei, a congratulations gift from my Playground friends when I sold my first book. My bear is dressed like the hero of my book.

We had tea in lovely English china and savored miniatures sandwiches and cakes. In the pictures below, you will see how the place is decorated with charming old nicknacks.

The authors signing were:

Mary Ricksen, Time Travel Romance

http://www.maryricksen.com/

Actually Mary Ricksen was the one who suggested and organized the event in the teahouse. She was signing her first book, a paranormal: TRIPPING THROUGH TIME- The Wild Rose Press

Mona Risk, Contemporary Romance in Exotic Settings, TO LOVE A HERO, Cerridwen Press.

http://www.monarisk.com/

Patrice Wilton, Contemporary Romance, Desperately Seeking Susie-The Wild Rose Press
http://www.patricewilton.com/

Jianne Carlo, Suspenseful Spicy Romance, MANACLED IN MONACO and D for DESIRE.
http://www.jiannecarlo.com/

Traci Hall, Young Adult/Paranormal Romance, Her Wiccan, Wiccan Ways - Samhain
http://www.tracihall.com/

Dayana Knight, Paranormal/Erotic Romance, CURSE OF THE MARHIME-TWRP
http://www.dayanaknight.blogspot.com/

At my table, FRW members present: Rosemary Letson, Lisa Manuel and Rita Cohl.

Kathy Pickering, FRW president, standing next to me. My husband bought me her book,

Flirting with Finances, a funny and very useful book that will teach me how to take care of money. Now I don't have any excuses for not handling and balancing my own budget.

In the same room, at the next table:

Jianna Carlo, Dayana Knight with her mother-in-law and sister, Judy De Witt, our dear librarian, and Tina Stitzer, hidden behind Mary Ricksen.

Click on the pictures to better see them.

Joan Hammond is a reviewer and long-time member of FRW.

In another room, Tracy Hall, Kathy and Lyn Armstrong.

And in the picture below, the lovely Patrice Wilton.

Thanks to Mary Ricksen's great idea, we had a fabulous time and we sold and signed several books.

Prescription For Trust

Today I received some good news. PRESCRIPTION FOR TRUST will be released by The Wild Rose Press on December 4, 2009. The ebook will be soon followed by the paperback book.
PRESCRIPTION FOR TRUST is the first medical romance of the Doctor’s Order Series, stories of doctors who struggle to save patients but fail to protect their own hearts.

“Mona Risk’s PRESCRIPTION FOR TRUST is really a prescription for a steamy reunion romance with loads of mystery and a French doctor to die for. Ms. Risk is known for her talent of writing sexy foreign heroes and the angsty heroines they can’t live without. Luc and Olivia are perfect for each other and PRESCRIPTION FOR TRUST is just what the doctor ordered.”~Carla Capshaw, 2004 and 2007 Golden Heart winner, The Heart Beckons

“Another compelling novel by Mona Risk, PRESCRIPTION FOR TRUST is a page-turner packed with intrigue, romance and heart-twisting emotion!”~ Stacey Kayne, RT Reviewer’s Choice Nominee

“Olivia’s heart-wrenching experience as a mother who gives up love to protect her child and Luc’s relentless effort to save the woman he loves from endless guilt will captivate you from the first page to the satisfying conclusion. The wonderful characters and emotional situations make this book a keeper.”~Helen Scott-Taylor, The Magic Knot, Dorchester, 2008 Romantic Times winner

PRESCRIPTION FOR TRUST awards:
First Place in Central Ohio Ignite the Flame Contest
Second Place in Heart of Denver, The Molly Contest
Third Place in FTHRW Golden Gateway

So here is for the first time, a short synopsis and an excerpt of my new book.

Blurb:
“Oh what a tangled web we weave, when first we practice to deceive.” Walter Scott.

Successful physician and loving mother, Olivia Crane fiercely believes youthful mistakes should be kept secret and skeletons are better left in closets. Unfortunately, Dr. Luc George, the French psychiatrist, she loved ten years ago, detests secrets and has a professional tendency to dig into people’s minds.

Determined to rekindle their former relationship, Luc strolls back into her hospital and her life, tries to unravel her many secrets and threatens to shatter her carefully constructed world. Against her better judgment, Olivia succumbs to his charm and welcomes her second chance, but on her own terms. The past forgotten, no questions asked.

Can Luc help her conquer her inner fears or will he get burned by the past too? Will Olivia grab her second chance and finally find happiness with the love of her life?

Excerpt:

“Don’t cry, please.” Luc waited for her to calm down. Olivia had braved a lot of problems on her own but collapsed at the mere mention of a threat to her daughter.

“I’m sorry.” She sniffled. “I hate to talk about that time in my life.”

“I understand.” He would have to be patient and tread carefully around her past secrets. Now that her daughter was grown up, Olivia had probably realized it was time to move on with her life, and she’d recommended him for the visiting professor position. What more could he ask for?
He cradled her face between his hands and smiled. “Feeling better?”

She nodded and returned his smile. He studied her features, the wetness of her lashes, the mauve shadows probably due to lack of sleep, and the dimple on her left cheek he used to tickle with the tip of his finger.

His eyes dropped to her luscious lips. Nothing cool or serene here. He watched them quiver as she followed the direction of his gaze. “Olivia, I will help you forget the past.”

He bent over her mouth for a quick peck, a soft comforting kiss. His lips fluttered against hers in a gentle caress, then paused. He couldn’t draw back. Not now when he was at the gate of paradise. With the slightest pressure, he pulled her closer. Uncontrollable need built inside him.
She, too, seemed to be waiting. He nibbled at the corner of her mouth and tried to ignore the way blood pulsed in his groin. “Ma chérie.”

She closed her eyes and leaned into him.

He trailed kisses along her cheek to her forehead. “How I missed you.” His chest burned, and his lungs filled with her perfume and the scent of her skin.

“Oh Luc.” She raised her head and took a deep breath. The luminescent aqua of her eyes held him enthralled but he wouldn’t rush her and risk losing her when he’d just found her again. Whispering French endearments against her hair, he waited for a hint of an invitation.

Years of frustrating loneliness flipped through his mind as he mentally urged her to come to him, to relax in his arms. She clasped her fingers around his nape and he instantly claimed her mouth in a searing kiss, the kiss he’d given her a thousand times in his fantasies. Parting her lips, his tongue explored and played and tasted as he molded her lithe form against him.

How he wanted her. She moaned and clung to his neck, returning his kiss with the same passion that had set him on fire in the past. He was home now, with Olivia in his arms. There was hope for them.

His lips glided along her cheek, and he tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. “I am so glad you invited me. I will protect you and Melissa. Everything will be fine. I will help you get rid of your fears. I promise.”

Things would work out, and in time they would inform Melissa of the truth about her father.
For a crazy moment, Olivia tried to believe him, to imagine she could spend the rest of her life in his arms and make up for the time wasted away from him for her daughter’s sake. He still wanted her, in spite of the beautiful women who had hung on his arm and probably graced his bed.

Ten years ago, her heart bleeding with concealed love, she’d let him believe she’d never cared enough about him to give up a promising career at UC and follow him to Paris.

If it wasn’t for Melissa, she’d have followed him to the end of the earth.

Now Melissa was sixteen, soon to have her own life. Olivia touched her swollen lips, hesitating.

Kiss him. You’ll talk later.

But she wouldn’t lie now. No matter what it cost, she couldn’t let him build dreams based on a lie.

Other books by Mona Risk: From the Wild Rose Press:

Babies in the Bargain coming on July 3, 2009

Coming soon from the Wild Rose Press as part of the Doctor’s Order series: Prescription for HopePrescription for LovePrescription for Change

From Cerridwen Press:
To Love A Hero available in paperback
French Peril available as ebook

http://www.monarisk.com/