Sourcebooks Casablanca Romance Authors

Visions of Sugar Plums... by  Abbie Roads What's your favorite part of the holidays?  I love all the baking!  This seems to be the only time of year when I can get away with being a crazy cookie baker!  So far this Holiday season I've made Texas sheet cake cookies, pumpkin cookies with brown butter frosting, chocolate chip/dried cranberry cookies, crushed candy cane cookies, turtle cookies, and today I baked one of my favorite family recipes...  Sugar Plum Surprise Cookies! I love these cookies for a few reasons... 1. They are simple to make. 2. You can load the whole batch on one cookie sheet to bake  (which saves a ton of time). 3. And the best part...There's a surprise inside each one! Here's the recipe: Sugar Plum Surprise Cookies (Preheat oven 325 degrees) 1c. soft butter 1/2c. powdered sugar 1 1/2t. vanilla 2c. flour 1/2t. salt 1c. oatmeal 36 candies--I use candied cherries, all f...

We want to be the first to wish you a Happy New Year, Dear Readers! Thank you for making us part of your lives. Today we'd like to share some of our favorites from 2014, what we're anticipating in 2015, and maybe even a note or two about resolutions. Because I got two new puppies for Christmas, my New Year's goal is to housebreak them, teach them all kinds of neat tricks--they're really fast learners, and have fun. :)  Max learning lie down--6 months old Havanese. Tanner tuckered out--3 month old Havanese. Jane Ashford I was lucky enough to spend a couple of months in London in 2014. Lots of great memories there. I feel very much at home in England. Maybe that's why I write Regency historicals. Or maybe it's the other way around. : ) I hope to go back for a bit next year. Do you all have any travels planned? Gina Conkle 2014 meant a major, cross-country move for my family and the debut of my first print book, Meet the Earl at Midnight. What a...

We hope you have a happy holiday with your friends and family, and we'd like to share some of our favorite Christmas memories and traditions. Shana Galen (The Viscount of Vice) My favorite tradition is reading Christmas stories with my daughter. Some of our favorites are 'Twas the Night Before Christmas, The Polar Express, How the Grinch Stole Christmas, Bear Stays Up, and Room for a Little One. There's nothing that says Christmas to me more than snuggling with my little one, reading and talking. Hope your Christmas is warm and cozy too! Mia Marlowe (A Rake by Any Other Nam e) I'd like to second Shana's tradition. My girls and I have always enjoyed read-aloud time and Christmas books have been some of our favorites. We laughed together through Barbara Robinson's The Best Christmas Pageant Ever. We wept over Van Dyke's The Other Wise Man. When you share a book with a child, you share a whole world. What's more powerful than that? May you...

Can you feel it? The holiday spirit is definitely in the air. With the cold winter temperatures, fresh snow, children laughing, people passing...wait, that's a Christmas song, but I think you get the picture. Nothing says the holidays like family being together for the season. Although my son is eight and my daughter thirteen, I still find joy in watching them open their gifts on Christmas morning. My husband starts a fire, turns on all the Christmas lights, makes coffee and hot chocolate and turns up the Christmas carols all before the kids are allowed downstairs. My daughter taps her fingers with impatience while my son shakes his legs in excitement as they sit at the top of the stairs and ask for the millionth time, "Can we come down yet?" I wouldn't trade those memories for anything in the world. I fondly remember my parents doing the same thing and proudly pass down the tradition to my own kids. As I think back to holidays past, one of the most romantic thi...

There’s a joke that’s been going around my family for several years now: “December 25 is over. At last I can enjoy Christmas!” Because as much as we love it, the days and weeks leading up to Christmas can be a stress-fest. Between Christmas shopping, gift-wrapping, tree-trimming, house-cleaning, cooking, entertaining, and carrying on with your regular job, it’s all too easy to be overwhelmed. And to start wondering whether you should have booked yourself on a holiday cruise, rather than sticking around for Yuletide madness.  "For dinner we had turkey and blazing pudding, and after dinner, the Uncles sat in front of the fire, loosened all buttons, put their large moist hands over their watch chains, groaned a little, and slept."   Dylan Thomas, A Child's Christmas in Wales Illustration by Fritz Eichenberg Image courtesy of The Art of Children's Picture Books But once the gifts have been given, the feast consumed, and the guests entertained,...

If you've read my books, you know I love sparkle. Lots of sparkle. Maybe because I always envision magic and romance accompanied by twinkling lights and fireworks. And Christmas gives me the perfect excuse to indulge! Especially this year. I can't remember a year when the shelves have been loaded with so many sparkly ornaments and decorations. So I thought I'd share a bit of my passion for Christmas sparkly decorations here at the Casa Blog today. When you come to my home, you're greeted by a beautiful white buck with twinkly lights. Just past the front door, I've decorated the railing with holly garland...and then added some glittering butterflies and birds. (Am I the only one who thinks there can never be TOO much sparkle?) And then you'll see my sparkle creation of a golden buck, and a new favorite decoration this year, a pure white glittering buck. And now we have my sparkle gone wild. I got the little round basket with the angel in it as a g...

by Danielle Jackson Happy Holidays, Everyone! 2012 has been a GREAT year for Sourcebooks, and I just want to take a second and personally thank all of the Casablanca Authors—they are BIG reason why we had such an awesome year, and I know 2013 will be incredible. It is so much fun to work with a dynamic and diverse group of authors who all do an amazing job writing books that truly connect with readers. So, huzzah to all of them! As you all might remember, earlier this year I wrote a blogall about crafting , which is a way that I relax. Well, from about October-December, crafting is something that I love to do for family and friends for the Christmas presents from me! I thought I’d share some of my most recent projects (and hope that my mom doesn’t remember to read my blog this month): For my fellow Sourcebooks publicists, I found a really quick and adorable mason jar “snow globe”: I found the tutorial at this great blog, Whipperberry: http://whipperberry.com/201...

Over 35 years ago... Christmas Eve, a special time of year and one of the most cherished memories that will always hold a sentimental place in my heart. Springing out of bed and giddy with excitement, my sister and I were going to Baba's (my grandmother's) for Christmas Eve. The holiday could not be here soon enough. "What time are we leaving?" I would ask for the millionth time. The minutes took an eternity, but it was finally time to go. Proudly displaying our Christmas dresses with our Mary Janes and white tights, we got all bundled up in our winter coats. Donning our hat and mittens, exhilaration filled the frosty air. My sister and I jumped in the car, restless in the back seat. First, because we were going to Baba's. Second, because the car took forever to heat up. Singing every Christmas carol under the sun, we surely made the Griswald's proud! We were on our way. Glancing out the foggy windows , winter-white snow drifts grazed the landsca...

I’m writing this before Christmas so by the time you read this the presents will have been opened, lunch cooked and a few glasses of wine drunk—the family gathering is at my house this year so I will be needing a chilled glass of SSB before the day is out. I live in Western Australia so Christmas is probably going to be about 40 degrees Centigrade, which google tells me is 104 Fahrenheit. I’m wilting just thinking about it. Plus with my fair skin I burn in about 10 mins. While there will be turkey on the table, it won’t be served with hot sides, but there’ll be plenty of salads and some prawns on the BBQ. Because some members of my family won’t eat dried fruit I don’t do a Christmas pudding; I’ll be doing raspberry and lemon cheesecake, and spice shortbread instead. I’m sure by the time this posts we’ll have finished the leftovers :). The best part of Christmas in Australia is that the school holidays last for 7 weeks and more time at home with the kids and less time in th...

Merry Christmas & Happy Holidays! Wishing you all bright and joyful holidays!

By Danielle Jackson, Sourcebooks Casablanca Publicist  Last Christmas, I received the gift I had been coveting for well over a year—a KINDLE! I love it. I love it so much, at the beginning of the holiday shopping season this year, my boyfriend said to me, “What can I get you this year to top last year? You use that thing EVERYDAY.” And it’s true :-) As we all know, eBook are an ongoing conversation in the publishing industry—love ‘em or hate ‘em, eBooks and eReaders are here and growing in popularity. eReaders have become a wonderful way to discover new authors and promote their books! To celebrate the holidays, Sourcebooks has put announces its most extensive eBook promotion to date!  From December 21, 2011-January 8, 2012 , purchase the first book from a Sourcebooks author for only $1.99 —books that are the first in a series, or the first book that Sourcebooks published by that author (and a few extra for good measure).  More than 65 exceptional books rangi...

by Deb Werksman Editorial Manager, Sourcebooks Casablanca This is the time of year when I love to shout out to my authors—you’re the people who make it all happen. Here’s to a beautiful holiday, and a prosperous new year! C.H. Admirand—can’t wait for your new small town romance series—you’ve got just the right touch Phillipa Ashley—just the right amount of fun, poignancy, snark and British wit Sidney Ayers—you’ve got one heck of a wild imagination, girlfriend Jeanette Baker—lovely to spend time with you, love your writing Nina Benneton—something really original and fresh—thank you Linda Berdoll—your stories will outlast us all Jennifer Blake—beautiful historicals from a lady of graciousness Cheryl Brooks—it’s a blast walking on the wild side with you—meow! Carolyn Brown—you bring the cupcakes, I’ll bring the icing. What a team! Laurie Brown—timeless and wonderful stories, can’t wait for the new one M. L. Buchman—what can I say? Staying up all night to read is an occupational hazard Gra...