Sourcebooks Casablanca Romance Authors

Thanksgiving is over. Mr. T. Thomas Turkey can come on out of hiding. He's safe for another year around our part of the world because we don't do the big Christmas dinner at our house. We do have a couple of traditions on Thanksgiving. We like for Husband/Mr. B/Daddy/Poppa to get out the guitar and everyone who wants to, whether they can carry a tune or not, sings. The rest of us two step up and down the hallway. And then all of the titles above reads us his special Christmas poem, Jake's Night Before Christmas. To formally kick off the Christmas season I thought I'd share it with you this weekend. He wrote it years ago for our kids when they were small but no matter the age, the whole family loves it. So without further ado here is the Brown Christmas poem.   JAKE'S NIGHT BEFORE CHRISTMAS by Charles Brown “Twas the night before Christmas, And all through the house, Not a creature was stirring “Cept a flea and a louse! The family were all sleeping...

Happy Thanksgiving from the Casablanca authors!

At a meeting last week of the entire Sourcebooks Romance team, including editorial, sales, marketing, PR, we got into a discussion of what readers get out of romance fiction. We discovered (no surprise) how much we LOVE romance fiction! Here’s what we came up with—how about  you? What do YOU get out of reading romance? Post your answers here on the blog—one lucky post-er will get a package of Sourcebooks romances hand-picked by me! ·          Delight ·          Joy ·          Entertainment ·          Escape, sometimes just from daily life, sometimes from really tough circumstances ·          Community—it’s so much fun to share books with friends, sisters, colleagues, etc. ·          Validation of female desire ·  ...

By Cheryl Brooks Not long ago I self-published a book in which the heroine's favorite day of the year was Thanksgiving. Why? Because she loved to cook. So do I. I love the excuse to get out my grandmother's china and her silver turkey platter. I like being able to pull out all the stops and use a tablecloth and matching napkins. Granted, my feasts are small ones, with only my husband and two sons to cook for, but I make enough food to feed at least eight. Considering the fact that I've inherited enough plates to feed a football team--second stringers and all--on china, I could probably handle more than that. Gram's silverware was an old set, and she used it every day. I use it once a year, but knowing it's up there on top of the cabinets waiting to be dusted off and used is comforting somehow. My Thanksgiving menu doesn't vary much from year to year. We all like turkey. Sam always asks for crescent rolls--like we couldn't have those more often! Mi...

The holidays are the part of the year I get to spend with family. They are also the part of the year where I have free babysitting (read: family) and can go see a movie not rated G. Last year I saw Les Miserables . Only one movie, but it was a good one and really the length of two movies. This year I hope to add a few more to my holiday schedule. I don’t need a babysitter to see the new Disney film Frozen. I already know the story thanks to Disney’s way early marketing campaign. My daughter has had the audio picture book for about two months. The good news is that the story sounds really good, so I’m excited to see it. The Hunger Games: Catching Fire opened Friday. I loved the first one, and I really want to see the second. I have it on my must-see list. The previews look great. Anyone seen it yet? Another sure blockbuster is The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug . I have to confess something: I haven’t seen the first movies in the series, and I haven’t read the bo...

As a kid, I wasn't a big reader. I lived in a time when we could play outside and ride our bikes all over town. There were lots of kids in the neighborhood and sometimes we'd play games all day long. In the summer, we'd be out until dark. Even board games were played on the front lawn. I feel badly for kids who can't be outside without adult supervision for a few minutes or hours, just to play. A kid's play is their way of learning to work. Cooperative skills are needed to decide what to play, and rules are needed to play fair. I hear about folks who grew up reading voraciously, under the covers with a flashlight. I think that's cool. I was too tuckered out to stay awake after my head hit the pillow. But eventually kids grow up and don't play together on the lawn anymore. I discovered the beauty of the written word in my teens. My first memory of sitting down with a novel for my own entertainment (not for school) was the summer when I was 17 and...

    Notice the lion and his pride? The females are up on the rocks, wary, watchful. The male????  What a life, eh? One male for three females. Yep. He's one happy lion. But this would not constitute a happily ever after. Not for the females. Really, ladies, you have to share??? And then there were the fighting leopards. Doesn’t that sound like a sports team? It started out with the black leopard walking in front of the golden leopard. Then the next thing I knew, the black leopard got into the golden leopard’s space and you can see her/him growling at the other, mouth wide before he/she took a bite. And then there was all kinds of tousling, growling, angry noises….and the golden leopard was definitely the victorious one, the other the beta in the relationship. Here you can see the black cat’s back feet are pressed against the golden leopard’s chest, keeping that one off, while the golden cat’s mouth is wide open, teeth on full display. ...

Do you remember in high school when you and your boyfriend had your song?  Maybe you danced to it under the mirrored ball at the prom or during the couples’ skate (okay, I’m dating myself) or played it on the car stereo, booming on the woofers with the windows rolled down as you cruised the drag. That song was sacred. None of your friends and their boyfriends could have the same song as you and your guy. Don’t remember? Well, I’ve embedded cheesy 80s music videos that my awesome Facebook friends and I compiled to help you get in that nostalgic (or revolted) mood. Why do I bring this up? Because almost all my characters have songs or bands that typify their personalities.  In my ebook Rakes and Radishes , the heroine listened to the Cranberries, and the hero, Radiohead. Together their love song was “Love’s Divine” by Seal. In other works, characters have liked country songs, Thomas Newman soundtracks, or crooning Frank Sinatra pieces. So I always thought it odd t...

I have to say that I am grateful for many things in my life, and this time of year always makes me think of those things. My family, my friends, my work, the beautiful NC mountains where I now make my home... the list is truly endless. I am grateful to be writing in the Regency period, for the privilege to indulge myself and my readers in lush fantasies about beautiful men and women falling in love, all the while wearing silks gowns and tight breeches. And speaking of tight breeches, I'm grateful to the BBC for keeping Regency gentlemen's fashion always available. Whenever I need a little inspiration, Mr. Darcy is there.  And then, there are hot men. I am very thankful for them. Whether on the page, on the silver screen, or in real life, I am grateful for all l the hot men in the world. So here's to Jack/James, the fine leading man in MUCH ADO ABOUT JACK coming out in February 2014. And to all the fine men everywhere, fictional and otherwise. ...

from Mia Marlowe... This week the romance world has been abuzz about the announcement of the nominations for RTBOOKReviews Reviewers' Choice award. It's sort of the Emmy's for Romance, with nominations in different categories. I'm thrilled to report that Sourcebooks authors are very well represented on this list. Here they all are: RT Book of the Year: CJ Lyons, Broken Diagnosed with a rare and untreatable heart condition, Scarlet has come to terms with the fact that she’s going to die. Literally of a broken heart. It could be tomorrow, or it could be next year. But the clock is ticking… All Scarlet asks is for a chance to attend high school—even if just for a week-a chance to be just like everyone else. But Scarlet can feel her heart beating out of control with each slammed locker and vicious taunt. Is this normal? Really? Yet there’s more going on than she knows. And finding out the truth might just kill Scarlet before her heart does… Read more......