Sourcebooks Casablanca Romance Authors

It’s almost Christmas, and I’ve been to several parties all with yummy food and drinks. Here are some of my faves of this season. Candy Cane Martini Shot vanilla rum Shot Godiva chocolate liqueur Shot peppermint schnapps Candy cane for garnish Butter Rum Coffee 1 shot butterscotch schnapps 1 shot vanilla rum 1/2 shot Irish Coffee Whipped topping for garnish If you’re going to be drinking, you need to eat something. One of my favorite appetizers is Pumpkin Pie Dip . 1 can pumpkin ¾ cup brown sugar 6 oz. Greek yogurt 6 oz. whipped topping 1 tsp vanilla 1/8 tsp pumpkin pie spice 1/8 tsp cinnamon Mix it all together and serve with apples, pears, and cinnamon graham crackers. Have a happy holiday!

by Cheryl Brooks The leaves are almost gone. Pumpkins are everywhere, including those awesome pumpkin spice English muffins you can only buy in the fall. I love pumpkins. Love looking at them, cooking them, and eating them. But one thing I don't do anymore is carve my pumpkin into a jack o' lantern. Everyone has their fall rituals. Mine is not carving my pumpkin until I'm ready to cook it.  Yeah. I know. I sound like the Halloween version of Ebenezer Scrooge, but I think it's a damn shame to waste a pumpkin on a single October night when it can be visually enjoyed for at least two months and then tastily enjoyed throughout the year. I buy my pumpkin as soon as they begin to appear for sale and set it on the deck where I can see it through my kitchen window. Simply looking at it makes me feel good. I can't explain why. The color, the shape, the season it represents--all of those and more add to the pumpkin's appeal. Its cheerful orange face smile...

by Amanda Forester I love the holidays. I particularly love that it starts with a celebration of that beautiful orange gourd - the pumpkin. I recently took the kids to a local pumpkin patch. We traipsed through the mud to find just the right pumpkin.   Pumpkins in the store are all round or oval, but in the field they come in a variety of shapes - round, square, rectangle, oval, and even some that have a waistline or fold over onto themselves.   I'm sure your choice of pumpkin says something about you, but I'm not sure what.   I chose a bright orange oval while my husband chose something that looked like a hunchback pumpkin.   I'm guessing that says something about his quirky sense of humor. At the pumpkin patch we came across bins of little pumpkin-like gourds of every shape and color imaginable - little orange pumpkins, mini white pumpkins, gourds that look like ghosts from Pac-man, gourds that look like crazy sea creatures, and even some gourds that lo...

Halloween is by far my most favorite holiday of the year. It's the only time when all that is spooky and strange is nationally celebrated. Every October I am filled with childish glee and here are 5 reasons why. 1.) The decorations. I have a low budget, so I don't get to do anything special, but I love checking out the houses that are able to go all out! Author Jamie De Bree does a graveyard every year and I am so jealous! 2.) Horror Movies! From bone chillingly creepy to the cheezily craptastic, I LOVE them all. I have a post featuring recommendations varying from family friendly to nightmare inducing  here. 3.) The treats! Roasted Pumpkin seeds, candy, and creative goodies steal my heart every time. And I want this CAKE! 4.) Pumpkin Carving!!! Here are some I did last year: This year, I think I want to try doing Freddy Krueger from NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET. And of course, my FAVORITE part is: #5 Costumes!! I have never got...

Happy Halloween from all of us at Sourcebooks Casablanca. We wanted to give all of our readers a treat, so here are a few snapshots of how we're celebrating! Some of us are dressing up! Bonnie Gill, Vampire Hunter (armed with crossbow), and Terry Spear, Vampire Hunter (lost her sword) Authors After Dark Vampire Ball And some of us are taking little ones trick-or-treating. Baby Galen as Rapunzel And there's always pumpkin carving. Last year, Theresa Romain's daughter Little Miss R was old enough to make her first jack-o-lantern. She drew the face… and Mr. Romain cut it out to her specifications. Theresa can't quite decide whether it's creepy or cute. And then there's pumpkin CARVING! Brooklyn Ann carved Jack from the Shining And the Megadeath mascot. How are you celebrating?

I spend a lot of time thinking about what will “break” a book—what does it take to bring a book to not only its fullest potential, but also the next level? I wish there was a direct answer, but something I’ve learned over my almost 3 years with Sourcebooks is that each book and author is different, but by starting out small and (sometimes slowly) building upwards and outwards, world domination is just around the corner. For example, when I started in late 2007, we had 2 romance novels ( Hundreds of Years to Reform a Rake by Laurie Brown and No Regrets by Michele Ann Young) and 1 Georgette Heyer novel ( Cotillion ) in stores. Now, Sourcebooks Casablanca publishes 5-8 mass market romance novels each month, by February 2012 we’ll be the North American publisher of all of Heyer’s novels (including a rare reprint of her book of short stories!), and we’re home to authors who are trying new things in the romance genre, not to mention a fun and busy group blog where you can find so many of ...