Author: leoniemack
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Publication Day!
In this crazy old carousel that is a writing career these days, book seven is out today!! Part of me still wants to be shouting about a Taste of Italian Sunshine (I still listen to some of the songs on the playlist). Part of me still wants to shout about My Christmas Number One (I…
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One Week Until Luna and Yannick!
Although I had an interesting time weaving in a mystery sub-plot in Snow Days With You, it’s the romance that’s at the heart and it is all connected to that romance as the story progresses. Each time I write, the characters take me on a new journey and with Luna and Yannick it was fun…
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The Heat Level Conundrum
As a romance author, writing about a sexual relationship is something I do with each book and it’s therefore something I have to think carefully about in a variety of contexts and discourses – the wider cultural context, readers and market. I have always read steamy books and my earliest attempts to write were also…
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Inspiration for Snow Days: What is the PGHM?
While in Snow Days With You you’ll find my usual escapist romance with characters you get to know deeply and a setting to take you out of the everyday, there’s something special from real life that inspired the story: the elite mountain rescue squadron of the French Gendarmerie Nationale, the PGHM. It stands for the…
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Snow Days With You is on its way!
The eagle-eyed among you have already noticed that Snow Days is up on Netgalley, available for reviewers and early readers! The short period between Netgalley release and general release is a particularly special period in the life cycle of a book. The relationship between readers and authors is something that fascinates me and also occupies…
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First Draft Unlocked!
As usual I’m working ahead, promoting one book, editing another and drafting the next! While I’m beyond excited with how well a Taste of Italian Sunshine is doing in the Kindle charts, I’m probably even happier about finishing a first draft. I love the drafting stage – being immersed in the book universe, using every…
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Writing Men in Romance
Concepts of gender in romance fiction are complex enough that people can write (and have written) PhDs on the topic. When an author sits down to write a love story, they are bringing an enormous amount of cultural baggage with them that is important at the very least to acknowledge. They bring their own gender…
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Snow Days is getting real!
I’ve sent off the copy edits for Snow Days With You and the proofread will also be done within two weeks, meaning early readers will start to meet Luna and Yannick in just a couple more weeks! Luna was a very satisfying character to write, a bit starry-eyed, absent-minded and idealistic. Her name is an…
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Top 100: Celebrating the Highs (and managing the lows)
For the first time, one of my books has hit the top 100 in the UK Kindle chart, and number 10 in Romantic Comedy!! I’ve had lovely messages of congratulations from my editor and others at my publisher and it’s quite surreal that one of my books has made it! I truly hope this is…
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Two Months of Italian Sunshine
It’s two months today since A Taste of Italian Sunshine was released and it’s been the best start of any of my books. I can’t quite believe it! Whether there’s something magic about having six books available or (more likely) my publisher has tamed the beast, I mean trained the Amazon algorithm, Italian Sunshine is…
Leonie Mack 