Zoe and The Tormented Tycoon is part of the Balfour Brides continuity, which I loved writing. Writing a continuity is a bit different than writing a regular stand-alone book, because you are given the characters and basic premise and then develop the story from there. It can be difficult to be given characters you haven’t created yourself, and in some ways it feels like getting to know a couple of strangers who just walking into your living room! At least that is how I felt with Max and Zoe, the hero and heroine of Zoe and the Tormented Tycoon. And I had to figure out just what made them tick...
 In the very beginning of the book, the reader learns that Max is slowly going blind. Of course this is a great emotional trauma for him (thus the ‘tormented’!) but it was, according to the brief I was given, meant to be the motivation for some pretty unpalatable behavior towards Zoe. When I first really started to think about this story, this proved pretty difficult for me to deal with. I personally wasn’t sure his oncoming blindness was enough reason to act the way he did. So that left me with the question of how I could make Max more sympathetic. How could I better justify his cruel actions towards Zoe, both in his own mind and the reader’s?
It took me awhile to figure out just why Max would act the way he did... but when I finally figured out the key to his character--which involves his past as an Air Force pilot--the rest of the story really fell into place--and those two strangers who walked into my living room turned into great friends!
I hope you enjoy Max and Zoe’s journey towards happiness and healing as much as I did writing it.
Kate Hewitt
I love second son stories, especially if those second sons hail from nobility. For eons, the second son’s main purpose was to be the spare – the prince the title would fall to if something grave befell the first born – the crown prince.
That’s exactly what happens in Captured and Crowned. Prince Kristo Stanrakis is quite content to manage the business side of his royal family, and pursue his passion to preserve the fragile natural resources of the island kingdom of Angyra. Who would think an alpha male would be moved by the plight of green sea turtles?
That’s just another facet of my hero that he hides behind his playboy image. Still, Kristo is ill prepared when his eldest brother suddenly dies and he immediately becomes the Crown Prince.
 To his shock, Kristo is also faced with what to do with his brother’s fiancé, a woman who was handpicked to be the future queen and a betrothal contract that would have to be dealt with now.
A woman Kristo once shared an illicit moment with.
Demetria Andreou is beautiful, smart, and in Kristo’s mind, deceitful to the core.
He shouldn’t still want her, shouldn’t desire her, but he does with each beat of his heart, with every breath he takes.
Duty, desire and revenge collide as Kristo is crowned king, and takes an unwilling Demetria as his wife.
RT Book Reviews calls Captured and Crowned “a modern fairy tale complete with a royally satisfying happily every after that readers will love.” I hope you love Kristo’s and Demetria’s romance as much as I loved writing this story.
Janette Kenny
One reason I love writing for Presents is that my books can reflect some things I believe in as a woman and as a writer.
For instance, I believe that women should be strong, assertive and independent in real life. That’s the kind of heroine I strive for in my books.
I also believe that travel is a big part of an overall education. My characters think so, too, which is why I put them in all kinds of interesting and exotic settings.
And then are the kinds of heroes I write and the real-life kind I admire. Guys who are cops, ranchers, lawyers and investors. Guys who are courageous, intelligent, assertive (but never aggressive), dominant (but never dominating), tough as well as tender, honest and honorable.
Those are the qualities that make a man sexy, that mark him as an alpha male.
If you’ve been reading my Orsini Brothers mini-series, I hope you’ll agree that Raffaele, Dante, Falco and Nicolo Orsini are alpha males to the core.
They love each other, love their sisters, love their mother. They despise their crime boss father, Cesare, but when he claims he’s dying, the Orsini brothers reluctantly agree to carry out four seemingly simple missions for him.
Trust me. Nothing about these missions is simple. They’re going to change the brothers’ lives forever.
 In Raffaele: Taming His Tempestuous Virgin, Rafe travels to a Sicilian village to offer Cesare’s apology to a Sicilian don but the apology turns out to involve taking shy, virginal Chiara as his wife. Rafe refuses, until he sees what will happen to Chiara unless he meets the don’s demand. Rafe goes through with the marriage, figuring he’ll take his unwanted wife somewhere safe, divorce her and get on with his own life but his plan backfires when beautiful Chiara turns out to have the disposition of a wildcat—and a sensuality that will ultimately drive tough Raffaele to his knees.
Dante: Claiming His Secret Love Child, is equally passionate, though in a very different way. Dante’s world is shaken when he flies to Brazil to buy a ranch for his father. The supposedly successful ranch is actually close to financial ruin but what’s really shocking is that it isn’t owned by an old friend of Cesare, it’s owned by beautiful Gabriella Reyes. Gaby was Dante’s mistress more than a year ago. He ended their affair when he felt Gaby was becoming too important to him. Now he discovers that the sizzle is still there, hotter than ever, but Gaby is living with someone… someone who turns out to be the infant son Dante never knew he’d fathered! What now?
Finally, this month—actually, this month and the next—I’m pleased to introduce you to the remaining two Orsini brothers.
Falco: The Dark Guardian, a November Presents, will take you for a walk on the wild side. Falco is an ex-Special Forces warrior, tough, handsome, with his emotions always tightly controlled. Cesare asks him to protect actress Elle Bissette from a vicious stalker. Falco refuses, until he sees a photo of Elle. He can’t ignore the sadness in her eyes. The problem is that Elle doesn’t want a bodyguard. She doesn’t want anyone’s help. Falco can’t understand the reason until he learns Elle’s terrifying secret. Now, no one can stop him. He’ll protect her, even at the cost of his own life… and somewhere along the way, he’s going to find himself deeply, passionately in love.
My December Presents is Nicolo: The Powerful Sicilian. Nick reluctantly agrees to see if a Tuscan vineyard is a worthwhile investment. Princess Alessia Antoninni, the daughter of the vineyard’s owner, thinks Nick is a thug like his father. A handsome, rich, heart-stoppingly sexy thug but still, a thug. Nick doesn’t like the lady’s disdainful attitude but so what? He’s going home in a couple of days. The only thing he and Alessia have in common is their mutual dislike… unless you factor in a sexual attraction that’s hot enough to start a fire! The commoner and the princess have a sizzling affair and just when it’s almost over, Alessia discovers that she’s pregnant. Has she played Nick for a fool? He has good reason to think so, but he’s going to do the right thing even as he breaks both their hearts.
As with all of my mini-series, you can read and enjoy each Orsini book on its own. And, oh, one last thing. I'm delighted to tell you that Nicolo: The Powerful Sicilian is a nominee for Romantic Times Reviewers’ Choice Award for Best Presents of 2010.
Sandra Marton
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