A Brief Respite.

So the Tempted by Trouble Blog Tour is finally over and sanity can now resume!

For those who have never done a Blog Tour before... DON'T DO IT! Okay, I'm joking (kind of). It is an enormous time-suck, not just with the writing of the guest spots and the answering of the interview questions, but also with the need to respond to the people kind enough to leave a comment. I got about a quarter of my usual writing done. However, I can't blame it all on the tour itself, because it was my own reaction to it that caused the biggest time-suck - I've never had a book published before, I've never been interviewed before and I've never been able to click on someone elses website and see my own ugly mug staring back at me. And I've certainly never been able to spend hours at a time watching my Amazon ranking go up and down. My poor little head was spinning with the wonder of it all!

But it was completely worth it. I have 'met' some lovely people on the tour, blog hosts and readers alike, and I want to thank everyone who commented, supported, tweeted... Thank you all you lovely, lovely people. The Rafflecopter has also selected its random winner from all the entries - congratulations Karen Haas!

Before I toodle off, I am happy to say that a couple of weeks ago I was offered a new four-book contract with Harlequin Mills & Boon Modern/Presents. I bet you can't guess what my response was. (Hint, my poor ed is probably still suffering from ruptured eardrums).

One final thing... I also have some other 'news' that I will be announcing very soon (no, I'm not pregnant).

And on that bombshell,

Take care all xxx

And the winner is....

Many thanks to everyone who entered the Love Is In The Air Blog Hop. All the entries were placed in a hat (okay, it was a tupperware box) and the winner's name picked out at random by my eldest son. So without any further ado or fanfare, I'm happy to announce that the winner is... Kim Matlock! Congratulations Kim - please can you send me your email address? If you're not confident leaving it on the blog, you can always DM me on Facebook, where I am about to pop off to, to make the same announcement there.

For those who did not win, you're still eligible to win the main prize of the Hop, which I have been reliably informed is a $25 Amazon voucher. The Hop organiser will notify the winner.

And that's it! My thanks again to all you lovely romance fans out there.

Take care all, xxx

Love is in the Air Blog Hop/Epic Giveaway!

I have joined my very first Blog Hop! For those who are unaware (which was me until a few days ago!), a Blog Hop is where a bunch of authors get together and give away a prize each, sending readers 'hopping' from site to site in the hope of winning one or more of the prizes. The Love is in the Air Hop is running until the 31st March - at the bottom of this post is a list of the authors featuring in the Hop. Click on their names and you'll go through to their sites and see what prizes they're giving away.

 

So, what prize am I giving away? How exciting is this? I'm giving away a copy of Tempted by Trouble (see, told you it was exciting ha ha ha!). For a chance to win this prize, all you have to do is 'like' my facebook page and leave a comment on the page for me. I'll randomly select a winner (I'll put names in a hat and get one of my kids to pull a name out) on Friday. Oh yes, and if you're not on fb, you can still enter the rafflecopter on my website for a chance to win a book (and a $30 international book voucher).

 

Now, if this wasn't exciting enough (am I laying it on thickly enough for you?), I'm also featuring in Aimee Duffy's Epic Easter Giveaway - if you like prizes and you like to read, head over to Aimee Duffy's website where you'll find lots of fabulous prizes on offer throughout the week.

Many thanks to Emma for organising the hop and for organising the gorgeous advert for it.

TbT Blog Tour starts NOW - I have prizes!

My four-week long Tempted by Trouble blog tour starts today and yes, I am using a shameless promotional tool to get readers interested in my tour and thus my book. A Rafflecopter. Where you can win prizes. But I'm not going to tell you what the prizes are - you'll have to click on the banner below. This will take you to the homepage of mywebsite where the rafflecopter is sitting waiting patiently for you to enter. The prizes are listed there too (don't get too excited or anything though - I hate to dash dreams. You're not entering to win an iPad or anything.). Oh, and you might have to wait a minute for the Rafflecopter to appear as my site appears to be a bit slow. I'm doing a grand job selling this, aren't I?

Still, while I've got you here, why not read a little more shameless promotion from some carefully selected reviews?!

Michelle Smart had me sucked into Tempted by Trouble from the first page!
Tempted by Trouble is a great romance in such a romantic setting…the Carribean. I could smell the salt air and heat as Michelle described the environment.
I highly recommend this book to all romance readers out there!!

For the full review by Harlequin Junkie, click on the link below.

 
 
Fiona: Lovely reunion story with a damaged heroine and gorgeous hero.
I couldn't put it down in spite of it being long past my bedtime *****
(For full Amazon review click here)

Aimee: Absolute must read
I'd highly recommend this book to all readers and lovers of romance worldwide. It's the perfect escape from the gloomy winter. Be warned though, you may need tissues! *****
(For full Amazon review click here)

While I'm here, I can also tell you that the fabulous Victoria James is also going on a virtual tour. If you click on the banner below, it will take you through to her website.

Take care all xxx

RELEASE DAY!!!!!!!!

Sorry to shout the title of this post at you, but today is a day of great excitement in the Smartie household, as today is the release day of my debut book, Tempted by Trouble.

And here it is! Excuse me while I have a little squeal. Naturally, I wouldn't expect anyone to purchase it without reading at least one honest review, so here's another chance to read the review that was published on the fabulous Incy Black's blog at the weekend:

Tempted by Trouble has future Pulitzer Prize winner written all over it. Alice Walker, John Updike, Philip Roth and Cormac McCarthy can all move over – there’s a new literary genius on the scene. And, unlike those often bleak books with endings full of despair (yes, McCarthy, I’m looking at you), this book has a GUARANTEED happy ending (sorry, spoiler).

Where 2012 was the year of Hilary Mantel and the marvellous Bring Up the Bodies, 2013 will be the year of Michelle Smart and Tempted by Trouble. Where Mantel’s book charted the role of Thomas Cromwell in the downfall of Anne Boleyn, Tempted by Trouble charts the havoc that troubled socialite Pippa Rowantree causes for the reclusive billionaire, Marco Capello. Even better, where Bring Up the Bodies is set in the dreary Middle-Ages, Tempted by Trouble is set in the Caribbean! Yes, this book is full of sun, sea and emotional conflict aplenty. What more could you ask for?

Yes, Tempted by Trouble is that good. Honest. So good in fact, I’m going to give it a maximum 10/10, five gold stars and an A+.

Ok, you've rumbled me. Yes, I wrote it myself. And yes, I might have got a teensy weensy bit carried away...

Still, if this review has whet your appetite, you can purchase it by clicking on one of these links:

Amazon.com             Amazon UK           iBookstore           Barnes & Noble

I'll be back to annoy you all soon.

Take care xxx

The Very Inspiring Blogger Award

 

I have been nominated for this award by the very lovely Lindsay Pryor - thank you Lindsay for adding to my workload!

 

There are four basic rules for The Very Inspiring Blog Award.

 

* Display the award logo on your blog.

 

* Link back to the person who nominated you.

 

* State seven things about yourself.

 

* Nominate other victims bloggers for this award and link to them.

 

 

So without further ado, here are seven things about me:

 

 

1) I got a stone stuck up my nose when I was two, which necessitated a trip to hospital.

 

2) I ran through a glass door when I was seven, which also necessitated a trip to hospital (and forty-

    seven stitches to my legs).

 

3) I tripped over and head-butted a cooker when I was ten, which necessitated a trip the emergency

    doctor for some butterfly stitches.

 

4) When I was about ten, I accidentally tipped a cup of tea down my sister's back. This necessitated a

     trip to the first-aid box.

 

5) When I was about twelve, I accidentally poured a fresh pot of tea down my sister's leg (she was

     about nine) as I was distracted by watching Grease. This necessitated my sister taking a trip to

     hospital.

 

6) When I was about ten, I accidentally bumped into my mum while she was chopping vegetables,

     which resulted in her almost chopping her finger off and, yes, necessitated a trip to hospital.

 

7) I am rather clumsy.

 

And now I'm supposed to nominate other bloggers - the only problem is, I took so jolly long getting round to doing this that most of my blogging buddies have already been tagged. Instead, I shall nominate just one person, the very talented and always interesting Alison Nosurnamerequired.

 

Et voila!

 

xxx

 

 

News Galore!

Hello, the rubbish blogger's back! This time I can't take all the blame. The gas men dug up the road outside our house just before Christmas and managed to cut through the phone line. It was fixed exactly a week ago (yes, it took them six weeks to fix it). All the houses on my street found their phone and broadband going down like dominoes. My phone line went on Boxing Day. The Internet tried valliantly to continue alone but gave up the ghost a fortnight ago. Can you imagine? A WHOLE WEEK WITHOUT THE INTERNET!!! It was torture. I had to keep visiting family to steal their wi-fi.

Anyway, that's enough of my whining. Book 2 has gone off to my lovely Mills & Boon editor and I'm busy making a start on a new one. I have no idea if my contract with them will be renewed but that's not going to stop me writing another one for them! If it doesn't get renewed then... well, I guess I'll have a good cry for a month or two, then dust myself down and get on with the most important thing. Writing.

Tempted by Trouble, my Entangled Indulgence book, has a scheduled release date of the 4th March. I can't tell you how excited I am - this will be my first ever published book. I've completed the copy-edits for it and 'met' the team that will help me publicise it. I say met, but as they're in the US and I'm in England, we had our meeting yesterday via Skype (thank god the Internet's working again!). I shall be embarking on a blog tour and doing a Rafflecopter (I'll explain that in another post when I've got my head around it a bit more). Now I'm looking forward to receiving the cover art for it, although I've been warned I might not get it until around a week before publication.

Finally, I've set up a facebook page. I'm already on fb in a personal capacity, which mostly involves me using it to wish family and friends Happy Birthday and to play Angry Birds. Now I've got a proper Author page which you can find at http://www.facebook.com/michellesmartauthor. If this link doesn't work you're more than welcome to blame me.

Right, that's it from me. As soon as I have any further news I will make sure to update this blog asap (ie, within at least a month of it happening, ha ha ha!).

Take care all,
xxx