The Recipe for Harlequin Presents

by Sabrina Philips

Take one alpha hero and one spirited heroine. Mix with a large chunk of conflict. Add a dollop of sex. Simmer in a glamorous, international destination for 50-55,000 words, and garnish with a happy ending.

Sounds about right, doesn’t it?

Ask readers of Presents what the books are about and they are likely to mention the above ‘ingredients’. Look at the Publisher guidelines, and you’ll find them mentioned there too. The two books I’ve sold certainly include them. But is the recipe really so simple? And if it is, how can the books be so perennially popular if they all include the same old ingredients, (and how can writing a novel for Presents be so challenging if it is really that easy?!)

The answer, I believe, lies within the ingredients themselves…..

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Newly acquired Mills & Boon Modern/Harlequin Presents Author, Sabrina Philips will be joining us on Wednesday, October 22nd! Sabrina is the next to last author to be signed by Presents/Modern at this time. Her first book, Valenti’s One-Month Mistress, is due out in February 2009 in the UK (March 2009 US). Her second book has been accepted without revisions and she is now on to the third.

Valenti’s One-Month Mistress is out in the UK in Feb 09 and in North America in March 09. Hot off the press, Sabrina’s very first cover has just arrived. Here’s the blurb…

Blackmailed!
Faye Matteson cannot believe the nerve of Dante Valenti! The arrogant Italian expects her to become his mistress in exchange for his help with her failing business.

Defiant!
She fell for him when she was just an innocent – but he took her virginity and left her heartbroken. She’d sworn, Never again!

Taken!
But no one should ever underestimate the power of Dante Valenti’s sensuality. If he wants her, he will have her.

And here’s a bit about Sabrina…
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