Six degrees of separation...

Actually, that title is not right. I'm not talking about separation in this blog, but connections.

One of my lovely "Team Liz" members who received an ARC of The Sheikh's Unsuitable Bride had spotted a number of characters who had appeared in other books. She wrote and asked me if one of the other characters had also had a book of her own. She didn't, but the fact that she was "real" enough to give the feeling that might have was very pleasing. It meant that even though she appeared briefly, in a phone call, she had a three-dimensional quality that I hope to give to even the walk-on parts.

I love revisitng my characters and all my sheikhs are linked, either through family or close ties.

Sheikh Fayad and his lovely Princess Violet, who play an important part of this story, first appeared in Chosen as the Sheikh's Wife (with a guest appearance from my very first sheikh, Prince Hassan - His Desert Rose). I needed a country where the exiled Sheikh Ibrahim Al-Ansari could make his home and where better than Ramal Hamrah? Fayad is his cousin. The fort had been his maternal grandmother's home. Perfect.

Sheikh Zahir gets a passing mention. He first appeared in The Sheikh's Guarded Heart, then got his own story in The Sheikh's Unsuitable Bride.

His unsuitable bride was Diana, who worked for Sadie, (first appearance in The Baby Plan) who is the step-daughter of Amanda Garland (first appearnace Dating Her Boss), who also makes an appearance in The Sheikh's Convenient Princess.  Are you still with me? :)

When you have created the world's finest staff agency, why would you need to invent another one?

Amanda is one of those very useful women who will put in appearance whenever I need her. Her brother was the hero of Dating Her Boss; she was a bit edgy, very self-contained and I couldn't resist blowing her world apart in The Baby Plan.

Another character who gets a mention in The Sheikh's Convenient Princess is Jude Radcliffe, who met and married the adorable Talie in The Temp and the Tycoon (reported in the Daily Telegraph as one of the most downloaded books on Amazon UK when it was first published). That's the retro cover Mills and Boon used when they reprinted it for their 100th anniversary.

Are there any characters in my books that you wish had a story of their own? There are one or two who I think deserve a story of their own but I'd love to hear your thoughts.

In other news, I'm expanding Team Liz. The duties are not onerous. You have to be signed up to my newsletter (there's a link on the sidebar), "like" my Facebook page and follow me on Twitter. More importantly you have to love my books because you will receive an advance copy, in return for which you will be asked to leave a honest review on Goodreads and Amazon. If you hate it, I'd rather you emailed me and told me what bothered you - actually that goes for everyone. I will be putting an invitation on my newsletter in February with details of how to come on board.

There will be another new Liz Fielding Harlequin Romance/Cherish, Her Pregnancy Bombshell, in June 2017. And one other book this year. Maybe a short story if I can keep sufficiently focussed and everything runs smoothly at Fielding Towers.

Here are the links for The Sheikh's Convenient Princess.

Harlequin

Ibooks  Barnes & Noble

Kobo
 Amazon US
Amazon UK