by Barbara Dunlop

I found out yesterday that MARRIAGE TERMS, my August story from Silhouette Desire, was a Top Pick at Romantic Times. “Barbara Dunlop…offers up a spicy tale of love rediscovered in this excellent book.”

Needless to say, I was thrilled with the honor. MARRIAGE TERMS is my first RT Top Pick. It was also my first continuity story. And it was the first story I set in New York City.

As it happens, I’d taken a trip to New York shortly before I was asked to participate in Silhouette Desire’s Elliott’s continuity series. I absolutely loved the city! So, I was delighted to have an opportunity to use it as a setting, particularly in the glitzy, fast-paced world of the Elliott family. If you haven’t been following the series, it’s worth looking for back issues. Reviews have been stellar, and the through thread of four siblings vying for the CEO job at Elliott Publications is chock full of intrigue and scandal.

That trip to New York was for the 2004 Romance Writers of America conference. For authors like me, who live far away from RWA chapters, conferences are an excellent opportunity to hang out with other writers, editors and agents. They’re also a great way to visit some wonderful American cities.

This year, the RWA National Conference is in Atlanta. It’s coming up in a few short days, and I can’t wait to meet up with friends like C.J. Carmichael, Jane Graves, Jane Porter and Isabel Sharpe. Not to mention my incredibly gifted editor, Kathryn Lye, and my fun-loving, humorous, intelligent and handsome agent, Evan Fogelman. (No, he’s not paying me to say that. But I once told a fellow author that he was ‘professional”. I meant it as a compliment, but he seemed to equate professional with boring. This time, I’m not taking any chances.)

But, back to New York. In 2004, my dear friend Colleen Collins–who wrote The Perfect Girlfriend, which is the companion book to my May 2006 release, The Perfect Boyfriend–and I stayed in the city after the conference to take in some of the sights.

We stopped for an emotional visit to Ground Zero, then we moved onto the Met, where, along with many of the fine sculpture and painting galleries, we indulged in a fabulous drink called a Cleopatra’s Needle. After that we climbed to the top of the Empire State Building and gazed out at endless rivers and bridges and buildings. New York is one very impressive city! We ended the day at a funky little restaurant and ate decedent chocolate eight balls–a dessert I’ve never found anywhere else.

With these experiences fresh in my mind, I set out to bring New York to life through the eyes of Daniel and Amanda Elliott. My hero Daniel is in competition with his three siblings for his father’s job as CEO of Elliott Publications. He is a driven man and not about to let anything stand in his way. Unfortunately for him, he’s reunited with his ex wife Amanda over the shooting injury of their oldest son. Amanda is the one person who might distract him from his climb up the corporate ladder, and he can’t seem to keep his hands off her.

Over the rocky course of their relationship, new scandals come to light, old secrets are revealed and, of course, the romance sizzles with the energy and intensity of New York itself.

Join the discussion to win a signed copy of MARRIAGE TERMS for a chance to win a Chocolate Empire State Building from Li-Lac’s fine chocolates in New York City. Good luck to all!

Barbara
www.barbaradunlop.com