Coleen Kwan

The MFRW (Marketing For Romance Writers) Blog Hop is all about firsts—first kiss, first love, first whatever. So I’m talking about my first book for Entangled Publishing and the first in my series.

REAL MEN DON’T BREAK HEARTS is the story of Nate and Ally, two people with a bumpy history together, two people who are trying to break free of lifetime habits and make new lives for themselves, two people who suddenly find themselves attracted to each other despite their mutual dislike.





I was truly delighted when Entangled Publishing accepted my book for their Bliss line and even more excited that I could write further books in my REAL MEN series. The next book to come out will feature Tyler, Ally’s best friend.


Blog hops are all about giveaways, and in keeping with the theme of Firsts, I’m giving away one ebook copy of my first book to be published, WHEN HARRIET CAME HOME (Carina Press, Oct 2011). Getting my first publishing offer was a memorable day for me. I was fortunate to work with a talented editor who guided me and taught me so much.


WHEN HARRIET CAME HOME was a Top Pick at Night Owl Reviews. For a chance to win this book just leave a comment below and include an email address. (Giveaway open internationally)

Some writers love nothing better than to pop on the earphones and crank up the music while they write. It energises them, gives them inspiration. I’m the opposite. I can’t write with distractions like music or TV on. But sometimes listening to the right piece of music can help set the tone for a particular scene.

 I needed some mood-setting music when I was writing a pivotal scene in my first contemporary romance WHEN HARRIET CAME HOME. In my scene it’s night time and my hero and heroine, Adam and Harriet, are at a quiet lookout, dancing together under the stars. Music plays from Adam’s car. But what song were they dancing to? I wanted something emotional to match the scene and eventually found an evocative song by Melody Gardot called ‘Our Love Is Easy’.


I have to confess straight up that I’m not a fan of jazz, but I happened to catch a TV interview with singer-songwriter Melody Gardot and was intrigued by her story. An horrific accident put her in hospital for a year and left her with serious injuries, one of them making her hyper-sensitive to both light and sound. During her recovery she learned to play the guitar and began writing music. Her music has been described as ‘a blend of cocktail jazz and torch song’, and her singing is rich and soulful.

After I listened to ‘Our Love Is Easy’ several times, it made writing the scene in my book much easier and hopefully improved the emotional punch too. If you like smooth, cool jazz, or even if you don't, take a listen!

For this Six Sentence Sunday I thought I'd post some lines from my contemporary romance, When Harriet Came Home:

Adam Blackstone. Almost unrecognisable. Ten years ago he’d had smooth, boyish good looks,designer clothes, and a sports coupé—but now! Now his dark hair was close-cropped, he drove a truck, wore work boots, jeans and a plaid shirt, and he looked rugged and gritty as sandpaper. The prince had turned into a woodcutter. Even his eyes seemed different—still grey, but with tiny creases at the edges and a dark sombreness lying in their smoky depths.

Check out other posts at Six Sentence Sunday.

A few weeks ago I did a guest post on the Novel Thoughts blog about music and how the right song can set the mood for a scene. I mentioned the song I thought of when I was writing a romantic scene for When Harriet Came Home — Melody Gardot’s ‘Our Love Is Easy’. It’s a beautiful song, even if you’re not a jazz fan (and I’m definitely not). Anyway, one of the commentators mentioned she loved the song so much she went and bought it! She probably didn’t buy my book, but I’m happy to sell a song for Melody Gardot ☺

Today I'm a guest on Kylie Griffin's blog.

Today I'm over at Ramblings of a Romance Writing Mama talking about craft books.