I know I have a number of libraries who read my newsletters and this list, which is why I'm posting here that Here With Me is available in a Hardback, Large Print version from Thorndike. I wouldn't suggest non-library readers run out and buy it...it's expensive. You can still find copies of the original mass market edition online at Amazon and B&N if you missed it first time around.

And, because a few of you asked, yes, I opened a My Space account. It's at http://www.myspace.com/authorhollyjacobs Feel free to stop there and visit!

As for what's up here...snow, snow and more snow! I'm watching it outside the window now, and realizing I'm going to have to go shovel again soon! Hope wherever you are it's warm!

Holly

More Pet Posts....

Don't forget, send your "favorite pet" post to me at Holly@Hollysbooks.com, or post it in the comment section here, to be entered in the contest for a copy of Night Calls.

My favorite pet: Nora About two years ago we lost our 11yr old Rottie - the love of our life since she was a tiny pup. Not thinking I could ever love another the way I olved her, I shied away from getting a puppy. We heard about a senior girl rottie from a rescue we volunteered for. She needed a home badly. I thought I would not have to love her, just make her life better. Well, Nora has made our life better - mended our hearts and I love her more than anyhing - way more than I ever thought possible. ~ tracy

My favourite pet is a yorkshire terrier we named Gizmo.he is 10 years old,spoiled rotten and we love him tremendously.please enter me in contest. ~Linda

Alrighty....... My favorite pet would be my baby skipper. He's huge, he's a mutt, but he's the biggest baby you've ever seen. Skipper is so beautiful. He has one crystal blue eye and one brown. He loves to cuddle up to my feet no matter where i am. he's one of those dogs that just seem to know what i'm feeling. I tell him all my secrets (cause i know he won't tell). He's also the family gaurd dog, which seems so odd to me. He's such a loving baby, but when it comes to strangers, he's so protective over us all! he really is my best friend. I love that boy to death! he's been around for a lond while, 10yrs, and i'm very much afraid of losing him. No one wants to lose their best friend! But for now i'm gonna just keep on lovin' him and babying him. lol ~Amy

Okay, a few more pet posts. (I'm giving away a hardback copy of last year's Night Calls to celebrate my new release, Laugh Lines) Speaking of pets, our dog, Ethel Merman, has a whole new trick to getting attention. She's become a cat burglar! Yes, I know, a dog who's a cat burglar, but there it is. She goes into stealth mode, stalking any unsuspecting item in the family room, then before you know it, she's gone...and so is the item. She loves socks. The plus side is, since she takes socks, the family have been better about not leaving them all over the house. The bad news is, if you don't take them off, she's not totally against taking them right off your foot! LOL And the last few days, discovered my dh's phone. Thankfully, she's not interested in damaging the items, she just wants to get your attention and play catch-the-dog.

Okay, here are a few more blog-readers' posts on their pets:


My favorite pet was our family dog, Casey, who passed away a year and a half ago. She was a big dog who had no idea how big she was. She was part Black Lab and was wonderful with our children. She never growled or snapped at them no matter how they tortured her. It was awful for all of us when she died but now we can look back at the good times. ~Maureen

My favorite pet was a cat named Bobby Socks. He was a realy neat cat and would actually knock at the door to be let in and out. He was sadly hit by a car and returned home injured. The vet said the only reason why he was alive was because of his love for us. ~Debby

My favorite pet is a cat (my cat is Muffin). I love the personality of a cat. ~Judy

Hope you all have a great week!

Coupons...

I just got a big batch of fliers about Harlequin's new Everlasting Love line. My first book for them isn't until October of this year (The House on Briar Hill Rd.) Anyway, the fliers have two $1 off coupons, good for an entire year for any of the Everlasting Love books. If you'd like a few, send me a SASE (an indicate you want the fliers) to Holly Jacobs, PO Box 11102, Erie, PA 16514-1102, and I'll send some off to you!

Holly

Excerpt:

Oh, there's an excerpt from next month's book, Laugh Lines, up on my website now!

Hope you enjoy!

Holly

Pets

We're still talking about pets we have, pets we used to have...pets we love. (In case you missed the original post, I'm giving away a copy of Night Calls, which featured an Old English Mastiff modeled after our dog.) Here are a few of the posts...

"My favorite pet is my almost four-month-old salt & pepper female miniature schnauzer, “Pepper Too”. She’s a bundle of joy and energy. My 13 ½ year-old salt & pepper female miniature schnauzer, “Pepper”, crossed the Rainbow Bridge on October 19, 2006 – and her sister, “Heidi Jo”, my 14 ½ year-old black female miniature schnauzer joined her on December 2, 2006. " ~I Love Schnauzers

"My favorite pet is my 10 year old Maltese, Annie. I had her sire for 13 years and I am afraid that she is the last of the line. She is a very happy dog (my Granddog) and I love her to death!" ~Cheri

"A favourite pet is something difficult to decide. With 6 dogs, three large and three small and each with their own distinct personality, how does one pick one ? But I suppose our cross chow/bull terrier, Simba probably comes first to mind. Although he is a very heavily built dog with a massive head and jaws, he is the gentlest thing you could ever hope to find. He gets pulled around on his neck by the other two large dogs and licked to death by the smaller ones, but remain totally un-perturbed. I think he must be a distant relative of Ferdinand the Bull, because he also loves to sniff flowers. About the only thing that gets him going is snakes as them he attacks with ferocity." ~Carol

"My favorite pet is my Snoodle-part Schnauzer and part Poodle. His name is Sandy. He is blonde like me. He turned 15 in November but still looks and acts like he is a much younger dog. Whenver I take him to the vet he jumps up and down eager to see the Doctor who says "I can't believe he is this old." He is my best friend and travels with me wherever I go. It seems at times he can read my mind and know what I am going to do. He is the smartest dog I have ever owned. I thank God every night that he has let me have Sandy for this many years. I love him very much." ~Jackie

"My favorite pet now is Willie a hyper, book loving Jack Russell terrier. He keeps me busy and if I am reading a book and happen to lay it down where he can get at it-well, I can't tell you how many times I have had to go to a bookstore and finish reading that book. He shakes and bites the pages out of them. Doesn't bother a hardback, just the paperbacks. I guess he does that to see me chsse after him.He is an intelligent dog and very lovable but certainly different from the dogs I have had in the past (chihuahuas)." Joy

More posts to follow...keep sending them in! (See contest rules)

Holly

Well, since we're talking about pets (see my current contest) and I've been getting emails from all of you (I'll start posting reader's pet's soon), I thought I'd kick off the pet posts with one about one of my favorite pets who isn't mine. He's Sid and he owns Harlequin author, Kate Walker (not the other way around LOL). I've heard Sid stories for years, and asked Kate (a brilliant writer and a lovely, lovely friend) to introduce Sid to all of you!

Holly


Kate Walker:

Sid is my cat. – well, one of four - I never intended to have four cats. Some years ago I had three and 3 is a nice number. There’s one for my lap and one for the BM’s – and one left over for any visitor who wants a lapwarmer. But cats decide who they’re going to live with. And one night we opened the door to let the cats in and in came Bob, Dylan, Spiffy – and Spiffy brought a friend with him. A handsome, big (very big) black and brown tabby who just about announced that he lived here and would I please show him where the food was. (Actually I don’t believe he said please – just 'Lemmme at the food!’)

And so Sid came into our lives. We tried to keep him out in the hope he would go home, but he just sat outside our patio doors and yelled and yelled and yelled. We couldn’t sleep. The neighbours couldn’t sleep and Sid was not moving. So we let him in. We tried to find his previous owners at the start - but then when we found that he had half his whiskers pulled out and air gun pellets in his stomach, we decided they weren’t worth looking for. We called him Sid because of an ancient radio comedy programme called Round the Horne which had a character named Rambling Sid Rumpo in it. Rambling Sid suited the wanderer. At first he was a rather pathetic creature. He was nervous and panicked if anyone went near him, he slept with his eyes open and twitched and moaned in his sleep. His head and his tail – a wonderful, thick, richly furred tail - stayed down. He didn’t even have enough spirit to lift his tail for the first five months he was with us.

But once he was secure in his chosen home, Rambling Sid turned into A Force in Fur. He lost the ‘Rambling’ part of his name and gained a knighthood. As TS Elliott says, cats have many names – and this is certainly true of The Force - his full title grew until it became Sir Sidney St John Willoughby Portly-Lummox ACOSB (A Cat of Superior Breeding). Anne McAllister has added to that by awarding him the honours of Earl of Hellions Bumpstead and Lord of Blubberhouses. (And for those of you who are laughing at those ridiculous names, I assure you they are real, genuine English village names the first in Essex, the second in North Yorkshire.)

Since his arrival Sid has become A Personality (note – I resisted the temptation to say A Purrsonality). He now regularly appears on my web site – where he often gets more fan mail than I do). He is the one who ensures total fairness in the choice of all the winners of my contests. I put all the names of the entrants on pieces of paper, top each one off with a cat crunchie and the one Sid eats first is the winner. If this was the 1600s and not the 2000s, he would probably get me accused of being a witch and having him as my familiar as he rarely leaves my side. He sleeps on my bed (well – he sleeps on me!). He sits on my lap, and if get up he follows me. And during the day, when I’m working, he sleeps on my desk, curled around the computer keyboard. He’s there now – dozing contentedly and occasionally reaching out a paw to pat my hand as I type. If I pause to think then he senses the silence, lifts his head and pushes it under my hand so that I have to stroke him. As an aid to thought it’s pretty good. He just wonders why it took us so long to realise this was where he belonged – he knew this was home from the moment he saw it.

The only fly in the ointment - or cat in the way of the firespot, is Dylan. Dylan and Sid will never be friends. So that’s Sid – or, as he’s usually known to my readers Sid The Cat. The capitals are important. In his mind, he’s The Cat and no one else gets a look in. Oh well, four cats is a very nice number - there's one for the BM's lap and two for anyone visitors. There's no room at all on my lap - that's Sid's territory and only his. ~Kate Walker (you can visit Sid and Kate--notice Sid came first--at "their" website or blog!)

Fun Links

Here's a link for you to my friend's Lee's site. She's put up a post by me that you might enjoy! Plus, she has an awful lot of fun things going there. Her Tote Bags 'n Blogs is a fun site!

Oh, and speaking of fun, if you visit eHarlequin this month, they're debuting the new Everlasting Love line (I have a book out with them in October) with a buy one, get one half off special!

Holly

Well, Once Upon a Princess was translated again...this time it's in Czech. I love it when the books travel. Are you from another country and looking for Harlequin Books? There are links on my link page to a number of them. If you know of another site in a country not listed, email me and I'll add it! Truly, it gives me such geeky glee to see them travel.

Speaking of geeky glee (and really most of the glee in my life is quite geeky), I got a Dyson vacuum the other day. If you read about my contest, you'll know we have a dog. Ethel Merrman, and boy does she shed. And boy, does the Dyson pick up that hair. It's amazing to watch. And I'll confess, I no longer say I'm vacuuming...I say I'm Dysoning. LOL Yep, geeky glee.


Holly

There's a new contest on my website!!

My first contest in 2007 is designed to celebrate my February Avalon release, Laugh Lines. I'm giving away a hardback copy of my '06 Avalon release, Night Calls. It was story that featured a dog, Dudley. Dudley's based on our Old English Mastiff who passed away last year. They're both big, slimy and very sweet.

So, how do you enter? Just send me an email with "contest" in the header, and tell me about your favorite pet. I'll post excerpts on my blog, Hollyworld. Send me your email at Holly@HollysBook.com and I'll enter your name in a drawing. You'll also be signed up for my newsletters!

Oh, and other fun news...one of my first Silhouette Romances, Do You Hear What I Hear? is available in France as part of a holiday anthology, while Once Upon a Princess is visiting Poland this month.

Congratulations to Sue! She won the last contest...that little "Library" bag!

Happy 2007!

Holly

Happy New Year!!

Is everyone making their resolutions? Me? I'm a firm believer in making ones I know I won't break. For instance, one year, I resolved to try a shot of tequila. I'd never done one, and it sounded like something everyone should try at least once. A friend's dad showed me the "cool" way of holding the shot glass, the lemon and the salt all in one hand, so you can toss it back in a fluid motion. I'm going to confess, that one shot was probably all I'll ever do (margaritas are much better than shots LOL), but hey, I accomplished my New Year goal!

I took two weeks off from writing over the holidays...something I rarely, if ever, do. Okay, so I'll confess, the longer I was away from the computer, the more I found myself coming up with new ideas. I firmly wouldn't allow myself to open my word processor, so I'd jot them down in a notebook, which is now filled with ideas and bits of dialogue. I'm chomping at the bit to get back to the writing tomorrow. Which leads me to this year's resolution...

I'd love to say I plan weekly dates with my dh. And if you consider our Saturday shopping trips together (which we do), I'd say we're good to go. But hey, it's New Year's...I'm going for something a bit more difficult. How about, a big fancy, all out date with him? We have a gift certificate for a very nice Italian restaurant. So, to lead off my ‘07, we'll get all gussied up and go out WITH NO KIDS! Yep, thinking that's doable. LOL Okay, and I'll add to that. After the holiday writing break, I'm inclined to think that the occasional writing day off might be good for me, so I'm resolving to cut myself some slack. This year, I'll take a day off now and again to just hang and have fun!

There you are, my resolutions are taking time to smell the roses and a date. Not too bad. Hope you all have figured out what you plan to resolve for ‘07, and that it's an amazing, wonderful year for everyone!

Holly