by Kate Hardy, author of Hotly Bedded, Conveniently Wedded (Harlequin Presents) and The Greek Doctor’s New-Year Baby (Harlequin Medical Romance)
I’m very privileged to write for two different lines – Modern Heat (published as part of the Presents programme in the US) and Medical Romance.
Well, I say they’re different. But the more I think about it, the more I realise they’re not actually that far apart.
Presents tend to have high-octane conflicts; and you can’t get anything more high-octane than a life-and-death scenario – which you’ll find in Medicals. (Look for the books set in the emergency department. Or the maternity ward. Or the children’s ward. Or… Well, you get the picture.)
My Modern Heats tend to have a few secondary characters, giving them a ‘real world’ feel, which resonated with the RNA Romance Prize judges last year for Breakfast at Giovanni’s (which was published as In Bed With Her Italian Boss in the US) and with people who’ve read it as part of the e-Harlequin reading challenge. And you get the same feel in my Medicals: the hero and heroine are part of a team, so you get to meet their colleagues and their patients. I use the medical bits to drive the story forward or shed light on the hero/heroine – just as the nerdy bits do in my Modern Heats…when I can sneak them past my ed that is! Ha. Wait till she sees the ice hotel in my next book. And the Aston Martin – no, wait, the Aston Martin is in the Medical I’ve just written. The ice hotel is in the Modern Heat I’m writing now. Yes, it’s a Daniel-Craig-as-James-Bond fantasy… and can’t you just see him as a medic, taking control of a difficult situation and saving the world (well, his patients)? I certainly can!
As well as realism, you’ll find glamour in Meds. Look out for the posh docs – heroes (and heroines) from rich and aristocratic backgrounds, trying to square their duty to their families with their vocation and their duty to their patients. Theo Petrakis, in The Greek Doctor’s New Year Baby (print, eBook), comes from a rich family; and the very first scene of the book, where he meets Madison Gregory, could’ve come straight from one of my Modern Heats, because it takes place at a glamorous masked ball. And in The Children’s Doctor’s Special Proposal, the second in the London Victoria duo, Rhys’s first ‘date’ with Katrina is in Hampstead: that’s definitely Modern Heat territory.
If you like big city settings, you’ll love the city hospital books. Mediterranean men? Absolutely. (Theo is Greek. My Medical romance mates Sarah Morgan and Amy Andrews write the most gorgeous Italian doctors. And I have a very soft spot for Spanish ones – dear, lovely ed, please can I have Antonio Banderas as my next cover model?) And hot love scenes? Definitely! Medical heroes and heroines know how to celebrate life in one of the nicest ways 
So really, Presents and Medicals aren’t so far apart. I’ve even sneaked medics into my Modern Heats. And the most important thing about both lines is that they have all the essential elements of a fabulous romantic read: strong characters, intense conflict and a really satisfying resolution. It’s why I love reading both lines; and why I’m very, very glad that I write for both!
Check back tomorrow for an exclusive excerpt of The Greek Doctor’s New-Year Baby, and use the widget below to read Chapter One of Kate’s January Harlequin Presents release Hotly Bedded, Conveniently Wedded!
Tagged with: Greek heroes • Harlequin Medical Romance • Hotly Bedded Conveniently Wedded • Kate Hardy • Modern Heat books • The Greek Doctor's New-Year Baby
Anyone else think the model on The Greek Doctor’s New-Year Baby looks a lot like Orlando Bloom? Yum
~Amy
Amy – I wish! … Though I had someone else in mind for the cover. Not Greek, admittedly, but totally gorgeous.
I did ask my ed. As I do every time I write a Mediterreanean hero. And I got the same answer. ‘No, Kate, you can’t have Antonio Banderas…’
Ah yes Kate, no one writes a better nerdy bit than you…
And yes, I wouldn’t mind working side by side in the ER with Daniel Craig and that lovely 007 pout… But then again, I don’t think anyone would want to have me treating them in that situation.
Oh, he’s yummy. And why does a good-looking man holding a baby just make me gooey in all the right places?
I agree, that cover is hawt! Kate. There’s something very, very sexy about a gorgeous man holding a tiny baby. It took me 13 covers before I finally got me a man
Another thing that’s surprising about medicals is the hero – he’s an alpha. Yesiree, make no mistake about that. Successful, powerful, commanding, top-of-his field. BUT is also compassionate with a great bedside manner
Now who can resist a man like that?
Kate,
what a great pleasure to write for two lines! A goal I hope to attain myself one day soon. Your titles do sound yummy. Especially the Greek Doctor one! I have The Greek Doctor’s Proposal coming out in April/July, so can’t wait to get my hands on it, even though I know what happens.
You have a lovely cover, too. Haven’t seen a bad one yet.
Molly
“No, you can’t have Antonio Banderas.”
That’s funny, my husband said the same thing to me when I gave him my Christmas list…
Maisey
Hmmm, must be the year for the Greek Doctor. I have Greek Doctor, Cinderella Bride coming out mid-year. Don’t know what it’s cover is like but I’m hoping for a very dashing man
Heidi – LOL. And I bet you have one of those tea towels that India Grey was on about, last year. The one about having a really nice dream about Daniel Craig last night…
Kim – if you think this one has a yummy doc and baby combo, go check out my Spanish doctor from last year! They really did me proud. (The Meds cover, that is – the Presents version has a different cover, which is very nice, but I think the Meds one was special. I’ve also been blessed by the cover fairies with the cover of my upcoming Modern Heat, Surrender to the Playboy Sheikh – is in a class of its own and I’m still beaming about how lovely it is)
Molly – and there was I, thinking I was being original *g* (No, I’m teasing. Lots of Margaret Barker’s books are set in Greece, probably because she used to jet around there all the time. Our Meredith has written some gorgeous Greeks, too. And Sarah Morgan’s Greek doctor is one of my all-time fave Meds.) Wouldn’t it be nice for the Meds authors to meet up on a Greek beach, with wine, sticky pastries and gorgeous Greeks waiting on us hand and foot? (All right. So it’s raining in my bit of England this morning, and I’m trying to come up with something to inspire me…)
Maisey – I tried that one, too
Got the same answer from my DH. (He did buy me the El Mariachi trilogy when it came out, though…)
Amy, that’s a *fab* title – hope you get the cover to go with it!
I posted this comment earlier but it seems to have been sucked into moderation, so here goes again….
I agree, that cover is hawt! Kate. There’s something very, very sexy about a gorgeous man holding a tiny baby. It took me 13 covers before I finally got me a man
Another thing that’s surprising about medicals is the hero – he’s an alpha. Yesiree, make no mistake about that. Successful, powerful, commanding, top-of-his field. BUT is also compassionate with a great bedside manner. Now who can resist a man like that?
Oh and Kate – you name the place and the time and I’ll join you on that Greek Island anytime!!!
Amy – spot on about the hero. It’s an irresistible combo.
(And if anyone reading this is wondering about just how gorgeous our doctors are, check out the Medical authors’ joint blog, Love is the Best Medicine. We have pictures to prove it…)
I believe there are some gorgeous doctors coming out in Presents Extra in May, so do keep an eye out for them
Did someone mention Daniel Craig?!?!?!? That man converted me from “Who cares about 007?” to “When’s the next one coming out!”
Kate and Amy, if you’re going to a Greek island, I’m coming too!! Heidi, Kim, you guys up for some cheese and wine on some romantic pebbled beach? I think we all need to do some research
I think it IS Orlando Bloom. And I’m not surprised he’s lovin’ that baby. Orlando strikes me as the sort of boy who really would be kind to babies and tiny mewling kittens.
Not so sure about Tonio. He’s such a swashbuckling, devil-may-care kind of alpha, he might be better in the emergency ward than obstetrics. Or better still, I don’t see why he shouldn’t be striding across the desert sands in Sheikh robes, or applying an emergency suture on Hampstead Heath.
Anything is possible for a gal who writes for Modern Heat as well as hot, steamy Medical Romance and never runs out of inspiration.
You’re a marvel, Kate!
BY the way, May is shaping up to be a pretty big month in America. The shelves will be ablaze with those Presents Extra Medicals. Then there’s a bad, bad man in *Untamed Billionaire, Undressed Virgin* who’s faced with a strong temptation. Bet you can’t guess what it is!
Book me on that flight with you to that Greek Island, Amy!
cheers
anna
Hmmm, think we need to change that Greek holiday to a “writing retreat” – just so the tax man doesn’t have apoplexy.
Man, Anna – with a title like that, I’m gonna be knocking Big W’s doors down just to the first to get me a copy.
Robbie – oh, yes. Wasn’t he good in Casino Royale? (And that scene with the poison… that’s definitely a Medical *g*)
Wouldn’t that writing retreat be fab?
Anna – thank you
And an untamed billionaire, eh? (I can see Antonio Banderas in that. But, with two kids and a baaad chocolate habit, I couldn’t star with him as the undressed virgin *g*)
May looks as if it’s going to be a fab month in the US – I know Jessica Matthews has a posh doc out, with ‘The Royal Doctor’s Bride’. Will admit that one of mine is in there too, as ‘The Millionare Boss’s Reluctant Mistress’ – from my original Posh Docs trilogy. (And this is where the Modern Heat girls start grinning when I confess that my hero’s surname is Radley… As my DH put it, only I could name a hero after my favourite handbag!)
It’s quite hot in the UK this month, too – we have a Posh Doc from Anne Fraser (Posh Doc Claims His Bride – a Scottish Laird, no less – and I know she’s got a gorgeoous Frenchman lined up for April, ‘Falling for her Mediterranean Boss’), our Amy’s The Single Dad’s New-Year Bride (third in her trilogy, and did you SEE the fab cover she had for her sexy Dr Romano at Christmas?) and Meredith Webber’s heart surgeon.
So many books, so little time… and I’d better go and do some work before my ed finds out I’ve been in here playing. Back to my ice hotel
Kate,
I think you should keep asking about Antonio.
And ask to be there for the shoot too
Hey Kate,
Unrelated, but I just read Hotly Bedded, Conveniently Wedded. I love it. Thanks for the great read!
Maisey
Nic – I do
Maisey – thank you very much for the compliment! That one’s quite close to my heart (my gorgeous archaeologist – if I couldn’t be an author, I’d want to work in that field), so I’m glad you enjoyed it.