Continuing with Small Blog, Big Giveaway, two lucky commentators will win copies of TO LOVE A HERO, international romance, or FRENCH PERIL, romantic suspense.

I've been often asked: What made you write this particular book? Why did you set your story in that particiular setting? So let me explain the whys behind three of my stories.

When I started writing, I already knew that my heroine would be an all-American gal, educated, assertive and independent. But I wanted my hero to be different from the men she met everyday at work. While traveling abroad, I observed the foreign male and study how he could attract my American heroine and be worthy of her love.

During my business trips to Belarus, I dealt mostly with officers, handsome, reserved, aloof at first sight.

TO LOVE A HERO --available for $0.99--highlights the hospitality and warmth of the gorgeous and valiant Belarusian officers who sing, toast with vodka and make a woman feel like a goddess.

The Russian hero, such as the handsome Major General Sergei of TO LOVE A HERO, is a perfect example of alpha hero: a patriotic officer, authoritative and chauvinistic but protective and gallant, honest and loyal.

FRENCH PERIL was inspired by a vacation in a modernized chateau, in the historical Loire Valley. I was so impressed by the magnificence of the French chateaux and the wealth of history of that area, I visualized gallant aristocrats entertaining beautiful women in lavishly decorated galleries and plush gardens. Stories played in my mind. I upped the stakes with a missing statue and the murder of a professor to create a romantic suspense, FRENCH PERIL--available for $0.99.

In France, the old gallantry has survived and many Frenchmen would not hesitate to write a poem to their beloved. The aristocratic male greets a woman by bowing over her hand for a kiss while the average Frenchman kisses her three times on the cheeks. The French hero is a playboy and a womanizer, determined not to be entrapped, but also a generous and passionate lover.

In NO MORE LIES, Dr. Luc George is a charming psychiatrist and gallant aristocrat, the perfect French lover a woman can wish for. He detests secrets, but the woman he loves, Dr. Olivia Crane, has secrets by the bucket-load.

A lie that brings a smile...or the truth that draws tears?

Olivia doesn’t want to remember the past, doesn’t want to talk about it and carefully hide it from her daughter and from the man she loves. As a successful doctor, she treats abused patients, yet she is so afraid of seeing the past destroy her daughter’s peace of mind, that one little lie leads to another, and another,…

All hell breaks loose when Luc strolls into her office, with open arms and a confident smile. Should she return his scorching kisses, or should she lock her door before he digs into her many secrets?

Secret daughter, secret friend, secret enemy. Had Luc really known his sweet Olivia back then? He wants her back, but he wants the truth too. Now, Olivia has to face her past before she can grab her second chance.

NO MORE LIES --available for $0.99--is a sweet and sensual story that will make you smile, laugh and cry— the story of two psychiatrists with conflicting theories on how to treat their patients and tame their own emotions.

How much do you know about wine? My expertise consists of recognizing a white or red wine or a rose Zimpfandel. Yes, I know my colors. Two weeks ago we visited Napa Valley and I listened with fascination as wine experts explained the properties of their wines and allowed us to taste samples. I usually don’t drink. One can of beer or a glass of wine greatly improves my mood. More would make me tipsy. Imagine, by 11:00 am I already drank three glasses, by 1:00 pm I added four more, and by 4:00 pm I totaled ten glasses of delicious wines. Yes, I was giggling, kissing my husband and loving every bit of the beautiful Napa Valley. In spite of the daze shrouding my brain, I learned a few things about vines, grapes and wines: The smaller the grape, the more concentrated the flavor. Skin color and thickness give wine (red and rose) its color and its aromatic qualities. Acid and sugar level in the fruit determine the wine’s sweetness and percentage of alcohol. An average temperature of 57-59o F is ideal and good vineyards need very well drained soils. Slopes which have concentrated sunlight and better drainage are more suited to vines than flat lands.

PRESCRIPTION IN RUSSIAN available in print at the Wild Rose Press.

Excerpt: Fyodor handed Jillian her shot glass and raised his. “Welcome to Belarus. I’m sure we will have a great working relationship.”

Jillian considered her shot glass without touching it. A deep scowl furrowed between her eyes.

“What’s wrong? Is there a bug floating in it?”

“You expect me to drink this, straight? No ice, no water, no orange juice?”

“Why would you spoil the taste of vodka? We always drink it straight. Try it.” He clicked his glass against hers. “Nazhtrovia.”

She sighed, stared at the clear liquid in her glass, and slowly raised her drink.

“It’s not a medicine. Believe me, you will like it. Nazhtrovia.”

“Cheers. I mean Nazhtrovia.” At first, she sipped it slowly, then took a good swallow, choked, coughed, and cleared her throat. “Not too bad.”

Fyodor laughed. “You will get used to it.” With time, she would get used to their vodka and hopefully to their food and traditions. Maybe she could get used to him and his children. Bozha moy, Good God, what was he thinking?

Cursing himself, Fyodor grabbed his shot glass and emptied it. She’d just arrived in his country and had acted as the conscientious delegate, dedicated doctor, and perfect guest, but otherwise she’d been assertive, poised, reserved, and somewhat aloof. Da, but she had lovely eyes and fabulous assets. And he was hard-put to deny his attraction.

Blurb:

An American Pediatrician

A Russian Surgeon

A woman who lost a son and frantically avoids marriage and family

A man with four adorable sons who badly need a mother

Can attraction and love overcome guilt, duty, and a clash of cultures?

“Mona Risk writes heroes with heart, heroines with spunk in stories and settings that are simply unforgettable!" -- Roxanne St. Claire, Killer Curves, National Bestseller.

In a different life, or more precisely ten years ago, I was Director of an environmental laboratory. I spent a boring predictable life supervising a staff of chemists who performed analytical tests. And suddenly everything changed when my boss asked me to write a proposal for the refurbishment of a laboratory in Belarus. For the sake of meeting a new challenge, I wrote my proposal, a winning one at that. But I thought I would collapse when the boss said, “Now that you won your contract, you need to go to Belarus and work on this refurbishment.”

Apparently a boss never joked. I opened the Internet to find out as much as I could about Belarus, capital Minsk, located South of Russia, East of Poland and North of Ukraine.

After learning a little bit about the food, I decided to play it safe and took with me green apples previously washed and individually wrapped in plastic bags, a box of crackers and a bag of mini BabyBel (the gouda cheese wrapped in red wax) and of course a dozen bottles of water.

We left for our first trip to Belarus at the end of October. We included: a government person and his interpreter, me, my lab manager and computer specialist. The first chapter of my book relates my first impressions: cold weather, gray skies and cigarette smell everywhere. The curious looks of the local people made me feel as if I was wearing the wrong clothes. Of course I didn’t have chapka (that fur round hat). I remedied the problem on my first visit to the bazaar where I bought myself the cutesy real mink chapka. I still have it. Between May and October there is no heat in Belarus and I literally froze my drafty hotel room and continuously requested and begged for a hot cup of tea. Of course I was often offered vodka instead.

Many of my special stories are related in my book, TO LOVE A HERO, that will be released on January 17, 2008.

I even included my fall on the broken escalator of the airport. I was rescued by my lab manager while my heroine (the smart woman) fell in the arm of a hero to die for, the handsome Major General Sergei who made her pulse race and stole her heart.

My story, TO LOVE A HERO, highlights the hospitality and warmth of the gorgeous and gallant Belarussians officers who sing and toast and make a woman feel like a goddess. I had a lot of fun writing this book and I hope you will discover a new country and interesting civilization while reading TO LOVE A HERO.