And We Have a Winner . . .

First of all, thank you so much to everyone who offered an opinion or suggestion for my hero's name for my IMPROPER GENTLEMEN novella. I really appreciate your time and thoughts. They all gave me something to think about.

I was leaning toward Aidan going into the weekend, but not sure about it. Then JennJ gave me the history of the saint of that name. And four of you indicated Aidan was your pick. When Alfke suggested the surname Danaher, it seemed to fit for me. A couple of you liked Patrick as well.

So, my hero's name will be Aidan Patrick Stonemere Danaher (Stonemere is his English mother's maiden name and the title he'll inherit from her!)

If I didn't choose your name, I hope you won't be disappointed. I'm a bit of a name collector, so the name you suggested may turn up in a later story or as one of the secondary characters for this one. Each name set my mind churning in fresh directions and helped me flesh out some of the plot points for the story as well. So thank you, thank you, thank you one and all! I appreciate you very much.

I have some other exciting news. Jennifer Ashley, USA Today Bestselling author of Lady Isabella's Scandalous Marriage, has given me a dynamite cover quote for my debut Mia Marlowe title TOUCH OF A THIEF:

"Mia Marlowe proves she has the “touch” for strong heroines, wickedly sexy heroes, and love scenes so hot they singe the pages. Throw in a magical diamond and nail-biting suspense, and readers score a winner with Touch of a Thief!"

~Jennifer Ashley, USA Today Bestselling author of Lady Isabella’s Scandalous Marriage

Jennifer Ashley is a romance powerhouse. She's hit the USA Today Bestsellers list for her historical titles. Her paranormal Pride Mates made the New York Times list. She won a Rita for her straight historical title. Jennifer writes mysteries as Ashley Gardner and erotica as Allyson James. She does it all with style and grace and a writing schedule that makes my 6 books and a novella in a year look like slacking.

Be sure to check out her latest release Lady Isabella's Scandalous Marriage. It's a keeper!

I'm thrilled that Jennifer carved some time from her busy schedule to read Touch of a Thief and even more excited to have such a wonderful cover quote from her. The best way for me to thank her is to urge you all to make her books an auto-buy like I do.

Enjoy!

Help Me Name this Hero

I know it's happened to you. It's 4:45pm on Friday and your boss drops by your office and tells you she needs an extensive report by Monday afternoon.

That's sort of what happened to me yesterday. Alicia Condon, my editor at Kensington, dropped me an email asking if I'd submitted a synopsis for the novella I'm doing for the IMPROPER GENTLEMEN anthology (July 2011). This will be the third Mia Marlowe release scheduled for next summer.

Well, no, I hadn't. I'd run a quick idea for a setting by her, but that was it. I fired back the story ideas that had been percolating on the back burner of my brain while I near the end of my current WIP. (I'm not scheduled to start on the novella till the second week in August--yeah, I'm that anal. My writing is planned out week by week till next summer.)

Fortunately, Alicia shot back an email saying she loved my ideas and it was exactly the direction I needed to go for this novella. (Did I mention I love my editor?) All she needs now for the cover blurb meeting on Monday is my hero's name.

Which I don't know.

I know he's Irish. The year is 1827. When the story opens, he's a convict on Bermuda, part of the pressed labor gang building the massive Commissioner's House compound on the southwest point of the island. He's no innocent, but he's not guilty of the particular thing he was convicted for. He's whip-smart, a wicked scrapper with fisticuffs, and sexy as the devil. He looks very like Matt Bomer, the actor from White Collar.

But I need a name for him.

I did a search and came up with the 10 most popular male Irish names in the 19th century:

Top ten Irish first names for boys in 1864

1. John
2. Patrick/Pat
3. James
4. Thomas
5. Michael
6. William
7. Martin
8. Peter
9. Timothy
10. Denis/Dennis

Also like Aidan, Brendan, and Ryan.

I have to come up with a surname, but that'll be easier once I know the first part.

So, what do you think? Which name do you prefer? Do you have another suggestion? If I end up using a totally new full name suggested here, I'll definitely give the person responsible credit on the acknowledgements page. So please put on your thinking caps, but time is of the essence. I need to send it to my editor first thing Monday.

Thanks so much!

Oh, say! Did you notice the cool little gizmo at the end of the post? It allows you to share this post with your friends via email, facebook, blogger, a whole slew of social media outlets. Please take a minute and point someone else this way too. Thanks! I need all the help I can get!