Biography of romantic suspense author Cherish D'Angelo

When romance author Cherish D'Angelo is not busy relaxing in her hot tub, sipping champagne, eating chocolate-covered strawberries or plotting romantic suspense with scintillating sensuality, she is ruthlessly killing people off in her thrillers as bestselling Canadian suspense author, Cheryl Kaye Tardif.

Cherish's debut romance, Lancelot's Lady placed in the semi-finals of Dorchester Publishing's "Next Best Celler" contest and went on to win an Editor's Choice Award from Textnovel. Currently living in Edmonton, Alberta, she enjoys long walks on the beach, except there aren't any around so she has to make do with trips around the hot tub or a vacation to a tropical paradise. And margaritas.

http://www.cherishdangelo.com

Lancelot's Lady wins Textnovel's "Editor's Choice" Award

I had a pleasant surprise today when I visited Textnovel.com to read readers' comments about Lancelot's Lady. Not only did Lancelot's Lady make the semi-finals in the Dorchester Next Best Celler context last year, today my debut romantic suspense has won the Editor's Choice Award.

This is the message I received from Textnovel:

Congratulations! This story has been selected as an Editor's Pick on Textnovel. We pick these stories based on writing quality, originality and publishing potential. Plus we think your story is an example of the type of story that has a shot at a prize and possible publication... Textnovel.com Editorial Team

For those of you who haven't seen my little hints or visited the Lancelot's Lady page at Textnovel recently, Lancelot's Lady is scheduled for release in September. Originally slated for release in October, my novel just couldn't wait. So the official release date has been selected. I was going to wait a while to let everyone know, but if you know me at all, you know I just can't keep a secret. Not one this exciting.

Lancelot's Lady will be released on September 27th, 2010, as an e-book.

Already my advance reviewers are loving my venture into romance as Cherish D'Angelo. I think Cherish is loving it too. ;-)

I hope you'll check out my award-winning novel when it releases in September. Until then, you can read the first chapters on my website at http://www.cherishdangelo.com/ and even more at Textnovel.com.

Read the first 12 chapters of Lancelot's Lady for FREE at Authonomy.com

“Cherish D'Angelo has got that mythical “voice” down to a fine art.” ―Jennifer L. Hart, author of River Rats

Sipping margaritas at a beach in the Bahamas was the idea, but Rhianna soon realizes that Fate and a handsome, moody recluse have other plans.

When palliative care nurse Rhianna McLeod is given a gift of a dream holiday to the Bahamas from her dying patient, billionaire JT Lance, Rhianna has no idea that her 'holiday' will include being stranded on a private island with Jonathan, an irritating but irresistibly handsome recluse. Or that she'll fall head over heels for the man.

Jonathan isn't happy to discover a drop-dead gorgeous redhead has invaded his island. But his anger soon turns to attraction. After one failed marriage, he has guarded his heart, but Rhianna's sudden appearance makes him yearn to throw caution to the wind.

To live fully in the present, Rhianna must resolve her own murky past, unravel the secret that haunts JT, foil the plans of a sleazy, blackmailing private investigator and help Jonathan find his muse. Only then can Rhianna find the love she's been searching for, and finally become...Lancelot's Lady.

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Lancelot's Lady was a semi-finalist in the first Dorchester Next Best Celler Romance Contest, hosted at Textnovel.com. It was #1 Most Popular in first 3 months and #3 Most Popular by the end of the contest. Cherish D'Angelo is the romance pen name for Cheryl Kaye Tardif.

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Read the first 12 chapters of Lancelot's Lady by Cherish D'Angelo for FREE at Authonomy.com.

“Lancelot's Lady is riveting. It holds on and won't let you go! Cherish D’Angelo’s descriptive powers are amazing. She summons up scenes like genies from bottles!” ―Susan J. McLeod, author of Soul and Shadow

Press release regarding Lancelot's Lady making the semi-finals in the Dorchester Next Best Celler romance contest hits the US

NEW YORK, NY, November 04, 2009 /24-7PressRelease/ -- When Canadian author Cheryl Kaye Tardif decided to dust off an old romance manuscript and enter it in the "Next Best Celler" contest sponsored by Dorchester Publishing and hosted by Textnovel.com, Cheryl had no idea how popular her debut romantic suspense would become.

Read the full press release at 24-7PressRelease.com:

Lancelot's Lady by Cherish D'Angelo (aka Cheryl Kaye Tardif) is a Semi-finalist in the Dorchester "Next Best Celler" Contest Hosted by Textnovel.com

Textnovel.com Announces Semi-Finalists in Dorchester "Next Best Celler" Romance Writing Contest

PARK CITY, Utah, November 3, 2009—Textnovel.com announced the Semi-Finalists for the current Dorchester “Next Best Celler” Romance Writing Contest, which combines a live, serial publication model with a unique voting and ranking system to help identify top new novelists and fiction writers.

See who made the Top 20 Semi-Finalists.

I'll let you know that Lancelot's Lady, my debut romantic suspense, is #3 on the list. In fact, I'm the ONLY Canadian author to make the Top 20.

If you haven't read Lancelot's Lady yet, please do. If you enjoy it, click on the blue thumb and phone circles. This contest isn't over yet, and points still matter.

Thank you all for your support!

Reflections on the past 5 months in the Dorchester - Textnovel Next Best Celler contest

Tomorrow, the top 20 semi-finalists will be selected from all the entrants in the Dorchester/Textnovel Next Best Celler contest, and I'll admit I'm a bit nervous. My entry, my debut romantic suspense Lancelot's Lady, is currently in #3 Most Popular place, but I've seen people whiz by the forerunners in a day. Like they say, it ain't over til the fat lady sings!

So today will be spent hoping for more votes to secure my place and most of all thanking everyone who has supported me in this 5 month "marathon". :-) THANK YOU! I couldn't have come this far without your support.

I've been getting emails and DMs asking what this contest has been like. First of all, I have to tell you, I've entered some contests, but not many during my career as a novelist. I'm just not big on them. It's not that I'm afraid of competition; I'm not. In fact, I seem to do some of my best work when I'm forced to compete in some way, whether it's versus someone else or the ticking of a clock. I thrive on the latter kind of competition, the one where I'm really competing with myself.

This has been the longest contest I've participated in. Or at least it's felt that way. Kind of like a writing triathlon--write, edit and get votes. The first two I revel in. Writing fulfills me in a way that no other career ever has. And I've had a few. The getting votes part has been the most difficult part. Not because I can't promote my novels. I CAN. In fact, I'm known as "Shameless Promoter" and I speak at writers conferences on book marketing. However, in this contest, I found 5 months a bit long to be begging for votes. 3 months isn't so bad. And this contest isn't over yet. I really need to keep my votes going until the winner is chosen--which will be in early February.

With my background in sales, advertising, promotion and motivational speaking, I find my skills learned years ago really complement my life as a writer and a promoter of my work. I love that I'm not only creative in constructing my characters and stories, I'm also creative in the ways that I market my work.

I was one of the first contest entrants on Textnovel to offer a contest to reward my fans for their loyalty. From August to November, I've offered Giveaways, with prizes of signed novels and $75 Starbucks cards. While some may think this is a bribe of sorts, I look at it as a fun way to engage my fans and thank them. I also held an interactive contest, one I've done in the past. For my "Create a Corpse" contest, I asked fans to supply me with a name of a character that would be killed off in Lancelot's Lady. The winner, Waheed Rabanni, gave me the perfect name--Winston Chambers. Winston has proven to be one of my most interesting and well-hated characters ever, and I love that!

I've talked about the Next Best Celler contest and Lancelot's Lady on a radio station and I've been a guest at various blogs where I've talked about how Lancelot's Lady was "born", and how I chose my new romance pen name Cherish D'Angelo.

Someone asked me "why" I chose to enter this contest. My answer is simple. One writer is going to win a publishing contract with Dorchester Publishing, a publisher that I've been very interested in. In fact, I believe they are still considering my suspense thriller Children of the Fog. Something I've heard about Dorchester from a few of their authors is that being one of their authors is like being with family. That really appeals to me. I view every publisher who takes on my work as a partner in my success and I want to share that success with them.

Links about my debut romantic suspense Lancelot's Lady and Cherish D'Angelo:

• Lancelot's Lady gets official sponsor--24-7PressRelease.com
• The Business Side of Being a Writer
• Cheryl Kaye Tardif talks about her new pen name Cherish D'Angelo and her debut romance Lancelot's Lady at the Author Island Tiki Hut
• The birth of Cherish D'Angelo, pseudonym of author Cheryl Kaye Tardif
• Lancelot's Lady Giveaways (August, September, October & November)
• Cheryl's Deadly "Create a Corpse Contest"
• The Top Ten Bad Events in Rhianna's Life in Lancelot's Lady
• CHIP 101.7 FM interviews Cheryl about Textnovel, Dorchester, the "Next Best Celler" contest, Lancelot's Lady and the creation of her new romance pen name Cherish D'Angelo
• Press release: Cheryl Kaye Tardif's debut romance Lancelot's Lady is #1 Most Popular (so far) in the Dorchester/Textnovel "Next Best Celler" Contest

Please check out LANCELOT'S LADY. If you enjoy my new novel, please consider clicking on the blue thumb circle and blue phone circle beside the title. This gives me 2 points in the contest. Thank you so much.

The birth of Cherish D'Angelo, pseudonym of author Cheryl Kaye Tardif

Throughout literary history, pseudonyms or pen names have been used by authors for various reasons. For authors like Nora Roberts, having a pseudonym allows them to explore new territory, maybe a new genre or a series. My idol Stephen King wrote books under the pen name of Richard Bachman because he didn’t want the market saturated with “Stephen King” books. It was also part experiment; he wanted to test whether luck or talent played a part in publishing.

For me, the choice of writing as “Cherish D’Angelo” made sense since one novel I’m writing doesn’t fall into my usual suspense genre. Lancelot’s Lady is a romantic suspense, heavy on the romance. “Cherish D'Angelo” is the pen name I’ve planned on using should I ever branch out into romance. This is a genre I've been drawn to since I was a teen and it was only inevitable that’s I’d write a romance novel.

As “Cheryl Kaye Tardif”, I write suspense set in various locations of Canada, something my fans love. As “Cherish D’Angelo”, I’m free to set my steamy romance novels anywhere and I can boldly go where I haven’t gone before—into my characters’ bedrooms, with the lights on. There’s something titillating about having a “secret identity”, even if it’s not so secret. But I don’t take naming myself lightly.

Most people assume that “Cheryl Kaye Tardif” is my legal name, with Kaye being my middle name. It isn’t. Kaye is my maiden name and the name that I saw first published in print when I was a teenage journalist with a paid reporting job. After I married, I struggled with my writing identity. Cheryl Kaye had always been the writer. I didn’t want to lose her. In a glimpse of absolute brilliance (lol), I combined my last names. My husband’s family always tells me I’m the famous “Tardif” now, and that I made their name famous. I don’t quite think I’m there…yet!

The name "Cherish D'Angelo" comes from two sources. "Cherish", the meaning of which is the same as my own first name "Cheryl", meaning 'beloved' or 'dear one', and "D'Angelo", meaning 'of the angel'. After the death of my first baby, I started collecting angels. In 2006, my baby brother Jason (28) was murdered in Edmonton and sent to the angels. Thus, "D'Angelo" seems to be a perfect choice for a surname that honors them both.

Combined, my pseudonym means: "Cherished one of the angel" but I like to say it means: "Cherish the angels". There is something flirty, romantic, magical―and so 'me'―about this name.

©2009 Cheryl Kaye Tardif

~Cheryl Kaye Tardif, aka Cherish D’Angelo
*Check out Lancelot’s Lady on Textnovel.com and please vote ‘thumbs up’ for it!

Enter to win free books or a $75 Starbucks gift card in my October Giveaway

More prizes than last month and a bigger Grand Prize!

Make sure you follow ALL the rules or you'll be disqualified.

My debut romantic suspense Lancelot's Lady has been entered in the Dorchester/Textnovel "Next Best Celler" contest, and I need more votes and subscribers to have a chance at winning.

I'm willing to give you 2 things in return for your support--a great free read and the chance to win one of my other novels or the grand prize, a $75 Starbucks gift card.

FIVE lucky winners will win a signed copy of one of my novels (The River, Divine Intervention and Whale Song), plus some extra goodies (any country).

One Grand Prize winner will win a $75 Starbucks gift card (Canadian or US winner only).

Rules:

You must sign up as a member of Textnovel.com (free, easy & no spam).
You must vote for Lancelot's Lady by clicking on the thumbs up icon at the top of my novel's page:http://www.textnovel.com/stories_list_detail.php?story_id=928
You must subscribe to receive a notice about future chapters by clicking on the cell phone icon.
And leave me a review comment on any chapter page at: http://www.textnovel.com/stories_list_detail.php?story_id=928
Contest ends at midnight (MT) on October 30th, 2009.
Prizes will be awarded in early November. No cash value, no exchanges.

Please note: you MUST vote, subscribe and comment to be entered in this contest.

If you have already voted for Lancelot's Lady, please take a second to make sure you've also subscribed (blue circles will be gray if you have) and leave at least one comment. If you did so, you were entered in the preceding monthly giveaways. If you did not win, your name will be entered again automatically.

One giveaway prize per person. No purchase necessary.

Thank you so much for your support. I truly appreciate it. :-)

~Cheryl

Check out my new book video trailer for Lancelot's Lady

I hired talented author and video trailer creator Kelly Komm to create my newest trailer and it's sensational. The trailer is for my debut romantic suspense novel Lancelot's Lady, an entry in the Textnovel/Dorchester "Next Best Celler" romance contest over at http://www.Textnovel.com.

To view this new trailer, sign up for a free Textnovel account--fast, easy and no spam. Then go to my Lancelot's Lady book video trailer at: LANCELOT'S LADY.

Please leave me a comment. Tell me what you think about my new trailer!

You can read Lancelot's Lady for free too. Read it as I write it--under the pen name of Cherish D'Angelo. Vote "thumbs up" if you enjoy it; click on the blue cell phone icon if you want to receive an email when I add a new chapter, and leave a comment telling me what you think about the story so far.

Thank you all for your support! If I win this, Lancelot's Lady will be published by Dorchester Publishing! Please vote!

Enter my Lancelot's Lady August Giveaway

This new contest is very easy to enter. But make sure you follow all the rules or you'll be disqualified.

By now, you've probably heard that my debut romantic suspense Lancelot's Lady has been entered in the Dorchester/Textnovel "Next Best Celler" contest. I need more votes and subscribers to have a chance at winning, and I'm willing to give you 2 things in return--a great free read and the chance to win one of my other novels.

The prizes? Three lucky winners will win a signed copy of one of my novels (The River, Divine Intervention and Whale Song), plus some extra goodies.

Rules:

1. You must sign up as a member of Textnovel.com (free, easy & no spam).
2. You must vote for Lancelot's Lady by clicking on the thumbs up icon at the top of my novel's page:http://www.textnovel.com/stories_list_detail.php?story_id=928
3. You must subscribe to receive a notice about future chapters by clicking on the cell phone icon.
4. And leave me a review comment on any chapter page at: http://www.textnovel.com/stories_list_detail.php?story_id=928
5. Contest ends at midnight (MT) on August 31st, 2009.

Prizes will be awarded in early September. No cash value, no exchanges. Please note: you MUST vote, subscribe and comment.

If you have already voted for Lancelot's Lady, please take a second to make sure you've also subscribed (blue circles will be gray if you have) and leave at least one comment.

If you have already voted, subscribed and commented, you'll be automatically entered.

Thank you so much for your support. I truly appreciate it. :-)

Please vote for Lancelot's Lady in the Textnovel/Dorchester "Next Best Celler" contest

As some of you may know, I've entered a contest on Textnovel.com and I really need your votes. The grand prize is a publishing contract with Dorchester. I'm submitting a novel I started years ago that I've always wanted to finish. The genre for the contest is ROMANCE. You'll be able to read as I write.

I can't do this without you. To become a top 20 finalist I NEED YOUR VOTES.

First, please sign up at www.Textnovel.com. That way you can read all the stories there--for free. You'll get 1 confirmation email from Textnovel. After that you won't get inundated with junk mail. I've had maybe 3 emails in a year.

After confirming account, go to my novel Lancelot's Lady and click on the blue circle with "thumbs up" at top of story. It'll turn gray when you've voted.

If you'd like to get an email notice when I add a new chapter, click on the blue circle with the cell phone. You'll only be notified when I add a new chapter, not when I edit an existing one. Judges are looking at subscribers too, but it's your thumbs up vote I need most at this time.

If you'd like to leave a short review comment too, that's great. You can read all the comments readers have left.

Thank you so much for helping me with this. I sincerely appreciate it. Your votes could make the difference between a major publishing contract or being in limbo. :-)

Please vote now. Lancelot's Lady

P.S. The cover above is a mock book cover I created for inspiration only.
     
Cheryl Kaye Tardif
author of Whale Song
http://www.cherylktardif.com/

Creating mock book covers

Book covers can make or break a book, and I've been lucky to have 4 published novels with 4 covers that were well received by readers. Often when I'm working on a novel, I'll design a "mock book cover". It helps to inspire me to really visualize the finished product, even if it isn't the most professional cover. Of course, the published cover isn't even close to the mock one I design.

For the "Next Best Celler" novel contest, sponsored by Textnovel and Dorchester Publishing, I'm working on a romance novel. Lancelot's Lady is the name of the romantic suspnese I've entered, and it very quickly took off, making the #1 spot out of all contest entries for the month of June 2009. Last time I checked, Lancelot's Lady was also #5 in Most Popular Stories.

To keep me motivated, I designed a mock book cover early on (cover #1), using a few elements from the story. This early design was simple enough to add some color and excitement to my entry, while also respecting that Dorchester Publishing will have the final say in a book cover.

Weeks later, I designed a new, more romantic cover (cover #2), yet hopefully the darkness still lends to some suspense. I'd be interested in hearing what you think, but of course please keep in mind that these aren't real covers. They're really just for fun. I have no doubt that Dorchester Publishing (should I win the contest) would do a far better job at designing a suitable cover.














...........(cover #1)...........................(cover #2)...........

So readers, now you have some extra insight into the mind of a reader--at least this one. And authors, you now have a great idea for keeping yourself inspired--create a mock book cover. :-)

~Cheryl Kaye Tardif
Please vote thumbs up for Lancelot's Lady (you must sign up at Textnovel.com first, then go to and click on thumbs up icon at top of page.)

Cheryl's deadly 'Create a Corpse Contest'

This contest is now open!

From now until July 30th, 2009, you can submit a name (first & last) of someone you know (boss, husband, school bully, ex-friend or yourself), or a fictitious name.

I am looking for a male name, suitable for a 50-ish cigar-smoking man.

On August 1st, 2009, I will select one winner from all the entries and use that name, fictitiously of course, in Lancelot's Lady, my novel-in-progress and an entry in the Textnovel/Dorchester "America's Next Best Celler" contest.

The winner will receive an autographed copy as soon as this novel is published. And the winner's initials will be credited on my acknowledgement page in the book, if they choose.

Keep in mind that the ‘corpse’ character will not intentionally look like or act like the person he or she is named after, nor will the character survive. After all, 'I kill people off for a living'.

Rules:

1. You must sign up as a member of Textnovel.com (free).
2. You must vote for Lancelot's Lady by clicking on the thumbs up icon at the top of my novel's page: http://www.textnovel.com/stories_list_detail.php?story_id=928
3. You must subscribe to receive future chapters by clicking on the cell phone icon at top
4. Then leave your suggested 'corpse' name on my website (not this blog) in a comment.
5. Contest ends at midnight (MT) on July 30th, 2009.