The Harlequin ~ Nascar Romance...an unexpected love story

Harlequin Nascar is launching this February at the Daytona 500 with NASCAR driver Carl Edwards. He's been such a great supporter of the genre, the guys are teasing him and calling him "Carlequin!"

• I am not a NASCAR aficionado, but he is very cute.

• Carl will be making a cameo in the first book, SPEED DATING by USA TODAY bestselling author Nancy Warren. You can read SPEED DATING with the eHarlequin hosts.
  
  
  

• Carl's No. 99 Office Depot Ford Fusion will be on the front cover.

The Harlequin/NASCAR series promises great love stories inspired by life on the stock-car circuit.

There will be 16 Harlequin NASCAR series books in 2007!

4 titles in each of February, May, August and November

• Look for February Titles:

• SPEED DATING by Nancy Warren, set in Charlotte, North Carolina.

• THUNDERSTRUCK by Roxanne St. Claire, set in Florida and North Carolina.
• HEARTS UNDER CAUTION by Gina Wilkins, set in North Carolina.
• DANGER ZONE by Debra Webb, set in Alabama.
  

Check out http://www.getyourheartracing.com/. Its very cute.

Now some may say "NASCAR...not for me," or, heaven forbid, something more negative, like..."It's a beer-based sport, really." or,"Creates a compelling illusion that you are actually exercising, doesn't it?"

But I bet those of you will be guilty of the appalling 90 second idiocracy rule! It generates the classic "How stupid are they? Yes. Sorry. That stupid," moment. You wouldn't want to be guilty of that, now would you? I didn't think so.

You see, reading romances does make you a better human being. Because you know what its like to have someone say negative things about a genre (or perhaps a sport...you see where I'm going here?) that you love, and then, almost always within a minute and a half (90 second idiocracy rule) that someone will unblushingly say...'of course, I never read one/seen one/experienced it/have no ****ing idea of what I'm talking about, but why should that stop me from having a strong opinion about the subject? Knowing anything about what I'm talking about has never be a pre-requisite for me shooting my mouth off!' (As aforementioned, the classic "How stupid are they? Yes. Sorry. That stupid." Moment. I want to keep on the moral high ground here. The low ground is really low).

It cuts all ways. If I think people are unmitigated potato heads to diss romances without having read any, or knowing what they are talking about (and, of course, I do), the same applies to me saying something negative about something if I haven't experienced it. So OK, I haven't gotten hooked on NASCAR on TV, but I've never been to a race, so I have to withhold judgment.

Because there are 75 million fans, 30 million of them women--many of them are our authors and readers! There is clearly some kind of special magic that has captured so many people around the nation. Whether I understand it or not. And anything that can capture that many people's attention has something special about it, and it's my bad if I can't understand it, even if I don't share the feeling.

Besides, have you ever heard a more sexy line than...Ladies, start your engines!