My name is Jessica and I read Mills and Boon

I read Mills and Boon books and I’m not afraid to admit it! They are perfect to read when you’re in the bath (as I do) or as a non-effort read that only costs a couple of pounds. Or indeed, 30p if you pick one up at your local charity shop. But I digress…

The first page you see when you key in www.millsandboon.co.uk is simple, but outlined well so it doesn’t look amateurish. The main focus is of a woman in a bath (what did I tell you!) reading a book. You have the option of visiting the UK site or the Eire site but the browser automatically takes you to the UK site within 15 seconds if you don’t choose.

This section includes the Editor’s Choice, a selection of the latest releases in each M&B imprint. When you click on a book, you get a good amount of details, including a graphic of the front cover, the author, which imprint it is published under, the ISBN number, the price and a good synopsis of the story. There is a button for you to add the book to your shopping basket and a button to add the book to your wishlist.

This is a good source of information for people who like to read M&B. There is an A-Z list of M&B authors, though these are mainly the UK authors as there are many US authors who are not listed. However, a quick click on the given link to the US sister site – eharlequin.com – provides a more extensive list of authors and opens in a new window. Each author’s page includes a picture where available, fun facts, a biography, an interview and a list of current titles. However, a backlist of each author’s works is not included, which is something that I think would be a good feature. It’s really interesting to read about each author though, especially if you have favourites because it makes them seem like more than just a printed name.

This is a section where M&B publish an e-book. Every week a new chapter is added to the current title and the previous chapter(s) is put into an archive. They are quite short, but it’s nice to see M&B ‘reaching out’ to their online audience! When each e-book is completed it is put into the archive, so you can access all previous titles as well as the current one. This section also includes an archive of romantic poems - good for checking out if you are trying to find something to read at a wedding, or something nice to put in your V’s Day card! They also have a Top 10 archive where they have fun lists of things like the Top 10 Romantic Lines of All Time (No. 1 is ‘You Complete Me’ from Jerry Maguire). Other lists include Top 10 Most Romantic Songs (‘Every Breath You Take’ by The Police - hmm), Top 10 Most Romantic Dates (Candlelit dinner for two? Please – give me no. 2 any day!) and Top 10 Most Romantic TV Couples (Buffy and Angel – good choice).

This section features articles on aphrodisiacs, romantic destinations, make-up tips and things like that. There is an archive for all previous articles and they also have horoscopes.

The member’s section, naturally. You can register on M&B’s site quite quickly and simply and it’s a good feature if you want to buy from the site. When you log in you can not only look at all your previous orders, but you can also look at all your previous shopping baskets, whether you processed them or not! Ingenious if you can’t remember what that book you wanted was. As mentioned previously, they also have a wishlist area which is a feature I wasn’t expecting - they have impressed me with the up-to-dateness (?!) of this site.

The Information for Aspiring Authors is really helpful. It consists of an introduction, details on how to submit (binding your manuscript, what to include, what should be on the front page etc) and details on the requirements of each imprint. The details include the word count you should be aiming for, which office to send your manuscript to (there are three – London, Toronto and New York) and who to mark it for. It also gives guidelines as to the content of the books, how much sensual detail you should go into, what to avoid etc.