Years ago when my daughter was born, a family friend sent a congratulatory card. It had the image of a sweet-faced baby wrapped in a pink blanket nestled in a tiny cradle. Underneath it read Who says there’s no such thing as love at first sight? It was a card that resonated with me so much that I framed it and hung it in her room. And now, almost fifteen years later, it’s still in there. Love at first sight is never truer than when you meet your child for the first time. It’s an instant kind of love, rather shocking with its fierceness. Kind of a slap upside the head—and the heart. There is no preparing for it, and there is no going back. It is a forever kind of love. It makes even the most hardened cynic realize true love does exist… At least between a parent and child. But what about romantic love?  Do you believe in love at first sight? Is there such a thing as soul mates? Underneath the humor, the murder, and the family secrets, these questions are at the heart of TRULY, MADLY, the first of my Lucy Valentine novels. Lucy is the…

Like so many others, I’ve been caught by the Olympic fever.  Each night my family and I sit in our living room and watch athletes do the impossible.  I gasp in amazement as they fly down the slopes…dance on the ice…flip and twirl through the air.  But as much as their individual performances captivate me, I find myself wondering about when they dared to dream of becoming an Olympic athlete.  And, more importantly, when they dared to voice that dream. Dreaming is easy.  Safe.  In our minds we can envision ourselves doing anything, being anyone.  But when you dare to voice your dream…oh, man.  Scary stuff indeed. I still remember the moment I discovered my first romance novel.  I was at my Aunt Patsy’s house and a copy of The Flame and the Flower by Kathleen Woodiwiss was on the nightstand next to the guest bed.  That night, while everyone else was sleeping, I sat in the window seat and with lightning illuminating the dark sky, I devoured that book.  The passion, the heartache, the longing…  When I reached the end, I realized my life would never be the same.  Now, I not only knew what genre I wanted to…

Kate Shugak December 2009On Sale: December 1, 2009Featuring: Kate Shugak352 pages ISBN: 0312944071EAN: 9780312944070Paperback (reprint)$7.99 Mystery Woman Sleuth Buy at Amazon.com Whisper to the Bloodby Dana Stabenow Inside Alaska’s biggest national park, around the town of Niniltna, a gold mining company has started buying up land. The residents of the Park are uneasy. “But gold is up to nine hundred dollars an ounce” is the refrain of Talia Macleod, the popular Alaskan skiing champ hired by the company to improve relations with the locals, and pave the way for the mine’s expansion… Then, just as Talia is ready to present her case at town meetings and village breakfasts, there are two brutal murders, including that of a long-standing mine opponent. The investigation falls to Trooper Jim Chopin and, as usual, he could use some help from newly elected Niniltna Native Association chairman and part-time P.I. Kate Shugak. But Kate already has her hands full with a series of attacks on snowmobilers up the Kanuyaq River and the homicide of Park villain Louis Deem. With both cases on the verge of going cold, can Kate take the heat? Excerpt “Grin bought out Mac Devlin.” “Grin?” “Global Harvest Resources Inc. GHRIn. That’s…

If you’re a single adult in the early 21st century, chances are you’ve tried some kind of online dating service. Hey, if I can admit to having tried it, you can, too. You know the process–you sign up, answer a zillion really dumb questions about your interests, inclinations and preferences. Then the computer plays cupid and matches you up with potential dates whose answers most closely match your own. And then… Well, if finding your soul mate were that easy, there’d be significantly fewer single people in the world and a lot more “happily ever afters,” wouldn’t there? Besides, how exciting can it be going to dinner with someone who agrees with you about everything? “You say potato; I say potato, too/You say tomato; I say tomato, too.” It doesn’t even make a good song. Maybe we’ve got it backwards. Remember the old adage “Opposites attract”? Maybe online dating services should get a clue from romantic fiction and bring people together whose backgrounds, interests and preferences are very different. Do opposites really attract? For Kat James and Gabe Rossiter, the hero and heroine of Naked Edge, the next book in my I-Team series, that’s certainly the case. Yes, he’s male…

November 2009On Sale: November 1, 2009Featuring: Victoria Windhaven; Brant MacQuaid288 pages ISBN: 0373295685EAN: 9780373295685Mass Market Paperback$5.99 Romance Historical Buy at Amazon.com Alaskan Renegadeby Kate Bridges Her bounty hunter protector In need of a bodyguard on her mission into the Alaskan wilderness, nurse Victoria Windhaven is shocked to recognize the hired gun as none other than Brant MacQuaid—a man she had thought never to see again! Brant, now a notorious bounty hunter with a burning passion for justice, had once betrayed her.But closely confined in the stagecoach by day, and even more closely combined under the stars by night, Victoria can’t help but dream of turning this renegade into ideal husband material…. Life and loving means taking chances facing insurmountable odds Excerpt Skagway, District of Alaska, late August 1899 That familiar and arrogant way he moved captured her attention. Wearing a tan leather vest and black shirt that barely spanned his wide shoulders, Brant MacQuaid strode down the path as though he still thought he could part the Red Sea. His granite eyes flickered at the stagecoach driver, then he turned and headed straight for her. Her heart leaped. He’d changed a great deal in the five years since Victoria Windhaven…