Return to Hadley Green THE REVENGE OF LORD EBERLIN, book #2 in the Secrets of Hadley Green series, publishes on February 21, 2012! Readers have been anxiously awaiting for Lily and Tobin’s story since the stunning end of THE YEAR OF LIVING SCANDALOUSLY. Returning to Hadley Green after fifteen years, the young Lord Eberlin has but one goal in mind: to avenge the death of his father. But when he is reunited with the beautiful target of his smoldering wrath, his plans take an unexpected turn. . . . Tobin Scott has not been back to Hadley Green since Lily Boudine’s childhood testimony helped send his father to the gallows for stealing the valuable Ashwood jewels. Now a wealthy man, he intends to exact his revenge by destroying Ashwood and its lady. He offers Lily a choice between her life and the livelihoods of the people who depend on the estate. She chooses the former, certain she can hold his dangerous plans at bay. Lily and Tobin’s game of one-upmanship quickly becomes a delicate dance of seduction, and she realizes he is not the cold, heartless man he tries to seem. In fact, she is certain he is right—his father…

One of the challenging parts of writing a book is the research you unwittingly thrust upon yourself.  When I began writing COURTING HIS FAVORITE NURSE for Harlequin Special Edition, I saw a pivotal scene play out in a hot air balloon.  For someone who has a fear of heights and who once gave her husband a hot air balloon ride as a birthday present, but who stayed behind, feet firmly planted on the ground, I needed to do research! Thank goodness a lady can sit in her office chair and through her browser, research hot air balloon rides and how those big, colorful balloons with baskets work.  Without dumping too much research into the scene – I wrote it something like this: COURTING HIS FAVORITE NURSE – Excerpt: Suspended in the sky beneath a blimp-sized rainbow-colored balloon, Anne gripped the thick wicker and concentrated on looking out, not down. Lush farmland divided into neat squares, patches of orchards and rows of newly developed vineyards passed in the distance. Once again, she’d forgotten the humble beauty of her hometown. Oregon was so much greener, but the yellow and brown hills of Whispering Oaks held their own special charm, and the farmland,…

Imagination has no boundaries – it is a vast landscape without maps or limitations. I know the old axiom is ‘write what you know’ but why should it be? Why should female writers confine themselves to the domestic and the minutiae of life, while their male counterparts explore fresh new terrain? I decided when I started writing that I would do only one thing and that was write the kind of book I would read and I would not limit myself. Of course it is difficult taking on the voice and culture of another country that is not your own but that is what a library and research is for. I spent a lot of time doing research about America and Iowa in particular (I read a lot of Bill Bryson who described what it was like to grow up in Iowa and I found his anecdotes – particularly his description of the state fair really invaluable). I was also lucky that I had an agent in America who could look over my first draft and say to me ‘an American would not say this or do this’ about small things that I would never have thought over. But these…

It’s the month of love and everyone is eager to hear bittersweet romance tales. Well, I’m here to give you something a bit different! That’s just the way I do things. The story I’m about to share with you is totally true and totally rats me out as a super-self-absorbed maniac. A few years back, my husband decided to wait until Valentine’s Day to get me a Valentine of any kind. Now, I’m not the kind of woman to ask for much. Seriously, he could have scratched out a “Roses are Red” poem and I’d have fallen for him all over again, but no…Not my man. He wants to please me. On this very special day, he decided to let the kids pick my gift. Okay, I know….ah, how sweet. But, really, I’m with my kids all the time. Christmas is now “From the kids.” Birthdays are “From the kids.” I wanted just one day for it to be “From my hubs.” After ten + years, I hoped that I still deserved at least one day of non-kid romance. So, here they come.  It’s late (because he forgot) and they’re carrying McDonald’s bags. I cooked. You see my husband would…

. . . those small solid bits of gold or other precious substances (silver, copper, diamonds?) or simply small compact units of just about any item (at least that’s how thefreedictionary.com explains the term). However, nuggets aren’t always small. For instance, Denver has Nuggets (the basketball variety) and Denver’s Nuggets are far from tiny. Mickey D’s has Nuggets (chicken) of the small variety. We all know about gold nuggets and even nuggets of wisdom (otherwise known as adages—some original, most not). Did you also know that Tasmania includes a group of islets called ‘The Nuggets?’ (Might be an interesting place to set a story.) Even more obscure (although no less fraught with narrative possibilities) are the Nuggets belonging to the music industry. No, these Nuggets are not a band. They are several box set compilations detailing the ‘Artyfacts’ of Psychedelic music in the US. I want to add to the list of nugget trivia the term ‘narrative nuggets’ (stories of 35,000 words or less). Yes we already have terms for these tales—novella, short story, snapshot fiction, etc. However, narrative nuggets are especially golden, bright shiny short fiction works. The type of memory making fiction that every author wants to write…

Lately, I’ve received quite a few comments about my hero’s professions and why, or how, I chose them. Noah Garrett in TIDES OF LOVE is certainly the hero I receive the most questions about – a marine biologist in 1898 is not exactly your typical romance guy. Personally, he’s my favorite character that I’ve created. Why? Because he’s my type: a sexy nerd. But that’s another guest post! Anyway, I tend to really relate my character’s professions (yes, that includes my independent heroines) with very aspects of their psyche. Seriously. It’s a key aspect of the story for me. Noah relates to the world – and love – as a scientist. His older brother, Zach, feels he is responsible for the happiness and safety of an entire town (he is the town constable) and this weighs heavily and influences his decisions in TIDES OF PASSION. Protecting people is just a part of who he is. It’s not simply a job. Adam Chase in TO SEDUCE A ROGUE? Editor of a newspaper at a time when journalism was a dangerous business (1850). He also relates to his profession in a very personal way. And his true love? One of the few…

I oddly enough know the exact day I became a writer, almost the exact hour. I had no intention of writing fiction, not in the 35 years proceeding, nor in that moment. My total creative writing efforts had included two terrible short stories and my resume. In the meanwhile, I had climbed the corporate ladder until I was flying to three cities a week and my little two-person company was consulting to the Fortune 100 on IT-infrastructure redevelopment. I had it all, until the moment when I had nothing. In four months I lost the business, the career, any desire to continue in the career, my house, and finally my furniture and car. Actually I sold the last three because I’d found the solution to my burn-out mid-life crisis. The solution was to set off around the world on a bicycle… Okay, well, it made sense at the time. Four months had seen me from having two houses, four cities, and all that noise, to sitting on a bicycle. Suddenly I could pick up my life with one hand, tent and kitchen included with nowhere to sleep that night but somewhere down the road. Four more months saw me on…

No matter what the subgenre, research is necessary when writing a book. For some of us, research is just as much a passion as getting our words onto the page. Over the years, I’ve done a lot of research for my books. However, some research isn’t found in books. Sometimes a writer visits a place to experience its sights, sounds, and sensations. It helps them translate that experience onto the page for a reader. Experiencing research first-hand is amazing. One such moment for me occurred in April 2007 when I fulfilled one of many life-long dreams. I toured the King Tut exhibit. When a writer experiences “word fail” when trying to describe something, it’s a sure sign it’s a phenomenal moment. Writers rarely have “word fail.” We might occasionally get writers block, put words down in the wrong order, or despise our words, but “word fail” is something monumental. It’s our way of saying we’ve come up against something magical. Even now, almost five years later, I still find it difficult to come up with the right words to describe what I saw. For a large number of people, research is a dark library with tall stacks of dry, musty…

So I’ll be the first to admit, I watch a fair amount of reality TV, and I’ve been doing so for years. Initially I filed my slight obsession under the character-study category. I’m a writer, so by watching real people live their lives on TV, I was doing research. That was way before I realized how scripted reality TV was, also before all of the fighting started breaking out. Why some reality shows insist on showing that behavior among adults just baffles me. I’m sure the women on these shows who get sucked into behaving that way regret their actions later…more sooner than later. Now I’ve cut back on the number of reality shows I watch, but I haven’t given up on all of them: Welcome to Sweetie Pies, Braxton Family Values, and Real Housewives of Atlanta are three shows I still tune into. My latest novel THE ONE features a reality show in the backdrop—a show more on the lines of The Bachelorette, only different. It’s a new show, and the premise is to take one woman around the world to explore ten romantic destinations and meet ten eligible bachelors. By the end of the season, she’s supposed to…

For the last few years, I’ve blogged about Romance on Valentine’s Day.  Makes sense for a Romance writer.  But there’s something else that defines Valentine’s Day and I don’t know how I’ve missed it until now.  CHOCOLATE.  🙂 There are many different kinds of chocolate: Milk chocolate (my personal favorite) Dark chocolate Bittersweet chocolate Semi-sweet chocolate White chocolate And those are just the basic kinds! We can go a step further, too.  There’s the fancy kind: Godiva Belgian Chocolate Roche Ferrer Ghirardelli Sees And the simple, inexpensive kind: Hershey’s Cadbury (Easter bunny, anyone?) Nestles Russell Stover Now I don’t know about you but I don’t think expense defines a gift.  I think a gift from the heart means more than a gift that costs a lot of money.  A gift remembered is more special than a gift reminded, I wouldn’t turn down the expensive kind of milk chocolate.  But I’m cheap n’ easy.  give me drug store bought, milk chocolate red foil covered hearts any day.  Besides, Valentine’s Day is the one day of the year we can eat chocolate and not feel guilty. (Okay there’s also Halloween, and your birthday …) So what do you think? How important is…