Life can get so heavy sometimes, don’t you think?  Too often things that shouldn’t be taken seriously get completely misconstrued and out of hand – which is sorta how wars start.  Then there are those things we want to say, but politely veil behind other words – something a lot more people probably should do. It’s always good to keep life in perspective, to remember what’s really important…and what’s really not. All too often in relationships, communication is a sticky element that can really gum up the works.  I thought it would be fun to bring that into a new light – a humorous light.  Because its fun.  Because it might bring a few smiles.  And because if someone can gain a new perspective, well, that’s great too. Offer up one your own what-you-said vs. what-you-meant phrases (or one from your significant others’) and you’ll be entered to WIN a copy of my debut release FEVER, a fun read about a man with unusual powers whose been wrongly convicted of murder and escapes prison by abducting an innocent woman. Enjoy! What women say to men…  And what they really mean… 1. Fine: I’m right, this argument is over, and you’d…

SWEET ENEMY…A Veiled Seduction Novel ~ Book One “Historical intrigue and heart-pounding passion make Sweet Enemy a great read. Romance fans will love it.” ~#1NYT Bestselling Author JULIE GARWOOD Geoffrey Wentworth, a war hero and rising political star, never wanted to be the Earl, but when his brother dies, he knows his duty—take up the responsibility for his family’s estates.  His mother’s definition of duty differs from his, however, and can be summed up in one word—heirs.  When Geoffrey rushes home to answer her urgent summons, he finds himself host to a house full of women, all vying to become the next Countess of Stratford.  But his love is Parliament, where he wields his influence and reputation to better the lives of ex-soldiers, until a tempting houseguest and a secret from his past threaten his freedom…and his heart. Liliana Claremont, a brilliant chemist, doesn’t want to be any man’s wife, much less a countess.  If she had tuppence for every time she’d been told her place was filling the nursery, not experimenting in the laboratory, she could buy the Tower Bridge.  However, when she receives a coveted invitation to the Earl’s house party, she trades in her beakers for ball…

When I see someone say, sequel bait, my first reaction is, where?!  Because I love sequels, continuing stories, trilogies, series, you name it.  I also love television, so that’s probably helped along by the fact that the dramas are built on cliffhangers, not only season finales but episode to episode, sometimes for the entire life of the series.  And while I might complain about being too impatient for instant gratification, I’m addicted to the promise of what’s to come afterwards. If I’m going to get invested in someone – a character, a world – most of the time I want to know it’s going to continue onward, that they will be a chance of seeing or hearing about characters I’ve met in the past. Honestly, I can’t remember the last non-series book I read – no, wait, not true – I adored Nora Roberts’ ANGELS FALL.  And while it’s a romance, to me it read like more of a thriller, which is where I can accept the stand-alone more easily.  Even so, I wait anxiously for the new Karen Slaughter book, and although it’s not exactly romance, there’s enough promise to pull me along through each book in the series….

Sons of Chance #4  June 2011 On Sale: May 24, 2011 Featuring: Tyler O’Connelli; Alex Keller 224 pages ISBN: 0373796226 EAN: 9780373796229 Kindle: B004XDYWE0 Paperback $4.99 Add to Wish List Romance Contemporary, Romance Series Buy at Amazon.com Spring’s here and time for COWBOYS, get ready for a week of roping, riding and … Should’ve Been A Cowboy by Vicki Lewis Thompson Party organizer Tyler O’Connelli is on the fast track to her dream career. She’s so close she can almost taste it. But when she returns to her family and sees her one-night stand, Alex Keller, all done up in his cowboy gear, her self-control is stretched to the breaking point…. They’re worlds apart. She’s a busy career girl, and Alex is a cowboy. But while getting together might not bode well for anything longterm,it more than makes up for it in sheer hot chemistry! Problem is, this is one wrangler she might want to get tied down—and tied up—to…indefinitely! A sexy passionate tale of a couple who shouldn’t be candidates for love. Previous Picks

Emma Caldridge # 3 October 2011 On Sale: September 27, 2011 Featuring: Emma Caldridge 352 pages ISBN: 0062025317 EAN: 9780062025319 Paperback $9.99  Add to Wish List Thriller Buy at Amazon.com Thriller on the border (Sleuthfest author) The Ninth Day by Jamie Freveletti In less than nine days, terror crosses the border . . . Hiking in Arizona, biochemist Emma Caldridge inadvertently interrupts the operations of dangerous traffickers in human cargo—and is chased south into the arms of millionaire drug merchants. Suddenly a prisoner of Mexico’s most feared cartel, Emma makes a shocking discovery in the marijuana fields outside Ciudad Juarez: plants rotting with a flesh-eating toxin that causes a truly horrible death within nine days of exposure. And there is no antidote. The cartel believes that U.S. agents contaminated the plants, and, determined to make their enemy pay, they prepare to spread their lethal product across America. Emma Caldridge searches desperately for a cure, but time is running out more quickly than she anticipated. For Emma herself has been infected—and, barring a miracle, she will die before the terrible dawning of . . . Seriously engrossing! Previous Picks

A lot of people have asked how I came to know the models featured on the Lux Series, and like everything revolving around OBSIDAN, it just… sort of happened. Actually, me and the editor on the series have deemed OBSIDAN a trail of  ‘stupid smart’ that kind of worked out in the end. When I sat down to write OBSIDAN, namely create the character Daemon Black, I had a very clear picture of him in my mind: tall, dark hair that waved, broad cheekbones, full lips, and a sort of exotic beauty to how his features pieced together. The next character I created was Katy. In my mind, she was of average height, but compared to Daemon insanely tall height, she’d looked very small. I wanted her to be a very pretty girl, but also had an innocence to way she looked.  Once the story was complete and the wonderful team over at Entangled started looking for the perfect image they, namely Liz Pelletier, stumbled across two cover models that she knew right off matched the description of the characters. She told me about them, and how she was going to feature both “Daemon” and “Katy” on the cover. I…

January 2012 On Sale: January 3, 2012 368 pages ISBN: 0061840300 EAN: 9780061840302 Hardcover $25.99  Add to Wish List Thriller Crime Buy at Amazon.com Crime Thriller (Sleuthfest author) Need You Now by James Grippando The New York Times bestselling author returns with a gripping new stand-alone novel ripped from the headlines, in which a young financial adviser and his girlfriend uncover a conspiracy that reaches from Wall Street deep into the halls of government “Grippando grips from the first page.”-Harlan Coben Abe Cushman, the evil genius behind a sixty-billion-dollar Ponzi scheme, has killed himself and taken his secrets to the grave. For Patrick Lloyd, a young Wall Street advisor at the world’s largest Swiss bank, Cushman’s fall has unexpected- and deadly-repercussions. His girlfriend, Lilly, is directly tied to billions of dollars in losses suffered by Cushman’s most dangerous “victims,” a group of powerful investors whose identities and dirty finances are shrouded in secrecy. What Lilly knows can get her-and Patrick-killed, and now the pair are in a run for their lives that leads to the heart of secret operation, and to a cabal of powerful government officials determined to keep their agenda secret from the public. With no place to…

Hi, and a big thanks to the folks here at Fresh Fiction for inviting me to blog with them. Today I’d like to talk about reunions.  When an envelope arrives in the mail to announce a family or class reunion, the person receiving the invitation can react in many different ways.  With joy and anticipation.  With second thoughts and trepidation.  Or maybe with outright panic because two weeks won’t give him or her enough time to lose twenty pounds or to find the outfit that will make them look ten years younger. As a romance reader—and writer—I have always loved reunion stories, especially those books in which the hero or heroine returns home.  The character gets to do what we sometimes wish we could.  Grab a second chance.  Have an opportunity to make things better.  Get lucky enough to make things right.  But when the hero of my latest book, THE RODEO MAN’S DAUGHTER, returns to his hometown, he’s not looking to do any of those things.  In fact, he wants just the opposite. Caleb Cantrell’s a rodeo star who grew up dirt-poor and looked down upon by folks in town.  Still a teen, he took off for the fame…