May 2012 On Sale: May 8, 2012 288 pages ISBN: 1250020360 EAN: 9781250020369 Kindle: B003J4VEIQ Paperback / e-Book (reprint) Add to Wish List Historical Buy at Amazon.com Enjoy Downton Abbey-esque novel Snobs by Julian Fellowes From the creator of the Emmy Award-winning Downton Abbey… “The English, of all classes as it happens, are addicted to exclusivity. Leave three Englishmen in a room and they will invent a rule that prevents a fourth joining them.” The best comedies of manners are often deceptively simple, seamlessly blending social critique with character and story. In his superbly observed first novel, Julian Fellowes, creator of the Masterpiece sensation Downton Abbey and winner of an Academy Award for his original screenplay of Gosford Park, brings us an insider’s look at a contemporary England that is still not as classless as is popularly supposed. Edith Lavery, an English blonde with large eyes and nice manners, is the daughter of a moderately successful accountant and his social-climbing wife. While visiting his parents’ stately home as a paying guest, Edith meets Charles, the Earl Broughton, and heir to the Marquess of Uckfield, who runs the family estates in East Sussex and Norfolk. To the gossip columns he is one…

I’m having an affair with the male protagonist in my first love story, MARRIED IN THE NICK OF NINE. The novel, about a woman who wants to meet, fall in love with, and get married to The One within nine months, features the couple,  Cassandra (Cass) Whitmore and Nicolas (Nick) Harte. Cassandra has a special place in my heart, but Nick has stolen my heart. Yes—Nick—tall, dark, and ridiculously handsome, is a figment of my imagination, but after writing four books featuring him, (MARRIED IN THE NICK OF NINE, THE BABY IN THE WINDOW, ONE HARTE, TWO LOVES, debuting June 2014, and RENEE’S RETURN, debuting September 2014) I’ve come to know, love, and adore him—flaws and all. I’m a married woman and have been for fourteen years, but in my fantasy world, Nick’s my lover. There have been times when I’m in the throes of passion with my real husband that I have to be careful not to call him Nick. I guess I’ve done too good a job creating Nick. When I create my characters, I start by imagining what they look like. Once I have a general Idea, I Google images and choose individuals who resemble the character…

WHAT THE HEART WANTS Winner of the HOLT Medallion Is the January 5 Amazon Deal of the Day Download for only 1.99! January 6 is Twelfth Night, or Epiphany, if you will. In Upper East Tennessee where I come from, my momma called it “Old Christmas.” There are a couple of theories regarding Old Christmas. I always heard that Old Christmas was the date that for centuries had been celebrated as Christmas by Europeans. History bears this out. It was in 1752 that Britain moved from the Julian calendar to the Georgian calendar. In doing so, eleven days were eliminated from the year. Thus making Christmas December 25 instead of January 6. I suppose celebration of the Twelve Days of Christmas ensued, concluding with the Feast of the Epiphany on January 6, which in some Christian traditions is thought to be the day that the Magi arrived to view the Christ child. Whatever you believe, here’s what I remember about Old Christmas. It was bad luck to do laundry, to wash or iron, on that day. My mother, who always said, “Now, I’m not superstitious, but…” just before she’d prove that maybe she was. And washing was not permitted on…

My new e-novella releases on Jan 7th. It’s a sexy story of a housekeeper who finds love and lust with her employer, a Scottish earl. Love those guys in kilts! Here’s the link to an excerpt and buy buttons. Oh, and here’s the cover. Isn’t he hot? Yup, that’s Harvey Stables on my cover and he’s not only a nice guy, he’s great fun to look at. So I thought-since he’s great fun and all-that I’d let you all vote on which of his covers you like the best. So here you go: a short Harvey Stables retrospective! Oh, and by the way, one lucky commentor will get signed copies of the earlier Bridal Favors novels. That’s three books, by the way: WEDDED IN SCANDAL, WEDDED IN SIN, and WHAT THE BRIDE WORE. I’m afraid you’ll have to wait until next month to get WHAT THE GROOM WANTS. That’s the fourth and possibly final book. Excerpt and preorder links here. Wedded In Scandal Bridal Favors #1 March 2012 Wedded In Sin Bridal Favors #2 August 2012 What the Bride Wore Bridal Favors #3 August 2013 What The Groom Wants Bridal Favors #4 February 2014 The Groom’s Gamble #3.5 January 7,…

I admit it; my process is a bit backward. First the character calls to me then the plot slowly evolves. I start to feel like I’m writing about real people and I hear their dialogue in my head.  My current work in progress has a hero that came to me while watching episodes of Lost on Netflix.  The character of Sawyer from the show was a man you love and hate and I wanted that for my next book.  Often I listen to classic rock and type away. It’s the same songs I grew up listening to and I find the feelings of nostalgia spark my creative side. The strangest thing I do when writing though is walk around my neighborhood, dictating plot into a digital recorder.  Every once in a while I have to change words around or take a break because the kids are out playing and I’ve reached a steamy scene.  They probably all think I am nuts anyway! I suppose I started wanting to write after reading Julie Garwood’s books – they made me laugh, cry and sometimes want to attack my husband.  The strong hero brought to heel by an even stronger heroine is very…

One of the reasons I love the Regency era is that it’s so easy to create conflict between the hero and heroine, as well as the secondary characters. If you’ve read my first two books, you’ll know that I believe a love story revolves around more than just the hero and heroine. In our far flung society where almost anything goes, it’s easy to forget how much ones family controlled what a lady or gentleman did. The same is true in my latest novel, THE TEMPTATION OF LADY SERENA. When Lady Serena is pretty much booted out of the only home she’s known because her new sister-in-law doesn’t want her there, Serena’s choices are limited. She has money, and today she’d be able to move into her own house or apartment, but, even though she’s twenty-six, during the Regency she was too young to set up her own household. Fortunately her uncle The Marquis of Eth, a secondary character in THE SEDUCTION OF LADY PHOEBE, as well as his wife and Phoebe are there to help Serena navigate the shoals of a London Season. Ah, but enter, well known rake, Robert, Viscount Beaumont, whose grandmother is insisting he marry. He…

One of the reasons I love the Regency era is that it’s so easy to create conflict between the hero and heroine, as well as the secondary characters. If you’ve read my first two books, you’ll know that I believe a love story revolves around more than just the hero and heroine. In our far flung society where almost anything goes, it’s easy to forget how much ones family controlled what a lady or gentleman did. The same is true in my latest novel, THE TEMPTATION OF LADY SERENA. When Lady Serena is pretty much booted out of the only home she’s known because her new sister-in-law doesn’t want her there, Serena’s choices are limited. She has money, and today she’d be able to move into her own house or apartment, but, even though she’s twenty-six, during the Regency she was too young to set up her own household. Fortunately her uncle The Marquis of Eth, a secondary character in THE SEDUCTION OF LADY PHOEBE, as well as his wife and Phoebe are there to help Serena navigate the shoals of a London Season. Ah, but enter, well known rake, Robert, Viscount Beaumont, whose grandmother is insisting he marry. He…

My day to day life is very dull. I do paperwork at my day job for a chiropractor. I edit marketing materials in my freelance job. Coincidentally, both jobs require a lot of sitting and typing. My kids are older now, the oldest away in college and the youngest in high school and very self-sufficient and independent. So I might drive her around some, and do household chores or run errands. When I get down time, I’m watching the TV shows that have piled up on the DVR or, if we’re getting really wild, going to a movie with my husband. No one would ever want to read about what I do in my real life. Which might be why I write stories about people who are doing anything but real-life-type activities. Take my Goddesses Rising trilogy. When it starts out, Quinn has a “regular” kind of day-to-day life, if you consider owning a bar and using her abilities as a goddess in a side business “regular.” But right off the bat, she’s racing off to try to stop a leech who’s draining goddesses of their powers. None of them ever get back to normal after that. All three books…

That Dixie Chicks song is on my iPod, and whenever I go for a walk or a drive there’s a decent chance I’ll find myself singing along about Wanda and Mary Ann and the abusive man who deserves to bite the dust.  I sing with relish, letting go of my better nature and diving headlong into a world of vigilante justice where people get what they have coming to them:  their just deserts. In cozy mysteries, the victims of our murders are often the Earls of the world.  They have done Very Bad Things so we don’t feel too awful about their deaths.  Moreover, they’ve wronged enough people to give us an array of potential suspects.  I’ve found, though, that this is a convention I have to bend. Some of my victims start off looking like Earls, but most of them turn out to be likeable folks.  Flawed, but likeable. Take Sherry Harper, the victim in PAWS FOR MURDER, the first in the Pet Boutique Mystery series.  She’s been handed a generous trust fund without ever working a day in her life, she’s completely irresponsible, she’s dedicated to agitating and protesting no matter whom it hurts, and she’s an unreliable…

My day to day life is very dull. I do paperwork at my day job for a chiropractor. I edit marketing materials in my freelance job. Coincidentally, both jobs require a lot of sitting and typing. My kids are older now, the oldest away in college and the youngest in high school and very self-sufficient and independent. So I might drive her around some, and do household chores or run errands. When I get down time, I’m watching the TV shows that have piled up on the DVR or, if we’re getting really wild, going to a movie with my husband. No one would ever want to read about what I do in my real life. Which might be why I write stories about people who are doing anything but real-life-type activities. Take my Goddesses Rising trilogy. When it starts out, Quinn has a “regular” kind of day-to-day life, if you consider owning a bar and using her abilities as a goddess in a side business “regular.” But right off the bat, she’s racing off to try to stop a leech who’s draining goddesses of their powers. None of them ever get back to normal after that. All three books…