At the start of my career as a romantic comedy author, I vowed I would never write a TSTL heroine. For those unfamiliar with the lingo, TSTL is not some sort of bondage-related acronym (though for the record, I’d cheerfully write a heroine with those proclivities). TSTL stands for “too stupid to live,” and trademarks of a TSTL heroine include stamping her pretty little foot in anger, tiptoeing alone in a negligee into a dark basement to find a serial killer, and bumping uglies with her new beau after forgetting to wrap the kielbasa. I’m committed to portraying safe sex in all my books, but the fact that my characters sometimes get busy in unpredictable places forces me to be creative with my placement of love gloves. My first book in the Front and Center series with Entangled Publishing was MARINE FOR HIRE, and the initial sex scene took place in a shower after the hero rescued the heroine from a shrapnel attack that turned out to be a kitchen mishap with a blender and steamed beets. Because says “romance” like beet puree. At any rate, I initially wrote the shower sex scene with the heroine explaining she’d gotten an…

He glanced at her over his shoulder. “I keep thinking it will go away, that I will wake up and be better, but that’s not going to happen. My greatest fear is that I will be this way for the rest of my life and that people will pity me.” Grace gave in to her desire and hugged him from behind, wrapping her arms around him and holding him tight, pressing her cheek to the tight muscles in his back and closing her eyes. She wanted to fix everything. To make it all go away. For Michael’s sake more than hers. He turned within her embrace and wrapped his arms around her. His hug was nearly crushing, but she didn’t mind. She’d learned not to take moments like these—any moment, really—for granted. “No matter what happens,” she whispered, “we will make it. I promise you that, Michael.” – HIS SAVING GRACE By their very nature, romance stories always have a happily ever after. It’s why I love reading them and why I love writing them. I adore experiencing the journey that two people travel to find each other and to find love. I like knowing before I even open the…

Eighteen years ago, FBI profiler Evelyn Baine’s best friend disappeared.  Now, the Nursery Rhyme Killer is back – and if Evelyn doesn’t catch him, she may be the next to disappear. When the heroine of my Profiler series, Evelyn Baine, was twelve years old, her best friend disappeared, the final victim of the Nursery Rhyme Killer.  A note was left behind, the only clue to why Evelyn’s friend Cassie was taken – and the note said Evelyn was also an intended victim.  For almost two decades, Evelyn has carried her survivor’s guilt, never knowing if Cassie had been killed or was still living under the mercy of the Nursery Rhyme Killer. All her life, Evelyn has wanted to seek closure for Cassie.  It’s the reason she joined the FBI, the reason she became a profiler for the elite Behavioral Analysis Unit. Now, the Nursery Rhyme Killer has returned after eighteen years of silence, and nothing will keep Evelyn from returning to her hometown in Rose Bay, South Carolina.  It’s a tightly knit community, yet many of the locals have old prejudices that simmer into violence when more local girls are abducted.   Evelyn already has strikes against her, because the townspeople…

When I’m not working my day job as attorney and writing my books, you can always find me performing lead vocals for a band. Yep- for a fee and a meal of rubber reception chicken, you can have us entertain you and your guests at the best day of your life.  And writing PLAYING WITH THE DRUMMER (about a celebrity wedding) got me thinking about all of the weddings I’ve done over the years. We get lots of special requests and we bend over backwards to accommodate the couple but there have been some weird ones that live on in my memory. Here are the top five: 5. All My Exes Live in Texas by George Strait: The father of the bride was a huge fan of the King of Country but I think I could have picked any of his dozens of number one love songs before this one. 4. Gold Digger by Kanye West:  Not my favorite by any stretch of the imagination and really weird to sing when you watch the realization of what they lyrics are about dawn on the faces of the older guests –even though we change some of the words to ones less…