On the day of my wedding, I worried about getting crying and ruining my mascara the second the service started. I didn’t and thought I was home free. That was until the singer we hired stood with the string quartet and opened her mouth. My lower lip trembled and tears spilled in a matter of seconds. That is the power of music. Somehow I managed to get through it without the puffy eyes that usually accompany my tears. Writers often have playlists for their novels. For me such a thing kind of happens by accident. Driving in the car, for example, I heard Imagine Dragon’s song “Demon,” and instantly knew it belonged to the main character in HARVEST MOON, Trent Jamieson. Trent has hoped his addiction issues are behind him, but it isn’t easy. He has a history that follows him into his attempt at a new life. The song “Blue Skies,” written by Irving Berlin also played into my novel (I love the version by Willie Nelson). Trent is a musician who plays the guitar and performs. In his past, this was the song he selected to sing to his first wife at their wedding—only their life together wasn’t…

When I wrote all of the Hot & Nerdy novellas, I wrote my nerds the way I see them. They have nerdy pursuits and that is part of how they think, talk, and live. In the first trilogy, I used quotes from Star Wars (“Do or do not. There is no try.”) and Star Trek. I created an entire world for a fictional video game. The purpose of all of this was to create well-developed characters. However, it did require quite a bit of research. In HIS DREAM ROLE, the hero, Free, is an actor. He loves playing a role because he can pretend to be someone else. Because of his love of acting and his natural tendency to be extremely shy, he uses movie quotes as part of his everyday language. I’ve always envied people who can pull out movie quotes for any given situation. While I love movies and TV, I’ve never had a brain for memorizing lines. If I hear a quote, I’ll usually be able to recognize it as a quote and maybe even know what movie it’s from. But I’ve never quoted from a movie in my real life – except Yoda. I do use…

You’ve all met the children and Eleanora and Tom English but how exactly did down-on-her luck waitress, Eleanora Watters, meet trust fund hottie, Tom English? You won’t want to miss this Christmas novel that tells the story of how Eleanora met Tom, while he was visiting Vail in the 1980s. **This is the second of two novellas entitled MARRYING MR. ENGLISH. The first novella was included in the 12 CHRISTMAS ROMANCES TO MELT YOUR HEART anthology. This is not a standalone novella. You must read MARRYING MR. ENGLISH, Part 1 first!** Excerpt: Eleanora and Tom walked back up the driveway toward Tom’s car, their hands bound together as gleaming white gravel crunched under their feet. Eleanora’s mind was spinning from the decision they’d just made together: Tom had turned down fifteen million dollars—an almost unfathomable sum of money—so that he could give their two-day marriage a chance. It felt foolish and reckless, and his impetuousness frightened her. It also made her heart swell with tenderness and her body tremble with longing. Eleanora had never been anyone’s first choice for anything. How in the world did she find herself here—with a man who had, literally, chosen her over diamonds and gold?…

Merry Christmas from me, Patricia Davids. If you love pecans the way I do, you’ll want to enjoy this delicious holiday recipe all year round. They are called Kentucky Pecan Bars and they are YUM. Pair them with a cup of hot peppermint cocoa and you’ll have a real treat to savor while you enjoy my latest book, AN AMISH NOEL. Ingredients Crust: Nonstick cooking spray 2 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting 2 tablespoons sugar 1/4 teaspoon fine salt 12 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cut into small dice 3 to 4 tablespoons ice water Filling: 1 2/3 cups pecans 6 ounces white chocolate, chopped 1 cup honey 2/3 cup packed light brown sugar 3 large eggs 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour 2 tablespoons bourbon Zest of 1 orange 1 teaspoon vanilla extract Directions: For the crust: Adjust the oven rack to the bottom position and preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Coat the bottom and sides of a 9-by-13-inch baking pan with cooking spray. In a food processor, pulse together the flour, sugar, salt and butter until the butter is pea-sized. Add water, 1 tablespoon at a time, and pulse until the dough…