Fresh Pick for Wednesday, February 10th, 2016 is RUSTLER’S MOON by Jodi Thomas #RomanceWednesday #Texas About RUSTLER’S MOON On a dirt road marked by haunting secrets, three strangers caught at life’s crossroads must decide what to sacrifice to protect their own agendas…and what they’re each willing to risk for love. If there’s any place that can convince Angela Harold to stop running, it’s Ransom Canyon. And if there’s any man who can reveal desires more deeply hidden than her every fear, it’s Wilkes Wagner. Beneath the rancher’s honorable exterior is something that just might keep her safe…or unwittingly put her in danger’s path. With his dreams of leaving this small Texas town swallowed up by hard, dusty reality, all Wilkes has to show for his life is the Devil’s Fork Ranch. Though not one to let false hope seduce him, he can’t deny the quiet and cautious beauty who slips into his world and changes everything. Lauren Brigman finally has freedom at her fingertips. All she needs is Lucas Reyes’s attention—a look, a touch, some sign that she’s more to him than a girl he rescued one dangerous night. But now it’s her turn to rescue someone, and the life-altering…

It’s always an exciting time when Molly McAdams has a new book out, so we were very pleased to be able to talk with her about her latest book: TO THE STARS. So settle back and enjoy our conversation with Molly. Leave your comments below to be eligible to win a copy of TO THE STARS thanks to her publisher. Harlow is a very misunderstood young woman throughout the book. She can sometimes appear, on the surface, to be unsympathetic, but she was always interesting and spunky. How did you find the right balance in creating her and her story? Well there are so many sides of Harlow that we see throughout the book. In the past scenes, we see her growing from a 15-year-old girl, to an 18-year-old young woman. During that time she’s trying to guard herself from the idea that she might not ever get to have what Knox is promising her, while falling in love with him. In the present, we see the broken Harlow that Collin has created: a young woman who has been so beaten down that she’s just living to survive and save her family. It wasn’t so much about finding a balance…

THE MASTER is my tenth published book, so I thought it would be beneficial to stop and reflect on my journey so far. So here are a few things I need to remind myself. Take baby steps. I say this all the time, but it stands repeating and it does me good to hear it again. “It’s a marathon, not a sprint.” I hope to write books for a long time, I need to set a steady pace and not a wear myself out or spread myself too thin. Don’t take it personally. People aren’t going to like everything I write. Some people aren’t going to like anything I write. This is okay. My mom doesn’t like chocolate. I think she’s crazy and I don’t understand how we’re genetically related, but she’s entitled to her opinion. “No” is a perfectly good answer. I’m a people pleaser by nature and I hate conflict, but I can’t do everything. I can’t even come close. Sometimes I should say, “No.” It’s my journey, no one else’s. Comparisons are poison and should be avoided at all cost. Repeat to self as needed. Guard your writing time and hold it sacred. There are so many…

I’ve been reading romance for….some time now 🙂 My very first was a novella written by Sherrilyn Kenyon, and I was immediately hooked. I devoured romance novels after that first fabulous book, forsaking all other genres. But I noticed a theme that, at times, didn’t sit well with me. The pages were full of slim, gorgeous, flawless woman. Don’t get me wrong, I’m cool with that, woman come in all shapes and sizes and I want to read about all of them. I just felt there weren’t enough curvy or plus-size women being represented in these books I loved so much. I wanted to read a book with a heroine I could relate to in that way. I’ve never been one of the skinny girls, and at times struggled with it. I suffered the name calling at school and the lack of self-confidence. Our culture is filled with negative messages directed at women who don’t fit some advertiser, magazine editor, or movie producer’s ideal. It’s shoved down our throats on a daily. So here I was going about my business, reading romance like a demon, and happy days! I found what I was looking for! The joy I felt when…

While I was writing HOW TO WRANGLE A COWBOY, I found myself wishing I could start the story a generation or two early. I write contemporaries, and I love my modern-day cowboys and their spunky modern women. But from the opening pages, where heroine Lindsey Ward’s grandma is mourning her husband in her own inimitable way, I longed to write the story of her grandparents, Bud and Grace Ward. A former stunt rider, Bud encapsulates all the excitement and romance of the Hollywood Western. I based him on Rex Rossi, a trick rider and Hall of Fame stuntman who doubled for various movie stars for over half a century. He performed many of the tricks that made cowboys like Roy Rogers, Hoot Gibson, and Bob Steele famous. Sadly, he died with his boots on after long day on the set. I made Bud’s story a happier one. Arthritis, brought on by his many injuries, forced him to leave stunt riding. He didn’t think that was a happy ending at the time, but then, on his last film, he met Grace. From afar, he’d admired the beautiful ingénue who was playing a pioneer lass, but beat up, bruised, and dirty as…

Since Academy Awards night is one of my favorite evenings, I thought it might be fun to talk movies. Old favorites, new favorites, worst picks of all time. Who doesn’t love ET? Star Wars? Gone with the Wind? Wizard of Oz? They’re classics, never to be forgotten. As I look back, I realize some of the novels I’ve written were probably inspired by films I’ve seen and loved. Old movies like The African Queen with Humphrey Bogart and Katharine Hepburn; new ones like Taken, with Liam Neeson; Ocean’s Thirteen; Mission Impossible; the Heist. The plot for my new book, INTO THE FURY, may have developed from the fast action and suspense in those kinds of movies. When Valentine Hart, one of La Belle lingerie’s most beautiful models, receives a death threat, it’s bodyguard Ethan Brodie’s job to protect her. Throw in murder, mayhem, and copycat killers and you have INTO THE FURY, a fast-paced, action-packed, hot-blooded romantic suspense I’m hoping readers will enjoy. Gone with the Wind, a time of elegant hoop skirts and Georgia mansions, led to CAPTAIN’S BRIDE, CREOLE FIRES, and NATCHEZ FLAME. My husband and I actually stayed in a gorgeous old plantation house in Natchez built…