I have been accused of being a bit of a domestic diva. That’s not surprising with books like THE DIVA SERVES HIGH TEA! But I like to keep things easy, and I love recipes I can prepare in advance. This is celebration season. Graduations, bridal showers, and family reunions are on the calendar. So I thought I would share a dessert that everyone loves and anyone can make. I’m not in the habit of promoting products. Recently, though, while I waited for something, I killed some time (and some cash) in WalMart where I found adorable little glass trifle bowls. They’re the perfect size for a single serving. At $2 a pop, you wouldn’t break the bank if you needed enough for a small luncheon. Imagine how they would dress up ice cream! This recipe is super simple. If you’re a domestic diva, use your favorite sponge cake or pound cake recipe. If there’s no time for baking (or it’s just not your thing), pick up a sponge cake at the store or look for Sara Lee’s pound cake in the freezer section. Kick this up a little bit by adding your favorite liquor for the adults. I’m fond of…

Do you ever glance at the windows open in your internet browser and realize you’d have a lot of explaining to do if someone walked up behind you? That’s an everyday thing for me as an author of offbeat romantic comedy. People see “romance author” in my title and assume any research I might do would involve fur-lined handcuffs or creative uses for butterscotch syrup. But for my newest romantic comedy, THE HANG UP, there were several unique bits of research required for me to tell the tale of a devout city girl and talented PR pro who hooks up with a sexy mountain man turned CEO. Here are five things that made my research list when I wrote THE HANG UP. Spelunking Contrary to what my city girl heroine believes, spelunking is not a sex act. It’s a fancy word for exploring caves, and it’s kind of a hobby of mine. In real life, I’ve been lucky enough to explore caves as far away as Slovenia, Mexico, and Greece, but my favorites are the lava tubes in Central Oregon where I live. I wanted to set a scene in THE HANG UP in one called Arnold Ice Cave, but…

I’m so excited to be here today talking about The SECRET LIFE OF A DREAM GIRL, my first ever Entangled Crush book. 🙂 It’s totally stand alone, but is part of the Creative HeArts series, a bunch of stories written by four different authors that all take place at a creative arts high school in my home town of Austin, Texas. Anyway, my main character—Dahlia—is pulling a reverse Hannah Montana. Instead of being an ordinary girl hiding her life as a pop star, she’s a world famous pop star masquerading as an ordinary girl as she tries to get her career—and life—in some semblance of order. She’s been under the thumb of her very overbearing manager/father for her entire career, and all she really wants to do is take a breath and spend some time pursuing her real musical passion of being a singer/songwriter. I had so much fun writing this book because it’s all about music—my hero and heroine talk to each other in song lyrics, there’s a great scene at Waterloo Records, Austin’s most famous indie record store, and there’s an awful lot of early, feel good Beatles stuff in there too. Which is why I thought I’d…

I kill people. And for the most part I make sure they stay dead. No, this isn’t an admission of guilt that will now land me on the front page of my local newspaper and maybe a few national rags. In fact, not only do I not bear any actual guilt, but I don’t feel guilty about killing people at all. Or killing dogs. Or cats. My killing sprees are wholly fictional and completely a product of my imagination. I kill people in my stories (and a few dogs and cats too). Well, to be fair, I don’t kill them; my characters do. But since I’m the puppet master controlling the strings, I guess I’m mostly to blame for the crimes committed in my books. And while I don’t feel bad or guilty about forcing fictional characters to perpetrate crimes against one another, I do need to be careful. Sometimes fiction can spill over into reality. To create believably bad dudes, I need to put myself inside the heads and psyches of those villains. I need to become them on a certain level. And that can be a frightening ordeal. I don’t want to be a villain, not physically and…

There’s nothing better than sitting on the porch reading a mystery with a summer breeze and a tall glass of iced tea. Unless of course, I’m lying on a beach with a cozy in my hands. This week I’m featuring four great novels you won’t want to miss as you enjoy the great weather, even if mother nature has you cooped up inside with a thunderstorm rolling through. A SHATTERING CRIME by Jennifer McAndrews Stained Glass Mystery #3 It’s death by Danish in the newest mystery from the national bestselling author of Death Under Glass, featuring stained-glass enthusiast and amateur sleuth Georgia Kelly. Life in Wenwood, New York, sparkles for Georgia, but for one of her neighbors, it’s about to lose its luster… Georgia’s day-to-day routine finally seems to be lining up. Stained-glass projects in the morning, clerical work for a law office in the afternoon, and waitressing in the evening. Best of all she gets to spend relaxing Sundays with her new boyfriend. But that comfortable pattern is about to be broken. First Georgia’s cat goes into heat and literally disturbs the peace. Then Georgia’s mother drops in for a visit with her new husband in tow. But everything…

Bonnie Vanak is no stranger to a full plate. She released two new novels in her Werewolves of Montana series this spring, and she is already looking forward to the rest of the year. In between the craziness of writing and publishing her books, she took a moment to chat with our Miranda Owen about THE MATING SEASON and THE MATING DESTINY, why she loves setting her books in Montana, and the appeal of shifters and fae in her stories. When I think back to the first werewolf book I read of yours – THE EMPATH (Draicon Werewolves Book 1) – and compare it with your current Montana Werewolves series, I am amazed by the intricate world-building and unique spin you always put on the werewolf myth. What is it about werewolves that captures your imagination? Thank you! I love writing about werewolves because of the loyalty, the fierceness in which they protect their own, and the alpha traits of the males. When I set out to write the Werewolves of Montana, it was with the intention of writing a darker, much sexier series than THE EMPATH, which was published by Harlequin. I loved writing Nocturnes for Harlequin, but faced…

STEEPLEJACK: hybridity or when the books you thought you were writing turns into something else. I had ideas for two books. One was a faintly Dickensian murder mystery which centered on one of the boys who worked to maintain the tall factory chimneys and other high places in a Victorian city. It came to me as an image inspired by spotting one of those chimneys on my drive to work and noticing that a bush was growing out of the top. It got me thinking about the steeplejacks who—though rare and dying out—still existed in my native Lancashire when I was a kid. I could see the cover illustration. A boy on a rickety ladder a hundred feet above a smoggy industrial landscape… The other idea was for a fantasy novel. It centered on a girl who had a rare condition that allowed her skin to mimic the color and texture of her surroundings in the ways octopuses do. She had to hide her gift/curse, but then had to take in a baby sister who had the same condition. The book would be about how she juggled the perils of her predicament while learning to use them as a kind…

Last year, I did a post on a few series with new books out, and it was so popular that I thought it was time for another. With so many great series in YA, keeping up with all of them is difficult. I can’t count the times I’ve read a first book and accidentally missed the sequel a year later, or even more common for me, missed the third or fourth book. This list is by no means exhaustive, but here are a few sequels, third books, and final books in series that have recently released. About THE SLEEPING PRINCE by Melinda Salisbury Ever since her brother Lief disappeared, Errin’s life has gone from bad to worse. Not only must she care for her sick mother, she has to scrape together rent money by selling illegal herbal cures. But none of that compares to the threat of the vengeful Sleeping Prince whom the Queen just awoke from his enchanted sleep. When her village is evacuated as part of the war against the Sleeping Prince, Errin is left desperate and homeless. The only person she can turn to is the mysterious Silas, a young man who buys deadly poisons from Errin,…

Research! For research purposes, I type “best fuel to use in an improvised explosive” into the browser search bar. Two hours later, I’ve read so, so many interesting things, but I still haven’t written the scene with the homemade bomb in it. Promo. Sigh. I start down the slippery social-media slope with the best intentions of spending five minutes (max!) updating my author stuff. Next thing I know, I’m blinking gritty eyes at the screen, trying to figure out what happened to the past three days. Darn you, Facebook—you and your time-sucking ways. How can I not watch the video of the cop rescuing the ducks trying to cross the Interstate? How?? Conference Call. I adore my editor. When we need to have an occasional chat over the phone, I don’t mind at all. We start with the issue at hand and usually find a solution in short order. Feeling smug, I say something like, “Now that we’ve solved that, I’d better get back to writing. Oh, wait! Before you go, what did you think about that revision on [whatever book I’m editing at the time]?” With that, our neat, tidy and short call goes off the rails. Pretty soon,…

Hi, all, Jennifer here. Some of you may (or may not) know that a majority of the books that I’ve written usually take place in some sort of small New Jersey shore town. Why? Well, most likely because I live in a small NJ shore town and I know it like the back of my hand. However, I also like to write about it, because there are so many bad ways NJ is depicted (yes, I’m looking at you, Jersey Shore TV show) that I feel the need to capture the better things about New Jersey. Today, I’m happy to share with you WHY southern NJ shore towns make great small-town settings: the year round population of most of the shore towns by me can range anywhere from 2,000 to 11,000—not counting Atlantic City. (In the summer that can increase to sometimes 200,000 people) But they are true small towns in the winter! Everybody knows everybody! NJ shore towns have the most beautiful beaches. In fact, Ocean City, NJ was rated Best Beach in America by Coastal Living magazine this year beating out beaches in CA! Your hero or heroine can surf, fish, crab, paddleboard, or just walk the beach…