I love when a heroine has her idea of the perfect Mr. Right…and when she first sees the hero as 100% Mr. Wrong. So many times, the biggest obstacles keeping the hero and heroine apart are expectations. I also love infusing hints of classic literature into my stories. Disclaimer: I’m a former English teacher turned librarian…and author. Whenever I can give a shout out to a beloved classic and infuse elements of said classic into my story—I do. The same happens with my love of pop culture, so consider yourself warned. You will find everything from references to E.M. Forster’s A Room With A View to Gilmore Girls parallels in my books. In my latest release, it’s The Wizard of Oz. Annie, my heroine in THREE SIMPLE WORDS, is a bookshop owner and romance blogger. She’s all about the happily ever after and believes her true love will eventually reveal himself and sweep her off her feet. So when bestselling novelist Wes Hartley comes back to town—atop his Harley and claiming happy endings don’t exist—Annie knows he’s Mr. Wrong. Even though he’s sexier than she expected him to be, and—despite his obvious cynicism in the relationship department—quite the charmer when…

In my new book COWBOY KARMA, hero Lucky Garcia is a rodeo cowboy who hooks up with his longtime crush, a woman named Harmony Santos who happens to be on the rebound after a bad breakup. Lucky can’t believe his good fortune, but the feelings he’s always had for Harmony come to the surface when he realizes this could be more than just a one night stand. Romance authors fall in love with their characters all the time, but Lucky is really special to me. Here’s what makes him tick. He’s a damned good cowboy. Lucky is a ranch hand and a champion tie-down roper. He trained his roping horse Batman. “He’d worked cattle all his life, even back in Zacatecas. He rode horses before he could walk.” He’s an excellent dancer. Harmony and Lucky begin their hookup at the Silver Spur, a country western bar. “Before Harmony could say anything, the stranger took her hands and spun her. His movements were sure and strong. He was an experienced dancer, not someone who had to be babysat around the floor.” He’s an underdog in his sport. Lucky is a talented calf roper, but his family can’t afford the expense of…

Cyrus Damon, the hero of CHRISTMAS AT EDEN MANOR, wasn’t supposed to be a hero. He’s not hero-material at all. He’s in his late fifties, not incredibly handsome, rather eccentric, often grouchy, and very old-fashioned. In almost every way, he’s the opposite of what we’ve come to expect for the hero of a romance. He was originally a character in a previous series of mine, the Heirs of Damon. He was the uncle of the four heroes in that series, and he was intended as a mild antagonist and a blocking figure. He worked quite well in that regard, although he did grow and soften as a character throughout those four books. When that series was finished, I started a spin-off series (Beaufort Brides), and I’d always had in mind I might bring Cyrus back as a minor character in one of those books. I couldn’t fit him in, though. When I started another connected series (Eden Manor), I knew for sure I was going to bring him back, but I still never thought he would work as a hero. Then readers started asking me if he would get a book. I told them “maybe,” but the truth is I…

Are you looking for your next bearded book boyfriend? Mountain men make great heroes. They’re strong and rugged and oh so sexy! The flannel, the Timberline boots, and those beards! Yes! Have you ever wondered how to snag one of these muscled mountain men for yourself? Well, look no further—here’s Jennie Marts’ Top Ten Ways to Hook A Sexy Lumberjack Mountain Man: Wear flannel button-ups as easy lumberjack bait Hang around Christmas tree lots Sport a catchy T-shirt that reads “I Love Beards” Loiter in the Timberline department of the boot store (even better if you are loitering while wearing the above-mentioned shirt) Spritz on a little pine scented body spray Get a part-time job at REI or just nonchalantly lurk around the flannel shirt section Forget the beach—instead plan your next vacation to the mountains of the Pacific Northwest Skip the next wine and cheese party, and do a girls night out at a Lowes DIY class Trade your curling iron and nail file in for a stocking cap and chainsaw And if all else fails- try getting lost in the woods of Colorado or the Great Northwest That’s it! Sounds easy—now go forth and capture your mountain man!…

The surest way to lift an author’s spirit (can’t resist) is to receive an e-mail from a Hollywood producer inquiring if the rights are available to the Bailey Ruth Raeburn series. Yes, indeed they are. And Bailey Ruth’s new adventure, GHOST TIMES TWO, is a love story and a mystery that would make a GREAT movie. As is often the case with Hollywood queries, nothing has come of it to date, but I’ve had great fun picking out a superb cast and I want to invite readers to offer their choices. In GHOST TIMES TWO, Bailey Ruth returns to earth to encourage Jimmy Taylor, an engaging fun madly-in-love ghost, to climb the Golden Stairs to Heaven. The object of Jimmy’s affections is Megan Wynn, a young lawyer. She is beginning to recover from his untimely death in a kayak accident in the rapids. A fellow lawyer Blaine Smith would like for her to join his law firm and be his partner in both law and love. Jimmy is doing his best to thwart the romance. Megan quarrels with a partner in her present firm who blocks her plan to leave. When Megan is found at the scene of his murder,…

Paris is always the perfect idea. The French capital has long led the way in fashion, culture and art-but during the late nineteenth century, Paris was something else. The city of love resonated with everything modern and luxuriant and uproarious and risqué-Paris was, quite simply the epicentre of the Belle Époque. In FROM A PARIS BALCONY, we meet the Parisian courtesan Marthe de Florian-inspired by the real life demimondaine, whose real abandoned apartment in Paris was rediscovered in 2010 after being locked up for seventy years. I wanted to delve into both Marthe’s world and her feelings, but first, what was the scene in Paris when she was young? Three world fairs, in 1878, 1889 and 1900 contributed to Paris being the leading cultural capital in the world. Life in the city was an intertwine, an entanglement of burgeoning industry, artistic modernity and the pursuit of pleasure. The Third Republic, starting in 1870, is considered the Golden Era of the highest class of prostitutes, Parisian ‘It girls’ now known as ‘demimondaines.’ A generation of young men from all over Europe came to France’s capital to play with the forbidden fruits. Enter one of my characters, the charming heir to one…

By the time you read this, my sophomore novel, “>Can’t Help Falling, will have just been released. Coming just under six months from the release of my debut novel, Close To You, has made for a busy year! Before I was published I remember hearing a few times that your second novel is scarier than your debut. As I prepared for the release of my first book, I couldn’t understand how that was possible. Your debut is the first of everything! First time working with a publishing house, first time navigating cover and title selection, first one-star reviews, first readers letting you know what they didn’t like about your book or what you got wrong. You’re (Usually) Writing Under Contract For the First Time When I wrote Close To You it was the crazy story that I genuinely believed no publisher would be interested in. Who would want a romantic comedy set in New Zealand about a Lord of the Rings tour of all things? I had no expectations and no deadlines beyond the (moveable) ones that I set for myself. If life got in the way of writing it wasn’t a big deal. When I signed my publishing contract…

I’m all taken up with Christmas this month. It’s always this way for me. I get two Christmas’. One the first weekend in November and the other in December with the rest of the world. My November Christmas is really my mother’s bash and the month of October is consumed with last minute preparations. When I was kid Mom would take me around to boutiques and would show me things that she thought were beautiful. I remember how excited she felt. I wasn’t sure about all the stuff, but because she was excited, I was happy, too. I loved those times. They were like the official start of the holiday season for me. She used to tell me that someday she’d like to run her own holiday boutique. And now she does. Because when you want something badly enough, if you keep the dream alive and work hard for it, dreams really do come true. Mom has a group of crafting ladies who meet at her house all year long. They donate talent and many of the supplies and make gorgeous things. They work at home, too. And then, for two days, they sell their wares at Mom’s church. All…

To celebrate this week’s release of the third book in my paranormal romance series, REVENGE OF THE WRONGED, I’m excited to share with Fresh Fiction readers a very popular paleo recipe from the first book in the series, SLIP OF FATE. I received so many emails from my readers who tried this recipe at home after reading the chapter in which our big, scary, bad-boy supernatural Alpha dons a tall white chef hat and apron and pan sears rib-eyes for our very confused and reluctant vegetarian heroine, Milena. In the book, Alex prepares the steaks following a slight variation on the recipe provided below, which has been taken from PaleoFoodieKitchen.com. I hope you enjoy it as much as Milena ends up loving it in SLIP OF FATE! Recipe: Pan Seared Rib-eye Steaks (Recipe credit: PaleoFoodieKitchen.com) INGREDIENTS 2 grass fed ribeye steaks (about 1″ thick and 10 oz each) 1 tsp sea salt (preferably Himalayan or Celtic) 1 tsp black pepper ½ tsp paprika ¼ tsp onion powder ¼ tsp garlic powder 2 tbsp grass fed butter 2 sprigs of fresh rosemary cloves from 1 head of garlic, peeled coconut oil INSTRUCTIONS To make the dry rub, combine salt, pepper, paprika,…

I woke to the familiar shadows of gray and black blanketing our room, but for some inexplicable reason I felt afraid. Almost like I’d just had a nightmare. I faced the edge of the bed, my husband spooning me, his arm around my waist, his head behind mine on the pillow. There was something off about his breathing. It wasn’t the calm, slow breathing of someone asleep. No. It was the kind of breathing that came from great exertion. Or fear. When my husband spoke it was more breath than sound and meant only for me to hear. “Someone’s in here.” My heart exploded. My body tensed. His arm tightened around me, telling me with his action that we should lie there unmoving, pretending to be asleep, and hope the intruder wouldn’t bother with us. My gaze ping ponged around the room, searching for the man. At first I didn’t see anyone. Then I spotted him. He crawled on his hands and knees along the side of the bed toward me. I thought I had known fear. I hadn’t known fear until I knew he was going to kill me. Kill us. Then I woke up. Yep. That was one…