“It’s a crazy town full of neon dreams…” From Crazy Town by Jason Aldean Have you ever gone to a new place and thought “why was I never here before?” I have traveled quite a bit in the last fifteen years as a writer and a lot of places have been interesting, but most don’t hit with me that “I could live here. I feel this place.” Yet Nashville hit me that way. It’s hard to believe that I never had any interest in visiting it before until friends kept saying that for a music lover, I had to go. When my husband and I went to Nashville on an extended road trip that included New Orleans, I was immediately in love with the artsy, music vibe. Cleaner than Bourbon Street, more down home than Vegas, it felt like real people hanging out, and real people you might know from growing up together trying to make it big in the music industry. If felt like I was watching the musical version of writers, working hard, feeding their passion, following a dream of success. I started my career alone in my condo with two small kids, pouring my heart into my…

One of the things I love about series romance is the incredibly strong ties you can create between the lead characters. Sometimes it is as simple as the setting, a memorable place where all of the characters live and thrive, that you get to revisit with every new story. Sometimes it is the camaraderie of sports teams or military men, linked by a common purpose or enemy. And sometimes it is a group, like a pack of wolves or a coven of witches which creates a sense of yearning to belong. But one of the perennial favorites, is families. Thankfully, the definition of family has grown to adapt to all the ways life throws a group of people together. Some are functional, some are not, but as Jim Butcher is alleged to have said, “I don’t care about whose DNA has recombined with whose. When everything goes to hell, the people who stand by you witho flinching, they are your family.” Which brings me to JORDAN RECLAIMED, the first book in my new rock star romance series, Preload. The fact that these men are in a band could be enough to build a compelling series. Plenty of series have been…

There are many things I love about romance novels. The brave, hunky heroes. The smart, capable heroines. The eclectic plots, settings, and challenges the characters face while fighting for their hard-earned happily ever after. And while those are all great, I feel that one of the under-celebrated aspects of romance is its willingness to tackle difficult topics, such as infertility, grief, mental illness, sexuality, and intolerance. As a romance writer, one of my goals is to explore some of these tough topics while showing the characters working through their pain and achieving their happy ending. For example, in my new book, CHAIN REACTION, the heroine is a sexual assault survivor. I don’t want to give too much away, but she does have scars and baggage she needs to process before she can have a healthy, fulfilling relationship with the hero. Partly because consent is always important, and partly because Alexa is a sexual assault survivor, it was extremely important to me for 1) the hero, Zack, to know about Alexa’s past; and 2) the consent between them to be crystal clear. Personally, I think it’s always important that the consent between the hero and the heroine is clear, but even…

Conflict drives romance, but my favorite scenes to write (and read) are those that show the hero and heroine discovering why they’re perfect for one another. Whether it’s hot sex, similar histories, or realizing they’re more alike than different, the moment when the hero and heroine make their first real connection, brings the feels that make me fall in love with romance. Because of it’s short length, my new release, HEATING IT UP: A Red Hot Russians novella, offered a unique challenge. Widowed artist Nora and Russian adventurer Alexei don’t have months to fall in love, it has to happen in just three days. Attraction sparks when they’re trapped together during a storm and grows as Nora decides to help Alexei save close-knit Antarctic outpost he calls home from closing. But will the truth about Nora’s role in Amity Bay’s demise doom their romance? Though Nora has her secrets, these five things help her see that Alexei is the perfect man. He loves the outdoors – Nora’s military family lived all over the world, and one of the places she loved most was the icy but beautiful island of Greenland. When she comes to Antarctica, she encounters green icebergs and…