The most popular book set in Colorado is Stephen King’s The Shining set at the fictional Overlook (aka The Stanley Hotel). That should have been a gimme, but I missed that question recently, which is crazy because the haunted history tour of The Stanley Hotel ranks as one of the best cross sections of literature, history, and pop culture in my experience. In fact, our trip to the hotel sparked several scenes in UNSTOPPABLE. Every summer we like to spend a few days in Grand Lake, CO where I worked in the summers before and after my senior year, and it’s still one of my favorite places on the planet. The kids had recently watched The Shining (both versions) after having convinced me that it wouldn’t give them nightmares for the rest of their lives, and they wanted to visit The Stanley. I had never taken Trail Ridge Road through the Rocky Mountain National Forest between Grand Lake and Estes Park, but it was summer, so it shouldn’t be a problem. Right? The tour guide at The Stanley told us that King had been en route to Grand Lake to do some writing when he got stuck thanks to a…

Author/Reader Match Instead of trying to find your perfect match in a dating app, we bring you the “Reader Match” where we introduce you to authors as a reader you may fall in love with. It’s our great pleasure to present Megan Hart. Writes: Hello! I’m Megan. I write sexy romances and erotic fiction, along with mainstream novels that sometimes make you cry. My new book, All the Lies We Tell, is sexy contemporary romance. About: Megan Hart writes books. Some of them use a lot of bad words, but most of the other words are okay. She can’t live without music, the internet, or the ocean, but she and soda have achieved an amicable uncoupling. She can’t stand the feeling of corduroy or velvet, and modern art leaves her cold. She writes a little bit of everything from horror to romance, though she’s best known for writing erotic fiction that sometimes makes you cry. Find out more about her at meganhart.com, or if you really want to get crazy, follow her on Twitter at twitter.com/megan_hart and Facebook at www.facebook.com/readinbed. What I’m looking for in my ideal reader match: Open minded Craves passion and surprise Likes to experience a wide…

My love of travel borders on obsession. Seriously … I never get tired of talking about, researching, or planning a trip. I’m that annoying friend who wants to know everything about your adventures in Europe or your trek to Machu Picchu. Yes, I even enjoy looking through the endless supply of pictures you took while away. Even though I’d never turn down a nice beach vacation, my personal preference is to move on a trip. I crave activity. I get bored sitting around a pool and antsy by my second umbrella-decked cocktail. Exploring an area—whether a rainforest, chic urban local, or historic ruins—is my idea of travel bliss. When I travel to a new location or research a possible future destination, I always consider each as a potential setting for one of my novels. Would it add beauty, depth, and interest to my story? Even better, would it provide my characters with challenges and rewards able to push them together, tear them apart, or both? (Why not let the setting do some of the heavy lifting in creating conflict, right?) With these requirements in mind, here is a countdown of my top five international travel destinations that would make great…

I love sprinkling little bits of the “real world” into my books, whether it’s a real place or landmark, a real story or a real bit of dialogue that I’ve heard with my own ears. It’s those fine little details that make a book memorable, both for me and my readers. But how do you know what’s real and what’s not? Well, I’m here to spill the beans… The “Naked Pirouette Incident” from BETTING THE BAD BOY Paige tells Noah about a time when she drank too much tequila and accidentally walked naked into the wrong bedroom in her share-house. Then she did a ‘naked pirouette’ to spin around and run out of the room. Real or fake? Yep, this was a real event. My good friend is the real Naked Pirouette legend, but I’ll be keeping their name a secret. The “Chihuahua Lock-Out” from TAKEN BY THE CEO Emmaline gets locked out of her car by an evil Chihuahua and calls on the hero, Parker, to borrow his phone so she can call someone to unlock her car. Real or fake? Fake…kind of. The evil Chihuahua is loosely based on my mother’s dog, who isn’t evil…but she’s a bit…

“Your daughter is doing great,” I continued, trying to focus on Nicole and not the way his hand curved around his iced tea. “There’s a school in Santa Monica called Crossroads. It’s a great school, academically, but one of their core directives is the emotional health of the student. They have a grade-bearing course that focuses on each child’s emotions.” He smiled that award-winning smile. “Ma’am, I’m from the South. That hippy-dippy shit ain’t gonna fly.” “And when your daughter breaks down because she never dealt with losing her mother, your good-old-boy shit ain’t gonna fly neither.” I heard his foot tap, but didn’t look at it. We were eye-locked, measuring each other. Thank God I wasn’t working for him. He was melting me from the inside out, and I had a feeling it was on purpose. “You play nine-ball?” he asked. “Sure do.” “You win and I’ll go see your hippy-dippy school. I win and you go see the one on Wilshire.” “I don’t see why it matters what school I see. It’s your decision.” “You consulting or not?” I hadn’t considered seeing him after that meeting, but he had a point. A real consult on how to manage…