Writing books for a living is nothing to complain about: I work from home, I spend my days largely uninterrupted, and then, you know, there are the champagne parties, the ball gowns and the book launches parties with cake pops because oh my God I never really got over the cake pop craze and it’s become a little embarrassing. I live on a military base, so my alarm clock is less the soothing sounds of my local radio station, and more the sound of five aircraft taking off about 500m from my bedroom window. I roll over, stretch and then remember my deadlines. An empty pit opens in my stomach. I get out of bed, put my glasses on and go into the bathroom. Too much. I remove my glasses and everything looks much better – good enough for me to think that last night’s make up will do for the day too. The first celebration of the day is when I realize that my dog hasn’t pooped in the kitchen. Fist pump. It’s going to be a good day, and obviously the pup is feeling better too. Win-win. After coffee, I give the dogs a quick walk. The looks…

I typically write historical romances set in England, but for this series, I decided to switch things up and head north to Scotland. Just like the Townsend family in ENCHANTING THE EARL, I made my own voyage to Scotland (albeit in cars and planes instead of driving a carriage for weeks over rough terrain). Since I don’t have room to list all the things I loved about my trip, I’ll limit myself to five. The Highlands. Scotland is beautiful and the Highlands in particular are a striking and unique mix of windswept moors, high mountain peaks, lush green hills, deep lochs, and vast gray sea. In some parts, it looks almost otherworldly. If you can handle a little inclement weather, the scenery is definitely worth the trip. The food. Food snobs might look down on me for this, but whatever—I thought the food was pretty tasty. The seafood is super fresh, and you can get it however you like it, from steamed mussels in a fancy meal to the golden fried perfection of fish and chips. I was a little iffy on haggis (though it certainly wasn’t bad), and I surprised myself by liking black pudding. Also, the desserts— cranachan…

Spring always brings a sense of anticipation. The cold and gloom of winter brighten into the season of warmth and rebirth, where new life seems full of limitless possibilities, encouraging the idea that hard work can lead to success, maybe even to fame and fortune. Inspired by the return of spring, the heroines of the novels we’ll look at this month all reinvent themselves to become, or be associated with, the rich, famous and powerful. We begin chronologically with THE DREAM LOVER by Elizabeth Berg. In the late 1800’s, a young woman breaks away from a painful childhood and a failed marriage to establish herself under a new name and a new identity in Paris. Aurore Dupin has always dreamed of being a writer, and in a heady atmosphere of artistic, intellectual and social change, she takes the name “George Sand” and never looks back. Her unconventional, iconoclastic spirit finally free of restraint, she becomes one of the most famous and controversial figures of the age, taking as friends and lovers such leading lights as Frederick Chopin, Gustave Flaubert, Franz Liszt, Eugène Delacroix, Victor Hugo, Marie Dorval and Alfred de Musset. Berg brings to life both her fascinating subject and…

My new book, MARRY IN HASTE is the start of a brand new “Convenient Marriage” series. It stars Cal Rutherford, an officer in the army, who has just become Lord Ashendon. Cal is a man’s man, a career soldier who thinks he knows how to handle women, but really has no idea. Hint: they’re not the same as soldiers; strangely, women don’t take kindly to being ordered around. Cal does, however, know how to kiss. Here he is walking our heroine, Emmaline Westwood home at night, after she was caught up in a brawl at a political meeting. They’re in Bath. It’s their first kiss. He broke off, noticing, in the light of the lamp overhead, a stain on her otherwise pale face. “Stand still,” he ordered, and when she glanced at him in surprise he caught her by the shoulders and turned her toward the light. A bruise was forming on her cheekbone, and dried blood made a dark crust around one of her nostrils. And, now that he looked, drops of blood stained the front of her clothing. “Dammit, you were injured too. Why didn’t you say something?” Flustered, she tried to move away. “I’m perfectly all r—”…

      I am happy to introduce the third book in my Highland Groom series, set against the backdrop of the 18th century unification of England and Scotland.  Hard-Hearted Highlander follows Wild Wicked Scot and Sinful Scottish Laird, and is set shortly after the failed Jacobite rebellion of 1745 in the Battle of Culloden. Jacobite forces were demolished or sent fleeing into the Highlands, and the English army began to move through the Highlands and sweep out anyone who was thought to be a Jacobite or sympathetic to them. Rabbie Mackenzie, the son of a wealthy Highland laird, was a sympathizer, and his family sent him away for a couple of years until tensions eased.  Rabbie left behind his fiancée, Seona, but when he returned two years later, Seona and her entire family were gone, their home ransacked.  He can only assume the worst. Now, a few years later, the Mackenzie empire has crumbled. The clan huddles and decide their best option is to get in bed with the enemy—literally.  If Rabbie marries a prosperous Englishman’s young daughter, it will help their get their feet back on the ground. Rabbie will do what he must, but his heart is…