The title and story of my new novel was a gift. The wind of spirit—inspiration—whispering as I sipped tea in my favorite coffee shop, scribbling down ideas for my next book. Outside the window stood an old tree, a weeping cedar with its sturdy branches and dangling leaves that ballooned like a giant umbrella over the people drinking coffee and tea below. In my mind’s eye, I saw two German children—the best of friends—playing high among those branches. In a tree house. They were in danger, though at the time I didn’t know what threatened them. I just knew the boy and girl had to run. And the girl would be lost along the way. The story slipped between past and present, slowly unfolding on my paper. The boy and girl separated during the war. A man who spent a lifetime trying to keep his promise to find her. A British noblewoman who sympathized with Hitler and a tenacious journalist in London who can’t resist a good story—a journalist with secrets of her own. My research for this novel took me on a journey north of my home in Oregon to the misty San Juan Islands, across the Atlantic to…

Since ATLANTIS REBORN has its roots in Plato’s myth of the lost island of Atlantis, I thought I’d share a quick recap of one of my favorite but lesser known myths, Ashor the Black Knight. The story begins with two kings at war. As is usually the case in myth, one of them was good and fair to his people, and the other was oppressive and cruel. Fearing his army would be defeated, the good king sent a messenger to bring a man named Ashor to his court. Ashor was an old knight, but in his youth he’d specialized as an assassin. In spite of his advanced age, he remained surprisingly strong and skilled. Ashor traveled back to court where the good king implored him to go to his rival’s fortress city and kill him. Ashor said that he must see for himself, but if the other king was as terrible as he’d been told, he would do it. So, Ashor skulked around the enemy’s city until he’d seen enough to know the king was truly awful to his people. As agreed, he assassinated the tyrant and made a hasty retreat. He stopped long enough to free a priest who…

I should probably start off with the caveat that I can’t guarantee your Happily Ever After, even if you follow my super awesome instructions word for word. Because…well…because of something I like to call men. They’re unpredictable at times. Especially the alpha ones. Am I right, ladies? My husband likes to tell his own version of our love story to strangers and acquaintances alike. Most special ops alphas have a unique personality. It takes some getting used to. I’ll intersperse his version with the truth below. Choose Your Mark HIS VERSION: I met my husband in a class I took about police procedural stuff. The details aren’t important because I don’t even remember what he was talking about. All I could focus on were his rippling muscles and the tight tshirt he wore. And as soon as he mentioned the fact that he had a PhD, in anthropology of all things (how sexy is that?), then I was basically a puddle in my desk. I decided then and there that he would be mine. He was also a Chief of Police, had been a SWAT cop for 16 years, and had worked undercover for 12 years. TRUTH: I did meet…

In my latest novella from Carina Press, SAVING HIS WOLF, I got the interesting opportunity to write about a shifter who was both blind and unable to shift. The character has been pushing me to tell her story for a few years, but the time was never right. When I finally did find her story, I realized pretty quickly that she would be a hard character to capture on the page. For one thing, I’m not blind and I don’t have experience how it would be to be blind. I did try a few experiments while writing the novella to help me understand better. I closed my eyes and listened to a tv show—quickly realizing how much I missed the visual stimulation. I also closed my eyes and tried to walk through the house. This is a house I’ve lived in for nineteen years and I still couldn’t navigate it with my eyes closed! Finally, I tried to eat with my eyes closed. Wow. That was difficult and didn’t last long. These little things helped me in the smallest way to see what it would be like to be blind and what Olivia must have overcome to be able to…

Many times when I sketch a character, when I’m right at the beginning of figuring out who this person is, I take from my real life. I’ll use aspects either of myself or those who are close to me, or perhaps someone who I’ve come across over the years who has had a great impact on me. That’s not too unusual—I think most writers do that to one degree or another. But sometimes, I make very deliberate choices. Sometimes there are challenges in my own life that relate to me, or a friend or family member, and I will inject personal experience into my stories and characters. Those choices are never made lightly and they can be scary. It can feel as if I’m allowing myself to become too vulnerable through my stories because once it’s in the hands of a reader, it’s completely out of my control. I don’t want my damaged characters, the ones who’ve had to fight in life, who’ve had to overcome—or who are still in the process of overcoming being repeatedly kicked in the teeth—to be disregarded. They’re still healing and I don’t want them to get hurt any more than they already have been….

My mother has a picture of me as a little girl, smiling into the camera on the back of a pony. With my hair cascading in ringlets beneath a cowgirl hat, freckles sprinkled across my nose, a missing front tooth, and my six-shooter by my side, I was ready at seven to take on the Wild West. In reality, an out-of-work photographer had taken a pony, cowboy hat, bandana, and toy guns around our neighborhood, looking to make a buck. Fast forward a couple of years, and you’d find me on a typical Sunday afternoon parked with my father in front of the television. I treasured our shared passion for vintage westerns, never noticing such flaws as poor acting, overblown plots, or camera angles that gave away feinted punches. Born in California’s Big Valley, land of the Barclays, I am a daughter of the American West. I have a vivid memory of walking home from high school in a dust storm with tumbleweeds blowing across the road. I’d grown up steeped in western mythos, but the grit I washed from my hair that day wasn’t so romantic. A fascination with the Oregon Trail took hold of me as an adult,…

Though the threat of pickpockets is real, the beauty and sensuality and brilliance of Barcelona is a character all unto itself in this story. Because when it comes to Barcelona, anyone who has ever been there raves of the culture, the beauty of the people, and the extraordinary art. Barcelona boasts some of the most spectacular beaches in the world, amazing cuisine, and has been home to some of the most renown artists in history. It, rightly so, holds high priority on many a bucket lists. My own included! You can tour the Sagrada Família and sunbathe on a nude beach all in the same day. Or maybe walk the streets of the Gothic Quarter then shop for goods at La Boqueria. I’d love to go on a Vermouth bar hop. They do Vermouth very different than we do here in the states. And hello…hunky Spanish men. Ummmm…Álex González anyone? How about Javier Bardem, Antonio Banderas, or Enrique Iglesias? Phew! But in all my research, the overwhelmingly repeated advice was to keep your belongings locked down, at all times. Due to the mild climate and the expansive tourism, Barcelona is known as the #1 city in the world for pickpocketing….

This is my first amateur sleuth novel, though I’ve written mysteries into romance novels. But Bailey Burke, home stager extraordinaire, is the first heroine I’ve actually thrust into the role of having to solve crimes, and she’s inconveniently afraid of blood, but at least she’s always dressed to the nines. I like to think that given my interest (hubby would call obsession) with crime TV, I would be able to figure out the clues and solve a crime or two. But you never know until you’re in the situation and I’ll stick to fiction, thanks. No true crime for me. So what are the rookie mistakes Bailey makes? Wrong uniform. It’s a bitch to run from the bad guy in heels. Not spotting a liar from twenty feet. Sure, we have to trust someone but not every cockamamie story she’s told. A genuine people pleaser, she is worried about hurting the detective’s feelings by prying. Growing up reading Agatha Christie novels, which I loved, I had this idea the sleuths intrinsically have information we the readers did not. I wanted a heroine more like a Stephanie Plum character, who stumbles from situation to situation, but somehow manages to hold her…

Meet Brett Westerly: Interviewer: Are you comfortable? Brett Westerly: Does it matter? My grandmother wants this interview for her memories, so ask away. Interviewer: You and your grandmother have always been close, haven’t you? Brett: Yes, she essentially raised me. Interviewer: Do you support her offer to give any of her grandchild their inheritance early as long as they marry and invite all of your immediate family to the wedding? Brett (squares his broad shoulders): My grandmother has the best of intentions even if her chosen method is misguided. Interviewer: Your younger brother, Spencer, jumped at the idea and is already engaged. Brett: I am painfully aware of that. Interviewer: What do you think of his fiancée? Brett: What I think of her doesn’t matter because it’ll be a cold day in hell before I let him do anything as stupid as getting married for money. Interviewer: So, you don’t approve of Alisha Coventry? Do you feel that she isn’t good enough for your brother? Brett: My brother’s head is so far up his own ass lately that he won’t realize that he’ll never find better until after he breaks her heart. She beautiful, loyal, intelligent. She came into my…

Cranberry Cove is a small fictional town in western Michigan located right on the shores of Lake Michigan where the influence of the Dutch settlers is still strong to this day. By 1900, one third of the Dutch in America had settled in West Michigan. The Dutch were known for their frugality, industry and hospitality. Many were farmers and today many of the area’s family farms still bear Dutch surnames. Others were skilled craftsman, carvers and furniture designers who came to work in the furniture industry that at the time was booming in West Michigan. Many of the characters I’ve created for Cranberry Cove are of Dutch origin—the VanVelsen sisters who own Gumdrops, the candy store; Bart Dykema the butcher and Phyllis Bouma, the local librarian. Gumdrops carries many Dutch treats including Droste pastilles, Van Melle fruit toffees and Katjes winegums and the Van Velsen sisters always have a pot of erwtensoep—Dutch pea soup—on the stove. Ollie bollen—fried doughnuts—are a huge treat and are the precursor of the doughnuts we eat today. There are a small handful of cranberry farms in Michigan. Most of the nation’s cranberries come from Wisconsin with Massachusetts and New Jersey not far behind, while the…