I hope you had a good week. Unfortunately, I spent mine sick with a head cold, sinus infection and fun upper respiratory infection. But I was happy to catch a cold if it meant spending a few days up in Hershey, PA with my awesome gal-pal and fantastic fellow author (if you haven’t read her, you MUST check her out), Kathryn Cushman. Why did I share that? Because, I don’t about you, but when I’m sick (which, unfortunately, is a lot of the time of late), I feel very vulnerable. I’m not able to do all the things I want to do and I feel like it’s a great lesson in humility. I realize the truth that I don’t, in fact, run my own little world. I don’t control the universe. I can’t do it all. In fact, I can’t do anything (that’s right, anything) without God’s enabling. When I’m sick I realize how fully dependent I am on God for the breath in my lungs (particularly when I’m stuffy and struggle to breathe), and the gift of waking up every morning (even if it’s with coughing). I am fully dependent on God. Why am I such a slooowww learner…

There are some Thanksgivings my husband Tom and I travel to Phoenix, Arizona to visit our grandchildren in the west. This year our Marietta, GA family joined us here in Phoenix. There are eleven of us, five are the kids. We love it, the cousins love getting together, we have fun, lots of laughing and telling stories and, of course, eating out, eating in, and eating on the big day.Thanksgiving is always a special time for us, a time to reflect on what we’re thankful for. I’m thankful for family and for the time we get to spend with them. Our New Jersey (in the east) seven grandchildren will party with us at Christmas time.   Grandchildren are the rewards for motherhood. Motherhood, a job no one is really prepared for. Parenting isn’t taught, and why not? All we have are the role models that parented us. Right? They didn’t go to school for parenting, neither did their parents. This is sometimes good, and sometimes bad We learn how to do so many other life jobs, but no schooling for parenting. How about a required course in college? Can’t graduate unless you’ve taken the parenting course. Oh my goodness, who…

I’ve dreamed of one of my books becoming a movie, but I never really thought it would happen. Now RUNAWAY ROMANCE is available (in ebook and print) and coming to UP TV on January 7. Looking back, my journey still amazes me. Rewind to early 2011. I had a finished manuscript, an old west romance titled Outlaw Angel, that my agent was shopping. I’d written and published three books with Summerside Press, all part of their Love Finds You series. My agent had presented that book as another Love Finds You, but it was turned down as the location of Sundance, Wyoming, had already been assigned to another well-known author. My editor with Summerside contacted me in January or February of that year, saying they were in desperate need of a book set in Sundance for their Love Finds You line, and asked if I had sold mine yet. I said no—my agent was shopping it as a three-book series. Long story short, their author was unable to fulfill the contract. They offered me the contract, but at a lower rate than we wanted to accept. Finally, I reluctantly decided to move forward and give up my dream of it…

Excerpt from: THE CENTER BY ASA AKIRA He woke up before her, as he always did on Tuesdays. Thirty-two cracks in the ceiling, same as last Tuesday, same as the Tuesday before that, and the Tuesday before that. In her bed, Hana moaned in her sleep and kicked her leg out from under the blanket. She would be awake soon. She looked so peaceful at this hour, her grey hair pinned up, head on her pillow, face smooth and expressionless. Not like the rest of the day, with that wrinkle in between her eyebrows, which grew even deeper with each year. Never would she say it out loud—not just to Matsu, but to anyone—but he sensed she couldn’t remember the last time she was truly happy. That wrinkle, though, she could not hide. It was an arranged marriage. Thirty-plus years ago, he wondered if she would have agreed to commit to him had she known what the future held in store for them. Probably not. He had grown to love her. Even before any of it had happened. When she bore his first child, how could he not? She gave him the gift of family. And when that child died…

The world can seem like a pretty dark place some days. Sometimes just checking your Twitter feed can leave you wanting to crawl back into bed and hide under the covers. But before you do that, you find the remote and take it under there with you – and then, after your panic attack subsides, you peek out and turn on the TV. And there, in all its glory, on some random cable channel, The Holiday is being shown for the millionth time, and there you are, with Cameron Diaz, in that quaint English pub, looking up and seeing Jude Law, who smiles at you like you are the only other person in the entire crowded room. You watch the rest of the movie—Will Cameron finally get in touch with her emotions and cry? Will Iris find the strength to finally leave the Jerk? YES! Of course, all these things will happen! Then, when the credits roll, you take a deep breath, and emerge, ready to face the day. Romance novels do the exact same thing, don’t they? Except they’re portable and available whenever you need them. If you think about it, they’re like little paperback (or electronic) weapons against…

The Hudson Kings is a new series featuring a team of superhot mercenaries who live and work in an armory in Manhattan. The books are as much about the relationships between the guys and their individual journeys as they find their way to the love of a great heroine as they are about the suspense plot. So, romantic suspense, yes, but with lots of emphasis on the characters, plus a lot of laugh-out-loud banter. In THE FINANCIER, billionaire mercenary Nick Dawes hires sexy-as-hell but down-on-her-luck Jane MacGregor to babysit his penthouse and his fish while he’s lying low after losing $20 million in a freelance heist gone wrong. A Russian crime boss wants the money and Nick’s head. As it turns out, Jane’s no shrinking violet; her unflappable approach to the unusual and dangerous occurrences in Nick’s world is just one of the reasons he falls for her so hard. It’s not easy wooing your ideal girl whilst dodging bad guys who want you to die. It can really cramp your style. But Nick manages. Here are the top five ways Nick Dawes is able to romance Jane even while on the move. Drunken Poetry. Loose lips plus words written…

You know it’s going to happen. You’re going to need to escape. Because on Thursday afternoon, Uncle Bill will be deep in the eggnog—except he won’t be drinking the same eggnog everyone else will be enjoying. Uncle Bill’s special blend will come from the flask in his pocket, and the more he drinks, the louder his political jokes will get. If he was the only one you had to worry about this Thanksgiving, you’d survive. Except he isn’t. Your cousin Lori will be flirting with your brother-in-law, and your sister will be close to murder if he even acknowledges Lori’s presence. Which will exclude your right hand helper from any of the meal preparations—the last thing you need is your sister in vicinity of a kitchen full of knives. Don’t forget the football games. There are three to contend with this year, so unless you’re having a Thanksgiving Day brunch, you better be prepared for your mother-in-law to be very unhappy when you time the meal to coincide with her team’s kick-off. Not that she has a ‘team’ who she loyally keeps up with. She only watches football on the holidays you’ve drawn the unlucky straw to host the holiday…

I love to get dressed up and go out on the town. Even, now at my age (I just turned 82 years young!) I love to go out with my husband Tom. Just last weekend we went to a party at the ballroom dance studio where we practice our  fox-trot, waltz, salsa and so many more. Our talented instructors, Monika and Henry just celebrated their fourth-year anniversary of Dance Fairfield. Part of the Fred Astaire Dance Franchise. History has shown us that women have always loved to get dressed up. And yes, even be a little daring in their fashion choices. Being daring is different depending on the woman. For some women it means wearing a stunning gown with a deep décolletage or décolleté. Décolletage is the area of the neck, shoulders, back and upper chest exposed by the neckline of a woman’s clothing, low-cut necklines of ball gowns, evening gowns, leotards, lingerie and swimsuits, among other fashions. Even today, décolletage is seen as an expression of femininity, and in some parts of the world any décolletage is considered provocative and shocking. During the Victorian period, social attitudes required women to cover their bosom in public. For day dresses, high…

AUTHOR READER MATCH WRITES: contemporary romance, including romantic comedy and military romance ABOUT AUTHOR: RC Boldt lives on the southeastern coast of North Carolina, enjoys long walks on the beach, running, reading, people watching, and singing karaoke. If you’re in the mood for some killer homemade mojitos, can’t recall the lyrics to a particular 80’s song, or just need to hang around a nonconformist who will do almost anything for a laugh, she’s your girl. WHAT I’M LOOKING FOR IN MY IDEAL READER MATCH: A reader who loves sexy yet sweet butterflies-in-the-pit-of-your-stomach stories where love conquers all, with a touch of humor thrown in for good measure. WHAT TO EXPECT IF COMPATIBLE: Expect to be immersed into a multitude of stories which will have you swooning, sometimes have your heart aching, Follow RC: Website | Facebook | Twitter | Goodreads | Newsletter | Amazon | BookBub | Instagram HE LOVES ME … KNOT by R.C. Boldt Sometimes love needs a second chance… I never looked back after skipping out on my own wedding, even if it did leave me estranged from most of my family. Eight years later, I have the life I’ve always wanted. As an advertising account executive,…

When I was a kid, my mother was paranoid. I mean, she’s still paranoid—she’s an expert in everyday items that will definitely kill me soon—but her hovering and persistent worry provided the clearest shape to my sense of How One Properly Celebrates Fall. Apparently once there was a dude who either poisoned Halloween candies or slipped razor blades into caramel apples or…I dunno what the real story was, but by the time Mom got done with it, pretty much every kid on the planet who dared go trick-or-treating was begging for a gruesome death. No way was I getting out of the house in my bed-sheet-and-eyeliner Cleopatra costume. So, since blackmailing my neighbors for candy was out and I was personally unchurched (read: the only heathen in a very Catholic neighborhood), my options for seasonal festivities were kind of limited. I could always have gone deer hunting with my dad and brother, but Bambi was still far too raw and relevant in my psyche (still is). Which left really only one thing. Football. In the late 70s and early 80s, football in Houston meant the Oilers. All the walls in my house were painted Columbia blue. Pictures exist of pre-gradeschool-me…