I love happily ever afters and to see the romantic characters come alive on the big screen just makes me swoon, laugh and cry. There is nothing like curling up with your love watching one of these heartwarming flicks. For me, it doesn’t have to be Valentine’s Day, I can watch these movies any day of the week. What are your favorites? Love & Basketball – Childhood friends bond over basketball. I loved watching them grow up and fall in love. Of course, guy loses girl, but in the end, he gets her back. Classic romance. Jumping the Broom – Who doesn’t love a beautiful wedding? Family expectations, cultural traditions and differences try to keep this couple apart. This touching film it included all the things I like to put in my books, family, drama and romance. The Best Man – I could watch this movie and its sequel every day. I love the fact that you are privy to more than one blooming romance. And again, who doesn’t love a beautiful wedding. This one comes with a line dance at the end. Love Jones – This movie, WOW. I love the fact that the chemistry between Larenz Tate and…

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 Caroline Fyffe. Writes: Western historical romance. My latest release, HEART OF EDEN, is book one of my new Colorado Hearts series; it launches today. Expect book two, TRUE HEART’S DESIRE, to debut June 18th—just in time for summer reading! About: Former equine photographer turned romance novelist seeks readers who enjoy falling for a good-looking, sweet-talking cowboy in an endearing and emotional western historical romance featuring five sisters who’ve inherited a widespread Colorado cattle ranch—managed by the aforementioned hunk. What I’m looking for in my ideal reader match: Must enjoy whiling away hours in a hot bubble bath with her perfect heartthrob (fictional, of course). Would prefer a diamond-studded night sky over a diamond ring. Anticipates the jingle of spurs. Falls head over heels for a man dressed in chaps, boots, a soft-as-butter chambray shirt and topped with a black Stetson. Relishes learning about cattle drives, buffalo jumps, nankeen fabric, or how to bake a potato cake in a wood-burning stove. Enjoys…

Happy Birthday Tom! Tom is three-quarters of a century old today. WOW! Happy Birthday to my sweetie. Birthdays belong to the owner and are always a time to celebrate. They are a memorial of the past year and a celebration of the coming one. A chance to look to the future. If you could change your birthday, would you? I can’t think of anything I’d change. I’m 82 years old and I still look forward to my birthday. At my age every day is a celebration of life. If I could pick one of the four seasons – winter, spring, summer, fall – I would keep my fall birthday, with its lapis blue skies and leaves of orange and gold. In our family, we have oodles of birthdays to celebrate, with five adult children and their spouses and twelve grandchildren and two granddaughters-in-law. From the time they were old enough to go out with Tom and me, each grandchild always had a special day of going out to eat, shop, play, or however they wanted to celebrate. The great Little Pub Let them eat cake! From Alina’s Cakes. Your birthday is the best day of the year. You own that…

Years ago, I had the opportunity to interview singer-songwriter Kate Campbell, who remains one of my favorite artists. Kate talked about something she called “Southern noir,” which has nothing to do with crime novels and everything to do with sense of place. At certain spots in the South, you get the feeling that something is happening beneath the surface, something—maybe even something on the dark side—that you can feel but can’t see. Southern noir. Once you’re attuned to it, you can feel the undercurrents of our regional noir in places all over the South. Our grande dame cities—Charleston, Savannah, and New Orleans—are givens. (Savannah’s on my bucket list, but I’ve rambled the other two.) If you’ve never known Southern noir, here are five more great places to experience it: Rural Alabama Back when we had a little more time on our hands, my husband and I used to break out the map on a Saturday morning, pick a road, and strike out on an Alabama ramble. We’ve roamed small towns like Wetumpka, Northport, and Mooresville, and had lunch at “meat ‘n threes”—down-home Southern cafes where you choose your meat and three vegetables from a menu posted on the wall. We’ve…

My new release, THE BILLIONAIRE’S UNEXPECTED BABY , centers around an unconventional couple who is preparing for the arrival of a baby who is…well, unexpected. This one was a lot of fun to write. Being a mother myself, I could relate to a lot of the anxiety my characters experienced as they awaited the big day. Of course, I didn’t have my friends running a pool on my relationship and the only baby daddy drama I had was with my husband and a few unfortunate name choices, but still. I could relate. There are a lot of things about having a baby that caused me a great deal of anxiety. Here were my Top 5: The Breaking of the Water – Now, in the movies this is always shown as a massive gush of water where I’ve heard in real life it’s not always that dramatic. However, going into the whole thing, I just knew, with my luck, I was going to be a gusher and it was going to happen in the middle of some fancy and overly crowded venue. Then, I ended up having C-sections, so I never had my water break. Crisis averted! The Contractions – those…

Meg Ryan nailed it. In You’ve Got Mail, bookstore owner Kathleen Kelly (Ryan) stands behind the counter of The Shop Around the Corner and insists, “When you read a book as a child, it becomes a part of your identity in a way that no other reading in your whole life does.” “Hear! Hear!” I remember books and their characters from my childhood as if they were living, breathing folk—animals and humans alike. I could bump into them today and know their names, understand their motivations, imagine the decisions they’d make in a world or time outside their own. They were and are my friends—part of my fiber and being. I’m not sure if I picked my favorite books because I’m like those characters and believe I could comfortably slip into their shoes, or because those characters have influenced my own thought processes and character growth. Either way, we’re friends for life. Here are my favorites and why I love them: The Adventures of Tom Sawyer—This story chronicles, tongue in Mark Twain’s cheek, a good-hearted, fun-loving, sometimes conscious-stricken, creative boy magnetically drawn to trouble and adventure, who precariously walks a knife’s edge of danger. Through it all, he remains steadfast…

I had a conversation with a friend the other day, debating why independent-minded, strong-willed women crave alpha males. She, being one of these women with quite an affinity for the fictional Christian Grey, said “it’s not that I want to be dominated out in the real world—just in the bedroom.” So I mentally tapped my chin, pondering my own fascination with alpha males. Yes, I married one. So there’s no denying I’ve got it pretty bad for aggressive, protective men. This may be why they show up so often in my writing. Okay, definitely why. But I believe the lure is more primitive than we think. If we gaze far back to the caveman days, cavewomen followed the one with the biggest club and the baddest attitude to scare off dangerous predators and keep her safe. Even in the 21st century, you’ll find a line of women readers drooling over badass billionaires, dominant shape-shifter alphas, Highland warriors, and deadly demon hunters. I’ve not yet heard one of my friends panting over the pretty boy shopping for his skinny jeans and highlighting his overly styled hair. We want the modern caveman with the biggest stick (sexual innuendo intended) to beat our…

A MERCIFUL SECRET is the third book in my Mercy Kilpatrick series about an FBI agent who was raised in rural Oregon by survivalists. In SECRET, Mercy is caught up in two related murder investigations hundreds of miles apart. Here’s an interview with my heroine: How would you describe yourself? Mercy Kilpatrick: I’m independent and strive to be prepared for everything. Rational. Reliable. You were raised ‘off the grid’ with your family. How did this influence the person you have become? Mercy: Being raised off the grid, taught me that I am the only person I can rely on. People forget that grocery stores can run out of food, power can be permanently cut off, and that when desperate, your most trusted neighbor will turn their back on you. I never forget. You left home in order to become an FBI agent. This had to be a pretty big change for you. What made you want to join the government? Mercy: I saw it as a challenge. I’d been raised to believe that government constantly oversteps its bounds and that our population should never trust it. I was taught that the world was black and white. When I left home,…

The main theme of my newly released YA/SciFi novel, THE VANISHING SPARK OF DUSK, is to “Be Heard”. While that mantra is primarily focused on my main lead, Lark (who’s naturally quiet and reserved), this theme is also geared toward the romantic relationship in this story. There are SO. MANY. BOOKS. out there. Thankfully they’re starting to encourage people to love and listen and respect each other, but there are still those books hanging around that might have a controlling partner be the “hero”. (Trust me, I’ve read them. *puke*) And I’m not talking “Christian Grey” control. In that book Anastasia has a safe word, and it’s HANDS OFF the moment she uses it. Even when she doesn’t use it, Grey respects her and listens to her. I’m talking about the subtle control. The cloaked guilt the controlling party gives their partner when they don’t get what they want. The anger that results when the partner stands their ground. I’m talking about emotional abuse, which can sometimes lead to physical abuse if the controlling party still doesn’t get what they want. As someone who used to devour these sorts of books and idolize those “heroes,” I now get super triggered…

The new year is always filled with fresh prospects, new beginnings and hope for a better tomorrow. Yet sometimes, you just want to hang onto what made you comfortable last year. The time-tested and proven. As a mystery reader, its no different. Your favorite sleuths hold a special place in your heart you aren’t about to give up. And why should you? Yet you still can’t resist the shiny and new cozy that holds so much intrigue—so don’t! This week I have some great return heroines, one that’s new to me, but she’s been around for three previous books (which gave me a backlist to check out) and a bonus mystery of a brand new series that will have you looking ahead for more! If you know these authors, check out their latest mystery and return to what you love. If they’re new to you, celebrate the beginning of a new relationship with a tried and true series. And don’t forget to check out an up and coming series you’re sure add to your list of favorites. CRUST NO ONE by Winnie Archer A Bread Shop Mystery #2 Business is booming at Yeast of Eden. But with a deadly mystery…