Baby it’s cold outside. Boy is it ever! But Tom and I are all snug as two bugs in a rug with our wood stove and our stack of fresh logs for the fire. The wood will keep our heating costs down and our toes all warm and toasty! While I’m recuperating from foot surgery I am under house arrest as I work on my next book, The Unforgettable Miss Baldwin. It’s set in the Gilded Age of New York. Everything about this book makes me smile and laugh. Lots of funny bits, so it’s keeping me warm. A good chuckle will do that for you. And when I want a break from editing, I can peek out the window and watch the winter birds who call our backyard home. I do love our winter birds, they have the most brilliant colors — like the cardinal who doesn’t migrate, but molts into a gorgeous shade of red. It’s my favorite shade of red. Even the female’s winter brown feathery coat is perkier than her summer variation of brown. We have one or two male hollies on our property, and lots of females producing those red berries that pop out around…

When I first began writing historical fiction as a young girl, I was a blank slate about petticoats, bum rolls, stays, jumps, busks, stockings and garters, and whatnot. Fast forward many years and nine published novels later, and I’m still learning with each novel I write, and have discovered that the best way to dress my heroine is to dress myself. I don’t want to create heroines who dress in fashions and underpinnings I know little about. The best way to authenticate a character is to dress like she would, for a day, an hour, or whatever time and event inspires you. Historical dressing is surprising and delightful and educational! And I have a confession. I love stays, the 18th-century equivalent of the 19th-century corset. Stays provide a lovely silhouette and improve my posture, plus they are excellent back support. The stay naysayers, I think, may never have been laced up in them. I highly recommend them and gladly dress my heroines in them! During the recent holidays, I was made merry with the acquisition of a striped petticoat from Fort Boonesborough, and a lovely pair of clocked stockings and straw hat with paper flowers from Fashions Revisited, a beautiful…

If any of you follow me on social media, you’ll know I’m a bit of a paper product junkie. I’m a diehard devotee to my paper planner, and I love setting goals each year with a goal-setting workbook I have. However, one of my newer loves is my reading journal. Like many of you, I keep track of what I read in Goodreads. I love having a searchable list and participating in their annual reading challenge. However, because I’m an author, I don’t feel comfortable doing detailed reviews anymore (particularly in my own genre) because a) I probably know the author and b) if I leave a bad review, I’m guaranteed to be sitting next to that author at the next event, lol. So, I decided when I got published to stop reviewing beyond sharing “It was great!” if I truly loved a book.   But over time, I realized that I missed being able to jot down my thoughts about a book. Plus, if I didn’t write down something, I often forgot what the heck the book was about. So, I decided to start an old-fashioned, hand-written reading journal. I wasn’t sure I’d be able to keep up with…

Write, write, write. I plan to have two new wolf books and a jaguar book for 2018, need to figure out who and what. For the jaguar one, I want Howard, the former Enforcer, who desperately needs a mate. I envision in him in the jungle, where all big cats need to get away, and the Enforcer she-cat who is ready to put him on her hitlist if he doesn’t toe the line. And one of Grant’s brothers, for a new Highland Wolf book. Not sure about the other. I’ll be writing another YA fae story, cougar shifter, Medieval Highlander, and polar bear shifter book. Other than that, I can’t wait to visit a friend and fan who took me to see two wolf reserves in Minnesota and we’re going back. She and another friend, who took me all over San Diego, will be there, and we all went to see the wolves in New Mexico together. I want to see the wolf reserve near where my son is stationed in Omaha, also. I love to share pictures of them with my fans. I’m thinking of going to Denver to RWA and one of the ladies living there said she’d…

Eagle went straight to the spare bedroom, wishing he had more hands available as he struggled to pull back the blanket so he could lay the broken woman on the mattress. She moaned softly as he pulled his arms free from underneath her. He raced to the bathroom, grabbed towels and returned. With a warm wet washcloth, he quickly dabbed her forehead, checking to see how severe the head wound was. His military experience let him know she likely had a concussion and would possibly need stitches. He was loath to call a doctor. And yet he knew he should be calling the police. He did a complete second check over her body, noting the ankle was continuing to swell and the injury was recent. The scratches he assumed were from running. Her feet would need to be soaked to see the extent of damage. Her ribs were bruised, her arms lacerated, the soft skin on her breasts reddened with angry burn marks. Grimly, he realized she’d likely been held captive somewhere, somehow. And for a long time. Until she found an opportunity to escape. The shoulder wound was the one that worried him the most. How long had she…

Writes: DEADLY SUMMER is a humorous southern romance mystery. Summer Butler returns to her hometown in southern Alabama to star in a reality TV show as a PI, even though her only experience is the amateur sleuth character she played on a hit TV show when she was a teenager. Deadly Summer is the first book in Darling Investigations, and releases January 9, 2018. About: Denise Grover Swank is the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and USA Today bestselling author. Her hobbies include witty Facebook comments (in her own mind) and dancing in her kitchen with her children (quite badly, if you believe her offspring). Hidden talents include the gift of justification and the ability to drink massive amounts of caffeine and still fall asleep within two minutes. Her lack of the sense of smell allows her to perform many unspeakable tasks. She has six children and hasn’t lost her sanity—or so she leads you to believe. What I’m looking from in my ideal reader match: If you love to laugh and cry while reading the same book. Find it hard to put a good book down and will sacrifice sleep to read. You like to read on your…

If you could invite any five characters (from books or movies or TV) to dinner, who would they be and why? It’s impossible to pick only five fictional characters I could invite to dinner. Would I fill my table with superheroes like Thor and Captain America (for the view, obviously), or a more classic George Bailey, C.K Dexter Haven, Rhett Butler trio? Fill each seat with TV characters who make me laugh like Ron Swanson and Jim Halpert with a dash of Gary Hobson and Sam Beckett? Or maybe my favorite book friends from childhood: Jo March, Laura Ingalls, Elizabeth Wakefield. But I’m a romance writer and, these days, almost one hundred percent a romance reader, so it makes the most sense to focus on characters from romance novels. It was still hard to narrow it down, but this at least gave me somewhere focused to start. So, Nicole’s Eclectic Guest List of Potential Disaster is as follows: Clara Campbell from WILD RIDE COWBOY by Maisey Yates Daniel MacGregor from The MacGregors series by Nora Roberts Riordan from The Edge series by Megan Crane Katya Ivanova from MAKE YOU MINE by Jackie Ashenden Lillian Bowman from The Wallflowers series by…

We didn’t need to return the champagne. Two sips, done and yum! I’m going to tell you a little secret: I’ve never ever made a New Year’s Resolution. There! The cat’s out of the bag. Why? Every positive change I’ve made in my life happened because of slow, steady, hard work. Not after three glasses of champagne at 12:01 on Jan. 1st. You might say I do “Reverse Resolutions”. There are a few other things I like to do “in reverse” and that includes shopping! Yup! This time of year is all about “reverse shopping”. Every year after the Holidays are over, I put my precious packages under my arm, and trudge to the mall through snow, hail, and threat of 40mph winds, just like the postman used to do. Lately I’ve seen them driving around in their nifty mail trucks. It’s blooming lovely. Many years ago, you couldn’t return anything without a good excuse. That was before stores like Costco and Walmart came on the scene and began to implement their return policies, then all the chi-chi stores followed suit. And so every January begins the “reverse shopping” trips: the Christmas lights that didn’t light. The flickering battery candles…

Happy New Year! As always, January 1st is a time to reflect on what we hope to accomplish in the new year. I have big plans for the year publishing-wise, but am pondering how to move forward with the writing part. I’m super excited about my Delaneys of Sandpiper Beach trilogy due out March, April, and May of this year for Harlequin Special Edition. As if that isn’t enough, the first book will be my 25th with Harlequin. In the fall, I’ll have the third book in the Charity, Montana series released from TULE publishing. HEALING HEART ACRES is my working title, and honestly, I hope that title sticks! After that, I will self-publish two books that I’ve had the rights returned to me from Harlequin, with new covers and story updates. I’m calling this the Santa Barbara Sunsets Series. So, yeah, wow, six books I’m planning to have out in 2018, that’s a big publishing year! About Lynne Marshall Lynne Marshall has been traditionally published with Harlequin as a category romance author for more than ten years with over twenty-five books, and more recently with TULE Publishing, she has also gone hybrid with self-publishing. She is a Southern California…

I’ve always believed that to be passionate about something is a gift. Personally, passions give me something to dream about, to look forward to, and to pour my love, energy, and excitement into. The nature of some interests is to evolve as we do, sometimes even disappearing entirely to make room for new ones that fit into the different stages of our lives. Other things become essential to us, a part of our very natures, and settle deep into our hearts where their spark will never be extinguished. Here are five of the things that set my <B>Heart on Fire</B>. <ol> <li><strong>Family</strong>. I have two amazing children, a nine-year-old boy and a five-year-old girl, and a helpful, generous husband who is a terrific father. I have parents, a sister, nieces and a nephew, and a whole slew of both close and extended in-laws that we see when we can. Not a day in my life has gone by when I didn’t know I could count on my mother if I needed to, for whatever, no matter what. That’s a huge gift to any child, and I hope that my children will feel the same way about me each and every…