My name is Daralyse Lyons and I am the author of 20 novels and, today, I’ve decided to sit down with one of my characters, Laura Cutty, for a chat about life, love and how to keep the romance alive. Before we launch in, what you should know about Laura is that she’s married to a murderer. That’s right. Laura knew when she married him that Thomas Cutty was a killer. She accepts that about him, just as he accepts everything distasteful about her – like the way she cracks her knuckles when nervous or uses the last of the toilet paper without replacing the roll. Twelve years of marriage and two beautiful babies later, and Laura and Thomas have learned to love the life they built together – a life that depends on Laura never asking the question: Who did Thomas kill last night? So here I am, sitting across from Laura, each with our cups of hot cinnamon spice tea, and we’re talking about romance because I am regrettably single and she is blissfully attached and I figure I have a lot to learn from her. Me: Hi Laura. Thanks for sitting down with me today. Laura: No…

You had me at hockey playing cowboy… CAUGHT UP IN A COWBOY is the story of Rockford James, a hunky cowboy who also happens to play hockey for the NHL. Yeah, you heard that right… A hockey playing cowboy… Could he be any more delicious? The only thing that could make him any better would be if he had two handsome cowboy brothers who also played hockey… Oh wait… He does. The Cowboys of Creedence is a new series featuring the James brothers, who are all as hot on the ice as off. Feel free to One-Click now, or if you need any more convincing, here’s The Top Five reasons why hockey-playing cowboys are the best… There are hundreds of Pinterest boards dedicated to good looking men who are cowboys and hockey players. Whether you are looking for abs or chaps, you’ll find your McDreamy hero, times ten! They’re good with their hands—and they don’t mind getting a little dirty. They have great hand eye coordination, and know how to handle their stick. Speaking of stickhandling, these guys know how to score. They play to win and can go all night. These guys are bad-a** tough on the outside, but…

There’s just something about a hero who’s a bit wicked, but in all the right ways! In historical romance, he may be a titled noble with a bitter secret in his past or a rugged Highlander with a heart filled with regret. Perhaps he’s a rogue who has walled off his heart, a spy with secrets of his own, or a criminal whose love for the heroine pulls him from a dark place into a brighter future. He’s a man with flaws—some so profound they will stand in the way of his love for the heroine—but when he demonstrates his inner courage or compassion, he’s a hero I can root for on the road to happily ever after. When I’m writing a romance, I make some key decisions about the hero while the story is just a kernel of an idea. While planning my new Victorian historical romance, WHEN A LADY DESIRES A WICKED LORD, I knew from the start that the hero would be an adventurer, a man who’d left England to seek his fortune. I decided to make him an archaeologist gone rogue, a daring scholar like Indiana Jones but with far different motives. Benedict Weston, Viscount Marlsbrook,…