For the month of Valentines, we’ll look at stories about pioneering women we’d be proud to call our Galentine’s. Warriors, artists, scientists and experimenters, all were unique talents who, though living in the nineteenth century, would have been exceptional in any era. We begin with Vanessa Riley’s SISTER MOTHER WARRIOR which features two little-known women who played important parts in the largest slave revolt since Spartacus–and unlike that revolt, one that led to freedom and independence for the people of Haiti. The French colony of St. Dominigue was the richest in the Western Caribbean, and like all those European colonies, its wealth was based on a brutal system of slavery. Riley’s novel provides an excellent picture of a complex, highly stratified society made up of upper and lower-class whites, mulatoes, free people of color, island-born enslaved blacks and (because of the high mortality rate among the slaves) successive waves of African-born blacks. Her two main characters, Duchess Gran Toya and Empress Marie-Claire Bonheur, are drawn from two different ranks: Toya, an enslaved, West African-born warrior and Marie-Claire, island-born of free black parents. When repeated efforts by the French government to abolish slavery or at least ameliorate some of its harshest…

One of the joys of miserable weather is the extra bit of guilt-free reading/listening time I can rationalize after battling mountains of concrete (i.e. ice) encased snow. The cruel grip of winter has loosened, at least where I live, (and I wish all who are reading a gentle spring or fall), so now all my attention can return to a deeply seated (pun intended!) addiction I know I share with millions: figure skating. By the time you read these words, the Olympics ice competitions will be over, but lucky for us, authors have been crafting addictive stories about skating for years. First up: Mariana Zapata introduced readers to Ivan Lukov and Jasmine Santos years ago, but the magic of her slow-burn romance, FROM LUKOV WITH LOVE, remains intoxicating. Wonder how “pairs” couples manage to make it look so effortless? Read Jasmine’s accounts of her 20-hour days of practice (falls), ballet, Pilates, running, more practice (more falls), and like me, you’ll appreciate your comfy reading chair more than ever! Jasmine has more prickly determination (and a tendency toward self-flagellation) than any other character I’ve come to love, and Ivan is truly swoon-worthy, on or off the ice. This book has stood…

Recently, we endured difficult winter weather as we were staying in Kentucky near family while waiting for our motorhome to be repaired. Ice, snow, power outages, and many things breaking tested our patience and resilience. Yet even after facing all of that, nothing compared to the biting cold at the top of Pikes Peak. Three years ago, in April 2023, my husband and I boarded the Pikes Peak Cog Railway in Colorado, expecting beautiful scenery and a memorable day in the mountains. As a romantic suspense author, I’m drawn to places where beauty and danger exist side by side, settings that feel both breathtaking and unpredictable. Pikes Peak, rising 14,115 feet into the Colorado sky, promised exactly that. From the moment the train began its steady climb, I felt the quiet stirring that happens when a place begins to feel like a story. The Slow Build of Anticipation The ascent unfolded like a carefully paced novel. Dense forests gradually thinned into rugged rock and open sky. Snow clung to the mountainsides in patches, and each turn revealed wider horizons. On the way up, I found myself watching ahead, thinking about how suspense builds slowly, before revealing the true intensity waiting…

What is the title of your latest release?A WOMAN IN PINK What’s the “elevator pitch” for your new book?When she meets Dutch, she believes that he is her Johnny Cash, that she is his June Carter, and that theirs is a great love story. As the novel progresses, it tells a different story, one of addiction and the chaos it creates. How did you decide where your book was going to take place?Location is never named in A WOMAN IN PINK, but I wanted it to feel like home. In my case, that is the Midwest, specifically Metro Detroit, and I used it as the model for my setting. Would you hang out with your heroine in real life?Absolutely! I’d have to give her some tough love, but I’d also have her back. She’s my little sister. What are three words that describe your hero?Hopeful, fragile, torn What’s something you learned while writing this book?I learned that tidily resolved fiction doesn’t work for me. I like some ambiguity and room for interpretation. At the conclusion of A WOMAN IN PINK, I wanted to leave different doors open or at least cracked. Do you edit as you draft or wait until…

Every story starts, at least for me, with music. Songs inspire themes, a scene, a character’s journey… that first breathtaking kiss. I can never begin to craft a book without first knowing its soundtrack. These five songs (among many) helped to shape the swoony – and sexy – second chance, slow burn romance between Jordan and Jamie in LAST FIRST KISS: “Fallingforyou” by The 1975 One of my favorite parts of a second chance romance is getting a glimpse at who the characters were to each other before the start of a novel. With Jordan and Jamie, it’s a flashback scene where Jamie gives Jordan his first kiss. As practice, of course! This changes everything for Jordan. He slowly starts to realize he’s not straight and Jamie is more than just a friend. These lyrics really hit home at what Jordan feels: I don’t wanna be your friend/I wanna kiss your neck “Thinking Out Loud” by Ed Sheeran This is the song Jordan and Jamie slow dance to in a greenhouse – which is captured so iconically on the cover. It’s also the moment that reignites the spark they’ve been avoiding since Jamie broke Jordan’s heart. I love it because…

Excerpt from A LITTLE BUZZED by Alys Murray: Hudson Bailey was as useless as my vibrator. I’m sure that was just the sexual frustration talking. However, as I lay back against the headrest of my Cleveland Airport Ramada bed, that was all I could think. Take the new guy to the sex toy convention, they said. It’ll be fun, they said. “They” were Clara Mason. As my boss at BuzzCorp, a rising star in the sex toy industry, Clara was thoughtful, ambitious, open-minded, hardworking, understanding, insightful, and sharp-elbowed. On the Hudson Bailey issue, she was also very, very wrong. It hadn’t been fun at all. Hudson was new to BuzzCorp. A contractor, he was brought in on a short-term deal to create the software for our latest, greatest, and completely top-secret sex toy-The Fantasy. According to Clara, he was at the top of his field when it came to, I don’t know, numbers or The Matrix or binary or whatever it was he did at his laptop all day. The problem was that he didn’t know anything about the industry. When I explained to Clara that he was unsuitable for the job on every level but the most basic, she…

What is the title of your latest release?IF ONLY YOU KNEW What’s the “elevator pitch” for your new book?Childhood best friends attempt to matchmake each other to disastrous results, all while fighting the fact that they’ve been soul mates all along. How did you decide where your book was going to take place?IF ONLY YOU KNEW is the third book in the Oakwood Bay series, which is where the book takes place. It’s a coastal, fictional small town on the East Coast, and given that Summer (the female lead) is a competitive surfer, you get to visit various beaches and surf locations in the area! Would you hang out with your heroine in real life?Summer is known for loving to host a social event, and for her skills in mixology. She’s also an avid romance reader herself, so the answer is a big yes! What are three words that describe your hero?Loyal, compassionate and hilariously self-deprecating. What’s something you learned while writing this book?I made it my business to learn the ins and outs of surfing to create as authentic an experience for the reader as possible. I’m talking hours of online competition footage and tutorials, and following surfers on…

What is the title of your latest release?AND THE CROWD WENT WILD What’s the “elevator pitch” for your new book?The cover copy I wrote pretty much says it all… An ex-Hollywood sex symbol with a broken heart, a super star NFL quarterback who’s lost his game, an old railcar tucked in the woods… We also have a meddling mother, an ex-husband, a dog, and a lot of heat. (It’s hard to be alone when all the world wants a piece of you.) How did you decide where your book was going to take place?I needed a lake not too far from Chicago, and I love setting as many books as I can in the Midwest. Thus, a beautiful lake in the heart of Wisconsin’s vacation land. Would you hang out with your heroine in real life?Absolutely. I’m in total awe of her. She’s so smart, so brave, so funny… This is the hard part of writing a book. When I’m done, I have to say good-bye to her. What are three words that describe your hero?Honorable. Smart. Disciplined. I assumed I don’t have to mention that he’s outrageously sexy. I love this guy! What’s something you learned while writing this…

Welcome to Where Everybody Knows Your… Alibi – where we get to know the fictional towns we’d happily move to… if they didn’t have such a suspicious body count (but does that really matter?) I’m thrilled to kick things off with a guest who wears not one, but two mystery hats: the lovely Janna Rollins, who also writes as Paula Charles. As Paula, she writes the charming Hometown Hardware Mysteries. And as Janna, she brings us the delightful Zen Goat Mysteries, set in the quaint New Hampshire town of Bobwhite Hollow. Home to Haybeck Farms, where livestock graze, neighbors gossip, and Callie Haybeck has launched her Zen Goat Yoga studio that’s equal parts serenity and sleuthing. Join us as we chat with Janna about Bobwhite Hollow and discover why this is exactly the kind of town where everybody knows your name… and keeps a close eye on your alibi. (Oh, and you might want to watch out for a goat named Bugsy… his tomfoolery is legendary.) What’s the one place everyone ends up hanging out?Bobwhite Hollow is a small town, so it doesn’t have a rocking nightlife. When the younger crowd wants to get together in the evenings, they usually…

What is the title of your latest release?MURDER WILL OUT What’s the “elevator pitch” for your new book?When the owner of a historic (and haunted) Maine mansion dies in a what appears to be a tragic accident, her shy goddaughter Willow returns to Little North Island, determined to figure out who is getting rid of the property’s heirs one by one – without becoming the next victim herself. The living aren’t much help. Fortunately, the mansion is full of ghosts. How did you decide where your book was going to take place?When my parents retired, my parents bought a little cabin on in Downeast Maine and soon lived there most of the year; my mother, a ceramic artist, works out of Islesford Pottery on Little Cranberry Island, and my father soon got involved with the local historical society. I love the place so much – even the air tastes different – this wonderful blend of salt and balsam and, at the right time of year, the wild blueberry bushes that grow everywhere. Would you hang out with your heroine in real life?Oh, absolutely. Willow and I are both socially anxious nerdy musicians, and people from our subcategory of humanity tend…