“Carve your name on hearts, not tombstones. A legacy is etched into the minds of others and the stories they share about you.” Shannon Alder. Tabitha Moffat Brown was a grandmother when she headed west to Oregon Territory in 1846. Her story and that of her daughter and granddaughter is a part of the novel I wrote called THIS ROAD WE TRAVELED (Revell). On that journey, Tabby (as I called her) decided to write her memoir telling stories of her greatest challenges, a legacy gift she planned to leave her children. I used that fictional device as a way of sharing Tabby’s history as the family dealt with trials during a fateful trek on the Oregon Trail. I’ve long thought that stories are the sparks that light our ancestor’s lives; they’re the embers we blow on to illuminate our own lives. Tabby did actually write letters about her life that became the basis for my novel. I had her use the occasion of a life-changing journey to share some of her stories. But I think any time of the year is a good time to write down memories and experiences, not in any great order, but as they come to…

Hi, all! Jennifer here! With Christmas only a few weeks away, I’ve been doing a lot of thinking on the subject. And found some surprising things on the Internet. So I thought I’d share FIVE FUN FACTS about the holidays that you probably don’t know. Like… To deliver his gifts in one night, Santa would have to make 822.6 visits per second, sleighing at 3,000 times the speed of sound. At that speed, Santa and his reindeer would burst into flame instantaneously. Wow. It’s a good thing they don’t teach Physics until high school! December is the most popular month for nose jobs. I found this puzzling. Do people treat themselves to their own Christmas gift? Or is it because people have more time off this month? Coca-cola came up with the red suit for Santa. I had heard this before, but am still amazed at the power of advertising! Rudolph was almost named Reginald. Huh? Well, apparently, a copywriter named Robert L. May first invented the reindeer in 1939 as a marketing gimmick for Montgomery Ward’s holiday coloring books. (Again with the advertising!!) In fact, he didn’t even want his nose to be red, since it was associated as…

I don’t know about you, but I LOVE a Bad Boy. I think it’s because I’ve been taught to avoid them, which of course just makes me want them more, enough to write about them in MIA AND THE BAD BOY, book #2 in Backstage Pass: The Complete Series. Their allure is undeniable and they usually have the reputation to back it up. They are cocky, arrogant, inconsiderate, closed off and as fans we can’t get enough. We want to break their hard exterior. We want to be the one girl to get through to the bad boy. Here are a few of my favorites – in no particular order: John Bender The Breakfast Club Dylan McKay Beverly Hills 90210 Chuck Bass Gossip Girl Jordan Catalano My So Called Life J.D. Heathers Who are some of your favorite bad boys? About Lisa Burstein Lisa Burstein is a tea seller by day and a writer by night. She received her MFA in Creative Writing from the Inland Northwest Center for Writers at Eastern Washington University. She is the author of Pretty Amy, The Next Forever, Dear Cassie, Sneaking Candy and The Possibility of Us. As well as a contributor to the…

Criminal profiling is a fascinating process, a mix of psychology and criminology that tends to create divided reactions: people seem to think it’s either magic or complete BS. The reality is that it’s neither. Profiling takes a crime and predicts the type of person most likely to have committed it – profiles can be as vague as a “white male in his twenties” (which has become a bit of a joke about profiling serial killers) or as specific as “a man in his forties who works a blue-collar job during the second shift, is divorced, has at least one child, and drives a dark-colored sedan.” Narrowing down type of person helps law enforcement center their search and the FBI has an entire unit devoted to the job. Now called the Behavioral Analysis Unit (BAU), it’s been memorialized in both fiction and non-fiction: CRIMINAL MINDS: Although some of the details of the show are just literary license for the sake of fast-moving plot (the BAU’s own private jet, all the profilers flying to consult on each big case, the active “door-kicking” roles the agents take in most of the cases), the profiles themselves are pretty solid. And they should be –…

Lacey browsed the selection of Blu-ray discs that Alex had set out on the coffee table, trying to imagine him picking them out at a Redbox kiosk. Romantic comedies and chick flicks predominated. To say they seemed like movies a man like Alex wouldn’t be caught dead watching, much less paying for, was an understatement. She glanced at him. “You chose these yourself?” “I admit, I had to get help, but yeah. I talked to Everly, Jayna, Mac, and Khaki for some suggestions.” “And they suggested these?” He gave her a sheepish look. “Actually, they suggested I ask you what movie you wanted to watch. But that would have ruined the surprise, so I went with their best guesses as to what you might like. Anything here catch your fancy?” She almost picked one at random just to be nice, but then decided against it. After this evening, she had the feeling she didn’t have to play games with Alex. It was her turn to look a little embarrassed. “Truthfully, I’m not much for rom- coms and chick flicks. Do you have any action or horror movies? They’re more my thing.” Alex looked surprised but chuckled. “I guess I should…

My historical novels so far (seven and counting) have featured the lives of real historical British women, usually royal. Several featured Queen Elizabeth I; I also wrote about an Irish princess and the Plantagenet royals. But when I came across a footnote mentioning Charlotte Bill, a mere lower class nanny who lived in a much later era, I knew I had to know more about her amazing life. And so was born years of research to set the story in the Victorian and Edwardian eras and to learn about a servant class woman with great power, because she reared two kings of England. Charlotte Bill was a Cockney girl who was first hired as an under nursemaid by the royal family of the future King George V and Queen Mary, the current queen’s grandparents, while Queen Victoria was still on the throne. Upon arriving at their Norfolk estate of Sandringham, Charlotte discovered the current nanny was abusing both David (later Kind Edward VIII and Duke of Windsor) and Bertie (later King George VI.) If you recall the movie The King’s Speech, you may remember this terrible incident which hurt both boys for the rest of their lives: David gravitated to…

One moment, Miranda was gasping for more air. The next, her very existence depended on how close she could get to him. The touch of his lips freed her mind and made her body soar. The tension gripping her limbs and her lungs melted away in an instant. She shivered involuntarily and her arms tightened around his neck. Hawk’s mouth moved back and forth over her burning lips, urging them to open. Surrendering to his silent demand, she parted her lips. She heard the groan deep in his throat as he took a fistful of her hair and his tongue plunged deep into the soft recesses of her mouth. A silent thrill of desire raced through her. She’d never been kissed by a man before. But right now, all fears were forgotten. The trap in which they found themselves became trivial. Miranda allowed the rising hunger she had for him to erupt within her. Lost in the seductive play of his tongue, the heat of his embrace, and his roaming hand, she responded with passion. He lifted her higher in his arms and pulled her legs around his hips. Her body ached for his touch, her heart pounded, and her…

LAST CHANCE COWBOYS: THE LAWMAN the second in my Where the Trail Ends series. Readers of book one (The Drifter) will remember the character of Addie Wilcox, a feisty young woman determined to focus on her career as a frontier doctor and forget all about Jess Porterfield, who chose a life in the city over staying in Arizona with her. She’s doing just fine until Jess decides city life is not for him, returns, pins on a badge and becomes the local marshal. These two, hot-blooded (and hot-tempered), set off fireworks in more ways than one on their way to figuring out what the whole town has always known: they were meant for each other. Which character from LAST CHANCE COWBOYS: THE LAWMAN do I most relate to? ADDIE!! Because? Oh, come on—this woman is the epitome of what women have been fighting for lo, these last several centuries. And believe me, I did not write Addie—Addie told me how to write her character starting back in book one, THE DRIFTER, where she showed up as a secondary character and was so loved that she had to have her own story. She is Everywoman—intelligent, outspoken, feisty, a dreamer, a fighter,…

              The other night, I was watching the end of a Hallmark channel movie when my husband walked into the room. “Don’t ruin it,” I said. (He can’t help himself. His urge to say something, usually sarcastic, is too great.) “Are they about to live happily ever after?” he asked, sitting down beside me. “Shh,” I said. “Don’t talk. Just watch.” The heroine was climbing up a ladder, her job to place the star atop the community center Christmas tree. (The community center that was saved from the wrecking ball, of course.) “She’s going to fall, and the hero is going to catch her,” he predicted. (That’s the other thing he does. Tries to guess everything that’s going to happen. Anyone need a spare husband?) “The hero is across the room,” I said. “She’s not going to fall. Please go away.” At the top of the ladder, the cute German Shepherd that was in the movie nudged the ladder, causing the heroine to wobble precariously. The hero bolted across the room and was there in a flash! Sure enough, she fell right into his arms, creating a beautiful moment where they shared a Christmas…

Why is it that so often, in fiction and in life, opposites attract? It’s the perfect set-up for a romance and we see it time and time again. The overly-cautious heroine and the daredevil hero. The popular girl and the computer geek. The urbanite and the wilderness lover. The biker and the debutante. Opposites attract in my current release, THE MILLIONARE’S CONVENIENT ARRANGEMENT, Book No. 2 in my Miami Lawyers series. Ritchie Perez is a successful millionaire lawyer living in a waterfront mansion. A former prosecutor, he believes that the way to clean up gang violence and drugs is to convict anyone involved in illegal gang activities and get the maximum sentence. No second chances. Maria Martinez is a struggling artist who dropped out of school to raise her orphaned younger brother Joey, and now works two jobs to put food on the table. She’s also trying to keep Joey out of trouble and away from the gangs so he doesn’t end up like their brother Tito, who has been in jail for the past eight years. Put there by – you guessed it – former prosecutor Ritchie Perez. Maria knows that life can be hard, and believes people are…