There are lots of fun things to do in the Motor City. My favorites include things like NOT getting mugged and NOT witnessing a gang killing because that’s all I hear about in today’s news. City gone bankrupt. The terrors of 8 Mile. A whole lot of empty urban landscape ready for filming the newest zombie apocalypse movie. But Detroit still has a lot going on that’s fun. Guess which ones of the following are true. A great big tire on I-95. It was a Ferris wheel at the 1964/5 New York World’s Fair, but now has tread where the gondolas used to be. Motown Museum. A small shingle clad building where Motown’s unique sound was produced from 1957-1072. Any Marvin Gaye fans out there? The crumbling ruins of The Grande Ballroom, a place that once hosted jazz legends and psychedelic rock bands. The Detroit Children’s Zoo. Don’t worry. There’s a new exciting one on the opposite side of Belle Isle, but the remains of this one are still visible. Michigan’s Central Station – Hundreds of trains passed through there each day…once upon a time The Heidleberg Project – One man’s attempt to bring beauty to an urban landscape by…

Get the latest from Brooklyn Ann for only $.99 Brooklyn Ann is back with a brand new Regency paranormal romance and she wants you to take a bite out of WYNTER’S BITE for only $.99. From now until April 15th, WYNTER’S BITE is available for a special discount. You can’t go wrong with a sexy new read! WYNTER’S BITE by Brooklyn Ann Scandals with Bite #5 She was thrown into an insane asylum for believing in vampires… Now one has come to rescue her. Eight years ago, vampire Justus de Wynter fell in love with bluestocking, Bethany Mead, and suffered the consequences. He was sentenced to exile as a rogue vampire, and she was imprisoned in an insane asylum. After years of searching, and dodging patrolling vampires, Justus has finally found his love. But even after he breaks Bethany out of the asylum, the dangers that face them have only begun. For Justus is still a rogue, with no territory to grant them safety, and Bethany is a fugitive. As they flee across the English countryside in search of refuge, Bethany and Justus must overcome the challenges of their past and find out if love is possible on the run….

Ever since I first saw the 24 series on tv, sitting cross legged in front of a tiny 11 inch tv screen, I was captivated by the idea of real time story telling. Okay – clearly I had to suspend my disbelief… not that Kiefer Sutherland’s character could pull of the amazing death defying struggle against the baddies, but that he could cross LA in less than five minutes! But still. The idea of a narrative unfolding as I watched was something thrilling, new and utterly enthralling. And then I read the wonderful HIS UNTIL MIDNIGHT by Nikki Logan – set in Hong Kong, the hero and heroine meet once a year in December over several years, until one night, and one incredible gourmet meal, the hero must decide whether he will fight for the heroine, or lose her forever. Apart from the fact I am a massive ‘foodie’, I loved the way this story unfolded over those series of ‘one nights’, and loved the way it played with time. And I couldn’t shake the thought… could I combine my love of 24 and real time story telling with my passion for romance? Could I really do that within a…

I’ll be the first to admit that writing THE LAST KING was a labor of love—emphasis on the labor part. It’s always challenging to start a new series after spending years being in a different world, but this book had a very specific problem that it took me far too long to figure out. Beckett King, the hero, was a freaking jerk. Not a sexy jerk—just a flat out jerk. In the original version of the book, he’s washed his hands of his family and their money, left the woman he loves behind for her own good, and is essentially living on a beach out of the country. He was, to put it frankly, an insufferable ass. How do you fix a character like that? You break him down to his bare bones and rewrite from the ground up. Let me tell you, it hurts something fierce to take that drastic of a step, but the new Beckett King that emerged as a result is one of my favorite heroes I’ve written to date. He still doesn’t get along with his father, but he knows where his responsibilities lie and makes his moves in response to protecting the people he…

Like most people in small towns, my daily life is woven between generations. I never remember a time when I said, “I’m not sure what to do or which way to turn.” I’ve always had relatives around, not only giving me advice, but pushing me in what they think is the right direction. So when I began MORNINGS ON MAIN I knew I wanted to show those threads. My main character, Jillian, steps into a town and a world foreign to her. She’s a drifter who doesn’t pack her even memories as she moved from place to place. When Jillian takes a job in Laurel Springs, she finds far more than what she planned. Eugenia Larady, Gram to her family, has owned a quilt shop for fifty years. The quilts lining her walls hold the history of the town and its people. As Gram’s mind slips, Jillian rushes to log all the stories and quilts with the help of Eugenia’s great-granddaughter, Sunny, who is hell bent to make her own wild memories as fast as possible. As the stories of lives in the town come to light, so do secrets and loves that have lasted a lifetime. Jillian is drawn…

At every new book launch, certain questions pop up again and again: “Where do you get your ideas?” “What’s the process of writing a book?” It’s different for every writer, and while my process has evolved some over the years, fundamentally it’s stayed the same through ten published novels: The Big Idea: For me, every book begins with a big idea, something that gets me excited. Usually, it comes in the form of “What if…” In STALKED, my latest psychological suspense, it was “What if a teenager disappeared, leaving behind a note that said if anyone was reading it, she was already dead?” That first idea bloomed into more questions: “Was she really dead? Why would she leave a note like that instead of trying to get help before she disappeared? Was it really the teenager who left the note, or someone else?” The big idea stage can take a while: I may discard a lot of ideas before I find one that both excites me enough as a hook (something compelling enough to intrigue a reader to want more) and has enough depth and possibility to it to sustain an entire novel (100,000 words!). Once I’ve settled on that…

What a torturous exercise, combing through gorgeous vampire after gorgeous vampire to compile a list of my top ten. As a vampire lover, and now author of my own vampire series, is there anything more sexy than a dark, mysterious man with hypnotic eyes and thirst for blood? Maybe they want to protect you or maybe they just want to bite your neck. Either way, I’m a sucker (pun intended!) for these brooding, mythological creatures of the night. So I took one for the team and created a top ten list of my all time favorites. Edward Cullen – Twilight Don’t you just want to run your fingers through Robert Pattinson’s wavy hair? And don’t get me started on those bedroom eyes. Still, the reason Edward ranks lowest on my list is because of his sulking disposition. While I love a good brooding vampire, he takes it too far. I think if we were to go on a date, I’d end up more depressed than turned on. Henry Fitzroy – Blood Ties Speaking of gorgeous hair, it doesn’t get any better than Kyle Schmid’s shoulder-length locks in his portrayal of crime-fighting vampire Henry Fitzroy. The only reason Henry rates so…

Does the start of baseball season get you thinking about the men of summer? Well, go into the locker room with Kathy Lyons and uncover all the secrets in her Locker Room Diaries. HITTING IT by Kathy Lyons Locker Room Diaries #1 This heavy hitter knows how to score Making it to the Major Leagues is all rookie ballplayer, Rob Lee, has ever dreamed of. But now, he’s a little overwhelmed with his new celebrity status. Everyone wants a piece of the new heavy hitter for the Indianapolis Bobcats. Still, he’s worked hard for it, and he doesn’t have many regrets. Although there is one… If journalist Heidi Wong wants to keep her job, she needs to come up with a story—fast! That’s why she tells her boss that she knows the Bobcat’s reclusive new slugger, Rob Lee. And she does…in the Biblical sense. During Spring Break three years ago, she and Rob shared a torrid night on the beach. And she’s wanted him again ever since. But everyone knows reporters and athletes don’t mix. Rob’s contract doesn’t allow him to talk to the press, and her job depends on it. Which is driving them both just a little crazy……

My answer to this question is probably different than you’d get out of most writers because I write with a partner—my husband. We approach our stories—and shifters—from two different directions, which mean we each bring something different to the table. When it comes to our writing team roles, Hubby’s responsible for the action stuff. Think fighting, shooting and blowing things up. Yeah, it’s cliché, but it’s what he does best. And if he has to write action, he’d prefer to involve shifters. According to him, there’s no action sequence that can’t be improved with some claws, fangs, and the general attitude that comes with being a shifter. There’s also the healing factor that comes with involving shifters in action situations. Hubby is happy because he can inflict more damage and mayhem, and it all gets healed up in a few days. In X-OPS EXPOSED, the hero, Tanner Howland, former Army Ranger and current slightly unstable lion hybrid, gets involved in an underground fighting ring, forced to fight to protect other shifters like himself. You can imagine the fun hubby had with those fight sequences. I’m responsible for the emotional baggage in the stories, so for me, the shifter angle provides…

In SIT, STAY, LOVE, a large-scale dog fighting ring covering several Midwestern states is exposed, creating national media attention. The High Grove Animal Shelter steps forward to take in some of the abused dogs, dedicating countless hours to care for and retrain them in an off-site location until they are ready and able to be adopted into loving homes. If this sounds like a real-life event that you heard about on TV, well, you probably have. All too often, illegal dog fighting rings are exposed, and some are larger in scale than others. When this happens, area shelters and caring individuals are instrumental in saving animals’ lives with the help and services they provide. Often, whether it’s due to natural disasters, large scale animal abuse cases, hoarding, or similar scenarios, shelters become saturated with newly homeless animals. When this happens, not only is adequate space a concern but available funds are rapidly depleted. Whether it comes about because of a media story or simply because you want to connect with homeless animals and the people who care for them, there are still many ways to support your local shelters. Here are five inexpensive and fun ways to make a big…