Thank you for having me over at Fresh Fiction. I’m so pleased to be here. You do such a great job of getting the word out there on new authors, new releases, and great books! My latest release, IN HER DREAMS has a perfect release day – March 7th which is also my birthday! I couldn’t think of a better book to celebrate my special day. IN HER DREAMS was one of my favorite stories to write. The two main characters were good people, caught in a bad situation. Warren appeared in In His Dreams, as the young Vampire possessed by an ancient serial killer/psycho! Emerald was the witch that helped save him. Writing in the paranormal genre, and in a series, gives me a lot of opportunities to tie one story with the next. All of my books are stand alone stories, but I often let the tension, and characters, flow from one book to the next. Warren is tough, but troubled. He’s one of those guys that doesn’t do helpless victim well. Not that he was, but with a Vampire possessing and using your body to do murder and worse, it had to feel that way. In walks…

Thank you to Sara and the whole crew at Fresh Fiction for inviting me back again. I love visiting with all y’all and I’ve got a brand new book on the market, TALK COWBOY TO ME. My first cowboy books featured the Luckadeau cousins who originated down in the Louisiana area then migrated up to Texas. I remember well when the editor called me and told me that she not only wanted to buy my submission, LUCKY IN LOVE, but wanted to make it a series. I said, “But all of Beau’s brothers are married.” To which she replied, “He’s got lots of cousins, doesn’t he?” That started me on a cowboy journey that I’m still enjoying today. Beau, Griffin and Slade Luckadeau were indeed cousins. After the Lucky Series, I wrote the Honky Tonk Series and although those four books were set in an old Honky Tonk in Mingus, Texas, the heroes were still Texans. And then there was the Spikes & Spurs and the Burnt Boot series featuring the O’Donnells. So what could I say when Adele O’Donnell and Remington Luckadeau showed up on my porch with a story to tell. Oh my goodness! Getting to work with…

In every field, someone has to be the first. Often, we know their names. The first President of the United States, the first man on the moon, the first African-American to play major league baseball. But often, their names aren’t known – either because we don’t know who was the first to break a particular barrier, or because the story just hasn’t been told often enough. The first female detective in the United States was named Kate Warne, and I wrote GIRL IN DISGUISE to tell her story. When I first heard of Kate a few years ago, I was floored. This woman was such a pioneer. She was a female detective in the 1850s, when it was completely unheard-of, and she was so good at it that she was assigned by Allan Pinkerton to run her own division. She helped save Abraham Lincoln’s life as he made his way to his inauguration. She was an undercover spy for the Union during the Civil War. And yet, if you asked 10 people on the street who Kate Warne was, you’d be lucky to find one who knows. It’s true, there are some good reasons why her name isn’t known. The…

I like to think that heist romances are going to be a thing in 2017. And no, not just because I write them. I have this immediate visceral reaction anytime someone mentions a romance with a con artist, master thief, bank robber, heist…you get the picture. If there’s a criminal element to the book, I want to get my grabby little hands on it as soon as possible. If, like me, you support heroes and heroines who take a slightly shady view of the legal system, here are some great books and series to check out. CROOKED HEARTS by Patricia Gaffney: I think this was the first con-artist-as-main-characters romance I ever read, and it planted the seed that anything is possible when it comes to love. When the hero first meets the heroine, they’re both currently in the midst of cons…the heroine as a nun and the hero as a blind man. Sexy shenanigans ensue. Samantha Jellicoe Series by Suzanne Enoch: This is another one of those life-changing series that convinced me to try my own hand at a criminal or two. Samantha is an absolutely delightful cat burglar, and the To Catch a Thief undertones make for a seriously…

When I first conceived the idea for a romantic mystery series set in Regency England, I had no idea how many books it would run; I figured a lot would depend on the critical reception and sales of the first book, IN MILADY’S CHAMBER. Fortunately, the mystery reviewer at Library Journal took a liking to it, calling it a “lively historical romp.” Bow Street Runner John Pickett and the recently widowed Julia, Lady Fieldhurst, were on their way! Still, I assumed the series would end once the romance between this unlikely couple was resolved. I didn’t want it to fall victim to “Moonlighting Syndrome”; if you remember that 1980s TV series, viewers lost interest once Maddie and David consummated their relationship. Bearing that example in mind, it was obviously to my advantage to delay that event as long as possible; unfortunately, John and Julia kept rushing into each other’s arms! The Big Event took place in Book 5, 2016’s TOO HOT TO HANDLE. In theory, at least, I could leave them to their Happily Ever After, and begin a new writing project. But a funny thing happened somewhere between the first book and the fifth: I’d grown attached to this…

Enjoy the first chapter of SOMEONE TO LOVE by Donna Alward CHAPTER 1 Bright July sunshine soaked through Willow Dunaway’s bamboo T-shirt as she took a bite of her veggie wrap. The lunch rush at The Purple Pig Café was over, and she’d snuck out for twenty minutes or so just to enjoy a bit of fresh air and a snack. The “Green,” as the locals called it, was a park that ran alongside Fisher’s Creek. The town kept the grass neatly clipped, flower beds watered and weeded, and had installed several benches both in the sun and in the shade of trees. Willow loved it. Sure, it was more manicured than wild and natural, but it was still calm and restful. Even when, like today, the tourists came to take their turn on the Kissing Bridge that spanned the creek, guaranteeing that their love would last forever. It was a cute, if somewhat silly concept that played a major part in the town’s economy. Willow had been back in Darling, Vermont, for just over a year. After six years in Florida, she’d come back to northern climes and had to adjust to the change in seasons. She’d stayed through…

St. Patrick’s Day is coming up and Audra North has a sale to help you celebrate! PUSHING HER LUCK is only 99 cents from March 5th-12th! When Riordan Faraday, surly Irish artist, meets Samantha Meyer, clueless American, the sparks fly in this Ireland-set romantic comedy. For a limited time only, take advantage of 75% off regular price and get the book readers call “a funny, feel good romantic read.” PUSHING HER LUCK by Audra North Lucky In Love #1 He says she’s a nuisance. She thinks he’s a jerk. Together they might be the perfect match. Riordan Faraday is about to reach his breaking point. He’s got art classes to teach, a needy mum to care for, and most importantly, a painting to finish. But without time or inspiration, he hasn’t been able to paint a thing and it’s driving him mad. So when a silly American girl shows up on his doorstep with a wild proposal, he shoots her down perhaps a bit more harshly than she deserves…but it’s for the best. He can’t afford any more distractions at the moment, especially not beautiful brown-eyed ones. Samantha Meyer—Sam, to her friends—is on a mission to find her late grandmother’s…

Thanks for hosting me on Fresh Fiction’s Romantic Suspense Monday, as I celebrate my debut release, SINGLE MALT, Book 1 of the Agents Irish and Whiskey male/male romantic suspense series. AIW features widowed FBI agent and Irish ex-pat, Aidan Talley, who falls hard for handsome, younger Cyber agent, Jameson “Whiskey” Walker, as they investigate cybercrimes and the murder of Aidan’s late husband. While there are plenty of car chases, gunfights and explosions in AIW, there’s also a lot of food. I’m a foodie, and a displaced Southerner, and I’d be lying if I said Jamie, a North Carolina native now living in San Francisco, didn’t bear some resemblance in those respects. And like me, Southern-boy Jamie’s got a hankering for certain foods he just can’t get in California. Jamie’s Top Five Southern Food Cravings North Carolina Barbecue When Tar Heels say “barbecue,” we don’t mean meat cooked on a grill. We mean pork, slow-cooked on a smoker, then pulled and chopped. Being from eastern NC, Jamie prefers whole hog style, vinegar sauce (little-to-no ketchup), red slaw, AND ALL THE HUSHPUPPIES (dipped in honey butter). A proper eastern NC barbecue plate right here: Southern Peaches While peaches in California are perfectly…

Living in a small town rocks. Living in a small town set in the South really rocks. I don’t live in one now, but I used to and it was awesome. There were some pretty quirky characters and a lot of friendly people. These people that you may have known all your life can sometimes be a little hard to put up with when the tell-a-friend chain gets going and nothing you do is kept on the down low. You can’t get away with anything because you know someone’s going to tell your mom or one of your other relatives. Of course, every town has that one person who hates change because “this is the way it’s always been done” and they’re resistant to anything that might shake up tradition. Yet, when one of their own suffers any kind of adversity, the townspeople rush to help, settling around you like a warm, comforting blanket of love and support. And you remember that they’re always there for you when it counts. That’s why I like setting stories in small towns which is what I did for my newest book WEDDING DATE RESCUE. I wanted to write a series about firefighters and…

Suspense—it’s just a fancy word for “drama,” and we’ve all experienced our fair share of drama. Whether you’re waiting for a career-changing email, sitting by the phone desperate for a text from you-know-who, or dreading going to a family party because you’re fighting with all your siblings, suspense is what makes life interesting. As much as we all might say we “hate drama,” life would be pretty boring if we just woke up, ate cereal, went to school, came home, and went to bed. So for me, writing suspense means letting the everyday grit of reality bleed into my novels. My latest book, PROOF OF LIES, is an international spy thriller and while I’ve never actually chased a dangerous criminal through the murky canals of Venice, that doesn’t mean I haven’t experienced my fair share of crazy. So here are three ways that I’ve used my own life to create suspense in the lives of my characters. No Instalove—I don’t know about you, but I’ve never spilled a milkshake on a guy in a food court and then instantly become obsessed with winning his heart. I need to actually have a conversation with a person and find something in common….