I’m excited to be on Fresh Fiction today to talk about my debut Scottish Historical Romance, HIGHLAND DECEPTION. It’s about the Cameron laird and a secretive lass who won’t tell him who she is. Maggie knows that with the politics of the time, he would be obligated to return her to her father who wishes to marry her to an abusive man. Since Maggie won’t acknowledge her own clan, Lachlan fears she could be a spy for a rival clan, but where does the real history come into their story? I’ll admit, when I started writing HIGHLAND DECEPTION, I had a vague knowledge of the time period from reading other Scottish Historical Romances, but I didn’t know what history I would weave into the tale. I knew Lachlan and Maggie and how I wanted their story to play out, but I didn’t have all my facts straight. Although the political upheaval of the time and the stories of my hero and heroine intertwine and come together, the romance and the history in Highland Deception were first separate. It took a couple of revisions and a lot of research time to incorporate them into a seamless story, which I think led…
Excerpt The music had a lively air and Miss Katherine Locke would’ve thought herself fortunate to be out again in Society after a long, cold, dull winter in Somerset save that her partner, Lord Haversham, was the rudest man in London. Well, his lordship was about to discover that Kate Locke was not one to suffer fools lightly. “So you refuse to allow your sister to waltz, yet you are quite willing to stand up with me and dance this, according to you, most scandalous of dances.” Kate smiled into the odious wretch’s face. “My lord, I should say that smacks of hypocrisy.” “Indeed.” Lord Haversham turned them skillfully at the end of the floor. “I would say it showed a want of character in your brother for allowing you to dance it with me. The waltz should be danced by married couples and no one else.” He pulled her close against him, so their bodies almost touched. She gasped at her proximity to the rogue. How dare he make a spectacle of them on this crowded dance floor? “You see?” he whispered, peering into her face, his gaze intent upon her mouth. All she could see were his cool…
Fresh Fiction is moderating a tweet chat with Susan Wiggs on Thursday, August 25th from 2pm to 3pm ET (11am to noon PT) and we’d love you to join us! Tomorrow! Be there or be square. #twittertakeover pic.twitter.com/li7bupvknj — Susan Wiggs (@susanwiggs) August 24, 2016 It’s easy, simply use the hashtag: #FamilyTreeBook and post your questions or comments. Susan will be on @HarperCollins account and answering. Prizes and other goodies await!
Ah, summer. It’s a time that’s ripe for romance, don’t you think? I love it when weather places a central part in the story. Sounds kind of crazy but hey, if it’s cold outside, don’t you want to snuggle up with a big, warm man under a cozy blanket? Or stare at that gorgeous guy wearing only swim trunks as he struts around the pool on a hot summer day? Yeah. Me too. Currently in central California (where I live), we are in the depths of summer. We’re talking it’s bone melting hot. Add smoke from nearby fires and the air quality is awful. This doesn’t make me feel very romantic. It just makes me wish for cooler temperatures and pumpkin spice lattes… But I digress. What I do adore is a fun summer romance novel. There are so many out there, I can’t name them all, and yeah, I’ve read too many to count. Jill Shalvis is my go to for a solid, sexy contemporary romance—and she uses weather in her stories almost like a secondary character. I love that! I like to lose myself in the summery details. The characters are hanging out by the pool or the…
We are finishing up the audio book this week for Nashville SEAL: Jameson. This will be the 25th audio book I have done with the same narrator, J.D. Hart. Mr. Hart himself was a country western star in Nashville as a younger man, and played world-wide on tour. He then went on to a successful acting career, as well as being a voice-over talent, and now audio book narrator. I didn’t know J.D. at all when we first started, but over the course of the past two plus years, we’ve gotten to be best friends. I quizzed him about his earlier days, and his stories inspired my Nashville SEALs series with Jameson Daniels, as my hero. J.D. graciously allowed me to infuse some of his stories into the books. So now that we’ve completed Nashville SEALs, and are nearly completed with Nashville SEALs: Jameson, we’ve come full circle. The stories he’s told me have become my stories, and now he’s telling them back through my words and imagination. As best friends, we work so seamlessly together, it’s just amazing. Here’s my blurb for Book 2, which is a continuation of the story in Book 1, the novella. For a brief…
Nina Croft’s, CHOSEN, book 1 in the Laws of Segregation, is free for three days only: 23 – 25th August 2016 On the world of Arroway, witches have been persecuted for a thousand years. Now, Tallon, Enforcer for The Order of Warlocks has been sent to hunt and destroy Shayla, a powerful, young witch. But when he sees her, she awakens something inside him—some connection forgotten in the years of persecution. And when he starts his spell, she counters with magic so strong it rips them from their own world and into a new one—Earth. Drawn together as unlikely allies in this strange new world, Tallon and Shayla must work as partners to find a way home. They relearn the bond that long ago tied witches and warlocks as one, and in doing so discover that not only is their future at stake, but the future of their whole world. Download from Amazon CHOSEN by Nina Croft Laws of Segregation #1 Novella / Short Story | Fantasy | Romance Paranormal [ e-Book] Buy CHOSEN: Kindle | Amazon CA | Amazon UK | Amazon DE | Amazon FR
Dani pointed to the far wall of cages, oblivious to his disgruntlement. “Those are all the dogs whose time here expires. Feel free to take them out into the holding room”—she indicated a white door that had a sign reading holding room— “and do whatever you gotta do.” Turning her back on him, she squatted down in front of a large cage and opened it. Tyler bent down to see a massive gray dog with black spots and stripes. The dog lifted his head slightly, his floppy ears pricking as she cooed. “Hey, Fugly, how you doing, bud?” Dani’s hand glided over the dog’s head and neck, and he relaxed back on his side with a whimper. “What happened to him?” Tyler asked. “Someone hit him with their car. A yard crew behind them stopped and picked him up, brought him here, but there’s only so much I can do. The X-rays show he needs leg surgery, but my regular doctor is off today, and the prick subbing for him won’t do a damn thing to help.” Tyler came closer, squatting behind her. The dog lifted his head and met Tyler’s gaze with soft green-gray eyes. Rex’s eyes had been…
There is a contradiction at the heart of the HEAT series, and in particular A LOVE TO KILL FOR. Sex, violence, wry humour, conspiracy and intrigue – and love. The whole theme – the whole point – of Heat is that Liam Murdoch, the quintessential male archetype, is fighting against love to preserve his most valued possession. His independence. Liam Murdoch is your mother’s worst nightmare. He has a degree in calculating the odds, and a major in lock picking, from the University of the Mean Streets of LA. He owes nothing to anybody, and when he sees something – or somebody – he wants, he plays the odds and takes it – or her. He is unattached and likes it that way. His one passion is his freedom and playing the odds in life. In his book, all women are bad news, and the one thing he does not need, is love. He is the hunter, the predator. Love is a weakness, and he is anything but weak. And then he meets Catherine Howard, the ultimate, archetypal woman, embodying every contradiction under the sun. She is cold as ice, calculating and ruthless, yet at the same time she is…
That is a common question I’m asked when I introduce myself to someone as an author. And, although it sounds vague when I answer “everywhere,” that is the truth of the matter. I started making up stories in my head when I was a young girl. Long road trips (no iPads, iPhones, or portable DVD players in those days) were the perfect place to imagine myself in all sorts of interesting situations. I also used that same method when I was falling asleep at night. I would climb into bed and refresh my memory on where the story stopped the previous night, then pick it up from there. Much to my parents’ amazement, some nights I was anxious to go to bed, just so I could continue my story. Years later, when I worked in Manhattan, I took a train from my home in New Jersey, and most times the same people would be on the train each day. To amuse myself, I made up stories about them. I had a lengthy story going one time that covered weeks, concerning the woman next to me, who had a husband—sitting on my other side, who was cheating on her, with the…
When I began to write FORGED IN FIRE, book 3 of the Delos series it was to introduce Matt Culver, one of the three Culver children who would eventually take over and run Artemis Security. It would be a Delos charity secret, in-house firm created to lend security to the 1,800 charities they had around the world. The more I got into FORGED IN FIRE, Beau Gardner, a West Virginia hill boy, who was a sergeant in Delta Force and in Matt’s unit at Bagram, just kind of took a more important part in the over all plot. As always, I have a plot, but when I sit down in the morning to start another chapter, I may have a vague idea of what’s going to happen, but not “exactly” what will emerge in the plot. Beau Gardner was that kind of secondary hero, in the background, but he emerged later in the book to take on a far more important part in it. And by the end of Matt’s book, I knew I had to write Beau’s book, and his story of escape with Callie McKinley, Dara’s sister. Their story was no less intense, cliff-hanging, filled with danger and…