THE MASTER is my tenth published book, so I thought it would be beneficial to stop and reflect on my journey so far. So here are a few things I need to remind myself. Take baby steps. I say this all the time, but it stands repeating and it does me good to hear it again. “It’s a marathon, not a sprint.” I hope to write books for a long time, I need to set a steady pace and not a wear myself out or spread myself too thin. Don’t take it personally. People aren’t going to like everything I write. Some people aren’t going to like anything I write. This is okay. My mom doesn’t like chocolate. I think she’s crazy and I don’t understand how we’re genetically related, but she’s entitled to her opinion. “No” is a perfectly good answer. I’m a people pleaser by nature and I hate conflict, but I can’t do everything. I can’t even come close. Sometimes I should say, “No.” It’s my journey, no one else’s. Comparisons are poison and should be avoided at all cost. Repeat to self as needed. Guard your writing time and hold it sacred. There are so many…

I’ve been reading romance for….some time now 🙂 My very first was a novella written by Sherrilyn Kenyon, and I was immediately hooked. I devoured romance novels after that first fabulous book, forsaking all other genres. But I noticed a theme that, at times, didn’t sit well with me. The pages were full of slim, gorgeous, flawless woman. Don’t get me wrong, I’m cool with that, woman come in all shapes and sizes and I want to read about all of them. I just felt there weren’t enough curvy or plus-size women being represented in these books I loved so much. I wanted to read a book with a heroine I could relate to in that way. I’ve never been one of the skinny girls, and at times struggled with it. I suffered the name calling at school and the lack of self-confidence. Our culture is filled with negative messages directed at women who don’t fit some advertiser, magazine editor, or movie producer’s ideal. It’s shoved down our throats on a daily. So here I was going about my business, reading romance like a demon, and happy days! I found what I was looking for! The joy I felt when…

While I was writing HOW TO WRANGLE A COWBOY, I found myself wishing I could start the story a generation or two early. I write contemporaries, and I love my modern-day cowboys and their spunky modern women. But from the opening pages, where heroine Lindsey Ward’s grandma is mourning her husband in her own inimitable way, I longed to write the story of her grandparents, Bud and Grace Ward. A former stunt rider, Bud encapsulates all the excitement and romance of the Hollywood Western. I based him on Rex Rossi, a trick rider and Hall of Fame stuntman who doubled for various movie stars for over half a century. He performed many of the tricks that made cowboys like Roy Rogers, Hoot Gibson, and Bob Steele famous. Sadly, he died with his boots on after long day on the set. I made Bud’s story a happier one. Arthritis, brought on by his many injuries, forced him to leave stunt riding. He didn’t think that was a happy ending at the time, but then, on his last film, he met Grace. From afar, he’d admired the beautiful ingénue who was playing a pioneer lass, but beat up, bruised, and dirty as…

Since Academy Awards night is one of my favorite evenings, I thought it might be fun to talk movies. Old favorites, new favorites, worst picks of all time. Who doesn’t love ET? Star Wars? Gone with the Wind? Wizard of Oz? They’re classics, never to be forgotten. As I look back, I realize some of the novels I’ve written were probably inspired by films I’ve seen and loved. Old movies like The African Queen with Humphrey Bogart and Katharine Hepburn; new ones like Taken, with Liam Neeson; Ocean’s Thirteen; Mission Impossible; the Heist. The plot for my new book, INTO THE FURY, may have developed from the fast action and suspense in those kinds of movies. When Valentine Hart, one of La Belle lingerie’s most beautiful models, receives a death threat, it’s bodyguard Ethan Brodie’s job to protect her. Throw in murder, mayhem, and copycat killers and you have INTO THE FURY, a fast-paced, action-packed, hot-blooded romantic suspense I’m hoping readers will enjoy. Gone with the Wind, a time of elegant hoop skirts and Georgia mansions, led to CAPTAIN’S BRIDE, CREOLE FIRES, and NATCHEZ FLAME. My husband and I actually stayed in a gorgeous old plantation house in Natchez built…

Music is powerful. The melodies crash through our bloodstream and make us feel whatever it is that the musician/lyricist wanted us to feel: anger, despair, desire, love, longing, happiness. Every emotion we can imagine is expressed in music. When I got the idea for my new Love You Like A Love Song Series, I was struggling with the question asked today; If this book had a music soundtrack, what would it be and why? And then I thought, the romance should have its own song, a song that tells the story of these two characters. Their love story is unique, and strange, and powerful. And so, my Love You Like A Love Song series was born. CRASH AND BURN, ALONE WITH YOU (Feb 2016), UP ALL NIGHT (March 2016) and MAKE ME FORGET (April 2016) – with more to come So, I sat down with the vague idea for CRASH AND BURN, day one, page one, and I started with song lyrics. It sounds crazy — and I felt a little crazy when I was writing it — but the lyrics came, and with them came the voice of my heroine, Erin Michaelson, as she introduced herself to me. Turned…

Lady Olivia, the matriarch of the Waters Highland clan, has sent her two youngest sons south to London with the task of marrying off their hoydenish sister, Mary Elizabeth Waters. While in England, Alexander (HOW TO SEDUCE A SCOT) and Robert (HOW TO WED A WARRIOR) were under strict instructions not to marry an English girl, a stricture which they both ignored. Mary Elizabeth can out-hunt, out-shoot, and out-ride every man she has ever met, and she has declared openly and directly that she will never wed. Now, let’s sit down to tea with the Waters clan, shall we? Tea with the Waters Family Alexander Waters: I’ve gathered you all here today to consider why Mary Elizabeth isn’t married yet. Mary Elizabeth Waters: Because marriage is for fools! What woman would give up her life to a man? No offense, Catherine. Mrs. Catherine Waters (laughing): You don’t offend me, Mary. Robert Waters: Now, Mary darlin’, don’t be too hasty. Ye might enjoy wedded bliss. Mary Elizabeth: Just because you caught Mrs. Prudence— Robbie: She caught me! Mary Elizabeth (with a glower): Just because you caught my Mrs. Prudence and got her to marry you, does not mean that you are…

In the next Vegas Vixens novel, TATTOOED AS TROUBLE, from Entangled Publishing, Raegan Storm enters the Witness Protection Program after witnessing a murder only to lose her heart to the U.S. Marshal sworn to protect her. This isn’t just any U.S. Marshal, but the ruggedly handsome Quinn Bronson. He takes his job as a marshal seriously and by the book, that is until he has to guard the lovely Rae Storm. And boy, does she turn his world upside down. Like the other vixens in the series, she is TROUBLE. But Bronson would rather face hit men than deal with his intense attraction for Rae, a woman that is strictly off limits. Now creating the character of Bronson took some research. As I uncovered what made the man tick, I discovered some interesting facts about the U.S. Marshals. The Witness Security Program has successfully protected an estimated 18,400 participants since the program began in 1971. The marshals arrest 400 fugitives every day on average. The U.S. Marshals operate the federal Witness Security Program, sometimes referred to as the “Witness Protection Program.” The marshals claim a perfect success rate, with no witnesses being harmed while under protection as long as all…

For the Sandy Harbor Lure newspaper: HOLIDAY TRADITIONS By Trixie Matkowski In this busy world, there are some traditions during the holidays that comfort us and bring back lovely memories. For instance, on Christmas Eve, we kids would wait to hear Santa’s footsteps and the reindeer hooves on the roof. No matter how hard we tried to stay up, we’d never hear them. But, without fail, the next morning when we looked, there would be some packed snow on the roof. It was years before we figured out that my father was the one walking on the roof! Holiday baking is another tradition. Certain families have special fruitcake recipes (and you know who you are), or an ethnic specialty like babka or kugel or those Italian cookies made at Christmas (sure would love some of those hard chocolate ones!). Juanita Holgado, one of my cooks at the Silver Bullet Diner, makes a caramel flan which is to die for. Making these specialties once a year makes them….well, special. My long-time friend, Mary Ann, uses lovely dishes brought over from Poland by her great-grandmother. I can’t wait to set out my Lenox Holiday set. I have another set just for tea….

My answer is it depends. Why? Because readers look for different things in different kinds of mysteries. Thrillers, police procedurals, traditional mysteries and cozies all have their fans, who bring their own expectations to each sub-genre. Cozies mystery readers probably look for romance the most in their mysteries. Why? Because cozies focus on characters much more than other kinds of mysteries, which is just fine with their fans. They like getting to know the people in a series, watching their lives change, and enjoying the interactions. Some of those interactions are logically going to be romantic—especially if the main character is single (though there can certainly be romance between married couples) and also, but not necessarily, if they are young. In my Pickled and Preserved series, my main character, Piper Lamb, is single and young. At the beginning of the first book, THE PICKLED PIPER, Piper had broken off an engagement and moved to a small town to start a new life. The only problem was that her ex-fiancé, Scott, didn’t take the break-up seriously. During his travels around the world to “find himself” he sent Piper messages and gifts as though they were still a couple, much to her…

by Candy Holliday Blueberry Farmer and Amateur Detective as told to B.B. Haywood, author of TOWN IN A CINNAMON TOAST, available everywhere on Feb. 2, 2016 Candy Holliday, I tell myself, you should know better. But here I go again! I know I promised more than a few people (including our local police chief, Darryl Durr) that I would stay out of trouble and stop playing detective. It’s just that one of the most important events of the year is going to happen in three days, and there’s trouble in the air, thanks to a missing best man and a misguided bottle of champagne! You see, my best friend and sidekick, Maggie Tremont, and our local German baker, Georg Wolfsburger (commonly known as Herr Georg) are getting married—right here at Blueberry Acres, the blueberry farm I run with my dad, Henry “Doc” Holliday. Our farm is located on the outskirts of the seaside village of Cape Willington in Down East Maine, and we’re in the process of getting it ready for the wedding—tidying up, setting up a reception tent, that sort of thing. But we’ve run into a fatal snag. When Herr Georg’s best man, local historian Julius Seabury, fails…