Question – What could make a born and bred New Yorker leave the city she loves for the mountains and wilderness of Montana? Before I answer, let’s think about this…. Born and raised in Michigan, I had the opportunity to experience life both in a metropolitan area and (as Michiganders say) ‘up north’, in a more rural setting surrounded by forests and lakes. While this gives me a taste of two diverse settings, neither are the extreme. I don’t think anyone would argue that New York City is the ultimate urban setting. It is home to over eight million people, not counting tourists and visitors. Wow! Imagine all the stories there. Reaching far to the other side of the spectrum is Montana with a population of just over one million…in the whole state! We often tend to think of city dwellers as soft because of the many creature comforts a large urban area provides. True, civilization and big cities offer many conveniences but, to survive in NYC, you can’t be a cream puff. Contrary to what many believe, New Yorkers are outside…a lot. Walking to and from subway stops in blustery wind and blowing snow, fierce downpours or hot humid…

In my new release, LOVING HER CRAZY, Iris and Nash get stranded in a snowed-in Chicago overnight. Now, I’m more the type that would probably find a quiet corner and curl up with a good book. Nash is also. But not Iris. That woman is pure crazy and decides to make the most of her forced layover. And drags Nash along with her. While writing this book I thought a lot about where I’d want to be stranded, assuming I could be a bit more adventurous like Iris. Here is my Top 5 list: Honolulu – because really, it’s HAWAII. I could sit on the beach all night and have a grand time. But they also have a huge variety of amazing restaurants, clubs, museums, and the Polynesian Cultural Center (which is in Laie, not Honolulu, but is a fun place to visit…especially if your boyfriend is a security guard and can sneak you in at night when the place is closed…hypothetically speaking, of course *wink*). New York City – the city that never sleeps MUST have an amazing variety of sites for stranded travelers who need to kill some time. All the amazing museums, Coney Island, Chinatown, Times Square,…

When you think the words “road trip”, do you picture a white-knuckled drive from Point A to Point B on the fastest possible highway with the least number of stops? Or do you envision a leisurely drive through scenic countryside with opportunities for new experiences, photo-opportunities, tourist attractions, and unique regional eating treats? Personally, I’m not a fan of the first option, but sometimes, it’s a necessity—when there are time constraints or you’re travelling with someone who won’t consider anything other than driving in the fast lane. And even though I love the idea of the second option, who really has the time and patience for that kind of trip? And whichever method you prefer, do your plans go awry more often than not? In REMAKING RYAN, three travelers—Ryan, Jenna, and baby Elly—set off on a cross-country journey at cross-purposes. Because they have to get to St Louis from Boston by a set date and Jenna refuses to fly (for personal reasons), Ryan agrees to ride along for both safety and companionship. They are each at crossroads in their lives and some mindless time in the car offers them a break between the pain of their pasts and the uncertainty…

I’d always known that I wanted to be an author, but I really became serious about it eight years ago. After all the stories flitting through my head, I decided to finally sit down and see if I could write a full length novel. As it turned out, I could. I wrote two actually. And I was ready to be published and bask in the glow of immediate literary success. There was just one problem – I had no idea how to go about doing it. After asking around, I found a local chapter through Romance Writers of America and eagerly signed up. The first meeting I attended was their Christmas party and I arrived five months pregnant with YoungestMinion. For the first time in ever, I got to talk writing with people who got it. Who got me. The whole ‘people in my head dictating what happened to them’, the whole ‘it’s so much more than a hobby’, all of it. It was suggested I join with a critique partner to go through my manuscripts to ensure they were clean enough to start querying editors and agents to get published. I wish I could say my critique partner read…

My favorite scene from the book is the very first. It was great fun to write. Nathaniel Gresham, Viscount Hightower, stirred in his sleep. His hands groped for bedclothes, found nothing. Sensing wrongness, his consciousness rose through layers of befuddlement and wisps of dreams. He opened his eyes to find a gaping maw of three-inch fangs inches from his throat. “Aah!” Nathaniel threw up his arms to shield his face and twisted to the side. The convulsive movement brought him right to the edge of a large four-poster bed, and he scrambled to avoid falling three feet to the floor. He twisted in the opposite direction and struck out at the sharp, yellowed teeth. They did not snap shut on his forearm or lunge into his face once more. Indeed, they did not move at all, except sideways under his blow. There was no snarl or slaver, no spark of rage in the shiny eye behind the fangs. Nathaniel shoved them farther away and sat up. He was stark naked, on a large bed stripped bare of linens, covered only by a moth-eaten gray wolf skin. The wretched thing’s head had been carefully placed on his chest, to ensure the…

I’m a football fan. There. I said it. I love football. I know there are a lot of women who just don’t get the appeal. Like my daughter-in-law. She can’t understand how I’m content to spend an entire Sunday parked on the couch, cheering through one game after another. Then there’s Monday Night Football, and God bless the NFL for adding Thursday night games. I have my favorite team, of course. Having grown up in Boston, I’m a diehard New England fan. Go Pats! But I also cheer on the local boys and I’ll watch whatever game is on. I can’t help myself. I’m a gridiron girl. It helps if you understand the rules of the game, which I do, but football is more than a simple game. It’s a modern day test of strength and courage. Let’s face it, lining up across from a three hundred pound behemoth intent on ripping off your head takes guts. As man has from the beginning of time, these guys don their armor and face down their foes. Granted, football is a mostly bloodless war waged in the relative safety of million dollar stadiums, but it’s also a brutal competition, based on strategy,…

Linny read the party invitation. Picturing running into old friends, she fell down a deep well of self-doubt. What if she ran into Sarah Baker – now a judge who’d married well, competed in marathons, and ran a summer camp for low income kids? Or what about Randolph Henson, a nerdy boy Linny had spurned in high school, who’d morphed into a Ryan Reynolds look-alike, become a thoracic surgeon, and married Linny’s high school pal, the then-buck-toothed Mitzi. I wrote about what was important to me – funny girlfriends, good men, work that makes us happy, women who have adventures, sweet dogs, and love at any age. LINNY’S SWEET DREAM LIST is a Southern story about love and family, small town life and bright characters you are going to want as friends. The book is a sunny, wholesome read. If you are ever overwhelmed by the bad news in the world, join me in Willow Hill, North Carolina where colorful characters are searching for – and finding – their happily ever afters. Fans of Mary Kay Andrews and Dorothea Benton Frank may well enjoy LINNY’S SWEET DREAM LIST. LINNY‘S SWEET DREAM LIST is the first of three Willow Hill novel….

New Year is a time for new beginnings, a time to put the past behind you and move forward with renewed determination. A year ago, I began writing a new book and I wanted to use New Year’s Eve and the celebrations people enjoy as a setting for a romance. As Tilly and Xavier came to my mind, bringing with them all their problems and hurts from the past, I looked out of my writing room window to see big fat flakes of snow swirling to the ground and I had the perfect setting for their romance. Not only that, but they wouldn’t be able to get away from each other, they’d have to face the attraction they felt for each other and their problems head on. The story opens on New Year’s Eve and Tilly and Xavier find are forced to spend not only New Year’s Eve, snowbound and alone in an English country manor house, but several days. Xavier feels guilty celebrating Christmas after tragic events in his past, which ended his motorcycle racing career and Tilly is recovering from the shock and shame of being left standing at the altar last New Year’s Eve. Locked away from…

We’re visited by two very best friends today — Carly Phillips and Erika Wilde. They’ve been friends for as long as I’ve known them and it’s always a pleasure to be in their company. So I asked them for their secret. And today they’re sharing the things they do! Spa day! (Massage, facial, manicure, pedicure, etc.) Read the same book and discuss what you liked/disliked about it. Make cupcakes (or anything chocolate!) A day of shopping (clothes, make-up, purses, all girly stuff!) Go and see a chick flick together (the kind of movies your spouse will never go and see) Hang at Starbucks drinking your favorite latte and GOSSIP! Go to the beach, drink fruity drinks, lay out in the sun, and read. Go wine tasting together. A weekend getaway — to anywhere! Watch The Bachelor on TV together and laugh at the girls who cry and the ones that throw themselves at the guy! (This is a lot more fun when cocktails are involved, LOL!) About Carly Phillips Carly Phillips is the N.Y. Times and USA Today Bestselling Author of over 50 sexy contemporary romance novels featuring hot men, strong women and the emotionally compelling stories her readers have…

Why on earth do you do these things to your characters? That’s a question I’ve heard often from readers, and one I feel compelled to answer. I’ll probably get that question a lot more once people read A WEE DOSE OF DEATH, in which Peggy’s dear friend Karaline gets shot. So, why do I do it? Because there wouldn’t be much story without it. Because it works. Because the story line needs it. Because it seemed right at the time. Because I couldn’t think of any other way to handle it. All of the above. I do have to admit feeling really bad about shooting Karaline. Okay, okay. I know I didn’t shoot her. But I might as well have pulled the trigger myself. As I write, I feel what my characters are feeling, think what they’re thinking, and react/respond as they do. That’s meant some sleepless nights throughout the journey, agonizing over whether or not I really should push Biscuit off a dock, shoot Karaline, kill Melissa’s fiancé, or send Harper off on a wild-goose chase. It doesn’t matter which series I’m writing. The answer is the same: Yes. One of the questions I wrestled with as I wrote…