“A lot of times, people don’t know what they want until you show it to them.” – Steve Jobs As of today (November 22, 2014 when I’m writing this piece), I have written seven full-length Original Sinners novels, seven Original Sinners novellas, and approximately twenty Original Sinners short stories for a grand total of over 1 million words. When writing a series of this scope with stories that span three decades, the challenge is how to keep things fresh and interesting for readers when they know your characters and this world almost as intimately as you (the writer) knows them. That’s where the Steve Jobs quote above comes in. Now it may seem strange to take writing inspiration from a computer designer and CEO, but the late-great Steve Jobs was the man responsible for the smartphone which I assume 99% of people reading this article own. You might even be reading this article on your iPhone (or another brand of smartphone, but let’s be honest, Steve Jobs is responsible for even the non-Apple smartphones). Apple was a computer company that turned into a phone company because one day Jobs and his team were sitting around a table complaining about how…

For the last week and a half, I’ve had a head cold. The type that makes every part of the body ache and getting out of bed a Herculean struggle. I stayed home a few days, burrowed into my blankets, and browsed the internet aimlessly. I kept reading articles about the best shows to binge-watch: Gilmore Girls, The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles, Dexter, House of Cards, Games of Thrones. Granted I love a good TV show, but I wanted a list for best book series to binge-read. I’m not advocating everyone stop going to class, or work, or getting out of bed in order to read, but hey, if you’re sick and already in bed, it’d be nice to have a wonderful series to keep you company, right? That’s why as the temperatures plummet and flu season gears up this week’s list is all about binge-worthy book series. THRONE OF GLASS by Sarah J. Maas THRONE OF GLASS The Throne of Glass series by Sarah J. Maas is about 18-year-old assassin Celaena Sardothien. She’s served hard time in the salt mines of Endovier for her crimes, competed for the Crown Prince in a deadly contest to become the new royal…

I have been fascinated by Jack the Ripper ever since I was a little girl. In 1988, the 100th anniversary of the Whitechapel Murders, my mother gave me a paperback copy of THE COMPLETE JACK THE RIPPER by Donald Rumbelow and I was hooked. Every aspect of the case fascinated me: the victims lives, their fall from respectable poverty to alcoholism and prostitution; the setting, the stark contrast between the squalid slums of the East End and the outwardly respectable, affluent West End of London; the murders themselves, the audacity and brutality; the elusive, unidentified killer, and, most of all, the reason for his rage; and the endless, and ongoing, parade of suspects throughout the years from the absurd like Lewis Carroll of ALICE IN WONDERLAND fame to royal, Masonic, and occult conspiracies. I read every book I could get my hands on and to this day I’ve never formed an opinion about the killer’s identity; as much as we would like to know, I think the mystery would be spoiled if we knew for sure, the speculation, the game of Hunt the Ripper, I think, is what keeps this case alive. When the controversial DIARY OF JACK THE RIPPER…

I’m so excited to be here at Fresh Fiction on release day to celebrate my new book, HARD TO COME BY. This book is part of a super sexy and suspenseful series about the surviving members of an Army Special Forces unit investigating the suspicious circumstances that got them dishonorably discharged from the military. HARD TO COME BY is about amputee hero and team technie Derek “Marz” DiMarzio, who finds himself falling for the sister of one of their known enemies. I have loved Marz from the first moment he walked onto the page in book one, HARD AS IT GETS. In addition to being drop-dead sexy, he’s upbeat, outgoing, and always ready with a joke to uplift everyone’s spirits. Marz is also selfless and giving, depriving himself of sleep to do all the research the team needs for their investigation. And, of course, that selflessness was never demonstrated more than when he saved his best friend’s life on the field of battle and ended up with a below-the-knee amputation. Here’s what Marz’s thinks about that: Not that Marz would undo how it’d all gone down. Because him losing his leg meant that Beckett, Marz’s best friend in the world…

Right now, I have three things hidden in my sock drawer. Item one: a large bag of left-over Halloween candy. (To clarify, the bag is large, but the candy is mostly gone. Sad face.) Item two: a box of mini dark chocolate bars from Trader Joe’s. (Also mostly empty. See a theme here?) Item three: Hmm. Well, in the interest of decorum, let’s just say there is a three, and I really hope no one finds it. These are my secrets. And as a mother of two, with two jobs, two cats, and two dogs (only one husband, thank goodness), I don’t have many secrets left. My closet gets raided by my daughter, who is now tall enough to steal my clothes. I find my shirts balled up in her laundry bin, my jewelry on her bedside table. She has also been known to rifle through my drawers in the bathroom looking for makeup, although she is NOT allowed to wear it to school. (And I mean it!) My kitchen cupboards are regularly pillaged by my 6’4’’ fourteen year-old son. If I leave a speck of food unattended, it’s gone. I mean, GONE. I stopped buying ice cream when entire…

  I love traveling almost as much as I love romance. Which made researching for my latest release, SUGAR’S TWICE AS SWEET, so much fun. After being dumped, abandoned, and left homeless, my heroine Josephina Harrington leaves the big apple behind for the small town of Sugar, Georgia to turn her great aunt’s dilapidated boarding house into a boutique lifestyle retreat. In researching bed and breakfasts and boutique hotels, I came across some of the most romantic spots in the South that inspired Joie’s inn, Fairchild House. Here are my personal Top 5 Most Romantic Inns of the South: Coming in at #5 is the Blue Willow Inn. This inn combines two of my favorite things, southern hospitality and southern cuisine. This mansion turned eatery is known for their fried green tomatoes, country fried chicken, and the title of “Best Small Town Restaurant in the South.” Located in a charming yellow and white turn-of-the-century neoclassical mansion, this southern hot spot was at one time home to the Updike family, including Redd Updike, who was Margret Mitchell’s first husband and the inspiration for Rhett Butler in Gone with the Wind. Food, history, and some of the best sweet tea around, it…

I am a lover of summer. I despise winter, so I really don’t hold much fondness for fall since it leads straight to the one season I hate. Some people love the fall because of the beautiful colors on the trees, the cooling temperatures, or the pumpkin-flavored everything. Not me. For me, the best thing about fall is the new TV lineup. I routinely admit that I watch far too much TV. I counted about 20 hours of TV that I record on an average week. That’s like having another part-time job. Crazy, right? But I can’t help it. I have shows that I look forward to returning, like visiting old friends, and then there are always shiny, new things to look at. I’m not going to talk about all the shows I watch (I’m not that crazy), but here are some of the shows that I was most excited about this fall: Returning shows 1. Arrow – I have such love for this show. It’s a little over the top, but it’s a superhero, so how can it not be? And if you’ve watched or spent any time on social media, you’ve probably heard of Olicity. Everyone wants Oliver…

I have so much to be thankful for this week, including the fact that I have a new historical romance release out tomorrow. TALL, DARK AND ROYAL is the second novella in my Renegade Royals Series, which features heroes who are the illegitimate sons of England’s royal dukes. The leader of the Renegade Royals is Sir Dominic Hunter, and his tale began in LOST IN A ROYAL KISS, the first Renegade Royals story. A boy of fifteen, Dominic was devoted to Chloe Steele, his best friend and the person he loved most in the world. But a series of terrible events separated them for many years, and Dominic even feared Chloe was dead. But he never gave up looking for her as he rose through the ranks of the British Intelligence Service, eventually becoming a magistrate and powerful spymaster. Dominic’s search for his lost love played out through the first two books of the series, and now comes to fruition in TALL, DARK AND ROYAL when Dominic and Chloe are finally reunited. Naturally, their reunion isn’t easy, and quite a few obstacles stand in the way of their HEA. Chloe, in particular, has suffered a great deal and she’s forgotten how…

As a writer of fiction, I tend to spend a good deal of time in an imaginary world of my own creation; that seems to come with the territory, and as long as it doesn’t interfere with my functioning in real life (as it did the time I became so wrapped up in mental plotting that I drove myself home from Mobile, Alabama—a distance of about twenty miles—without afterwards recalling how I’d gotten there), it isn’t a problem. Every now and then, though, my two worlds collide, with dangerous (see above) or, more frequently, ludicrous results. One of these occurred during the spring of 2012, when I was writing the Regency-set mystery that eventually became FAMILY PLOT. During the course of researching that book, I’d discovered that digitalis, the medicine still used today to treat heart patients, had existed as early as 1785, and that it is derived from the foxglove plant. I used my new knowledge in plotting the mystery at the center of the book. (This is not a spoiler, as the cause of death is determined very shortly after the discovery of the body.) Meanwhile, in real life, my husband and I had bought a house in…

I remember last Christmas asking myself, “What would happen if Santa ever lost his holiday spirit?” Hopefully, Christmas is about more than the jolly, old guy in the red suit and the world wouldn’t end if he took some time off. Still, I thought this would be a fun idea to play with, so I created James Claussen the quintessential Santa, who has played Santa Claus for family events, local hospitals and shopping malls. But now, with the loss of his wife, James has lost his joy in the season. In fact, he’s lost his joy, period. Which is where Olivia Wallace’s Icicle Creek Lodge in Icicle Falls comes in. This year Santa is going to THE LODGE ON HOLLY ROAD  where he’ll meet a lot of people, all in search of a meaningful Christmas, and maybe he’s going to find his Christmas Spirit again. That’s the plan, anyway. We’ll see if things go according to plan. Things don’t always go according to plan in books or in real life. A season that holds so much joy for so many can be equally hard for others. Personal loss, dysfunctional families, gatherings that go awry – anything can sneak up on…