I’m so excited to be here at Fresh Fiction today celebrating the release of my sexy paranormal romance, PROTECTING HIS WITCH, the first in my new Keepers of the Veil series. If you like contemporary paranormal romances, witches, curses and alpha heroes, then PROTECTING HIS WITCH is the book for you! This isn’t your typical witch book. There’s no coven. Don’t get disappointed. Our heroine has witchy powers. Kat just doesn’t know she’s one of the chosen seven Pleiades witches. Sure she’s got the ability to pick up people’s thoughts and she can even hop to a different dimension, although she doesn’t exactly have control of the hopping.  But she doesn’t know why witch hunters keep trying to abduct her. The person she must trust to protect her is the gorgeous one-night-stand she accidentally cursed when he kicked her out of his dorm room years ago. Naked. Avoiding a repeat of that night is her priority. Matt recognizes what Kat is and feels obligated to help her, but only after she reverses that curse: May you never find satisfaction with another woman. But bonding to a Pleiad and getting involved with the druidic ways he turned his back on long…

10. Who doesn’t like a Cinderella story where impoverished girl gets the prince, er, Mr. Darcy? 9. Is there not vast appeal in the notion of a perfectly idle class of people? 8. Idioms, dress, and society may have changed, but human nature is still the same. 7. Mr. Collins is as deliciously irksome today as he was 200 years ago. 6. Ditto, Lady Catherine de Bourgh. 5. It is a truth universally acknowledged that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife. Yep, still true. 4. Austen’s concept of a story where nothing really happens spawned the most successful TV show ever. 3. Good still trumps bad. 2. There were just as many stupid people 200 years ago as there are today. 1. And. . . who doesn’t love a man in a cravat? About Cheryl Bolen Cheryl Bolen is the New York Times Bestselling Author of more than a dozen Regency- set historical romances published by Harlequin Historical and Zebra Historical. Her first book, A DUKE DECEIVED, won her the title of Notable New Author and was a runner up for the Holt Medallion for Best First Book. Her ONE…

In 2013, I spent over twenty five thousand dollars on giveaways and prizes for readers, which didn’t include the shipping costs. Combined, it was well over thirty thousand dollars I spent giving back to those who supported me. When I compiled all my expenditures for my CPA for taxes in early 2014, I began to consider how much good that amount of money could do if channeled in a different direction. Giveaways are great. I do them as a means of giving back to the reader community, but was there another way I could give back? I’m a strategic thinker by design, and I’m constantly evaluating my marketing, business and promotion strategies. I’m also a long-term planner, and I asked myself: what if I could make more of a difference by donating even half the amount spent on giveaways in 2013 to charity instead? Helping others is important to me. One of my goals in life has always been to give back to those who help me, to repay favors at least twofold and to always support my friends and family in every way I can. The more this idea rattled around in my skull, the better it seemed. I…

I am a talker. I know that shocks you. 🙂 But in my latest steamy romance, HOLLYWOOD ON TAP, the hero, Sean is the strong and silent type. It’s so much easier to keep his secret that way. But when the nosey efficiency expert Natalie Sweet shows up at the Sweet Salvation Brewery, well it’s just about all over for him. Who knew that one of the things he was hiding was a penchant for the hot librarian type? To show you what I mean, I brought along an excerpt from HOLLYWOOD ON TAP. *** All Sean wanted to do was get lost in Natalie. He’d carry her upstairs to his king–size bed, lay her down in the middle of his sheets, and lick every inch of her until she broke apart in his arms and cried out for mercy. Then he’d make her do it again. He sucked the juicy fullness of her bottom lip into his mouth, lightly raking his teeth across the tender flesh. The woman he’d too often thought of as a thorn in his side shivered in his arms. The need to touch her everywhere steamrolled over any objections. He brought his hands around front…

I love it when readers tell me their bags are packed and they’re ready to move to Blue Plum, Tennessee. “When are you leaving?” I ask. “I’ll go with you.” Too bad Blue Plum, as a whole, exists only in my Haunted Yarn Shop Mysteries. Note the “as a whole” in that sentence, though. Parts of Blue Plum really do exist, and you can go visit. A real road trip will involve some hopping around, because everything isn’t one place. But for now we can take an armchair tour, catch the highlights, and you can make plans for a great vacation. Come on, then, let’s go visiting. First stop is Jonesborough, Tennessee’s oldest town. Jonesborough is up in the northeastern corner of the state, and it’s as cute as a bug’s ear. The town’s historic district is on the National Register of Historic Places and includes wonderful examples of Queen Anne, Federal, and Victorian architecture. My family and I lived outside Jonesborough for almost twenty years. Next stop is the Weaver’s Cat, the shop owned by Kath Rutledge and haunted by Geneva the ghost. I put the Weaver’s Cat in the oldest brick building in Jonesborough—Sisters’ Row, a Philadelphia-style row…

I’m delighted to be at Fresh Fiction today and share an excerpt from my debut historical romance: THE RAKE’S HANDBOOK: Including Field Guide. It’s the first book in The Rake’s Handbook series about the men who wrote and published the handbook. After a friend challenged me to write a novel, the question I faced was what type of book should I write: mystery, romance, history, something with aliens or tentacles? When I decided to write a historical romance, a friend helped me get an idea of the breath of the genre by suggesting several famous romances. One of those books was FREDERICA by Georgette Heyer. I love that book. I laughed and giggled and laughed. Right then I decided to try and write books as entertaining and charming as FREDERICA. The love story is the most important ingredient in a romance, but I hope laughter will play a major role in all of my books too. Do any of your favorite romances make you laugh, chuckle, or giggle? Excerpt THE RAKE’S HANDBOOK: Including Field Guide “You really are a rake,” she whispered, the sight and feel of their joined hands warming her cheeks. “A proper gentleman would never hold a lady…

Jade/Kathy is locked in her writing cave, so #Squidge and Cinnamon have decided to fill in for her today on the blog with their autumn likes/dislikes. Meow! I’m Cinnamon and I keep Jade/Kathy as my human pet. She is very good scratching under my chin–though not for long enough–and can usually be annoyed enough to feed me really good food. This makes her an acceptable human pet and therefore I have decided to help her out with this blog. Things I like about autumn. A. Mousies! Mousies in the morning, mousies in the afternoon, mousies all day long running everywhere! B. Plentiful mousies mean I get to eat one, gift one to my human pets, and play with all the rest! C. My human wears thicker clothing so when I want her attention, I have to really push my claws into her leg. But she’s much more willing to let me snooze on her lap. Apparently in summer I make her sweat. D. It’s not hot anymore. Chasing mousies in a fur coat in summer is really not as fun as it sounds. Answer: Mousies! Hello! I’m #Squidge. I have no idea why Cinnamon thought it was fun to be…

I love to read cookbooks. Does that sound weird? When it comes to exotic or excessively complicated dishes, it’s much easier to read about then than to actually make them. Since I write historical romances, I like to look through old cookbooks to get an idea of what my characters might have been eating. There are quite a few Victorian cookbooks around, so I can get a good notion of what Lady Elinor and her family might eat. Pretty elaborate meals, it seems, judging by the menus proposed in various books, with their Removes and Entrées and Entremets. I’ve finally figured out what those terms mean. A Remove is a course that is taken off the table and replaced by another. The Roasts, for example, replace the Fish course. Much to my surprise, I was told that earlier, in the 18th century, it wasn’t just the dishes that were removed. It was also the tablecloth, uncovering a clean one underneath. This would happen several times in the course of a meal, until finally the dessert might be served on the bare wood of the table. I had always thought of people living in the 18th century as rather elegant, with…

It is my very great pleasure to introduce you to Phillippa, the Most Honorable, the Dowager Marchioness of Somerset. She is the velvet-fisted power behind the marquessate in A RAKE BY ANY OTHER NAME. Her spine is still ramrod straight despite the weight of years she bears. Like most people who have lived a long productive life, Lady Somerset has an opinion on just about everything. And she feels everyone is entitled to HER opinion! In A RAKE BY ANY OTHER NAME, I head each chapter with some of Lady Somerset’s pithy observations. Here are a few: On lying… “Where one stands on a matter depends upon where one sits. When someone else is holding court on one’s settee, spreading delicious falsehoods, one is tempted to brand them a liar. When one finds oneself on the same settee, practicing deception, one considers it being economical with the truth.” On secrets… “Secrets are the most delicious morsels, but only when one is gobbling them up. Keeping them down often gives one the most frightful indigestion.” On outspoken ladies… “When an old woman says what’s on her mind, she’s considered outrageous yet charming. When a young woman voices her opinions, she’s counted…

As everyone who read Book 1 in the X-OPS Series (HER PERFECT MATE) will remember, Clayne Buchanan, the wolf shifter with the bad attitude, can be a bit rough-around-the-edges. But as I was getting ready to tell his story in HER LONE WOLF, I discovered that Clayne actually has a sensitive side. Believe me, I’m as shocked as you. I thought I’d pegged him perfectly as the perpetual bad boy who never let anyone get close, and never cared about making friends. But it turns out that I was wrong. I started getting my first indications that maybe I’d gotten him wrong when I sat down with him over dinner (at PF Chang’s, of course!) so we could start outlining his story. Before we even got started, he told me he was a bit concerned that people might have gotten the wrong idea about him in the first book. He even asked if it was possible to have the publisher tweak a few scenes in HER PERFECT MATE to let his nicer side show. I was shocked. Why hadn’t he said something earlier? Of course, it was too late to tweak the book because it was already in bookstores. When…