Some places are romantic, such as dinner for two by candlelight. A trip to the beach, mountains or river is adventurous. Museums, art galleries and music events induce a sense of wonder. A good book with a cup of tea on the patio invites relaxation. I’m always influenced by my surroundings, so I include that experience when I write. In my Gone Bad Series set in the Old West, locales are important characters in their own right. I traveled to places where events occur in my books. When possible, I walked the land or streets and took photographs that I later used in my descriptions. Delaware Bend, Texas, was once known as one of the three toughest towns in the West along with Tombstone, Arizona, and Leadville, Colorado. The Bend near the Old Spanish Trail originated as a ferry crossing on the Red River between Texas and Indian Territory, an outlaw paradise due to legal jurisdictional nightmares. Bandits could party in Delaware Bend where liquor flowed freely, then escape ahead of the law into Indian Territory. I couldn’t resist turning The Bend into a major character in the Gone Bad Series. In LADY GONE BAD, I showcase Robber’s Cave that…

I remember the day I came up with the idea for HER SUMMER WITH THE MARINE. I was on the phone with my friend Paula, talking about how every book idea had been done to death. And having written over 50 books (at the time), a lot of those done-to-death stories had been done to death by ME. LOL! I longed to do something fresh and interesting, and that day I came up with the fresh, unusual aspects of Ellie and Finn’s story. But at its heart, HER SUMMER WITH THE MARINE is the story of a woman coming home, meeting up with the boy – who is now a man – who’d been her high school nemesis, and learning that everybody grows up and time really can heal all wounds – if we let it. It’s also a story about sexual attraction. Finn and Ellie had been in each other’s social sphere the whole way through twelve years of public school education. It’s only when he returns home after ‘finding himself’ as a marine, and she returns home a well respect advertising executive, that they realize their competition might have been a bit more about unrequited romantic feelings than…

Hi everyone – I’m so excited to be visiting the Fresh Fiction blog again! I’ve missed all of you! My new release, NIGHT ANGEL, is a standalone novella in my Night Series. This book takes place in Ireland and features Colin, who you met in NIGHT DEMON. At the end of NIGHT DEMON, Colin is left with an injury his immortal body is unable to heal, and NIGHT ANGEL opens with a darker side of Colin. He’d always been quick to smile, with a playful sense of humor, but his world is completely off-balance now that this proud immortal has had his confidence rattled. He’s riddled with doubt about whether he can protect those in his care and he’s trying to hide his injuries. It isn’t until his path crosses a mortal woman who lost her hearing in the Shankill Road bombing that he discovers there may be more to him than his mangled left arm. Writing this book was a labor of love. Having a strong deaf heroine was also a thrill to write. In high school I spent a year as a teacher’s assistant to the deaf classes. I learned sign language and also discovered that being deaf…

Hi. My name is Ginger. If you have a little time, I’d like to tell you a little about myself. Okay, so I’ve already said my name is Ginger, but my close friends and cop buddies call me Storm. My ex-partner, Homicide Detective, Skitch, gave me the nickname Storm after I caught a ruthless killer during a hellified rainstorm in Miami, FL. That was one of the happiest days of my life. But… Right after I captured Nancy Kingston’s murderer, my ex-boyfriend did something horrible that landed me on probation. Sigh. Sigh. And just when I thought things couldn’t get worse, my best friend’s husband got murdered, and my new man is the number one suspect. Sweet Jesus! This is so much to handle until I can hardly tell the story. If you think your head is hurting from reading about my jacked up life, just think about how my head is feeling. Will someone please bring me a cup of coffee with an extra shot and some Excedrin? Well, other than being somewhat of a Tomboy with a high sex drive and loving my job, there’s not much else to tell. Thanks for listening to my story. It helps…

Driving to the supermarket the other day, the song “I Need a Hero,” from the movie Shrek played on the radio. As I sang along—hoping no one could hear me—it got me thinking about what actually makes a hero? Those of us who write romance can spout off hero qualities at the drop of a hat. (Boy would my editor slap my hand for that cliché.) We’ll tell you he is handsome, tall, muscular, honorable, a great lover, kind, gentle, strong . . . You get the picture. These are the kinds of heroes we dream about. The hero who will arrive on his white horse, sweep us (literally and figuratively) off our feet as we ride into the sunset to our happily ever after. But what about real life heroes? And I’m not even talking about the men you see on the news who rescue children from burning buildings, or save a woman from attack. Sure, they definitely fall into the category of heroes, but I’m thinking of a more subtle, will never make the front page of a newspaper hero. The ones we encounter in our everyday life. Maybe the one you face over the breakfast table each…

Some would argue that there is no wrong way to read a book. With one glance at my towering stack of TBR novels, you might argue I’m the wrong person to write about the perfect way to read a book because obviously I collect them rather than actually read them. One look at our overloaded calendar and you might determine that there is absolutely no way that I read a sentence let alone an entire novel. Fortunately, you would be sadly mistaken, because reading is like breathing to me. I. Must. Do. It. Reading isn’t optional. I long for an escape to another place, another time, another character. My life is wonderful and I love it. But I also adore learning about other places and times. What was it like to be a Pinkerton Agent? A Monuments Man? A bookstore owner? What a book requires is simple. A perfect setting. Some people would say that’s their favorite chair. A bath full of fragrant suds. A vacation with the beach at your feet or the mountains at your back. I’ve read on the treadmill – just today I was reading a Melody Carlson book at 6.5 mile an hour pace, my…

Sometimes I’m asked why so many of my books are set in small towns. Well, the answer is simple—it’s because I live in small towns. My husband and I divide our time between a very small “mountain” town (population less than 3,000) and a slightly larger (but still quite small) “beachy” town. Yeah, I know it’s rough. <g> But the truth is—it is not for everyone. For instance, there’s definitely limited shopping options and restaurant selections. Sometimes that gets old. And if you want to make a fast run to the grocery store (which is overpriced) plan on taking your time because you will run into someone you know. Also, you don’t want to go slumming unless you want someone to start spreading rumors that you’re having “difficulties.” Really, it’s surprising how many people can’t handle the whole small town thing. Oh, sure they think it’s “charming” at first, but it can wear thin for some folks. I know because we’ve been here almost twenty years and we’ve seen people come…and go. However, life in a small town is different in the fictional world. I’m able to create small towns that are similar to my town, but with my fictional…

People sometimes ask me – who’s that black sheep with you in your author photo? He’s a little guy I watched being born during one of Heifer International’s Women’s Lambing Programs at Overlook Farm in Rutland, Massachusetts. I’ve attended several of these wonderful sessions, with sheep and goats. It had to be the black sheep I posed with because of the long tradition of romance heros who are black sheep. (Wiki says the idiom arises from a genetic quirk in sheep, but readers know the black sheep as an engaging rogue.) In my most recent historical romance The Bride Insists, the hero is a bit of a black sheep. Jamie Boleigh, seventh Baron Trehearth, can’t be blamed for running a little wild. He’s been struggling nearly all his life to salvage an estate teetering on the verge of ruin. His mother died giving birth to his twin sisters, and he lost his father in ambiguous circumstances the following year. Aged sixteen, he had to take over managing ancestral acres that were falling to pieces and mortgaged to the hilt. He loves every inch of Trehearth. The thought of losing it is agonizing. He tries everything he can think of, but…

I’m starving! This was the primary thought on my mind while I was writing my new release, DESPERATELY SEEKING SUZANNA. I was mid-diet when I started writing this story, running on the treadmill every day, surviving on nuts and berries in an attempt to fit into a slinky dress for an event. So, is it surprising there are a great deal of scenes involving food in this story? Not really. Holden and Sue snack from the night they meet to the end of Desperately Seeking Suzanna. There is always a bowl of candy or a table of refreshments at a ball, over which they hover. But, it isn’t just any food they share a fondness for, it’s a fondness for sweets and more specifically chocolate. Some authors speak of themes of injustice or redemption in their stories, in this book there’s a theme of chocolate. *grins* That’s right, lovely, tasty ribbons of chocolate are woven through Sue and Holden’s story. In this scene, Holden has just taken Sue’s sketches from her while she sat drawing in the park—where she thought she was alone. She’s nervously watching him look through her artwork, but before long their conversation turns to—what else? Chocolate….

Like many writers, I’ve always been a reader. There’s a special place in my heart for literature, whether classic or modern: Jane Austen, Charles Dickens, George Orwell, Margaret Atwood, Barbara Kingsolver, the list goes on. I’m pursuing a Master’s degree in Literature; I teach high school English; I’ve loaded my ereader with every classic available from Project Gutenberg. Many people are surprised, then, to learn that I write erotic romance. When I tell them, there’s a moment of hesitation, a slow blink, maybe a stammer. How can I, a well-educated lover of literature and a professional in my field, read and write those kind of books? It’s difficult for them to reconcile their conflicting stereotypes. To be honest, I love that reaction. I love catching people off-guard and making them question all their preconceived notions about who reads and writes romance, especially erotic romance. Most of all, I love my genre. Erotic romance combines the best of two categories. Erotica has all the hot sex a person could want, described in toe-curling titillating detail. Romance has the guaranteed happy ending; those two characters are going to fall in love. Putting them together creates erotic romance: a character’s sexual journey leading…