Thanks so much to Fresh Fiction for having me here today! I admit it, I love connected books. There’s just something about revisiting side characters and towns that I’ve known and loved before. Early on in my writing career, I didn’t think I’d be one of those writers who liked to write connected stories. Nope, I would be the one-and-done kind of writer, I was sure of it! Until I actually, you know, started writing and realized how much fun it is to spend more time in a world you’ve built, especially when that means you get to “check in” on characters you love! Which is something I’m enjoying right now, as a matter of fact! The last few months have been crazy—and wonderful! My Entangled Publishing novella, NO DRESS REQUIRED, reached the top of the Barnes and Noble Romance list in February and in March, reached #131 on the USA Today bestseller list. It’s been a huge thrill that people have enjoyed Noelle and Jake’s story and I so appreciate everyone who has read or reviewed it. I’m excited to say that I’m currently working on the next book in the Love Required series, NO FLOWERS REQUIRED, about Jake’s…

Riddle me this…What does a human woman do when she finds out that she’s not merely a human woman? Freak out? Sure. Cry? Probably. Take an extra dose of Prozac? Most likely. Finding out that you’re half Amoveo (a dream-walking, telepathic, shapeshifter with super-hot pre-destined soul mate) is a rather large pill to swallow but it’s not all bad. In fact, being a human-Amoveo hybrid would have it’s advantages. So here are the Top 10 things that I would consider perks of being half Amoveo. 1. You hardly age once you find your mate. Sweet. No Botox or boob lifts required. 2. Telepathy. You can whisper sweet nothings to your lover in a crowded room or tell him when he’s acting like a dick without calling him out in public. Either way—it’s a bonus. 3. Visualization abilities rock! Once you’re at full strength you can visualize almost anything you can imagine. The latest Vera Wang dress? Christian Louboutain shoes? Check, check and double check! No more shopping in crowded malls or ordering the wrong size online. 4. You’re a dream walker so bad dreams are a thing of the past. You can dream your way to places that only exist…

Is this your first time going to the Malice Domestic conference? If so, don’t be scared. Plan to have a bunch of fun. Most of the people going don’t bite. If you’re a fan, feel free to approach your favorite author. They are there to meet you. If you’re an author and attending for the first time, breathe. This is a vital clue to living a longer life. The hotel is intimate. I believe there is only the one conference going on at this time, so pretty much everyone will be an attendee. That means you can smile at everyone. If you feel like your mouth might freeze, you can always escape to your room to refresh or find a group of frowners and join them. The hotel layout isn’t complex but it can be tricky. The elevators are few. Plan ahead and plan to recognize people on every ride. It’s sort of like a theme park, in that regard. You keep seeing the same people. Over and over. Read the name tag. Say the name out loud. By the end of your stay, you’ll find you know at least twenty new names—and maybe the people, too. Note: There are…

Hi! I’m so excited to be here at Fresh Fiction today! I love this site! Despite being an avid reader of many genres all of my life I discovered the treasure trove of romance books relatively late. As in, 6 years ago.  I attended a romance writing conference with a friend who knew I loved writing, and she suggested that any conference where writing was the main focus would be useful to me. To my surprise we were given free books! Free romance books! On my way home from that extremely enjoyable and inspiring conference I flicked through some of the freebies, the first one shall remain forever etched on my brain: EARTHQUAKE BABY by Amy Andrews. A Mills and Boon Medical Romance. As a nurse married to a doctor I was intrigued – books about people like me? What had I been missing all my life? Turns out – I’d been missing a heck of a lot! I love watching ER, Grey’s Anatomy, House – where the loves and lives of dedicated, compassionate medical professionals intertwined. Where fast paced action in the operating theatre spills over to sizzling action in the bedroom. And there were books about this? I…

I have been here before, but when or how I cannot tell; I know the grass beyond the door, The sweet keen smell, The sighing sound, The lights around the shore. You have been mine before,- How long ago I may not know: But just when at that swallow’s soar Your neck turned so, Some veil did fall, – I knew it all of yore. ~ Dante Gabriel Rossetti Dear Readers, Have you ever experienced what the French call, déjà vu, that eerie sense that you’ve seen, heard or experienced something before although you haven’t? Have you ever met someone for the first time and felt you’ve known that person forever? What about love at first sight? You know, the moment your eyes meet and there’s an instant connection…Or, according to some, it’s an instant recognition, perhaps of a long lost love. I’ve always been fond of the lines above from Rossetti’s poem, Sudden Light. It brings to mind those fleeting glimpses of memories long forgotten. You know the kind-just enough to provide the spark of a recollection. There for a moment and then gone just as quickly! From just how far back in time do some of these memories…

Besides being a writer, I’m also a private investigator who co-owns a detective agency with her spouse. No surprise my current book, THE ZEN MAN, features a private eye man-and-woman team. And yes, I based my private eye hero, Rick Levine, on my husband. Not 100 percent, of course, but they do share some personality traits and background. What makes Rick Levine hot? Those killer blue eyes for starters. Also, his confident wisdom, vulnerability and wicked sense of humor. I thought it’d be fun to share an additional five hot private eye heroes from film and books for this blog. Although there are definitely hot female private eyes (Emma Peel, Honey West, Veronica Mars to name a few), I’m focusing on their male counterparts. Although rugged looks certainly count, sometimes what’s attractive lies below the surface. Here’s my list of five hot private eyes: Sherlock Holmes (created by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle). We’re talking superior intellect here. Sherlock solves crimes through astute logical thinking, the ability to don disguises, and keen forensic skills. According to his sidekick Dr. Watson, Sherlock is also a bit of an eccentric who keeps his cigars in the coal-scuttle and his tobacco in the toe…

Have you ever wondered if fiction mirrors life?  I have.  Not once, but twice. The first time was in 2004, shortly after I had pounded out the original draft (in pen) of a story in my head.  The process took a year and a half (2002-2003), after which I realized there was a sequel.  I joined a professional writing organization, attended conferences and learned I had written two stories, not one (+sequel makes 3).  After chopping, slicing and dicing, I began the intense research needed to bring the story to life. DUTY AND DESIRE, the debut in my ‘Winds of Fire’ series, begins with a five-hundred-million rupee (Indian currency) wedding where Sheetal (protagonist) is forced to marry Sanjeet (antagonist) in the wedding of the decade.  I had the characters, plot, locale, wedding attires for both characters—created by 2 of India’s leading fashion designers—in place. Then in 2004, Vanisha Mittal, heiress to London born, steel tycoon, Lakshmi Mittal, announced her wedding to Amit Bhatia, a Delhi born investment banker.  The wedding, estimated to cost about $78m, was honored by Forbes’ Magazine and the Guinness Book of World Records, as the most expensive wedding ever, and took place at the Palace of…

As a first-time romance novelist and a newbie blogger, I apologize in advance for not quite knowing how to approach my blog on Fresh Fiction. But I’ll start by thanking my Red Sage, my wonderful publisher, for taking a chance on CURSED. As I sat down to prepare my blog, I suffered the opposite of writer’s block. I had so many ideas jostling each other in my mind that I couldn’t seem to focus on just one. But then it hit me—with the force of a runaway train. Three years ago, I lost my job. I got laid off when a large hospital system acquired the hospital where I’d worked for 15 years. I became part of the huge pool of American workers pushing the unemployment rate into double digits for the first time since the dark days of the 1982 recession. I was without a job for about a year. And while it was terrifying to watch expenses pile up with nothing coming in, my twelve months of unemployment were the most liberating months of my life. I’ll never forget the day that my sister dared me to make good use of my enforced time off by doing something…

Back when MARIANA was first published, in the early 1990s, most paperback originals (as books published first in mass market paperback format were called) had only a few weeks or months of life in which to find their readers, before they were shunted off the bookstore shelves by the next season’s new releases, so it’s always heartening to see a book that came and went so briefly get a second chance to find the readers who might like it. But with each re-release, there always comes that moment when the proofs arrive to be corrected, and I read a sentence over and I see its flaws in hindsight, and I wonder whether I should maybe change it, just a little. The Russian writer Tolstoy once confided to his friend, Aleksandr Borisovich Goldenweiser: “I scarcely ever reread my published writings, but if by chance I come across a page, it always strikes me: all this must be rewritten; this is how I should have written it.” I’ve felt twinges of that, too, from time to time. Whenever I read one of my early books I feel a little like I’d imagine a carpenter feels when he looks back at the first…

“Those penniless Hadley brothers.” Weston, Grayson and Archer have heard themselves described as such their entire lives.  The comment usually occurs along with a slur about their recent behavior in society. You see, the Hadley brothers not only have pockets to let, they also like to stir up trouble at every opportunity. These gentlemen like to gamble, they enjoy a good brawl (often with one another) and they don’t believe in following society’s rules. Not at all. We first met Weston Hadley and his brothers in THE TAMING OF THE WOLF. They just happen to be Dashiel Thorpe’s younger, unclaimed, half-brothers, though society isn’t aware of the connection. If they are aware, no one brings it up. It’s simply too outlandish. The very thought that such a lofty lord would have siblings without a shilling to their names would shock the stockings right off the Duchess of Hythe. Dash’s father had an affair with Dash’s mother which is how Dash came to be, and then the viscount went on to marry and produce these three blights on society. In THE TAMING OF THE WOLF, Caitrin, Lord Eynsford’s witchy wife, sets about the process of uniting the three brothers with her…