“When things go right, laugh; when thing go wrong, laugh harder.”—My Grandmother I come from a long line of southerners who believe humor is not only an expression of joy, but a damn good coping mechanism.  Laughter soothes your spirit when some stress gremlin tries to steal your joy out of life. A prime example of this was my aunt’s funeral.  She was an amazing, strong-willed lady who loved to … love.  She’d been divorced three times and married four. To the same man.  My uncle, also a strong-willed individual, had passed away a year earlier. Heavy clouds clung to the morning of my aunt’s funeral. We sat in that room with her casket, listening to my cousin talk about how much his mom would be missed. When he stopped to catch his shaky breath, lightning stuck. Literally, lightning struck the funeral home. The pews shook, the power went out. Overtaken by silent blackness, the loudest thing in the room was our grief.  Clearing his throat in the darkness, my cousin said, “Wow.  Mom and Dad must be back together again.” Laughter filled the unlit room like renewed light and we found an emotional reprieve in the humor. I not…

I live twenty minutes from Palm Beach, a fifteen mile long island on Florida’s south east coast. My husband and I drive over there at least once a week. We don’t go for Worth Avenue’s high end shopping, or to dine at glitzy restaurants, or for a drive-by of the opulent mansions. We go for the beach. Ahhh…the beach. Perfectly tended, life guard protected and still public. Besides all that, it’s the nearest patch of salt scented real estate to our home. So good for planting our beach umbrella (red with a Campari logo), setting up our sand chairs and indulging in our weekly ritual of people watching. (Okay, my husband goes to swim, so let me tell you about the guys.) You would be amazed by the cross section of male society I’ve seen there. A mosaic of men – all shapes, all sizes, and all ages. Oooh, baby let the show begin and set it to the sounds of English, Spanish, French, Portuguese and German. By the way, I’m still not getting the appeal of Europeans in mini-Speedos. Nor do I gaze fondly upon American men in Jams. (Excuse me, sir, the 90’s called and they want their…

Linda Lael Miller Scholarships for Women program is open. The 2012 program is now accepting applications through close of business (5 p.m. MDT), September 4, 2012. Educate a woman, and countless generations to come will benefit from the investment Can you tell us about your Linda Lael Miller Scholarships for Women? Full information is available on my website—www.lindalaelmiller.com—but here’s an overview: each year I give away $10,000 in special scholarships, based on essays explaining the applicant’s goals, what the money will be used for, etc. A number of people read the entries very carefully—in fact, each one is read several times, to assure that the awards are fairly given. I began the program several years ago, as a way to give something back—and I still fund it personally. At this point, I’ve given away something like $75,000. Having been a single mother myself, I have a special place in my heart for women raising children alone—I was very poor in the early years and I know the struggles and the heartache involved well—though we also consider women who are older, and want to change their lives for the better. Over the years, I’ve received a number of graduation photos and…

Bishop/SCU Novel August 2012 On Sale: July 31, 2012 336 pages ISBN: 0425258742 EAN: 9780425258743 Kindle: B0073XV3FI Hardcover $26.95  Add to Wish List Thriller Police Procedural, Suspense Buy at Amazon.com Fan favorite author Haven by Kay Hooper Another nightmare, in the woods this time. Different: She was running. Trying to escape. But the same ending. Always the same ending. Another dead girl… Emma Rayburn was born and raised in Baron Hollow, North Carolina, and it was a quiet life. Then came the accident… and the nightmares—each filled with unshakable visions of darkness, blind panic, and desperate women chased toward inevitable death. With no reports of local women missing or found dead, Emma has written it off to troubled imaginings—night after dreaded night. Until her sister arrives. Jessie Rayburn, psychic investigator for a firm called Haven, has been estranged from Emma for years. Unresolved issues from Jessie’s past have not only kept them apart but have been clouding Jessie’s unique abilities. A return to her hometown to face a dark and violent incident from years gone by is her chance to regain them. But reconciliation with the past comes with a price. Few people in Baron Hollow are welcoming Jessie back….

At Covet, we love heroes! Our authors love heroes. Our readers love heroes. Today we have invited  three of our Covet launch authors to share their heroes with you for a special episode of #HERO WARS! Then on Tuesday, August 21st visit the Covet Books Facebook Page to catch all the action when our alpha heroes duke it out! Are Jenna Bennett, Melissa Bourbon Ramirez, and Candace Havens up for the challenge? Let’s find out and learn a little about their books… About TALL, DARK, AND DIVINE by Jenna Bennett: Being the Greek god of love doesn’t mean you believe–or want–anything to do with that sappy emotion.  Sure, Eros runs his matchmaking business, Made in Heaven, but finding his own love has never been part of the equation.  When he spots the sweet baker who works across the street, he vows to match her with someone else before she stirs his sullen heart. Annie Landon has given up on finding Mr. Right. What she needs is Mr. Right Here, Right Now, and this so-called “Greek God” she’s heard is on the rebound sounds like the perfect kind of distraction. But picking up the bitter workaholic is easier said than done…especially…

It’s amazing to think that I’ve been a published author for just over 25 years. Unlike many authors, I didn’t grow up dreaming of being a writer, or ever even thought about it. The first thing I remember writing was a poem to my first crush. I think I used bit of that poetry in one of the Silhouette Romances I wrote some years ago. It was boredom that drove me to write. I had been reading a lot of romances and one night I sat down and starting writing my own. I lived that book 24/7. I was totally caught up in the story. I was the hero. I was the heroine. I was the villain. I wrote every chance I got, mostly in the bathroom, which was the only place where I could get any privacy during the day. I also wrote late at night, while my husband was at work and my three sons were asleep. I wrote about the things I loved – the Old West, horses, cowboys and Indians, until I discovered vampire novels and a whole new world opened up for me. Historicals have to be accurate depictions of the time period, but with…

Next year I’m planning to take a cruise.  I’ve only done it twice before–both times on Carnival, fun because both were readers’ cruises.  Six hundred and fifty readers and only twenty five authors!  It was like being a big celebrity, even though it only lasted a week.  It was terrific to talk books with people who love them as much as I do. Next year’s cruise will be different.  We’re going to the Greek Isles–or at least so we thought until last week when I found out the boat doesn’t stop at any real islands.  They kind of tricked us, but it was a very good deal, money-wise, since the cruise industry is after the accident in Italy and Greece has riots in the streets. So it’s going to be cheaper–if we live through it.  And there is always the possibility of storms that time of year.  I’m definitely taking my patch–which, incidentally, actually works.  Twelve-foot seas and you don’t feel a thing.  Kind of like being drunk without the hangover.  Gotta have a prescription for it, though, but it’s usually easy to get. Our last cruise was in the Caribbean–the setting for DEEP BLUE, a book that Kensington Publishing…

Lady criminologist, Miss Emma Wallingford, unknowingly finds herself tangled in the dangerous final mission of Lord Derick Aveline, a spy who also happens to be her long lost first love. But when deception, however sweet, is the name of the game, no one can be trusted. And every love—and every life—is at risk. Hello! Heather Snow here and I am thrilled to be continuing my blog tour for SWEET DECEPTION here at Fresh Fiction. Thank you for having me back again! What I am doing for this tour is pulling back the curtain of Sweet Deception a bit, sharing a few of my favorite passages from the book each day while letting you in on the thoughts behind them. You can keep up with the stops (or go back and read ones you missed) either on my website or my Facebook page. The past few days, I’ve shared quite a bit about my hero and how he literally rode onto the page, hijacked my story and immediately (and intentionally) got off on the wrong foot with my heroine—as those heroes are wont to do. So today, I thought I would start sharing some of the things I love about my…

Remember walking through the fun house at the state fair?  The path twisted and turned, the floor shook and changed under your feet, and once you could see the end, the trail turned you around, back for more fun. Welcome to the world of a newly published author. This March I signed my first contract with a new publisher.  Not just new to me, new to the world of romance.  My book, THE BULL RIDER’S BROTHER released June 4th as part of their launch into this venture.  Yep, three months to get my feet under me and figure out all the must do’s an author in 2012 has on their daily to do list.  Three weeks after signing the first contract, I sold a second book to a more established e-publisher. (Note – for you who are still looking for your first contract, spacing them a little better than I did is highly recommended.  Between edits, and promotion, and filling out publisher forms, I was swamped.) Now, six months later, I’m still learning.  I’ve signed a second contract for THE BULL RIDER’S MANAGER, a book I wrote during this time and submitted a second book to my second publisher. And…

Oddly enough, I didn’t start out by writing a book for the Brazen line. SEDUCING CINDERELLA was intended for the Indulgence line, and before this I’d never written category romance. Heck, I was so green I didn’t even know what a category romance was and I’d never heard the word “trope” before. I’d only ever written paranormal romance before, so this was a huge learning experience. With category romance there’s certain rules you need to follow and true category fans expect certain things, all of which I’d had no clue about. When I gave my manuscript to my beta readers, they both warned me that my love scenes were too explicit for the typical category, specifically for the Indulgence line, and that I’d most certainly hear from my editor that I’d have to dial them back. I was pretty bummed because I’m the kind of writer who likes to give her characters their head to do what comes naturally to them, and the idea of censoring them doesn’t sit well with me. However, I was fully prepared to do whatever Liz needed to make it right for the line it was publishing under. So I was absolutely ecstatic when Liz…