Reggie shrugged and rubbed his nose with a long forefinger. “The succubus is drawn to powerful men…psychics.” “That’s horseshit, Reggie. I’m no psychic.” Reggie nailed him with a cold gaze and chuckled under his ghostly breath. “Let’s see…you see dead people. Not only do you see them, but you talk to them as well. As a matter of fact, some of your best friends are dead. Sounds rather psychic to me. But what do I know?” Keenan licked his lips. “Oh.” A GHOST OF A CHANCE (Resplendence Publishing – June 2011) When I was a teenager, it was the 70’s when ESP, clairvoyance, and telekinetics made a big splash in the US. I had a teacher who was really into psychic abilities and he asked some of us to participate in an experiment with a friend of his. His friend happened to be a very well-known professor of psychology at Portland State University. There were about ten of us who volunteered to do the gauntlet of ESP or Psy tests at the university. Two of us had very high readings and moved onto another set of tests. I had the highest ESP readings in the group. Now, honestly, I think…

Carsington #  August 2010 On Sale: July 27, 2010 Featuring: Peregrine Dalmay; Olivia Wingate-Carsington 384 pages ISBN: 0061632678 EAN: 9780061632679 Paperback $7.99 Add to Wish List Romance Historical Buy at Amazon.com Should win RITA(tm) for Best Historical Romance Last Night’s Scandal by Loretta Chase After surviving the perils of Egypt, Peregrine Dalmay, Earl of Lisle, is back in London, facing the most dire threat of all: his irrational family . . . and Miss Olivia Wingate-Carsington. A descendant of notorious—but very aristocratic—swindlers, the delectable redhead has the ability to completely unhinge him and a long history of dragging him into her scandalous schemes. Olivia may be Society’s darling, but she’s aware a respectable future looms menacingly. And so when Lisle is forced to go on a family mission, she sees this as the perfect chance for one last adventure—even if it is with the one man in the world she can’t wrap around her finger. But really, she only wants to help . . . Which is why Lisle and Olivia find themselves in a gloomy Scottish castle inhabited by spiteful ghosts and craven murderers . . . and a shocking secret: the greatest peril of all may be burning…

Let’s be clear: I live on Nantucket because I love the summertime.  I have launched a career where I actually go to the beach to work, since my work is writing about the beach, and since I’m old-school and still write longhand in legal pads.  Now, that said, my life has the demands that every other life has: deadlines, meetings, children (3 children, two of whom play all-star little league baseball, which puts me on hot metal bleachers instead of on my towel for more hours than I might perhaps choose) and housework.  So although I have perfected every possible way to enjoy the summertime, I rarely get to enjoy a string of days in the relaxing fashion which I’d like.  However, I have a blueprint for the best 18-hour day on Nantucket, and I’d like to share it with you. Rise early.  Nantucket is the far east of the United States, and today for example, June 14, the sun rose at 5:18.  Let’s get out of bed at 6 a.m. and have a cup of coffee on the deck.  My house overlooks the 18th hole of the Miacomet Golf Course and the ocean beyond.  And for our purposes, my…

A while ago, I ran into an old friend while at the gas station. When he asked how I’d been, I told him my good news. It was a couple weeks after I sold the Demons Unleashed series, so I was excited beyond words. Then he asked me what the books were about. I’m not someone who’s ashamed at what I write, so I told him it was a series of paranormal romances. “Oh like Twilight?” he asked. “Not really my hero is a demon,” I replied. “And the characters are adult.” I gave him a rather brief synopsis of what DEMONS PREFER BLONDES was about. As I was preparing my coffee, he came back over and said, “I feel sorry for you.” What? Sorry for me? I was confused to say the least. “Why?” I asked against my better judgment. “All you romance authors write about love and you’re as lonely as ever.” News flash, now no longer friend of mine. Not all romance authors are single. Most of my close friends who write are very happily married. I might be single, but it’s a choice I’ve made. I haven’t met someone I want to share my life with…

Big news – I have a brand new book out which I have been keeping under wraps until now.  To quote Connie Brockway, I have “gone rogue” with this one, and I am releasing it independently. It’s called THE SEXY GIRL’S GUIDE TO COWBOYS, and it’s a wild, quirky time travel romance that takes a modern day heroine back to Dodge City in the Old West.  Official release date: June 20. It’s a story I wrote in 1995, when I was still an unpublished writer and time travels were all the rage.  When I finished it, however, publishers weren’t buying time travels anymore, so I had to shelve it and start something new. I wrote PRAIRIE BRIDE, also set in Dodge City, and sold that book to Harlequin.  It was my first published novel.  After that, I wrote THE MARSHAL AND MRS. O’MALLEY, then ADAM’S PROMISE. Let us now do some time traveling of our own, and skip ahead to the year 2011. Here we are, with Blackberries and Ipads, and the ability to self-publish e-books.  It is astounding, and I love the fact that I can finally deliver this book to readers, and do it quickly without waiting a…

I can’t fathom writing a novel without weaving suspense and romance into the plot. The idea of two people falling in love while sharing danger has my fingers poised to type 95,000 words filled with a new adventure. The hero and heroine are independent people who show a strong reliance on each other to solve a crime. No weak heroes or wimpy heroines, simply two people who initiate action and are committed to whatever is ahead. They refuse to stop their investigation until the villain is arrested—or has met his/her demise. Along the way they find an appreciation for the strengths and values of the other. He pulls her from a burning car, and she pulls the trigger at the precise moment to save him. They are self-sacrificing and capable of great love. After spending all that hair-raising time together, the two experience a sundry of emotions, and their hearts take a dip into new territory, often more frightening than physical danger: love. When you think about it, love is suspenseful. Adrenaline flows like a waterfall racing down a mountain slope. In some instances it’s forbidden. Hearts pound like a tympani on steroids. Take a look at the characteristics: Pulses…

I was talking with my husband the other day about how children say they are “bored” when they’re at an event that they don’t enjoy. That statement didn’t make much sense to me, and I realized it might be directly related to my profession. As a writer, I think I view everyday actions differently than most. When I’m walking down the street, I’m thinking about the people, shops, and even the vehicles, from the perspective of how they can be weaved into a storyline. Something as simple as taking out the trash can, in my mind, turn into an abduction. Take CHASING AMANDA, for instance. Molly Tanner got into her car in a Walmart parking lot and saw a man trying to get (what looked like) his daughter into his vehicle. The child was struggling, trying to avoid the restrictions of the seat belt. Everyday occurrence? Not on that day. In MEGAN’S WAY, when Olivia found herself in the hands of an attacker, she had started out by simply using a social network. Again, common occurrence, but it was twisted and turned into something vastly different. Perhaps if children (and adults) viewed their surroundings with a tad bit more curiosity,…

Thanks so much for having me here today to talk about the seventh book in the Cat Star Chronicles, VIRGIN! I thought I would let my characters do the talking… Marla: Hello! This is Marla Elkhorn, interviewing Cheryl Brooks, Dax Vandilorsk, Ava Karon, and Waroun, the author and main characters of The Cat Star Chronicles: Virgin, which was released earlier this month from Sourcebooks Casablanca. It’s such a pleasure to have all of you here today on Fresh Fiction. Waroun, I understand you claim responsibility for the pairing of Dax and Ava. Would you care to tell us about that? Waroun: Oh, absolutely! I’m the only reason they’re together today. Mainly because I didn’t steal the lovely lady right out from under his nose. Dax: Really? I thought Threldigan was the one trying to steal her. Cheryl Brooks: (scratches head) That’s what I thought too, but then, I’m only the one who wrote the book. What do I know? Waroun: (waggles his sucker-tipped fingers) Ava’s essence was so delicious! Ava: Not sure you ever got that much of it. Waroun: (regretful sigh) Once was enough. Marla: Ahem. Well… moving right along… Ava, what can you tell us about yourself? Ava:…

Like many readers, I have always loved LITTLE WOMEN and read it many times. But I didn’t know very much about Louisa May Alcott until I picked up a biography of her at the library. What I learned was surprising and intriguing. Louisa wrote many more novels and stories than just LITTLE WOMEN and its sequels. Some of what she wrote was considered so sensational, it was published under a pseudonym or not published at all and later found among her papers. Speaking of her papers, she burned a lot of them, journals and letters, before she died. That piece of information, along with questions that had lingered for me about why Louisa wrote LITTLE WOMEN the way she did, prompted me to consider writing a novel about the young author. That was when the real research began. I read every biography of her and her family that I could find. Interestingly, they varied in tone and slant, which is how I learned the truth about biographies: They say more about the biographer than the subject of the book. From there, I went on to read the journals and letters that remain, collected by a family friend after Louisa’s death….

Reunions are tricky and usually I avoid them. But when I had the chance to reconnect with a childhood girlfriend, I jumped at it. I’m speaking of course about the sleuth of my mystery series, Louisa May Alcott. I read LITTLE WOMEN several times in my early years; Jo was a model for me, a girl of strength and strong opinions, independent, temperamental, yet also solid, steady, gentle. Later I realized that Jo was Louisa’s alter ego: both of them were writers, both chose independence and work over being a wife and mother, both worked hard to keep the wolf from the door and their family intact. Working with Louisa as a character in my novel, LOUISA AND THE MISSING HEIRESS, required getting to know her very well. I read her works, this time delving particularly into some she published under a pseudonym, the somewhat lurid tales she called her ‘blood and thunder’ stories. Because Louisa was a lady from a good family, when she wrote fiction of what some might deem a questionable nature, she did not use her family name. But the reasons for sometimes publishing under a pen name are deeper than that: Louisa and her family…