Are you ready for a little “Black Magic?” Avon Books and Fresh Fiction bring you a special ‘little black magic’ contest. All you need to do is share your best (or scariest) Halloween costume picture, story or comment on why Cat and Bones are so sizzly. The prize, well, it’s full of magic including scary plush cats, some LED fangs to light up your Halloween festivities, bones candy to rattle your teeth, plus assorted hard candies (for safety and allergy sake, we’re all moms here) and to top it off a print copy of ONE GRAVE AT A TIME. Plus a $25 Amazon Gift Certificate to finish off your own black magic shopping! So, now’s the time to dig out the photos of your costumes past, stories of Halloween’s past or let us know what your plans are for THIS year and you’ll be entered to win this fabulous ‘black magic’ contest. Don’t miss the $1.99 ebook of Jeaniene Frost’s HALFWAY TO THE GRAVE (the first in the Cat and Bones Night Huntress series) It’s a limited special release with bonus material you won’t want to miss. Including deleted scenes (how yummy is that?), excerpts and more I can’t tell…

Since the turn of the twentieth century, people have been enthralled with the romance of Africa. From the striking beauty of the land to the wild and beautiful beasts roaming the vast territory, the Dark Continent has held mystery and allure. When a long-legged blonde tomboy popped into my head, she whispered how she longed to be part of a profession typically reserved for men. When I took a closer look at her heart’s desires, I found where she truly belonged–in Africa. Elle Bekker’s goal to become a professional hunter–or P.H.–is one few women have striven for, which is what makes her different. She’s strong-willed and has enough heart to guide hunters on their dream hunts for big game. But she’s also a bit stubborn. To become certified in her field, she must take the elusive Cape buffalo. In Africa, this animal is known as ‘black death’ or ‘the widowmaker.’ Buffaloes claim over 200 lives per year in Africa–one of the top animals that kill. With two thousand pounds of pure volatility behind them, it’s no wonder they take so many lives. I’ve never been to Africa, but through the stories of Robert Ruark and Peter Hathaway Capstick, I caught…

Find a spot under a tree or spread out a blanket and enjoy the cool weather while you read some new romantic suspense. Lots of great stories to choose from this month. BLOOD TRAILS, book 3 in Sharon Sala’s The Searchers series, is the conclusion to the trilogy featuring three sisters looking for the truth about their pasts. Holly Slade has discovered that her biological father was likely a serial killer known as “The Hunter,” and that her mother gave up Holly to save her life. But The Hunter was never caught—and Holly’s mother simply vanished. Holly leaves home to uncover the truth, leaving behind Bud Tate, family friend, ranch foreman, and the man Holly has secretly loved for years. Holly hasn’t been gone long when the danger leads Bud to follow her in order to protect woman he has secretly loved for years. This book was a great conclusion to an exciting series. Since Bud and Holly have known each other for years, the romantic element is fairly light. The strength of the story is the suspense and danger that builds as Holly conducts her investigation. I’ve just started reading Christy Reece’s Last Chance Rescue series (I’m on book…

I often get asked where my ideas come from. For me a story idea doesn’t just come from one place instead it draws on many much smaller ideas, which when left to bubble away at the back of my mind come together–often at very odd times. This was a 2am idea, or at least it was 2am when the ideas came together to form the story of THE GOBLIN KING. It went something like this: I was feeding a restless baby, it was cold and dark and I was tired. I have an overactive imagination at the best of times so I was wondering why the baby was so restless, and then I began thinking about things that could go bump in the night. Ghosts, no, we live in a new house. Brownies, I wish then they could do the housework. Goblins…goblins. Grey twisted creatures that love gold and battle…swords…heroes with swords (grin)…how would goblins work as a romance?  A curse…oh, I know he’s a cursed Celtic King. I only remember this because it was one of those very clear moments where the first scene just unravelled as if it had been waiting for me (this has only happened for…

I had such fun reading the comments to last month’s favorite ice cream and/or quotation blog, that I can’t resist posing another “favorites” question (and/or two). I was tempted to do favorite comfort food, but I got so happily and tantalizingly hungry reading–and, yes, sampling–the ice creams, I’ve decided on a no calorie category this month. “What’s in a name?” Juliet Capulet wanted to know when she was informed that a romance with Romeo Montague was a star-crossed notion indeed. “That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet.” Young though she was, Juliet (and, okay, Shakespeare) voiced an impressively grown up observation. Ah, Juliet–and William–if only I could follow it! Every time I start a book, I pull out all the baby names books, and pay special attention to every name that pops up before me online, on TV, in books, magazines . . . you get the idea. I’m particularly in search of male names, hero names, names that say to me strong, honorable, noble, kind. I should, as Juliet suggests, be able to take any name and make it heroic (that which we call a hero by any other name would be…

Ideas for books come from the strangest places. Joe Baer and the Baer Brothers sort of sneaked up on me one summer day. My family and I were taking a trip to the western U.S. with tickets in hand for the Cheyenne Frontier Days in Cheyenne Wyoming. We’d never been that far west before, so for us Easterners it was quite the adventure with long stretches of prairie, mighty rivers, and vast cattle ranches. Thousands of cattle dotted the hillsides and we were stunned by how many. Most of us never realize how many of those four-legged critters it takes to feed a nation all those hamburgers! As conversations tend to get a bit weird when we travel, my kids began telling awful cow jokes and my husband started naming cows that were close to the road; “That brown and white one, that’s Mrs. Sirloin, over there is Mr. T-bone and that large black one, well, that would be Mr. Roast.” My thoughts however went to the ranchers and the families that lived there. I wondered who they were, and what their story was. Then I made the mistake of letting my muse actually speak aloud; (a rare thing as…

Every time I tell this story jaws drop. I’ve been accused of making it up but my imagination runs closer to hot guys with swords, life sucking nightmares or fairytales in the modern world. I’m not good with covert perverts. I met him in Whole Foods—I now realize I’d confused organic food with wholesome men. He seemed lovely, though, a little pudgier than I like but with mocha skin and dark curly hair. Newly single and thinking of my safety I– Okay, the truth is since I was newly single and thinking of the television show Criminal Minds we chatted on the phone several times before I felt comfortable enough to meet him for a date. The first half of our outing went swimmingly. Although, I should have known I was in trouble when I told him I write urban fantasy/paranormal romance and he said, “Really? Mm, tell me your fantasies.” “Huh? Oh, no, no. Urban fantasy like Buffy the Vampire Slayer not Emmanuelle.” Um…not everyone is as well versed in literary genres as you or I, right? (If this were an audio post you’d hear me sigh.) The real turning point came at an Italian-style sorbet shop I enjoy….

I’ve been thinking about the economy and war and my son and entertainment-market trends. Hang in there with me; I’ll tie this together. Just recently, I read this article that said, because of the Depression-Which-Must-Not-Be-Named, Hollywood has been finding success in adventure-escapist-fare such as this past summer’s spate of movies based on comic book heroes. Not much later, I spoke with my former print editor. She said there was a new, growing demand for “gentle fiction” of the same stripe as my Love Finds a Home series. And then, on the eve of the tenth anniversary of 9/11, my son spoke with a sergeant, and he said, you’re headed for Afghanistan, private, before another month is out. My epublisher, thinking that last point might be overshadowing pretty much everything else in my life just now, reminded me I’ve a blog entry due to Fresh Fiction. She’s right; I’d forgotten, and now the hour is late. So I face this page with all these thoughts knotted up in my head and very little patience in untangling it all, so let me grab a thread and pull. A decade ago, before 9/11, I fought an uphill battle to find representation for Sing…

Do you ever get into a reading slump where, despite your teetering TBR pile, there’s not a single book that seems to interest you? Do you ever panic when there’s no “good” book waiting for you to read, or resume reading? Do you ever walk through a bookstore aisle and see nothing that calls to you? That’s where I am at the present time. I’m all caught up on my favorites: Mary Balogh, Beverly Lewis, Susan Elizabeth Phillips, Rachel Gibson, Karen Marie Moning, Loretta Chase, Charlaine Harris, Janet Evanovich, Lisa Kleypas, etc. This is when I turn to my HUGE pile of books, mostly used, that I buy at the annual AAUW book sale. With the price of books today, this is the way I try new authors. If I try one, or a dozen, and don’t like them after fifty or so pages, I don’t feel guilty passing them on to Goodwill. But if I do find gems, I then go out and buy the entire backlists. It’s this way that I discovered Elizabeth Hoyt, Lisa Kleypas, Jillian Hunter, Julia London and others. But there are other alternatives. I never thought I would be one of those people who…

I’m always interested in how what we read changes how we think about things. Unfortunately for my hero in A DUKE FOR ALL SEASONS, he’s been reading the wrong sort of book. It’s called A Gentleman’s Guide to Keeping a Mistress and even though he has four different mistresses a year, Sebastian hasn’t found happiness following the guide’s precepts. At the beginning of every chapter of A DUKE FOR ALL SEASONS, I start with an excerpt from A Gentleman’s Guide. It gives you an idea of what’s been rolling around in Sebastian’s noggin. I warn you, each statement is more outrageously chauvinistic than the last. Chapter One “A woman, like a blooded hound or fine steed, has a finite period of usefulness. When that time has run its course, a prudent man divests himself of the asset without regret.” Chapter Two “Under no circumstances should a gentleman involve himself with a woman who has entanglements of a sort that might diminish his enjoyment of her.” Chapter Three “Selecting a mistress involves more than finding a pleasing bed companion. A gentleman must be sure the woman is an ornament to his arm and a credit to his reputation as a man…