I’m so thrilled to be here today, talking about my first book as Tessa Adams, Dark Embers. The first novel in the Dragon’s Heat series, Dark Embers tells the story of Dylan MacLeod and Phoebe Quillum. He’s King of the Dragonstar clan, desperately searching for a way to save his people and she’s a human biochemist with a dark past who is frantically looking for funding for her own research into curing Lupus. To introduce you to DARK EMBERS, and the world I’ve created for these modern day dragons, I thought I’d interview Phoebe, so you can see this strange world through her eyes. 1. Phoebe, if you had to use three words to describe what its like being in love with a dragon, what words would you use? Fascinating, Dangerous, and Sexy—of course, those words could apply to Dylan himself, as well 😉 2. What’s the hardest thing about being part of Dylan’s world? At first, the hardest thing was simply accepting that shapeshifters exist. I’m a scientist and I’ve spent my whole life dealing only with facts, so when Dylan showed up at my lab, I had a hard time buying into what he was selling. Of course,…

What if…? Those two words are a writer’s best tool, and have been the impetus for many a great book. What if… the world was flat (and was carried through space on the backs of four elephants standing on the shell of a giant turtle)? What if… the South had won the Civil War? What if… Sherlock Holmes didn’t really die that day at Reichenbach Falls? What if… magic’s real and there are witches and wizards living among us, but we’re just too stupid to realize it? What if… I walked into this empty house and found a dead body? That last question was the ‘what if’ that started me on the journey of writing the first book in the Savannah Martin Southern Real Estate series. Savannah is a newly licensed Realtor in Nashville, and the idea for her story came about when I was a newly licensed Realtor in Nashville, walking into empty houses a lot. There was another ‘what if’ involved, too: What if this guy who called me out of the blue and asked me to meet him here, is really a dangerous murderer? What if I never walk out of here again? I put those two…

I just love having a new book on the shelves. Especially when it’s also the beginning of a brand new series. This series is a bit different for me. When I was young, I had a thing for stories that might have come straight out of the Arabian Nights. I watched all the Sinbad and Ali Baba movies and loved the adventure stories where a warrior hero rode in on a white horse to rescue the independent heroine from an evil sultan. But then, I also watched I Dream of Jennie on television and loved their blending of modern with the old fantasy. Wasn’t that series fun? I gave in to my old love of sheiks this year. My new series for Silhouette Romantic Suspense is called Desert Sons. HER SHEIK PROTECTOR(July 2010) is the first book in the series. It’s a little unconventional as far as sheik stories go. I think it’s more of an international romantic thriller. The series revolves around a modern family of Bedouins who find themselves embroiled in a bitter war of revenge with an ancient enemy. With an old-timey Hollywood noir feeling, HER SHEIK PROTECTOR is the story of an independent woman who ends…

Hello again to all the Fresh Fiction readers! It sure is a pleasure to be back here, and I’m looking forward to hearing from all the kind people that I remember! I put together a simple cheat-sheet for writers about eighteenth century clothing, and I thought it might not only be a good guide for writers researching the era, but also a bit of fun for readers who love history (although you may want to note the changes I made because of the fantasy aspect of my world). So without further ado, here’s how you might go about undressing my hero, General Dominic Raikes, from my upcoming release The Fire Lord’s Lover 1. Shoes: First, let’s get Dominic comfortable be removing his shoes or boots. Like the women, men wore heeled shoes similar to our modern day clogs where you slip your foot in, but mostly of black with large buckles. The toes started out square, and went round by 1740. Pumps had low heels. I prefer my hero to wear boots, however, and many a military man wore them to a ball. I prefer the half jackboots, which ended below the knee in a turned-down top, made of leather….

The fourth book in my Feral Warrior shape-shifter series, RAPTURE UNTAMED, hits shelves today! Meanwhile, book five is off to the copyeditor and book six is staring back at me like a wide blank screen. Actually…it’s not. Which is one of the best things about writing a connected series of books. If I were simply starting a new book, an unconnected book, the sky would be the limit. And I very well might be staring at a blank screen, trying to decide what to write about, who to write about, the time period, the place, the people. But I’m writing book six. I already know most of the characters, I know the setting, the place and time, the secondary characters, the over-arching conflict. All that has been set-up in previous books. The Feral Warriors series isn’t simply a collection of romances set in the same world. It’s one big story with a beginning, a middle, and (eventually) an end. As I start working on each new book, I first look at where the story ended in the previous book. I’m not writing a new story so much as a new chapter of an on-going story. A chapter with a new…

Women who accept nontraditional roles and succeed with dynamic outcomes are the heroines in my novels. These are Glock-totin‘ gals with southern charm who understand grits aren’t just for breakfast. These women embrace their femininity with an added boost–they aren’t afraid to go after the bad guys or say they love Jesus. This style of heroine understands her peace can be more about the caliber of the piece in her purse than the state of her spiritual life. What makes a contemporary woman choose a career that has the potential of ending her life? Experts often point to personality differences or a “risk-gene” as an explanation why some are risk takers and others are content in less stressful lifestyles. I prefer courageous heroines who’ve been wired with a few more endorphins to balance the adrenaline, and they thrive on it. If my heroine races down a dirt road on a Harley in the dead of night, or scales a cliff while someone is shooting at her, or stuffs a weapon into the waistband of her jeans, it’s to get the edge on the bad guys. My heroines are not satisfied unless they are placing their lives on the line to…

What makes a hero unforgettable? The answer to that question is no doubt different for each of us. We all have a certain idea of what we’re looking for, and of course no one guy is going to have every quality we’re seeking. However, romance heroes have to be a step above. They have to transcend our every expectation. Nick Cappuano in Fatal Affair is the man. Tall, handsome, smooth, elegant, smart, sarcastic, neat (to a fault), sexy, thoughtful, persistent, and (this is very important in Washington) well connected. By the time we finished work on the book, my editor Jessica were both in love with him, and kinda fighting over him if the true be told. I adore him. I flat out love him. I want him for my very own (but please don’t tell my husband that!). Nick is the kind of character who becomes so real, so tangible, that I find it hard to believe he’s not really out there moving and shaking on Capitol Hill. I’ve spelled out some of Nick’s finer qualities above, but there’s another fine quality that reviewers have pointed out more than once: Nick is not afraid to apologize when he’s wrong….

Ever since romance novels first hit the market decades ago, they have always been the Rodney Dangerfield of fiction…as in “No respect.” Why is that, do you think? The same people who dismiss romance novels as ‘porn for women’ are the same people who will go to the movies to see films like Pretty Woman, a classic romance novel if ever there was one. And they don’t see the similarity between the movie they are raving about and the books they disparage. Well, I feel sorry for those people, because they are missing out on something wonderful. Some speculate that the reason romance is looked down upon by so many is because it is genre written by women for women. But I believe this is the very reason why it is so popular. Aside from those naysayers who would pooh-pooh our beloved genre, there is no denying that romance novels are a billion dollar business. And who does the bulk of purchasing in our country? Women. What do women want to read? Spy thrillers? Grisley murder mysteries or true crime? Maybe. Women tend to have varied tastes. I know I can curl up with a romantic Susan Meier Harlequin Romance…

Here I am, on a cruise ship sailing across the Atlantic without a bit of land anywhere in sight. That pretty much describes exactly where I was when I started to plot THE DEVIL SHE KNOWS – adrift without anywhere to place my hero. Usually we think of a hero – or heroine – as being firmly planted in a single place. Where would Arthur be without Camelot? D’Arcy must have his Pemberly in PRIDE AND PREJUDICE, right? How could Harry Dresden live anywhere but Chicago in Jim Butcher’s THE DRESDEN FILES? I, for one, refuse to imagine Sookie Stackhouse living anywhere but Louisiana. Now put yourself in my shoes. I knew THE DEVIL SHE KNOWS was going to be about Gareth Lowell. After all, he told me at the end of THE IRISH DEVIL that I had to write a book about him. I just nodded and said, yeah, right, mister, you’re maybe eighteen years old, you’ve got some growing up to do before you’ve got enough angst to be interesting… Boy, was I wrong! Gareth reminded me he was still waiting during three more books. He only kept his mouth shut during KISSES LIKE A DEVIL because that…