Dr. Aaron Samuels visits the rainforest to find a cure for heart disease. Never expecting to meet a beautiful mysterious woman, talking to a frog. As an empty-nester, he recognizes a lonely soul when he sees one, but he never expects she’s Mother Nature herself! Pouting on a log in the El Yunque rain forest, Gaia picked up a coqui. Placing him gently on her open palm, she brought the tiny tree frog level with her face. “Why can’t my sisters, paranormals, and humans be more like you, coqui? All you want to do is climb leaves, eat bugs, and chirp your cute little song. Although, granted, when a bunch of you get together, you can make quite a loud racket.” The coqui just stared at her. At least he seemed to be paying attention. “You see? You’re a wonderful listener. That’s all I want. . . just someone to listen. If my sister thinks I’m a bitch, maybe it’s because no one listens to me.” “I’ll listen to you,” a low male voice said. Gaia bolted upright without turning around. “Was that you, coqui?” A chuckle sounded from behind her. “No, I’m not your frog, but maybe I’m your…

I was raised by intellectuals. I was told romance was ‘trash.’ And we did not fill our minds with trash. Since I didn’t know any better, I simply believed it. That’s the definition of prejudice! Then the worst happened. Both of my parents became terminally ill at the same time. Because I was a nurse, and they wanted to die at home, I coordinated with hospice and cared for them there. A fellow Red Cross nurse who knew what I’d be going through just shoved a book in hands and said, “Here. Read this.” I’m glad she didn’t tell me it was a romance novel or I would have politely refused it. That book changed not only my opinion, but it also changed my life. The book was Outlander by Diana Gabaldon. It was so intelligently written and such an incredible escape when I badly needed one. Every time my parents had visitors or were napping, I was reading that book. When I reached the end and learned that there was a whole series, I hungrily read on. Now, I should probably be embarrassed by this, but remember, I had never read a romance novel—so the fact that I didn’t know I…

Because I’m a romance writer, you can probably guess my answer to the question, “Do romance novels have value?” Of course I believe they do! I suppose if I were strictly mercenary I’d still say something to the effect of, “Well, duh. It’s a multibillion dollar business that outsells all other genres.” But my feelings go much deeper than that. You see, I get fan emails saying things like, “Your sense of humor got me through a difficult time.” Or, “I know I can count on your books for an uplifting ending. I need that right now.” Even my own story begins with a similar experience. I was raised by intellectuals. I had never read a romance novel, yet I was taught to think of them as “trash” and far beneath anyone with a brain. That’s the very definition of prejudice. I prejudged a whole industry without investigation. Then my life took a challenging turn. My parents became terminally ill at the same time. As an RN, I was able to take care of them so they could remain at home as long as possible. It was one of the most difficult things I’ve ever taken on. Fortunately, another nurse…

I understand the Fresh Fiction readers love lists. Well, have I got a list for you! All of my books in the same Boston paranormal world. STRANGE NEIGHBORS THE WEREWOLF UPSTAIRS THE VAMPIRE NEXT DOOR FLIRTING UNDER A FULL MOON HOW TO DATE A DRAGON KISSING WITH FANGS I DREAM OF DRAGONS MY WILD IRISH DRAGON NEVER DARE A DRAGON HOOKED ON A PHOENIX (just released!) You know you’ve created a successful world when your editor asks for more books set in that world. My new series (Phoenix Brothers—Book 1, HOOKED ON A PHOENIX (March 6th) is a spin-off of book 2 in the Boston Dragons series. Oh! And the Boston Dragons series is a spin-off of book 2 in the Flirting with Fangs series! And, oh yeah, the Flirting with Fangs series is a spin-off of book 2 in the Strange Neighbors series! Yeah…always book 2. Weird coincidence? Or numbers? Knowing that publishers are keeping track of things like sales, I can pretty much guess it has to do with numbers. I’m not a math person or a business person. I’m a creative person—not that those things are mutually exclusive! More and more authors are becoming business savvy. I’m…

I’ve always been extremely creative. I missed the clues that I might enjoy writing…like loving my creative writing class in high school and even earning an A+ from a tough teacher, but like I said—Duh. I had already decided to pursue fine art, so I stubbornly stuck to that goal. But at Mass College of Art I discovered there were far more talented people than I, and we were all going to starve. LOL Fast forward several years with twists and turns like marriage, birth, divorce, and I became an RN to put food on the table. In nursing, creativity is highly discouraged by doctors who want you to follow their orders to the letter. Sheesh. I needed an outlet! I took a course in screenwriting. That taught me how to tell stories, but Hollywood passed on my romantic comedies. Oh well. I lived closer to New York, anyway. So I turned my ‘movies’ into novels and found where I fit in. Eleanor Roosevelt said, “Well behaved women rarely make history.” Well, I don’t have to worry about that! I monitored my reading tastes to see what I might like to spend months writing. (Novels are a hellova lot longer…

Today is the last day of the KISSING WITH FANGS Excerpt-Sharing Virtual Tour! If you’d like to start from the beginning, check out the list of blogs that have so graciously hosted me over the last couple of weeks! To set up the final excerpt: Claudia Fletcher has her MBA and a stellar resume, so when the bar she manages burns down, she could easily move on to bigger and better things. But her secret love for the bar owner, Anthony Cross makes it impossible. Anthony has never let on to the general public that he’s a vampire, and most of his staff members have no idea Boston Uncommon was a safe gathering place for supernaturals of all kinds. Now that it’s nothing but ash, the tentative peace among hostile factions is starting to crumble. And damned if every paranormal’s worst fear is coming true. A group of human brainiacs have captured and begun experimenting on them. Scene 7 Maynard peered into his microscope and studied the fish scales from the merman’s tail. Said merman was hanging over the side of his giant fish tank, glaring at him. “That hurt, you know.” Maynard tried to ignore him. “How would you…

Every year, the power goes out here in snowy, rainy, windy New England. Hundreds of thousands of homes lose electricity, ours being one of them. I learned something during the ice storm that crippled our area for over a week. My mother-in-law lives a couple of towns away…alone. So we had her come over right away. My daughter and her boyfriend called to say they were at his mother’s house, so they were safe! But as soon as they heard that we had ENTERTAINMENT, they came right over. It was fun to have everyone “camping” in our home. I have a gas stove, so I was able to cook. We have a gas fireplace, so there was ambiance and some heat to one room. The generator provided heat and hot water to the rest of the house. It’s funny what you decide you value when you have to pick and choose what to turn on and what to live without. We have an electricity cleaner. (The “dirty electricity” coming from the generator can’t power electronics which are too apt to be damaged by energy with surges.) So, we had to decide on one electronic item to use with the electricity…

I belong to a writers’ goals group. We happen to know each other through RWA, but other than that most of us have little in common. We write in all different genres, some have children, some don’t. Some work outside the home, and some write full time. Some are published, some aren’t. What brought this group about and keeps it together is a common purpose. We all want to reach our individual goals. What makes it work and continue to succeed is how we want the other members to reach their goals too, regardless of what those goals are. And our goals are as different as we are. One member had the courage to pitch to an agent with an unfinished manuscript. When said agent requested the full manuscript, she was honest and said it wasn’t finished. You’d better believe we were there, making sure she finished it! One member had never finished a manuscript. We were already chilling the Champagne, knowing she’d make it–and she did. Another member sold a four-book YA deal on a proposal! You can bet we’ll keep track of her progress. The general public has no idea how hard it is to stick to the…