1–What is the title of your latest release? NEXT TIME I FALL 2–What’s the “elevator pitch” for your new book? Single mom discovers Mr. Wrong is actually Mr. Right in this heartwarming, small-town romance. 3–How did you decide where your book was going to take place? This book is part of my Whisper Lake Series, which is a fictional town set in the Colorado mountains. I started the series after a few visits to my daughter, who was living in Denver at the time, and thought it would be fun to set a story in there. 4–Would you hang out with your heroine in real life? Yes! Everyone would love to hang out with Chloe. She’s the best kind of girlfriend, fiercely loyal and protective of her friends. She’s the kind of person you call at two in the morning when you need someone who will show up for you. Chloe also runs a café, so there would be plenty of freebies, maybe some truffle fries or an extra dessert saved for one of her friends. 5–What are three words that describe your hero? Adventurer, Wanderer, Builder 6–What’s something you learned while writing this book? Since my hero is renovating…

This weekend HarperCollins will be running their first ever digital Romance Festival, in conjunction with some of the world’s best known publishers of romance, to bring you two days of discussions, tips and giveaways for writers of romance and fans – all focused around some of our best loved women’s fiction authors! The line-up has now been announced on the festival blog here, authors include J. Lynn/Jennifer L. Armentrout, Lori Wilde, Eloisa James, Jay Crownover, Kerrelyn Sparks, Molly McAdams, and Susan Elizabeth Phillips,among many others, but for full timings and schedules of discussions, please register for free at the link below: Register for FREE

As a child, I lived in two worlds … the world of books where imaginary friends, adventures, and romance swept me away … and the real world where my family had its share of problems.  My father used to drink a lot, making our home life a little unpredictable; that was his escape.  Mine was into the world of imagination. In books, I was transported to far away places.  I had incredible adventures with imaginary characters.  I solved mysteries, ran with the bulls, sailed down the Mississippi, crossed the wild west in a covered wagon, panned for gold, learned how to stomp grapes into wine and fell in love over and over again. There was no limit to the places I could go, the adventures I could have.  Libraries and bookstores were my favorite places.  I devoured all the usual series books.  I loved heroines like Nancy Drew.  And my mother introduced me to some of her favorite series from when she was a kid like Cherry Ames, a nurse who went to war and Beverly Gray a journalist in a time where women didn’t have those kinds of jobs.  Anyone remember them? As I got older, my mother passed…

In the world of contemporaries, I won’t say it’s easy to write about guys who save lives for a living, but certainly some professions lend themselves to Alpha heroes, like Navy Seals, firemen, cops, and spies to name a few. What woman doesn’t want a guy capable of killing with his bare hands and saving the world, most especially her? But not every book can have that kind of hero, so it’s up to the writer to turn an ordinary guy into a worthy hero. And sometimes that can be a challenge. First, there’s the name. Some of my historical writing friends claim certain names like Robert or Edward are great, but in the contemporary book world, those names usually go to the guy who doesn’t get the girl. Contemporary alpha names are often short and hard like Jake, Max, Nick, Luke, Cole, Zach and then a few syllables, Connor, Logan, Tyler or perhaps an Irish or Italian twist, Patrick, Aidan, Ian, Tony, Michael … You get the picture. The name has to imply this is a man worth taking note of. Then there’s his job. If he can’t be one of the above hero types, then he needs to…

Ever since I began writing I’ve heard numerous writers and editors say that books need to be one thing … because then it’s easier to sell them. The reader needs to see one emotion emblazoned across the cover, scary, funny, mysterious, sweet, sexy — to name just a few. Books that blend these elements tend to be more difficult to cover and to market. Which has always been a problem for me, because I love nothing more than blending elements and complicating my stories. I was writing emotionally poignant contemporaries when the cartoon cover came to life and kicked all the other contemp covers out of the pool. Suddenly every single author and every single contemporary had that cartoon cover look, legs, silhouettes, and stilettos that were fun, fun, fun. I personally liked the covers very much, because they jumped out at you and practically screamed, “read me, I’m going to be a good time”. The quieter covers began to fade away and where once on the shelves there was nothing but Adirondack chairs, now it was all legs. But as we all discovered over time, not all contemps were particularly funny or fit that look. At some point I…