This weekend in Clearwater, Florida our confirmed bachelor friend Dave Dion married his beautiful Cheryl and a happier couple I’ve yet to see. That our happily married daughter and son-in-law were also in attendance made the event that much more perfect. The intimate wedding chapel Dave and Cheryl chose was nestled in a small town just north of Clearwater, the place where they’d met and fallen head over heels. The golden aura from cream-colored candles enhanced the bride’s petite blonde beauty and beaded candlelight gown. The father of the bride did an admirable job of holding himself together as he gave his only daughter away. Good thing, because the rest of us were already blubbering by the time he managed to croak, “Her mother and I do.” Dave did an admirable job of holding back all but one tear as he said his vows. The bride, not nearly as fortunate, was thankfully wearing waterproof mascara. The highlight of their beautiful reception–for me, at least–was the “married couples dance,” when all the married couples are invited to dance and the MC says after a few minutes, “Will those who’ve been married less than 5 years please leave the dance floor,” etc….

I have a book due — well three chapters of it — and I can’t seem to find a heroine. Or a hero, either, really. But I have two villains. And some dead people. And a missing woman and her almost four year old son. And to complicate matters, I have grown to like one of the villains, but he’s done such heinous things that I can’t redeem him. I’ve never been in this position before. But I have to find a way out because this is the third book in the Ivory Nation Trilogy — a series about a white supremacy organization. The first book, IN PLAIN SIGHT was a prosecutor’s story. It was out last October. The second, BEHIND CLOSED DOORS, is a victim’s story. It’s out next month. My readers and I are going to need a third book. There are just too many questions unanswered, too much pain left unresolved. Too much fear surrounding us to allow us to just walk away. And here I sit with the words Chapter One staring at me and nothing more. My heroine’s name is Hannah. I don’t know why. It just presented itself last week. I thought she was…

You may not be as excited as I am, but if you spent the time and effort upgrading and making it look pretty, well, I’d say why not shout about it? DFW Tea Readers website has a new look with more information about teas, club meetings and signings in the Dallas Fort Worth area. If we’re missing any signings or appearances, please contact us! We’d be happy to add them! Visit FreshFiction.com to learn more about books and authors.

Jennifer Cruisie, Eileen Dreyer and Anne Stuart… who wouldn’t look forward to a new book by any of these authors?? Well in July St. Martin’s Paperbacks will have an intriguing treat for us avid readers. Apparantly, at some cocktail party at some conference the three tossed around an idea that sounds like a hollywood pitch session that combines the sisters of Charmed meets Bewitched with a boom chica bow mow soundtrack in the background…uh, that doesn’t sound good. The discussion actually started with erotic paranormal being the next big thing, then came the sisters with out of control powers, eccetera. It could have just been a joke to pass time at the party(wonder if mojitos were involved) but then a game of “chicken” ensued between the authors and TA-DA our reading novelty, The Unfortunate Miss Fortunes was born. Now this is not just an anthology with each having a separate story but one story written together by all three of them. I can’t wait!! Will you be able to tell who writes each chapter or thread of the plot by their writing voice? Or will it be a new trick for publishers to trot out to increase sales by grouping…

OK, there is NO WAY that I can possibly top the previous blog about Sara and Gwen going to the Lee & Bob Woodruff book signing for In An Instant. Speaking as a news junkie and the daughter of a nurse & doctor, Bob Woodruff’s story and recovery are remarkable. …and now on to my usual fluff… I have been busy reading again. It’s so nice being able to do that. Now if only I could have a nice peaceful weekend at home. My neighborhood association is having a Mayfest celebration at the neighborhood park tomorrow. I also have a dog days of summer celebration going on tomorrow. Bella (my four legged child) is especially looking forward to the dog days of summer celebration! I mean come on, free dog treats and possibly toys. She’ll be exhausted by the time we get back home. That said, so will I! And then next weekend we have Memorial Day. I am looking forward to going back home for memorial day weekend. I cannot say the same for the five and half hour drive and gas prices. I’m trying not to think about it. Anyone else out there tackling the highways for Memorial…

Its never a good thing if I don’t have time to read. The last two weeks have been crazy with family and work that I have not had time to read or blog which I normally do after work and on the weekends. I finally decided to get a queen sized bed for my spare room, but first I had to empty out the spare room (if you had ever seen my house you would understand what a true feat that was) to move furniture and make room for the new bed. Then my family invaded my nice and quiet house for several days around my sister’s graduation with her MBA. I never get much rest when family is in town. The days were jammed packed. I even took my father to work with me one day. (Hey, if people can take their kids to work, I can take my father to work.) Two days after they go back home I get a phone call from my other sister saying that while my father was fine he had fallen off his bicycle at was at the hospital. My father is an experienced cyclist, but it had been raining back home….

Ah. The horror. I forgot to bring a pen & paper to the table during our conversation with Jenna so I’m going off of some notes that I wrote down after the call. My apologies. I will be more diligent next time. I get a little wrapped up in the conversation. It’s like taking meeting minutes at my day job. I’ve never been overly great at that 😀 As anyone who has read the Lady Spies books will tell you, there is a HUGE James Bond and Charlie’s Angels influence. Bond’s superior named “M” from the Bond books/movies and “Lady M” in the Lady Spies series. Jenna did have stray thoughts about naming the secondary character from “Charles Isley” (as he is in the Lady Spies books) into “Charles Bosley.” She also swears that Lady M’s identity will be revealed in the third, and as yet, final installment of Lady Spies, Seduction is Forever. Lady Spies is currently only set to be a trilogy, but Jenna is open to writing more Lady Spies books based on some of the secondary characters. Possibly even a Charlie/Lady M book! She is blessed by the cover art gods! There was quite the controversy…

My name is Jenna Petersen and I write romance. Sort of sounds like a twelve step program, right? But if loving your job is wrong, I don’t want to be right (er, write?). I love writing romance! There is nothing better than taking two flawed characters, putting them together, throwing in some sexual tension, a lot of conflict and growth and mixing until smooth. And voila! True love. I have written historical and erotic historical romance (as Jess Michaels), both for Avon Books. My historical releases include Scandalous (October 2005), From London With Love (August 2006), Desire Never Dies (January 2007) and the upcoming Seduction is Forever (October 2007). The last three books are all part of the Lady Spies series. Think Charlie’s Angels, but in Empire Waists. As Jess Michaels, I’ve written “Fallen Angel” in Parlor Games (June 2006) and the upcoming Everything Forbidden (November 2007), plus novellas in Red Sage’s SECRETS collections. For both my names, I love dark heroes, intense sensuality and adventure. And I also love hearing from readers. I’m really looking forward to visiting with the book club tonight! Jenna PetersenDesire Never Dies (Avon), Available Now!From London With Love, Still AvailableSeduction is Forever (Avon), October…

I spent my lunch break and after work time putting out grass seed today in hopes of putting tomorrow’s expected rain to use. My town is still under water restrictions due to lake levels so I’m all for using free rain water instead of hauling out the sprinkler. Anyone who reads this had better be doing a little rain dance for me in hopes that I will see a lot of baby grass out in my backyard (what I affectionately refer to as a mud pit currently — not fun when you have a dog) soon. It will be so nice NOT having to do that ritual 5 minute (2 towel!) paw cleaning that I currently have to go through when I let the dog back in from being out after it has rained. My mother was telling me about how her yard people had put out the weed control stuff and I said that I frankly didn’t care if I had weeds because that would be an improvement on the mostly dirt that I have now….and weeds can always be mowed to the height of grass. Come on! I’m desperate. I love the huge trees in my backyard, but…

Today is Earth Day and I have decided that I’m finally going to start recycling again. My parents have been very big on recycling for close to 20 years now. Probably because one of my older sister’s became very interested in it in high school and then went on to become a science teacher herself. When my parents were designing the kitchen for their home over 15 years ago, they planned the layout to account for additional recycling trash cans, newspaper pile and plastic grocery bags. Anyways, ever since moving to Dallas I stopped recycling. No more. I’m starting my pile of newspaper & advertisements (now I just need to buy some string to tie it all up — am I the only one who doesn’t just have string laying around the house?!). I also need to buy a can crusher and a separate trash bin for cans to recycle. More shopping. I’ve already started switching all my lightbulbs over to the Compact Fluorescent Lightbulbs (CFLs) whenever the regular lightbulbs burn out. Changing topic. I read the mystery High Heels are Murder by Elaine Viets this week and loved it! The main character, Josie Marcus, lives in Maplewood, Missouri (right…