My most recent release, Diamond in the Rogue, marks my first Road Trip Romance (or, perhaps more accurately, carriage trip romance). I love hitting the road so much that my husband and I made a goal of visiting all fifty states and all seven continents, and, as of 2017, we achieved that goal, and we haven’t stopped exploring! Interested in planning your own adventure? Here are my tips! The Vehicle Of course the easiest thing to do is to set out in your own car, but if you don’t own one or don’t wish to rack up those miles, a rental car is an excellent option. Without a rental, we could not have made all 50 states–we’d fly one-way to our destination, rent a car at the local airport, arrange to drop off the car in another location, and then take a second one-way plane trip home. If you choose this method, here are some things to remember: Check ALL rental car companies, rates and drop off fees vary drastically. When searching, try not to drop off on a Sunday. On a recent trip, estimates upwards of $2000 dropped to $250 when I changed the pickup day. Don’t forget to…

I don’t just write and read historical romance, I’m a passionate defender of the subgenre. Although trappings of the past can be fun (Candlelight! Carriages! Architectural grandeur! Bodices and bustles!), what intrigues me most about writing historcials is the very thing most often criticized—that the society was stuffy, restricted, and in dire need of change. For instance, in nineteenth-century England, married women, by law, were not separate entities from their husbands. Men controlled the money, the legal system, and access to education. In such a world, love itself—powerful, unpredictable, capable of smashing social and economic barriers, and, ultimately, bringing those ‘in command’ to their knees—was a radical threat to the social order. Women who chose to flout norms faced very real economic/social consequences, yet history sparkles with them. Armed with wit, intelligence, and creativity, they forged their own way. I’m inspired by the unconventional women who took charge of their destinies despite the forces stacked against them. Lady Clarissa Laithe, the heroine of my latest book, Heart’s Desire, undergoes a transformation and becomes such a lady. As the story begins, she is someone who has done what she was told and fulfilled the expectations around her, but a confrontation with…