Friday, October 19, 2012

My Friend's New Book and Giveaway!

With Halloween around the corner, why not read a paranormal book? My dear friend, Juli, author of the new The Artist's Inheritance, is a guest over at Child of Yden and is giving away some swag to a lucky commenter! Check it out!

Juli's spooky giveaways

I love autumn. Of course, here in Florida, it's sometimes hard to tell what season it is! All the trees and grass are still green, and were it not for one single climbing plant in my backyard that turns red this time of year, I would have no clue if it were June or October!

Do you have any favorite autumn traditions? Is it crisp and cool where you live, or warm and sunny like it is here? I'd love for you to share. Happy Halloween, and happy reading!

Wednesday, October 17, 2012

Tarnished Gaslamps talking about my book...

If you'd like to check out a free, long excerpt from my novella, Mistletoe and Montana, come over to the Tarnished Gaslamps blog! The blogger over there features a new book every week.

Mistletoe and Montana at Tarnished Gaslamps blog

A reader asked me if I've ever been to Montana, and the answer is, sadly, not yet! But the wonderful thing about imagination is you can take yourself anywhere you want. I generally have a feeling about a place from looking at pictures or reading articles. In researching Montana, I relied on visitor's guides and websites, and movies that had been filmed there. I've been to Yosemite National Park in the snow and have a sense of icy pine trees and crisply cold flowing rivers and the feeling of sinking knee deep until your jeans are soaked through!
I've never been on a snow mobile like my characters, however, but have ridden behind my husband when he had a motorcycle, and figured it can't be much different hanging onto a waist in front of you and feeling icy air blast your face!
If only we could travel to everyplace we wanted. What incredible research that would be! I have a work in progress set in Norway and have been planning a dream trip to Scandinavia. I'm hoping for our 20th anniversary, which will be close to my 50th birthday! Wow - writing that makes it almost surreal.I wrote my first book more than 3 decades ago. I hope to keep writing until the very end.

Wednesday, October 3, 2012

My New Book Cover!

I am so excited to share my beautiful new cover for In the Arms of an Earl, which will release sometime early next year. This was probably a difficult cover for the artist to create, because my hero, Frederick, is unique - he is an amputee, missing his left hand.

Other than Mr. Rochester of Jane Eyre, I can't think of one literary hero who is missing a limb! Oh, sure, you'll always have a battle-scarred Viking with a sexy scar on his face, or those deep "psychological" wounds are always a hit, but very few heroes exist where they end in the book the same way they began.

I don't know what compelled me to write a hero with one hand - but I'm glad I did. Maybe it's because there are so many veterans in my family and I wanted to honor their sacrifice. Or maybe it's because of one too many newscasts of young men and women coming home with their legs blown off from IED's. Whatever the reason, I hope you enjoy the story as much as I enjoyed writing it.

Here's an excerpt to tickle your imagination!



I pity Mr. Parker that his kiss was not more…inspiring and memorable.”
She didn’t know if he was teasing but laughed a little despite her remembered shame. “If his was the ideal of what a kiss ought to be, I don’t think I’ve missed much.”
He continued to hold her hand. The thrum of his pulse raced from his fingers to hers.
“And how was this infamous kiss performed?”
Evening was upon them, and the fading sunlight gave her cover from his gaze. “It was...all over the place. His lips felt like a scurrying mouse, and I was the cheese.”
His rich laugh filled the air. “Show me.”
Without hesitation, she lifted his hand to her lips and imitated the kiss as best she could, though the first touch of his skin against her mouth jolted her senses. Suddenly embarrassed, she released his hand and twisted her fingers in her skirt.
“It was like that.”
The amused look left his eyes.
“This is how it should have been,” he murmured.