trueromance

Setting: Sacramento, California
Subgenre: Romantic Suspense
Hero: Zach McKnight
Heroine: Veronica Osborne

One sentence summary: When the 20-year-old bones of a woman’s long-lost brother are discovered in a construction site, ghosts of the past start working hard to hide the truth, while another, more sinister force will do anything to expose it.

Scene you like most and would never cut: The first kiss between my hero and heroine. It happens over a table full of dirty breakfast dishes. They’ve been dancing around it forever and she just goes for it. I loved writing it. It made me want to cheer.

Thing your heroine would never be caught dead doing/saying: Take care of it yourself.

What is your heroines occupation, or if unemployed, what should she be doing: Emergency Room Nurse and it is EXACTLY what she should be doing

What is your heroes occupation, or if unemployed, what should he be doing: Cop and it is EXACTLY what he should be doing

What you think readers will like best about this book: VANISHED IN THE NIGHT is the most psychologically intense book I’ve written to date. I became so engrossed in the characters’ thought processes, particularly the villains’ thought processes, that I ended up creeping myself out.

The person that readers want you to write about but you haven’t yet: Elise from HOLD BACK THE DARK. She makes a cameo in VANISHED IN THE NIGHT, also. Everyone (including me) loves her. She’s funny and sassy and smart.

What’s next: I’m very excited about my next project, VEILED INTENTIONS. It’s a much more political and issue oriented book than VANISHED IN THE NIGHT or HOLD BACK THE DARK, but I think it is just as psychologically tense and suspenseful.

One of the characters in VANISHED IN THE NIGHT sees himself as an avenging angel. Have you ever taken revenge against someone? Wanted to and not done it?

About Me:

What’s your favorite kind of story to get lost in? I adore stories that revolve around lost letters or diaries. I don’t know what it is about them, but they grab me every time.

What’s the first book you remember reading? It had to be one of the Laura Ingalls Wilder books. I loved the Little House books. My mother used to read to me every night and I know there was a gradual transition from her reading to me, to us taking turns reading to me reading on my own, but I can’t say exactly where that happened. Those books were nightly favorites. We both loved them and still refer to them a lot. In fact, just recently, my sister called and asked me for an urgent favor which I immediately did. My mother asked me why my sister needed the favor and I told her that I was being like Laura and Mary when Ma told them to get out of the barn. They didn’t ask questions and because of that, the bear didn’t eat them. My mother totally understood!

What’s your favorite fairy tale? We had a beautiful illustrated book of fairy tales and I remember being really taken with the tale of Bright, Deardeer and Kit. Looking back, it was terribly grisly, but I adored it. There’s a lot of sacrifice and redemption in it.

What’s your favorite cartoon character? I’m not sure about my favorite, but I can tell you my least favorite. I can’t stand Tigger. I think he’s a total narcissist.

What would your occupation be if you were no longer a writer? I’d love to be a psychologist. I’m fascinated by why people do what they do and what they’re thinking when they do it.

What do you do to unwind and relax? I love to crochet although lately I’ve discovered locker hooking. I pretty much always have a project going. It’s a little repetitive and a little mindless and it really calms me down.

Tea or Coffee? And how do you take it? COFFEE!!!!!!! How do I take it? I’d prefer by IV . . . Seirously, I’m not consistent about my coffee. We have an espresso machine and I make lattes several mornings a week, but I also like regular coffee with a big ole slug of Coffeemate French Vanilla in it. During the summer months, I sometimes make a coffee smoothie with coffee, ice, milk and dash of chocolate syrup.

Which era would you least like to have lived in, fashion-wise and why? Most? I do not have a figure suited to the twenties. I’m a very curvy girl. I think the forties might have worked well for me, though.

Dog person or cat person? Cats. We have two plus one that’s just spending the summer with us.

Readers’ Crown Award Winner, Short Contemporary Romance

Setting: Whedon, PA
Subgenre: Contemporary Romance
Hero: Liam Franklin
Heroine: Anna Chapel

One sentence summary: “A Special Kind of Different.”

A Special Kind of Different—that was my working title for A One-of-a-Kind Family. The book was certainly a different kind of romance for me. The story is Anna and Liam’s romance, but neither the story, nor their romance would have worked without Liam’s special needs brother, Colm, who became a major character in the story.

I love working with secondary characters, and many of my older ones have their own following…they get their own letters from readers. Pearly Gates and Nana Vancy are two reader favorites, but Colm’s catching up. He’s truly all heart…and his heart and courage are what brings my hero and heroine together, and ultimately keeps them together.

What’s next?
A One-of-a-Kind Family is the second book in my Whedon, PA series for SuperRomance. The first book, Unexpected Gifts, was a Readers’ Crown finalist last year, the third book was last year’s Homecoming Day. The final book, A Father’s Name, is my next release this September. I love working on a series of stories that allows me to bring past characters back so readers can catch up on what’s going on with them. The heroine of A Father’s Name, Tucker, has appeared in all the books in the series and a number of readers had asked for her story. I’m thrilled to be able to bring it to them!

About Me:

What’s my favorite fairy tale? When I was little, we walked to school and went home for lunch. On rainy days, I walked across the street from the school and had lunch with Annabelle (I named a character after her in my Everything But…series). Annabelle was one of my grandmother’s best friends, and after we ate, she’d let me pick two books to read before going back to school. I always, always chose Snow White and Rose Red as one of them. I think what appealed to me most about the story was that Snow White and Rose Red were sisters. I have brothers. Lots and lots of brothers. I always dreamed of having a sister. I think that longing is why I write a little of a fictional sister into each of my heroines.

What’s my favorite cartoon character? One of my early Duets was How to Catch a Groom. The hero, a scientist, named his cat Schrodinger which gave me untold glee! Now, for you non-science geeks, Schrodinger was a physicist who had a theory known as Schrodinger’s Cat. I thought that the fact my hero named his cat Schrodinger showed he had a geeky sense of humor! I was beyond thrilled when the book was turned into Manga in Japan. I had to order a copy because they didn’t send me one. It involved going to the Japanese Amazon site, translating it, and paying a huge shipping fee, but more than forty dollars later, I finally got a copy and the first thing I looked for was Schrodinger…and he was there!

So, my long answer to a short question–my favorite cartoon character is and was Schrodinger!

What would my occupation be if I were no longer a writer? A year ago, I started basketweaving. Like writing, it’s a very creative process. If a weaver gets good enough, a basket can be art. I’m a novice, so my baskets are sort of the fingerpainting of basket-art. But if I ever gave up writing, I’d seriously consider making baskets fulltime.

Tea or Coffee? My Facebook and Twitter friends know I’m a coffee addict, but I’m also a fan of tea! I tend to kick-start my day with coffee, and switch to tea in the afternoon and frequently tweet my glee over both. I also tweet a lot of glee over Mondays. They’re my favorite day of the week, which seems to boggle a lot of friends, but seriously, after a weekend of chaos when no one in my family has to leave for school or work, Mondays are blessedly quiet and peaceful. As I sit with my steaming cup of coffee in the utter silence…well, what’s not to love?

What does love mean to me? Rather than answer about me, I’d rather answer for Anna, the heroine in A One-of-a-Kind Family. When she first visits Liam and Colm’s home, she notices the front porch.

“…Anna was promptly struck by a serious a case of porch-envy.

Some people dreamed about picket fences, or tons of acreage, or living in the right, fashionable neighborhood.

Anna dreamed about porches.

Porches like this one.

…Of course, it was a bit barren looking. Only two old folding lawn-chairs sat on it, and the paint had long since started fading and peeling. But with a little elbow grease…

Someday.

Someday she’d move out of her apartment and buy her own house with a huge front porch. Then she’d paint it some merry color–maybe green–and furnish it with big white wicker furniture that had overstuffed cushions. In the mornings she’d go out on it, have a cup of coffee and read her paper before going into work. Then in the evenings, she’d come home and after dinner, she’d sit on her porch and watch the day turn to dusk and maybe smile at neighbors who walked by.”

I wrote that description early in the book and it wasn’t something that I really thought a lot about. Towards the end of the book, Anna’s porch-envy became a pivotal part of resolving her problems with the hero. For me (and Anna) defining love was easy…Love is a front porch.

Dog person or cat person? Dog…well, dogs. I have two, Ethel Merman and Ella Fitzgerald, plus I frequently babysit my daughter’s two dogs, Booger Monster (seriously, that child’s mind works in mysterious ways) and Cosmo. So, I’m a dog person in a big way. I walk all four, and they keep me company as I work.

Readers’ Crown Award Winner, Sci-fi/Futuristic/Time-Travel Romance

Some ideas are simply before their time. Shortly after I sold my first books, I was invited to be part of a novella. My shapeshifters were born in the hundred or so pages I whipped up for it. These shapeshifters had no home of their own, no identity, no sanctuary, and faced certain extinction. They were stranded on Earth, a world that didn’t understand or want them. In turn, they were forced to become us to survive. I knew them. I understood them. I cried and cheered for them. I loved them. They deserved a book.

Unfortunately for them, the novella never took off and my shapeshifters were relegated to CD backups. I sat on that story for seven years, writing other books, fulfilling other contracts, and watching the world and the market change. To my wondrous ears, readers spoke—more paranormals, darker, edgier, grittier, and sexier. The time was finally right for my shapeshifters to make their début, and I was lucky enough to find a publisher and editor who believed in them as much as I did.

In this series, I bring alien shapeshifters into this crazy, chaotic, complex, treacherous, and sometimes fragile fabric of life we’ve woven. Their problems are real, and the issues they present are difficult, as complicated and challenging as any we face today. How can they be accepted here? How will they survive? Who will believe in them? These are the hard questions faced by my shapeshifters and the humans they fall in love with. Poised on opposite sides of the fence, they clash, they grow, and they come to understand that hope never dies and love transcends all. Even for those who aren’t quite human.

I would be happy to give away one copy of Body Master to one lucky commenter.

For more, visit www.cjbarry.com

Readers’ Crown Award Winner, Romantic Novella

Heroines Rule!

What do a racetrack gofer and a seed biologist have in common? They’re the heroines of my last two books, and at first glance they’re as different as two women can be. Jennifer Ashby, heroine of NO ORDINARY MAN, is 22, high-school educated, the granddaughter of a chicken farmer. She struggles to help her granddad out while putting herself through night classes and gofering by day. Sadie Beecham, heroine of HER BEST FRIEND’S WEDDING is 29, a genius (her mom’s convinced she’ll win a Nobel Prize) who studied at Princeton on a full scholarship, and now works as a seed biologist, developing new crops that will feed the world.

But Jenn and Sadie do share some traits. For example, they both know that they want in a man…and what they don’t want. Jenn wants an ordinary guy, which puts Eli Ward, a hot-shot NASCAR driver who thinks home is a dirty word, out of the running. And Sadie’s met the man of her dreams, the perfect Dr. Daniel.

But…and here’s something else they have in common…though both these women think they have their lives mapped out, their plans get overturned. Jenn finds herself posing as Eli Ward’s girlfriend to earn ten thousand dollars that could change her life…only her life is changing in ways she never anticipated or wanted. And Dr. Daniel gets engaged to Sadie’s best friend, leaving her no choice but to “stop the wedding.” If only the bride’s brother, the infuriating Trey Kincaid, would stop interfering in her schemes!

Turns out these women have one more, very important thing in common. They’re both capable of bringing a gorgeously difficult man to his knees! And that’s what I love about being a writer: I get to explore the different ways that different kinds of women end up with a guy who’s definitely not perfect, but he’s perfect for them.

If you’d like to see how these two very different women achieve the same result, leave a comment. One commenter will win copies of both NO ORDINARY MAN and HER BEST FRIEND’S WEDDING. To read excerpts from both books, visit www.abbygaines.com

Readers’ Crown Award Winner, Mainstream Women’s Fiction

Real Life Romance

I’m so grateful and honored that SLEEP NO MORE this year’s Readers Crown choice for Mainstream Women’s Fiction. As always, readers come first with me and the fact that they chose SLEEP NO MORE to be first with them, well, that’s just better than a steady diet of chocolate. (A nod here to Cindy Gerard’s previous blog discussing a study of the benefits of chocolate … and admitting I’m using it as justification for a daily dose of those yummy cocoa roasted almonds—a personally conducted non-scientific study, of course).

My thanks go not only to readers, but also to Borders and their steadfast support of romance and women’s fiction. We romance authors love you guys!

SLEEP NO MORE is the story of Abby Whitman, a woman whose sleepwalking has led to tragedy, isolation and opened the door to a danger she never saw coming. Psychologist Jason Coble is her salvation in more ways than she’d dreamed. An excerpt is waiting for you at http://www.susancrandall.net/sleep-no-more-novel-excerpt.shtml

This book has a full cast of secondary characters, including my favorite, Maggie, a teen with an indomitable spirit, sharp-eyed realism and Down Syndrome. Maggie led me to a wonderful group of people in real life, Best Buddies organization. In fact, I used my book launch signing as a fundraiser for the Indiana chapter. Best Buddies devotes itself to assisting those with intellectual challenges in developing one-on-one friendships, social integration, leadership development and integrated employment. This is particularly valuable to school age and young adults who often spend their time alone. There is a video interview of two of my favorite Indiana Best Buddies on my website homepage.

Writing strong women characters conquering the trials life throws at them and coming out stronger for it, and of course, finding love along the way, is the greatest job in the world. My days are filled with family drama, emotional journeys, a dash of mystery, a touch of danger and discovering true love—and lately not just my work day. My daughter is getting married in two weeks and all of those things have stepped out of my fiction world and into reality.

I love the way my daughter’s fiancé tells of their road to true love and happiness, he says my daughter “dated and dated and he waited and waited.” Just goes to show, there are many paths that lead you to your soul mate. For those of you out there who are frustrated with dating, and those who are tired of waiting, take heart, love will strike when the time is right. I believe that so heartily that I write about it every day!

Do any of you have stories to share of finding your true love? I never tire of hearing them!

Readers’ Crown Award Winner, Long Historical Romance

Stories That Keep Bringing You Back For More

Last Friday night I was channel surfing and came across a movie on the Donner Party. My husband groaned, knowing what was going to happen: I was going to insist on watching it. He knows me too well.

It’s not that he doesn’t like stories about the Donner Party, he just doesn’t like them twenty times over. But for some reason it’s one of those stories that fascinates me—like stories about the Titanic, Princess Diana, Anastasia, etc. I can watch endless programs and read numerous books on the subjects, but I’m almost always eager for more (although when Princess Diana died I wished the media would leave her in peace).

I’m sure my interest in the Donner Party stems from the fact that my family had a ski cabin a few miles away from Donner Lake, but I don’t think that’s all of it. There are just some stories that are so gripping, so horrible, so interesting or mysterious, that they continue to fascinate. I’m always looking for that little nugget, that new insight, or the next theory that might help explain a mystery or something that seems inexplicable. I guess I’m looking for an answer even though I know there isn’t one.

To a certain extent, I think this same personality quirk is why I’m so fascinated by history—and Scottish history in particular, which seems to have so many fact-is-stranger-than-fiction type stories. I gravitate toward these incredible tidbits and find a way to give them a happy ending (in my mind at least). My very first book, Highlander Untamed, spun off a clan feud between the MacLeods and MacDonalds known as “The War of the One-Eyed Woman.” With a title like that, how could I not be intrigued? My third book, Highlander Unchained, included a story about a clan chief who tried to kill his wife by tying her to a rock and waiting for the tide to come in. He was rather surprised when she showed up for dinner later. You can find “Lady’s Rock” on Ordnance Survey maps today. My next book, The Viper (OCT 2011), the fourth book in my Highland Guard Series, involves a woman who was hung in a cage by Edward I of England for her part in Robert the Bruce’s coronation. Seriously, you can’t make this stuff up!

Are you like me, do you have certain stories that are sure to draw you in? If not, are there any romances you always go back to? I have a couple: the Chicago Stars series by Susan Elizabeth Phillips and any of Julie Garwood’s Scottish Medievals.

Hi everyone! Let me start by saying how thrilled I am that Something About You won the Readers’ Crown award for Best Long Contemporary romance! Many, many thanks to all the readers who voted for the book—I’m truly honored.

Writing Something About You was an interesting experience for me. Those of you who’ve read the book know that I dedicated it “To the jokers in the room next to me at the JW Marriott.” I came up with the idea for the story while at the RWA conference in San Francisco. Earlier that evening, I’d pitched to my editor a different idea for my third book—something about a female screenwriter and a male film director not getting along while working on a movie together. Then I went to bed that night and—
quickly realized there would be no sleep for me.

See, the people in the hotel room next to me decided to have a party. All night long. And their guests were coming and going from the room, repeatedly SLAMMING the door next to mine. All night long.

At some point there was shouting outside my room, and being nosy—I’ll admit it—I ran to my peephole to sneak a peek at whatever was going on. And I remember this distinctly: while I was watching the people out in the hallway, one of the guys turned and stared right at my door—as if he knew I was watching. It was this freaky, Alfred Hitchcock-esque moment: me, pressed against the door in my pajamas, watching someone who was watching me right back. Then the man turned and walked away, and I had one thought.

I need to use this in a book!

So I grabbed my notepad and the ideas began pouring from my pen. The book opens with a woman in a hotel room, who is kept awake all night when her next door neighbors are. . . having a loud sex marathon! Except this is no ordinary sex marathon, the sex ends in. . . a murder! And the woman, being nosy and staring out her peephole, is the one person who saw the murderer leave the hotel room. . .

Since I was writing a romance, I quickly thought next about who the main characters would be. In the book, the heroine is an Assistant U.S. Attorney, and the hero is an FBI agent assigned to the murder investigation. The two have a bad history together—and don’t get along at all—which makes things extra-tricky when the murderer comes after the heroine and the hero is assigned to protect her. . .

And there you have it—the backstory on how Something About You came to fruition. I have much for which to thank those jokers in the room next to me, because Something About You was the first book in which I used the Chicago FBI and U.S. Attorney’s offices, elements that I continued in both my fourth book, A Lot Like Love, and my next release, About That Night.

But how about you guys? Let’s hear from you! Anyone else have a seemingly “bad” experience that turned out to be a blessing in disguise? Any other good examples of “wrong place, wrong time” stories—books, movies, or TV—that you can think of? Or maybe you just have a comment or question for me. . .

Three randomly-selected people who leave a comment below will win a copy of Something About You.

For more information about Julie’s books, or to read an excerpt of Something About You, visit www.juliejames.com.

Readers’ Crown Award Winner, Best First Romance

Setting: On tour with the rock band Sinners
Subgenre: Contemporary Erotic Romance
Hero: Brian Sinclair
Heroine: Myrna Evans

One sentence summary: The lead guitarist of Sinners, Brian Sinclair, never expected to find his muse and the love of his life in college professor, Myrna Evans, but one weekend of passion fuels his desire to make her his forever.

Scene you like most and would never cut: The scene where Brian first discovers his muse while making love to Myrna. He writes a guitar solo on her skin. So sensual.

Thing your heroine would never be caught dead doing/saying: Myrna would never say, “I wish I had a man to take care of me.”

Tell us one quirky thing about your hero? He really, really, REALLY wants to get married (I know that’s not quirky in most instances, but he’s a ROCK STAR. That’s quirky for a rock star.)

Heroine: She drives her grandparents’ car. A fully restored 57 Thunderbird, pink convertible.

What is your heroine’s occupation: Human Sexuality professor, currently studying the behavior of band groupies

What is your hero’s occupation: Lead guitarist of the rock band Sinners

What you think readers will like best about this book: The camaraderie between the band members and the inventive sex scenes

The person that readers want you to write about but you haven’t yet: Dare Mills, lead guitarist of the band Exodus End and Trey’s older brother (Trey is the rhythm guitarist of Sinners and Brian’s best friend)

What’s next: The next book in the series, Rock Hard, is about the lead singer and has already been released. Each member of the band will have his own book.

Question – Who is your favorite star (musician or otherwise)? How do you think you’d respond if you met them?

About Me:

What’s my favorite movie of all time? Aliens – I love tough-as-nails heroines, Michael Bien and James Cameron – it has all three

What’s my favorite kind of story to get lost in? A book with interesting, 3-dimensional characters

What’s the first book I remember reading? Pokey Little Puppy (I was 3)

What’s my favorite fairy tale? Are there any fairy tales where the woman isn’t saved by a man? Girl power! I do like Beauty and the Beast.

What’s my favorite cartoon character? Wile E Coyote (I identify with him a little too much, unfortunately)

What’s something I’d like to tell my readers? You rock!

What would my occupation be if I were no longer a writer? I’d keep teaching college science classes, not that I ever stopped

What do I do to unwind and relax? Rock concerts and roller coasters. Those are relaxing, right?

Tea or Coffee? And how do I take it? Hot tea with sugar and milk

What does love mean to me? Compromise and making someone else’s happiness a priority.

Which era would I least like to have lived in, fashion-wise and why? Most? I’d hate to live in any era where a woman was expected to wear corsets, petticoats and huge dresses. Hot and uncomfortable. The era of yoga pants and T-shirts is best. That would probably be now. I’m not into fashion at all. Comfort is much more important to me. I do like jeans and my leather jacket, too.

What name have I been dying to use as a lead character, but haven’t found the right fit yet? Sergio/Serge

Dog person or cat person? Both. I’m mostly a cat person, but I’m very attached to my own dog.

Setting: Washington, D.C., Virginia, Maryland
Subgenre: Romantic Thriller
Hero: Mark Ryan, sexy FBI agent
Heroine: Jessica Ford, ambitious young lawyer, reluctant witness, Mark’s still ticked-off ex-girlfriend

One sentence summary: While someone gets busy trying to kill her, Jess inherits a dead woman’s job – and the dead woman.

Scene you like most and would never cut: A very sexy bathroom scene between Jess and Mark; also, I absolutely love the ending. And – okay, you said one, and I’m already over.

Thing your heroine would never be caught dead doing/saying: I give up.

Tell us one quirky thing about your hero? Heroine: Mark isn’t a fan of deep water; Jess is blind as a bat without her contacts/glasses.

What is your heroines occupation, or if unemployed, what should she be doing: Jess is a member of a hot-shot criminal defense team

What is your heroes occupation, or if unemployed, what should he be doing: Mark is an FBI Special Agent currently charged with keeping Jess alive

What you think readers will like best about this book: The chemistry between Mark and Jess; Clementine the cat; two runaway teenage girls; Jess’s sisters; and, oh, yeah, the non-stop, hold-your-breath suspense.

The person that readers want you to write about but you haven’t yet: So many characters, so little time! But probably the daughter from Vanished.

What’s next: Sleepwalker, a romantic thriller starring a hot female cop and the even hotter male thief she’s trying to capture. What is it they say about the best laid plans…? Out in December, 2011.

How much romance do you like in your thrillers? Should the romance be the focus, should it be fifty-fifty with the suspense, or should the suspense be the focus of the book? It’s always a difficult decision for me, and I’d be interested to know what you think.

Several Justice-themed gift baskets will be given away. Please see my website: www.karenrobards.com, or visit me on facebook for details

About Me:

1. What’s your favorite movie of all time? Impossible to answer. There are so many!

2. What’s your favorite kind of story to get lost in? I love romance, romantic suspense, and thrillers.

3. What’s the first book you remember reading? A Wrinkle in Time, probably second or third grade. I loved it, and still do.

4. What’s your favorite fairy tale? Beauty and the Beast, the Disney version. I’m a sucker for bookworms.

5. What’s your favorite cartoon character? Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (hey, I have boys; also, I like their theme song)

6. What’s something you’d like to tell your readers? I love books. I love to read them, I love to write them, I love to browse bookstores and just look at them on the shelves. If I was hungry and had a few dollars and was given a choice between buying food or a book, I’d go with the book every time.

7. What would your occupation be if you were no longer a writer? I can’t imagine no longer being a writer. I’ve been writing all my life.

8. What do you do to unwind and relax? Read.

9. Tea or Coffee? And how do you take it? Tea. Iced.

10. What does love mean to you? My three sons and my husband. And my parents. And my sister and brothers and their families. And my friends. And – okay, I’ll stop now.

11. Which era would you least like to have lived in, fashion-wise and why? Most? Least: Elizabethan England – those neck ruffs look uncomfortable, and somebody obviously had to iron and starch them. With my luck, it would be me. Most: Ancient Greece. What’s not to love about a toga?

12. What name have you been dying to use as a lead character, but haven’t found the right fit yet? Persephone. It’ll happen.

13. Dog person or cat person? Both. I have two dogs, a German Shepherd and a beagle, and three cats, all of which sit around me as I write. I also have a twenty-five year old parrot who sings gospel, and a thirty-year-old (does that mean he’s immortal?) pony.

Setting: Washington, DC/Dallas, TX/New York, NY
Subgenre: Multicultural romance
Heroes: Gabe Jackson in The Awakening, Sebastian Stone in A Matter of Trust, Chase Braxton in Sweet Temptation, Vincent Maxwell in Southern Comfort, Tanner Rafferty in The Blind Date.
Heroines: Jessica Ames in The Awakening, Hope Lassiter in A Matter of Trust, Julia Ferrington in Sweet Temptation, Charlotte Duval in Southern Comfort, Ayanna Hardcastle in The Blind Date.

One sentence summary:
Five wonderful stories of falling in love when you least expect to.

Scene you like most and would never cut:
Since there are five stories in TWICE THE TEMPTATION, I’ll select one from the first story, The Awakening. The awareness when Gabe and Jessica first meet is sweet and charming. Despite Gabe picking her up at the airport for his brother, you root for Jessica to find a man who sees and values her the way she is, and just know Gabe is that man.

Thing your heroines would never be caught dead doing/saying: None of them would ever be rude to anyone.

Tell us one quirky thing about your hero? Heroine: Tanner Rafferty in The Blind Date can’t stand a cluttered desk. Ayanna Hardcastle in The Blind Date likes to get to work before everyone else.

What is your heroines occupation, or if unemployed, what should she be doing: Jessica in The Awakening is the only woman in the five stories who is unemployed. Her dream, despite her wealthy parents saying as the future wife of an executive she doesn’t have to work, is to obtain her Masters in counseling and work with children. Hope in A Matter of Trust is a cosmetologist, but wants to get back to acting in the theater. Julia in Sweet Temptation owns an upscale candy shop and is looking for a second location. Charlotte in Southern Comfort is a political fundraiser and can’t see herself doing anything else. Ayanna in The Blind Date is the accountant for her cousin’s restaurant, and the only heroine who is a bit uncertain about the direction of her life.

What is your heroes occupation, or if unemployed, what should he be doing: Gabe from The Awakening once swam with the sharks as an investment broker, but now is living his dream painting portraits and enjoying life more. Sebastian in A Matter of Trust is a successful Broadway director who is having trouble casting the female lead in his next play. Chase in Sweet Temptation is a commissioned officer with the elite Texas Ranger looking to move up to captain and be in charge of his own unit. Vincent in Southern Comfort is vice-president of finances and is re-engineering a large petroleum company’s financial structure. Tanner Rafferty in The Blind Date is a hotel developer and chief operating officer of ten Rafferty Hotels from Florida to D.C.

What you think readers will like best about this book: I think readers will really like the range of stories from sweet to hot, but the emotions of the hero and heroine as they come to grips with falling in love and what that means to their already mapped out life, is what will draw readers into the stories and keep them reading and rooting for them to find their happily-ever-after.

The person that readers want you to write about but you haven’t yet: An easy question. I get email on a daily basic asking about Rio’s story. We met Rio in ONLY YOU. the last book in the Graysons of New Mexico series, and then later in three of the four subsequent Grayson Friends series - THE WAY YOU LOVE ME, ONE NIGHT WITH YOU, and IT HAD TO BE YOU. It seemed each encounter with Rio fueled the reader’s interest and appetite for more. It’s very gratifying when a character touches a reader in that special way, and I’m very thankful that he did.

What’s next: Being released on the same day as TWICE THE TEMPTATION is UNDENIABLE, about a man seeking revenge on the only woman he will ever love. TROUBLE DON’T LAST ALWAYS, mainstream fiction, is scheduled for reissue in mass market November 01, 2011. Coming in 2012 will be three romances - ASEDUCTIVE KISS, WITH A KISS, A DANGEROUS KISS, and two mainstream books, WHEN MORNING COMES and working title of SEASONS for the second mainstream - making it 5 new books next year.

ABOUT ME

1. What’s my favorite movie of all time? Mission Impossible 2

2. What’s my favorite kind of story to get lost in? Although the first romance I read was a historical, I love contemporary romance novels. I enjoy reading about strong characters dealing with today’s problems while falling in love - which always enriches the story.

3. What’s the first book I remember reading? The first book I remember reading was Grimm’s Fairytales. While some of the endings I wasn’t pleased with, I enjoyed the magical quality that anything is possible/can happen. The endless possibilities in those stories is one of the reasons I wanted to become a writer.

4. What’s my favorite fairy tale? Beauty and the Beast.

5. What’s my favorite cartoon character? Rocky, the flying squirrel.

6. What’s something I’d like to tell your readers? I’d like to tell my readers that I really appreciate them and their unfaltering support. Because of them I have written 45 books with 5 scheduled for 2012.

7. What would my occupation be if you were no longer a writer? I’d be a Master Gardener, but I truly hope I can continue writing for a very long time.

8. What do I do to unwind and relax? I love shopping and sharing new experiences with my daughter, who is my assistant.

9. Tea or Coffee? And how do I take it? Definitely tea. I like it sweet, iced with lots of fresh lemons.

10. What does love mean to me? Love to me means unconditional acceptance, trust and loyalty.

11. Which era would I least like to have lived in, fashion-wise and why? Most? Victorian era because of all the layers of clothes, restrictions, and having to keep them clean. I’d most like living in the present time period.

12. What name have I been dying to use as a lead character, but haven’t found the right fit yet? There isn’t a name that I can think of. After so many books, names become harder, at least for me, to think of to fit the character.

13. Dog person or cat person? Dog.