If you’ve read Goddess of the Hunt, you already know that I find this an irresistible romantic trope: the poor guy who falls under the spell of his best friend’s little sister, all grown up. For years, she’s been nothing but a sister to him, or a friend–perhaps even an annoyance. And suddenly, Little Sis has grown into that awkward coltish frame, set aside her hoyden ways (well, in Lucy’s case – never!), and become a woman. So tempting, and yet so forbidden.

On her side, she’s been yearning for him for years (or, in Lucy’s case – that other guy he hangs out with), just hoping one day he’ll stop cavorting with a string of brainless beauties, put down the brandy flask, and notice her. She’s knows in her heart they’re meant to be, and in almost every case (ahem, Lucy once again being the exception. She’s incorrigible, what can I say?) the heroine’s proved right, and all her years of awkward teenage hoping are vindicated.

I never tire of this setup, in historical or contemporary romance. Some recent favorites have been Victoria Dahl’s Talk Me Down and Beverley Kendall’s debut, Sinful Surrender.

Today, a brand new take on this ever-popular theme hits the shelves: Promise Me Tonight, author Sara Lindsey‘s utterly charming debut historical romance. Here’s the blurb:

Isabella is determined to marry James…

Isabella Weston has loved James Sheffield for as long as she can remember. Her come-out ball seems the

In my own little bubble, anyway. Of course, the past week has seen horrific news on the global scale, and my thoughts and heart are with the people of Haiti as they continue to suffer the aftereffects of the catastrophic earthquake. But in times like these, it is some comfort to find small reasons to celebrate.

Last weekend, I was invited to speak at the San Diego chapter of Romance Writers of America. I jumped at the chance, seeing as I love RWA and I love San Diego! We rounded up the darelings and made a weekend out of it. I had a wonderful time meeting the chapter members and chatting with the industry professionals in attendance. My speech is sort of a smudge in my memory now, but I think it went okay. I told a lot of embarrassing stories. 🙂 Anyway, I want to say a big thank you to the members of the RWASD chapter, for making me feel so welcome. I had a great day.

Second, I came home to find some truly thrilling news on the Internet. My debut, Goddess of the Hunt, was shortlisted on the American Library Association’s 2010 Reading List, which is put together by the RUSA division of ALA to recognize “outstanding genre literature.” This thrilled me for a couple of reasons. First and foremost, because I’m a librarian myself, so any recognition coming from librarians is extra-special to me. Second, because – zomg, did you see that shortlist? My … Read More »

As I write this, I’m in the lovely (well, rainy and cold…but to me, it is lovely!) Pacific Northwest with my dear friends and critique partners, Courtney Milan and Carey Baldwin. We’re celebrating the release of Courtney’s amazing book (see previous post) and eating great food and enjoying wonderful conversation. Today we’re actually going to write! 🙂

I decided to keep the New Year’s Resolutions low-key this year. My contractual obligations are enough to keep me busy without added unrealistic goals to the mix! I think my only resolution for 2010 will be: take my vitamins. I always forget.

Whether your corner of the world is rainy, sunny, snowy, or scorching hot – I hope you’re kicking off 2010 in grand style!… Read More »

The good news is, as of this morning, those three tasks I mentioned in my last post (page proofs, revisions, partial manuscript) are all completed! (So is Thanksgiving, for that matter!) The not-as-good news is, I still have a lot of writing to do on THREE NIGHTS, my house is a disaster, and I haven’t wrapped or shipped a single Christmas present yet. uh.

But…I also have great news to share! I was extremely honored to learn that Goddess of the Hunt has been nominated for the RT Reviewers’ Choice award for Best First Historical Romance. The awards ceremony will be held at the RT Booklovers convention next April, which I had luckily already planned to attend. Now I just have one more reason to look forward to it.

And then I learned just this morning that those lovely people at Random House have sold some foreign rights for my books. The entire trilogy will be translated into German, and rights to Goddess of the Hunt have been sold for a Japanese language edition! So exciting.

Whether you’re naughty or nice, I hope you all are having a great holiday season! Now I’m off to try to cross one more thing off my list…… Read More »

I’m still alive. To prove it, I even had a birthday since I blogged last! Woohoo!

Here’s what my “desk” looks like at the moment:

Galleys of One Dance with a Duke (due in early December)
Revisions of Twice Tempted by a Rogue (due…um…soon?)
Still writing Three Nights with a Scoundrel (partial manuscript due to my editor Dec.1st)

And Thanksgiving is when? Ack.

Please bear with me, I’m just drowning in work right now. BUT – I hope I will be forgiven a bit when I tell you those titles above now link to individual book pages! (In)complete with covers, blurbs, pre-order links, and – in the case of One Dance – a teeny teaser excerpt. These pages aren’t looking as spiffy as they eventually will, once I get my fab web designer in on the game, but they’re up!

Happy Holidays. I’m thankful for you all!… Read More »

If you don’t watch the Bravo TV show Top Chef, this post won’t have much interest for you, sorry! But TC is one of…three?…TV shows I actually make a point to watch, and something’s been bugging me ever since this week’s “Restaurant Wars” episode. (Warning: Spoilers ahead, if you DVR’d it and haven’t watched yet.)

“Restaurant Wars” happens every season once the “cheftestants” are down to eight. They divide into teams of four, and each team opens a restaurant for one night. It’s usually an episode filled with drama and strife between competitors and lots of frantic rushing around. This year’s Restaurant Wars was no exception. The two team leaders were both chefs with lots of obvious talent and experience, and they’re two of my favorites on the show. Michael V. has this sort of hotheaded, foul-mouthed renegade image going on. To me, he has seemed awesomely talented, but somewhat inconsistent. The other team captain, Jennifer, I’ve come to associate with precision, consistent quality, coolness under pressure. In an earlier episode, she lead the entire team of contestants and really impressed me with her toughness.

During Restaurant Wars, however, Jennifer imploded. Now, there could be lots of reasons for it. But I think she had the better team of the two, and they just fell apart at every level. Because each of them has mad skillz, they kind of decided to divide and conquer–each person working to his or her own strengths. Jennifer didn’t get in anyone’s face. She … Read More »

Lately, a fair number of people have asked me whether I plan to write stories for some of the peripheral characters in my debut trilogy. First, let me say that I love those questions! I love it that people want to read more about them.

Just in case anyone else out there is wondering the same thing, let me answer here on the blog. And I should probably add this to the FAQ, too.

Joss
Before A Lady of Persuasion came out, lots of people were asking whether I’d write a Joss book. I tried to reply with coy “we’ll see” comments. And even after reading A Lady of Persuasion, some of them are still asking for a Joss book! (If you haven’t yet read ALOP, the following is a spoiler. Highlight the empty space to read it.)

I loved writing Joss and really wanted to give him a happy ending. Because I only had three books on this contract, I didn’t know that I’d ever have a chance to write him a book of his own, so I wrote his romance with Hetta as a secondary romance, and I was really happy with how it turned out. But even so, a lot of readers seem to want more of them. I’m considering writing a novella. At the end of ALOP, they are on their way to marry…but they haven’t tied the knot yet! Who knows what could happen… *wink* However, I can’t even think about writing such a … Read More »

Thank you to those of you who left me blogging suggestions yesterday!  How my writing process has evolved…great idea, will do.  Teasers for next trilogy…oh, most definitely! But today I will direct you toward Petit Fours and Hot Tamales, where I’m blogging with my two critique partners, Courtney Milan and Amy Baldwin.  We were invited to discuss our critique relationship, and how it has evolved over the past three years.  And of course, you’ll learn why the nickname for our group of three writers is “The Two Geniuses.”

Happy Wednesday, everyone!… Read More »

(That’s a quote from Disney’s Beauty and the Beast.  Ah, Lumiere.)

Hooray!  Twice Tempted by a Rogue is turned in to my editor! (And not a moment too soon, since it has just shown up on the Random House site! Release date June 22, 2010.)

This means I have emerged from the Deadline Cave.  I am blinking at the bright rays of the sun, and slowly catching up with email, snail mail, grocery shopping, reading, sleeping, and the like.

I’ve posted a new contest for October and November.  In honor of Isabel Grayson, heroine of A Lady of Persuasion and indefatigable advocate of social justice, and in recognition of the fact that October is Fair Trade Month, I’m giving away gift certificates to GlobalExchange, a nifty online store that specializes in fair trade products.

So, now that all my books are released and I’ve met this deadline, I should theoretically have more time to blog, hm?  And I realize that my blog audience has changed a bit in the past few months, so I’m not sure what all to blog about.  This year’s books?  Next year’s books? What’s new with the darelings? My writing process? Does anyone out there have a burning question…?

What should I blog about?  Any ideas welcome!  All (okay, most) questions answered!… Read More »

Thank you all for a great time yesterday!  Here are the winners, as chosen by Random.org:

Copies of A Lady of Persuasion:

82 – Barbara Elness

12 – Trish D

60 – Cheryl

Goddess of the Hunt:

43 – Donna Stratton

Surrender of a Siren:

2 – Jane

Heart of Christmas:

83 – Scott Romanski

33 – Tammy D

Congratulations to all!  Remember, the prizes are all for you and a friend.  If you’re a winner, please use the contact form to send me your mailing address, plus the name and address of the friend you’d like me to send a copy to (don’t worry, I promise not to use that address for anything else).  It will probably be next week before I get them in the mail, due to my deadline crunch.

Speaking of writing and deadlines, today is the last day of the Unleash Your Story campaign to benefit cystic fibrosis research. I have been a total slacker about reporting my progress and soliciting donations, but I have made my 30K word goal and then some.  Hooray!  The Cystic Fibrosis Foundation is a great organization, and the money goes toward research and education as they work toward finding a cure for this genetic disease.  If you can find even $5 or $10 to spare, please click here to donate.  I’ll be making my own contribution today, too.  Thank you!… Read More »