The Sublime Joy of the Epistolary Romance by Kilby Blades

on September 26, 2022

Well, here we are in the modern age. Forget Love in the Time of Cholera. Love in the time of Tinder has arrived. Suddenly we have dating profiles; we’re swiping left, and sliding into people’s DM’s. It’s efficient. But is it right? Love was once a drawn-out affair–an endeavor that found us hopeful. It made… Read More

Kilby Blades

Kilby Blades

Kilby Blades is a USA Today Bestselling author of Romance and Women's Fiction. Her debut novel, Snapdragon, was a HOLT Medallion finalist, a Publisher's Weekly BookLife Prize Semi-Finalist, and an IPPY Award medalist. Kilby was honored with an RSJ Emma Award for Best Debut Author in 2018, and has been lauded by critics for "easing feminism and equality into her novels" (IndieReader) and "writing characters who complement each other like a fine wine does a good meal" (Publishers Weekly).

During her fifteen year career as a digital marketing executive, she moonlighted as a journalist, freelanced as a food, wine and travel writer and lived it up as an entertainment columnist. She has lived in five countries, visited more than twenty-five, and spends part of her year in her happy place in the Andes Mountains.

Kilby is a feminist, an oenophile, a cinephile, a social-justice fighter, and above all else, a glutton for a good story.

https://www.kilbyblades.com/

How to Embrace the Cliché

on November 2, 2021

by Cookie O’Gorman What is a cliché, and why do people always say it like it’s a bad thing?  “Trope” is a word I didn’t know until a few years ago.  I didn’t realize there were these preordained categories of romance.  Though I’d enjoyed and read several of them, I never knew there was an… Read More

Cookie O

Cookie O'Gorman

Cookie O'Gorman writes YA romance to give readers a taste of happily-ever-after. Small towns, quirky characters, and the awkward yet beautiful moments in life make up her books. Cookie also has a soft spot for nerds and ninjas. Her novels ADORKABLE, NINJA GIRL, and THE UNBELIEVABLE, INCONCEIVABLE, UNFORESEEABLE TRUTH ABOUT ETHAN WILDER are out now! Her next book, The Good Girl's Guide to Being Bad, was released April 25, 2019!

https://cookieogorman.com/

Lyn Cote

Lyn Cote

USA Today best-selling author of over 40 romances, Lyn Cote writes award-winning contemporary and historical romance. Her brand is "Strong Women, Brave Stories." Her books feature a strong heroine, often a multi-cultural cast of characters and authentic history or contemporary life. She lives with her real life hero in a lakeside cottage in the northwoods with two fun cats. (She loves dogs too. :-)

https://BooksbyLynCote.com/SWBS

Lyn Cote Contest

Lyn Cote is giving away an ebook copy of NORTHERN INTRIGUE BOOKS 1-3 box set to one winner.  

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The Little Teashop on Main

on May 7, 2019

One cold day in March I walked through the sunroom where my granddaughters often play.  I stopped as the real world touched my writing world.  There the girls were, wearing their hand-me-down ladies hats and gloves having tea and cookies.  The tea cups might have been full of juice and the cookies were raided from… Read More

Jodi Thomas

Jodi Thomas

A fifth-generation Texan, New York Times and USA TODAY bestselling author Jodi Thomas chooses to set the majority of her novels in her home state, where her grandmother was born in a covered wagon. A former teacher, Thomas traces the beginning of her storytelling career to the days when her twin sisters were young and impressionable.

With a degree in family studies, Thomas is a marriage and family counselor by education, a background that enables her to write about family dynamics. Honored in 2002 as a Distinguished Alumni by Texas Tech University in Lubbock, Thomas enjoys interacting with students on the West Texas A&M University campus, where she served as Writer in Residence.

Commenting on her contribution to the arts, Thomas said, "When I was teaching classes full-time, I thought I was making the world a better place. Now I think of a teacher or nurse or mother settling back and relaxing with one of my books. I want to take her away on an adventure that will entertain her. Maybe, in a small way, I'm still making the world a better place."

When not working on a novel, Thomas enjoys traveling with her husband, renovating a historic home they bought in Amarillo and checking up on their two grown sons.

https://www.jodithomas.com/

A New Year, and New Goals

on January 9, 2019

by Pamela Ann Cleverly The second book in my Tanner series became available on December 18th. Watching it go live was exciting and rewarding. I felt a tremendous sense of accomplishment and rejoiced with family and friends. But now it’s time to move on. So, I left Northeastern Ohio’s cold, grey days and moved on… Read More

Pamela Ann Cleverly

Pamela Ann Cleverly

I’ve always had stories in my head. They were there just waiting to be pulled out when I needed to keep my three rowdy younger brothers quiet. There was a story for long trips in the car or bad weather days. If need be, I could read them something from my vast library of Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys. Those books were the fuel that fed my love of mysteries that years later would lead me to Agatha Christie, Mary Stewart, and Phyllis Whitney.

My teachers complained to my mother that I often daydreamed in class. I didn’t pay attention. When class got boring, I just flipped the switch in my head, and a wonderful story began to play. I tried my best to look attentive, which wasn’t easy. I struggled through school — then I struggled through life.

After a failed marriage, my young daughter and I left the comfort of northeastern Ohio for Toronto, Ontario. It was love at first sight, and each year was more exciting and glamorous than the last. I became an active member of the American business community with ties to the American Consulate. It was a fantasy life, just like in the books that kept my mind occupied each day riding the subway trains. But just six years later, and at the height of my social life, my second husband was transferred back to Cleveland. I cried all the way to Buffalo. Then, before I had time to plan my next move, I had a devastating accident, which left me unable to walk without assistance for almost a year. I read over three hundred books that year. I expanded my interests into the genres of Romance and often read two Harlequins in a single day. I found myself rewriting some of the endings or continuing on with a sequel if the story ended too soon.

One day, I told my mother that the stories in my head were often better than the ones I read. I guess I’d never explained to anyone about those stories that came out of nowhere. Her answer was that I should write them down. Gee, I’d never thought of that. And so in the summer of 1982, I began my first book — a paranormal set outside of London. I wrote it out longhand and then typed the completed pages on my portable typewriter. My world was perfect and I was going to become a writer. But not then.

Fast-forward twenty-three years. I was sitting at my computer at work and suddenly there was a story in my head. It wouldn’t go away, and it wouldn’t let me think about anything else. So I started writing and finally finished at 160,000 words. But then the sequel was in my head, and I was in trouble because I didn’t know what to do next. I joined a writer’s group, and now I’m finally ready to tell my stories.

I’ll be telling those stories from the rolling hills of northeastern Ohio. That is, when I’m not telling them from our home in the lower Florida Keys. I’m also the Executive Director of CANTER Ohio (The Communication Alliance to Network Thoroughbred Ex-Racehorses). But that’s another story.

https://pamelaanncleverly.com

Pamela Ann Cleverly Contest

Pamela Ann Cleverly is giving away an autographed copy of IN THE SHADOW OF THE LIGHTHOUSE to one winner.

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Family Ties

on May 9, 2018

I’m so excited about the upcoming release of my new book MENDING FENCES on June 19. It’s a book about family. Specifically, the book revolves around a widowed father and his four daughters: Sharon, Kathy, Patti, and Helen. My mom and dad had six girls. Actually they had three girls, waited ten years, then had… Read More

Patricia Yager Delagrange

Patricia Yager Delagrange

Fascinated by broken-hearted couples and atypical families, Patricia weaves engaging tales of men and women who create cohesive families where love reigns supreme. She sprinkles her books with intriguing characters who struggle to find balance in life after tragedy. Whether an unwed teenager, desperate widow, abandoned father, or a couple who stray from their marital vows, her characters form relationships impacted by their desire to create a family. Born and raised in the San Francisco Bay Area, Patricia attended St. Mary's College in Moraga, California, where she studied Psychology and Spanish. She spent her junior year abroad at the University of Madrid then transferred to UC Santa Barbara where she received her B.A. in Spanish. She went on to get a Master's degree in Education at Oregon State University. Patricia lives with her husband and two children in Alameda, across the bay from San Francisco, along with two very large chocolate labs named Annabella and Jack, and a rescue terrier mix, Shay Dog. Oh, and she also takes care of her daughter's guinea pig, Lucifer. When she's not writing or spending time with her family, Patricia enjoys riding her Friesian horse Maximus, who lives in the Oakland hills with a million dollar view. The link to her website is: http://www.patriciayagerdelagrange.com

https://www.patriciayagerdelagrange.com

Jodi Thomas

Jodi Thomas

A fifth-generation Texan, New York Times and USA TODAY bestselling author Jodi Thomas chooses to set the majority of her novels in her home state, where her grandmother was born in a covered wagon. A former teacher, Thomas traces the beginning of her storytelling career to the days when her twin sisters were young and impressionable.

With a degree in family studies, Thomas is a marriage and family counselor by education, a background that enables her to write about family dynamics. Honored in 2002 as a Distinguished Alumni by Texas Tech University in Lubbock, Thomas enjoys interacting with students on the West Texas A&M University campus, where she served as Writer in Residence.

Commenting on her contribution to the arts, Thomas said, "When I was teaching classes full-time, I thought I was making the world a better place. Now I think of a teacher or nurse or mother settling back and relaxing with one of my books. I want to take her away on an adventure that will entertain her. Maybe, in a small way, I'm still making the world a better place."

When not working on a novel, Thomas enjoys traveling with her husband, renovating a historic home they bought in Amarillo and checking up on their two grown sons.

https://www.jodithomas.com/

Inspiration in Content & Structure: If you want acorns, look under an oak tree

on June 27, 2016

By Katharine Britton Inspiration in content Inspiration, the root of which is the word “spirit,” comes from the Latin “spiritus,” meaning “breath.” Early (c. 1300) definitions of “inspiration” meant the “immediate influence of God or a god” mainly in religious writing. Inspiration, when it comes to an author, can feel like divine intervention. But even… Read More

Katharine Britton

Katharine Britton

Katharine has a Master’s degree in Creative Writing from Dartmouth College. Her screenplay, Goodbye Don’t Mean Gone, was a Moondance Film Festival winner and a finalist in the New England Women in Film and Television contest. Katharine is a member of the League of Vermont Writers and PEN New England. She teaches writing at Colby-Sawyer College, and is an instructor at The Writer’s Center.

When not at her desk, Katharine can often be found in her Norwich garden, waging a non-toxic war against the slugs, snails, deer, woodchucks, chipmunks, moles, voles, and beetles with whom she shares her yard. Katharine's defense consists mainly of hand-wringing, after-the-fact.

http://www.katharinebritton.com

THE FIRST STEP—AN IDEA…OR CHARACTER…OR…

on May 9, 2016

by Carolyn Haines People often ask writers where ideas for books come from. I think it’s different for each story—a tidbit for a newspaper or magazine, a chance conversation with a friend, happening upon a historical fact while looking for something else, or maybe a dream. Sometimes, as in the case of Rock-A-Bye Bones, one… Read More

Carolyn Haines

Carolyn Haines

USA Today bestselling author Carolyn Haines grew up with both parents working as journalists, and she was bitten by the writing bug at a very young age. Her three ambitions were to be a cowgirl, a mystery-solving sleuth like Nancy Drew, and a writer. Today, she has basically accomplished them all. She is the author of the acclaimed Bones mystery series and in addition, she works as an advocate for humane treatment for animals and operates a small rescue on her farm (7 horses, 9 cats and 6 dogs).

Haines claims to have had “the last golden childhood of the South.” She grew up in Lucedale, Mississippi, a town of 3,000 in the Southeastern Pine Barrens. She rode her bicycle all over the county with her wonderful dog Venus and employed her imagination to create adventures with her friends.

Her first job in journalism was at the local weekly, The George County Times, when she was in high school. She went on to work as a photojournalist at the Hattiesburg American while attending the University of Southern Mississippi to earn a B.S. in journalism.

She worked for nearly a decade in the news business, covering local politics, the state legislatures in Alabama and Mississippi, spot news, writing a personal column and her favorite—writing features and using photography to illustrate the story. With her mother, she ran a statewide bureau in Mississippi for the Mobile Register and the Mississippi Press. As part of her journalistic adventures, Haines covered an armed robbery on horseback, hopped a freight train, and rescued a young, injured bald eagle from certain death. She was the first female reporter hired on the news side of the Huntsville Times.

At the same time, she began writing short fiction for personal satisfaction. Under the sway of Eudora Welty, Flannery O’Connor, Doris Betts, and Lee Smith, Haines wrote about the landscape and the people she knew. The end result was being accepted by an agent who urged her to “write a novel.”

Another huge influence was Harper Lee and TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD. Haines’s first novel was SUMMER OF THE REDEEMERS, a coming of age story set in 1963 rural Mississippi and published in 1994. Haines was honored in 2010 with the Harper Lee Award for Distinguished Writing.

In 2009, Haines was named the recipient of the Richard Wright Award for Literary Excellence.

From general fiction, Haines drifted into mysteries, and THEM BONES, a humorous mystery with a wise-cracking ghost, was bought at auction. The stories center around Sarah Booth Delaney and her friends. The fourteenth book in the series, BOOTY BONES, was published May 20, 2014, by St. Martin’s Minotaur.

While writing the lighter mysteries, Haines has continued to write in the darker terrain of the crime novel. PENUMBRA and FEVER MOON (both St. Martin’s Minotaur) are historical crime novels.

In May 2010, an anthology she edited, DELTA BLUES, was released to critical acclaim.

Along with writing, Haines is the fiction coordinator at the University of South Alabama where she teaches graduate and undergraduate fiction writing. And she is president of Good Fortune Farm Refuge, an organization dedicated to helping animals and to educating the public on the need to spay and neuter.

She lives on a farm with her “critters.” They are the terror of the neighborhood.

https://carolynhaines.com

Carolyn Haines Contest

Carolyn Haines is giving away a signed ARC of LIGHTS, CAMERA, BONES to one winner!

Enter Here

Twelve Authors Participate in The Inheritance Collection

on April 22, 2016

    By Margaret Daley From Judith Arnold about how The Inheritance collection originated: The idea for the series was born during the “Let Your Imagination Take Flight” conference in 2015. Patricia McLinn, Day Leclaire, Lisa Mondello, Kathryn Shay, and Judith Arnold were all at the conference, and we were tossing ideas around, searching for… Read More

Margaret Daley

Margaret Daley

Margaret Daley is an award winning, multi-published author in the romance genre. One of her romantic suspense books, Hearts on the Line, won the American Christian Fiction Writers' Book of the Year Contest. Recently she has won the Golden Quill Contest, FHL's Inspirational Readers' Choice Contest, Winter Rose Contest, Holt Medallion and the Barclay Gold Contest. She wrote for various secular publishers before the Lord led her to the Christian romance market. She currently writes inspirational romance and romantic suspense books for the Steeple Hill Love Inspired lines, romantic suspense for Abingdon Press and historical romance for Summerside Press. She has sold ninety-two books to date. Margaret was the President for American Christian Fiction Writers (ACFW), an organization of over 2600 members. She was one of the founding members of the first ACFW local chapter, WIN in Oklahoma. She has taught numerous classes for online groups, ACFW and RWA chapters. She enjoys mentoring other authors. Until she retired a few years ago, she was a teacher of students with special needs for twenty-seven years and volunteered with Special Olympics as a coach. She currently is on the Outreach committee at her church, working on several projects in her community as well as serving on her church's vestry. On a more personal note, she has been married for over forty years to Mike and has one son and four granddaughters. She treasures her time with her family and friends.

https://www.margaretdaley.com

A Pirate’s Guide to Modern Romance

on November 12, 2015

by Jean Lafitte (with translation by DJ Jaco) Bonjour, mes amies. I was most pleased when asked to offer my considerable knowledge of the art of l’amour to modern women who might wish to please a man of the world such as myself. (DJ: He means pirates. Specifically, undead French pirates from the early 1800s…. Read More

Suzanne Johnson

Suzanne Johnson

The Unofficial Bio:
I am ridiculously nearsighted, have a weakness for reality shows (anyone for a marathon of “Ice Road Truckers?”) and am somewhat obsessive-compulsive. Well, okay, my critique partner calls me “Rain Man.” I like to color-code anything, am obsessed with the search for the perfect daily planner, and love listening to Canadian French folk music.

The “Official” Bio
Suzanne Johnson is the author of the Sentinels of New Orleans urban fantasy series from Tor Books: ROYAL STREET, (Book 1), RIVER ROAD (Book 2), ELYSIAN FIELDS (Book 3), and PIRATE’S ALLEY (Book 4). BELLE CHASSE (Book 5) will release on Nov. 8, 2016. She is also the author of a holiday short, CHRISTMAS IN DOGTOWN, a novella and collection of stories, PIRATESHIP DOWNTHE CONSORT, that was part of the Dark Secrets Paranormal Noir anthology.

Writing as Susannah Sandlin, she is the author of the multiple award-winning Penton Vampire Legacy paranormal romance series: REDEMPTION, ABSOLUTION, OMEGA, and ALLEGIANCE, and a standalone spinoff, STORM FORCE; The Collectors romantic thriller series, LOVELY, DARK, AND DEEP and DEADLY, CALM, AND COLD; and a paranormal digital short, CHENOIRE. Her new Wilds of the Bayou series with Montlake Romance begins with WILD MAN’S CURSE, releasing April 5, 2016, with book two (as yet untitled) following in late 2016.

A longtime New Orleans resident, Suzanne is a veteran journalist with more than fifty national awards in writing and editing nonfiction for higher education, including the Robert S. Sibley Award for the best university magazine in the U.S. and Canada, for the Rice University magazine. She currently works at Auburn University in Auburn, Ala., and is plotting a return to the Gulf Coast within the next sixteen months.

Suzanne is an active member of Novelists Inc., Romance Writers of America, and is a member of the Southern Magic, Kiss of Death, Georgia Romance Writers, and Fantasy, Futuristic and Paranormal chapters of RWA.

http://suzannejohnsonauthor.com

Begin Again

on November 2, 2015

by Lisa Renee Jones With every new series an author starts from scratch. A new world to mold, new characters to create and acquaint yourself with, and in my case an intricately twisted plot to plan out. Yet, with the daunting task of a new series comes the thrill of weaving in the new elements… Read More

Lisa Renee Jones

Lisa Renee Jones

New York Times and USA Today Bestselling author Lisa Renee Jones is the author of the highly acclaimed INSIDE OUT SERIES, and is now in development by Suzanne Todd (Alice in Wonderland, Austin Powers, Must Love Dogs) for cable TV. In addition, her Tall, Dark and Deadly series and The Secret Life of Amy Bensen series, both spent several months on a combination of the NY Times and USA Today lists.

Since beginning her publishing career in 2007, Lisa has published more than 40 books translated around the world. Booklist says that Jones suspense truly sizzles with an energy similar to FBI tales with a paranormal twist by Julie Garwood or Suzanne Brockmann.

Prior to publishing, Lisa owned multi-state staffing agency that was recognized many times by The Austin Business Journal and also praised by Dallas Women Magazine. In 1998 LRJ was listed as the #7 growing women owned business in Entrepreneur Magazine.

Lisa loves to hear from her readers. You can reach her at lisareneejones.com and she is active on twitter and facebook daily.

http://www.lisareneejones.com