Sourcebooks Casablanca Romance Authors

I'm so excited to be back on the Casa blog - especially since I'm here to announce the release of my sixth Western romance, Cowboy Tough. I love that title, because "toughness" is a big part of the cowboy way. It's obvious that rodeo riders have to be tough. I mean, forget riding the bull; I don't even want to climb into that itty-bitty chute with him! But the best side of cowboy courage comes out not in rodeo, but in ranching. When a man goes out in the snow at ten below to tend cows before breakfast--that's tough. My characters might not be out tending cattle in the cold, but they're a pretty tough bunch. Naturally, our heroine Cat Crandall is one tough cookie. I couldn't get my girls to go out West if they weren't pretty tough to start with, and it never takes long for the West to toughen them up a little more. In Cat's case, she's brave enough to leave her boring but comfortable job in advertising for a much less stable oc...

by Joanne Kennedy   I love books. Especially old books.I love corner bookstores, boxes of books in dusty attics, and the smell of ink and paper. I love the heft of a big book in my hands, the riffling of pages, the feeling of discovery as you open to the first page, and the look of a well-stocked library. Anthony Powell was right: Books do make a room. E-books are great for both readers and writers. But as bookstores close and publishers struggle, I wish publishers would take a step back in time and capitalize on the qualities people have always loved in books—the qualities nookbooks and Kindle editions just can't replicate. There’s no point in competing with e-publishers to make books that are cheaper, less cumbersome to carry, or easier to distribute. So why not make them beautiful? Wouldn't it be great if we brought back the days when books had beautiful leather bindings and marbled endpapers; gilt decorated covers and quaint illustrations pasted on the fro...

by Joanne Kennedy As 50 Shades of Gray hovers at the top of the bestseller lists, critics and readers are all trying to figure out what the heck happened. How did this book become so big, so fast? Why did it leap into the limelight so quickly? A lot of writers—and readers—have declared the book unworthy. They pick it apart, exclaiming over every instance of bad writing, cardboard characterization, and poor plotting. It seems like blockbusters rarely follow the rules of great writing, so cataloging their faults is a game we can all play. Others pore over the words of newly minted millionaire E.L. James in an effort to find the elusive key to bestseller-dom. (Get it? Bestseller- dom . Nudge nudge, wink wink.) Every new blockbuster is another chance to figure out the answer to the ever-present question: what do readers really want? Bondage? I don’t think so. Male newscasters are having an awfully good time with the revelation that women like reading about kinky sex, but I’m no...

by Joanne Kennedy When I was a kid, my sister and I used to hunt for four-leafed clovers in the grass. These elusive little good-luck charms never seemed to turn up when you were looking for them--but when you least expected it, you'd stumble across one by accident. That's how luck works. By definition, it's a happy accident of fate, and I always seem to stumble into good fortune when I least expect it. And while hard work, perseverence, and focus help determine our lives, it's often luck that has the most influence in leading us to our destiny. Here are four strokes of good luck that led me to the here and now: Finding my Place: I moved out West in 1992. At the time, I thought I was running away from home. In reality, I was running to home--to the place where I belonged, and the place that has defined me ever since. Finding my Hea rt: I met my husband by chance. I was running a bookstore; he was a customer. We definitely weren't looking for love, but after ...