Sourcebooks Casablanca Romance Authors

It’s official, cowboys are HOT…for those of you who have read a western romance, this isn’t news, but for those of you who are new to western romances…the cowboy is THE quintessential American hero. They work from dawn til dark and get up again to do it all over again the next day. There are no days off…the land is a harsh mistress, but they love working their spread…their land, caring for their animals/herd, and if they are lucky enough have a good woman to stand by their side through it all. This is where I come in ready to give one of my favorite hero-types a shot at happily ever after!     Cowboys can be tough as nails when they have to…with a marshmallow center that they only show to a select few. Add a tall rangy frame, broad shoulders, and working-man’s hands and you’ve got my attention. Toss in a few character flaws and you’ve got a kick-butt story. What’s not to love?     Although the third book in my hot cowboy trilog...

Hold on to your horses, ladies...the youngest of the those dark-haired, dark-eyed Garahan brothers is finally getting his story told. If any of the brothers needed the love of a good woman, Jesse does, and it only took the love of two women! One a curvy blonde with a shattered marriage and big heart…and the other, her darling little three-year-old pinker-than pink cowgirl from the top of her hat to the tips of her itty, bitty boots. We’re celebrating in style, for the little ones in the crowd, there’s bright pink cotton candy and Shirley Temples and for the adults we’ve got sweet tea, and fresh squeezed lemonade, and for those of you who have been living north of the Mason/Dixon Line--unsweetened tea cold or hot. It’ll taste sooo good with the home-baked goodies I’ve brought: Chocolate chip cookies, Cream Scones, Butter Cake and Uncle Jimmy Sullivan’s Chocolate Pie. JESSE has been getting rave reviews. Here are just a few:   “Admirand shows western romance lovers ju...

Summer was always my favorite time of year. When we were kids we’d take turns staying with our great aunt and great-grandfather in their rambling Victorian in Maplewood…playing hide and seek in and around their yard and ancient Mimosa tree, running up and down the back stair case from cellar to attic, getting yelled at for trying to ride the dumb waiter from the second floor down to the basement, catching lightning bugs, and walking to the park… Or our grandparents’ summer home in Spring Lake…swimming in the huge salt water pool at the South End Pavilion... Playing in the sand or the ocean, walking across the wooden bridges spanning the lake to feed the ducks... Eating ice cream at Peterson’s or catching a movie at the Ritz...both fixtures of the community just a half a block from the beach...sadly both long gone. Walking on the boardwalk past the three huge hotels, built at the turn of the century that heralded a forgotten era…on the 'Irish Riviera....

I love Springtime, the cool rainy days and the warm sunny ones. The rain waters our flowers and the sunshine makes them bloom.  We’ve planted so many flowers, flowering shrubs, herbs, and vegetables in our yard over the years that we’ve lived here. Come May, our front yard will be in full bloom, starting with the Azaleas. My darling boys know how much I love Fuchsia...here's a pic standing on the front porch and looking under it toward our Rhododendron. After the cold of winter, spring is my healing season. I can almost feel my inner wings stretching and spreading and take flight watching the gardens unfurl their tender green leaves and open their blossoms to the gentle rains and warmer weather. Here’s a shot of our patio garden, one of my favorite places to unwind… We’ve had our hummingbird feeder out for a few weeks, because I swear that one buzzed by my head when we were raking out the gardens. So far the voracious little darlings haven’t been back, ...

I fall in love with all of the heroes I write about and Jesse Garahan is no exception. To celebrate the month of love, I will be giving away and ARC of JESSE to one lucky winner, picked at random, tonight. But first, let me tell you a little bit about why I write about good-looking Irishmen. February is almost over and the most changeable of months is almost upon us...March...a month that is forever tied with my Celtic ancestors. But to tell you the truth, I celebrate my Irish pride 365 days of the year. One of my writing quirks is that I love to include bits and pieces of my ancestors and Celtic ancestry in all of my books and the Secret Life of Cowboys trilogy does just that! I love writing about family and when Tyler Garahan first started talking to me, I just knew he'd have to have brothers. Before I had settled on the fact that he wasn't going to be an only child, Dylan and Jesse started arguing to get my attention. And so the dark haired, dark eyed, Irish cowboys...

There is always a flurry of activity the weekend before Christmas because that’s when I usually bake…except for this year. This year I had a double-deadline (A WEDDING IN PURITY due on December 15th and copyedits for JESSE due on December 20th) I knew it was going to be a tight squeeze to get everything in. I turned in AWIP on time, but then the unexpected happened, our darling dog Ginger woke up on the 16th and we knew something was definitely wrong with her. Our oldest son carried her to the truck for me and he followed in his car. Looking into Ginger’s sweet face with her Cleopatra eyes, I could see that she was in pain and knew that she wanted me to fix it. My heart broke because I knew I couldn’t. The Vet showed us her x-ray and explained that our dog had a cancerous mass that burst—she was bleeding internally—and there was nothing they could do, except ease her suffering. Ho w do you say goodbye to a faithful friend after 12 years? My husband, our oldest son, and I wer...

I’m so thankful our dog wakes me up between midnight and one o’clock every morning—if she didn’t I wouldn’t have a blog written for today—which reminds me of chickens! Whenever I get distracted halfway through a thought, our oldest just looks at me, smiles and says,  “There goes another chicken.” I guess you’d have to have met my fabulously supportive and wonderful family to understand them. I’d be lost without them…even if I have to put up with a lot of good-natured ribbing. I’m thankful for deadlines, opportunities, and a fabulous editor, Deb Werksman. This has been a whirlwind year for me. I’ve been given the opportunity to write for an editor who understands where I am coming from, but more, has taught me to dig even deeper to write stories that a year ago would not have been possible. I loved every minute I spent in Pleasure, Texas with the Garahan brothers: TYLER, DYLAN and JESSE. With Deb’s guidance, I have reached another milestone in my career: Receiving 4...