Sourcebooks Casablanca Romance Authors

I don’t get nostalgic for very many things, but I make an exception for holiday movies. It’s probably because of my annual tradition of saving all my present-wrapping for the very last minute. For weeks, I ignore all holiday warning signs and realize, around today’s date, that I have about 10,000 presents to be sorted and wrapped. Hence my annual movie marathon. In a few short hours, I will retreat into my office with this year’s load of goods, lock the door, and cue up several holiday movies to get me through the paper-and-ribbon slog. (Don’t worry – I take breaks for snacks.) Although the assortment of movies changes year-to-year, you’ll almost always find some combination of my Christmas movie top four. While You Were Sleeping I can pretty much recite this movie from start to finish (“These mashed potatoes are so creamy.”), and I always take a moment to pause when the newspaper boy bites it during his routine delivery. Even though I never, in my wildest dreams...

Although this is technically a book blog, and I’m supposed to be writing about all the glamorous bookish things in my life right now, I’m going to give you a puppy instead. (Sorry not sorry.) For my birthday a few weeks ago, my husband and daughter decided that the perfect gift would be a wriggling, messy, rambunctious puppy…and they weren’t wrong. Duke is the newest addition to our family, and we couldn’t be happier about him. He’s an Akita/Lab mix, and he’s already assimilated himself into the writer lifestyle by lounging on the couch with me for hours at a time while I work. He’s also a dog after my own heart because the only thing he wants to do (besides nap) is eat. In fact, he's quickly learned to carry around his bowl and look sad, because nothing is more effective in getting snacks than this face. Seriously, you guys. He's so hungry. The vet says he's likely to grow to 100+ pounds, so he has some serious growing to do. My real-life advent...

So, I have this heroine I’ve been working on. She’s fun, she’s cute, she loves dogs. She’s also the proud owner of a 1965 vintage trailer that she refurbished with her own two hands—in fact, it’s the cornerstone of her personality. Two weeks ago, this was not the case. That’s because two weeks ago, I hadn’t yet stumbled on a street fair of vintage trailers. YOU GUYS. I’ve always loved RVs and tiny houses. My family goes to the fair every year, and my favorite part is always the display of RVs they have. They let you walk in and ooh and aah and imagine a kick-ass life on the road. And I like tiny houses because, well, they’re tiny. Small things are my favorite things. So even though I’ve seen vintage trailers around and admired them from afar, I’ve never really had a chance to go inside and poke around. Well, now I’ve poked. And I’m hooked. These things are not large, and they’re not super glamorous. The 1960s design means that you’ve got small spaces, no bathro...

Like most authors I know, I choose reading as my preferred way to relax and unwind. Like most humans I know, I have far too little free time to do this as often as I’d like. In fact, sitting down to read has become more of the exception than the rule, which means I’ve had to take steps to ensure I get my daily literary fix. How do I do it? Audiobooks. And I’m not alone. Audiobooks are currently the fastest-growing digital format in the book industry, a trend I’m happy to be a part of. Whether I’m going for a jog, washing dishes, folding laundry, or acting as family chauffeur, I love being able to plug in my earphones and travel to my favorite fictional worlds in a flash. I don’t, however, travel to just any fictional world: I tend to travel to the ones I’ve been to many, many times before. See, for me, it’s difficult to listen to a book I’ve never read before. I think it’s because I feel pressured to pay attention; I love things like word choice and sentence construction,...

Writing books is weird. My newest release was written over a year and half ago. The project I’m working on right now won’t see the light of day until 2019. I’m looking ahead to 2020 to see what kind of openings I have for my next series. With so much advance planning, it’s no wonder that my internal clock is sometimes way off kilter. Take, for example, the holiday novella I’m polishing up and getting ready to format. Inside my head, the world is full of hot cocoa, snowball fights, and Yeti sightings. Outside my house, it’s a hundred degrees and the air is filled with forest fire smoke. I can get away with pretending the forest fire smoke is a Yuletide log for a few hours, but reality comes crashing back when I step outside and all thoughts of crisp winter mornings evaporate off my skin. Literally. As a general rule, I don’t have to be in the right “zone” to write a particular book or scene. I don’t need candlelight and wine to write a love scene (more often than n...

She's a wanted jewel thief.  He's FBI. What's that saying? Keep your friends close...and your husband closer. Your summer (and mine) just got a whole lot more exciting!  Nothing says sun and relaxation quite like a romantic heist caper. If you like your men suited up, your women slightly crooked, and your romance filled with laughter, then the Penelope Blue series is perfect for you. Although I strongly recommend you start with STEALING MR. RIGHT before you jump into this book, this entire series is a whole lot of fun. Keep an eye out for the third book in the series, SEEKING MR. WRONG , out in March of next year! Back Cover Copy:  Being a retired jewel thief certainly has its perks. 1. Oh, wait. 2. No it doesn't. Without the thrill of the chase, life's been pretty dull. Penelope gardens, drives her gorgeous husband up the wall, and watches as her old world slowly slips away. But what's that old saying? When one thief closes the...

What to Watch: Best Banter One of my favorite parts of any good romance novel (whether it’s written by me or not) is the banter. Give me a sharp hero, a witty heroine, and 380 pages of verbal ping pong, and I’m a happy reader. Even all those gushy love scenes and high adrenaline plots don’t matter as long as there’s a playful bandying of words. Of course, writing this kind of easy banter is hard work. It usually takes me several passes and lots of painstaking edits before I can achieve the perfect light-hearted note. It also takes research—which, for me, includes hours upon hours of watching movies and television. (I know. It’s a tough life, but someone has to do it.) Some of the best lines of dialogue in pop culture were painstakingly written into the script (I’m looking at you, Gilmore Girls). Others arise from actors improving on the set (a skill I’m hugely envious of but will never master). Either way, I find that watching these movies and shows—oftentimes over and ove...

As the weather (finally) warms up in my neck of the woods, I find myself beginning my annual #writingview journey. For all of my writing life, I've had an active and easily bored child by my side. When she was little, this meant I spent a lot of time at mall playgrounds with my laptop in hand. Now that she's older, the mall playgrounds don't cut it, but the need to get out of the house is still very much there. Which is why, a few years ago, I started documenting all the beautiful, boring, and flat-out bizarre places I get my writing done. Roller skating rinks, trampoline parks, the area in the YMCA overlooking the pool, squashed up in the car during volleyball practice...you name it, I've been there furiously trying to get my word count in for the day. Sunny days are pool days. Rainy days are pool days, too. It's turned into a kind of joke in my family...where has Tamara dragged her computer today? It's like one of those cute garden gnome journeys,...

I'm a wanted jewel thief.  He's FBI. What's that saying? Keep your friends close...and your husband closer. As the heist crew in Stealing Mr. Right likes to say, it's T minus four days until showtime! I'm so excited for Penelope Blue and her team to hit the shelves and sneak into your homes. This book captures everything I love about writing: it's fun and funny and fast-paced, and in a time when all of us could use a little escapism, provides the perfect retreat. I hope you enjoy this heist romance as much as I do, and thanks so much to Sourcebooks for an amazing book release. See you all on Tuesday! Back Cover Copy:  Being married to a federal agent certainly has its perks. 1. I just love the way that man looks in a suit. 2. This way I always know what the enemy is up to. Spending my days lifting jewels and my nights tracking the Bureau should have been a genius plan. But the closer I get to Grant Emerson, the more dangerous this fe...