Sourcebooks Casablanca Romance Authors

Another year come and gone! It was a fabulous year, but we're looking forward to next year too! Here are a few of our resolutions for 2016 and some highlights from 2015. Theresa Romain In 2015, I wrote the books that will begin two new historical romance series. I'm excited to have readers meet those new characters in 2016! An author's most necessary resolution is probably "write the best books I can and meet all my deadlines," and I'm sticking with that for 2016. But I also want to be more active in the new year. I got a pedometer for Christmas and will be counting steps. Terry Spear Old House I just bought a new house! It's my first time to buy a new house, and the first time to buy one in nearly 20 years. I'll be less than a half mile from my daughter, so it's a hectic end of the year for me, and a hectic beginning of the year. I have a book deadline coming up for Loving the Silver Wolf on March 1st, release of SEAL Wolf in Too ...

Is it just me, or did Christmas come on like a runaway train in 2015? Granted, everything seems to speed up after Thanksgiving, but this time around, I was caught flat-footed. In fact, I can’t remember the last time I felt so unprepared for the holidays! Which made the week after Christmas more welcome than usual. The Big Feed has taken place, the gifts have been exchanged, the shopping is done—unless you’re among those enthusiasts who hit the malls on December 26—and you can simply relax, enjoy the company of family and friends, immerse yourself in good books, take in some new movies, and watch the year wind to its close. It’s natural enough during that week to reflect on the year that’s passing and the one that’s about to dawn. Many people make New Year’s Resolutions, some triumphantly realized, others possibly destined to fail! My own list of those tends to be short and fairly general, mainly because life is an unscripted event, and it’s easier to adapt a list to suit a ...

I was finally able to have a movie fest over the holidays in order to play catch up on some titles that I missed along the way. The Holiday (2006) with Kate Winslet, Cameron Diaz, Jude Law and Jack Black was the cutest movie that I've seen in a while. I absolutely fell in love with the concept. For those of you who haven't seen the movie, two women with relationship and career issues swap houses in each other's countries (USA and England.) The ladies meet local guys and fall in love. Hey, I'm a romance writer so being fond of the love stories was a given. But what I found fascinating was the swap. There are times when life gets overwhelming, whether it's from the holidays, job, family or finances. Wouldn't it be nice to just say you've had enough and take off somewhere to recharge your battery? For me, two weeks in a cottage in the Scottish Highlands would be ideal. That's where I would want to regroup. According to mindbodygreen.com, here are 27...

Don’t you love how those magazine articles titles on supermarket shelves?  There's Shrink Your Thighs NOW!   This cracks me up because my thighs take their sweet time. Or Sex Tips for the Modern Woman   Was it really so different for the ancient woman? How many positions are there? (quick, let me check my Kama Sutra ). And a personal favorite Touches That Lock Down His Love Ask the single ladies about this...I've been married too long. You might be surprised how long ago Viking's had a fascination with sex and romance --- the men and the women. But, they didn't have colorful magazines dispensing advice.  Skalds (storytellers) shared Viking lore in smoky longhouses until one famous 12th century Icelandic chieftain, Snori Sturlson, put those tales on paper. Snori was most interested in history and mythology, but the steamier stuff showed up in his writing.  If Snori Sturlson wrote for Cosmo, he might call this: ...

In the United Kingdom, today is Boxing Day. A lot of tradition surrounds this occasion, some of which you can read about here . I'd like to see a few aspects of Boxing Day go viral, maybe as an antidote to all the (cyber-) acquisitiveness we're encouraged to show elsewhere in the month. The basic idea of Boxing Day is that after spending Christmas at home or with friends and family, Boxing Day is a day to Go Out, usually bearing gifts to more friends and family, sometimes to co-workers, employees, or the less fortunate. In days of yore, this was a day for the great houses to throw open their doors and provide hospitality to neighbors from many walks of life. My take aways? First, don't limit Christmas to one day, or to a holiday that ends at midnight on December 25. When I was small, my oldest brother was serving in Vietnam. Every year, on December 25, there would be a 24-hour cease fire, and then on Dec. 26, the war would resume. That drove me nuts (and still does)...

By Cheryl Brooks I feel like I cheated this year, buying nearly every Christmas gift online. No hustle and bustle of shopping with the crowd for me, only the click of a button followed by the arrival of the UPS truck. This past Saturday, I wrapped all the presents and put them under the tree. You can do that when your kids are grown up, which is a lot easier than trying to hide everything until after they go to bed on Christmas Eve, although not nearly as exciting. There's a lot to be said for having plenty of time to get everything done. Little or no stress. No last-minute panic. No dragging out the wrapping paper only to discover that you're out of tape. I look back on some of the things I've done in the past and don't know how I ever managed to pull it off. We used to leave early on Christmas Eve morning and spend the entire day visiting family and friends, then make the two-hour drive back home, arriving sometime around midnight. I'd feed the horses and help...

It’s almost Christmas, and I’ve been to several parties all with yummy food and drinks. Here are some of my faves of this season. Candy Cane Martini Shot vanilla rum Shot Godiva chocolate liqueur Shot peppermint schnapps Candy cane for garnish Butter Rum Coffee 1 shot butterscotch schnapps 1 shot vanilla rum 1/2 shot Irish Coffee Whipped topping for garnish If you’re going to be drinking, you need to eat something. One of my favorite appetizers is Pumpkin Pie Dip . 1 can pumpkin ¾ cup brown sugar 6 oz. Greek yogurt 6 oz. whipped topping 1 tsp vanilla 1/8 tsp pumpkin pie spice 1/8 tsp cinnamon Mix it all together and serve with apples, pears, and cinnamon graham crackers. Have a happy holiday!

I hope this finds you well! I wanted to let you know about a price promotion that will be taking place from December 1 to December 31 for How to Date a Dragon (Flirting with Fangs Book 2) as a part of the Kindle December Holiday Store sale. Even though it is a Kindle promotion, the price of the e-book will still drop to $1.99 across all platforms (not just Amazon) during this time. All of my books can stand alone, and this one has a spin off series coming! And now to our blog post... Do Romance Novels Have Value? Ashlyn Chase Because I’m a romance writer, you can probably guess my answer to the question, “Do romance novels have value?” Of course I believe they do! I suppose if I were strictly mercenary I’d still say something to the effect of, “Well, duh. It’s a multibillion dollar business that outsells all other genres.”  But my feelings go much deeper than that. You see, I get fan emails saying things like, “Your sense of humor got me through a diff...