Sourcebooks Casablanca Romance Authors

I think every person on the planet has one thing that brings them total enjoyment. But not all the time. Oh, no.  The best guilty pleasures are ones we let ourselves have as a reward for completing a job. Or struggling to finish something. Or after a long, trying day that took a lot out of us. Writers definitely have guilty pleasures! And we deserve them. Why? Creating worlds and story people takes a lot of brain power. We reach down into our souls and pull out the very best that's inside us. Here are a few of my guilty pleasures. ·        Chocolate - Rich, dark, decadent chocolate! ·        Wine - Mostly red and I love Moscata! ·        Movies - I love movies, sitting in a dark theater watching magic on the screen - Eating popcorn           (If you haven't seen The Longest Ride or Age of Adeline, you should.) ·   ...

Happy Valentine's Day from the Casablanca Authors! Today we're chatting about what says romance to us. Shana Galen For me, it's thoughtfulness, like when my husband pours me a glass of wine because he can see I've had a hard day or empties the dishwasher without me asking. I appreciate a nice box of chocolates and flowers too! Grand gestures are fabulous (I want to read about some!), but romance is in the small things for me. Gina Conkle I'm with Shana, small gestures and kindness make my heart sing. I knew Brian (my husband) was  The One because being with him I felt understood. He paid attention to what made me happy. He listened and responded in ways that told me he got me...he knew what made me tick. I was bowled over when we were dating and he'd show up at my apartment to cook a nice dinner for me. The romance lives on. He'll notice changes in my mood and say, "You need some alone time, don't you?" That's code for: You wa...

  There will soon be 62 books published written by Carolyn Brown or Abby Gray (my pen name on the first four)  so you’d think I would be used to the whole process, right? But here I am chewing my fingernails (thank goodness they don’t have calories or fat grams), waiting eleven more days until my first woman’s fiction book hits the book stores. I’ve got a virtual launch party all ready and the blog dates are set. The cover is awesome. Everything has been completed. Nothing left to chance. So what on earth do I have to worry about? REVIEWS!! I remember my first review very well.  The review was one of those downright nasty, folks! I still shudder just thinking about it. The machete the reviewer used to cut up the story and the author who wrote it was covered plumb up in red sticky stuff and it didn’t smell like cherries or strawberries. No editor was ever going to buy another book from me. I was doomed to be a has-been when I'd barely gotten a g...

by Deb Werksman Editorial Manager, Sourcebooks Casablanca I just had the marvelous experience (thanks to my marvelous husband) of a spa vacation. I took my 21-year-old daughter with me. (I know I don’t look old enough to have a grown-up daughter!) We went to Southern California, where we visited my parents before and after our three days at the fabulous LaCosta Spa in Carlsbad, near San Diego. The first thing to note about Southern California is the weather is perfect—actually, they have no weather, which is essentially the same thing: every day was warm, with blue skies, waving palm trees, blooming flowers, and general bliss. We scheduled our spa treatment for late afternoon so it wouldn’t interfere with pool time (and romance reading time—more on that later). We didn’t indulge in the manicures, pedicures, or anything else available at the marvelous salon there, but we did try the Thai massage, Shiatsu massage, Restorative facial, Custom Scrub, and Odyssey massage at the Deep...

By Robin Kaye I love Chocolate, coffee, and my husband not necessarily in that order. I love coffee in the same way I love air—I need it to live, but I can enjoy it—who doesn’t love the first whiff of the ocean when they’re headed to the beach, or that scent of home after a long trip? Coffee for me is necessary for life but also something I look forward to every morning, afternoon, and most nights too. Loving my husband is easy because like most men, what you see is what you get. The morning he proposed, he didn’t have a ring, a speech, or, it seemed, a plan. He just looked over and said, “So, you want to get married?” We’d only been dating four months; I think his proposal was as much a shock to him as it was to me. After I said, yes, he went right out (without my knowledge, mind you) and sold his motorcycle, his most prized possession, to buy me a ring. He might not be the hearts and flowers type, but with him, I never wonder if I’m loved. Over the years, he’s given up much more than...

Please welcome our guest blogger Charlotte Hughes! Award winning author Charlotte Hughes began her writing career publishing newspaper and magazine articles before becoming a New York Times best selling author. Charlotte makes her home in Beaufort, S. C. Best known for her FULL series with Janet Evanovich, she has written over 40 books, ranging for the 3 mysteries she wrote for Avon to Mira’s HOT SHOT. Her newest release, NUTCASE centers on Atlanta psychologist Kate Holly and the humorous antics of her friends, family and patients. In the process she learns that the life of a psychologist is enough to drive anyone nuts. Readers are invited to visit Charlotte online at www.readcharlottehughes.com , where she also blogs regularly. And today you can see she's talking about one of our favorite subjects -- chocolate! “Hello, my name is Charlotte Hughes, and I’m a Chocolate Addict” I have never met a box of chocolate I didn’t like. Any writer worth her salt knows that writing and ch...