Sourcebooks Casablanca Romance Authors

Yep, squished on my lap, looking over my keyboard, my puppies watch me take pictures, but really, as you can see here, I was typing away on my next story. Tanner, the black and tan Havanese, had to peer over my laptop, and I had to take a picture. Max, the white Havanese, has to get as close to me as he can. Getting ready for St. Patrick's Day--may the luck of the Irish be with you! Making bears, need to make another.  And playing around with Photoshop's oil paint versions of the puppies. And gardening! Well, this is a weed. But isn't it pretty? And this is a Sweet Sixteen Gerbera Daisy. Isn't it pretty? And garlic chives, so yummy on baked or boiled potatoes! They've been growing all year, even through the hard freeze we had, and now are all a bloom. Oil paint version of garlic chives. For the first time, I've planted zinnia, salvia, coneflower, and some other seeds. I usually end up pulling them up as weeds, I think, ...

How to Eat Like a Viking: 3 Things You MUST Know After a trip to Sweden in 1999, Vikings have fascinated me. The first romance novel I wrote was Norse Jewel , a Viking romance. But, the Norse hammers in my head needed balance. So, I wrote Georgian romance set squarely in mid-1700s. Lately, the scales tipped back to hot Viking tales again. That's what brought me to one of my favorite research finds,  An Early Meal . Yeahhhh, the Sagas are full of food and feasting, but this takes you on a gastronomical archaeological journey to seven Scandic sites. The result? Tasty, modern recipes with historical mileage. Hold on! There's more to this adventure than a book report on "What did Vikings eat?" An Early Meal is the result of two Nordic experts' finds, a mix of food and history. Be still my heart! I decided to not only write more Viking romances but to eat like Vikings too. Yes. I'm planning a series of "Eat Like a Viking" blog posts this...

by Amanda Forester With the spring comes the renewed interest of the time honored sport of gardening.   I love gardens -the flowers, the colors, the lush leafy greeness of it all.   So beautiful.   So, yes, I love gardens... other people's gardens.   Gardening, however, I do not love so much. I confess, I am death to plants. It's not that I don't try to keep things alive... for a little while at least.   Whether my problem lies in simple neglect or unwanted attention, my track record with my green and leafy friends is not a good one.   Now normally I would accept my failures and move on, but I unfortunately have neighbors who hire fairies from the enchanted wood to sing sweet melodies to their flowers to achieve magical blossoms.   Their lawns look like putting greens from a masters course.   My lawn, [sigh] well my lawn had large patches of moss, which turned black, giving it that lovely "scorched earth" appeal.   The only patc...

by Joanne Kennedy We Westerners like a challenge--but gardening in Wyoming might be too much of one for me. It's dry here, and the growing season is short. Every year spring seems to come earlier. My bulbs come up, my daffodils bloom, and then wham ! We get slammed with snow. Last year we got ten inches on May 25th. At least I've learned not to run out and buy bedding plants at the first sign of spring. It only took me a few years of tragedy to realize that you absolutely can't plant anything until the end of May. It's really tempting to break that rule when the skies are blue, the temperature is a balmy 75, and robins are frolicking in the back yard, but I've learned to resist temptation. You also have to resist the temptation to buy many of the plants that catch your eye at the garden center. Anything that needs moisture or humidity is out, and since the temperature can vary by forty degrees in a single day, you need fairly hardy varieties. Delicate plants...