To date, I’ve written sixteen books — three novellas, two series romances and eleven single title romances. While I definitely have my favorites, each of my books are a labor of love. Straight from the author’s mouth (that’s me), here’s the scoop on all of them.

The Novellas: For those of you who wonder how a person can spit out 400 plus pages of story, let me tell you, it’s so much harder to write short. Each of these stories are part of a collection of short stories in collaboration with fellow authors. My first, A Christmas Together includes authors Jane Bonander, Jennifer Horsman and Joan Johnston. And, well, they’re Christmas stories. In my second anthology collaboration, the theme was midnight weddings. It was a pleasure to be asked to contribute in a book with the author pretty much every romance author cut her teeth on,  Kathleen E. Woodiwiss. Also included are Jo Beverly and Samantha James. And the third … yes, the third.  Well, I can’t tell you much about it  … yet. But I can say that it’s a fantastic mega collaboration of stories by all New York Times Bestselling authors across all genres. Stay tuned to get the scoop when I’m free to spill the beans …

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Impostor Series: About the time I decided to take a break from writing to attend to life, Ann Leslie Tuttle from Harlequin asked me to write two books for her. Although my time with her was brief, I so much enjoyed working with Ann Leslie. A fellow Southerner, she remains a favorite person of mine and her sincere demeanor was much appreciated at a time when I was juggling far too many projects. And though the books themselves are smaller than the ones I’d previously written, I thoroughly enjoyed writing both. I hope it shows! The concept? In a sentence, Prince and the Pauper meets Robin hood.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Highland Brides Series: Little known fact: This series actually started out with a single book, The MacKinnon’s Bride. Readers loved the characters in MacKinnon’s Bride so much that Avon, my then publisher, asked me to create a second book, then a third, and yet a fourth. While crafting four books from a concept that was meant to be just a single book proved to be a challenge, the stories took on their very own lives and I think each stand alone.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Single Titles: I wrote my first book on a giant Compaq “laptop” computer that was about four times the size of most people’s TV Receivers today. And I wrote it while my kids played jump rope with the power cord, saving often and sobbing in panic when I made the mistake of not saving. Nevertheless, I managed to finish Angel of Fire (yes, this actually was my working title) and send it off to a successful publishing. I was extremely lucky to be in the right place at the right time and my very first editor was Maggie Lichota, to whom I’m eternally grateful for seeing the potential in my books. I worked with Maggie for the briefest time but it was through Maggie I met longtime Editor and friend, Lyssa Keusch. It was with Lyssa’s guidance that I crafted 12 books.

A few fun facts:

*Before getting my acceptance letter for Angel of Fire, I bought and assembled nearly 100 manuscript boxes and stacked them against one wall in my office/playroom. Luckily, I only went through a handful of them.

*Maggie Lichota sent Angel back three times for me to “spice up the love scenes.” Apparently, I succeeded because my first review hailed me as the new Queen of Lust! Oops!

*Out of 15 titles, I actually got to keep 13. The other two were the brainchild of editor Lyssa Keusch. She came up with both Sagebrush Bride and On Bended Knee, both of which I loved.

*Once Upon a Kiss was published and distributed without any cover copy!

*To write Viking’s Prize, I actually learned the Norse language, and then promptly forgot 99 percent of it.

*Unbeknownst to me at the time, I named my heroine in Kissed after my great, great, great grandmother!

*The very first book I ever started was a contemporary. I only completed about three chapters and then I read Judith McNaught and fell in love with romances.

*Of all my books, the only one set in Charleston, S.C. (my home town) is Kissed. But that’s about to change … Ironically, the three contemporaries I’m currently working on are set in the very historically rich Holy City.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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