Your latest release is LOVE BURNS. Tell us about it. Love Burns is the third book in my River Series from The Wild Rose Press which is based around a circle of good friends who vacation together every summer at Lake Mohave on the Colorado River.
The tagline for Love Burns— Sometimes fanning the flames is better than running—proved very true in the writing of the novel. I first fell for my hero Dave Knight while 
writing Nate and Kay’s story in Clear As Day (The River #2). Dave is a smokejumper and a daredevil who has no plans to take life slow or fall in love. He was fun, charming, and edgy enough to intrigue, but I swore up and down to my critique group that I absolutely, positively wasn’t going to write a sequel. They just laughed and my sexy, headstrong bad-boy had other plans. He wanted his happily-ever-after too and nagged, nudged, and charmed his way onto the page and finally won his story–and his lady.
My heroine Olivia definitely deserved a happy ending. She’d always done the right thing—she was a good daughter, a dutiful student, a dedicated nurse, and a faithful wife. When she first appeared in Clear As Day, her heart and marriage were broken by her emotionally abusive, adulterous husband, and she finally filed for divorce. Dave and she were attracted to one another from the start but, despite the accidental kiss that rocks them both at the beginning of Love Burns, they run from acting on that attraction. When an accident ends his career, Dave must face the ashes of his past and the woman he can’t forget. As Olivia rebuilds her life and begins a new career in Florida, she’s certain Dave’s a sizzling temptation she can’t afford, but when life brings them together again, she discovers breaking the rules with the wrong man might be the best mistake this good girl’s ever made for love. Fanning the flames between Dave and Olivia was so rewarding and I’m so glad none of us ran from the challenge.
Do you ever cast your characters? I don’t cast my characters using actors or actresses, although I do like to find stock photo models that fit my ideas of how my characters look. They couple on the cover of Love Burns are very close in looks to how I imagined Dave and Olivia and catches some of their playfulness. I usually have a very firm vision of my characters’ appearance as I’m writing and matching them to real life actors and actresses hasn’t worked for me.
Please tell us about your other series. The His Girl Next Door series is set in some of my favorite towns along the New Jersey shore. The first two books in the series are out and available in ebook and print. In the first book, Kissing Katie, when Matt Powell reconnects with his childhood best friend, Katie Vanburen, after twenty years apart, it’s decision time: his high-profile career–or the love he never dreamed possible. However, Katie’s twice-broken heart leaves her unready to trust again. Can her cracking defenses hold when Matt argues his case for love, in bed and out? In Convincing Cami a hot, spontaneous kiss surprises good friend friends Jack O’Malley and Cami Alexander. Jack knows his bachelor days are over and he’s done hiding the feelings he’s always had for Cami. Passion proves irresistible and one explosive night ups the ante. More than their hearts are at stake now and convincing Cami they’re meant to be together is going to get complicated. The next two books, Tempting Tessa and Loving Lexi, will be coming up for preorder this summer.
Do you have a favorite writing place or writing rituals? I’m lucky to have a room at home for my office, with a Continued from page 5 big window with a view of a maple tree and the sky letting me pretend I’m in a tree house. I like to listen to music while I’m writing and usually have one of my Pandora channels playing, mostly New Age and instrumental movie music. I like to write early in the morning and I’m up at five, starting my day with a big mug of coffee and cuddling my cat Pookie. I usually write while in an online chat with my critique group and other writing friends.
What was one of the most surprising things you learned in creating your books? That I could achieve my dream of being a published author. Turning that dream and my love of writing stories into reality was a long struggle to overcome too much self-doubt and step out in faith with the stories of the heart I love. Seeing my stories bloom and come to life in print and now being able to share them with readers has been an awesome experience. If you could go on a romantic date with a fictional character by any author, whom would you choose? Lately I’ve been on a contemporary cowboy romance reading kick, so at the moment I’m in the mood to go with any of Carolyn Brown’s sexy Texan heroes. You can’t go wrong with a picnic supper at a lake, a little fishing, a little music, a little dancing, and kissing a charming cowboy under the wide-open starry summer sky. ☺
What social media do you participate in? You can find me at:
Twitter / Facebook Profile Facebook Page / Google+ / Goodreads / Pinterest / Tsu
