Medium Rare, Week 2

Congrats to Sheryl Asbury who won last week’s drawing for a copy of Medium Well. To be entered in this week’s drawing for Medium Well, just leave a comment below. I’ll give away two more copies, leading up to the release of Medium Rare on August 20. One of the things I enjoyed about doing […]

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Welcome To the Ramos Family

On August 20, three weeks from today, Medium Rare. the second book in my Ramos Family Trilogy is released from Berkley InterMix. To celebrate, I’m giving away three copies of Medium Well, the first book in the trilogy, to a randomly chosen commenter, one per week. To be entered, leave a comment (and your email […]

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Scenes From a Romance Conference

I just got back from the 2013 Romance Writers of America conference in Atlanta. It’s still too soon for me to make any kind of coherent statement, but I can describe a few memories while they’re fresh. 1. Atlanta may be lovely—I don’t really know. I spent most of my time in the Marriott trying […]

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My Ten Best

A couple of weeks ago, Entertainment Weekly hit a new level on the hubris meter: they listed the 100 best in a variety of entertainment categories, movies, television, plays, music, and books (and therein lies another blog post). Predictably, I disagree with a lot of their choices, but I’m sure I’m not the only one. […]

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Hanging From That Cliff

Dana Stabenow’s newest Kate Shugak mystery, Bad Blood, has been getting some mixed reader reviews on Amazon and Goodreads. Some readers comment that there’s not enough Kate in the book, that much of the story is told from others’ points of view. As a matter of fact, the crime in the book isn’t really connected […]

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The Formula

I just finished the latest Amanda Quick novel, The Mystery Woman (and before I go any farther, yes, I know Amanda Quick is actually Jayne Anne Krentz, but let me go on referring to her as Amanda Quick for simplicity’s sake). Like most Amanda Quicks of the last few years, it follows a formula: woman […]

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Dumbing It Down

It’s always interesting to see your favorite books turned into television series, but it can also be troubling. The troubling part is what I’m thinking about at the moment, particularly as it applies to the television versions of two favorite book series: Bones and Rizzoli and Isles. Both shows are based on long-running book series, […]

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Next Year's Book

Here’s a little-known truth of writing: you’re always in love with next year’s book. Next year’s book is the new guy at work, the strap-hanger on the bus who looks a lot like Ryan Gosling, the new barrista with the cute smile. Next year’s book makes your heart race a bit, and the more you […]

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Charlaine Harris and the Scourge of Disappointment

**SPOILER ALERT** This post discusses Charlaine Harris’s Dead Ever After and makes some reference to the conclusion. If you haven’t yet read the book and want to be surprised, don’t read this post! **SPOILER ALERT** Poor Charlaine Harris. She announced that she was ending the Sookie Stackhouse series (which has been going since 2001). In […]

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The Viewing Public

I work at home, which means I no longer need a career wardrobe. In fact, when I’m writing, I usually stick to yoga pants or exercise shorts with T-shirts or tanks, depending on the season. Now here’s the thing—this is not what you’d call my “public” wardrobe. I wear it around the house and for […]

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