Sizzlin’ Stacia in South Beach

After so long, I’m very happy to chat with you about the next book in THE CALLING/REBORN vampire series. KISSED BY A VAMPIRE will be available on October 16 from Harlequin Nocturne.

The heroine in the novel is Stacia, a nearly two thousand year old vampiress who has seen her share of pain and death. She herself experienced it in the days before her wedding when she is turned by her husband-to-be and after, when he enslaves her as she struggles to deal with her new undead life.

Stacia always presented a wealth of contradictions for me. When she first appeared in DEATH CALLS (a 2006 CATAROMANCE Reviewers Choice Winner), you knew she was brash and almost promiscuous as she chased after both Ryder and Diana with equal fervor.

I knew that her sexual pursuit hid a much greater need: To be loved.

That became very apparent in DESIRE CALLS where Stacia and Blake explore their attraction. You can read that story for free by clicking here.

Ever since then, I’ve been trying to find a way to give Stacia her happily-ever-after. There was something about her deep loneliness and the outrageous behavior that she uses to hide it that really called to me. I hope you’ll enjoy her story, KISSED BY A VAMPIRE, when it’s released on October 16.

I also hope you’ll enjoy a slightly different location for KISSED BY A VAMPIRE since I’m moving Stacia’s story to South Beach. It was time for a bit of change from the other Manhattan locales for THE CALLING/REBORN novels.

South Beach was the perfect location for Stacia to meet the man who would challenge her: Sexy DEA Agent Alex Garcia. You might also remember Alex from DEATH CALLS. Alex is Diana’s ex-lover and the events from their brief reunion in New York have had a lasting effect on Alex. KISSED BY A VAMPIRE is as much Alex’s story as it is Stacia’s and I hope you will love this honorable and caring man as much as I do.

I also had another reason for setting the story in South Beach — I’ve been there a few times and wanted to share with you the feel of the sizzling South Beach strip. To get you in the mood, here are some photos of the area where Stacia and Alex will meet and face danger as they fall in love.

I’ll be sharing more Behind the Scenes photos and history with you as we approach the release of KISSED BY A VAMPIRE!

New Year’s Resolutions Redux

Since last week I offered up my list of New Year’s Resolutions, I thought I’d follow up this week with letting you know just how I’m doing with mine! Feel free to let me know how you are doing with yours.

On the eating healthier, it’s a big “yes.” So far we’ve been watching what we are eating and staying away from lots of bad things. I’ve even started cutting back on my use of artificial sweeteners and the number of diet sodas I drink.

On the exercise, another “yes!” I’ve been going to the gym every day for a combination of aerobic and strength training. I’ve also been tracking how many steps I take and have really cracked that 10K barrier every day. In fact, I’ve been over 20K every day.

On the spending I earn a maybe. I’ve been good about not only brown bagging it, but today I made my first microwaved eggs. Pretty tasty I must say. So why only a maybe? My daughter and I hit IKEA last week to buy a needed piece of furniture for her bedroom. The clothes on the floor have finally found a home! Nevertheless it was a kaching on the wallet.

Still, there are lots more days in the month to offset that one big expense.

On the writing, I’ve had to put aside BORN TO SERVE, the first Diana and Ryder book in the REBORN vampire novels to do edits on NIGHT OF THE COUGAR which is another of the Nocturne Cravings I am doing. COUGAR will be out in June of this year and here is a little teaser for it:

A year ago, Jamie Morrison found passion in the arms of Galen Hawke, but a car accident ended their relationship. Now, she is reunited with Galen and discovers that he is something other than human. With a full moon on the horizon, all hell . . . and passion . . . are about to break loose.



I’m having a blast writing these erotic CRAVINGS stories and hope you’re enjoying them as well. In fact, I wanted to share the cover for my February CRAVINGS release with you.

Whoo, that is one sexy cover for NOCTURNAL WHISPERS!

So share your thoughts on your resolutions, the cover, anything really.

Sharing My Weekend Writing Retreat

I wish that Google+ photos actually allowed you to do a slideshow. For the life of me, the little create slideshow link just isn’t showing up! So, you can go to visit the album here, but in the meantime…

I headed out on Saturday with my friends Melinda Leigh and Rayna Vause for a writing retreat weekend! Our destination: The Inn at Boonesboro and the Turn the Page Bookstore where we got to meet Nora Roberts as well as a number of authors.

I got up at 5, was on the road by six and picked up my friends shortly after 7. We hit the road and got to Boonesboro just before 11. It was the open house day at the Inn so we got to visit all the rooms, but first we met my friend Lora and then headed to the book store to pick up our books and get ready for the signing. Here’s a picture of my buds in front of the Inn.

Rayna Vause and Melinda Leigh

At the bookstore, we got our purchases and since Vesta’s pizza was packed, headed to Crawford’s Guns, Ammo and Restaurant for a bite before the signing. Where else can you pick up ammo, check out the rifles and get some delicious sweet potato fries?

Crawford's Guns, Ammo & Restaurant

Then it was time for the signing!! I had my books for research (nothing better than Eve and Roarke to get me inspired!). I also had a J.D. Robb “book lamp” that I had made and Nora was so nice and signed it as well. Here’s me and Nora!

Nora Roberts & Caridad Pineiro

Then we were back to the Inn for the open house. Such gorgeous rooms and bathrooms. I loved the Galahad pillow on the chair in the Eve and Roarke room! The rooms were totally romantic and did any of you guess which room I would choose for Rey and Paola from AMAZON AWAKENING?

If you guess that it was the Westley and Buttercup room you were right. I could so imagine a big bed like this made of a sustainable rainforest wood like Ipe.

Westley & Buttercup Room

After that we headed for a walk through Boonesboro and then to dinner. We returned to the site of the Inn with all its lovely Christmas trimmings.

Inn at Boonesboro

Ducking inside the inn to take off the chill, we had some wine and cheese and also celebrated my friend Melinda’s debut book (more on that on Thursday!).

In the morning, we headed to the Antietam battlefield for a bit of history and research. Since Ryder from THE CALLING/REBORN Vampire Series was a physician during the Civil War, I’m toying with the idea of bringing back someone else from that era. You may remember that Samantha Turner from TEMPTATION CALLS knew Ryder back then (and was the one who turned him). Not sure whether this someone is a hero or villain, but walking/driving the fields of Antietam certainly gave some ideas for a new character.

I even managed to climb the Observation Tower! The trip up was quite a hike, but the trip down was interesting as my fear of heights kicked in. Luckily Rayna lent me her shoulder to hold so I could keep my face to the wall and not see the big open scary hole in the middle of the stairs!

Antietam Observation Tower

I hope you enjoyed this little travel journal!

Also, if you need some tips on writing short fiction, come and play with me today at my friend Catherine Bybee’s blog where I am talking about how to move from writing long fiction to short!