Category: ThrowbackThursday

The South Beach Security series was inspired in part by my family’s trips to Miami and South Beach over the years. We used to love spending time there and popping over to Little Havana as well as some of the tourist attractions like the Miami Seaquarium. I’ve included some of those spots in books like South Beach Love and also the upcoming SBS series. On this Throwback Thursday, I’m sharing one of my favorite pictures taken during one of our visits to Miami. When I was a kid and we visited, we would always go to the Miami Seaquarium because it was the home of Flipper the dolphin. I even had a large dolphin plush doll!

September is drawing to a close but before it goes, I wanted to celebrate that it’s been 23 years since my very first book was released. Now and Always helped launch the Encanto romance novel line and it was such a special time for me. Because of the launch, I appeared on a number of television shows and there were numerous press articles about the launch of the line. It was so exciting! I had my first book signing and was so happy to have my daughter to share that special event with me. I look forward to many more book signings, including with my very talented daughter, and to seeing some of you at those book signings.

It was my mom’s birthday on the 10th which combined with 9-11 makes this a tough time of year for me. My mom left me life way too early and I miss her every day and with every special occasion that goes by. She didn’t get to see my sister graduate college or me graduate law school. She didn’t get to see us get married or know her grandchildren and her great-grandchildren. But in the short time that she was in my life, she taught me so so much and made me the person I am today. I love you, mom. Thank you for your wisdom and love and all that you did for our family. This is one of my fav photos of my mom as a young child.

It’s going to be a nail-biter end to the season with the Mets and Braves battling each other for first place in the division. We’re hoping we’ll be able to go to some postseason games and watch the Mets go all the way. Years ago my daughter and I were able to go a division playoff game at Shea Stadium. We actually had to go twice because the first night we went the game got rained out after we got there, hence why we’re wearing ponchos. We had to go back to the stadium two nights later only to watch our Mets lose to the Cardinals. A sad night, but very very exciting.

My daughter did study abroad in London and we were lucky to be able to visit her. Since we’re Harry Potter fans, one of the places we wanted to visit was Platform 9 3/4 at King’s Cross Station. We headed there and located the platform and of course we had to pose for a photo! After we explored many of the other sites in London as well as Windsor Castle. Unfortunately the Queen was in residence at the castle so we weren’t able to tour it.

2012 was a big year for me since it was the year that my paranormal romance The Lost was nominated for a RITA. For those of you not familiar with the Romance Writers of America, the RITA was the award for the best romances of the year. So it was very exciting that The Lost was nominated. The RWA conference was in Anaheim that year and in the months leading up to the conference and the RITA Awards show, I took around Spottie, a plush toy beagle that was named after my hubby’s childhood pet and the hero’s pet in The Lost. It was a fun time and I will always remember it! This is a photo taken the night of the awards with the flowers that my publisher, family, and friends had sent to congratulate me on being nominated.

I’ve only just come back from my conferences in the Boston area and Washington, D.C. and I’ll be off to Houston next week for the fabulous Book Lovers Con. I am so looking forward to all the fun events and getting to hang out with you guys! Look for me at the following events at Book Lovers Con:

Author Jamboree
Fri, Aug 12, 2022 10:00am – 11:30am, Founders I-IV

Biscuits & Books
Sat, Aug 13, 2022 8:30am – 9:30am, Discovery A

X’s & O’s
Sat, Aug 13, 2022 10:00am – 11:30am, Founders I-III

Book Bash
Sat, Aug 13, 2022 12:30pm – 2:30pm, Legends I-IV

If you can’t make the conference, I believe the book signing is open to the general public for a small fee. I’ll have copies of books from the At the Shore series as well as The Family She Never Met and Decoy Training.

I’m sharing a photo from one of my conferences where I got to hang out with this handsome cowboy! It was a hard job, but somebody had to do it. LOL!