Inspy Romance, I’m excited to have Pepper Basham with us today! She’s taking over with a post about the romance trope Friends-to-more! Welcome Pepper! Thank you! If anyone knows me, he/she knows I LOVE romance!! I love figuring out how two unique characters will find their way to each other and grow together through the […]
Cover Reveal and Bad Boy Trope
I’m so excited to do my first cover reveal on Inspy Romance! The cover’s not been a secret because it’s on my bookmarks for the series, but I’ve not done anything at all to promote it. Here is the cover to my upcoming release of Alexandra’s Appeal, Book 3 in the Dixon Brothers series: The […]
The Inspy Valentine’s Awards
Happy day-before-Valentine’s! I’ll confess that we don’t do a lot to celebrate Valentine’s around here (shocking for a romance writer, I know!). But we do try to have a Valentine’s tea party with the kids every year. No matter how you do or don’t celebrate Valentine’s Day, there’s one thing you absolutely need: a good […]
Artist, Meet Accountant! and #giveaway
Come on, admit it. You read the title of this post and immediately thought, “oh, that’s opposites attract.” Am I right? Tropes form the backbone of many a romance novel. They form a kind of shorthand as we talk about stories with our friends. Like this… You to friend: “Hey, I know you love marriage-of-convenience […]
My 30th Book Birthday!
There is a saying that goes, “Write what you know.” As much as that’s helpful, that would be a very short-lived career. I am an army wife, the ex-wife of a drug addict, a cook, a mother, a special needs mother, and…that’s what I know. All of my characters who are anything but those things, […]
Retelling the (Fairy) Tale
Ah, fairy tales. Like so much classic literature, fairy tales form the basis for many contemporary stories. In recent years, retellings have even become so popular they’ve become their own subgenre in fiction. And it makes sense. The originals are clean and usually end happily. Good triumphs over evil. The impossible becomes possible. Romance. Magic. […]
Strong Heroes in Romances
I am an Army brat. My dad was an Army Airborne Ranger my entire life. He retired when my daughter was 2. I grew up on military bases, surrounded by mostly infantry men. My husband is currently in the National Guard and was with the 101st Airborne in the first Gulf War, and with the […]
I Forgot I Fell in Love with You
Here’s a romance trope you don’t read every day: amnesia. Or maybe we’ve read it a hundred times, and just don’t remember! Okay, bad joke. In the amnesia trope, the couple has already met, fallen in love, and sometimes even married before the story starts. But then something happens, and one or the other of […]
Food in Romantic Fiction
Ah, food. One of my favorite subjects. If you follow me on Pinterest, you’ll get a taste for just how much I love food in all its forms. Cooking, baking, eating, sharing, and even reading about it. It’s our fuel for life. We fuel our bodies, our spirits, and our relationships over food. Today, I’d […]
Why Christmas in July? by Deb Kastner
As I settle in to write the first story in my next six book contract for Harlequin Love Inspired (Yay, I was officially offered six books for the tentatively titled series A New Leash on Love!) I groan at the hundred degree heat and sigh. We have two fans running turbo on us but it’s […]