A SCANDAL TO REMEMBER is out!

My Latest story A SCANDAL TO REMEMBER released on Tuesday, and I wanted to celebrate by sharing an exclusive excerpt with the Plotting Princesses, and by giving away a copy to one of our loyal readers!

The rules of courtship are swept out to sea when a shipwreck offers a Reckless Bride a true taste of paradise…  

CAN A WHIRLWIND ROMANCE

For too long, Miss Jane Burke’s father has taken advantage of her painstaking research. Heading to the South Seas to make her own name as a scientist despite the crew’s insistence that a woman aboard is bad luck, she isn’t prepared to be championed by a handsome ship’s officer who rouses longings inside her as wild as any storm… 

LEAD TO A PROPER PROPOSAL? 

For Lieutenant Charles Dance, a post on His Majesty’s survey ship Tenacious is just one more dutiful rung on the ladder of his career. Even a headstrong bluestocking on board is less troubling than the ship’s drunken captain—and the ferocious gales that drive the ship off course. Stranded on a remote island, passion blazes between them as hot as the sun, but it’s Jane’s love Dance wants forever…

Here's the Excerpt:

Celebrating the release of AFTER THE SCANDAL

Welcome and Huzzah! Today I am celebrating the release of AFTER THE SCANDAL my 5th Reckless Bride novel. This novel is particularly dear to my heart, because it was the first novel I worked on in concert with the Plotting Princesses.

This wonderful group of authors got together to do what our title suggests: plot. This is a HUGE help to me, as I tend not to plot at all, but let my stories evolve as I go along, following where the characters lead me. While this is often lovely, and leads to wonderful surprises for both the reader and me, it is unfortunately dreadfully SLOW.

Enter the Plotting Princesses. I brought them my opening (already written) and gave them my inciting incident, and within a few moments they had given me so many wonderful ideas, and the biggest plot point—my hero and heroine needed to find a body. 

And off I went. While there are elements of a murder mystery to AFTER THE SCANDAL, I want to assure readers this is a love story first and foremost. A very fulfilling love story. :)

But you can judge for yourself. Here’s an exclusive excerpt of the opening:

The Scandal of Holiday Creep

The holiday creep is back. No, not that guy who hangs out at my local hardware store and offers to carry my bags for spare change (yes, I’m a softie and I always let him), but the slow push to make the purchasing period for the December holidays of Christmas, Hanukkah, and Kwanza begin well before the first frost is on the pumpkins, or the hay is in the barn. 

The signs are everywhere: red and green decorations in the local chain stores; advertisements on the television with bright red cars plowing their merry way through the snow; gorgeous magazine layouts with tips for holiday decorating; and stacks and stacks of catalogues jamming my mailbox. And just last week, while empty candy wrappers from Halloween were still blowing across the lawn, the neighbors had a professional company come install their Christmas lights. Me? I haven’t even ordered a Thanksgiving turkey! 

My first reaction to this year’s holiday creep as a mom and harried head of household, was the frostiest of cold shoulders—I’ll get to the holidays when I get to them, and not a minute sooner, thank you very much! I will not be made to feel guilty because I am not out on a buying or decorating spree, instead of sitting at my desk writing the books my readers count on. 

But then I had a terrible revelation—I’m part of the problem! I have a Christmas e-novella, THE SCANDAL BEFORE CHRISTMAS, which became available in mid-October.