GRADUATIONS AND SCHOOL CONCERTS

It's that time of year when new beginnings and fond farewells are in the air. Being a grandmother, I found myself right in the middle of that this year. My granddaughter (the one on the left-top picture) graduated from vet school a couple of weeks ago. The last time I looked, she was just a little girl. Now she's a doctor ready to live the dream she's worked so hard to achieve.

     When my grandson (bottom picture) performed at his school choir's Pops Concert, I had to blink back a few more tears. It seems just yesterday I was singing A Bear Went Over the Mountain with him. Now he's on stage performing and visiting colleges in anticipation for his graduation from high school next year. Time passes all too quickly. A blink and they're grown.

And yet, I'm all too proud of them.  And though they don't realize it, they are the inspiration for all the wonderful children who fill my stories. Hope you're enjoying the Big D Dad series. SON OF A GUN is available now. LIVE AMMO will be out in July.

Would love to hear your end-of-school-year and graduations stories. Please share.

Hi, I'm Paula, and I'm a Binge Reader.

It's not just that I read multiple books in a row as fast as I can when I have the chance to read.  It's that I tend to find a single author whose work I like and proceed to read my way voraciously through the entire book list.

I've recently read all but one of the Dick Francis mysteries available for purchase.  Well, I say recently.  It's actually taken me about three years to get to them all.  And I've gone back and re-read a few that I particularly liked. There's one book I have at home somewhere that I know I haven't read yet, but I think it may be boxed up somewhere. I'll have to go hunting for it the next time I have some writing down time.

Before Dick Francis, it was the Harry Potter series, all of the Jane Austen books, the entire Dean Koontz Odd Thomas book collection and every old Lilian Peake Harlequin Romance book I could get my hands on. I also got sucked into a Luis Mendoza mystery by Dell Shannon and ended up reading every single one of those books I could find at either the library, the thrift stores or the used book stores. As a child, I made it through all of the original Trixie Belden mysteries one after the other, and collected as many Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys books as I could find.

I also binge read nonfiction sometimes, such as all of the John Douglas profiling books, or the whole Lewis Grizzard humor book collection. (See the image above!)

I've been fortunate, in some ways, that I came to many of the book series I loved after they were essentially complete.  It made binge reading easier and I didn't have the agonizing wait, for instance, for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.  My niece already owned all seven Harry Potter books before I read the first one, so I didn't have to wait for any of them. (Which might explain my Thanksgiving weekend reading binge wherein I read all seven books back to back, barely stopping to eat or sleep).

Are you a binge reader? Do you have a series or the works of a particular author that you couldn't read fast enough or often enough? 

Confess!

INTRIGUES SWEEP DAPHNE NOMINATIONS

The 2012 Daphne du Maurier Contest sponsored by the RWA Mystery & Suspense Writers chapter (commonly known as Kiss Of Death) announced it finalists for the Series Romantic Suspense category. All five places went to Harlequin Intrigues.
In case you missed them in 2011, you might want to put these keepers on your shelf or electronic reader.

HELENKAY DIMON

THE BIG GUNS
September 2011

When he saw his mark being kidnapped, Recovery Project agent Zach Bachman had no option but to rescue her. Even if it endangered his assignment. After weeks of watching Sela Andrews from afar, he was now trapped with the blonde beauty as her bodyguard.

Her brave protector relished the heat of gun battle but retreated from his own emotions. Sela learned that when, in the dead of night in a darkened safe house, the loner became her lover. Still, as her would-be killers closed in on them again, she had no choice but to put her life—and her heart—in the hands of her reluctant guardian.

PAULA GRAVES

MAJOR NANNY
October 2011

A SOLDIER NEVER BREAKS HIS PROMISE....

Agent Harlan McClain has his target in sight. But he’s not pulling the trigger. Instead his assignment is providing Stacy Giordano—the governor’s aide—with security. An easy job for a former marine sniper. And yet, the guarded single mother’s beauty and devotion to her exceptional child soon have Harlan reshuffling his priorities. In the dead of night, in her bed, he promises to keep her and her son from harm. But when an unexpected crisis arises, Harlan is suddenly torn between keeping his word, and taking out a killer.…

JULIE MILLER

NANNY 911
December 2011

The Precinct: SWAT--an elite team who'll put everything on the line.

HE’D NEVER NEEDED ANYONE’S HELP…UNTIL NOW

SWAT team member Miranda Murdock can’t bake, or get a three-year-old to eat. But she can shoot the wings off a fly. Which is why she’s protecting millionaire Quinn Gallagher’s daughter. But the little girl is soon tugging at Miranda’s heartstrings. And Quinn is doing other things to her—exciting, forbidden, bedroom things—making her job riskier each day.…

Quinn is determined to find the killer threatening his daughter’s life. Despite the danger, he wants Miranda with shocking intensity. The elite cop is a puzzle he can’t figure out, and desire between them builds with each heartbeat. Yet with New Year’s Eve and the killer’s deadline approaching, even a single kiss could spell disaster…

ANGI MORGAN

.38 CALIBER COVER-UP
February 2011

AN UNDERCOVER AGENT,

A BEAUTIFUL COP…

AND THE BULLET

THAT BROUGHT THEM TOGETHER

Undercover DEA agent Erren Rhodes was used to working alone. So the very idea of teaming up with Officer Darby O’Malley to ferret out a killer wasn’t exactly how he thought this critical mission would go. But thanks to information only the beautiful cop possessed, finding whoever was responsible for shooting Erren’s friend made Darby a valuable—and irresistible—partner.

Digging into the case reveals a far-reaching conspiracy…and angers all the wrong people. Trying to bring a killer to justice while keeping Darby safe is making Erren remember why he is better off on his own. Especially when Darby makes him long to stay together in the safe house and never let her out of his sight.

GAYLE WILSON

FLASHBACK
August 2011 

Jake Underwood has recovered from the terrible injuries he suffered in Iraq—except for the haunting flashbacks of the attack that decimated his unit. Then suddenly, in the middle of one of those, he sees not the familiar desert landscape of his nightmares, but a terrified and missing little girl.

Chief of Police Eden Reddick knows that with each passing hour, her chances of finding kidnap victim Raine Nolan alive decrease. That terrifying countdown resonates more strongly with Eden because her own sister was taken under similar circumstances and never seen again. 

Despite being willing to pursue every lead, Eden can’t explain how or why Raine could appear in Major Underwood’s flashback. She is, however, impressed with the ex-soldier’s determination to find the child and bring her home. As they work desperately to rescue Raine, Eden begins to feel more than admiration for Jake, but can she keep her town’s anger and suspicions of him from compounding the tragedy they already face? 

~ ~ ~

Pregnant heroine on the cover.. taboo or okay?

SPY HARD is coming next week! I'm so excited about this book. (available for pre-order now on amazon). I've written pregnant heroines before, but I think it's the first time I got one on the cover. What do you think? I hope it won't offend readers. Which wouldn't even have ever occurred to me, but apparently there's this taboo about pregnant women in public that is still alive and well in certain parts of the country? We had a neighbor once who was a QVC shopping channel model. When she got pregnant, they just stopped asking her to come in. Not even to model rings on her hands etc. Apparently, they got a ton of phone calls from people who were offended by the fact that she was modeling while pregnant. Mind you she was modeling shoes and jewelry and holding up kitchen items, etc. It wasn't like she was modeling negligee.

Personally, I think being pregnant is fantastic. :-) I don't even mind moms breastfeeding in public if it's done discreetly. I can certainly turn my head. Although, I think the Time magazine cover last week was waaaay strange.

What do you think? Honestly, if I had to pick one thing I'd rather not see in public, it would be guys with their pants hanging down and their underwear showing. :-) Hopefully, I'll never get one of those for my cover!

Anyway... back to books. Do you ever do online reviews? I'm giving out review copies on my personal blog today. Pop in if you're interested. http://danamarton.blogspot.com

Wishing you a wonderful weekend! --Dana www.danamarton.com

BRAIN OVERLOAD

I was having trouble working through a latest synopsis for Intrigue. Tim found the latest puzzle featuring Harlequin old covers and I decided to put it together.  Synopsis half hour, puzzle forty-five minutes. Synopsis half hour, puzzle over an hour. It went that way while I was by myself for several days. Unfortunately, I never noticed that the new puppies--Dallas & Tex-- decided to stick their noses into the pieces.  If you look closely above there are three pieces missing. And let me tell you, they are totally gone. Never hit the floor gone. LOL

This is the puzzle we put together on the Easter camping trip. Even out college visitors worked on it. Just can't help trying to find a piece of a puzzle.

I love suspense, smart heroes & heroines who work the problem, finding the pieces that fit for the solution. Maybe that's why I'm enjoying jigsaw puzzles.  I'm ready to start the next puzzle...and my next writing project: PROTECTING THEIR CHILD. (I'll be taking a road trip soon and will post pictures I'll be taking for research.)

It's been a busy month with the two new four-legged friends and the baby's graduation from Baylor University. So busy that I forgot to draw a winner from the picture blog. Didn't mean to avoid drawing...just got sidetracked by life. SO... the winners of a recently published Intrigue are:

KATHERYN & MARCIE R

Send me an email and we'll find you a book. And because of my forgetfulness, I'd like to give away the SIDNEY puzzle to someone leaving a comment today.

DO YOU LIKE PUZZLES of any type? Words, Pictures, Games, Jigsaw, Reading Intrigues?
Let me know which is your favorite for a chance to win the drawing.

~Angi
Angi@AngiMorgan.com
AngiMorgan.com

Travels With Maggie

Just got back from a whirlwind weekend of travel to Kansas City to see one of my nephews graduate.  Lots of ideas to blog about.  Lots of story ideas and research details hit me every time I'm back home in the Kansas City area.  Saw lots of people I love (Hi, Aunt Margaret!  Thanks for letting me use your grandson's name as a future hero ;))  Even though it was my nephew's day (he got a scholarship to play baseball for a Missouri university!), everyone was so kind to also celebrate my good news... I made the USA TODAY Bestseller List with my current release, THE MARINE NEXT DOOR!!!  (Thank you to all the readers who put me there!)

But, since it was a long, fast trip, and we're picking up furniture and helping my son move it into his apartment (he's been sleeping on a cot there for a week) today, I'll keep the blog simple and share some pictures.

Our sweet dog Maggie traveled with us this time.  She was a hit everywhere she went.  Even had to doublecheck Grandma's bag to make sure she hadn't packed Maggie inside to take her home with her. ;)

 Here she is lounging on the king-size bed she was forced to share with hubby and me.

 Of course, if she could find a lap, that's what she preferred.

 She staked out territory and secured the perimeter at various locations in the K.C. area.  Also made a new friend with her cousin Cleo--a basset hound living in K.C.  Unfortunately, neither of them could attend the graduation.  But they both enjoyed running in the back yard with my son after the festivities.

Maggie even joined us at a fun diner in Marysville, Kansas on the way home to Nebraska.  Okay, so she didn't go inside with us, but she did get a couple of sample bites of their Swiss cheese burger, and she gave it a four paws up.

 I suppose I should share some pix from the big event.  Here I am with my brothers.  Little brother the Major (and proud papa of the graduate!) on the left.  Big brother (who thankfully, took far better pix than I did!) on the right.  Our next big trip will be to his daughter's wedding in St. Louis.  Lots of family doin's this summer.  (And hmm... lots of tall genes in my family, but they obviously skipped yours truly)

 And here's my nephew with his proud parents.  It was a lovely commencement.  Congrats to the Class of 2012!










So what are you celebrating?  I share a signed copy of one of my backlist title--or THE MARINE NEXT DOOR if you haven't had a chance to get a hold of my current release yet--with one lucky poster today.

Off to do some heavy lifting,
Julie Miller

Spotlight on May Intrigues: When She Wasn't Looking

HelenKay Dimon introduces readers to a sexy lawman in When She Wasn't Looking:

SHE WANTED TO TRUST HIM WITH HER SAFETY--BUT NOT WITH HER HEART...

No woman could deny the appeal of the sexy deputy sheriff Jonas Porter. But to Courtney Allen, Jonas has one major flaw-his badge. Years ago, Courtney's father was wrongfully convicted of a crime and she vowed to never trust a cop again. But when Jonas becomes the only man to believe in her father's innocence, Courtney begins seeing the brooding lawman in a whole new way.

Jonas knows in his gut that the real killer is still out there and determined to finish what he started long ago. To protect Courtney and bring the criminal to justice will require all the skills he can muster. And that means focusing on the job. Not the woman who makes him forget his troublesome past and arouses in him a passion that is anything but professional.