A snapshot of the view screen taken by a friend when the finalists for Best Historical Romance were announced during the RITA ceremony

Sorry it’s been so long since my last update. Let’s see if I can get caught up here.

The Romance Writers of America conference in Atlanta (July 16-20) was an absolute whirlwind. Between business meetings with my agent and folks from Penguin, my publisher, I got to spend precious face time with my author friends — Norah Wilson, Bonnie Vanak, Jenn LeBlanc, Courtney Milan, Julie James, Joyce Lamb, Jill Shalvis (though we barely had time to say hello) and some of the authors from Rock*It Reads. Writing is a very isolating profession, so any time we get to spend together away from our computers is precious.

The highlight of the conference had to be meeting Kaleo Griffith face to face for the first time and meeting members of the I-Team Facebook group at the I-Team party. There were people there from as far away as Canada and California. Some had driven for six or more hours to be at the party. I signed books and Kaleo signed audiobooks. We gave away a complete set of the I-Team audiobooks and a copy of the audiobook of Surrender as prizes.

I’m already thinking about how I can improve the experience for people at next year’s conference in San Antonio.



It was wonderful to be a RITA finalist. I didn’t win, but I wasn’t as disappointed by that as I had perhaps imagined I would be. Sharing the finalist honors with writers like Monica McCarty and Jade Lee made me really happy just to be in that circle. Monica and I sat at the same table — Table 69! — during the awards ceremony, both of us cheering for the other. Kaleo was my guest for the ceremony, and having his support was wonderful.

I got home feeling extremely sleep deprived and spent a week getting caught up on all the different post-conference emails and phone calls, not to mention sleep and laundry.

While I was at RWA, Surrender (MacKinnon’s Rangers #1) was released in audiobook. Unfortunately, it was released with some significant editing mistakes. Tantor Audio went into motion to correct the problem and is offering replacement CDs to anyone who got the flawed version. Contact them through customer service. The new corrected version will be up soon. Audible pulled Surrender from its offerings and will post it again once the new corrected version is available. My apologies to any audiobook listener who got the original, flawed version!

Although that was a disappointment, the audiobook itself got an A/A+ from AudioGals. This link includes a terrific sound sample showcasing Kaleo’s skill as a narrator — all three brothers plus Lord William — and offers information about the errors on the CD and what is happening to make sure listeners get the correct version. Thanks so much to AudioGals for their continued support!

So what am I up to these days? I’ve been taking a nice long break from writing to get my mojo back and to focus on all of the important things that were neglected while I was working so hard on Striking Distance, including sleep, good food, exercise and time with both of my boys. I’ve decided that writing can’t mean my quality of life goes to hell.

But more on that in my next post.

Also, watch for news on First Strike, the erotic prequel to Striking Distance.

Upcoming releases:

Untamed — audiobook — Aug. 12
Defiant — audiobook — Aug. 26
First Strike — ebook special — mid-September — This is the erotic prequel to Striking Distance. It is not romantic suspense, but tells the story of how the hero and heroine from Striking Distance met.
Striking Distance (I-Team #6) — print, ebook, audiobook — Nov. 5.

Untamed, Defiant, and Striking Distance are all available for pre-order, while First Strike is not.