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Thursday, June 17th, 2010
 I spent last weekend putting together four raised vegetable beds made from cedar wood, although I’ve only filled one so far with soil. We planted tomatoes–yellow pear and brandywine–and carrots and multi-colored swiss chard. And then it rained the rest of the weekend and early this week and the entire backyard flooded! I’m so glad I decided on raised beds. 
There’s only a little over a month left until the release of Wicked Intentions, the first book in my Maiden Lane series. I’ve posted the video for Wicked Intentions, along with a new research article, St. Giles and the Gin Craze on the Extras page. I’m giving away my very last arc of Wicked Intentions in my website contest along with a gift card for Barnes and Noble bookstores. Finally, for a limited time only I’ll be giving away a free first chapter excerpt booklet for Wicked Intentions–simply go to my contact page and order one.
Enjoy!
Tags: contest, Hoyt Manor, Maiden Lane series, the garden, website, Wicked Intentions, win a book!
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Thursday, May 20th, 2010
Woot! I’m happy to report that I turned in the first draft of Notorious Pleasures last week. I’ll have a week or two to get caught up in my garden (where have all those weeds come from?) before I get revision notes from my editor and I’ll go back to writing.
Meanwhile, I have a few website updates: There’s a new Turkish page for my Turkish readers. Non-Turkish readers can check out the lovely cover of The Raven Prince Turkish edition! Speaking of which, I’ve updated the French page with all the covers to date–beautiful! The book of the month is Jennifer Haymore’s A Hint of Wicked.
Finally, Brenda Novak’s annual online auction to benefit diabetes research is going on now until the end of May. I have three items up for sale: an advance readers copy of Wicked Intentions; a basket of goodies, including all my books, assorted teas, and British biscuits; and for writers, I’m hosting a brunch for three at RWA nationals in Orlando–I’m thinking mimosas will have to be on the menu!
Tags: Book of the Month, foreign editions, Notorious Pleasures, the garden, website, Wicked Intentions
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Saturday, March 13th, 2010
 Just this week the temperatures in my part of the Midwest suddenly soared into the sixties and even hit seventy at one point. My snowdrops were already showing, waiting patiently for the snow to melt, but the lavender species crocus (Crocus tommasinianus) popped up overnight it seemed. I’ve got a shade garden by the side of the house where I planted several hundred a couple of years ago and now it looks like a lavender carpet. The “Tommies” must be happy because I’ve noticed single volunteers peeking out of the grass here and there. Now if only the squirrels don’t eat the blooms!
In other news, my publisher, Grand Central Publishing, will be re-releasing the entire Prince trilogy this summer to coincide with the release of Wicked Intentions. They’ve also giving The Raven Prince, The Leopard Prince, and The Serpent Prince brand new covers which I’ve posted on their respective pages. Mouse over the new covers to see the original covers.
Tags: Princes trilogy, the garden, The Leopard Prince, The Raven Prince, The Serpent Prince, Wicked Intentions
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Monday, January 18th, 2010
Our big snow is melting away bit by bit which makes walking the dogs easier–for me, at least. The dogs don’t care if they have to hop through snow to go on their morning walk. Rue in particular seems to enjoy sticking her entire head in fresh snow to see what’s under there. I took a peek out front, but so far no signs of early snowdrops. In another couple of weeks, perhaps?
I’ve added a new feature to the Extras page–Book of the Month. I’m often asked for my favorite books, what I’m reading now, or for book recommendations. I was also asked to “blurb” several books in 2009 and I thought I’d share some of these and other books I’ve enjoyed recently. January’s Book of the Month is Courtney Milan’s fabulous debut, Proof by Seduction.
I’ve also updated the individual book pages with a “Book Extras” box that lists all the extras for that book on my website. I hope you enjoy!
Tags: Book of the Month, dogs, Hoyt Manor, the garden, website
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Saturday, October 24th, 2009
It’s a lovely if chilly day here in central Illinois! The sugar maple in our side yard has turned a gorgeous orangy-yellow. I hope to get into the garden and do some fall clean up today, but for now I’m stuck inside doing final revisions on Wicked Intentions, my next book. I hope you, however, can take a minute to read Chapter 10 of The Ice Princess.
And don’t forget that To Desire a Devil officially hits the shelves on October 27th!
Tags: Hoyt Manor, Legend of the Four Soldiers series, the garden, The Ice Princess, To Desire a Devil, Wicked Intentions
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Wednesday, September 30th, 2009
 So, in a fit of enthusiasm I ordered over a thousand flower bulbs. True, 400 of those bulbs are species crocus (C. tommasinianus–they come up very early in the spring, appearing like pretty little lavender fairies…that is until the squirrels bite their heads off. I’m trying not to think of the squirrels whilst planting) but that still leaves quite a lot of other bulbs, mainly daffodils. My weekends are booked through November. Also, it’s probably a good thing that Mr. Hoyt never sees my flower bulb bill.
Chapter 9 of The Ice Princess is up. Yes, it is the last day of the month, but let us all keep in mind that technically it is still September and thus this month’s chapter is *ahem* not late. A little long in coming, I will admit, but not late.
And finally, I have a new and spectacular website contest in anticipation of the November release of To Desire a Devil–the prize is a one hundred dollar gift card to Borders Book Store and a box of Godiva chocolates.
Good luck!
Tags: the garden, The Ice Princess, To Desire a Devil, website
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Tuesday, August 25th, 2009
We are making improvements to Hoyt Manor this summer. The old rotting front porch has been torn down and a new shiny one built in its place. I have no doubt that in time Hoyt Manor will look quite resplendent, but at the moment I have to confess to feeling some trepidation over the painting job–or lack thereof–of the workers. There seems to be quite a lot of messy drips about.
Meanwhile, I was quite excited to see the first tomato ripen in my garden–that is until Mr. Hoyt muttered something about bunnies. Apparently, this was not my first tomato of the year, it was simply the first I’d seen before the savage bunnies had torn it from the vine, taken one bite from it, thrown it to the side, and hopped away laughing maniacally. That was Mr. Hoyt’s version of events anyway. Mr. Hoyt has taken to picking the tomatoes green and bringing them inside to ripen on a windowsill, which seems to take the point out of “vine ripened.”
Finally, I have posted Chapter 8 of The Ice Princess as promised. It is, again, an adults-only chapter, so do be warned. Enjoy!
Tags: adventures of Mr. Hoyt, bunnies, Hoyt Manor, the garden, The Ice Princess
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Thursday, June 18th, 2009
 The thunderstorms have been almost constant here in the Midwest, making for a very wet June. The good news, though, is that my garden is very lush from all the rain!
I’m pleased to announce that To Taste Temptation has won the Desert Rose Golden Quill Award.
Website updates for June have been made, the main ones being that Chapter 6 of The Ice Princess is up. I’ve also got new bookmarks for To Desire a Devil, and the second scene excerpt for To Desire a Devil is up as well. As always bookmarks and bookplates are free, so be sure and order as many as you’d like.
There’s still time to enter my May/June website contest–the prize is a complete Princes trilogy!
The Romance Writers of America national conference is coming up soon–this year it will be in Washington D.C. Part of the conference is a massive romance author signing on Wednesday, July 15th from 5:30-7:30 pm. This signing is open to the public–you don’t have to be registered at the conference–and will include more than 500 romance authors this year. All proceeds from the signing go to local literacy charities. If you live in the D.C. area, this is a signing you won’t want to miss–and if you do come, make sure and stop by and say hello to me!
Finally, my publisher, Hachette Book Group USA, is offering The Leopard Prince to read online for free!
Tags: awards, Princes trilogy, the garden, The Ice Princess, The Leopard Prince, To Desire a Devil, To Taste Temptation, travels
Posted in Musings | 7 Comments »
Thursday, May 14th, 2009
My garden is simply delightful right now. True, it’s still full of weeds (mostly wild violets and Star of Bethlehem) but the mosquitoes haven’t yet hit and the evenings are just right–not too hot, not too cold. My shade garden (under a big old maple tree) has white short-spurred columbine and Spanish bluebells blooming amongst the unfurling hostas. I did see the wicked bunny by my tiny veggie garden, but hadn’t the heart to scare her away. Mr. Hoyt (who grew up on a farm) said it’ll be my own fault if we have no tomatoes this summer!
Website updates for May are done! Here’s what you might want to check out:
Enjoy!
Tags: bunnies, foreign editions, large print, the garden, The Ice Princess, The Serpent Prince, To Beguile a Beast, To Desire a Devil, To Seduce a Sinner, To Taste Temptation, website
Posted in Musings | 13 Comments »
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It’s May already and my peonies are in bud. I do hope I can get to weeding before the violets take over the garden this year. What are we without hope? 
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