Guest Blogging

I'm over at Autumn Jordon's blog today, giving away a copy of Absolution to one commenter. Hope to see you there :)

Happy Friday, and I hope all of you have a great weekend.

Kaylea :)

Wild Weekend

I don't know about you guys, but I had a crazy week and weekend over the past ten days. My little guy got super sick with the stomach flu--so sick he vomited continually for two days and couldn't keep a single thing down. I wound up taking him to Emergency for treatment two days in, and spent 12 hours getting IV fluids into him just to get him rehydrated. One of my friends was working there as a nurse that night, so it made his stay a bit more comfortable. I took him home next morning, but had to bring him back two days later. Not fun, and the poor little guy didn't eat a thing for six days.

By Friday he was feeling better, so I reluctantly remade plans to go up to Vernon (in the Okanagan Valley) for my uncle's surprise 50th birthday. Uncle Kev's my favorite uncle, and he's in the dedication for Cover of Darkness. He's a battle Captain in the reserves, plays softball and loves history, on top of being a hell of a nice guy. Enough said. But as it turned out, since my hubby was staying home with Little Weasel, I had to take Big Weasel with me and thought I'd catch a ride up with my dad. Only he'd decided at the last minute they weren't going to drive. They were flying up in his new Bell 407 helicopter instead.

Oh dear God.

Big Weasel thought this was an awesome idea, and I kind of had no other choice so I went along with it. Besides, my characters fly in helos all the time, and they manage it without having panic attacks. And Devon (the heroine from Deadly Descent, who you'll meet this summer) even flies them, for crying out loud. I refused to wimp out. Suck it up, princess.

My dad flew us while his instructor played the role of co-pilot. I was crammed in the back with Big Weasel, my stepmom and the co-pilot's wife as we took off and cruised through the Fraser Valley on our way to the mountains. And I pretended to love every second of it, smiling despite my pounding heart and sweaty palms. Wheee!!! Listening to the radio contact with air traffic control was pretty cool, as were the conversations between my dad and the co-pilot discussing various aspects of the flight, controls, avionics, etc. More research for my next book :) I'm still seriously thinking of taking the ground school portion of flight school. It would sure come in handy for my writing, plus I find it fascinating. Here's the Bell 407, my dad's new baby:

What would have been a five hour drive only took us an hour and a quarter by air, so that part was good. But honestly, the turbulence got my heart going pretty good because in a helo you don't just move up and down and sideways. Oh no. You move sideways and in all kinds of funky new directions. Awesome. But we got there in one piece and that's all that counts, and we landed right on the 1st tee box of the hotel's golf course, with a group of our relatives watching. The party was a raving success, and next morning we had a nice brunch with everyone before packing up and getting ready to go home again. The pilot flew the helo from the airport to our hotel and picked us up (I felt like such a jet-setter!), and as I climbed in I shouted to my fave uncle waiting by the helipad, "See how much I love you?"

He grinned and gave me a thumbs-up before walking a safe distance away while dad and the co-pilot started the pre-flight checklist and fired up the engines. We flew home through some pretty choppy turbulence through the mountains. We bounced around pretty good until I actually felt sick to my stomach. By the time Big Weasel and I arrived home I was still queasy and ready for some Gravol, but hubby announced we were having six people over for an early birthday dinner for me. A very sweet thought, despite my angry GI tract.

So there, I felt the fear and did it anyway, and my uncle now knows without a doubt how much he means to me. After all, nothing says love and devotion like facing your worst phobia for someone!

So here's a shot of Big Weasel and I strapped into the backseat. Don't I look calm and happy about being in there?

New Release for Savannah Stuart

It's here! Savannah Stuart's newest release from Ellora's Cave is called Tempting Target and I'm so in love with this book.

There's a really cool story about it too. Back when I first met Savannah (who also writes as Katie Reus), I fell in love with her book City of Secrets, and that's actually how we ended up pals. Now she's extensively revised my fave book to make it even hotter for EC and as soon as I publish this post I'm off to read it. David is just...yum. Knowing the smexin's going to be even hotter in this one...I just might implode :) And, as an early birthday present, the author even put me in the dedication. *blush*

If you haven't read any of Savannah's books, give this one a try because I promise you'll love it. Here's the blurb:

After being widowed at a young age, Jade Hadley is tired of her celibate existence and is determined to add a little romance and sex into her life again. When her deceased husband’s sexy best friend admits a longtime attraction, her entire world is thrown off kilter.


Security expert David McIntyre is in love with Jade and has been from the moment they met. Unfortunately for him, that was the week she married his best friend. For years he’s stayed silent, giving her time to mourn. When he discovers she’s dating again, all bets are off. Then someone targets her to die and he realizes he has more trouble than he bargained for. Seducing her isn’t the problem. Convincing her what they have together isn’t purely physical, however, is. It might even prove to be a bigger challenge than trying to keep her alive.

Cleaning House

Well we finally got around to taking down all our Christmas stuff this weekend. I start putting everything up the first weekend in November, because there's so much ot it and I figure I might as well get to enjoy the fruits of my labor for a couple months. I always dread taking it down again because it's such a huge undertaking, but at the same time I love getting my house back to its uncluttered state. Of course now we've got three hundred new toys for the weasels added into the mix, so they've still all got to be sorted and put away before we drown in them.

In writing news, I'm happy to announce I've finished the draft of my paranormal romance. Gotta admit, there were times I thought I'd never finish it. It still needs something, something I can't quite put my finger on, but I'm going to send the last bit off to my awesome crit partner and then put it away for a week or two before going back and seeing what I can do with it. From here on out, each pass will only strengthen the plot. Yippee! Love this part.

Got a road trip coming up next weekend, up in the Okanagan Valley of BC, a place famous for its lakes and wineries. It's my favorite uncle's 50th birthday, so hubby and the weasels are coming with me to celebrate with him. He's the one that served in the military (gee, I wonder why I love him so much?) and plays softball. Oh, and he's also a history buff. I lived with him and his wife for seven months while I finished massage therapy school up in Vernon, and got super close to them.

Anyway, before I forget I wanted to post some pics of our place at Christmas. Might as well show off all our hard work, right?



 Front of the house, viewed from the street.




Family room. Trust me, there are decorations everywhere in this house, so I'm only showing you the highlights. You're welcome :)


Mantle in family room.


Here are some things I've painted over the years. What, you didn't know I paint? Well, not so much anymore, but that's how I burned up my free time before I started writing.
The Santa gourds are still some of my fave decorations.




Front hall entryway. My little snowman family and my favorite Santa, who stays out all year in our living room because he's too big an precious to be put in the garage. Everything on him is antique.


Hands down my favorite holiday decoration is this massive arbor in the entryway, framing the entrance to our living room (parlor, since it's a Victorian house). Isn't it something? Because I have to move all the furniture around upstairs to make room for everything, I have to give up my writing spot for a couple months and work out of the parlor. I love sitting there with the fire going while I write when it's Christmastime at our house.


Inside the living room. That trunk I painted is just one of the many hiding spots for our decorations when they get put away.

The tree in our master bedroom, done in blue because it matches my toile duvet cover :)


And, finally, the pile of loot we woke up to on Christmas morning. Santa even left another trail of footprints this year! The weasels were beside themselves, and seeing their excited little faces adds a magic that makes Christmas even more special.

All put away and tidy now, but hey, it'll be coming back out in a little under ten months!