Luke Won!!!

I'm so excited to announce that Absolution has won the EPIC Award for best romantic suspense of 2011!

I actually found out by accident while I was on holiday. I happened to be on Twitter, checking to see if I had any messages, and saw my name mentioned with the EPIC convention. No one sent me an email or anything, so I had to check on my own to see if I really had won, and indeed I had! I had a mojito to celebrate at dinner that night :)

You all know how much I adore Luke, so this win really tickled me. I think it's my best book (along with Relentless), although I heartily agree it's not a stand alone book. Without reading at least a few other books in the series, Absolution won't have nearly the same emotional impact for the reader. At least in my opinion.

I also just found out that Deadly Descent is a finalist in the New England Romance Writer's published contest, though it didn't final in the RITA Awards (aww...). Fingers crossed that Dev and Cam place in the top three.

That's my news for now; I'll post the cover for Darkest Caress next week. Have a great weekend!

Home Again

Got home from our holiday obscenely early on Tuesday morning, so now it's back to the grind. It's hard, as this is the only vacation where I wish I could have stayed another month. Kauai was paradise found, and we had so much fun. We kayaked and hiked up to a waterfall, we tubed down an old irrigation canal on a former sugar cane plantation, we took a catamaran sail to see humpback whales in the wild, and we even fit in a bike ride along the beach, a luau and a horseback ride right down to the ocean. All of us are eagerly anticipating our return next March when my favorite cousin gets married there.

Here's the view from one of the restaurants at our hotel. Pretty nice, eh?

And here's a shot of me kayaking down the Wailua River.

Hubby's in the back helping me paddle since we're towing the weasels behind us upriver against a head wind. Had a great time.

Got my cover for Darkest Caress, which comes out April 23rd. It's my favorite cover to date and I'll post it next week.

Aloha Bound

In just a little while I'll be heading back to paradise, this time on the garden island of Kauai.

And there'd better not be any natural disasters this trip!

We were on the Big Island last year when the Japan earthquake and tsunami hit, forcing us to evacuate from our hotel in the middle of the night and sleep on the side of the mountain in our rental car. Much more drama and excitement than I was looking for, frankly. This can't happen every time I got to the Hawaiian Islands, right?

I plan to eat my weight in macadamia nuts and see some humpback whales up close, as I didn't get to do that last trip. You have no idea how much I'm looking forward to going someplace warm!

End of an Era

I feel like I should wear black at least all this week to publicly mourn the retirement of my hero, Boston Red Sox captain Jason Varitek. Tek retired with grace and dignity on his own terms March 1st, though everyone has high hopes there will still be some place for him within the BoSox organization. He would make one hell of a manager, I'll tell you that much.

I've never been so attached to a professional athlete before, so I've never had to experience watching my favorite team without my hero at the helm. This year when I watch the Sox, some of the magic will be gone for me. Tek was a consummate professional both on and off the field, and is touted as one of the best prepared and hardest working catcher in the game. There's a reason his teammates bestowed that letter C he wore over his heart for so many seasons.

My favorite memory of Tek was a couple years ago when he was rehabbing a foot fracture. My hubby took me down to Seattle to watch the Sox play the Mariners at Safeco field, and partway through the game Tek came out of the dugout and headed toward the outfield where the bullpen is. Hubby nudged me and we both walked around the stadium to stand by the bullpen fence to watch him warm up a pitcher. He was maybe twenty feet away from me, in full and glorious living color, all six foot two of his delicious frame crouched behind the plate. My heart was pounding like crazy, and I'll admit I was completely eating him up with my eyes (it's okay--my hubby totally understood, lol).

After a few minutes of catching Tek stood up to stretch his legs and tipped his mask back on his head. It was just me, hubby and some homeless-looking guy standing at the fence watching. Tek looked over at me, and I swear on my childrens' lives, he smiled a little and winked at me. (Either that or he had something in his eye at the exact moment he turned his head to look at me. I'm going with the wink theory, thanks.)

I almost died. My face went all kinds of red and though hubby was elbowing me in the ribs saying, "Say something, say something!", I just couldn't. I think I smiled and maybe raised my hand in a wave, but I'm not sure. I just know that my face was pretty damn hot at that moment.

That's as close as I ever got to meeting or speaking with my hero, but it was incredible and something I'll never forget.

Last year in September a friend of mine flew out to Toronto to watch them play the Sox. Since he's friends with a few of the Blue Jays, he and his son were welcomed onto the field. Who should they come across but the captain of the BoSox himself, Jason Varitek, just after batting practice. My friend knew what a rabid fan I am of Tek's, so he went over and asked him to sign a baseball for me. Which he did. Okay, he totally spelled my name wrong, but I think it's because my friend doesn't know how to spell my name right. That ball is one of my most treasured possessions, and it marks one of the last games Tek had in the majors.
I'll always love the BoSox, but there's a hollow sensation in my gut now. Knowing he'll never be behind the plate again is hard to take. I'll always have the memory of that wink, though, and the ball signed just for me.

Act Of Valor

Well, I don't know about you, but I know exactly what I'll be doing this Friday night. See, there's this new movie out called Act Of Valor that has me just a teensy bit excited.

It features active duty Navy SEALs. For real. I was skeptical of this at first too, but through all of my research and conversations with various contacts of mine, I've learned it's true (and I lost a bet with my hubby because of it!). Apparently the film started out as a recruitment video, and it was just too good not to turn into a full length movie. As a result of using actual SEALs in the film, the action sequences and the mission profiles are highly realistic.

Here's the official trailer:

You'd better believe I'll be seeing this one! I'm also interested to see how they portray the impact on family life, because to me that has to be one of the toughest things for everyone involved.

Alpha Instinct

I'm so excited to announce that Katie Reus's first Moon Shifter book comes out tomorrow! Alpha Instinct is the first of three books in this hot paranormal romance series from Penguin/NAL, so if you're a paranormal romance fan who loves sexy shifters, this is the series for you.

Katie's running a huge contest through her website, so please be sure to check out the details for chances to win books and other prizes, including a Kindle.

Blurb:
Fear has a scent. So does desire...

Ana Cordona has been a strong leader for the lupine shifters who survived after all the males and most of the females in her pack were mysteriously poisoned. As tough as she is, with no Alpha male, the pack is vulnerable to the devious shifter Taggart, who wants to claim both their ranch and Ana as his own. When Connor Armstrong comes back into her life, promising protection, it's almost enough to make Ana forget how he walked out on her before--and reluctantly accept his offer to mate.

The minute Connor sees Ana again, it reawakens a raw hunger. He must have her for his bondmate--his wolf cries out for it. But his human side knows he must proceed with caution because of their complicated past. If he is to truly have her body and soul, he must go beyond his burning desire and win back her heart. Whatever it takes, he is determined not to leave her side again.

But Taggart and his rival pack are not their only enemies. A human element in town is targeting shifters. Their plan not only threatens Ana and Connor's future, but the lives of the entire pack...

Home Safe and Sound

I'm back from the Gulf Coast! Had an ugly time getting down there, with three separate mechanical issues on our plane that required our captain to land halfway to Dallas to refuel because one of our fuel tanks wasn't working. Of course I was convinced our plane would kill us all. You can imagine my relief when we finally landed safely in Dallas/Ft. Worth. I missed my connecting flight to Mississippi by three hours, and by the time I finally got another one, I rolled in six hours late.

Had a great time visiting my pal Katie Reus, and her family. We toured ex-Confederate president Jefferson Davis's post Civil War summer home, Beauvoir, and ate some really great Southern BBQ.

We took some long walks past beautiful houses like these:

I even spent some time on a white sand beach enjoying the warm sunshine.
The trip back was smooth, though I came home to subfreezing temps and snow--something we don't get a lot of here in the greater Vancouver area. Snow's supposed to stay up in the mountains where it belongs!

I didn't get very much writing done while I was away, but who can blame me? Had a good time and my whole family was ecstatic to see me again. Sometimes it's good to go away for a bit on my own!