As I celebrate the arrival tomorrow of my new book FEARLESS SUMMER: RETURN TO CHINCOTEAGUE, I’m sharing a few photos that have served as my inspiration as I wrote this super sweet romance. It’s a small town on a barrier island though the population swells significantly during beach season. Couples and families like to pose…
What are you reading on these fine spring days? I’ve been having the best time, sighing and laughing as I make my way through some of the best romances I’ve read in a long time. I binged on Bridgerton—you’ve heard of the Netflix/Shondaland series, right?—and then sat down with all of Julia Quinn‘s books upon…
On the third day of Christmas… I realize those twelve days are supposed to run between December 25 and Epiphany, Jan. 6, but I want to take these twelve days before Christmas to offer my gratitude for the people and things that make the writing life possible for me. I never belonged to a book…
If you cracked open my Civil War tale DIVIDED LOYALTIES, followed the stories of Angela and Patricia in LOVE LETTERS & GINGERBREAD, fell in love with an inn or the innkeeper’s son, or got a little seasick or lovesick on a ship in THE LAST GIFT, thank you.
I race up to her and follow her into the kitchen. “What are we having?”
“This.” She pulls on my t-shirt and I wrap my arms around her and lean in for a kiss. Sweet as the chocolate chip cookies packed in a plastic bag on the table. Warm as the summer sun. Necessary as air.
I pulled him close, took off his mask—brazen woman that I am. And kissed him.
And I’ll do it again. I’m sure of it. I sit beside him as his gaze takes me in inch by inch. He’s studied my hair, badly in need of a cut, and he’s gone over every inch of my face and my body. On a normal day, I’d feel self-conscious. But today, it’s wonderful to be the center of attention.
“C’mon, Rex.” Like I have to prod him to hurry after Monster.
We race around the corner where a woman wearing an Old Bay mask is picking up the little creature.
It’s Jessica. My heart gets a workout like nothing it’s experienced before. It pounds out a tune before rising with joy when she looks up at me and smiles.
“Look what I found. This little kitten ran right into my arms.”
Smart cat. Exactly what I wish I could do. I stop about ten feet away. I don’t know if I should get any closer to the woman who isn’t speaking to me.
Christmas isn’t Christmas without stories: various retellings of the Nativity Story, Charles Dickens A Christmas Carol, Twas the Night Before Christmas by Clement Clarke Moore, O. Henry ‘s The Gift of the Magi…the list is endless.
I had the most marvelous time yesterday at The Greyhound, an independent bookstore in Berlin, on Maryland’s Eastern Shore. Quaint Berlin, once dubbed “America’s Coolest Small Town,” is located a half hour from Ocean City and Assateague Island, Md. The bookstore is filled with best sellers and the works of local writers. I’m thrilled to…
Mary K. Tilghman, writer 