How to keep warm this holiday season

E. Elizabeth Watson has shared on her blog a long wonderful list of holiday reads, everything from my little book, Love Letters & Gingerbread, to her Scottish romance Christmas Wore Plaid to a collection of Hanukkah stories. Lots are historical fiction, including those rugged Scots and the always popular Regency. But there are contemporary romances,…

Come to the Baltimore Book Festival

This weekend, Nov. 1-3, booklovers will gather at Baltimore’s Inner Harbor to snatch up some new books and book-related stuff and—my favorite part—to see and listen to lots of authors writing lots of great books. The Baltimore Book Festival has become my home in the past few years. Cancel everything! I have to hang with my…

What are you reading? Summer edition

This summer I’ve gobbled up so many beautiful books: Here’s a list, probably not complete, though these have had a profound effect on me as a human being and as a writer. ON THE COME UP, by Angie Thomas. I listened to this one, just as I listened to her audiobook of THE HATE U…

Get to know us on Facebook

I have joined the most awesome group of writers. We’ve formed a Facebook page, Off the Beaten Path Historical Stories, designed for readers so we can share what we’re writing, researching, studying and reading. And so we can get to know those people we love almost as much as our own family. Our readers. We are…

Witness to the miracle of reading

A vivacious little six-year-old skips down her school corridors. She stops in front of the bulletin boards, signs and framed sayings that cover the walls. And she reads them. With a sparkle in her bright brown eyes, she reads the words aloud with a touch of awe in her voice. As if it is a…

Reading the RITA winners, Part 1

What makes a book worthy of the Romance Writers of America’s annual RITA award? I wanted to know from a reader’s perspective. So armed with the cover of the September RWA magazine, Romance Writers Report, I started looking for them, the best of all the novels submitted to the annual contest. There are 13, everything…

READ: The Einstein Prophecy

You know it’s a good story when you’ll find some more ironing to do just to keep the story going. Robert Masello‘s thriller is part Indiana Jones, part Monuments Men with a dash of The DaVinci Code and even demon stories thrown in. I listened to The Einstein Prophecy (on Kindle Unlimited) because I had so much…