On Cowboys, Mickey Mouse, and Ryan Gosling...

Hello! I’m thrilled to finally be part of the Get Lost In A Story blog. It took me a while to officially get started. When Angi invited me we were about two weeks away from our daughter’s wedding, and I was wrapping up a book. I asked Angi if I could come on board after things settled down.

I live in Orlando. Less than a week after I turned in the new manuscript, Hurricane Irma left us without power for eight days. I’m not complaining after watching what the people in the islands and Puerto Rico are suffering. My heart goes out to them. In comparison, my week of “camping out” was a minor inconvenience. Still, it was beginning to feel like I’d never get here. But here I am, just in time to introduce myself and tell you about my brand new release, THE COWBOY WHO GOT AWAY. It’s book twelve in my Celebration, TX series for Harlequin Special Edition.

Before I share the story blurb with you, I wanted to tell you a little bit about myself so we can get to know each other better.

I’ve lived in Florida most of my life. Before we settled here, we lived several different places in the midwest, the south and Europe because my father was in the Air Force. It was my mother’s dream to live in Florida. So, once my father left the Air Force, he made a point of making her dream come true. See, I’ve been surrounded by heroes my entire life.

I sold my first book in 2003. Since then, I’ve sold 39 books.  Before I started writing full-time, I worked as a newspaper reporter and in public relations. While I was in college, I had the opportunity to work on the set of a couple of movie productions, and I was a stand-in on the set of The All-New Mickey Mouse Club -- the show that spawned Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera, Justin Timberlake, Ryan Gosling, and Keri Russell. They filmed the show at Disney MGM Studios (as it was called at the time). I started out there working as a temporary free-lance public relations rep for the show's production company during the grand opening of the Disney Studios (Okay, I'm dating myself here). I was the handler for two of the Mouseketeers and I escorted them to their media appointments. I had so much fun that I wasn’t ready to leave when the assignment was over. They asked me to stay on as a stand-in. So, while the Mouseketeers were in rehearsals and working with tutors to keep up with their school work, I would wear a Mouseketeer name tag and stand-in so the production crew could do the camera blocking. It was a blast, but I wouldn’t trade being a romance writer for all the Mouseketeers in the world – not even Ryan Gosling all grown up. Well…on second thought, let me get back to you on that one.

Just kidding! I’ve been happily married for nearly twenty-five years.  Anyway, before I get myself into trouble, here’s the blurb for THE COWBOY WHO GOT AWAY:

From homecoming crowns to wedding rings...

Hunky bull rider Jude Campbell seems to have the world by the proverbial horns. But when the world champion returns to Celebration for his high school reunion, he's confronted by the ghosts he'd worked so hard to forget. Not to mention the high school love who got away…

Bridezilla wrangler Juliette Lowell is as gorgeous and genuine as she was as Jude's homecoming queen. And the spark between them burns as bright as ever. But Jules still smarts from Jude's betrayal years before. And as successful as he seems, Jude's struggling with the prospect of hanging up his spurs. But with his queen, Juliette, by his side, maybe this homecoming will take once and for all… 

If you’d like to get a feel for the book through music, here's a link to the playlist for THE COWBOY WHO GOT AWAY:  http://bit.ly/2k1TITS  The right music always helps me set the tone for my stories.

Now, it’s your turn. Tell me about your favorite job (past or present) and I’ll give one person who comments a tote bag full of books.