It's my birthday today, so I thought you should have gifts as well. And what better gift than a book? Or, at least, I've always thought books make wonderful gifts, and it's my birthday so you can't argue with me. :-)

So, comment with the last book you read and loved for a chance to win one of my backlist books in your choice of paperback or ebook (ebook only for international people. Sorry! International shipping is a bit much now, but I will mail you Tournai postcards if you like). Extra entries if you follow me on Twitter or like my Facebook page. Just let me know in the comments.

Giveaway open through Monday August 21st.

I'm a little later than usual with my monthly reading post, but I have some books that I really enjoyed to share with you.

Benny's Carnival by Lissa Kasey: I was excited to stumble upon this novella that continues the paranormal Hidden Gem trilogy. It revisits favorite characters and reveals more about the world that has me intrigued. I really hope there's more coming soon. (This won't stand alone well, so start at the beginning with Hidden Gem.)

Coach's Challenge by Avon Gale: I devoured this latest book in the Scoring Chances series. It ranks up there with my favorites in the series, and I can't wait for more. It's part of a series, but it does stand alone, so you can jump in here for all sorts of hockey romance goodness.

The Ruin of a Rake by Cat Sebastian: I adored this book. By the end I wanted to cuddle Courtenay and Julian and all the kittens too. It's the last book in a trilogy, but it can standalone. That said, the trilogy is excellent (this and the second are my favorites), so go read them all.

Warlock in Training by TJ Nichols: This was an intriguing beginning to an urban fantasy series with demons and magic and parallel worlds. I don't believe there's any more out yet, but I'm hoping we'll see another book soon because I want to know what happens next.

Antisocial by Heidi Cullinan: Antisocial is sweet and romantic and sensual, despite having almost no content that most people would term explicit sex. It has on-page asexual rep in the character of Skylar, who I just adored. It left me smiling so much.

Pansies by Alexis Hall: Pansies was lovely, which doesn't surprise me at all with this author's work. I've had it on my Kindle since it came out and just never read it until July. It was nominated for a RITA (very much deserved), and it seemed a good time to finally read. I have no idea why I waited so long.

Forged by Desire and Of Silk and Steam by Bec McMaster: I've had these paperbacks for a while and finally decided to dive in to these two. Be aware, they are the last two books in the series. I started here (oops) and figured out what was going on, but starting at the beginning might help everything make sense. It's an interesting steampunk world, a bit dark, with a twist on vampires.

I also listened to a couple of audiobooks on the road trip to Orlando for RWA. My mom came with me, so we picked some audiobooks that we both would enjoy (all romance and all books we'd already read) by favorite authors:

​Devil in Winter by Lisa Kleypas: I love this book. So much. It is one of my favorite, if not my favorite, historical romances. The audiobook was excellent, and I was happy to revisit Evie and Sebastian (with the new perspective of audio). 

Love in the Afternoon: Another Lisa Kleypas! This is from the Hathaways series and is excellent as well. I now have to go back and reread the entire Hathaways series, and the entire Wallflowers series too.

Savor the Moment by Nora Roberts: Listening to Savor the Moment reminded me how much I loved the Brides Quartet. I'm going to have to reread these soon as well!

What have you been reading lately?

​Read an excerpt and find a preorder link here.

It's weekend, and time for more Rainbow Snippets. The Rainbow Snippets group on Facebook asks its members to share six sentence snippets from their work each weekend. Check out the group's Facebook page to read all the snippets and add lots of great books to your tbr. You'll find all sorts of books with the common thread that the main character identifies as LGBTQ+.

The Dragon's Devotion will be out on September 4th (yay!), so I thought I'd start doing some more snippets from it to lead up to the release date. In this snippet, we have the first time Bastien sees Corentin. They're both guests at a wedding, and Bastien is people-watching (because he annoyed his sister and she's ignoring him for the moment!).

Find more about The Dragon's Devotion and a preorder link here. Also, all of my books at Dreamspinner are 30% off this weekend, if you need some weekend reading. Thanks for stopping by and reading!

I'm thrilled to share the cover of The Dragon's Devotion with you. You'll see this cover is different from the covers of the earlier books in the series. A new publisher meant a new cover artist (the talented Natasha Snow) and a new direction, but I'm so happy with the result. I think it is gorgeous, and I hope you'll agree. 
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Corentin is a scholar with a secret—his magical Talent allows him to turn into a dragon, and he isn’t alone in that ability. Long ago, dragons were hunted fiercely, until they went into hiding, becoming things of legend. Corentin has traveled the world with one aim—to protect his people and keep their secret safe. Drawn to the principality of Tournai by news of someone close to discovering that secret, he hopes to avert suspicion. His attraction to the too-serious Bastien isn’t convenient for his purpose, but it isn’t something he can ignore either.

Lord Bastien, Earl of Ardesia, inherited his title unexpectedly when his parents were killed in a sailing accident along with the parents of his cousin, Prince Philip. Since then, Bastien has devoted his life to the obligations of his family and estate—so much so, that it has caused tension between him and his siblings. His world is further shaken when he receives an anonymous letter informing him that the tragic boating accident may, in fact, have been murder. Bastien throws himself into investigating whether the allegations are true and finding out who killed his parents.

As Corentin and Bastien become closer, the mystery of Bastien’s parents’ death draws him further into danger. Corentin feels compelled to protect Bastien, but the threat is closer than they know. Now, Corentin must decide whether preserving his secret—and potentially his people’s safety—is more important than saving the man he loves.


The Dragon's Devotion will be out on September 4th. For now, you can preorder at NineStar Press. I'll get you links for other retailers as soon as they become available. I'm so excited for you to get to know Corentin and Bastien!

For National Book Lovers Day, get 30% off everything at Dreamspinner, including the first four Tournai books!

This recap is probably a little late, since I've been home from RWA for a week, but I wanted to put it up anyway. I'm always so excited when I get to attend, and I had such a good time at RWA this year. It started with a road trip from New Jersey to Orlando with my mom. I will admit that the idea of driving to Florida sounded miserable (such a long drive...two days in the car) and, in fact, I've said that I would never drive that far again, but I did. And it turned out to be a lot of fun. It was great to spend so much time with my mom, talking and listening to Lisa Kleypas and Nora Roberts (Devil in Winter! Savor the Moment!) books in audio. It reminded me how much I loved those books—books that Mom and I have both read before and shared—and now I want to go back and read the rest of each series again. My to-be-read is so long, but I'm going to have to make time for that reread. We didn't stay in the conference hotel, but where we stayed was close to Disney, and it was so pretty too. We had dinner and drinks by the pool more than once!

The conference itself was fantastic as usual. I went to some interesting and informative workshops and learned a lot. I saw friends and got to meet people I'd only known through social media before, which was one of my favorite parts of the conference. It was wonderful to meet everyone in person! 

I fangirled a bit (more than a bit?) over favorite authors and got some books signed. I talked books and writing with author friends and writers I'd never met before, and I was so happy to be among these romance authors. Writing is such a solitary occupation that it's amazing to be surrounded by other writers and book lovers (of course, by the end, my introvert self was ready for some serious time without talking to anyone...). One of my outfits was chosen for a best of RWA fashion article, which was so much fun. You can find it here, and check out that Beauty and the Beast purse—I covet it.

One of my favorite parts of RWA is always the speeches. They are just so inspiring and leave me fired up to go write more words. This year Sherrilyn Kenyon was the speaker at the Golden Hearts Award lunch, and she reminded us not to let anyone tell us we don't deserve our dreams—we do. Susan Wiggs gave the keynote at lunch on Friday and told us how to be an overnight sensation in 30 years. So much of what she said resonated. And then there was Beverly Jenkins's speech when she accepted her Nora Roberts Lifetime Achievement Award. I cried listening to it, and I know I wasn't the only one. This part especially got me: “You have no idea what it means to be a descendant of a people who, by law, were denied access to the written word; and be here before you this evening as a celebrated, award-winning author. So now, here I stand, Beverly Elaine Hunter Jenkins. First of her name, descendant of slaves, daughter of Delores, slayer of words and the 2017 Recipient of RWA’s Nora Roberts Lifetime Achievement Award!" If you haven't heard the whole speech, you can find it here. It's well worth a listen.

And since, we were in Orlando, I had to go to Disney! I only wish I had more time there (yes, I absolutely love Disney and would visit all the time if I could). I'll leave with a bunch more semi-random pictures from the week. (Most are mine, but some are courtesy of Alexis Daria, Robin Lovett, and Frannie Cassano.)
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It's weekend, and time for more Rainbow Snippets. The Rainbow Snippets group on Facebook asks its members to share six sentence snippets from their work each weekend. Check out the group's Facebook page to read all the snippets and add lots of great books to your tbr. You'll find all sorts of books with the common thread that the main character identifies as LGBTQ+.

Today I'm sharing a snippet from The Artist's Masquerade. We're in Cathal's point of view here.

Find out more about The Artist's Masquerade here. And today is the last day to use coupon code ELIZABETH for 40% off your order at Dreamspinner. Don't miss out!

It's Elizabeth North's birthday, and she's giving all of us a gift! Use coupon code ELIZABETH to get 40% off your order through August 5th at the Dreamspinner store. 

Happy birthday and thanks, Elizabeth!

It's weekend, and time for more Rainbow Snippets. The Rainbow Snippets group on Facebook asks its members to share six sentence snippets from their work each weekend. Check out the group's Facebook page to read all the snippets and add lots of great books to your tbr. You'll find all sorts of books with the common thread that the main character identifies as LGBTQ+.

I'm taking a break from The Dragon's Devotion until a little closer to release date, and I'm sharing a bit of The Sorcerer's Guardian with you today. Savarin is about to perform an important but potentially dangerous spell, and Loriot is worried and not great about expressing it.

​Savarin’s gray eyes, the color so beloved by now, were narrowed as he stared at Loriot, and Loriot realized he’d been quiet for far too long. For an instant he didn’t know what to say, then words just came. “If you die doing this, I will kill you.”

​Savarin blinked at him once, twice. Opened his mouth and then closed it. “You make no sense.” 

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If you'd like to know more about The Sorcerer's Guardian, you can find it here. Thanks for stopping by and reading!