Dear Reader,

Hot and muggy weather has arrived, and summer is in full swing.  I’m trying to get as much writing done as I can, and our family schedule is laid back, for change.  During school, I often felt as though my writing proceeded about as quickly as a snail in molasses.  I’m hoping to make warp speed before the next semester starts.

A raccoon has joined the rabbits in the back yard.  We’ve seen it twice, and it’s big.  Really big.  Bigger than many small dog breeds.  On the one hand, having a raccoon in a city yard is fascinating.  On the other, I’ve heard they often carry rabies and, unlike the rabbits, can be vicious.  So I have mixed emotions.

I put off reading the Barbary Pirates book in favor of  Secret Wars:  One Hundred Years of British Intelligence Inside MI5 and MI6 by Gordon Thomas, which I’m alternating with Sabrina Jeffries’ latest release, Don’t Bargain With the Devil.  Reading one book at a time just doesn’t work for me.

I thoroughly enjoyed Virginia Kantra’s new release, The Sea Lord, and caught up, mostly, on Romance Bandit reading with Jeanne Adams’s second action-packed romantic suspense novel, Dark and Deadly, Beth Andrews’ powerful Super-Romance, A Not So Perfect Past, Trish Milburn’s wonderful Harlequin American, Her Very Own Family, and Tawny Weber’s blazing Blaze, Going Down Hard.  I still have Heartbreak River, the YA by Trish’s alter-ego, Tricia Mills, to go, with more bandita books due out soon.  Next out, I think, is Christine Wells’s A Wicked Little Game.  Christine is a RITA finalist for her last book, The Dangerous Duke!

For a different and engaging take on Regency England, check out Claudia Dain’s The Courtesan’s Daughter.  It’s wonderful and works in Native Americans in a totally believable way.

Life happened with both me and my wonderful webmistress, Liz Bemis, but we’re still mulling updates to the site.  Liz is a double Golden Heart finalist this year!

As usual, I’m blogging with the Romance Bandits on the 26th.  This month, I’m hosting Missy Tippens, who’ll discuss her second inspirational romance, His Forever Love.  Stop by and chime in on the discussion.

I hope to see some of you at RWA National in Washington, D.C.