Category Archives: Guest Post

Quintessentially Me: Katherine Fleet

Hi everyone! I am Katherine Fleet, debut author of The Secret to Letting Go, releasing from Entangled Teen on Feb 1, 2016. For this guest post, I was asked to pick one thing in my house and talk about its history and what it means to me. There are so many things in my house that I love and have meaning to me, but I’ve decided to pick something a little quirky – my fridge magnets!

 

I’ve always loved to travel, but for many years, my husband and I weren’t in a position to get very far. Then we moved to the Caribbean eight years ago and found ourselves able to really travel. Since we’ve lived here, we’ve been to many parts of the US, as well as Ireland, England, Scotland, France, Belgium, Germany, Austria and Switzerland. When we started travelling, I knew I needed to collect something from each of our trips. Of course there are pictures, but I wanted something that I could see every day. So I picked fridge magnets!

 

Here is why they are “quintessentially me”:

 

  • I love to bake, so I see them everyday when I am in the kitchen.
  • I try to pick pretty designs, but in reality they are just a little bit tacky (yes, I bought the celebrity homes guide map when we were in Beverly Hills and drove around in a minivan full of kids to stop in front of the gates of all the star’s homes and gawk).
  • They’re small and economical to buy, so in other words, a very practical souvenir. This is very much me – a very practical person.
  • My husband and three children have started to bring them home to me from their travels. So, when I see them, I think of my family, which is the most important thing in the world to

katherine-fleetAuthor Bio:

Originally from Newfoundland, Katherine Fleet gave up the cold winters of Eastern Canada for the year round warmth of the Caribbean. The slower pace of island life has given her time to pursue a long-time goal—becoming an author. When she’s not writing, she spends her time baking, chauffeuring her three amazing, talented kids around, and having sun-filled adventures with her husband and wonderful friends in Curaçao. She is also a very thankful breast cancer survivor. In 2007, she joined RWA and has enjoyed the support and camaraderie of the YARWA and OIRWA writing communities. She’s participated in NaNoWriMo since 2012 and is an active supporter of the associated Young Writers Program. She is represented by super-agent Carrie Pestritto of Prospect Agency. The Secret to Letting Go is her debut novel. You can connect with her at www.KatherineFleet.com.

 

 

The Secret to Letting Go: TSTLG-cover

One summer can change everything…

Haunted with guilt after his girlfriend’s death, Daniel Hudson has no interest in committing to anyone. At the end of the summer, he’ll be leaving Florida for a new start in college. If only he could avoid the mysterious new girl in town, who seems every bit as naive and eccentric as she looks. Trouble is, she’s hard to ignore, with her beautiful piercing eyes, pitiful-looking dog, and unsettling tendency of finding trouble. Clover Scott lived her whole life off the grid and arrives on the Gulf coast in search of her grandparents. She never expected to nearly drown, or get caught in a hurricane, or fall in love with the boy who rescues her. Now, she has a chance to rewrite her life’s story, to finally fit in somewhere, but Daniel wants answers about her past. When the police start asking questions about the disappearance of her parents, she must make a choice: go to jail or confess her secrets—even if they might destroy her chance at a happily-ever-after.

Goodreads

 

Quintessentially Me: Pat Esden

Today, I am thrilled to welcome debut author and good friend, Pat Esden, to the pond. Her wonderful NA, A HOLD ON ME, which I had the distinct honor of reading releases into the world on February 23.
In the meantime, Pat is joining us to answer our mermaid prompt of the month:

Pick one thing in your house/apartment/writing space and discuss its history and what it means to you and how it is “Quintessentially You”?

Take it away, Pat!

I’m a collector and antique dealer and my house is filled with keepsakes, so picking one thing that quintessentially represents me wasn’t easy. I decided on a dollhouse that my oldest sister’s first husband built for me. It was made it: the likeness of my family’s camp where I spent a large part of my childhood.

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Camp was a place where I daydreamed and playacted, heard stories around campfires, and discovered creepy old fairytales in tattered schoolbooks. The dollhouse itself also played a role in my imaginings—as did the troll who’s looking out the window.

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This photo is of five-year-old me standing in the doorway of the camp.

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This is my dad and I carrying supplies into the camp.

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BLURB for A HOLD ON ME:

She never wanted to return.
He wants nothing more than for her to leave.
But the fire between them is as strong as the past that haunts them.A hold on me

Annie Freemont grew up on the road, immersed in the romance of rare things, cultivating an eye for artifacts and a spirit for bargaining. It’s a freewheeling life she loves and plans to continue—until her dad is diagnosed with dementia. His illness forces them to return to Moonhill, their ancestral home on the coast of Maine—and to the family they left behind fifteen years ago, after Annie’s mother died in a suspicious accident.

Once at Moonhill, Annie is shocked when her aunt separates her from her father. The next time Annie sees him, he’s a bizarre, violent shadow of his former self. Confused, she turns to an unlikely ally for support—Chase, the dangerously seductive young groundskeeper. With his dark good looks and powerful presence, Chase has an air of mystery that Annie is irresistibly drawn to. But she also senses that behind his penetrating eyes are secrets she can’t even begin to imagine. Secrets that hold the key to the past, to Annie’s own longings—and to all of their futures. Now, to unlock them, she’ll have to face her greatest fears and embrace her legacy…

Pre-order Today!

Indiebound  Amazon  B&N   Books-A-Million

 

 

PAT ESDEN is an antique-dealing florist by trade. She’s also a member of Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers of America, Romance Writers of America, and the League of Vermont Writers. Her short stories have appeared in a number of publications, including Orson Scott Card’s Intergalactic Medicine Show, the Mythopoeic Society’s Mythic Circle literary magazine, and George H. Scither’s anthology Cat Tales.

 

Her new adult paranormal novel, A HOLD ON ME (book #1 in the Dark Heart series) is coming February 23 from Kensington Books and BEYOND YOUR TOUCH (book #2 Dark Heart series) will be released August 30th.

 

Author Links

 

WEBSITE |GOODREADS |FACEBOOK|TWITTER | BLOG |PINTEREST|

 

Quintessentially Me: Stacy Wise

Friends, I am thrilled to welcome debut author Stacy Wise to the pond today. Her NA, BEYOND THE STARS, released on Feb. 8, 2016, and it sounds like so much fun!

Here is Stacy, to answer our question of the month:

What is something in my life that’s quintessentially me?

Gah! One thing? What on earth could it be?

I strolled though my house, pausing by shelves, lingering by the console table as though I was admiring relics at a museum. Could I be somewhere in the lovely ceramic turtle I bought in Hawaii? The one whose head broke off in an unfortunate accident with a ball and my youngest child? (I glued it back on. Looks great.) Perhaps it’s my shell collection? Or my children’s art table with the crayons organized by color? No…Maybe it’s the Legos that seem to magically appear underfoot when I’m barefoot? Hell no.

And then it hit me. It’s the piece of wall art I had to buy because it got me all choked up at the local Aaron Brothers Art Mart. I felt like Oprah having an A-ha! moment.

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Here’s what it says:

Be bold enough to use your voice

Brave enough to listen to your heart

And strong enough to live the life you’ve always imagined.

“What if I fall?”

Oh, but my darling…what if you fly?

Kind heart fierce mind brave spirit

–E.H.

E.H., I discovered, is Erin Hanson, a young Australian poet. The plaque hangs in my kitchen nook where I can read it every day. Because those words? They keep the fire lit in me. I hope they inspire you too.

Xo,
Stacy

BEYOND THE STARS 500x700BEYOND THE STARS: Most girls would kill for the opportunity to work for Jack McAlister, Hollywood’s hottest actor, but twenty-one-year-old Jessica Beckett is ready to kick him out of her red Ford Fiesta and never look back. She should be spending her junior year in France, eating pastries and sharpening her foreign language skills. Instead she’s reluctantly working as Jack’s personal assistant, thanks to her powerhouse talent agent aunt.

Jack is private, prickly, and downright condescending. Jessica pushes his buttons—she’s not the type of girl to swoon over celebrity heartthrobs, precisely why her aunt thought she’d be perfect for the job—and Jack pushes right back.

But as she begins to peel away his layers, Jessica is shocked to find she craves her boss’s easy smile and sexy blue eyes. The problem is, so does the entire female population. And what started out as the job from hell soon has Jess wondering if a guy like Jack could ever find love with a regular girl like her.

BIO:stacy small

Stacy Wise is the author of BEYOND THE STARS (Entangled Embrace, 2016).

She has a B.A. in Communications Studies from UCLA and a Masters in Teaching from Chapman University. She lives in California with her husband and four children.

 

When she’s not dreaming up stories, you can find her beating up the bag at a kickboxing gym, cheering for her kids at their numerous sporting events, or walking her dogs, Bailey and Rex.

Three Books That Warped Heather Brewer

Alethea and Heather at the Less Than Three Conference 2014My dear friend, bestselling YA author Heather Brewer, has a new book out this week. In honor of the release of THE CEMETERY BOYS, I asked Heather if she would share with us a few of the books that made her into the fabulously awesome and darkly misfit Auntie we know and love today.

Three cheers for Auntie Heather and all her Minions!

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THREE BOOKS THAT WARPED ME INTO WHO I AM TODAY
By Heather Brewer

It’s not difficult to admit that I was always an…unusual…child. Whereas most of the kids my age were reading The Babysitters Club books and Little House on the Prairie, my tastes leaned toward the dark and macabre. Horror was like candy to me. I watched it on television, in movies, read books. If it featured blood or monsters, I was instantly drawn to it. But there are three books that really stand out in my childhood. Three books that happily warped my twisted little mind into the even more twisted thing it is today.

1. SCARY STORIES TO TELL IN THE DARK, written by Alvin Schwartz and illustrated by Stephen Gammell. This was an incredible collection of short horror stories that came out in 1981. The stories themselves were twisted and delightfully weird, but the best parts were the illustrations. I can’t imagine publishers okaying such frightening imagery in a children’s book today, but as a child in that day that hungered for scary, they were perfect for me.

2. THE AQUEDUCT by Ray Bradbury. Granted this one is a short story, but its length was good enough to satisfy a hungry young reader, and the big twist of what the aqueduct was for was MESSED UP. I loved it. It came out in 1979, and to this day, gives me a delightful shiver whenever I reread it.

3. IT by Stephen King. Published in 1986, this book is the sole reason I am afraid of clowns. More than that, it’s the most brilliant example of flashback scenes that I can think of. Perfectly evil!
There were many other books and stories that I can blame my weird side on, but these three are right up there. They made me love horror. They made me want to write it. Because what’s better than scaring children?

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Thank you, Heather, for dropping by! Everyone, please be sure to check out THE CEMETERY BOYS, now available online, or in a store near you.

So…what are three–just three–stories that made YOU are who you are today?

Mermaids & Friends: Jennifer Fusco Swims with the Mermaids!

Mermaid-Carlene-300x225Dearest Fishy Friends!

Today is a very special day in the pond because we have the lovely and talented author, Miss Jennifer Fusco, as our guest! She’s sharing a very poignant story about the importance of embracing all of your life’s experiences, whether you think they are relevant or not. Take it away, Jennifer…

A second career…

After college I joined one of Corporate America’s largest companies. I had a degree in English. I wasn’t an Engineer or a math nerd, so the places I could fit in the ginormous conglomerate were few. Luckily, I found myself stuck in the Marketing department.

I’d never taken a marketing class. Had no knowledge of what it was, exactly. You tell people why they should buy stuff, okay. I get it. And, a career was born. My day job educated me in all things marketing. They sent me to workshops, classes, industry meetings. It turned out that telling people why they should buy stuff was harder than it sounded. It wasn’t sales exactly, nor was it psychology either. It was both.

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I spent fifteen years in marketing. Learning, practicing, putting those learned techniques out into the market place and evaluating their results. I did well. I won the ANA’s Advertising award three years running. I knew stuff. Yay, for me. But, it was a far cry from the teacher I thought I’d be as a child or the writer I dreamed I’d be as an adult.

Was I happy? No.

Marketing is a discipline. Anyone can learn it. Anyone can convince people to buy stuff. There is a market for everything.  The challenge was over.

Then I discovered a writing group, CTRWA to be exact. In essence, we made a deal. You teach us how to market, we’ll teach you how to write romance. DONE!  A second career was born!!

I began teaching my fellow chaptermates about brand, and marketability. They joined with me and I took my workshop to RWA National. And, I was set. From there, I jenphoto2conducted more workshops, more classes, gave more speeches. Turned out, my chaptermates were right. Authors did need to learn marketing, and they needed to learn it the right way.

I opened at publicity services company Market or Die Author Services, LLC in 2012. Now, my partner and I maintain over 40 active clients. Shortly after I signed with an agent, I drafted a proposal for a marketing book for writers. We sold it to Belle. It releases today.

The point of this post is that in life there are things we’re going to learn, to embrace, whether we want to or not. I never intended on being a marketer. It happened, but it prepared me with the skills I need to teach you how to do your very best marketing work, and sell more books.

I encourage you to take a read through Market or Die. In the book you’ll find marketing lessons not only from me, but from some of the most successful names in romance, like Eloisa James, Loretta Chase and Kristan Higgins.

Please don’t think marketing is this force with which you must endure. I did for fifteen years, and it only makes it harder to understand. Learn, embrace and ask questions. Feel free to email me at [email protected] with your questions.

And who knows? You may like it so much you might want to start marketing as a second career for yourself.  🙂

 

Mermaids & Friends: Lynne Silver (Giveaway!)

Good morning, everyone — Carlene and Kerri Mermaid here with a special introduction.

Kerri: Guess who’s here in the lagoon today? Our critique partner and friend to the Mermaids, the fabulous Lynne Silver!

Carlene: Oh! After someone tall, dark and handsome, that was going to be my next guess! I can’t help it, I have Rowan from her new book, “Desperate Match” on my mind.

Kerri: I understand – Rowan’s hot and sweet! Is he your favorite of Lynne’s characters?

Carlene: Yes! He’s a total smarty pants but backs it up with a big heart…

Kerri: I love that about him – although you know I’m partial to Adam in the first Coded for Love book!

Carlene: Ohhhhhh…Adam. Why do you love him so?

Kerri: He’s alpha and yummy!

Carlene: All the Coded boys are alpha and yummy! It’s like an alpha yummy buffet.

Kerri: True that, boo! We should probably stop drooling and let Lynne talk now. Want to introduce her?

Carlene: Yes! Tall, fair and beautiful…Lynne Silver! Author of yummy alpha boys, some really bad guys and some pretty awesome girls too!

Kerri: Welcome to the lagoon, Lynne! We hear you wanna know what type of readers we all are AND that you’ve got a copy of Desperate Match to give away! Let’s get this chat underway…

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Lately it seems there are a rash of bloggers and readers out on social media talking about their newfound love of reading. Some of them haven’t read much sinceLynne Silver high school or college, and they can all credit a book special to them for getting them back on the reading bandwagon. Welcome back. We authors are thrilled to have you.

So yes, I’m an author, but I’m a reader first. To say I’m voracious would be an understatement. In kindergarten, students got a star sticker on their name strip for every book they read. My stars went off the strip and around the room.

I get lost in books. My husband says it’s as though I’ve left the room. And I have. My body is present, but my mind is in the world of the book.

And I’m a re-reader. There are certain “comfort” reads that I go to again and again. I can’t find a pattern in which books are my comfort reads. They run the gamut and include: Little Town on the Prairie & These Happy Golden Years by Laura Ingalls Wilder, All of the Wallflower series by Lisa Kleypas, Caressed by Ice by Nalini Singh, Night Play by Sherrilyn Kenyon, He She & It by Marge Piercy, and the whole Betsy-Tacy series by Maud Hart Lovelace.  See an eclectic mix.

There are other books I adore, yet I’ve never re-read them. So what makes a comfort read? I obviously have no idea, judging by my crazy list. The only thing in common is that I own all those books in print. I don’t read them on an e-reader. I love certain things about e-readers, but I hate that Candy Crush and Facebook is one easy click away.

Have you noticed your reading patterns change depending on the medium? Do you have comfort reads? What are they?

Thanks for having me!

Lynne

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Thanks so much for swimming with us today, Lynne! For all our fishy friends, Lynne has generously donated an e-copy of “Desperate Match” and so we will be picking one random winner from the comments section to take Rowan home with them.

More About Lynne:

By day, Lynne Silver lives the suburban soccer mom life; volunteering with the PTA, doing laundry and working. By night she enters the sensuous world of alpha males and passionate heroines.

She calls the nation’s capital home and lives in an old fixer-upper with her husband and their two sons. When not writing romance, she reads it. Lots of it. Over and over and over again, preferably with a bag of M&Ms in hand. She is represented by literary agent, Jessica Alvarez of Bookends LLC http://bookends-inc.com/index.htm

Visit Lynne at her website http://www.lynnesilver.com/

And be sure to check out her sizzling hot and heartfelt new title, DESPERATE MATCH.

Desperate Match

 

 

EVERNIGHT TEEN 1st Birthday Blog Hop & Giveaway! Jan 24-31

EVERNIGHT TEEN turns one this month and the Waterworld Mermaids are helping them celebrate during their 1st Birthday Blog Hop!  It’s EVERNIGHT TEEN’s birthday but you get the presents. Enter below for a chance to win a $100 iTunes gift card!

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EVERNIGHT TEEN books feature fresh teen fiction that’s raw, gritty and real. Whether paranormal, contemporary, sci-fi or suspense, EVERNIGHT TEEN stories are about real issues and pack a strong emotional punch. You’ll find cutting edge fiction that today’s young adults can relate to and will keep you turning the pages long into the night. Upper Young Adult titles, include PHOENIX: THE RISING, the first EVERNIGHT TEEN title!

 

Phoenix: The Rising by Bette MaybeePhoenix

 

Every 300 years, the immortal Phoenix returns to Mono Lake to be reborn—but this time it didn’t return alone.  The Nephilim are back in force, trying to keep it from being reborn so one of them can claim its immortality. But first they have to figure out who the Phoenix is—and any red-haired, green-eyed, seventeen-year-old in the area is fair game. And so, the killing begins…

Julie Mason doesn’t believe all this legend crap until she falls for Eli Sullivan, whose hallucination-inducing kiss not only saves her, but makes her the Nephilim’s prime target. But, it’s worth the risk. Her death is inevitable…not even Eli can prevent it.  All she has to do is keep the Nephilim off Eli’s trail until The Rising. Once Eli is reborn and forgets his past life, Julie’s life is over, whether she’s dead or not. At least that’s what she thinks…

14+ for brief violence and sexuality

Phoenix: The Rising by Bette Maybee is now 25% off at Evernight Teen until January 31st!

Leave a comment about Phoenix: The Rising below for a chance to win an Evernight Teen eBook of your choice. Then follow the Rafflecopter (click here) to enter the grand prize of a $100 iTunes gift certificate.

Now be sure and Click here to follow the rest of the hop for more birthday fun and chances to win!

To Evernight Teen, big, squishy fishy birthday kisses to you from all of us girls here in the lagoon.  xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo

Mermaid Friend Nicola Cameron Guest Post & Giveaway!

Mermaid CarleneHello Fishy Friends and Happy Friday! Today we are welcoming erotic romance author, Nicola Cameron, to the lagoon and she’s brought a pretty hilarious bit about her muse. Nicola writes in many genres including, wait…let me rephrase that. What doesn’t Nicola write? While her muse may have been on hiatus for most of November, it’s clear she and Nicola have a pretty healthy relationship most days! We hope you enjoy this funny bit. Be sure to leave a comment too! Nicola is giving away a copy of Storm Season, the first book in her paranormal erotic Olympic Cove series, plus a sneak preview of the first chapter of Breaker Zone (Book 2). Winner will be chosen at random from commenters on this post. Take it away, Nicola…

The Muse, She Can Be a Real Bitch

I have to tell you, I had great plans for November this year. The first two days of the month were going to correspond with the last two days of my 20th wedding anniversary cruise, which is a lovely way to kick off a month in any case. After that, I would get home and segue straight into National Novel Writing Month by finishing my historical erotic romance Behind the Iron Cross. If I had enough time left over, I would finish the first draft of Olympic Cove Book Two, Breaker Zone for dessert.

My first mistake was that I announced these plans on various social media sites. Have you ever heard the phrase, fate laughs when you make plans? Because that’s pretty much what happened to me.

See, when we got home from the cruise the Other Half and I both started up with a dry, tickly cough. Two days later we were stranded in bed with what our doctor later diagnosed as bronchitis but I suspect was the opening segue of a particularly nasty flu making the rounds. We’re talking fever, gunk in the head and lungs, muscle aches, dizziness, the whole nine yards.

In my case, I also wound up with a nifty case of vertigo that lasted for well over a week. Have you ever tried to write when you feel like throwing up every time you stood up? When you have to wear a sanitary pad because you’re coughing so hard you pee a little each time? When you’re so hot and listless you don’t even want to read (you, the person who would read in her sleep if she could keep her eyes open)? Continue reading

Natalie Richards Swims With the Mermaids

I am so excited to welcome debut author Natalie Richards to the warm waters of our lagoon. Her YA thriller, SIX MONTHS LATER, released earlier this week, and it’s one of those books that stays with you for a long time.

Here’s the blurb:

She Has Everything She Ever Wanted. But Not Her Memory…

When Chloe fell asleep in study hall, it was the middle of May. When she wakes up, snow is on the ground and she can’t remember the SML Cover Smallerlast six months of her life.

Before, she’d been a mediocre student. Now, she’s on track for valedictorian and being recruited by Ivy League schools. Before, she never had a chance with super jock Blake. Now he’s her boyfriend. Before, she and Maggie were inseparable. Now her best friend won’t speak to her.

What happened to her? Remembering the truth could be more dangerous than she knows…

Sounds amazing, doesn’t it? You know what else is amazing? The hero of this book, Adam. Ah, Adam. I am kinda (okay, totally) smitten with this boy, so I asked Natalie to give us a little more insight into his character. She was kind enough to share with us some of Chloe’s thoughts:

Shh…we’re sneaking up the stairs, and Adam’s apartment is…Holy Cramped Spaces. Have to be quiet, too, because his grandma isn’t the type to invite me in for milk and cookies. Let’s twist open the door and….whoa, what do you know? Adam is a neat freak. Capital N to the K, people. I could bounce a quarter off his bed. If I could stop thinking about the fact that he sleeps here.
Ahem…anyway…
Okay, so his iPod is beside his bed, the earbuds perfectly coiled beside it. Maybe we’ll just take a quick little look at his first playlist.
Hm, wonder if he thinks of Piper when he listens to some of these.

Lonely Boy — The Black Keys
Breakdown — Seether
Demons — Imagine Dragons
Comeback — Redlight King
Rope — Foo Fighters
Staring at the Sun — TV On The Radio
Sia — Breathe Me
All This and Heaven too — Florence & The Machine

There you have it, readers! A sneak peak at Adam through his music. Are you in love yet? 🙂

Natalie’s Bio:
2013 Headshot MediumLost for years in a maze of cubicles and file rooms, Natalie found her way back to her love of writing. Natalie lives in Ohio (Go Bucks!) with her husband, their three amazing kids, and a giant dust-mop who swears he’s the family dog.  Follow her on Twitter @natdrichards or visit her atwww.nataliedrichards.com

Writing the Synopsis with Diana Cosby

Dana MermaidNot so long ago, I was certain that no one on the planet despised writing a synopsis as much as me. I would rather have put my beautiful, complete manuscript in a drawer, and moved on to write another entire book than to condense a 100k story into the 3-5 pages necessary to submit my work to an editor or agent. I always found it difficult to know what to put in and what to leave out, or how to convey the ever-important backstory that makes the hero and heroine who they are, without overshadowing the story actually being told. And then, I was fortunate enough to win a synopsis and three chapter review from the fabulous Diana Cosby, an international bestselling author who also happens to teach a class on writing the synopsis. Besides being one of the nicest people on the planet, she did such a wonderful job of helping me to understand and conquer my fear of the synopsis that I begged her to swim over to the mermaid pond and share some of her secrets with us..

Diana Cosby

Diana Cosby

A retired Navy Chief, AGC(AW), Diana Cosby is an international bestselling author of Scottish medieval romantic suspense.  Her award-winning MacGruder Brother books are available in five languages. Diana has appeared at Lady Jane’s Salon, in NYC, in Woman’s Day, on USA Today’s romance blog, “Happily Ever After,” MSN.com, and in Texoma Living Magazine.

After her career in the Navy, Diana dove into her passion – writing romance novels. With 34 moves behind her, she was anxious to create characters who reflected the amazing cultures and people she’s met throughout the world. In August 2012, Diana released her story in the anthology, “Born To Bite,” with Hannah Howell and Erica Ridley.  Continue reading