October 2016

 IF YOU ENTER THE CONTEST, I NEED YOUR PHYSICAL MAIL ADDRESS
ON THE ENTRY FORM, AS WELL AS EMAIL

DO NOT PUT YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION IN THE PUBLIC COMMENT FORUM--THIS IS FOR YOUR OWN PROTECTION. USE THE PRIVATE FORM THAT SAYS "CONTEST ENTRY FORM"
I HAVE DELETED YOUR ADDRESSES FROM THE COMMENTS SECTION AND YOU WILL NEED TO ENTER USING THE FORM.

Now that I have that bit of business taken care of because every single time I hold a contest, a number of you always write your email address in the area for the mailing address, or better yet, leave off the zip code, or send me the wrong address, or you put it in the comments section, which is flat-out dangerous. I will delete those without entering you into the contest. I'm squeezed for time as it is, but things like that make me crazy, especially when I am sending out print books as prizes...now, enough lecturing from the old broad.

Yes, that's me in a hardhat on top of a beautiful 36 story condominium with our son who is building this absolutely gorgeous luxury condominium on Oahu. (I'm the short one in the picture, obviously...and now you know why I refer to myself as the family dwarf even though I'm 5'6" -- even the grandkids are all going to be taller than me!)

Anyway, the spouse and I have just returned from two weeks in Hawaii with our son while his wife and the kids were away for ten days. I went over there to be the mom and cook, and Doug, my husband, went to take pictures--and because I didn't want to go without him.

'll be sharing some of his pictures here, but this day climbing to the top of a VERY TALL BUILDING was an amazing experience. We took the elevator most of the way up, walked a DOWN all 36 floors. The view from the top was amazing, but looking down was a rush, too. We were 400 feet up in this shot at the top of the page.

Here's a picture Doug took of Jon's building at sunrise one morning--I keep remembering our son building things with his Erector Set when he was a kid, but never imagined this! It's an absolutely beautiful structure and should have its first residents moving in next month. For parents, this was probably the coolest "show and tell" ever!

It was a busy two weeks, cooking for the men (I felt so frickin' TRADITIONAL!) and taking care of one bunny, two cats and two dogs. And yes, it did get a bit insane

at times, especially since one of the dogs is a rather large six month old puppy, a perfect blend of...well...lots of things! I wish I'd taken a picture of her hiding under the kitchen table after eating the really yummy breakfast burrito I'd just made for my husband! (this picture lacks the look of guilt, but it'll have to do...) I put his plate on the table and left the room (he was RIGHT THERE!) and Doug walked to the kitchen counter, about three steps away, for a plate of fruit, and Bear (the poor puppy...she was starving, right? No. BIG no!) jumped up and ate his breakfast before he could save it. I will say that she has that "Who? ME? I'm INNOCENT" look perfected.​ I absolutely love Bear, but she's a reminder that I probably DON'T want to raise a puppy again!

However, I did get back on track with DARK TERROR while we were three. I love the characters and the story, but I've also rewritten parts of it numerous times as new things come to me. I used to channel my books in great lumps of information, but this one is getting doled out in bits and pieces. It is, however, more than halfway finished in spite of all my mishaps! It was wonderful sitting at the kitchen table in Hawaii with the windows all around looking out on jungle. Just a beautiful setting!​

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If you follow me on Facebook, you might have seen the new cover for HUNGER, the third and final anthology with my last Feral Passions story, DANGEROUS PASSIONS. It's the last one in the three book series, with Trak and Evan's stories, and it will release first as an ebook in CLAIMED BY THE MATE VOL 3 in January, and then in the print anthology HUNGER, in May 2017. ​

I'm going to miss my guys from Feral Passions, but one of these days I might actually return to their world. It's hard to say, because I've got so many projects on my "to do" list, and I really want to start finishing things for a change.

I've started getting rights back on some of my Kensington titles, and want to release them asap...after I finish the current book!
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Before I forget--I've often said what a fan I am of Joey W. Hill's writing. I fell in love with her Vampire Queen series, and I'm so glad she's writing independently them now that Berkley is no longer buying, but this new one coming out from her on October 31--yes, that's Halloween--sounds wonderful! It's a stand alone, and because Joey is as much a romantic as I am, she makes Medusa her heroine and I'll bet good money she gives her a happy ending. I've never read anything by Joey that I didn't love, so I can recommend this one without even reading it yet. I do, however, have it preordered!

Click on the cover and it will take you to Joey's page with info about the story, buy links, and a link to a first chapter excerpt. I can guarantee a good read. I'm really looking forward to this one myself!

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Last month I mentioned discovering Jocelynn Drake and Rinda Elliott, and their wonderful series of M/M romances called UNBREAKABLE BONDS. I couldn't believe my luck when TORCH, the newest in the series, released in time for me to read it on our redeye flight home from Oahu! I intend to read it again because it's just that good. Every single book in the series is so well done that I've got to add more shelves for my "keeper" collection! They're also available in print, and that's my next purchase because these are stories I'm going to want to read again and again because they're just that good. All of them are--look for SHIVER, LUCAS, and SHATTER, and when you finish them, read TORCH. 

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My contest this month is for a copy of WILD, the monster anthology with three complete novels by myself, Eve Langlais, and AC Arthur. Just fill out the entry form--correctly!--and I will choose winners on Halloween night. As always, I sort of judge how many to give away by how many entires I receive, and I always try and have a separate one for those of you not in the US. At some point I may have to switch to ebooks for those of you living elsewhere, because postage is getting so blasted high, but for now I'm hoping to keep sending those print books. So if you want a refresher on the story in WILD (Wild Passions) just click on the title and read an excerpt. And I'm going to leave you with one of Doug's shots--it's an 800 year old Hawaiian fish pond called Paepae o'He'eia, an absolutely gorgeous place filled with history.

I hope you're well, that the weather has settled down wherever you live, and that you're actually finding time for some reading. SO many good books out there, and I want to read them all!

Best to you,
​Kate