Thank you so much for having me back as a guest, Delilah! I am absolutely over the moon that Rachel Wilder and I have our first new release since before the pandemic!

🚨 It’s here! The Love Me in Vegas Kickstarter is LIVE!

30 indie romance authors.

Dozens of brand-new love stories.

One stunning collector’s edition.

This exclusive anthology is only available this month so don’t miss your chance to grab it!

Our story is called “Bird in the Hand.”

Silas Brooks has a secret. All summer, he couldn’t get Knox Kramer out of his mind. Now, as they return after summer break, does he risk making a move? Knox is Mr. Popular and Silas is a member of the nerd squad. Not to mention, he’s a crow shifter and Knox is a raven. The biggest problem? He doesn’t know if Knox even likes him that way.

We’re exploring crow and raven shifters and the world of Volare Academy, a private college for avian shifters. We’ve got a new series we’re writing and wanted to give readers a sneak peek into the world we’ve been inhabiting for the last eighteen months.

What’s so exciting about this is that we’ve finally gotten our writing mojo back. It’s been a relief and pleasure to come back to storytelling and to have such fun stories to be able to play with. If you follow our Pinterest, Rachel’s been creating an extensive curated collection for the series and you can follow along. She compiles character inspiration, location shots, and even foods and animals. If you’re not already following, here’s the link: https://www.pinterest.com/noonandwilder/_created/.

And if you find yourself in Las Vegas, Nevada, on Friday, November 7, 2025, stop by our table at Reader Nation! Admission is FREE! https://www.readernation.live/

In the meantime, hop on over to Kickstarter and check out the incredible anthology. Isn’t that cover terrific?!

💋 Back it today and help us bring this dream to life: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/authorventuresllc/love-me-in-vegas-a-collection-of-romance

#KickstarterLaunch #RomanceBooks #ReaderNation25 #RomanceAuthors #RomanceReaders

UPDATE: The winner is…Rachelle Lerner!
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Since we’re nearing the end of February, the month of romance, I thought I’d end it on a bit of a nostalgic note. Some of us kept diaries. I did when I was younger. I put my secrets in it. Talked about things I didn’t want to share with another soul.

Today’s puzzle image is a lovely, sepia-toned photo with hints of travel and love. I could have collected these things. How about you?

For a chance to win a $5 Amazon gift card, solve the puzzle, then tell me a story about what you see. Whose memories are encapsulated here? What happened to the lovers? Have fun with it!

UPDATE: The winner is…Michelle Levan!
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For a chance to win a $5 Amazon gift card, solve the puzzle, then tell me your favorite romance tropes, you know the underlying kind of romance it is. My favorites include: cowboy, enemy to lover, and forced proximity. So, what are yours? And if there’s one not listed here that you love, share it in the comments!

UPDATE: The winner is…Mary McCoy!
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Hello, everyone! I want to start by thanking Delilah for letting me come play here again. I always enjoy hanging out with all of you.

If your summer has been anything like ours, it’s been ungodly hot pretty much from the start. Summer isn’t my favorite season, though I do love all the fresh fruits and veggies. When I was a kid, I didn’t mind summer—of course, it was school break, so we had long days to play, and it wasn’t this hot then either. My birthday is even mid-summer, so you’d think a summer baby might enjoy their season more.  I just find it harder every year to tolerate the heat and humidity we have here in southern Pennsylvania (I know it’s much worse as you go south from here), so my outdoor activities are severely limited once we get to steady summertime weather. I wish I’d kept track from the start of how many 90 and 100-degree-plus days we’ve had—I bet it would be a long list this year. I’ll be thrilled to see it end—no more walking outside to grab the mail and coming back inside forty seconds later dripping sweat. I’m ready for days cool enough to spend time outside with a good book, pretty colors on the trees, and cool nights around the firepit. And after that, winter, at least in theory; it’s been more than a few years since we had a good snowstorm in my neck of the woods. And I love spring, all the flowers waking up, the trees sprouting new leaves after their rest…though spring seems shorter as summer starts sooner every year.

I found some relief from our actual summer, though, with both my reading and writing—when you get lost in a good story, it’s easy to imagine yourself in that place and time, so when it’s sweltering where you are, why not pull out a book set during a blizzard, or if you’re freezing, a hot romance set in a tropical locale? I recently finished reading a holiday story with lots of snow that made me way less unhappy about our weather for a few hours while I lived in the winter with the characters as they fell in love. One of the stories I’m writing at the moment is set during late fall-early winter, so lots of chilly days there that need hot cocoa or cozy sweaters—at least in my head; I doubt I’d want to do that even with our frosty a/c running. (The one story I really should be finishing, though, is a summer story, the third and final book in my Medusa’s Daughters Trilogy, and they’re headed for an even hotter destination than where we are.)

Am I the only one who likes to visit another season this way? What is your very favorite season and why? If you share your response here in the comments, I’ll do a drawing this Sunday, 8/18/24 after 12 noon for one of my eBooks (winner’s choice!).

UPDATE: The winner is…Cindy!
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I’m busy writing, writing, writing! And I have no idea how the story will unfold. It’s kind of fun being in the dark until stuff happens I never expected. I let the characters do their thing. I know. It sounds nuts, but it’s usually how my stories happen. I know how they begin but after that…?

Anyway, I have so much to do. Write another mystery chapter, edit some, and then read more Secret Identities stories. I’m up to my eyeballs in work—and then, before I can go to bed, I’ll have to paint something to stay on track with the challenge.

What do you get to do? Well, I have a challenge for you, too! Are you excited? 🙂 Solve the puzzle then add some ideas for what you think a romantic date night should include for a chance to win a $5 Amazon gift card!

The winner is…Stacey Kinzebach!
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February

 

1. I completed work on Malcolm (Book #10 of Montana Bounty Hunters: Dead Horse, MT) and published it!
2. I began work on What Happens in Bozeman, my next We are Dead Horse, MT, book!
3. I completed 3 editing projects for other authors in February.

Health-related:

1. I visited my heart doctor, and he was so pleased with my progress I don’t have to see him for another year!
2. I continued concentrating on drinking more water, plus, I continued drinking water mixed with a tablespoon of apple cider vinegar twice a day to improve my liver health. I began drinking one cup of Turmeric tea a day.
3. I’ve managed to keep my blood pressure down to 135-155, despite the fact I haven’t lost any weight. Gah.

Happiness-related: 

1. I began the #the100dayproject art challenge.
2. I led a hands-on program for the local art guild using Gelli plates to produce pretty papers for things like collage. (See the tags I made below, which were painted using Gelli plates!)
3. Here are some examples of art projects I completed in February.

March

 

1. To complete writing What Happens in Bozeman, my next We are Dead Horse, MT, book, which releases on March 19th!
2. To begin work on my next Brotherhood Protectors book!
3. To complete 4 editing projects in March!
4. To finish reading and selecting stories from among the submissions for the upcoming collection—Secret Identities: A Boys Behaving Badly Anthology!

For health related, I plan:

1. To start back on my Weight Watchers diet, because it’s time to get serious! I HAVE to get back in the saddle!
2. To continue to reduce salt and processed food, and incorporate foods good for blood pressure (spinach, broccoli, bananas) and my liver (apple cider vinegar, flax seeds, sunflower seeds).
3. To begin daily workouts using my recumbent bike and some chair yoga exercises.

For happiness-related, I plan: 

1. To continue #the100daychallenge where I’ll be painting something every single day!
2. To meet three of my favorite author-friends for a luncheon to get some writer time!

Contest

Comment on anything you’ve read in this post. Tell me what you’re doing to make yourself happier and healthier, or tell me what you plan to read in March…
Like I said, comment on anything for a chance to win a $5 Amazon gift card!

UPDATE: The winner is…Deb Brown!
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I watched a TikTok where a man played a prank on his girlfriend while they were eating at a restaurant. While she was in the bathroom, he paid their bill and then waited for her to return. When she sat, he leaned toward her and dared her to do a “Dine & Dash” where you eat and flee without paying. She was reluctant at first, but then her eyes brightened. They ran from the restaurant and jumped into his car; then she told him, “Go, go, go!” while she patted her chest because she was so frightened and excited. After they pulled away, he told her he had paid, and she said, “Oh, thank God!” He asked her, “But was that fun, right?” Her smile was everything. He’d invited her to do something naughty but had protected her from the consequences. I thought, “Damn, he knows her.” And, “How romantic.”

Okay, so maybe you think that was risky and weird for a date, but it got me thinking about what makes a dinner romantic.

So, today’s challenge: For a chance to win a $5 Amazon gift card, solve the puzzle then tell me what your ideal romantic dinner would look like.