At long last, the first two books of my upcoming series have titles!!! YAY!!!

Look for THE DEBUTANTE IS MINE in March and THIS EARL IS ON FIRE in July of 2016.
🙂

Warm wishes and happy reading,

Viv

I’m so excited to share the cover for ALL I WANT FOR CHRISTMAS IS A DUKE! Valerie Bowman, Tiffany Clare, Ashlyn Macnamara, and I have joined forces in this Christmas anthology for Avon Impulse.

ALL I WANT FOR CHRISTMAS IS A DUKE is available on December 1st, 2015.

The Avon Art Department created a lovely cover, don’t you think?

I had a blast writing my novella, THE DUKE’S CHRISTMAS WISH, and I can’t wait to share this story with you! Look for upcoming previews in my newsletter, on my blog and on Facebook.

Sending happy holiday wishes your way,

Viv

For years, I’ve been a proponent of the No-Gardening Garden Method. Simply put, this is a garden that appears without effort. In the spring, you just see what happens to pop up and flourish. It’s always a wonderful surprise.

You see, I’ve never been a good gardener when sweat, kneeling, and labor is involved. I don’t understand it, but whenever I try really hard to grow something—test soil pH, gauge water levels, fertilize, and weed—I end up killing everything. Every single plant.

However, if I happen to take the tomatoes or cucumbers that have gone wrinkly in the bottom of the veggie drawer, a sprouting potato, or even the remains of a Halloween jack o’lantern, and then toss them in the garden spot… something magic happens. Life finds a way.

In the harshest conditions.

Without testing the soil.

Somehow… I have a garden every single year.

This year, my favorite flower has become the pumpkin blossom.

Isn’t that big yellow blossom beautiful?

Then, of course, there’s the fruit that follows.

_{(Unfortunately, the pictures posted here were not taken from my garden. Because I’m posting this in the middle of the night, I had to Google-grab.)}

This year, I’ve already picked five pumpkins and there are more growing in my no-gardening garden. I highly recommend it!

Warm wishes, happy reading, and happy no-gardening,

Viv

Yesterday, I sent out a distress call on Facebook:

“HELP!!! As you know, I’ve written a novella for the Avon Impulse Christmas anthology, ALL I WANT FOR CHRISTMAS IS A DUKE. The only problem is… I still need to give my novella a title. Ugh! The good news is that my editor and I have narrowed it down to two, but we can’t decide. So we’re giving YOU the final decision.<3 Do you prefer: a). This Christmas Kiss, or b). The Duke’s Christmas Wish?”

And today we have a winner! THE DUKE’S CHRISTMAS WISH won by a landslide! YAY!!!

I’ll upload the cover for the anthology as soon as I receive it. In addition, when the link is hot for THE DUKE’S CHRISTMAS WISH, I’ll post it here. 🙂

Until then…

Warm wishes and happy reading,

Viv

I am so glad it’s Tuesday!

Every year over the Labor Day weekend, my small town hosts one of the largest Midwestern festivals, the Blueberry Festival. Food trucks, craft-sellers, and carnival rides bring people from all over the U.S. Our population skyrockets from 25k to 200k. Our school system even closes for the Friday before Labor Day each year. And for those who live near the sprawling park, you are a virtual prisoner for four solid days.

I live near the park. Which essentially boils down to the fact that I typically do not have the freedom to run to Starbucks. For four solid days.

This year, however, I managed to brazen my way out onto the road, and drove the back way to my favorite beverage kingdom. And as a bonus, I still had a parking space when I made it home. Yes!

Not only that, but DH installed new windows in my writing cave. So now I’m ready to enjoy my new sound-dampened/ UV protected haven. <3

The tents in the park are coming down today and the neighborhood is quiet. It’s the perfect day for writing a new book. And… if I make my word count, I might treat myself to a grande chai with whip. 🙂

Wishing you the best week,

Viv

Today, you’ll find me at Lachesis Publishing Inc. The wonderful Joanna D’Angelo runs a Bestselling Author Q and A on Fridays and she picked me to be her guest this week! Isn’t that cool?

Her questions are wonderful and make the interview flow seamlessly. I really had fun!

If you have a minute, you can find it here: Lachesis Publishing, Inc.

Wishing you the best weekend and happy reading,

Viv

I woke up at 3:30 a.m.. Apparently, my brain believed that 4 hours of sleep was plenty before proceeding to remind me that I’d planned to outline the next book today.

Oh yeah! The new book (aka Lilah and Jack’s story)! I’ve already fallen in love with these characters and can’t wait to get started. So, I mulled over the meet cute for a while until I felt like I might be able to drift back into sleep… which happened about 30 seconds before the alarm went off.

Then, like a zombie, I walked across the hall to wake up DS 2.0, only to have him mumble a reminder about “late start Mondays.”

Oh yeah! Monday start time is nearly an hour later than the rest of the week. So I went back to bed… but my brain had reengaged and was too excited about everything to sleep.

Now, here I sit with an extra large mug of tea, the motor skills of a zombie, while yawning like a guppy out of water. Yet, my brain is ready to split the atom. I’m afraid to think of what will happen when it finally realizes how tired we are.

The Maddening Lord Montwood comes out in paperback this Tuesday! Yay! To celebrate, I’m giving away an RWA canvas tote chock-full of mystery goodies from the conference. This is a HUGE PRIZE!!!

To enter: “Share” this post. You have all weekend to enter. I’ll choose one winner on Monday, 8/17. If you share this post anywhere other than via the link widgets below, just post the link in the comments of this post to increase your chances of winning.

Good luck, happy reading, and have a spectacular weekend!

Viv

For those of you who follow my blog, I’m giving you an exclusive scoop:

In the next week, I’ll be hosting a contest! Yay!!!

The prize will be a mystery bag, filled with an assortment of books I picked up at RWA! This contest is going to be BIG. I can hardly wait!

Right now, I’m in deadline mode, but as soon as I finish this novella, I’ll post the contest details here, on Facebook, and on Twitter. I just wanted you to hear it first. 🙂

Warm wishes and happy reading,

Viv

Dear friends,

For the month of August, I’m going to be giving away RWA “Goodies” during random contests. There might be one listed here, one on Twitter, and one for those who are in my Newsletter Crew. This weekend, I’m running a contest on my Facebook page.

The prize pack, this time, will be an assortment of ebooks from your favorite authors: When Beauty Tamed the Beast by Eloisa James; Worth Any Price by Lisa Kleypas; What I Did For A Duke by Julie Anne Long; Claire by Ellie MacDonald; and One Good Earl Deserves a Lover by Sarah MacLean.

I’ll choose ONE random winner from the comments below the “angry bird” picture on my Facebook page. Contest ends Sunday, 8/2/15, at midnight (ET). Facebook is not responsible for this giveaway.

Wishing you an amazing weekend!

Viv