I just finished my sixth book, which will be a September release, and cannot describe the sense of satisfaction I have. The book, called HOT-BLOODED, will be the first book in a 3-book mini-series called It Takes a Hero.

This story is about a woman who works for the Department of Defense, who impulsively volunteers to do a six-month deployment to Iraq. She’s heard stories about the quality of life in the Green Zone, complete with fitness center, fast-food restaurants, and lots of soldiers to keep her safe. But when a last minute directive sends her to a remote outpost in Afghanistan, where a certain hard-bodied special ops soldier is also stationed, she realizes she’s in way over her head. Think Private Benjamin meets Call of Duty.

This story is also meaningful to me, in that a good friend of mine recently returned from a deployment to Iraq. Like me, she is a civilian with no military training or background. I thought she’d be anxious to return to the States, but she actually extended her deployment and stayed for fifteen months. It seems she met a soldier over there and they’re returning home together…

What about you? Do you enjoy stories about military heroes? What about military heroines?

The winner of the 5-lb bag of gummi’s is Michele L. Send your address to me at karenefoley@comcast.net, and I’ll put these yummi gummi’s into the mail to you! By the way….we made it!!

I’ve just begun a three-day, 1,500 mile road trip from the northeastern tip of Massachusetts, where the thermometer now reads a brisk 26 degrees, southward to the sunny state of Florida, where I’m told the thermometer now reads…a brisk 26 degrees!

By the time you read this, I’ll have already been on the road for several hours, working my way through Boston and then west along the Massachusetts turnpike before turning south toward Connecticut and New York. If the weather and traffic conditions are favorable, we’ll reach southern Virginia by dinner.

In the van with me are my 70-year old father, and his ancient golden retriever. I haven’t spent this much time with my dad since I was seventeen years old and we traveled by train to visit relatives in Chicago. At that time, he was younger than I am now. Although we rarely agree on anything, he has always been there for me, no matter what. Even if he never lets me forget it afterwards.

So this will be an adventure for both of us.

My parents usually make this southerly migration in October, trading their New England home for their Florida home on the gulf coast. But this year, my mom had hip surgery and needed to stay in the Boston area to recuperate. So she is flying to Florida this morning on a non-stop flight, while I agreed to accompany my dad for the 3-day drive. Both he and my mom are convinced that he cannot–and should not–make the drive alone, and I’m inclined to agree. We had our first accident last night, before we even left the driveway. While backing up with the driver’s door open, the door caught on a frozen embankment of ice and snow, nearly tearing it from the hinges. We were able to wrestle the door back into place and close it, but it is now wired shut for the duration of the trip and repairs will need to wait until we reach Florida. Three long days from now.

I told myself that at least I had the warm weather to look forward to, even for a day or two, before I flew home. But my dad called yesterday to remind me to pack warm, and to bring my boots, since even Florida is feeling the effects of the deep-freeze we’ve been experiencing. It’s okay…I’m making the trip for him, not the weather. Even if I’ll never let him forget it.

Who would you most like to spend three days in a car with? Who would you least like to make that trip with? Leave a comment and I’ll randomly select one person to receive a 5-lb bag of gummy alligators (guaranteed to last for a 3-day trip). All responses are confidential!

November is a special month for my family, with lots of celebrations. Yesterday was my mom’s birthday and today is my dad’s birthday, and next week these two lovebirds will celebrate their 48th wedding anniversary. And my grandmother said their marriage would never last… You see, he was an unabashed bad boy with a leather jacket and a motorcycle, and she was the deacon’s daughter. When she ran off with him right after her high-school graduation, her family pretty much washed their hands of her. But together, they made an amazing life for themselves and their children, and I don’t think either of them has ever regretted the choices they made. My grandmother may still look at my dad with a jaundiced eye, but I think even she has to acknowledge that he and my mom are a perfect match.

I’m sure that hearing their story is just part of the reason why I love to read and write romance, and why I’m such a complete sucker for happy endings. So when I was invited to write a story for the Dressed to Thrill mini-series, I knew I had to have my heroine elope with her hero, even if they weren’t destined to have their own happily-ever-after…at least not right away. HOLD ON TO THE NIGHTS is a November release, and gives me another reason to celebrate this month!

Do you have a special love story that you’d like to share? If so, I’d love to hear it. If you post a comment or share your story, I’ll give away a full, autographed set of the Dressed to Thrill Blaze books to a randomly selected winner!

Also, just a reminder that my Dressed to Thrill Twitter spin-off story is now underway and you can read it at the Tweet Tweet Love Website.

Gerard Butler is my guilty pleasure.

There. I said it.

I saw my first Gerard Butler movie about seven years ago, when I was home sick with the flu. I ordered Reign of Fire through On-Demand, and couldn’t drag my eyes from the hunky Scotsman with the sexy accent. I became an instant Gerry fan. I was actually naïve enough to believe that I was the first to discover him. Little did I know, I came waaaay late to the party. I soon learned that there were more Gerard Butler fan sites than you could shake a Scotch broom at. I became a Tart. And then a GAL. I even registered to attend a Gerard Butler Fan Convention, where I looked forward to dressing up for the event’s costume ball (I was unable to attend due to a conflicting business trip). There was no question about it; I was officially obsessed. Gerard Butler became the inspiration for every hero I created.

So when I was invited to participate in an amazingly fun Blaze mini-series, DRESSED TO THRILL, (where the best thing about dressing up is taking it off) how could I resist? I already had a story idea formulating in my head. You see, the one thing that kept bugging me about Gerard Butler was why he’d never been romantically linked to any one woman, despite his obvious appeal. So that got me thinking…

What if my hero was a Hollywood juggernaut? What if, before he’d become an A-list actor, he’d met the love of his life but the relationship had gone terribly wrong? What if he was secretly still in love with this woman? And what if she showed up—in costume—at one of his fan conventions, harboring a secret about the hero? And so HOLD ON TO THE NIGHTS was created. This is the third book in the series, and makes its debut in November.

Don’t miss the first book, FEELS LIKE THE FIRST TIME, by Tawny Weber, which is out on bookstore shelves right now, or the second book, CAUGHT IN THE ACT, by Samantha Hunter, which comes out in October. The series wraps up in December with SANTA, BABY, by Lisa Renee Jones. In addition to these four fabulous stories, there is also a behind-the-scenes romance that runs through all four books, and ties the four stories together. Like I said, it’s an amazingly fun mini-series, and I absolutely loved working with these three talented ladies.

Yesterday, the four of us began writing a “Dressed to Thrill” mini-romance on Twitter, round-robin style! There will be one new story each month, Tawny in Sept, Sam in Oct, Karen in Nov, and Lisa in Dec. These are free reads and it should be a lot of fun, since with round robins, who knows where the stories can go?

Each Twitter story will be another spin-off story from our books, starting with Tawny’s “Feels So Good” that began on Sept 7. Each day, we will post 5 new tweet installments of the story, and to follow, all you have to do is have a Twitter account and follow @BlazeDTT. Discussion cannot be held on that account, it will be for story tweets only, but you can discuss the account at #BlazeDTT, or on the Facebook group for @BlazeDTT.

So please come join us…I promise you it will be a great time. And if you’re brave enough to share your own guilty pleasure here, I’ll send a copy of HOLD ON TO THE NIGHTS, along with some other goodies (including a book-light and chocolate) to one random commenter. Thanks for stopping by!

July is one of my favorite months, and not just because it heralds a return to the sandy beaches and cool waters of the Atlantic. I adore the fourth of July and all the celebrations it brings, from flag-bedecked parades to backyard barbeques. We live on the banks of a large river, and each year the town does an impressive fireworks display over the stretch of water directly behind our house. We host a big cookout for family and friends, and everyone has front row seats for the fireworks. The river is filled with boats that drop anchor for the evening to watch the event, and the entire street becomes one giant tailgating party as people park their cars along the river and break out lawn chairs and coolers. The entire day is a ton of fun and, for me, marks the true beginning of summer.

This month, I happen to be working on a story for a Blaze anthology titled BORN ON THE FOURTH OF JULY, featuring a military hero…one of my favorite subjects! But it also got me thinking about the true meaning of the holiday, and about the amazing men and women in uniform, stationed all over the world.

There’s something about a military hero that sucks me in. I love their unfailing courtesy, and how commanding they look in full dress uniform (and, okay, even better out of it!). Yet beneath that civilized veneer are men who make hard decisions, sometimes under incredible stress. These are men who lay it all on the line. I love the bond they share with their fellow soldiers and the loyalty they have for their units. I appreciate the sacrifices they make on a daily basis, whether it’s being stationed far from those they love, or risking their lives for what they believe in.

In my story, my heroine meets her military hero through an Adopt-a-Soldier program at the school where she teaches, and sends him care packages that are guaranteed to put a smile on his face. If you’re interested in supporting a deployed soldier, there are lots of non-profit, volunteer organizations out there looking for assistance. One of my favorites is Operation Gratitude, at www.opgratitude.org.

What about you? Does a guy in uniform (or out) get you hot and bothered? If you were going to put together a custom care package for your special soldier, what would it include? Let me know, and I’ll pick a random winner to receive a copy of ABLE-BODIED, part of the Uniformly Hot series!