Hi, all!

Brenda suggested I tell you about what I do here at Harlequin, so here goes…

Officially, I’m the editorial assistant for Harlequin Blaze and Harlequin American Romance. Unofficially, they call me The Gatekeeper. Anything you send to Blaze or American Romance editors has to go through me.

I suspect I’m best known among Blaze authors as the person who nags them to fill out their art fact sheets. I also do a lot of administrative tasks: filing, photocopying, couriering, etc. And I deal with most of the slush that comes to the Blaze line. I get some promising submissions and some pretty crazy stuff, too—please do not send pictures of yourself, hand-drawn illustrations, or manuscripts written on lined paper and held together with twine. Seriously, just say no.

The part of my job that I enjoy the most is the actual editing. I now have three of my own authors, including fabulous new Blaze author Elle Kennedy, whose first book Body Check came out in March. I often take on projects, such as line edits, for other editors, as well. You, too, could be the lucky recipient of one of my very thorough line edits—don’t get too excited, now.

I love working on Blaze books. The authors are a lot of fun, and the stories are super sexy!

We have a fantastic lineup for you in July….

If you’re looking for a great beach read, we’ve got an anthology that’s all about the beach. In Endless Summer, author Julie Kenner makes her return to Blaze. She’s in good company with Karen Anders and Jill Monroe.

Samantha Hunter introduces us to the next generation of American heroes—The Texas Rangers—with Hard to Resist.

We’re also incredibly honored and excited to have New York Times bestselling author Betina Krahn join the team with her first Blaze book Make Me Yours, a hot historical romance.

Cara Summers brings us Twin Seduction, the follow-up to last month’s Twin Temptation.

Rhonda Nelson’s The Soldier is another Uniformly Hot! title, linked to last month’s Letters from Home. Army Ranger Adam McPherson shows us that even though he lost part of his leg to a roadside bomb, he’s still one-hundred percent man.

And Kate Hoffmann offers The Mighty Quinns: Teague, the second in her Quinns Down Under series.

So have fun at the beach and remember to take along these sizzling hot reads. And, make sure you add the comment that Blaze Heroes are Hunks to get your name in the draw for copies of our June Blaze books.

Thanks for having me and good luck!