Though I like the taste of them, I am not usually one to eat apples. I can’t really say why—part of it is not liking to bite into the skin. It’s also too easy to get a bad one, I guess—too sour, too hard, too soft. If I’m pretty sure it’s firm and tart and room temperature, I’ll probably go for it, otherwise, huh-uh.

But this week, I’ve been majorly jonesing for apples. I know why. I always begin to think of all the delicious apples available at this time of year. Something about October just puts me into apple-eating/baking mood. I have great memories of walking around on a breezy autumn day in an apple orchard, surrounded by that smell, plucking them right off the trees. And since moving back up to Maryland from Florida, I have rediscovered the magnificence of fall apples in this area.

So yesterday I got a big craving. I saw some apple recipes on the Internet, and not only printed them out, but went right to the store, got the ingredients and made them. Oh, heaven! One was an apple-walnut-cranberry-gorgonzola salad with apple cider vinaigrette (absolutely delicious!) The other an apple crisp (also delicious.)

I honestly can’t say that I would have done the same thing if I’d read that article and those recipes in January or February. Strange, huh?

What about you? Any particular seasons that just seem right for certain foods, aside from the typical pumpkin pie at Thanksgiving or candy canes at Christmas?

PS: Though Isobel Sharpe is the foodie here at Blaze Authors, providing lots of yummy recipes, I figured somebody might ask. So here’s the recipe for the apple salad! The only things I changed were using ‘spring mix’ since I couldn’t find bibb lettuce, and not baking the walnuts–they were fine without being toasted!

Recipe: Autumn salad with apples, walnuts, cranberries, gorgonzola cheese and apple cider vinaigrette
Scotto family
Ingredients
· 1/2 cup walnut halves
· 6 to 8 ounces crumbled gorgonzola cheese
· 2 packages baby spinach, washed and dried
· 2 heads bibb lettuce, separated into leaves, washed and dried
· 2 to 3 ripe apples (preferably Gala, Spy or excellent quality eating apple) skin on, halved, cored, cut into lengthwise 8-inch slices
· 1/4 cup sun dried cranberries
· 1 cup apple cider vinaigrette
· Salt and freshly ground black pepper
· Apple cider vinaigrette
· 3 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
· 1 tablespoon honey
· 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
· 1/4 cup excellent quality extra virgin olive oil
· 1/4 cup opal basil leaves or regular basil, cut into thin ribbons
Preparation
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place walnuts on cookie sheet. Bake until lightly toasted, crisp and smell rich, about 10 to 14 minutes.
Place walnuts and crumbled cheese in a large bowl.
Add baby spinach and bibb lettuce.
Lightly dress with vinaigrette so that everything is slightly coated.
Toss, season salad with salt and pepper, garnish with sliced apples and sun dried cranberries; serve immediately.
For the apple cider vinaigrette:
In a small bowl, add Dijon, honey, and apple cider vinegar. Mix together with whisk then stream in extra virgin olive oil whisking all together.
Season with salt and pepper and serve.

As most of us know, Sunday is Father’s Day. Around my house that means the girls are already planning on what to make their Dad for his annual breakfast in bed, and I’m asking him what he’d like to do for dinner. Youngest went through all the cards in Target yesterday, decided she didn’t like any of them and is going to make him one. She’s 14…lol! That’s nothing, 2 years ago the three of them (then 12, 16 and 19) went shopping for him and came home with three of those kits where little kids (little being the operative word) make plaster molds of their tiny hands to give to their parents. My big kids did that, with pretty hilarious results, and he loved them.

I think because we all love to read and write romance, we hold a special place in our hearts for the wonderful dads of the world. I know romance novels are about the hero and heroine finding true love—and that true love and happily ever after definitely don’t have to include kids after the book is done. But in my mind, that’s how a lot of my couples end up. Maybe because being Bruce’s wife and being the mother to our three daughters has been the most important, enriching, wonderful part of my entire life.

So I just wanted to offer a warm Happy Father’s Day wish to Bruce, to my own father, and to all those terrific Dads out there…fictional and real. Hope you all have a great day!

Feel free to jump in and offer a shout-out to the special Dad in your life—whether you’re married to him or were fathered by him!

I have been thinking about sexy movies.

I assume all of you who visit here read Blaze, and therefore probably understand when I say that I think the Harlequin Blaze line is more like a contemporary, sexy romantic movie than any other line. (Which could, perhaps, explain why the Lifetime channel made some movies out of a few Blaze titles in the past few years.)

That comes in handy when people ask what I write and seem a little befuddled when I reply, “Sexy, light, contemporary series romance.”

It’s easier if I say, “I write books that are like the movie Pretty Woman. Only, without the hooker heroine.”

It’s true, isn’t it? Can’t you see Pretty Woman as a Blaze? (Again, without the hooker heroine.) You’ve got the sexy, strong but also sensitive alpha hero, the sassy, totally contemporary, modern, self-confident heroine. A sexy premise (he “buys” her services for a week) lots of steamy sexy ensues. And in the end, they “save” each other.

A perfect Blaze romance!

I guess that’s one reason I really love sexy, edgy movies—especially if they have a really light, modern tone. Here’s my absolute favorite: Bull Durham.

Have you seen this one? Stars Kevin Costner (his best role, IMO) Tim Robbins, and Susan Sarandon. Kevin is a minor league catcher on his way down the ladder, she’s a southern bell who hooks up with a player every season, Tim Robbins is the dopey youngster with an arm like a rocket. I tell you, for a “romantic comedy” this is one of the sexiest movies I have ever seen. I’m not talking porn-sexy…yawn. This movie has sexual innuendo and tension by the boatload. (I don’t know that I’d ever realized how utterly sexy it could be for a man to paint a woman’s toenails until this movie!)

Bull Durham could SO be a Blaze novel.

So what about you? Ever seen a sexy, contemporary movie that you think could easily have spun out of one of those fabulous Blazes? Do share!

PS: Don’t miss tomorrow—executive editor Marsha Zinberg will be here talking about the new Harlequin Showcase program. I am absolutely thrilled to be part of this exciting new program—which brings you hard-to-find reprints of category titles by some of Harlequin’s popular authors. My very first Blaze, Naturally Naughty, is paired with one of my sexiest, funniest Temptations, Wicked & Willing, and will be released in June!

Everyone who knows me know I have a black thumb. I kill plants. I just seem to have no gift whatsoever when it comes to houseplants or outside plants. I actually managed to somehow screw up planting tulips (my favorite flower.) Half of the bulbs I planted came up this spring, the other half…not even a hint of a leaf!

And yet, for the past three years, my hubby and I have tried growing vegetables in a small garden in our back yard.

We’ve had mixed success. First of all, the soil around here is very rocky and hard. Lots of clay. We’ve been conditioning the plot for 3 years now, and we’re hoping this year is better. Some vegetables do pretty well (tomatoes, zucchini, cucumber) some we’ve had NO luck with. So we keep rotating them out and trying something new. This year, we’re trying onions for the first time, and I’d really like to try potatoes. But honestly, I’m not even sure how to begin with those!

Anyway, I’m just looking for some input. I’d love to hear from any gardeners out there. Any tips or suggestions? What secrets do you have–and what plants work best for you? This year, I’m even more anxious that everything turns out well…we’re on the South Beach diet and are eating a ton of vegetables!

PS: I like eating the vegetables, but oh, I so wish my tulips had come up!

As some of you might know, I have a serious case of split personality disorder.

Though I have been writing light, fun, sexy romances for Harlequin for more than 10 years (I think I will hit 40 books this year) I also branched out into a very different kind of romance last year. I write dark romantic thrillers under the name Leslie Parrish.

Something happened to me today that really made me think about how disparate my two writing jobs are. I was reading my galleys (final printout in which I can make changes) to my next Parrish book, COLD SIGHT, which comes out in July. (I know this is a Blaze blog, but I had to share the cover because it is TO DIE FOR!)

Anyway, the doorbell rang, it was the mailman, bringing me 2 cases of books. My author copies of my May release, BLAZING BEDTIME STORIES VOL. 5 (a 2-in-1 with Jennifer Labrecque.) Some of you might have read my first two entries into the bedtime stories anthologies–set in a world where fairy tales are real. I have LOVED doing these stories. And honestly, this May one is hands-down the best of the three. I loved everything about it–it’s a take on “The Prince And The Pauper” in which an Amazon warrior has to track a missing prince and haul him back to be crowned king. She thinks she finds him in San Francisco…but it turns out she’s got the wrong guy. And he is SO not like the very fussy Prince Ruprecht.

Funny thing is, when I put the galleys down to get the door, I had been reading a scene in COLD SIGHT where the really evil villain is tormenting his teenage kidnap victim by…reading her bedtime stories.

Twisted? Nah. Just me. I guess I have a light side, and a dark side, and my job allows me to fully indulge my imagination both ways. One day I’ll want to read a Janet Evanovich slapstick comedy and the next a Stephen King zombie horror. And my writing is the same way. I am just fortunate enough to have found a way to carve out a niche doing both!

So what about you? Anybody else with dual personalities in their reading or writing tastes? (Or any other way? lol!)

OH! I tried to post the cover for the May Blaze, but for some reason it’s not working! It’s on the Amazon page, though, if you’d like to see it!

When I was asked to write a book for the Forbidden Fantasies miniseries in Blaze, my mind immediately went to a fantasy I’d toyed with in my February 2008 release One Wild Wedding Night: role-playing.

I don’t have to wonder too hard why the fantasy appeals to me. My hubby and I met doing community theater (I was Anne Boleyn and he was the Duke of Norfolk sentencing me to death in Anne of the Thousand Days!) I did a lot of acting in my younger years, as did he, and all three of our girls have inherited the theater bug. I like disappearing into a role, playing someone else. So I have no problem thinking about all the sexy ways people could use that theatrical talent.

Then there were those books 101 Nights of Grrreat Sex (which I got for hubby) and 101 Nights of Grrreat Romance (which he got for me….lololol!)

Anybody else remember those? They were these big books filled with fantasies. You’d tear out a page, carefully open it and it would instruct you on a fantasy/scenario to enact. Some were stupid. Some were incredibly hot. Some (like many positions in the Kama Sutra) seemed veritably impossible, if not physically painful.

All were…intriguing, to say the least.

I didn’t have to go back to those books to think up some sexy play-acting scenarios for Reese and Amanda, the hero and heroine of PLAY WITH ME. There are some that just immediately come to mind: hooker and john, cat burglar and victim, cop and perp—yes, they’re all there.

But here’s my favorite: strangers in a bar. Have you ever played it? (I’m not asking about your sex life, I swear. ) I’m just wondering if you’re ever considered the whole idea of flirting/picking-up someone you’ve been with for years, as a way to spice up your relationship.

Frankly, it’s not about the sex, despite what happens with Tony and Gloria Santori in One Wild Wedding Night (elevator sex…whew!) It’s just fun to try to recapture that rush you feel early in a relationship, when you don’t totally know the person. Bruce and I have been married for 24 years…believe me, we know each other. But sometimes it’s just fun to pretend we don’t, to talk the way we did when we were first going out, getting to know each other’s likes and dislikes—what the other person will order (rather than automatically knowing) what they do for a living. Flirting, bantering, getting that instant rush as you feel this spark of attraction and wonder where it’ll go.

Believe me, it’s a lot of fun and it’s very easy, as long as you’re both willing to be a little adventurous. (And to perhaps feel a little silly, at first. Your hubby/boyfriend might roll his eyes…at least, until he realizes you’re setting him up for an evening of naughty, sexy fun!)

Here’s how. Just send your hubby an email, tell him you’re going to meet him in the bar of X restaurant, that you’ll be wearing a red blouse and waiting for a sexy man to offer to buy you a drink. (Unless he’s pretty thick, I’m sure he’ll realize he’s the sexy man…lol! But you might want to spell it out just in case.)

When he shows up and asks if he can join you, play along. Try to stick with a “just met” conversation, talk to each other like you haven’t in a long time. Be flirtatious and suggestive and try to recapture whatever spark you felt in the very beginning.

Even if it’s only for ten minutes, and then you revert back to normal married-night-out, at least it’ll be something different than immediately launching into conversations about the crappy work day or the kids’ grades or the mortgage payment.

And who couldn’t use ten minutes of freedom now and then?

I am the least artistic person on the planet.

Funny, considering I make my living in the arts. Oh, yeah, I can put words together and come up with fun and entertaining stories (I hope) but as for doing anything creative with my hands? Fugeddaboutit.

A couple of my sisters are geniuses with flower arranging. They can decorate like a pro–having an instinctive eye for color and fabric, being able to go crazy when decorating a room and make it look like something out of a magazine. Me? I might as well be color-blind, like my husband, because I just have no instinct for that. Basic creams and browns, that’s my limit in terms of wall paint, and if the furniture store didn’t display certain tables and lamps with certain couches, I’d be in serious trouble. (I am a “Yes, I’ll take that entire room, complete with the palm tree prints and the elephant statue!” type.)

Part of it is that I’m not very good at it. Another part is, I just don’t care that much. I’m into beautiful music and beautiful stories and beautiful paintings…furniture? Walls? Flower arrangements? Who cares. As long as they’re clean and comfortable, not me!

Probably the only time of year when I really wish I had an artistic bone in my body and a flare for being creative is when it comes to Christmas present wrapping. My oldest sister always sends the most gloriously wrapped packages, complete with hand-curled ribbons or hand-painted paper. Every seam is straight and even, the ends in perfect arrangement, not an extra crease or a hint of a tear.

Me? Uh…slap that paper on there, swipe a half a roll of tape across the back and move ON.

I probably should just move to gift bags, but I’m enough of a kid that I like the sound of tearing paper and the excitement of having to wait to see what you’re getting on Christmas morning. So I wrap each and every thing my kids get…right down to the toothbrushes and ponytail holders in their stockings. :-P

So what about you? Any super-artistic types around? Do you spend a lot of time and effort wrapping the gifts so beautifully that the recipient almost doesn’t want to open them?

I recently finished writing a book for the “Forbidden Fantasies” series in Blaze. It’s about a couple hooking up in a different city each month to engage in some very naughty role-playing games. Very fun story…(wanna see the cover? It’s here: )

Anyway, getting involved in this particular miniseries got me thinking about all the other great series that have been done in the Blaze line. I’ve been extremely lucky to get to be part of the Bad Girls Club, the “Dark & Stormy Night” gothic Blaze trilogy, the Wrong Bed miniseries (my favorite in Temptation, too!) and now Forbidden Fantasies. But there are so many more that I love to read. (The historicals are a particular fave, I just wish I had the talent to write one myself.)

Anyway, I was curious about what everybody else thinks. What miniseries do/did you really love in Blaze? Any one-shot ones that you’d like to see revived, or any that you think are just about played out? Do you like having “themed” books each month, or do you prefer not to see that little red dot that says this book is part of a particular series so you go into it with no expectations?

Curious minds…

Hope everyone is having a wonderful weekend!

I just finished writing a Blaze for next year, part of the “Forbidden Fantasies” miniseries, the forbidden fantasy in this case being role-playing. The hero and heroine have a wild holiday affair, meeting up in various cities every holiday for another sexy, role-playing game. They’re having a grand old time, at least until they get caught on camera during one of their games and the hero’s family ends up thinking he married a Vegas hooker. (Yeah, you can imagine what game they were playing that time…

Honestly, while I struggled really hard to finish it, I ended up liking the book, called PLAY WITH ME, a whole lot. It’s very sexy but also very emotional.

That, to me, is the key. The emotion.

I have written some really sexy stories and when I look back to my very first few, it seems like I’ve taken huge leaps in sexiness from my early Temptation days. Writing these sexy scenes which included sex-with-a-stranger, some light bondage, and that role-playing, probably wouldn’t have entered my mind a decade ago. (I remember being really torn about Into The Fire, my 4th book, where the hero & heroine have sex on a trampoline an hour after they meet!)

But when I really look at it, even my sexiest books have a very deep level of emtion beneath the sexy outer layer. I’ve found that strong foundation of emotion has been my safety net and has allowed me to really push farther and farther in terms of the sensuality of my books.

I guess you’d say strong emotion is my personal line when it comes to my writing, and my reading, sexy books. If it’s there, I’ll go pretty far. But if I ever feel that it’s not, no matter how sexy a story it is, I just lose interest, both as a reader and as a writer.

Anybody else have any personal lines that determine how far they go in their reading and/or writing tastes? I’d love to hear them!

PS: I am SO excited–just got my author copies of my November book, a 2-in-1 Encounters book called MORE BLAZING BEDTIME STORIES.

My story, called “Once Upon A Mattress” is my take on the Princess and The Pea fairy tale, with a wolf hero and a bad-ass-rebel princess heroine. (Julie’s is a fabulous, funny and sexy take on Jack and the Beanstalk with a fairy godmother for a heroine!)

We really loved working on it, and have so far gotten great feedback. Romantic Times gave it 4 1/2 stars, saying, “Blaze gifts readers with two more modern fairy tales, told with romance, humor and lust…. These wonderful stories are funny, romantic and sexy.”

Since I have all these copies, and since Julie gave away two on Plotmonkeys the other day, I figured I’d offer two of them here today. Just comment and you’re entered to win one!

This past weekend, my family went to the movies and saw District 9. (It wasn’t bad. A little strange, but had an interesting, effective message.) I had really wanted to see The Time Traveller’s Wife, but the timing didn’t work out, plus it seems like such a chick flick, I wasn’t sure hubby would like it.

I still want to see it–definitely. The book was one of my favorite reads a few years ago when it first came out. I haven’t reread it, mainly because it took me so long to get over it the first time. I figure the movie will probably affect me the same way, and I really can’t wait.

But I admit, I am a little scared. In my experience, movies almost never end up meeting or, miracle of miracles, surpassing the book. In my entire life, I can think of only a few that did it for me. I have read all The Lord of the Rings books and while I understood that they were literary classics, the movies were what really made me a Rings fanatic. Same can’t be said of the C.S. Lewis books–I enjoyed the first two Narnia movies, but don’t think they can compare to the books, which still stand out as some of my favorites of my childhood.

On the subject of classics–big thumbs up to the movie One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest. Would watch that over reading the book any day. But a big thumbs down to The Scarlet Letter. I’d much prefer to read the book than to watch the Demi Moore movie!

Funny, three movies I believe exceed the original stories were by Stephen King–two from the same anthology–and King is my favorite author, so that’s really saying something! The Shawshank Redemption and Stand By Me were movies based on novellas in King’s Different Seasons anthology. Both of them were great novellas, but the movies just lifted ideas that were really good to begin with and elevated them to unforgettable films. I felt the same way about King’s The Green Mile (of course, I’m a sucker for any movie with both Tom Hanks and Gary Sinise!)

Also funny, though, some of the worst book-to-movie adaptations I have ever seen were also of King’s books. So it’s not that King’s books just lend themselves to film, those three were golden…the rest, awful (Christine, Pet Sematary, Cujo, Firestarter, Children of the Corn, yuck!) to very good but not quite as great as the book (Misery, Dolores Claiborne.)

There are a few others that I just can’t choose between. I have loved a few movie adaptations every bit as much as I loved the book. Margaret Mitchell’s Gone With The Wind and Larry McMurtry’s Lonesome Dove both immediately come to mind. I absolutely loved both books, loved both movies.

So I’m already wondering how I’m going to react to The Time Traveller’s Wife. That book affected me so deeply, I am half-afraid to see the movie. But I know I won’t be able to resist.

Anybody seen it yet? If so, what do you think?

And what are your favorite/least favorite book-to-movie translations?