I’m following in Isabel’s footsteps this morning, and there’s clearly no way I can compete with her lyrical tribute to her editor via Barry Manilow. LOL. (Brilliant, Isabel!)

In fact, if I did attempt such a tribute, my own editor would run away screaming . . . I’m imagining myself singing such a thing, and it’s not pretty! I can see my dogs with their paws over their ears. I can see the windows shattering. And I can see my husband holding twin toilet plungers over his own ears. So let’s not go there.

I’m very excited that Borrowing a Bachelor is out—it’s the first book in my All the Groom’s Men series for Blaze. It’s a sexy romantic comedy, featuring an accidental stripper who cold-cocks a medical student when she pops out of the cake at a bachelor party.

It’s one of the most fun ‘first meet’ scenes I’ve written, and I’ve written a few by now! I can’t believe I just turned in my 22nd book. (25th if we count the three ‘practice’ manuscripts I never sold.) Hope you’ll enjoy this series! It revolves around three groomsmen in a wedding, and how they meet their own matches at the bachelor party, the rehearsal dinner and the wedding.

Like Joanne, I’m still recovering from the holidays, and part of that involves cleaning out my office. Not a very exciting thing to blog about, I know! But I’m writing about it because I’m also having to clear some overflowing shelves and piles of books . . . and it’s so hard to part with them. Like saying goodbye to old friends.

I was talking to a critique partner about this process, and she had a much more positive take on it: rather than saying goodbye, I’m introducing them to new readers who will love them just as much as I did. I’m widening their social circle!

Speaking of critique partners, I’m off to my critique group now . . . to witness the birth of more wonderful stories. Happy New Year to you all, and happy reading.

Karen Kendall

I did not need to see this movie. I lived it. I counted, and in my younger days, I was a bridesmaid 7 times. Luckily for me, only one of those dresses was hideous…and it really wasn’t all that bad. It was just very plain and totally not my style or color, meaning I’d never wear it again in a thousand years, but luckily, it hadn’t been expensive and it did look good in the pictures.

But I love weddings. Even when I’m not a bridesmaid, I’ve often been involved in the wedding. I sang at two weddings and did the reading at one. I have given more showers than Mother Nature in April and I watch shows like SAY YES TO THE DRESS and MY FAIR WEDDING all the time.

Why is it then that I’ve never once written a wedding book before now?

It’s a popular enough trope in the romance genre and yet, because I write for Blaze, rarely do my characters end up with a proposal, much less a whole wedding. I’m lucky if I can get those randy so-and-sos (those would be my main characters) to commit to each other in the end. They’re so fiercely independent, it’s hard to wrangle. But I love weddings, so I jumped all over the chance to write a 3-in-1 Encounters for Blaze called 3 SEDUCTIONS AND A WEDDING that will be out in June.

The premise is thus: A wonderful couple, Bianca and Coop, have been together for over ten years. They started dating in college, fell madly in love and got engaged. The trouble is, they’ve never gotten around to getting married. They’re too busy going on adventures around the globe for their jobs (she’s a translator and he’s a software designer) to stand still long enough to say, “I do.”

Well, Coop’s best friend, Leo Sharpe, has had enough. He also has a secret agenda. He’s been pining for Bianca’s bff, Jessie Martinez, for just as long as Bianca and Coop have been engaged. They, too, were once madly in love–until Leo screwed up and Jessie told him to take a hike. Now, he’s planning on using the excuse of throwing a surprise wedding for Bianca and Coop as a reason to work his way back into Jessie’s good graces.

There are two other couples in the book, too. Coop’s older sister, Annie, and Bianca’s younger brother, Drew as well as Coop’s boss, Ajay, and Bianca’s boss, Mallory. Everyone gets into the wedding spirit! In a most Blaze-like way.

In fact, next week (beginning on April 26th), eHarlequin will begin publishing a free online read (short story length) about Bianca and Coop and what is happening between them on the eve of their return home. They have no idea their friends are planning a wedding…and they might not even make it down the aisle if they do. It’s a rough couple of days in the Costa Rican jungle for these two…and did I mention it’s free?

But I also have author’s copies! If you’d like a chance to win an early copy of this book, just answer the following questions:

Do you like weddings?
Were you ever a bridesmaid?
Tell us about either your prettiest bridesmaid dress or your worst…(and if you weren’t ever a bridesmaid, feel free to tell us about the worst dress you ever saw at a wedding…)

This should be fun!