The one from Love Letters of a Duke is completely and utterly from my heart. And my daily life. Let me share it with you if you don’t have a copy handy (which, hint, hint, you should!):

To the families who live with autism.
May your day be blessed with the kindness of strangers,
the love of friends and families, and most of all, a cure.

And to FEAT of Washington and Autism Speaks,
my unwavering gratitude to you for your dedication and spirit of hope.
You help us believe.

And last, but far from least,
to Jamilla Kounellas … Read more »

Yes, Love Letters from a Duke arrives today in stores. Yes, today. So a huge welcome to my newest book, and an even bigger welcome to everyone dropping by to check up on it, read the excerpt, or just curious about the new site. If you have the time, check out my expanded Bookshelf, the new Events page, and of course this blog. If you are a fan of Julia Quinn or Candice Hern, you might like a recent blog I wrote about them. It’s a bit of a tell-all, very gossipy, and was all-together too much fun … Read more »

For those of you answering that it is time for Love Letters from a Duke to be released, you are wrong. That happens tomorrow. No, it was time for me to get an alarm clock.

Mine had an unfortunate accident early in the summer. For those of you who thought it might have lost its life in an early morning completely accidental shove off the nightstand, you would be wrong. It died of ants. Yes, you read that correctly. Ants. We came home from vacation and ants had taken up residence in my alarm clock. Our neighborhood is like ant … Read more »

This is a typical question we lifelong Seattleites get. That, and how do you cook salmon? We’ll cook a salmon some other day. But my favorite quick side dish to serve with salmon (or any fish for that matter) is Lemon Rice. And here is how I make it.

If you have a rice cooker, that is the easiest way–and quite frankly the only way I make rice. Otherwise, I burn it. Can’t do the pot on the stove method to save my life. But a rice cooker? That I can do. So put the usual amount of rice and … Read more »

I keep hoping to find my rhythm in blogging. Sort of Mystery Mondays, as in you’ll never guess what I’ve come up with, Writing Wednesdays, with my thoughts and musings on writing and the writer’s life, and leave Fridays for Fun. I mean, you gotta have fun on a Friday, don’t ya?

But my plans for some semblance of a schedule keep getting interrupted. I see something I want to blog about and just can’t resist. So there is more or less a schedule around here, but like any schedule in my chaotic life, it is subject to change without … Read more »

but Julia Quinn copied me. Oh, yeah. She copied me. I don’t think I’ll probably ever be able to say that again, so I have to admit to a certain smug satisfaction in it. Not I’m not pointing any fingers or bitter about it, but she saw my most excellent idea and stole it without blinking. If you are wondering what I’m talking about, I direct you to Exhibit A.

Are you as shocked as I was? Oh, yeah, Julia’s calling it “Bridgerton Couture,” but you, me and any jury of our peers would agree that this is nothing … Read more »

Yes, that was me at the end of your local expressway off ramp this morning with the above hand lettered sign. Gathering spare change for the house of my dreams. Because one of my most favorite houses in Detroit is for sale. Here is what the real estate listing says:

The Oscar Webber Mansion. (Really, they had me at “mansion.”) Former Junior League Show House. ( I could do Junior League. Sure I could. Can I wear sweats?) Truly one of a kind, perhaps the most renown home of Grosse Pointe. (Grosse Point? Maybe John Cusack would come back to

Because she answered precisely “What did I sit next to on the plane?”

I sat next to, not one, but two sweet little birds, and they sang all the way from Detroit to Seattle. Talk about your coach class migration. It was so funny because people, including one of the flight attendants, would walk by and just stop. And you could see the confused look on their faces, “Did I hear that correctly?” So my feathered seat mates were quite popular and very soothing to sit next too. Much better than the guy with his saxaphone.… Read more »

Okay, just back from vacation and thanks for all the great comments during my internet-deprived trip. We were visiting the MIL and she hasn’t got internet. Well, she does have internet. Dial up. I know. Why didn’t we just go camping? I’m such a DSL snob. I freely and openly admit this. I also light a candle every night to the patron saint of cable to make sure my access never goes awry.

I did get online once at my brother-in-law’s, but only had time to skim my mail and catch a few comments. No time to post and catch … Read more »

You asked for it, so I convinced The Ultimate Reading List authors/librarians extraordinaire to drop by and indulge our collective curiosity as to how they came up with their picks. So without further ado, let me introduce you to Joanne Hamilton-Selway and John Charles, who BTW have both held the title of RWA Librarian of the Year.

1) How did you make your picks? Did you have rules or guidelines or a set of parameters that you were working with?

The Complete Idiot’s Guide series is designed for those new to a subject as a basic introduction. So when it … Read more »