Dear Reader,

ALL THINGS BEAUTIFUL was my first book and is very dear to me. It really is the classic Beauty and the Beast story, a theme I believe is common to most romances, but I tried to give it my own twist. Back in 1994 when it was first released, it received wonderful reviews and was nominated for numerous awards including Romance Writers of America’s RITA for “Best First Book.”

However, it is not the book’s accolades that stick with me but the characters. I wrote Lady Julia Markham with Hemingway’s quote in mind--“Life breaks us all, but in the end, we are stronger in the broken places.” She’s made mistakes. She’s paid a price. Now, even though her life has gone off course in ways she hadn’t anticipated, she’s ready to go after what is important to her, even if it means once again risking scandal.

On the other hand, the very wealthy and very proud Brader Wolf has always known exactly who he is and what he wants. He dictates his own terms and usually gets his way—until he meets Julia.

She’s more than a match for him.

And I hope you enjoy every word.

All my best,

About TREASURED VOWS

Dear Reader,

TREASURED VOWS is still my favorite of the books I’ve written. I love the character of Phadra Abbott. I admire her audacity, her resiliency, and her vulnerability.

Is she out of step with Regency heroines? I don’t think so. The Regency was a time of vivid characters and boundless opportunity. It was the beginning of the Modern Age. Ideas we now accept as fact were fresh and shocking. Like so many of us, Phadra comes to an awakening--if she wants to live life to its fullest, it’s going to have to be up to her. No Knight in Shining Armour is going to find her in the girl’s school her father conveniently stashed her away in. What she knows of the world has been from books. Now, she’s ready to see for herself . . . and she’s not even certain if she wants a Knight.

I’ve had many people ask about Phadra’s name. It is pronounced “Fay-dra” just like the Phaedra of myth but that isn’t where I took the name (which, by the way, has been spelled many different ways over the centuries). My Phadra is the name of a young girl who had been beaten and left to die alone in a ditch around the time I was writing the book. The news stories haunted me. That Phadra never had chance. My Phadra would.

I took a risk in writing the character of Grant Morgan. He’s a banker. Yes, that’s right, a banker. How do you make a hero out of a banker? It’s far easier than you think. Those who love bankers would agree it is good to have someone level headed about money on your side. Grant is amazingly steady. In fact, he’s so steady, he does need a shake up and Phadra with her scarves and toe bells is exactly the right person to challenge him at every turn.

She dances on dreams; he is rooted in reality. Someplace in between love happens.

I hope you enjoy Grant and Phadra as much as I do.

All my best,