Happy Friday, everyone!

When young Sebastian Brambani meets a sexy and exciting older man, he’s easily seduced. But for spy Kyle Grant, it’s all business—Sebastian is simply a pawn in Kyle’s mission to acquire a dangerous chemical weapon from Sebastian’s criminal father. Kyle’s life is his work for a shadowy international agency protecting the world from evil, and he can’t worry about what will happen to Sebastian when the job is done.

Sebastian’s unwitting role in Kyle’s plan is the last straw for his ruthless father, who has been embarrassed by his gay son for the last time. But when Kyle discovers Sebastian could be the key to finding the deadly Chimera, he rescues him from a hired hitman and fights to keep him alive. Can a hardened spy and naïve college student take down a criminal kingpin, stay one step ahead of the killers on their trail—and fight the scorching attraction between them?

I have to thank several amazing friends for their beta input on this book. Leta, Lisa, Amy and Dee — thank you for the unwavering support and valuable advice.

It was a change of pace for me to do action/suspense, and I had a great time bringing Sebastian and Kyle to life. I hope everyone enjoys reading this book as much as I did writing it.

Since I had superheroes on the brain, I picked up my copy of Perry Moore’s Hero and reread it. I loved it just as much the second time. A few years back, Showtime was in talks to turn it into a TV show, which would be so, SO awesome. However, it never happened, and Perry Moore sadly died last year.

I Googled yesterday to see if there was any recent talk of going forward with a TV show or movie, and a year ago Starz said it was still moving forward with development despite Moore’s death. There’s nothing more recent, so I can only assume that it’s in turnaround hell once again. I really hope this project will see the light of day.

Do you have any favourite books that you’d love to see as a TV show or movie?

“I would happily recommend this pen to anyone who is planning on writing on paper.”

“I cannot find the “ON” switch, and have tried everything.”

Happy Friday!

Very excited to be sharing this story with you all! More details coming soon.

This week it’s this British ad for marriage equality that really got me verklempt. So lovely!

Of course, after he went to bed I totally went back and flipped through the images with wide eyes. How could I resist?

“Why do you think the net was born? Porn, porn, porn!”

As Avenue Q reminds us:

As an adult, written erotica has remained my primary source for porn, but recently I’ve been checking out more videos. A friend recently suggested the site Man Royale, which requires a subscription. I’ve never paid for video porn on the internet before. For some strange reason, I hesitate to do so, even though I’ve bought countless written erotica stories over the years and I know that in life if you want quality, you usually have to pay for it.

How about you? Do you watch porn on the internet? Have you ever paid for it? Have any site recommendations? I’d love to hear your thoughts!

So that is why I am newly obsessed with making kale chips, which come with no guilt attached! Kale has never been my favourite leafy green due to its bitterness, but it’s very tasty when made into “chips.” It’s ridiculously easy.

Kale chips

1 bunch kale
Olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and tear the kale leaves from their stems (removing the spine), making bite-sized pieces. Doesn’t have to be exact. Then wash and dry with a salad spinner, since you really need the kale to be dry or it won’t crisp up.

Lay the kale pieces out on a baking sheet and spritz with olive oil. I really recommend getting one of those oil mister/sprayers, since you use far less than you would if you drizzle, and it’s more evenly distributed.Then sprinkle on some salt and pepper.

Bake in the oven for 10 minutes, and voila! Don’t let them burn, or they’ll become bitter. Now you have a salty, satisfying snack that is also ridiculously healthy. Win-win!

More vitamin K than you can shake a stick at

Along with being tasty when toasted, kale is insanely good for you! It’s full of vitamins and antioxidants and all that great stuff. Tons of fibre, too. Apparently Oprah swears by them, and I can see why.

Do you have any healthy snack recipes to share? I’d love to hear them!

Americans don’t want to read about other countries — right?

Many a Down Under writer has been rejected by a New York publishing house because editors didn’t believe Americans would buy and read a story about an Australian or Kiwi set in Australia or New Zealand, or even an Australian or Kiwi character in a US setting.

I find this fascinating. Since I was a child, I’ve always been interested in travel and other countries. I love stories set in other parts of the world! And I bet many other American readers do, too. I hate it when it’s just assumed that they won’t. Give readers some credit.

Of course, as an author, I recognize the challenge of writing about another country. We always want to get the nitty gritty right! My new book is set in Italy, and I’ve travelled there and picked the brains of Italian friends, I hope the little details are correct. I’m sure there’s always something overlooked, but we do our best.

Throw another capsicum on the barbie, mate

When I lived in Australia for a year, I discovered that Aussies will turn everything into a short form. If your name is Damian, they will call you “Damo.” An “esky” is a cooler (I’m not sure of the etymology of that one), a “stubby” is a beer and of course “sunnies” are sunglasses. And so on. I loved it, and some of the Australianisms I picked up are still with me over a decade later.

My favourite incident of cultural confusion came when a few fellow Canadians and I went to a pizza shop. We were choosing our toppings from the list and asked the guy behind the counter what a “capsicum” was.

He frowned and appeared puzzled. “It’s…a capsicum.”

We were equally puzzled. “But what is it?”

“It’s a capsicum!”

We still had no idea whatsoever what this mystery item could be, and the man disappeared into the back and returned with:

“Ohhh! A pepper!”

The man shook his head, exasperated. “That’s what I said. A capsicum.”

Have you noticed incidents of cultural confusion in romance novels? Do they bother you? And do you like reading about far-away lands?

I looked at the title, and then at the cover. Then back to the title. I blinked as if trying to clear my vision because surely I wasn’t reading correctly. But sure enough, this book is called Diary of a Mad Fat Girl. Uh…in what universe is this cover model fat? Or even slightly overweight? That is a slim woman.

Now, I haven’t read this book, which has received many glowing reviews, and am not criticizing the author, who likely had little to no control over the cover. I noted that it was originally self-published, and I looked up the original cover.

That looks more like it at least, although “fat” is debatable.

Of course, the professional cover is much better. It’s eye-catching and features great use of colour. I love the whimsical feeling. But that is not a fat girl. Not even close.

What do you think?