Welcome to the giving season!!

 have reached the point in my life where I really don't need anything. Books are always welcome, gift certificates for massages and facials are appreciated, and I never say no to a box of chocolates. But I love it when people give gifts in my name, particularly when they know the causes I support.  I'm for feeding hungry people. I support literacy. I think science is important. I read banned books. I believe we're in a climate crisis. 

If you're looking for a gift for that hard-to-buy-for person, here are my go-tos. 

Organizations that feed people. 

Jose Andres' World  Central Kitchen. If there's a natural disaster or a humanitarian disaster and people are hungry, Jose and his team are there. Charity Navigator rates it 4/4 (100%) in all categories. 

Meals on Wheels provides meals for seniors and it's a godsend. Charity Navigator rates individual programs and they consistently score in the mid-90s to 100%.

Project Angel Food provides medically tailored meals for those facing critical and life-threatening illnesses. Charity Nasvigator gives them a 100% rating. 

All for Lunch works to end school lunch debt and donations pay off that debt so everyone can get a lunch that doesn't consist of "sunbutter" sandwiches. Charity Navigator has not yet rated.

 

Stuff Your Ereader: Witch Edition

Free books--who doesn't like them? Get them here.

Paranormal romance of all sorts, including the first in Kat Parrish's Ostrander Witches series, Deus Ex Magical. DEM is a short, sweet read (with a tiny little bit of spice) and it was a ton of fun to write. It takes place in Seattle (where I've been) and Martinique (where I'd like to go.) 

I love these "stuff your ereader" events because they feel like going on a shopping binge except there are no credit card purchases to pay off down the road. Instant gratification and more books to read.

All the books have witches in them. Check them out here. 
 

A holiday for one?

 

This is the cover for the story I wrote for the Gingerbread Kisses collection. In the anthology, the story is called "A Holiday for One" becuase my brain kept auto-filling every time I had to fill out a form or turn in the manuscript. In the blurb, the story is credited to Katherine Tomlinson instead of Katherine Moore, my USAT bestselling author alter ego, which is sort of annoying, although the name is correct in the book itself. 

This is the first time I've done "vector" covers for my Christmas stories and I'm pleased with the cover. It's one of a series I've written in a new location--Silver Springs, Colorado. I expect there to be about two dozen stories set in that world. I still love Silver Birch, Washinton, but I wanted to play around in a new location. I'm hoping my readers will fall in love with the new location and the new cast of characters and the new stories I'm telling. They'll all be written around the holidays, beginning with the winter holidays (New Year's Day, Valentine's Day, St. Patrick's Day) and divided by season. I have a special fondness for Halloween and Christmas, so expect a lot of stories set in fall and at the end of the year.

Let the holiday season commence!

Gingerbread Kisses

And what better way to begin than with a Black Friday-Cyber Monday sale on this collection of sweet holiday romances (with gingerbread a common theme because who doesn't like gingerbread?) 

I'm particularly fond of the gingerbread cake form, which I always made with a combination of molasses and honey, which I thought made it especially tasty. And a ton of ginger. Because there is no such thing as too much ginger. My mother always made a lovely, luscious lemon sauce to drizzle over the cake, but I've been known to make cream cheese frosting with bits of crystalized ginger chopped up in it. But it's great plain. 

The story I wrote for this collection is A Holiday For One? It's centered on one of my favorite themes, which is found family. My parents died when I was pretty young and my younger brother, who lives a continent away, is a Grinch. He and my SiL are always traveling to some warm place at Christmas, so I haven't celebrated with him since we were both at the kids' table at our grandmother's. So I've been one of the orphans and strays at friends' tables, and hosted a few holiday parties myself, including one epic one that my neighbors talked about for years!!

Expect more Christnas stories for me as December unrolls. I have two stories in another anthology that's coming up. But for now--Check out Gingerbread Kisses for 99 cents. Get Gingerbread Kisses here.

 

Fantasy writers unite for those impacted by Hurricane Helene.

 

Over 1,000 pages of romantasy!

In the heart of the storm, love shines its brightest.

Of Storms and Stardust is a collection of over 30 enchanting fantasy romance short stories and novellas, where beloved tropes ignite the imagination—engagement balls, enemies turned lovers, slow-burn romances, and destined fates. From forbidden love and second chances to cozy fairy tale retellings and trials of destiny, each tale offers a spark of hope and heart.

100% of proceeds will support those impacted by Hurricane Helene, reminding us that even in the fiercest storms, love and community can weather anything.

You can find the anthology here.

Cinderella stories--a new collection

 Do you like "Cinderella" stories?

Here are three very different takes on the beloved fairytale, two with a modern spin and one that's straight up romantasy.

Fashionista--set in present-day Chicago

Midnight Princess--set in modern France

Bride of the Midnight King--set in a mythical land run by vampires.

Three empowered women who just need a little magic to make their dreams come true. The romance is a bonus!

Collected for the first time--these retellings of a beloved fairytale were fun to write, and will--I hope--be fun to read.

The collection is part of a series of retellings that includes Three Beauties (Beauty & the Beast) and coming soon, Three Dreamers (Sleeping Beauty) and Three Towers (Rapunzel). The books join my stand-alone retellings, The Road Past Winter (East of the Sun and West of the Moon), and Wolf Bride (a romantasy version of Red Riding Hood).

I was lucky to snag the cover from Sharon Brownlie of Aspire Book Covers. I've bought a lot of covers from her in the past in all the genres I write, and this one fit the mood of the collection perfectly. 

You can find Three Dancers here. It's free on KU.

Don't worry, it's just saffron

When you're a cook, but you also write cozy mysteries, sometimes you can't help but look at your ingredients and see something that someone else might not see.

I was making a Persian sweet a friend is fond of, a recipe that begins with a simple syrup of saffron, sugar, and water. (As you can imagine, I don't make this often. A TINY bit of saffron cost me about $11 and while the recipe didn't need much (1/4 of a teaspoon), there was barely enough for a second batch later.

I dissolved the saffron in hot water first, and then dumped it into the pan with the sugar. And this is what it looked like.  And my first thought was that it looked a lot like blood on snow. Because that's how my mind works. 

And that got me thinking about the first time I wondered what the freezing point of blood was. I was writing a story for my own amusement in high school and it was pre-Internet. So I did what I always did when I was stuck on a question--I called the reference librarian at my local library. And I asked her at what temperature blood froze.

There was a LONG pause but she didn't ask me why I wanted to know. I've since talked to retired librarians who've told me some of the questions they got, questions that made mine look completely normal. 

Which got me thinking. do many people want to know the freeze point of blood? So I googled it. Here's the first answer I found, which is pretty thorough. Surprisingly, blood has a lower freezing point than water. Interestingly, because we're often taught that our blood is very similar chemically to seawater, seawater freezes at 28.4 F, wchich is almost6 three degrees lower than the freezing point of blood. Just in case you were ever curious.