I have a surprise and I'm telling you first, Reader.

Because I'm so pumped for THE SITUATION to release next Friday (May 23rd), I put the first chapter on my website.

Yup. The whole darn thing.

I was going to put it in this email directly, but some of you don't want any spoilers at all and I respect that. 🫡

So, for those of you who do want to read the first chapter early, you can do that here.

​

Locke Life ... today. 🧡

Today is my 23rd wedding anniversary!

My husband and I started dating when we were teenagers, and as of today, we've been married for 23 years. (We've been dating for 30, if you’re curious.) 😉

If I’m being honest, our wedding day wasn’t all that exciting. We went to the courthouse on a Thursday after work, signed a paper, and said, ‘I do. ' Then, we went for Italian food before going home because we had to work the next morning. And a honeymoon? Didn’t happen. We had goals to meet, and that didn’t include taking time off work and spending money we didn’t have on a trip—honeymoon or not.

Is this a romance story you’d expect from a romance writer? Eh, probably not. But it is real, and I think there’s something special about that.

It also plays heavily into how I approach my books.

Many moons ago, I needed a tagline for my business. After brainstorming with some of my author buddies, I settled on Ordinary people finding extraordinary love. That’s beautiful, and it encompasses my stories. The romances my characters experience, whether blue-collar or billionaires, all feel real. Sure, they may take private jets sometimes or have babies that sleep through the night, but the love between my hero and heroine is always true. Raw. Relatable (I hope).

I’ve been married for over two decades, and while we may forget our anniversary (I only remembered today because FB Memories popped up), it’s okay. Why? Because I don’t need to be reminded that my husband loved me on the day we married so long ago. He reminds me every single day.

He replenishes my favorite Ski pop before it runs out. He changes the sheets because that’s one task that ends with me raging (my arms are too short!). He consults with me before agreeing to things the boys (our sons) want to do, remembers to order my salads without onions when I’m on a deadline and can’t leave my office, and reads articles about things I know he doesn’t find interesting but also knows that I do (right now, the Karen Read trial)—so that he can bring them up later and we can talk about them.

Most importantly? He doesn’t say a word about my messy truck. (Let me live my life. LOL)

I, in turn, do the same for him.

Romance isn’t always in the big things, like remembering a date on a calendar. It can be in the little things, too. ♥️

A graphic showing our real-life romance tropes. ♥️

​

🧡 Need to start this series?

Best place to begin is with THE PROPOSAL. Renn's story is swoony, spicy, and the perfect summer beach read!

​​​