“Toss out the bonbons, ladies, and bring on the ice. You’ll need it when you launch into this collection of naughty romance short stories.” — Goodreads review of Summer Sizzle

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So that offhand remark about what I would do, were I ever in charge of coordinating an anthology? Yep, I ended up in charge of what my LARA (Los Angeles Romance Authors) chapter of RWA (Romance Writers of America) decided would be a set of two anthologies; one set in the summer, the other around the fall/winter holidays, both to be released in 2016.

Being writers, and with the first deadline just before the Christmas holidays, challenges ensued. It was also going down at the same time I was just recovering from my radiation treatment for breast cancer.

I was lucky enough to have lots of help in all steps along the way, but boy howdy, was it complicated. Twenty stories, by nineteen egos, er, authors. We were lucky enough to have three USA Today best-selling authors (Roz Lee, Samanthe Beck, and Charlene Sands) contribute stories, and in my not-so-humble opinion, it’s a terrific collection and beach read. From our blurb:

Enjoy a steamy fling with the one who got away, or start something new with the stranger next door. Best friends make surprising new discoveries. A runaway bride gets her comeuppance, business rivals give in to desire and wannabe lovers cash in on old crushes. Watch sparks fly on the beach, at the ballpark, on the dance floor, even in the middle of a summer rainstorm.

I had plenty of fun writing my story, “The Dog Days of Summer,” which included characters Aunt Natasha and her hideously ugly dog, Boris. Who knew in fall 2015 that Russians were going to be a thing? (Welp, I guess the peeps involved with the Russians knew that.)

I am very proud of all the Summer Sizzle stories… including the stories behind the scenes, that I’ll never tell.

Buy the book and hit the beach.