A Pefect Summer Read!

I'm so happy to release Book Two in my Crescent Bay series, Straight from the Heart! This novel features the growing relationship between Giana Lindstrom, who is Amanda Gallagher's cousin and Maid of Honor at her upcoming wedding to Nate Russell, and Ryan Cassidy, that sexy deputy sheriff and Nate's Best Man -- Amanda and Nate were the first couple in Hold You in My Heart.

What fun characters to work with -- Ryan starts off as a smart ass, always teasing Giana and calling her 'squirt' due to her diminutive stature. And she sasses him right back, no holds barred, having grown up with two older brothers. But as I started writing Straight from the Heart, I decided to place Giana in a somewhat vulnerable position, a bit defeated and frustrated, career-wise, and taking some heat from her family about finding a husband, etc. And that was the turning point for Ryan. Despite his love 'em and leave 'em attitude, he comes to realize that she's in a delicate state of mind and spirit and thus he's forced to up his game if he's intent on winning her affections, if not her love. Of course, there's still lots of sass between the two of them, but now the stakes are getting higher, leaving the reader hoping that they'll realize there's so much they could 'win' if they'd only connect at a deeper level.

Why not give Ryan and Giana a shot? And, of course, there are several secondary characters appearing in this story, so you know one of the couples will be the H/H in Book Three, planned for a late winter / early spring release in 2023. Stay in touch by signing up for my newsletter, which I tend to send out about once a month, featuring sales, updates and sometimes sneak peek at upcoming works.

Happy June & Happy Reading!

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Oh, dear! My bad . . .

Just getting back on track with social media and such -- summertime is such a suck-you-away-from-the-computer time, isn't it? What's been happening? Been working on At Long Last , the fourth and final romance in my School for Sophistication series, and it should be released in late July / early August. If you're on my newsletter email list, I just sent out a sneak peek of the cover. Not signed up yet? No sweat. Here's the link . Also, a freebie sale is going on as I type this entry. Another incentive to sign up! A Peek into Straight from the Heart I promised this in my last blog entry, so here we go . . . Ryan Cassidy, deputy sheriff, a muscular hunk of a guy, who's low-key, funny, sexy and falling for Giana Linstrom despite his fears of marriage. He's seen too many marriages go bad, including his own mother's. And now for Giana -- bubbly, enthusiastic, a dreamer whose dreams never seem to come to fruition. She's at a crossroads in her

Take a hint from Mr. Bradbury:

Don’t start out writing novels. They take too long. Begin your writing life instead by cranking out “a hell of a lot of short stories,” as many as one per week. Take a year to do it; he claims that it simply isn’t possible to write 52 bad short stories in a row. He waited until the age of 30 to write his first novel, Fahrenheit 451 . Stuff your head. To accumulate the intellectual building blocks of these metaphors, he suggests a course of bedtime reading: one short story, one poem and one essay. These essays should come from a diversity of fields, including archaeology, zoology, biology, philosophy, politics, and literature. “At the end of a thousand nights,” so he sums it up, “you’ll be full of stuff!” I'm going to try some of these tips -- write swift, write short; diverse reading to expand the old gray cells. Works for me! Ray Bradbury, recipient of the 2000 National Book Foundation Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters, the 2004 Nati

Little Tidbits about my Crescent Bay Series

Tugging on your heartstrings . . . Okay, Regency readers, just remember this: I love you all and I love that you love my Regency romances! Thank you from the bottom of my heart. But my poor contemporary romances are languishing on the digital shelves . . . sigh! :-( Why? I'm not sure because my beta readers and those who've reviewed them seem to like them, and I certainly enjoy writing them "almost" as much as I do my Regencies. So, I'm asking: can you give them a shot? These are not trashy stuff, I assure you. Hey, I attended Catholic school from elementary through high school! God forbid Sister Mary Joseph ever found out, I'd be dead meat . . . To start you off, my Crescent Bay series, book #1 and #2, go on sale tomorrow (May 2) through May 7 -- both will be free on Apple, B&N, Kobo and more -- here are the links for Hold You in My Heart and Straight from the Heart . Unfortunately, Amazon will not let me reset the price to free unless I

Claire Hadleigh

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