I have a confession to make. A few of my favorite shows have broadcast their season finales, and I’m not too sure how I feel about them. I understand drama and conflict–throw the hero/heroine into a hornet’s nest and watch them react. Got it. Make their life miserable just when they thought they had it all figured out. Wonderful. Perfect.

Only this season on Revenge, they killed off one of my favorite characters, the guy Emily was dating and should have been able to spend the rest of her life with once she exacted her revenge on the Grayson family. She achieved her victory but lost her man in the process. OUCH. I’m not happy. Yes, it’s the perfect circle of revenge–Victoria loses her man, Emily loses hers–but I don’t like it. I’m a happy-ever-after kinda gal. Granted, I probably shouldn’t be watching this show for HEA gratification, but I can’t help it. I enjoy watching the drama for tips on my own writing. But killing my good guy? What’s the matter with writers? Have they no heart?

My daughter has expressed similar outrage over Veronica Roth’s (I think it was her) killing of a main/popular character in one of her books. The author explained she did so for the express purpose of making readers FEEL the pain of death so as not to desensitize them (as so many are in today’s society), but still. I love her thinking, but don’t we read books for escape? For fantasy and fun and drama?

The Good Wife is another show that left me dangling with unease. Alicia and her law partner, Cary, are at odds over his betrayal according to CutterWelderMaestro. Their old senior partner, Diane, wants on board, and the Governor’s office wants Alicia as their new prosecutor. Great to have Diane on board–right after she turned down the same prosecutor job offer–but how is this going to work with Alicia and Cary at odds? I’m not having warm fuzzies. The betrayal is great for drama, but where’s the pleasure in having Diane on board with the new firm?

Sheesh. Maybe prime time dramas aren’t for me. Maybe I’m a Lifetime specials kinda gal. I don’t know. I just find myself caught between a writer’s brain and a reader’s seek for escape. UGH.

Book #3 in the Ladd Springs has been released!

 The mountain saga continues as a lucrative offer to buy Ladd Springs puts Annie Owens and Cal Foster on opposite sides of the Ladd family fortune. Each has a stake in the outcome, both have secrets to hide.

After years of battling the Ladd family, Annie Owens has finally procured her daughter’s legacy, title to Ladd Springs, a mecca of streams and springs in the eastern Tennessee mountains—only she can’t afford to keep it.

Cal Foster’s father owns the biggest bank in town and has devised a way to help Annie retain the property, but when hotel developer Jillian Devane offers to buy the land outright, Annie is torn. She’s tempted by the huge sum of money—money that will secure her daughter Casey’s future, something Cal cannot guarantee.

According to Annie’s sister, Lacy Ward, an insider with the Ladd family, Jillian’s proposal is tainted by revenge—the depth of which Annie has no idea. She only knows the woman is out to compete with the upcoming Ladd hotel making any deal with Jillian Devane tantamount to betrayal.

When Cal is offered a position with Hotel Ladd, Annie is backed against a wall. Selling to Jillian will end any hope for a future together with Cal, a man she has come to love. But it isn’t until Casey’s romance with Troy Parker blows apart that Annie’s decision is made.

Will “selling out” exile Annie from the Ladd family, including any chance for happiness with Cal Foster? Or can she find a way to make amends, ending a long-standing feud once and for all? Find out in this episode of Ladd Springs…

Read any good books, lately? I have. But that will happen to a gal attending the RWA National Convention. Strolling the floors and ballrooms there are books and authors everywhere! While this convention is geared toward romance authors, remember: we are all romance readers. It’s fitting, don’t you think? Like soft moonlight and kisses, morning coffee and sweet confessions, romance authors love stashing away on a chair (see the most popular cushions for office chairs) at the shore line with a good book.

Some of the recent gems I’ve discovered are Love at First Sight by Lori Wilde, The Marriage Ring by Cathy Maxwell, Beach House No. 9 by Christie Ridgeway, Heart of Glass by Christy Hayes, Just One Day by Sharla Lovelace, Game On by Tracy Solheim… Truly, there are too many to list. But they’re all good. And who doesn’t love a good book?

In the spirit of discovering new authors, I’m putting up 5 copies up for giveaway of the my current series’ premier, Ladd Springs (ebook or print)  — available for US and International book lovers. Book #2 (Ladd Fortune) has already been released with book #3 (Hotel Ladd) due out this month. Watch for books #4 and #5 to be released October and December of this year!

Set in the eastern mountains of Tennessee, Ladd Springs is an action-packed romantic suspense light (light as in no graphic content suitable for nightmares!)

Delaney Wilkins finds herself at odds with hotel developer Nick Harris over a deathbed promise and a mysterious find in the Tennessee forest.  Both are after title to Ladd Springs, a mecca of natural springs, streams and trails in the eastern Tennessee mountains, a tract of land worth millions.  But Ernie Ladd, current owner of the property and uncle to Delaney, is adamantly opposed to them both.

Felicity Wilkins, Delaney’s daughter, deserves to inherit her family’s legacy as one of the best guitar players, but neighbor Clem Sweeney is working against her, ingratiating himself with Ernie Ladd.  Clem is also harboring a secret that will make him a very wealthy man—unless the others stop him before he can bring it to fruition.

Complicating matters is Annie Owens.  Ex-girlfriend to Jeremiah Ladd, Ernie’s estranged son living in Atlanta, she declares her daughter Casey is Jeremiah’s, making Casey every bit as entitled to the property as Felicity—only Annie hasn’t proven this claim.  Yet.

All are fighting to get the property, but only one will walk away with the gold.  Which will it be?  Find out in the first installment of Ladd Springs…

a Rafflecopter giveaway<!–