...after all

Modern technology is great for keeping in touch, but sometimes you just need to get on a plane and fly more than 5k miles. I started August in Okinawa celebrating a big birthday for my husband, followed a week later by our 28th anniversary, and then a few days after that I flew to the US. I ended August and started September in Victoria, Canada, where I spent a lovely weekend researching the setting for my next book and enjoying the beautiful capital of British Columbia with my children.

Enjoy this photo of a curious seal pup taken while we kayaked around Victoria Harbour at sunset.

My visit home has been packed full of appointments and reunions. It's been impossible to see everyone I'd hoped to see, but I've so enjoyed the in-person visits that have been possible. I'm returning to Okinawa soon and then I will be visiting Taiwan for a long weekend to rendezvous with family.

This has been a working vacation for me. In addition to the research trip to Victoria, I also met with my close friend and brilliant romance editor and author Gwen Hayes for a consult on Evidence: Under Fire book 4. I'm so excited for the direction this book is taking and will be putting it up for preorder after I get back from Taiwan. I expect it will release next spring, but the release date will be set farther out to ensure there is enough time for editing and audiobook recording.

This is the longest I've gone without a book release since I first published in 2013...but it's been a wild year on many fronts, not the least of which was moving to Japan. I promise you the wait will be worth it! I love love love this book. Jake and Staci are so much fun and their chemistry is off the charts.

I'm also excited to be bringing the series back to the Pacific Northwest, but this time on the Canadian side of the Strait of Juan de Fuca. You can expect a cameo or two from Xavier from INTO THE STORM, Luke from COLD EVIDENCE (and INTO THE STORM) and possibly Bastian from CATALYST. 😍

All my books stand alone. You don't need to read Xavier, Luke, or Bastian's book to enjoy the next installment of Evidence: Under Fire, but here are the details in case you want to read or reread!

FREE ebook prequel BEFORE THE STORM: One Hot Night

Navy SEAL Xavier Rivera visits historic Lake Olympus Lodge on a scouting mission for a top secret training exercise. In the lodge, he meets smart, attractive park archaeologist Audrey Kendrick. There are many reasons he should ignore the immediate, simmering attraction between them, but in the heat of the moment he has no restraint.

Audrey is drawn to the secretive man who helps her when she’s in a bind, and she can’t resist taking a chance on a night of passion. But their one red hot night together leads to secrets and betrayal…

You don't need to read BEFORE THE STORM to enjoy INTO THE STORM. It's a short, very steamy prequel for fans who want to read about Xavier and Audrey's first meeting.

INTO THE STORM (Evidence: Under Fire #1)

• An Apple Books Best Book of 2022
• National Excellence in Story Telling Contest Winner
• Daphne du Maurier Award Finalist
• HOLT Medallion Contest Finalist
• National Excellence in Romance Fiction Award Finalist

As a storm rolls in, a team of elite Navy SEALs arrives at a remote lodge for a wilderness training exercise that becomes terrifyingly real…

Xavier Rivera planned the exercise down to the smallest detail, but he didn’t plan the arrival of archaeologist Audrey Kendrick—a woman he shared a passionate night with before betraying her in the worst way.

As the storm is unleashed on the historic lodge it becomes clear the training has been compromised. Trapped by weather, isolated by the remote wilderness, and silenced as communication with the world has been severed, unarmed SEALs face an unexpected and deadly foe.

Audrey and Xavier must set aside their distrust and desire and work together to save a team under fire and survive in a battle against the wild.

COLD EVIDENCE (Evidence #6)

The frigid waters of the Pacific Northwest are about to get hot…

The only thing Navy underwater archaeologist Undine Gray fears more than facing former SEAL Luke Sevick is never scuba diving again. But when a dive on a Cold War-era US Navy submarine ends with an accidental explosion, she’s terrified of going into the deep, forcing her to beg the most experienced diver she knows to take her back to the bottom of the cold Salish Sea.

Luke wants nothing to do with the woman who destroyed his career 12 years ago but finds it impossible to turn his back on her plea. Caught off-guard by an attraction he doesn’t want to feel, he’s eager to be done with this mission of mercy. But when they dive on the wreck, he only gets sucked in deeper. Someone has been digging on the Navy sub…and it appears the explosion that almost killed Undine was no accident.

To find the truth, Undine must navigate murky waters and the unexpectedly hot undercurrents swirling between her and Luke. Worse, divers are searching for something lost in US waters during the Cold War, and they’ll do anything to keep Luke and Undine from finding it first.

CATALYST (Flashpoint #2)

❂

When a food storage depot in famine-struck South Sudan is torched, American aid worker Brie Stewart flees, only to land in a market where she’s the next item up for auction. Is the attack on the aid facility another assault upon the war-torn fledgling democracy, or has her family set her up as a pawn in their quest for oil rights?

Chief Warrant Officer Sebastian Ford crossed paths with Brie years ago when she was a shill for her family’s company, pushing a pipeline that threatened his tribe’s land. Determined to lead the rescue operation to save her, he won’t let her abduction—or the attraction that flares between them—get in the way of settling their unfinished business.

The Green Beret’s skills are put to the test in the flooded grasslands of South Sudan, where they must battle nature and dangerous factions who are after more than oil. Bastian and Brie put their hearts on the line as they find themselves embroiled in a conflict that extends beyond country and continent. Together they must douse the spark before it reaches the flashpoint and engulfs everything they hold dear.

Update: Complete Evidence Series Signed Books Contest

**Because I've been traveling, I've extended the entry date on the contest**

At long last all 12 Evidence books have matching print covers!

For the first time ever, the complete series has matching covers in digital, print, and audiobook. To celebrate this milestone, I'm giving away signed copies of all 12 books to one lucky winner! Ten additional winners will receive a signed bookplate.

This contest is open internationally.

Shop the Evidence series by Vendor:

Happy reading!