This blog is for those 18 and older.

Wednesday, June 10, 2026

The Madam & Mr. MacLean - First & Second Edits are done!

 


        Hello, gentle readers! Hope you are all well and staying safe!
        Okay, I’ll admit it right off the bat. I am tired. As you all know (and probably feel this way, too) there’s too much to do and not enough hours in the day! I am, however, not too tired to let you all know that I have finished both first and second round edits for The Madam & Mr. MacLean…and I’m happy. I have one more round to go!
        As you all know, I just love my editor and copy editor. My publisher, too, and their outstanding cover artists. They’re all so wonderful! I am so blessed!
        The book is already up for Pre-Order. Just love this cover. The heroine looks exactly like I pictured her. And the hero! Wow! Isn’t he dreamy? He’s even more handsome than I wrote him!



Since there’s no rest for the wicked, tomorrow I can get back to Wife Unexpected. I will admit I have missed Faith and Tysen while I worked through my edits on The Madam & Mr. MacLean (scenes and dialogue were coming to me at the most inopportune times. I still stopped what I was doing to jot them down because when great stuff hits you, you gotta do that!). 
And that’s all for me. It’s Sunday so I need to clean out my fridge and get ready to go grocery shopping, plus a bunch of other chores I didn’t get to yesterday. Hmmm, the chores never seem to end, do they?

Stay well! Stay safe! And remember to spread kindness wherever you go!

Marie

Sunday, June 7, 2026

READING THE VISCOUNT by Lexi Post available for preorder!

Reading the Viscount 
(Courting a Curious Lady: Book 5) 
by Lexi Post 
is now available for preorder!

Amazon | Amazon UK | Amazon AU | Amazon CA

If only she were brave. If only he were flexible. If only.

Painfully shy Lady Sophie is happy to blend in among the other shepherdesses at her friend’s Twelfth Night ball, at least until she gets lost in the corridors and a laughing stranger sweeps her into his arms and kisses her. Horrified, she runs away, enticed back to the ball only by a change of costume. But there’s something in her new costume that has her feeling as confident as the heroine of her favorite play, giving her the bravery to experience yet another kiss from the full-of-life Lord Tamworth. Unfortunately, the next morning, she must hide from him and return to her life at school.

Lord Tamworth has vowed not to wed until after he turns thirty, as he has secret plans that must be in place before he can settle on a wife. So, when he kisses an innocent shepherdess, he’s driven to apologize only to end up committing yet another faux pas. Determined to start his new life free of encumbrances, and to once again see the lady with the softest lips and keenest intelligence, he takes extraordinary measures.

It doesn’t take long for Christopher to discover teaching at the Belinda School for Curious Ladies is filled with many pitfalls, the deepest being the intriguing Lady Sophie. As his personal plans come to fruition, he’s torn over his growing feelings for her and ponders the unthinkable―breaking his vow. But he soon realizes his own plans are the least of the impediments to keeping Lady Sophie in his life. If he plays the villain in her story, will she ever see him as the hero?

Releasing June 25th

Catch up on the whole Courting a Curious Lady Series



Wednesday, June 3, 2026

Mistakes Were Made by Lucy Score

As a literary agent, Zoey Mood's career relied on her last client, her romance writing best friend, Hazel Hart.  Zoey had been relieved of her New York office and apartment while banned to Pennsylvania in a rural town where everyone knows everyone and everything about each other.


  

Her new landlord, Gage Bishop who's also an attorney and construction worker, made his upper apartment available for the attractive, yet entirely obnoxious newcomer.

Zoey had a mental list of things she needed to take care of including make enough money to survive, publicize Hazel's new book successfully, and not date any men.  Her taste in boyfriends always backfired.

Quite the opposite for Gage.  He has solid work and wants to settle down with the right type of woman.  

The best relationships can happen as a surprise, when you don't expect it.  All you need is two single people who don't really realize what is good for them.  

This is where Zoey's spontaneous and goofy nature collides with Gage's orderly and carefully planned life through funny and ridiculous events, which allow them to get to know each other.  They attempt to fight off the growing feelings because neither believes they are compatible.  But maybe the differences are more attractive and sustainable than they previously thought.

Many laughs will bring the results!

Happy reading,

Dawn    

 

Friday, May 29, 2026

 

Reading the Viscount 
(Courting a Curious Lady: 
Book 5) 
by Lexi Post

Available for Preorder for a few days only at 99¢  

Amazon | Amazon UK | Amazon AU | Amazon CA 

Painfully shy Lady Sophie is happy to blend in among the other shepherdesses at her friend’s Twelfth Night ball, at least until she gets lost in the corridors and a laughing stranger sweeps her into his arms and kisses her. Horrified, she runs away, enticed back to the ball only by a change of costume. But there’s something in her new costume that has her feeling as confident as the heroine of her favorite play, giving her the bravery to experience yet another kiss from the full-of-life Lord Tamworth. Unfortunately, the next morning, she must hide from him and return to her life at school.

Lord Tamworth has vowed not to wed until after he turns thirty, as he has secret plans that must be in place before he can settle on a wife. So, when he kisses an innocent shepherdess, he’s driven to apologize only to end up committing yet another faux pas. Determined to start his new life free of encumbrances, and to once again see the lady with the softest lips and keenest intelligence, he takes extraordinary measures.

It doesn’t take long for Christopher to discover teaching at the Belinda School for Curious Ladies is filled with many pitfalls, the deepest being the intriguing Lady Sophie. As his personal plans come to fruition, he’s torn over his growing feelings for her and ponders the unthinkable―breaking his vow. But he soon realizes his own plans are the least of the impediments to keeping Lady Sophie in his life. If he plays the villain in her story, will she ever see him as the hero?

Catch up on the Courting a Curious Lady Series

About Lexi:

Lexi Post is a New York Times and USA Today best-selling author of romance inspired by the classics. She spent years in higher education taking and teaching courses about the classical literature she loved. From Edgar Allan Poe's short story “The Masque of the Red Death” to Tolstoy’s War and Peace, she's read, studied, and taught wonderful classics.

But Lexi's first love is romance novels so she married her two first loves, romance and the classics. Whether it’s sizzling cowboys, dashing dukes, hot immortals, or hunks from out of this world, Lexi provides a sensuous experience with a “whole lotta story.”

Lexi is living her own happily ever after with her husband and her two cats in Florida. She makes her own ice cream every weekend, loves bright colors, and you’ll never see her without a hat.

Website

Lexi Post Updates

Facebook

Instagram

Amazon Author Page

BookBub

D2D

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Pinterest

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Wednesday, May 27, 2026

The Madam & Mr. MacLean - Cover Reveal

 


    Hello, gentle readers! Hope you are all well and staying safe!
    I am in the middle of editing The Madam & Mr. MacLean (my editor has once again taught me things I didn’t know I didn’t know and I am grateful to her) but I wanted to take a minute to share the cover with you all. I just love it! In addition to their excellent editors, Oliver-Heber Books has fabulous cover artists! Look at what they created for me!

 


Can you tell I’m excited? She looks exactly like I pictured Sheridan DuBois to look! And he’s just pure eye-candy! Can’t wait for this book to come out. July 7! Mark your calendars!
Stay well! Stay safe! And remember to spread kindness wherever you go!

Marie

Wednesday, May 20, 2026

A Kiss Is Just A Kiss by Melinda Curtis

When you need a quick shot of romance during the spring warmup, garden planting, and schedules for the new season, this is the best pick.  

Florida can be decorated for a beautiful wedding when the pockets are picked, and there aren't any second guesses.  

Here's the problem:  the second guess isn't from the bride or groom, but rather Kitty, the bride's close sister.

Kitty realizes a broken rung in the ladder of love at the door of the church wedding.  She has a few minutes to solve or ignore the issue.  Guess which avenue she picks.

Beck thinks he's got all the contracts and steps to a successful life planned and executed until Kitty gets in the way.  His wedding is in a few minutes to finalize the signature on the marriage license.


Wedding over, guests stranded, and unhappy family members depart.

Kitty is left with Grandma Dotty and no way get back to their home state.  At least G. Dotty has a way of making the worst seem funny.  Even when they take their only opportunity to ride with the (former) groom.  

Beck and Kitty start the ride home like oil and water.  Fortunately, with the right ingredients of information and knowledge the bumps in the ride smooth out.

They may even respect and like each other as the miles accumulate.  Who knows what will happen by the time they reach their destination.  There's never a set timeline for love!

Happy reading,

Dawn


Wednesday, May 13, 2026

I Am Blessed

        Hello, gentle readers! Hope you are all well and staying safe!
        Happy Sunday morning (though by the time you read this, it will be Wednesday)! I realized, after I posted last week, that I am a week behind so this week’s post will put me back on schedule. Not quite sure how that happened. My only excuse is that my brain is full and there’s too much going on. I think I need a rest! We’ll see if that happens!
        It’s been a lovely weekend so far. I did my Saturday and Sunday chores (yes, I have to break up the chores between two days because I’m not a spring chicken anymore). I’ll let you in on a little secret…I hate to clean, but I like a clean house so it’s a necessary evil. Still, I love it when the house smells like Mr. Clean. And yes, I know living in Arizona there will always be dust, but for a few minutes anyway, everything is dust free.
        So, back to the title of this blog. “I Am Blessed”. And I truly am. I have everything I need (and no, I’m not bragging, but for some reason, it all hit home to me and the realization filled me with such happiness, I didn’t know how to contain it).
        What am I talking about? Friendship.
        This feeling of being blessed hit me Friday, when my critique partner and I hung up from our Zoom call (yes, we talk every Friday and believe me, it’s the highlight of my week). We don’t just talk about our works in progress. No, ma’am. We talk about everything. There is no subject that is taboo.
        Then, on Saturday morning, I talked to my daughter-in-law. She, too, has become a dear friend (more than just my daughter-in-law. I’d love her even if she wasn’t married to my son). She is absolutely beautiful, inside and out and I am thrilled she is in my life.  
        I met some friends for lunch on Saturday afternoon and as always, it was lovely. I’ve known these women for over forty years. That’s a long time and we’ve been through it all but we’re always there for each other both when life is hard and when it isn’t.
        Which brings me to my neighbors. I must admit, I have been especially blessed in that regard. My neighbors are wonderful (both past and present). The current ones are younger than I am, but that doesn’t seem to matter. Not in the slightest. It’s amazing to me how close we got so quickly. They are taking the DH and I out to dinner tonight to celebrate Mother’s Day which is so kind, so sweet, so thoughtful (we’re going to a Mexican restaurant that had the most amazing food. If you haven’t tried a Fundido, you should. Absolutely fabulous!)
        So now you know what I’m talking about. I have been blessed. There are people in my life who are more than friends. We’ve become family and I love each and every one of them (there are more examples—people I don’t see much because they’re moved away but we still talk—by phone, by zoom, by email and text). There are those I miss because they’ve passed but I still ‘talk’ to them, especially when I remember the past and the good (and sometimes bad) times we’ve shared.
        When I’m writing my stories, my hero and heroine both have the kind of friends that offer advice, offer comfort, and are always there when needed and I hope that comes through.
        And on that note, I should get back to writing. Wife Unexpected is not going to write itself (and neither will the other three books I’m contracted for).   
        Stay well! Stay safe! And remember to spread kindness wherever you go!

Marie 

Wednesday, May 6, 2026

In the Midst of Winter by Isabel Allende

A blizzard in Brooklyn and a car accident is what is needed to bring three lives together and turn them around for the better.  

Richard owns a Brooklyn brownstone with a lower floor rented to Lucia.  Lucia stays in during the blizzard, but Richard forces himself to head for the store.  On his way, he rear-ends a Lexus that Evelyn is driving. 


This small accident creates the three to need more from each other than could be guessed until the story relays the details of their lives.

Richard obtained an academic position at NYU after his regrettable life in Chile.  In Chili, he started with a wife and two children.  Shortly after moving to the states, he no longer has children or a wife.  He sank into a rigid life of work and little socialization.

Lucia moves from Chile when Richard offers her a teaching job and a place to rent.  Her former life had also been full of family losses and humanitarian grievances.  She feels empty and alone.

Evelyn immigrates to the US from Guatemala seeking asylum and a job for a young woman barely speaking English.  

The accident proves more than just a fender bender.  Evelyn has her boss's car.  In the car is evidence of a horrible crime.  

Evelyn, Richard, and Lucia grouped together to plan how to hide someone else's crime to save Evelyn.

During their quest, each learn and begin to love one another. Richard and Lucia find a need to be together, and Evelyn becomes a pseudo daughter to them.   

Their fragile lives are reconstructed out of love.

Happy reading,

Dawn Kunda

What's New?

 

        Hello, gentle readers! Hope you are all well and staying safe! 
        It’s a beautiful Sunday morning as I sit down to write this and I have to admit, that I’m loving the weather here in Phoenix right now. The heat of summer hasn’t truly hit though we did have some rather hot days last months. I’m glad they didn’t stick around.
        So, what’s new with me?
        I submitted The Madam & Mr. MacLean to my publisher! Whoooo-hoooo! It’s as perfect as I can get it and I’m looking forward to seeing what my editor thinks. As you may remember, she’s the one who’s been teaching me what I didn’t know I didn’t know. She’s fabulous and I enjoy working with her!
        I’m also working hard on Wife Unexpected…and it’s not going as well as I’d like. I’m still having issues with the beginning but I’ll get there. I really want Faith to have her happy ending. Tysen, too. I think they both deserve it.
        Other than that, the day job is keeping me so busy. It’s a good thing I write in the early mornings BEFORE I head into the office because truthfully, by the time I get home, I don’t have a coherent thought in my head. I’m tired though you’d never know that by the way I hustle around the house at the end of the day.
       And every day I wake up and remember that retirement is coming. Only one year, seven months and twenty-seven days now! I talk about it a lot because I’m really looking forward to it. I’ve had some people ask me with I plan to do…how will I fill my days without the day job? It’s not something I’m worried about. My days will be filled. I’ll be writing of course, hoping to write more than one book a year. I’d also like to go back to doing crossword puzzles, which I love, but haven’t had time to do. I want to read more, too. There are so many books out there by my favorite authors that I haven’t touched (they’re filling up my kindle as I write this). I’d like to pick up crocheting again…I have three half finished projects that are just sitting there in a box, calling to me, not to mention the needlepoint projects that are waiting.  
        Believe it or not, I want to try gardening, too (yes, I know I have a brown thumb and manage to kill every house plant I’ve ever had but I’d still like to try). We had a tomato garden when I was growing up. My father was really good at growing them and some of my fondest memories are of walking out to the garden, picking a ripe tomato right from the vine and eating it like an apple. There is nothing in the world like a Jersey Beefsteak tomato, warm from the sun!I’d like to volunteer, too. I’ll have the time so why not? 
        But the most important thing is the writing. As you may remember, I have a contract for four more books, which I never thought, in a million years, would happen.
        Speaking of that contract, I should get going. Those books aren’t going to write themselves. Stay well! Stay safe! And remember to spread kindness wherever you go!

Marie

Wednesday, April 22, 2026

Just Friends at the Doggy Spa by Elsie Woods

 Life is grand when you are a dog groomer.  Rita organizes most everything at the elite dog spa attached to the Chateau Rose where the filthy rich and not so humble vacation while dropping off their fury and loveable companions for spa days in England. 

Rita happily accepts the position of maid-of-honor in her best friend's wedding. Whenever I hear that, I know something will go wrong.  Maybe it will go right this time.

Joey, the groom's brother and best man, calls her Buddy.  That'll be a platonic evening, for sure.


Although, when chaos strikes things may work out much better.

And it begins.  A driver drops a boxer off at the entrance of the dog spa and speeds away.  Rita needs Joey to find the dog's owner and take care of the boxer while searching.  The next tragedy sets the stage.  The wedding is in two weeks.  The bride and groom have not made any plans as they claim they're busy.  No flowers, no cake, no invitations, no hall rented, and none of the rest.  

Bride and groom beg Rita and Joey to cover for them.  In other words, plan a wedding in two weeks.  

"Buddy" Rita and Joey are now inseparable.  This is when you really get to know just about everything about each other.  Take the odd with the great and figure out how well all the details fit together like a complete puzzle or one missing pieces.  

I bet all the pieces of the puzzle can somehow squeeze together an create a beautiful picture.

Happy reading,

Dawn Kunda



Monday, April 20, 2026

ROCK STEADY COWBOY by Lexi Post is available for preorder!

 

ROCK STEADY COWBOY 

(Rocky Road Ranch: Book 5) 

by Lexi Post 

is available for preorder!

He's looking for a future. She's still running from the past.

Amazon Amazon UK | Amazon AU | Amazon CA 


Kit Ford is ready for a fresh start when she takes the job as manager of the shooting range at Rocky Road Ranch. With a scarred face, missing fingers, and a career as a biathlete ended by a jealous woman, she's not looking for love. When a handsome cowboy is assigned to show her around town, she makes one thing clear: friendship only.

Nash Goodman wants what he's never had—a family. But every time he gets close to a woman, he ends up friend-zoned. When Kit shuts him down before he even tries, it's the final straw. Done with small-town possibilities, Nash ignores his attraction to her and takes his chances with an online matchmaking service for cowboys.

Kit told herself she didn't want more. But the longer she's around Nash, the harder it becomes to believe her own rules. She wants him—in her bed, in her life, in ways she swore she'd never risk.

Now she has to decide: keep hiding behind walls she built to survive, or fight for the man she's about to lose to someone ready to give him everything.

Releasing May 5th.


Catch up on the whole series here.

About Lexi:

Lexi Post is a New York Times and USA Today best-selling author of romance inspired by the classics. She spent years in higher education taking and teaching courses about the classical literature she loved. From Edgar Allan Poe's short story “The Masque of the Red Death” to Tolstoy’s War and Peace, she's read, studied, and taught wonderful classics.

But Lexi's first love is romance novels so she married her two first loves, romance and the classics. Whether it’s sizzling cowboys, dashing dukes, hot immortals, or hunks from out of this world, Lexi provides a sensuous experience with a “whole lotta story.”

Lexi is living her own happily ever after with her husband and her two cats in Florida. She makes her own ice cream every weekend, loves bright colors, and you’ll never see her without a hat.


Website

Lexi Post Updates

Facebook

Instagram

Amazon Author Page

BookBub

D2D

Goodreads

Instagram

Blog

Email

Wednesday, April 15, 2026

Critique Partner to the Rescue

 


       Hello, gentle readers! Hope you are all well and staying safe!
       Well, my lovely, talented, and so very intelligent critique partner has, once again, talked me off the proverbial ledge! And it’s a good thing, too!
        As you all know, I’ve been working on Wife Unexpected, the fourth book in The Wives of Bravado County series…and…let’s just say it’s not going as well as I want it to. I have ripped out the entire first chapter and started over. It wasn’t right and that was something I felt deep in my bones. My critique partner felt it, too, so…the change was necessary. Usually, my beginnings are fun and pretty much what I expect (I always enjoy starting a new story…it’s exciting to get to know my characters, set up the conflict, etc.). With this story, I started on the wrong foot, so to speak. It’s all been fixed now and the new beginning is much, much better than the old (I will admit the loss of words was devastating, but seriously, the story needs to start in the right place with the right tone). 
        That being said, since I rewrote Chapter One and changed so much, my problem then became Chapter Two. Yes, I’d already written it, but it doesn’t quite fit with the changes I made to the previous chapter.
        Now, just to understand how I write my stories, I generally write the scenes as they come to me then puzzle them together, and for this particular story, I have already written a number of scenes that occur further along in the book. I just write up to those points, make a few changes where necessary and keep going. You know. Puzzle the pieces together.
        So, during our usual Friday night zoom chat, we went over it and she…started with the questions. Oh my gosh! So many questions, things I hadn’t even thought about, but the biggest ones were “Who is Tysen? What drives him? What does he want? Does he even know? ”Apparently, those questions (and so many others) was exactly what I needed. 
        I didn’t quite ‘know’ Tysen well enough to write him. Faith, my heroine, I knew. She’s been with me for quite some time, and I love her for who she is, but him? I learned so many things about him while my critique partner and I talked (I took a lot of notes) and it seems to have fixed the problem I was having so now…it’s on to re-writing Chapter Two. I’m ready! Whooo-hoooo!
        Stay well! Stay safe! And remember to spread kindness wherever you go!

Marie

Wednesday, April 8, 2026

Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman

 Isolation can happen in a city, at work, or anywhere people gather.  Those are the same places that relationships grow.  

Forever a resident of Ireland, Eleanor Oliphant has no intentions of disrupting her strategic and purposeful regime of work and weekends of pizza and soothing vodka.  She has a respectable job, which many may consider boring, a subsidized place to call home, a weekly call to her mum, and her life is plain and simple.  


This is her life-long plan to keep the past from distracting the rest of her life.  

Her coworkers occasionally whisper or make jokes about her detachment, otherwise they ignore her for anything other than work.  The new IT worker, Raymond, is the exception.  

Eleanor's computer has an issue, and Raymond eventually gets to her desk.  She's not impressed with his careless dress and sloppy attitude.  It surprises her when he somehow inserts himself in small parts of her days until they help rescue an older man who's fallen on the sidewalk and needs an assist.  

Raymond is super friendly, ready to give a hand, and always open for a new friend.  Eleanor is the opposite, so she grudgingly responds on limited terms.  Besides, she recently decided to remake herself from the outside, to hide her ugly past, and find the perfect man she saw in an ad for a local concert. How hard can it be?

This is a lovely story of unassuming colleagues getting to know each other, while having no intentions.  As details of their lives are slowly exposed, their need and respect grow.  It's this that helps Eleanor realize what she has to do to be whole and happy and Raymond is a specific ingredient. 

Happy reading,

Dawn Kunda

 

Wednesday, April 1, 2026

I Love Early Mornings!

 


        Hello, gentle readers! Hope you are all well and staying safe!
        It’s a beautiful morning here in sunny Arizona. The sun is just starting to come up. I love this time of day (I must because I’m up early to greet the sun every morning!).
        Actually, I started getting up early so I could write…without taking anything away from family time (our son was young at the time) and before the day job takes whatever brain power I have. It’s just me and dogs at this hour. They’re sleeping on the futon behind me, having already been fed, given fresh water and their treat (hahahahaha, yes I am well trained by my dogs). I’ve been doing it so long that I can no longer sleep in, even on weekends (sleeping in means 4:45 or 5 o’clock).
        It’s all good. After doing it so long, my brain is trained. It knows that this is the time to write and sometimes, I’ll wake up with words already in my head. I love that!
        So what am I working on? The next book in the Wives of Bravado County series. It's called Wife Unexpected. This is Faith’s story. You might remember her from the last book. She was the best friend of the heroine in Wife by Surprise and well, she needs her own story. The words are flowing, which is always a good thing BUT after completing Chapter One, I realized I started in the wrong place. This happens (all too often, it seems). It’s a little frustrating but a story has to start in the right place so after finishing the corrections/edits in The Madam and Mr. MacLean so I can submit it on time, I got right back into it…and ripped out the entire first chapter to rewrite it. Works better now though the loss of all those words hurt my heart! I am now back on track and much happier. The daily word count has been surprising, even for me (I’m a slow but steady writer). I have an hour to write before I need to get ready for the day job and not to toot my own horn but I have been nailing it! That makes me happy, too!
        That being said, I should get back to it before I need to start my Sunday chores. 
        Stay well! Stay safe! And remember to spread kindness wherever you go! 
 Marie

Sunday, March 29, 2026

Discovering the Marquess by Lexi Post has released!

 

by Lexi Post 

has released!

His secret is dark. Can she bring him into the light?

Amazon | Amazon UK  | Amazon AU | Amazon CA 

Free on Kindle Unlimited

Lady Eleanor is convinced she will never be asked to marry, and not because she loves astronomy. Her bright red hair, tendency to speak loudly, and penchant for clumsiness has only the oldest lords bothering to even talk to her. So as the Belinda School for Curious Ladies closes for the holidays, she accepts a marriage proposal sight unseen from Lord Darius Taylour, the Marquess of Ferncroft—a widower. All she knows about him is that he is looking for a mother for his two children and is younger than her father.

Darius’s “black moods” are a secret known to only a handful of people, and he plans to keep it that way. Since his first wife was not what she’d first appeared, he is pleased that his younger brother arranged a marriage for him with an intelligent woman who will welcome his two children. It doesn’t take long for him to discover that Ellie is not only nothing like his first wife, but also not like other women.

As Ellie disrupts his house, plans an elaborate Christmastide, and takes over the education of his children, he finds himself too distracted to become melancholy. Just as he begins to appreciate her many attributes, he’s reminded of why he must never relax his guard. His wife may well reach for the stars, but his feet are stuck deep in the mud, and he can see no way out.


About Lexi:

Lexi Post is a New York Times and USA Today best-selling author of romance inspired by the classics. She spent years in higher education taking and teaching courses about the classical literature she loved. From Edgar Allan Poe's short story “The Masque of the Red Death” to Tolstoy’s War and Peace, she's read, studied, and taught wonderful classics.

But Lexi's first love is romance novels so she married her two first loves, romance and the classics. Whether it’s sizzling cowboys, dashing dukes, hot immortals, or hunks from out of this world, Lexi provides a sensuous experience with a “whole lotta story.”

Lexi is living her own happily ever after with her husband and her two cats in Florida. She makes her own ice cream every weekend,
loves bright colors, and you’ll never see her without a hat.

Website

Lexi Post Updates

Facebook

Instagram

Amazon Author Page

BookBub

D2D

Goodreads

Instagram

Blog

Email


Wednesday, March 25, 2026

Spies Don't Fall For Their Neighbors by Meg Easton

 How can a cozy-sounding town like Cipher Springs contain a company of spies and a plumber that need each other?  

Charlie typically spends her day at her computer directing spy operatives out of dangerous positions as they attempt to take out the illegal activities of criminals.  At night, she relaxes with a shower and a dinner with her BFF roommate.  The night her relaxation is interrupted with a wet floor and water spouting out of the wall of her townhome, she is forced to confront her new neighbor, Owen.


The wall in question is also Owen's wall of his temporary townhome.  It doesn't matter that Owen is a totally hot and maybe available man, but it does matter that he's a plumber and is proficient in construction.  

Forced into approaching Owen, Charlie confronts him about the leak in the shared wall.  

The first sparks fly when the wall needs to be taken out to expose and fix the leak.  Now, except for a plastic wall, they share a home.  

Getting to know each other and to diminish the uncomfortable closeness, Charlie leaves Owen small treats, notes, and gifts.  He reciprocates, which allows them to learn fun things about one another.  

Owen plans to be in town only until a historical building makeover is complete, so a relationship isn't welcome.  Charlie has a well-hidden job making it possibly dangerous to allow romance into her life.  The plumbing dilemma may change their minds.    

When the owner of the building Owen is working on appears on Charlie's work radar, things get complicated and their relationship gets closer.  We can only hope the closeness is amicable and tender feelings result versus it exploding like a leaky pipe.  

Happy reading,

Dawn

Wednesday, March 18, 2026

Rewrites! Rewrites! Rewrites!

 


        Hello, gentle readers! Hope you are all well and staying safe!
        As you all know, I sent The Madam and Mr. MacLean to my beta readers…and I got it back so now, I’m in rewrites. And it’s all good. I think I remember telling you all they see things I do not…and they did. So…I am brutally ripping out scenes and replacing them with new. It’s harder than expected but must be done. I like to submit a manuscript as close to perfect as I can get it. I’m still working on my cover sheet, too! I have the main blurb down. Now I’m trying to figure out the short blurb (some call it a tag line). I think I may have it, but it’s still a work in progress so…
        Wife Unexpected has been put on hold until I finish those rewrites which is kinda sad in a way because I was just getting into the story. Again, it’s all good. More time to percolate in my head, where it’s currently living.
        The oddest thing I’ve found (or maybe it’s just odd to me) but the more I work on one story, the more scenes and dialogue appear for another. I know! Crazy, right? I keep a notebook with me at all times just in case something comes to me (and yes, those things come to me at the strangest times…like in the middle of a supermarket while I’m grocery shopping). Those voices in my head? Yeah, they can get downright demanding!
        The day job is still making me crazy. Deadlines and deliveries wait for no one! Retirement is sounding better and better every day.  
        And I gotta go. It’s Sunday, which means all my Sunday chores need to be done…so I can get back to writing. Stay well! Stay safe! And remember to spread kindness wherever you go!

Marie

Wednesday, March 11, 2026

Beside the Long River by Louella Bryant

 A fictional view of the war between the English settlers and the Pequot Indians in 1636.  Thinking of wars is mostly about the fighting, death, and attainment of property.  Love does exist during war.

Sarah Lyman, a teenager, and her family is led by her father from England to the promise of Puritan freedom in America.  The land is rough and untamed.  Their dream of a productive farm isn't exactly as simple as portrayed.  Hard, physical work is a new life.  The family lands by boat at the Massachusetts Bay.  In short time, they travel on foot to a more promising and fertile property in Hartford, Connecticut.  


The Pequot Indians live on the land just outside the property Sarah's family chooses to farm.  Many settlers, out of fear, deem the Indians a threat.  With an open mind, Sarah befriends a young Pequot girl along with Ayaks, a Pequot who steals her heart.

Sarah continues her secret friendships until the pressure in the village turns into a plan to massacre the Pequot.  She does the only thing she can think of and joins the English Militia with the intent to save the Pequot Indians, specifically those she loves.

True to history, the war is a massacre, horrible to many and a victory for others.  

Sarah and her family survive, but she keeps her heart hidden as she watches for any indication that her girlfriend and the man who has her heart are still alive.  If or when Ayaks finds Sarah, she will stand up for herself to follow the one she fought for.  Love is stronger than war.

Happy reading,

Dawn

 

Wednesday, March 4, 2026

An Update

 


        Hello, gentle readers! Hope you are all well and staying safe!
        I actually have no topic today but that’s all right. I figured I’d give you all an update (and seriously, I don’t want to talk about the weather – it’s been in the 90s here in Arizona and truthfully, I am NOT ready for this heat!).
        As you know, I have finished The Madam and Mr. MacLean. It’s going through beta read right now, which is fantastic (I love my beta readers! They are so good at seeing things that I don’t!). I do still need to work on the cover sheet request—that’s the paperwork that accompanies the manuscript when I submit it to my publisher. There’s a few other things I need to work on, too, like the ‘long’ blurb and the short ‘tagline’. Believe it or not, those are really hard. I can write an 86-thousand-word story but condensing it down to 350 words is a little daunting. Oh, and the cover! I have an idea in my head on what I'd like to see but need to finalize it (my publisher does the best covers!).
        I am making great headway with Wife Unexpected, the next story in The Wives of Bravado County series. So far, I’m at 10 thousand words. Now, if all those words were in a linear fashion that would be great, but I gotta write the scenes as they come to me so, in all truthfulness, I am all over the place, but I’ll puzzle it all together as I reach those scenes. I know! Crazy, but that’s how I do it…and so far, it has worked for me.
        What else? Today (Sunday, when I’m writing this), the DH and I are going to a birthday party. This isn’t just any birthday party. It’s for our lovely, beautiful, so very young at heart friend. She is turning…wait for it…one hundred years old. Or I should say one hundred years young. To look at her, to spend any time with her, one would never guess she has reached this milestone. Truthfully, the woman doesn’t sit still. She’s very active in the community, thinks nothing of hopping on a plane to visit friends and family, and this past summer, she spent a couple weeks in Alaska. She sent pictures of all the fish she caught. I love that woman!
        And that’s all for me. Still a lot of things to do before we head off to that celebration. Stay well! Stay safe! And remember to spread kindness wherever you go!

Marie