Karen: Thank you! I come from a huuuuge family and we laugh all of the time. I hope to take that gift with me throughout life.

Debbie: Tell us a little about yourself - likes and dislikes, pets, kids, new love in your life? We are nosey and like to know all about our favorite authors!

Karen: I like a LOT of things ... chocolate (of course), sexy shoes (of course), golden retrievers (and all other cuddly dogs), my kids (both of them, though don't tell them that!), and the new love of my life (a hot cop I met while in interviewing policemen for a proposal I was working on).

I also love reading books in the tub, snuggling in front of "The Daily Show" (okay, okay, that's weird, but I love politics and that's one of my favorite shows), and watching any movie starring Hugh Jackman. Or as you all would call him, Huge Jackman.

Hey! I like that name! I may start calling him that ALL of the time!

Debbie: How did you start writing? I know, I know - putting pen to paper. *g* I didn't mean that ... Did writing pick you? Do you have a muse that just wouldn't shut up? Did you entertain your family with your imaginary friends? What made you pick writing as a career?

Karen: I began to write romance while working on my PhD in political science. The reading and writing was rather dry and less than creative, and I was a little bored. So I asked a friend what she thought about writing a romance novel, since we read so many, and to my surprise, she had already written several chapters. I began to write as a creative outlet in my spare time between raising two kids, working full time and getting my PhD.

I know - it was CRAZY, but I loved every minute of it. I love to write and will write published, unpublished, or otherwise. It's in my blood and grows daily. I have so MANY stories to tell!

Debbie: In a chat room a few years ago, I remember you saying your editor wanted you to do more humor but it didn't come easy (or is my memory failing me in my dotage?). Is it easier now? It comes across in your books as so natural Your humor is one of the many reasons I love your writing! I'll never forget the scene in AN AFFAIR TO REMEMBER when the children threw all of Anthony's shoes in the pond except his slippers with the tassels!

Karen: I remember that! I was going through a very difficult divorce at the time and when I turned in my novel, my editor read it and then said, "It's lovely, but where's the humor? Your readers EXPECT it!" Needless to say, my life was fairly joyless at the time, but I knew she was right, so I had to sit down and MAKE myself write the humor.

Usually, that is a very natural part of the writing process for me - I don't write humor, my characters just possess it. But in this instance I really had to grow it from scratch. It was a great exercise for me and helped me hone my writing skills. Now after I finish a book, I sit back and look at it and see if it has a good balance of emotional warmth and grins. I love a book with both!

Debbie: Avon books are known for their hot sex scenes and your books are filled with plenty of hot seduction scenes. Is it difficult to write them? Do you have your own personal hero in your life to try them out with? Or are they something you run by your critique partners and brainstorm to get them written?

Karen: The first book I wrote, I danced all around the sex scene. I kept having various things happen to interupt the characters and making one or the other of them stop the natural progression. Finally, my characters had had enough and they just DID it. Afterwards, I thought, "Wow. That was sort of fun to write!"

Personally, I love sex. I think it's a healthy, wonderful, exciting part of an adult relationship and it's a joy to be able to express that in my work. I work hard to offer my readers some variety. Just as you have to work to keep the sexual fires burning in a relationship, I try to find new fantasies and sexual concepts for the love scenes in my books.

So far, I've written a love scene where the characters are against a door, a love scene with the characters in a barn in the hay, even a semi-bondage love scene. Women deserve rich and healthy fantasy lives, and as a romance author I am blessed to be able to fuel those fantasies.

Debbie: You have a new series just coming out - tell us a bit about it! Reeves is the butler and the main character in this series?

Karen: Reeves is the world's best butler and he has been sent by his last employer, the late Earl of Rochester, to find the man's two missing illegitimate sons and 'civilize' them. There will be two books in this series and Reeves is a recurring secondary character in both books.

The first book comes out February 28 - HER MASTER AND COMMANDER. The hero, Tristan Llevanth, is a one time pirate turned naval hero who was injured in battle. He is wounded, furious, and not at all happy to find out that his father has left him a fortune - but only if he becomes 'civilized.' To help Tristan, Reeves hires a widow from a finishing school to assist in the taming process. Needless to say, from the second Prudence and Tristan meet, the sparks fly!

The second book will be out May 30th - HER OFFICER AND GENTLEMAN. The hero is Tristan's twin brother, Christian Llevanth, a one-time highwayman now playing the role of gentleman of the ton in an attempt to find the person responsible for the death of his mother.

Reeves is a very dry-witted, sarcastic sort of servant. He always does his job, but he makes certain his masters know how he REALLY feels about things! I had a blast writing both of these books. The characters just sang for me!

Debbie: Many of us really love our historicals, and so many of our favorite authors are changing to write contempories. Is this something that you have considered? (We hope not!) We follow our favorite authors no matter where they lead, but it's nice to have someone to depend on to deliver us our fix of historical romance.

Karen: I love to write - everything. I write historicals and contemporaries, but I've never marketed any of my contemporary efforts. I write very quickly though and, sadly, the market doesn't have room for all of my work. If I ever market my contemporaries it will NEVER be to leave the historical field - I love Jane Austen and Georgette Heyer too much to do that.

I hope to write historical romances until the day I die. My goal is 100 books - at two books a year, that's another forty years of historical romances!

Debbie: Anything else I have missed that you think we should know about you?? A stash of hottie pictures you think we should use as wallpaper on the RBL bulletin board?

Karen: LOL! Well, I will look and see what I can find. I MAY have some pictures of Huge Jackman lying about somewhere ... you never know! :P

Debbie: Remember you can always stop by and post on the board - we always welcome authors - and give us a shout whenever you have a new book coming out.

Karen: I will, I will! I used to go to RBL all of the time, but I've had to cut my Net time back in order to hit my deadlines. But I will come and visit more now that I'm getting back on schedule. You guys ROCK.

If you ever want to contact me or have any questions about my books, visit my Website - I just updated it and had it redesigned and I love it! Thank you and RBL!