Yup, I totally spaced last week's email. Not that I had much news anyway-- but I still have an excuse!

If you've been with me since the old days-- you might recall that I got a rather scary diagnosis of bradycardia (an abnormally slow heartbeat) back in the summer of 2020, when the whole world was already falling apart.

Nothing much came of the diagnosis: the cardiologist hooked me up to lots of wires, shot me up with radioactive dye, and told me to run (sounds like such a great premise for a dark romance, doesn't it?) In the end, he concluded nothing is "wrong" with my heart and told me to live my life.

No. Literally. His exact words were, "My advice is to live your life."

Yeah...that was my plan too.

But my heart rate is still weirdly slow for no apparent reason. I've been living my life and that's been going pretty well so far...till last week while I was chillin' in some remote corner of eastern Nevada and my heart rate took a nose dive one night out of nowhere.

Good news: I'm fine. Bad news: I kinda forgot about the email. And pretty much everything else except figuring out where the nearest 24 hour emergency room was.

No. No one knows what happened or why. Yes, my smart watch got upgraded to one with much better heart monitoring sensors.

Jeesh, the lengths some authors will go to validate missing a deadline, amirite?

So I haven't made a whole lot of progress on Temporary Solution, but it's coming along and I'm excited to get it wrapped up soon. The side characters are really coming into focus and that's one of my favorite parts.

I do have a quick blurb to share, finally! It still needs some fine tuning and polishing but here's the teaser for the book:

The curvy little historian seated next to me on the plane looks like she's never been out of the city. With her tight little skirt and high heels, she's about as out of place in Slow River's ranch lands as it gets-- and she's exactly what I need.

As I step on the plane that'll take me back to the life I walked away from over a decade ago, I know I'm heading back for good whether I'm ready or not. That means making things right with my brothers and stepping up to run the family's cattle ranch alongside 'em like our father expected me to. It also means breaking my mama's heart when I have to explain that her match-making isn't much appreciated.

What I need is a good, old-fashioned, pretend girlfriend. A woman who'll charm my family while hanging off my arm looking at me like I hung the damn stars just for her. Someone who'll fool Mom into thinking I'm ready to settle down so she'll stop hassling me till I can get settled in.

Too bad Serenity only agrees to the ruse to get first-hand access to the local history that will help her score a job promotion back in the city, because when I say she's what I need, it turns out, I mean forever.

If the heart rate scare isn't exciting enough for you-- or if it's too exciting-- news from Roxie's personal life also includes an official move to the state of Nevada. Which is where I am most of the time anyway...I just needed a permanent address to convince Nevada to give me new license plates.

As much time as I've spent out of my home state (which is California,) it's never been enough time to go through the full change of residency process-- so I'm also busy jumping through hoops that I'm still learning exist.

But hey! As of today, I have real, honest-to-gosh wifi again! And I'm only .7 miles from the nearest hospital (where the bestie happens to work now.) Not that I'm likely to stay in one place for long-- I'm not ready to give up the nomadic life just yet.

It shouldn't be long before I'm back with a new release announcement for you! I'm pretty excited about these ranchers. I'm having a lot of fun getting know the characters in Slow River Valley and I wish I could write all the stories at once because I can't decide whose is my favorite.

~Rox

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