Portrait of the Writer in the Cabin in the Woods with Laptop and Beer Like so many others of the breed, I had a misspent youth flirting with writing in between the usual life passages. Now I've quit my soul-sapping corporate day job to live in squalor and write full time. As an overactive member of the Toronto Romance Writers , I have received immeasurable help and support and chocolate from a lot of people like me (can that be possible?) who just want to write.

.

.

.

Same City, Different Worlds Of all the food banks in the world, she has to walk into his Katrina Court is an über-ambitious CEO always aiming to land the ultimate client to secure her own success in the cut-throat world of high finance. But a terrible mistake in judgement forces her to put her professional life on hold to perform 100 hours of community service. Daniel Lennox is a beleaguered food bank director, determined to make his struggling organisation self-sufficient so he can leave for the job he really wants: digging out the root causes of poverty and hunger. But the board, convinced the food bank can't survive without him, is threatening to close it down unless he stays on. He needs a miracle. But when he finds himself saddled with this brilliant, high-end business expert, with her own world view of the poor, he doesn't know if she's the answer to his prayers or his worst nightmare. Despite their opposing ideals and values, the corner office executive and the social justice crusader are drawn into an emotional tangle that neither of them can fight. As Daniel gradually overcomes his prejudices against Katrina's dazzling world of money and power, he entices her to unload her burden of intolerance for the poor and hungry, never suspecting that her biases are rooted deep in her own hard-scrabble past.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

. .

.

Annie and the Cat Romancer DJ MacAlistair is determined to overcome his less-than-savoury past and win not only a long-coveted partnership, but also his employers' niece. The engaging veterinarian can charm any beast that crosses his path, but can he romance the feisty, delectable Annie into his arms? Annie Paquette's spirited façade masks a secret she's kept from her friends and family--she was on the verge of leaving her late lover. Now, held hostage to his mother's relentless grief, she puts her own emotional future--and DJ's love--on ice. As DJ and Annie grapple with their conflicting loyalties, they find old rejections and new betrayals conspire to keep them apart. Annie wonders how she can ever break free of the well-intended web of deception she's woven around herself, while DJ bitterly asks himself which dream is further beyond his grasp: the partnership he seeks--or Annie's love. Annie took third place in the Toronto Romance Writers' Original Golden Opportunity Contest.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

Dancing with a Stranger If on a winter's night a traveller loses her heart at a roadside café...             ...might she find it again in the summer in the city? Leah Kildonan can't forget the compassionate stranger who came into her life for a single night, just when she needed him most. She can't forget the dance they shared or the love they made. And she can't forget the next morning, when he did a very neat vanishing act. Now he's back, posing a threat to everything Leah holds dear. She'll do anything to protect the future of the school that's been so crucial to girls' education--and her own family--for generations. Anything, that is, except risk getting her heart broken again. Sam Bancroft's memory is even more stubborn, and he hadn't forgiven the humiliation inflicted on him as a teenager by the girls of the exclusive private school. As the gardener's grandson, he learned a painful lesson about the rich and privileged. Now, as city project manager, he has the clout and the determination to shut down this elitist anachronism, and, as a bonus, to exact a little rough justice for that old wrong. Trouble is, he's on the verge of getting in deep with the new principal, the woman he spent one incredible night with.