Erik is in the house!

No, not that Eric (didn't Alexander Skarsgard look yummy at the Emmy's last night, BTW?), but Erik MacSorley, my half-Viking, half-Gael seafarer hero of THE HAWK, the second book in my Highland Guard series, which hits stores today! (I told you August 31st would be here before you knew it. :))

I think I've mentioned before that I grew up watching a lot of old movies since my mom was an old movie buff. If you seen the list of "My Favorites" on my website, you know that Errol Flynn is my favorite old movie star. Well, Erik is somewhat my ode to Errol in his swashbuckling pirate movies (Captain Blood and The Sea Hawk). Hint: If you've seen any of those movies pay particular attention to the end of the first scene in Chapter One of The Hawk.

I'll be anxiously (and I mean anxiously) awaiting your reactions. Book release day is always a mix of excitement and nail biting for me as I wait for the "reviews" to start filtering through. But a HUGE thanks to B.E. for the great early first returns. :)

If you are new to the series or just want a quick refresher on what's happened, I'll be posting a new section on my website today called "All About the Highland Guard" that will catch you up. But BEWARE there are spoilers for THE HAWK in some of the sections.

I hope you are all enjoying the last days of summer. My kids go back to school on Wednesday, and I've been frantically running around trying to figure out how my son is going to navigate the thousands of stairs at middle school with two casts on his feet (corrective foot surgery). Boy, do I feel sympathy for those people who need accessibility full time. It's sad how we don't think about these things until they happen to us, isn't it?

So other than getting ready for school it's been pretty boring around casa McCarty. We've also been catching up on Glee (what a great show!) and watching True Blood, Top Chef, and Pillars of the Earth. We are also really enjoying the new show Rizzoli and Isles based on the Tess Gerritsen books--she's a favorite of mine. I've also been catching up on a little reading lately, including devouring MOCKINGJAY in one day last week. If any of you read it, I'd be intereseted to hear what you think.

Finally, I'm doing a couple of blogs this week. If you have time, come on over and check me out today at RomCon's blog and Friday at the Lovestruck Novice.