May Newsletter 2026

Aloha! Or, should I say, hey instead since I'm currently in Oregon. We flew here for a quick trip, and I got to babysit the Cuteness, do spa day with my youngest daughter (and a mama herself!), and right now I'm sitting in my hotel room overlooking the Deschutes River in Bend, Oregon while I wait for my middle daughter to get off work so we can hang out. So far, it's been an action-packed trip, but I'm loving every minute of reconnecting with friends, seeing the kiddos, and visiting my favorite tree friends.

June 2nd, the hubby and I will fly back to Oregon, this time with two 100 pound fluff balls. We have several trips planned (I know—you're so surprised....), and Khloe, my German Shepherd Princess Pants, has been having a hard time being separated (she chewed through FIVE chain link fences over the last three months at the dog boarder when we were away on trips) so we decided to move the whole shebang back to Oregon until after the holidays. We will still be back and forth to Hawaii, but the dogs will have lots of peoples around in Oregon to keep an eye on them and we won't worry as much.

In July, I will be releasing a new book, Awakened Power. Awakened Power is a huge departure from my cozy mysteries. It is a paranormal women's fiction/romance that I wrote several years ago but have been too much of a weenie to release. The themes are pretty right on par with what's happening in the world today: evil despots attempting to control free will, sinister plots involving playing both sides against the middle...you know, LIFE right now, basically. Fear not—it also has a love story that transcends time and dimensions, help from unlikely places, and heart and friendship that prove good can ultimately triumph over evil.

I'm still toiling away on book 4 of the Barefoot Sleuth Cozy Mystery Series. I'm closing in on finishing the first draft, which I will hopefully complete by the end of May. Next on the docket will be a side quest I started on a paranormal cozy romance set on the island of Ischia in Italy. I'm loving the main character and her gradual discovery of her witchy powers. I'm not setting any hard deadlines for finishing it as I want to just sink into it and discover why this character wants me to tell her story.