Welcome Guest author Karen Tabke!!

We are thrilled to welcome a super cool person and a super hot writer, Karen Tabke today. If you haven't read her yet - oh my! You're in for a treat. Please, without further delay, welcome Karen..............

Hello, ladies! And thank you, Cindy for the invite to pop in, introduce myself and hang out for the day. I’m really honored to be here.

So, for those of you who don’t know me, I’m Karin Tabke, and I write really passionate romance! Seriously. And not just passion between the hero and heroine, but their passion for life, their passion for what they believe in, their passion for family, and living, and loving, and playing. Oh, and passion for food. I love a good food scene. LOL

My characters always stand for something and never fall for everything. They live hard, play hard, and love harder. We’ve all heard the adage write what you know; well I have taken that to heart. I’m a passionate person. I married a passionate man. My children are passionate. We are loud, emotional, and love to eat good food and be with the people we care about the most. I have three dogs, two cats and an African Grey named Max who has all of our laughs, cries and cell phone ring tones down pat. My house is in constant motion, and I wouldn’t have it any other way.

I started writing hot cops. It wasn’t a stretch, the hubster is a retired cop. His many years on the streets and the passionate people he worked with have given me endless fodder for my stories. But my first love, the reason I fell in love with romance was reading the sweeping historicals of the 70’s and 80’s. The meaty, emotional, passionate ones where men were men, and women were woman, and they made no excuses for who they were and what they did. Life was different one thousand years ago, and those sweeping love stories carried me off to my own world for countless hours. I still sigh when I think back to those days. And it was exactly that feeling I wanted again, and so The Blood Sword Legacy series was born.

I’m very excited to say I have two books out this month. JADED the third in my ‘hot cop’ series, and my debut historical, MASTER OF SURRENDER, set in tumultuous 1066 England. It is the first book of the series. Every time I think of the hero and heroine, Rohan and Isabel, I smile. Their passion for what they believed in nearly destroyed them but their love did conquer all. This story takes me back to the days when I was a girl, squirreled away in my bedroom eagerly reading and sighing and wishing that one day my prince would come. He did, but that doesn’t mean I don’t love to read about other girls getting their prince. It’s why I write.

So tell me, what book made you fall in love with romance? And I’d love to give away a copy of GOOD GIRL GONE BAD, SKIN or WHAT YOU CAN’T SEE, to a lucky commenter. As simple Hi, Karin, will get you in the drawing.

Thanks again ladies for inviting me here today!

GUEST BLOGGER - LORALEE LILLIBRIDGE

(That's Loralee on the left!)

We asked Loralee to come and give up the facts, just the facts ma'am on attending the police academy!

Hi y’all, thanks for inviting me along for today’s ride. I’m so glad it’s nice enough to have the top down. What could be more fun than a road trip with nine awesome and totally talented women?

When Deb Dixon asked me to guest blog about the Citizen Police Academy I’m attending, I wondered how in the world I could relate all that the course involves in 300-600 words. Truth is I can’t, so I’ll just hit the highlights, but I’ll be happy to answer any questions later. And yes, I’m taking the class because I’m a writer. I want to include some law enforcement background in the romances I write. And there’s a mystery or two buzzing around in my imagination just waiting to be written. Can you think of a better hero than a cop?

The course, offered by the Grand Rapids Police Department, is primarily focused on educating citizens about the local law enforcement operation. These are the greatest bunch of men and women you’ll ever meet. They truly care about their jobs and the people they have sworn to protect. Police Chief Harry Dolan is totally committed to serving the City of Grand Rapids and its citizens, plus he’s a terrific public speaker.

Every week for ten weeks, our class of citizens meets at Police Headquarters in downtown Grand Rapids, Michigan, for a 3-1/2 hour session. Organized and led by Lt. Mark Ostapowicz and Sgt. John Dorer, the classes cover everything from the dangers of traffic stops, internal affairs, Emergency Dispatch, the Special Response Team and their weapons, how a Crisis Negotiator handles an emergency situation, crime scene procedures, Emergency Vehicle Operation, Criminal Law and the K-9 Unit. Officers from each department give lectures and demonstrations and show videos. There are three other writers in the class also. Needless to say, we have some lively Q&A sessions.

So far, I’ve completed five weeks and one ride-along. Keep in mind that I’m getting pretty darn close to my 72^nd birthday, but I have a laundry list of things I really want to do before I head for the Big Library in the sky. Taking this course and riding along in a police cruiser was on that list, and by gosh, now I can check that off, along with getting published and climbing to the top of a light house.

Now, about that ride-along...I was fortunate to have Officer Anthony Leonard as my ride-along partner. He outfitted me with a safety vest and we headed to the motor pool and his cruiser. After explaining how the car camera worked and demonstrating the laptop used for sending in reports, we hit the streets. Our first call came within half an hour of leaving headquarters. Our service area was one of the busier parts of town.

Officer Leonard patiently answered my questions, handled situations that could have become more serious if he hadn’t intervened, explained why he did what he did, and was a master at the wheel of his cruiser. When the situation was not safe for me to exit the car with him, most of the time I was able to observe the event through the car camera. I never felt in any danger, even when we were transporting prisoners to the jail.

We made two arrests, which gave me the opportunity to see the inside of the jail where the subjects were booked. I expected a Thursday night ride to be rather uneventful, but we answered numerous calls. One required the use of lights and sirens as we sped down the traffic-filled expressway. Talk about an adrenalin rush! Oh, did I mention the ride-along was a 12-hour shift beginning at 6:30 P.M.?

There are still five weeks left in the course and I look forward to each one. I wonder how I’ll fare when we’re placed in the video simulator and have to make snap decisions. What should I say? What should I do? Shoot or don’t shoot? This is very much a hands-on course. We’re told the K-9 Unit demonstration is one of the most exciting. I’m definitely not sticking my arm in that padded sleeve!

When graduation arrives in June, Chief Dolan will give us our certificates and pins at a reception and I will have accomplished one more challenge on my list. If the GRPD ever offers an advanced course, I’ll be there in a heartbeat. There’s a lot more to learn.

WHAT’S ON YOUR LIST OF THINGS YOU REALLY WANT TO DO IN YOUR LIFETIME? HAVE YOU CHECKED OFF ANY OF THEM YET? HOW WOULD YOU FEEL ABOUT TAKING A COURSE LIKE THE CITIZEN POLICE ACADEMY?