Fresh FIction Box Not To Miss
Fresh Pick | DRIFTWOOD COTTAGE by Sherryl Woods
Fresh Pick / May 31, 2011

Chesapeake Shores #5 April 2011 On Sale: April 1, 2011 Featuring: Heather Donovan; Connor O’Brien 384 pages ISBN: 077832947X EAN: 9780778329473 Mass Market Paperback $7.99  Add to Wish List Women’s Fiction Contemporary Buy at Amazon.com Packed for Vacation Reads: emotionally satisfying Driftwood Cottage by Sherryl Woods Single mom Heather Donovan’s dreams of home and family are tantalizingly within reach when she settles in Chesapeake Shores. The welcoming arms of the boisterous, loving O’Brien clan embrace her and her son. But accepting their support seems to further alienate her son’s father, Connor O’Brien. His parents’ divorce and his career as a high- powered divorce attorney have left him jaded about marriage. Then everything changes. Will the possibility of a future without Heather make Connor look at love and his career differently? Heather’s just about given up on her old dreams — of love, of family and especially of Driftwood Cottage, the home she secretly wishes were hers. It’s going to take a lot of persuasion — and some help from the O’Brien family — to make Heather believe that some dreams are worth fighting for. Two people realizing what true love means. Excerpt Heather Donovan propped open the front door and…

Jennifer Lyon | Possessed By A Dragon?
Author Guest / May 31, 2011

Thanks so much for having me today! I love writing about witches and the heroes that love them. There is something very sexy and compelling about a man who falls in love, supports and protects a woman of power—power that he will never have on his own. That is a strong man! A true hero. A man that can bring any woman to her knees. After I finished writing NIGHT MAGIC, a story of a true hero rising, I started to worry. In that book Phoenix Torq loves his witch, the blind, yet powerful Ailish Donovan, so much that he is willing to do anything for her. Anything. And he proves it in a fiery way. When I was done with their story, I wasn’t sure another hero could interest me that much again. And then I met Dyfyr, the dragon that lives in the hero of SINFUL MAGIC, Kieran “Key” DeMicca. In all my years of writing, I’ve never experienced anything like this. When I wrote Dyfyr’s scenes—this huge, ancient, and indescribably powerful dragon’s scenes—they were effortless. As if he stood by me, telling me what to type. I have had occasional writing spurts like that, but with this…

Nan Rossiter | The Role of Heartache
Author Guest / May 30, 2011

I have always loved books fraught with heartache, star-crossed lovers, and infidelity. And I’ve always liked novels and movies that allow the reader or viewer to know a little bit more than the characters do. Who can forget the scene in The Bridges of Madison County when Francesca grips the door handle of her husband’s truck and watches, utterly torn, as her lover Robert Kincaid drives away? Our hearts ache for her indecision and we want to cry out: “Go to him!” Equally memorable is the scene at the end of Doctor Zhivago when Yuri is travelling on a tram and, through the window, sees his beloved Lara. He struggles to get off the tram and, as he tries to catch up with her, he has a fatal heart attack. Our hearts ache and we just want to cry out to Lara: “Stop! Turn around!” But Lara hurries away, never knowing Yuri died trying to reach her. In Shakespeare’s Romeo & Juliet, we know Juliet is going to wake up and we want to tell Romeo, “Hold on!” If he had only waited a moment more before plunging the dagger into his chest, Juliet would have woken up and everything…

Fresh Pick | THE SOLDIER by Grace Burrowes
Fresh Pick / May 29, 2011

The Duke’s Obsession #2 June 2011 On Sale: June 1, 2011 Featuring: Devlin St. Just 448 pages ISBN: 140224567X EAN: 9781402245671 Paperback $6.99  Add to Wish List Romance Historical Buy at Amazon.com Learning lessons from the past… The Soldier by Grace Burrowes The best he can hope for is to find some peace This Regency era battle of wits, wills, and the sexes features a wily duke determined to see the succession of his line secured. The duke can’t force his sons to marry, but he can make their lives miserable until they do. Resisting his pressure, each gentleman holds out for true love. The second book in the series features Devlin St. Just, the duke’s oldest, but illegitimate, son. He arrives at his new estate weary in body and spirit only to find the previous owner’s bastard daughter and her beautiful cousin are his responsibility and making his life almost unbearably complicated. A Historical Fiction for Modern Times! Excerpt Devlin St. Just, first born bastard son of the Duke of Moreland and newly minted Earl of Rosecroft, has just decided to travel south from his Yorkshire estate to visit his ducal family before winter sets in. He’ll leave behind…

Fresh Pick | ONE WAS A SOLDIER by Julia Spencer-Fleming
Fresh Pick / May 27, 2011

Clare Fergusson / Russ Van Alstyne #7 April 2011 On Sale: April 12, 2011 Featuring: Clare Fergusson; Russ Van Alstyne 336 pages ISBN: 0312334893 EAN: 9780312334895 Hardcover $24.99  Add to Wish List Mystery Buy at Amazon.com Coming home from war isn’t easy One Was A Soldier by Julia Spencer-Fleming On a warm September evening in the Millers Kill community center, five veterans sit down in rickety chairs to try to make sense of their experiences in Iraq.  What they will find is murder, conspiracy, and the unbreakable ties that bind them to one another and their small Adirondack town. The Rev. Clare Fergusson wants to forget the things she saw as a combat helicopter pilot and concentrate on her relationship with Chief of Police Russ Van Alstyne. MP Eric McCrea needs to control the explosive anger threatening his job as a police officer. Will Ellis, high school track star, faces the reality of life as a double amputee. Orthopedist Trip Stillman is denying the extent of  his traumatic brain injury. And bookkeeper Tally McNabb wrestles with guilt over the in-country affair that may derail her marriage. But coming home is harder than it looks. One vet will struggle with drugs…

Terra Little | After the Jump…
Author Guest / May 27, 2011

When I decided to unearth the JUMP manuscript and strive to get it into readers’ hands in book form, I wondered how it would be received. I wondered, “Can I do this?” At the time I was mostly concerned with whether or not the story would be perceived as authentic enough, especially in the very possible case that a woman who happened to have walked a mile in the main character, Lena Hunter’s, shoes picked up a copy and read my take on the women in prison experience. What if that woman decided that I hadn’t somehow given the situation enough care and concern while crafting the story? What if she couldn’t find herself somewhere in the main character’s thoughts, feelings, or actions? A little back story is called for here, I think, so here goes: After serving eight years in prison for a heinous crime that she never denied committing, parole for Helena Hunter means long-awaited freedom. Killing her grandmother was a choice that she made all by herself, but she wasn’t thinking about the consequences of her actions when she pulled the trigger. The little girl she left behind is now a teenage stranger, who thinks her mother…

Celeste Bradley and Susan Donovan | Seven Sinful Reasons to Read A COURTESAN’S GUIDE TO GETTING YOUR MAN
Author Guest / May 26, 2011

In A COURTESAN’S GUIDE TO GETTING YOUR MAN, a modern museum curator stumbles across the diaries of a young Regency lady who jettisons her staid existence and embraces a life built around the “Seven Sins of the Courtesan.” We’ve come up with Seven Sinful Reasons why Fresh Fiction readers should pick up this book. Sin #1: Lust. It’s true. There some extremely juicy love-scenes in this book, set in both modern Boston and Regency London. We advise keeping a cool drink and a warm guy close at hand. Sin #2: Appetite. The sweet, hot, and thoroughly delicious story will satisfy the needs of even the most discriminating reader. Whether you usually dine on contemporary or historical, you will scarf down this treat! Sin #3: Idleness. There’s nothing better than shutting out the world and settling down into a novel that transports you to another time and place, and with this book, you get the double the journey and double the pleasure. (And double the hot heroes!) Sin #4: Covetousness. Some of our early readers have told us A COURTESAN’S GUIDE has earned a permanent spot on their keeper shelf but they wanted to give it to their mom/sister/daughter/best friend/niece to…

Taylor Keating | If I were a Stalker
Author Guest / May 25, 2011

Before I begin, I don’t condone stalking in any way, shape or form. So please don’t write me. I don’t have it in me to be a good stalker. From what I’ve determined, it takes way too much focus and effort and I’m basically lazy. But I asked a good friend one time (who happens to be a United Church minister) if plotting an assassination was a bad thing. She told me not at all. Plotting can be therapeutic. Acting on it is what tips the scales. So stalking is bad. I do, however, have a list of people I’d stalk if a) it weren’t illegal, and b) I wasn’t so lazy. #1. Madeline Hunter. I love love love Madeline Hunter. I leapt over a blind woman and knocked down a few librarians in order to introduce myself at RWA in Orlando last year. She was very gracious, didn’t call hotel security, and I’m hoping has forgotten the entire incident because I’ll probably repeat it in New York. (Although in fairness, that might be crossing over into creepy on my part. My friend the minister might not approve.) While she seems like a wonderful person, I love Madeline Hunter mostly…

Leanne Banks | Not Your Average Royals – Comment to win a book and a tiara headband!
Author Guest / May 24, 2011

I’m having so much fun writing about my fun and slightly dysfunctional royal family, the Devereaux.  It all began with ROYAL HOLIDAY BABY in November when good girl Princess Valentina had a wild night (just one!) with rancher Zach Logan and ended up pregnant.  Oh, the scandal!  Oh, the bumpy romance when Zach had to learn how to love again.  I’m pleased to tell you that this book was nominated as a Reviewer’s Choice Special Edition by Romantic Times BookClub, and is also a finalist for the Award of Excellence and Golden Quill. After that, it was like potato chips.  One Devereaux just wasn’t enough.  In THE PRINCE’S TEXAS BRIDE we have the crown prince Stefan who is accustomed to being obeyed by everyone (except his contrary siblings).  He hires Texan Eve Jackson as royal stable master and would never have expected to fall for such a woman.  For Eve’s part, she knows she’s not princess material.  She’s not the type to curtsey, that’s for sure!  So, anything that develops between them (and nothing should!) will have to be temporary.  Right? Coming June 21 is THE DOCTOR TAKES A PRINCESS.  Princess Bridget has one more mission before she takes a…

Fresh Pick | PARADISE VALLEY by Robyn Carr
Fresh Pick / May 23, 2011

Virgin River #7  April 2009 On Sale: April 1, 2009 Featuring: Dan Brady; Rick Scudder 416 pages ISBN: 0778326640 EAN: 9780778326649 Mass Market Paperback $6.99 Add to Wish List Romance, Women’s Fiction Contemporary Buy at Amazon.com A great sacrifice Paradise Valley by Robyn Carr A Favorite Son and a Stranger Find Paradise in Virgin River… Marine corporal Rick Sudder is home early from Iraq — his tour ended abruptly on the battlefield. The carefree boy is gone, replaced by a man who believes his future is as bleak as his mirror image. But can the passion and commitment of a young woman who has never given up on him mend his broken body and shattered heart? As the people of Virgin River rally around Rick, another recent arrival tests the tightly knit mountain town’s famous welcoming spirit. Dan Brady has a questionable past, and he’s looking for a place to start over. He’d like it to be Virgin River…if he can find a way in. But he never expects to find it in the arms of a woman who was as much an outcast as himself. For a favorite son returned from war and an outsider looking for a home,…