Fresh FIction Box Not To Miss
Fresh Pick | SUNSET BRIDGE by Emilie Richards
Fresh Pick / August 31, 2011

Happines Key  July 2011 On Sale: June 28, 2011 400 pages ISBN: 0778312380 EAN: 9780778312383 Paperback $14.95 Add to Wish List Women’s Fiction Contemporary Buy at Amazon.com Great contemporary about friends you should have Sunset Bridge by Emilie Richards Former socialite Tracy Deloche has nothing to her name but five ramshackle beach cottages and the unlikely friendships she’s formed with her tenants. Wanda, wise waitress turned popular pie-shop owner. Janya, the young Indian wife whose arranged marriage surprises her every day. Alice, a widow raising her complex tween-age granddaughter. And Maggie, Wanda’s daughter, a former Miami cop with a love life as complicated as Tracy’s own. The new man in Tracy’s life hasn’t mentioned love or commitment— and Tracy has just discovered she’s pregnant. Janya longs to be a mother—and suddenly has two young siblings in her care. Maggie helps out at Wanda’s Wonderful Pies…but is the kitchen big enough for both Gray women? And Alice may lose her beloved granddaughter to someone no one expected…. As a tropical storm brews, the wind carries surprises and secrets over the bridge to Happiness Key. Now, more than ever, five friends will discover just how much they need one another. A beautiful,…

Amanda Arista | What Would You Do?
Author Guest / August 31, 2011

From junior high all through high school, my best friend and I used to go to the local movie rental place and rent the worst horror movies that we could find. Being that it was a very small town in Texas, the clerk didn’t seem to mind that we were under 18, just that we had the cash. We’d go into her room and watch four slicing-dicing, demon-resurrecting horror movies in a row, stay up until dawn, and get all hopped up on sugar. Then I would go home, strung out on candy and the Candy Man. The beginning concept of DIARIES OF AN URBAN PANTHER was what would I do if trapped in a dark alley with a shadowy beast, taking into account that I have seen this scenario over and over and over in the movies that I marinated myself with as a teenager. Would it change the way that I reacted to the situation? Would I scream or would I look for the nearest weapon? Would knowing whatnot to do help me? I don’t know how many times I’ve yelled at the main characters “Do not go up the stairs!” Would knowing never to say “I’ll be…

Fresh Pick | WORKING STIFF by Rachel Caine
Fresh Pick / August 30, 2011

Revivalist #1  August 2011 On Sale: August 2, 2011 Featuring: Bryn Davis 320 pages ISBN: 0451464133 EAN: 9780451464132 Paperback $7.99 Add to Wish List Mystery Paranormal, Paranormal, Paranormal MysteryBuy at Amazon.com Don’t miss the first in what promises to be the “must read” series! Working Stiff by Rachel Caine It’s a tough job, but somebody’s got to do it…dead or alive. Bryn Davis is new on the job as a funeral director, but even she knows that once you’re dead, you ought to stay that way. But Fairview Mortuary has a hidden backroom business: reviving the dead for profit, at extortionate rates. Finding out may cost Bryn more than her life … it may just take away her death, too. Bryn Davis just got the job she would die for Excerpt Bryn’s first embalming instructor had told her, straight up, that two kinds of people entered the death business: freaks and true believers. Bryn Davis didn’t think she was either one of those. For her, it was a prime career opportunity—a genuine profession. Oh, she’d picked up odd paychecks during college as an office temp, dog walker, and one memorable afternoon at a chicken factory, but none of those had…

Donna MacMeans | A Rogue By Any Other Name
Author Guest / August 30, 2011

“Have you considered the absurdity of it all, Rafe?  That you, a son of Ireland, are traveling to America to impersonate a British minister in order to catch a fellow Irishman?”   Rafferty chuckled softly to himself.  Phineas’s summation was all the more preposterous given this particular would-be British minister was filthy with coal dust and stinking with the sweat of hard labor. I think maybe those two lines sum up the basis of REDEEMING THE ROGUE more than any other.  My hero, Michael Rafferty, is more accustomed to the back alleys of London’s underbelly than the fancy posh receptions of diplomats, yet that’s exactly what he’s been assigned to do – impersonate a diplomat to catch a killer.  The man’s going to need a little help here – and he gets it in the form of Lady Arianne Chambers, the sister to a duke who is well acquainted with the falderal of the aristocracy. Shame that the two met earlier and on the basis of mistaken first impressions hoped never to see the other again.  Have you ever noticed how destiny has a way of playing tricks on us, though?  The reluctant reunion of Rafferty and Arianne has them…

Fresh Pick | SWEET POSSESSION by Maya Banks
Fresh Pick / August 29, 2011

Sweet #5 April 2011 On Sale: April 5, 2011 Featuring: Lyric Jones; Connor Malone 368 pages ISBN: 0425239071 EAN: 9780425239070 Trade Size $15.00  Add to Wish List Romance Erotica Sensual, EroticaBuy at Amazon.com Did you miss this scorcher? You’ve still got a few days left of summer to read it! Sweet Possession by Maya Banks He can’t keep her safe from his own desire… She’s a singer who lives for the spotlight—and can’t resist her adoring fans… Outrageous and out-of-control, Lyric Jones is a spoiled pop star who lives hard and fast, always outrunning her past and the nightmares that haunt her. She’s used to getting what she wants—groupies included—because she can’t stand to be alone. So in bed, it’s the more the merrier, even if it means closing off the deepest part of herself… He’s a hands-on bodyguard—and a one-woman man. There is nothing Connor Malone wants to do less than babysit the celebratty songstress while she’s on vacation. But part of him relishes taming Lyric and showing her what it’s like to be possessed—body and soul—by one man. And though Lyric’s crazy antics nearly drive Connor to the edge, his quiet intensity penetrates her defenses, leaving them both…

Laura Caldwell | The Author’s Most Feared Email
Author Guest / August 29, 2011

For me, it’s one of the tougher parts of the publishing game—the time, usually a month or two before the publishing date—when I receive a forwarded email from my editor, with a vague subject line, usually something like, FW: Kirkus Review. Or maybe it’s not Kirkus. Maybe it’s Publisher’s Weekly or Library Journal, but it’s the first review of the book. I can feel my finger itching toward the mouse, excited. But some cautionary voice says, Get ready. Just in case. The range of emotions upon receiving and finally opening this bland appearing email can range from abject sobbing to happy-dancing around the computer. Some are zen about it. “Reviews are the one thing I have no control over,” says thriller author, Jamie Freveletti, whose been tapped to continue Robert Ludlum’s Covert One series. “Since they usually start to flow in about a month before launch there is truly nothing an author can do.” Some authors say they’ve gotten used to it. “I’m always resigned when I get those e-mails,” says Stacey Ballis, author of GOOD ENOUGH TO EAT and THE SPINSTER SISTERS. “I try to remember that once the book is published, it doesn’t belong to me anymore. All…

Rosalie Lario | What’s To Love About Demons?
Author Guest / August 28, 2011

Hi everyone. Today I’m here to talk about my brand-spanking new release, BLOOD OF THE DEMON. This is the first book in my DEMONS OF INFERNUM series, featuring four half-demon brothers. What’s so great about demons, you ask? Well, let me tell you! They aren’t evil creatures from hell. The demons in my world are a race of beings from a different dimension. Though many of them have humanlike characteristics, they are stronger and heal faster than humans. Travel to other worlds is made possible through the use of an interdimensional portal. They’re sexy. Not just in the way they look (six-plus feet of solid muscle, olive-toned skin, dark hair), but in the way they act. They’re used to making life-and-death decisions with little time to go on, so they’ve got a bit of the Alpha in them, but they aren’t above listening to reason, and they give respect where it’s due. They’re loyal. The brothers in my series will kill to protect each other, and anyone else they love. And really, who doesn’t want that? They play by their own rules. Even though they work as interdimensional bounty hunters, and must therefore answer to the council governing travel between…

Pam Jenoff | Writing The War: What Keeps Me — and My Readers — Coming Back to This Troubled Era?
Author Guest / August 26, 2011

“So how is this different from all of those other Holocaust novels?” a literary agent who was considering representing my first novel asked in an e-mail years ago.  I wasn’t offended by the question – I knew what he meant and so I replied with a detailed and passionate answer about one young woman’s story of survival against the odds and the true historical events that had inspired the book.  He liked my answer and took on representation THE KOMMANDANT’S GIRL. Years later, as I’ve been promoting my latest novel, THE THINGS WE CHERISHED, which is also set during the Second World War, I’ve had the chance to reflect upon a similar question: what keeps bringing me – and my readers – back to this troubled time period? I was always captivated by stories set during World War II, even as a child. And my love for the topic was solidified during my years living in Poland and working on Holocaust issues for the State Department and becoming close to many survivors. But I know I’m not alone in my passion as either a writer or reader – the bestseller lists of recent years have been flush with wonderful stories…

Fresh Pick | EYES WIDE OPEN by Andrew Gross
Fresh Pick / August 25, 2011

July 2011 On Sale: July 12, 2011 Featuring: Charlie Erlich; Jay Erlich 352 pages ISBN: 0061655961 EAN: 9780061655968 Hardcover $25.99  Add to Wish List Thriller, Suspense Buy at Amazon.com Family secrets can kill Eyes Wide Open by Andrew Gross A family’s long-buried past resurfaces with deadly consequences in this electrifying new thriller Years ago, Jay Erlich’s older brother Charlie, a wayward child of the sixties, set out for California, where he fell under the sway of a charismatic, but deeply disturbed, cult-like figure. Tragedy ensued and lives were destroyed, but as the decades passed, Charlie married and raised a family, and lived a quiet, secluded life under the radar. Yet the demons that nearly destroyed him never really disappeared. No one knows this better than Jay, whose life could not have been more different than his brother’s. He has a successful medical practice and a wife and kids whom he deeply loves. But when disaster strikes Charlie, Jay is pulled back into his brother’s past–into a labyrinth of secrets, terror, and lies, where a family was brought to the edge. With eyes wide open, Jay is determined to uncover the truth, a dangerous quest that leads beyond the brink of…

Maree Anderson | The Cat, the Rat, and the Cat-burglar
Author Guest / August 25, 2011

My daughter and I are manga fans, and the series Fruits Basket by Natsuki Takaya is one of our favorites. The premise behind the series is that members of the Sohma family have been possessed by the Chinese Zodiac animals. One of the characters, Kyo, is possessed by the Cat, and he’s something of an outcast because as everyone knows, the cat is not a zodiac animal. In fact, one zodiac legend claims that Cat and Rat were friends until Rat tricked Cat out of his chance to be a zodiac animal. To this day, they are sworn enemies, so it’s little wonder that Kyo clashes with Yuki (the Rat), and is always trying to fight him for his position on the Zodiac. The characters of Kyo (Cat) and Yuki (Rat) sparked an idea for a hero and heroine. And then I got to thinking about cat-burglars. When my kids were small, their favorite story was Lynley Dodd’s Slinky Malinki, about a feline cat-burglar that stole anything from socks to clothes pegs: “What was he up to? At night to be brief; Slinky Malinki turned into a thief!” Hmmm. Cat vs Rat, and a cat-burglar of the feline persuasion? Voila!…