Fresh FIction Box Not To Miss
Kelley York | What Type of Romantic Are You?
Author Guest / December 4, 2011

If the amount of romance in your books tells something about how romantic you are, then I think I’m in trouble. It isn’t that I don’t like romance, because I do! I love it in books. In fact, I often feel something is lacking if there isn’t a little bit of lovey dovey stuff. There characters don’t even have to get together (or stay together), but I love that kind of strong emotional connection. I can think of several books where the romantic aspects either made or broke the story for me. My plots are never romance-propelled. I always write stories about something else with a bit of romance weaved in. HUSHED isn’t a romance. It’s a thriller that happens to have a weird twist of love in it. Sometimes, this makes me sad, because I know so many readers love the romance in books and I don’t feel like I can deliver these epic love stories. All I can do is write what I write and hope people enjoy it, romantic or no. I like slow-burn romance. (Evan and Archer are very much that way.) The instant love-at-first-sight stuff very, very rarely works for me. I like tension building,…

Fresh Pick | CHRISTMAS ON NUTCRACKER COURT by Judy Duarte
Fresh Pick / December 4, 2011

October 2011 On Sale: September 27, 2011 Featuring: Carly Westbrook; Max Tolliver; Grant Barrows 336 pages ISBN: 0758238959 EAN: 9780758238955 Kindle: B005CRY98K Trade Size $15.00  Add to Wish List Contemporary, Inspirational Fiction, Holiday Buy at Amazon.com A little inspiration for the holidays… Christmas On Nutcracker Court by Judy Duarte Celebrate the holidays in a small town with a big heart… This Christmas, come home to Fairbrook, the setting for Judy Duarte’s uplifting, heartwarming novels, where friendship, faith, and some extra-special providence will make it a holiday to remember. Fairbrook is a town tailor-made for Christmas, with beautiful old houses dotting quaintly named streets like Sugar Plum Lane and Nutcracker Court. But not everyone is eager for the holidays to arrive. Cash-strapped single mom Carly Westbrook worries about providing a merry Christmas for her boys. It doesn’t help that they’ve been having run-ins with neighbor Max Tolliver, an aspiring novelist stricken with writer’s block. Then there’s Grant Barrows, a formerly wealthy businessman whose heart seems to have shrunk along with his bank balance. Some folks are still determined to make the season sparkle–like the Diamond Lils, a ladies’ group that meets weekly to play poker and socialize. This year, they’re looking…

Jaime Rush | My First Shifter
Author Guest / December 4, 2011

Petra is vexed by Cheveyo, the mysterious shapeshifter who captured her heart but walked out of her life. He’s been watching over her from the shadows, but a supernatural evil threatens Petra and her people, forcing him to step in and protect his beloved. Now she must become a warrior to face down enemies with fur and claw … and dare to love a man whose darkness could destroy them both. MY FIRST SHIFTER I know, it sounds like a YA novel about first … love, I guess. See, the funny thing is, I never planned to write about shifters. I read a couple of series about werewolves and werelions, but creatures aren’t my thing. I like to write about psychic stuff, people who have these crazy abilities to, say, set fires with their minds or remove view. I like to write about things somewhat based on reality. So this guy pops into the beginning of book 2 in my Offspring series, OUT OF THE DARKNESS, and freakin’ turns into a panther. Really, I was like … whaaa? I had no idea who he was, why he was saving the heroine, and I already had her hero figured out. If…