Fresh FIction Box Not To Miss
Denise Swanson | Second Books/Second Series
Author Guest / March 22, 2013

It took me a long time to decide to write a second mystery series. I’d heard that although readers want their favorite authors to produce more books, they also tended to be very upset with the author if her new series was too different from her previous one. I’d also been told that some readers might feel that if an author writes more than one book a year, she was just being greedy and “cranking” them out. So I used these fears as an excuse I to stick to what I was comfortable doing—writing one Scumble River mystery every twelve months. But then a character named Devereaux Sinclair popped into my head and started telling me about her life. Dev, which she assured me was what most people call her, was a financial advisor for six years before buying her hometown dime store. Her boss viewed the glass ceiling as a protective barrier and her colleagues committed most of the seven deadly sins before their first coffee break. She lives in the fictional town of Shadow Bend, Missouri with her grandmother, Birdie. Her father is in jail for vehicular manslaughter and her mother is hiding from the shame in California….

Spotlight on Julianne MacLean
Author Spotlight / March 21, 2013

Pembroke Palace #6 Exclusive Pre-Order Discount at Kobo! Kobo It’s here at last!  From USA Today bestselling author Julianne MacLean: SEDUCED AT SUNSET, the Pembroke Palace series conclusion, is now available for pre-order exclusively at Kobo, and Kobo is offering the e-book for 50% off until March 30! And that’s not all – MARRIED BY MIDNIGHT, a novella in the Pembroke Palace series, is also available for FREE for a limited time. Pick up both titles and get started on the Pembroke Palace series today. SEDUCED AT SUNSET Sometimes the matchmaker finds a love of her own… Lady Charlotte Sinclair has long given up her dreams of happily ever after.  Years ago, a tragic accident claimed the life of her beloved fiancé, but somehow she found the strength to go on—as an independent woman with a secret double life that has earned her millions.  Lately, however, she has begun to yearn for something more… While setting out to play matchmaker for her mother, Lady Charlotte meets a rugged, handsome stranger who saves her from a thief in the street, but her heroic rescuer soon turns out to be more mysterious—and dangerously captivating—than any man she has ever known.  Swept away…

Elizabeth Chadwick | SHADOWS AND STRONGHOLDS: The setting.
Author Guest / March 21, 2013

Shadows and Strongholds is largely set in a part of England very close to the Welsh border, in a beautiful county called Shropshire.  Much of the story takes place at Ludlow Castle which was once a great medieval fortress and still consists of substantial ruins today in the town centre.   It was begun in the late 11th century by the de Lacy family and continued to be built upon and maintained until the 16th century. The de Lacy family rebelled against the king and Ludlow castle was taken away from the male line and given  instead to a lady of the de Lacy bloodline called Sybilla Talbot.  King Henry I married her to one of his own men, Payn FitzJohn.  She bore  Payn two daughter, Cecily and Agnes. Payn was killed by Welsh raiders in 1137, leaving Sybilla a widow still of child-bearing age and in possession of a major Welsh border fortress.   At this time, old King Henry had died and the throne had been taken by his nephew, Stephen.  However, Henry’s daughter, Matilda also felt she had a right to the crown and set out to try and topple  Stephen from his throne.  The disinherited male de Lacy…

Kirkus Reviews | SXSW: For Lovers of Film, Music and, Yes, Books!
Kirkus Reviews / March 20, 2013

You know when spring arrives thanks to two things: We lose an hour of sleep, which I’ll always hate, and South By Southwest occurs. But what does “South By” (or SXSW) have in common with books, or even more pertinent, with romance readers? Well, I’m here to provide my thoughts. Romance readers are a curious bunch: We’re different from mainstream readers since we’re predominately women, and we’re also very inquisitive. Romance represents the cutting edge of fiction with stories and tales that push the boundaries of what’s real. Yes, our fiction is considered by academics and others as escapist. But who cares? I love when I’m buried in a great romance. I don’t care if the book’s universe is off-planet or inhabited by shapeshifters or even filled with historical situations and characters that would never have existed according to some know-it-all. I’ve got my real-life feet planted firmly on the ground, but I LOVE my times when I lose myself in a book. Read the rest

Fresh Pick | ALONG CAME TROUBLE by Ruthie Knox
Fresh Pick / March 19, 2013

March 2013 On Sale: March 11, 2013 Featuring: Ellen Callahan; Caleb Clark 100 pages ISBN: 0345541618 EAN: 9780345541611 Kindle: B009CGE8II e-Book Add to Wish List Romance ContemporaryBuy at Amazon.com A fun contemporary Along Came Trouble by Ruthie Knox Ruthie Knox’s Camelot series continues in this sizzling eBook original novel, featuring two headstrong souls who bump heads—and bodies—as temptation and lust bring nothing but delicious trouble. An accomplished lawyer and driven single mother, Ellen Callahan isn’t looking for any help. She’s doing just fine on her own. So Ellen’s more than a little peeved when her brother, an international pop star, hires a security guard to protect her from a prying press that will stop at nothing to dig up dirt on him. But when the tanned and toned Caleb Clark shows up at her door, Ellen might just have to plead the fifth. Back home after a deployment in Iraq and looking for work as a civilian, Caleb signs on as Ellen’s bodyguard. After combat in the hot desert sun, this job should be a breeze. But guarding the willful beauty is harder than he imagined—and Caleb can’t resist the temptation to mix business with pleasure. With their desires growing…

Kamy Chetty | Meet a bad Boy
Author Guest / March 18, 2013

Hi there. Thanks for having me here. I hope you don’t mind that I brought a hunky cowboy along. He’s been feeling a little lonely since Sophie gave him the cold shoulder that he’s looking for ways to win her back. I told him he could come on this blog tour I was attending and hopefully you lovely people will have some ideas on how a drop-dead gorgeous cowboy gets the woman of his dreams to realize he’s not a playboy anymore and he really can be a father to the child she is taking care of. I am all out of ideas here because Damon has really been a bad boy and he has dated every single girl in Paradise Falls, not to mention the woman in that town look like they were hit by the honey stick so I’m not sure if Sophie shouldn’t give up and move on. So what do you think? Do you like bad boys? And do you think they can change and what should Damon do to win Sophie back? Are those handcuffs really going to cut it(you’re going to have to read the book to see what I’m talking about 🙂 I…

Sheila Connolly | Happy St. Patrick’s Day
Author Guest / March 17, 2013

Lá Fhéile Pádraig s ona daoibh go léir! Before you think I’m babbling, that means “Happy Saint Patrick’s Day” in Irish.  The first book in my new County Cork Mysteries, BURIED IN A BOG, came out last month and I’ve been astounded by the response.  It debuted at #14 on the New York Times Paperback Bestseller list, which was great, but more important, I can’t tell you how many people have written to say that they love the Ireland I describe and are ready to plan a trip there. BURIED IN A BOG is about Maura Donovan’s introduction to Ireland.  She was raised in Boston by her grandmother, and her Gran’s last wish was that Maura visit the country Gran had left decades earlier.  Maura grudgingly goes to the small town of Leap on the south coast of Ireland, with no expectations—she plans a short trip before returning to Boston to figure out what she’s going to do with her life.  Instead she finds a warm welcome from an extended family she never knew she had.  She’s both an outsider and an insider; all the local people seem to know everything about her, but she knows little about them. And…

Fresh Pick | ANY DUCHESS WILL DO by Tessa Dare
Fresh Pick / March 16, 2013

Spindle Cove June 2013 On Sale: May 28, 2013 Featuring: Griffin York; Pauline Simms 384 pages ISBN: 0062240129 EAN: 9780062240125 Kindle: B008CH21GO Mass Market Paperback / e-Book Add to Wish List Romance Historical Buy at Amazon.com Perfect to end our historical romance book Any Duchess Will Do by Tessa Dare Today Pauline is just a serving girl in Spindle Cove but tomorrow… she’ll be a Duchess?! What’s a duke to do, when the girl who’s perfectly wrong becomes the woman he can’t live without?   Griffin York, the Duke of Halford, has no desire to wed this season–or any season–but his diabolical mother abducts him to “Spinster Cove” and insists he select a bride from the ladies in residence. Griff decides to teach her a lesson that will end the marriage debate forever. He chooses the serving girl.   Overworked and struggling, Pauline Simms doesn’t dream about dukes. All she wants is to hang up her barmaid apron and open a bookshop. That dream becomes a possibility when an arrogant, sinfully attractive duke offers her a small fortune for a week’s employment. Her duties are simple: submit to his mother’s “duchess training”… and fail miserably.   But in London, Pauline…

Kari Lee Townsend | Humor and Romance in Mysteries…Yes or No?
Author Guest / March 16, 2013

I write mysteries and I write romance and I write romantic women’s fiction. Pretty much everything I write has some degree of humor in it. That’s what I love to read, and I can’t seem to write without including some element of those things in everything I do. There are those who think that mysteries and romance don’t go together and should remain separate. While there are others who love a bit of mystery within their romance and vice versa. I think you can do anything so long as you don’t lose focus of what genre you’re writing in at the time. When I write a mystery, solving the mystery has to be the main focus of the book. If the book spends equal time on developing the romance, then the lines become blurred as to which genre to classify the book in when it comes out. Same goes for writing romance. The romance has to be the main focus of the book, with the mystery taking second stage in the background. Readers want to know what they are getting when they buy a book, and the whole point as an author is to please our readers. I love fun…

Chefs, Cowboys, Sex Club sinners…Romance This Week
News / March 15, 2013

This week we’re offering up a healthy dose of romance in the form of hot-blooded cowboys, sensual chefs, and sex club sinners. Not necessarily in that order! ALL THE WAY   First up, Jennifer Probst‘s ALL THE WAY packs a one-two punch in the form of one fired-up, sexy, Italian chef and an unrealized love that got away: What is it about chefs… Food critic Miranda Storme gave up on ever seeing Gavin Luciano again. Nor did she actually want to, not after their steamy, intense affair ended before it could begin three years ago–when he bolted. Now he’s back and Miranda has the pleasure of offering the restaurateur a little well deserved payback…in the form of a scathing review of his restaurant. After all, what is it they say about revenge? Revenge is a dish best served…the first chance you get! Gavin has three months to turn his family’s struggling Italian restaurant around and make it a success. A bad review is his worst nightmare come true. But, Gavin knows this isn’t just about a failed meal, and knows what he must do. Realizing his mistakes, Gavin is determined to spend the next eight weeks proving himself to Miranda…