Fresh FIction Box Not To Miss
H.P. Mallory | Me, You, and A Ghost: An Unusual Love Story
Author Guest / October 29, 2014

ONCE HAUNTED, TWICE SHY is the second book in the Peyton Clark series and picks up where the first book, GHOULS RUSH IN, left off. In this series, new divorcee, Peyton, relocates to New Orleans after inheriting an antebellum mansion in the Garden District. It isn’t long before she realizes her house is haunted and the ghost in question, Drake Montague, is a Casanova and then some! When Peyton is put into a difficult situation regarding the safety of Drake’s soul, she makes the decision to allow Drake to possess her. In so doing, he is able to see and hear everything she does and he also bears witness to all of Peyton’s innermost thoughts. While it was incredibly fun to write about Peyton and Drake’s bizarre relationship, I can’t imagine wanting to share my head with anyone, living or dead! I had to put myself into Peyton’s shoes while I was writing about her interactions with Drake. In doing so, I had to imagine what it would be like not to ever have any privacy (luckily, Peyton can tune Drake out when she wants to). So, while I would never want to share my head with anyone, I do…

Suzy Duffy | The Mama Drama & Mother/Daughter Algorithms
Author Guest / October 29, 2014

It’s kinda nuts the way – one moment you’re a daughter (with a big tummy) and the next you’re the mother. Naturally you’re still a daughter but that takes a very big step back in your mind as you look at the tiny bundle of perfection they’ve gently placed in your arms. Now – all of a sudden, you’re not pregnant – you’re the mama! Congratulations and welcome to mayhem. Algorithm definition: Set of rules to be followed or other problem solving operation. Algorithm No. 1. Little People = Little problems. The early years aren’t so bad. Keep them (& yourself) warm, fed & well slept. Throw in lots of cuddles and the occasional tea-party and you have a happy daughter. Little girls are proud to tell the world that when they grow up they’re gonna be just like their momma and marry daddy. (Oh, those were the days.) Algorithm No. 2. Big people = Big problems. Sadly, if we’ve done our jobs right – as they grow, they’ll start to think independently. By mid-teens you might get a slightly disapproving glance from your baby girl when you reach for that second slice or cheesecake. She might stop laughing at…

Lindsay McKenna | Coming Home for Christmas
Author Guest / October 29, 2014

It was a delight and honor to be part of this very special Christmas book for several reasons. Harlequin chose women authors who were in the military to write these three military romance novellas you will read in this book. They include Lindsay McKenna (US Navy), Delores Fossen (US Air Force) and Geri Krotow (US Navy). I was in the US Navy as an AG3 (weather forecaster) and had created the military genre in 1983 with CAPTIVE OF FATE, Silhouette Special Edition. My other two sister writers, Delores Fossen, US Air Force, and Geri Krotow, US Navy, are also military vets, so the readers are getting the real deal. The novellas will have a uniqueness that no one else can produce because we were in the military and understand how it works from the inside out. We’re able to lend an insider’s knowledge to the novellas as a result. Secondly, with the drawdown and our heroic military men and women finally coming home from Afghanistan, it makes our stories all the more heart-rending and poignant. Delores, Geri and myself know what it’s like to be stationed somewhere else in the world when the holidays hit. And it’s a very lonely…

Kathleen Bittner Roth | The Return of the Epic American-set Historical Romance
Author Guest / October 29, 2014

We’ve all had this happen at one time or another—an urging or longing for a certain something or other that sneaks up on us and lingers until it settles in our bones. Before long, another person mentions the very thing we’ve been deliberating. Soon, we begin seeing or hearing about that certain something everywhere until a groundswell of popularity emerges. That’s what seems to be happening with American-set historical romances. Remember those lush, sweeping, sagas full of romance, drama, sexual tension, excitement, family struggles, and plenty of twists and turns that spans time and geographic locations? Stories that kept us turning pages well into the night? Having grown somewhat weary of reading restrictive English-set ballroom scenes filled with rigid rules, where one dance too many often meant scandal or even a marriage proposal, I purposely set my first novel in the English countryside, far away from London. Immediately, I found I had greater latitude to create a viscount with a large and quirky but close-knit family whose members thought nothing of doing exactly as each pleased—rules be damned. To stir up the mix, I gave them a heroine who’d also been raised in the countryside, but with no memory to…

Sophie Wintner | My Real-Life Meet-Cute
Author Guest / October 29, 2014

I had given up on love. I decided it would be easier to write about romance than endure the ups and downs of any more real-life love affairs. So after years of dead-end pick-ups, fix-ups and online dating, I’d reached a point in my life where I was content to be alone. I’d arrived at this decision while in the middle of writing LOVE THY NEIGHBOR for the new Lovestruck Imprint for Entangled. For those of you who might not be familiar with the Lovestruck line of books, the one thing they all have in common is the meet-cute. The meet-cute is the cornerstone of every romantic comedy ever made. It’s where the man and woman meet in a memorable and for lack of a better word, “cute” way. And while I was working away on my novel, determined not to become embroiled in any more ill-fated romances, I experienced my own meet-cute. Picture the scene: it’s the holiday season. Chicago is in the grips of another polar vortex. It’s my best friend, Sydney’s last night in town because her visa is about to expire and she’s forced to leave the States. We’re having a farewell drink at a neighborhood…

Sarah Morgan | Bringing the Sexy to Winter Sports
Author Guest / October 28, 2014

I’m so excited about the release of MAYBE THIS CHRISTMAS, the latest book in my O’Neil Brothers series (each story stands alone so don’t worry if you haven’t read the other two). The hero, Tyler O’Neil, is the bad boy of the three brothers. He’s a medal winning ski racer and was one of the best in the world until an accident brought an abrupt end to his career. He’s also a single dad and now he’s back in the mountains where he grew up, helping to run the family business, Snow Crystal Resort, while raising his teenage daughter. Tyler’s fearless, adventurous nature makes him one of the sexiest heroes I’ve written. As well as having nerves of steel, he’s supremely fit, confident and a natural athlete. All that powerful thigh muscle, developed from skiing near vertical slopes at speeds of up to 90 miles and hour, means his jeans regularly have to be reinforced along the seams. My heroine Brenna has been friends with him since childhood and is one of the few people who can keep up with him on the slopes. She’s been in love with him her whole life and is all too aware of Tyler’s…

Lauren Layne | MADE FOR YOU: Enemies to Lovers
Author Guest / October 28, 2014

In celebration of MADE FOR YOU‘s release day, Lauren Layne has shared her favorite enemies-to-lovers stories that helped inspire her latest contemporary romance! Top 5 Favorite Enemies-to-Lovers Stories 10 Things I Hate About You–Filmed in my hometown, so I know like 90% of the extras you see at that high school! Star Wars (Leia and Hans) You’ve Got Mail–I’ve watched his movie so many times it’s alarming Maria and Michael from Roswell–Never heard of it? GET ON IT! The Proposal–I’d find a way to fit this movie into every trope-category if I could About MADE FOR YOU Three years ago, Brynn Dalton made a rare error in judgment and had a one-night stand with the one man she swore would never get into her designer panties. Will Thatcher was exactly the type of sexy playboy that good girls like Brynn stayed away from. And when Will moved across the country just days after their fling, Brynn vowed to put him behind her, even as the memories haunt her. Now Will Thatcher is back, and just in time to see Brynn’s perfectly structured life begin to crumble. Her job is dull, her social life is tedious, and Brynn’s perfect cardiologist boyfriend…

Ella Quinn | A French Countdown to Christmas
Author Guest / October 28, 2014

Aside from his family, the one person Georges, Marquis Cruzy-le-Châtel has tried to keep safe during the Napoleonic Wars is Madeleine du Beaune, the woman he wishes to marry. Although, the war is over, shadowy forces are at work to bring Napoleon back to power. When George discovers Madeleine is in danger, he joins forces with the British Home Office to rescue her and bring down a spy ring. When George first appeared in my second book, THE SECRET LIFE OF MISS ANNA MARSH, he was a jaded man whose use for women was to gain information or aid. By the end of the novel he had rehabilitated himself, and the reader is briefly introduced to Madeleine. I knew then that their story would be a Christmas novella. Although, I didn’t know Madeleine at all at the beginning of the book, she turned out to be a wonderful surprise. Madeleine gazed out the window at the now bare vines. The signs of the first frost were fading as the sun rose higher. In another few weeks, the Christmas season would be upon them. The first one without her father. She would do her best to make it a happy Christmas…

Charlee Fam | Deleted Scenes
Author Guest / October 28, 2014

If you’ve read LAST TRAIN TO BABYLON, you already know that Aubrey Glass is the novel’s 22-year-old, slightly contentious narrator. In it’s finished form, the book is written entirely in first person POV. But fun fact: I originally intended to write Last Train in alternating POVs between Aubrey and her high school boyfriend, Adam Sullivan. I was about halfway through writing when I realized I had way more Aubrey than Adam chapters. So as I made a conscious effort to beef up the Adam scenes, they started to feel forced and extraneous — like I was rewriting the exact same scenes with different commentary for the sake of word count. I struggled with it for a while. I even put the whole writing process on hold while I tried to figure out how to finish the book. I considered everything short of cutting out the Adam chapters. I’d put a lot of heart into some of those scenes, and the thought of axing them felt sort of like betrayal. I eventually realized this was Aubrey’s story, not Adam’s. And in the end, I had to let go of his side of the story. But I saved his chapters, just in…

Talia Hunter | Her Hot Number: The Story Behind The Story
Author Guest / October 28, 2014

It was the holiday we’d been dreaming about for months. All through the gloomy depths of winter we’d been working long hours, and hubby and I were stressed out and longing for sunshine, cocktails, and relaxation. What could be better than a ten-day break in the Whitsunday group of islands, off the tropical coast of Queensland, Australia? When some people go on holiday, they’re determined to leave no statue, park, cathedral, or fountain unvisited. On some overseas trips with friends, I’ve been so exhausted by the schedule of sight-seeing that I’ve had to take several days off work afterwards to recover. But if I’m left to my own devices, I’ll gladly spend the entire time lying beside the nearest body of water with my pale skin turning ouch-red, and my nose in a novel. And that’s exactly what I’d planned for this trip. Before boarding the plane to Hamilton Island I’d gone crazy cramming my eReader full of every new release I’d been dying to read and I was looking forward to spend the entire ten days book-bingeing. When it came to the goal of complete and utter laziness, the resort was perfect. Our small, beach-front bure was a short…