BLACK ROSE is a romance/thriller/crime novel. This is a very hard genre to write in, what do you like about this genre? Are there other genres you like to write in? Suspense/thriller is hard, but I think any author would say their genre is difficult. LOL! For me, what I loved the most, was that this genre allows the author to really get into the reader’s head. It forces the reader to think on a different level and use their imagination in a way they normally don’t. For example, in scenes where Lillian hears what the others are going through, but obviously she doesn’t fully know what’s happening to them, you find yourself thinking the worse. In all honesty, you’re probably imagining something 100 times worse than what I was. And as “messed up” as that might be, that’s what I wanted. I wanted you to become as attached to these people as much as possible, and to do that I need that connection between the characters and the reader. As for genres I’d like to try, I would say paranormal. Either as a young adult novel or adult. I think a part of that is just wanting to write…

My parents split up when I was in middle school. I suppose I might have handled it better but even now, looking back, I can’t say why they weren’t able to figure out a way back to each other despite their problems. They still love each other but they decided to part ways. So I suppose that divorce forged in many ways my ideas about a long term relationship. Honestly, I find myself somewhat surprised to be in one. I’ve been with my husband since I was twenty – almost 18 years now since we first met. We’ve been through 5 combat deployments between the two of us and we’re pretty lucky that we still love each other enough to keep the family together, spend time with each other and still be there when things aren’t going so hot. I don’t actually have any sage advise for maintaining a long term relationship but I can tell you what I’ve done through the war and the years to try and keep things going. Your mileage may vary and all that but I figure it’s been working so far, why not pass along what nuggests of whatever this might be called. They…

I have fond memories of playing in fabric stores when I was young. My mom is an excellent seamstress, and often took my sister and me on trips to Levine’s, our local fabric store, to pick out patterns for new dresses, curtains, pillows, or pajamas. She’d drop me by the tables of pattern books where I’d spend hours flipping through the pages, admiring the fashionable sketches and dreaming of the possibilities. As I got older, I would wander the aisles and pick out interesting prints for clothes that I made myself. Fabric stores are like bookstores to me. I can’t walk into one and not come out with a package. There are no better places to fritter away time! So when the idea of a cozy mystery series set in a fabric shop came to mind, I knew it was the perfect way to combine two passions. I imagined an old fabric store like the one I used to play in, one that had been around since the fifties. What treasures might be hidden inside: dusty vintage fabrics in a stockroom, new old stock of buttons, pattern books from decades past, forgotten packages of bias tape, or thick bolts of…

My mother used to say that when I was two or three I would come to her and ask for “choc.” Choc was what I called chocolate milk. Mother was a great reader, particularly of mysteries. So on one particular occasion, she replied, “Let me finish my chapter.” I sighed deeply, she recalled, and said, “Whenever I ask for choc, you say, ‘Let me finish my chapter.’” So mysteries and chocolate apparently were linked in my mind from my earliest days. Just as I love mystery novels, I also love chocolate. I like milk chocolate, dark chocolate, and white chocolate. I like it in solid bars, in truffles, in bonbons. In brownies, in mole sauce, in exclusive chocolate shops, and in bags on the Halloween display at the grocery store. I like Hershey’s, Nestle, and Ghirardelli. I adore Cadbury’s Caramellos. I like anything but jelly centers. Or chewy caramels, even chocolate covered. And chocolate cake mixes. I do draw the line somewhere. It’s no wonder that when my editor asked for a series of cozy books, I came up with chocolate as a theme. So in my new book, THE CHOCOLATE CLOWN CORPSE, my heroine/detective, Lee Woodyard, finds herself handing…

Every author’s writing process is different, and every story is different even for a particular author, at least that’s true with me. My latest release, TUNDRA THREAT, started with a full-of-personality character and a setting I love. When McKenna Clark, my law-enforcement-heroine, first took shape in my mind, the first thing I did was try to think about what kind of guy it would take to make sparks fly. And not just romantic sparks. Conflict sparks. Because who likes a happily-ever-after that comes too easily? In the book, McKenna is a stubborn, red-headed wildlife trooper, so I paired her with an equally stubborn (because that’s always fun, right?) hunting guide. That’s right. She protects animals. He takes people out to hunt them. And that’s just the beginning of the obstacles in their way. If there’s anything that’s true of both McKenna and Will, it’s that they’re risk takers. Even when a tragedy in Will’s past makes him life more cautiously for a few years, he comes back to this way of living life fully with no regrets when he’s reunited with McKenna. As far as the setting fitting the characters, there was no better place to set their love story…

It all started with a side room in a little shop in Mahone Bay, NS. We had a family day out and were browsing around and there they were…racks of vintage clothes. We saw shoes, coats, dresses… and while my husband wasn’t particularly keen on the clothing, my daughters and I were in heaven. We ooohed and aaaahed over several items, and in particular, a beautiful wedding dress. It was way too small for any of us, and my daughters were wayyy too young to think about wedding dresses (and still are!) but I took a picture of it anyway, that doesn’t do it justice. The ivory satin and the lace were just stunning. I knew then that someday it would make its way into a book. But I didn’t know when, or how. But I finally found the right moment. It’s Abby’s wedding dress in TREASURE ON LILAC LANE (Oct 28).  And it started my fascination with searching for vintage clothing for my characters to wear for her big day, including the heroine, Jess, who is Abby’s Maid of Honor. After all, in THE HOUSE ON BLACKBERRY HILL, Abby inherits her great-aunt’s house and with it a treasure trove…

I’m so excited to be here at Fresh Fiction today celebrating the release of my sexy paranormal romance, PROTECTING HIS WITCH, the first in my new Keepers of the Veil series. If you like contemporary paranormal romances, witches, curses and alpha heroes, then PROTECTING HIS WITCH is the book for you! This isn’t your typical witch book. There’s no coven. Don’t get disappointed. Our heroine has witchy powers. Kat just doesn’t know she’s one of the chosen seven Pleiades witches. Sure she’s got the ability to pick up people’s thoughts and she can even hop to a different dimension, although she doesn’t exactly have control of the hopping.  But she doesn’t know why witch hunters keep trying to abduct her. The person she must trust to protect her is the gorgeous one-night-stand she accidentally cursed when he kicked her out of his dorm room years ago. Naked. Avoiding a repeat of that night is her priority. Matt recognizes what Kat is and feels obligated to help her, but only after she reverses that curse: May you never find satisfaction with another woman. But bonding to a Pleiad and getting involved with the druidic ways he turned his back on long…

10. Who doesn’t like a Cinderella story where impoverished girl gets the prince, er, Mr. Darcy? 9. Is there not vast appeal in the notion of a perfectly idle class of people? 8. Idioms, dress, and society may have changed, but human nature is still the same. 7. Mr. Collins is as deliciously irksome today as he was 200 years ago. 6. Ditto, Lady Catherine de Bourgh. 5. It is a truth universally acknowledged that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife. Yep, still true. 4. Austen’s concept of a story where nothing really happens spawned the most successful TV show ever. 3. Good still trumps bad. 2. There were just as many stupid people 200 years ago as there are today. 1. And. . . who doesn’t love a man in a cravat? About Cheryl Bolen Cheryl Bolen is the New York Times Bestselling Author of more than a dozen Regency- set historical romances published by Harlequin Historical and Zebra Historical. Her first book, A DUKE DECEIVED, won her the title of Notable New Author and was a runner up for the Holt Medallion for Best First Book. Her ONE…

In 2013, I spent over twenty five thousand dollars on giveaways and prizes for readers, which didn’t include the shipping costs. Combined, it was well over thirty thousand dollars I spent giving back to those who supported me. When I compiled all my expenditures for my CPA for taxes in early 2014, I began to consider how much good that amount of money could do if channeled in a different direction. Giveaways are great. I do them as a means of giving back to the reader community, but was there another way I could give back? I’m a strategic thinker by design, and I’m constantly evaluating my marketing, business and promotion strategies. I’m also a long-term planner, and I asked myself: what if I could make more of a difference by donating even half the amount spent on giveaways in 2013 to charity instead? Helping others is important to me. One of my goals in life has always been to give back to those who help me, to repay favors at least twofold and to always support my friends and family in every way I can. The more this idea rattled around in my skull, the better it seemed. I…

I am a talker. I know that shocks you. 🙂 But in my latest steamy romance, HOLLYWOOD ON TAP, the hero, Sean is the strong and silent type. It’s so much easier to keep his secret that way. But when the nosey efficiency expert Natalie Sweet shows up at the Sweet Salvation Brewery, well it’s just about all over for him. Who knew that one of the things he was hiding was a penchant for the hot librarian type? To show you what I mean, I brought along an excerpt from HOLLYWOOD ON TAP. *** All Sean wanted to do was get lost in Natalie. He’d carry her upstairs to his king–size bed, lay her down in the middle of his sheets, and lick every inch of her until she broke apart in his arms and cried out for mercy. Then he’d make her do it again. He sucked the juicy fullness of her bottom lip into his mouth, lightly raking his teeth across the tender flesh. The woman he’d too often thought of as a thorn in his side shivered in his arms. The need to touch her everywhere steamrolled over any objections. He brought his hands around front…