Fresh FIction Box Not To Miss
Amanda Weaver | Costume Design and Romance
Author Guest / February 2, 2016

One of the first historical romance novels I ever read was LOVESONG by Valerie Sherwood, when I was about fifteen. There’s an early scene featuring the heroine sneaking out of her London boarding school to meet up with her elusive beau at an 18th century gaming hell (spoiler alert: he’s not the hero and this doesn’t end well for her). Her friends help her dress in disguise as a young man, so she can prowl the streets of London at night alone. One provides a pale green satin men’s suit with silver metallic embroidery, made for her brother. She wears her own clocked stockings and garters. Another friend styles the heroine’s platinum blonde hair into something resembling a powdered wig. It’s been thirty years and I can still remember that dress up scene and still recall small details of her outfit. I couldn’t recall the heroine’s name, or the shady beau’s, or the eventual hero’s. But that green satin suit? It stayed with me forever! That was probably my first indication that my future lay in costume design. I ended up getting a master’s degree in costume design, and I’ve spent twenty years in New York working in the industry….

Sharon Kimbra Walsh | Why I Had To Write ‘A FALLEN HERO’ A Sequel To ‘FOR THE LOVE OF A MARINE’
Author Guest / February 2, 2016

I confess I have no answer to that. My debut novel was birthed from blood, pain, tears and tantrums. Don’t get me wrong. It’s all worth it. When you’ve done as much research as your weary brain can take; you’ve had the mother of ideas at 2 am in the morning (on more than one occasion) and you HAVE to get it down on your laptop; you’ve coped with the hiccups and glitches of your pc and you’ve recovered from all the trauma of thinking that your manuscript has disappeared into the ether; you’ve edited, edited and edited it for what you pray is the final time and there’s an “oops, I need to check that”, or, “have I done this, that or the other?”, it’s finished! A huge sigh of relief, throw your hands in the air and do a little cha-cha around the living room before falling exhausted into bed. So, after all that, why, oh why, did I choose to right a sequel? I will truthfully say, with some embarrassment, that I had totally and utterly fallen in love with my characters, Joe and Katie. I missed them, their love for each other and their struggles and…

Grace Burrowes | Top Five Things About Having a Dog
Author Guest / February 2, 2016

As I grew up, my family had any number of cats. I also had a horse, as did one of my brothers. The occasional hamster came along, a few parakeets, even a couple of goats, but no dogs. Was that a deprived upbringing or what? When my daughter reached latchkey age, I saw an opportunity to remedy my doggy-deficit at last, for what kid can feel lonely at home with a dog on the premises? I left the choice of breed up to her, and she chose…a mastiff. OK… So we answered an ad, and picked up a cute little guy who looked sorta like… well, as the weeks went by, that puppy looked less and less like a mastiff, and more like a bull mastiff. Hmm. “Mom, you SAID I could have a mastiff.” A stout backyard fence was already in our future, and dogs are pack animals, right? If one is lovely, then two would be twice as delightful. This time, we bought from a reputable breeder nearby, and by gum, we got a mastiff… a fuzzy mastiff, that is. Both dogs outlived their breed life expectancies by many years, and they were purely wonderful additions to the…

Avery Aames | Meeting Charlotte
News / February 2, 2016

What? You don’t know about the Cheese Shop Mysteries? How is that possible? The first won the Agatha Award for best first novel, plus it’s a nationally bestselling cozy mystery series, and the 7th in the series is coming out February 2016. Let my protagonist Charlotte Bessette tell you a bit about the series. Welcome to my town! Providence, Ohio, located in Holmes County, is one of Amanda Weaver the most gorgeous places on earth, with rolling hills and miles of open land. Due to our proximity to Amish country, tourism is a major part of our economy. The main town, built in a series of concentric squares, surrounds a darling area called the Village Green. An age-old clock tower stands in the middle. Shops line the main streets—shops with adorable names like Sew Inspired Quilt Shoppe, The Country Kitchen, La Chic Boutique, and more. As for me, I am in my thirties. I grew up at Fromagerie Bessette, or as the locals in Providence like to call it, The Cheese Shop. My grandfather owned it and taught me all things cheese. Now in his seventies, he decided to give the shop to my cousin and me. The two of…

Kennedy Ryan | In Her Shoes
Author Guest / February 2, 2016

Once you go bitch, it’s hard to go back. I knew that going into UNTIL I’M YOURS, the fourth installment of my Bennett series. Originally, the series was slated as two books, a love triangle story ending with one “angle” out in the cold. When my editor asked if I’d considered writing the odd man out’s story, I knew it would be difficult. Readers really rooted for “the guy who got the girl” and had come to hate Cam, “the other guy.” I mean, he was a bit of a jerk. Could I redeem him? As I started delving into his backstory and unpacking the history of abuse, hurt and neglect that shaped him into the guy readers thought they hated, I honestly believed that some time in his shoes would change their minds. And it did! Overwhelmingly, readers’ reviews, emails and messages reflected that they fell hard for him. Their hearts bled for him. They SWOONED for him. The hash tag #CamConverts was everywhere. Whew. Close call. My editor then asked if I’d considered writing Sofie’s story. Now let me back up and tell you a thing or two about Sofie Baston. In earlier books, she does everything in…

Looking Back at 42 In Death Novels
Readers / February 2, 2016

“A new J.D. Robb book is out.” It’s the words that all we J.D. Robb fans want to hear and excitedly wait for twice a year. I can still remember the first time I read a J.D. Robb book. A friend and bookstore owner placed a copy of the first In Death book in my hands and insisted I had to read it. I protested initially as I already had so many other series I was reading. Little did I realize at that time that J.D. Robb was actually Nora Roberts, an author I already loved and one of the first romance authors I’d had the pleasure of reading. My friend gave me the ultimate bookstore guarantee: read it and return it if I didn’t like it. Today that copy of NAKED IN DEATH, along with 41 other J.D. Robb books, happily sits on my shelves. About NAKED IN DEATH Originally Published June 1995 Buy NAKED IN DEATH: Amazon.com | Kindle| BN.com| iTunes/iBooks | Kobo | Google Play | Powell’s Books | Books-A-Million | Indiebound | Amazon CA | Amazon UK | Amazon DE | Amazon FR The relationship between Roarke and Eve is the cornerstone of the In Death…