Fresh FIction Box Not To Miss
Melissa Schroeder | The Perfect Setting
Author Guest / May 9, 2017

Hey, there! My name is Melissa Schroeder! My new release is all set in the DC, Maryland, and Virginia area, or the DMV as we call it. My husband retired from the Air Force a little over three years ago. Thanks to publishing work, we could pick where we wanted to live. Truthfully, I decreed that I got to pick where we lived after following him around for 20 years. So, I picked Virginia, one of my very favorite places to be. Wineries, horses, proximity to free museums (have I mentioned that I a major history nerd), and a fall season that is one of the most beautiful things I have ever witnessed? Yep. Definitely for me. I write a lot of books set in Hawaii, but I wanted to do one series here. When the plot for THE BOSS came to mind, I knew it needed to be set here. As someone who lives in a neighborhood populated with FBI, Secret Service, CIA, and State Department folks, it is easy to picture my snarky spies stomping around my area. Here is a little excerpt from my book, THE BOSS, the first book of my series Spies, Lies, and AlibisSpies,…

Grace Goodwin | Excerpt from MATED TO THE CYBORGS
Author Guest / May 9, 2017

Captain Tyran Zakar, The Colony, Base 3 My mate. Holy hell. My mate. Not Hunt’s, as I’d first thought. Yes, I’d been disappointed, hope dying a slow death by starvation when weeks, then months passed and not one new mate arrived on the Colony. We’d gone to the testing center, went through the process, but neither of us came out with a match. That was three months ago. Until now, we’d heard nothing further about it. I knew Hunt had held onto his hope these long weeks. I’d given that up long ago. All I remembered of the event was an amazing yet vague sex dream and that I’d left with a cock so hard I worried it was going to puncture through my armor. Fortunately, I’d been able to return to my quarters and take myself in hand, ease the discomfort I knew would only truly be lessened by sinking into my mate. And now, I was going to have one. I wouldn’t be a second, but the matched mate, the Primary Male. I tried to suppress my grin, but it was almost impossible. I felt…gods, I felt good. Elated. Thrilled. Something pretty damn close to happy. There was…

Faking It So Real: The Girlfriend Experience and Sham Relationships
Author Guest / May 9, 2017

The pretend relationship or fake marriage is one of my favourite romance tropes. If done well, it can be dramatically tense, underlain with emotion, and deeply satisfying when the end reveals sincerity to the pretense. The pretend relationship is usually for show. Like the marriage of convenience, it’s meant to serve an aim—securing an inheritance, satisfying family expectations, or spurring (or repulsing) a romantic rival. Sometimes both the heroine and hero gain from the charade, sometimes only one of them is actually motivated towards the ostensible goal and the other is reluctantly brought along. Usually one of them is emotionally attached from the start and the other realizes it as the sham relationship plays out. The characters often bond over the joint venture, on the principle that they are two against the world and usually the only two who are aware of the deception. Of course, there are lots of variations on this theme. I have to admit that I have mixed feelings about those fake relationships where the sham is itself a sham and one of the characters made it up to embark on that joint venture with the other, with the sole aim of showing them that they…

Exclusive Excerpt: STAYING FOR GOOD by Catherine Bybee
Author Guest / May 9, 2017

At Marly’s, Jo hit pay dirt. Loud and smoky despite the laws suggesting people not smoke indoors, and littered with hard bodies and hard liquor, Jo felt at home. A few heads swiveled her way as she moved toward the bar. That’s when she saw him. He had his back to her, a tight T-shirt stretched across a thick layer of muscles built by hours at the gym, and maybe a few steroids. She really hoped steroids were not this guy’s thing. Ink peeked out on both his arms just above the sleeve line. A shadow of growth gave evidence that his baldness was by choice. He had a nice ass. Now if only his face matched. She waited until her gaze inched up his spine like an insect in the forest on a hot summer night. He turned, and her heart stopped. Good Lord, God broke the mold with this one. His goatee was trimmed, immaculately so. His lips were full, his jaw tight . . . and his eyes. Dark, almost haunting. Dangerous. He did a once-over, and when his eyes met hers, he lifted one side of his lips in a half smile. One that asked ….