“Are you really interested, or is it a show to get back at the ex-girlfriend?” Tucker asked his brother. “Her name is Irene. And yes, I’m interested.” “You’re sure?” “Did you see her? She’s magnificent.” Tucker agreed. She was magnificent. Her violet-hued eyes had sparkled when she met his gaze, stirring something in him that he hadn’t felt in a long while. He’d almost reached forward to run his fingers through her silky dark hair. “Can’t you feel it?” Tucker asked, but his brother turned away without answering. Sometimes he wondered if he could feel Jace more than his twin could feel him. Even if they were a thousand miles apart, Tucker felt his twin’s turmoil. This is only one example of the connection between the twin brothers, who also happen to be hotter-than-all-get-out cowboys, in KISS ME COWBOY. So, is there really such a thing as a psychological connection between identical twins? According to studies, as many as one in five identical twins claim to share a special psychic connection, but is it coincidence, or is it truly psychic powers? A connection wouldn’t necessarily have to be mysterious. Any two people who know each other very well and who…

In THE DROWNED GIRLS, Detective Angie Pallorino took down a serial killer permanently and, according to her superiors, with excessive force. Now, in THE LULLABY GIRL, Angie is forced back into uniform and she’s been benched on a desk assignment for 12 months. This challenges Angie in every way—if she’s not a detective, who is she? Then a decades-old cold case washes ashore, and Angie is pulled into an investigation she recognizes as deeply, frighteningly, personal. Driven and desperate to solve her case in spite of her probation, Angie goes rogue, risking her relationship with Detective Maddocks, her career, and her very life in pursuit of the answers to her past. But she’ll learn that some truths might be too painful to bear, and some sacrifices include collateral damage. And she’ll have to make some hard choices. Thankfully, unlike Angie, I am not a work-a-holic. Angie has no pets, no plants. No time nor care goes into maintaing her apartment. Because solving cases is her life. Me? I have pets, and a marriage, and children, and an elderly parent … a life. However, a writer does need a certain kind of obstinance to be able to seat oneself in front…

I saw a statistic somewhere recently that said 55% of young adult book readers are adults. I’m not surprised, because I’m an adult who loves to read YA, and especially YA romance. In no particular order, these are my top five reasons adults should read YA: It will remind you of all of your firsts. Your first crush. Your first date. Your first kiss. Okay, I started early. My first crush was in second grade. His name was Tommy and I liked him so much I gave him my pencil sharpener. But after that auspicious beginning, my love life slowed to a crawl. I didn’t have my first real date until I was a junior in high school, and I didn’t have my first kiss until my freshman year of college. But I remember everything about all of those interactions, and whenever I read a YA romance, they all come shooting back to me as I wait for the hero and heroine of the story I’m reading to finally get together. You’ll Have All. The. Feels. When I read a YA romance, it plunges me right back into my middle and high school years, back when I could go through…

Christine Warren, author of HARD BREAKER, chatted with Fresh Fiction about her latest book, where she sees the series going, and whether or not she plans to write more books in The Guardian series. Fresh Fiction: Now that the major battle between the Guardians and the demons has been fought, will you be continuing the story line and taking it a new direction? The Guardians series was always intended to have a fixed start and end point. I wanted to try something different after the Others and see if I could carry a single story thread across multiple books. With my previous work, stories were more loosely connected by characters. For me, the Guardians have done what they set out to do, and now they get to enjoy their retirement with their mates! Fresh Fiction: What was your inspiration for the Guardians and their wardens? Is it based on any folklore? It’s not really based on any one specific story or myth. I simply liked the idea of an epic Good vs. Evil struggle and the idea of heroes who look scarier than the things they’re saving the world from. That was enough to get my imagination firing. Fresh Fiction:…

Always read the book before you see the movie. That’s my rule for any movie that’s been adapted from a novel, because 99% of the time, I enjoy the book more. Maybe that’s because it’s hard to distill a 100,000 word novel down to 60 or 100 pages of screen time. Inevitably, subplots come out, plots get simplified, characters are merged. But sometimes, the movies stand up to the books and even add something. Here are some of my favorites, in no particular order: SILENCE OF THE LAMBS – When this classic psychological suspense by Thomas Harris was made into a movie, Anthony Hopkins brought nuanced life to incarcerated killer Dr. Hannibal Lecter. When I re-read the book, it’s Hopkins – in that famous mask – I picture as Lecter leads New Agent in Training Starling to serial killer Buffalo Bill. GONE GIRL – The book by Gillian Flynn that kicked off so many trends popular in suspense novels right now was a twisted glimpse into troubled minds, and Ben Affleck and Rosamund Pike were perfectly cast. On screen, just as in the book, you can believe Nick Dunne might have murdered his wife, and it’s just as easy to…