Fresh FIction Box Not To Miss
Katee Robert | Writing a Labor of Love
Author Guest / April 10, 2018

I’ll be the first to admit that writing THE LAST KING was a labor of love—emphasis on the labor part. It’s always challenging to start a new series after spending years being in a different world, but this book had a very specific problem that it took me far too long to figure out. Beckett King, the hero, was a freaking jerk. Not a sexy jerk—just a flat out jerk. In the original version of the book, he’s washed his hands of his family and their money, left the woman he loves behind for her own good, and is essentially living on a beach out of the country. He was, to put it frankly, an insufferable ass. How do you fix a character like that? You break him down to his bare bones and rewrite from the ground up. Let me tell you, it hurts something fierce to take that drastic of a step, but the new Beckett King that emerged as a result is one of my favorite heroes I’ve written to date. He still doesn’t get along with his father, but he knows where his responsibilities lie and makes his moves in response to protecting the people he…

Jodi Thomas | Writing Across Generations
Author Guest / April 10, 2018

Like most people in small towns, my daily life is woven between generations. I never remember a time when I said, “I’m not sure what to do or which way to turn.” I’ve always had relatives around, not only giving me advice, but pushing me in what they think is the right direction. So when I began MORNINGS ON MAIN I knew I wanted to show those threads. My main character, Jillian, steps into a town and a world foreign to her. She’s a drifter who doesn’t pack her even memories as she moved from place to place. When Jillian takes a job in Laurel Springs, she finds far more than what she planned. Eugenia Larady, Gram to her family, has owned a quilt shop for fifty years. The quilts lining her walls hold the history of the town and its people. As Gram’s mind slips, Jillian rushes to log all the stories and quilts with the help of Eugenia’s great-granddaughter, Sunny, who is hell bent to make her own wild memories as fast as possible. As the stories of lives in the town come to light, so do secrets and loves that have lasted a lifetime. Jillian is drawn…