Fresh FIction Box Not To Miss
Dog Days of Summer
Cozy Corner / July 10, 2018

I hope you and your loved ones enjoyed the festive Fourth with a bit of fun, relaxation, and a good book. Now that the fireworks are behind us, I’m afraid only the lazy dog days of summer lie ahead. Ever wonder where the familiar phrase Dog Days of Summer originated? Blame it on the ancient Romans. They called the most humid, hottest days of summer “diēs caniculārēs” or dog days. The name came about because they associated the hottest days of summer with the star Sirius, known as the Dog Star. Why? It was the brightest star in the constellation Canis Major—which translates as large dog. You know what I find myself wondering? When will these dog days of summer come to an end…doggone it! The Old Farmer’s Almanac lists the traditional timing of the Dog Days as the forty days that coincide with the sunrise of the Dog Star, July 3 through August 11. How do we enjoy our summer and survive the heat? Whether it be swinging in a shady hammock, nestling into a comfy recliner, or sprawling on a beach towel, keep your body hydrated with a cold drink and your mind refreshed with a cozy mystery….

Linda Reilly | It’s not all about the cats…
Author Guest / July 10, 2018

When I first began writing the Cat Lady Mysteries for Kensington Lyrical, I realized all too quickly that I’d swallowed one giant hairball of a project. For a few terrifying moments, panic set in. How could I write about a dozen or so cats living in one household? Wouldn’t it seem like, well . . . just too many cats? After sucking in a few deep breaths and gulping back a hearty swig of coffee, I reminded myself: You’re writing this for all the cat lovers out there . . . and they can never have too many cats. So, with that mantra ringing in my head, I scurried over to my keyboard and started typing. To my surprise, I was easily able to imagine myself living in the quaint Folk Victorian home on a gentle hill in New Hampshire that eventually becomes the cat shelter. In my head I saw the rooms—the large and small parlors, the eat-in kitchen with myriad cat bowls lined up along one wall, and the back porch that would eventually become the shelter’s meet-and-greet room. Even more important, I could clearly picture the cats: the black feral with a white ‘stache, the cuddly calico…

Meet the Author – Wendy Davies
MatchMaker / July 9, 2018

Hi, I’m Wendy and I write contemporary, small-town romance stories set in my home state of Victoria, which is down south of mainland Australia. While I grew up in Melbourne, Victoria’s capital city, I’ve travelled my state so many times I’m like a walking, talking tourist information service. Indeed, one of my earliest memories is travelling for long hours crammed into the back seat of our family car along with all my brothers and sisters (I’m the youngest of five children) going off to visit my aunt and uncle’s farm in the northern part of the state. That farm formed the basis for Glendale – my hero, Zach Wentworth’s home. Growing wheat and farming sheep was something my uncle and aunt did on their own property. I used my experience of helping my aunt cook for the shearers, and helping my uncle round up the sheep and fix his harvester as some of the things Zach did on his farm. Not the cooking, that was hard work, but the wood stove we used made it into the first draft of my story. Of course, Bill and Pearl Wentworth are fictional characters. But they’re based on how I remember my own…

An Interview with L.P. Maxa
Author Guest , Interviews / July 7, 2018

Our reviewer Miranda Owen had a chance to chat with L.P. Maxa. Listen in as we find out some of the behind the scenes scoop on the three series. In HEART STOPPING Baze and Pen are star-crossed lovers given another chance to make things right. Is this a favorite trope for you? Was it hard deciding how much of their past to reveal in the form of “flashbacks”? Who are some of your favorite fictional couples – ones you’ve written as well as others from either books or films? Second chance romance is actually not one of my favorites. I don’t typically read a lot of novels with that topic, for some reason I tend to veer away from those. I think with Baze, his history kind of unfolded for me somewhere a long the way. I certainly didn’t plan a star-crossed lovers HEA for him from day one. My publisher will attest to the fact that I’m more of a fly by the seat of my pants type of writer. It wasn’t until Linc’s book that I finally decided to bring in Pen the way I did. As far as how much of their past to reveal or not,…

Patricia Yager Delagrange | Playing Roles and MENDING FENCES
Author Guest , Author Spotlight / July 6, 2018

I was in my 40s before I realized the role I was meant to play in my large family of six sisters. My parents had two sets of children. The first three girls were born in the 1950s, then, ten years later, the second set of three girls appeared on the scene. I was the baby of the first set. It was a surprise to all, especially me, when it turned out that, instead of being jealous of the three new babies in the house, I took their birth as a sudden and joyful opportunity to have “real” babies to play with instead of the fake ones that appeared every Christmas under the tree. Instead of being the “baby” of the family, I morphed into the mother figure for the younger set, a caregiving role I loved. Fast forward numerous years, when my mother was diagnosed with ovarian cancer. I became her caregiver. I’ll never forget when the doctor called my dad and me into his office to discuss my mother’s prognosis. Once I understood all the chemotherapy and radiation that Mom would need to undergo during her battle against this dreaded disease (while my father was still working full-time…

Shannon Greenland | Five Things I’d Tell The Teen Me
Top 5 / July 6, 2018

Travel! I spent two years between high school and college seeing the world. I helped bathe orphans in Mexico, saw the wall come down in Germany, rode a bike in snowy Denmark, slept in too many airports to count, sang on a stage in Poland, and so much more. Since then I’ve sailed to the Bahamas, climbed a light house in Bermuda, hiked the Na Pali coast in Hawaii, canoed in Venezuela, zip lined a forest, crawled through caves in Ireland, and the list goes on… Travel! It’ll open your mind and soul to this incredible earth we live on. Be open to change. When your heart and gut tell you to take a less comforting choice, consider listening. 9 times out of 10 your heart and gut are right. Learn a language. Be it Spanish, French, Farsi, or whatever, dig in and learn it. Be willing to travel to a country that speaks your chosen language and do total immersion. Be willing to take more classes than are required for a high school diploma. Knowing another language is an irreplaceable skill. It’s okay to break up with a boyfriend. What’s it’s not okay to do is choose boys over…

Meet the Author: Carolyn Brown
Interviews / July 6, 2018

You have been a full time writer for several years. What’s the best and worst parts of your job? The best part is when my characters talk to me and give me direction or little bits of their past to work into the story. The worst part is when they stop talking to me. I have a plaque in my office that says, “I know the voices aren’t real but they have the best ideas.” Disclaimer here: When I’m writing their stories, they are very real to me. Do you have any habits or rituals that get you in the right mindset to write? Just to sit down in my office chair and get started. I can write in a hotel or in another place in the house, but I like my own chair in my own office much better. If you had to choose one career highlight what would it be? What are some of your goals for the future? There are several career highlights…winning awards, getting new contracts, receiving notes from fans telling me how much they love my books or better yet, from a fan whose life has been changed for the better by something I wrote….

Author Reader Match | Chloe Blake
MatchMaker / July 6, 2018

WRITES: I write sexy contemporary romances set in exotic locations filled with unbridled attraction, hard choices, family feuds and sweet sips of wine. My heroines are all smart, passionate, career-driven women and my heroes are all successful playboys who can’t get enough. Its a sensory experience that will take you around the world. My up coming release is A TASTE OF PLEASURE (July 1st), an escape to Milan, Italy about a strong-willed Chef who is more comfortable behind the scenes, and the confidant restauranteur that coaxes her out of the kitchen, and into his arms. ABOUT AUTHOR: City girl seeks voracious reader ready to dive into culinary experiences, cultivate expensive tastes and travel to places of extreme beauty, all in the name if love. When author is in between such adventures, she can be found sipping red wine, telling compelling stories and pounding the pavement in her hometown of New York City. WHAT I’M LOOKING FOR IN MY IDEAL READER MATCH: Loves to be wined and dined, and is open to indulging in more than one dessert. Understands that business must always come before pleasure, and to never indulge in one without the other. Knows the importance of sexual tension…

Michelle Hazen | 5 Reasons to Look Forward to INSATIABLE
Top 5 / July 5, 2018

Michelle Hazen is back with INSATIABLE, the next standalone in her Sex, Love, and Rock & Roll series. When a sex addict lead singer falls into friendship with a hard rock diva, he must fight their attraction or risk ruining her life. Fans of rockstar romances will devour this angsty yet heartwarming story about a bad boy who’s a good man. 5 Reasons to Look Forward to INSATIABLE Fashion porn Ava and Jax are both rock stars and have lots of occasions to dress up. I picture Ava as kind of a hard rock version of Lady Gaga, so her fashion is appropriately edgy and trendsetting. She’s got a thing for outrageous shoes that are often more like sculptures, and there are a bunch of gorgeous ball gowns in this book, for all the various characters. This is a great book for anybody who loved to play dress up as a kid. Boxing I know, this isn’t exactly a traditional addition to a romance novel, but in this one there’s at least one fist fight (boys will be boys, am I right?) and some of the more organized, in a ring, kind of boxing because it is (surprise!) one of…