With Christmas nearly upon us, thoughts turn to gifts, gift-giving and what a “gift” truly means.  What could be a greater blessing than realizing the “American Dream,” proving that with hard work and determination, a person can come from anywhere with virtually nothing and achieve whatever success they desire?  The set of stories we’ll look at this month feature both “haves” struggling to fit into their world and “have-nots” determined to create for themselves a future better than their past. Moving chronologically, we begin with THE SATURDAY EVENING GIRLS CLUB: A NOVEL by Jane Healey.  The author follows the lives of four young immigrant women in Boston’s North End, who find friendship and hope for a better life amid pottery-making and conversation at the Saturday Evening Girls Club.  All must fight not just poverty and prejudice, but the traditional expectations of their conservative ethnic families. Enterprising Caprice longs to become an entrepreneur running her own hat shop; bookish Ada, to obtain a college education, stunning Maria to avoid becoming trapped, like her Italian Catholic mother, in marriage to an abusive alcoholic, while timid Theo yearns to escape the rigid requirements of her strict Jewish tradition.  The friendship and support forged…

Every day from now through the end of the year, we’ll be sharing our reviewers’ favorite reads of 2018. A different genre will be featured every day! We’ll share why these books were some of our favorites and what made them so special. We hope you’ll share yours in the comments, too! Today, we have our favorite contemporary romances of the year. Let us know what you think of our picks… HOME ON HUCKLEBERRY HILL by Jennifer Beckstrand Matchmakers of Huckleberry Hill #9 Reviewer: Clare O’Beara I enjoyed this lighthearted Amish romance greatly, with its points about what a wife can expect from her husband and how she can support herself even in traditional households. Romance | Christian | Amish [Zebra, On Sale: June 26, 2018, Mass Market Paperback / e-Book, ISBN: 9781420144154 / eISBN: 9781420144161] When a marriage breakup is imminent, the matchmakers get to work Buy HOME ON HUCKLEBERRY HILL: Amazon.com | Kindle | BN.com | Apple Books | Kobo | Google Play | Powell’s Books | Books-A-Million | Indiebound | Ripped Bodice | Amazon CA | Amazon UK | Amazon DE | Amazon FR  *** JOSH AND HAZEL’S GUIDE TO NOT DATING by Christina Lauren Reviewer: Svetlana…

The Holiday Acres series is set during a snowstorm just before Christmas, when three of the Holiday sisters get stranded with the men they’ve not yet admitted feelings for. The series is fun and romantic, but it also explores how healing and reconciliation can happen over time, since the two families involved have been in a long-standing feud. The first book in the series, Stranded on the Beach, is set during the summer before Christmas and is about how Rebecca Holiday and Phil Matheson, who broke up years ago because of their families’ fighting, are able to come back to together. The second book, Stranded in the Snow, is about how Olivia Holiday and Scott Matheson act like they hate each other but finally admit they are in love. The third book, Stranded in the Woods, is about Penny Holiday and her old friend, Kent Matheson, who has been a recluse for years but finally comes out of hiding because of his love for Penny. And the final book, Stranded for Christmas, is about how stubborn, jaded Laura Holiday, the oldest of the sisters, finally admits that she’s in love with her business partner, Russ. I hope you enjoy this…

Every day from now through the end of the year (and even a few days into 2019), we’ll be sharing our reviewers’ favorite reads of 2018. A different genre will be featured every day! We’ll share why these books were some of our favorites and what made them so special. We hope you’ll share yours in the comments, too! Up first, our favorite mysteries, of all kinds – thriller, psychological, romantic suspense… Check back next week for cozy mysteries, though! Below they are listed in no particular order: NO PLACE FOR WOLVERINES by Dave Butler Jenny Willson 2 REVIEWER: Clare I recently read this and knew straight away it was my thriller of the year. A Canadian national park and nearby town try to fend off a big-money ski resort proposal. We learn so much about the get rich quick types behind this, the activists are driven to protect their park, the geology, and nature of the wilderness area, the work of police and journalists. Mystery Woman Sleuth | Thriller Crime [Dundurn, On Sale: October 13, 2018, Paperback / e-Book, ISBN: 978145973983 / ] An intelligent web of money, threats, townsfolk, and wilderness… Buy NO PLACE FOR WOLVERINES: Amazon.com |…

So here we are again, approaching the end of another calendar year, and the beginning of another holiday season in many traditions. My yuletide memories aren’t uniformly positive. My dear mother had to wrangle Christmas on a shoestring for seven children. Pennsylvania winters meant those children were very much underfoot, and family tensions could erupt into something other than four-part harmony. And yet, I love this time of year. I love how the whole hemisphere gets a little quieter, the evenings longer, the mood both more reflective and more congenial. I get more writing done over the winter months than in any other season, and writing is one of my very favorite things to do. I also enjoy our annual year-end focus on charity, on welcoming the stranger (angels unaware is one of my favorite Christmas tropes), and on looking out for our neighbors who might have trouble paying the heating bill or affording anything for the children on Christmas morning. I don’t need to see the brain science to know that kindness lifts my spirits, whether I’m the giver or the receiver. I think we are intended to be kind to one another, and the holidays give us permission…

Hey everyone! So one of the questions I get asked a lot, is what’s my writing space like. And the simplest answer is EVER-CHANGING! I’m most definitely a creature of habit… until I’m not lol. For instance, I might move from my office desk to my office couch to the comfy chair in the living room to my bedroom, getting huffy at every stop until I find that spot that clicks and I finally drop into THE ZONE. I know. This sounds ridiculous, but it’s just how it goes. And once I figure out the spot that works…  I’ll ride it into the ground lol. I’ll go back to writing in my bed or at my desk while sitting on a yoga ball every day for as long as it triggers that free flow of flirty, sexy storytelling that is so much fun! This week, I’m all about the desk and the rolling, spinny chair lol. One thing that doesn’t change? All the crap I tote along with me lol. Soundproof headphones (regardless of whether the house is silent or not) Two, yes two mugs of gorgeous assorted pens and highlighters My project specific spiral notebook (it needs to be…

Every year, when December rolls around, I find myself gravitating back toward the same books over and over again. They’re my ultimate comfort reads, the books I want to curl up with when the snow it falling and it’s bitterly cold outside. It’s been enough years at this point that it really feels like visiting old friends for the holidays, which just adds to the attraction of these particular rereads. What books are these? Of course, I’ll tell you! The Black Jewels series by Anne Bishop. I first discovered these books when I was in high school, and they only seem to get better with each reread. Anne Bishop doesn’t shy away from some truly dark topics, but she has this wonderful way of threading the darkness with amazing relationships, found families, and surprising humor. I love all her stuff, but the original Black Jewels trilogy is the one I gravitate back toward again and again. Kushiel’s Legacy trilogy by Jacqueline Carey. I’ve had the original trilogy so long that my paperback is starting to fall apart, and I’ve since re-purchased digital copies to save my arms (they’re VERY long books). Jacqueline Carey is straight up brilliant with how she…

NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE Christmas carols played softly in the background. The scent of spiced cider perfumed the air. Shoppers munched happily on gingerbread cookies and perused the bookshelves for that perfect gift. Dr. Jenna Stockton imagined ripping the halo off the angel’s head and choking her with it. Instead, she reached deep within herself for patience and managed to find a smile for the costumed character behind the bookstore counter. “If I could speak with your manager, please?” “She’s awfully busy.” Jenna thought of the ridiculous length of her own to-do list as she fought to keep her smile from turning into a sneer. “Yes, well, it’s that time of year, isn’t it? Your manager?” The little angel gave a haughty sniff, and then said, “If you’ll step out of line, please?” Without missing a beat, the angel turned a bright smile toward the woman waiting behind Jenna. “I’m so sorry for this unfortunate delay, ma’am. I’ll be as quick as I possibly can.” Jenna didn’t snarl like a rabid dog. She didn’t. She smiled at the woman behind her in line. Sweetly. Without canines. The woman and the four people behind her each gave Jenna an annoyed glower. She gave them all…

Many will swoon over this week’s BookTrib giveaway, 20 different Harlequin romances to one lucky winner. As part of BookTrib’s Holiday Giveaway, they will be gifting a box of 20 books, matching various themes, each week to one lucky winner through the month of December. Like what you see? Enter from now to December 13th for a chance to win all of these titles in their romance box! For more information and to enter the giveaway, please visit: https://booktrib.com/booktrib-giveaways/ 

A warm welcome back to Fresh Fiction reviewer Miranda Owen, here to chat about the possibly doomed nuptials of Batman and Catwoman in their recent DC graphic novels!  The flirtation and sexual tension between Batman and Catwoman are well documented and encompass the comics, TV, films, and animated shows. My earliest exposure to their relationship was when I watched the 1960s pairing of Adam West and Julie Newmar. When DC was building up this latest Batman/Catwoman romantic storyline, I knew that it wouldn’t end in a happily-ever-after, but Tom King and the other writers and artists who worked on this story built something with a strong emotional punch and added interesting nuances to these beloved characters. In BATMAN VOL. 6: BRIDE OR BURGLAR, readers saw a different and more human side to two comic book legends, leaving their story on an optimistic note. The end result, covered in BATMAN VOL. 7: THE WEDDING, BATMAN/CATWOMAN: THE WEDDING ALBUM, and BATMAN: PRELUDES TO THE WEDDING, is something to wonder over and scream into the void at the unfairness of it all. Even though this entire arc is focused on Batman and Catwoman and their alter egos Bruce Wayne and Selina Kyle, the…