Today, thoughts on historical fiction from Fresh Fiction Editorial Manager Danielle Dresser… Once upon a time, I was a publicist for a wonderful publisher (shout out to Sourcebooks!) and I spent a lot of time paying attention to publishing trends – what was working in the industry? What were editors acquiring? What was selling, aka what were people reading?  On top of my job, I was also a member of a book club and we went through a period of about a year or so where just about all we read was World War II fiction… was it because people really loved reading about this time period, or was it because that’s what the publishing industry decided to publish? To be fair, our book club instituted an unofficial rule to not read WWII fiction (until very recently, LOL!) and now that I’m back in the publishing industry, I’ve noticed something else… Post-World War II fiction. Set well after the war, usually in the 50s and 60s, these novels still have WWII looming over its narrative. Perhaps it’s a family member dealing with PTSD before there was a word for it, as a community dealing with tragedy grapples with in Judy Blume’s…

Being a military wife of seventeen years, I know a thing or two about writing a love letter. Between my husband’s five deployments, we have thousands of them stored in our basement, our own little time capsule from days where pen and paper were our only means of communication. Those letters have saved our marriage more times than I can count. The beautiful thing about love letters is that just like love, they come in all sorts of different varieties. Some are poetic, some romantic, some erotic, and some don’t even look like love letters at all. What all good love letters have in common is heartfelt emotion. In The Last Letter, Ella regrets writing in pen when her awkward nature gets the best of her during her first letters with Beckett. But that sincerity is what first draws Beckett to her in their letters. Start with your feelings, and you can’t go wrong. Some of my favorites didn’t read like love letters at all. They came from the front lines, scrawled on scrap pieces of paper between missions, the letters blurring from the touch of Jason’s fingers. They were short, and often held two distinct paragraphs—one updating me on…

It’s almost time for spring, right? Well, don’t put up those sweaters and galoshes anytime soon, and keep those shorts stored for now. I think that groundhog fooled us all last month. Instead, embrace the cold, or snow, or the rain and dig into a good mystery this month. I’ve got a few I didn’t feature last month you don’t want to miss, and some great mysteries releasing in March that will take up those last few (hopefully) chilly days Mother Nature has decided we can’t do without. After all, Mother does know best. Father Time is just making the season seem dramatically long 😉 LIVING THE VIDA LOLA by Melissa Bourbon A Lola Cruz Mystery Meet Lola Cruz. After paying her dues as an intern, she’s now a full-fledged detective at Camacho and Associates. Her boss is Manny Camacho, a muy caliente former cop with a mysterious ex-wife, a Lara Croft look-alike girlfriend, and a sudden personal interest in Lola. Her first big case? A missing mother who may not want to be found. And to make her already busy life even more complicated, Lola’s helping her cousin plan her quinceañera and battling her family and their old-fashioned views…

Clearing his throat, Arrow said, “I came in here to see if you wanted to try to get those mats out of your hair. The guys found conditioner.” He held up a white bottle. Morgan brought a hand up to her head self-consciously. She knew how bad her hair was, had seen it firsthand in the mirror. She hadn’t wanted to take a pair of scissors to it, but was afraid it was going to be inevitable. “Sure. But I don’t know if it’ll do much good,” she told him honestly. Arrow stood and held out a hand to her. “We can try.” She liked that. We. She felt his fingers brush over her cheek in a barely there caress before he tugged on her hand, urging her to walk toward the bathroom. Maybe it was her time in captivity that made her appreciate the little things more. Arrow grabbed the ice bucket on the way into the bathroom. Morgan stood there feeling awkward as Arrow set the conditioner on the edge of the bathtub, then put his hands on his hips, surveying the room. He turned to her and gestured toward the tub. “Go on and have a seat…

I’ve explored many themes over the years while writing historical romance. In doing so, I discovered the potential obstacles to two people falling in love and being together were pretty much the same in the periods in which my stories are set as they are now—family issues, economic/class disparity, job demands, etc. I’ve written about all of those. Another, perhaps stickier challenge when writing period romance is tackling societal approval for a so-called “unconventional” love. Except…it’s not an issue restricted to period romance. It’s an issue for romance, period. Although humanity has (generally) made great social progress over the last three hundred years, there are still some big societal hurdles to be leaped—for some, hurdles that have existed for millennia. I address one of these in my new release A Wicked Reputation. A Wicked Reputation features not one, but two romances, one revealed in the back cover copy, the other more subtly implied. Without spoiling too much, I can tell you that while both couples encounter immense challenges to achieving their happy ever after, the danger for one of these is far greater. For this couple, because of societal intolerances of the period (which, unfortunately, haven’t yet been entirely eradicated),…

When she put her hand on the horse’s leg, he snorted at the same instant his body tensed. “It’s okay, boy. I won’t hurt you,” she said. Audrey was careful not to get near the affected area as she inspected it with her eyes. Once the gelding calmed, she managed to get her hand several inches closer before he twitched his head. “I’m going to fix you,” she promised. “You have to trust me.” Another few tense minutes passed before she moved with agonizing slowness until her palm was over the knee. She didn’t feel any fluid, so it could just be joint pain. But since this was one of the ill horses, she wasn’t sure of anything. Audrey rubbed her hand softly over the leg again and again. The horse closed his eyes, letting her know that he trusted her. She sat cross-legged and continued to stroke him with one hand while adding notes to the chart on her iPad with the other. Though she didn’t want to leave the bay, Audrey knew she needed to get to the other two horses. She climbed to her feet and ran her hand down the gelding’s head to the soft, velvety…

It seems everywhere you look, authors are writing books in series, and that includes me.  As both an author and an avid reader, I love series. Why? Here are my top five reasons: 1. More complex plots – When stories span more than one book, the author has the ability to have multiple levels of plots.  Typically, each book has its own storyline that’s begun and resolved within that book, but there’s an overarching question or plot line that’s not resolved until the end of the series.  Think about TV’s Castle.  While the immediate mystery was solved in each episode, viewers kept tuning in to discover who killed Kate’s mother.  In the case of my Cimarron Creek books, the overarching question is, “What happened to Aunt Bertha’s daughter?” Although there’ve been partial answers, the final one comes in A Tender Hope. 2. Familiar Location – Consider the difference between visiting a place the first time and returning to it.  While there’s adventure the first time, there’s also a bit of apprehension. Will I get lost?  Will I like this place? All of that’s gone the second time. Instead of being worried, you’re excited about returning to a place you’ve visited…