After breakfast RJ takes me for a ride in his boat. The only kind I’ve ever been in is a canoe, which tipped over, and yesterday I tried to put the one at my cabin into the water, but a family of squirrels was living in it, so that put an end to that. Being on open water makes me nervous, so RJ distracts me with more making out. My lips are probably going to be seriously chapped after today, so I’ll have to use some lip balm tonight to keep them from peeling. By the time we get back from our boating trip–I didn’t see one dolphin or whale, although I wasn’t paying much attention to anything besides RJ–it’s well past lunchtime. We make steak sandwiches with last night’s leftovers, and RJ suggests a trip into town. I have a list of things I need to pick up, like a new space heater, so I’m all for it. After a brief stop at my cabin so I can change into fresh clothes, we spend the afternoon shopping. We tour the quaint downtown and grab dinner at a pub. It’s after eight by the time we head back to his…

Welcome back to Fresh Fiction, Rhenna! Can you tell us about your new series, NOLA Knights, and the first book, HIS TO DEFEND? Absolutely! Sergei Petrovyh first appeared in the fourth book of my Men of Haven series, TEMPTED & TAKEN. I loved everything about him. His broodiness. The unmistakable danger and unapologetic approach he took to life. I was also fascinated with articles and stories I’d read of Russian culture and the highly Alpha aspect to dating. So, when my publisher asked me what I wanted to do after the last of the original Men of Haven got their stories, I knew I wanted to delve deeper into Sergei’s world. The result was a planned trio of three extremely Alpha males conquering not just one of my favorite cities in the world (New Orleans), but three bold and brave women who give their driven men a run for their money. Evette Labadie is a hardworking woman who will do anything for her son, Emerson. Although she was recently (wrongfully) fired from her job, she needs to find a way to send her son to an expensive private school so he can have the best future possible. Desperate and unsure…

Instead of trying to find your perfect match in a dating app, we bring you the “Author-Reader Match” where we introduce you to authors as a reader you may fall in love with. It’s our great pleasure to present Angelina M. Lopez! Writes: I write sexy contemporaries about strong women and the confident men lucky to love them. My debut book, Lush Money, is about a self-made Mexican-American billionaire businesswoman who makes a deal with an impoverished prince: If he marries her and has sex with her three nights a month for a year, she will give him enough money to save his struggling winegrowing kingdom. All she wants is a marriage of convenience and three hot nights a month. And, oh yeah, a royal baby! It’s the first in the three-part Filthy Rich series, which are all about powerful, wealthy women who get what they want because they’ve earned it. About: While I have a long history as a writer — I’m an ex-newspaper journalist with a story in the Newseum and a romance writer for 19 years — my first published novel didn’t come out until yesterday, Oct.14. So please, be gentle. I enjoy wine and love spending…

The funniest ghost story I’ve ever heard is actually a true story. I know, because it happened to me. First, a little context. Here in Colorado, we have our fair share of spooky history. First off, there’s the Stanley Hotel, which inspired Stephen King to scare the pants off of generations of readers with The Shining. In real life, the hotel’s creaky halls are supposedly haunted by restless spirits. Four of them, in fact–named Lucy, Paul, Elizabeth, and Eddie, if you believe everything you read. Now, I don’t know how scared I can personally be of a ghost named after Frasier Crane’s dog, but there you go. Right in the heart of Denver, there’s Cheesman Park, a sunny and popular picnicking spot bordered by pricey real estate, and also built on an abandoned cemetery, where unsuspecting landscapers occasionally dig up Wild West-era skeletons. And you thought your Mondays were rough. And we’re not even going to talk about the Museum of Colorado Prisons, certainly the creepiest stone-walled structure for five hundred miles. I’m not sure why anyone visits this place. Maybe because one of the colorful inmates was a convicted cannibal? Because there is that. No, what fascinates me most…

Welcome to Fresh Fiction! Please tell us a little about yourself and your latest novel, UNSCRIPTED. These past several years have been a time of transition for me.  After writing with Janette Oke for going on a decade, she retired.  I decided this was my last-best opportunity to do what I had always dreamed of ‘someday’ – writing for the screen as well as novels.  So I obtained a degree in screenwriting and got to work. UNSCRIPTED is the outcome of these first experiences within the film world. Both of the main characters are trying to prove something about themselves – Danny, that he wasn’t at fault for what landed him in jail and restart his career, and Megan, to show she can do things on her terms and still be successful. Talk a little bit about what their struggles tell readers about them as people.  There is a saying you often hear in the film world:  ‘Hollywood likes to bury their dead while they are still breathing.’  I think Clark Gable was the first to say this, but I’m not sure.  Anyway, what they mean by this is, many people are looking for an excuse to write you off.  To be…

Jen: What inspired you to write The Christmas Spirits on Tradd Street, the 6th book in The Tradd Street series? Karen: My contract!  When I wrote book #4 in the series, RETURN TO TRADD STREET, I knew there were so many stories left to tell, and so much more growth that Melanie had to attain that it seemed there should be more books in the series.  My publisher asked for three more, and I said yes. In order for the story to ring true with readers, how much research was needed? That’s hard to quantify as I’ve been “researching” Charleston for nearly twenty years.  From my first visit, I’ve been intrigued and fascinated by the city–the architecture, history and its natural beauty–and have been eagerly exploring the Holy City ever since as often as I can.  Melanie Trenholm’s relationship with her parents, sister, and husband is in a constant state of motion. In what ways is she evolving in this latest installment?   It’s been a long road for self-sufficient Melanie (and it’s not over) to become more trusting.  Because she was abandoned by her mother at age six, and raised by an alcoholic father, she had to become self-sufficient very…

We started to plan our escape. Exactly what prompted our decision, I wasn’t sure, only we didn’t like that the old black and blues on our bodies didn’t fade completely before new ones were pressed on top of them. We started to fear that if we stayed, our skin would eventually turn a dark purple, an ill-fitting shade for us both. Boyfriends would be nearly impossible then. The beatings, different in the way they were administered and in the reasons why, looked the same on our skin. After having gone out with my soldier, I confirmed to the little girl that our camp wasn’t completely isolated. When we broke out of the camp, we would follow the river upstream to town. There was a market and a shack with a mean boy as a guard. I didn’t think he would let us stay there. We would have to beg or sell lottery tickets until we had enough for a bus pass to the city. Unlike in our usual games, we didn’t think about the what-ifs, the endless ways we could fail. Failure to make it out of the camp: get caught, get lost, or starve. I feared a great number…

It’s the final day of our Fall Slow Cooker Recipe Potluck! We’ve enjoyed following along with all of these great authors, their new books, and delicious slow cooker recipes. Comment below for a chance to win yet another book! And be sure to take a look back at all of the fun we’ve had all week:  Day 1 with Elizabeth Goddard  Day 2 with Soraya Lane Day 3 with Laura Lee Guhrke Day 4 with Jenn Burke  *** Autumn: Time for Comfort Food The mornings are crisp now in central Pennsylvania, and the mist hangs in the valleys for an hour or so after the sun makes its way over the mountain ridges. Leaves have begun to turn, orange pumpkins fill the roadside stands, and we bring in the last few tomatoes and winter squash from the garden. At a time like this, with winter not far off, my thoughts turn to comfort food. And for comfort food, what could be better than a slow cooker? Comfort food forms a large part of any collection of Pennsylvania Dutch recipes. The farmers, both Amish and English, who settled in these fertile valleys felt the need for plenty of carbohydrates to keep…

Welcome to Fresh Fiction! Can you please tell us about your new book, HOW RORY THORNE DESTROYED THE MULTIVERSE? RORY is about a princess who has been blessed (and cursed) by fairies and expects to inherit the throne. Then her father is assassinated, her mother marries the Regent of a rival kingdom to keep the political peace, and Rory finds herself betrothed to that kingdom’s prince. (Except the kingdoms are huge interplanetary collections). When Rory gets there, however, she finds out the prince is missing. She decides to find him, rescue him, and restore him to his rightful place. And then, well. Things don’t go to plan. Rory Thorne is a smart and determined young woman who thought she was going to inherit the throne, but her mother gives birth to a son and she suddenly becomes a political pawn. What character trait do you love the most about Rory? She’s fearless. Rory is the firstborn daughter in ten generations, and her birth is marked by esteemed pomp and circumstance, including receiving fairy blessings. She receives a curse from one of the fairies, to “know truth when you hear it, no matter how well concealed.” If you could bestow a…

We’re back with another stop on our Fall Slow Cooker Recipe Potluck! Don’t forget to comment below for a chance to win an eBook copy of today’s featured book. And be sure to check back at all of the other great posts this week: Day 1 with Elizabeth Goddard: http://freshfiction.com/page.php?id=10267   Day 2 with Soraya Lane: http://freshfiction.com/page.php?id=10269 Day 3 with Laura Lee Guhrke: http://freshfiction.com/page.php?id=10270  *** In the Not Dead Yet series, Wes Cooper and Hudson Rojas have the chance to rekindle the romance they abandoned thirty-three years before–thanks to Wes being a sort-of-but-not-quite ghost and Hudson being a vampire. The paranormal side of Toronto seems to be invested in making them work for their happily-ever-after, though. In the third book in the series, Graveyard Shift, Wes and Hudson have shared all of their secrets and are solidly a team, all-in with each other, their found family, and their business as private investigators. But Toronto’s not done messing with them. Someone’s out there, poisoning shifters with specially made street drugs. There are newbie vampires running amok. And a threat from Hudson’s past might steal his and Wes’s happily ever after for good. Both Wes and Hudson are cooks, but not cooks, if you get my meaning….