I’m such a sucker for happily-ever-afters. What romance author isn’t? So when I first laid eyes on the Hollhenzollern Lock Bridge in Cologne, Germany, I was as good as a fish on a line–completely hooked. It was a chilly but sunny clear spring day, and I stood at one end of the bridge and gawked at the thousands of locks that extended nearly to the other side, all in a rainbow of colors. So. Many. Locks. (photo from Atlas Obscura) Some locks were inscribed with a couple’s names and wedding date, others had names and dates inked on, and yet others had metal tags with messages written on them. They were messages of love that pledged eternal devotion. Sigh. So sweet, so romantic, so up my alley! Lock Bridge had made such an impact on me, I had to incorporate it in my new rom-com, SEDUCED BY THE SOLDIER. In it, Blake and Zandra travel through three European countries so that Zandra can complete a photography assignment for a popular e-zine. There are adventures and surprises along the way, of course, and by the time they get to Cologne the two are very much into each other but unwilling to…

I have had a love affair with American History, especially America’s “Old West” nearly all my life, probably because I grew up on TV westerns like Gunsmoke and old western movies starring Clint Eastwood and John Wayne. But I truly believe there is a part of me who, in another life, lived in the west, either as an Indian or a pioneer woman. My top five reasons for loving the West would be: The magnificent landscapes The phenomenal growth of our frontier The rugged pioneers The fact that men set their own laws, sometimes “on the spot” The respect and admiration most men of the West had for the pioneer women who dared to join them in a savage land And a sixth. . . complete strangers often ended up marrying out of need and loneliness, which is what my book is about. Excerpt: August 1869 Kate ducked into the tall grass as soon as she heard men’s voices. She slowly crawled to get close enough to listen, then parted the dense, yellow blades to see five rough-looking men gathered around a lonely, half-dead cottonwood tree. One of the men raised up in his stirrups and flung a rope over…

Welcome back to Fresh Fiction, Eva! Can you tell us more about your new series, Union of the Rakes, and book 1 in particular, MY FAKE RAKE?  Thank you so much for having me back! I’m very excited to introduce my Union of the Rakes series to your readers, since it combines two very important things in my life: my love of the Regency, and my love of the ‘80s. The whole premise of the Union of the Rakes might sound familiar to ‘80s film fans: five very different boys meet at Eton when they’re assigned to an all-day punishment in the library. Yes–it’s the Breakfast Club! Twenty years later, the boys are now grown men in a close friendship, and each one finds their own HEA in the pages of the Union of the Rakes books. My Fake Rake is a mash up between Weird Science, Can’t Buy Me Love, and Some Kind of Wonderful. That means we get fake dating, makeover (it’s his makeover), and friends to lovers, all in one book!  One of my favorite things about this new series of yours is that it’s inspired by 80s movies! Where did this fabulous idea come from? What’s…