Fresh FIction Box Not To Miss
Asa Maria Bradley | Exclusive Interview: LOKI ASCENDING + Giveaway!
Author Guest / January 9, 2020

Welcome back to Fresh Fiction, Asa! Please tell us about your Viking Warriors series and its latest novel, LOKI ASCENDING. I’m super happy to be here! Thank you for having me again! The immortal Vikings and Valkyries in the Viking Warriors series have been sent back to contemporary Midgard–the human realm–by Odin and Freya in order to thwart Loki’s evil schemes and defeat the wolverine-human hybrid monsters he has sent to Midgard. The Norse warriors are supposed to stay undetected by the human population but one-by-one, book-by-book, they meet a mortal and fall in love with them. Loki Ascending is the third book in my Viking Warrior series–although each book can be read as a standalone–and fans of the series will recognize the hero, Scott, and the heroine, Irja, from earlier books. Irja is an immortal Valkyrie and the healer of the Norse men and women. She puts all her self-worth into how well she serves her fellow warriors. Although she’s been attracted to Scott for some time, she doesn’t think herself worthy of him since he is her queen’s younger brother. Also, history has taught her that bad things happen to people she loves. Scott also has a chip on his…

Laura Frantz | Exclusive Excerpt: AN UNCOMMON WOMAN
Author Guest / January 8, 2020

The cloudless August day dawned with a sky so blue, the air so crisp, it bespoke the change of seasons. Tessa rose before first light, swinging the kettle on its crane over the ashes she’d banked carefully the night before. Breakfast was a blur of bowls and mugs and terse words as her brothers hurried to their tasks at field and ferry. Ma was never so missed as at peep of day. But she’d made peace with Ma’s going just as her brothers would make peace with her going in time. Six days had passed since she’d seen Clay. Would he ride in on the Sabbath like last week? Or would some fort matter keep him rooted? She filled a wash bucket with lye, scrubbed her brothers’ shirts clean, and set out her own Sabbath best. Draping the laundry across a near fence, she pondered what needed doing next. Taking the whetstone she’d gotten from the creek bed, she began sharpening knives, the sound rasping her nerves. Next she gathered the last of the greens from the garden, braiding the onions to hang from the rafters. For supper she’d make fried mush with maple sugar that Zadock had expressed a…

Rebecca Raisin: 20 Questions: THE LITTLE BOOKSHOP ON THE SEINE
Author Guest / January 7, 2020

1–What’s the name of your latest release? The Little Bookshop on the Seine which is book one of The Little Paris Collection, a trio of stand-alone novels set in Paris. 2–What is it about? It’s about a small town American bookshop owner who does a book shop exchange to Paris and finds things in the city of love are not all they’re cracked up to be. It’s an ode to books with a big helping of friendship, Paris and love! 3–What word best describes your heroine? Bookworm! 4–What makes your hero irresistible? He’s a little mysterious but all for good reason! 5–Who are the people your main characters turn to when they need help? Sarah has her squad back in the U.S. but while she’s in Paris she turns to Oceane who helps her with the little things (the best way to tie scarves in the French fashion) and the big things like love — without her I think Sarah would have hightailed it home already. 6–What do you love about the setting of your book? The location! I’m a loud and proud Francophile and I love nothing more than researching off-the-beaten parts of Paris so I can set scenes…

Jayce Ellis | Exclusive Interview: JEREMIAH
Author Guest / January 6, 2020

Welcome to Fresh Fiction, Jayce! Please tell us about yourself and your new book, Jeremiah. Thank you so much for having me. I’m a California native who found her way to the East Coast for undergrad and law school, met a boy, and stayed. I still shake my head at myself for that one, but we’re disgustingly happily married so I guess it worked out okay. Before our wedding a few years back, I said, I’m going to write a love letter to my husband in the form of a story! And that spawned the idea of Jeremiah, which is my first full-length novel. Because apparently, I’m a bit long-winded. . . Jeremiah Stewart is a young gay man who is still in the closet, but when he meets Collin, an enigmatic hot guy, he wonders if he’s ready to finally come out and live his life freely. What are some of your favorite things about Jeremiah? What surprised you about him while writing this book? Jeremiah is, at his core, a mama’s boy. He adores her and doesn’t want to do anything to upset her or make her life difficult or put more on her plate, and I love…

Liza Kendall | Exclusive Excerpt: WALK ME HOME
Author Guest / January 3, 2020

Charlie heard the noise of a vehicle approaching. A Dodge Durango, red. Oh, no. That wasn’t–surely not– Jake Braddock. Nooooooooo! Not again. Not here. Not now. Charlie realized the picture she must make at the moment: butt in the air, bootless, muddy socks, scraggly hair, filthy blackened hands and beet-red face because her head was hanging upside down. The Durango had pulled forward and stopped. A figure that looked an awful lot like Jake Braddock got out of it and shut the door. Tall, dark tousled hair, broad shoulders. T-shirt under a flannel shirt rolled to the elbows. Arms so cut with muscle that they were even defined under the plaid. Charlie straightened, turned at the waist and with effort, unstuck one foot and set it down in front of her. Then with determination, with what she thought of as sheer brio, she unstuck the other one, slid on the first, lost her balance and pitched forward onto her face. Mortification had never smelled so much like weeds, wet earth and—ugh–deer dung. This-is-not-happening-this-is-not-happening-this-is-not-happening! She sang to herself. Nope-not-never-not-not-not-nope! I am dignity itself, shimmering in the wind, the very spirit of grace. This is so not happening. I am visualizing this…

Cindi Madsen | Exclusive Interview: A COWBOY NEVER QUITS
Author Guest / January 3, 2020

Welcome back to Fresh Fiction, Cindi! Please tell us a little bit about your latest novel, A COWBOY NEVER QUITS. A Cowboy Never Quits is about the Dawsons, who run a rehab ranch for teens, and a single mom who had a daughter at sixteen. Jess and her daughter have always been close, but they’ve been drifting apart lately, and when Chloe lands in jail, Jess is desperate to keep her from going down her same path and get her the help she needs. Even if it involves working for slightly grumpy cowboy, Wade, and taking a cooking job she may or may not have exaggerate how qualified she is for. This is the first book in the Turn Around Ranch series. What inspired this cowboy romance series? I grew up on a cattle ranch, and I’m a big believer in the sort of therapy that comes from nature, animals, and people who genuinely care. I’m also a mother of teens, and as I’ve talked to other mothers of teens, we’ve talked about some of the issues our kids are facing, namely anxiety and depression. I liked the idea of a close mother-daughter relationship, and a mom who was scared…

Anna Schmidt | Exclusive Excerpt: PATHFINDER + Giveaway!
Author Guest / January 1, 2020

The Harvey Girls, in full uniform, stood shoulder to shoulder, arms linked, at the entrance to the church. Emma was at the center of the lineup. Grace Hopkins was on her left and a woman Max didn’t recognize was on her right, all three also in uniform. Sheriff Bolton stood before them, shouting out threats to arrest the whole lot of them. Off to one side sat the bride, her face blotched with either fury or misery or both. Father O’Meara stood between McCoy, the local lawyer, and Mr. Gilmore, trying without much success to get them to lower their voices. And instead of consoling his bride, whose day had clearly been ruined, RJ stood with his arms around his mother—and his eyes fixed on Emma. Max started making his way through the crowd. “Wait, Max,” Aidan called, stopping him. “Let them alone. This just might work.” “Mr. Campbell,” Ford said, “please explain why employees of the Harvey Company are staging what appears to be a protest outside a church of all places.” “It was all their idea,” Aidan said, gesturing toward the waitresses. “Emma’s really—along with Grace and Lily, of course.” “Who’s Lily?” Max asked. Aidan pointed to the…