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 Laura Brown! Writes: Laura writes romances featuring characters with hearing loss, ranging from New Adult, to Contemporary, to Romantic Comedies. Matzah Ball Surprise is her first romantic comedy, featuring a fake date for Passover! About: A self-professed introvert, Laura becomes outgoing in quiet environments. She loves to read, and all things cats, and like many parents will enjoy child-free time, but may also talk about her son! Willingness to repeat is a must, as Laura’s hearing loss selectively misses words without her permission. Knowledge of ASL a bonus! What I’m looking for in my ideal reader match: *Desire to learn ASL *Willingness to try matzah *Enjoys the fake date/only one bed trope *Ogles the gym buffs with Gaby (heroine) *Enjoys dogs with a penchant for mischief What to expect if we’re compatible: *Fulfilling HEA *Heroes who stumble over their emotions. *Lots of little hearing loss references *Supportive yet overwhelming families *Food as foreplay — FOR A CHANCE TO WIN: Rafflecopter Giveaway – $10 Amazon Gift Card & digital Copy…

1–What’s the name of your latest release? Sparrow 2–What is it about?  Sparrow is the story of Savannah Darcy Rose (“Sparrow”), a gifted seventeen-year-old ballerina who suffers physical abuse at the hands of her boyfriend. It’s also about her friend and dance partner, Lucas, who serves as a second POV character. He’s been secretly in love with Sparrow for years and tries hard to be a strong ally for her, while facing a tragedy of his own. 3–What word best describes your protagonist?  Haunted 4–What is the most interesting thing you discovered about your protagonist while writing this book?  I knew that Sparrow would be filled with grief and despair after her boyfriend’s violent assault; what I also discovered was the depth and breadth of her rage. 5–Who are the people your main characters turn to when they need help? Sparrow’s lifelong creed has always been, “I am not the kind of girl who tells,” so she internalizes her fear and pain and refuses to admit to anyone that her boyfriend is hurting her, until it’s too late. Lucas confides in his mother and his friends, especially Delaney, who is Sparrow’s best friend. 6–What do you love about the setting…

First of all, thank you to FreshFiction for hosting me on your website’s blog! For this supernatural Thursday, I thought it would be fun to discuss how dreams are used in fiction (especially teen fiction), seeing as dreams are such potent forces. Most of us have had one of the following reactions to a dream: “Thank god that wasn’t real! My heart is pounding.” “Uh, what in the world was THAT about?” “What a brilliant story idea! Let me write that down!” I’m partially joking on the third, but it is true that writers can be highly inspired by dreams and nightmares. As a personal example, part of my debut teen fantasy novel Paragon is based on a nightmare I had many years ago. I was on vacation in a remote cabin with family, but the cabin was full of ghosts that only I could see. Cue a ton of “Don’t you see them? Am I going crazy?” that left me feeling insane even after I woke up. Since dreams are such amazing fodder for writers, it’s no wonder that dream sequences themselves end up in fiction. With that in mind, let’s take a look at how stories can incorporate…

Eliza had spoken to each of the ladies over tea and found them every bit as amusing, pleasant, and pretty as she had during the Season. She liked them all, although a preference for one over the other had not yet shown itself. But her own preference mattered very little. The question was, which lady would the duke prefer? Lady Jane was tall and slender with hair the color of butterscotch. She had a wonderful singing voice, and not only did she read the papers, but she had opinions about their content. Eliza was certain she would make an excellent duchess. Lady Louisa had soft brown curls, an extraordinary bosom, and cheeks as round and rosy as the apples they plucked. She laughed and smiled a good deal, but there was a sharpness to her wit that would serve her well in a marriage with Wessex. He needed a lady with high spirits to keep him in line. Lady Abigail had hair of deep red, which was not very fashionable, but hers was so gorgeous that one could not wish for any other color. She was gifted with both the pianoforte and bawdy jokes. Eliza thought Wessex would enjoy making…

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 Christi Caldwell! Writes: It’s SO wonderful joining you!! Thank you for having me here at Fresh Fiction! I write historical romance novels set in the Regency, late Regency, or early Victorian era. My latest book, In Bed With the Earl, features a lost lord, who’d been kidnapped as a child, and is now returning to his previous world, and who of course, finds love along the way! About: I blame Julie Garwood and Judith McNaught for luring me into the world of historical romance. While I was in grad school at the University of Connecticut, I set aside my school notes and picked up my laptop to try my hand at romance. I believe the most perfect heroes and heroines have imperfections, and I rather enjoy torturing them before crafting them a well deserved happily ever after! What I’m looking for in my ideal reader match: • You LOVE a flawed or imperfect hero and heroine. • You devour deeply emotional reads that have you…

Continuing my tradition of featuring Irish-set historical fiction for the month of St. Patrick’s Day, I’m offering up a round of novels that begin before The Great Hunger of the mid-1840’s and continue up to after World War II.  Erin go Bragh! We begin with GALWAY BAY by Mary Pat Kelly.  Drawing on anecdotes from her own family history, author Kelly begins her multi-generational saga in Ireland of the “before times”—before the potato blight that brought starvation and forced exile.   Like other fisherman and tenant farmers, Michael Kelly and his young bride Honora Keeley must sell their catch and their harvests to pay their rent, leaving them dependent on potatoes for food.  When the blight destroys the potato crop three out of four years, determined not to let their children starve, Michael and Honora join two million of their countrymen and emigrate to “Amerikay.” With her sister Maire, Honora and their children make their way northward from New Orleans to Chicago, fighting discrimination and opposition as they settle there and help turn this once-frontier town into a thriving metropolis.  The story continues with their sons who fight in the Civil War, and eventually in Ireland’s struggle for independence from British…

Paradise Island was exactly as cheesy as all the online reviews Zach had read on the flight down had suggested. He could hardly believe that Jenna would actually choose to honeymoon here or that she thought Elliot wouldn’t take one look at the place and immediately insist on going somewhere else, sexy lingerie or no. But when somebody allowed sentimentality to trump logic, this was the result. Had she even read any of the reviews when she’d planned the trip? To begin with, it wasn’t a hotel, but a cluster of small huts, which were probably supposed to suggest some kind of alone-on-a-tropical-island fantasy, on which continent, he had no idea. From the pictures online, it looked like someone had bought up all the set pieces from Gilligan’s Island, stuck them on sketchy dock structures the middle of a shallow inlet, and opened for business. Each cluster of huts had its own pier leading from a main building where the shops, restaurants, and spa were located, and each individual hut was spaced along the pier far enough from its neighbor to guarantee “privacy.” In other words, honeymoon gymnastics could take place without couples in the other hump-huts having to listen….

1–What’s the name of your latest release?   Little Wonders, arriving today: Tuesday, March 17! 2–What is it about?   It’s about the parent-eat-parent world of preschool, and how being a mom today is nearly impossible, because you aren’t just told you can have it all – you are told that you must have it all. Here’s the blurb: When Quinn Barrett’s son refuses to wear his hand-crafted costume to the Little Wonders Preschool Happy Halloween Parade and Dance Party she loses it — complete with stomping, screaming, and costume-destruction galore. Not her best day. And caught on viral video.   Yep, “Halloween Mom” is now internet famous.  The posting culprit: tattooed, blue-haired, west-coast transplant Daisy McGulch, out of place in the posh New England town and unable to blend with the other perfect mommies of Little Wonders Preschool. While she couldn’t care less about organic snacks (paleo-preferred) or the winter quarters of the Little Wonders chickens, she’s not about to admit she’s the one who accidentally brought Quinn’s worst moment to the entire world–she’d be kicked out of town! But when Quinn and Daisy find themselves unlikely cohorts in the fight for Little Wonders Parents Association supremacy, they also discover they have…

1–What’s the name of your latest release?  The Eighth Girl: A Novel 2–What is it about?  The Eighth Girl is about a young woman named Alexa Wu who is living with DID (Dissociative Identity Disorder) previously known as multiple personality disorder. Only three people know about her condition–her stepmother, Anna; her psychiatrist, Daniel and her best friend, Ella. When Ella starts work in a high-end gentleman’s club and catches the attention of its shark-like owner, Alexa finds herself the unwitting keeper of a nightmarish secret. With lives at stake, she follows Ella into London’s cruel underbelly on a daring rescue mission. Threatened and vulnerable, Alexa will discover (with the help of Daniel) whether her multiple personalities are her greatest asset, or her most dangerous obstacle. 3–What words best describes your main character(s)?  Alexa is a complicated heroine. While having survived trauma, she finds beauty in nature and small acts of human kindness which she records with her camera. She is also someone who others underestimate, and an advocate for the greater good. At the heart of Alexa is a longing for connection, a need to be understood. Daniel, who has also survived trauma at the hands of his alcoholic father…

St. Patrick’s Day is nearly upon us, and it seems only fitting to draw on some Irish inspiration to celebrate that fair isle. I mean come on, is green beer the best we can do? 🙂 I’ve been lucky enough to visit Ireland on two occasions (but am anxiously awaiting a return trip in the near future), once with my mother and once for school and research as I was writing Inherent Lies, Blood Secrets Book 2. So in honor of tomorrow’s St. Patrick’s Day release, I’d love to share a few of the moments and people who wiggled their way into Inherent Lies. Inspiring Moment #1: Setting The opening image of Inherent Lies was inspired by my first night in Ireland. My travel companion and I were determined to find the famed Johnny Fox’s Pub, whose claim to fame is being the “highest” pub in all of Ireland. It sits on a hill just outside Dublin City, yet our taxi driver had to stop and ask directions (a story in itself) twice along the way. By the time we arrived, it was well worth the long and winding should’ve-taken-Dramamine trip. Not only was Johnny Fox’s all it was touted…