Fresh FIction Box Not To Miss
Jennifer Vido | Jen’s Jewels: HELLO, SUMMER by Mary Kay Andrews
Author Guest / May 8, 2020

Jennifer: What inspired you to write your new release, HELLO, SUMMER?   Mary Kay: A couple years ago I read an article in my hometown newspaper, The Tampa Bay Times, about the area’s long-time conservative Republican Congressman, who’d just passed away from cancer. At the Congressman’s funeral, his son gave a eulogy that mentioned his father’s “secret first family”–the Congressman’s first wife and his children with him, with whom he’d had no contact for decades. It was a stunning moment that sparked a family feud played out in headlines around the country. When I went looking for a juicy story for my newspaper reporter protagonist Conley to dig into, that story immediately came to mind. Of course, my fictional Congressman dies in a mysterious late-night accident on a remote country road, and there are lots of other differences, but that story kept me up at night, wondering “what if?”  Why does Sarah “Conley” Hawkins choose to return to her hometown? She doesn’t have any alternatives. She’s quit her job as a reporter at the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, broken up with her boyfriend and given up her apartment–all in anticipation of a new job she’s accepted with a new digital-only investigative publication in…

Naima Simone | 20 Questions: RUTHLESS PRIDE
Author Guest / May 8, 2020

1–What’s the name of your latest release?  Ruthless Pride 2–What is it about?  Ooh, it’s like Dynasty meets. . . well, what’s the hottest show you can think of? That. It’s Dynasty meets that. 🙂 Fifteen years ago, hedge fund owner Vernon Lowell disappeared with millions of his clients’ money, leaving his son, Joshua Lowell, to clean up the pieces of their family and the financially devastated clients. Joshua has done it, but now determined reporter Sophie Armstrong intends to dredge up his dark past with an article, along with rumors of a secret child. He will do anything to protect his family from pain and the possible ruin of the company he’s worked so hard to save. But he didn’t count on battling his fierce desire for her as well. 3–What word best describes your heroine?  Determined and independent.  4–What makes your hero irresistible?  He’s incredibly loyal and self-sacrificing. And an artist. A repressed one, but still. Oh, and did I mention he’s hot? A friend of mine calls him Stern Daddy Blake Carrington. LOL! 5–Who are the people your main characters turn to when they need help?  Joshua is the person his family and employees look to for…

Louisa Leaman | My Top 5 Whispering Dresses
Author Guest / May 8, 2020

What is a whispering dress? Venture inside the bridal boutique of my heroine, Fran Delaney, and you’ll find out. Fran finds vintage wedding dresses, gets to know their histories, then matches them to modern-day brides, helping them to transform their lives. In that sense, her dresses ‘whisper’ their secrets and wisdoms to whoever wears them next. I was inspired to write The Second Chance Boutique while working for the Victoria & Albert Museum, researching their extraordinary collection of historic wedding dresses. It wasn’t just the dresses that fascinated me, but the personal stories behind them. From demure to ultimate glamour, from the courtesan’s sack-back gown to the ever-changing Victorian silhouette, the thirties to the sixties to the nineties, these dresses were as varied in character as the women who wore them – and it struck me that the spirit of these women seemed very much present, embodied in the fabric and stitches. The idea of these dresses stayed with me until, not long after my own wedding, I decided I simply had to write a romance based around them. So here are some of the ones that inspired me: The Scandalous One This dramatic Norman Hartnell gown was worn by…