1–What’s the name of your latest release?  WHAT YOU WISH FOR 2–What is it about?  It’s about love, loss, and finding joy on purpose. School librarian Samantha Casey gets the worst new boss in the world–and he just happens to be the not-quite-forgotten biggest unrequited crush of her life. 3–What word best describes your main character(s)?  Resilient. Hopeful. Real. (That’s 3 words!) 4–What makes your story relatable?  It’s a story about people who are trying like heck to find joy in the midst of all their struggles and hardships.   5–Who are the people your main characters turn to when they need help?  Sam turns to her friend Alice, and Duncan turns to his sister Helen–but more and more, as the story goes on, they turn to each other. 6–What do you love about the setting of your book?  It’s set on Galveston Island, on the coast of Texas, which is the historic beach town where I write all my books. 7–Are you a plotter (follow an outline) or a pantser (write by the seat of your pants)? I’m a hybrid! I always start with a plot (more like a list of things I think will happen), and then, as the characters…

Content Warning: detailed depiction of physical abuse/assault.  *** Prologue Caroline Martin stared up at the ceiling tiles, small and square with tiny black holes that evoked an image of pepper jack cheese. Some were stained from leaky pipes that created ghostly formations of gray outlined in black above her head. The room was cold, and she began to shiver. One of the OR nurses noticed and covered her with another preheated hospital blanket, tucking it in under her chin and over her shoulders. “Thank you,” Caroline said through clenched teeth. She couldn’t move because they had already strapped her down to the operating table at her arms and just below her breasts. They left her legs free, covered with socks and leg warmers, as they would soon be placing her calves in stirrups. At least they had the decency to wait until she was completely under first. But after that, she was certain there would be no concern for her modesty. The pill they had given her fifteen minutes earlier began to take effect. Background noises blended together in a smothered cacophony, and only when someone got up close in her face was she able to focus. Even so, it…

Story is in everything, and I have often found myself most drawn to those that ask the big questions and explore the human condition. Those questions with a splash of imagination in finding ways to answer them, or even to ask them, are what provide the most inspiration for me when it comes to writing. As a mental health therapist, I have a front-row seat to the human condition, the common struggles, insecurities, pain, traumas, fears, and transitions so many of us face. I am constantly working with people through their anxieties, secret shames, failures, and rejections, and I find that at the root of so many of these struggles is the human need for belonging. For love. For acceptance. One day I was brainstorming story concepts and a question came to mind for me: Is there a love out there that is so big and unconditional that it could redeem even the most heinous of acts? From there I reimagined the concept of the Fountain of Youth. What if there was a Fountain out there that healed of all ailments and granted immortality. Would we drink? But what if there was a cost? You get to live forever, be…

My new historical romance, FAIR AS A STAR, is the first book in my Victorian Romantics series. Set during the summer of 1864, it features a handsome and compassionate clergyman hero and a courageous heroine who just happens to be betrothed to his brother. After a year-long stay in Paris, Beryl Burnham has returned home to the idyllic village of Shepton Worthy ready to resume the life she left behind. Betrothed to the wealthy Sir Henry Rivenhall, she has no reason to be unhappy–or so people keep reminding her. But Beryl’s life isn’t as perfect as everyone believes. . . F is for Family. Something Beryl values more than anything. A is for Alliance. The upcoming marriage of Beryl and Sir Henry Rivenhall. I is for Impetuous. Beryl’s younger sister Winnifred is driven more by emotion than good sense. R is for Romance. Sometimes it happens where you least expect it. * A is for Attraction. Mark Rivenhall has been besotted with Beryl for as long as he can remember. S is for Sisterhood. The bond that Beryl shares with Winnifred. * A is for Affinity. Mark and Beryl have always been friends. * S is for Supportive. Mark gives…

For the month of Bastille Day, I’m serving up a selection of historical fiction that captures the time just before, during, and after the Revolution. Caught in the merciless cogs of this seismic shift are four very different women, some who will thrive–and one who will pay the ultimate price for being on the wrong side of history. Beginning first with the one who loses the most, we have ABUNDANCE by Sena Jeter Naslund. Much like Sophia Coppola’s film Marie Antoinette, Naslund’s book looks at Marie’s life through her own eyes. Beginning as a giddy 14-year old thrilled to be going to France to marry the 15-year-old Dauphin, completely unprepared for the vicious cauldron of political intrigue that is Versailles, Marie is dazzled by the court, who seemed charmed by her. But although she works hard to build a relationship with her husband, his failure to consummate the marriage and give France the heir it needs sours her life at court. She buries her disappointment by retreating in opulent comfort, surrounding herself with a small coterie of women friends, the Austrian ambassador–the Swedish Count Von Fersen. By the time the long-awaited children arrive, France is in desperate circumstances, with bitter…

Hi.  I’m Alice Gaines, and I’m here to talk about my new release, The Player’s Game.  It’s the second book in my Players’ Pact series from Entangled Indulgence. I’ll let my hero, Grant, introduce himself: I’ve got to admit, life is sweet these days. As a starting NFL quarterback, I do okay, and I haven’t been lacking for female companionship. But I’d give it all up in a heartbeat if I could get back the woman I loved and lost–my ex-wife, Katy. Now I’m at a wedding, watching one of my best friends tie the knot. I’m happy for him–really. I just wish things had turned out better when I’d taken that walk down the aisle. Still, those days are over. I’m on my way up to my room when I run into my ex in the elevator. It’s like karma. Has to be. Only she’s with some random guy, who’s getting a little too handsy for my liking. I can’t help myself–I have to say something. Something that ruins her night. . . and mine, too. Now, I’m sitting alone in my hotel room, when suddenly, Katy’s at my door, complaining that I ruined her 30th birthday. Her solution–that…

1–What’s the name of your latest release? High Rise: Andre 2–What is it about? One-night-stand turned employer-intern turned omg I think I’m in love. 3–What word best describes Andre? Confused. Poor baby is so confused. 4–What makes Marcus irresistible? He’s so focused, and he knows what he wants. 5–Who are the people your main characters turn to when they need help? For Andre, his friend Fiona. For Marcus, his boy Jake. 6–What do you love about the setting of your book? Honestly, I love the familiarity of it. I can go out and scout the locations, and they’re places that are comfortable, welcoming, where you don’t have to feel on edge the entire time. It feels more like home. 7–Are you a plotter (follow an outline) or a pantster (write by the seat of your pants) Plotter all day long! I tried pantsing once, and after a tantrum to rival that of any two-year-old told “no,” realized the error of my ways. 8–What is an ideal writing day for you? On my balcony with either my papers or laptop, a cup of Earl Grey tea in hand, at 6:00 a.m., for two and a half hours of uninterrupted work. Summer…

Miranda: The first of your books I read were in the Fusion series. I loved it because it had friendships and realistically strong yet flawed female characters. How important is it for you to write strong female characters and friendships? Does the dialogue flow easily? Kristen: Thank you! I’m absolutely a dialogue-driven author. I also love to read dialogue. I think it moves the story along at a fast pace. Friendships are integral to every book I write. None of us just fall in love and have no one else in our lives. I think it’s important to show a character’s community, her family and friends, and their reactions to the character falling in love. One of the things I enjoy so much about your Romancing Manhattan series, as well as many of your other books, is the balance between romance, character development, and conflict. Do you consciously try and maintain balance in your books or does it just evolve organically? The books evolve organically, as I write them. As a huge fan of the series, I’m thrilled about your new Romancing Manhattan book AFTER ALL! But are there any supporting characters in any of your series that you’ve toyed…

6 DONNA Marleen extends a round porcelain bowl with pills. I scoop them up, put them in my mouth, and take a sip of water from a glass on the nightstand. She leaves the room and I lean back and listen to the sounds of the house. Marleen karate-chops the throw pillows on the couch (I don’t care for that look but I won’t correct her) and wipes the kitchen counters (there is the tearing of a disinfectant wipe from the container, followed by the sound of the garbage can lid clinking shut shortly thereafter). Her heels clack, make their way down the hallway and into the powder room, followed by a silence during which she undoubtedly straightens towels on the shelf. The house phone rings. Marleen’s explanation about someone punching in the wrong numbers at the gate sounds contrived. I want to get up, hurry from my bedroom down the hallway and into the kitchen, want to get to the bottom of this–want to grab the receiver and demand to know who is on the other end of the line–but the phone stops ringing. I don’t want to be in this state of mistrust but– That book on the…

Canceled plans, social distancing, and masks are a regular part of our lives nowadays. Can we all just give a huge round of applause to the authors, editors, and publishers out there who have kept the books coming even as the world has seemingly shut down? In fact, I’m supposed to be just returning from an Alaskan cruise right now, sharing pictures and memories of what was to be a trip to rival my outstanding trip several years back to Ireland. Thankfully, there are a plethora of phenomenal books out there to keep me entertained (and keep my mind off that missed Alaskan cruise LOL!). Daryl Wood Gerber adds a dash of the paranormal to the cozy mystery, A SPRINKLING OF MURDER, where readers enter a world where fairies exist and they have to complete certain goals to earn their wings. Courtney Kelly loves sharing her belief in the world of fairies with others through her store, Open Your Imagination, where she teaches and sells various items to help with landscaping, including how to design fairy gardens. Her own personal fairy, Fiona, is visible to those who are willing to believe. Can Courtney and Fiona uncover a murderer? Readers will…