Jen: What inspired you to write THE LIONS OF FIFTH AVENUE? Fiona: At author talks and book signings, readers often suggest New York City landmarks they’d like to see featured in my novels. The New York Public Library came up repeatedly, so I figured I’d do a little research into its construction and history. I learned that when it opened in 1911, the superintendent lived in a seven-room apartment deep inside the library with his wife and three children. The idea of a family living in this monument of marble that’s filled with books struck me as a perfect setting for a novel, and I was up and running–although I created a fictional family for the story.  What is the catalyst behind Laura’s decision to apply to the Columbia Journalism School?  Laura, the superintendent’s wife, has been living in the library for a couple of years, and feels stifled and lonely–it’s not like there are any neighbors to chat with or borrow milk from, as there would be in a regular New York City apartment building. She’s been writing a column about her life raising her two children in a library for the employee newsletter, and when she hears that…

1–What’s the name of your latest release?  Under Scottish Stars, the third book in the MacDonald Family Trilogy. 2–What is it about?  Single mom Serena Stewart has focused on her kids to the exclusion of her career and her sanity. But when she returns to the Isle of Skye to help oversee her family’s guesthouse, her independent nature is challenged by the prickly and all-too-handsome hotel manager, Malcolm Blake. 3–What word best describes your main character(s)?  Dedicated. Whatever Serena turns her mind to, she does it wholeheartedly, whether it’s giving her children a good life after their father dies or making the family hotel into a success. 4–What makes your story relatable?  Those of us who have children can relate to the fact that they become the priority, even to the exclusion of the things we need for our own health and happiness. Even if you don’t have kids, it’s easy to relate to how life sometimes throws us curveballs and interferes with the futures we’ve envisioned for ourselves. 5–Who are the people your main characters turn to when they need help?  Serena’s aunt Muriel is the rock upon which the MacDonald family is built–she’s quirky, sassy, and always has…

one Roxy Brayburn and a broken heart 1974 Dear Mama, Losing Lucas has embittered me to the world, to every couple on the beach, Elle, Santa Maria, and even you. You’ve had twenty years with Daddy. Why didn’t I get that with mine? I expected to live with Lucas and Mayhem and maybe a whole bunch of babies for the rest of my life. But then Lucas jumped off the cliffs like he was late for an appointment. You know what that means. I can’t look at Elle after what she did, and if I have to fight this battle, cleanse my Brayburn blood, I have to do it away from here, where I can’t hear the water whisper, where I can’t feel its pull on my heart, never mind my body. I been thinking, Mama, Santa Maria is just like us, like Brayburns. It seems like a good, safe place for some free love and a party on the beach, but once you peel back the first layer, you realize it’s a lie, and what’s underneath is rotting and dirty. Spoiled, like meat that’s been sitting out too long. I know what you’re thinking: I’ll be a Brayburn wherever…

Out July 7th, The Princess Will Save You is a gender-flipped damsel-in-distress tale inspired by one of my most beloved cult classics: The Princess Bride. First and foremost, this isn’t a retelling. Rather, it’s a love letter to all the things I adore about William Goldman’s spin the classic damsel-in-distress fairytale–True love! Sword fights! Mouthy pirates!–as well as an examination of the one thing about the story that I found more and more frustrating as I grew into adulthood: Buttercup’s character arc. I’m assuming the majority of the Fresh Fiction readership knows the story here, but in summation, Buttercup’s adventures in The Princess Bride go like so: Our princess starts off the story as a commoner, so sure in whom she is and what she wants: her farm boy, Westley. And even after Westley disappears, the presumed victim of the notorious Dread Pirate Roberts, she has the same fierce spark. Buttercup has been plucked from her common life to be a princess, and from the outside has everything a girl could ever want, but still she’s willing to push back. Then, when she’s kidnapped by supposed pirates, Buttercup fights back, tries to escape, and uses what she has to try…

An interview provided by the author for FreshFiction.com – You’ve written novels set in many places around the world (and you’ve traveled to even more!). How do you capture the nuance of a place in your writing, in order to create such vivid settings? I resist writing stories about places I don’t know well in terms of both setting and culture, which is another way of saying: I need to have spent a lot of time in a place before I write about it. My current release, Fire on the Island, set in Greece, is the best example of that. My first job after college was in Greece, to which I’ve returned to numerous times, cumulatively spending some seven years in the country. For the last fifteen years, I’ve gone every spring to the same village on the island of Lesvos where Fire on the Island is set. Prior to becoming a full-time writer, I had a very exciting career in international development that took me around the world many times. In Poland and Jerusalem, I worked on long-term assignments (meaning over two years), so naturally those became settings for two of my novels. In only one case, Cooper’s Promise,…

Hi, Elise! Welcome to Fresh Fiction. Please tell us about yourself and your new book, FAST GIRLS. Fast Girls is historical fiction about three trailblazing American women track stars of the 1930s who come together to compete in the 1936 Olympics in Nazi Berlin, and it’s inspired by a true story. The summer Olympics, which so many people look forward to, have been postponed this year for the safety of athletes and spectators during the global pandemic. I know I will miss watching them! Do you have a favorite Olympic sport to watch? I love both the winter and summer Games and pretty much watch everything! From swimming to synchronized swimming to track and field, I want it all! FAST GIRLS tells the story of three women athletes at the tumultuous 1936 Olympics in Germany. What drew you to this time in history? What was something you learned that completely surprised you? The 1930s are such an interesting time from a political, social, and economic standpoint, and I hadn’t realized how close the U.S. came to boycotting the 1936 Games. It’s fascinating to contemplate how history could have played out differently if Hitler hadn’t been given the world stage to…

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 YAHRAH ST. JOHN!  Writes: I write sexy contemporary romances filled with family drama, intrigue, passion and a cast of unforgettable characters. INSATIABLE HUNGER, Book 3 in Dynasties: Seven Sins series is a sexy contemporary romance set in the fictional town of Falling Brook with a pit stop in the Hampton’s featuring a charismatic hero and a feisty but confused heroine. About: Extroverted author with a penchant for readers who loves soap operas. When I’m not crafting one of my steamy romances, this outgoing diva is either at home cooking a gourmet meal, one of her favorite hobbies. Or she’s traveling the globe with her husband finding the backdrop for her next novel or discovering her next adventure, be it sky diving, parasailing, zip-lining or swimming with the dolphins. What I’m looking for in my ideal reader match: · Must love a strong, sexy hero, typically an Alpha. Though occasionally she’ll dabble with a beta · Must love an independent heroine who has…

Hi, Jayci! Welcome to Fresh Fiction. Please tell us about yourself and your new book, A SWEET MESS! I’m a fresh, new author and everything still feels surreal to me. This interview for example. I can’t believe I’m being interviewed by Fresh Fiction! So exciting! When I’m not caught up in the awe of being a published author, I write sweet, sensual, and laugh out loud contemporary romance and romantic comedy. I used to be an attorney, but I like my new job quite a bit better. It’s probably because I’m a lover, not a fighter. A SWEET MESS is my rom-com debut, and it has a special place in my heart because it’s the first novel I ever wrote. This story is about Korean-American main characters excelling in non-stereotypical professions, overcoming obstacles, and falling in love. I hope it shows that Asian-Americans make damn good heroes and heroines in romance. I love the set-up of this novel! It’s too funny and all the right (or wrong!) pieces fall into place to create a hilarious reason for Aubrey and Landon to end up spending time together and falling in love. What sparked the idea for this novel? I know something can’t come…

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 Alicia Anthony. WRITES: Inherent Fate (available July 21, 2020!) is the third book in the Blood Secrets psychological suspense series, about the cost of truth and the price we pay for love. The series features reluctant psychic, Liv Sullivan, and undercover FBI agent, Ridge McCaffrey, as they navigate a corrupt psychic intelligence operation and unmistakable feelings for each other. ABOUT: Alicia explores the dark dusty corners of the human experience through her novels of suspense. She’s an early riser who (with the help of numerous cups of coffee) turns quiet early morning hours into page-turning thrill rides. MY IDEAL READER WILL: Enjoy digging into long-buried secrets. Like high-stakes suspense. Root for flawed characters. . . even those who are easy on the eyes. 🙂 Get on board for some light supernatural elements. Enjoy characters who spring to life on the page and storylines that keep you guessing until the very end. Never know who to trust. Believe that life–and love–is messy. WHAT…

“You don’t want me, Summer,” he said firmly. “I’m quite old, used-up, and I don’t even know how to be with someone anymore.” “I don’t think that’s true,” Summer murmured. “Isn’t it?” Silence, before Summer said slowly, “Maybe I’m wrong. . .  I’m probably wrong. Or maybe you were a good enough teacher that I can figure some things out. But either way, I think you shut yourself away while you needed to…but your protective walls turned into a cage when you didn’t need them anymore, and now you can’t find your way out.” Shut yourself away while you needed to. The simple memory of just why he’d shut himself away cut deep, digging down to a tiny pain that lived at his heart. He’d made it tiny deliberately, so he could compact it down into a thing so small it could fit in the palm of his hand, all of that agony crushed down into nothing so that he could never touch too much of it at any one time, its surface area barely the size of a fingerprint. And then he’d tucked it away, burying it down where he couldn’t reach it. But those simple words threatened to…