Fresh FIction Box Not To Miss
Danielle Jackson Dresser | In Which I Re-Read All of Bridgerton
Author Guest / May 19, 2021

Dear Reader, Christmas Day of 2020 gave us all something to glom onto and obsess over: the Netflix adaptation of Julia Quinn’s beloved Bridgerton series, quite aptly titled BRIDGERTON. Diversely cast, boldly fashionable, unabashedly sexy, and just plain fun, BRIDGERTON is the romance series adaptation we’ve been waiting for… With Shonda Rhimes’ production company at the helm, would you expect anything else? This isn’t an article dissecting the show (it’s not perfect, but I was able to overlook some of its missteps—particularly those around race and what the diverse casting really meant and didn’t follow through on—and still enjoy it), or the merits of having Dame Julie Andrews as the witty and sharp voice of Lady Whistledown. Instead, this is an article about why, after I binged the series over a couple of days in January, I decided to embark on a re-read of the entire Bridgerton book series. I read the Bridgerton books back in 2008, when I had just started working in publishing and was fully ensconced in the romance genre. I believe I picked up ON THE WAY TO THE WEDDING, which, as it happens, is the last book in the series. Within a few chapters, I…

Julia Justiss | History ReFreshed: VIKING SPRING
Author Guest / May 19, 2021

The Viking invaders played a big part in the Conquest world of 1066 England whose stories were featured in last month’s column.  With May being spring in Norway—when we lived in Oslo for three years, our landlord declared the second week of May to be officially “spring” and allowed us to clear any remaining snow off our lawns then—this month we will explore more stories that illuminate the Viking world by interpreting the lives of historic and legendary Viking women.  As with the world of 1066, this era seems to attract writers who produce multi-volume sagas.  What greater delight to an avid reader than discovering a new series? We begin with THE NORSE QUEEN by Johanna Wittenberg, which reinterprets the life of the Viking queen Asa.  In the ninth century, Viking power is just developing, with the land still fragmented into thirty warring kingdoms that continually raid each other to pillage and capture wives and slaves.  Fifteen-year-old Asa, daughter of the King of Tromoy, is sought as a bride by Gudrod, king of a neighboring province.  Her refusal to wed him sparks a bitter reprisal, in which her family is killed, and to save her people, she must marry her…

Hudson Lin | Author-Reader Match: HARD SELL
Author Guest / May 18, 2021

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 Hudson Lin! Writes: I write queer romance featuring people of color. I truly believe that everyone deserves a Happily Ever After, especially folks who feel like outsiders and are looking for a place to belong. HARD SELL is about a successful businessman looking for something more. That’s when his best friend’s kid brother walks back into his life, all grown up and impossible to ignore. They’re on opposite sides of the boardroom, but definitely on the same side of the bedroom as they navigate family and careers to find their happily ever after. About: Taiwanese Canadian bisexual woman living in Toronto. Avid knitter, crafter, cook, baker, reader, and TV-binger. Can talk for hours about social justice, mental health, anti-oppression, and equity—and get a little angry while doing it. Left the corporate world to be an artiste. What I’m looking for in my ideal reader match: Loves to read with a box of tissues at hand. Wants to travel around the world…

Wendy Wax | Exclusive Interview: THE BREAK-UP BOOK CLUB
Author Guest / May 18, 2021

Danielle: Hi, Wendy! Welcome to Fresh Fiction. Please introduce yourself and tell us a little bit about your new book, THE BREAK-UP BOOK CLUB.  Wendy: Thanks so much for inviting me to share my latest novel. It’s great to be here. THE BREAK-UP BOOK CLUB revolves around a book club that meets in the carriage house of a historic Atlanta home turned bookstore and explores the ways in which books can bring even the unlikeliest people together. At its core, it’s a story about the kind of friendship that gets us through the toughest times. Book clubs are almost like a rite of passage in life at this point! Have you been in book clubs over the years? What do you think makes a great “book club book”?  I’ve spoken to a lot of book clubs over the last twenty plus years, but I hadn’t belonged to one for almost that long. As part of my research, I joined a group led by a former independent bookseller and longtime friend. The book club lives on Meetup and attracts a more diverse group than the neighborhood group I once belonged to and many that I’ve visited. This opened up and impacted…

Joani Elliott | Exclusive Excerpt: THE AUDACITY OF SARA GRAYSON
Author Guest / May 18, 2021

“So, about Book Five…” Sara’s attorney, David, finally stopped fiddling with his glasses. He clasped his hands together, swallowed hard, and fixed his gaze firmly on Sara. “Your mom wants you to write Book Five.” Sara laughed. David didn’t. Sara laughed again. More like a confused sputter. Then with a quick gasp, the whole amusing absurdity of the joke settled in and Sara laughed fully and deeply. This was actually a very funny joke. “Aww, David. You know the Graysons too well. You did get my attention, though, with the hands-clasped-together and that scary attorney look—like I’m going to find out my mother is broke.” David laughed nervously. “No, your mother isn’t broke. But yes…she did choose you to write the book.” That’s when Sara noticed David’s sweaty brow and how he wasn’t wiping it. Two beads of sweat hung there, practically defying gravity, and David didn’t budge. Sara’s stomach dropped to her toes, and disbelief washed over her entire body. “David, you can’t be serious. The book’s already written. It has to be. Mom’s a finisher, a closer. I heard Anna-Kath ask her about the final book. Mom said it was taken care of. I heard it myself.” David…

Sandra Owens | Exclusive Excerpt: KEEPING GUARD
Author Guest / May 17, 2021

There was only one other car parked on the dirt-packed lot at the entrance to the falls, a silver Mercedes with “Just Married” scrawled on the rear window. Shrugging off his curiosity, Noah locked the doors of his rental and headed for the trail, hoping Jack was right and a bit of peace awaited him at the bottom that would quiet the ants. Noah paused at the top of the trail going down, frowning at seeing the white heels, one upright and the other on its side. A pair of white stockings were draped over a nearby bush. He glanced back at the Mercedes. Was he going to stumble on a bride and groom, and what the devil were they doing here of all places? He almost turned around to leave, but curiosity got the better of him. If he discovered them getting it on—a distinct possibility considering the bride was shedding clothing—he’d discreetly disappear. Going down in stealth mode, he reached the bottom of the trail, stopping dead in his tracks when a feminine voice said, “Cheers to me.” He blinked and then blinked again. A woman wearing nothing but lacey white panties, a white corset, and a veil…

Elle Cosimano | Author-Reader Match: FINLAY DONOVAN IS KILLING IT
Author Guest / May 17, 2021

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 Elle Cosimano! Writes: I write fast-paced, genre-bending thrillers with a touch of romance and captivating whodunnits. Finlay Donovan Is Killing It is the first book in my new, compulsively readable mystery series for adults, about the eponymous struggling author and single mom who, when overheard discussing the plot of her latest novel over lunch with her agent, inadvertently accepts an offer to dispose of a problem husband for money, in order to make ends meet. “Cosimano cuts dexterously between Finn’s adventures as a hitwoman, her deeply iffy romance . . . , and the domestic crises that keep on piling up as if nothing had ever happened to disturb them. Suspenseful, funny, and even a tad mysterious. More, please.” —Kirkus Reviews About: I enjoy cooking, reading, and traveling. (I do not enjoy excessive exercise, housework, or doing my own taxes.) I’m a homeschooling mom and an award-winning author of mysteries and thrillers for both the young and young at heart. I live in…

Jacqueline Corcoran | Art History and A SURREALIST AFFAIR
Author Guest / May 17, 2021

A SURREALIST AFFAIR took me years, off and on, to write, partly because it involved so much research to pull off. Most of the research involved the Surrealist art movement, but I also had to learn about art history more broadly, training of art historians, methods of art fraud, art thefts and recovery, the FBI Art Crime Team, the geography of Paris, and French phrasing. I had three years of high school French but met my language requirement for college because from the middle of junior year, I attended Dow High in Midland, Michigan (yes, Dow Chemical), which was more interested in STEM than languages. With only a rudimentary grasp of French, I needed a lot of help from Google, a critique partner who knew French, and a friend who had spent time studying in Paris, so he was also familiar with the geography of the city. Because my protagonist Elle Dakin was going through a Ph.D. art history program, that required its own research.  I am a professor in an academic department, so I know about impossible advisors and narcissistic professors, as well as the challenges of writing a dissertation. But my field is social work, not art history….

Magan Vernon | 20 Questions: HEIRLY EVER AFTER
Author Guest / May 14, 2021

1–What is the title of your latest release? Heirly Ever After 2–What is it about? A young woman is attending her sister’s royal wedding–sans a date who broke up with her after she dropped out of college for him–so she takes a date with a Scottish man she meets on the train who happens to be the outcast of the royal family. 3–What do you love about the setting of your book?  I love the Cotswold feel of an English country town with rolling hills and the historical aspects of the castle that I built in my head in Heired Lines from watching a lot of Secrets of Great British Castles 4–How did your heroine surprise you?  She wasn’t supposed to be this dang persistent. In my head originally she was spunky, but I kept having to tell my brain one thing and she wanted to do another. 5–Why will readers love your hero?  That he’s genuine. His story could have been very different and he could have been a villain or an anti-hero. 6–What was one of your biggest challenges while writing this book (spoiler-free, of course!)?  To make Lord Jacob a real hero and not an anti-hero. 7–Do…

Lynn Rush & Kelly Anne Blount | Exclusive Interview: GUTTER GIRL
Author Guest / May 14, 2021

Danielle: Welcome back to Fresh Fiction, Lynn and Kelly Anne! Can you tell us about how you two started writing together? Lynn & Kelly Anne: It almost resembles a prom-posal. We met on our Seymour Agency loop when Kelly joined the agency. After becoming critique partners one day Kelly said something to the effects of, “Hey, we should write a book together.” And heck yeah, I said yes!   We talked over iMessage and on the phone, going over potential ideas until we settled on a sports romance, IN THE PENALTY BOX, which released in January 2021. Once we started writing IN THE PENALTY BOX, it led to the sequel, CROSSING THE LINE. It didn’t stop there, though, either. The 12-book concept of Twin River High a.k.a. Sweet Valley High meets Gossip Girl was born. In 2020, we wrote six books together through Google Docs, countless hours on the phone, and lots of texting. It’s been awesome! We are a great team and love creating new series, storylines, and characters for you to fall in love with! I’m sure you get asked this all the time, but how do you decide who writes what? Do you have any tips for…