I think it’s safe to say that a swoon-worthy hero, the ever-elusive book boyfriend, is what makes a good book great.  As a reader, I’m always chasing this man. To me, he’s like the unicorn of the contemporary romance world. They come in many forms. We have the nice guys, alpaholes, daddies, and Dominants, mob bosses, to name just a few. What’s swoon-worthy for one reader might not cut it for another. For example, I tend to prefer the nice guy to the alphahole, but nice guys and alphaholes can share many things in common. All the heroes in every single book I’ve written are different, but they each possess some of the same attributes that make me swoon. I’ve been reading romance way before I started writing, and it’s all about the hero for me. Yes, I love a strong, feisty heroine, but I read to find a book boyfriend, and now that I’m a writer, I can mold and shape my hero to meet my book boyfriend criteria. Here are the five things that make me fall in love with a fictional character, whether a nice guy or not. POSSESSIVENESS – A hero who knows what he wants…

Danielle: Welcome to Fresh Fiction, Ann! We’re so excited to chat with you today. Can you call us a bit about your new book WITCH PLEASE?   Ann: WITCH PLEASE is a delicious cupcake of a book. It’s just enough to heat, sweet and lovely, with a bit of creamy goodness to make it go down smooth. But if you want more story details, I’d say it’s a forbidden love romance with lots of sisterhood, family complications, and tons of heart and humor. I adore that your heroine, Danica, works as a magical tech “fixer!” What are some of the magical “rules” you have in place in your story that readers should know about?  Magic is low-key in this world. There are no demons being summoned or fireballs being cast. Think along the lines of charms and hexes, illusions, repair work. It’s small, subtle magic generally, though there are some powerful implications in being a tech witch. A tech witch could make a machine malfunction at the wrong time, which would be incredibly dangerous. In terms of rules, mundanes can’t know about the existence of witches due to earlier witch hunts. It’s to keep witches safe from persecution but it…

I want you to tell her to stop hiding my baccy!” Ernest Plumb was one of Imelda’s regulars. He was a short, stocky man with a bellicose air, who trailed a pungent whiff of mothballs and pipe smoke in his wake. Since his wife, Joan, had died, he had come to see her every few weeks to continue the constant bickering that had been the mainstay of their forty-two-year marriage. Imelda had tried explaining to Ernest that spiritual readings weren’t like telephone conversations. She couldn’t simply dial dead people and have a chat at will. Joan was no more cooperative in death than she had been in life. She only came through when it suited her, but today she did have something to say and Imelda struggled to suppress a grin. “Joan says that she’ll stop hiding your stinking tobacco when you stop living like a filthy pig and wash the net curtains at the sitting room window. And she wants you to stop smoking your pipe in the house. She says that’s what your bloody shed is for.” “It’s not like he uses it for anything else,” Joan grumbled. Imelda could see her standing behind Ernest with her hands…

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 you may fall in love with. It’s our great pleasure to present Alexa Rivers! WRITES Steamy small-town romance. I love writing about families, communities, and the emotional rollercoaster that leads to a heartfelt happily ever after. My latest release, A PLACE TO BELONG, book #2 in the multi-author Blue Collar Romance series is out in stores on 10 September 2021. ABOUT THE AUTHOR The only thing I love as much as reading is chocolate. However, my husband and dog come a close second and third. I met my husband at the end of my first year of university, when we both worked for a summer at McDonalds. On our first day, he cracked a dirty joke and I was the only one who laughed. That’s how he knew he had to lock me down. When we’re not in a Covid world, I enjoy travel. I live in New Zealand, so it’s a long flight from here to anywhere and it’s nice to see outside the borders of my beautiful country. I wrote my first book when I…

Whether it’s heiresses vying to catch the eye of English aristocrats during the London Season, the American wealthy of the Gilded Age, or the glitter of Hollywood stars, there is an endless fascination with the lives of the rich and famous.  This month’s selection of novels offers up titillating glimpses into the worlds of both fictional and fictionalized denizens of high society and Hollywood royalty. We begin with the wholly fictional in THE SEASON by Charlotte Bingham, which presents the battle for titled husbands from the point of view not just of the debutantes, but also through the eyes of their ambitious mothers and sponsors.  Old friends Portia and Emily join forces to present their daughters Phyllis and Edith, both mothers determined their offspring will snag the interest of a future duke.  At the same time, their old enemy Daisy, whose extravagance and excesses have forced her to take a position as sponsor for an American heiress who needs the proper entrée to Society, is maneuvering to have her girl from across the sea claim the coveted prize of a duke’s hand.  Determined not to be simply the pawns of their mothers, Phyllis and Edith have hatched plans of their…

1–What is the title of your latest release? A SPOT OF TROUBLE 2–What is it about? A SPOT OF TROUBLE is a sweet 101-Dalmatians-inspired romantic comedy about a cupcake baker and a new-to-town firefighter who both have two very opposite pet Dalmatians. 3–What do you love about the setting of your book?  The setting of this book is a fictional, small North Carolina beach town called Turtle Beach, and it’s actually very near and dear to my heart, because it’s based on a real place called Topsail Island, NC. My family has been visiting Topsail nearly every summer for more than twenty-five years.  4–How did your heroine surprise you?  By listening to her own heart from the very beginning of the book, in spite of her family’s efforts to protect her from getting hurt.  5–Why will readers love your hero?  Readers will love Sam because he’s swoony and stoic and loves Violet just as she is. 6–What was one of your biggest challenges while writing this book (spoiler-free, of course!)?  Not going out and adopting a Dalmatian! Ha! (For real, though.) 7–Do you look forward to or do you dread the revision process?  Revisions are actually my favorite part. I…

Every year I say I’m not going to start planning for the holidays until after Thanksgiving, but who am I kidding? I start watching Hallmark holiday movies the second they come out, usually before Halloween. With all the shortages in supplies as well as delivery services from the pandemic, this year more than ever it’s time to start planning early. Start what, you ask? Everything, I say! Start making a list and checking it twice. Start reflecting on the past year. Have you been naughty or nice? In NAUGHTY OR NICE, Samantha Darling is through being nice. Nice has gotten her nothing but heartache, so she decides to give naughty a try. Getting back at her ex is worth ending up on the naughty list. You’ll have to read the story to see what crazy situation her new motto has landed her in and how she handles it. I have no “real” exes to get back at because I’ve been with my hubby since I was eighteen; but if I did, I could see myself doing what Samantha does. Sometimes I feel like I’ve always been way too nice in life. Don’t get me wrong, I love being nice. Helping…

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 you may fall in love with. It’s our great pleasure to present Faith Hunter! Writes: Hi All! I’m Faith Hunter, and currently, I am writing three series: The longest-running is the Urban Fantasy, Jane Yellowrock series, set in New Orleans, La. and Asheville, NC. The Soulwood series is a Paranormal Police Procedural series set in the same world as Jane Yellowrock, but features magic-user, agent rookie Nell Ingram, in Knoxville, TN. Lastly, the Junkyard Cats series is completely unrelated to Jane’s world. It’s a Post-Apocalyptic Sci-Fi novella series, starring Shining Smith…and several special cats! My next book is TRUE DEAD, number 14 in the Jane Yellowrock series. TRUE DEAD is an urban fantasy with mixes of mystery, action-adventure, amazing fight scenes, and just enough sizzle to keep things interesting. The series features Jane Yellowrock—biker-chick/hunter of rogue-vampires/Cherokee skinwalker who accidently absorbed the soul of a mountain lion in a desperate, unintentional act of black magic when she was five years old. She is a contradictory blend of strength and vulnerability—a gun-toting Harley rider, a tribal war woman, and a magic-using skinwalker….

History was one of my least favorite classes in school. Don’t get me wrong–I had some great teachers and I enjoyed a lot of the South Carolina history we were taught, but a lot of what we learned seemed far off and not relevant to my life. I knew that wasn’t true because one of my awesome teachers quoted us time and again about not forgetting the past or being doomed to repeat it, but I didn’t see it reflected through the history books we studied. Very little was taught about the various individual lives of people, in particular the women in history. Anne Frank’s story brought to life what the Jewish people suffered under Hitler, but I learned about her mainly through my literature classes. In fact, it was through literature classes that I learned about how women were treated as property or outcasted from society for exhibiting behaviors identical to the men of their times. Now here I sit, many, many years later, and I am still learning through literature. Whether it’s a graphic novel, such as PERSEPOLIS by Marjane Satrapi, or a novel such as BRIGID OF KILDARE by Heather Terrell, there is so much history to…

Chapter 4 Picking someone up at the airport in New York City was the biggest of favors, and Michelle hoped the big jerk appreciated it. But not even the nighttime traffic leading into LaGuardia Airport or BTS blasting positive-energy K-pop from her car’s speakers could distract from her jitters about seeing Gabe again.  What would he be like? Would it be weird to be around him again, or just like old times? She wasn’t sure which she preferred. It might hurt more if they slipped right back into their old dynamic, but she also harbored the hope that they could pick up where they’d left off. Although, the last time she’d seen him, they’d had their tongues in each other’s mouth. Were they going to pretend that hadn’t happened? What was the etiquette for reuniting with a former best friend you’d almost banged? The music was interrupted as her Fiat’s Bluetooth called out, “Call from Ava.” Gripping the wheel tight, Michelle debated whether or not to answer. Her stomach was a bundle of twisted-up knots, her teeth clenched tight. Ava would know something was going on, and Michelle didn’t want to explain what she was doing, especially since she wasn’t…