by Teresa Cross I read that your novel, A GIRL NAMED ANNA (My Name is Anna in the UK), won the Daily Mail First Novel Competition in 2017. I can see why because I absolutely loved it! Can you share with us where your inspiration for this amazing novel came from? Thank you so much – that is such a pleasure to hear! The inspiration came from a number of different places. The idea of a child being taken from a theme park was an innate fear my mum had when I was growing up. We used to go to Disney World in Florida every year, and she had a superstition about me being snatched, based on an urban legend about children being taken from theme parks and having their shoes changed and hair cut off. Thankfully I managed to get through many a visit without this happening! I was also very interested in a rash of cases which seemed to come to light about young women who had been abducted when they were children and had been found, alive, kept captive for years. These women were all abducted when they were old enough to remember who they were – I wanted…

A PERFECT EYE pits Lily Sparks, a paintings conservator who was trained to believe her eye is perfect, against a forger-turned-murderer who is hiding in plain sight. When Lily zeroes in on the killer as a failed artist, she learns this: Some forgers aren’t in it for the money; they do it to prove a point. And the ones who are caught tend to meet very bad ends. Here are Lily’s top five forgers: 1 Eric Hebborn: A British painter who trained at the Royal Academy of the Arts and forged Old Master drawings. Hebborn sought revenge against the art world because critics called his works “derivative”, “labored” and “self-conscious”. In 1996, shortly before he published The Art Forger’s Handbook with tricks of the trade including modern recipes for period pigments and ink, he was attacked and killed on a street in Rome. Hebborn’s murder is still unsolved. 2 Mark Hofmann: A mild-mannered Utah Mormon (“a scholarly country bumpkin”) who forged historical documents about the Church of the Latter-Day Saints. To lull experts, Hofmann expressed doubts about the authenticity of his finds. “Do you really think it’s genuine?” he’d say. In 1985, to buy time before his forgeries were discovered,…

I am fascinated by the heroines of this new series, A League of Extraordinary Women, who are suffragists! It was also particularly intriguing in the scenes where Queen Victoria shows up, to find that she was against this movement, and wanted to get rid of feminists. What was the most surprising thing you learned while researching this novel?  I spent some time in the archives of Oxford’s first women’s college, Lady Margaret Hall, to research my story. The first surprise was how pleased the archivist was about my interest in the first women at Oxford because they were so “under-explored”. I wondered why–these women were extraordinary, pioneers if you will, considering how unusual and controversial it was for a woman to go for higher education in 1879. I want to add that LMH shone a spotlight on the first women students this summer, when they marked the 140th anniversary of the college, and I was delighted when they asked me to share my research for the occasion. The other big surprise was how frequently objections to women’s rights in the Victorian era were couched in terms of concern for women’s health and happiness. Women were not allowed to fully matriculate…

Anyone But Rich is the first book of my new, three-book series. Every book is a true romantic comedy and is full of moments that I hope will have you laughing out loud, if not at least breathing out a little puff of air from your nose. In their high school days, the King brothers managed to nearly destroy the lives of three best friends, Kira, Iris, and Miranda. When the dust had settled, the friends all vowed that no matter what, even if the King brothers became mega-famous billionaires and came back begging forgiveness on their knees, they’d never date them again. Unfortunately, seven years later, the mega-famous, smoking hot King brothers are planting a new company headquarters in their old hometown. Richard King is also hell-bent on earning Kira’s forgiveness. Rich isn’t entirely honest with himself about his motivations, as this conversation on his plane ride back to town illustrates: “So this girl is going to be what ruins everything, isn’t she?” “What? Why would you say that?” “Because I can already see it in your eyes. You’re going to do something stupid because of her. More likely, several stupid somethings.” I crossed my arms. “She’s just a…

Oops, did I say “tips?” I think I meant “trips.” Not the sort of trips that cause you to fall down (though I’m an expert at those.) I mean the kind of trips when you get into a car and go somewhere. It might be where you planned to go. Or it might not. Here are some of the research trips I’ve taken while researching my Deputy Donut Mysteries: Find Donuts. You have to learn more about donuts, and for that, I went to the experts, Cops & Doughnuts. When the Clare City Bakery in Clare, Michigan, which had been in constant operation since 1896, was going out of business, the local cops, all nine of them, bought it. They make the best donuts! I expected to feel safe there. I did escape, eventually. With donuts. 1 Learn from the pros. The Writers’ Police Academy was held in Wisconsin. Obviously, I had to attend that, and drive a real cop car. Can’t I pretend that we were supposed to knock down every single orange pylon and drive through all of the invisible pedestrians??? I mean, it wasn’t like I could see those pretend pedestrians, and although I could definitely see…

As one of five sisters (yes, you read that right, five) it’s very important to me to have strong female friendships in all my books, whether they are biological sister or sisters of the heart. I can’t count all the times my sisters have had my back. I also can’t count all the times they “borrowed” my stuff and never returned it, but that’s another post for another time. Female friendship is so important, especially when the media tries to convince women we should all be competing against each other. As if there’s only one ‘top woman’ prize and we have to “catfight” to get it. Well, these claws will come out, but only if someone messes with my ladies because the great Beyoncé is right, girls run the world and it’s about time we started seeing healthy, positive female friendships represented in media. So on that note, let me gush about my favorite female buddy movies. The Spy Who Dumped Me: I have informed my husband that Kate McKinnon is on my Hollywood Freebie list, because that woman is beautiful, smart, and funny. My true love trifecta. So many moments in this movie made me laugh including Audrey’s secret…

by Senior Reviewer Miranda Owen Haven’t we met? Some kind of beautiful stranger You could be good for me I’ve had the taste for danger If I’m smart then I’ll run away But I’m not so I guess I’ll stay Haven’t you heard? I fell in love with a beautiful stranger –Beautiful Stranger, Madonna Two of my favorite romance authors are Mary Balogh and Jennifer Ashley. Both authors write well-crafted character-driven stories that capture the imagination. Both authors also write about extremely close yet also extremely complicated families. Two of my all-time favorite books are both by these authors and are both about characters who meet under unusual circumstances, but who find something compelling and experience an unexplainable initial attraction. I’ve always maintained that AT LAST COMES LOVE by Mary Balogh has one of the best introduction scenes and “getting to know you” dialogue I’ve ever read. The scandalous Duncan Pennethorne, the Earl of Sheringford and beautiful yet very respectable Margaret Huxtable collide at a time when they each have something the other desires. Duncan is looking for a well-connected wealthy wife to satisfy his grandfather and secure his inheritance and, and that particular moment, Margaret needs a fake beau…

Welcome to Fresh Fiction! Tell us about yourself and the second book in your Must Love Babies series, I’VE GOT YOU, BABE. Thanks so much for having me here with you today to talk about my new release. I know a mom isn’t supposed to have favorites but…this book really speaks to my heart! I’ve lived in Pennsylvania, New York, Wyoming, Florida, and Georgia and throw a little of each of these places into my writing. Now that I’ve traded teaching for full-time writing, I can truly fall into my books and it’s a wonderful thing. In I’ve Got You, Babe, Tucker Wylder is looking forward to the coming weekend in an isolated cabin, just him and his fishing pole, when his world is sent spinning out of control by a damsel in distress, one who comes with a precocious, three-year-old daughter. Tucker has no desire to play the knight in shining armor. I’ve Got You, Babe is a story about healing and redemption. It’s about hitting rock bottom and struggling to find a handhold. It’s about both the hero and the heroine accepting that, sometimes, a helping hand is exactly what’s needed. Most of all? It’s a journey 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 OLIVIA STEPHEN! WRITES: I write contemporary romance which can be classified as hot and, according to my mother, spicy, with a bit of humor or a touch of angst, leading up to an oh-so-satisfying happily ever after. ABOUT: This girl is a romantic at heart, having lived out my own second chance romance with my husband of twenty-six years. A long term relationship in high school, a devastating breakup, and five years living hours away from each other wasn’t enough to keep us apart. We reconnected. Now I’m living my real life happily ever after, and having a blast writing them for others to enjoy. WHAT I’M LOOKING FOR IN MY IDEAL READER MATCH:  feels the tingles and butterflies when the hero and heroine come together in their first kiss loves the undeniable sexual tension between the hero and heroine appreciates the emotions the hero and heroine bring out in each other gets lost in the journey to the hero and heroine’s…

Set-Up: Lady Charlotte Hastings and Lord Malverne, along with their aunt, Lady Chelmsford, have taken Sophie Brightwell for a jaunt through Hyde Park during the fashionable hour. . . Lord Malverne leaned closer, drawing her attention away from the lake. “So was I correct in my assessment that ton­nish activities are tiresome?” he murmured in a conspirato­rial fashion. “I’m quite content to enjoy the view,” remarked Sophie, trying to ignore the scent of Lord Malverne’s spicy cologne as it teased her nostrils, or the bump of his pantaloon-clad knee against hers. She didn’t think it would be wise to agree with him within earshot of Charlie, Lady Chelms­ford, or their current conversation partners, the Countess of Poole and her decidedly spinsterish sister. Lord Malverne smiled in such a way that Sophie’s heart tripped and her cheeks heated. “So am I. The view is quite spectacular.” “You really shouldn’t do that,” she said, trying to adopt an expression that would pass as reproving, but wasn’t too stern. It wouldn’t do to appear waspish. Infuriatingly, Lord Malverne’s chiseled mouth simply tilted into a half-smile that was even more roguish. “Do what?” “Openly flirt with me,” replied Sophie under her breath. She tried…