Fresh FIction Box Not To Miss
Smashwords Hotlist Top 10 Preorders Releasing March 12 – March 19, 2024
Author Guest / March 18, 2024

The Wickedness of a Highlander, Book 4, Midnight in Scotland Series by Elisa Braden Zombie Fallout 22: Bridging the Gap by Mark Tufo Dredge’s Enchanting Mate, Book 6, Saber Chronicles by R.E. Butler Finn’s Fury, Book 8, Riot MC Biloxi Series by Karen Renee The Last Duke She’d Marry, Book 3, Scoundrels of Mayfair Series by Anna Campbell Monster Bully by Sam Crescent Daddy’s Little Cowgirl, Book 33, Daddy Series by Lila Fox Cruises Can Be Murder, Book 22, Charlie Parker New Mexico Mystery Series by Connie Shelton Wild Magic, Book 4, Wild Magic Series by Odette C. Bell The Empty Throne by Megan Derr     Each Monday the Smashwords store lists the top ten most highly anticipated indie fiction ebooks based on the previous week’s preorder accumulations. Each title on the list is scheduled to release within the next week. To help the talented authors on this list accumulate even more preorders, click the title of the book. The hyperlink will bring you to a Books2Read page where you can order from your preferred ebook retailer. If the preorder is part of a series, click the hyperlinked series title to learn about the other books in the series….

Erica Wynters | A Newcomer to Her Small Town Drops Dead in the Local Coffee Shop
Author Guest / March 18, 2024

1–What is the title of your latest release? POPPIES, PERILS, AND POISON 2–What’s the “elevator pitch” for your new book? Florist Gwen Stevens is torn between her lifelong crush on her best friend and the hot new local police detective. But her thorny love life takes a backseat when a newcomer to her small town drops dead in the local coffee shop…and Gwen’s surrogate aunt is the main suspect in her murder! Can Gwen uncover the truth before the killer poisons her chances of a happily ever after? 3–How did you decide where your book was going to take place? When I started writing this series, I knew I wanted the books to be set in a small, rural town in the Midwest. I grew up in a small town in Wisconsin and modeled Star Junction after my experience of living in a small town. For some reason, I chose to set it in Illinois instead of Wisconsin, but I spent my college years in Illinois so that’s a special state to me too. 4–Would you hang out with your protagonist in real life? Absolutely! Gwen is fun, kind, and curious. The thing that I think would make her a…

Robert Rotenberg | A baffling cold case. A Nazi atrocity. A reckoning 80 years overdue.
Author Guest / March 18, 2024

1–What is the title of your latest release? WHAT WE BURIED 2–What’s the “elevator pitch” for your new book? A baffling cold case. A Nazi atrocity. A reckoning 80 years overdue. 3–How did you decide where your book was going to take place? Twenty-five years ago, I attended the 500 year old crossbow contest in Gubbio Italy, and knew I had to set a book there. 4–Would you hang out with your protagonist in real life? For tea, he doesn’t drink coffee. 5–What are three words that describe your protagonist? Real, quiet, resourceful 6–What’s something you learned while writing this book? About the massacre of 40 innocents in Italy by the Germans. About how Canada let in 60,000 German prisoners of war, and let many Nazis back into the country after the war. 7–Do you edit as you draft or wait until you are totally done? I edit every day. 8–What’s your favorite foodie indulgence? Butter tarts – but only in the summer. 9–Describe your writing space/office! Many coffee shops, my law office and some mornings my bed. 10–Who is an author you admire? Andrea Camilarri – he started writing when he was my age. 11–Is there a book that…

Cynthia Pelayo | A Connection Between a Historic Bungalow and a Potential Serial Killer
Author Guest / March 18, 2024

1–What is the title of your latest release? FORGOTTEN SISTERS 2–What’s the “elevator pitch” for your new book? Sisters Anna and Jennie live in a historic bungalow along the Chicago River. An inexplicable number of drownings in the area cause them to worry, and soon two detectives come calling, believing there’s a connection between the home and a potential serial killer. 3–How did you decide where your book was going to take place? My most recent novels have been love letters to the city of Chicago, where I live, and it felt right that this be one as well. 4–Would you hang out with your protagonist in real life? With Anna? Most certainly. She is very sweet and full of curiosity and wonder. She just needs to get out of her house more. 5–What are three words that describe your protagonist? Lovely. Sweet. Sad. 6–What’s something you learned while writing this book? That the sinking of the S.S. Eastland, in which over 800 peopled died in the Chicago River in 1915, is one of the largest maritime disasters in United States history. 7–Do you edit as you draft or wait until you are totally done? This novel had a strange…

Smashwords Top 20 Bestselling Indie Fiction Books by Units (March 3 – March 9, 2024)
Author Guest / March 15, 2024

Shot Taker, Book 2, King of the Court Series by Piper Lawson Sea Glass Summer, Book 11, South Carolina Sunsets Series by Rachel Hanna Tempest, Book 8, Relentless Series by Karen Lynch Darcy and the Enchanted Library: A Pride and Prejudice Variation by Monica Fairview The Bossy Billionaire, Book 5, The Baltimore Boys Series by Samantha Skye Alien Mercenary’s Scientist, Book 6, Lathar Mercenaries: Warborne Series by Mina Carter Gigi and the Gym Rats, Book 2, The Candyverse Series by Mona Black The 5-Time Rejected Gamma & the Lycan King, Book 1, Coalescence of the Five Series by Stina’s Pen Betting On Her by Alexa Riley The Housemaid by Sarah A. Denzil Endless, Book 7, Starcrossed Series by Josephine Angelini Unending Love, Book 1, The Kelley Family Series by Stacey Lynn Dreamer’s Web, Book 11, Moonshadow Bay Series by Yasmine Galenorn Wick, Book 2, Kings of Retribution MC Louisiana Series by Crystal Daniels The Witch Collector, Book 1, Witch Walker Series by Charissa Weaks Securing Samantha, Book 5, Serenity Mountain Series by Cassie Colton Future Fake Husband, Book 1, Mallory Vineyard Series by Kate Hawthorne Hunter, Book 5, Hell’s Bastards MC Series by Sam Crescent Centurion Witness by Ed Mitchell…

Jennifer Ashley | Conversations in Character with Kat Holloway
Author Guest / March 15, 2024

Book Title: SPECULATIONS IN SIN – Below Stairs Mysteries, Book 7 Character Name: Kat Holloway   How would you describe your family or your childhood? I had a marvelous childhood, though I did not know it at the time. My mum was loving and kind and did everything she could to keep me safe. My fondest memory is of her coming home from her long day of scrubbing floors and holding me tight. Though she must have been exhausted, she always had time to fix me bit of supper, or we’d take a walk and nibble on the buns she’d purchase with her earnings at a bake shop. My mum was the most wonderful woman on Earth, I think. Alas that she was taken from me too soon. My life hasn’t been quite the same since.   What was your greatest talent? I am a cook, and if I do say so myself, an excellent one. My skill is why I can command a decent wage and a day and a half out each week, without fail. I am good at both plain and honest fare and some of the more complicated and exotic dishes, though I don’t often see…

Playlist | Toxxic by Jane Hennigan
Author Guest / March 14, 2024

Only Love Can Hurt Like This – Paloma Faith I love how desperate this song is. It sums up the dark side of love, highlighting how passion can be corrosive. And Paloma Faith’s low gutsy voice fits it perfectly. In TOXXIC, Tony is living in a sterile facility to protect him from the poisonous moths and lamenting his lost lover Logan, who was infected. Every time Tony gazes outside, every time he places his hand on the glass that separates him from the world, I imagine this song playing and Tony crying quietly to himself, missing the only man who made living in the facility, bearable. When he is eventually released, into a world that has no place for him, he begins to understand the extent to which he has been lied to by those who have power over him.   You’ll Never Walk Alone – Gerry and the Pacemakers This musical classic and Liverpool FC anthem is played at the funeral of a well-loved character. It was played (and sung in throaty unison) at my own father’s funeral and there wasn’t a dry eye in the house. The soaring chords and hope-filled lyrics, courtesy of Rodgers and Hammerstein, are…

Rosanna Leo | Author-Reader Match: DARKE HOMECOMING
Author Guest / March 14, 2024

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 Rosanna Leo!   Writes: Hello! I write contemporary and paranormal romances, many of which are set in my hometown of Toronto, Canada. My latest paranormal romance is DARKE HOMECOMING, the final book in my Darke Paranormal Investigations series. The series features three badass sisters who are paranormal investigators. Edwina is the techie, Susannah is the historian, and Adelaide is a psychic medium. As they investigate haunted Canadian locations, they each find themselves struggling with another challenge: falling in love. In DARKE HOMECOMING, Adelaide must not only help the lost souls in her own neighborhood, she must also rid her love interest Will of an unwanted spirit attachment. Because she’s not the only one interested in the handsome curator…and the “other woman” just happens to be dead!   About: I’m from Toronto, Canada, and have spent most of my life riding its subways, dreaming in its museums, and exploring its cemeteries. My husband and I now live west of the city in the suburbs, but…

Stephanie Dray | The Inspiring Journey of Frances Perkins
Author Guest / March 13, 2024

1–What is the title of your latest release? BECOMING MADAM SECRETARY 2–What’s the “elevator pitch” for your new book? The inspiring journey of Frances Perkins, the most important woman in American history, from her early days in New York’s Hell’s Kitchen to the corridors of power in the White House where she served as FDR’s most trusted lieutenant, reshaping America during its darkest hour. 3–How did you decide where your book was going to take place? I went where Frances went. 4–Would you hang out with your protagonist in real life? I would die of happiness to get to sit in a room with Frances for just five minutes! I would also have a million questions I would probably be too shy to ask. 5–What are three words that describe your protagonist? Trailblazing, Tenacious and Principled 6–What’s something you learned while writing this book? I had no idea that Frances Perkins really disliked Franklin Roosevelt when they first met. Theirs is a delicious enemies-to-lovers story but in a political sense. And it was so much fun to write about them sparring. They changed each other, and together they changed the nation. 7–Do you edit as you draft or wait until…

Markus Harwood-Jones | Author-Reader Match: REALLY CUTE PEOPLE
Author Guest / March 13, 2024

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 Markus Harwood-Jones!   Writes: Romance novels rich with queer, trans, and non-binary characters that are unafraid to break away from “the normal” for a chance at something extraordinary.   About: Author, artist, and academic – Markus Harwood-Jones (he/they) is always up to something! The author of The Haunting of Adrian Yates and Confessions of a Teenage Drag King is taking a break from writing YA fiction to deliver a steamy yet sweet polyamorous romance titled Really Cute People. Published with Harlequin imprint, Carina Adores, Really Cute People follows the story of Charlie—a burnt out, non-binary thirty-something who unexpectedly finds themselves snowed-in (and tangled-up) with a charming couple, Buffy and Hayden. Markus lives in Toronto with his husband, their platonic co-parent, and their beloved toddler. He can be found on TikTok and Instagram, or via his website.   What I’m looking for in my ideal reader match: I’m looking for someone who wants to be swept away into an effortlessly queer world, where trans and…