1–What is the title of your latest release? THE NIGHT SPARROW 2–What’s the “elevator pitch” for your new book? Elena Bruskina joins the Red Army as a sniper to get revenge from the fascists who murdered her family, but when she’s ordered to give up her rifle to become an interpreter, she is entangled in a secret hunt for the most evil Nazi of all. From the bestselling author of Daughters of the Occupation. 3–How did you decide where your book was going to take place? Since THE NIGHT SPARROW is based on true events, the setting was determined by the historical events within the narrative. 4–Would you hang out with your protagonist in real life? Absolutely! Elena is a loyal friend who speaks her mind and secretly questions Stalin’s motives. I can imagine vigorous conversations over coffee with Elena.   5–What are three words that describe your protagonist? Modest, decisive, valiant. 6–What’s something you learned while writing this book? Of the hundreds of things I learned, what stands out most is the disturbing way these sniper women, who risked everything to fight for their country, were greeted at the end of the war. Instead of being celebrated as heroes,…

Book Title: BOUND BY STARS Character Names: Weslie Fleet and Jupiter Dalloway Interviewer: Let’s jump right in, shall we? What brought you aboard the maiden voyage of the Boundless? Jupiter: I’m on my way home from my Earth Experience Mission with my parents. Weslie: Won a ticket. Interviewer: Speaking of parents, how would you describe your families? Weslie: Pass. Jupiter: Come on, Wes. Weslie: Fine. Small. Interviewer: And yours, Jupiter? Jupiter: My sister was the best person in the universe. My dad is cool. Mom is…complicated. Interviewer: What do you consider to be your greatest talent? Jupiter: Weslie’s an incredible robotics engineer. Weslie: Jupiter’s good with people. Obviously. And an incredible artist. Interviewer: Do either of you have a significant other? Weslie: That’s a weird way to ask a 17-year-old if they’re dating anyone. Jupiter: (glances toward Weslie) Interviewer: Okay, next question. Where do you live? Jupiter: Elysium. The capital habitat city on Mars. Weslie: Earth. Interviewer: Do you have any enemies? Weslie: How much time do you have? Jupiter: I don’t think so. My cousin and I butt heads, but I wouldn’t call us enemies. Interviewer: Greatest disappointments? Jupiter: Recently. Leaving Earth. Weslie: Humanity. Interviewer: Greatest achievements? Weslie: My…

Excerpt from HIT ME WITH YOUR BEST CHARM by Lillie Vale Kiara Mistry is—in a word—gorgeous. In two, devastatingly gorgeous. What’s left of my frazzled mind promptly scrambles. Because Kiara is giving me that vexingly dimpled smile that could level a city, and she has Devon Lake on her arm. The same boy whose shoulder I tapped in AP Chem last week to borrow a sheet of notepaper and promptly lost my heart to. Which brings me to the next thing Kiara is: an obstacle. I grit my teeth, thankful for the same gauzy swathes of fabric I was cursing a minute ago. Now they shield me from view in the back of the tent while the visitors in front are still brightly spotlighted. Not only is Kiara the last person I want to see, but the inside of a psychic’s tent is not a place I want to be caught. But it’s just like Prior’s End to direct its capricious, fickle magic my way, using a generous sprinkling of what the whole town calls occasional magic. Because I definitely don’t believe in occasional magic. Or sometimes-if-you-squint-sideways-real-hard magic. Or magic at all. Not really. Not anymore. I simply can’t. Because…

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 Dana Elmendorf! Writes:Southern Gothic stories steeped in magical realism with a kiss of supernatural kiss. A tale where ghosts show up in the form of birds and the dead whisper secrets. A place so real you’d swear it’s real. Dark family pasts full of twists and turns. About:Born and raised in the South, my life was colored by Granny’s recipes, cicada songs and lightning bugs, and stories handed down in half-truths. I write about polite towns with rotting foundations. I like a little haunting in my fiction—ghosts, omens, buried secrets, and people trying their best to pretend everything’s fine. I’m drawn to stories where the weather feels like a character and the line between good and evil is murky as the Mississippi River. When I’m not writing, I’m probably outside under some tree that looks like it holds a secret, wondering if the birds know. What I’m looking for in my ideal reader match: What to expect if we’re compatible: GRAVE BIRDS by Dana Elmendorf A…

1–What is the title of your latest release? TOWN OF SHADOWS 2–What’s the “elevator pitch” for your new book? In Victorian London, using magic earns you a noose, but uncovering its secrets often leads to something far more deadly. When Dorothy St. James’s father is taken by a kidnapper called the Rook, she strikes a desperate deal with Ashley Gardner, a master illusionist, to help her discover the mysterious masked hero who’s been rescuing the victims. Ashley agrees to give her three clues as to his identity, but he won’t make them easy. In fact, he’ll make them impossible, because he has his own dangerous reasons for keeping Dorothy away—and Ashley always gets what he wants. 3–How did you decide where your book was going to take place? I’ve always had a fascination with London, probably due to my seeing every Sherlock Holmes adaptation in existence. There’s this elegance and charm to it, while still maintaining a cold undercurrent of grit. To me, it’s the obvious setting for a story that’s both whimsical and grounded. 4–Would you hang out with your protagonist in real life? Absolutely. She reminds me a lot of friends I already have. 5–What are three words…

Book Title: REPORTS OF HIS DEATH HAVE BEEN GREATLY EXAGGERATED Character Name: Ray “Spike” Thorns How would you describe your family or your childhood? I was a jolly fortunate young man to be born into peacetime, arriving as I did on the very day that World War II in Europe came to an end. Doubly lucky that I enjoyed such opulent surroundings. My father had been unable to serve in the military (trouble with his legs at the crucial moment, an affliction that mercifully never again returned). That he had to remain in Britain frustrated him no end, but ever resourceful, he succeeded in making an absolute fortune whilst his contemporaries were away fighting. We had a quite enormous house in the wilds of Kent, with its own lake, a rose garden where I could pick flowers for my mother, and four lavatories no less! Alas, it was not to last. By the time I was five he was working later and later into the evenings; my brother Denny and I would stay up – past midnight sometimes – to steal a glance at Dad pulling onto the drive in his Bentley and disembarking in his three-piece Savile Row suit…

Book Title:  MURDER ON THE BOOKS Character Name: Charlotte “Charley” James How would you describe your family or your childhood? Growing up as an only child, I kept to myself a lot. I read a lot, and I think that’s what started me on writing.  When the stories I read didn’t appeal to me, I’d make up new ones. What was your greatest talent? Some would say writing; I say it’s a flair I have for putting puzzles together. Significant other? Not at the moment, but there is someone I’m hopeful will develop into something. Biggest challenge in relationships? Finding the time Where do you live? I recently moved back to my hometown of Austin, Pennsylvania after suffering a severe case of writer’s block. I’m now the owner of a mystery bookshop. Do you have any enemies? I’ve never been particularly friendly with Barbara “Barbie” Donaldson, a detective on the Austin force – not sure if she qualifies as an enemy.  Nemesis, perhaps? How do you feel about the place where you are now? Is there something you are particularly attached to, or particularly repelled by, in this place? I’m totally satisfied with Austin, after all I grew up here…

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 Angela Carlisle! Writes: Hi! I write small-town romantic suspense with characters who feel like family and are just waiting to take you on a wild ride where danger is real but so is hope. In my latest book, SHADOWED WITNESS, Allye Jessup is the sole witness to a murder—but when she regains consciousness at the scene, the bruises on her own neck are the only evidence a crime occurred or that anyone else was ever there. With the help of Detective Eric Thornton, will she be able to expose a killer before he decides to silence her permanently? About: Besides my obsession with words, I have a thing for tea. I’ve probably got 50+ varieties to choose from, and often make my own loose-leaf blends because, why not? Want to join me for a nice, hot cuppa? On the other side of the kitchen, I like to experiment with recipes. I rarely find one that wouldn’t benefit from a little tweaking—and if I can…

C – Cassia. Our heroine, and a lady in waiting to Queen Catherine, the wife of— H – His Majesty. King Charles the II, the Merry Monarch, purported to be Cassia’s lover A – Accused. The court whispers that Cassia is guilty of the murder of her own father S – Secrets. They certainly abound … I – Innocent. Is she? Or is she simply an accomplished player at the royal palace?  N – Noble. Rolfe, the Earl of Ravenscroft, unlike any man Cassia has met before, a gentleman and a— G – Gallant. Rolfe is ordered by the king to safeguard Cassia until the truth can be uncovered D – Danger. It seems to lurk around every turn at the— R – Royal court of Whitehall Palace, a glittering place filled with deception, intrigue, and— E – Enemies. One never knows …  be they friend or foe? A – Ablaze, the passion that soon ignites between Cassia and Rolfe as they— M – Match wits while trying to expose the true culprit, leading to a most— S – Suspenseful, thrilling conclusion—and, of course, their happily ever after … CHASING DREAMS by Jaclyn Reding Merry Monarchs #2 At the court of the…

Excerpt from AMERICAN SKY by James Grady RUN Luc fought to calm his hammering heart as he faced the wall of windows to the world outside the Thriftway grocery store that early September Saturday afternoon. His white shirt and clipped-on black tie held no incriminating stains as he scanned the blue sky horizon of his Montana prairie valley hometown. The treacherous thirteen-year-old gray Dodge smirked in the parking lot. He stood near the checkout counters of two chatting cashiers who he’d worked with those months of 1967 that the news was calling The Summer of Love. Dennis, the other box boy, snuck onto the empty elevated office platform where local AM radio station krip filled the store with nightclub crooners and country and western wailers, not the rock ’n’ roll music sought by teenagers like just-graduated-from-high-school Luc. Two-years-younger Dennis spun the radio dial to a hundred-miles-away big-city Montana station. Landed on them playing an oldy-goldy that was still the #1 hit song for American troops in Vietnam. That song title rocked Luc to his bones: “We Gotta Get Out of This Place.” Hell yes! Especially after what happened last night with Cherie. And what he’d done about that today that…