This week’s Jen’s Jewels column takes us to the sun-soaked shores of Martha’s Vineyard with bestselling author Brooke Lea Foster. In OUR LAST VINEYARD SUMMER, Foster delivers a richly layered story of sisterhood, secrets, and self-discovery, set against the backdrop of a cherished family beach house. With dual timelines that span the transformative decades of the 1960s and 70s, this emotionally resonant novel invites readers to reflect on the ties that bind us—and the truths that shape who we become. Don’t miss my heartfelt conversation with Brooke as she shares the inspiration behind her latest summer must-read. Jen: Brooke, OUR LAST VINEYARD SUMMER is such a nostalgic and emotionally rich novel. What first drew you to tell a story set on Martha’s Vineyard, and why this particular era?Brooke: I was on vacation with my family on the island – we go every year – and I was up early walking the dog around historic Edgartown like I lived there. As I looked around at all the historic old homes, I began thinking about what it would be like to spend all your childhood summers in such a special place. I thought about what it was like at midcentury, and how…

1–What is the title of your latest release? GRAVE WORDS—I’m so excited to bring back Winter Snow in another adventure set in my hometown of Ridgefield, Connecticut. 2–What’s the “elevator pitch” for your new book? Problems for obituary writer Winter Snow are mounting higher than the cliffs she can see from her house on Lake Mamanasco.   Her business is in a death draught; her best friend Scoop is a person of interest in a string of arsons and her name is listed as deceased in her client’s obituary. Add to that she has been asking too many questions about the murder of a local man experiencing homelessness.  If she doesn’t get some answers soon, the next obituary could be her own. 3–How did you decide where your book was going to take place? That was easy.  My hometown is a picture-perfect Hallmark worthy small town and an ideal place to find murder and mayhem for a cozy mystery. 4–Would you hang out with your protagonist in real life? Of course, I would.  In fact, I hang out with her almost every day as I write her into mysteries.  That said, I’d like to teach her a thing or two because…

This month, I’m talking to bestselling novelist Katherine Reay. Her just-released novel, THE ENGLISH MASTERPIECE, takes readers behind the scenes of the art world in glamorous, 1970’s London. The story centers on Lily Summer, a young, recently-promoted assistant and her boss, Diana Gilden, the polished and highly respected keeper of the prestigious Tate Gallery’s Modern collection, whose Picasso Commemorative exhibition is meant to be the capstone of her already glittering career. At the exhibition opening, Lily does the unthinkable, stepping forward and to declare one of the Picasso paintings to be a forgery. It’s a shocking assertion that not only puts her own career at risk, but Diana’s too, the mentor she has idolized for so long. With the clock ticking and forces aligned against her, Lily must uncover the truth behind the Picasso before she loses her career, and her freedom. Q: Welcome, Katherine! And thanks for joining us today. I’m eager to introduce readers to more your wonderful, page-turning new novel. Tell us, what inspired you to write THE ENGLISH MASTERPIECE, and how did you create your characters Lily and Diana? A: While I was inspired by the 1999 Thomas Crown Affair and the classic Hepburn movie, How…

The month’s not over, so I have some overlooked gems to recommend. SWEETER THAN HONEY, Fangs and Feuds series, book 2, by Remi Lebeau A Sapphic Vampire CEO Romance! GHOST, Fire Lake series, book 9, by M. Tasia The Fire Lake series is full of hot men in uniform and this action-adventure mm romance is full of excitement and heat! BOYS OF BURLESQUE, Burlesque River series, by Kitty Bardot Burlesque is hot, and Kitty Bardot’s story of male dancers is even hotter! MELDING SOULS, Brides of Prophecy series, Book 6, by Brooklyn Ann My MM romance between a sorcerer and a rockstar features jumps between two worlds, taking you on a heavy metal tour doubling as recruiting for an interdimensional war, and then to a kingdom of knights, jousts, and battles! EDGE by Susan Mac Nicol A charming MM romance between a rockstar and a small-town movie theater owner! CAMERON UNSCRIPTED – Durango Street Theater, book 6, by Emily Mims The love of theater shines through in Mim’s series, and this one with a bad boy hero and his longtime crush is full of feels and found family goodness. LEAVING THE SHADOWS, Brides of Prophecy, book 6 by Brooklyn Ann…

Don’t tell my son, Colin, but I didn’t want to do this hike. I’m only here because it means so much to him. He was supposed to walk the trail with his dad, but that didn’t work out. Next week, I’ll be leaving Colin at the university in Glasgow and flying home alone to Portland, which I’m dreading. So, I’m walking 96 miles with my boy and making memories together, even if it kills me. Today is day four of seven, and I’m feeling familiar enough with the trail to tell you about it. By the way, my name is Keaka Denney. Unlike my son and former husband, I’ve never been to Scotland before. I really didn’t want to like it – it was something that Colin and his dad shared – but I must admit, it’s growing on me despite the blisters, aching feet, and midge bites. The West Highland Way is Scotland’s most popular long-distance hiking trail. People come from all over the world to walk its entirety or sections. We’re doing the whole thing, from the Glasgow suburb of Milngavie – they tell me it’s pronounced “mull-guy” – to Fort William in the Highlands. Some people carry…

1–What is the title of your latest release? GLASS GIRLS 2–What’s the “elevator pitch” for your new book? Alice Haserot is a former child medium who has been free of her abusive family for 16 years—until her sister tracks her down in a grocery store and threatens her with an ultimatum: come back to Ohio and perform a seance on my daughter—or I will tell our abusive mother where you are. Alice is forced to confront the past she thought she buried and the betrayal she committed, the secrets she thought she left behind. 3–How did you decide where your book was going to take place? I’ve always wanted to set a story in Kirtland, Ohio. I spent about 5 of my very early years living there, and I knew pretty much immediately that this book was the place to do that. The Midwest is a truly haunting spooky place that truly does not get enough representation in fiction. 4–Would you hang out with your protagonist in real life? I think Alice and I would drive each other crazy in real life. She’s such a deeply internal person, processes things in quiet safety, copes with trauma by avoiding it as…

Book Title: HEARTSTRINGS AND HELMETS (Book 1 Hearts in Hawthorne) Character Name: West Sutherland How would you describe your family or your childhood? Best childhood ever! I grew up in Hawthorne, a small-town northwest of Ft. Worth. I was a big brother to my twin sisters, Summer and Autumn, who were two years behind me in school. Education was sacred in my family, with Mom being Hawthorne’s city librarian and Dad serving as the superintendent of the public schools. Chance Blackstone, my best friend since pre-school, was my brother from another mother, and I spent some great times at the Blackstone Ranch, learning how to ride horses. Chance and I kept our grades up, but we had more than our share of fun, being the two coolest (and hottest!) guys in our graduation class. What was your greatest talent? My athleticism. I’m 6’2” and have a lean, athletic build. I’m also lightning fast on the football field. I was the golden boy in football, breaking school records as a wide receiver. I earned a scholarship to Texas A&M and after playing four years for the Aggies, I was drafted by my dream team—the Dallas Cowboys. While I would’ve have played…

I never, ever start a book without creating a playlist first. Even if it’s only a few songs and I add more as I explore the story, I need to have some songs to set the mood and get me inspired. Here are a few songs from the playlist of WRITING MR. RIGHT! Pretty Woman (Shankar Ehsaan Loy, from the Kal Ho Na Ho OST) One thing about me is that I love being multicultural. Karan Johar’s Kal Ho Na Ho has a perfect soundtrack, and no song from it fits Writing Mr. Right better than Pretty Woman. A remake of Roy Orbison’s 1964 “Oh, Pretty Woman,” it perfectly captures how Aashiq, the love interest, tries to get Ziya, the main lead, into appreciating herself and her own life. It’s also a song that encompasses his feelings toward her, and in my opinion, is a way you can tell he becomes enamoured with her pretty quickly. If Writing Mr. Right was a musical, Aashiq would sing this song to Ziya while he inspires the whole neighborhood to join him, just like in the movie. Also, if you’ve seen the movie, let me tell you: Aashiq is sooooo Aman Mathur coded…

In late August 1967 I gazed from the back seat of a Chrysler Saratoga as we exited a farmyard full of cultivation equipment and assorted outbuildings. Against a far granary was parked the 1942 Chevrolet pick-up truck that had been my personal vehicle the summer of work I did on that spread. I had been taught to drive it at age thirteen. On my fourteenth birthday I spent the afternoon piloting an eight-thousand-pound diesel tractor towing a rod weeder on forty acres of gently sloping Saskatchewan wheat field. Kids, I learned, learned heavy machinery at a young age in that part of the country. But now as I left the dry land, headed for a train back to Port Alberni in time for school, I wondered what it might be like to drive that antique all the way to the coast. Decades of school and work at various places later, I got to examine this eternal transit feeling in Amaranthine Chevrolet, a novelized distillation of that odd prairie-to-Pacific urge. It is primarily an indulgence in the linear joy of the road story. Over a literary career spanning half a century my books have garnered flattering notices. There were laudatory accreditations…

1–What is the title of your latest release? AS YOU WISH 2–What’s the “elevator pitch” for your new book? Three young American women become au pairs in Seoul and make a wish on an enchanted waterfall on a moonlit night. One wants to be more special, one wants to never fall in love again, one wants to find her birth mother. 3–How did you decide where your book was going to take place? I love writing love letters to cities! I wrote one to Paris in my third novel, Half-Blown Rose, and my fifth novel, AS YOU WISH, is my love letter to Seoul. I fell in love with Kpop and Kdramas about five years ago and took Korean lessons, traveled to South Korea, just kept surrounding myself with the things I love so much. There’s a certain level of “obsession” I have to have and maintain in order to want to spend years and years working on a book, so I have to make sure the well is deep enough to keep dipping into. My love for Kpop and Kdramas proved deep enough, yes, so I loved setting As You Wish in Seoul because there is so much to…