1–What is the title of your latest release? ONE LEVEL DOWN 2–What’s the “elevator pitch” for your new book? In a simulated universe, a fifty-eight-year-old woman is forced to look and act five years old. 3–How did you decide where your book was going to take place? The original idea was that this group of people were living on a colony planet, but they were struck with disease, so they uploaded themselves into a simulation instead. They wanted everything to be like their colony, just without the disease and aging and death. So the setting is a colony, but what they think is a better version. 4–Would you hang out with your protagonist in real life? Definitely! Ella is a good person stuck in a terrible situation. I’d like to help her have a little bit of fun for a change! 5–What are three words that describe your protagonist? Resourceful, curious, brave. 6–What’s something you learned while writing this book? I originally wrote the story from a different perspective, focusing on a different character’s problems and issues. So I learned to see a complex situation from all sides and find the character who was most compelling. 7–Do you edit as…

From LOVE, THE DUKE by Amelia Grey. Copyright © 2025 by the author and reprinted by permission of St. Martin’s Publishing Group. Chapter 1 MAN’S PRACTICAL GUIDE TO APPREHENDING A THIEF SIR BENTLY ASHTON ULLINGSWICK Never refuse sincere help. Following two cold and dreary days of an interminable carriage ride, all Drake Cheston Kingsley, Duke of Hurstbourne, wanted was to sit by a blazing fire with a brandy to take the chill off his bones. He always looked forward to a stay at the private hunting club with his two friends. Though he seldom spent time with them anymore. Fortunately, for them, he thought as he took in the other two dukes sitting with him in front of the fire, each swore he’d found the love of his life and they were usually reluctant to be away from home for more than a few days. Hurst understood. Somewhat. He didn’t begrudge them their happiness, but he, still a bachelor, missed the days when pleasure was wilder and more plentiful. Marriage had reined in those carefree days, given the men’s responsibilities both as dukes and as husbands. Rick and Wyatt now seemed to talk more about what it had been like…

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 Jane Flett! Writes: Queer literary horror through a Scottish small-town lens. FREAKSLAW is the story of a travelling carnival who come to a repressed Scottish town, bringing with them the desire for chaos, seduction, and revenge. About: Flamboyant, maximalist troublemaker seeks fellow deviants to hold hands and plot the revolution. I’ll bring the neon lightbulbs and pagan ritual, you come with an open mind and a penchant for mayhem. Let’s make out at the top of the big wheel while the world around us burns… What I’m looking for in my ideal reader match: What to expect if we’re compatible: FREAKSLAW by Jane Flett In this riotous horror debut, a traveling carnival of troublemakers arrive in a small Scottish town and perform their favorite pastime: revenge. It is the summer of ‘97 and the repressed Scottish town of Pitlaw is itching for change. Enter the Freakslaw—a travelling carnival of deviant queers and architects of mayhem. There’s Gloria, fortune teller and worm charmer; her daughter Nancy, a…

1–What is the title of your latest release? MIDNIGHT VENGEANCE 2–What’s the “elevator pitch” for your new book? A rough and tough, hard-bodies and hard-hearted former navy SEAL is absolutely astonished to find himself in love with an artist. Who would have thought? 3–How did you decide where your book was going to take place? Midnight Vengeance is part of an ongoing series, the Midnight series, set in Portland, Oregon, where the security company the men (and for the moment, one woman) works. Everyone loves living there. 4–Would you hang out with your protagonist in real life? Oh, I’d love to hang out with Lauren Dare, born Anne Lowell. She is on the run and super-stressed, but she is also a lot of fun, a very gifted artist, and a woman who believes strongly in friendship. She is a delight. Since I’m here, I might as well talk about Jacko, her love interest, the hero of the book. Jacko is harder to like. He’s a hard man in every sense of the word. Had a hard life growing up and becoming a SEAL sure didn’t soften him up. He’s a roughneck, and wouldn’t have anything in common with someone like…

1–What is the title of your latest release? VERA WONG’S GUIDE TO SNOOPING (ON A DEAD MAN) 2–What’s the “elevator pitch” for your new book? High on the success of her first ever murder case, Vera Wong is determined to find yet another case to solve, even if it means harassing a whole new group of people. 3–How did you decide where your book was going to take place? Pretty simple, really. I don’t like having to do too much research, so I set it in places I know well. In this case, San Francisco! 4–Would you hang out with your protagonist in real life? Definitely. I wish she’d adopt me, honestly. 5–What are three words that describe your protagonist? Meddlesome, well-meaning, unstoppable. 6–What’s something you learned while writing this book? Human trafficking is far more prevalent than I thought it was. 7–Do you edit as you draft or wait until you are totally done? I wait until I’m totally done, otherwise I would be stuck editing the first chapter over and over again, ad infinitum. 8–What’s your favorite foodie indulgence? A good white cheddar. 9–Describe your writing space/office! I write in the dining room because it’s the sunniest room…

It’s time for another trip to Hope Harbor! Welcome to Book 11 in my long-running, bestselling series set in a charming town on the Oregon coast, where hearts heal…and love blooms. If you’re a first-time visitor, no worries. All the main characters in every book are new, and the storyline begins and ends in each book. There are no hanging plot threads from book to book in any of my novels. In SUNRISE REEF, you’ll meet Bren Ryan, an independent woman who marches to the beat of her own drummer and has found her place in the welcoming community of Hope Harbor. She does not need a man in her life. And she most especially doesn’t need stuffy CPA Noah Ward, who’s in town to convince his widowed father to move back to the Midwest. So what’s with the sparks that begin to fly whenever they’re together…apparently on both sides? You’ll have to read the story to find out where this seemingly odd pairing leads! S is for sum. As a CPA, Noah prefers to live a logical life in which everything adds up. His growing feelings for Bren don’t, however. So what’s he supposed to do about that? U…

Nearly every writer stalls, panics, and wrestles with self-doubt at one time or another. But here’s the question of the day. Can a writer’s struggles lead to a deadly end? Reverse the words “writer’s block” to “blocked writer”—as in thwarted, stymied, stonewalled—and you may have an even stronger motive for murder. At least, that’s what my husband and I pondered as we set out to pen our latest Coffeehouse Mystery, NO ROAST FOR THE WEARY. Ironically, though the anguish of the dreaded “writer’s block” has sent fear into the hearts of many a scribe, that same literary affliction has also propelled entertaining plotlines in novels and films. There’s The Shining, of course; more recently The Plot; and the Nicolas Cage film Adaptation to name a few. We were similarly inspired as we sat down to write our newest Coffeehouse Mystery, NO ROAST FOR THE WEARY. Given the looming deadline for the 21st title in our long-running series, we stared at blank screens for a time and then—EUREKA!—our stalled progress itself became the inspiration. The idea of writer’s block felt perfect for our Coffeehouse series. After all, coffee itself is known as “writer’s fuel,” and the notion of writers scribbling (or…

“The Highwayman” by Loreena McKennitt The title of book seven in my House Flipper series, Dead Post Society, is a nod to “Dead Poets Society,” one of my favorite movies. In this book, carpenter Whitney Flynn and her cousin Buck remodel the former headmaster’s house at a defunct boarding school not far from Nashville. Poems play a big part in the movie, so it’s probably no surprise that I begin each chapter of this book with a quote from a poem. Loreena McKennitt put the famous poem “The Highwayman” by Alfred Noyes to music, and her haunting voice is perfect. You can listen to the song here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YGFo0xn4JeY “If” by Anthony Clohesy When I still had a day job, I shared an office with a one-of-a-kind real-life character named Gene Edwards. Gene was an incredibly intelligent and wise guy with a unique, sometimes dark sense of humor, and he became like a big brother to me. He’d hung the poem “If” by Rudyard Kipling on his wall. The choice of that poem said a lot about Gene, who he was and who he aspired to be. In honor of Gene, I included the poem in the book. A singer named…

1–What is the title of your latest release? SWEPT AWAY 2–What’s the “elevator pitch” for your new book? Two strangers end up lost at sea together after a one-night stand on a houseboat that is swept out to open ocean 3–How did you decide where your book was going to take place? The houseboat setting came about because I was playing around with some classic romance tropes, including the idea of being stranded together on a desert island/remote location, and at the same time, there was a real trend over here in the UK to move into a houseboat! A lot of (slightly clueless) millennials were buying houseboats as a way to own a property in a city when flats were so prohibitively expensive. It didn’t always go as idyllically as planned (houseboat life is not for everyone, I’ve learned, while researching this book!). I loved the idea of a houseboat setting for two stranded strangers because it was hilariously unglamorous but also felt unique and contemporary. 4–Would you hang out with your protagonist in real life? Absolutely – both Lexi and Zeke. Though I think Lexi would probably take a while to warm to me… 5–What are three words…

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. Be sure to check back Friday for a list of the Top 25 Bestselling Indie Ebooks.