1–What is the title of your latest release? STUART WOODS’ SMOLDER 2–What’s the “elevator pitch” for your new book? Stone Barrington faces a new threat to a legacy dear to him, from an old vindictive enemy. 3–How did you decide where your book was going to take place? To me, it’s important to use locations that feel organic to whatever story I’m writing, and such was the case with Smolder. Given the rich history of the Stone Barrington series, I had many excellent choices that not only seamlessly serve the story, but also are familiar to series fans. 4–Would you hang out with your protagonist in real life? Who wouldn’t? Stone Barrington is a multi-millionaire, with homes in New York City, Maine, Los Angeles, and Europe. He is friends with interesting people, and if I were ever to get into trouble, he would be an excellent person to have my back. 5–What are three words that describe your protagonist? Smart, confident, and compassionate. 6–What’s something you learned while writing this book? How humbled and honored I feel to have been given the task of continuing Stuart Woods’ legacy. It’s hard not to think about that when I’m working with his…

1–What is the title of your latest release? FOLLOW HER DOWN 2–What’s the “elevator pitch” for your new book? Decades of doubt, fear, and suspicion won’t let a woman overcome her past when she returns to the hometown where her teenage sister was killed. A killer finally confessed, but the truth isn’t done with her yet. 3–How did you decide where your book was going to take place? I needed to isolate my character (this is always good, mean fun) but I also needed her near Silicon Valley for the plot. In the past few years, I’ve taken a few trips to the Sierra Nevada mountains, and I love the drive to Lake Tahoe, so I created a fictional highway and plopped the story right in the middle of the forest. 4–Would you hang out with your protagonist in real life? Absolutely. Elise might intimidate me a bit, but I love her scrappy, damaged heart. 5–What are three words that describe your protagonist? Bold, independent, and vulnerable. 6–What’s something you learned while writing this book? I read a few research books about conspiracy theories, because a conspiracy is at the heart of this story. I learned that certain conspiracies always…

1–What is the title of your latest release? ANNA BRIGHT IS HIDING SOMETHING 2–What’s the “elevator pitch” for your new book? The Dropout meets Inventing Anna in this cinematic and page-turning summer read! A ripped-from-the-headlines story set in the glossy offices of Silicon Valley startups and NYC new media, Anna Bright Is Hiding Something explores our fascination with female founders breaking barriers—and sometimes behaving badly in the process. 3–How did you decide where your book was going to take place? I wanted it to be about a Silicon Valley startup so that decided that. And then I wanted to create tension with my second character having to travel outside her comfort zone, so I had her based in NYC. That allowed me also to explore where Jamie works in the world of NYC digital media. 4–Would you hang out with your protagonist in real life? Definitely Jamie. Definitely not Anna! 5–What are three words that describe your protagonist? JAMIE: earnest, ambitious, disciplined ANNA: enigmatic, arrogant, bold 6–What’s something you learned while writing this book? All the stages of an IPO – taking a company public. 7–Do you edit as you draft or wait until you are totally done? I try not to edit too much…

1–What is the title of your latest release? BIRDING WITH BENEFITS 2–What’s the “elevator pitch” for your new book? A divorcee embarks on her “year of yes” and crosses paths with a shy but sensitive birdwatcher who changes her life in this charming rom-com. That’s my official log line! I also sometimes say: This book is about two 40-somethings fake dating while participating in a birding contest and definitely not falling in love! 3–How did you decide where your book was going to take place? It actually never occurred to me to not set this book in Tucson. I love Arizona so much, and my initial love of writing started with nature writing, so I just knew anything I wrote would include a lot of landscapes and moments in nature. And this region is known as a birding hotspot, so it also made perfect sense to set the birding contest here! 4–Would you hang out with your heroine in real life? Definitely! I think we would have a great time together.  I intentionally made Celeste a bit larger than life and someone who I would look up to. She’s so determined to live life on her own terms. I’d love…

How would you describe your family or your childhood? Detached and lonely.   What was your greatest talent? Pleasing others.   Important people in your life? My children and grandchildren.   Biggest challenge in relationships? Being assertive.   Where to you live? At the lake.   Do you have any enemies? Not that I know of.   How do you feel about the place you are now? I love the place I’m at now. Both physically – the lake and the peace and quiet outside, and emotionally – the peace and quiet inside me.   Do you have children, pets, both, or neither? I have a dog, three children, one daughter-in-law and two grandsons.   What do you do for a living? I was a homemaker now retired.   Greatest disappointment? Not being courageous with my life.   Greatest source of joy? My children and grandchildren.   What do you do to entertain yourself or have fun? I sit outside and enjoy nature. I have my family here for wiener roasts.   What is your greatest personal failing in your view? Same as question #10. Not being courageous with my life.   What keeps you awake at night? The only…

1–What is the title of your latest release? BARELY EVEN FRIENDS 2–What’s the “elevator pitch” for your new book? A grumpy, rich recluse meets his match in this steamy Beauty and the Beast retelling—with a Succession twist. Featuring a plus-size historical home restorer and a grump of a recluse, who are forced to work together. 3–How did you decide where your book was going to take place? I feel like so many books take place in NYC, I wanted to showcase that there are other parts of New York as well. 4–Would you hang out with your protagonist in real life? Definitely. Bellamy is a fellow Swiftie, with great taste in movies (lol). We’re different in a lot of ways, but in my very unbiased opinion, I think she would be a lot of fun to hang out with. 5–What are three words that describe your protagonist? Stubborn, ambitious, compassionate 6–What’s something you learned while writing this book? How truly difficult it is to put aspects of yourself in a character. Bellamy is the first plus-size character I’d ever written and didn’t fully consider the impact that would have on me in writing in my own experiences with fatphobia and…

“This Love” by Taylor Swift – everything about this lovely song evokes images of Isabel and Sirius love affair, but especially, “this love is alive back from the dead.” An apt tune for two lovers who find their way back to each other.   “She’s Only Happy In The Sun” by Ben Harper – Isabel makes it clear, multiple times throughout Isabel and The Rogue, that she desires to return to Mexico, despite how she would be separated from her beloved sisters, and later Sirius. So when Ben Harper sings, “Did you find what you were after? The pain and the laughter brought you to your knees. But if the sun sets you free, sets you free, You’ll be free indeed, indeed,” it’s easy to imagine these are words Sirius whispers to her.   “There, There” by Radiohead – with his haunting voice, Tom York effortlessly evokes the perils of navigating loneliness and pain…feelings Sirius Dawson would have been familiar with as a Crimean war veteran.   “I Wanna Be Yours” by Arctic Monkeys – When Alex Turner, lead singer of Arctic Monkeys, croons in his gravelly voice “wanna be yours” over and over, you know this is a man…

The Woman by the Lake by Kristen Ashley Cursed Omega’s Second Chance: The Omega Wolf’s Curse #1 by Odessa Hywell The Pull of the Tide by SD Simper Curvy Perfection, Book 32, Curvy Women Wanted Series by Sam Crescent Bella’s Dom, Book 4, The Doms of Madison County Series by Lila Fox The Magic of Rainbows: A Sweet Small Town Romance, Book 3, Love on Anchor Lane Series by Leeanna Morgan Their Naughty Princess by Calista Jayne Murder at the Dinner Party, Book 8, Cleopatra Fox Mysteries by C.J. Archer Shadow’s Reflection, Book 2, Stonebridge Witches Series by Nicole R. Taylor Boxset 5 by M.E. Clayton     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…

1–What is the title of your latest release? THE LAST NOTE OF WARNING, the third installment in my Nightingale Mystery series 2–What’s the “elevator pitch” for your new book? THE LAST NOTE OF WARNING is my third Jazz Age mystery following Vivian Kelly, a working-class seamstress who delivers dresses by day and escapes to a speakeasy by night. But New York’s underground world can be dangerous. When Vivian is accused of the murder of a wealthy client’s husband, she’ll cash in every favor she can from the criminals and bootleggers she calls friends to prove she had no connection to the dead man. But she can’t prove what isn’t true. The Last Note of Warning is twisty and dramatic and a little bit sexy, and I’m so excited to share it with readers! 3–How did you decide where your book was going to take place? I almost always start with characters, rather than plot or setting, and I had three very different women who all lived in Jazz Age NYC bouncing around in my head for a little while. I didn’t know what their story was, or quite how they all connected to each other, but I knew that they…

1–What is the title of your latest release? HIDDEN IN THE NIGHT, Missing in Alaska 3 2–What’s the “elevator pitch” for your new book? A woman’s search for answers leads to a mystery hidden in the Alaskan ice. Joining forces with an Alaska State Trooper, she must battle a deadly blizzard, heartless sabotage, and everything the Alaskan winter can throw at her as the search goes on. 3–How did you decide where your book was going to take place? Since this is part of the Missing in Alaska series, I knew it would take place in southeast Alaska and I wanted to involve characters from the small fictional town of Shadow Gap. But I also wanted to let my characters (and readers) experience Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve. I wanted to explore glaciers and ice caves, which add to all the beauty that’s Alaska, and in this book, I made a point to make sure my characters experienced the aurora borealis (northern lights). 4–Would you hang out with your protagonist in real life? Yes! I love that Ivy is all about old books and is searching for a lost Jack London manuscript. He wrote my favorite childhood book—The Call…