I don’t know about you, but I am absolutely FIENDING for MORE Bridgerton. I can’t wait until part 2 of Season 3 drops!!! But in the meantime, allow me to suggest my Scandals With Bite series to tide you over. It’s like Bridgerton, but with Vampires! Why vampires? They’re totally suited to the Regency nobility and here’s why! They’re night owls. Most of the balls and operas and festivities in the regency went from dusk till dawn. A vampire’s nocturnal behavior would be unnoticed in this environment. The Window Tax Seriously, there was a tax on how many windows one had on their home. People often boarded up their windows to avoid the tax. This was beneficial to vampires in that no one thought it amiss if they did so to protect themselves from the sun. I point this out in book 1, BITE ME, YOUR GRACE! BITE ME, YOUR GRACE by Brooklyn Ann Scandals with Bite #1 Like Bridgerton, but with Vampires Angelica Winthrop wants nothing more than to ruin her reputation to avoid marriage and be a gothic authoress like her idol, Mary Shelley. Unfortunately, all her schemes keep backfiring and the wedding noose is tightening. To find inspiration for…

1–What is the title of your latest release? BETTER LEFT UNSENT 2–What’s the “elevator pitch” for your new book? Millie Chandler wakes to find all her email drafts somehow sent. Including a love declaration to her ex who’s about to get married. 3–How did you decide where your book was going to take place? It’s set in a little estuary town called Leigh on Sea and I chose it firstly, because I love it there so much! But secondly, because it sort of represents the story. Millie’s emails have a real mixed reaction and cause good and bad, but ultimately, beautiful because of it. Leigh is similar in a way. Gorgeous seaside views, but distant industrial chimneys. Cobbled streets and rusty, old anchors and old fishing nets. . .  It’s the sort of place writers itch to write about. 4–Would you hang out with your protagonist in real life? Absolutely but I think she would make me even more anxious than I am, haha. 5–What are three words that describe your protagonist? Clumsy, emotional, diffident. 6–What’s something you learned while writing this book? That we never know what someone is truly going through. We can be as honest and as…

Book Title: THE NORTH WIND Character Name: Boreas   How would you describe your family or your childhood? My family? Well. I am one of three brothers. I have not seen them in centuries, not since we were banished from our homeland. I am the eldest, the most responsible. That leaves Notus, Eurus, and Zephyrus. I always appreciated Notus’ tendency to listen. I was not close to Eurus. He was largely absent during my youth. As for Zephyrus, he can fall off a cliff, as far as I’m concerned.   What was your greatest talent? Is isolating oneself considered a talent?   Significant other? I do have a wife, whom I like to call “Wife”. She would prefer I call her by her given name: Wren. Some days, I believe she enjoys my company. Most days, she is repulsed by my presence. I suppose it makes sense, considering I’ve taken her captive.   Biggest challenge in relationships? It is difficult for me to grow close to others. How am I to trust another’s word, or that their intentions are noble? In my experience, there is always a motive.   Where do you live? I am ruler of a realm called…

1–What is the title of your latest release? HEAVENBREAKER 2–What’s the “elevator pitch” for your new book? A girl takes revenge on her noble family by riding a giant robot into a space jousting tournament in this sci-fi fantasy. Pacific Rim meets Game of Thrones. 3–How did you decide where your book was going to take place? Anything that’s giant benefits from less gravity – think whales or giant squid. Giant robots are more difficult to conceptualize and maneuver in any place with gravity, so I figured – why not zero g? 4–Would you hang out with your protagonist in real life? I think Synali is too obsessed with revenge to be that fun at parties, but I’d like to make her soup and wrap her in a blanket. 5–What are three words that describe your protagonist? Driven, unrelenting, hopeful 6–What’s something you learned while writing this book? Writing multiple POVs is much easier when you give them to the reader in microdoses rather than whole chapters! 7–Do you edit as you draft or wait until you are totally done? I edit as I draft to make sure the setup behind me is stable, if that makes sense. 8–What’s your…

Book Title:  THE HEIRESS’S DAUGHTER Character Name:  Clarissa Studley   How would you describe your family or your childhood? Mama and I were very close, but Papa was nasty to Mama and to me. He only married Mama for her money and didn’t love her at all. He used to say I was useless because I was plain (like Mama) and not a boy.  Luckily, he didn’t come home very often. Mama died when I was small and after that I was very lonely. But one day when I was almost nine, a man arrived with another little girl — my illegitimate half-sister, Izzy, who had just lost her own mother. Papa ordered her to be dumped in the nearest orphanage. He didn’t want her, but I did, so I hid her until Papa went away again. And we’ve been together ever since.   What was your greatest talent? I don’t think I’m very talented at anything fashionable, like painting or music, but I like making beauty lotions and ointments from flowers and herbs.  Izzy would say that my greatest talent is loving and loyalty, but she’s my sister, and she’s biased.   Significant other? My sister Izzy has always…

Without good music, a road trip is simply a means to a spot on a map. With good music, however, a road trip becomes a complete experience. Even literary road trips. So what songs should be included on the soundtrack for a multigenerational novel set along the iconic Route 66? Countless songs make us long for the open road. “Life is a Highway.” “Holiday Road.” “Born to Run.” A few are even specific to the Mother Road: “(Get Your Kicks on) Route 66” and “This Land is Your Land.” However, there are six songs that best comprise the melody readers will find within the pages of THE ROAD BEFORE US. “Only You (and You Alone)” (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rAUJSc6unAg) by The Platters: Back in 1956, when young Berenice (aka Benny) dreams of Hollywood stardom, her brother’s best friend, Paul, offers to drive her from Chicago to Los Angeles. Having survived time as a prisoner of war in Korea, Paul has lost faith in humanity except for Benny. Only Benny can bring light into his darkness, just like the song says. While they face obstacles in the story, it’s clear from the start that Benny is, indeed, Paul’s destiny. “I Get to Love You”…

Book Title: UNFORGIVEN Character Name:  Seth Zimmerman   How would you describe your family or your childhood? I grew up Amish in the hollers of southwestern Kentucky. By all accounts, most would say it was idyllic.   What was your greatest talent?  Reinventing myself   Significant other?  I don’t have one. I have a crush on a divorced woman, though.   Biggest challenge in relationships? Overcoming my past. I served time in prison.   Where do you live?  In Crittenden County, KY.   Do you have any enemies? I reckon I do. There’s a list of people who don’t like the person I’ve become and would rather have me not exist.   Is there something you are particularly attached to, or particularly repelled by, in this place?  Even though most folks in my former life pretend I don’t exist, I still love my community. Even though I’m no longer living Plain, my heart still lies within the Amish community. Perhaps that’s why I can’t help doing things for Tabitha Yoder. By circumstances beyond her control, she’s no longer living Plain either.   Do you have children, pets, both, or neither?   I have nothing but a solid home and a…

1–What is the title of your latest release? I HOPE THIS FINDS YOU WELL 2–What’s the “elevator pitch” for your new book? When an office misfit and general mess of a person accidentally gains access to her colleagues’ private emails and DMs, she decides to use this intel to save her job. As she’s drawn closer into her colleagues’ personal lives, her own secrets risk being exposed. 3–How did you decide where your book was going to take place? This was easy! I knew the setting before I had a concept. I love offices because they’re so full of people who wouldn’t normally choose to spend time together—a perfect situational comedy! 4–Would you hang out with your protagonist in real life? I think if we had the chance to get to know each other we would be besties, but inevitably she’d find me off-putting at first and her disdain would show in a way that would throw me, and we’d never get the chance. 5–What are three words that describe your protagonist? Funny, thoughtful, scared 6–What’s something you learned while writing this book? To not be afraid with my writing. That we really do have more in common with each…

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 Carolyn Haines!   Writes: Carolyn Haines might be described as a crazy cat lady. Along with writing mysteries, she runs an animal rescue at her farm in a small Alabama town. Her award-winning Sarah Booth Delaney mysteries (she is working on the 30th in the series) involve a cast of characters that any reader could love. Haines grew up in a small Mississippi town and her work as a journalist opened doors to aspects of her state that involve folk lore, legend, and a keen sense of place. Readers are always welcomed into her life—which she lives vicariously through Sarah Booth, her protagonist. Fun, feisty, and never dull, Sarah Booth is a fun character to write.   About: Carolyn loves books with deep roots and a sense of place. She believes characters grow from the soil where the live. Mysteries are her favorite genre because justice prevails in mysteries, if not always in real life. The characters in the Sarah Booth series are people…

1–What is the title of your latest release? MALIBU SUMMER 2–What’s the “elevator pitch” for your new book? Ivy Bauer is a rising scientist and inventor of a game changing organic irrigation system. She’s on top of the world when, suddenly, her husband is killed in a biking accident. Needing space to grieve, she takes a summer job as a gardener on the Malibu estate of television writer Conrad Reed, who is reeling with the death of his wife and the care of his five-year-old stepson—all while trying to resurrect his entertainment career. It’s a clash made in heaven! 3–How did you decide where your book was going to take place? After working for many years in the television industry, I knew I wanted to write about that unique and often crazy world. Beverly Hills would have been the obvious choice of location, but where better to put an in-over-his-head TV writer/producer than Malibu? The natural beauty of the ocean and hillsides juxtaposed with the unbridled extravagance of that world made it a perfect spot. 4–Would you hang out with your protagonist in real life? Since it’s a romance, I really have two protagonists. I’d definitely hang out with Ivy….