1–What is the title of your latest release? BECOMING MADAM SECRETARY 2–What’s the “elevator pitch” for your new book? The inspiring journey of Frances Perkins, the most important woman in American history, from her early days in New York’s Hell’s Kitchen to the corridors of power in the White House where she served as FDR’s most trusted lieutenant, reshaping America during its darkest hour. 3–How did you decide where your book was going to take place? I went where Frances went. 4–Would you hang out with your protagonist in real life? I would die of happiness to get to sit in a room with Frances for just five minutes! I would also have a million questions I would probably be too shy to ask. 5–What are three words that describe your protagonist? Trailblazing, Tenacious and Principled 6–What’s something you learned while writing this book? I had no idea that Frances Perkins really disliked Franklin Roosevelt when they first met. Theirs is a delicious enemies-to-lovers story but in a political sense. And it was so much fun to write about them sparring. They changed each other, and together they changed the nation. 7–Do you edit as you draft or wait until…

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 Markus Harwood-Jones!   Writes: Romance novels rich with queer, trans, and non-binary characters that are unafraid to break away from “the normal” for a chance at something extraordinary.   About: Author, artist, and academic – Markus Harwood-Jones (he/they) is always up to something! The author of The Haunting of Adrian Yates and Confessions of a Teenage Drag King is taking a break from writing YA fiction to deliver a steamy yet sweet polyamorous romance titled Really Cute People. Published with Harlequin imprint, Carina Adores, Really Cute People follows the story of Charlie—a burnt out, non-binary thirty-something who unexpectedly finds themselves snowed-in (and tangled-up) with a charming couple, Buffy and Hayden. Markus lives in Toronto with his husband, their platonic co-parent, and their beloved toddler. He can be found on TikTok and Instagram, or via his website.   What I’m looking for in my ideal reader match: I’m looking for someone who wants to be swept away into an effortlessly queer world, where trans and…

1–What is the title of your latest release? PRIDE AND JOY 2–What’s the “elevator pitch” for your new book? A birthday celebration on Good Friday may turn into a funeral—if it doesn’t turn into a resurrection first. 3–How did you decide where your book was going to take place? I base all my stories in and around the Toronto area because that’s where I’m from! I love writing about home. 4–Would you hang out with your protagonist in real life? I would hang out with Joy, but I have a feeling I’d quickly get tired of her. We’re alike in many ways, but the ways in which we’re not alike would send me into a spiral. 5–What are three words that describe your protagonist? Loyal, resourceful, diligent 6–What’s something you learned while writing this book? That family, culture, and faith coexist in so many interesting ways, and that to try and streamline that into one neatly packaged box simply can’t work. There’s so much nuance! 7–Do you edit as you draft or wait until you are totally done? Nowadays I wait til I’m completely done, but before my very first book came out, I used to edit as I drafted….

I’m a sensory person. Writing reels me in when it’s rooted in taste, touch, sound, sight, and smell. When writing my contemporary young adult novel, JUST ANOTHER EPIC LOVE POEM, I wanted to deliver to readers the Iranian American cultural experiences of the protagonist, Mitra, through the tastes and smells and textures of her family’s Iranian recipes. In an Iranian household, food isn’t just sustenance–it’s sacred. Meals like ghormeh sabzi and fesenjan take all day to prepare; rice is soaked, rinsed, washed, and rinsed again; vibrant saffron threads are folded into fragrant stews. Hospitality is at the heart of Persian cooking. The Farsi equivalent of bon appetit–nooshe jaan–literally translates to “may your soul be nourished.” In Just Another Epic Love Poem, Iranian food weaves through Mitra’s life as its own character, an entity with which she exists in complex relationship. Ever since her family’s separation, caused by her mother Jaleh’s addiction, Mitra has lost connection to certain dishes she used to share with her mom. Ash-e reshteh, the earthy, herb-infused noodle soup served on Iranian holidays, no longer symbolizes good luck and the possibility of life’s different paths for Mitra; now it serves up grief. As her mother attempts to…

Book Title:  THE FORGER AND THE DUKE Character Name: Amaranthe Illingworth   Amaranthe, the heroine of THE FORGER AND THE DUKE, is being interviewed by Derwa, the young child of her maid, Eyde. Eyde and Amaranthe left Cornwall six years before this conversation taking place in Amaranthe’s home in George Court, London, 1776.   So we begin. How would you describe your childhood? Idyllic, though I didn’t know it at the time. My father was the vicar of St. Cleer, a small, ancient village in Cornwall. I never heard him raise his voice, not even in the heights of a sermon. My mother was the daughter of a lens maker, a respectable trade. Her family came from Portugal; they were conversos, Jews who converted to Catholicism during the Inquisition in order to keep their home and their lives. You’ve met Joseph, who is older than I by four years. He tormented me but lightly, as I helped him with his studies, and he would not have been accepted into Oxford without me. The only time my mother scolded us was that winter Joseph dared me to walk out on the ice over the pond near our home, and I did….

1–What is the title of your latest release? A GRAVE ROBBERY 2–What’s the “elevator pitch” for your new book? Victorian sleuth Veronica Speedwell and her handsome sidekick Stoker are at it again! But when the wax figure they find turns out to be an actual corpse, they end up facing their deadliest foe yet. 3–How did you decide where your book was going to take place? I had just taken my characters into the country, so it was time to go back to London for a proper city adventure. I needed access to laboratories, private clubs, cemeteries, and gaslit streets. 4–Would you hang out with your protagonist in real life? For a short period of time only. I adore Veronica, but I’m quite certain we would butt heads and I think she could take me in a fight. 5–What are three words that describe your protagonist? Intrepid, resourceful, outrageous. 6–What’s something you learned while writing this book? That no matter how hard I try to get my little ducks in a row, they will always choose chaos. I work extremely well under pressure; unfortunately, I seem to only be able to work under pressure, so if I have loads of…

1–What is the title of your latest release? ‘BOUT TO DYE IN BIRMINGHAM, A Cousins Cozy Mystery- Book One 2–What’s the “elevator pitch” for your new book? Pair comedienne Leeann Morgan’s southern drawl with actor Leslie Jordan’s bowtie charm and you have Maggie and Francis, first cousins and best friends solving hometown murders in Birmingham, Alabama. 3–How did you decide where your book was going to take place? I lived in Birmingham at the time and wanted to use its distinct Deep South flavor in a series featuring local areas. Also, with my job, I’d probably driven on every road in the county, which gave me so many story ideas. 4–Would you hang out with your protagonist in real life? I may have taken “write what you know” a little too far in this case. I hang out with her all day, every day in my own head. I originally started writing this out of boredom during Covid, and I didn’t limit myself from worrying if it seemed too much like me because I never thought anyone else would read it. 5–What are three words that describe your protagonist? Optimistic, loyal, and an over-thinker 6–What’s something you learned while writing…

1–What is the title of your latest release? WATCH IT BURN 2–What’s the “elevator pitch” for your new book? After the wife of a prominent man in the small town of Edenberg, Texas, drowns in only two inches of the Guadalupe River, three women refuse to believe it was a “slip and fall.” As they dig for clues, they discover that the dead woman—Beverly Hoffman—and her husband are the founders of a cultish organization slowly taking over their town. They must decide whether or not to infiltrate the institution to dismantle it from within. 3–How did you decide where your book was going to take place? I’ve enjoyed visiting the Texas Hill Country, which is three hours from my home, since I was in high school. Edenberg, Texas is a fictional town based on a real-life tiny tourist town named Gruene, home of the oldest dance hall in Texas. I thought this would be the perfect place for one man to garner control and share his cult-astic ideas. 4–Would you hang out with your protagonist in real life? My protagonist is unique in that she is dead. (Yes, the dead woman in the middle of the river is one of…

The Wickedness of a Highlander, Book 4, Midnight in Scotland Series by Elisa Braden Zombie Fallout 22: Bridging the Gap by Mark Tufo Dredge’s Enchanting Mate, Book 6, Saber Chronicles by R.E. Butler Finn’s Fury, Book 8, Riot MC Biloxi Series by Karen Renee The Last Duke She’d Marry, Book 3, Scoundrels of Mayfair Series by Anna Campbell Monster Bully by Sam Crescent Daddy’s Little Cowgirl, Book 33, Daddy Series by Lila Fox Cruises Can Be Murder, Book 22, Charlie Parker New Mexico Mystery Series by Connie Shelton Wild Magic, Book 4, Wild Magic Series by Odette C. Bell The Empty Throne by Megan Derr     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….

Rhys Bowen and Clare Broyles give the inside scoop on their new Molly Murphy book, IN SUNSHINE OR IN SHADOW.   RHYS: Last year I blogged with my daughter Clare to introduce you to her and to our co-written Molly Murphy books.  This year we are celebrating the publication of IN SUNSHINE OR IN SHADOW, which is book 20. TWENTY books in a series is something of an achievement in the cut throat world of book publishing. To keep a series fresh and new and attract new readers all this time is an achievement. We are patting ourselves on the back! In 2001 the first Molly Murphy book was published. It was called MURPHY’S LAW and if you check on Amazon it is still selling remarkably well. It also came out with a bang, winning the Agatha award plus three others and being nominated for the Mary Higgins Clark award. Molly was an Irish immigrant who had to flee from Ireland in fear for her life, arrived on Ellis Island using another woman’s name only to find herself, under that name, accused of murder. So her arrival was not auspicious and through the first books in the series her life…