1–What is the title of your latest release? THE DUCHESS TAKES A HUSBAND 2–What’s the “elevator pitch” for your new book? Camille, Dowager Duchess of Hereford, and Jacob Thorne, London rogue, come to a scandalous arrangement where he teaches her to enjoy sex and she pretends to be his fiancee. 3–How did you decide where your book was going to take place? The Duchess Takes a Husband is the fourth book in my Gilded Age Heiresses series. Camille was forced by her family to marry a much older duke in an arranged marriage that happened in the first book of the series. Spoiler alert – He died, but not after leaving her emotionally scarred. Now she’s out to discover if love is for her and finally get her happily ever after. Readers kept reaching out to me asking for her story, so I’m very happy to finally be able to give it to them. 4–Would you hang out with your heroine in real life? Yes, definitely. Camille is a reformed sweet and dutiful daughter. She found out the hard way that living for others, when they don’t have your best interest at heart, is not going to work out well….

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 Jennifer Dugan!   Writes: Romance and rom coms with big laughs and even bigger heart about imperfect people and their complicated relationships. LOVE AT FIRST SET is the story of a gym check-in girl named Lizzie – who dreams of owning her own gym – who falls for her best friend’s sister (and horrible bosses’ daughter), Cara, after accidentally encouraging her to be a runaway bride. Lizzie has her eye on the new promotion at work, and Cara is busy trying to find herself, and if Lizzie’s bosses every found out she played a role in Cara’s new journey of self-discovery, it would be game over for not just their love but also the job she very much needs to survive. Lizzie knows she should stay away… so why can’t she?   About: Jennifer Dugan loves getting lost in the woods, exploring abandoned buildings, and watching horror movies – all while daydreaming about love stories. Must love every animal and (most) bugs on earth…

1–What is the title of your latest release? PLANES, TRAINS, AND ALL THE FEELS   2–What’s the “elevator pitch” for your new book? Two opposites from different worlds get stuck on a disastrous road trip and must lean on each other to survive.   3–How did you decide where your book was going to take place? I knew I wanted to capture a change in weather to mimic the romantic arc, so I chose somewhere cold-ish (North Carolina) and sent them somewhere warm (Southern California). Luckily I didn’t have to choose just one place; the beauty of a road trip book is all the different places we get to explore along the way!   4–Would you hang out with your heroine in real life? Absolutely. Cassidy is fun, feisty, and prides herself on being a loyal friend. She is bestie material!   5–What are three words that describe your hero? Careful, passionate, generous   6–What’s something you learned while writing this book? I learned a lot about how much we rely on our phone and modern conveniences while traveling, and how things might be different if we stripped away those things and fully focused on the people we are with…

1–What is the title of your latest release? FOUR WEDDINGS AND A DUKE   2–What’s the “elevator pitch” for your new book?  A former wallflower who is blossoming plus an eccentric duke buried in his research plus misguided past choices and misunderstood expectations equals a marriage made in chaotic heaven. 3–How did you decide where your book was going to take place?  I love nothing more than a Regency set in London – with a few excursions out to a fabulous country estate!   4–Would you hang out with your heroine in real life?  Absolutely! She’s a hoot! Plus, she’s a hardcore reader, so we’d probably end up sitting in a library reading books together somewhere.   5–What are three words that describe your hero? Passionate, focused, intelligent   6–What’s something you learned while writing this book?  I learned a lot about plants and plant grafting!   7–Do you edit as you draft or wait until you are totally done? I tend to edit the first half as I go and then crank out the last half before going back to edit.   8–What’s your favorite foodie indulgence? Chocolate. And Goldfish crackers. And more chocolate.   9–Describe your writing space/office! …

1–What is the title of your latest release? MRS. NASH’S ASHES 2–What’s the “elevator pitch” for your new book? A woman on a mission to deliver three tablespoons of her elderly best friend’s remains to the woman she fell in love with during World War II is forced to road trip to Florida with her ex’s (grumpy, hot) grad school nemesis, and hijinks ensue. 3–How did you decide where your book was going to take place?  I started writing this book in Winter 2020-2021. A road trip seemed like a delightful way to get out of my house without actually getting out of my house, and a destination of Key West, Florida made sense for both story reasons and I-want-to-pretend-I’m-somewhere-warm-and-sunny reasons. 4–Would you hang out with your heroine in real life? Absolutely! Millie is delightful and would be super fun to spend time with. 5–What are three words that describe your hero? Grumpy, practical, bespectacled. 6–What’s something you learned while writing this book? That I’m bisexual! Not that I didn’t sort of know already, but it wasn’t until I wrote the character of Mrs. Nash and was certain that she was bisexual that I realized oh, hm, this also applies…

1–What is the title of your latest release? Emma of 83rd Street   2–What’s the “elevator pitch” for your new book? What if you gave Jane Austen’s Emma the ultimate makeover in modern-day Manhattan?   3–How did you decide where your book was going to take place? We both lived and worked in New York City for years and years. It’s where we met! So, once we decided to write a modern take on Emma, New York seemed like an obvious choice.   4–Would you hang out with Emma in real life? Oh, absolutely! The bigger question is whether she’d let us raid her wardrobe…   5–What are three words that describe Emma? We think Miss Jane Austen said it best when she first described her: “… handsome, clever, and rich…”   6–What’s something you learned while writing this book? Audrey: That we could write a book together! Emily: We worked together in television development for years, so that helped a lot, but there’s no way we could have anticipated just how different this process would be. Audrey: Also, writing is hard work.   7–Do you edit as you draft or wait until you are totally done? We did very…

Every author has people tied to the roots of their writing career. Melissa Bourbon Ramirez is one of those people for me – and how lucky can one be! Not only was she in my first critique group, she introduced me to Fresh Fiction and the Cozy Corner! She also happens to be an incredible author who has a new release June 1st – every mystery lovers lucky day. So I asked her to join us to give us the latest scoop!   Kym: Hi Melissa, welcome back to the Cozy Corner! Melissa: Thank you! It’s always fun to be back and talking about cozies.   Kym: I’m so excited about your return to Bliss, Texas with your 7th Harlow Cassidy Magical Dressmaking Mystery! Can you tell us a little bit about your June release?  Melissa: I am SO excited to be back in Bliss, too. It’s been a while, and I really love Harlow Cassidy. She’s so fun to write, and I love her community. If you’re new to the series, Harlow is a custom dressmaker who leaves New York to return to Bliss, Texas after her great-grandmother, Loretta Mae, dies. Only Meemaw isn’t actually gone. Her ghostly ways…

1–What is the title of your latest release? Thank you so much for hosting me on Fresh Fiction.  My latest release is HARD DOUGH HOMICIDE. It’s the second book in my Spice Isle Bakery Mystery culinary cozy mystery series, which I write as Olivia Matthews   2–What’s the “elevator pitch” for your new book? Here it goes: When her mother’s former boss is poisoned at an event catered by their family-owned bakery, a baker leads an investigation to uncover who had the ingredients for murder and the appetite to frame her mother.   3–How did you decide where your book was going to take place? Great question! Like me, my protagonists are West Indian Americans, so it seemed perfect to set them in the Little Caribbean neighborhood in Brooklyn, New York. That’s where I grew up.   4–Would you hang out with your sleuth in real life? Absolutely! Especially if she brought me pastries from her bakery. Ha!   5–What are three words that describe your sleuth? Only three? OK. Loyal. Smart. And, although she’d disagree with me, brave. The reason she’d disagree is that she views herself as a scaredy cat, but it takes courage to face your fears….

An Oath at Midnight, Book 4, The Thornheart Trials by Sherilee Gray The Thirteenth Month, Book 1, Seba Segel Series by Elizabeth Hunter Naughty Novels by Calista Jayne Tiny Problem, Book 7, Riot MC Biloxi Series by Karen Renee Triggers by Stephen Leather Murder of a Misfit, Book 9, Jamie Winters Mysteries by Kelly Rey Tail Me No Lies, Book 5, Tail and Claw Series by Nancey Cummings King’s Trophy by Sam Crescent Breed, Vendetta, Book 2, Breed Series by Lee Corbett Off The Ice by RJ Scott     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.  

Character Name: Cinta Johns Story: “You Four Are the One”, SIDLE CREEK (short story collection)     How would you describe your family or your childhood? My mom and dad married when they were in their 30s, then divorced when I was eight. They’d both died by the time I graduated from college. When I was young, I was sad most of the time.   What was your greatest talent? I loved singing in the school chorus and church choir. I couldn’t carry a tune, but I loved it.   Significant other? Ilk Johns. We grew up in the same town, but we didn’t run in the same groups in high school, so we didn’t officially meet until I was home on break from college. He’d just gotten on full time at the mill. We were both volunteering at the Ukranian church, making Christmas pierogi. He was a potato peeler, and I was a crimper.   Biggest challenge in relationships? I worry about losing those I love. I’m often up in the middle of the night imagining all the horrible things that could happen to Ilk or my dog. No one in my family seems to live long, happy lives….